I want to know your idea of the perfect party

well, for staters i think a thief is a must...

4 Fighter classes in my opinion for front line defense. At least 1 cleric or a sub-class druid. Thief or a sub-class Bard. A mage.

When I play the game again, I think my *new* party will consist of the following.

1 Fighter. For full specialization.

1 Paladin or Ranger. Undecided.

1 Fighter/Mage. There is a sweet blade for Fighter/Mages only that deals very good damage, is magical and gives extra slots for 1st and 2nd level spells. Only usuable by a Fighter/Mage.

1 Fighter/Cleric or Fighter/Druid or Druid.

1 Bard. I didn't find my thief very useful the first time around. All she did was disarm and find traps for me as well as open locks. A bard can do this as well with just as much effect. My thief never backstabbed as my 3 fighters and 1 cleric took care of everything and what they missed, my mage dropped. With the specific items for Bards and the power of those items, a Bard in my view, for how I play best suits my style.

1 Mage.

2 Clerics are nice to have, but I found by resting I saved time in healing all the time and I never encountered anything that I needed 2 clerics to help me get out of a jam.

Sylvus

this is the party i am using now (1st time through and on chap. 6) and it has worked well.

Fighter
Fighter/Druid
Fighter/Cleric (dual classed to cleric @ 5th level, put 3 prof. points to mace, he can pack a punch)
Fighter/Thief (i love to backstab, especialy unfriendly mages)
Conjurer
Bard ( theres a few good magic items that only bards can use )

i agree w/ having 4 fighter types and i think you can get away w/ only one cleric/druid. next time through i a going w/all single classed characters.

I have beat both Icewind Dale and BG, and in my opinion the following is the best party...

3 pure fighter types (I use a fighter, ranger, and paladin)- games like IWD tend to be balanced so that when monsters are encountered, they present a challenge to a pure fighter type. Thus, a multi-class fighter often lacks the hp and thaco to effectively go toe to toe with many of the monsters in the game. Therefore, I prefer pure fighters to multi-class fighters

1 single class cleric (or druid) and 1 single class mage. The rational for this is simple, single class spellcasters gain powerful spells quicker than multi-class spellcasters. Having a single class spellcaster always ensures that you will have the most powerful spells possible.

1 cleric/thief. The sixth member is always the hardest to choose. I like the cleric/thief because thief skills such as find traps and open locks are pretty much essential, and the extra cleric abilities are very useful considering the fact that this party relies primarily on the three fighters to deal out damage. Any party that relies on melee combat always has need of extra healing.

hope this helps.

The perfect party for me was:

1. Human Paladin
2. Dwarvin Fighter
3. Elven Ranger
4. Elven Thief
5. Elven Cleric
6. Elven Mage

If i had it to do again I would definitely make some changes though. I would replace the Thief with a Bard (same detect traps, open lock, plus you get magic and special items), change the mage to a specialty (bonus spell), dual the ranger to a druid, or maybe just have him be a druid.

There are so many combinations that it's ridiculous! I wish you could play a 10 person party, then I could make all the characters I wanted without leaving someone out! Getting around in cramped passages would suck though! ;)

This is going to be even harder once the games are based off of 3r Edition Rules! Specialty kits galore plus more races and more classes! What will we do???

I prefer to use two fighter classes, 2 priest classes, a rogue class and a mage( not specialized for a wider spell selection)

The party I used to defeat the game was also very melee heavy.

Fighter
Ranger
Paladin
Fighter/Thief
Cleric
Mage

The Fighter/Thief acted as a fighter 90% of the time, only in a few instances did he use his thief skills, but i wouldnt want to atempt the game without those skills.

Let me begin here by stating that a bard does NOT replace a thief. In Icewind Dale, the only thief skill a Bard has is Pick Pockets... thus he'll be no good for you when it comes to stealthing or disarming traps.

I do agree, though, that a single-classed thief is a waste of time... they are just not useful enough to take up an entire character slot in your party. What I did was create a mage/thief, which gives you an awesome utility character who can unleash offensive spells, as well as scout ahead and disarm traps. The only thing she can't do well is fight, so you've got to protect her.

My next party is going to have a fighter/thief, who will be more of a scout/assassin than a utility character. Not only will he be able to disarm traps, but with the fighter's THAC0, his backstabbing will miss much less often, and he won't get wiped out if he doesn't make a kill on the first hit.

Here is the party I will probably go with on my next run through:

Fighter
Fighter
Fighter/Thief
Fighter (dual-class to druid)
Cleric/Mage (lots and lots of spells!)

