Designing new party, some advice please

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I played the game before using one of pregenerated parties, but never got too far. Now i want to try something more versatile in terms of both role playing(at least imaginary...) and gamplay.

As you see this is rather dexterity-based approach. Do you think there are too few(or too weak?) melee characters?
(I'm not into 'ultimate powergaming', i want the game to be challenging but not overly hard of course)

I
Aasimar
Ranger (then add 4 classes of fighter)
str 16
dex 18
con 14
int 10
wis 12
cha 10
feats: snake blood

(What do you think about making drow the main fighter/ranger? Wouldn't he advance too slow?)

II
Gold Dwarf
Morninglord of Lathander (start as a fighter for weapon profs./feats/+1attack)
str 16
dex 10
con 14
int 10
wis 18
cha 8

III
Ghostwise Halfling
Rogue (later add 4 classes of barbarian)
str 12
dex 20
con 14
int 14
wis 10
cha 6
feats: two weapon fighting, (later)ambidexterity

IV
Human
Bard
str 10
dex 16
con 12
int 12
wis 10
cha 16
feats: two slots in long sword, two in crossbow

V
Human
Sorcerer
str 10
dex 12
con 12
int 14
wis 10
cha 18
feats: spell penetration, spell focus evocation

VI
Human
Druid
str 10
dex 14
con 12
int 12
wis 18
cha 10

 

I prefer of having an all human party except for my Paladin who is Aasimar. A human gets the extra feats and have no level penalties which really started to get on my nerves later on when playing a drow or other races. Your choice of a halfling is a good choice for a rogue especially with a few levels of barbarian. I would think of picking another fighter class instead of the bard because the game is very combat heavy, but, hey, why not give it a try? A choice of two healers is a good choice as well because your characters will take a lot of damage.

 

I'd agree with Newfie on switching the Aasimar Ranger to a human - the extra feats & skill points are far more valuable than the extra stat points. That, and the XP penalty will be annoying later on. And Snake Blood is pretty pointless, IMHO, unless, of course, you're roleplaying a half Yuan-ti Aasimar... Which is certainly one of the more, err, eccentric backgrounds!

As for adding extra fighters, don't bother. If you switch your dwarven Cleric from Lathander to Tempos, he'll be able to swing an axe with the best of them, especially after buffing up with spells! Don't bother adding fighter levels - he'll be better off gaining spells quicker. Tempos isn't the most devastating Domain, true, but the spells are ideal for those who feel they may need their cleric to back up the front line. Consider sacrificing some CHA for CON, though! Hopefully your Druid can back up the Bard & Sorcererer with offensive spells well enough.

I'd also try to have melee types with Power Attack & Cleave - not as lethal as in NWN, true, but well worth the initial outlay of 13 STR. Would the loss of that extra CHA point really hurt your halfling (for example) from a roleplaying point of view?

Overall, though, I like the sound of this party, especially the Ghostwise Halfling; (s)he sounds a really cool character!

 

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=132
Sorry, just couldn't resist...

Anyway, for tank/healer try battleguard of Tempus—cleric and fighter in one. Perhaps he's not that great a cleric (although he's perfect for healing), but he's a much better fighter than any other, and ranks up right there with paladins and rangers.

 

Once you get your Bard to L11, the only healing spells your cleric is going to cast are Heal, Greater Restoration, Resurrection and Mass Heal.
Then again, he should not have to as the regeneration rate from the song is trollish.

What have you thought of for your bard past L11? There really is no sence continuing far with that class past those levels.

For your Druid concentrate on shapeshifting. Take extra shapeshifting and also the Shambling Mound shape. The shapes will make you great at melee. Take a monk level for extra AC while shapeshifted. Hope you dont have the Druid rebalancing component from EoU, it's just unbalancing imo.

Ranger is a pretty useless class, unless you are taking a level for that free ambidexterity and two weapon fighting in leather armor feats. Barbarians are better as a melee class.

Non Humans are great in a small party. Since you seem to be taking a full six member party, ECL might hurt you. However the extra abilities and stat points are noting to snease at.
Consider the Drow. +4 stat points. Magic resistance. Practically immune to sleep spells (or was that from the mods). Against this are a -2ECL and -1 on rolls in sunlight.
And if you ever find your self short of Feats, take a couple of Fighter levels for 2 free feats.

