Seeking feedback on my party

[krunchyfrogg]

I've played and restarted this game quite a few times in recent weeks (never getting out of chapter 1), and I'm seeking a party that will work for me, and hopefully be decent in the power department. Please let me know what you think of my latest brainstorm:

Paladin: long swords, axes for range (can use a shield this way) Main tank.
Gnome F/Ill: bows, greatswords. He's for spells and ranged combat. Melee if bad guys get through arrows
Elf F/Thief: bows, longswords. Archer, handles thief skills in the party. Chose longswords b/c elves get a bonus to hit
1/2 elf Bard: bows, staff. Staff for that spell later on. Bows for when not singing. Plan on going for a lot of weapons, depending on what we find.
Fighter dual to Druid. I plan on switching early, maybe level 3. Armor is the main reason for starting as a fighter.
Dwarf fighter/cleric. Hammers, mace. With DUHM, I think these guys are better tanks than regular fighters. The healing spells are nice too.

---------
edit: I might play that elf f/t as a f/m/t... I'm not sure yet. Since the thief class is one that you need, but reaches a point of crappiness, where your skills are high enough and you don't need them anymore, the ability to launch a few spells might really help. Invisibility will allow timely backstabs in extended combats. conversly, my thac0 will suffer, which is something I don't want with my primary archer who will be launching a hail of arrows most of the time.

My tactics go something like this: other than the paladin, the characters are all very good with missile weapons. I plan on killing everything I can before it can reach me. If things get too close, the gnome, dwarf, f(d)druid and paladin are all well suited to clean the mess up.

[ 09-20-2005, 03:13 AM: Message edited by: krunchyfrogg ]

[ister]

If you do go with F/M/T rather than F/T you'll have to be very careful with allocating scrolls. For most spells you have only one chance (invisibility and stoneskins being examples where the F/M/T may conflict with the F/I), and even for those of which there are more than one copy you'll need to be sure to buy them at exactly the right time.

The other small weakness I see is that only the F/C has a crushing weapon at the start, although maybe the druid will have clubs. You will run into a lot of enemies that are strongly resistant to piercing and slashing. I'd start the paladin with one in maces. By level 6 the paladin, the F/I, and the F/T will have 2 stars in crushing weapons and you'll be fine. I'd also give the F/C missile weapons, slings are reasonably effective.

On the other hand I think the best advice I can offer is to get on with playing the game already. You don't need the ideal composition to beat the game, anything with a bit of balance will work just fine.

[krunchyfrogg]

I think I'll go with a F/T. There isn't a need for a third mage in any party IMHO, and I really would like my archer to have a good THAC0.

My only concern with this party is the lack of tanks. I guess the Paladin and Fighter/Cleric are good tanks, but I'd be more comfortable with another good one, and the armor needs to come off of the Fighter/Illusionist one day!

[ZFR]

Originally posted by krunchyfrogg: My only concern with this party is the lack of tanks. I guess the Paladin and Fighter/Cleric are good tanks, but I'd be more comfortable with another good one, and the armor needs to come off of the Fighter/Illusionist one day!

Not really... trust me in IWD you don't need more than 2 tanks. Even 1 actually is good enough... once you reach DE and SH you'll see what I mean. Most (and I mean *MOST*) of the game is dungeon crawling and you'll see that your strenght is in your archers. They are best against very narrow paths, enemy archers and [instert humanoid name here] shamans/mages whose spells have to be disrupted.

[ister]

And in a pinch the F/I with a Mirror Image can stand in for a tank for a long time, and both the F-D and F/T have a good amount of staying power. You have plenty of tanking there - no-one needs too much protection, and you have plenty of other strengths.

[krunchyfrogg]

Hey thanks everybody. I'm still "feeling out" this game, but I was having fun with this party.

I was thinking about how great a Cleric would have been in the Vale if he wasn't multiclassed, so I decided to forge a similar party, but with a dual classed Fighter (level 3) dual classed to Cleric.

Still having a lot of fun! [img]smile.gif[/img]