Party Composition, Here we go again... Options

[Zarathustra]

For a new game (having messed up my first, highly educational one), I'd like to form a very strong party composed of Bioware NPCs (with minor or appropriate tweaks, e.g. Anomen -> Priest of Helm or Minsc -> Berserker). In the hope that I'm not bothering anyone, I'd like to submit the following for the resident experts' 'approval'.

PC Vagrant - axe, long sword, flail, club
Minsc (SK'ed to Berserker) - greatsword, halberd, spear
Anomen - hammer, mace, flail
Haer'Dalis - short sword, scimitar, dagger, long sword
Cernd - staff, spear
Nalia -> Imoen - staff, dagger

Now, I have two problems with this party: first, it contains two characters who will never be able to do anything much in melee, and one who will shine defensively but not do much damage. (In my last game, two straight warriors and two semi-warriors seemed barely enough, even when buffed to the rim.) Secondly, while I would like a sorceress at least from Chapter 4 onwards, that would mean wasting much experience on Nalia.


So my questions are:

(1) Is a Berserker (with Minsc's stats and two-handed weapon focus) preferable to Valygar (with his powerful equipment in late SoA) or even Keldorn (I am quite wary of him in IA)?

(2) Is the party as a whole capable of enough melee havoc, in your opinion?

(3) Is Nalia preferable to Imoen in the long run? I'd have them both again, but that seemed like overkill (then again, I didn't make it all that far...).


Of course, any quite unrelated or unorthodox advice on party composition is welcome!

This post has been edited by Zarathustra: Feb 3 2008, 08:28 PM

[Zarathustra]

Thanks for the replies so far.


To clarify: I didn't intend to change Anomen to a single class cleric, it was a just an example of an appropriate change (I don't like to throw RP entirely out of the window for convenience, as in making Korgan an Necromancer or something like that).

Jaheira as a Ranger/Cleric... that sounds sensible. I'm not really bothered about druidic spells (except for Ironskins and maybe Nature's Beauty), I just think a secondary healer would be a good idea, and Aerie would shift the party to much towards arcane spellcasting, having no proper melee ability herself.

If Barbarian Rage grants immunities comparable to those of Enrage, a Barbarian Minsc would make a fine addition indeed. Good idea.


Here's crazy one:

Vagrant
Minsc (Barbarian)
Anomen
Haer'Dalis
Viconia (Cleric/Thief)
Nalia, maybe -> Imoen

Why Cleric/Thief? Well, for one, it's something new and gives me a Romance option as well (bad reasons for a powergaming party, I know). Also, it means I can always easily deal with traps and locks, which is convenient if far from essential. It still allows for decent healing and tanking with clerical buffs (which render the caster's original attributes irrelevant), and the ability to detect illusions and set (HLA) traps might offer the occasional tactical twist.

Would Viconia totally gimp my party when compared to a R/C Jaheira?

This post has been edited by Zarathustra: Feb 3 2008, 11:54 PM