Henchmen, story/quest info please

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Hi, decided to play through the NWN OC again (only gone right through it once). The last time I took Linu, as a party member she was particularly crap and I assume the rest are (with the possible exception of tommi for traps/locks) but I will still take one for their story and quest rewards, so..

Bodyknock - Is he an interesting character to take along? And since he's a Wizard is he completly useless as a henchman or is he actually useful (I found a list of the henchmen rewards, his seems quite nice but since I will be playing as a Sorc I think a melee henchman would probably be best)

Same question as above for Daelan and Grimgnaw.

 

I found Daelan to be the best as melee hanchmen run rings around spellcasters due to crappy AI scripting. If you can get past the initial slump in his attack rolls at the beginning (no 2 weapon feats and power attack adding another -5) then he is really useful as a meat shield.
I get bored quickly with Grimgnaw as the sadistical ranting gets rather old after a while.

 

If you're playing a fighting class, or a spellcaster with tons of summons, Tommy is surprisingly effectively with his backstabbing, if you can make him wait for your signal before attacking.

For any other type, I found Grimgnaw more useful in the long run than Daelan. Most enemy mages would use area effect spells, and his evasion and MR both come in handy to keep the little monk alive.

 

Heh, I was mainly after how intersting/entertaining the characters that I mentioned were. The only one I really wanna know how effective in combat they are is Bodyknock..

 

Buddyknock is the most useless if you ask me, thanks to crappy AI, you shouldn't take spellcasters for henchmen because of that, he basicly was buffing himelf to no end while I slaughtered the monsters, so any offensive spells he would cast were wasted after that since he appears to be casting the strongest available spell from his spellbook no matter what monster is there or how injured it is. Also fun when he cast a area effect spell on a single monster when all the monsters are still scattered around.
So yeah, he's not very good at all. I'd suggest you just take him and have him tell you his story, then dismiss him and take him back only once you've got what he's looking for to complete his quest.

 

If you are a bit experienced with computers, you might try installing the Henchmen AI mod. It really makes a difference in the gameplay. The first time I saw Linu saving her spells and using her Hammer of the Gods on some tough enemies (rather than on the first goblin we met that day) was ... a religious experience

 

I've always find Tomi to suit my playing style. So this is what I do, I contract the other henchmen just for their story, drops them for Tomi. Upon the required level ups, I sidelined Tomi, takes in the other hencemen to complete their dialogues. Drop them and bring Tomi up again. Find the quest items. Sideline Tomi again, give the quest items to the respective hencemen for their reward. Then go adventuring with Tomi again. Call it a cheat if you want, but you can say that it's still role-playing.