seeking advice on assembling a good-aligned party

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Okay, it's been three years since I made my foray into this game and stopped somehwere in chapter 2. I can vaguely remember some of the NPCs but my memory is pretty hazy.

This time I just imported my namesake character from a BG1 game and I'm going to finish the entire series. I'd very much appreciate suggestions on putting together a good-aligned party.

the party conists of:

Neutral Good half-elven generalist mage
Jaheira
Minsc
Yoshima
Anomen

I'll eventually drop Yoshi when I get Imoen back.

I figure I'll probably be romancing Jaheira. In addition I'm feeling inclined to keep Minsc and Imoen, which would leave me two remaining slots. Who would you add?

Or would you do something very different?

 

Looks fine. Keldorn is always another good option, and Mazzy is good, but less used, choice as well. Depends how many spellcasters you want.

 

With Minsc and Anomen you have two front line tanks. Adding Keldorn would be OK but I always prefer just two tanks and the rest doing ranged attacks. In tight places that works well. But 3 and 3 is also a good balance. Replacing Anomen with Keldorn would also work. I think Keldorn is more powerful than Anomen especially with his powerful dispel magic ability. You have Jaheria and Imoen for spells. And you are a mage so you have lots of spells. I think for the most fun, I would use Mazzy and Keldorn and drop Anomen because he complains too much. Then the only complainer will be Jaheira when your reputation goes too high because she wants to "mantain balance".

 

Well if I replace Yoshimo with Imoen and keep Anomen, then I'm down to one remaining slot...

Seems to me I should probably have sufficient tankitude with Minsc and Anomen. IIRC, Anomen can wield Crom Faeyr.

Spellcasting is covered fairly well by my PC and Imoen.

I have healing covered with the combo of Jaheira and Anomen.

So have a lot of latitude for the remaining slot. Maybe I could rotate various NPCs but I think for the first time completing the game I'll want to stick with the same crew throughout.

Where the party may be a little weak is in the theiving skills department. If that will prove to be a problem as the game progresses I may keep Yoshi. Yoshi is good, I recall he was getting devastating backstabs in that one game I started years back but never finished. However I'm hoping Imoen will be sufficient to handle all of the thieving duties. Because then assuming there some really nifty weapons that Keldorn can wield, I'm thinking it would probably be funnest using him. I don't think I got around to trying him when I played last time.

***

Edit: the above posted just before I did, thanks for the advice Chas.

 

You do not need too much theiving skills. Imoen will be able to handle the doors and traps part. She will need some potions once in a while. I never pickpocket anyway so that is not an issue. She cannot do good backstabbing or setting traps but you really do not need those. I do not want to give any spoilers but yes Keldorn gets a primo weapon IF you find it. And you will get a surprise about one of your party ideas but you have to wait ......

(Hope that wets you appitite to keep playing through this time )

PS: The third time I played through I did keep an open spot and used every one of the NPC's for the length of their individual quests but I would not wnt to do that the first time - like you said.

 

The ability to try out various NPC combos is the only reason I would ever play this game more than once.

 

How about:

1) PC mage
2) Imoen thief (7)/mage
3) Minsc ranger
4) Jaheira fighter/druid
5) Mazzy fighter
6) Keldorn inquisitor

Minsc and Keldorn would be your front line, Jaheira as back-up tank/mage protector. Mazzy is your sniper, and your PC and Imoen are spellchuckers in tandem. Imoen can take care of the traps and locks (have you got the baldurdash patch that fixes her thieving skills?), and Jaheira can deal with the healing.

 

Thanks. No, I don't have the Baldurdash patch. Will there be a problem adding it now that I already have a game in progress?

I'll also be playing ToB. I take it the ToB patch includes all the SoA bugfixes? Or would I patch woth both?

 

Heya Tal. Long time no see.

Ah, okay. I still don't know anything about ToB but have been under the impression that ToB is basically an additional mod that takes place after completion of SoA, so I figured my question was more appropriate to SoA.

Also, would I want to patch with the English-Language Game Text Update v1.2 as well? And will patching now with both the ToB Fixpack and the Game Text Update interfere with the game I have already started? Or would I have to patch with both and then begin a new game?

 

Half of your party members aren't even good-aligned...

 

Unfortunately, the neutral characters are practically considered good, just because they won't leave if your rep hits 20, but they will if it gets down to 1! So you can go up ten points from neutral, but not down nine?! Especially since it's so much easier to go down than up.

 

I guess what I meant to say was non-Evil, and inclined to accept good guy quests.

 

some NPC's to consider ...

Nalia is well worth considering as your primary mage, as she is the best good-aligned mage in the game.

And later in the game Aerie becomes extremely powerful. Being able to put cleric+mage spells into a trigger/contigency is just awesome

Valygar is a great ranger and I would rate him much higher than Minsc. You have Imoen for traps/locks and you can use Valygar for some great backstabbing. He is a great character and fits perfectly with a good party.

A point about Korgan ... I wouldnt really class him as evil, but more mercenary ... and I often justify having him in a good party as he's been hired to do a particular job and boy doesnt he do it well

I found having Keldorn/Anomen in the same party a pain. They both have really bad dex and there is only 1 pair of gauntletts of dex in the game, so one of them will have real bad ac.

 

Of course there's the ultimate goodiegoodie party. I played once with an Undead Hunter and took:

Keldorn
Anomen
Mazzy
Imoen
and Kelsey (mod)

after that I had to play a disgustingly evil character just to get out all the urges (like killing Nalia aunt). It's a tank-intensive party, but there can be advantages to that.

 

With the party you have (which is very good, IMHO), I'd add in Keldorn. Mazzy works as well, but I like Paladins more than Fighters, and he's a lot easier to get into your party than Mazzy.

Definitely get Imoen instead of Nalia. Nalia might turn out to be a slightly better Mage at the end of the day, but your protagonist will be better than either one of them. And Imoen can handle all the thieving aspects of the game, when Nalia can not.

 

These suggestions are really helpful, btw, I really appreciate them.

The party now consists of

PC generalist mage
Jaheira
Minsc
Yoshimo --> Imoen
Anomen
Valygar --> Keldorn

Yoshi will be replaced by Imoen, and I think I will replace Valygar with Keldorn. And that I'll probably finish this game with. The next run through I think I'll assemble a core of four and rotate the 5th and 6th slots out with different characters.

 

Why bother picking up anybody you don't plan on keeping?

This is the old powergamer in me speaking, but what's the point of having Valygar in your party, soaking up some of that Keldorn XP, when you could just have Keldorn the whole time?

 

I like to have Jan around, even though he is Neutral and not Good. In an unmodded game (the only kind I play) he's the only thief who keeps improving in skill that you can keep for the whole game. He's also funny, and just all around useful.

If you insist on having only good characters, then from a roleplayers perspective you've gotta have Keldorn. I take Aerie, Anomen, Nalia and Mazzy as well (though I've never been able to install the patch that fixes the bug in Mazzy's quest, so I lose her if I start the game in SOA -- Minsc or Valygar are good subs, though I like the fact that you can have Minsc from the get-go and so custom tailor him more. In any event, I ditch Nalia for Imoen.

It's been mentioned before, but it's really kind of dumb that Jaheira is N, as her behaviour is clearly NG, but that's the old 2nd ed. rule set for you.