The People vs. Haer'Dalis

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Haer'Dalis is useless. I figured that with all the trouble that you have to go through to keep him in the group, he might actually be worth something. Nope. Even with the great swords and great class, he is a lousy character.

 

use him properly

use offensive spin and get him kundane/belm for extra attacks - his AC can drop to -15 or lower with spells, then add illusion effects and he can't get hit at all (try tenser's transformation to make him even better) - and send him to the front line

or leave him at the back with defensive spin and cast spells

he levels up quicker than a mage so his spells are cast at higher levels earlier

he is also a pickpocket master - nick everyone's stuff including ribald's ring of regeneration

and then there is his lore - identify everything without wasting spell slots

on top of all that he has some natural resistances and can get two stars in short swords - so he is definitely a cut above your average blade

i didn't like him either when i first got him - he was wimpy, couldn't hit anything and died a lot

but he is far more interesting to use than the average hack and slash fighter and his all round skills are highly beneficial

 

I definately see your point, but I still don't know if he is worth it. I know how to use a blade because my best character is one, but Haer'Dalis seems to be lacking something in all aspects. As a blade, he is better at fighting than a regular bard, but he has the thaco of a lame camel. His pickpocketing and bard song abilities are a fraction of what other bards have. I suppose he that knudane and belm would help though. Perhaps i'll try that out and see if my characters should stop leaving him dead in the sewers.

 

So far i've never actually had Haerdalis in my party, as I think bards suck on the whole. However he is incredibly cool from a role playing perspective. I don't know if he actually fights in a party of four where all slots are needed for usefull chars.

 

Haer'dalis is way cool. He is better than a PC Blade because he gets weapon specialization (and, as a tiefling, he has some nice damage resistances too). As another poster said, arm him with Belm and Kundane and he's extremely powerful (four attacks per round, five with offensive spin). Actually, you may want to leave him with the Chaos Blade as his main weapon: its dexterity draining capability can kill tough opponents through ability loss.

Use him offensively: stoneskin, mirror image, offensive spin. This is one lethal combination.

Use him defensively: stoneskin, mirror image, defensive spin. Nothing can touch him - let mind flayers waste their attacks on him while your other characters pepper them with arrows and crossbow bolts. Give him the Ring of Free Action and the defensive spin no longer roots him to the spot.

The big disadvantage is the low starting HP when you get him. This is quickly offset by rapid level advancement: those 2HP per level soon mount up and he overtakes Jaheira, for example.

While he can't cast the really high-level spells, his rapid level gain makes the offensive spells that he can cast very powerful indeed. A 20D6 skull trap really hurts.

And, yes, he's a pain to get into your party. But the Planar Prison is quite a fun, albeit tough, quest in itself and the items that you pick up (Bladesinger Chain, Kundane, Pixie Prick) seem designed for Haer'dalis and make him a very valuable addition to your party.

Finally, if you enjoy the party interaction aspect of BG2, Haer'dalis is one of the more insightful characters that you can take along.

I always used to think that Haer'dalis sucked runny stools, but when I went ahead and played him, I learnt that he was quite excellent. The game designers did a good job with him: he has hidden depths and talents.

 

"I know how to use a blade because my best character is one, but Haer'Dalis seems to be lacking something in all aspects."

SNIP

"His pickpocketing and bard song abilities are a fraction of what other bards have."

Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but how would your blade be any different...?

 

@ Chris

Well done young man, I believe you may have just converted a non-Haer-dalis believer

the advantages you describe seem very good indeed ^^

 

Haer Dalis is more powerful than any blade you can legally create, period.

Low THAC0 is taken care of by spells.
Normal Bardic Song is useless so why bother about it?
A few level ups and though he may only have 1/4 pickpockets and lore, this is more than enough for the entire game.

If you want Haer Dalis to shine use him properly. I really doubt anything in SoA can withstand a Tensor's Transformed, Offensive Spinned, Stoneskinned, Mirror Imaged, Magically Protected, well armed Haer dalis too long.

 

"While he can't cast the really high-level spells, his rapid level gain makes the offensive spells that he can cast very powerful indeed. A 20D6 skull trap really hurts."

and as i posted earlier...

