Need Tips For Interesting (Banter-based) Party!

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Post will contain semi-spoilers further below about various little banters that I liked.

I am calling upon all BG1 veterans -- the erudite scholars who have studied the myriad of colorful companions in Baldur's Gate 1 -- to help me create an interesting banter based party. While I've made many different parties before, most of them fell into the same vein of heroes, usually only mixing up one or two characters. The first party I made consisted of:
PC Elven Fighter/Wizard (Chaotic Good)
Minsc
Jaheira
Branwen
Imoen
and Dynaheir

Pretty standard good party, not all that inventive (though I still had a blast!) but now I'm wanting to go through the game with a more insane, crazy party. It doesn't have to be an effective party, but I want to create one with interesting banter! I've decided that I'm set on using Xzar, his little talks with Imoen are very intriguing (especially the one about wanting a candy XD I loved that one!), the fact that if you kill Monty he brings it up (says he talked to Monty's ghost or something along those lines), and the weird little necromantic experiments he does all sway me to be interested in him. (Though if he asks me to experiment on squirrels or living things, I may have to say no)

The party doesn't necessarily have to be evil or good and I don't mind baby sitting members so they don't kill each other. I'd like to use Viconia, as I've never used her in BG1 before, and while I want an interesting party, I still want a healer. I also plan to romance her as I go into BG2. The PC I created is a male Half-Elven Chaotic Neutral Fighter/Thief (black skin, white hair), with the intent of creating a character that has the aura of an 'assassin'. His name is Heft. I was suffering from a streak of bland name ideas, so I took the first letters of (H)alf-(E)lven (F)ighter/(T)hief and got Heft. Works for me! Anyway, so far I've got a party that looks like this in my game:
PC
Viconia
Xzar
Imoen
Monty

I am still in Chapter 1; just finished up my business at the Friendly Arm Inn. I plan to leave Imoen somewhere and pick up someone who I haven't used before. I will probably kill off Monty (either myself or by kamikaze) because I don't feel that I need two Fighter/Thieves in my party (even though "Let the rivers run red!" is very amusing to listen to). Which will leave me with PC, Viconia and Xzar.

There are a few characters who I think look interesting... Tiax because he is so eccentric and crazy, Edwin because he seems sociopathic, Saffana because she's a manipulative tale-spinning pirate, and Garrick because all the sociopaths and crazies in my party can take advantage of him. I'm also semi-interested in Shar-teel because someone who hates men in a party full of men could be fun and Quayle because he is quite full of himself and could potentially conflict (in an amusing manner) with my party of ego-maniacs.

My questions for those of you out there who are knowledgeable: Who has interesting conversations with Xzar? Do any of the characters I listed have particularly interesting relationships with each other? Are any of the characters particularly jipped in amount of interaction/dialogue? (My primary focus is on interesting banter and comments about what we're doing.) Is there anyone I didn't list who is particularly eccentric, insane, or otherwise odd? Are there any 'foil' characters who aren't particularly eccentric, insane, or otherwise odd who have funny/witty banter with a character who is in fact eccentric, insane or otherwise odd?

One final note is that, while I love Minsc, and definitely would stick him in the oddball eccentric category, I've used him in every party I've ever made for both BG1 and BG2, so I want to break away from that and make an original party.

Thanks in advance to anyone who read through this whole ramble of mess written on a sleepy brain! Hopefully someone can give me a few pointers and help me have fun on my most recent adventure through the forgotten realms.

 

I personally enjoyed the Kaigan/Yeslick combo. Also Kivan/Viconia banter.

 

A bit off topic, I'm a big fan of the Finch NPC mod for Tutu. It's very good.

If what you want is more banter then you should consider the BG1 NPC Project for Tutu (again off topic but somehow relevant). It is very well written and definitely fits the spirit of the original game while expanding options for banter and party interaction.

As far as vanilla BG1 is concerned having Xzar, Montaron with Khalid and Jaheira can be entertaining if only for a little while.

 

I'll definitely check out the BG1 NPC Project!

I'll keep Kagain/Yeslick in mind too... they sound like the perfect clash of personalities.

 

Rahkir, I'm afraid that the NPC mod is only available for Tutu, not regular BG1. That is actually a strong incentive to install Tutu. If you are concerned about losing the BG1 feel with Tutu, there is an interface mod that makes it look more like regular BG1. But although it looks like BG1, it's still Tutu.

 

Actually, yes I do have tutu installed! ^^ I play with the BG1interface mod as well(mostly because I prefer the hourglass to gears); and I'm absolutely loving the NPC Banter mod that you linked, Cara! It's given Xzar sufficient dialogue, and Imoen tons of new material; Monty as well! (Imoen + Xzar make a hilarious duo with the mod, so much so that I'm contemplating keeping her as a permanent member of my party)

I was contemplating posting this in the BG2/tutu area, however, as I was asking a question that pertained only to the characters personalities, I figured this would be a better place (little did I know that a mod for only tutu was so tuned into my wishes!)

Thumbs up and thank you for the mod recommendation Cara, it's definitely made this play through suck up a lot of my time already. ^_^ It's actually making me want to use every one and swap characters around just to see their talks! The creators of this mod must have had a mind similar to mine, as in their preview page, they have a Quayle and Edwin conversation playing out exactly as I had imagined; they are perfect foil for each other. Thanks again!

