So far I have Playerchar - sorcerer Jaheira Aerie Jan Minsc

>>3556085
I really want to add keldorn, but is it useless having that many clerics?

>>3556085
Personally; Viconia or Haer'dalis. Viconia can be found in the Gov't district about to be burned at the stake and is a great cleric with high dexterity. Haer'dalis involves a quest that starts at a theater (I forget where it is) and you have to do the quest to get him, he's a bard which is quite useful.

Do note that Viconia imposes a -2 to your reputation when she joins due to being a drow, and that putting her in the same party as Keldorn is a bad idea.

Keldorn in his own right a powerful character to have, and really good for taking down tenacious mages that pile on defensive spells since he can cast Dispel Magic. Like I said; keep him away from Viconia (and evil party members in general).

A Shadow Thief quest leads you to Edwin, who is a rock solid wizard.

>>3556123
well im just wondering. Because minsc is using two handed sword, and jaheria is using shield and club (but she can't engage, because she's casting insect swarm at the beginning of a battle) And minsc just can't take the hits.

I feel like I should be getting a designated front liner. Unless I want to give minsc a sword and shield which for roleplaying purposes doesn't feel right.

>>3556131
You'll want Viconia or Keldorn then, both of them can use heavy armor and as such go into melee without much fear, drawing attention away from Minsc.

>>3556131
Minsc is not a great tank. He has mediocre constitution. However, have you considered using the summons swarm tactic? Have aerie summon skeletons. Once you get the giant skeletons (around level 11 I think), they soak up spells like crazy and take decent hits in melee. Plus they last hours, meaning they pretty much last until they die or you go elsewhere.

>>3556138
Thanks anon, I really like keldorns banter. And viconia is pretty low on HP/str. So I think keldorn is my man on this run.

>>3556145
oh what? I totally forgot to use summons. God damn, they're pretty strong in bg2 aren't they?

>>3556154
>>3556145
thats animate dead right?

>>3556159
Yup. Also they're pretty nerfed in BG2, there's a cap of 5 so pace yourself.

>>3556154
>>3556159
Yes. It is a level 3 cleric spell or level 5 wizard spell. Recommend using clerics as you can fill your 3rd level slots and not miss too much. There's a lot of good 5th level wizard spells you don't want to miss out on.

>>3556154
The fire elemental are pretty good too

>>3556085
>>3556115
Keldorn is easy mode, because he is an Inquisitor. also he has no cleric spells

>>3556131
Get Korgan, he's a barrel of fun and is a pretty good front line dwarf.

>>3556131
Having Minsc use two-handed swords is a trap. You'll notice he comes with two pips in dual wielding? That's where your damage output is. You should gradually build up pips in the weapon proficencies you'll want him dual wielding in (Flails and Warhammers tend to be the community's favorites).

And Jaheira is just a fantastic frontliner. Her Iron Skins spell lasts for 12 hours so you don't need to wait for combat to start to pre-cast it. You're already using a shield, which is great, and her 17 Dexterity / 17 Constitution (the game actually removes the Con cap off of her Druid levels because of multiclassing) make her an extremely attractive front line choice.

You really don't need to open every fight with Insect Swarm either. It's better saved for casting on fights with enemy casters whom you're having difficulty overcoming.

>>3557753
I wouldn't say that. You get access to a +2 two hander immediately, and then +3 Lilarcor early on. And in BG 1, of course, you'll probably make use of the Spider Slaying sword +2.

You are right that ultimately you'll be dual wielding, but there's certainly nothing wrong with using two handers for much of early BG 2.

Keldorn is literally a cuck

>>3557850
He is, but you can have his whore wife and her lover thrown in prison for adultery. You can help free him from his cuckoldry.

>>3557843
While yes, the Sword of Chaos is the best weapon for the prologue dungeon, immediately entering into Chapter 2 there's a plethora of better one handed weapons. Minsc comes with two pips in Maces (which with Maces of Disruptions and Stormstars aren't bad all-game weapons themselves) and right out of the gate in Chapter 2 there are no fewer than four +2 Maces of varying abilities available without even leaving Athkatla.

