New Party Ideas (poss. spoilers maybe?)

[Kylospylon]

Okay, the people on this board tend to give good advice, so here goes. I'm intending to make a new party with 5 charaters that complement each other but are all a little different than the norm. So far I have:

Human Ranger (modern weapons/powercast)
Felpurr Fighter (bow/staff)
(*race*) Priest (whip/powercast)
(*race*) Bishop (mage/psionic/powercast)

I intend to side with the Umpani against the T'rang, and take Saxx as the only pseudo-permanent RPC (thereby making 5). The Bishop strictly only studies 2 spellbooks (4 colour bishops tend to dominate the party magic too much).

I was hoping to play magic heavy, ranged when conserving mana, and melee when I have to.

Some problems I foresee are:

1. No modern weapon for ranger at beginning.
2. No decent staff for fighter for a long time.
3. No locks and traps until Arnika/Mt Gigas.

Some Questions:

1. What race do I use for a powercasting priest? I want her to be as offensive magically as possible.

2. Should my bishop be faerie, elf or other?

3. Under what conditions will Saxx join? I used to know, but have forgotten.

4. Is their a better 2H staff than a Quater Staff that a fighter can use (Before Doom), or should I pick up another weapon skill first and beef staff up later?

[Wereboar]

I usually go to umpani base camp after a first visit to arnika, around level 7. So thats not late for a modern weapon for the ranger. Just build you ranged skill up from the beginning.

No locks and traps isn't a problem. Poseurs cap is enough for start, and combined with divine trap and knock-knock, it is enough for a long time.

Staff fighter? Stange idea. Staff fighter with a bow? So you don't intend to use Staff of doom, since it it cursed? Or is bow only until you get it?
There's an off-hand staff in the upper monastary (shillah or sometinh like this). Together with some rod from Fuzzfazz, you could double wield staffs. Or just ust the off-hand one together with a sword, to build up the skill.

Powercast priest? Just look what race has the highest int after spending the bonus points. I think gnome might be a good choise.

Don'T use a faerie as bishop, unless it is your only spellcaster. Bishops can use quite some armor and a shield. Fairies can't. And the mana regeneration isn't that useful when you have another spellcaster which need a long rest. Faerie is good for mage or psionic, since they are very limited anyhow.
In addition, you'll soon have a bard to speed up party resting. I'd use elf.

Saxx will join unless you've made the umpani hostile.

[Ben Lauritson]

I think you actually need to join the Umpani also for Saxx to join. Otherwise when you talk to him, after his initial greeting he says something like "Wait a minute, you're not even enlisted men!"

[Dang]

What Ben says is true. You have to a least have run the obstacle course before Saxx will join you.

[Scatter]

What Dang says is not true. You only have to accept the assignment. I never run the course. I steal the pass from Kunar if i want to go in the tunnels.
You can also steal a Musket from Burz. (or maybe he'll drop it if you kill him)

[Kylospylon]

Cheers guys.

Wereboar - I've got a bishop, so the cursed Doom won't be much of a problem if I want to attack at range, plus the priest will know the uncurse spell, so I'm covered either way. When I played a faerie fighter, he used a bow and the Doom no problem. I'd never seen a weapon as effective as the COC until I saw the Staff of Doom wielded in bezerk mode, and it's extended range! Hex, paralyze, kill + a fighter's double damage and chance to KO make a lethal combo, not to mention the death cloud spell that comes with it.

As for the priest... I forgot about Knomes! Of course. Thanks Wereboar.

I thought about an off-hand staff at the beginning, but didn't think it would be worth the loss of attack rating (big issue at the beginning of the game). Dual staves maybe, but I'm now thinking about running a monk that switches to fighter when I get Saxx, so I can use a bo at the beginning. I don't whether a monk is strong enough to be my tank character though? I'll have to check the stats on the bo compared to the quarter staff to see if it's worth the loss of hit points and bezerk. But if I go monk at the beginning, I will get a bit of stealth and crit, hmmm...

Scatter - So Burz has a musket, interesting. Stealing it without a pickpocket in my party seems incredulous though, and killing him... well suicidal. Dang.

For some reason I thought I had to charm Saxx or something before he would join? I've only ever enlisted his help for his saxophone, then dismissed him.

I'm still playing Morrowind ATM, but I'm getting pretty bored, so as soon as I've figured out my new Wiz8 party I'll probably just go ahead and destroy the main bad guy, all his evil minions, and be done with it, sigh.