BEST 4-MEMBER PARTY!

[Father Bronze]

I think the ** replaces "ass." The shuffling off to the "Local Monks U.346 Post" is an American reference to a trade union. Unions in the U.S. are often listed as . . . "Union of Electrical Engineers, Local: 346." I hope this helps.

I'm thinking of playing a three member party game. I am not sure what the different difficulties mean, I guess I would do one with max-hp per level off.

My party has been rolled up:
Kensai to be dualclassed to mage (Gore)
18/00
18
18
17 int (gonna modify this char to have 18 int, and lower charisma)

Ranger to be dual classed to cleric (Nader)
18/00
18
18
18 wis

Geedubya, the half-orc fighter-thief
19
18
19
15 wis (heh)

Shouldn't this work out fine?

[el_kalkylus]

ahh, I think I understand. He is an asshumbled and take his post and goes off to a trade union because he embarrassed.

I wonder what asshumble means...something to do with that he is a humble ass maybe.

Thank you Bronze.

G.W., insane difficulty means that the monsters do x2 damage all the time. This means I have to look out for thieves extra carefully, because one that can backstab does x2x5=x10 damage. I personally think it will be hard to start a new game with 3 characters, but I am sure it will work anyway. If you only play AD&D rules or normal difficulty, I am sure it works out great with just 3 persons. I would probably choose the same classes for my 3-member party.

Surviving insane difficulty: make sure *EVERYONE* can cast Stoneskin or Iron Skins. Never leave bed without them.

That means everyone has to be part mage or druid, or a ranger/cleric.

Using NPCs that means your choices are:
Aerie
Imoen
Nalia
Jaheira
Cernd
Jan

Jaheira is the only fighter in the bunch, and Imoen ought to be manditory (for RPing). Cernd is useless and Nalia is Imoen without the thief bits. That leaves Jan and Aerie. Aerie probably the better choice -- Imoen ought to get all the good thief equiptment, and Aerie will be able to use equiptment that Jan and Imoen won't.

I've played through with this as a party (Me=elven fighter/mage, Jaheira, Aerie, Imoen). Aerie gets a LOT better at higher level (ahh, the joy of putting healing spells in contingency slots). My only regret was that I was Good aligned, and therefore couldn't use the 2nd best 2-handed sword in the game.


Were I confined to characters that I made up, I'd play this party: (all characters are Neutrally aligned; lawful or chaotic or whatever, depending on the Familiar you want).

Gnomeish Fighter/Illusionist: Stoneskin and, during battle, Mirror Image. Nothing reduces damage like not being hit.
Flail + (or Quarterstaff +)
2 Handed Sword ++
Short Bow ++
2 Handed Style +

Human Priest of Helm dualed to Mage as soon as he's able to cast Lesser Restoration and Raise Dead. Mage will get two weapon profs, so don't pick sling or quarterstaff when rolling priest part.
Mace +
Flail +
War Hammer +
Sword and Shield Style +

Half-elven Avenger: for fire elementals and being a spider. I *love* fire elementals.
Club +
Sling +
Quarterstaff +
2 Handed Weapon Style +
(or Scimitar + and Single Weapon Style +)

Halfling Bounty Hunter: Traps (laying and removing) and pickpocketing skills first; lockpicking and stealth later on. Mage can cast knock in the beginning to make up for lock pick lack, but Halflings with 19 dexterity are not shabby in any skill. If you hate traps (or just think they make them game too easy ) make this an Assassin. The awesome Halfling thief bonus will make this guy a viable main thief; skill allocation as for the Bounty Hunter, but without the Set Snare skill.
Short Sword +
Short Bow +
Long Sword +
Single Weapon Style +

This party will be able to handle many surprises, and with the exception of the thief will be able to protect itself very well.

Not many armour wearers; the thief will get Aeger's Hide or the Deep Night +5 or whatever, but that's it until Elven chain kicks in.



One final skeleton of a highly successful minimal party:

Elven Archer:
Every other party member's role is just to keep things (a) visible, so she can hit them, and (b) away from her, so they can't hit her. She ought to have a 19 Dex and 17 Con. Strength does not matter much for short bows.
Short Bow +++++
Whatever 2-handed Melee Weapon +
Two Weapon Style ++
(later: 2 Handed Weapon Style +)

Human Berserker dualed to Druid: This dude needs a 17 Wis and 17 Cha to be a druid. Have fun rolling him. Early on his purpose is to be a blocker; later he'll be summoning animals and fire elementals to be blockers.
Club ++
Sling ++
Sword and Shield Style ++

Elven Conjurer: Only regret is that this guy can't use long swords. Bulk up on cannon fodder spells; again, just to keep monsters from ever touching the archer.
Sling +
Quarterstaff +

Gnomeish Thief/Illusionist: Jan, but worse. You could go for one of the thieves in the first party here too, but every party ought to have a gnomic Illusionist.
Short Sword +
Short Bow +
Long Sword +
Single Weapon Style +



... anyway, as you can see there are a large, if not infinite, number of fun, viable small parties. I enjoy playing with four (or fewer, but that really cuts down on interactions) NPCs -- with more than four, I keep forgetting to use some of them in fights.

I have reassessed my three member party and think I should toss the awesomely rolled kensai-2-mage for a fighter-2-mage. The reason: it's critical to have an expert of the shortbow, specialized also in two handed swords (maybe also in spears). True, you never have one in the normal game unless you love Mazzy, but with three, having a shortbow expert does a lot of work against the casters. One shortfall of having a party with 18/00's as the weaklings--makes some strength items a bit irrelevant.

