Perfect MP 4 Person Party

[Rockstar]

Hi guys,

thought i'd start a thread to see what some people see to be the ultimate 4 person powerhouse. Here we are talking powergaming and the strongest player party that covers all bases that the game requires (i.e. Healing, Theiving (traps disarm, etc), melee, ranged combat and casting. There are obviously multiple solutions to this. I've put down just one of mine that i thing would pass the game relatively comfortably. Can't wait to see what others put down!

-PARTY 1-
1) Human Fighter/Mage - Duel to mage at level 8 and specialise in longbows to serve as long distance caster
2) Human Inquisitor - Two Handed Swords and Longbow, his dispel magic and truesight will make short work of even high level spell casters
3) Dwarven Battlerager - Spec in duel axes and later war hammers too (duel wield crom fayer and axe of unyielding)
4) Half-Orc Thief/Cleric - Specialise in sword and sheild style and slings and bows. He covers thieving and healing.

[Rockstar]

Here's a question for you six of spades. How powerful is an inquisitors dispel magic? Would it be safe to presume you could true sight even the most powerful of mages unless they cast the cream spells like spell trap? I know it makes short work of low level protections but how well does it work late game? Is he good enough to rely on as your magic debuffer?

[Armen]

hmm - off the top of my head:

i'd agree with inquisitor

i never play fighter/mages meself but i agree re the power - although should be a multiclass rather than dual i think and one of your frontline fighters with PFMW

i'm not sure about thief/cleric - for power i think i'd go for a thief (10-ish) dualled to cleric (unless you count high level traps as power but i always think you either use them or you don't - and they're hard not to exploit) - oo - the multi should be a gnome i think for the saving throws

with two frontliners now you should probably get a sorcerer instead of the berserker

[SixOfSpades]

When building "perfect" parties, I try to start with what qualities I want, rather than the kinds of people I want. For me, this is what's important:
* As many people as possible have a good chunk of Warrior levels
* As many people as possible can wear Full Plate
* At least 1 person always gaining levels as a Thief
* The Tank must have excellent Saving Throws
* As many people as possible (except the Tank) are spellcasters
* At least 1 person always gaining levels as a Mage (except in BG1)
* Both sides of the Priest scroll (Cleric and Druid) are covered
* As few people as possible restricted to using Slings

After all that, I designed 2 Multiplayer parties--one of them was all Humans (most of them Dual-Classed), the other all demihumans (all of them Multi-Classed). I think I'll sit on my "results" for a little while longer, though.

Rockstar: Why would you make the Fighter->Mage Dual at Level 8? You don't gain anything important at that level. Usually, the best times to Dual are right after you gain a new Weapon Proficiency point, a Saving Throws bonus, a increase to your ApR for being a Warrior, and/or some boost from whatever kit you have. I should also note that most Dual-classes (particularly the low-level ones) have their power defined by how many levels they put into their first class.
Also, your Cleric/Thief will never be able to use Bows, unless you've got some mod that allows Clerics to use pointy weapons. A Thief Dualed to Cleric could do it, though, but only if he waits to Dual until after he's got Use Any Item.

Inquisitors: Dispel Magic is very much based on the relative levels of the casters--in this case, let's say that a Cleric is trying to Dispel some magic that was cast by a Mage. If the Mage and Cleric are the same level, the DM has a 50% chance to succeed. If the Cleric is a higher level than the Mage, then for each level of difference the DM has an extra 5% chance to successfuly Dispel. (And if a person is affected by Dispel Magic, all dispellable enchantments on them are removed simultaneously.) If the Cleric is of a lower level than the Mage, though, then for each level of difference the odds that the DM will succeed diminishes by 10%. That's the way it is in BG2, at least: In BG1, Dispel Magic automatically removes everything, no matter what level you are.
The trick about Inquisitors is that their Dispel Magic does not use their actual EXP level as their caster level: Instead, they cast DM at twice their regular level, so as soon as they hit Level 10 they can throw it at Level 20--which is the cap on casting level for all spells, so they're already at the maximum. This means they've got a pretty good chance to instantly strip away all magical protections from every Mage in the game--and they're utterly helpless against Liches. Why? Becuase no matter what their caster level is, Dispel Magic is still only a Level 3 spell, and Liches are immune to all spells from Levels 1 through 5. So the Inquisitor is way OVERpowered against Mages, but way UNDERpowered against Liches, an imbalance that I intend to rectify.

