Party builds with 4

[Mathalis]

So in BG 1 and 2 I would always try to build my party with 2 tanks, 2 mages, 2 archers, and a theif. I would do this via multi/dual classed characters. The common example in BG 1 is dual classing Imoen at around level 6 to a mage because of her 17 Intellect and that fact that she is a dual classed thief/mage in 2. This makes her an archer/thief/mage.

In BG3 so far with 4 characters I made a fighter for my first character. That's the tank. The evil Shadowheart is the cleric for now, the evil vampire is the thief for now, and the obnoxious, but not evil mage is in the party. My issue here is I generally build good parties and would love to get Wyll in their, but how? You cannot not have a lock picker and trap finder. You can't not have a meat shield. You can't not have a healer. And you really shouldn't do without a mage for CC/AOE, so I feel stuck with the four types.

How are you guys building parties?

[AncientsLegacy]

four is kinda horrible lol. On top of what you said, most parties will also want a high charisma character to talk to people, like a bard, sorcerer, or warlock. Sorcerers and warlocks don't really bring the same versatility to the group as a wizard does for casting but the charisma is still needed. Some other classes being introduced and multiclassing might help, but it's still pretty crappy to only have 4.

[Mathalis]

Originally posted by AncientsLegacy:

four is kinda horrible lol. On top of what you said, most parties will also want a high charisma character to talk to people, like a bard, sorcerer, or warlock. Sorcerers and warlocks don't really bring the same versatility to the group as a wizard does for casting but the charisma is still needed. Some other classes being introduced and multiclassing might help, but it's still pretty crappy to only have 4.

Yeah I feel stuck. I guess if you focus hard on dual classing and used a paladin (if they release that class) as your meat shield it would be okay, but still.

[Dragon Master]

One or two damage dealers, whether melee or ranged, like a fighter and/or barbarian and a rogue/warlock. A support class like a cleric, and a caster for damage, crowd control and utility like a wizard, sorcerer or bard.

[daveyfunk]

There's no way of having more than 4 characters in party and so you'd need to be creative and this is primarily with your creative character. As you've chosen fighter you could make them into an Eldritch Knight, using the intellect headband, and this will at least offer some support magic. That offers tank/mage hybrid. Shadowheart is built really to be a secondary tank and so she then offers you the other option of a secondary tank with support magic. Any character in fact can offer some tankyness, to an extent, depending on armour proficiency and what spells you choose. You then have Astarion as 1 of your archers/rogue and thief and you can arm Gale with a bow to be an archer if you wish. With your chosen party that would be best bet at achieving what you want, but I think the preferred option for any fighter right now is battle master.

I personally prefer to make my main a dwarf strength based wizard and this makes them fairly tanky with medium armour. This does involve using the headband again and so you're gimped for spells at character creation but offers a lot of flexibility once you get the headband

You can certainly mix it up with ranged, melee and magic but I think it will be difficult to get the exact split you mention above

[AncientsLegacy]

Originally posted by daveyfunk:

There's no way of having more than 4 characters in party and so you'd need to be creative and this is primarily with your creative character. As you've chosen fighter you could make them into an Eldritch Knight, using the intellect headband, and this will at least offer some support magic. That offers tank/mage hybrid. Shadowheart is built really to be a secondary tank and so she then offers you the other option of a secondary tank with support magic. Any character in fact can offer some tankyness, to an extent, depending on armour proficiency and what spells you choose. You then have Astarion as 1 of your archers/rogue and thief and you can arm Gale with a bow to be an archer if you wish. With your chosen party that would be best bet at achieving what you want, but I think the preferred option for any fighter right now is battle master.

I personally prefer to make my main a dwarf strength based wizard and this makes them fairly tanky with medium armour. This does involve using the headband again and so you're gimped for spells at character creation but offers a lot of flexibility once you get the headband

You can certainly mix it up with ranged, melee and magic but I think it will be difficult to get the exact split you mention above

There is no way of having more than four party members YET. Modders put it in DOS2 and will put it here also if Larian is too lazy to change it.

Your build using the headband for your wizard is only good for early access unless you have some multiclass shenanigans planned, once we can level up higher your int will not be able to go over 18.

