IAv6 party composition, This was bound to come up Options

[lroumen]

With regard to the new adventures into the realm of Improved Anvil I was thinking about a new party composition that would give good results and new challenges for me. Of course there is a standard layout of each IA party that is almost necessary if you want to have a relatively relaxed time throughout the majority of the challenges. So if you do not have this layout you may be destined to have a tough time.

General layout:
1-2 single class warriors for high damage output. Recommended is one going dual-wield (rangers are nice) and one going two-handed weapons (paladins are nice).
1-2 dual-class warriors or characters capable of melee fighting such that they can perform a secondary task like buffing, debuffing, thieving, healing, summoning (R/C, F/C, F/M, F/T, swashbuckler or blades are examples dualled or multi'd)
1-2 clerics or druids for healing, buffing, summoning (use shields)
1-2 mages for dispelling, disabling, damage (three is better)
Anyway.... something like this.


There are going to be a few new developments in v6 and I am tempted to try those out. Here is a grasp of what I found interesting. There is a lot more to be read here of course.
1. Expanded mage stronghold for good-aligned necromancers.
2. Valygar the Protector
3. Improved Riskbreaker bonuses
4. Nerfed Bard spells
5. Improved Swashbuckler HLAs
6. Nerfed small people saves


My own thoughts for a party.
- I did not play protagonist mage properly since v2, so I am tempted to go with the necromancer.
- I have not yet played well with an Auramaster so I was tempted to try that out this time too.
- I'm intrigued by the Protector kit for Valygar (whom I normally just slay).
- Riskbreaker I'm playing right now so I will not be doing that this time
- Swashbucklers never floated for me since I like the backstab too much
- Bards... never really played much with them. I have HD in my party right now but all he does is cast minor spells and sing which he cannot even do properly.

So... as for my party thoughts
1. Goodaligned Necromancer Protagonist (dart staff), spells
2. Valygar (flail, katana), protection and healing
3. Nalia or Jan (dagger, bow or crossbow), thieving, secondary arcane
4. Cernd (staff), summoning, buffing
5. Jaheira (club, scimitar, longsword, dualwield), buffing, melee
6. Minsc/Keldorn (2-handed sword, halberds)

I'm a bit worried about the fact that I only have 3 real fighters and I don't even like the Minsc/Keldorn slot. I will probably make this a custom bezerker, barbarian or kensai instead. I prefer something with AC so it would be a bezerker... in which case I would take Korgan if he had two-handed weapons as profs (though level1NPCs may help me there).
I could probably kick the jan/nalia slot for a F/M instead too, but I am still undecided because these NPCs come with upgrades.
I could also change Cernd but I wanted to try out Auramasters so that will not be likely unless I don't like him anymore.

I am also hoping in this party that Valygar gets some good party healing spells because that is something I may be lacking mid-game until both druids level up. No greater restoration.... I could just take Anomen instead of Jaheira but I just prefer the latter. That will be a problem, I'm sure.

I was wondering what kind of ideas other people had. Any thoughts on nice combinations?

[Clown]

Been testing old v6 and the first thing I'd say is to take a riskbreaker in the party, I know you say you've played one before but they have a bunch of new abilities and are all round awesome, GM in longswords and hammers has you dual wielding The Truth and Crom by mid chapter 6 for the ultimate in frontline destruction. Really can't say enough good things about these bad boys.

Your choice of necromancer as protagonist is great as they have some cool new stuff and end up very powerful, plus the new content is great. To be honest you'd be a fool to play anything but this or a Vagrant on your first v6 run as you'd miss out on a lot of new content.

For the rest of the party I would go for this as the best in terms of power but obviously if your looking for something different try it out, but just a warning that v6 is tough.

Necromancer
Sorcerer(practically essential)
Riskbreaker
Valygar (Great new abilities, great tank)
Ranger/Cleric multi (Its all the divine magic you need and a very useful tank/frontliner)
Two-handed weapon user

The final slot you can go F/M, straight bezerker or what I've run in v6 with great sucess a Bez13>Mage. This will potentially leave you with either 3 very powerful mages and three warriors or using tensers 4 very powerful warriors and two mages depending on the situation.

Edit: Just though I would elaborate on the choices.

Necro- Probably best PC choice in terms of new content plus with all his new upgrades etc become probably the best arcane caster in the game.

Sorcerer- A second powerful arcane is good but the sorcerers ability to choose any spell when the level up is why I have picked one here. In IA 6 there are a lot of new spells which can be found in the game however they are very rare and hard to find therefore having a sorcerer is the only way to garuntee early acess to these powerful spells.

Valygar + Riskbreaker: These two just compliment each other so well, Valyagrs protector kit and powerful equipment allow him to reach very low AC making him a great tank while the riskbreaker provides insane offense. Combining his low AC, contact with nature and racial combat Valygar can stand in the middle of many late game melee's virtually unharmed. The riskbreaker on the other hand has a higher damage output than anything else and combing his new powerful abilities is suprisingly hardy in the later stages of the game.

Ranger/Cleric: As far as I see it there is little to be gained from spending more than half a character on cleric levels, this character will provide all the key buffs and healing you could need. In addition of course it provides a very capable warrior with exceptional tanking ability and fighter HLAs.

B13/M: This character to be honest was an experimet I wasn't sure would work in IA. The transition is tough but what you get at the end is a truely extraordinary character. With tensers he is every bit as good a fighter as your single class warriors with the same Thac0 and attacks but boasting a full set of mage buffs and spell protections which he can still refresh from scroll. Without tensers he gives you a third full power arcane caster only three levels below a your single class mage.

This post has been edited by Clown: Nov 11 2009, 02:07 PM