I can't seem to put together any other party than this one (or something very similar), and it rarely deviates. Curious what other people have had success with.

Human or Aasimar Sorcerer (party leader and speaker, bombardier) Dwarf, Human or Half-Orc Fighterx/Barbarian 4 (main tank 1) Human or Aasimar Paladin of Helm 4/Fighter x (main tank 2) Shield Dwarf Cleric (either Lathander or Tempus) Human Druid (this character slot can alternate. I may try a Monk or a Bard here in the future, but I've never tried either in IWD . Sometimes I put a second Cleric here.) Moon Elf Rogue 3/Enchanter x (focusing on all the spells the Sorcerer doesn't learn, and enough Rogue skills to get things done.)
How about your party? Any luck with Rangers? Gnomes?

Whoops! I was writing about my ToEE party. :eek:
I just today finished IWD2 and my party looks like this:

Human Fighter (Tank1)
Half-Orc Monk
Human Cleric of Lathander (Tank2)
Halfling Thief (Classical thief / spokesman / ranged weaponry)
Elven Ranger (Archer / Occasional Melee Fighter)
Human Wizard (Specialized Evoker)

All went pretty well, but since I'm not very good with spellcasters, I used my cleric only to heal and fight (no other spells) and I didn't choose the best feats for my wizard either. Mostly she just hurled highly damaging area-effect spells. There were a few very tight spot mainly those bigger bossfights. This seems to be my usual party. Druids, Bards and Gnomes I think I have never tried.

[ November 13, 2003, 21:43: Message edited by: Mayfairy ]

There are some other good combinations possible :

ranger/rogue
ranger/druid
druid/cleric
monk/rogue
paladin/sorcerer
sorcerer/bard
rogue/wizard
wizard/bard

...and you can combine fighter with any class , 4 levels of fighter can make your character better as a melee-fighter. As for the different races just combine as you see fit , experiment , get the most out of it or just roleplay a more uncommon character.
I tryed an Orcish monk once , gave him 20str and he kicked hell with his stunning attack!

Try to focus your character , either on melee/ranged/magic/stealth/... and then compensate its weakness with another character. Once your finished you will have a team that RUMBLES!!

I conquered IWDII (not HoF yet) with this party:
Fridela Slink CN female Lightfoot Halfling Rogue 13/Wizard 2/Ranger 2 - classical thief, scout, specops, support mule; all range weapons, dual wield short swords Tara Hardhead CN female Halforc Barbarian 14/Battleguard of Tempus 2/Rogue 1 - brute force tank, support scout, support specops; dual wield hammers, swords, big weapons (halberds, polearms), bow from distance Rugar Turak LG male Dwarf Fighter 13/Sorcerer 4 - fighter, support spell caster (mainly buffing), party mule; axes, hammers, bow from distance Tanmar Lorram NG male Aasimar Morninglord of Lathander 16 - healer, attack spells, support melee; maces, throwing dagger, darts, sling Sunkar Humn Fulram LG male Drow Evoker 15/Paladin of Mystra 1 - spell caster, lore master, alchemist, support specops; crossbow, throwing hammer, large sword Shacka Tula CN female Wild Elf Sorceress 16/Rogue 1 - spell caster, speaker(diplomat); bow, sling, scimitar
All alignments (especially LG Drow) have their reasoning in characters bio. All multiclasses have their reasoning in how these characters interact (Fridela helps Sunkar) - each uses his abilities to help to another party member.

I think it's classical well balanced party. It plays wonderful (I have a 16 step buffing list - before entering suspicious areas !!! - some of these step include all party spells, or casting a spell more than once).

If I would play it again with this party, I would not give Fridela Ranger class and Shacka Rogue class. Shacka would be bard instead.

Now in HoF (cleaned Horde fortress):
Fridela Slink CN female Lightfoot Halfling Rogue 13/Wizard 4/Ranger 4 Tara Hardhead CN female Halforc Barbarian 15/Battleguard of Tempus 3/Rogue 3 Rugar Turak LG male Dwarf Fighter 13/Sorcerer 8 Tanmar Lorram NG male Aasimar Morninglord of Lathander 19 Sunkar Humn Fulram LG male Drow Evoker 18/Paladin of Mystra 1 Shacka Tula CN female Wild Elf Sorceress 20/Rogue 1
This party should end:
Fridela Slink CN female Lightfoot Halfling Rogue 17/Wizard 7/Ranger 6 Tara Hardhead CN female Halforc Barbarian 20/Battleguard of Tempus 5/Rogue 5 Rugar Turak LG male Dwarf Fighter 22/Sorcerer 8 Tanmar Lorram NG male Aasimar Morninglord of Lathander 29 Sunkar Humn Fulram LG male Drow Evoker 24/Paladin of Mystra 4 Shacka Tula CN female Wild Elf Sorceress 24/Rogue 3/Bard 3

I've beaten the game a few times(not HoF though) with this build and it's many variants:

Half Orc Barbarian X / Fighter 4
Shield Dwarf Battleguard of Tempus X
Human Stormlord of Talos X
Aasimar Sorceror X / Paladin 1
Drow Wizard X / Rogue 1
Human Bard X / Fighter 4

The party is pretty run of the mill but it's effective. Extra points aren't given for creativity after all :p .

