Perfect Party #8 – 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

Note: This strategy is for the single player game. To copy it in multi, simply copy the classes of the npcs. Yes, you can dual class in multi, but it is not something I find worthwhile.

Now, my philosphy is largely tank-heavy. Three, maybe even four, good tanks are the backbone of any party. My character, Jekan, is a half elf pure fighter. This is tank #1. He gives and takes most of the damage. Jekan gets the best stuff. He has 5 points in war hammers, 3 in dual wield, and whatever’s left in long swords. He uses Crom Faeyr and The Equalizer, occasionally switching Saving Grace into the off-hand if the mob hits hard. Tank #2 is Minsc. I put his skill points into axes and two handed style,in addition to his existing skills in maces, long bows, two handed swords, and dual weild. This allows his to use a variety of effective weapons throughout the game, ending up with the Silver Sword. I never really liked two handed weapons, but the instakill makes up for that. Tank #3 is Valygar, with points in whatever the hell you want, it doesn’t matter. He starts maxed out with Katana and that is all you will ever need. Give him Celestial Fury and his family blade and he will tear it up in combat.

Now that we have three tanks, you get to make a choice. Are you a sentimental roleplayer, or a powergamer? Roleplayers, like myself, will get all traditional and opt to keep Jaheira since she is an “old friend” type NPC and it seems wrong to get rid of her, even though she is not the most effective. Powergamers will dump her. If you chose to get rid of her, you are then free to pick up another tank. I recommend Korgan for this. I explained why I didn’t pick Keldorn later. Put some points in bastard swords and dual weild, set him up with some good axes, and Korgan is ready to roll.

Now that we have 4 tanks/3 tanks and a druid, it’s time for….those other classes. No matter what anyone has ever told you, you will only ever really need one mage and a mediocre theif for BG 2. Unlike BG 1 and TOTSC, BG 2 is not quite as dependant on disarm traps, and a tank with Crom Faeyr opens locks just fine. Therefore, you can go with your pick of Jan or Imoen for the mage/theif role. I picked Imoen for roleplaying reasons and she’s a bit better. She does just fine in both roles.

That leaves, duh, a healer. If you stuck with Jaheira, you already have some healing and can get Anomen for added melee in addition to great healing. If not, you only have one choice-Viconia. She is simply the best healer in the game, and has some damn powerful cleric spells.

By now you are probably thinking “Hey, this party might suck, it has no firepower!” Actually, melee npcs are the ULTIMATE firepower. They don’t need to remem spells, they keep on whacking when they are getting whacked, and they have hps. Keep them alive and you have a hell of a party.

Submitted by: Marino