Playthough Build

[Panda Gladiator]

Hi,
After going through BG2 again il be going through IW yet am struggling to settle on my team comp.
Any fun suggestions for a playthrough would be nice.
Filler roles are my problem with my intial build

1-2 Frontline [paladin + fighter/thief? or Dwarven Defender?]
Thief [if no fighter/thief]
Mage
??? [second mage? bard? priest? cleric?]
??? [specialist class?]
??

I understand a thief is an essential kit thus.
If its any help my first BG2 playthrough was as Blackguard with minsc, korgan, aerie, hexxat and yoshi/Imoen. This is not where I want to head into IWD lol if you catch my drift. My second playthrough dropping minsc+yoshi+aerie for Edwin and others, if that helps.

Sorry for a rough opening and vague request, open to reply back for discussion.
Thanks.

[Godsarm]

You don't need a full time cleric or a full time thief for IWD, I created and was very happy with a Half Orc Cleric/Thief. Fulfilled both of the roles needed.

There aren't enough of the good Arcane spell scrolls to fully outfit two full mages. I settled on a straight Bard for party buffs and a regular Mage for offensive spells. I hear that sorcerers also work quite well in IWD. I liked the Bard in my last run because once she hit 11th level (which is pretty fast really), we never needed to worry about healing between battles, the Bard song for that level gives, among other things, pretty quick regeneration to the party. Also, after the first couple of levels, you rarely need to rest to identify anything. Basically the Bard made the game more playable.

Archer kits are extremely useful as well. I think my Archer accounted for half the kills in the game. It's not like BG2 where archery gets less useful as you progress. And there are no HLA's so no need to worry about Whirlwind/Greater Whirlwind attacks.

Here's my last and I think best party

Human Paladin (no kit) - Specialist in Long Sword, Sling and Sword and Shield style. There's a reason for the Long Sword proficiency

Half Orc Fighter (no kit) Grandmastery in Axes. There is a magic throwing axe in the first third of the game so don't worry about not having a magic ranged attack sorry if that's a spoiler.

Elf Ranger - Archer Kit Longbows and Long Swords to take advantage of the racial bonus

Half Elf - Mage (no kit)

Half Orc Cleric/Thief

Half Elf - Bard (no kit)

What you might want to do is go back to BG2 and load up The Black Pits, the BG2 version and try out different party compositions in the arena fights. This is a great tool to figure out what works well together and what does not.

[elvendualwielder]

My go-to group in this game is as follows:
Fighter (Longsword+Shield)
Thief (Swashbuckler)
Cleric (Priest of Tyr typically)
Ranger (Archer Longbow)
Mage (No kit)
Bard (No kit)
These guys tend to dice up most things in the main campaign, and I tend to make a head canon for each of the characters, their personal details, and why they're there.

[Panda Gladiator]

Thanks guys for the replys, very helpful as to essientals.
So now the difference is either taking Cleric/thief dual class or having a thief and a cleric. Leaving only 1 front liner [baring In mind i know you took swashbuckler for this reason?]

Also a quick question if some kits are viable?
Fighter kits:
Dwarven defender is out if there is a magical axe?
Beserker?

Paladin:
Blackguard/cavalier.

Thief:
Assasin/Shadowdancer

Bard:
Skald.

Only asking as if kits for some classes wouldnt be worth taking in IWD due to restrictions leaving me out on some nice usable loot etc...I wont take kits in my final build.
Heres the final drafts without consideration of kits yet if you would have any further advice.

Paladin [kit?]
Fighter [kit?]
Cleric/thief
Archer
Mage
Bard [kit]

or

Paladin [kit?]
Cleric
Thief [kit?]
Archer
Mage
Bard [kit?]

Thanks again for the help

[Scathe]

Godsarm's suggested party, your first choice, was good for me, but, his point that neither cleric nor thief needs to be full class, well, I wasn't satisfied with the combat contributions of my cleric/thief when I played one, so I made a party with a fighter/cleric (half-orc) and a fighter/thief (half-orc). doing that is better than going with so many full class characters and only one of them frontliner.

dwarven defender is definately good, but, if I were to use one, it would replace the paladin, not the second slot fighter.

[Godsarm]

Yeah, the Cleric/Thief is a compromise, not going to win any combat awards, but if you give them a 19 STR and 18 DEX with a Sling, they only get one attack per round but it's a whopper. May not get the kills but will contribute. Mainly I'm trying to save a party slot so that I can have three fighter types a Mage and a Bard.

