Critique of party composition

[marsh_viking]

My present party is as follows:

Main = Ranger with 18/96 str, 18 dex +++ to two weapon style. Presently fighting with the +2 LS that heals 1pt on a hit and his offhand weap is the +2 SS that allows an xtra attack / round.

I also have the Hammer of Thunderbolts and the Gaunts of Ogre Str...upon my exit from the Planar Sphere I'll be headed to buy that girdle of giant Str in Trademeet and attack 4x/round with two of them being an activated Hammer of Thunderbolts.

Once I get Minsc's hammer skill up I'll probably transfer the combo to him and make him my golem-smasher.

For now Minsc is my "swing man" doing either tank or archer duty as the need arises.

Korgan / Valygar / Amoen - Need some help here...Korgan will be a non-option soon because of my party's reputation. Valygar..dunno..he seems kinda sissy. I'm thinking of whupping that Red Dragon, getting the Holy Avenger and taking Amoen into service. Any ideas?

Yoshimo - I dualed him to Fighter Thief when he was a 7th lvl thief...not really sure this was a good idea or not cuz I've gone a long time without thieving help for traps, etc. At his next level up he gets his thieving skills back

The upside is that with the Tuigan (sp?) bow and ++++ to his bow skill, he's pretty effective missile cover.

I use he and Aerie in a combo: Aerie Breaches an opposing spell caster and once he's breached, Yoshi opens fire and the bad guy usually doesn't get off another spell.

Jahiera - Can't imagine going into the world without my portable M*A*S*H unit...and while her offense isn't great, she does provide good support and the occasional shape change if another tank is needed

Aerie - Cleric / Mage. It doesn't suck [img]smile.gif[/img]

So of course my main will stick. And I kinda like Yoshimo...the sight of three arrows / round fired with ++++ skill just does my heart good. Jahiera will also likely stick. As will Minsc.

So I'll have my main and Minsc as tanks with Minsc and my main both capable of missile fire should the need arise with Yoshimo as a dedicated archer.

In addition, I'll have Jahiera for support / heal.

So my question becomes this:

Of course I need a mage...but do I stay with my present one mage configuration and pick up Amoen as a Tank or press Nalia back into service once I rescue her and run a dual-mage configuration?

Or are there other characters that would provide better help that I'm not considering?

I'm presently in Chapter Three and rounding out my quests before I move on.

[Ranger of Life]

Well, if you want a mage, no matter what allignmant i would go for the enchanter at the shadow guild's place where you have to find prove for the leader's treachory. Imoen is not much of a tank because she can't really fight or anything. Anyway, if you want a someone who can lockpick pick up the bard who is held by the wizard under the sewers in bridge district. Also, there is a pretty good thief in I think umar hills. He will give you a cool quest with a planar sphere where u go to different dimenstions. Good XP. Barely any kick ass weapons. Its pretty fun though.

[Ranger of Life]

Yoshimo will betray you later so you might wanna replace him with somebody else
valdyar is a good bet, imoen is pretty much useless for me cause she is too...err...weak, even as a mage/thief. You should abandon Yoshimo before taking up the quest in entering and getting out imoen from spellhold.

[marsh_viking]

ACH!!!!!!!!

My archer is going to betray me??????????

Son of a biscuit !!!!!!!!!!

I realize I got a few names jumbled in my earlier post...but thanks for all the input [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Ranger of Life]

sorry. maybe i should not have told u that about yoshimo...damn,,, i spoiled it for you...i am so sorry

[marsh_viking]

Grrr.... (sorry about the inconsistencies)

To be more specific...

When I typed Amoen I presume eveyone took it as a mis-spell of "Imoen". It was a mis-spell of Amonen (or whatever the correct spelling is...the fighter guy) but I meant to say "Keldorn" (isn't he the Paladin?) anyway.

The idea is to get him his Holy Avenger and press him into tank duty. I guess I'll hang on to Valygar (sp again...haven't played long enuff to burn these names to memory)and teach him a thing or two about archery since that little rapscallion cutpurse will betray me.

[Hayashi]

I'd take Keldorn over Anomen - his dispel magic ability (at 2x his level) is really useful vs magic users.

[Ranger of Life]

anyway, the best tanks that i would proably pick is keldorn, and minsc, two should be plenty, and yourself, get one mage, one thief, and whats that wingless elf's name....errr....aerie, thats right. Bye kick some ass for Boo
(go for the eyes boo)

[Daniel_M]

Well my party is as follows:

Me: Kensai/Mage 16/20, CG
Minsc (and boo)
Imoen
Aeire
Jan
Keldorn

[marsh_viking]

Ranger, no worries...if I didn't want spoilers I would have said so [img]smile.gif[/img]

Realistically I have a limited amount of time to play the game so I'm more concerned with not missing anything than I am at having something revealed.

I usually alt+tab thru adventures anyway.

Thanks for the comments / advice, everyone