As for a beserker-druid, I don't believe a beserker can use the sling? Keep it a straight-class fighter.

i'm playing a three member party at the moment, here it is:

Avenger
Fighter/Thief
Berserker Dueled to Mage

I had some problems when i dueled the berserker, as i lost my only good tank, but with some easy quests like trademeet i manage to level her up so i now have the fighter class active again, can't wait until i get tensors
(around 250hp) i don't have any problem with mages as they always gets casting failur due to insects, and fighters are easily takend down with spells like chromatic orb, magic missile and flame arrow. against undead i realese my fire element. Remember that i haven't been in any major battles yet. i think that this is a pretty good chooise of characters, and it's really fun.

So if you don't like to fight mages, get a druid

Damn you and your insects- Irenicus to Artea

[el_kalkylus]

Ok, I finally decided to make:

Jill - Kensai/mage - katana+++, single weapon style++, dagger+ - chaotic good
Sligyn - Berserker/mage - quarterstaff+++, two handed weapon style++, long bow+ - chaotic good
Lovyan - Ranger/cleric - mace++, flail+, sling++, two weapon style+++ - chaotic good
Mnuamout - Fighter/thief - katana+++, single weaponstyle++, short bow+ - neutral evil

(For some reason the fighters can't specialize in bows )

I played this party through the dungeon (poor Jaheira didn't make it, she was killed by mephits), then I picked up Aerie from the tent and used her little magic (the summon air elemental-scroll!!!) to beat those guys at the inn. After that, I dropped Aerie and freed Hendak and got Tuigan bow. For some reason, I wanted to try the chant spell on my evil fighter/thief, and I saw that this increases his base THACO by 10 (very bad thing). I thought it would be temporary, so I continued playing, but after 2 days of resting, he still had a base THACO of 24. Is a little spell like chant supposed to do this?? I realize now that it was very stupid to make him evil, because I also want to be able to cast holy smite. I think the shadowkeeper is the only thing that solves this problem right.

By the way, I am really pleased with Lovyan. At the beginning of this game she has proven herself a much better tank than the kensai or berserker, because of her great AC (like Jaheira) and because she dualwields a mace and a flail. She will soon dual to a cleric at level 9. Jill and Sligyn will also dual at level 9, and at that time I think I will play the Thief-guild-quests which are easy and give a lot of xp.

I have a question about what stronghold I should choose. Jill is the main character, so I can choose either the fighter- or mage stronghold. I have only played with the thief-stronghold, so I don't know anything about these two. I heard you can get good items for your mage if you choose the mage-stronghold. What do you think I should choose, and why?

[Accord]

For strongholds, I would take fighter, I think it has got more quests and more experiences (also more expenses and outlays). Mage stronghold you get some items, they are decent but not outstanding. el_kalkylus, fighters cannot specialize in bows? You mean all three you have? Kensai cannot use missile weapons and Berserker cannot specialize in ranged weapons, but I'm pretty sure your fighter/thief can specialize in bows.

[el_kalkylus]

Halscion, you have an interesting party.

I prefer a human kensai- or berserker/mage instead of gnomish fighter/illussionist, since I get more spells that way and a better fighter + the special ability.

I also prefer the cleric of talos over helm, since it has a lot cooler special ability, but I too think you should dual to a mage if you start with a cleric.

The avenger seems interesting:
Advantages:
- May shapechange into normal forms, as well as those of sword spider,
baby wyvern and fire salamander.
- 6 mage spells are added to his repertoire, all the way up to 6th level.
These are listed below:
- 1st: Chromatic Orb
- 2nd: Web
- 3rd: Lightning Bolt
- 4th: Improved Invisibility
- 5th: Chaos
- 6th: Chain Lightning

Disadvantages:
- May not wear better than leather armor.
- On character creation, he receives a -2 to strength and constitution.

It is just a druid that can shapechange into monsters that are only good in the beginning, and can cast a little mage spells. It can't even wear any decent armor, so it will have very bad ac, and as a druid, the THACO won't be that great either. A ranger/cleric will have both druid and cleric spells + it will be a pretty good fighter (more proficiency points too)

The bounty-hunter is not what I would choose for a thief. The only good with this kit is that it can lay some special traps, that really aren't that special until very late in the game. As a thief, the bounty hunter will also have a very bad THACO and can't specialize in weapons, + it gets less thief-skill-points (a halfling thief doesn't fix this in the long run). A fighter/thief combo fixes all this. I think the backstab ability is the best ability for the thief, and with a fighter/thief, the backstab will be awesome.

As for your next party I think the archer is a good choice. You really seem to like druids, but I don't. The berserker is good to dual...but not to a druid!! The druid spells aren't that good compared to the cleric's, except the fire-elemental spell. A cleric is much better than a druid. The elven conjurer is good, but you might as well take Edwin instead. I think it's better with a kensai/mage or berserker/mage, since you can fight, have more hp, and get all the spells. The gnomish illussionist/thief is a little too weak for my taste. It won't be able to participate in combat, except with ranged weapons, and it will not get many spells.

I am not saying you have a bad party, just analysing a little. In the whole, your party may be better than my party...somehow.

[el_kalkylus]

Accord, I didn't know that a berserker couldn't specialize in ranged weapons, but I knew about the kensai. You are probably right that the fighter/thief can specialize in short bow, I sure hope so anyway, because he will be the one using Tuigan bow.

Thanks, I think I will do the fighter's stronghold right away.