Outfitting Cernd and empowering Jaheira.

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I have a bet with a friend which consists in finishing the game with the least wanted and weakest characters. I have chosen for this ride a wizard slayer-myself-, Jaheira, Cernd, Jan, Aerie and Nalia-to be replaced with Imoen when I reach the Asylum-But as long as now I rely too much on Jaheira and Cernd as tanks-(Well, those two are not tanks, support vehicles at best I have never been in need of empowering them in order to have a balanced party . Any ideas?

 

Why are you a Wizard Slayer? They are definatly NOT the weakest, they are the most powerfull class of them all. If you really need a weak class, pick the beastmaster, or a class that is very weak for your party. the Archer.

 

What makes the wizard slayer so great? I've never played one, but they never looked too good.

What makes archers so bad? They kick ass everywhere!

 

Wizard slayers make almost every mage battle significantly easier and are just as powerful as any regular fighter. The reason the archer would not be good with the specified party is because you would not have any tanks to soak up the damage.

 

We are off topic, but I think your solution for Jaheira is costly.
She's good with a... sling! She'll have 2 attacks/round, and those bullets hurt. Let Korgan in the melee, he likes it more.

 

Jaheira really shines in combat with the equipment and buffs. By the time you get all of this, Lady J will be well worth it. It's tempting to consider her for the caster role, but then you're wasting her fighting abilities. Plus, in the end, Jaheira brings one BIG thing to the table that Korgan can't do: versatility.

Need some healing and Viconia's busy turning undead or healing someone else? Who ya gonna call? Big J.

Need another fighter? Mazzy getting swamped?She's the girl.

Need some big flaming critter summoned in the enemy fighter's lap? Don't want to wait for Edwin to win the mental battle? Guess who.

That pesky mage needing to be disrupted? Valygar can only hit two things with his bow: Jack and ****, and Jack just had a morale failure and ran away? Guess who's got some of the best spells for kepping a mage not casting.

In my experience, having a well equipped Jaheira is like having my very own F/M/C with better fighting abilitie, higher level spells, and without having to shuck his full plate just to start casting. Yeah, like most Druids, she takes quite a bit of investment, and she doesn't reach her full potential in SOA, but she's well worth it.

Slightly more on topic: Aerie one of the weakest? Don't get me wrong, I despise her, but she is a very potent caster at higher levels, what with both acces to all clerical as well as all arcane spells.

Jan is probably one of the better thieves (not counting Yoshimo) if only because he keeps leveling up in it. Plus, he'll also be advancing as a mage, so that's, again, access to two full classes in one character with slightly slower progression

Granted, Cernd is very weak in cambat without the Shapeshifter Rebalancing mod. He's supposed to be a very good caster though. Admittadly, I don't use him much, so I can't say.

I'd agree with Nalia being one of the weaker characters, especially compared to the alternatives: Edwin, Aerie, even Imoen.

And although I wouldn't call them the MOST powerful, Wizard Slayers are right up there with the top classes.

 

Might be personal opinion, but I agree with Kam on various point. Jaheira definitly makes up for pure power by being versatile, kind of a stop-gap character, very good at providing support for the party.

Aerie, well she is a double-caster so to say, and it makes her pretty darn powerful esp. at higher levels. Having certain spells availible in both Mage and Cleric spellbooks gives you a certain amount of leeway and room to experiment with which combo's of cleric/magery are most effective.

Anyhow, just some thoughts...

 

I think I have to express myself more clearly. First, Wizard slayers suck. Powerful? they cannot use necklaces, gloves, rings or boots, which makes them less powerful than any other warrior kit, with the probable exception of the Beastmaster. What if they dispel spells from magi? you can do it better with a paladin wielding Carsomyr, at a lower cost.And the magic resistance percentage is lower than what can be achieved combining necklaces and rings-items not allowed for this kit-I just prefered him to Beastmaster only because I didn't intend to take any other tank around.
Second, Jaheira is a good SUPPORT character. That's all. She doesn't make a good fighter, she is not definitely a cleric and she's only a decent Druid. So if you intend to rely on her you have to beef her up a little. And I haven't gotten almost any ideas about this issue yet-thanks, beren,I´ll work on it-.
And I don't mean they were exactly the weakest around, being the less favored characters was another point to consider. Jaheira is your given jack-of-all-trades party member. Someone who has to be invested upon a lot of equipment in order to keep up is not a good character, is a risky bet at best.

