NPC's

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Other then having some Cannon fodder are the npc's worth having around? I'm at chapter 2 right now and have been fine on my own so far. The prelude part is the only time I've had a npc and I wasn't very impressed with him.

 

They arn`t worth a dime , they are dull , very 2 dimensional. And they snitch of your XP.
Just solo with a monk , the class is insanely overpowered enough to beat the game without croaking.

 

Well, personally I think that when you've got a very flat and 2-dimensional game (in the terms of story, plot, dialogue, etc) like NwN, the NPC's add a little life to the overall dullness.

 

They are worthwhile for the special item you can get for completing their quests.

They are also useful if you are useless at RPGs like me and need all the help you can get.

 

Or, if you're a sorcerer/wizard/ranged weapon using char. Then you need the canon fodder to keep your own ass out of trouble

 

I disagree. Coming out of the Academy, a Wizard is already a better fighter than a Fighter. A Wizard with Ghostly Visage, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Shield, Mage Armor, and Flame Weapon is able to engage in stand up fights as well, if not better than, a Fighter. Those buffs are also long lasting. As you go up in level and gain spells like Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility and Mestil's Acid Sheath a Wizard need not fear combat. In fact, a Wizard with Mestil's Acid Sheath can win the final battle of HotU much more easily than any of the fighter classes.

A Wizard is actually one of the easiest solo classes to play in NWN. Additionally, since you have to share XP with your henchman and a Wizard needs to accumulate levels as fast as possible, solo is the preferred way to play a Wizard.

 

I’m now in Chapter Two and I have decided that the only henchman worth having are Daelen or Grimgnaw. This flimsy conclusion is based on the fact that the henchmen AI appears to be completely non-existent, resulting in spellcasters casting random spells and/or rushing into battle against overwhelming enemies and getting destroyed. They seem to have no concept of running away when injured.

At least with the warrior NPCs, their job is so simple (go attack) that it doesn’t matter if they’re not clever about it.

Most annoyingly of all, because my character has no spell skills, I can never work out what the hell the NPCs are casting (“Sharwyn is casting unknown spell”)

 

I only went through the OC once, as a monk, and tried taking everyone along at various points. I found the elf cleric to work the best; the biggest selling point was the healing, both of you or herself, but otherwise she had decent AC so she didn't die all the time, decent combat abilities, once in a while, out of nowhere, she would contribute a very useful spell. The evil dwarf monk probably came second, but without the ability to heal himself, he seemed to have less staying power than the cleric.

And you don't need to keep the NPCs with you all the time to do their quests and unlock their stories; just find them their gear and they'll think you're best friends...

 

I'm sick of having to back to the Temple to pick up Sharwyn after her latest effort at getting herself hacked to pieces.

 

I agree about Sharwyn; for some reason, she's designed to have all these melee skills, in disarm, etc, when the best thing for her would be to stay way, way in the background, singing a few tunes and plunking in an arrow now and then...

 

I've given up on Sharwyn and gone back with Linu.

 

Yeah, I played quite a bunch with Linu, and a bit with Daalaen and Tomi. The item quest can be very, very worthwhile, however...I adore regeneration items. Guess I'm a cheesy player.

 

It is quite possible to solo the game with just about any class, as long as you don't make a bard 1/wizard 1/fighter 1/sorceror 1/cleric 1/barbarian 1/ranger 1/monk 1 character or something. I find that sorcerers are superior at soloing compared to wizards. Their ability to cast more spells with greater versatility makes up for their lack of bonus feats and slower spell progression. Besides, if you ever get into a tight spot, you'll always have at least one spell ay your disposal to ensure your survival (well, at medium to high levels, anyway). By the way, Khemsa, most wizards cannot cast 4 or 5 level 2 spells at level 5. On the other hand, a sorcerer easily can, even with just their base progression (almost all spellcasters will have at least 16 into their main statistic anyway, so the sorcerer will still have spells left over, while the wizard will never have had enough slots to cast them all anyway). However, I do agree that an arcane spellcaster can make a very competent fighter - especially on higher levels, with spells such as Tenser's Transformation and Shapechange avaliable.

 

The main problem I have with arcane casters is that I always run out of spells I like and have to find somewhere to rest. In NWN, this often means backtracking until there are no 'enemies in the area'. I'm too lazy for that so prefer more melee based characters who don't run out of power. Definitely sticking with Linu for the rest of the game, especially as she has the best quest reward for my dexterity based character.

 

Bovine Knight,

Coming out of the Academy, a specialist Wizard with decent INT should be able to cast four 2nd level spells and five 1st level spells. That is easily enough to cast all the spells I listed. I would not recommend that list as a "standard load" for a low level Wizard, but it could be very useful for tougher sub-bosses such as the gang leaders in the Penninsula District.

My point is two-fold. First, I want to dispel the notion that Wizards are too vulnerable to melee so must have a henchman bodyguard. Second, a common newbie Wizard mistake is to take direct damage spells as a low level Wizard. At least until you secure Fireball, the best way to run a Wizard is as a melee fighter using the long duration buff spells.

Harbourboy,

You do not have to use an NPC for any length of time to get their henchman item. Simply pick up the items they all want as you work your way through the chapter. When you have all the items, and are 6th level or higher, simply hire an NPC, go through all the discussion trees and get their henchman item. At that point fire them and move onto the next NPC. Once you have all the henchman items rehire the NPC you really want. All the henchman items are worth getting and upgrading in later chapters.