There are countless threads on the most powerful party or the most powerful class or if class x is better then class y and class z.

But what about the weakest possible party? if it is possible to complete the game with a patheticaly weak party with the weakest PC with minimum stat rolls, then surely this should prove that it does not matter what party you take as long as it is best sutied to your style of play? and something like this may just help to end the eternal debate of what party is better then this party war, right?

My conditions would be take a full party, since one character is not a party and most solo characters get very easy after a short while, with the pc having minimum rolls in everything but allowing the use of any available item, the reason been that we're trying to finish with the weakest characters, which in no way suggests anything about items, but if you can do this then bonus points for you then.

Also if anyone can go through tactics and ascension with the weakest possible party-something I highly doubt- then great work :)

Well, seeing as how you can solo and win the game, I seriously doubt there is a single "impossible" party to win the game with. The only thing I can think of is putting together a party that is lacking in one or more major areas, and even then, probably not.

For example, make a party with no real melee characters:

Yoshi/Imoen
Aerie
Jan
Nalia
Haer Dalis' (yes, he can melee, but I don't think anyone would use him as your primary melee character)

Have your PC be a not-often selected specialist. Maybe an Enchanter.

It would be great if you could eliminate all clerics and druids from the party as well, but if you do, then you would have to replace them with a fighter-type, in order to maintain your "select a full party of 6" rule.

I think the relative "power" of any party depends entirely on your playing style. If you are the melee type who always lie to bum-rush everything that moves, then obviously the weakest party would be an all-spellcasters party, if only because it goes completely against your usual tactics. Same thing if you always play with a magically-enclined party: go for all melee fighters and you'll have a hard time.

That being said, I don't think there are any weak NPCs per se. Like I said, it all depends on what you are usually good with. However, there are some bad choices that you can deliberately make just to make things difficult for you. Examples:

Using Valygar as your main tank;
Using Cernd as a full-time tank;
Using Nalia as your only thief;
Using Aerie, Jan or Haer'Dalis as your only mage;
Not taking a cleric along; etc.

Personnally, I think going for a no-magic party (all melee) would be the worst idea, but I don't think you could find 5 NPCs that can't use magic. Basically, you have Yoshi (for a while), Korgan, Mazzy and eventually Sarevok (not counting Keldorn because of his special habilities).

[Edit: Aldeth was faster!]

Aldeth, Aerie can actually melee pretty well in that party of yours if she's used properly.

Coming up with a ludicrously weak party is not going to be easy. Here's the weakest I can come up with:

Beastmaster
Nalia
Yoshimo
Viccy
Imoen
Mazzy

Of course, if we make up our own party, I could do something like:

Beastmaster X 6

Try Cernd, Edwin, Haer'Dalis, Nalia, Aerie,and a Beastmaster.To the victor the spoils.

Come to think of it, I think the worst possible character would be a sorcerer who picks only the absolute worst spells of every level. Think about it, a mighty sorcerer unleashing deadly Infravision and Detect Evil spells upon his ennemies... :rolleyes:

I don't think it would be that hard to finish the game if you use npcs. Every npc has his or her strengths. The only way I see that you could make this into a challenge is by creating 6 characters with minimum stats. But I'd advise to still take 6 different characters, otherwise you'll probably fail and never finish the game, so still proving nothing. But even if you take 6 different classes, any npc based party will be better and so if you finish the game with this home-made party, you would prove your point raised at the start of the topic.

My takes:
Sorcerer with baddest possible spell choices and only taking extra spell slot HLA's
Beastmaster
thief-cleric
pure druid
Archer using only melee
pure bard

Presumably, the concept isn't to completely handicap the characters by making them do things completely against their interests (i.e., archer that will only melee, sorcerer that doesn't take offensive spells, etc.). That being said, I agree with the sentiment above that the NPC's all have their strengths. I would say the "weakest" NPC is the unbalanced Cernd. Once the Shapeshifter rebalancing mod is added, though, he more than holds his own. I don't think you're going to have a hard time with any PC plus five NPC party, unless you have a morbid aversion to spellcasting.

Still, the overall weakest party that I would put together would be Anomen, unmodded Cernd, Mazzy, Viccy, Valygar, and a PC vanilla druid. No arcane casting, no pure tanks and no thief would make the game troublesome for me. If we were talking about a six PC party, the merry band of the fathers of the simple life (6 vanilla clerics with minimal stats) might be difficult.

@Rastor

Sure, with protective spells and a strength enhancing item, she can melee, but nothing changes the fact that she has the hit rolls of a cleric, can never get weapon speicialization, and can never get more than one attack per round. It's possible, but a one-attack per round front liner with an average at best THAC0 isn't my idea of someone you want holding the front line...