BG1: Best party members to have
Ryan
gang in BG1. My main Character is an Elven Mage, Level 7 now. With him is
Imoen, Jahiera, Kaigan, Khalid and Branwen. I've already killed Montaron and
Xzar. Any ideas on which to keep and which to replace throughout the game?
Ryan
Diana Nightflame
"Ryan" <ryan.p...@roadrunner.nf.net> wrote in message
news:9u0jjj$ig7$1...@horsefly.nf.net...
Ajantis or Kagain (melee - sword or axe)
Kivan (range - bow)
Coran (range - bow)
Yeslick or Viconia (sling & hammer)
Imoen (bow)
The choices are dependent on your alignment or how you want to play. If you
want to be a goody-goody, take the first person mentioned. If you don't mind
associating with evil characters, take the second person mentioned. If you
can't wait for Yeslick, take Branwen.
D
Harmen Hecker
2) Ranger: Kivan
3) Mage: (You)
4) Thief: Imoen
5) Fighter/Druid: Jahiera
6) Cleric: Branwen
(Viconia might be a good choice to, instead of Jahiera or Branwen.)
"Ryan" <ryan.p...@roadrunner.nf.net> schreef in bericht
news:9u0jjj$ig7$1...@horsefly.nf.net...
Gert-Jan Spoel
1) Minsc. Ranger
2) Dynaheir. Mage
3) Imoen. Thief/Mage
4) Safana Thief/Mage
5) Coran Thief/Fighter
--
Gert-Jan
Getting old is hard. I forgot my sig.
Anadaria
Druid - Jahiera
Fighter - Khalid
Thief - Imoen
Ranger - Minsc
Mage (yes another one) - Dynaheir.
Or you can replace Minsc and Dynaheir with Kivan and Branwen.
Jonathan Ellis
Ryan wrote in message <9u0jjj$ig7$1...@horsefly.nf.net>...
You: a mage.
Imoen: Thief. If you want a second mage, you can dual-class her to
Mage yourself. (Be sure to have another thief to cover up for her loss
of thief abilities.) Or keep her as a Thief. But be warned, when you
move from BG1 to BG2, the game will automatically assume that she
dual-classed to mage at level 6 (if you go straight from vanilla BG) or
level 7 (if you play TotSC, then move to BG2.)
Jaheira is *good*. She whines a lot, but she can both fight and
heal. Give her the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, and she kicks ass in battle.
Give her the Ankheg Plate Mail, and she has a great AC. The only problem
is that her best weapons are a quarterstaff +1 or a sling and bullets
+2. If you're playing Tales of the Sword Coast, she can get a
Quarterstaff +3, and *really* kick ass. And she can cast healing spells.
(To make best use of her, if you're expecting really nasty battles have
her drink Potions of Insight before resting: then she will have 18
wisdom, which gives her extra bonus spells of 2nd, 3rd and 4th level
compared to 14 wisdom. Of course, Potions of Insight are a limited
resource, so use them sparingly.)
You want some good front-line melee fighters. Khalid can be one
such, although his strength is rather low for a fighter. The trouble is,
only one of Khalid and Jaheira can wear the gauntlets of ogre power that
you find in Baldur's Gate. Khalid, of course, being a plain fighter
(rather than a ranger, or dual-classed fighter) can grandmaster in
weapons, which partially compensates for the lower strength. Or, make
him quaff potions of giant strength before any really important battles.
Kivan (in the High Hedge area, west of Beregost) has a higher
strength, so is a better melee fighter. His drawback is a shortage of
constitution, and thus of hit points. But he's a great archer, and can
handle a sword pretty well.
Minsc is perhaps the best front-line melee fighter. He can be found
in Nashkel. His trouble is, he is part of a couple with Dynaheir the
mage, who you have to rescue from the Gnoll Fortress, or Minsc will go
berserk and attack the party. And then, you have to have both of them in
the party - which means having *two* single-classed mages in the party:
two characters who are short of hit points compared to the others.
Dynaheir's high constitution helps out in this respect, but it's still
not great - Imoen can be a better mage if you dual-class her. Dynaheir
is a great mage for a Good party whose protagonist is *not* a mage, but
if you are yourself a single-classed mage you don't want her. Of course,
you can keep Minsc by taking both him and Dynaheir, then getting
Dynaheir killed.