You're probably wondering why the Bard has the Fighter levels; that's simple, she uses a bow whe she isn't singing. The extra damage from specialization and added BAB help tremendously making her a very well rounded character. Her spells, songs, archery, and Barbarian summoning(from the Horn of Valhalla) make her a novel character in my vanilla group.

I just started a game.

Assimar Paladin of Llematear(sp?)
Tiefling Fighter 4 /Rogue x
Shield Dwarf Fighter 4 / Cleric x
Elven Fighter 4 / Druid x
Drow wizard
Elven Paladin 2 / Sorcerer x

Critisms?

Two of those stuck-up holier-than-thou non-diplomatic Pallies in the same party. :mad: NOOOOO! :shake:

Where is the Ranger? The Bard? The Barbarian?
And if this is the n'th time you are doing this then please tell me how a Monk works.

The last game I played, I got to chapter 5 with the party below until my game crashed :mad:

*Half-orc Fighter 4/Barbarian X
*Shield Dwarf Fighter 4/Cleric of Tempus X
*Aasimar Druid 1-2+X/Bard X - I mean the Druid levels is always one or two above the Bard levels.
*Deep Gnome Rogue 10/Monk X
*Tiefling Rogue 10/Wizard X
*Dark Elf Paladin 2/Rogue 2/ Sorcerer X

A little bit power-partyish, I know, but it works, and I can usually come up with an excuse for the extra classes that make it power-gameish. ;)

So far, I've reached the River Caves (end Chap. 3) with:

Aasimar Paladin(3)/Barbarian(X) yes, this is an illegal character created using Weimer Ease-of-Use "no alignment restrictions" mod, but there's a roleplay explanation for it. Tiefling Rogue(3)/Monk of the Old Order(X) Half-Elf Druid(X)/Cleric of Selune(X) Human Ranger(4)/Wizard(X) This is my first less-than-full-size party, and I'm very happy with it, despite not being able to have a Bard.

human paladin of Mystra 3/sorcerer x
aasimar paladin of Ilmater 15/Ilmater 15
human bard x/ranger 1
aasimar paladin of Mystra 2/sorcerer x
human cleric of Lathander 20/transmuter 10
tiefling diviner x/rogue 2

I end up being saved by Lay on Hands and potions quite a bit, since neither of my clerics have their healing spells grow that fast due to the peculiar multiclassing I have them undergo. I probably should've taught the bard circle of healing when I had the chance.

This party is... odd... both in the powergaming sense as well as the roleplaying sense. For powergaming, the slow cleric progress is bad. For roleplaying, I've yet to come up with an excuse for 3 paladins tolerating the charlatan practices of the bard and the wizard, and I don't have an explanation for having all of them named after Yu-Gi-Oh! cards with their biographies being the card's description.

[ November 18, 2003, 02:23: Message edited by: Hojo Jojo ]

So far this party is going real strong for me. I've blown right past most battles. I had some trouble with the Rakshasha imitating Nathaniel, but thats b/c i was not expecting it, heh.
Human Fighter
Human Ranger
Human Battleguard of Tempus
Human Bard
Human Rogue
Human Wizard
No multi-classing, almost no min-maxing either.

I'm playing a new game with:

Aasimir Paladin
Human druid/barbarian (about equal in both)
Deep gnome monk (NOTHING can hit her)
Aasimir cleric of Ilmater
Moon elf rogue/transmuter
Tiefling wizard

I built this party from a role-playing standpoint, but it's turning out to be incredibly powerful in battle. However, my paladin is always the party leader, so I'm broke. I've never played a monk before, and she's incredible. I think she's been hit twice, and I don't bother keeping healing potions in her inventory any more. I can't wait till she starts doing real damage with her fists - for now she's better with a greataxe, which BTW is very cute.

I finished the game yesterday with the following party:

Aasimar - Cleric - Mostly used as Tank.
Half-orc - Fighter
Human - Fighter
Human - Fighter
Drow - Necromancer and 1 lv Sorcerer.
Tiefling- Rouge

I had the Rouge dualwielding shortswords so 5 chars were always up front chopping up while my mage mostly used his crossbow, when he wasn´t on his own protected and casted areaspells that is.

This isn´t my usual party though. First time I´ve only had one mage. But last Monday when I started this party I had plans to go with 6 fighters, but it would get to boring so that´s why I threw in the others. Anyway, I´m off to soloing now, cant decide with which class though.

Playing through currently with:

Human vanilla fighter, (tank)
Drow monk, (tank)
Half-orcish barbarian/battleguard of Tempus, (healer/tank)
Tiefling rogue/ranger, (thief/scout)
Wild elf sorcerer, (bombadier)
Human fighter/ranger, (sniper/back-up tank)

Everything's going great but i'm thinking of adding some wizard levels to my vanilla fighter. What do you think?