I was wondering how party's play out when you have multiple fighters or multiple castors of the same kind, and do they feel unique enough?

Full party of Rogues... no they don't feel unique, but it is great fun! :D

Escape+Shadowing Beyond is love. You hop around each battle and it's so much fun.

It got a bit difficult figuring out who was who though, it got pretty messy because 6 melee Rogues that "Escape" and goes Invisible back and forth (It looks super cool). It's a Party Build that requires some thinking, for sure. You'd need to utilize all abilities to your own best ability. Traps, Backstabs, Items, Gear. I gave everyone melee weapons for instance, when I should've given all 6 Rogues ranged and melee weapon sets (So that I could attack in melee, and when in danger, Escape out, and switch places with another Rogue).

More on that here though:
Shadowing Beyond

 

I also tried 6 Wizards and that was interesting/fun too but I got pummeled to death, didn't use them optimally. But more Wizards in the party made, in my opinion, the Wizard class more fun to play. Having 2 or 3 Wizards makes it possible to utilize a whole Spell Level, and it gets easy to distinguish each one as they all have (preferably) intententionally different spells in their grimoires.

 

I made a Class Idea thread about it because I thought using several Wizards in the party was such good fun :
Future Class Idea: The Ritualist

 

EDIT: They feel as unique as you make them.
- Visual Representation (Appearance, Weapons, Armor)
- Personal Background Story (You can't write your own Biography though, which is unfortunate, but you can choose Culture/Background and so on)

If you make a full party (6) of the same class, you better have some thoughts or ideas for each character, that will help you distinguish each one. You can also play Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale (where you can write up a Background story) to get to know your characters you want to play in Pillars of Eternity, that will also aid you in setting every character apart when combat begins.

I've also tried a Full party of Chanters in a very old build (And Obsidian showed off a full party of Skeleton Summoning Chanters in their PAX South Stream, I feel it might be connected they don't feel unique but it was hilarious and it was awesome).

Full Party of Chanters way before PAX South

 

 

 

Stuff I haven't tried but I find narratively (for my own playthroughs/RP Stories):

A full party of Paladins would be interesting too (A group of crusader-archetype party). Do their modal auras stack on top of each other?

A group of Fighters (mercenary, raider, bandit archetype party) could be fun is intruiging as well. Having Ranged Fighters, IIRC from discussions I read, isn't too bad either (Ranged Fighters are pretty much Archers/Bowmen/Musketeers?).

A group of Ciphers (Outcasts, Detectives or Animancers) could be fun and interesting as well, if you can do Jedi Mind Trick in dialogue using their abilities... but the Cipher feels like a class you only have 1 of in your party.

If you want to build an "1 Class, 6 Members" Party, don't forget to stack up on Rest Bonus, Food and Potions though. Goes for any party without saying really, I feel, but with an "all the same class" party potions are more important.

Final Word:
Talents and similar can also help you distinguish the classes (One can have Corrosive Bonus damage, another Burning, etc. etc.). Different Enchantments on gear as well.

Edited February 15, 201510 yr by Osvir

thx, great reply very informative!

I can also see a group of Pale Elf Barbarians to be an interesting party (lore-wise). Or simply Eir Glanfathan Barbarians.

A party of Druids hm, a covenant of Druids I... I don't see it. Neither does a party of Priests seem very interesting (Except some pretty fast, quick and powerful buff ups at the start of combat and then pummeling everything to smithereens).

A full party of Rangers, right, I tried that too. That got super messy, but I suppose if I tinkered with it it might be more exciting. There should've been some Ranged Animal Companions I suppose, maybe expansion or unlockable in story? (Quillboar, a Spitting Llama or Cobra/Big Snake... or a Dart Frog/Toad. Enlarged Insectoid Animal Companions would be cool too... but that's more "Insect Companions" xD Beetles anyone?).

