a party of all mages ?

[Lemernis]

That party of six magic users was one of the funnest parties I ever tried. I had the specialists all cast their own school's spells at least 50% of the time, and usually about 75%. It was hairy in the beginning but that is exactly what made it so much fun. I remember I actually felt scared for them at level 1, and being relieved when they could sideskirt an encounter when most of their spell slots were spent, even though they would only be facing off against gibberlings and such. Anyway, by the time they reached Cloakwood they were actually very powerful and were having little difficulty anymore. I left them there and never got back to the game. I think the party composition was illusionist, necromancer, enchanter, conjurer, and then a cleric and a thief-mage. You can get away with just one character who melees, which was my cleric. Because of the weak AI most of the enemy generally attack that one meleer (enemy magic-users will target non-meleers with Confusion, Hold, etc.).

If I had it to do over I would try using all specialists, adding a transmuter and a diviner to the four specialist already listed. I'd then have the illusionist acting as the meleer by having him cast Mirror Image, Armor, etc. He also be the one taking trap damage. The problem is from a RP perspective unless you have a thief or cleric detecting traps, preparing a mage to withstand the damage and setting off traps that you know are there is a bit cheesy. So maybe I'd settle for using a cleric-mage instead of a pure cleric. Anyhow, I would highly recommend giving a party like this a go. Lots of good tension early on.

[knoj]

Originally Posted By: Lemernis The problem is from a RP perspective unless you have a thief or cleric detecting traps, preparing a mage to withstand the damage and setting off traps that you know are there is a bit cheesy.

well for me, since i am only using npcs in my gang i will keep imoen around as a thief until she is probably at level 3, then dual her as a mage. so she can detect traps and pick locks and stuff in the begining. but until she is a level 6 mage, i may have to be a bit cheesey. although i will obviously wait until she has her thieving skills back before i go to durlag's tower.

(note: i have never dualed a character before so i'm going off from what i read in the manual about gaining the first class's skills only after your second class has surpassed the first's. or something like that.)