Wizard without a henchman?

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I was wondering if it would be worth it for a Wizard character to take a henchman or if it would be better to rely on summons and familiars which don't soak up experience (but do affect the CR of encounters because they change the average party level)?

 

My spellcasters usually don't need either, but if you need a hand from somewhere, i'd go with a henchman until your summons are strong enouth.

 

I agree with Tal.

At higher levels though, I found that my best summon was generally more than powerful enough to handle pretty much anything that I encountered. Heck, half the time I found myself just sitting there while my pet ate every enemy.

Henchmen are certainly useful, but they're not necessary if your mage is powerful enough.

 

I really can't see, why people would have any probs with Henchmen soaking a bit of exp. You'll get plenty of exp for both you and a henchman throughout the game, and they'll survive longer than any summon (Well, at least in the starting phases of the game). I usually don't bother with summons (besides a nifty trap disarming familiar), as Dealan or Grimgrav, or whichever of the melee orientated henchmen are quite better.

I say 'yay'. Bring a henchman with a wizzy character. There'll be plenty of situations where you'll probably be glad you did (*SPOILER *cough* magic swords in the tomb of Hallueth Never cough*).
Besides they'll take some focus off of you; and give you some room to throw your spells .

p.s. Please excuse my lousy memory. I'll never learn the proper names on any of the henchmen or whatever else.

 

Doesn't summons also steal xp? When my sorc has his Pixie familiar along the xp is always lower and I don't think the Pixie is higher level than the sorc so the average party level should not increase with the Pixie, rather the opposite I'd think.

My experience with NWN is quite limited, only played for a few weeks when it was new and just recently with a sorc which is early in Ch 2.

 

Hmmm. Summons definitely won't since their lvl is based upon the spell you throw (e.g. Summon monster I or II, or other of the higher summoning spells). I'm not quite sure 'bout familiars, but imho I don't think so. Your familiar lvl's up, afaik that is, simultaneously with your own lvl progression; so it wouldn't make any sense if they did.

 

Summons never soak up experience but they will change the average party level and thus the CR of the encounter. That is why at higher levels you can summon a badger (level 3 creature) and get more experience than going it alone. A henchman supposedly takes away half of the experience you get (50-50 split) though he doesn't affect the average party level much.

I am still not sure whether Daelan or Grimgrav would be better for a Wizard though.

[ July 30, 2005, 19:00: Message edited by: nl255 ]

 

I prefer Dealan. He usually survives the longest. In my games he does, anyways. Linu La'neral (Copy + paste ) would also be quite fine. Heck, I'd even say Sharwyn could stand the distance. Linu as a cleric comes in quite handy, but both she and Sharwyn has poor con. It might prove difficult holding Sharwyn alive if she's required to go melee (Especially 'cus she insists on throwing stupid spells instead of picking up her sword, even though 4 guys are tearing her apart).

 

The henchman actually takes about 1/4 of your XP. You get 75%.

 

Well I just tried that and your statement is not correct. Perhaps things have changed in a recent patch? I play with patch 1.66 and without expansion packs.

My test was with a Sorc-11 with and without a summoned badger (from Summon Creature I). Killing with the badger resulted in 3 xp while killing without the badger resulted in 4 xp for the same monster.
Having a familiar appear to have the same effect, i.e. less xp.
I play without henchmen.

So summons does reduce the number of xp you get, probably regardless of the quality of the summon you use. CR appears to be based solely on your character.

 

Looks like they did fix it in a recent patch. I just tested it with the Platinum edition with the latest patch and I get 28 for killing an escaped prisoner without help and 22 with the badger.