Perfect Party #12 – Baldur’s Gate II

This guide is a collection of tips for forming a strong party in Baldur’s Gate II. These tips were provided by GameBanshee users.

Overview

I have experimented in the creation of parties, and I have reached some conclusions. Note that this party can only be played in multi player, so you don’t have NPC dialog and quests, although you can add then two at a time to you’re party and do their quests. Anyway, the party that I liked most is as follows:

1. Ranger -> Cleric. I dualled him at level 7 to cleric (at the beginning of the game). This makes him a good fighter, plus he can cast druid spells as well as cleric spells. I gave him 17 str, 15 dex, 18 con, 15 int, 18 wis, 10 cha. Now, the reason I gave him only 17 str is because he will be the wielder of the Crom Faeyr (which will grant him 25 str). As for the dex and chr, he will have the Gauntlets of Dexterity (18 dex), and the ring of human influence (18 cha). Note that you should give the ring of human influence to the leader of the party, not necessarily the Ranger/Cleric. When you start a game with these stats, you will be given 8 proficiency slots. I used 2 on War Hammer, 3 on Two Weapon style (I gave him a War Hammer +2 for the off hand, which also receives the strength bonus), and the other 3 don’t have much importance.
2. Swashbuckler. I made my thief an Elf, which gives her high thieving skills bonuses, and allows her to have 19 dex, which gives her even more bonuses. I used a swashbuckler because I wanted all of my party members to be fighters, and I don’t have much use for the backstab. Of course, it’s useful, but instead of using her backstab skill once in a while, my thief uses her fighting skills (gained on account of the backstab) every fight. I promise you that at about level 15, there won’t be a person that she won’t be able to pickpocket, and their won’t be a lock that she won’t be able to pick (assuming that you distributed her skills evenly). Anyway, I gave her 18 str, 19 dex, 17 con, 12 int, 13 wis, 10 chr. As I said, I wanted her to be a good fighter, so I maxed out her str and con. Int, wis and chr don’t have an affect on thieves, so I didn’t waste any points on them. I spent 3 proficiency slots on Two Weapon style, and 2 on Katanas (Celestial Fury and Dak’kon’s Zerth Blade).
3. Fighter. This will be the main fighter. I gave him 18/78 str, 18 dex, 18 con, 11 int, 11 wis and 10 cha. Same as with the thief, int wis and cha don’t matter. I spent 3 slots on Two weapon style and 3 on Long sword.
4. Kensai -> Mage. I’m sure you know this class, but I’ll elaborate. I gave her 16 str, 18 dex, 16 con, 18 int, 15 wis, 10 cha. I dualled her at level 9, and I spent 5 proficiency slots on Quarterstaff (For the staff of the magi) and the rest on two handed weapon style. Now, some people might think that as a kensai, she should be using a katana or so, but, the staff of the magi is a very powerful staff, due to it’s permanent invisibility which if wisely used can be deadly. And besides, my swashbuckler has the katana area covered.

Now, as a whole, this party has access to all the types of spells (druid, cleric, mage). It also has 4 strong fighters, and two empty spaces for NPCs so you can use them to do quests and dumped later. Each one of my party members has an AC class lower than or equal to -6:

Ranger/Cleric: Base 10.
Armor of the Hart: -12
Ring of Gaxx: -2
Gauntlets of Dexterity: -4
Vhailor’s Helm: -1
Total: -9

Swashbuckler (Level 23): Base 10.
Bladesinger Chain +4: -9.
Dex Bonuses: -4.
Swashbuckler Bonuses: -5.
Cloak of the Sewers: -1.
Dak’kon’s Zerth Blade: -1
Total: -10

Figher: Base 10.
Red Dragon Scale: -11.
Dex Bonuses: -4
Ring of Protection +2: -2
Helm of Balduran: -1
Total: -8

Kensai/Mage: Base 10.
Robe of Vecna: -5
Dex Bonuses: -4
Kensai Bonuses: -3
Staff of the Magi: -2
Cloak of Protection +2: -2
Total: -6

Submitted by: Asaf