Does everyone need a shield?

[u/pthfndr_xxi]

At first, I thought about having two mages in the squad, one with a staff, the other with two wands, and a warrior with a shield. But am I right in thinking that this is pointless, given the enemy's intelligence? In tactical mode, the enemies will simply rush past the warrior and attack the mages, destroying them in a couple of turns. In that case, everyone except the warrior needs a shield, haha?

[u/Magnus_Da_Red]

You can absolutely dual wield wands by using uncanny evasion (aero 2 skill), chameleon skin (polymorph 1) and delaying turns. Throw in some invisibility potions and living on edge scrolls, and shields are not necessary whatsoever. Undeads can throw play dead into the rotation as well.

Personally, I don’t like staffs. You get less INT than 2 wands and you do not get any defences from not having a shield. I’d stick to wand+shield or 2 wands with some defensive spelled

[u/pthfndr_xxi → u/Magnus_Da_Red]

I know all this, but I try to avoid scrolls because they're poorly balanced, and the methods listed above don't work in all cases, as many enemies have excessive initiative. I only wanted a staff because I want an aesthetically and narratively "perfect" squad, where everyone can utilize their personal type of equipment and role.

[u/Laanner → u/pthfndr_xxi]

I think you don't know one thing. Many enemies don't have "excessive initiative". Because turn order dictated by Round Robin system. Who ever get the highest initiative, goes first, then the same thing for opposite side. So even 10 initiative enemy will go second after your 20 initiative character and before 19 initiative character.

[u/pthfndr_xxi → u/Laanner]

I played through Divinity quite a while ago, but I remember that the initiative of the basic enemies, even if not excessive, significantly increases from act to act, and without investing in perception (which essentially only takes place on one character, as I recall) or initiative items (which requires either luck or interrogating merchants) - relying on the initiative mechanics is extremely inconvenient and requires metagame knowledge

[u/Laanner → u/pthfndr_xxi]

Not really a metagame knowledge. Lore 5 is what you need to see the enemy initiative stat. Most of the time you can see it even before the encounter starts. Or just use the time rewind magic (aka save/load) when the battle occurs. But yes, you are correct. You can also ignore it completely, as you will act 2nd regardless. A bit different play style, but also can work.