"he levels up quicker than a mage so his spells are cast at higher levels earlier"

i cannot stress how impressive this is - chromatic orb is killer, you get more stoneskins, flame arrows and melf meteors, spells last for ages and effects are beyond what a mage of the same experience (not level) could get

 

If you give him Dak'kon Zerth Blade he'll get some extra spells and +1AC Bonus. Of course, you need to sacrifice a prof point (which isn't so bad if you decide to make him a melee fighter).

The major thing is don't be cheap . Most people won't give him some really good gear - such as STR girdles, good Helms, etc. - because they think it's wasted on him. Trust me, it's not. Equip him like you would a fighter/mage.

I'll admit, he's not uber-powerful like Keldorn with Carsomyr and Girdle of Frost Giant STR, but he's a really indepth character.

The one major pro is that he's a different person . It's boring to play with the same NPC's all the time.

 

Actually Msytra, he is... and more.
Buried around these forums are a hundred posts about Blades that prove so.

 

Not even my PC is as powerful as Keldorn with the Holy Avenger and 21 STR. Haer'Dalis can become very powerful for a short period, but Keldorn is like that all the time. The only thing that even comes close to a beefed Keldorn is a beefed Fighter/Mage/Thief with Crom and Celestial Fury.

 

Haer'Dalis is funny to me.

He makes the game fun.

Games should be fun.

Ergo, he is not useless.

 

That's the thing, you said that my blade would be no different, but in a way, he is. My blade used dual longswords, and never used any magic until he was around level 14.(A little roleplaying thing I though up) He became really good at hand-to-hand, while ignoring his bardic abilities entirely. My blade may as well be a fighter mage theif combo who has terrible theif skills. Eventually I started having him use his magic and he became a devastating warrior. Haer'Dalis may be good in your opinion, but he could never, NEVER, contend with my blade.

 

Well you're a Bhaalspawn, right? With that element you can take on anyone as Slayer anyday.
But in a pure Blade Vs Blade fight I'm afraid there's no stopping Haer.

 

your stats for your PC char would probably be higher anyway from repeated rolling

 

Not necessarily. Haer'Dalis is superior to any blade you could legally create, TECHNICALLY. By sheer numbers and rules, he is better than any bard you can make. However, Haer'Dalis was level 11, and my blade was level 10 when they first met, and Haer'Dalis couldn't compare in the least to my blade. The roll of my blade was as follows: 16 str, 18 dex, 17 con, 18 int, 4 wis, 18 cha. Haer has some rolls higher, and some rolls lower than my blade, but he could not keep up with mine.

I equipped Haer'Dalis well, with jester's chain and an Ioun stone, as well as a air and earth elemental ring. Boots of speed as well, but what happened when he fought my blade(who wasn't using any magic until level 14? He was beaten to a bloody pulp and left dead in a heap on the floor of the cave they were in.

 

Well that doesn't make any sense at all. Stats don't help that much. Plus, Haer'Dalis has adv weapon Prof and some minor resistances.

I'm gonna go as far as saying it was a biased fight. Haer'Dalis was a level above you? Yeah. Biased fight.

 

I hate bards.... nothing a nice sorcerer and berzerker cant do, never bothered taking Haer'Dalis, and I never saw the point... he's just another dumb NPC.

 

Hehehe, I don't blame you Septic Yogurt. Until I first saw my first power-charactered Blade with every spell cast and ready to go on a frenzy I thought nothing could take on the Demogorgy fight one on one and so easily.

@Veras
Fine then. My point was that he was a better Blade technically, and that was all.

@Mystra
The only thing that even comes close to a beefed Keldorn is a beefed Fighter/Mage/Thief with Crom and Celestial Fury.
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The Blade is more powerful than a Fighter/Mage/Thief... so that means a fully beefed up Hear Dalis can take on a beefed up Keldorn and live to tell the tale. However, like you said, Keldorn is a solid fighter - and Haer Dalis without his spells and items is like Jan Jansen. He can only be so powerful for such a small span of time - long enough to take on almost everything, but sometimes not worth going over all the spells and arrangements when Keldorn can do all that with only a sword and Dispell Magic.