Is Haer'Dalis decent?

Remove all ads!

There are certain NPC that I pass on, because I am sort of "meta-gamer". It is a flaw of mine, and I definitely accept and embrace it.

I have always tended to shy away from him as an NPC. His highest level spells are only 6th level, which cuts out maze, withering, time stop and other nice spells.

I am guessing with his number of attacks only being 2, that his DPS even with great weapons is not that great, since he can't backstab.

I am not sure if the bard song makes up for certain short comings in other areas.

There are other NPC that I never use. Cernd, why take a druid when you can have a fighter-druid?

I can't seem to dump Minsc for Valygar. Once his quest is over I drop him for good.

Mazzy, I would have to off set her low strength with gauntlets or a girdle...

I always play good, so I never take Korgan or Edwin...

 

All NPCS have their pros/cons.

Bards have a stigma attached to them because of the pansy-singing-in-combat stereotype. By my estimate HD is easily one of the strongest NPCs in the game though.
Reasons:
-He's an arcane caster. All of them are powerful in the sense that they can scribe spells for XP and XP is the game's main currency for gaining power. Level 1-6 spells are enough since most of the best buffing/debuffing spells can be found at these levels.
-He's a great utility character. His song can block/remove fear and works in anti-magic zones, he can pick pockets/steal/identify items, he can use most items (wands, most weapons, scrolls, etc), and he gains levels faster than other characters (higher caster level, faster stat progression, etc). He can be a temporary tank (Stoneskins, magical protections and AC stacking + Defensive Spin) and he can even lay trap HLAs.
-He's built for combat. While a lot of people like stacking buffs on a bard, I prefer a simpler approach - Offensive Spin + Melf's Minute Meteors. No hassle, no items required, available as early as BG:EE, add more buffs as necessary. Also 5 (ranged) attacks per round at maximum damage per hit, really good THAC0 and hits as +5. Considering that this is coming from a guy who can use wands and buff/debuff/blast enemies with the best of them, HD can easily dominate BG2 mid game. If you want to make him more useful in general combat just give him weapons that add attacks per round (Belm/Kundane/the Scarlet ninja-to) and a good strength belt. Then just splurge on buffs like Haste/Improved Haste/Offensive Spin, just make sure you have Offensive Spins left for MMM and major battles.
-He gets even nastier with the Enhanced Bard Song and Use Any Item(UAI). Because bard images can sing, HD can simply summon an image (Simulacrum, Mislead, etc) and have that image sing for him in combat. UAI allows him to use potions of the warrior/potions of heroism (game gives you a ton of these in ToB and they're useless to high level warrior classes because they cap at 0 THAC0), among other things. HD's effective THAC0 is always really good in my games.

I suppose playing a bard can be tricky if you organize your BG2 parties in terms of magic user characters, fighter characters, thieving characters, etc. Bards don't really fit into these kinds of parties. If you can think about the game in terms of options, though, then it's easier to see how bards can be useful. Like Minsc gives you fighter options plus a small bit of tanking/buffing and Imoen gives you mostly mage (buffing/debuffing/nuking) options and some thieving/utility. Then you need to start deciding what balance between fighting/tanking/nuking/buffing/debuffing/healing/utility/etc. options works best for you, spread out over different characters.
This is called creating parties based on synergy.

Cernd is simply misunderstood (as a class). He also got the short end of the stick by being an NPC druid. A PC druid can reach level 13 very quickly because of the weird way druids gain XP, which means they can cause higher level version of NPCS to spawn MUCH earlier. Think Viconia starting with Aerial Servants and Harm when you get her, really good "who cares about fighter levels at this point" kind of stuff. Still, he does get the druidic version of "I win" spells earlier than Jaheira and he gets more of them earlier.
In the end, druid spells from level 3+ are just so very powerful. Many people don't seem to think so, which is weird since the reality is that one of the first things SCS does (for the sake of game balance and all that) is nerf them.