And all of them generally outstrip two-handers for damage. The only time you should go with two-handers are with Paladins for Carsomyr or Sarevok when he's too high a level to really train in anything else.

>>3556131
>jaheira using shield and club
Great clubs can be found in Trademeet after you do the Djinn quest and the main Trademeet quest and you will also find Belm +2, which, if you're not running the Kundane/Belm combo on anyone (and you don't really have a setup for that), is an easy choice for SoA.

> (but she can't engage
Cast Iron Skin. Win.

>And minsc just can't take the hits.
Consider putting Minsc on axe-throwing duty if necessary. He's a good axe dualwielder, he can use the good aligned axe you get from Bernard in Copper Coronet very well. If you need him more defensive then stack Shield of Faith on him.

The best early-mid game tank you can use, however, is just getting the Cloak of the Sewers (from, guess where? The sewers!) and turn into Rat form. Preferrably on a mage or cleric (Aerie is a good candidate), then just cast Fireshield+Stoneskin, turn Rat, and tank.

>>3556145
Summons are also very viable. You can get a lot of summon items. Druids are good summoners, particularly of Elementals, because they don't have to do the battle of minds thing like Wizards, and the spell that lets you summon bears is beastly. So yeah, summon. They will not eat your XP points, either.

>>3557753
>>3558441
Two-handers are the ultimate endgame weapon due to the choices presented (Ravager, Staff of the Ram) and the fact that the second weapon is only there for the intrinsic stats (that you can get elsewhere) once you can Greater Whirlwind. But yeah, dual-wielding, until then, is superior.

Lilarcor +3 is worth keeping around for the immunities it grants. The answer isn't to forego either weapon style entirely, but embrace Minsc's versatility. He can be a great ranged or melee fighter and use a wide variety of weapons, and he also has bonuses against one of the most common enemies in the game.

>>3558606
thanks guy, so my best bet is

Jaheira - club and shield
Minsc - dualwield/throwing axe
Kuckdorn - lilicor/casomyr

>>3557753
>>3556123
what about Mazzy?

>>3558441
Lilarcor is free. I usually don't set Minsc to dual wield mode until after I get the flail of ages (and pip him in flails).

As for Minsc, alas, after saving the day at the end of BG 1, he's dead until I can res him in Throne of Bhaal (I think you can wish him back in the pocket plane at least?). He got chunked by the berserker mercenary in the promenade inn. That's what I get for being stingy with healing pots.

>>3558639
Mazzy is another versatile character: cool paladin-like doodads to save you in a pinch, highly specialized in strong weapon types (Tuigan +1, Tansheron's, Gesen Short Bow, are among the strongest ranged weapons in the game, whereas Short Swords are actually really good due to their plentihood and a lot of good off-hand items they offer: Mask's Short Sword [available near immediately in Watcher's Keep with a very strong passive ability, requires only gold to get], Short Sword +3 [finish Renal Bloodscalp's quest line], Kundane +2 [one of the strongest offhand weapons for Shadows of Amn dualwielders, +1 Attack Per Round is nothing to sneeze at), Arbane's [don't miss the lootable red sword from a group of bounty hunters that will randomly ambush you in Amn; Arbane's provides very strong immunities, perfect for wielding in the left-hand along with any of the aforementioned and sending Mazzy into a hasted Frenzy into the fray of Webs and otherwise debilitating spells). As a halfling she gets really strong saving throws. Very worthwhile character overall, and has amazing character interaction with Korgan.

>>3558625
Oh, I misled you accidentally. Yes, clubs are great for Jaheira, but Belm +2 is actually a Scimitar, the only blade that Druids can use. So get some Scimitar proficiency, and then pump up Two Weapon Fighting. If you have her stick around until she gets superhigh level abilities (way, way later in the game), her best weapon will be a Staff. But until then, yeah, Clubs or Scimitar.

