Anomen's usefulness

Remove all ads!

I myself dislike him. But I try to find some usefulness in him, since he can become a better person later. But after reading through Aldeth's npcs guide, I found that Anomen missed out many weapon skill slots, as he must had placed them in bladed weapons before dual-classing into cleric. This fact alone make me think twice about putting him in my party. I would prefer that he placed all that wasted slots in clubs. At least, it will still be there. What is your opinion of his usefulness?

 

Not much, he's arrogant in a bad way, very annoying as far as interactions, and I find Aerie or Jaheira replace him quite effectively as I find them to be better combinations of the Cleric (or Druid) multi-classes.
Particularly for the reasons already stated - near-useless, wasted, proficiency slots.

 

Annoyman does live up to his nickname at times, but some of the other NPCs can also grate - there's a setting in options that cuts back on their banter and saves some frustration.

The loss of those proficiency points is disappointing, but as a cleric he has a limited selection of weapons, so it's not difficult to get at least one * into the obvious choices. And unless you install a grandmastery 'fix' it's possibly not worth putting more than 2 * into any particular weapon proficiency in any case.

If he passes his test his spell casting is more than adequate - Viconia with 18 WIS gets 2 extra spells. (1 x 3rd lvl, 1 x 4th lvl).

If Keldorn isn't in the party you can give A the bracers of dexterity.

You can give him proficiences in flails, and have him switch between mace of disruption and flail of ages. Sling of seeking makes a good addition to his armoury.

Put 3 * into dual wielding and you can have him waving FOA and crom faeyr around later in the game.

Also not forgetting he has good strength (18/52) and constitution, more than one attack per round....

I usually take Ano into the party if my character isn't a cleric - though in my current game the PC is a dwarven berserker/cleric so Ano stays in the CC this time..

 

I find Anomen incredibly useful despite his missing a few proficiency slots. His spellcasting ability is very nice -- I like spells -- and his THAC0, IIRC, is quite nice as well -- he didn't lose out on that when he dualled!
I give him Crom Faeyr -- 25 strength is nothing to sneeze at! In a fighter heavy party, I'd have him with Crom (dualled with the Runehammer, perhaps), Keldorn with Carsomyr, Minsc with dual maces or some heavy sword (Lilarcor, Gram, etc), Mazzy with a bow, Korgan with the Axe of the Unyielding (maybe dual wielding with something else fun) and Valygar with one of the good spears -- that one that impales is nice.
IU've never used such a party, mind you, but I'm just saying that Crom would go best with Anomen, and the others wouldn't be hosed.

 

Well, for good party, I always give crom faeyr to Minsc and for evil party, it will be Korgan. I guess I still mind a lots on the wasted weapon slots. If only it's not wasted, I will surely give it a try and have Anomen in my party.

 

He's a must for a good aligned party. I hate his guts but he becomes obscenely powerful at high levels.

 

I wonder just how many different variations of "Anomen is useless" topics there are going to be. Here are the facts:

In terms of being a cleric, he is the strongest (physically) cleric you can get without modifications/accessories. For that matter he is one of strongest (physically) characters in the game. The man is made for melee, there is no doubt. If you go the lawful path for him, his wisdom becomes more than adequate for casting spells. If you're not happy with 16 WIS, there are ways to increase that, all of which are permanent. And besides, how many 1st level priest spells DO you need?

His THAC0 is better than Viconia or Aerie, so he's more likely to hit in melee; his AC is better so he is tougher to hit than either Viconia or Aerie and really, he will fit in with any party in terms of alignment. He's one of the few characters you can put 5* in a weapon proficiency and 3* in two-weapon style.

So he supposedly lost any proficiency points he supposedly had in bladed weapons - big deal. So he doesn't have 18 Wisdom -- 16 is nothing to balk at, folks.

If you don't like his banter, turn it off. If you don't want to romance him, then don't. If all you want is hack and slash, consider playing a different game. If you just don't like him, then don't take him. Those are hardly reasons, however, for calling him useless. Only those that have taken him from the beginning and carried him all the way through will come to appreciate, like Shura mentions, just how powerful he becomes.

