Hi there!

I'm trying to get myself into this game again, for the third time, and I have a few questions before I start playing.

1. How much would I miss if I didn't take a Cleric along for their spells? I wanna keep my party small. I was thinking of taking four members through SoA and picking up a fifth for ToB. The party I'm thinking of going with is;

PC = Monk
Jaheira
Valygar
Yoshimo (replaced with Imoen when I get her back)

2. Are direct damage area effect spells worth memorizing with a real-time engine (spells like Fireball)? I really didn't like how you'd target someone with a Fireball when by the time you got it casted the enemey would either by right next to your party hitting everyone with the Fireball, or you'd target the ground and their would be no enemies within the area for the spell to damage.

3. Are there hacks/MODs that make the game full turn-based, like Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor or the ability to make the game Party PVP (like Neverwinter Nights)?

1. I don't use clerics that much, so I couldn't tell you what you might miss or not. In fact, I never take one along at all unless you count when I ran through the Viconia romance. (Nerver made it through the Aerie one, she annoys me) Maybe a couple spells are nice to have along, like Negative Plane Protection, but you get enough items to do without it later.

2. I had the same problem til started casting Web before I cast Fireball. After that, I started using it too much though, and Tashia was getting most of the credit for the kills. At times, it almost seemed too cheesy.

3. Got no idea [img]smile.gif[/img]

1. You have Jaheira along, and she has Druid spells, which share many of the same ones with clerics, including most healing spells.

2. You can use the spacebar to pause the real-time and cast your spells so that you don't lose time going from character to character and trying to target spells on the fly.

3. You can also set the Auto:Pause in the Options to End of Round, this will pause the game at the end of each characters combat round for you to issue new orders. There is also an option to pause after every spell cast to only worry about your magic-users.

That's a risk you have to take when using AoE spells. I usually let loose with a fireball when I see the enemies coming, and target the middle ground between us, and hope that by the time the fireball goes off, the enemies will be there. (Some AoE spells need an initial target, some don't. If a target is needed to cast the spell, well, that's why Bioware included summoned monsters. :D )

1.You'll miss a lot of spells and tactics for sure. There are priest spells what are similar to the mage spells, but also a lot of unic ones. Jaheira is pretty good, but hard to advance due to her dual class.

I'll recomnd you Keldorn instead of Volygar, but it is up to you of course.

2.Let me tell you something about that sort of spells. First there are area damage spells that do not affect your party. Second if you'll use fireball in the middle of the party why don't you protect them from fire first? - protect your party from the damage and then cast the spell - MR also does the job. Third I'll provide you with the basic power of the low level ones: Infront of you is the enemy group - you just need to stay on the distance so they can not see you. Now start casting (on the end of your sight) in this order web. entangle, slow, greater ma(the spell that lowers the ST),emotion , stinking cloud, cloud kill, ice storm, fireball, fireball, ... . In the most cases the enemy will be dead even before he have saw you. This of course is only presentation of the spells. I do not reccomend you this style of fight (I usually used it to beat enemy groups more stronger than mine).

Thanks for all the advise. I think I will take Keldorn insted of Volygar, I think he'll fit into my party a bit better.

I have one more question. Would Aerie be worth taking along until I get Imoen back? I was thinking it might be a good idea to have a Mage around and the extra healing/buffing wouldn't hurt either. Right now it's just Jaheira, Yoshimo, and myself.

hmmm...maybe Nalia would do better, since you already have some divine spells, and Aerie takes so long to level up. but, its up to you.

Actually, if you want mage abilities, but still want to keep the party small, go get Jan. He's an illusionist/thief (he can't cast necromancy spells, but you could miss out on those will little or no problem). He will be strong enough in thief to take out traps and locks, and still give you some mage power. Replace Yoshimo with him, and you'll have a smaller party with strong enough thieving and wizard abilities to boot.

Jaheira is plenty enough priest to handle the healing in your party. You'll miss out on turn undead, but there are other items and tactics that are effective in taking out undead.

Keldorn is definitely a better fit, just to have an armored tank up front. Until later levels, monks can be a little weak at times, so having the armored tank up front helps immensely. And, if you really want to go without any wizardry whatsoever, his abilities are extremely useful for taking out enemy wizards.