Who to use in an EVIL party?

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It's about time I broke down and did this. I should finally play an evil character versus my hundredth paladin. I'm such a goodie-goodie sap!

So, because I like nothing better for powerhouse fighters, I would like to know who should I bring along for a trip through the seedy underworld of BG?

Is Shar-Teel a decent counter to Minsc, or is her subpar CON (10 ) and lower STRjust not good enough?

Is Verconia a good cleric? Yeah she's a drow priestist but are her weak physical stats too low to bear? And that WIS score (15) just doesn't look that great.

Will Imoen stick it out with the PC should his Rep. drop too low? She is CG, but NE are greedy heartless BMF's!

Any thoughts on who to recruit? And when?

 

Viconia is a good cleric, the main problem you will encounter with her is that her MR protects her against your spells. This means that healing or hasting her can be a real pain.

Shar-teel is a fine fighter, I feel Minsc is over-rated. Imoen will IIRC stick by you regardless, though you may consider dualling Shar-teel to a thief.

Don't forget to pick up Edwin and Kagain- two of the most useful characters. There's Eldoth too, if you want another evil NPC. As Branwen is Neutral, you may wish to include her.

 

Don't bother with Imoen. Montaron is the F/T for the evil party (he can become the backstabbing fiend from hell). Shar-Teel is good (better when dualled to thief), but Kagain can tank forever -- especially if given the Gauntlets of Ogre Power. Either Branwen or Viconia make excellent clerics for an evil party (or you could put in Yeslick with Kagain to see them fight).

Edwin is probably the best mage in the game and you can pick him up fairly early. I really like Xzar -- he's got some of the best lines in the game.

Pick up Monty and Xzar right after leaving Candlekeep. Kagain can be picked up in Beregost. Branwen is at the carnival. Edwin is in Naskel. This is a potent party for the beginning if you're a fighter.

Later on you can add Shar-Teel, Safana, Viconia, Tiax and/or Quayle. I usually stay away from the bards (which also means Skie is not in my parties).

 

How could I forget Montaron and Xzar?

Now that T2Bruno has brought them to mind, I'll add my voice to his and strongly advise that you pick them up directly after Candlekeep. Immy can then be dropped so that you won't mess up the evil party with a goody-two-shoes in your midst.

 

Give Kagain the gauntlets of dexterity, not ogre power. His job is to absorb attacks, not dish out damage.

Montaron is great, but Xzar is far inferior to Edwin. Taking both mages is not a sensible choice for a powergamer. If you aren't willing to split up Montaron and Xzar to dual class Shar-Teel to thief. She makes a better backstabber than even Montaron.

 

Monty is a given. Xzar will do until I get Edwin. I left these guys out because I planned on having at least Monty for the party all the way through.

I'll probably keep Imoen for the time being and split her skills with Monty's.

Imoen = lock anf trap

Monty = backstab and pick pocket

Are the areas where you can recruit Shar-Teel and Verconia too dangerous for level 1's and 2's?

 

The areas where you can find Shar-Teel and Viconia are pretty difficult, but you don't have explore the whole areas, you can just walk to them, take them with you, leave the areas again and explore them once you are stronger.

I wouldn't keep Imoen, unlike in BG2 she might leave when your reputation gets too low. You can make her join again but if this happens in the heat of battle that's not so great.
But she might be a useful second backstabber early in the game.

Kagain with the gauntlets of dexterity and 2 strength spells cast on him is the perfect tank.

 

Kagain is your answer to Minsc. He is an utter powerhouse. Particularly when he's dealing damage. His hitpoints are high enough that That the gauntlet's of dexterity are only a boost. not a necessity when you put the best armours in the game on him. So Gauntlet's of Ogre power can be a useful boost to make him a one man slaughter house.

I sometimes take him with my mixed parties just because he's really good even if none of the rest of my party is evil.

