Advice with my party

[Xanthul]

I designed a party based around NPCs I haven't played with and party interaction. We are currently doing the unseeing eye quest, haven't done much more before (Circus Tent, Mencar, Sewers group, Slavers in the Copper Coronet, rushed to get Mazzy and Valygar without actually doing anything about the quests).

ME: CG Sorceror
Keldorn
Valygar
Anomen
Jan Jansen
Mazzy

However, I'm having some problems deciding which role each one is going to play. I typically like to have 3 melee and 3 ranged. I initially was going to have Anomen (tank), Keldorn (tank and mages) and Valygar (scout, mage backstabber, meleeing but not tanking) in the front while Mazzy fired away with a bow and the mages do their thing. However:

- I found out Mazzy is an amazing tank with a shield (can have her at -7 AC right now with my crappy equipment).
- Both Anomen and Keldorn would need bracers of Dex to properly tank.
- If I move Mazzy to the front, both Anomen and Keldorn suck at range afaik.

I thought about replacing Anomen with Aerie which would restore party balance while giving me some extra mage power and the option to romance her but I don't know if interaction would suffer.

BTW, I have installed the Item Randomiser mod so please don't suggest to get X or Y item to balance the party since I have absolutely no idea where to find the items (and it's great to feel that way again, though I would kill for those gauntlets of dex right now).

[ElfBane]

Aerie is a notorious whiner, but if you're willing to romance her, then you probably already know that. She will also have problems with any Evil party members, but that's not a problem with this party.

[Kazilan]

Two tanks (Keldorn and Anomen) should be enough if you can alter your playstyle a little. Mazzy is incredibly deadly with a shortbow and should only tank if absolutely necessary. Your sorcerer and Jan can use summoned creatures to tank, once those spells are available. I would focus on the two tanks plus summons and watch as Mazzy kills everything at range. Valygar backstabbing is just a bonus on top of the rest, if careful. When I used him, I found that he died often because I would forget to make him retreat and hide fast enough.

[Armen]

there's anomen/keldorn banter iirc as well as mazzy/valygar and you have jan - pretty good on that i'd say

for me aerie doesn't replace anyone - if you want her character or specifically a c/M (to put bolts of glory i a sequencer for instance) then great, otherwise . . .

and you finally have a use for all those potions of DEX / mind focussing

your reference to 'mage backstabber' makes me assume you're not playing with tactics mod so you should have spare power? it makes me think i should resinstall without tactics myself - i'd miss the XP frm the spirit trolls though. . .

the item mod you mentions sounds intriguing

so, basic install, randomised items - hmm . . .

[Xanthul]

Yeah I never played tactics, I don't like being force to cheese through the game. I do play on insane though.

Item randomiser can be found here, it takes most of the good items and distributes them randomly according to their level or usefulness. So for example, you won't find the coolest items (Vecna, girdles of strength, Celestial Fury etc) on low level bosses or merchants.

Regarding party composition, I've decided to heed your advide and keep Anomen for now. I want to at least complete his quest and get to read the Ano the Dung Orc dialogue. After that, I may just ditch him. My intention is to progressively lose party members and end up playing the final battle and ToB solo. Power corrupts, after all. I find this a more RPish way of playing a solo sorc and I see at least two advantages to it: I won't get forced to cheese at the start and I won't hit max level too quick and get bored.

[Armen]

thanks for the info

my usual (usually solo) 'shopping run' of the easily available good items (tuigan bow, ring of earth control, cloak of sewers, ilbathra, linvail's items, pickpocket ring of regeneration . . . ) is horribly skewing (and that's even though i've managed to wean myself off the cheap and early mega-cheese that is ring of air control / gem bag)

definitely a plan - i just need to find the install CDs now . . .