 

You're very welcome Rahkir! I think they did a splendid job on that mod. The characters really feel right. There is no other word for it. They expanded on existing material but kept true to the spirits of these characters. Everytime I used it I was amazed at the modded content matching so well the concepts and the personalities of BG1 NPCs.

I have the utmost respect for modders who spend countless hours making mods to share them with the community and as far as Banter mods go this one is just perfect.

By the way there is a mod that will change the location of some NPCs so you can get them earlier. I don't know if you're using it right now but it moves Tiax from Baldur's Gate to Beregost. It's really an alternative worth considering if you'd like to have the horrendous but hilarious gnome in your party earlier.

Since you're playing Tutu you should definitely give Finch a try. The NPC is very well made and extremely likable. Finch is also rather unobtrusive and definitely not overpowered. She feels like she is part of the game and doesn't stand out the way some other modded NPCs do. You may have to start another game though but you should definitely give this mod a thought for another playthrough.

 

Apologies ^_^ I didn't think the characters as they pertain to and of BG1 had anything to do with BG2, but I was wrong!



I will definitely keep Finch in mind; the only thing that put me slightly off about her was her portrait, her character seemed very interesting. The portrait, while good, looks different in art style than the BG portraits. From what I read she'll work fine starting where I am, I'll only have missed her candlekeep scene (which I could easily check out by making a new character ^_^).

 

Well she is a gnome so the glasses make sense but I understand what you mean. You are correct about only missing the Candlekeep part by the way. If you think the portrait doesn't work for you, then you can always use Shadow Keeper and give her another portrait (there are some portraits in BG1 which are not used by NPCs and would probably work for her).

 

Oh, I do like the glasses! They remind me of the identification goggles! She just looks a bit too... different in general art style, I think. I think it's the nose, the rest of her portrait looks really good. It's truly not that bad, I'm sure I'll be fine with it. ^^

Regardless, I'm really enjoying my party (mostly because of the mod! thank you again!); right now I'm using Viccy, Xzar, Tiax and Garrick. Xzar has had so many hilarious moments, I love when he says "Stop touching me!" I laughed so hard when I killed Monty in the woods (in front of Xzar) and Xzar just said (vanilla BG voice acting) "Montaran! I... never really loved you." Then a few days later he told me life was much better without Monty's constant bickering. I like Monty as a character; his tongue is funny; but he picks fights with everyone. I want to be an evil-esque neutral rather than evil (even though my party is mostly evil).

I took Minsc for awhile to rescue Dynaheir, in the hopes that I could simply recruit Edwin after without killing her (I sent Minsc and Dynaheir to the friendly arm). I didn't get a chance to check if I can yet, but we'll see tomorrow morning when I get time to play again! My party is pretty hilarious between Tiax, Xzar and Garrick. Viconia is pretty silent. One thing I've noticed, Tiax is uber early in the game (getting him early with the mod); I try not to abuse his summon ghast too much. It can pretty much solo anything at our level. My party, although unorthodox, works very efficiently. Two healers, two people to cast command: fall on your arse, Xzar with the ring of wizardry and lots of sleep spells. Garrick mostly just runs in circles and sings songs ("Kill, kill, kill the smelly gnolls!") because he doesn't have any spells yet.

I can just picture them all fitting together; stumbling into a tavern after an adventure, my PC, Heft, buys the bar a round, Garrick pulls out his lute, puts on his best "I'm pretty" smirk and plays an up-beat tune about how heroic our adventures are, Tiax stands on a table, raises his mug and proclaims he will rule all, Xzar goes off on a half-delusional rant about how ruling is pointless when we're all going to die until Heft distracts him with lemon drops and a toast to Tiax, proclaiming him as the soon-to-be ruler of the world. All while Viconia watches on shaking her head, possibly threatening to flay the flesh from our bones.

Very, very fun though!

I'm planning to start another playthrough with all shorties, which I will play simultaneously with my current game. Gnomish fighter/illusionist PC, Finch, Tiax, Yeslick, Kagain, and Quayle... or maybe download Indira even though she's not a shorty, she's supposed to have banter with Finch.

Do you have any opinions of the Indira companion mod, Cara?


Edit- Finch's portrait is fine! It looks really good in the smaller size in game; it just looks weird blown up in the readme. I really like how it looks in game; I take back what I said.

 

You're having a lot of fun, reading about your game I feel like playing BG Tutu again. The low level adventure is definitely my favourite part and the NPC mod makes it really fun.

Xzar and Tiax together are just perfect.

I totally second your idea of a "short" party that has some great potential. Dwarves and Gnomes united to fight the Iron Throne!

I've had Indira in a few games, I was about to suggest picking her up. IMO she is not as interesting as Finch or as likable (Finch is a real sweetie). Indira is a Fighter/Mage iirc and that makes her more powerful whereas Finch is a perfect support character. Finch has such a winning personality so I definitely prefer her over Indira but it's still a very good mod. It's very well made, the character is nice and it works well with no problem whatsoever.

On the topic of Tutu mods I have been waiting for the Eranon mod for BG Tutu but it's been years since there has been any activity on the Eranon NPC forum at G3. I've posted there today, I wonder if we could have access to the alpha version of this mod as it looks very interesting (to say the least).

 

Oh, he does look very cool! I'm loving his portrait and background. I hope that you can get access to the alpha version, or that it is continued to be worked on some day.

 

I don't know if it's ever going to happen (it's been years). Being able to play the alpha version would be cool though.