New Party

Remove all ads!

So what 6-character party should I use to get the most use of the items in the game? I haven´t really played the game for a while, so any suggestions would be hot. I have HOW and TOTL.

 

Why not just go for every class available? Then you wouldnt miss anything.

Human paladin using longswords
Half elven ranger/cleric
Half elven bard
Half elven fighter/druid
Elven thief
Elven mage

I have used this party once before and nothing could stand up to it.

 

The party posted above is a powerful one and would cover all the bases for class-specific items. You may wish to take a Gnome mage, or aonther class, in order to benefit from the rather useful helm in Kuldahar.

Additionally, if you are the kind of player who will carry on even if a party member dies, you will find the two elves costly to ressurect in comparison to raising the non-elves.

 

Thieves and mages are not front line combatants (unless your backstabbing) and so as long as you take precautions like the mage always having one invisibility spell memorised and the thief having 2 or 3 potions of invisibility if you get stuck in a tight spot you should be perfectly all right. I prefer elves over the other races for the mage spot because of the bonus to DEX and the enchantment resistance but I suppose you could take a halfling for the last positions.

 

Single classed Mages and single classed Thieves stink.

You're much better off making one multiclassed character cover both bases, and adding a Fighter in there.

 

They may not be front-liners but we all have battles where things don't go exactly to plan. Anyway, more to the point: if they are not meant for the front line then they don't need strength all that much and would do fine as halflings.

However, my opinion is largely in line with Klorox here: you'd be better off combining the mage and thief into one multi-classed character, thus freeing up a slot for another, more useful, character.

 

- You need a paladin for the paladin only longsword
- You need a bard for the bard only items
- In order to cast all level 7 spells you need a pure or dualclassed cleric, druid and (specialist) mage (unless you play a double XP difficulty)
- For the helm of the trusted defender you need a good aligned gnome or halfling who can wear a helm (fighter/thief or cleric)
- there are a few items only pure (specialised) mages can wear.

Human paladin
Dwarf, Gnome or halfling fighter/thief
Halfling cleric (good aligned)
Human or HE druid
Gnome illusionist
HE bard

Powergamers would replace the pure spellcasters with dualclassed versions.
An easier to handle but very powerful party would be:

Dwarf axe-fighter
Gnome fighter/thief (good aligned)
HE fighter/druid
Human ranger7/cleric
Human fighter3 or 7/illusionist
HE bard

There are many ways to build a good party. Post what you have in mind and you'll receive some concrete suggestions for improvement.

 

Any concerns about alignments and items? I really don´t remember any of the alignment restrictions on the various magical weapons etc.

 

The best short sword (heals HP with each hit) can only be used by non-good characters.
But you'll find better weapons later.

 

I like NG-Teams (Neutral good) because every party-Member can get an extra attack with "Righteous Wrath of the Faithful":

Fighter(9)->Wizard (Larger Sword or Halberts)
Fighter(9)->Cleric (Mace)
Ranger-Cleric (HE)
Fighter-Thief (Halfling) or Fighter-Illusionist (Gnome) or Fighter-Thief (Gnome)
If Fighter-Illusionist then Fighter-Thief (Elven, Sniper)

Randoms:
Fighter-(Thief-Mage) (bow, med. swords, elven)
Bard (HE) or Druid(-Fighter) (songs or teamheals, diplomate)

 

If you're looking for power, drop the Bard unless you have TotLM.

Also, Paladins make great tanks, but you'll actually dish out more damage with a Fighter and Grandmastery.

 

The most powerful party I played was a mixed bag of tricks and tanks:

Human fighter LG, single handed weapons
Human fighter NE, two handed weapons
Elf Fighter/Thief CN, Ranged weapons
Dwarf Fighter/Cleric NG, single handed weapons
Half elf Cleric/Mage NG, ranged weapons
Human Mage LN, ranged weapons

This party had nearly all angles covered several times over. Two straight class fighters were perfect tanks with great THAC0s and lots of HPs.
The Figher/Thief was sniper and mage killer with a magical composite longbow, plus he took care of all the traps and locks, and could hide in shadows well enough to flank many enemies before opening up.
Two multi clerics did slow down the speed at which I got healing magic, but with one up front with the tanks and one in back with the mage, I was always covered.
Two mages could really bang out the artillery damage from afar and the human was a specialist conj.
Four total fighters in armor and with good HP and THAC0s meant that I did have too much to worry about all that often.