Coran is a fighter/thief. You find him in the Cloakwood. He's
really useful - although he can't wear armor better than leather and
retain his thieving abilities, his high dex gives him a good AC anyway
(especially if you buy, and equip him with, the Shadow Armor from the
smithy in Beregost.) Furthermore, he has three weapon pips in Bows
(normally illegal for a multi-classed character), which makes him the
best archer in the game bar none.
Branwen is a character I like. Give *her* the books of wisdom (one
in BG city, one in Candlekeep dungeons) to increase her wisdom to 18 -
and the third wisdom book, to increase her wisdom to 19, if you are
playing TotSC and visit Durlag's Tower. If you give her the book of
dexterity (found in the thieves guild in Baldurs Gate city), she will
have 17 dex and can dual to thief as well, though she will be stuck
using blunt weapons. (As she won't be a front-line fighter, this is not
a problem. Equip her with a sling.) Or keep her as a cleric.
Kagain is very similar to Khalid - a fighter with great
constitution, but not so great strength. Unlike Khalid, his lower
dexterity means he can't shoot bows so well as Khalid: and his Evil
alignment can lead to conflicts with your otherwise Good and Neutral
party (I assume you're playing a Good player.)
I'd swap Kivan for Kagain, as a straight swap - better strength,
better dexterity, better fighter overall both in melee and at range,
even though he has lower hps and is a ranger rather than a plain
fighter. Keep the rest of the party as it is. Then you've got three
front-line fighters (Khalid, Kivan, Jaheira), two clerics (Branwen,
Jaheira), one thief (Imoen) and a mage (yourself.)
If you want a second mage, dual-class Imoen to mage when she
reaches thief level 6 (vanilla BG) or 7 (TotSC), picking up Coran
(instead of Kivan) to cover up for Imoen's loss of thieving abilities
while she gains levels as a mage, or dual-classing Branwen to thief
(after she has read the book of dexterity from Baldur's Gate City) at
cleric level 6 (vanilla BG) or 7 (TotSC).
Jonathan.
Kish
> Kivan (in the High Hedge area, west of Beregost) has a higher
> strength, so is a better melee fighter. His drawback is a shortage of
> constitution, and thus of hit points. But he's a great archer, and can
> handle a sword pretty well.
No, his drawback is that he /whines/.
Whineswhineswhineswhineswhines...whoever you think is whiniest in BG2
(Aerie? Nalia? Edwin?) Kivan has them all beat.
(No, this isn't a useful post. I just...really hate Kivan.)
--
Kish
ICQ# 28085879
AIM Kish K M
Htn963
>
> Jaheira is *good*. She whines a lot, but she can both fight and
> heal. Give her the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, and she kicks ass in battle.
> Give her the Ankheg Plate Mail, and she has a great AC. The only problem
> is that her best weapons are a quarterstaff +1 or a sling and bullets
> +2.
She's also quite effective with the +2 dagger of venom.
<snip>
> You want some good front-line melee fighters. Khalid can be one
> such, although his strength is rather low for a fighter. The trouble is,
> only one of Khalid and Jaheira can wear the gauntlets of ogre power that
> you find in Baldur's Gate. Khalid, of course, being a plain fighter
> (rather than a ranger, or dual-classed fighter) can grandmaster in
> weapons, which partially compensates for the lower strength. Or, make
> him quaff potions of giant strength before any really important battles.
If you're starting out as a multiclass character, Khalid is also
nice to have right away since he starts out at 2nd level with 24 hp's
and should be able to carry your party through the early battles.
BG1 Jaheira and Khalid aren't superstars and are routinely
derided by the powergamers/gurus/munchkins, but they're quite decent
and reliable npc's to have once you know how to compensate for their
weaknesses.
> Jonathan.
--
Ht
James Prieels
* Minsc is just as good a Fighter as Kagain, but Good-aligned.
* Yeslick will serve you better than either Branwen or Jaheira.
* Coran is the ideal archer, plus Fighter and Thief!
* Imoen is a good Thief and can be dual-classed into Illusionist.
