There's nothing I love in RPGs quite like creating a party of my own adventurers. And until fairly recently I've shunned NPC tag-alongs to created parties like those found Wasteland 2, NWN2: Storm of Zehir or ToEE. However I've had a change of heart about mixed parties and I've recently experimented with creating parties around the NPCs; creating two based around the use of animal companions (a rather underutilized mechanism in my opinion). The idea started with Pillars during a conversation with Sagani about her family where she provides names for her husband and various children. I decided to make her the nucleus of a ranger-heavy party, creating a party of dwarves with four rangers, along with a chanter and priest to support them.
Pillars of Eternity: Naasitaq Shower Posse
Kallu- Chanter
Yakona - Priestess
Najuo - Ranger, warbow, wolf
Malaak - Ranger, warbow, wolf
Estuya - Ranger, hunting bow, wolf
Sagani - Ranger, hunting bow, arctic fox
This party has a tremendous amount of offense, particularly since buffs from the priestess (or even potentially the chanter) act on ten creatures rather than six. It can also neatly take advantage of the many wonderful bows in the world of Eora (Stormcaller, Persistence, etc); eventually one imagines that the best bows + driving flight + twin arrows will create a virtual hailstorm of death. The biggest downside so far is defense; the four animal companions do a great job of soaking up damage over the course of a dungeon since they don't have to worry about health but if they actually go down, they now suffer knock-out injuries (Sawyer!!!!!!
) and for a single, tough opponent, they just don't have the staying power of a real "Tank" character. Kallu wears plate mail and he can try to help out in a pinch, but his crappy health/endurance numbers mean that he can't really bear the weight either. They're midway chapter 2 and so far, any fight with a doorway the wolves/fox can block off has gone pretty well. The hardest test was the teleporting ghost brigade in the Ondra's Gift lighthouse. It's cool just how differently this party plays when compared to a typical one-of-everything party but it will be interesting to see if they can handle some of the tougher encounters with their limited toolbox.
Neverwinter Nights 2 Storm of Zehir: Six Dinosaurs of Death
Dinosaur animal companions were one of the primary marketing gimmicks for Storm of Zehir and the game includes one "cohort" (the druid) that has one by default and another (ranger) that can be upgraded to have one. This means that one can potentially have a party with
six dinosaurs tagging along and conveniently, both of these cohorts are available in the starting area which means we can use the ranger as our overland map guide.
T'Challa - Cleric (Animal, Healing)
M'Baku - Cleric (Animal, Strength)
W'Kobi - Cleric (Animal, Strength)
Shuri - Druid
Umoja - Druid
Inshula - Ranger
In addition to the novelty of having so many animal companions, this party is actually pretty effective early on. Three clerics means many castings of "Hammer of the Gods" and for the early levels (party is currently level 10) the dinos are actually pretty effective fighters. Sadly while the clerics will grow stronger over time, the dinos will presumably be complete fodder eventually. There don't seem to be enough worthwhile party-wide buffing spells to help them; at the moment, recitation is the only one I use. The biggest problem for such a large party is the cramped conditions of your average SoZ indoor area. The ranger, like any non-spellcaster is also a liability long-term but in the long-term this is a party that will have five characters capable of casting storm of vengeance. Dinosaur companions or not, you can't go wrong with clerics in a D&D game.
