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

[Sikret]

There are plenty of good party compositions to play IA. Even your initial choice is a good one. Nonetheless, I offer some advices:

1- Don't tamper with bioware NPCs. If you want something new which is not there among them, create a custom NPC for yourself.

2- A berserker is one of the best fighter kits in IA. Your suggested weapon proficiencies for your berserker were: two-handed Sword, Halberd and Spear. I suggest to replace spear with quarter staff. Spear and halberd both inflict piercing damage. You need prificiency in blunt weapons too.

(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)?

Keldorn's dispelling ability can be very useful, but having him in party is also double-edged. Enemy clerics will turn him. It is worth having him in the party though.

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

Yes, but I suggest to replace Haer'Dalis with a true warrior (Keldorn for example).

(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...).

Imoen (as a sorcerer as she is in IA) is the most powerful arcane caster in the game. Nalia is not as powerful as Imoen; but one single arcane caster might be inadequate for you. I suggest to keep both of them. With Nalia in party you won't need any other thief. This is also an important point.

If you don't want to replace Haer'Dalis with Keldorn, keep him till spellhold and then replace him with Imoen.

EDIT: Viconia is evil. Don't use her at least in this game that you have a ranger protagonist.

Also, note that a wild mage is not a good choice; you may suddenly lose all of your money or may have a wild surge at a very inapproriate moment which can ruin your calculated tactics. It's a very powerful class (ridiculously and cheesily so), but it has its own dangers. Moreover, tactical experts surely prefer sorcerer to wild mage, because they prefer calculated tactics rather than relying on luck and random effects.

This post has been edited by Sikret: Feb 4 2008, 10:18 AM