BGT: SoA Chapter 2, need advice about party completion (beware of spoilers)

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My party consists in:

-Me, an 11lvl Cavalier
-Yoshimo, 11lvl Bounty Hunter

Spoiler

Of course, I'll be getting back Imoen when the opportunity comes, she's a 10lvl Thief/11lvl Mage

-Jaheira, 9lvl Fighter, 11lvl Druid
-Minsc, 11lvl Ranger
-Aerie 10lvl Cleric/11lvl Mage

So I'm looking for a 3rd tank (Jaheira is not tough enough for my taste).
I don't drop people once I take them in, and I'm not interested in evil-aligned characters, so no no Korgan and no Viconia.

Candidates seem to be
Keldorn
Mazzy
Anomen
Valygar

Keldorn's stats are decent once I will get the Gauntlets of Dexterity, and his inquisitor abilities are really good, but I already have a Paladin in my party.
Mazzy is very good with ranged weapons, but I was looking for someone who can fight in the frontline and Mazzy can only wield shortswords.
No idea about Anomen and Valygar.

Help?

 

Jaheira is an excellent tank once you get multiple castings of her Ironskins spell.

You already have enough fighters types imo. You already have your Cavalier, Jaheira and Minsc. All you really need to make your frontliner more "meaty" at this point is to use summoned creatures + Haste. Aerie has Skeletons/Aerial Servants, Jaheira has Fire Elementals. At higher levels Imoen will give you the physical damage-immune Mordenkainen Swords. Between all of them, you have access to the Elemental Princes and Planetars/Devas.
For that last slot I'd pick a character to round off your party with like Jan, Haer'Dalis, Cernd, Keldorn (if you give him Carsomyr) and to a lesser extent Valygar, Mazzy or Anomen.

Jan gives you more Hastes, useful debuffs like Slow/Hold Monster, Magic Missiles and extra summons. At higher levels between Stoneskins/weapon protection spells/Spell Immunity he can be difficult to kill. Haer'Dalis is similar, except he focuses on offense and nukes. MMM with Offensive Spin is godly. His bard song grants immunity to fear (works in no-magic zones) and buffs your fighters when upgraded. Keldorn with Carsomyr is a welcome addition to just about every party, for obvious reasons. Cernd gives you anti-mage spells (the insect cloud line, which is pretty much shuts down humanoid spellcasters), a lot more summons, more healing with more Summon Woodland Beings (which also gives you a lot more disabling spells, since the nymphs have everything from Hold Person to Hold Monster) and a steady supply of Heals/Harms at higher levels.

The problem with Anomen is that you already have divine spells covered. Jaheira can heal everyone easy with Call Woodland Beings, which allows Aerie to memorize more non-healing cleric spells. Unlike Cernd Anomen's offensive spell selection is pretty limited - you can argue that spells like Blade Barrier are powerful, but function-wise it's basically just a spell that does damage. Mages have plenty of those. A spell that shuts down spellcasters like Creeping Doom is something different. Still, he's an option. Valygar is more of a skirmisher really and is a lot better at dealing damage than tanking, but he does have mage spells like Haste. Mazzy is a good tank, shorts sword use is not a problem since short swords have some of the best enchantments, but she'd be more useful to this party as a dedicated archer. Between your PC, Minsc, Jaheira and 3 or so summons adding Mazzy in there would make things pretty crowded in the frontline.

 

Take Keldorn. Inquisitor may be a Paladin kit, but it's more of a Fighter than anything else--it's everything the Wizard Slayer should have been. Since this is posted in the ToB forum, I'll assume you have the expansion installed, in which case there's an alternative to Carsomyr as a very desirable Paladin weapon: dual-wielding Purifier and Foebane (bastard swords). They're both in Watcher's Keep; you can find Foebane in

Spoiler

the first level

and Purifier in

Spoiler

the portal maze.

