Newbie, Mods and party members Options

[Spike]

Hi all,

first of all, thanks to Sikret for this fine mod. I love it.
I'm not really an experienced BG player and the fights in IA are very tough for me, but fun. I did some practice in v4.2 and now i'm waiting for 4.3. In my next install i want to add some more content and hence more mods. Maybe one of the more experienced players can have a short look in my list and give advices for possible incompatibilities or other problems. Thanks in advance.

I also have probs to form my party. I know there are already a lot of other threads discussing this topic, but the decision is hard. My basic principles are to use NPCs, which exists in the original game and to bother with SK or NI isn't an option for me. Here are my thoughts:

Me - F/I or Vagrant - Both are new for me
Keldorn - dispel magic, true sight and a powerfull fighter
Valygar - nice items
Imoen - sorceror in 4.3
Haer'Dalis - pickpocket and nice bard armor
Cernd - Auramaster
Anomen - need a cleric for greater restoration

Help would be appreciated.
Spike

List of mods

1 - BG2
2 - TOB
3 - TOB Official patch
4 - German Textpatch
5 - Baldurdash TOB fixpack-1.12
6 - 1PP
7 - Ease of use
True Grand Mastery (Baldurdash)
Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings
Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table, Saving Throws, Grand-Mastery,...
XP Cap Remover (Baldurdash)
Multiple Strongholds (Sabre, Baldurdash)
Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash, Bioware)
Romance Bug Fixes (Sabre, Richardson)
Multi-Romance Patch (Sabre, Richardson)
Romance: Multiple NPCs Concurrently
8 - Tactics
Improved Ilyich
Improved Sahuagin City
Improved Bodhi
"Red Badge" Poison-Based Encounter
Gebhard Blucher's Improved Mae'Var
Gebhard Blucher's Lich in the Docks
Kensai Ryu's Gnome Fighter/Illusionst in the Docks
Kensai Ryu's Improved Crypt King
Ishan's "Always Toughest Random Spawns in Dungeons"
Improved Undead
Improved Golems
Gebhard Blucher's Improved Mind Flayers
Kensai Ryu's Smarter Vampires
Mike Barnes' Improved North Forest
Mike Barnes' Marching Mountains
Streamlined Trolls
9 - Unfinished Business
Kalah and What He Was Promised, by Andyr
Cat and Mouse: Bodhi Hunts You in Spellhold, by Ghreyfain
Gorje Hilldark and the Extended Illithium Quest
Restored Crooked Crane
Restored Encounters
Artemis Entreri in Bodhi's Lair
Corrected "Xzar's Creations"
Restored Hell Minions, by SimDing0
Gorf the Squisher Fix, by Gebhard Blucher
Item Restorations
NPC Portrait Restorations
Corrected BAMs and Scripts
Corrected Character Names
Restored Minor Dialogs
Restored Bhaalspawn Powers, by David Gaider
Extended Throne of Bhaal Item Descriptions
Throne of Bhaal Minor Restorations
Sarevok's Remorse, by Sovran and Winterine
10- Quest Pack
Additional Shadow Thieves Content
Alternative Xzar/Harpers Plot
Extended Fallen Paladins Material
Intrigue In The Copper Coronet
Rahul Kanakia's Potion Quest
Revised Hell Trials
Saving Sanik In Brynnlaw
Burglary Of The Bookkeeper
New Fate For The Dryads' Acorns
The Tragedy Of Besamen
Sending The Solamnic Knights Home
Nazarial The Lich
Reward Negotiation
Infernal Thievery
11- D0-Tweakpack
8: PnP Celestial Fury
12: Avenger's Visual Ioun Stones
17: Dream Flag
12- Ascension
Component 1: Ascension
Component 3: Tougher Demogorgon (v2.1)
13- Tower of Deception
14- Auramaster
15- Rogue Rebalancing
Proper dual-wielding implementation for Thieves and Bards
Shadow Thief improvements
Revised Fences
Additional equipment for Thieves and Bards
Chosen of Cyric encounter
16- G3 BG2 Tweak Pack
Higher HP on Level Up
Easy Spell Learning
Force All Dialogue to Pause
16- Improved Anvil
17- NEJ2

This post has been edited by Spike: Jul 26 2007, 09:48 AM

[Shadan]

Spike, your party is almost exactly same as mine. I am playing with IA4.2 now. In 4.3 I would chose a Vagrant protagonist, and skip Valygar. Keldorn is not capable tank, since AC is not enough in IA, but his True Sight, and Dispel worth alot. Haer is very good tank and damage dealer. Cernd good buffer, many spells, just he is a bit unusable when enemy has alot spelldefense on or has a high magic resistance. I would use Nalia till you get Imoen. Nalia is my final choice btw., since Immy is almost same in 4.2 as she. Anomen is fantastic. Good buffer and very capable melee fighter with DUHM before each fight (and he has a lot of lvl 2nd spell). My PC is F/I gnome.
To tell the truth I am started to plan my play again with 4.3 when I finished 4.2, although I have a lot of content left in 4.2 still. I am planning an 5 man party maybe, with evil NPCs (I have never played with them) or with all char made in multiplayer or SK. Maybe to play 5 man game with evil NPCs a bit harder, since if I make chars, they could be more versatile (dual and multi classes).

About mods: I am using almost same mods, except RR and NEJ. And I put up 3 important components from BG2 Tweak Pack (max. HP at lvl, bottomless Bag of Holding, game pause at conversations).