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

[Ryel ril Ers]

Viconia is evil but her romance is very interesting and she change her aligment in ToB if the PC is good.

I think the barbarians stouter than berserkers but this is my own opinion.

I think the blades are powerful in IA 5, they are very good tanks, decent fighters and decent casters too. The pickpocket and lore useful too.

@Sikret:

Why is the tamper of npc's forbidden? Is any bug source of it except they cannot use the IA item upgrades of their own items?
I think Minsc fits better as berserker or barbarian.
Jaheira fits better as ranger/cleric.
etc...

Some player love some npc but they don't like their class so change it something similar. You also did it with Valygar, Cernd and Imoen. The multiplayer npc-s boring the mod npcs sometime incompatible.

[Sikret]

Viconia is evil but her romance is very interesting and she change her aligment in ToB if the PC is good.

If the player doesn't want to see those quests which require 20 reputation, he can use her.

I think the barbarians stouter than berserkers but this is my own opinion.

Both are very good. Barbarians have better resistances and more hp. Berserkers have better AC and better weapon proficiencies.

Why is the tamper of npc's forbidden?

It's not forbidden (except for Keldorn); it's just safer not to tamper with them to avoid unexpected problems or inconsistencies.

Is any bug source of it except they cannot use the IA item upgrades of their own items?

Yes, it's more than that. I had explained it before, but here is it again:

- Changing Keldorn's class or kit will create serious bugs.
- Tampering with other Bioware NPCs will make their items unusable and dialogues inconsistent.
- Changing any of Bioware NPCs to vagrant may create minor bugs.
- Making illegal Protagonist (such as multi-class kitted vagrant/cleric) will certainly create bugs.

You also did it with Valygar, Cernd and Imoen.

When I do it, I do it perfectly. I change all other things which need to be changed.