Party help, please...

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Ok, I am now playing BG2 again but this time, I'm going to try to do most of the subquests if not all.

Now, to the topic: I have a bit of a problem with my party because it's kind of weak on hand to hand combat and better at spellcasting. Minsc is the heart of my attack force and that's it. He's the ONLY fighter/ranger/paladin in my party so please help.

My party: 1)Me (Monk) 2)Jaheira (Druid) 3)Minsc (Ranger) 4)Yoshimo (Bounty Hunter) 5)Aerie (Mage/Cleric) 6)Nalia (Mage)

P.S: Aerie has become Minsc's witch.

 

Minsc is a great tank and you have different options available, as a ranger he starts with ++ in Two weapon style so you could consider dual wielding this way the enemies would be more likely to attack him instead of the rest of your party.

Jaheira is a very decent fighter if you give her a shield a good armour and a weapon she is specialized with. I often use her as a decoy since she gets a low AC and as a druid will have a very nice spell: Ironskins.

What level is your Monk? At higher levels monks are really powerful but when you start the game they're not that good. You'll run into problems if you let him get hit too much since his Ac and offensive power are not that great (yet).

Yoshimo is very useful with his traps (better thrown before running into your opponents) otherwise keep him out of harm's way and give him a bow. Backstab is very good but if you don't want him to be surrounded and die give him some invisiblity potion and ring, this way he could backstab a second time or run for safety (boots of speed help).

You have plenty of spellcasting power and it is going to get even better when your party will have gained a few levels. Read the spells' description, experiment and try different combinations have your casters work together. The right spells can turn a very hard fight into a walk in the park.

This party is fine, it will get much more powerful once the Monk levels up and the casters get the most powerful spells. Obviously you have to use magic, disable your enemies, trap them, backstab them, it all works. A strong figther with very good saves can still be taken out with evocation spells if he doesn't have magic resistance. If he has use summons as decoys and hit him with arrows and bullets.

If you want to do all subquests try to leave a slot in your party for new NPCs that you're only going to have in your party on a temporary basis.

 

having only one primary tank/melee is not good. In my experience, Jaheira doesn't seem to get hurt that much (good DEX + good CON + dumb luck I think), but she doesn't seem to dish out good damage either.

Your Monk would make a decent melee fighter in the end, but I'm kinda bothered by his low HP in the beginning and you MIGHT die a lot. I've never used a Monk in BG2, so what I'm about to say will pertain more to IWD2.

Since you're kinda low on the melee department, use your spell casters to Doom/cast negative status changes on your opponents. I HATE entangle, coz I end up getting entangled as well unless you're an all range combat party. Bless, Doom, Greater Malison, Confusion, Haste and Defensive Harmony are all good buffs/spells to cast on yourselves and your opponents. Power Word Sleep also does wonders here...sleep that annoying dude, surround, hack...hehehe, brings me back to my Warcraft 3 days with the DL!

 

I wasn't certain if you wanted spoilers, so I didn't put any in.

Minsc and Jaheira can tank as well as anybody. Give Jaheira a club, shield and the better armor to start. As she gets more proficiency points, stick one in dagger - there are good ones to be found. She has a point in scimitars, so be looking out for those - the Trademeet quest lets you find one of best ones, Belm. Give Minsc the best armor as his dexterity is lower than Jaheira's. I usually leave him with a two-handed sword, but since he's the only one (so far) to be able to use all weapon types, dual-wielding is okay. For both, memorize at least one Ironskins for Jaheira and all the Armors of Faith for Minsc. When your monk gets up there in levels, he/she'll be a decent fighter.

You can always try summoning monsters to help out. Jaheira gets Call Woodland Beings (summons a nymph) lvl 4 and Summon Fire Elemental lvl 5 pretty early. Aerie has Animate Dead lvl 3, plus whatever mage spells she knows. Nalia is the same. If you can get the summoning scrolls for either to memorize, you can use those.

Yes, Minsc does adopt Aerie. Be careful if she gets attacked by any bad guys! Minsc goes berserk.

 

For better hand to hand combat:
If you want to increase the attack skill then buy the girdle of hill giant strength from Ribald and cast the strength spell(mage level 2) after resting on your other melee characters until they have 18/00.
For defensive: Always have protection from evil 10 foot radius cast on your party for long lasting +2 AC. Barkskin might help your monk.
Even your mages can tank with stoneskin, mirror image, blur and armor spells.
There are of course many other spells which can help like (improved) haste and improved or mass invisibility.

 

Jaheira (as others have already said) is a very servicable tank, especially after she gets the ability to cast ironskin. Now, if you had, say another spell cast instead of her, I'd agree you were too light in the melee department. Also, your monk is a melee fighter waiting to happen. Monks (IIRC) use the cleric's XP table, so they level pretty quickly at the higher levels. It will take some time, but by the time you reach around 2 million XPs, you'll have three very usable frontline tanks, and you really only have to have two - which already exist in your party.