Ideal Party?

[Anonymous No.6427228]

Its been about 3 years since playing through BG1/2 and kind of forgot the optimal setup. I went with
>Fighter
>Thief
>Fighter/Cleric
>Fighter/Cleric
>Mage
>Mage necromancer

How bad did i fuck up.

Playing the non ee edition. Got to find that loot bar mod.

[Anonymous No.6427271]

I used to play a ton of Baldurs Gate as a kid and never beat it. I would just walk around looking for secrets and clicking everything because I thought something would happen. I miss youth. Just the autistic grind of secret hunting even though I wasnt good at it and never found anything other than some items and potions and shit I could have probably found anyway.

[Anonymous No.6427296]

This game doesn't really require a thief, and certainly not a single class one.
Single class fighter instead of a paladin or multi is silly.
Fighter/cleric is completely inferior to cleric/ranger.
Multiple mages can be annoying due to scroll availability, but two should be doable. Necromancer isn't the worst spec, although invisibility is very good in this game.

[Anonymous No.6427331]

Original or EE?

[Anonymous No.6427340]

>>6427331
nevermind, im retarded
At any rate
Paladin
Fighter
Fighter cleric
Cleric
Fighter thief
Mage

[Anonymous No.6427359]

>>6427296
>cleric/ranger
You're not wrong, but it's also really cheesy. I don't know if it was intentional, but I do know it was fixed in the EE. I'd say it wasn't meant to give all druid and cleric spells, or at least that makes the most sense. Ranger is only supposed to have a limited selection.

[Anonymous No.6427367]

>>6427296
>Single class fighter
Would also argue that while there are better options, a single class fighter still does have some arguably powerful bonuses. You don't have to play this game with the ultimate game breaking party. 5 pips isn't necessary, but it's still pretty good as a beatstick.

[Anonymous No.6427372]

>>6427340
Maybe swap out the Fighter Cleric for a Fighter Druid, but I don't really like elves.

[Anonymous No.6428660]

>>6427228
>Paladin
For Pale Justice.
>Bard
For the excellent buffs, minor spellcasting support, and free 2500 XP in Kuldahar.
>Evil Elf Fighter/Mage
Long Sword +3 that adds spell slots, and you don't need a lot of mages. Evil for gear.
>Halfling Fighter/Thief
Designated wearer of Helm of the Trusted Defender, also covers the Thief slot completely.
>Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric
For IWD-style "dual-wielding" and full spell selection.
>any wildcard; I'd go with Human Fighter dualled to Druid, can be as early as level 3
Druids actually get good gear in IWD, particularly Spears.

Could also change Elf F/M into an F/M/T since spellcasting really isn't a big deal and you only need a partial Thief. You just need a Halfling or Gnome in the party for pure optimization because Helm of the Trusted Defender is restricted to those races; Gnomish Fighter/Illusionist is solid here, too.

This is roughly what I'd go with as an "ideal" party.
Your party is fine, OP, because you should just play IWD however you want especially on your first playthrough, although in general:
>you want to multiclass everything with Fighter if possible because IWD is a Fighter's game
>multiple casters have a hard time getting scrolls to do their job properly
>no Druid or Bard is just kinda a missed opportunity

[Anonymous No.6428689]

>all the fun items have class and race restrictions lol
Fuck this shit

[Anonymous No.6428808]

>>6428660

>>6427372
>>6427367
>>6427359
>>6427340
>>6427296

Thanks. I kinda went off my BG setup but i will adjust

[Anonymous No.6429069]

Get a cleric/thief it's secretly the most fun class.

[Anonymous No.6429197]

Your setup looks solid.

I find the perfect combo to be:

human undead hunter
dwarf cleric/fighter
human berserker (9) druid
human swashbuckler (10) mage
elf archer
Sorcerer

I don't know is it's the mathematically optimal, but I find it the most well-rounded and gives you a really powerful party.

Possibly replace the elf with a bard, in which case make the swashbuckler a f/t or f->t. Personally I find bards a bit boring, and the boost they give gets old in the expansion.

[Anonymous No.6429212]

>>6427296
The expansion has some incredibly annoying traps, especially in Trials of the Luremaster.

