[IA 6.2] Advices for a melee-oriented party Options

[Tarnesh]

Heya all !

I've been playing BG since its release back in the days, and I started playing modules 10 years ago or so.
Been trying a lot of them, but I must admit Improved Anvil is simply the best - by far - I've ever been given a chance to play.

I could probably discuss this for hours, but this is not the point here, as I'm simply after some advices for my new party composition. Tried out Vagrant and Necro runs lately, both on core difficulty, but I always end up getting bored once I get out of Underdark, my parties being suboptimal for the hardest fights coming up then. I underestimated the importance of damage resistance, and the lack of stoneskinned characters got my party nuked within a few seconds in several fights (in Watcher's Keep especially, and against golems in general).

I also tend to make as much items as possible, even if some are actually pretty irrelevant, so I eventually miss money for the best ones. I'll use a crafting planner for my next runs !

Even though i LOVE the riskbreaker kit, I also try to play with as much Bioware NPCs as possible, I like the banters, makes my party feel alive. Obviously, IA is not the mod for roleplay, but I'd like at least half of it to be vanilla toons.

Anyway, here is what I'd like in my party, knowing that I really tend to favor melees over casters, which tends to be a mistake I guess, given my brutish playstyle (stoneskin helps, again).


Melees : I like having 3 warriors, but I end up having to choose between Valygar and his awesome items, and 1 or 2 riskbreakers, knowing I also would like to have a potent 2-hander to wield those great halberds.

Divine : I love Jaheira's kit, the Avenger. Exactly the kind of divine caster I'm looking for, and she is a great 2-hander too. So Jaheira is maybe THE character I want to have in my party. But I find Cernd pretty awesome too, and I'm wondering if the lack of a proper cleric (greater restauration, and general undead protections) might not make the game harder. Or is Jaheira + Cernd a decent combo healingwise, then I'd have to rely on... something else for restauration purposes.

Arcane : I guess Necro protagonist is the way to go if I want a melee-oriented party, but then I can forget Judgment Day, which kind of BOTHERS ME ! (maybe there is a way to trick this with NearInfinity ? not really into this stuff but heh, I love dat sword !). Do I need another caster or can a Necro handle all the casting by himself ?

In other words, is this party any viable ?

Necro PC
Valygar
Riskbreaker
Riskbreaker -OR- Minsc/Custom Half-Orc Barb -OR- Berserker ***** halberds -OR- Kensaï ***** halberds -OR- Half-orc fighter/cleric -OR- Berserker 9 dualled to mage.
Jaheira
Cernd

My post my be a wee bit unclear overall, feel free to ask for more accuracy. I don't think I've been spoiling anything here, but if need be, erase/hide the spoilish parts.

Thanks again for this wonderful mod, I can't wait to play it seriously with a relevant party.

[Tarnesh]

Hey SparrowJacek, thanks for this fast answer !

I like both of your parties right there. Especially the second one. Tried Rasaad on my first run and once he reached mid-game, he was a real killing machine !

By the way, I play on BG2:EE 1.3, with recommended Ease-of-Use components, Dungeon-be-Gone (until IA improves Irenicus dungeon, got a few ideas on that btw), and IA 6.2. Seems like The Four requires to detect a ToB version of some kind which makes the install fails on EE 1.3. If ye got tips on "The Four" installation i'd be glad to hear them !

Here are my first thoughts about these parties of yours :


First party :

Necro => yeah obv (I'm just worried about the randomness of achieving Memory of the Apprenti, given that Robe of the Apprenti is not a guarantee success in making.)

R(7)/C or Anomen => I'm not really into these splits, as in my installation, R/dualledC doesn't get stoneskin as a lvl 5 spell. I tried Anomen once, and even though he shines early/mid game, I really felt like he was just extremely expensive to gear up weaponwise, and quite weak as a tank and a warrior. So overall i'd rather go for a multiclass, to eventually reach warrior HLA, even though they're quite delayed.

Kensai/RB => Love RB. Kensaï too, I'll probably get both of them, but I like barbarian and berserker too.

RB/Kensai=> same

Jaheira => <3

Berserker(9)/mage => I know this split is powerful, but I can't make a decent use of it. I feel like they're quite weak as a fighter (Tenser's and Improved Tenser helps though ofc), and can't compete with an extra sorcerer in terms of spellpower. So I think I'd prefer the second party as I focus all my arcane build on Necro PC. And the lack of proper Casting time reduction items hurts a bit IMO, given that everything will go to my necro.


Second party :

Necro => yeah baby yeah !

Jaheira => <3 ! Golem Slayer Rod eventually for sure.

Rasaad => would love to have Rasaad in my runs. Or normal monk or dark moon, for a change, but I read somewhere their abilities are more of a flavor in IA, so Rasaad makes it a Bioware NPC : ) !

Cernd => Love Cernd character and kit. Reminds me of Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks if you know. Voice, face, metaphors everwyhere !SPOILER!

And his son's name is Dale ! To me it's an obvious reference but I might be paranoïd here : p

Kensai/Minsc => I'll probably go for a Kensaï here, even though I love Minsc since my first BG1 plays. Or custom berserker or barb*(see below) ?

Valygar/any other fighter => Valygar items are so expensive, and I find the riskbreaker (eventually) more powerful, but I love the guy too. RB would be blunt user here, probably FoA + Phosphorus, or should I wait for Crom Fayer ?


I guess money management might be the key for a good party composition here, and that's my main problem in game : I wanna build everything ! I'll try to list my building wishes here to change them into something more realistical !

*By the way, is a Evil Barbarian or Berserker worth using with a shield ? I find the axe meant for them pretty neat (klogorath upgrade), and I wonder how it would perform overall as a shield user, as a main tank I mean. I guess wanting AC on a barb is quite stupid, since his rage reduces AC, but he already has some nice defenses (20% damage red) and maybe is able to reach some decent AC -15/20 making him a good damage-eater. Or is it irrelevant, if not strictly impossible ?

More questions again. Ain't gonna start a new party til next week, got some exams incoming. I'll probably write down my run as you suggested, sounds like a fun idea RPwise, and I loved reading the ones on this forum, helped me a lot !

This post has been edited by Tarnesh: Jan 1 2017, 01:37 PM