Multiplayer party, type and size, and monks?

[Tobbin]

Well, you definitely want SOME kind of thief in the party. Preferrably one that is good with traps and can backstab. The backstab comes in handy if you have a tough mage opponent and you are in stealth mode. Also, your thief if he is good with traps can kill some of the enemy with his land mines (traps).

A good fighter type is a good choice. Monks are ok, but kinda hard to start off cause they are kinda weak to begin, but become damn near unstoppable at high levels. I really prefer a Ranger type myself. They are really good with bows, plus they too eventually get the stealth option and some druid spells. I dual classed a Ranger/Cleric and this made for a pretty good option (be warned that if you dual class anything, it's gonna take time before you can use BOTH of their abilities. A Paladin is pretty good too, but if you do the wrong thing in a quest, you lose the abilities just as fast as you got them.

Unless you have deep pockets and/or can get money with relative ease, I would also recommend some kind of cleric or druid in the party. A cleric does give you a few more options than the Druid (who is hard to go shopping for since they don't like most weapons). If you have a Paladin in the party, he can Lay hands, but this really doesn't help for those major battles. A ranger also can heal some, but again not a good choice for the same reason. Paladins and Rangers take a long time before than get really any good with healing. The monk can heal some too, but unfortunately, can only heal himself.

If you want to have some good offensive abilites in a party, then you will want the mage. His fireball alone is worth the effort. Pierce magics notwithstanding, can protect themselves at higher level from damn near anything too. They can bring in more aid than most others too. Clerics/Druids can also bring in stuff, but mainly can't until really high level.

A good combination would include whatever types you role play best.

For example, I like a good fighter combination party.
I have:

1) Ranger/Cleric
2) Fighter/Thief
3) Mage/Cleric

Now that's MY main characters. I try to balance them with whatever NPC's I meet along the way. You'll notice two clerics stats. The Ranger/Cleric I brought with me from BGI and I created the other two to party with him. Since they both started off at low levels (especially the first one cause I dual'ed him) I offset the healing capabilities by adding this other cleric class. Gives them more low level healing for what I miss from the high level. Hardly ever really need potions except DURING combat. Sometimes those hitpoints go down WAY TOO FAST. You'll notice a fighter/mage/cleric/thief present in the 3 characters. I am less dependent on the NPC's now because of that fact alone. I don't specialize, but then you don't really have to. I tell you this though, since I found BRACERS AC 3, my fighter thief has become damn near unstoppable. I use stealth on him and then let him go wading in backstabbing. (You go in stealth and attack and withdraw - then go back in stealth mode - then go attack again til the thing is dead). Benefit of having the fighter side is the hitpoints they gain per/level. This makes my thief last longer (especially if he fails at the backstab and the enemy can get an attack in before I get him out of there). I have solo'ed certain parts of the game with this party member because it is too dangerous to do otherwise. There are certain monsters that can see invisible creatures though (as that is basically what stealth mode is), but it hasn't been too much of a problem cause of the other members of the party. In order to play the game, you really only need one party member to begin it with though. By creating your own party members, you are making more children of BHAAL. They get the same abilities as the protagonist. So you can get some limited healing with them as well. Hope that helps you out some there. Gameplay is something personal. You have to decide what kind of character(s) you like best and just give them a go. There really is no SPECIFIC answer. Who I like to play and who you like to play may be two totally different parties. Just give it a go and if you don't like it, you always have the option to re-start. Just remember that you are learning the game as you play with these people though, and that will give your new party members (if you do have to re-start) a definite advantage over the prior party.

yes ditto to tobins advise

i like the thief/fighter combo espesially if you take the assasin kit (poisoning) to the 9th level (*4 backstab) and then dual to a fighter and if you do the maths you get to the same level with your fighter (takes a little longer and a little weak when you do the dual class as you need to be in the game a bit). which means you get a great fighter that can do something like 120 damage on a critical hit as well as poison the enemy to finish them off, if it is needed. i like a bard (blade) for the high lore and with the blade you can use two wepons ie long sword combined with some good armour and they are pretty good. my many character is the bard and i keep mistaking him for a ranger and nearly geating him killed.

i also use a harf-orc cleric which when you use 19 str and the flail of life she beats crap out of most things as well as being a good healer. finally i have a sorcerer as my power behind it all, sure you don't get to have 50 million different spells in your arsenal as you do when you are a mage but she makes up for by have the ability to cast all the same spells or one of each without having to second guess what you are going to need (and she is pretty sexy, i just wish you can do some custom dialicts as then my bard would be really happy!!!!!). you can still use all the scroll anyway and you pick up heaps along the way. this leaves two spots for npc which i find has been good till now.

this is the first time i have ever played without a ranger, i played AD&D, BG1 and icewind dale with a ranger and this time i wanted to try some of the other charaters. i must admit i think they are great and i am glad i left the ranger in the closet this time as i am having heaps of fun.

i think the most important thing is to have a well balanced crew, there is no use running around with 6 palidins (sorry JEROME) as you need all different skills to solve different problems. i also play pretty neutral characters thus my view on having the balance.

the trick is enjoy it and use a few that you havn't played before and they will surprise you with some of thier cool tricks.