It's worthwhile not going to WK too early, as there are some group of enemies whose numbers will be reduced if your level is low; in particular you can miss out on some neat loot. I am unsure if Foebane is in that category (Purifier is not acquired from an enemy).

If you go this route, I'd give your PC Carsomyr and Keldorn the Purifier/Foebane combination.

In my view, you'd pretty much be playing the canon BGII party, then. Very satisfying.

P.S. Off topic, but Jaheira is a monstrous tank, once she gets a certain spell.

 

If I recruit Keldorn, I still won't give him Carsomyr - that sword will go to me.
Have never thought about Haer'Dalis, to be honest. But MMM can be provided by Aerie, and my Cavalier can cast Remove Fear a lot.

Thanks for all the advice, I'll probably do a lot of secondary quest and then decide what I lack the most.

By the way, I'm considering taking Nalia instead of Aerie during my next playthrough.
That's because:
Jaheira can take care of the priest spells
Aerie's constitution is really too low
-and lastly, she's incredibly annoying

I'm already aware that Nalia is a horrible thief, but I have Yoshimo/Imoen for that.
How much do I lose with her compared to Aerie?

Ironskin? I'm not afraid of spoilers.

 

As MrMermaid mentioned there are good alternatives to Carsomyr+5 for a PC paladin. Carsomyr+6 is another story though, very few weapons in the game can match it.

MMM + Offensive Spin on Haer'Dalis does max damage per hit. Results-wise this basically makes the combination a sort of poor-man's Whirlwind. It guarantees that Haer will always has some late-game damage dealing potential regardless of whatever item build/role you have him playing.

Yep, I think it would be best if you tested out the NPCs yourself before you made your decision. That way you also get a lot of extra XP for completing their quests. I believe Anomen would fit your party best as your 6th member though, giving you a somewhat decent tank (lots of HP but low dex), access to cleric-only spells, extra summons, and a powerful Turn Undead. Jaheira can take care of all your priestly needs with Aerie around, but solo... that's a different story.

Swapping Aerie for Nalia basically gives you more firepower (especially in late game) but takes a big chunk out of your party's overall defensive/healing/early-game summoning spellcasting.

 

SoA - You don't need another tank, you have PC and Minsc. Case closed. With summons and haste, you have an army. Take another Arcane spellcaster. It gives you a ton of flexibility. Nalia would be my choice since she can go shortbow or crossbow and still cast the big mage spells.

If you plan to go on thru ToB, then take Sarevok in the beginning. Can't go wrong with Sarevok.

 

Yep, Ironskins. Only drawback is the ridiculously long casting time. However it has the huge advantage over Stoneskin of being un-Breachable. Basically buff Jaheira up with Ironskins, Prot. from Lightning and from Fire, Shield of the Archons, Globe of Blades, Greater Whirlwind and Energy Blades, and she'll be rocking your socks. And before then, she's a decent back-up tank and a pretty hard hitter; give her a good spear like Impaler or Withering, and eventually Ixil's Spike (one of the few +6 weapons available).

As far as taking Nalia is concerned, I've always found one should only need 1-2 arcane spell-casters; more is over-kill, and a pain to micro-manage. (Usually I take a PC Sorcerer, and fill up the rest with a Thief, a Healer, and 3 tanks.)

 

I have always used modded NPCs to keep the game fresh. I have found that the more Mirror Images/Stoneskin combos that are up, the easier the fights are. 'Especially ambush fights. The more AoE cast simultaneously, the less need for melee. 3-4 chain lightnings zipping thru enemy ranks brings such joy. 3-4 Fireballs/Cloudkills/Holy Smites brings'em all down.

 

Blades of Vanatar, I don't take evil people, so no Sarevok
And I was tempted to fill my last slot with Nalia, but I already have Yoshimo for the traps and locks (and will have Imoen later) and already have Aerie and Jaheira (and Imoen at a later date) to take care of the spells.

