Opinions on my party setup?

[Ted Snark]

I've grown kinda tired of using the "canon" party of Imoen, Khalid, Jaheera, Minsc and Dynaheir and I've dabbled with a party consisting of Me, Imoen, Ajantis, Branwen, Xan and Garrick. (yes I know Garrick isn't the strongest character....) I also do not use the new EE party members, I mod them out completely. And I never play evil aligned parties so those characters are right out. What do you people think of my party composition? Just interested to know...And BTW I also choose the party I stick with in the beginning and don't change party members around.

[Redwood]

Interesting party. Yes, use Xan! Always wanted to try him and his cool moon blade. Glad you avoid Safana; she drives me too far with all her appeal to men's senses.

[Ted Snark]

Originally posted by Redwood:

Interesting party. Yes, use Xan! Always wanted to try him and his cool moon blade. Glad you avoid Safana; she drives me too far with all her appeal to men's senses.

Yeah it's always Imoen for my thief. And I usually play as fighting classes such as fighter, paladin and barbarian. I think that party complements a dps fighter really well. Ajantis is a great tank with the dexterity gauntlets. The one thing missing is a good archer but I usually give Garrick a good crossbow and keep Imoen as an archer so it's not a huge problem. And I feel that the personalities of this party match up pretty well too. =)

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Yes, yes! Ajantis and Branwen have been among my primary choices in multiple playthroughs. Garrick is a good compromise indeed to get some arcane spells.

Often I've dual-classed Imoen to mage as early as she could handle traps up to skill 85 or so before picking up Safana. If not using Imoen, ignoring Minsc and freeing Dynaheir is an option, since that separates her from Minsc. However, apart from Xan there is no other early good/neutral aligned mage to get, if you despise Neera. <-- she has been in my v2.6.6 test party as a very viable option, and I don't see anything wrong with her.

My child of Bhaal has been a pure dwarven berserker wielding axes - accompanied by two custom companions, a cavalier and a berserker to become a mage later on. Custom companions add only a few comments here and there, but such a choice of custom members gives good options when applying the various tomes as to get permanent bonuses. I'm not a fan of giving the bhaalspawn WIS +3 when it's a class that doesn't need WIS, for example. So, the cavalier gets those tomes.

The story companions don't contribute so much in BGEE, if not replacing them frequently. Which is why 1-2 custom members increase the party's opportunities a lot.

[Ted Snark]

I feel that Ajantis and Branwen work better than Khalid and Jaheira for me personality wise too. It's s shame that neither of them are available as party members in BG2 EE. And for me the new npc's just feel wrong, like they don't belong in the game at all. Guess I'm just such a BG purist that I want the closest possible experience to the original game I can get. And at first the so called canon party was fun enough but little by little they have started to feel a little boring. But yeah, I feel that a party consisting of me as a heavy hitting fighter type, Imoen, Ajantis, Branwen, Garrick and Xan is a really nice combination, even if the story of BG 2 EE assumes I travelled with the canon party at least at some point during/after the events of BG EE.

[Wicket W. Warrick]

I like this setup more than the "canon" party (i guess you're a pure fighter from the last post without kit).

[Ted Snark]

Originally posted by stef.corsi:

I like this setup more than the "canon" party (i guess you're a pure fighter from the last post without kit).

Actually my character right now is a barbarian with a great roll, got my strength to 18/99 too so the guy hits like a train and carries a nice amount of stuff on the side too. I feel that Imoen, Ajantis, Branwen, Garrick and Xan complement this kind of heavy hitter really well.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

STR 18/9x starting strength or even 18/00 is a nice plus, BUT there are STR potions (STR 2x makes a huge diference in the tougher battles) and the STR tome on return to Candlekeep, so whatever 18/xx or just 18 strength it is, the child of Bhaal will raise it to 19.

That story companions get reset to story defaults in BG2EE is a pity. Never understood that. And the way the authors reintroduced Ajantis, Garrick, Coran and Safana while letting other companions reappear only dead ... *ugh*!

[Ted Snark]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

STR 18/9x starting strength or even 18/00 is a nice plus, BUT there are STR potions (STR 2x makes a huge diference in the tougher battles) and the STR tome on return to Candlekeep, so whatever 18/xx or just 18 strength it is, the child of Bhaal will raise it to 19.

That story companions get reset to story defaults in BG2EE is a pity. Never understood that. And the way the authors reintroduced Ajantis, Garrick, Coran and Safana while letting other companions reappear only dead ... *ugh*!

