Party composition

[Edstyles]

What number of party members would be optimal for higher difficulties?

And do you turn on active companion get xp on?

[Conquista]

2 tanks, 1 archer, 1 bard, 1 full arcane caster, 1 full divine caster

is like the basic setup for higher difficulties

[Edstyles]

Originally posted by Conquista:

2 tanks, 1 archer, 1 bard, 1 full arcane caster, 1 full divine caster

is like the basic setup for higher difficulties

A so you dont go under 6 party members for increased exp? I see

[Knight Night]

Your active party can be up to 6. If your party has animal companions/mounts you’ll end up with more than 6.

I always play with the experience sharing on since it makes the companion quests for the ones you’re not using easier. I’d hate the to some of the final companion quests with them being 10+ levels below your main party.

This isn’t like kingmaker you’ll get more than enough xp to make it to level 20 so you can freely share xp and still get everyone to lvl 20.

[Conquista]

you can go under 6 party member with exp share off till lost chapter in act 2 to level abit ahead, but strategies like that are only popular on unfair

[MrQuincy]

There are a few things that I did (finished the game on hard difficulty).

I kept it turned on to level faster. And sometimes I ran with a 4-5 man party. I hit level 20 WAY before finishing the game. So I think what's best is..

If you're going for the Legend ending - make sure "only active companions get experience" is turned on.

But, turn it off the moment you recruit a new person and they will match your current level.

Also - it doesn't matter who lags behind. Act 5 gives you tons of experience and I had no issues raising Daerun from level 7 to 14 going though 2 map locations.

[Benedicter]

First thing you need to do it to decide which Mythic path you are going to take. With Lich or Angel it will be probably easier because they can merge books so get higher level spells sooner and have more CL.
After picking the Mythic path you need to pick a class that will complement it. Lich melee Sorcerer or caster Sorcerer is a great choice, Angel Oracle and Sword Saint Trickster as well. Only after picking your MC path and class start to think about the party and how each member can help.

On unfair end game many times only your MC will be able to hit so you need to focus your party around him. Every party member needs to bring something to the table, some party AB bonus to help the MC.

Something like:

Cleric (with Community+Nobility /impossible/ domains)
Arcane spellbook user (preferably Brown-fur Transmuter to share arcane buffs with the MC)
Paladin to share smites
5 Freebooter levels for Bane+Bond
Competence AB bonus provider (Bard/Skald with Lethal stance/Martyr/Sensei)
Hex provider is not bad as well, especially for early game (also throughout the game to proc Jinx)

You have more ways to get AB (adding Hellknight level to stack smite chaos as well, Skald with Reckless stance and more) but take into account that you can use one companion for several of the above requirement, for example having on same companion 11 Sensei levels for Bard song and then take 5 Freebooter levels is very helpful (is he not?). That way he will provide the party with +7 AB and can share Ki True strike with MC as well...

A party can look like this for example:
1. MC Angel melee Oracle or Lich Sorcerer
2. Sensei+Freebooter+4 levels Sylvan Trickster Rogue (for 3 hexes, 2+wandering hex mythic) - if not taking Ember
3. Paladin to smite (Seelah can fit here, although her low-ish CHA makes her inferior to a merc)
4. Cleric (Community+Nobility) - add Glory too as long as your MC use CHA and Glory lvl1 ability is borked like it is atm... Lann can do the job.
5. BFT Arcane caster (important for things like Frightful Aspect on the MC. Not needed if MC is a Sorcerer)
6. Ember 8 Witch/1 Vivi/ 1 Cross Sorc fire dragons/10 Arcane Trickster to supply the party with hexes and nukes.

If going SS melee Trickster you might wanna go more heavy melee party with a Skald that can give you Inspire Rage + Lethal stance (competence bonus) + Beast totem (+AC) + 1 crit multiplier (!).

If going caster MC you can add a Court poet Skald to buff your CHA/INT and level him up as an Enchantment/Conjuration controller.

TLDR - decide MC Mythic path, then MC class, then party to support it.

About the XP sharing question what I did was going with 'only active members' turned on while I had less than 6 members (turn it off before recruiting someone) and when I got my full party I turned it off and kept it off since then.