I have a lot of new questions:

-For my 6th slot, I'm currently trying Mazzy, armed with Elven Court Bow and the Kundane shortsword. She does more range damage than Yoshimo, but less than I expected. In close combat, she tanks very well but doesn't do damage, which is bad, because as of right now, the only character that is doing melee damage is my Cavalier. I might have to switch her for Keldorn and I need to decide soon.

-Minsc is starting to become a problem, because he doesn't deal a lot of damage and doesn't take a lot of punishment. I am roleplaying so I'm obviously not going to dump him, but perhaps he needs an equipment upgrade? He has Full Plate Mail, a Two Handed Sword +3 and AC at -2 without buffs.
Lilarcor is not an option for me, since I have to kill a non-hostile Carrion Crawler to get it

-Jaheira can take punishment with Ironskins, but her Staff Spear +2 does as much damage as a fiddlestick
Moreover, her main red spell, Harm, is resisted really often, even after Aerie casts Breach

-Aerie's offensive spells are also not doing a lot.
Breach is nice, but her Dispel Magic seems much weaker than Jaheira's (is such a thing even possible?) and MMM can be really difficult to cast, because I need to get my party out of the way and it's not always easy while I'm dungeoning.
Holy Smite and Flame strike don't do as much damage as I expected. Perhaps I should have kept stuff like Animate dead, since I don't have Monster Summoning III while Imoen is gone.

-Finally, should I perhaps refrain from doing all the remaining big quests from chapter 2 (The Paladin class quest, the Cleric class quest, the Thieves class quest and the Paladin stronghold stuff) till I get Imoen back? I am afraid she's not going to catch up otherwise, and I read that I'm missing on a lot of XP-heavy foes while my party is still at lvl 12-13.

Sorry for the long post, everyone.

 

I usually just take five -- the sixth slot is for the NPC of the moment (to solve their particular quest). I never take Keldorn beyond chapter 2 -- having him take revenge is just not the 'good' thing to do (and paladins are supposed to be more good than lawful). I really like the interactions of Keldorn and Minsc, though.

With Minsc and Jaheira you really need to have Edwin for a while -- at least to complete his quests (let him keep the book). If you haven't done the quest with them before.

Mazzy is awesome. I really like the voice acting with her (it makes her a pleasant addition) and she can get +++++ in short bow and short swords. Get +++ in two handed weapons, give her Kundane and Cutthroat and she's a killing machine.

 

Yes, dual. Oops. I find it humorous the game allow her to dual katanas or wield a halberd. Reminds me of the first few OOTS strips....

 

Edwin is evil, so a no-go for me. I doubt he would stay for more than one minute in my party with 20 reputation anyway.

 

Have you ever had him in any party? It's worth keeping your rep a bit low just to have his quest -- it is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a game. I was ROFL.

All the characters are good to have for their quests. The romance quest of Viconia is very good (not as extensive as Jaheira's, though).

 

Mazzy is deadly with Tuigan or Gesen. Tuigan gives her an extra attack, Gesen gives your arrows a massive lightning damage boost. As a general rule, your melee damage-dealers should always be using strength enhancing items. Even Minsc and Sarevok should be using strength enhancing items in ToB. As an experiment try giving Mazzy the Belt of Hill Giant, if only temporarily, and see how that goes.

Unless you let him dual-wield Minsc is a two-handed weapons warrior, and the main selling point of such characters is the extra reach afforded by two-handed weapons. This gives them a bit more survivability since most monsters tend to attack the characters nearest to them - in your case monsters should be busy attacking or chasing Jaheira while Minsc stands behind her and attacks relentlessly. Don't forget to give Minsc two pips in two-handed weapon style so he'll crit more often. I suggest giving Minsc the Dragon's Breath (halberd) when you find it.

