BEST 4-MEMBER PARTY!

[Father Bronze]

I personally don't like having a mage combo tank. I don't like having to pull back out of the battle to cast a spell and if you cast in the middle of the battle the chance of spell failure is pretty good.

I like Rikard's suggestion of adding a Sorcerer.

GW: Evil?? I would argue Lawful Good = Totally blind to reality, but can argue that they are on the path or righteousness . . . (I'm a Republican and if you want to add me to the party = LG Fighter dual to Cleric ***** in staff wearing plate mail). And don't forget to add a high Charisma -- how else do these guys come to power (it ain't intelligence or wisdom and I'm not too sure about watching them power-wrestle . . . Now Jesse Ventura . . .)

[Accord]

Most fight I have in the game is magic vs magic, fighter vs fighter, in cases of lichs and dragons it becomes an all out blaw.....

Double post, gol durn it!

K, here's my take on the 4 character party (since that's exactly what I'm doing right now!)
I have my:
1. Monk/tank from the single player game, 22nd level (yep, XP Cap remover firmly in place) with a ring of Gaxx firmly on each finger (honestly pummeled for and won each time!), amulet of magic resistance, gauntlets of dexterity, a girdle of Frost Giant Strength and cloak of non detection. She weighs in at AC -8, 114 HP, adjusted strength of 21 and dex of 18 with the girdle and gauntlets, and a whopping 91% magic resistance. Since she can't be hit by non magical weapons and there are no lower (and most UPPER for that matter) spells that can touch her, she's the perfect tank. Add into that 6 improved hastes per day with the two Gaxx rings, plus the regeneration of both rings and that durned ioun stone she has, she can attack a whopping 4 times per round at 25 HP per hit, and really making use of the quivering palm when surrounded by baddies and regenerate what damage she DOES take!

2. Specialized mage for maximum spellcasting ouple of spellcasting rings and that amulet that reduces casting speed and Staff of the Magi, fill in the rest, it's been talked to death on the board about the positives of the mage, 'nuff said.

3. Cleric/Mage with Crom Fayer and flail of the ages or bad assed shield (playing with both, haven't decided which I like better yet.

4. Fighter/Mage/Theif - slow in advancement, but in-FREAKING-sanely useful!!! By the way, There's another string on the board somewhere about scrolling down on the theif distribution skills? Oy did I feel foolish after I got home and scrolled down... *rolls eyes* I thought it seemed like a bit of a pipe dream that I could pump up all his theiving skills so much and that I couldn't find the rest, but I said "Hey, this must be one of the changes from BG1 to BG2!"

Anyway, it's a truly bad assed party and I'm proud of them!!

[Rikard T'Aranaxz]

ehm Father Bronze
as you would have seen i changed my signature (3 times last 24 houres)
but i want to give some background with my old siganature
It's important to know that Holland actually Europe overal is much more open towards 'bad' language and it isn't really seen as something that is really bad (except maybe for england)
So things like the f-word and the s-word are commen used without causing any trouble
this is appost to weapon use an violance overal which is accepted in USA much more than in Europe
There is no way you can say everybody can have weapons and get away with it in Holland
I just want to let you know alkong with my sencere apologies

Ehm about having a Tank mage
Well i use a Kensai/Mage mainly so the Kensai can fire shield stoneskin himself
also i don't want Dak'kon Zerth Sword go to weast

and thing like magic missle are cast in no time
why a swashbuckler mage
well that will allow you to dual class very early coz a swashbuckler doesn't need move silently and hide in shadows because he can't backstab anyway
and thus you mage skills are getting more attention

[Father Bronze]

Rikard: Yes, I have noticed your changing signature. I wish I had the creative energy to change my signature once in a while. Thank you for the explanation regarding language use. As an English/Grammar teacher, I know that language is ever changing, but I don't always take into consideration how culture exactly changes the appropriateness of phrases. I realized this when I looked at the replies to your posting -- everything from "lighten up Father" to "Funny lyrics Rikard, Lip Bizkit song?" and the occasional "The signature was a little rude" -- that there were many, diverse, opinions out there. Thank you for the apology and I thank you for the explanation. I think I've acquired a bit of Wisdom today -- maybe not a full point though.

As far as the topic goes, I can see using Stoneskin and Fireshield. Honestly, my mage tactics tended to avoid these spells until recently. In the past, I tended to use mages for Breach, Fireball, Cloudkill, Domination, Malaison, Haste, Dispel Magic, and Magic Missle -- spell support.

I suppose Magic Missle would work well in close combat. Fire off a Magic Missle. Hack at the opponent a few times and fire again. I obviously need to experiment more with some of the quicker combat spells.

1 kensai/mage 9/17
1 half-orc barbarian (great tank)
1 Archer/cleric (multi i guess)
1 Assasin/mage (tensers transformation, more strength, poison, backstab, BAM!)

[el_kalkylus]

Accord, I really liked your suggestion with berserker/mages, but I want to try the kensai/mage combo too. I think you may have a point in having two fighter/mages. They will be fighters in the beginning, but when they dualclass, they must be protected by the rest of the party (2 persons), this is the part of the game I worry about.

Rikard, I liked your party too, but I think it will be very hard to play with it in the beginning and in the (early) middle game because I play on insane difficulty. I don't like reloading the game too much.

weedius_maximus, I want a little challenge in the game. I believe I said "(no import!!)" in the beginning of the post. Maybe I didn't make myself clear (english can be darn difficult sometimes), but I wanted people to suggest what party I should make.

Nabus, d***!! I played a whole game with an assassin/mage, and I never used tenser-transformation!!

ACK! My bad... **humbled, he picks up his post and shuffles sadly off to the Local Monks U. 346 Post to drown his emnbarassment at his own silliness...**

[el_kalkylus]

I am sorry weedius_maximus, but could you explain to me this sentence means:

"My bad... **humbled, he picks up his post and shuffles sadly off to the Local Monks U. 346 Post to drown his
emnbarassment at his own silliness...**"

Are you talking about me or yourself, or maybe both? Maybe I misunderstood your previous post??