Party Advise

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The problem is, to get her really early you need to pass the temple map which has vampiric wolves, etc. Generally, the party don't have too many +1 weapons and can get easily stuffed by those wolves.

I try and play each map with the knowledge my character would have and not the advanced knowledge I have of each map/enemy. Otherwise it gets too easy.

But you're right, she is good and might be worth trying out. I suppose I could just run when I see the wolves, pick up sharteel and skip straight back to Beregost.

 

Actually, chances are, your character WOULD miss the wolves. The vampiric ones are on the far northeastern corner of the map. If you went straight across the map, you'd hit some hobgoblins, but you would not be anywhere near the wolves. In fact, unless you tend to explore the entire map, there's a good chance you wouldn't run into any vampiric wolves. Also as you said, you could run - they are at the side of the map afterall. Of course, that wouldn't be RP either.

 

Avoiding them on purpose wouldn't be role-playing, but running probably would. Maybe Jaheira could step in to protect the party with entangle, it fails, she gets frozen and then we run because we know we can't beat them. Deals with Jaheira at the same time.

I suppose we could avoid the Bassilisks, as Shar-teel could have warned us about them and we avoid them until later.

As you say, Shar-teel does have good stats. Her CON lets her down badly for a fighter, however, this is fixable. There are potions of fortitude (CON=18) which I could use for major fights and potions heroism also help.

Those monster hands (cant remember what they're called) available from high hedge, they reduce CON by 1. Could shar-teel wear these without obtaining a hp penalty? In fact are they even worth thinking about?

So, Shar-teel now seems a possibility but what position does she play within the party? I do love her personality and her quotes.

These are all the possibles at present .....

PC - Thief or Bard
Tank - Khalid
Archer - Kivan or Coran or Shar-teel
Priest - Viconia or Jaheira
Mage - Imoen (dualled)
Thief (PC Bard) - Safana or Coran
Other (PC Thief) - Bard or Mage or Priest or Fighter

 

Why not making your own party with Multiplayer - Serial, it isn't via the internet and so you get complete control over you party.

I did it once, was very cool, cause you could put a evil thief to killing and robbing everyone while your Paladin (not fallen) is still being loved by everyone.

I think this adds a whole new experience to the game.

 

I really like the NPCs in BG. Trouble is, there are too many of them that are fun to play. Hence the reason for this.

I play IWD a lot when I want to create my own party. Great fun.

 

Well, i am playing IW + HOW again for a week now with a male paladin, female cleric, male fighter/thief, male ranger, female druid and an female mage. they are between level 4 and 9 now.
The only thing is that i don't like multi-classes that much.

 

I have tried playing IWD with a similar party to BG1, but you get stuffed. It needs much more of a power-gamer approach. Still very good and it is great when your main character dies and the game doesn't end.

This is one of the reasons I like BG1 so much, you can attempt to role-play it more. I like most of the NPCs and always have a hard time trying to decide who to take.

It's funny. I nearly always play a Paladin on the front-line in IWD as well, but in BG1 I believe there are some choices that don't suit a Paladin and you wouldn't make if you were role-playing, but need to in order to complete the game (does this make sense?).

I love playing evil (my best game ever was as an evil mage/thief), but I have issues not taking Imoen (as she is central to the whole story) and she doesn't seem to fit an evil party too much.

 

Bard wrote

Not really as she's not good enough to be comparable to the fighters. Multiclass fighters get one lower basic THAC0 due to the fact that their fighter level will always be lower than a single class fighter. Multiclass also loses out on weapon specialization, being limited to "Specialised".
Coran is the single exception with his Mastery in Missile Weapons.

Jaheira: Str 15, Dex 14, Con 17
Seriously lacking in both strength and dexterity as well as being a F/D makes her a bad choice and the only reason I would take her along would be for role playing reasons. Compare Jaheira with Yeslick and the only thing in Jaheira's advantage is that you get her earlier.

Good point, I forgot about that. Are you sure about that though? Its been awhile since I played, so I'm not sure the elf bonus was included.
He still doesn't come close to Coran, but you might want to bring him along for other reasons as you mentioned.

[ June 17, 2004, 11:54: Message edited by: Earl Grey ]

 

Kivan does get the bonus. It works on long words, short swords and bows. You're right it does make Coran better still as an archer.

I only mentioned Jaheira, because she has great hit points. Although she has poor str and dex, her con makes up for it. With GoD, she could stand on the front line and take lots of damage for you. All that said, I never use her this way even though she could be good.

Your list has been useful by the way and has been an easy way of checking who's best at what. Have you thought about making a document available for everyone to look at easier?

In BG2, magic is essential. I like to try and do that in BG1, but it never seems to work. Would a fighter heavy party be better (3xF,1xP,1xM,1xT), or balanced (2xF,2xP,1xM,1xT)?

Perhaps I am worrying too much about fighters and priests, and need more magic power?

The other thing I have found is that I HAVE to have my character in Slot1. This is a pain when Thief or Mage, because of low AC, but I hate using a NPC as the party leader.