[A Old Man]

alternatively we could wait for a wonderful modder to add the feature

[Indure]

I really think the game isn't punishing enough to not work with any party configuration, there are already people clearing it solo. But if you wanted a party build that works with 4 people and is primarily good I would suggest. Wyll (face of the party), Gale, and Shadowheart since they are the least evil characters. Your character should be some manner of a frontline dex build. Either a fighter, ranger, or even light cleric would work. As long as you pick a background that gives proficiency in stealth and sleight of hand you have no need what so ever for Astarion.

[qwerty]

Since game has ridiculous lvl cap mages is almost useless and heal items gives more hp than healers logical choise is warriors\rogues party only.
But if you have a mage in your party, local "AI" will forget about anything(other chars, danger-surfaces, range, hit chances) and try to perform full waaagh!!!! on caster. So other than 4 war\rog you can create 16con mage and tank\kite with him while 3 war\rog killing mobs.

[Hobocop]

- Strength Ranger MC (Beast Master)
- Shadowheart
- Astarion
- Gale

I've got most of the bases covered besides having a dedicated face, but Shadowheart can do that well enough with 14 Cha and Guidance on tap.

[cary2010haha]

who need healer in 5e ?.?
gith rogue
gith wizard
gale
wyll

everything die in few turns.
there is a way to create more than 1 character .

[Arlen]

Originally posted by Mathalis:

So in BG 1 and 2 I would always try to build my party with 2 tanks, 2 mages, 2 archers, and a theif. I would do this via multi/dual classed characters. The common example in BG 1 is dual classing Imoen at around level 6 to a mage because of her 17 Intellect and that fact that she is a dual classed thief/mage in 2. This makes her an archer/thief/mage.

In BG3 so far with 4 characters I made a fighter for my first character. That's the tank. The evil Shadowheart is the cleric for now, the evil vampire is the thief for now, and the obnoxious, but not evil mage is in the party. My issue here is I generally build good parties and would love to get Wyll in their, but how? You cannot not have a lock picker and trap finder. You can't not have a meat shield. You can't not have a healer. And you really shouldn't do without a mage for CC/AOE, so I feel stuck with the four types.

How are you guys building parties?

MC: Human fighter/Eldritch Knight/Sword and Board/Dueling Sleep/Magic Missile/ firebolt and ray of frost cantrips

La'zael: Fighter/Eldritch Knight/ Greatsword (Sword of Tyr), Fog Cloud/Magic Missile/ Bladewardand firebolt cantrips

Shadowheart: Modded to be Life Cleric, hellriders Gloves (bladeward on creatures she heals), Ring from Volo (Bless on creatures she heals), Silvanus Amulet (lesser restoration), Shattered Flail (+2 mace from Flind, Dragon handaxe from druid trade until I kill the Flind)

Asterion: Rogue/Arcane Trickster, Duel weilding feat, dual +1 shortswords, Magic Missile, Sleep, charm person.

Do not have to cheese anything with this party, Absolutely decimated the Goblin Camp.

[Lucius Kern]

My Warlock
Drow: 8 STR, 16 DEX, 12 CON, 8 INT, 14 WIS, 16 CHA
Urchin for Slight of Hand and Stealth (Basically function as a rogue for lockpicking so until Thievery tools is added I will do that)

Investigation and Arcane Trained

Lv 2: CHA modfiier to eldrich blast (Agonizing whatnot) and Gaining Persuasion and Deception trained.

This way I have a charismatic leader that can stealth and lockpick when i need it. Using Hex and Eldrich blast for main dps on that char and The Spear found in the first dungeon that gives true strike on missed attacks, not only melee attacks but also eldrich blast attacks. I boost CHA to 18 on lv 4. Hex and Fairy Fire as the only concentration spells.

