Posted November 23, 2011
Received wisdom suggests that any good party needs:
a: A "tank"
b: A healer
c: Someone who can fill the part of the the rogue.
Otherwise it seems people are fairly open.
On my second play-through of the game (the first I had to abort during the underdark section because I was using my step-dad's pc and he put a password on it lol...I am now running it on crossover on my mac) I decided to opt out of all of these, and came up with what turns out to be the most powerful party I have ever played with: two sorcerer/fighters.
how I got the idea:
Again, received wisdom is that if you need someone to absorb and give damage: the tank. If you fight, you will be hit, so you need a lot of hit points and preferably a kick-ass ac bonus. It seems logical that there's no way to have a melee-based character with a low constitution and a low armor class. I decided to do exactly that.
My characters are currently level 20 (one 15/5 and one 13/7 sorcerer/fighter), and have around 150 hit points (both have constitution 14); one has an ac of 22, the other of 24. These are characters that would die almost instantly in any melee battle at this level (I'm in chapter 5 btw). So what was my answer?
––Never let them get hit. And guess what? I have gone through whole sections of the game without losing any hit points: NONE.
Okay, so my characters have high strength, high dexterity, medium/low constitution, low intel, low wisdom, and high charisma, although one started with cha 15 and the other cha 17). They are FIGHTERS: one dual wields long swords and the other dual wields short swords.
So with low hit points and low armor classes the key to everything is ILLUSION. If you can cast seven mirror images, six or seven blinks, PLUS any other non-illusion spells that are useful to fighters like stoneskin, tenser's transformation etc, you have an almost unstoppable force. Mirror image is the real key––it is one of most powerful spells in the game for sure. Casting time of 1 (at least i think so, at least w improved initiative it is), which means its extremely easy to get off in time if its not already cast. After it is cast, you need to be hit up to six times before they can even damage you, and since you are a sorcerer and not some pathetic mage you can just cast it again and again. Level two spells for my party basically means mirror image (knock as well to make up for lack of rogue; blur is good but I essentially found it to be a waste of a mirror image).
If you add to that stoneskin and blink (which can be annoying for casting spells but is unbelievable in combat) you are pretty much the definition of dangerous. 50% chance of being missed entirely by any entity, six illusions of you that need to be hit first (At you actual AC and affected by blink; they are not hit automatically), which gives you free range for several rounds to do whatever you want. After those rounds are up just cast mirror image again (I like to do this when there is one image remaining). If you screw this up, you still have the fully intact stoneskin which should keep the damage at bay for a minute.
A whole new world is then open to you. Ever considered taking Lich Touch? Didn't think so. I can very rapidly incapacitate a whole army of the living with this spell, especially in combination with tenser's transformation. Prismatic spray? Cone spells are generally annoying in large partys, because your spellcaster is rarely in the first rank, and p. spray is especially annoying because it's liable to send your party members into another dimension if not aimed properly. It's proved incredibly powerful.
Oh, and the best thing is that mirror image works on area damage spells AND on traps. Much better to just walk through traps and receive ZERO damage then to have to find and disarm them. I can cast sunfire and horrid wilting (from bracers of icelandic pearl, such an amazing item) right over myself and receive no damage: one of my illusionary selves just disappears.
For skills, CONCENTRATION all the way. Literally. Who needs to bluff or resort to diplomacy?
Not me. I'm an American. I kill. (jk)
I don't need healers because I don't take damage, and I don't need rogues because traps don't damage me. These classes are otherwise just not that great, so I was happy to be rid of them.
Okay then, so my party just rules.
Probably would have done it differently if I knew certain rules. Might have chosen aasimar sorcerer/paladin because of the cha bonus to saving throws but that is not stated in the character creation guide. Also, it seems like attack bonuses and so on go up equally between all the classes, a major difference from second edition and one that is somewhat confusing to me. Is the only point of being a fighter the extra feats? Seems weird.
