Need help with party choices...

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I'm playing throught SoA again with a druid shapeshifter and i'm not sure on what people to have in my party. I know i deffinatly want Edwin, but who else do people recommend?

Telex

 

Depends of your alignment. For a good party, you will have problems with Edwin, Korgan or Viconia, or for a evil one, with Aerie, Minsc, Jaheira or Mazzy.

If you are evil or at least neutral, try Korgan, Edwin, Viconia. You'll need a thief, or the traps and locks will bother you a lot, so Yoshimo could be an option, at least until you get Imoen back.

If you are good, take Minsc, Anomen (spoiler ... take care on his sister's murderer quest, to make him "sir"), Keldorn and Aerie or Nalia.

 

It really depends on your playing style.

Option 1)
- If you want a thief, I'd recommend Jan. He is funny as hell and is the best NPC thief. He is also a Specialist mage, and he is able to cast spells that Edwin can't. So the two of them will make a killer mage squad.
- Valygar, Anomen, Aerie, and Keldorn will not function very well with the evil group, so none of those
- Nalia and Imoen you don't need, since you have the best thief and the best mage of the game.
- now for fighter side: Korgan is good, but not until you give him some Gauntlets of Dexterity, because his AC isn't that good. (Of course, it may be because I play on Insane mode, and AC and protections are critical to me). Jaheira is the best tank, because she has good AC AND she gets Iron Skins. She can tank like none else. Plus you can have a romance with her.
- you might want some range support, and Mazzy is the choice. Despite the fact she is Lawful Good, she gets along with evil chars.
- druid healing spells are enough, you don't have to have a cleric, but if yu want one you will have to go with Viconia.

2) You don't HAVE to have a thief in your group. If you decide to go without one, you can make this squad:
You, Korgan, and Edwin. Beleive me, they can beat the crap out of the game evenm on Insane mode. You just have to pick strategies wisely.

P.S. If you want some fun added, get Haer'Dalis and Jan. They will have some killer dialogues.

 

Thanks for your imput! must point out that on my first run through, I had . . . .

Minsc
Aerie
Edwin
yoshimo
valygar

and they seemed to get on fine! I just needed to make sure that my rep did'nt get up too high.

Thanks
Telex

 

Playing with a party with good and evil NPC's can work just fine, if you keep your reputation in the middle. That way no one will be truly happy, but they are not unhappy.

[This message has been edited by Silverblade (edited July 30, 2001).]

 

Yoshimo is good to have.

 

Know what a dilemma you have, trying to decide who to have in my party this time through as well:S

 

Here is who I invited to my party.

Minsc= Big muscle man to provide half the brawn. Also to don most of my good weapons and armor that spell casters cannot equip.
Keldorn= See Minsc, but high level Dispel and Truesight seem more than a bonus.
Aerie= To draw fire away with her spell protections, handy spell caster and healer.
Viconia= She is hot. Very hot. If Jennifer Lopez made an appearance in BG2, would you let her slide? Lier.
Cernd- Cool druid spells, but I have heard Greater werewolf is very nice.

 

do you have ToB insatlled? druids suck in BGII because they can only make it to lvl14. if you install ToB, can you achieve higher lvl with druid and gain the new abilities if you play SoA?

 

Corvel,

I must disagree with u on the druid thing!

Like i said above, i played my first time through with a druid shapeshifter and although they can only reach lvl 14, have you seen what they're capable of? Greater werewolf at lvl 13 fecking rocks! in hand to hand you are simply unstoppable! I also can't count the amount of times i used my swarming insects spell; 100% spell failour really helped when fighting irenicus at the end as well as all the numerious dragons!

Don't underestimate the druid!

-------------------

On another note; I'm not too keen on having Yoshimo again So is Jan just as good as yoshimo when it comes to the theivery department?

 

As far as detect trap and lock picking goes Jan is doing just fine, he lacks in move silently and hide in shadows but makes for it with detect illusion (for what thats worth) and a decent pickpocket, he doesn't have good set snares though, but heck! he's got the funniest lines in the game.

 

My party would be:

1)Myself...

