Hi all

I stumbled on this mod much by accident and it has thrown me back into adventuring through Baldur's Gate for the first time in a couple of years.
So thanks Sikret for all your hard work, and continued work

So, on to my question. I am a sucker for magic, and seem to always lean to a magic heavy party. What I would like to know is will it be fine to run a magic heavy party in IA or do I need more fighter types.

Here is my proposed party:
F/M Multi - always played dual, and can't drag myself away from being a magic user
R/C - Jaheira
Auramaster or Blade - Cernd or Haer'Dalis
Stalker - Valygar
T->Mage - Nalia
Sorcerer - Imoen

Out of the above, I have only ever take along Jaheria and Imoen. I won't leave Imoen out of my party - shes my sister!
I also wanted to try new NPCs (even if I tweaked them) as I want to hear the banter.

My standard party of old was F->M, Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc, Keldorn and Anomen.
So time for a change.

So, will my party be fine, or will I find myself in a constant reload or throwing the towel in and restarting with a new party??

I am open to suggestion, but don't want to hear spoilers - I am looking forward to the challenge.

One other question - would a triple class protagonist work? I am undecided but lean to the double-class.

Also, what is the Vagrant like to play - would he be better than using a F/M, or would I replace Valygar with him??

Sorry for all the questions

A triple class would work, but I would recommend taking a F/M for the first run, or a F/I is even better. I'm clueless about the Vagrant, but I'm sure that others can give you more info on that char.
I think you would do fine - if you choose Cernd and not HD.
Other than that, if I were you I would wait some days for the real runthrough, as Sikret is putting his hands on the next release (ver. 4.3) wich prolly will be here within two weeks. Until then you might want to do some practise in ver. 4.2.

You don't have to apologise for asking questions . Everyone was new to IA at one time.


Looking at your party, you probably would find it easier if you had a second character who is a single class fighter type (on top of Valygar), Keldorn would be a good example. But I don't see why there would be any problems playing the party you propose. F/M multi is probably more useful than dual.


Well I would recommend sticking to the F/M as you plan to play with a full party. A triple class character would only get really powerful late in the game, and most IA players seem to find the beginning of the game the hardest, so it's important to have a strong party right away.


When v4.3 is released (soon) the Vagrant is made much more powerful, especially if the vagrant is the protagonist. Although at the moment (v4.2) F/M are arguably the most powerful of classes, their power is lessened somewhat by the restricted use of many powerful magic items in 4.3. My personal preference would be to replace Valygar with a Vagrant, but make the Vagrant your protagonist instead of the F/M. So I would have

Vagrant protag.
F/M
R/C
Cernd/Haer'dalis
Nalia
Imoen

But that's just my view. I'm sure other people will make other suggestions.

Based on what I have read throughout this forum, I feel I need to add a bit more balance to the party.
I am going to take the plunge and try and move away from my addiction to playing Protagonist arcane casters. Here is what I am thinking:

Vagrant Protagonist
Keldorn (Inquisitor)
Jaheira (changed to R/C)
Haer'Dalis (Blade)
Nalia (Mage with a sprinkle of thief)
Imoen (Sorcerer when V4.3 is out)

I did think of using Mazzy instead of Keldorn, what are peoples thoughts on this? She would be an Undead Hunter using the Bluchers level 1 NPC mod.
Would she be as useful as Kel or no?
If you think an inquisitor is a must, I may make Mazzy one as I have never used her.

What are peoples thoughts on the refinements?

And who would make the best tanks?
I had thought of using a single class thief (swashie) but I can't see how I would fit one in to the above party. Any ideas.

I am looking forward to the challenge of using a Vagrant.

Does anyone know if Jaheira will leave forever if I tell her I am going it alone in Chateau Irenicus?

Thanks for the help

An inquisitor is far from essential, but many people find them very useful primarily because of their dispel magic ability being cast at twice the Inquisitor's level (nice because many IA spellcasters encountered are far higher level than the party).

The other thing with Mazzy is that you may want to change her proficiencies so she starts with GM in short sword rather than short bow since missile weapons are not particularly effective in IA.


When you rescue her, if you initially let her join you and then go to reform party and kick her out, she finds her way to the Harper hold in the Docks. That's what I do.

You should according to Sikret avoid Refinements, but personally I don't have any experience with Refinements.

Sorry, I meant refinements to my party
Only mods installed are IA, and the recommended ones in the readme

This is a very good combination. If you want it to be even better than this (powerwise), I recommend to consider Valygar instead of Haerdalis (Valygar has the best personal items in the game), and Anomen instead of Jaheira. If you have Auramaster kit, Cernd is also a good choice. (BTW, Auramaster v8 will be released soon.)

If you don't want to have two rangers in the party (neither Valygar nor your protagonist can wear heavy armor), you can consider making a custom Berserker in multi player mode and then move your saved multi-player saved game to the single player saved games folder.


As Raven mentioned, having an inquisitor is not a must but it can be very useful. If you want an inquisitor, I strongly recommend that you take Keldorn (instead of changing any other NPC to inquisitor and instead of making a Multi-player custom one).