Party members - what's your pick?

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Hi all,

I was wanting to try and complete SOA with the following party:

- PC: semi-elf ranger/cleric
- Korgan
- Jaheira
- Mazzy
- Haerdalis
- Nalia

Korgan is the best fighter in the game i think.
Jaheira equipped with a streght belt / gauntlet, is very powerful thanks to druid equivalent stoneskin spells.
I never tried to play out Mazzy or Haerdalis, so I want to try them out.
Nalia would be my wizard / thief
does this seem like a good idea, or will Nalia's weak thief skills be to much to cope with in the end? I also hesitate between Minsc and Korgan, but I think Korgan is the better tank.

FYI, the most powerful party I ever beat the game with was:
- me: half-orc barbarian
- Korgan
- Valygar
- Misnsc
- Amonem
- Jan
the pure melee firepower was really overwhelming.
Amonem was a decent healer
Jan did the job for magic / theiving

although I feel the first party I listed will be even more powerful (never realized how powerful a cleric/ranger could get: great armour + flail of ages + crom + druid stoneksin = incredible tank)
Haerdalis, from what i've read can be a terrific figter

any comments on your favorite parties?

[ July 07, 2006, 19:22: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

 

You'll need to keep Nalia stocked with thieving and mind focusing potions and even those 'useless' rings - Ring of Lockpicks from thief guild basement and Ring of Danger Sense from Planar Sphere. The rings can be a pain because she only has one free ring slot and I like her eqipping the RoW.

 

With this party, you will have problems with Nalia being your only thief, especially before getting the ring of lockpicks and ring of danger sense (which give bonuses to picking locks and finding traps, respectively). It is POSSIBLE to use Nalia as your only thief, but getting items that boost her skills is necessary, and you're still going to be investing in potions. In addition to what I listed above, the boots of stealth are helpful, as are the gloves of pickpocketing.

Still, even with these items, keep in mind that Nalia is only a level 4 thief, and she will never be very good at any thieving function. About the best you can hope for is that she can perform the minimalist thief functions with a fair degree of success (picking locks, disarming traps), but remain rather poor when it comes to stealth, backstabbing, and laying traps.

As far as Mazzy is concerned, she is an excellent fighter, and you simply have to take her along if you pick Korgan for the funny banters they have together. Because of her high dexterity and the fact that she will likely be using a shield, she'll probably have the best AC in the party, and be a frontline fighter. I recommend against using bows with her, despite her grand mastery with short bows. I also recommend giving her two stars in some one handed weapon besides short swords. Short swords are pretty wimpy in SoA as main hand weapons (although there's nothing wrong with Kundane in the offhand). Given the party you listed I would highly recommend giving her two points in flails so she can use the flail of the ages, as it doesn't appear anyone else in the party will be using it.

There's nothing wrong with Haer Dalis', however the bard's strength in combat usually comes from soloing. In a party setting, he's going to be less useful as a fighter. In your party his primary role is going to be backing up Korgan, Mazzy, and your PC, being a backup mage to Nalia, and taking care of your pickpocketing duties. Having said that, since you already have plenty of beef up front, I'd be more inclined to take Jan, who could fulfill all of your thieving needs, and will be just as good if not better than Haer Dalis' as a backup mage.

 

I'd recommend your magic be a conjurer. DEMONS! DEMONS EVERYWHERE!

 

IMO Haer Dalis really doesnt contribute much to that if indeed any party. Youd probably be better taking Jan or Kelsey (if your using the Mod). Or you could swap Nalia for Jan and take Haer Dalis anyway if you really wanted him for any specific roleplay purpose?

 

My parties depend heavily on the theme, but I always try to work Minsc and Jan in whenever I can. The humor they bring to the game never seems to get stale or repetitive for me, and it's the best part of the interaction IMO. But I simply cannot stand Anomen or Nalia's personalities so I use them as little as possible. Anomen is actually pretty decent in battle, but Nalia is a crap thief. You're better off taking Yoshimo to Spellhold and getting Imoen.

 

I agree will Fel

 

No matter how hard I try, I always end up with the same kind of party (which is the one I used when I played for the first time).

-Keldorn
-Minsc
-Jaheira
-Jan
-Me!
-Aerie

My character is usually either a ranger, mage or fighter/mage.

It's probably not the most powerful party out there, but I love it. Keldorn is a powerful warrior with useful abilities. Minsc is also a powerhouse, but he can be used to scout as well. Jaheira is a good character overall, bringing important healing spells. Along with minsc, I find it really hard not to have her because she is also in my BG1 party (and I always go through BG1 before BG2). Jan is simply too funny to ignore. I feel somewhat bad dumping Imoen to have him, but I just like his turnip jokes. Aerie is, IMO, a really underrated character. Having both mage and cleric spells on one character is extremely useful. She's also my character's love interest

 

The current party im playing through is:

Honduran (PC), Male, Half-Elf, Cleric/Ranger
Keldorn
Minsc
Kelsey
Aerie
Imoen

Im finding it one of my easyiest run throughs, probably because the PC and Kelsey are overpowered. I miss Jaheira but theres no way i can fit her into the party, i could swap her for Aerie but thats the PC's romance so would pretty much screw up the RP aspect.