I've been playing two runs concurrently. One with a Cleric/Illusionist (that I will switch to a Cleric/Wild Mage in BG2 using SK) and the other with a Cav. I don't want to keep switching between games, but I'm still having trouble deciding which run to finish.
The Cav (with Jah, Minsc, Yoshi/Imoen, and Aerie): Great front liner. He's really a one man wrecking crew. In a way, this is a bad thing, as I want to play a more team-oriented game. One of his pros are that he'll be able to use Lilarcor in BG2 (my favorite weapon in the game) until get gets the holy avenger. In general, I like the fighter bling over the mage bling, so I'm more interested in gearing him up than my cleric/illusionist. I'd have him on Two-handers, Minsc dual wielding, and Jah on scimitar/club and shield until the better staffs become available. He's not a good team player, though. He's a better tank than Jah and only a slightly worse striker than Minsc. The way this plays out is that Jah ends up hanging out and I end up tearing up everything, occasionally with Minsc's help. On some maps, I just send the paly around to take out everything if I'm not feeling patient. Also, if I keep him, I have to take Aerie for BG2, as this party doesn't have a controller and she's the best (aside from a properly built charname). Taking Aerie, in my book, is a con, as she's so annoying. Still, the paly is much more uber than the C/WM, and he gets a lot more play (see below).
Cleric/Wild Mage (with Jah, Minsc, and Yoshi/Imoen): Definitely more of a team player. For BG2, the core party is just going to be Jah (tank), Minsc (striker), and him (controller). I'll also have Yoshi as a trap monkey until I get Imoen back. With these three, I have the team synergy trifecta. However, most encounters are just Jah drawing aggro and Minsc dancing around the melee chopping things up (max DW), while my guy is just hanging out. Or, if it's an easy map, Minsc just runs around all choppy-choppy. All it took was a single prot. from pet. spell and he cleaned out the basilisk map all by himself (minus the Kirian party encounter). The C/WM only needs to get play for the more challenging encounters, so it's kinda boring most of the time. The harder the fight, the more fun the C/WM is. With a hard fight, the C/WM is more fun than the paly, but those are pretty much just the occasional boss battles.
So, how about voting to help me make a decision on this? :D And, if you care to explain your choice, I'd like to hear it.
The Cav (with Jah, Minsc, Yoshi/Imoen, and Aerie): Great front liner. He's really a one man wrecking crew. In a way, this is a bad thing, as I want to play a more team-oriented game. One of his pros are that he'll be able to use Lilarcor in BG2 (my favorite weapon in the game) until get gets the holy avenger. In general, I like the fighter bling over the mage bling, so I'm more interested in gearing him up than my cleric/illusionist. I'd have him on Two-handers, Minsc dual wielding, and Jah on scimitar/club and shield until the better staffs become available. He's not a good team player, though. He's a better tank than Jah and only a slightly worse striker than Minsc. The way this plays out is that Jah ends up hanging out and I end up tearing up everything, occasionally with Minsc's help. On some maps, I just send the paly around to take out everything if I'm not feeling patient. Also, if I keep him, I have to take Aerie for BG2, as this party doesn't have a controller and she's the best (aside from a properly built charname). Taking Aerie, in my book, is a con, as she's so annoying. Still, the paly is much more uber than the C/WM, and he gets a lot more play (see below).
Cleric/Wild Mage (with Jah, Minsc, and Yoshi/Imoen): Definitely more of a team player. For BG2, the core party is just going to be Jah (tank), Minsc (striker), and him (controller). I'll also have Yoshi as a trap monkey until I get Imoen back. With these three, I have the team synergy trifecta. However, most encounters are just Jah drawing aggro and Minsc dancing around the melee chopping things up (max DW), while my guy is just hanging out. Or, if it's an easy map, Minsc just runs around all choppy-choppy. All it took was a single prot. from pet. spell and he cleaned out the basilisk map all by himself (minus the Kirian party encounter). The C/WM only needs to get play for the more challenging encounters, so it's kinda boring most of the time. The harder the fight, the more fun the C/WM is. With a hard fight, the C/WM is more fun than the paly, but those are pretty much just the occasional boss battles.
So, how about voting to help me make a decision on this? :D And, if you care to explain your choice, I'd like to hear it.