I'm looking to have at most four characters, and i would love to get through this game with only two, although i don't know is that even possible.

What would be a good balanced combination? Something that would allow me to have the most of the classes without the hassle of the masses?

I was thinking of a Fighter/Cleric and his wisecracking Mage/Thief buddy, roaming the spine of the World, slaying giants and fireballing innocent bystanders left and right.

Does a small party affect the XP gains? Would they level faster since XP is not split between many party members?


Comedy option: Fighter, Black Mage(mage), Thief and Red Mage(cleric), the Light Warriors in the wrong setting.

I can't give you a good party setup, as I've never tried it with less than six people. They will level faster, though. And the comedy option is GOLDEN!

I would go with a cleric/ranger rather than a fighter/cleric, but the duo you describe has all the major bases covered too. A cleric/ranger gets more spells and gets access to druid spells as the ranger class levels up, but the ranger class will level up a tad slower.

For a 3 man party, I would go with a half-elf cleric/ranger, a gnome cleric/illusionist, and an elf mage/thief.

For a 4 man party, same as above, but with some other warrior class added in. Probably a dwarven fighter, or a half-orc (if this race is available in IWD, I can't remember) barbarian.

EDIT:
On second thought, a better 3 man party might be a cleric/ranger, a cleric/illusionist, and a fighter/thief. This way all party members can wear heavy armor (nice for the start of the game), and the nice swords you might find won't all go to waste.

Heck, if you want to get really crazy, you can substitute a fighter/mage/thief in for the fighter/thief. Tri-classes level quite slow, but since the party will be small (thus faster XP gain), who cares?

should scale depending on the number of your party - at least that was what they said, when the game came out.

I tell you, what doesn't work:

I once created a party of 5 bards and a ranger. Never made it over the Kandahar pass. Duh! I thought "hey, let's have a bunch of Bards who have to be at a (imaginary) Bard meeting somewhere" - plausible, right? right? (I roleplay games in my head on top of pc rpg presented before me.)

Didn't work.

Also, didn't work: a party of mixed clerks, mages, bards. Maybe, because I gave them pop music girl names: Brittney Spears, Christina Aguillera, Beyonce ... etc etc *cough*

I recommend ranger/cleric and fighter/mage/thief. The triple class f/m/t will get mage spells just as fast as single class mage in a party of 6. You'll get cleric spells a little faster than you're supposed to, but I wouldn't worry about it.

I'd go with :

- a fighter. You always need a big dumb oaf who refuses to die.
- a fighter/thief.
- a druid, can cast both offensive and defensive spells, and will survive longer in melee than a mage.
- any class. I'd add another fighter, but it's because I like the cold steel option. There is no problem that a two-handed axe hit can't solve.

And the XP gained by killing monsters is divided among party members. It doesn't cover the benefits of having more characters, though.

I usually prefer to go with two fighter/ranger/paladin characters to absorb damage, then round it out with a cleric, either single class or multi, then add in a thief.

I've found that the game felt easier to me without using a mage in my small party, especially in the early going.

That's possibly because a mage at low levels is often more a liability than he is useful, while at higher levels they can become one of the most powerful classes in the game. It was one of the things that myself and many others liked about 2nd and 3rd ed, in that mages were the class that you sorta gave up short term power for long term gain, as we felt it fit the theme of being a mage.

I would try an F/T, a Paladin (just because I like Paladins), and a mage. But it has been a long time so I don't remember if I had a cleric in the party.

I would have a Fighter, Cleric, Thief and Mage. Keeping your mage safe to start with might be tough, they start with very low HP, but it will pay off in the long run. You might also consider dual classing the thief to make him a bit tougher. I've never considered starting with less than 6 characters...

Honestly, I think 4 is about as small as one would want to go, unless someone just really wants the extra challenge. Even there, one might just want to set the difficulty slider all the way up to Heart of Fury mode to gain XP faster, then keep the larger party.

However, I don't think the game would be impossible on normal mode with a duo. It would take skillful pulling and kiting at times, but it should be possible. Not something I, personally, would bother trying, though. :)

My two cents:

A strong party has at least 2 tanks, 2 arcane spellcasters, 2 divine spellcasters, and 1 thief.

Notice that's more than even 6, so multiclassing is a must.

To me, the key to small-party games is to hit those bases and eliminate the unnecessary weak links.

This may sound like heresy, but you can get by without a Thief.

I know, I know, it's crazy to pass up all the locked up loot, not to mention having to tank traps. But a Thief is a d6 when you you could be having a sex d8 cleric or d10 fighter.

For a party of two:
Ranger/Cleric (I view the high level Druid spells as an exploit, but hey, you're pushing the limits here)
Fighter/Mage

-The idea is you need that tankishness for your second character. One half tank just can't cover his squishy buddy all on his own. This may look like it cripples your Mage levels, but hey, with two characters you're leveling really fast anyway

For a party of three:
Fighter/Cleric
Ranger/Cleric
Mage

-here you swap out one half-tank to get a dedicated mage who levels far faster. Having 2 Clerics is more important that 2 Mages because of survival. A high level Druid is almost a Mage anyway.

Party of four:
Fighter
Ranger/Cleric
Thief/Cleric
Mage

-Finally, with four characters I think you can afford a Thief, albeit multiclassed. The pure fighter and pure mage are luxuries you can now afford, with the thief and ranger doin their thing while providing the divine coverage you need.

That's my two cents. Good luck. Pop back in now and then to let us now what you chose and how you're doing!

So here's what i did last night:

I started a party with only two characters, the dumbass fighter and the wisecracking elf mage that i wrote about in the OP. They got ganked so hard it wasn't even funny.

So i tried the Light Warriors, let's just say that they are "special" in the "rides the short bus to school and wears a helmet" special kind of way. After being jerks to pretty much everyone they came across they got massacred as soon as they left the town. And by massacred i mean Red Mage and Thief were killed by monsters, Fighter ran into the fray to help, got seriously wounded (1hp left) and was finished off by Black Mage's Burning Hands spell, who true to his character promptly said "screw this" and went back into town for a tot of grog. That was the end of the epic saga of the Light Warriors, may their depravity be quickly forgotten.

So i decided to think things through and READ YOUR COMMENTS, i settled on a somewhat balanced party, basically a Fighter, a Fighter/Cleric, and a pure Mage. A thief i can do without, the Fighter is my tank, all the armor goes to her, the F/C is my emergency tank and healer, and the Mage is useful for Identify and being the long range artillery.

My tactic so far has been to use bottlenecks to funnel enemies, that way i only have to fight them one or two at the time, the Fighter can hold them, while the F/C stays just a little behind ready for healing/supporting the Fighter, and the Mage zaps enemies from a distance and then uses his sling.

Also i'm trying to stock up on as many healing potions as i can find. And of course, the characters are min/maxed to hell and back.

So far i'm doing good. Then again, i'm only a few hours into the game, so let's see what happens. I am tempted time and again to import one of the high level characters but where's the fun in that?. I'm seeing this more as a tactical challenge than anything else right now.

Yep, that is kind of how I envisioned it. If that is your cup of tea, it should keep you nicely occupied :). But, please do keep us posted on how it goes with that party. I, for one, am very curious how that party will do once they get a few levels under their belt.