Yet another "Perfect Party mix"

[el_kalkylus]

6 chars
great range attacks
good melee
good magic
very easy party to use
no need for buff spells all the time
easy beginning
easy middle game
easy end

1) Swashbuckler(15)/mage - daggers++, quarterstaff++
2) Ranger(13)/cleric - flail++, mace++, sword & shieldstyle++, sling++
3) Totemic druid(14)/fighter - scimitar, club, sword & shieldstyle and sling. As a totemic druid only dart and scimitar.
4) Wizard slayer(13)/thief - short bow, quarter staff, two handed weapons.
5) Skald - short bow, scimitar
6) Keldorn - two handed sword++, crossbow++, later two handed weaponstyle++

Totemic druid makes the beginning easy with fodders. Keldorn dispels magic when party is confused or when mages have protection from magical weapons etc. Keldorn can also use Carsomyr. Wizard slayer reduces magic resistance on enemies which allows the skald and mage to kill them more easily. Mostly Keldorn and wizardslayer/thief will use ranged attacks because they don't have stoneskin or ironskin. Skald will play music in tough fights to prevent confusion, fear, and add a nice bonus to AC. Ranger/cleric is the only char with cleric spells that can be much needed in some situations, for example to remove stun effects.

So I will have two characters to take the hits (ranger/cleric and druid/fighter), the rest will be in the back shooting arrows, quarrels or throwing daggers. If needed, the wizardslayer/thief and Keldorn can help out with melee. Later in the game, the wizardslayer/thief will have some nice backstabbing to do. Most of the times, monsters will just fall to ranged attacks.

The swashbuckler will dual before the wizardslayer, but only for a few thousand experience points. So there will be a period without thieving skills. Also, the druid and ranger will dual at the same time, so Keldorn will be the only char with decent fighting skill. Of course, since the druid duals into a fighter, he will become quite good fast. With Keldorn being an NPC, I can do NPC quests like a few of Jaheira's harper quest to get the items I want.

[Kyrvias]

That actually is quite a good party. Truth be told, I've been partial to dual classing characters... If bioware made 'em a thief, I'm keepin them that way...

But that's just my personal bias.

[Sir Degrader]

It would be boring as hell though. Perfect parties kinda bore me. No challenge really.

[Kyrvias]

Yeah. Kind of like Shadowkeepering yourself infinite Chain Contingencies with Three AlbiDazims at the nearest enemy... fun for awhile, but got boring.

[el_kalkylus]

Hah! I'll see how good it really is. So far they haven't died. You see, it's my ironman game. I've done several ironman games before but always died somewhere, and told myself it was just sloppiness and continued, but then I stop because I know I have cheated death which is against the (ironman) rules. So I've been looking for a perfect party so that I can finish the game and ToB tower without dying once and preferably going through the beginning and middle game as fast as possible. Then and only then I can rest in peace.

Good thing about this party as opposed to magical parties is that I can leave them on auto script most of the times. Areas which were tough before are now a walk in the park. And best of all, the party is not timeconsuming. I don't have to prepare for spellcombination after spellcombination to make them kill most efficiently. Been there done that, now it's time for something different like my "Perfect Party".

[SixOfSpades]

El_kalkylus, that is indeed a strong party, but you seem light on Wizard spells (your Swashbuckler->Mage is the only one, although the Wizard Slayer->Thief can use scrolls & Wands), and overly heavy on Priest spells: The Totemic->Fighter Dual is a strong one (although I myself would wait until I had a few Druid HLAs), but when offset by the Ranger->Cleric, completely redundant.

Originally posted by el_kalkylus: 6 chars great range attacks good melee good magic very easy party to use no need for buff spells all the time easy beginning easy middle game easy end

Hmm....my criteria are somewhat different:

The Tank is a HELLA Tank
Everybody but the Tank has some spellcasting power
Everybody but the Tank has good range attack
Everybody's a Warrior
All Thieving skills (except Pockets) are covered ASAP
Both sides of the Priest scroll are covered
At least 1.5 Wizards
Weapon proficiencies spread out and consistent
Somebody can use Carsomyr

