Party building q's and such

[Lintelyg]

Hey guys!

I need tips on forming a party in the game! I gave it a try this is what i came up with:
1.Drow ranger
2.Half-orc barbarian
3.Gold dwarf fighter
4.Lightfoot halfling rogue
5.moon elf sorceress
6.Moon elf silverstar of selune

Somehow the party seems really unbalanced when i play... especially the drow ranger... Are the drow really only suited as wizards and sorcerors??? The ranger class is the weakest in the game, i know, so i plan on giving him a few levels of fighter... is this a wise move??? Is the dual wielding perk of the ranger still effective if i give the character a level of fighter? How can i restructure my party to give the maximum efficiency??? Any tips would be helpful.

[koz-ivan]

what do you mean by unbalanced?

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a few ftr levels would only further hamper the drow, due to multi restrictions, you will lose 20% of his xp. the manual does a decent job of explaining favoured class & multi class penalties...

the drow can do many things well, drow females make great clerics.

and if singleclassed they can be every bit as good as many other races.

the problem may be his light armour not being good enough to take the same kind of pounding that the 1/2 orc and dwarf take...

he may be better suited to ranged combat then later rushing in w/ blades.

[Bloodstalker]

Dual wielding for the ranger will be effective in combo with any class....but remember, it only works if you are wearing light or no armor. Like Koz said, IMO, that makes it useless as a frontline feature. Also remember, Drow characters take a -1 hit on everything during the daylight. Can a drow make a decent fighter? Yes. But a ranger is not really that great at it. More along the lines of a archer would be better. But with a dwarf and half orc tank, that may be plenty in your case.

You could give your rougue a level on ranger though. Since he'll likely only be wearing light armor, he could make better use of the dual wield.

[fable]

the drow really only suited as wizards and sorcerors??? The ranger class is the weakest in the game, i know, so i plan on giving him a few levels of fighter... is this a wise move??? Is the dual wielding perk of the ranger still effective if i give the character a level of fighter?

Why would you want a drow wizard? Drows have great dexterity and charisma. While I can see the use of the dexterity for a wizard, the sacrifice of levels for charisma is completely wasted, there. A sorceror makes good sense; so does a bard. Both use charisma to determine their number of spells.

No need for a ranger (ugh, sounds like a Tenchi Muyo ripoff): in IWD2, the ranger is effectively the most ineffective profession around. Just create any other class, and give 'em a level of ranger to enable dual wielding and ambi-dexterity. Those are the only advantages rangers bring to the game. My recommendation in any case is to redo your ranger as a druid, or bard.

[Gruntboy]

Some more points:

1 level of ranger does give the useful dual-wielding benefits. The light armour drawback is perhaps not so bad given the max dex bonus of heavier armours. Although not too far in to the game, my light dex characters are as well protected as my tanks.

As a Ranger (1) and then a fighter, you will receive more feats per levels as a fighter - another good reason for taking only one level of Ranger. Poor Rangers

Nothin wrong with a Drow mage - just cos he gets a cha bonus, doesn't mean you have to use it...

And what do you mean unbalanced? 3 fighters, 1 rogue, 1 cleric, 1 mage is a standard "loadout". Your Drow is the only character who suffers from the ECL factor. Seems like an OK party. I took a ranger and though I'd do it differently for my next party - the character is fine.

[fable]

Nothin wrong with a Drow mage - just cos he gets a cha bonus, doesn't mean you have to use it...

No, nothing wrong with it, @Grunt. I just figure when someone wants comment on their party that they expect me to tell 'em if the characters are "optimized." Optimized in the sense that they'll get 'em the best bang for the, well, Euro, or whatever. Doesn't mean they're powerplayers, but few people really enjoy starting up a team of characters only to discover that one's butt is dragging badly for no good reason behind the others, several chapters down the line.

A drow will advance more slowly than most races. That's fine, if you get something in exchange for it that's useful. But if you can't use the tradeoff, why bother? One of the main reasons people go for the drow is the stat bonuses. But if you can't use one of the two stat bonuses, it seems a bit of a waste.

Mind, I'm not saying, "if you run a drow mage, your team is crippled for life," and I'm a big believer in playing whatever way you want. But Lintelyg wrote, "How can i restructure my party to give the maximum efficiency???" That doesn't seem to me to mean he wants us to say "everything is fine" in response.

[Gruntboy]

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I think the party composition, except for the ranger, is fine. Its even palyable with the ranger. Maybe its something to do with expectations of the game (its not easy), tactics (its different to BG2, for example), or somethign to do with the individual char stats.

I'd try a party like the above, it seems fine. But how is each char constructed? Are they min/maxed?

Take a Drow mage as a convenient example. No, they dont need Cha, so don't spend the points there. 18 is good for a stat, never mind 20, so why worry about not using that possible 20 for cha? Put 18 or 20 in int and you've a great mage. With 18 dex and the ability to use bows thats a nice archer/mage.

First game I started, I knocked Wis and Cha down to 8 or 6 for everyone. I restarted very quickly. Now, Str and Con are far less important to me.

I think the party is more than the sum of its parts - but each part needs careful consideration.