[SixOfSpades]

I agree, Mazzy is the best archer in the game, but she's also the second-best Tank; personally, I find that Valygar can take Mazzy's place as the party's main archer a lot better than Keldorn can take Mazzy's place as the main tank. So with Mazzy tanking, and Keldorn, Anomen, and Valygar standing by to step in for her, you've easily got your front line taken care of . . . I'm tempted to argue against Aerie, as you've definitely got enough Wizard power already.

Yes, Aerie does whine constantly, but I for one find Anomen far more irritating--mostly because BioWare seemed to make it their mission to have his banters reveal that there's no way in Hell this guy could actually be a Priest of Helm. The best example of this is an Anomen-Mazzy banter, so don't worry, you'll see it.

I echo Armen's comment on Potions of Agility for Keldorn/Anomen; I always finish the game(s) with buttloads of unused potions just lying around. I need to get into the habit of actually drinking what I carry in my Quickslots.

[Xanthul]

Yeah I usually end up selling a lot of potions/scrolls because I always think "I can make it through this encounter without wasting any consumables" . I need to get the habit to just use them whenever instead of always trying to keep them for that special fight that never comes...

About party composition, I've decided to keep them as is. I gave the bow back to Mazzy for now though I might definitely switch her to the front for Valygar and have him scout / backstab / run to the back to shoot some arrows.

Like I said, I intend to get corrupted by power (already playing that in my Irenicus dreams) and progressively turn towards evil (Virtue will take care of that). In that journey towards power and corruption I will lose party members - some by "accident" or straight murder, some will get pissed and leave - until I end up playing solo. I want to hear some banters first though so I will probably keep as much of the party as possible until end of SoA / start of ToB.

[Armen]

just want to say thanks for informing / inspiring about item randomiser

i uninstalled all my mods (tactics, ease, items . . ) and just added this one (and am playing on insane as you suggested to compensate for no 'tactics')

i'm really enjoying it. i'd never played insane before but it's good. the insanity means that my party gets into trouble often enough that i have a panic-y battle which is fun. a party member taking one hit can completely change the course of a battle which seems very appropiate. anomen got chunky-deathed early on though when he got caught by, presumably, a doubled-damage critical from the den of seven vales berserker. enemy AoE spells are brutal though - a single pit-fiend fireball just killed all of us outrght!

(these 'insane' revelations won't be news to a lot of you i realise)

i'm not missing tactics. it does make the game quite laborious in parts i've realised now i've re-experienced life without it. and i'm not chasing power with this party at all - what comes, comes. that said, i'm still surprised and slightly disappointed how easy the basic undead are.

playing with the item randomiser has confrmed to me how much my quest choices were geared around item knowledge - this feels much more like going with the flow (plus after deciding my PC would use crossbows i found the heavy crossbow of accuracy on a very early quest ). i'm halfway through the asylum maze now though and and still have neither of the anti-undead weapons i could normally have relied on. it's all good. plus i've just found an, as yet unidentified, longbow that i've never seen the icon for before - strange.

PC stalker
Jahiera
Mazzy
Jan
Imoen
ToB NPC

[Xanthul]

I am glad you are enjoying it!

Unfortunately, I had a computer problem recently and I lost some data, including the savegame for this party (I had already completed most of Athkatla, I was level 12) so I decided to do a full BG1 + BG2 run with a paladin (I already had this reroll in mind anyway). I installed BG1 randomiser and went with natural rolls (no use of the +/- buttons, 18/57, 10, 17, 11, 15, 18 pretty decent roll. I also had a 18/18/17 roll but it felt pretty cheesy even if it was a natural one). I also spread my weapon proficiencies around (2 long sword, 1 blunt, 1 spiked) both because I don't know where or when the good weapons will show and because it feels more realistic / roleplaying to do it that way. Once I get a good weapon, I will further specialize in it.

Anyway, like you said it's really amazing how much item knowledge usually determines which quests we do and when we do them. With this mod, I am almost "forced" to roleplay my decisions which is a breath of fresh air since I enjoy roleplaying but I usually just give up to the dark side of powergaming, something I just *can't* do this way.