I'm only using 5 characters to up the XPs I get, and since this will be an evil party, I'm not using any Rangers or Paladins. As you can see, they will start off with 3 pure fighters for front-line fighting, with the fighter/thief being a scout and bow support. The Cleric/Mage will likely use a sling, but will mainly be there for magical assistance.

In the later stages of the game, one of the fighters will dual-class to a druid, giving us extra healing power, plus some kick-butt spells that only druids have.

I agree with the multi-class theif. I played a Mage/theif as well. I used 2 warriors a fighter for mastery and a Paladin for cool vareity. A Cleric and Druid for healing and a Bard for backup spell casting. It worked well but next time I may change thing around to get use out of more class restricted items. There are so many combination there is no way to get them all.

My party consists of the following (gonna beat the game any day here hehe).

Paladin (LoH and spells etc make paladins godly)
Ranger (Extra shieldless attack and general ranger coolness)
Fighter/cleric (Booyah. Heals AND melee? Dwarven? 19 constitution? CRAZY hp)
Cleric (Gotta heal. GOTTA flame strike)
Thief (HUGE dex equals CRAZY good to hit with BOWS. And traps and locks are a joke now)
Mage (BIG bada boom)

There you have it, a very utilitarian party, well balanced, fun to play. Or at least fun for me. =)

I agree with most here:

Paly
Fighter
Ranger
Cleric
Mage
Thief

I got my thief to 9 then dualed him to a cleric, with all my other characters at 7-9 he is going up quick and is like level 5 already, I just have him memorize find traps and use his animated dead to clear out any traps. I also ade a low level thief I can import in if I need any locks picked. Once he gets to 10th he will get all his thieving abilities back :) I prefer this to the multi-class option for these classes as they require the fewest xp for advancement so the thief will go up the fastest and then the dual cleric will quickly catch up to your Paly and ranger.

Let me disagree with your characters choice. I'd better use:
Fighter (great sword 5*),
Paladin
Cleric (with armoring and Thac0
improvements for fighting in the
front line. I disagree with
multiclassing because of slower
level growth)
Invoker
Illusionist (19+1 Int !)
Mage/Thief (elf)

I usually scout enemy with the elf and pinpoint fire with fireballs (my mages can cast three fireballs per round).
Many monsters are so stupid that they don't move if they don't see you!

Single class Fighter, Ranger and Cleric. A fighter/cleric, single class MU and a thief/MU. But when I do it again I'll definitely include a Bard. They're useless at low levels but very powerful later. Whatever you choose, you have to have two front line grunts to absorb damage. Best I can manage on A/C is -12. Anyone got any thoughts on whether its possible to reduce it further (exlcuding being a 19 DEX elf - Elves are total girls and not to be used under any circumstances)

Just remember to make one of your fighter (or /fighter)s Chaotic Evil or True Neutral.
There's a lot of goodies (particularily around mid game/Severed Hand) that can not be used by lawful types, or Good characters.

Half-Elf, Fighter/Theif
Human, Fighter
Human, Fighter
Human, Fighter
Human, Cleric
Human, Mage

This party was a great combination, I would just charge with my fighting classes and then have my mage cast magic missle on the strongest of whatever I was fighting.

Im in chapter 4, and so far, the following party has worked well:

3 dwarven fighters
2 half-elven rangers
1 human paladin

I have 3 swordsmen, 1 maceman, and 2 bowmen

As you can see, I like warriors! I have no clerics, mages, or thieves, and Im getting along just fine (at least, so far)

Second time through, this time I've got:

Human Ranger
Elven Fighter/Druid
Dwarven Cleric
Elven Fighter/MagicUser/Thief
Human Bard
Human Conjurer

Very magic heavy, not as melee-heavy as my previous party. Plus I hadn't tried a bard/druid my first time through.

1.Elven fighter (bow, long sword)
2.Dwarf fighter (crossbow, axe)
3.Human priest (wis 18 as a must!!)
4.Elven druid (wis 18, char 18)
5.Specialised Mage (conj,div)race is at your taste I play Elf Diviner (int 18,const17+, dex18+)
6."ELVEN" Thief (dex 19,const17+)

Of course, there is no such thing as a "perfect party", this line-up has served me well through completing all three games...

Elven Fighter/Thief - my "main" PC. Better THAC0 for backstabbing...higher hit points helps him hold his own when scouting ahead.

Paladin - my "tank". All the advantages of a fighter, plus turning and clerical spells at higher levels.

Fighter/Druid - Better THAC0, Druids advance faster than Clerics, and shapeshifting at higher levels ROCKS!!!

Theif/Mage (Duel Classed) - I started this tradition with Imoen in Baldurs Gate. Took her to 6th level then turned her into an Invoker. More hit points, backstabbing, theiving ablities, plus better weapon selection than a mage.

