Perfect Party #3 – 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

My party consisted of the following 5 characters (4-5 characters should be the maximum number of characters. 6 is overkill and all characters gain experience very slowly):

1. A human Kensai (the protagonist) who dual classed to mage at level 9. He was chaotic good (I like the chaotic good character’s abilities – 2 cure light wounds, 2 slow poison, 1 draw upon holy might, 1 vampiric touch – and I also wanted a fairy dragon as a familiar). He should have 18 in strength, constitution, dexterity and intelligence.
   
   I gave the Kensai mage 5 stars in quarterstaff (the best weapon in the game for a mage is the Staff of the Magi)! I would even say that this staff is the best weapon in the whole game! The only other weapon that could compete with the staff of the magi is the holy avenger of corsomyr. Why? When the mage is equiped with the staff of the magi he becomes almost invincible. Why? Because he is always invisible! When he attacks he becomes visible but then you can just re-equip the staff to become invisible again. Sure, there are monsters who can see invisible creatures but those are few… The other bonuses are also great…) and 2 stars in two-handed weapon style. This way he could deal quite a punch with a quarterstaff (preferably the staff of the magi). Actually he was the character in the beginning which killed most enemies in combat (without spells).
2. A half-elf Ranger/Cleric. I love those! They get both the priest and the druid spells! They are also good fighters (though they gain levels slowly). Give him 18 in strength, constitution, dexterity and wisdom. All proficiency points a gained I put in two weapons style (2 free + one additional), hammers (crom fayer), flails (flail of the ages), maces (mace of disruption +2).
   
   I don’t know if this works for sure, but you could try to create a ranger and then dual-class to a cleric at 9th or 12th level. I don’t know if you get both the druid and priest spells though…
3. A human Inquisitor. Why the inquisitor you may ask? The cavalier is the worst paladin kit in my opinion. Why? Because there’s only 3 (4) dragons in the game. A +3 to hit and damage won’t do a difference. I never had any problems with demons either. Sure it’s nice to be immune to fear but it it isn’t that good.
   
   The undead slayer is good. There’s many undead in bg2. Immune to hold and level drain is the best advantages but they are not great. The ranger/cleric use the ranger/cleric with the mace of disruption +2 instead (or anyone else with negative plane protection).
   
   I prefer the inquisitor most of all because the disadvantages is really no disadvantages. To be able to cast priest spells is something a never used with any paldin anyway. Nor did I turn undead (the ranger/cleric is much better to do this). The lay on hands is nice but not necessary. The advantages is great though. To be able to dispel magic at twice the inquisitors level is awsome. His immunites are also very nice. This make the inquisitor the best paladin kit imho.
   
   Give the Inquisitor 18 in Strength, constitution, dexterity and charisma. The inquisitor should get two-handed swords (corsomyr!) and fighting style. Give him axe (for the azuredge axe +3) or short bow (Short Bow of Gesen or Tansheron’s Short Bow +3). Halberd could be usufull too (or any other two handed weapon that you think you will use.
4. A half-orc fighter/thief. I took a multiclass fighter thief but now I think a duelclassed fighter to a thief would be a better choice (though you loose the half-orcs 19 in strength and constitution). It’s up to you to decide.
   
   Give the fighter/thief 19 in strength and constitution. 18 in dexterity. The primary weapon poficiencies you should give the fighter/thief are two weapons fighting style, long swords (many good swords, e.g. daystar, blackrazor, the equalizer) and katanas (celestial fury!) These two are the most important ones. Short bow could also be a good option for ranged combat. Any other weapon prof. may be optional but I recommend other single handed weapons.
5. I also used a monk to try out this odd character. You should consider the monk to be optional. If you don’t want the monk your 4 characters will gain experience much faster and reach the experience cap rather fast (I removed it when my group riched it). These 4 characters should be enough to complete the game even on the harder difficulties without much of a problem.
   
   Give the monk 18 in strength, constitution, dexterity. Weapon proficencies aren’t important at all. The only time he used a weapon other that his fist was the Sling of Everard +5 in ranged combat. Though the monk may seem odd he is awsome! When I finished the game he had score most kills by far! If that wasn’t enough he had killed powerful monsters like: Kangaxx the demi-lich (with Sling of Everard +5), all the dragons except the shadow dragon etc). With 5 characters he gained experience quite fast and early became quite powerful indeed and by the time I got gauntlets of crushing in Sahuagin city he was immensly powerful. By that time he had reached level 20, was immune to normal damage, moved faster than my inquisitor with boots of speed, he had a magic resistance of 60%, he had 4 attacks per round (I think) and his fists did 20+3 (and another +4 for the gauntlets of crushing) every attack. The 4 attacks gives 4*(20+7)=108 in damage every round!!! I repeat 108 in damage per round! What about that!
   
   This is a fun character to play with and the quivering palm and stun blow is truly powerful!)

When you have read this you’ve probably noticed that I’m no big fan of ranged combat. There are occasions when ranged combat is very important. In those occasions I used the inquisitor with the Azuredge, the fighter/thief with a short bow and the monk with the Sling of Everard +5.

Submitted by: JoDa