Anyway: I throw down the gauntlet. Can anyone top my party, which will be even more insane with iron body and black blade of disaster?
a: A "tank"
b: A healer
c: Someone who can fill the part of the the rogue.
Otherwise it seems people are fairly open.
On my second play-through of the game (the first I had to abort during the underdark section because I was using my step-dad's pc and he put a password on it lol...I am now running it on crossover on my mac) I decided to opt out of all of these, and came up with what turns out to be the most powerful party I have ever played with: two sorcerer/fighters.
how I got the idea:
Again, received wisdom is that if you need someone to absorb and give damage: the tank. If you fight, you will be hit, so you need a lot of hit points and preferably a kick-ass ac bonus. It seems logical that there's no way to have a melee-based character with a low constitution and a low armor class. I decided to do exactly that.
My characters are currently level 20 (one 15/5 and one 13/7 sorcerer/fighter), and have around 150 hit points (both have constitution 14); one has an ac of 22, the other of 24. These are characters that would die almost instantly in any melee battle at this level (I'm in chapter 5 btw). So what was my answer?
––Never let them get hit. And guess what? I have gone through whole sections of the game without losing any hit points: NONE.
Okay, so my characters have high strength, high dexterity, medium/low constitution, low intel, low wisdom, and high charisma, although one started with cha 15 and the other cha 17). They are FIGHTERS: one dual wields long swords and the other dual wields short swords.
So with low hit points and low armor classes the key to everything is ILLUSION. If you can cast seven mirror images, six or seven blinks, PLUS any other non-illusion spells that are useful to fighters like stoneskin, tenser's transformation etc, you have an almost unstoppable force. Mirror image is the real key––it is one of most powerful spells in the game for sure. Casting time of 1 (at least i think so, at least w improved initiative it is), which means its extremely easy to get off in time if its not already cast. After it is cast, you need to be hit up to six times before they can even damage you, and since you are a sorcerer and not some pathetic mage you can just cast it again and again. Level two spells for my party basically means mirror image (knock as well to make up for lack of rogue; blur is good but I essentially found it to be a waste of a mirror image).
If you add to that stoneskin and blink (which can be annoying for casting spells but is unbelievable in combat) you are pretty much the definition of dangerous. 50% chance of being missed entirely by any entity, six illusions of you that need to be hit first (At you actual AC and affected by blink; they are not hit automatically), which gives you free range for several rounds to do whatever you want. After those rounds are up just cast mirror image again (I like to do this when there is one image remaining). If you screw this up, you still have the fully intact stoneskin which should keep the damage at bay for a minute.
A whole new world is then open to you. Ever considered taking Lich Touch? Didn't think so. I can very rapidly incapacitate a whole army of the living with this spell, especially in combination with tenser's transformation. Prismatic spray? Cone spells are generally annoying in large partys, because your spellcaster is rarely in the first rank, and p. spray is especially annoying because it's liable to send your party members into another dimension if not aimed properly. It's proved incredibly powerful.
Oh, and the best thing is that mirror image works on area damage spells AND on traps. Much better to just walk through traps and receive ZERO damage then to have to find and disarm them. I can cast sunfire and horrid wilting (from bracers of icelandic pearl, such an amazing item) right over myself and receive no damage: one of my illusionary selves just disappears.
For skills, CONCENTRATION all the way. Literally. Who needs to bluff or resort to diplomacy?
Not me. I'm an American. I kill. (jk)
I don't need healers because I don't take damage, and I don't need rogues because traps don't damage me. These classes are otherwise just not that great, so I was happy to be rid of them.
Okay then, so my party just rules.
Probably would have done it differently if I knew certain rules. Might have chosen aasimar sorcerer/paladin because of the cha bonus to saving throws but that is not stated in the character creation guide. Also, it seems like attack bonuses and so on go up equally between all the classes, a major difference from second edition and one that is somewhat confusing to me. Is the only point of being a fighter the extra feats? Seems weird.
Anyway: I throw down the gauntlet. Can anyone top my party, which will be even more insane with iron body and black blade of disaster?
