Different dialogue options depending on party member

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Hello. I've played BG2 (not EE) quite long ago and now I need to remember something: are there new dialogue options depending on with wich party member you approach an NPC or who is party leader? I remember at least one such dialogue in IWD, when you could approach with a wizard (and his high int) to convince a thief to give you items and run away, but can't really remember something similar in BG2. Can anyone help me pls? Thank you!

 

Well, yes and no. The vast majority of dialogues are done directly with the protagonist or check the protagonist's scores, regardless of who talks to the NPC or who is in the leadership position.

There might be a few dialogues where this is not the case, but in most conversations it only matters who is in the party at any given time, rather than who initiates the conversation.

 

Do you mean that having a specific characer in the party gives you some unique dialogue options when talking to some NPCs?

 

Yes, but unless you install a patch, and I can't recall if it was part of Baldurdash/G3 Fixpack or Ease-of-use/G3 Tweaks, they also must be in very close proximity to the speaker. I strongly recommend this patch, as sometimes you miss out on dialog for no real reason because the NPC is just outside of range in a 6-man party in a standard formation. Note that the way I wrote it is the original version of each mod and the successor put out by the good folks at Gibberlings3.


You should generally always have the Bhaalspawn do the talking. He is the protagonist, and the game was set up that way. I can't think of any dialogs that won't kick in if you have an NPC initiate conversation that won't work if you have the Bhaalspawn initiate the conversation with said NPC in the party at their side.

If there are more dialog options, the required NPC will chime in to allow them.
Jaheria has a few things that only happen with her in the party, particularly when interacting with Harpers and not just in the building at the docks, Mazzy has a few in Trademeet, Amonen and Keldorn tend to get extra dialog at the Order of the Radiant Heart, plus things relating to their side-quests, Minsc has a few small, insignificant tidbits that are just flavor text. Most are in the Promenade when you first escape, particularly in the top-right corner of the map.
That said, Minsc and Aerie can interact quite a bit and have a sort of mini-romance culminating with him asking her to be his Witch to help him regain his honor for losing Dynaheir. Edwin might make a few condescending comments from place to place, and he banters with Minsc.
I can't really recall much about the others outside of their side-quests or banters.
Most are just interjections in the dialog with no little affect on gameplay, just interesting flavor that gives them personality.

 

Certainly. There are quite a few interjections and reactions in dialogues depending on which companions you have in your party. That's part of what makes it so fun to replay the game with a different group.

 

I see, thank you. And one more question to avoid creation of a new thread: did IWD2 have something like that option in IWD I mentioned in first post?

 

Yes. One way to think about it is that in BG2 there's only one main character - your PC. That's why the game automatically ends if you die. Most dialogue is understood to have happened between your character and the NPC, regardless of who approached the NPC.
In IWD/IWD2, the game only ends if everyone in the party dies. This means that each member is considered a main character, so it matters who approaches NPCs/talks to them.

 

That's a good way to talk about it, but had a few people say "I wish to speak with CHARNAME" if an NPC spoke with them, and you could easily miss quests if an NPC approached. It was seldom beneficial to have an NPC do any talking, and I think it was only a handful of people that said anything different to an NPC and it was all flavor text. Off-hand, I can only think of Mazzy's family, Jan's family, Anomen interacting with his father and the OotRH people. Even then, it wasn't so much beneficial as flavorful. Most everything else worked equally well with the NPC in the party and VERY close at hand (unless the patch was installed which made it unlimited distance).

Both Icewind Dale games on the other hand would offer different dialog options depending on the class of the speaker and in IWD2 the skills of the person speaking. Also in IWD2 a cleric's deity would make a difference in several points, such as a priest of Talos speaking to the Druids in Andora (Odea & Illium). Other priests get their tidbits, most notably priests of Bane would get a chance for a wisdom bonus that no other cleric class would get.

 

Mostly it doesn't matter who is doing the talking (occasionally you'll approach an NPC with an NPC and you'll notice the mouth icon on the portrait still being active on the PC). If NPCs are close enough they'll occasionally chime in, but that's mostly flavour text or they're just asking the questions for you.

I'm not entirely sure if shopkeepers use your CHA to determine prices or the CHA of the NPC that talks to them. It would make sense if they used the CHA of the character that is talking to them, but I don't know if it works that way.

 

I've confirmed that they use the CHA of the person that talks to them in all Infinity Engine games (except I never bothered to check Torment). I've noticed it when I intend to sell some junk to them, and have a thief steal from them. The prices will be different since CHARNAME usually has the Ring of Human Influence and/or has Friends cast on him, while the prices the thief sees before I click on the pickpocket button are different. Talking with CHARNAME again gives the lower prices.

With MOST NPCs, it is true, it doesn't matter much who does the talking. A few will only give quests or dialog or whatever if CHARNAME does the talking. Just start a new game in Shadows of Amn and have Imoen approach Jaheria instead of CHARNAME to see a prime example. I'm certain that one of the thieves that gives you assignments will only talk to CHARNAME as well. I think it was Renal Bloodscalp in the stronghold quests, but it might be Aran Linvail. Might have been both.
In addition, people will have different dialog for CHARNAME than for an NPC.

I believe that Valygar's servant will acknowledge him if you go to his house and have Valygar speak to him.
Jan Janson's family will acknowledge Jan speaking to them, if not it was Mazzy and the late Patrick's family. Maybe both. My memory is getting fuzzy on these unimportant details and making me want to start a new game up.
In any case it was just some flavor text.
Still, it's best to have CHARNAME do all the talking while wearing the Ring of Human Influence. If you typically use two other rings that is fine, just take one off when in town and put it back on when finished talking. If combat erupts unexpectedly, just pause and swap rings. Unlike in P&P, all powers kick in immediately, and you are only restricted from swapping armor to/from your armor slot as a free action while combat is paused.