Also, I don't believe in the common "best possible party" thinking in this forum. With a party consisting in a dual classed fighter/thief, Minsc, Aerie, Keldorn, Anomen and Nalia I am not only able to finish the game, I OVERRUN it, SOA and ToB. So, to many of you, Wizard Slayer can be top class, but Keldorn and Carsomyr beat any WS any day. And without annoying kit restrictions.

 

Not sure I understand the initial post.
Jaheira, Jan and Nalia are surely not among the least used NPC's. In fact only Cernd is at the bottom.
A Wizard Slayer, Jaheira, Cernd, Aerie, Jan and Nalia is not a weak party.

Oh please!
Wizard Slayers are not the most powerful class, they aren't even in the top-5. They certainly aren't weakest either, but don't go overboard in defending them.

 

I think you're missing the main point of a Wizard Slayer. Each successful strike place a cumulative chance of spellcasting failure on the mage REGARDLESS of whether or not the mage is hit during that particular casting sequence. I'll agree that they're not the most powerful class in the game -- and in many situations, a Paladin wielding Carsomyr is indeed better -- but they're nowhere near the weakness of, say, a Beastmaster, a Jester, or a Totemic Druid.

 

If you hit a wizard 3-4 times they die anyway, and their spell failure chance goes all the way up to 100%. A little more on top of that is unnecesary.

 

hehe But I don't think all that much of the wizard slayer either :/

 

Back to the original post, surely your party is fairly well balanced. If you want to increase the difficulty try all of the same type... all fighters, or more fun, all magic users. All of them are "do-able" but each group has weaknesses which it is fun working around.

 

never played a wizard-slayer, never saw the up side to be honest. not with the restrictions. My Party consisted of
Main Charter-thief
Keldorn
Valygar
Jaheira
Nalia
Aerie
I had no troubles finishing the game, and taking them through TOB as well. Although I did switch out Valygar for Sarevok. Sarevok whips the crap ou of people with that deathbringer assault.

 

Going back to the original topic....

I think you should take what ever PC class you think will suck the most, then bring along Valygar, Cernd, Jaheria, Nalia, and later pick up Immy to replace Nalia.
No one ever said you needed a 6 member party either, so you could leave a few out and only pick them up when you really need them.

 

All of the NPC's are powerful if you play them right. Cernd just kicks ass as the only single class druid. Jahiera? She's rediculously powerful. She can take on any tank without any trouble.

Of all the NPC's, I'd say Mazzy is the least disirable since she doesn't bring any special abilities worth talking about and grand mastery in short swords is pretty much useless.

If you're taking the bottom of the barrell bunch, then do like so...

Beastmaster
Cernd
Mazzy
Nalia (so she can use bows. whoop-dee-do)

That's one party I'd laugh at.

 

For a run-of-the-mill caster, maybe. For any boss character, though, spell disruption can be hideous. IIRC, you don't actually need to inflict damage to inflict the penalty - and how many times do you have to smack a mage whose Stoneskin contingency triggers just after you've run out of Breaches?

If you want to make life hard for yourself, take a Beastmaster.

[ October 12, 2004, 02:54: Message edited by: NonSequitur ]

 

Take Yoshimo. He certainly won't be much help.

 

That is the great thing about the NPC's... None of them suck... Used to think Haer'dalis was rubbish, but actually can be v powerful. Certainly all of the tanks are ok, and the spell casters... well they can all cast spells which means it doesn't really matter what their personal stats are. Even Cernd can be v powerful at the point where he can go Gtr Werewolf... So much so that you can buff him up and let him take on whole battles on his own...