Valygar is different from Minsc mechanically. Minsc is ideally a two-handed weapons user, which works well because two-handed weapons have reach and he can use heavy armor, while Valygar dual-wields and can only use lighter armor. As long as you have a tank you basically just send Minsc into combat and then forget about him, while Valygar is ideally played as a fighter-thief.

Mazzy is either a tank or the game's main ranged weapons specialist, neither requires having good base STR. If I decide to get her I usually get her early so I can start working on improving her Sling proficiency. Slings get STR bonus to damage for some reason in BG2:EE, which means that with a good strength belt and the Sling of Everard Mazzy is a DPS machine later on. Early on a quick trip to Watcher's Keep (for the Quiver of Plenty) and the Tuigan is enough to make her useful. Add unique ammo (arrows of biting for shutting down spellcasters, etc) and she does decent damage while also providing utility.

Korgan and Edwin are very powerful NPCs. Korgan can be built as a tank who's very good at killing stuff (he specializes in axes and there a lot of good axes in the game) and when it comes to sheer arcane might Edwin is pretty much only rivaled by Neera, and only on good days.
Before EE, BG2's implementation of NPC alignment is actually pretty unique. Korgan, for example, can actually become likable if you surround him with good NPCs he respects (Mazzy and Jan, in particular). You get to see a side of him you wouldn't see otherwise. In contrast Keldorn shows the darker side of being a battle-worn, I've-seen-too-much-suffering champion of good when he's around Viconia, who herself harbors very good reasons for hating surfacers.

Of course EE then introduces the mass murdering egomaniac and the angsty vampire girl whom your PC can't seem to give a proper response too.

EDIT: Lots of edits

 

Over the years and many times of playing the games, i've taken along all the pc's at least a few times, though even i have preferences, so some will have seeen action more then others in my games.
That said, i have to agree with Paracelsi that all characters have their own utility and can be made to fit within your party.

Hear'Dalis, is very decent simply because of trhe power of the blade class. His stats are pretty average, but with the spells he does get you can buff him up pretty well to stand his own in melee combat, and you get defensive spin for those occasions he's really in the thick of things. He also starts with 2 pips in short swords, which is normally impossible for bards. (unless they fixed this in the enhanced edition.)
He can output large amounts of damage in short bursts, courtesy of his offensive spin - while active you gain +2 to hit, +2 to damage, +1 attack per round, and all attacks do maximum damage for 24 seconds.

Cernd is someone i'm not really a fan of myself either - he has bad AC and cannot wear armor, and pretty poor stats as well. On top of that, the shapeshifter kit really isn't too great unless yo use mods to rebalance it (but these usually go overboard and make the werewolf forms too overpowered.)
That said, being the only pure druid he can make a pretty decent caster quicker then Jaheira - once he gets access to the iron skins spell and you slap some bracers of defense on him he has decent chances of survival, and at level 15 you shoot up from having just one level 7 spell slot to having six of them, allowing you to cast a bunch of the best high level druid spells/HLA's.

Valygar is actually really deceptive - he probably has one of the highest damage output potential out of the melee characters, and he has really decent stats to boot.
The thing with valygar is that you have to make use of his kit abilities, namely the fact that you can stealth and backstab. You'll probably want to bost his strength a bit more then his natural 17 by giving him one of the belts of strength, and giving him the boots of speed is also a good idea so he can dart into combat, backstab, then run behind cover and stealth again.

Mazzy is also ridiculously good - she might have low strength making her not the most suited to be a straight up daamge dealer, but don't forget that she gets acess to 2 castings of champion's strength a day - giving her a strength score of 18/00 for 1 turn/level, lasting more then long enough to ensure it should be active for almost all big battles.
Her second big innate ability is the Haste spell that she cans use 2x/day, which is really good to have for obvious reasons. she also gets the 'shorty saves' for being a halfling - with her 16 in constitution that's a -4 bonus to Death, Wand, and Spell saving throws.
To top it all off, even though thematically she's supposed to be a paladin for avoreen, her actual class is fighter, so you'll eventually be able to get grandmastery in a weapon proficiency.