Jaheira should be using a club/scimitar and a shield if you want her to tank. I wouldn't give her two-handed weapons pre-ToB, since if you give her a good shield and AC-improving items she can reach really good AC and become very difficult to hit in SoA. Many shields also give you excellent bonuses like immunity to all enchantments or resistance to the elements. Don't forget to give her any extra strength-enhancing items you may have.
Druids are basically summoners and mage-killers. Fire elementals can hit almost anything and do excellent damage when hasted while the insect-summoning line of spells can easily disable most humanoid mages. I rarely have Jaheira memorize Harm. When I do use Jaheira as a tanker most of the time I have her take point and focus on keeping monsters off everybody else. I usually have her cast Entangle (divide and conquer) and then perhaps a few defensive spells or a select few disable spells, then for the rest of the battle she's either fighting, summoning or healing. The only offense spell my Jaheira regularly uses also happens to be one of the most powerful spells in the game - Nature's Beauty. She gets it very very late, but it it's a save or die spell which also causes blindness (no save).

Aerie's dispel magic is weaker than Jaheira's for the same reason Haer Dalis will have stronger spells than everyone else until later on in the game. Spells are dependent on your caster level, not your character level. So when Aerie casts a mage spell, the power/duration of the spell is dependent on her mage level. Most spells are capped at level 20 caster level though.
Melf's Minute Meteors (MMM) is an excellent spell for taking down monsters which can only be hit by +3 or better weapons, but early on it might be best to memorize Haste, Fireball or Skull Trap instead. You won't encounter that many special monsters early on in the game.
Holy Smite is pretty powerful once Aerie reaches higher cleric levels, but early on it might indeed be better to memorize Animate Dead. Haste is a particularly powerful spell in BG2. Consider that it grants you a total of 11 extra attacks per round (6 party members + 5 summoned creatures) along with extra AC and movespeed.

I suggest only doing enough quests so you earn the necessary 15k gold to rescue Imoen + enough extra gold to buy any other gear you think you'll need on your trip. That Belt of Hill Giant Strength from Ribald, for example. That way Imoen can catch up and it'll fit your RPing - your character alignment (and any personal backstory between him/her and Imoen) makes rescuing Imoen ASAP a priority, but your character also happens to be smart enough to take steps to prepare for a fight against a wizard who apparently can fling level 9 spells around as easily as if he were casting cantrips.

 

Shortly after you rescue Imoen you may find a spear that is absolutely amazing in Jaheira's hands -- I think she does much better with spears (that one in particular) than dualing scimitars and clubs.

All fighters need a 19 or better strength (18-00 will do in a pinch).

 

You might consider a fan made NPC mod. I know I'm really alone on this but Saerileth is really good for a tank. You might try Yasraena or Auren Aspen. There are many good choices check out the list on SP.

 

Small update: I settled with Mazzy and she's doing reasonable with Tuigan Bow and Kundane.
I rescued Imoen and I did find a +3 Spear, but I doubt that was the spear T2Bruno mentioned?



Slightly OOT question:

Spoiler

I met Bodhi in Asylum lvl3 and accidentally killed her with my Azuredge before turning into the Slayer. Am I going to have problems because if this during the rest of the game?
If I recall correctly, I wasn't supposed to kill her here.

 

I think the spear he is talking about is The Impaler, which is +3. If you found a regular +3 spear then that is not the one, you should run into The Impaler soon after Spellhold, at least if you choose not to skip a certain part of the game. I highly recommend giving Jaheira some points in Scimitars or Spears. In ToB you get a really nice +6 spear and an awesome +5 scimitar.

As for the killing Bodhi thing, you should be fine. There are actually multiple Bodhis for different encounters, just like there are of many other characters. Killing one accidentally shouldn't stop the next one from appearing since they are all different versions of the same character. I don't think I explained it very well, but I am 99% sure that you should be fine.

Oh and you can still take Sarevok despite him being evil since his alignment may or may not change based on certain choices.

 

Sorry for turning this into a noob thread, but my cavalier reached lvl 18, and I don't knw what ability should I take.

Also I'm definitely settled with Mazzy, this is my party for ToB too.