Question about party make up

[Halbarad1891]

Hello all,
I'm just now installing the game (with ToB) and I was wondering about party make up. I would like to have a nice rounded party rather early in the game, but I'll work with what I can get [img]smile.gif[/img] . I've played through the first dungeon, but never had time to continue on in the game. Hopefully I'll find the time now. [img]smile.gif[/img] So my questions are:

What should my PC be? Should I use the multiplayer system to create more than one PC?
You start out with Jaheira (druid/cleric --right?), Minsc (ranger), and Imoen (thief/mage --why they dueled her, I'll never know...). I've been told that Imoen sucks now that she's dueled, and I've never been a huge fan of Jaheira... so they probably won't go any further than the end of the dungeon.
Will there be some magic users somewhere in the early parts of the game... or should I create one as a PC? How about a thief?

Thanks for the input.
H

[Lord Lothar]

Spoilers in this post...
If this is your first time playing the game I'd pick the Fighter class for your pc. Fighters need little planning and are easy to use. Imoen will be taken away after you leave Irenicus' dungeon. A well-rounded party should have something like this:

1 Thief
1 Cleric
1-2 mages
2-3 Warriors (Fighters, Rangers, Paladins, Barbarians)

For a thief you can either take Yoshimo (True Neutral)who will betray you but when he does you get Imoen back. Imoen's thieving skills are adequate for pciking locks, disarming traps. You can also get Jan, a multiclassed Thief/Illusionist.

For a Cleric you can have either Anomen (Lawful Neutral), Viconia (Neutral Evil), or Aerie (Lawful Good). Each cleric is of a different alignment. Anomen is dualed from a fighter, Aerie is a multiclass Cleric/Mage. Viconia is the only pure class Cleric.

For mages you can have Edwin (Lawful Evil) the best mage in the game, Nalia(Chaotic Good) dualed from a thief but with horrible thieving skills, and Imoen.

Warriors are plentiful. For good aligned ones: Minsc (CG Ranger), Keldorn (LG Inquisitor [Paladin kit]), Mazzy (LG fighter), Valygar (NG Stalker [Ranger kit]). IMHO the best warrior is Korgan, a chaotic evil Beserker (fighter kit). You can also replace a warrior or cleric with a druid (Cernd and Jaheira). Just experiment and see which party suits you. Good luck. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[dragon_lord]

Personlly i have a 3 fighters, fighter/cleric or druid, mage, and my pc as a basic format for parties. They can handle any situation and take on large numbers of enemies keeping my mage free from being attacked.

1. Your pc can be any class you like, though there is a shortage of mages in the games without MODs.
2. You can use multiplayer to create an entire party but theres no party interactions etc. If its your first time through i suggest playing through normally.
3. Imoen sucks as a thief since she was dualed at such a low lvl but she can become a powerful mage.
4. You can download MODs like Tashia to add more mages into the game
5. You might like to create a thief as there isnt any pure class thieves in the game.

[True_Moose]

Good starter party might be this:

Half-Orc Barbarian (Human if you want a romance)
Minsc
Keldorn
Anomen
Nalia
Yoshimo -> Imoen when you get her back

That way, you're pretty well balanced. I always found Imoen and Nalia to have sufficient thief skills for most things in ToB and SoA.

[Lord Lothar]

Originally posted by True_Moose: Good starter party might be this: Half-Orc Barbarian (Human if you want a romance) Minsc Keldorn Anomen Nalia Yoshimo -> Imoen when you get her back That way, you're pretty well balanced. I always found Imoen and Nalia to have sufficient thief skills for most things in ToB and SoA.

With your party it doesn't matter if you're human or half orc because neither can have a romance with other party members. If you want a romance I suggest replacing Anomen with Aerie. That way you get a romance and still have someone with cleric skills.

[Grammar]

Originally posted by Lord Lothar: quote: Originally posted by True_Moose: Good starter party might be this: Half-Orc Barbarian (Human if you want a romance) Minsc Keldorn Anomen Nalia Yoshimo -> Imoen when you get her back That way, you're pretty well balanced. I always found Imoen and Nalia to have sufficient thief skills for most things in ToB and SoA.

With your party it doesn't matter if you're human or half orc because neither can have a romance with other party members. If you want a romance I suggest replacing Anomen with Aerie. That way you get a romance and still have someone with cleric skills.[/QUOTE]Well actually, if you have a female PC you could romance Anomen.

[Throrgrim]

this may be a bit late post but o well.
i usually hav 4 fighters:
me pure class fighter
jaheira fighter/druid can wear plate mail etc. and casts major spells
aerie cleric/mage
anomen fighter/cleric
imoen/ thief/mage.
minsc ranger

that was my first ever party to complete the game and it was quite easy (the final battle i mean)
now i use
me (my old pure class fighter level 17 in chapter 2 )
me Cavalier (she's ok, never seems to hit???!! )
me (fighter/thief multiclass)
Jaheira
Aerie
Nalia (only temporary til i beat de'arnise keep)

this is just my personal party, go with who ulike and look at D&D 2nd edition rules and read up about character classes to get a better feel of what does what and what party make ups usually r.

[DJG]

Well, I can't offer advice without an essay from you on your gameplay style but my list is usually as follows.....

Dan (Swashbuckler)
Jaheira (Fighter/Druid)
Minsc (Ranger)
Anomen (Cleric/Fighter)
Nalia (Mage/Thief)
Imoen (Mage/Thief)

or......

Dan (Sorceror)
Jaheira (Fighter/Druid)
Minsc (Ranger)
Anomen (Cleric/Fighter)
Jan (Illusionist/Thief)
Imoen (Mage/Thief)