Cleric - Self Explanatory!!! =oP Beyond that, having both a Cleric and a Druid not only helps with healing, but I have access to every Clerical spell in the game.

Conjurer - Alot of you probably didn't care too much for Xan back in Baldurs Gate. I thought he was great! Of course he doesn't appear in Icewind Dale, but by having both a Conjurer and an Invoker, I can cast any mage spell in the game.


Hopes this helps.

The following are a list of characters I don't find particularly useful. I'm sure many of you have differing opinions and I'm interested to hear them...

Demihumans other than Elves/Half-Elves - While they're good for variety, I just don't see much of a point strategy wise. Although Dwarves make great Fighters and Clerics, even they are too restricted in the Classes available to them.

Rangers - Poor man's excuse for a Fighter/Thief. No backstabbing ablity, and with the variety of monsters in the game, the racial enemy is not very useful in my opinion.

Bard - If you're thinking about a bard, you might as well make a Fighter/Mage/Thief and save yourself some trouble. The Bard's spell progession is too slow, theiving ablity is too limited... lore ablity is nice, but there are soooo many ways to identify things in this game that it's not really that much of a benefit. Specific magic items are cool...but they're nowhere near as common to find as mage items.

My party "Re-visited" =oP

Elven Fighter/Theif: +3 Longbow, +2 Short Sword (-2 AC), +3 Repeating Crossbow

Paladin: Longsword "Pale Justice" (+5, +7vs evil creatures), +3 Broadsword (-3 AC), +2 Axe (-2 AC)

Fighter/Druid: +3 Frostbrand (Scimitar), +2 Sling

Theif/Mage (Duel Classed): +3 "Mages" Dagger (-1 AC, +1 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spells)

Cleric: +3 Warhammer (-1 AC, add. spells, 10% magic resistance)

Conjurer: +2 "Mages" Dagger (+1 1st, 2nd level spells), +2 sling

I know this topic is over two years old, but after many hours of rolling, I came up with this party :)
Lawful Good Human Paladin(18/00,18,18,3,14,18)
Neutral Good Dwarven Fighter(18/00,17,19,3,12,3)
True Neutral Elven Druid(15,19,16,8,18,15)
Chaotic Neutral H/E Bard(16,18,16,18,10,16)
Chaotic Good Halfling Thief(17,19,16,18,8,9)
Lawful Neutral Gnome Illusionist(18,18,16,19,7,3)

the reason to not use elves is that they cannot be raised by raise dead... if you want 19 dex use the Halfling... they are cool though...

IMHO this is almost perfect party, especially with insane difficulty :D

1. Human Fighter, LN, STR 18/00, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 8, WIS 9, CHA 8
2. Elf Ranger, CG, STR 18/72, DEX 19, CON 17, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 13
3. Human Fighter dual classed to Cleric, NG, STR 18/65, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 10, WIS 18, CHA 11
4. Human Fighter dual classes to Mage, NE, STR 18/91, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 18, WIS 10, CHA 8
5. Halfling Fighter/Thief, CG, STR 17, DEX 19, CON 18, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 16
6. Elf Cleric/Mage, NG, STR 10, DEX 19, CON 17, INT 18, WIS 18, CHA 10

I don't even remember what parties I used the first time I played it. I think I had paladin, thief and a mage inthere definitely.
This goes for BG I & II as well as IWD. For fun I like creating parties of all one race or all one class.
I create a whole party using the multiplayer option in BG I & II. Since I use my own parties, I just explore, go on quests in no random order when possible. Its fun using a party entirely made up of gnome thieves. Of course I might throw in a dual or multiclass in sometimes for spells and stuff.
I once made a whole party of chaotic fighters. Just to slash and kill everything. Cheated up my stats and hit points so I could survive a little bit. But I didn't alllow any potion of healing or healing spells. ONly healed when I slept.

I used this Party
Human Paladin:long sword and sheild or two handed sword, depending the situation.
Human Fighter:Big Bastard twohanded axe all the way!
Dwarven Cleric/fighter: Hammers/maces and a shield
Human Mage:Sling/staff
Gnomish thief/mage: Shortbow and short sword
Elvin Ranger: Longbow, crossbow and spear.

It wasn't too hard but wasn't a walkover!

I only ever play when a friend comes over. We both create a character each and take turns at controling. I'm usually my fighter/thief bloke, and my friend has a cleric, or a fighter

Make the group all monks, and take a vow of silence. See how far you can get in the game saying no more than is absolutely necessary. It makes selling and buying difficult, if not impossible. Well, it's better than all paladins and a vow of chastity. Or maybe all clerics and a vow of non-violence... the possiblities are endless...