Since you're a Mage, I'd say:
* Minsc, Khalid, Yeslick, Coran, Imoen
That is, if you're willing to break up the happy couples (Khalid
and Jaheira, Minsc and Dynaheir). Otherwise, you'll have to choose
one couple:
* Melee style: Khalid, Jaheira, Yeslick, Coran, Imoen
* Magic style: Minsc, Dynaheir, Yeslick, Coran, Imoen
All just IMHO,
James
Snorri Kristjánsson
and being from out of space does no hurt either (Boo that is not me)
Snorri
"Ryan" <ryan.p...@roadrunner.nf.net> kirjoitti
viestissä:9u0jjj$ig7$1...@horsefly.nf.net...
Maia
I wouldn't replace anyone at level 7, because your party characters
most likely have relatively higher hps and better proficiencies
distribution than the computer-levelled characters.
Also, maybe it's a bug, but in my game certain characters vanish after
I have performed their quest without them in my party. For instance, I
couldn't find Jaheira and Khalid in chapter 4 or Kivan after I
completed the "bandit camp" quest.
To make Kagain most effective at this juncture I'd give him
(non-magical!) full plate armor, one of magical helmets, gauntlets of
Ogre Power, a good shield +2 and a ring/cloak of protection +2. With
such equipment he'd be able to tear through anything in your path.
Yes, and there is also a magical throwing axe to be had...
Generally speaking I find that the most useful NPCs in BG1 without
TOSC so far were:
Shar-Teel. The best fighter in the game, only a bit weaker than Minsc,
but can get 4 pips in her weapons of choice. If she is dualled to a
thief at level 5, she quickly becomes a machine of destruction. Yes,
and in the end at lvl 5/8 she'll have THACO equal to that of the other
7th level fighters, the thief abilities and if you developped her
right 5 pips in longswords. Evil.
Minsc. Enough said. Probably the best warrior in the game, although
Shar-Teel might match him if she has 3-4 pips in a weapon.
Coran. The best archer in the game. Will probably have the most kills
in your party. An adequate thief if you get him early enough.
Kivan - another good archer, though not as good as Coran. He has good
strength, however and can be used in melee as well.
Kagain - has the highest hps in the game, regenerates and has good
saving throws due to his race. Needs various props to be really
effective, though, due to low Dex and Strength. Evil.
Imoen - a good thief and can be an awesome specialist mage if dualled
at lvl 5. Has so good AC that you won't need to shell out any money
for an Archmagi robe. It takes her a bit long to regain her thief
abilities, though.
Edwin - has 1 spell/level more than any other specialist mage. Gets
hit a lot due to his low Dex, though. Evil.
Xzar - a good specialist mage, with good AC and a decent packhorse due
to his Str. Can be dualled to a cleric at lvl 5 (using a Tome of
Wisdom) and become a spell monster if you restrict yourself to the
main plot until chapter 5. Evil.
Yeslick - a good fighter/cleric with a very decent wisdom and a very
useful special ability Dispel Magic. Won't reach level 7 though and
the high-end spells.
Viconia - her wisdom is a bit low, but she is a great slinger and her
magic resistance is often very handy. An evil Cleric.
Safiana - a decent thief, a bit tough to get, but with very amusing
dialogue. Also, her initial thief abilities are very sensibly
distributed in "lockpick" and "traps", even at lvl 4.
Characters I didn't like:
Dynaheir. She can't use a lot of spells (2 schools barred), she'll die
a lot due to her lousy AC, she is weak and she isn't particularily
amusing. Her "slow poison" special ability, while useful, can't
compensate for her failings.
Ajantis. Needs a lot of props to be effective and even with best armor
gets hit disproportionally often. His high hps don't compensate as
unlike with Kagain _you_'ll have to heal him ... again and again and
again. I have yet to see any evidence of his supposedly superior
saving throws and his special abilities, while useful in some specific
circumstances, don't bring much. In fact, a good PC will get them
him/herself in the course of a gain.
Montaron. Has loosy weapons selection for a fighter-thief and loosy
íntial abilities distribution. I didn't play him for long, though.
Branwen - Wis 16 and absolutely useless special ability. Also, very
annoying voice-acting, IMHO.
V01TeK
>
Aw ...!
I love Kivan!
He doesn't whine, so much as growl and grumble. And he is VERY handy, I find
... but I'm prolly more of a newbie than anyone else here.
Chris
Kish
> Yeslick - a good fighter/cleric with a very decent wisdom and a very
> useful special ability Dispel Magic. Won't reach level 7 though and
> the high-end spells.
Unless you have Tales of the Sword Coast.