 

Fighter heavy party is my choice even though I normally prefer magic-users. I rate clerics low and druids even lower.

Hmm, I think I might have posted these lists I made some years ago but couldn't find it by searching so here is the other list I made at that time (as you will see I have not factored in the Elf bonuse):

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

GoOP = Gauntlets of Ogre Power (Str 18/00)
GoD = Gauntlets of Dexterity (Dex 18)

Max missile THAC0 for Fighter (GM and GoD): +5
Max missile THAC0 for Ranger or Paladin (Specializes and GoD): +3

Max melee THAC0 for Fighter (GM and GoOP): +6
Max melee THAC0 for Ranger or Paladin (Specialized and GoOP): +4

Max extra damage for Fighter (GM and GoOP): +11
Max extra damage for Ranger or Paladin (Specialized and GoOP): +8


* Maximum THAC0 and damage bonuses for a few characters (considering only bonuses weapon specialization and starting stats)*

Khalid
Missile THAC0: +4
Melee THAC0: +3
Melee extra damage: +5

Kagain
Missile THAC0: +3
Melee THAC0: +3
Melee extra damage: +6

Shar-Teel
Missile THAC0: +5
Melee THAC0: +5
Melee extra damage: +8

Ajantis
Missile THAC0: +1
Melee THAC0: +2
Melee extra damage: +3

Minsc
Missile THAC0: +1
Melee THAC0: +3
Melee extra damage: +7

Kivan
Missile THAC0: +3
Melee THAC0: +2
Melee extra damage: +5

Coran
Missile THAC0: +6
Melee THAC0: +1
Melee extra damage: +2

 

Well, Coarn is an elf as well, so any bonus given to Kivan would apply to Coran as well.

I definitely like fighter-heavy parties, especially in BG1. There are very few instances where having magic REALLY helps, and since you're limited to spells level 5 and lower, your mages and clerics are never going to "catch up" so to speak with your direct damage characters. Once you go to BG2 this changes of course. But for BG1, I see nothing wrong with 3 fighter/paladin/rangers 1 cleric, 1 thief and 1 mage. In fact, if I am playing a multi-classed cleric/illusionist or multi-classed illusionist/thief, I usually take on 4 fighter type NPCs.

 

Great list, thanks!!

I suppose there is only 3 choices for a mage ...

1. Edwin - best mage, tons of spells
2. Imeon - dualled for role-playing purposes
3. PC

Other than these, there is no real reason to take any other mage (other than personality) as Edwin beats everyone (including the PC) hands down.

This makes my choice of mage simpler to define now, at least.

Cleric isn't quite so clear cut, other than Viccy being the best, but all the others have there merits as well. Has anyone used Tiax or Quayle? Are these viable at all?

I like the idea of a cleric/thief, but I would want a cleric of mask and can't use daggers - never mind I'll try it out in NWN later.

 

Both gnomes have major personality issues. Quayle is a bad cleric, but a pretty good illusionist, so he's actually somewhat worthwhile to have around, although you are going to need someone else as a cleric long before you reach him, as you can't get him until the beginning of chapter 5. He thinks he is vastly superior (in intelligence) to everyone else, which is kind of funny, because his Intelligence is decent, but not extrodinary, and his wisdom is barely high enough for him to be a cleric.

Tiax on the other hand is a complete waste. He isn't a particularly good cleric OR thief. His skills in both areas are mediocre at best. Plus, he thinks he is destined to rule the world. You might go nuts if you have both of these guys in your party at the same time, although combined, you WOULD have enough cleric spells. The only other point about Tiax is I seem to remember him being able to summon a ghast once per day, although by the time you get him, there's nothing particularly great about a summoned ghast. You also still have the same problem of needing an alternate choice for a cleric prior to chapter 5.

The one saving grace about Tiax is that cleric-thieves actually do have decent weapon selections. They can wield any weapon that is useable by clerics (like maces, war hammers, flails), although they cannot backstab with any weapons other than those that thieves can backstab with (which limits you to clubs and quarterstaffs). The only missile weapon allowed is slings.

 

Thanks for that. I've never really tried them before, so that clears that up. I have used Eldoth and Skie, before and although I liked them there was nothing special about them and the NPCs you have by then are better anyway.

... well I think I've finally managed to sort out my party ...

PC - Thief (Elf, Halfelf or Halfling)
Tank - Khalid
Archer - Kivan
Priest - Viconia or Jaheira
Mage - Imoen (dualled at T7)
Other - Garrick (archer, spells, wands, identify)

[ June 18, 2004, 23:02: Message edited by: Bard ]

 

PC as a single class thief?
You're probably better of either multi- or dual-classing that thief. Multiclass would be my choice.

 

I did think of a Fighter/Thief, but this seemed a bit munchkin like. I quite fancied using one of the thief kits in BG2 when I carry on into that, so a standard thief seemed better. I will by dual-classing Imoen, so the standard thief would give me more skill points later in the game.