 

Well seeing how my party consists of and Elvin Ranger (weilding Drizzt's scimitars), Minsc in the Dragon Slayer Gear, Keldorn with Carsonomyr, Jaheira using Boneblade, and Firetooth, Aerie with Staff of Magi, and a sling, and Imoen, with Tuigan bow. Anomen is useless to me, I have Jaheira and Aerie with healing spells, and my three fighters are all stronger/better fighters than Anomen.

 

Do you people think that it is cheesy or cheating if I were to use a particular program to place all that wasted weapon slots in a weapon skill or do you think like Shura that Anomen is already too powerful.

 

And what would you put them in? He can attain 5* in any cleric weapon and 3* in two-weapon fighting and since most I've seen on here dual-wield him with Crom Faeyr (war hammer) and Flail of Ages +5 (flail) so I fail to see where these would be of any additional use.

And to answer your question -- it's not cheesy exactly. If you're going to do that, why not just use SK, or the like, and modify his stats to your liking as well? Same principle.

 

Skywind,

I think you're fretting needlessly about Ano's 'lost' proficiencies. He'll get a goodly number during the game.

Assuming you get him early, he gets 1 * each in warhammer and sword & shield style, and 2 * each in mace and sling.

Since Crom Faeyr isn't available until chapter 6, you don't really need to put any more in warhammers for a while. Similarly the proficiences for mace and sling are adequate for the time being.

If FOA is going to be your main weapon, you can put your first few extra points into flail. There are some nice quarter staffs around so possibly put a point or two in those later.

As for clubs, there are some interesting morningstars (using flail proficiency) that can do a similar job.

Dual wielding is up to you. Since Keldorn is usually in my parties I give him the bracers of dexterity and leave Ano with a shield.

 

Perhaps....
Anyway, I decided to arm him with a FOA and shield. Just think that he can serve in melee battle better than Viconia, and only lacking a few spells compared to Viconis. But to me, cleric's 1st LV spells are important to me. "Doom", my favorite is used most of the time together with CF or the likes, to reduce enemy save vs throw and so that it will be more easy to stun them with CF.
Oh yeah! And I am not going to use SK to change anything, because if you people can do without that, so can I.

 

"Anomen" and "useful" don't go together in the same sentence.

 

Every character can be useful (yep, even the werewolf druid or Imoen who is giving me a headache right now..) and Anomen is one of the best dual-classed ones you'll run into.

Anyway, I'd rather Viconia instead of him. At high levels with property items, THAC0 differences are meaningless and pointless. ANd she's gorgeous, after all .

I forgot to say that I, personally, use a program to change the proficiencies of the characters in the way I'd like. That is, I customice them, but I am honest (just changing slots, non putting new ones) to keep the game interesting. So Jaheira can use a spear, Minsc uses two handed swords and so on. Cheating?, no I don't think so..

 

I have got a new problem.

After my party awake from their sleep, Cernd's neighbour(Cernd's quest) and Sir R...(Anomen's quest) appear together and so I have 2 quest to complete. I kill the mage which is Cerd's enemy first before going to the Radiant(SP?) Heart to have Anomen's judgment. but when I used Anomen himself to talk to Sir R...., nothing happened. Sir R... just talk to Anomen as normal, no judgment thing.

Can anyone help this problem? I used to have no problem with this. So I think it got to do with two different quests coming together(above stated). Thanks in advance!

 

Well, I do think so. Of course you are free to do whatever you want to keep the game entertaining, but this is definitely cheese.

You have a good point though: every character can be useful, it just depends on your playing style. Personally, I like to have bodies to throw into melee if the need arises, so I like Anomen. Sure he is annoying at times, but that reminds me how lucky I am not to know such a bloke in real life.

 

The funny thing is, I have a friend who is a lot like Anomen -- he is very religious and somewhat sanctimonious, he is highly arrogant, and he is, in real life, a very good fighter -- he does martial arts. He can be annoying, but he also is a great friend who would never let you down.

One point I have to make about old Anomen -- no NPC turns as well as he does -- Viconia's undead control is a real pain, IMHO, and while Aerie can turn, her multiclass means she cannot achieve the high levels of turning that Anomen can. I love sending him into groups of undead armed with the Disruption mace, a heavy shield, and heavy armor, and watch him just stand there while the undead blow up. It's sweet.

 

While i like Jaheira, I'm not so sure that Anomen would be "no match" for the woman. He gets quite powerful, and if both of them were to be fully decked out with the best gear available to their class, I think it would be quite a fight!