[nimzo]

My BG2 party:

Dwarf, straight up fighter. The tank. From BG1, so he has 19Str, 18Dex, and 20Con. He is so cool. Natural regeneration so when I need to heal major damage, and he’s able to take a lot, I can just take a snooze.

Ranger/Cleric. Thought I’d give it a try. I was partial to the Fighter/Cleric, but I’m trying this one out to see which I like better. Still undecided.

Swashbuckler/Mage. I love the extra –2 to AC the swashbuckler gets, and I never really used back stab as much as I probably should have. Bring the swashbuckler up to level 11 and you can max out 3 out of the 4 thief abilities and put 75 percent on the last. I left hide in shadows a little low because I like to just use invisibility for its greater reliability. With mirror image, he is even very effective in hand to hand combat.
One bad part of this combo is that I couldn’t specialize the mage, but I usually can get a rest in before I use up all my favorite spells anyway, so it’s not so bad.

Cavalier. The poison immunity is pretty cool, and so is almost everything else about this fellow. In P&P D&D, when the cavalier came out he was the hottest thing since stuffed baked potatoes. He still can handle himself very well, and another tank type (no missile weapons) to back up my dwarf enables them to take care of just about everything that comes their way.

I covered all the major bases with only 4 guys (really only 3 because the fighter and cavalier are kind of redundant, but I don’t like carrying around all those arrows anyway) and I left the other two spots open and use them to check out all the NPCs and get quests with. So far, I haven’t left anybody behind and have Minsc and Yoshimo out of the dungeon and chilling out at the bar and Jaheira’s got my back. Also having only 4 guys lets you get Exp more quickly; you can even ditch the NPCs momentarily before you finish quests to screw them out of some of the XPs. Not very nice, but effective.

I never dualclass
You never got good that way

The BEST party (but not the most fun):
1. 3 Half-Orc pure fighters, 19 str and con, 18 dex. 1 spec. two-handed/two-handed sword, the others dual-wield (longsword/hammer, longsword/mace).

2. Ranger dual to Cleric immediately. Get HPs of a fighter, access to Cleric and Druid spells. Specialize in sling, mace, sword and shield style.

3. Thief Dual to Mage. Locks and Find/remove traps, dual to mage when second thief can use thif abilities again.

4. Thief Dual to Mage. Pick Pockets/Hide in shadows specialist, dual immediately.

The fighters can cover for the cleric and mages as they level. One thief duals only when the other has reached sufficient level to use thief abilities again. In this game, if u start with 6 (as opposed to 4 in single player mode), you really have a cakewalk until you leave the first chapter.

This is a sterile, precision, killing team, not a fun role-playing team. There is no better combo than this for this particular game, but you may get bored. The only game-specific change I might make would be to make one Paladin to use that SUPER awesome Holy Avenger Sword.

when you dual class a thief (max level 9) into a fighter or mage you get to the same level with them as you would have, as the thief doesn't take take much exp to go up level at the begining. *4 backstab and poisoning, what else need saying

Into a fighter would be pointless for a thief - you lose all those boss xp. Fighter dual to thief is much better.

[Tobbin]

Actually, no. It's best to switch from a thief to a fighter. Now, here's my reason why. In AD&D, and in this game, when you class change, you gain the restrictions of your new class. If you start off as a thief and then dual to a fighter, you gain the fighters abilities with weapons. (*PROFICIENCIES*) Really key here. You can wear armor if needed. Basically, it's a thief that tanks. Granted that with certain armor you are limited in your thief skills, but then that's a choice you can make. Your hitpoints won't be as high either, but weapon specialization will more than make up for it. If you go the other route then you will have less options. You will be stuck with the restriction for both armor and weapon use (stuck with a short bow or sling and really limited to close range weapons too). Plus, as you gain levels as a fighter, you will gain more and more attacks. Granted that with a thief you do get a higher attack probability with backstabs, but it takes forever to raise that up. I use a Ranger/Thief mix. I do kind of regret having to go that route, but he is a good character. Since you can't specialize in the second class, I couldn't opt for a Thief/Ranger, but I did try the Thief/Fighter. Very respectable.

[Tobbin]

TDZHON, your points about a good party were well stated. Yes, your tanks are about the best in the game and I like your idea about the thief route too. I usually put my thief at the back until he was high enough to start out on his own. He was even behind my mage. LOL. It never occured to me to make two thieves. I guess I just got so caught up in wanting all the NPC's in the game. Ah well.

1. Human Berserker or Kensai. Will be dualed to Mage or Cleric at Level 9
2. Half Orc Barbarian or Human Monk. The first character is a very
good tank against enemy mages. The second one take some time
to develop but he will be good at higher levels.
3. Human Inquisitor - the best paladin kit you want someone who is able to use the
holy avenger
4. Elf Fighter/Thief, Mage/Thief or human swashbuckler dualed to mage at level 9 or 10
5. Human Cleric
6. Human Sorcerer