[ October 27, 2002, 05:11: Message edited by: The Soul Forever Seeking ]

My perfect party was,

Paladin - saving throw bonus, lay on hands, uses
Pale Justice.
*

Fighter/Druid - half-elven to use Argent Shield.
Some druid spells are quite useful.
Uses the ice forged scimitar.
*
Cleric - I got three levels of fighter first in
order to get 3 skill points in hammer.
Then dual-class to Cleric.
*
Fighter/Mage - Stoneskinned super tank.
*
Ranger - High strength score + Restored Blade of
Aihonen + 3 attacks a round.
*
Mage - picked up just enough levels of Thief to
get Disarm skill of 80, afterwards
enhanced by Girdle of Gond and other items.
Dual class to mage.

[ November 16, 2002, 01:40: Message edited by: Beren ]

Wow.

Well, I'm obviously not too good of a roleplayer.

I usually take a pure thief. And a Paladin. And a bard.

Then a cleric, ranger, wizard, and druid. Usually a pure wizard, a Ranger/Druid, and a pure Cleric.

I always try to mix up the races as much as possible, too. Dwarf Cleric, elf wizard, half-elf bard.

The nice thing about the 3E rules are that anyone can be anything. Although, other than Larrel, I've not run into anyone who is race prejudice and will get a different dialogue depending on which race speaks. Classes are different; there are several class-only dialogues.

I think your in the wrong forum, ejsmith! The first Icewind Dale runs 2E rules :p

Hmm, perfect party?
I doubt this is the perfect one, but it's doing quite well:

1.Paladin - fighter, and a bit of a healer. But not until he/she's a higher level. And doesn't have as many hitpoints as other fighters.
2.Cleric - Pure healer usually, but does have some fighting potential, for some reason, my sleric levels up quicker then my other characters.
3.Fighter! and obvious choice, and my fighter is a dwarf to! :)
4. Mage, I think that the specialist ones are good, but I prefer to have an allrounder, the default mage.
5.Thief - Pure thief for opening locks, picking pockets, Finding traps, and scouting ahead.
6. In this party, I have a ranger, I'll probably dual-class her later.

This is only a low level party, I'm only in chapter 2, but I'll probably dual-class some of them later. Hmmm, fun.

Frosty
(bloody hell, this chair's uncomfortable :eek: )

" think your in the wrong forum, ejsmith! The first Icewind Dale runs 2E rules"

Dude.

Out of everyone else here, I'm the last person that you'd have to remind. :)

I was simply making a comparison between kits and 3E rules. That's all.

Everything that applied to IwD1, for me, still applies to IwD2. I put the broadest mix possible into my characters.

I used 2 mages, 2 fighters, a thief and a cleric, and it all worked out pretty well (incidentally, my brother made an attempt to create the LotR party [Gandalf, Frodo, etc.], and I must admit, it turned out pretty good).

Here goes...

E Fighter (5 prof. Longbow, 18 CHA)
D Fighter (3 axe, 3 blunt weap.)
HE F/M/T
E F/T
HE C/R
Hu M

So they balance really well. Really similar to my BG2 party, the same basic characters I have "raised" throughout my BioWare games. They may seem repetitive, but two half-thieves saves a whole one, and gives me a two fighters or a fighter and a mage to boot. The C/R gets every spell, and lots of them, especially later (3 extra for 1st-3rd lev. for being R), along with enough tankage to back up the group.

This is far from perfect... and when I say far I mean how far away the Nine Hells are from the Prime

Half-Elf Cleric- healing and rasing dead makes big missions end faster, turn undead helps in most places

Half-Elf Ranger- Fighting skills are a must, and the stealth helps in the begining, and always useful for sniping an enemy hiding in the fog...

Half-Elf Fighter- Fighting skills heavy armor, shields this is a must have for all adventuring parties

Why all the Half-Elves- I like Half Elves, they fill my much needed human and elven requirments for the group.

Human Paladin- Turn undead to help with the cleric add Lay on Hands and weapon use and theres your fighter... only downside is lawful good alignment

Dwarf Fighter- dwarves are excelent fighters, they have high constitution and strength

Why no thief- I tried to use a thief... at first he helped with a few things such as opening locks, but when I went into a dungeon he wasn't all that helpful... He died to much and by the time I reached Yxonemei he was near useless (He couldn't even find them durn traps!)It would be better to use the cleric to find traps, and have everyone try to avoid them(near imposible but I did that whenever confusion and poison traps were nearby)

With the apropriate equipment- Human Mage- Spellcasting isn't just for clerics, and Mages get better spells than a priestly character. Eventualy this guy will have a special seat at the throne... but it may not be wise to start out with a pure mage, maybe when going through the game again, with a few items stolen from Malevon...