Ranger isn't very intruiging in a full party Ranger composition though, personally. Then I'd rather want to have 1 Ranger with 6 Animal Companions :D (I seriously hope there's a late-game Ranger Talent that allows you to have 2 or even 3 Animal Companions... "The Shepard Talent" :D).

And a bit off-topic sorry, but these are 2 "Why's?" that I keep coming back too:
- Why is Spiritshift a "Must have"?
- Why is Animal Companion a "Must have"?

They would serve a much greater and better purpose if they were optional talents.

Yeah, I've said it many times before, but a party of Hearth Orlan rogues armed with pikes is devastating. You stealth up to surround the enemy as closely as possible, then initiate the attack with one rogue. Pause in the middle of their attack animation, then queue up all of the others to attack their nearest opponent. There will be such a flurry of critical sneak and disengagement attacks like you hath never seen. Battles, even with multiple Stone Beetles last less than 10 seconds.

 

I've been meaning to create a party of six ciphers, but I just haven't had the time. Conceptually there are a lot of single class parties that might be interesting. Six barbarians with reach weapons configured to maximize their carnage radius would be neat. Stacking paladin auras, cascading burning holy radiance, six rangers and their six pets swarming an enemy, etc. I think the most potent combinations will be the parties which can maximize burst DPS with (preferably AoE) per encounter abilities. I see priests and druids being the best at this. Six Iconic Projections anyone?

Edited February 15, 201510 yr by Mr. Magniloquent

You can also combine with 3 Fighters and 3 Wizards, or whatever similar combo. Lots of versatility

I've had a go on Path of the Damned with an Melee focused party, not single class but mixed: Barbarian, Chanter, Fighter, Monk, Paladin and switching between a Rogue & Ranger.

For the most part they worked really well annihilating the standard encounters with ease, the Chanter was mainly being used for his arua/chants, with fights often ending too quickly for the invocations. However the problem they hit was that there were a couple of optional boss fights which they couldn't handle at all on Path of the Damned, they definitely would have been able to pull them off at Normal though and probably Hard.

 

Effectively they lack sufficient diversity for the hardest difficulty levels where certain enemies seem to have been built for slaughtering melee types (the Ogre + Elder Bears & The Cult leader + party). I suspect that the same thing would happen with single class parties. On Easy and Normal they'rd do very very well but on Hard they'rd struggle and on Path of the Damned they'd die due to a lack of diversity in their options for dealing with certain enemies/bosses. Now a party of Chanters or Monks might be able to over come this as both have a wide range of options for dealing with enemies.

I can also see a group of Pale Elf Barbarians to be an interesting party (lore-wise). Or simply Eir Glanfathan Barbarians.

 

A party of Druids hm, a covenant of Druids I... I don't see it. Neither does a party of Priests seem very interesting (Except some pretty fast, quick and powerful buff ups at the start of combat and then pummeling everything to smithereens).

 

A full party of Rangers, right, I tried that too. That got super messy, but I suppose if I tinkered with it it might be more exciting. There should've been some Ranged Animal Companions I suppose, maybe expansion or unlockable in story? (Quillboar, a Spitting Llama or Cobra/Big Snake... or a Dart Frog/Toad. Enlarged Insectoid Animal Companions would be cool too... but that's more "Insect Companions" xD Beetles anyone?).

 

Ranger isn't very intruiging in a full party Ranger composition though, personally. Then I'd rather want to have 1 Ranger with 6 Animal Companions :D (I seriously hope there's a late-game Ranger Talent that allows you to have 2 or even 3 Animal Companions... "The Shepard Talent" :D).

 

And a bit off-topic sorry, but these are 2 "Why's?" that I keep coming back too:

- Why is Spiritshift a "Must have"?

- Why is Animal Companion a "Must have"?

 

They would serve a much greater and better purpose if they were optional talents.

 

You're thinking like I was. I wanted to create a ranger solo party with several animal companions. I was also hoping that it was a talent or a reward you can tame other beasts as you progress. At least 2 beasts. If there's a tanky beast and something with a quick interrupt that would be fun.