[Xanthul]

I once played a 3 character party that worked pretty well:

- Ranger/cleric - Best way to cover Cleric spells, Druid spells, Tank and damage duties, all in one.
- Swashbuckler - Ended up more powerful than I thought he would be... incredible AC and pretty good damage. Can use a fighter thief dual or multi if you prefer.
- Sorceror - If you want to blast things up, this is the way to go.

If I were to play a four character party I would probably just add a Fighter/Mage in there - that was my last Main Character and I was pleasantly surprised by his durability and damage dealing capabilities. Give Vecna to the sorc and the elven chain to this guy and you're good to go.

If you don't want more mages in there you could use a dwarven berserker instead, not very original but that's a pretty solid tank. A monk could make things interesting too.

Anyway, I guess there are a lot of dual class possibilities out there to make ultra powerful parties, but I personally never liked dual classing. Doesn't feel "natural" to me for some reason plus I enjoy linear progress on my characters instead of having to carry someone around until they suddenly become demigods.

[Rockstar]

Thanks for your feedback!

We will prob do a 3 person party instead:

1) Human Inquisitor - dispell abilities, using bows and two-handed swords
2) Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric - ALL priest spells and shield with hammer/mace for good defence
3) Elf Fighter/Sorceror - Dual at level 9 or 13 and specialise in bows and casting

*NOTE* I want this to be a fun game where we can comfortable play the game on normal difficulty and simply emerse ourselves in the story and adventure without any headaches. The only "Cheats" we will be using are merely there to cut the headaches as follows:

- disable all traps: I've soloed the game twice now and found them to just be an annoyance. You take unneccessary damage and prove nothing but having to rest or spend money on potions... It's a hassle remover that's all
- disable all locks: Same as above, merely removes hassle. I could wait till Chapter 6 and use Crom Fayer or do the more enjoyable thing and just open them when I come across them
- Fighter/Sorceror Dual-class: although i believe it is possible, could somebody please verify that this is entirely possible with no late game bugs? The reason for this a faster game where we dont have to hunt for scrolls and simply gain spells at level ups! Otherwise i'd settle for the multiclass!


So what do you guys think? If somebody could confirm the viability of an Elf Fighter/Sorceror Dual class (level 9) that would be great!

Thanks!

[Kyrvias]

Originally Posted by Rockstar Thanks for your feedback! 3) Elf Fighter/Sorceror - Dual at level 9 or 13 and specialise in bows and casting

Well, elves can't dual, so you're looking at a fighter/mage multi. And can sorcerers even dual, or something dual to a sorcerer? I was under the impression it was like a Paladin in that regard.

Here's an idea: Bring a Wild Mage along. haha.

[SixOfSpades]

Originally Posted by Kyrvias Well, elves can't dual, so you're looking at a fighter/mage multi. And can sorcerers even dual, or something dual to a sorcerer?

No, they can't. All Mage kits can Dual-class, and the Wild Mage is a Mage kit, but the Sorcerer IS NOT, and cannot Dual or Multi with anything.
Similarly, the only race that can Dual-class is Human . . . I was quite surprised that you didn't already know this, Rockstar.

By the way, I need to correct what I said above, about Inquisitors: It seems that their Dispel Magic "strikes" as a Level 0 spell, which means that it can affect Liches & Rakshasa. My bad.

Anyway, my "perfect" party builds . . .

Dual Delight:
Mage(2) -> Fighter
Ranger(15) -> Cleric
Fighter(13) -> Mage
Thief(13) -> Fighter
This party lacks a Priest & real Mage almost all through BG1, but spending some extra gold on Healing potions approximates the Priest, and Mages are next to useless in BG1 anyway. The Mage->Fighter is a classic Tank with the ability to bust out Wands & Scrolls, the Ranger->Cleric is obviously the uber-Priest and backup Tank, the Fighter->Mage is the primary spellcaster, and the Thief->Fighter is auxiliary support. The Thief Dual will be the trickiest, and keeping the party alive through 1.5 million EXP of not having a Thief will require some metagaming to avoid heavily Trapped areas. If I wanted to get munchkin, I'd give the last 3 characters kits of Archer, Bowman, and Swashbuckler.

Multi Madness:
Halfling Fighter/Thief
Half-Elven Ranger/Cleric
Elven Fighter/Mage
Elven Fighter/Mage/Thief
'Nuff said.