A3: Is a Two Mage-Two Priest party viable anymore on Torment?

[Great Dane]

Well, I did it - my first playthrough of A2:CS on Torment has been 100%ed.  Now it's time for A3:RW, but I'm reading that friendly fire on spells is now a thing on Torment.  I really enjoyed my two mage/two priest party in A2:CS but am wondering if the community feels it's not the best style of party to run anymore.  I don't want to play for 5-6 hours to realize I've not optimized my crew.

Edited June 15, 2021 by Great Dane

[Randomizer]

A1:EftP remake is the only one where an all spell casting party has trouble on torment because of monsters that can primarily take physical damage and had 95% magic resistance. It might take you some time to get used to not hitting your party, but at the start the only problem is going back to town to regain spell energy. I've done it as a solo character so it is possible.

[TriRodent]

I tend to generally run with a hybrid all mage/priest party.  The first character starts off more as a melee/meat shield (but with at least one point in both mage/priest for fireball/healing purposes) but over time gets enough mage points to cast ice spray & eventually lightning & priest to at least to the basic buffing spells).  Having the first guy be able to cast Haste (especially once you get it to L3) can be a nice tactical edge if the first thing cast in combat is that & chances are that at least one of the remaining three get an extra movement/enough points to cast two spells.

 

2nd character is, like the 3rd &4th, both magic/priest but also has some extra endurance as they tend to be near the front of battle

 

3rd & 4th are both magic/priest users.  One specializes in magic, one in priest in the early game but eventually both get the higher level spells of both m/p.

 

Friendly fire isn't 'that' bad as combat isn't in real time so you can plan/move your characters to a point where that is avoided/minimized.  That said, I much prefer my guys to use a grenade (for lack of a better word) type of spell (ice spray iirc, or firestrike (priest spell, been a while so names may be off a bit) rather than cone types of aoe spells (lightning).  That way you can toss the spells over the heads of your front line guys & not worry about friendly fire at all.

 

By the mid game or so, the first character isn't doing much melee fighting at all but is busy buffing/healing (if needed) the party (maybe summoning some other distractions for the baddies to focus on) & when not doing other things, tossing out some of the lower level aoe spells.  Magic points for him tend to eventually top out at him being able to cast lightning.  Priest generally (eventually) gets to firestrike as I want to get him up to being able to mass heal/cure (having the first to act being able to strip off poison/acid/lightning that was just cast on everyone at the end of the previous turn before it gets to impact the others is nice) & it's only another point or two to get to the firestrike level.

 

2nd guy tends to top out in magic at whatever the acid pool spell level is.  Priest at firestrike.  He/she also gets all the extra tool use/cave lore/arcane lore points beyond training that are needed (with random ones scattered around the party if needed).

 

3rd, all the way with magic to arcane blow.  Priest level... at least firestrike but maybe to return life (as a backup for #4).

 

4th, priest focused & all the way with those spells (although the top three are rarely cast, maybe divine host pre combat if I'm trying to create lots of distractions).  Magic up to acid pool & perhaps to arcane blow by the end game.

 

2-4 should also put 5 points into the Elemental Damage trait as that will kick the damage from what they're usually casting up by 15%

 

Keep your eye out for weapons/gear that raise critical hit chances or magical damage (or preferably both).  Give it (initially, later it can be scattered around as better items show up) to your most powerful magic user (#3) as they will let him/her hit 'hard' with every spell.

 

There's no penalty to go down both spell casting trees rather than specializing & there are enough skill points available to do so (at the expense of maybe not maxing out Resistance or others - Spellcraft should certainly by the end game be at 10).  Having most everyone available to cast heavy damage/big healing spells tend to make all but the most high level/boss fights over in a hurry (before the lack of resistance becomes a big factor)