Do I really need a caster in my party?

[Vanch]

I'm just wondering if having a caster in the party, whether it be for support or damage, is really necessary. I'm playing on core difficulty by the way.

Would I be able to get by with just physical damage party members, such as warriors, rogues, rangers etc?

The reason I ask is that I've got a couple of casters, and the micromanaging is really slowing down every single battle. Their skillbars are packed full of spells and abilities that I rarely ever use anyway and can almost never see a need to use.

I was planning my party composition as the following:

- Me (Rogue Melee DPS), Tank, Healer, Ranged Physical DPS, Ranged Magic DPS, Magic Support

Now I'm thinking of just scrapping that idea and going with the following instead:

- Me (Rogue Melee DPS), Tank, Healer, Ranged Physical DPS, Ranged Physical DPS, Melee DPS

[Drake]

You're oversimplying the role of a caster, it's not about just ranged magic dps. Woljif for instance, while being a melee dps still very useful as a control and buff caster.
A self buffed paladin is a caster that just happens to smash stuff with a weapon.

If you don't need a wizard or a sorcerer because you have an oracle and a bard buffing the team, that fine. The most important thing is to have the tools available for the job.
I did my first run (which was on core) without any arcane casting class (my party was a main melee battle oracle, camelia and regill as frontliners, arue and wenduag as archers and daeran as full support).
Pretty much everyone had a spellbook (regill had 3 domain abilities from hellknight) but everyone besides daeran was actually going either melee or bow to kill mobs.

That said, I don't know where you are in the story, but you need at least need something that can dispel demons and remove invisibility (usually the combo see invisibility + true sight) from them, otherwise you'll just hit nothing because of the high AC, DR and concealment.

[darkholyPL]

1. Yes it is.
2. No, you will not be able.
3. You will see a need. You need buffs more than anything else, but other spells will soon be needed on Core. Get BubbleBuff mod to ease the pain of buffing.
4. You will have a hard, hard time on core with no arcane caster. By healer I'm assuming you mean a full divine caster, so at least there's that. Without good buffs for your party, your physical dps wont be able to hit the broad side of a barn later on, on Core+

[Vanch]

Thanks guys, I guess I'll use a caster then. On a related note, what do you suggest as an optimal party composition?

I'll be using myself (Melee Rogue), Healer (Cleric), Tank (Paladin), Arcane Caster... Just not sure of the other two.

[Kriminaal]

Spells, pfft. I just wear underwear and a MW Dagger and I beat Unfair solo.

All you need to do is use toybox and link kill all enemies to a hot button. Super easy.

[Finrod]

Originally posted by Vanch:

Thanks guys, I guess I'll use a caster then. On a related note, what do you suggest as an optimal party composition?

I'll be using myself (Melee Rogue), Healer (Cleric), Tank (Paladin), Arcane Caster... Just not sure of the other two.

I am not a specialist of high difficulties, but I find the witch useful. Her hexes, that can lower enemy AC, attack or saves or negate elemental resistance... also you can give "luck" to your tank (so the enemy has to roll twice and get the worst result to hit). Then you get "cackle" and everything last more rounds. (she can also use hellfire)
And maybe you can use 1 of the 2 archers companions, for more damage and reach

[Keijo]

In game you can have all your companions in a hub(tavern, city) and then you can swap them out when you go exploring so it is really easy to try different stuff, you don't have to lock into a permanent 6man setup.

At acts 1-3 you can use archers instead of arcane casters for example and then switch them later, all casters suck at lower levels so melee/ranger works fine for starters. You just have to make sure you have pets/buffs so you can hit anything with high ac.

[gmwaddington]

I would suggest re-thinking your idea of playing on Core: it requires a detailed knowledge of the game system. Normal is more suitable for newer players.

[Arcane]

Unless you're one yourself (a caster) then Nenio is necessary for many high level arcane magic buffs. Ember for raw damage if you focus on her fire damage spells and hexes. Daeran / Sosiel for divine magic - healing / buffs.