2)Minsc
-He is one of the best warriors in the game, and I keep him in the party instead of Korgan because Minsc doesn't complain all the time and is as funny as hell

3)Keldorn(or Anomen)
-There to fill up that "other fighter"-slot. Keldorn's True Sight makes him pretty useful, and you can give him the Carsomyr, which nobody else can wield. On the other hand, Anomen has priest spells, but I'd rather keep Keldorn because there are better clerics out there, plus Anomen is really annoying.

4)Viconia
-Possibly the best cleric in the game, plus if you give her the Crom Faeyr or some strength-enhancing items like giant power girdles, she's invincible.

5)Jan
-A definate choice. Not only has he the best lockpick and trap detect skills(which are the ones actually useful) in the game, he's also an excellent mage. He can also handle the crossbow, and he can create his own ammo. Plus, he has some hilarious stories up his sleeve.

6)Edwin(or Aerie)
-The only pure mage in the game, Edwin is, of cource, the best spellcaster there is, although he is evil, which means that he tends to hate all good PC's. Alternatively, get Aerie instead to sacrifice some of those mage spells to gain cleric skills. Either way is fine, I'd say.


Overall, the only people I didn't use again after their quests were Nalia and Cernd. Nalia is a pathetic thief, and her mage skills aren't too great either, and Cernd is just too weak and useless to have anywhere. Frankly, that werewolf ability might be cool and powerful, but that's all he has and it gets really boring using him. Immediately after Trademeet and his kid quest, I kicked him out, took Jaheira and never used him again.

 

Good party essential NPC's

- Jaheira
If male I recommend picking Jaheira as your romantic interest. Her storyline is the largest of the three - Aerie, Jaheira, Viconia.

- Keldorn
If you are good and not a paladin you cannot go wrong with Keldorn. His abilities are superb. Get him Carsomyr.


Evil party essential NPC's
The Evil Three are mandatory for inclusion into any evil party unless you have already played with them once and really want to try something else.

- Viconia
Come on! You probably have played as good already and this would be your chance to get the evil mistress.

- Edwin
Best NPC mage and has a very funny quest.

- Korgan
You need a tank and he is a good tank.

 

Cernd's shape change is good to have.

 

This is hopw i beat SoA second time around:
Me f/m/t
Minsc
Jaheira
Anomen
Imoen
Haer'Dalis

a good mix

 

I have:

Me (chaotic-good Sorceress)
Keldorn (tank; a kick-ass fighter, although I feel kinda guilty keeping him from his family.....)
Korgan (tank; but he pisses me off SOOOOOOO much! Anybody have a replacement for him, other than Minsc, who annoys me more?)
Viconia (cleric - but with the gauntlets of
ogre strength she might as well be a tank)
Imoen (thief, w/lots of lock-picking rings & pick-pocketing gloves)
Haer-Dalis (gets rid of Identify spells, plus is a decent backup fighterr)

 

Tiamat, replace Korgan with Minsc if you like, there's another tank for 'ya. You can also use Valygar (or Mazzy, if you want someone with excellent ranged weapons skill.).

[This message has been edited by Ursaj (edited August 02, 2001).]

 

I never use Valygar for ranged attack...in fact I seldom ever use ranged attack at all except to fill up lulls in casting time with clerics and mages....Valygar is a melee expert once you develop him somewhat...get him early and keep him going on dual wielding katanas and/or longswords...forget bows...Valygar hides in shadows and sneaks into the middle of the meanies and usually takes out a mage or cleric before the other people even get to join in the attack...he lays out the whoopass in a big way if you use him to backstab as all good stalkers do. Once he takes a few hits, back him out of melee and heal him up and have another round or two.
If you want a ranged weapon fighter, get Mazzy Fentan or make one as a protagonist...but ranged weapons aren't nearly as strong here as they were in BG1...probably due to enemies being less vulnerable not missiles being less effective in general.

[This message has been edited by Subra (edited August 02, 2001).]

 

I tried a druid at 14th lvl using Clua just to see how great the greater wierdwolf would be. I did it in Nalia's keep and in hand to hand, had trouble with trolls. Dont get me wrong, I love druids, but the are limited in BGII. I just dont like having to quit leveling up at 14. kinda makes the rest of the game boring.

 

You understood me wrong Subra. I meant: "You can also use Valygar TO ATTACK, or Mazzy if you need a ranged weapons expert.