Best party I ever played!

 

Hmm, so a Paladin with Pale Justice won´t really "cut" it, or?

 

Don't get me wrong. I love paladins. I've played more paladins in BG, BG2 and NWN than any other characters. Clerics and Fighter/Clerics are a close second.

The problem in IWD is that paladins just don't have enough pluses, like in the other games, to warrent having one.

My best party was a pure power party. Not really a RP party. Hell, I think the highest CHA score was a 10 in the entire party!

Two pure fighters meant that they were both always the same level with nearly identical HP totals.

I thought Grand Mastery out weighed a slightly slower advancing paladin that could not go past specialist.

 

My choice would be

1) Gnome Fighter. Tank, with great saves and after level 9 deals out oodles of damage. Axes and hammers

2) Human Ranger duals to Cleric. Great Apr early on, becomes more of a buffer and alternate tank late. Dual early (level 7 or 9). Flails and then maces.

3) Half-Elf Fighter/Druid. Access to all the nasty druid spells, shape change with fighter THAC0, and all sorts of other goodness. This one is tough to play as a dual class, and benefits from high fighter levels. Scimitars to start.

4) Elf Fighter/Thief. Elf because I'd use him mostly as the archer/backstabber. Longbows and longswords to use elf bonus. Will add daggers to use poisonous daggers in the middle of IWD. Could easily be a halfling or even dwarf to improve saving throws.

5) Human Fighter dualled to mage somewhat later, level 9 or 13. Shortbow and two-handed swords to start. Could be a multi-class for easier use. Archer at first and primary damage dealer at end.

6) Bard. Essential for a warrior heavy party (which this obviously is). Bonuses are spectacular for fighters. Has several very nice bard-only items. Makes no difference what weapon, because she'll be singing most of the time.

The big shortcoming here is no mage until the midgame. I don't think you need one - but if you do the F-M can be a multi. A paladin to use pale justice would be nice, but the R/C plays a similar role in this party. I'd rather have the superior casting and turing ability of the R/C.

 

Once you find Pale Justice in the last chapter it's quite nice, but the two longswords of action +4 you can find in the expansions are far better.

Paladins are great in the defensive, their "protection from evil" is cumulative with all other protection spells and lasts very long, so you have nearly permanent +2 AC and +4 saving throws.

But fighters are far better in the offense.
For grandmastery (reachable at level 9) they get a full extra attack per round, +2 thac0 and +3 damage compared to simple specialisation.
But since grandmastery requires 5 points fighters are less flexible.

 

The saving throws etc. could have the whole party from the bard and best fighter is an elven with ***** great swords 4.5 attacks with +4 Longsword and *** bow (ultimate THAC0)

For flexibility i use allways a ranger with a bonus attack in melee.

A Paladin is nice as healer in the beginning, because of the ranger->cleric (or fighter->druids or fighter->clerics)

The Party NEEDS:
a Fighter-Priest (Ranger-Cleric or Fighter-Cleric or Fighter-Druid)

a Fighter-Thief

All others are fun

Try:
Paladin
3 x Elven-fighter (Bow and Longsword) (perhaps only 2 and 1 Elven-Fighter-Thief-Mage)
1 Fighter-Thief (Gnome or Halfling)
1 Fighter(9-spear*****)-Druid

Try:
3 x Fighter(9)-Cleric (different blunt-weapons) NG
1 x Ranger-Cleric NG
1 x Fighter(9)-Transmuter NG
1 x Fighter-Thief NG
use Entropy Shield (all), Righteous Wrath of the Faithful (Cleric 1), Recitation (Cleric 2), Prayer(Cleric 3) etc. (=Super-Fast-Mega-Buff)

 

Okay, I got this:
LG Human Paladin
Longsword**
Greatsword**

NG Half-elf Bard
Bow*
Crossbow*

NG Half-elf Cleric/Ranger
Flail**
Hammer**

TN Half-elf Fighter/Druid
Longsword**
Dagger**

TN Halfling Fighter/Thief
Bow**
Short sword**

LE Human fighter/dual to mage at some point.
Dagger**
Quarterstaff**

I´ll try and see what happens.

 

Pala need Xbow or Bow **
Fighter Mage ** also (x-)Bow and ***** in good melee-weapon (i like greater swords) - with level 9 wizard

 

As mentioned, single-classed mages and thieves aren't worth much in IWD.

If you have HOW, bards and druids live the life.

They live the life.