Weak party --- suggestions?

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(Sorry for the English, it's not my first language, did my best .)

Excluding BG2, the closest to a RPG I have played is Freedom Force which is more about strategy, so I'm pretty much a newbie to D&D stuff...

My problem is that I went very fast through the first chapters, completing only de'Arnise keep and the Copper Coronet to get the 20000 GP. I finally came out of the Underdark after 34 days and my PC (elf-archer) just reached level 12. I feel my party is pretty weak; I have a lot of trouble every time I face moderately challenging opponents. The current problem is when I enter the docks (to reach Cromwell) there's that wild mage and his friends looking for the silver blade; I can't even kill one before all my characters are confused/sleeping/etc except for like, one mage who gets killed. Anyway, as usual, I'll do it someday, but after that I want to reform my party, and then gain XP in side quests before continuing the main quest.

Currently I have:
1-PC - Archer
2-Minsc
3-Jaheira
4-Imoen
5-Aerie
6-Nalia

I have a good/neutral party, so no evil NPCs for me.

-I want to keep Jaheira for the romance and the associated quests.

-I want to keep Nalia as she is quite a powerful mage now, as I gave her priority for scrolls, and Edwin is evil - she knows a LOT more spells then Imoen, twice as much for some levels.

-I see no point in replacing Minsc as I want more front-line fighters and Minsc is my only one currently.

-Keeping Imoen depends on how her mage skills compare to Jan's; Imoen might be more interesting story-wise but Jan should be entertaining; how many spells will he have if he joins?.

-After writing this, it seems it all comes down to replacing Aerie by some sort of fighter, probably Keldorn... but she has so many useful spells; she has as many mage spells has Imoen, plus the priest spells, but Jaheira has those too...


Or, maybe my party is just fine and I should just get them more powerful items and more XP... What do you think?


BTW, is there any "permanent" (such as a girdle of strength) way to boost Nalia's intelligence? I think I read something about getting 1 extra point for some quest or something...?

[ April 14, 2003, 03:51: Message edited by: Lawnboy ]

 

Indeed, that is a logical decision, but I don't think you should change the party that much, they have gained alot of experience already and it would be a shame to lose it. Remember, anyone that is going to join the party will be lower level anyways... and you don't have to fight those Giths, if you can't take them - just let hime have his stupid sword...

Not enough punch in melee. That's obvious.

Here's what I would do - I would kick Aerie. Imoen may have less spells now, but she will level quickly in the mage class and Aerie will become less effective in comparison. And you hardly need third mage who is rather weak anyways.

Problem - you lose the second cleric.
Solution - you want someone who can fight in melee and someone who can heal as well. Yes, he is annoying as hell, but let's face it - Anomen would fit nicely in the group. And he's good aligned as well.

The rest of the party is ok, Jaheira simply rocks, Minsc is an adequate tank, Nalia and Immy are decent mages...

And no, I don't think that you can boost INT in SoA. But 18 INT is not important for SOA, as you won't get access to level9 spells anyways, iirc...

 

I would kick also Aerie. You don't really need more than two mages. And as Jurts said, take Anomen. He is good warrior and priest. Keldorn is also good anti-magic warrior, but he can't cast any priest spells.

You can always boost Nalia's intelligence with potions of genius for a few minutes (which is usually enough)

If Giths are too tough, go to Trademeet or Umar Hills to get more experience and items.

 

I would kick Imoen and Aerie. Grab Anomen and Keldorn.

Reason?

You, Minsc, and Jaheira cannot be replaced. According to you Nalia is a good mage, and Imoen isn't that good of a wizard. Same goes for Aerie, since Anomen also has Clerical spells. Keldorn can cast Dispel Magic which would at least help in the Githyanki fight.

Not to mention that both of them are capable fighters.

 

Did you use Minsc's berserk ability? It should make him resist the confusion or sleep, plus it also make him very powerful. Priest spell "chaotic command" can also prevent the above two problem. Hope this can solve your problem without having to changing your party. Oop!! I forgot about your low level but if possible, the chaotic command is really a very useful spell.

 

Thanks for your help!

As you suggested, I kicked Aerie and took Anomen instead. He has plenty of spells and he isn't far from the other characters of my party in XP.

Deathmage, if I did as you suggested, my only thief would be Nalia...

As for the Giths, I used chaotic commands and many defensive spells on Minsc and sent him to trigger the encounter while the rest of the party waited with ranged weapons; all the giths attacked Minsc while the rest of the party killed the Giths one by one.

Time to get some XP!

