Best Party Suggestions

[ronan]

Fighter
Fighter
Paladin
Cleric
Mage/Thief
Mage/ Cleric
Any race or sex you so desire.

[Lord Teppenwolfe]

My current party consists of:

Fighter - Male Half Elf
Fighter - Female Half Elf
Ranger - Male Half Elf
Cleric - Female Half Elf
Mage - Female Half Elf
Thief - Male Gnome

I favor the ranged attack strategy since I have 4 characters that can use bows. Also, I love having the cleric spell Animate Dead as 3 out 7 castings, gives you Skeletal Archers (YAY). Then I have the mage just for the damage over time spells like Melf's Acid Arrow. The monsters are usually dead by the time I get to casting that spell, but on those rare occasions where I pull more than one monster, the added range attack of the mage, usually does the trick.

Lord Teppenwolfe

[Sir Moosington]

Unless you just want to get the whole adventure over and done with as quickly as possible, there is no 'best 'party. Everybody has different ideas about what makes a party good.

Those who just want to get through everything quickly (why?) concentrate on fighters and archers. IMHO the most fun, and therefore 'best', party is the one that allows you to experience the benefits and quirks of as many character classes as possible.

It also makes you think about different ways of doing things than charging in with a bunch of tanks and a combat medic.

[Avatar]

Let's look at every class:

Paladin: good idea as they have anti-disease powers and are reasonable fighters. (6)

Rangers: better. Dual Weld and anti-racial fighting can be useful in a game full of repetitive monsters. (7)

Mage: must! if not two (10)

Thief: Must.. but surely multi-classed? (8)

Cleric: Must healer but let's consider teh Druid:

Druid: faster level up, weaker fighting, allows elemental summoning early in game (9)

Fighter: this hack n slash game requires at least one (9)


So my party would go like this:

Thief/Mage
Mage
Druid
Fighter
Cleric/Paladin
Ranger

[Lukivah]

Avatar, what is it that makes mages a (10)? The fact that they have such low hitpoints? Or maybe its the fact that they can do 20 damage to a monster after wasting three seconds to cast a spell and 6 seconds after that they can do another 20 damage? Or maybe its the fact that they can cast fireball on a group full of monsters, obliterating half the hitpoints on your fighters whilst all the enemies SV spell for half damage? I would just like to know how a mage can be a 10 in a game where fighters do all the damage? What can you get out of a mage that you can't get out of a bard, heck! you can't even memorize level 9 spells! Mages a 10? I think not, bards are a 10. Mages are a 4, why? Because they can do what bards can do but can't sing the songs. Bards > Mages.

[Guiseppe]

My party looks like this:

Dwarf Fighter
Human Paladin
Elf Ranger
Human Cleric
Half-Elf Thief/Mage
Elf Mage (Necromancer)

The first 3 all carry Composite Longbows, very effective!

[Sir Moosington]

Hey Lukivah leave Avatar alone - sure playing with a mage is hard, but it's a lot more interesting than chugging around with a bunch of tanks, chopping everything to pieces.

If you use a mage properly they can be devastating, and make the whole game more like a roleplaying game and less like a diablofest. Just as an example if you have a thief scout ahead, invisible or hidden, then you can get your fireball(s) off at long range - only hurting the monsters.

When you use a mage as a fully active memeber of the party and not as an emergency backup, then the higher number of spells he can memorize compared to a bard is very important.

[Avatar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lukivah:
Avatar, what is it that makes mages a (10)? The fact that they have such low hitpoints? Or maybe its the fact that they can do 20 damage to a monster after wasting three seconds to cast a spell and 6 seconds after that they can do another 20 damage? Or maybe its the fact that they can cast fireball on a group full of monsters, obliterating half the hitpoints on your fighters whilst all the enemies SV spell for half damage? I would just like to know how a mage can be a 10 in a game where fighters do all the damage? What can you get out of a mage that you can't get out of a bard, heck! you can't even memorize level 9 spells! Mages a 10? I think not, bards are a 10. Mages are a 4, why? Because they can do what bards can do but can't sing the songs. Bards > Mages.

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LOL a non-believer....
I would like to see 10 fighters take on one mage at high levels.
Sure Mages are terrible at low levels but I see you haven't played BG2 nor ToB yet....
Anyway... Mages casting Cloudkill and Fireball can weaken opponents, they can haste themselves... they provide fire support...
sure you need to sleep often but their power is unlimited.

[Lukivah]

I played BG2 and mages were powerful there yes, mostly because they gave them more than one lower casting time item. As for 10 fighters taking on one mage. I doubt he could take two fighters, probably one if it doesnt have on a suit full of resist gear. Fireball, cloudkill, web, abidalzims, they all go through stoneskin. So if you tried to outdamage 10 fighters with your AE spells you're going to die before they do. 130-200hp > than a mages 70hp

[Lukivah]

Also, can anyone name one instance a mage would be better than a bard in a normal party with fighters/clerics/thieves etc... etc...