 

1) Ranger is a bit underpowered in IWDII and is unfortunately only really useful as a mix-in class
2) A Drow Ranger/Fighter would suffer from XP multiclass penalties which are never worth it
3) Generally speaking, the Drow race rocks big time in this game. The minor ECL penalty is a very very small price to pay for the Drow's awesome racial benefits. Anyway, ECL penalties just help to lower your party's average level so you'll get more XP in the long run.

 

Thanks everybody for great feedback!
Somehow i didn't think about an xp penalty if one of chosen classes is not a favored one. i used to think this is just sort of 'aesthetics', pretty much like alignment in this game.

/By the way, i'm really disappointed in how your alignment is irrelevant to interactions. -A neutral evil sorcerer is the speaker for the party, and he has no choice but to help nearly everybody on his way, to greet and to wish luck. It would be reasonable if he had good reason to lie/fake such behaviour just to accomplish certain interests, but in most cases it looks just like acts of goodwill.../

So you think picking drow as a fighter and giving him later maybe two levels of some specialist wizard class, would be a good idea in long term? Wouldn't he be at great disadvantage due to severly delayed leveling and -1 to attack most of the time? Please note i'm thinking about single game on core rules setting.
Would be at least keeping drow as a single-classed fighter or barbarian worth it?

If i took a monk instead of a druid, would it make the game harder?
I guess druid is more flexible/more fun to play as a support character, being able to cast spells as well as shapeshift when support is needed on the front line.

Do the physical stats of a druid count when in altered form?
Maybe i should raise his strength a bit? Are there some good staffs in the game so to make him more proficient in these?

I think i'll stick with Lathander (or maybe Oghma), even if he'll be a little weaker in toe-to-toe combat, it just suits me better in terms of role-playing, considering whole party picture...

What do you think about Oghma clerics? How good are the 'Power Word' spells ? I couldn't find any good FAQs about cleric domains and spells.

Good point, he's of a feral, isolated race. he doesn't have use for charisma anyway.

So he isn't going to learn much more spells after L11? If not, maybe he should become an auxiliary fighter or rogue?
Or would multiclassing him into a mage/sorcerer be more effective?
He could develop into either, from roleplaying point of view

 

I found the monk very frustrating in IWD2 because he doesn't have the hit/attack/#of attacks table of the fighter classes and just doesn't measure up to the fighter in combat. Sure he has some great abilities, but you have potions that cover all these in the other classes. With your limited rolls for abilities, the monk just has to spread too many numbers over too many abilities to be really effective.There are some good items for the monk in the game and if you are intent on playing one, make sure he is human for the extra feats.

 

You do realise that female Drow have Cleric as their favoured class. While warriors have BAB of +1/level, clerics (and druids) get .75/level. Thus a multiclassed Female Drow Fighter/Cleric (or better yet Barbarian/Cleric) will be hardly disadvantaged at the beating-monsters-to-pulp department
Of course she will be behind spell casting. But seriously, when was the last time you rested because your cleric was out of spells

I dont think Drow male Fighter/Wizard will be that great idea.
That -1 to rolls while out in the sun. Never really felt its bite. My drow still managed to hit enemies, or find traps or cast spells naturally (not the same guy ok). And, its nothing that a luck spell wont cure.

A monk is a cleric who gave up his spells to be better at fighting with his fists. In a party, a monk can also get some really insane AC. Sneak him into a camp, let him take out the mage and walk the rest in to kill all the monsters while they try their futile best to just hurt him.

A shapechanged druid gets the physical stats of the animal she now is. This means that existing physical stats (natural or from spells or items) do not count. Other buffs still count ofcourse.
Also your armor and sheild AC no longer count, which is why the monk level to compensate for the lower AC.

Personally, I am against spending points on weapons. There are other, more important feats. Some of the best weapons in the game are Polearms, although Axe and Mace are still better.

Forget the Power Words. The other spells are better.

Bards dont get a lot of spells. What is worse is that they know more spells they can cast, so they are pretty much useless after a battle or two. At level 16 a Sorcerer knows 8th level spells (which is the max a bard can go) while the bard just gets to know spells upto the 6th level.So yeah, shift him to a new carrer track at L11 (even L12 is not worth it).

 

Not at all. You only really notice it at the start of the game and a level 4 Drow is better than a level 6 anything else anyway. Remember that the lower level Drow helps you get more XP overall so that reduces the difference in level as well.

 

A party with a drow and a deep gnome (monk?) will get more experience through the first two or three chapters due to their experience points lag. Plus Harbourboy is right, low level drow kick butt early on. Once you reach 7-8 level, the point difference irons out and your party should level together. Don't get me started on adding characters throughout the game to keep your average level low!