I typically use Invisibility to scout out the dungeon for traps backed up by the Stealth Archer w/Boots of Speed to initiate combat. The Cleric/Thief just stays invisible and out of the way. That being said, I have him lug around heavy armor and a shield for those times where it's a straight up fight with no need to Find/Remove Traps. The AC boost and the heavy sling attack do contribute. Also can use a Wand of Fear to debilitate non-undead, especially since there are so many massed attacks in IWD.

[wallace8766]

Fighter // Paladin // Cleric // Thief/mage // Druid // Bard

Choose kits according to taste. The above includes just about every flavor for a full play through. Can multi the fighter or Druid to preferred if needed. or triple class with thief/mage instead.

[elvendualwielder]

I concur with those saying to take stuff you want to take. You could (theoretically) finish the game with almost any party, so take what sounds fun to you.

[Panda Gladiator]

Hey all, already going through IWD currently at top of the Severed Hand. Really happy with the party comp, tips and advice given, so thanks very much. Upon using this I feel I could ramp up the difficulty already, given im playing core rules as its still a first play through. This is how its gone so far.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782996923133989789/1E24400B5F5D3E83A20918FBC3C66BBADCF5C01D/
Went with blackguard just for fun. Could happily swap the kit to undead hunter, cavalier or class to DWF Defender. Longsword is working great, would consider Two handed style with Greatsword. Or Flails/crushing dmg.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782996923133992495/1F8BF1C99D2246263707B6F4547197EF365B9523/
No complaints, straight up fighter, working tose numbers as expected.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782996923133995465/2D0ED0D48CD08EEF82AE69044400796D402F4446/
Archer was for sure a good shout , huge damage, mobility, pulling potential. With greater HOS than my cleric. A second archer could be really fun at times I feel. You could also drop this role for something else. Yet this Pew Pew dmg could always be tempting.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782996923133997371/13B85831309CEAD9EC643D236261B7DF4B09D3B3/
Right. Deffo I see why this was suggested by everyone. I wasnt sure on a dual class but the compromise was 100% worth it. Like people said, I feel like a dedicated thief or cleric no kit isnt quite required, the dual class able to sufficently play both roles with ease, with the bard and archer in my comp , I only really needed to feed points into traps and lockpicking. So this by far is a great key for my comp. Also with that high STR able to sling stuff to ♥♥♥♥ like someone said.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782996923133999300/1C75FBC136E5F1BD48B2204D699364AB09A426C7/
Mage doing fine so far, doing what she should. I see what people mean with arcane spells/scrolls in this game compared to BG2. Still fun to be had though.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782996923134000923/8836886BD5387535140ACC19CD5463969B1B2C31/
First time taking a bard. Enjoying so far, still to get final song.
Not quite required, but a good asset none the less. If I were to take a Skald kit, would love to run with a shaman or many NPC summons to stack damage. very gimmicky.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782996923134003153/1C5FE7046723CBD2EB104F188378F7DF4122A55E/
Why I would like to run crushing dmg on a frontline.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782996923134005770/3F1F40F01A4BC5C88E618D6A7CD30899E708762F/
Scrolls of interest still to use.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Went along way so far.

Edit: Sorry for my terrible formatting. Tried to get the artwork displaying in the post but failed.

[Vambran]

DPS
Archer ( Long Bow +5 ) Elf 19 DEX Leather
Fighter ( Greatsword +5 ) Orc 19 STR Plate

Front Line
Fighter/Cleric ( Shield + Flail ) Orc 19 STR Plate
Fighter/Druid ( Shield + Scitmar ) Half-Elf 18 STR Plate

Support
Fighter/Thief ( Short or Long Bow ) Elf 19 DEX Leather
Mage/Cleric ( Sling ) Any 18 WIS Robes

Pretty Solid Group. Should favour buffs and heals over damage spells and just roll through the game.

Fighter can be swapped with either Caviler or a Dwarven Defender to favour more tanking over DPS.

Don't take any rolls under 92 for the multiclasses. Might take a bit in party gen.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Panda Gladiator:

Edit: Sorry for my terrible formatting. Tried to get the artwork displaying in the post but failed.

Please look into embedding screenshots properly, since you've uploaded them to Steam already anyway. Just paste a screenshot's "Share" link into the forum or the URL that contains "/sharedfiles/". Then screenshots will be embedded properly with an automatic thumbnail, too.

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