With that in mind, I'd say that the perfect party is:
Halfling Fighter/Thief (Tank in BG2, Backup Tank in early BG1)
Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric (Tank in early BG1, Backup Tank in BG2)
Elven Fighter/Mage
Gnomish Fighter/Illusionist
Elven Fighter/Thief/Mage
Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric/Mage

In BG1, when the game is ruled by Fighters, these guys can wear Plate and Helmets, and shoot lots & lots of Arrows. In SoA, when the game is ruled by spellcasters and Saving Throws, these guys have got spellpower up the wazoo--and Halfling Fighters have the exact same Saves as Dwarven Fighters. In ToB, when the game is ruled by Multiclasses, especially Multiclassed Warriors, well....you can see for yourself. True, it's likely that the two tripleclassed Mages will never be able to cast Time Stop, so either one of them can be regarded as (temporarily) optional in BG2, if having two TimeStop-capable Fighters is not enough for you.

[el_kalkylus]

SixOfSpades, I see your points. You said I have too many priests spells. That may be, but what I really want is their fighting abilities and ironskin, and of course chaotic command. The totemic druid makes the beginning so much easier that I wouldn't like to be without him. And since the druid doesn't have cleric spells, I also want a ranger/cleric. Pretty much that's how I reason. I can imagine making a fighter/mage and let it run around with tenser transformation active all the time and kicking butt too. That would be one nice monster absorber. My problem with your kind of party though is that it would take too long to play with. The bard can identify everything, otherwise I would have to pay to get them items identified or use spells, and preparing for each night would take longer. The multiclassed chars also levelup slowly.

The thing about humans is that they get bonuses from previous classes. Come to think of it, it was probably a bad idea to make the ranger/cleric a human since I don't take any advantage of the rangers kit and dualling into a fighter is better than dualling into a cleric, so a multiclassed ranger/cleric is probably the better choice. The drawback is that the half-elf ranger/cleric cannot put 3 proficiency points into two weaponstyle, but that doesn't matter since it should use a shield anyway.

The party tried to kill the shadowdragon just now, but failed. One char was lost, so I'm gonna start over again. This time with a few small changes. Wzardslayer will be a kensai instead with grandmastery in daggers, and ranger/cleric will be a half-elf. The ranger/cleric will be the main tank in the beginning, almost alone followed by Keldorn and totemic druid.

[Kyrvias]

Why do you need Keldorn? You could just as easily make your own inquisitor, with a better dex, con, etc.

[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by el_kalkylus: The totemic druid makes the beginning so much easier that I wouldn't like to be without him. And since the druid doesn't have cleric spells, I also want a ranger/cleric. Pretty much that's how I reason.

Okay, that all makes sense, I just don't think that having some really good free summons early in the game is enough to justify that much change to your final party makeup. In long-endurance fights later in the game, I think you're really going to be hurting if you only have 1 Wizard's spellbook to use.

My problem with your kind of party though is that it would take too long to play with. The bard can identify everything, otherwise I would have to pay to get them items identified or use spells, and preparing for each night would take longer. The multiclassed chars also levelup slowly.

The slower level gain is of course the price one pays for going multiclass--but I think the only thing I'm really going to mind is having to wait twice as long before anybody can cast Time Stop. But when I think about the number of Greater Whirlwinds and the like this crew will be able to unleash per day, I get all tingly.

The drawback is that the half-elf ranger/cleric cannot put 3 proficiency points into two weaponstyle, but that doesn't matter since it should use a shield anyway.

Yes, they can. My R/C, F/M, and F/I will be Dual-wielders, my F/T/M and F/C/M will be Two-Handers, and my F/T will be Sword & Shield.

One char was lost, so I'm gonna start over again.

I know how you feel. I felt like such an idiot when I let my F/T get trapped. Now I have to roll stats for them all over again. Good luck with your crew!

[TheCrimsomBlade]

I always play the game in multi-player so if I loose a character by some stupid mystake I can rebuild him
and replace him rather then start the game all over.
Then again I'm a firm believer in the gate keepers and to many they consider this cheating.
I completed the whole series at least 8 times from
BG then Tales of the swordcoast then shadows & Bhaal
long befor ever using the keepers.
But I commend you for starting the whole game over only thing That I do different is that I start at
BG 1 every time I play the series so that BG 2 has a reason to begin.