Woljiff only has arcane spells up to level six if you go full eldritch scoundrel.

Camellia... I never really used her. She's essentially melee druid I suppose who can have level 9 spells.

But yeah, you'll need casters in your party assuming you want to live.

[Star Sage]

Set the game to Story Mode, even if you then Increase Enemy numbers, you don't really have any problems even if you never use spells save a few healing ones(Midnight Isles still has the Age debuff being permanent bug, which requires Restoration: Greater to remove, and just healing in general to keep going in some locations).

I beat it 3 times now as an Azata, Aeon, and Gold Dragon with sub optimal build for the lead, and auto levels for all companions, and only had 3 difficult fights the entire time, even in DLCs.

In the main game, the bonus fight in the midnight fane with the swarms in the room below the main area, for some reason they just kicked my butt, so I had to play around with some buffs before battle to make that works.

Midnight Isles, second set, the boss of the area, with all the little things, for some reason just would not die, like ever, I think that MIGHT have been a bug, as I reloaded and beat it, without doing anything too different.

And finally, the final boss of Through the Ashes, the 'low power' DLC.

Beyond those, I never buffed before a fight, never used spells or 'on rest' type moves, mostly just basic attacks. Never even set it up to use automatic cantrips and stuff, despite the game saying it's a good idea. Oh, and my lead mained the Talking Weapon.

That said, I used something with an animal companion in all three runs, and those are slightly more powerful even without equipment than most, so those certainly help fill in the gaps in terms of power.

[Cyrus]

Swarms say hi In slam fire -4stats every round until your dead

[Saberris]

Casters aren't required really, but they can be devastating at mid-high level. Early on they usually suck, but mid level casters can wipe out entire fields of enemies with single spell. On my last playthrough my lich could singlehandedly wipe out a dozen high level demons with mythical powers with Circle of Death or Horrid Wilting.

[Duder]

Originally posted by Saberris:

Casters aren't required really, but they can be devastating at mid-high level. Early on they usually suck, but mid level casters can wipe out entire fields of enemies with single spell. On my last playthrough my lich could singlehandedly wipe out a dozen high level demons with mythical powers with Circle of Death or Horrid Wilting.

One of my biggest regrets in this, and Kingmaker is there is no good choice in the companions for a necromancy arcane caster
Both Octavia and Nenio have it as an opposition school

[Agony_Aunt]

I have parties without full casters. I do recommend one or two semi casters at least though as they can help buffs things up a little and even low level spells like protection from evil can really help with some fights.

I do have a pure fighter party, zero spells, but they guzzle healing potions between fights like its happy hour down the local pub.

[Arcane]

Originally posted by Duder:

Originally posted by Saberris:

Casters aren't required really, but they can be devastating at mid-high level. Early on they usually suck, but mid level casters can wipe out entire fields of enemies with single spell. On my last playthrough my lich could singlehandedly wipe out a dozen high level demons with mythical powers with Circle of Death or Horrid Wilting.

One of my biggest regrets in this, and Kingmaker is there is no good choice in the companions for a necromancy arcane caster
Both Octavia and Nenio have it as an opposition school

I had Daeran specialised in necromancy and it worked pretty effectively.

I only swopped him out until Sosiel got guarded hearth ability via community domain which is just too good to ignore.

You can live without having a dedicated necromancy caster IMO. Nenio and her illusion magic with persistent meta magic can do all the nasty instant death stuff and Ember can do pure damage if you focus her on evocation.

It's cool but it's overrated as a spell school IMO. Feels like transmutation / illusion have more utility - again just my opinion, though I suppose necromancy gives you options to summon stuff if you want.

I'd rather have a dedicated summoner / conjuration specialist in that instance though. Would have been my other option for Daeran if I hadn't had him focussed on necromancy as well as healing but I barely used any summons throughout the game and did fine.

[Bloodartist]

Buffs and dispels are extremely important in this game, more so than direct damage.