Second Char: Shadowheart she is a trickery cleric true, but Healing word and Cure wounds memorized and use her as a tank like character with mirror image works really well. I give her the feat Heavy Armor with +1 STR instead of boosting wisdom. Bless as Concentration Spell

Third Char: Gale, for the obvious reason Arcane Glass Cannon. Sadly he NEEDS mage armor so that he doesnt get killed easily, but honestly pre lv 4 he is basically my tank, i just stack him up with a crap ton of potions and spend a lot of time getting him back on his feets (definatly need to give a skill like "Intimidating Presence" that uses intimidation skill to taunt all in the area during combat, because this is brutal as it is. But yeah... Glass Cannon, Magic Missiles are extremly efficent against enemies that have sky high AC.

Fourth Char: The Gith as an offensive heavy armored damage dealer, Battlemaster not Eldrich knight. Some might choose to use her as a tank, but Shadowheart with her Shield and Mirror image makes more sense to me, and since she can get into heavy armors at level 4 and above i do not see the need, instead I give her the Tyr Greatsword (shut it gale you got the necromancer book and other things, that sword goes to Lae) So she can also increase her AC quite a bit.

So With Lae and Shadowheart in the front, Gale behind them and my warlock going comando with stealth and getting to advantage points using Misty step is how I am doing things.

Plus... Drow is the most OP race Super Darkvision and Sleep immunity? Yes please.

I do not use Wyll because he is also a warlock, and i am not using Asterion because my warlock can function well enough as a rogue with trained slight of hand and 16 dex.

I equip the Headband for 18 INT on my warlock for improving skill checks and save checks, Gale doesnt need it he gets to 18 int anyway.

[Lucius Kern]

My Gith Wizard (Eldrich Knight the other way)

Now I dump stat int on this wizard :P, because Headband of int 18. With that i got a high str, dex and con with a minor cha modifier. But because of the racial feats you get to use medium armor and the greatsword of tyr.

Anyhow: Shadowheart, Lae and Gale again. in a similar fashion BUT my Gith Wizard learns a ton of touch attacks like Inflict wounds and magic missiles (gotta be a bug right learning cleric spells on wizard) and eats through the enemies and they cant do jack didily squat thanks to mirror image. The HP might be on the low side, but if they cant hit you, they cant hurt you. Enviromental effects is the worst things but eh... a few healing potion fixes everything.

[Jon Snow]

I have found some success with a dex ranger that picked the urban tracker choice in order to get slight of hand and eliminate the need for a rogue. I have Gale, Shadowheart and the Gith. Honestly though, the Gith is near useless as even having her up front does not stop the enemy as they leap frog over her. She is by far the least useful, and that is saying a lot because I am using Shadowheart as well. Honestly, I am thinking of leaving her home and taking the demon lover for more ranged and a summon I can use to bolster my party count.

Only reason I do not leave the Gith at home is because I hear that because the two females are evil and racist, they bicker constantly... except in my game its usually Gale learning about Gith culture. I dunno, but honestly there is no need for front line fighters. Most combat is set up in a way that allows for the majority of enemies to be both at ranged and be elevated on something, with a wide distance between you and them. The design of both the enemy ai and the terrain make it seem as if having a front line of melee units is unnecessary, no matter how many there are that make that front line up. When enemies just jump over or run past without triggering opportunity attacks, they are even useless at stopping the few melee only enemies that are currently in the game.

I have my own wolf, as I like the creatures personally (as fuggly as their in game avatars are) and I feel the spider is utter nonsense. Maybe I will try the bear instead, because the best I have seen my wolfs attack percentage was sixty, and that is buffed with bless and attacking from behind and from height, and I still have only seen him connect twice, and neither time tripped an opponent... In contrast, Gales raven is more reliable and even blinds the target, though its actual damage is usually only a point. I would be interested to see the imp in action. While they cant lock down enemies, they can cost an enemy an attack if they are the chosen target, and while their damage is not significant every bit counts. You can also summon the rangers companion at will should it fall, though the wizards familiar is a first level spell. I am unsure of the demon lovers imp, as I have only heard of it in passing.

Long story short, if you choose to make a dex ranger and pick urban tracker and beast master, you can run with the insatiable wizard, the evil cleric and the demon lover, for a full ranged party with shadowheart there to keep bless up and look stupid.

[Bulldozer]

Mark as spoiler but when exactly you get the headband? I just entered the underdark and did not get it yet so I was wondering how late in the EA content it is