Yeah, if I want to export my character to BG 2 EE, it feels silly to start that game with characters that were never with me in BG EE. For me the "canon" party has lost it's luster a long time ago. And true, also you can get your strength straight to 19 as an Half- orc right at the beginning too. But roleplaying wise it's nice to get that 18/99 on my mighty human barbarian as I'm a big time role player when playing rpg's, I always roleplay hard when it comes to my characters. So no dwarf or halfling characters for me on BG EE or BG EE 2. =D

[MidnaFeetEnjoyer]

you have a thief and a cleric. Nothing else matters

I recently started dumping Imoen in an inn right before going to cloakwood. Preferably having at least 16k XP on your main. Coran is just superior in a fight and I spec my thief into locks and traps anyway, so it's not like she's going to be backstabbing much. If you feel like she's starting to annoy, or any character- there are alternatives and all work, I really encourage to try different things often. Or even do playthroughs sometime, where you recruit all companions during it, lastly taking and ending up with who you want to have the rest of the game

[Ted Snark]

Originally posted by Haunted ♥♥♥♥♥:

you have a thief and a cleric. Nothing else matters

I recently started dumping Imoen in an inn right before going to cloakwood. Preferably having at least 16k XP on your main. Coran is just superior in a fight and I spec my thief into locks and traps anyway, so it's not like she's going to be backstabbing much. If you feel like she's starting to annoy, or any character- there are alternatives and all work, I really encourage to try different things often. Or even do playthroughs sometime, where you recruit all companions during it, lastly taking and ending up with who you want to have the rest of the game

Yeah, there's a lot of choice in this game when it comes to companions, even for someone like me who doesn't do evil playthroughs.

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Originally posted by Billy The ♥♥♥:

Actually my character right now is a barbarian with a great roll, got my strength to 18/99 too so the guy hits like a train and carries a nice amount of stuff on the side too. I feel that Imoen, Ajantis, Branwen, Garrick and Xan complement this kind of heavy hitter really well.

A good party composition, expecially giving hidden ankeg armor to main char and dex bracers to Ajantis, that you can get very early.

18/99 it's not necessary in the long run, but for most of BG1 it's really useful.

[Ted Snark]

Originally posted by stef.corsi:

Originally posted by Billy The ♥♥♥:

Actually my character right now is a barbarian with a great roll, got my strength to 18/99 too so the guy hits like a train and carries a nice amount of stuff on the side too. I feel that Imoen, Ajantis, Branwen, Garrick and Xan complement this kind of heavy hitter really well.

A good party composition, expecially giving hidden ankeg armor to main char and dex bracers to Ajantis, that you can get very early.

18/99 it's not necessary in the long run, but for most of BG1 it's really useful.

I don't think barbarians can use anghek armor as it is plate. So that too goes probably to Ajantis. =D

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Originally posted by Billy The ♥♥♥:

I don't think barbarians can use anghek armor as it is plate. So that too goes probably to Ajantis. =D

Sorry, you're right, I was sure to have used it with a barbarian some years ago, but I was wrong.

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by Billy The ♥♥♥:

Originally posted by Redwood:

Interesting party. Yes, use Xan! Always wanted to try him and his cool moon blade. Glad you avoid Safana; she drives me too far with all her appeal to men's senses.

Yeah it's always Imoen for my thief. And I usually play as fighting classes such as fighter, paladin and barbarian. I think that party complements a dps fighter really well. Ajantis is a great tank with the dexterity gauntlets. The one thing missing is a good archer but I usually give Garrick a good crossbow and keep Imoen as an archer so it's not a huge problem. And I feel that the personalities of this party match up pretty well too. =)

There is absolutely no reason to not have everyone in your party equipped with some sort of Missile weapon especially early game. Bows preferably, as it seems half the baddies in the game drop arrows.

[Ted Snark]

Originally posted by grognardgary:

Originally posted by Billy The ♥♥♥:

Yeah it's always Imoen for my thief. And I usually play as fighting classes such as fighter, paladin and barbarian. I think that party complements a dps fighter really well. Ajantis is a great tank with the dexterity gauntlets. The one thing missing is a good archer but I usually give Garrick a good crossbow and keep Imoen as an archer so it's not a huge problem. And I feel that the personalities of this party match up pretty well too. =)

There is absolutely no reason to not have everyone in your party equipped with some sort of Missile weapon especially early game. Bows preferably, as it seems half the baddies in the game drop arrows.

True, it seems ranged really rules in this game...