Is Imoen really needed?

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I know that she is your half sister and you need to rescue her from Spell Hold, but is she really needed for the story line? She has to give up her essence of Baahl.

I have picked up Neera, and I am finding her very funny. I also have swapped out Jan fir Nalia, she whines just way too much, and the combo of mage thief later on will be pretty wicked.

So right now my party is:
Fighter/Thief...
Minsc: Ranger
Kheldorn: Paladin with Holy Avenger
Aerie: cleric/mage
Jan: mage/thief
Neera: Wild Mage.

I like Imoen, but Neera just seems like quite a bit of fun. This is the first time I have played the game in about 6 years.

Her wild surges seem like fun. It was great getting a Globe if Invulnerbility around my character. I know that there will be times I will have to reload after I lose all my gold, become a woman or other things, but for the most part it gives the game a bit of fun.

 

Imoen is not needed to complete the game at all, though she does offer some plot-exposition interactions when you do take her along.
I would advice going to spellhold with a party of only 5 people OR to take along Yoshimo, since if your party is full you will have no other option to dump either imoen or one of your curent partry members there without the option of getting them back.

The reason you can take yoshimo with you in a 6man party and still keep imoen is

Spoiler: SPOILER - click me if you want to know.

because he will die during your stay on spellhold, regardless of what you do - opening a spot for imoen to travel along with you.

 

As much as I love the little guy I'd say drop Jan for Yoshi. You already have 2 other arcane casters and you have the thief covered so Jan is just taking up a spot you could use for Imoen once you get her back.

 

As much as I hate dropping Jan, I think I will drop him, just long enough to get back from Spellhold. Once back, I will replace Imoen with him. Being able to use any item, back stabs, along with the traps he can set will I think more than off set the slight level drop of caster level. I would like to drop Neera, but I don't want to interrupt the romance option there.

 

No. You don't even have to take her out of Spellhold if you don't mind being guilt tripped (she finds her own way out anyway).

 

Ah okay, I thought maybe if you didn't get her out of Spellhold she would not be available in T.O.B..

 

I'd really advice you to take yoshimo along - certain circumstances will allow you to take along imoen that way even with a 6-man party if you take him along - it will also net you a great deal of experience (200,000 XP in fact) once you get back to amn after spellhold.

Spoiler: Spoiler on how to earn the exp

After yoshimo has died you can loot his heart from the corpse - you can earn the experience by bringing yoshimo's heart to a priest of ilmater in the slums district.

 

You don't need her in ToB either. Plenty of better choices.

 

I am pretty sure that Yoshimo is always in Spellhold for the final battle. But I have not taken him in so long, I don't really know if he is there. I just know that by taking him you are guaranteed room for Imoen.

 

Nope - if you don't take yoshimo it is Saemon havarian that spikes your food - irencus' dialogue reflects this as weell, and after you return to amn yoshimo will simply be gone.
not taking him will also lock you out of the quest to redeem his heart. (and thus the 200,000 XP)

 

I guess I will take him, but I will dual class him to a fighter right as we enter spell hold, and give him proficiency with club, dart, and two handed weapon fighting style.

 

I know the feeling. I hate dropping him at any time. I just love the little guy. One of my favorite NPCs

 

That's new in the EE then. In vanilla BG2, he'd still be waiting in the CC after you came back (though he'd be scripted to die as soon as you have line of sight on him, but there's a way to circumvent that as well). I'd forgotten his quest gives so much xp, though.

As for Imoen, you don't need to pick her up in Spellhold. You can just imagine her following your group as you clear out the dungeons, if you so wish. She'll be in the CC afterwards. It makes sense to take her with you, from the story perspective, but it's definitely never required.

 

Neera is quite fun indead. Wait until you accidentally gate in a demon.
How about putting Nahal's Reckless Dweamor in all of your 1st level spell slots. LOTS of fun there. Lol.

 

That is all I have for her 1st level spells, what a blast.

 

Especially in bg1, nera with the ring of wizardry (doubles her lv 1 spell slots) filled with nahal's is an absolute menace - you can acquire neera in beregost, and then grab a scroll of cloudkill from a hidden stash on the map south of nashkel pretty much right from the start of the game.
With multiple casts of nahal you're pretty much guaranteed to get at least one of them off, and you can trivialize a lot of the encounters with cloudkill.