[Anonymous No.6429306]

>>6429212
Still, a multi classed thief will be more than enough, single class thieves are a waste of a party slot

[Anonymous No.6429596]

>>6427228
Congratulations on playing the non-EE edition.
Ignore idiot posters who say you don't need a thief. Bashing locks and walking into traps is shit. But take a multiclass or dual-classed thief.
Also, I recommend trying to work with a party of 4 or 5, that makes the game both more challenging and more rewarding. My guys were...

- Paladin, because straight fighters are boring. At high levels the Paladin's buff (and even summon) spells become useful.

- Thief > Mage. You can live without mage spells until you've achieved sufficient thief skills (100 pick lock, 100 traps) to dual-class into mage

- Bard. Bards are merely fun in BG1 and BG2 but the enhanced bard songs they learn in Icewind Dale, specifically the regeneration song is an absolute game-changer.

- Ranger/Cleric. Multiclass ranger/clerics in original Icewind dale learn all druid spells as well as all cleric spells, so what you really get is a fighter/druid/cleric, which is just awesome

[Anonymous No.6429661]

I don't usually take archer characters but I made one for my party in this game and he ended up the MVP of the group.

[Anonymous No.6429736]

>>6429596
>Congratulations on playing the non-EE edition.

about to play EE just to spite you :)

[Anonymous No.6429745]

>>6429736
just like you became a tranny just to spite your parents?

[Anonymous No.6429751]

>>6429736
>>6429745
Blown the fuck out.

[Anonymous No.6429856]

>>6427228
>optimal setup
lol, what a bunch of spastic spergs you all are. skew parties are the most fun. i played six mages, each a different colour (red, blue, green, white, yellow, orange), each only casting spells whose spellbook icons matched his colour. had way more fun than is possible with muh balanced efficient internet wisdom group. nerds.

[Anonymous No.6429896]

>>6429856
>spastic spergs
>the people actually answering the question in the OP
>not the person throwing a tantrum over his shitty LARP party played on core rules

[Anonymous No.6431494]

>>6429306
Yep or even dualing a thief once they hit 100 trap finding

[Anonymous No.6431510]

>>6429896
desu Insane level is usually easier because of the double XP and more trash mobs.

[Anonymous No.6431516]

>>6429751
LMFAO MAN

[Anonymous No.6431525]

>you don't need thieves

I actually have a swashbuckler and layed traps in front of these shitty orc mobs with shooters in that first cave on the left and that did the trick rather than getting flayed by these retards and having to reload the game all the time.

btw, rate my group. not a big fan of dual classing so probably won't do it.

Human Paladin (leader, spokesman)
Human Fighter (tank and knucklehead)
Human Cleric (healer and 3rd "melee fighter")
Human Blade (bard song boni, best stats, good all-rounder for fighting and casting, stays in the back using bow for now)
Half-Elf Swashbuckler (thief core skills, using bows in the back too)
Half-Elf Mage (offensive and defensive spells, you get the idea)

I liked how you can enter that inn in Kuldahar and get a scoop on that retarded halfing crook who runs it if you find the evidence ring on the 2nd floor. If you outwit him and get him to confess you get a fuckload of XP. that almost felt like playing Planescape. neat.

[Anonymous No.6431527]

don't know what's the word but I think EE is already better than the original version from what I remember. character models are updated and everything actually seems more approachable, more voiceacting too(?) plus quickloot function which is only useful.

[Anonymous No.6431876]

>>6431525
Pretty legit but here are a couple of things to consider:

An undead hunter is a huge help in IWD since undeads are rampant and are pretty dangerous.

Scrolls are extremely rare in the first 70% of the game or so, so sorcerer would have an edge since they don't need scrolls to learn spells. It's not like you need a lot of spell versatility in IWD since it's basically a run-kill-loot situation.

If you're doing the expansion your thief will reach perfect score on all of the important skills long before the end, so the extra points will go to waste. This is why multiclass thieves are more serviceable (also enemies in the expansion have a tendency to go for the squishier PCs).

iirc Blades don't get the super-juicy song that Bards get at level 11.

[Anonymous No.6432745]

>>6428689
welcome to D&D, TESbabby.