Party Build questions

[Carpenter's Apprentice]

I am playing with a bit of an eclectic mix and I am curious if I am screwed down the line. My party consists of a Rogue an Archer, a Priest and a Sorceress.

I heard that archery isn't all that useful in the long run and I winced. I am about 11th levelish.

Each character has the two experience traits at level 1, the rogue has backstab at 2 and the archer has the trait dead aim(I think) at 2. I havent been dual wielding, figuring most games the penalty is quite harsh.

Need advice please.

[biogoo]

Archery not good? Damn... I made 4 customs (now level 9), one of them as rogue/archer. That means I lost a lot of points taking tools, even though its pretty clear that the only way to make archery work is sniping to get an extra shot as often as possible.
Already I can see the lack of AoE or support abilities, but on the other hand, no worries about resistances and mana, and the hit chance without a heavy armour is very high (the warrior in front can tank a boss, but often misses).

I think I will just restart (happens in many games during first playthrough anyway), specialising the characters more. I think a priest is a good char to take all the tool/lore skills, as he very often just casts heal.

[Carpenter's Apprentice]

Yeah it hurt my feelings too about archery. I'm the kind of guy who used to play Final Fantasy with the weird builds(like Rogue, Red, White, Black) so I was disappointed indeed.

[biogoo]

Who cares, its on normal, I can manage with archery:)

The archery is actualy not that bad at all. I gave my archer the armour you can find somewhere at the begining, which gives +1 action point at the cost of strenght and hit chance. That gives her 9 AP basic, nothing special, as a standard shot costs 9 AP as well. But as I put all points toward sniper, it opens up the quick movement skill as well. Pretty useless, unless that extra AP you get pushes you over 9 AP, so you get a guaranteed extra shot. Combined with sniper, I already attack 2 times per round very often. The quick movement works strange though, sometimes giving me even more AP, as if every skillpoint had a separate chance of 10% to grant 1 AP. Good stuff:)

[Azghouls]

Make sure your archer can heal - other words make it a backup. My party consists of a warrior, priest, mage and archer / healer. Why is that is because your priest eventually can get some very cool damage spells like quake (or whatever it's called) so in effect, you have two casters + healer (archer) that heals the warrior (which should be taking some serious damage). I played it on hard and survived - got the achievement to prove it.

Also ensure your pure priest is a buff master and the mage haste.

[forsakenlight]

Considering people have played these games with only a single character I wouldn't worry too much. Magic damage can far outstrip physical damage late game but this does not make physical characters useless. You don't need a healer because potions can do whatever you need. You don't need a tank as you can summon fodder or invest in skills to mitigate damage etc. Just play how you want to play.

[Berahlen]

If you were playing Torment or something I'd say you're screwed. But for Normal you can make it work. Just don't be surprised when your archer starts falling behind and never really comes back. Or when the archer's backup healing suddenly becomes your main healing so the priest can melt faces.

Oh, and go ahead and dual wield. IIRC the penalites are all but eliminated with the relevant feats and it becomes one of the most overpowered things in the game.

^ A healer is not optional. Potions can't heal your entire party all at once, and you have far better things to spend limited money on anyway.

[forsakenlight]

Originally posted by Waypoint:

If you were playing Torment or something I'd say you're screwed. But for Normal you can make it work. Just don't be surprised when your archer starts falling behind and never really comes back. Or when the archer's backup healing suddenly becomes your main healing so the priest can melt faces.

Oh, and go ahead and dual wield. IIRC the penalites are all but eliminated with the relevant feats and it becomes one of the most overpowered things in the game.

^ A healer is not optional. Potions can't heal your entire party all at once, and you have far better things to spend limited money on anyway.

A healer is very much optional. Potions don't take a full turn to use and you can believe it or not make your own. And believe it or not you can carry and use them on more than one party member! Money should not be a problem either. Opinions man opinions. A healer is not optional for YOU but again....dun dada dunnnn...believe it or not people have beaten this game and many others without one.

[Berahlen]

Or you can spend 8 skill points and get an offhealer with Mass Healing. And by about 2/3 of the way into the game, anyone important will have equipment to act twice every turn no matter what they do, not counting haste procs. And with a bit of planning you gan get everyone Adrenaline Rush too.

I guess Normal is forgiving enough that you conceivably could abuse potions if you're that determined to make it work, but there's not really any tactical advantage to it instead of spells and skill training. For as much money and resources as that takes, you can just give someone 8 points of Priest Spells, get an offhealer with reusable Mass Healing, use all the ingredients for energy potions that will be several times more efficient on a long dungeon crawl, and spend the rest of the money buying weapon skills for your mage to give them Adrenaline Rush so they can burn down entire crowds on the first turn.

I mean, yes, keep whatever potions you find on hand. But they're your last resort -- when your healer is indisposed or can't keep up -- not the first line of defense.

If you're playing anything higher than Normal, I maintain that a healer is not optional. There are several encounters where you basically need heavy heals every turn -- sometimes two from different characters staggered down the turn -- while still putting out as much damage as possible in a very short amount of time (i.e., using +AP gear for two attacks a turn and not wasting one on potions) to thin down crowds into something that won't eat you alive between turns. I mean, good freaking luck taking down Grah-Hoth on Torment without a dedicated healer. Hell, even the one Slith lord early on with all those AOE slimes. That's not even getting into how crucial Unshackle Mind is.

[Yro Dragon]

I can confirm that Torment is impossible to do without a dedicated healer (I am playing through it now). However, you can help free up that healer's turn if you put a single point in priest spells later on down the line for the rest of your party. Minor heal is pretty useful on turns where you are just trying to keep your health near max to avoid getting killed by the tougher monsters later on in the game.

Anyways, if your looking to make that party work throw many attribute points into dexterity on that rogue - it will greatly help later on against large groups that won't be able to hit him. You let him go in and get swarmed while the rest of your party smashes them from further back.

[Carpenter's Apprentice]

Thanks so much. You guys have been incredibly helpful. :)