Your group (hello!)

[Rohan]

Business has been slow what with the iron shortage an' all.
But that's not that point.
I'm just interested as to what combination of classes make up the best group? and indeed which people make up the best group? My friend who got me into BG doesn't like mages, though he duals Imoen in one when she's gained enough skills for his liking. I haven't quite decided yet.
I personally like Rangers, so my main is one - and I know that I want Imoen in my group but other than that I can't decide whether to have Khalid and Jaheira, Ajantis and Branwen - or drop Khalid and Jaheria and go for Me/Imoen/Ajantis/Branwen/Xan/???? (Kivan). But then I'll have two Rangers. Help! I was fine till I came here hehe

[enigma]

Your party can depend on you alignment as well as your personal tastes. Some people like to load their parties with fighters, and some prefer lots of mages. (Your friend must be the exception )

But for the record, if you're a ranger, I wouldn't reccomend picking up Kivan. He's a good character, but leaving him out would give you space for another character with other abilities that will benefit the group more. Each group should have atleast on healer, one spellcaster, one or two main fighters, and possibly a thief if you like.

If you're good or neutral aligned (I'm assuming this based on the characters you listed) You want Khalid as a fighter. I personally think he's one of, if not THE best fighter NPC in the game. Adjantis does pretty good as well with a two handed sword.

As for spell casters, Xan may have that pretty moonblade, but his hitpoints are low, and he's an enchanter- which means he can't cast invocation spells (like magic missile) that are the most nessecary spells to have. I'd reccomend rescuing Dynaheir, you can have her in your party without having to look for Minsc. Imoen's also very capable as a theif/mage, if you're not a theif yourself. If you're evil, I'd go with Edwin.

Healer-wise, I think Yeslick is good, but you can't pick him up until ch.4. Branwen is compatable, but she's neutral and complains a lot if your rep. is not to her liking. Jaheira is plain awful unless you like druids. If you want Khalid- but not her, send her alone into a house, then remove her from the party. She can't initiate dialogue with the main character. And again if you're evil, Viconia is worth having, even though you loose rep. points for having a drow in your party.

And if you want a theif, Imoen is tops in my opinion. I hope I've helped somewhat. happy gaming.

[ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: enigma ]

[ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: enigma ]

[Lemernis]

Well, as for party balance you want at least one full healer (cleric or druid), one full thief, one full mage, and the rest should be fighter types (fighter, ranger, paladin) for the first time through the game. It's fine to have two or even three rangers in your party, btw, as they are powerful fighters.

Another consideration is whether you intend to play a party of good/neutral alignment or a party that includes some evil characters, i.e., a mixed alignment party. I don't want to spoil you but the latter option does place some restrictions on how you play, and requires a fairly high level ability level in one particular attribute for your protagonist, in order to keep such a party together.

For a very strong good aligned party might enjoy:

you/ranger
Imoen
Minsc
Kivan
Branwen
Dynaheir

Ajantis, Coran, Minsc, and Kivan can be used more or less interchangeably as good aligned fighter types--any of those four will do, really. Ajantis is the weakest of the four, though, IMO.

There is a way to break up NPC pairs so that you could use either Khalid or Jaheira separately, although something like that is implausible from the roleplaying perspective. Up to you--let me know if you want to know how that's done.

For a mixed alignment party you might try:

you/ranger
Imoen
Kivan
Garrick; replace with Coran
Viconia
Edwin

As an evil cleric, Viconia eventually will have the ability to assume control of the undead, and her high dex makes her a good shot with the sling. Edwin is the strongest mage in the game. And Kivan and Coran make a very powerful archer duo. Coran's 20 dex makes him an amazing archer, especially when he's equipped with items that improve those skills. maybe you can try Garrick out to see what bard skills are like until Coran becomes available. If not, then Shar Teel or Kagain are both good tanks you could use.

[Witch King]

When you mentioned Ajantis i'd save getting him till quite late on in the game. Thats when i got him and he was level 7. I mate of mine got him before he went to nashkel and he was level 2. P.S Could anyone shed any light on this?

quote:

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Originally posted by Witch King:
When you mentioned Ajantis i'd save getting him till quite late on in the game. Thats when i got him and he was level 7. I mate of mine got him before he went to nashkel and he was level 2. P.S Could anyone shed any light on this?

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I think this depends on what level you are when you first enter the area that this NPC is in. If you go up north (Ajantis map) when you're say, level 3, chances are he'll be around that level too. Your mate obviously did this a little later in the game, and picked him up at level 7. Quite good that the game does this, it ensures you almost always have a pretty well-balanced party.

[Chris77Se]

@ enigma:

Hm, I finished the game twice with Xan being my only mage and it worked quite good. I even didn't use any evocation spell (only on some occasions a wand of magic missile, when I needed quick fire support to disrupt an enemy spellcasters concentration). I relied a lot on fighters, missile weapons and summoned creatures. But, next time I will start over again from the beginning to the very end in ToB with a more "magical" party, with my main char being a mage/thief and Imoen dualed to mage immedatly. And this time there will be no Jah in my Party...

[Rohan]

Thanks for the suggestions guys - this is what I have at the moment - may change when I meet Coran (and/or Yeslick)

Me (Ranger)
Ajantis
Khalid
Imoen
Branwen
Dynaheir

Thanks for the solution to splitting up K and J!

I'm very proud of my Ranger's stats:
18/00
18
18
12
15
14 (16 with algernon's cloak)

Cheers guys!

[Scholarcs]

IMO, you need at least one mage, one thief and one druid/cleric, to get through the game easily.

quote:

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Originally posted by Scholarcs:
IMO, you need at least one mage, one thief and one druid/cleric, to get through the game easily.

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Exactly [img]smile.gif[/img]