 

I have no idea how you managed to survive the Underdark at that level -- I found it beneficial to do every single possible quest before tackling the Underdark -- it makes that part of the game a heck of a lot easier, plus, it makes more roleplaying sense to me, ie: "My soul has been stolen. I think I'll head off to Trademeet and see what's happening!" My logic before the Asylum and Underdark would be more like "Some guy just captured me without any hassle at all. I'd better get enough items and practice up a bit before I try to tackle him again!"

 

Lol, that was a really nice one If you're really roleplaying you might have to choose anyway. If you're a berserker i.e, you might want to take down Irenicus ASAP. But more wiser "people" would maybe practice a little more. Anyway you needed more melee punch. OK, ranged attacks are great, but only until the enemy is at you, and that may take 3 seconds. THe giths aren't that tough anyway though...

 

MOst of the characters I play tend to be the sort who think before acting -- high Wisdom sorts.

 

Well, the Underdark was quite hard of course; like I said before, each time I faced I moderately challenging opponents, I had to try several times before beating them; for example the demon you have to defeat and then make rocks collapse over him in a mine was pretty hard.

As for the logical aspect of getting my soul stolen and then going to Trademeet, it's mostly because I am newbie to this kind of game; for example the guy said to come back when I had 20,000GP, so as soon as I had 20,000GP I came back; in other words when they asked me to do something, well, I did it. And once you're on the way to Spellhold, there's no way back... beside, I HAD to rescue Imoen as soon as possible, right?

 

Or...you could go train up in places such as the Umar Hills, Windspear Hills, de'Arnise Keep, etc. Finish the quests assosicated there. If you want a thief, then Imoen is good enough. Or, you could fire Nalia and then go on a Scroll Shopping Spree.

In my latest game, my PC Swashbuckler was level 15 before entering Spellhold, and now I'm level 17 and in the Underdark.

 

Lawnboy, I wasn't making fun of you, I was just explaining my role-playing logic for doing all quests possible in Chapter 2. I won't go into all the REALLY funny mistakes I made the first couple of times I played the game!

 

I remember that when I played my first RPG, I also think that way. And I find nothing wrong with it. But here's a tip: In any RPG (actually, most any PC/video game), you are the center of the universe. That means, unless you are given a time limit, it doesn't matter if it takes you years (in-game time) to finish a quest. Unfortunately, taking your sweet time might have a drawback too. I usually forgot that I have to rescue Imoen because of all the quests I'm doing.

BTW, you can still do most the quests that you missed even after the underdark. So try to beef up before entering the Elven City.

 

Depaara, I know you weren't making fun of me !
------
Nior:
"BTW, you can still do most the quests that you missed even after the underdark. "

So there's some I can't do anymore?
------
Like I said before, BG2 is my first RPG, and I love this game! I'm so proud of my party and its equipment, when in fact it's just a bunch of pixels on a monitor... and there's Planescape, the Icewind Dales, the rest of the BG saga... so much roleplaying goodness, so little time...

 

Kick Aerie, take Anomen.

*Eze and Neo wave 'Aerie sucks' banners*

 

Take Anomen he is good just give him the gauntlets of dexterity to improve his AC.

 

Already did!

 

Dude, I seriously envy you Lawnboy - I wish I could go through all those games again like it was the first time. Knowing where everything in the game is takes some fun out of it - but it's still fun!

I personally would swap Nalia for Jan, but that's me. Also, like said above, you really should get Keldorn in there somewhere - swap out Minsc if necessary. I loved Minsc, but in my experience he seemed to fail his saving throws seemingly 80% of the time. Don't know if this was from him being a total goofball with low INT and WIS, but still. His rage didn't really help because by the time I thought to use it, it was to late (most confusers, etc. do so at the start of a battle). He's funny, but not nearly as useful or powerful as Keldorn. The only thing Minsc has over him is STR, and all you need is a belt to fix that.

 

"Dude, I seriously envy you Lawnboy - I wish I could go through all those games again like it was the first time. Knowing where everything in the game is takes some fun out of it - but it's still fun!"

Lol, I know what you mean...you play a wonderful game and remember how great it was, but playing it again isn't nearly as much fun, unless it's really open-ended and replayable. Half-Life was the game that really got me into computer gaming and it was so wonderful, as it was the first time I played it of course, but also the first time I experienced a FPS other than the Wolf3d shareware! Playing it again isn't much fun because after, like, 4 or 5 years I still remember the exact locations of all enemies, while I easily forget "important" things in everyday life... That's why we must keep on buying new games.