Oh the topic of edwin and korgan - they, along with viconia are the single best characters you can get for their classes since they are all 'pure' (i.e. not dual/multi classed.) and have very good stats/innate bonuses that really benefit their class, like edwin's extra bonus spell slot for each level, korga having the highest HP out of all the companions as well as getting the same shorty saving throw bonus that mazzy gets, and viconia's drow magic resistance.

 

Right now I am trying to decide who to use in my next run through
Me: Elven Fighter/Mage
Neera: Mage {love interest}, I just love her wild magic ability, being able to cast spells way above her level with her 1st level spells.
Minsc: Great tank, good DPS, no need for strength augmentation. He will dual wield using axe and Katana
Kheldorn: with giant belt, Holy Avenger, dispels, true seeing. Hard to pass up on this guy.
Jan: A thief is almost a must, plus being a mage is just a bonus. Besides can you ever really get tired of hearing about turnips?

Last spot is a struggle:
Aerie: good healing, plus magic user spells, great combo
Jaheira: I am not sure if she can handle the full healer/cleric demands. No hold person, or army of skeletal warriors to absorb wizard spells. It is true insect plague is awesome. I never have really been able to use Nature's beauty to effect, it only has a 5 foot radius, so she has to be right in the center to make it work.
Viconia: As much as I would love having her, with Kheldorn, I don't think it can ever work out, though I am not sure if I recruit her early if I can shift her to becoming acceptable to him. Also I don't like having to worry about her dropping out as my reputation hits 20.
Cernd: please move to the back of the line.
Anomen: His self righteousness is a pain, but he is pretty good in combat, and being a single class cleric is nice for quick advancement.

Any thoughts. I still have a day or so until I finish Baldurs 1.

 

Aerie - You really don't need another mage, especially in a team with Keldorn in it.

Jaheira/Cernd - Druids are the game's best healers thanks to Call Woodland Beings (the nymphs also use various enchantments stronger than Hold Person btw). You already have three people in your party who can cast Hold Person and who can summon skeleton warriors. Fire Elementals are actually very strong summons (I'd put them above Skeleton Warriors in terms of offense since the big ones can hit even Kangaax) and for sheer tankiness Conjure Animals gives you multiple high HP bears. Nature's Beauty is an "I win" button against most enemies, hence the limitations.
So Jaheira vs Cernd. Jaheira gives you another warrior, which you don't really need since you already have 3 of those. You also have a grand total of 4 summoners (PC, Neera, Jan, your 6th) if you need fodder. Cernd is ideal because he gains spells faster and in intense battles you'll want your druid casting instead of fighting. At low-mid levels his werewolf forms work well, and at higher levels he gets Energy Blades.

Viconia - You can delay the fight with Keldorn long enough if your PC has 18+ Cha. Besides Cernd she's probably best suited for your party, using a setup like strength belt+Draw Upon Holy Might and the Sling of Everard for ranged damage goodness + priest spells.

Anomen - You don't really need another warrior. He's basically in the same boat as Jaheira - adequate but all things considered, likely redundant.

 

How do you get the nymphs to heal. I had a party about ready to fall over. I had the A.I. on, and summoned a nymph, she just sat around doing nothing. I then decided to fight an easy battle while summoning a nymph and same thing.

 

AFAIK, you can select the nymph and command her to cast a spell just like you would a regular party member.

 

Nymphs are spellcasters. They usually just start spamming spells as soon as enemies show up, but they'll save Mass Cure for self-healing. You need to control them manually if you want them to do something specific.

 

You have to cast her spells just like she is another npc. I wondered the same thing for quite a while myself. Doesn't make much sense to me. She will cast other spells on her own but wont heal you without having to take control of her

 

Thanks, after I don't know how many runs, I never knew you could actually control summoned monsters the same way as NPC. I knew some had the caster symbol, but being dark I never clicked on it.

 

Just goes to show, even after this many years, occasionally there's still something new about these games for us to discover

 

The best thing is now I can summon my Efreeti and actually use them intelligently, and not have them nuke my own party.

 

They will still try to cast their spells on their own. So they may still nuke your party