Viconia is an excellent Healer and a place to put the Gauntlet's of Ogre power if you don't use them on Kagain. Do that and combined with her dex and magic resistance she becomes pretty powerful. It allows her to wear some of the best armours as well and she can deal out a decent ammount of damage. Her magic resistance while it can get in your way a bit seems to help her a heck of a lot to resist incoming damage.

 

When I played an evil party I took the odd couple (Monty and Xzar) with the intention of killing off Xzar to take Edwin -- but he was just too funny. I had to keep him. I ended up just sucking it up and taking both.

One really great thing about Kagain -- he regenerates.

 

kagain
viconia
xzar(dualed to cleric with tomeof wisdom at 5)
edwin
montaron
any pc
(party with alot of priest and arcane magic,tanking not so bad and ranged also not too bad)

 

This is a pretty good approach. When you get to the big city you can then replace Imoen with Tiax.

He's very evil, great entertainment value, and he can summon a ghoul - nasty evilness! He has better saves than Imoen, and his clerical spells are much more useful than her bow. His stats are only OK, but really who cares. Tiax RULES!

He needs a couple of levels to get his trap skills up, but that shouldn't be a problem in the big city. You could even dump Viconia at that point if you'er finding her magic resistance too annoying.

 

How is this party good at ranged unless PC is a Fighter, strikes me that Montaron is the only good ranged character unless your including the MU/Clerics with their slings.

To me, good ranged is 2 archers and a melee/archer versatile character. Usually, one of my tanks doesn't even have a bow (or sling) but rather just waits as the ranged attacks take their toll, or engages the enemy to stop them shooting ranged at me.

I haven't played as evil yet to provide insight into this, but this party looks light both on tanking and ranged, unless as I mention, the PC is a pretty strong fighter.

 

I said not too bad not extremely good. My pc that time is a bow/2handed-sword fighter.

Kagain with 4 in axes makes him also good in throwing axes and with the gauntlets of dexterity makes him rather good in ranged combat, and of course he could tank anytime.

Monty is a ranged attacker with a crossbow, but he is also decent in backstabbing with the sword and as a backup fighter.

Xzar and Edwin would be using darts/slings, and though their thaco ain't even good, but they will occasionally hit and most of the time they would be casting spells anyway.

Viconia had the gauntlets of ogre strength and she has the same thaco as monty when both of them are each holding a +2 melee weapon, so she is a backup slinger/fighter which heals the fighters at the frontline.Also, with ankheg armour and a large shield + 1,she has decent ac too.

 

I've just started a new evil aligned party.. could someone give me some comment on how it should do in the game?
pc - gnome illusionist/theif
viconia
shar teel
edwin
tiax
quyale


the main problem is that tiax and quyale have very low str, which doesnt allow them to use a good armor/carry items.

 

Your main problem will probably be a lack of strong fighter-type characters.

 

yeah i figured as much too... but i think shar tell could be the main tank with viconia/tiax/quayle healing her when needed.

 

Your party isn't good with ranged weapons, so you'll have to go into melee and get hurt a lot.
You can take other characters along until your party is complete if it gets too hard at the beginning.

Strength shouldn't be a problem in your party later, with 3 specialist mages you should have enough "strength" spells to get everyone to 18/00 for big damage and the ability to wear heavy armor. With her high dexterity Viconia should be able to tank quite well at Shar-Teel's side.

Your party won't be able to benefit from most magical weapons since you have only one fighter.

If you make your PC good every mage can wear an archmagi robe.

 

oh i used gatekeeper to teleport into bg, so i got the party assembeld and about to start nashkel mines, hehe.
thanks for the battle plan, too bad the strength spell doesnt affect everyone like the priest spell (or haste..).

 

My fav. evil parties go something like:

Shar-Teel
Viconia
Montaron
Xzar Necromancer/Cleric 6/8
Edwin

Kagain
Faldorn
Tiax
Eldoth
Xzar

My power group is:
Kagain
Shar-Teel
Tiax
Montaron
Edwin