[provokastoras]

Take daeran instead of tank for higher difficulties.... some things are better tanked by bleachboned the sturdy, That or you gonna have to do the shenanigans the gentleman above mentioned to get your ac to +-80 by level 15,. with abudant casting daeran can buy you 12 rounds vs everything with skellies and if you need more time extend the spell to get 24 rounds. (extend spell increases the spell level meaning he can cast it 12 more times as level4. Skellies are good cause unlike other summons they act the round they are summoned.
In my hard run right now I have a kinetist, pure pyro, no trip, went for dispel instead. (Destructive dispel) I have not regretted the choice she has soloed many encounters,
similar builds will be an alchemist with dispelling bombs.

I concider either ember or Camilla necessary to go for protective luck spamming. Even if your tank has ac 1000 natural 20s still hit, and in unfair any hit can be a 1 shot all the way to grey. things have close to 200 hps in unfair from level 3... so battles are going to last a long time natural 20s are highly probably in every fight.

[Khloros]

Take mercs
1 munchkin built monk tank
1 Divine caster (i like taking a totally not tristin tristin merc)

Ember, because ember + Pyromania + red salamander + Crest of the fallen knight belt that gives bonus fire damage + ignore fire immunities and resistances makes her a walking flame thrower of death and distruction....Oh and you can throw out meta magic curses and hexs at range and be the swiss army knife of debuffing. Seriously shes amazing

Ninio for your arcane caster. Buff up phantasma killer with metamagic to increase its level and laugh your arse off as ember hexes them and puts misfortune then ninio stpes in and one shots a boss.

Aru, because jesus christ, idk why owlcat green lit her stats but im not gonna complain about it, enjoy being able to open any box and pass every single perception check in the world with flying colors

If you dont want aru thats totally fine as well. You got 2 slots left to work with for your player character and or someone else, Or if you wanna be the divine caster and or munchkin monk then you can do that too.

[Storm]

I see nothing wrong with 5 erastil herald callers and one ranged damage character preferably with haste.

Enough summons to fill up your screen 5? times. If damage is somehow an issue late game just give them all stormbolts with ascendant element and last stand...

[kirill-busidow]

Originally posted by Khloros:

Ember, because ember + Pyromania + red salamander + Crest of the fallen knight belt that gives bonus fire damage + ignore fire immunities and resistances makes her a walking flame thrower of death and distruction....

It works for Fire Kineticist?

[Khloros]

Originally posted by kirill-busidow:

Originally posted by Khloros:

Ember, because ember + Pyromania + red salamander + Crest of the fallen knight belt that gives bonus fire damage + ignore fire immunities and resistances makes her a walking flame thrower of death and distruction....

It works for Fire Kineticist?

I dont know if it does? because the red salamander gives you the spell, do kinetisist cast spells? all their stuff are abilities so.

Besides, ember with it is great, she literally has 11 controlled fireballs, i mean...cmon lol

[Viper]

I always take a cleric for healing. Especially if you have a time limit to do something or get somewhere. Your not going to want to be resting to heal. Plus all the buffs a Cleric has. Very important inclusion.

[GunStarX]

Get as many animal companions on your party members as you can. They tank and do damage

[echoes222]

Originally posted by Edstyles:

Originally posted by Conquista:

2 tanks, 1 archer, 1 bard, 1 full arcane caster, 1 full divine caster

is like the basic setup for higher difficulties

A so you dont go under 6 party members for increased exp? I see

no point. You'll get to level 20 due to story.

[navigator4223]

I like to turn xp sharing off / on / off / on / off / on / off in the prologue and act 1 (until I get to 6 party members) to level faster.

You can get level 4 when arriving in the tavern, but you have to be very careful when to turn xp sharing on and when to turn it off.

That water elementar in the "labyrinth" (I still don't get why it's called a labyrinth, but ok) is basically a joke on level 3. ;-)

Pro-tip: create your toon for the prologue. Pump either athletics or knowledge about the world. This is worth a TON of xp. Dinging 2 before talking to Lann and Wenduag is possible. You can respec later in the tavern. I even created myself a copyable savegame with maximum xp just for this purpose.

Also, regardless of difficulty: increase enemy count in difficulty settings at least until the tavern fight. Thats another metric ton of xp. If you know what you're doing you'll hit 7 in the gray garrison (or soon after).

Originally posted by GunStarX:

Get as many animal companions on your party members as you can. They tank and do damage

Thats the truth.

Also one of the reasons why Azata MP is so strong. Aivu may look like a sweet pet but she hits like a truck.