>Minsc - dualwield/throwing axe
I repeat - Minsc can do anything. I would at least consider switching him to Lilarcor when you have to fight mind-affecting enemies - buff him up beforehand, and he will be perfect for slaying Umber Hulks and Yuan-tis, enemies who may prove difficult in the early to mid-game. Dualwielding axes along with the option of throwing an axe is just one variant, but he has enough proficiencies that he can do anything, provided you switch him around on the fly. But yeah, I'd wager that for pure damage, he will do greatly with the pair of Axes that you can get at a modest price from Bernard after fixing Copper Coronet's problems.

>Keldorn
Yeah, he lends himself to zweihanders, mostly. Do make sure to fix his piss-poor Dexterity; you don't have any other candidates for the Gauntlets of Dexterity in your party anyway.

>>3558651
i heard somewhere that when she's properly set up she becomes a murdermachine alongside Korgan late game
i just started a rerun, with berk 13/cleric, with Korgan and her both, and so far she's amazing damage dealer with the bow, and I will slowly build up dual short swords
i am thinking about Keldorn due to twohanders, however i think i will skip him this time

>>3558663
>i heard somewhere that when she's properly set up she becomes a murdermachine alongside Korgan late game

Fighters overall are pretty easy to turn into murdermachines. Just look at late-game Jaheira with the Staff of the Ram, and you get some Druid buffs on top of that (Iron Skin, baby).

BG2's beauty is that you can't really go wrong with any NPC; they all offer pretty cool niches and are all strong on their own.

Maybe except Cernd who got gimped in so many ways, but he can still be useful just for spamming Elementals, damage-soaking in Greater Werewolf form (you know, in that tiny window of opportunity where the low AC is relevant), and for Nature's Beauty tactics.

>>3558659
>>3558669
thanks, thats great advice
she's mowing everything down with machine gun gesen so far, so you would suggest slowly using her in melee with SS also?
as of now Korgan and my (just cleric so far) are kinda enough to hold the front lines
the rest of the party is Viconia, Edwin, and Jan

>>3558678
>so you would suggest slowly using her in melee with SS also?

Sure. Or if you got her early enough - so that her proficiencies are mostly yours to choose - you might as well pump points into whatever else you want. Long Swords are good, for instance. You can also make her a two-hander wielder to maximize her Greater Whirlwind power.

Keep in mind that there is no real need to put +++++ into weapons without the patch that fixes True Grandmastery. I'd focus on getting dual wielding +++ online first, and then considering what weapons to give her, and invest accordingly.

>>3558681
i was rushing to get her actually, and left the dungeon immediately after freeing her, so im free to choose everything, she only has 5* in Bows, and i think 1* in SS, so i guess ill build her up with those
i have Tutu installed, with Ascendancy and the True GM also

>>3558685
Okay, great! Short Swords are a fine weapon choice, and they fit thematically. Just putting it out there that Mazzy, similarly to Minsc, can still do anything. She can be very good with a Ravager halberd if you gear her up for that kinda late game and there's plenty of choices (Longswords, Axes, Flails) to wield in the main hand (to compliment the offhand Kundane that will be the most likely choice throughout SoA) that you really don't need to stick to Short Swords. But it's still strong and kinda unorthodox (for flavor points) so it should not be a problem.

>>3558691
thank you for the tips, really
i was thinking dual flailing around with my cleric after he gets the levels for berserker too so i put the specs along the way from the beginning, i think i'll experiment on that when the time comes

Will party memebers leave if I dont do the quests that they're nagging me to do in a certain amount of time?

Aerie is nagging
Minsc is nagging
and Jaheira is nagging

>>3558710
The Jaheira quest involving a curse has a soft time-limit, but remains winnable. I'm not sure about other quests however, BG1 had quite a lot of time-sensitive quests but I think BG2 really eases up on them