Who is the best henchmen ?

Amidala · Post by **Amidala** » Sun Jun 30, 2002 9:00 am

I like to hear some opinions who is the best damage dealer or overall henchman.
Some ideas:
The Babarian looks like the natural damage dealer but since the death of the henchman does not cost you much (unless you rp care for him) other henchmen with less life may outdamage him ?
The Attributes of the Monk look very good: 16str/16dex/20con/10int/17wis/4cha
after level 15 add in the 5 attacks with 1d20 and the highest saves and he will rock. Too bad he is bad, I do not want a evil person at my side.
Has anyone tried him, does he make problems if one self is good or neutral ?
How is Tomi the Rogue doing with his sneak attacks ?
Although the magic henchman suffer from bad scripts are there any tricks to make them usefull ?

One last thing, is there a way to let Tomi disarm traps because sometimes his "disarm on approach" script does not work.

Tutoric · Post by **Tutoric** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 5:56 am

So far in Ch 1, I have used Tomi and Sharwyn and I prefer Tomi especially for the trap finding and disarming. Shar can pick locks but can't disarm so it got frustrating with my Paladin.

Sharwyn was also annoying because after casting the buffing spells she would just stand there and not join the melee.

Although she's better on the eyes and has the better voice, I'm sticking with Tomi.

His sneak attack works great and together we usually make short work of mid to low level baddies and with some buffing haven't had too much trouble with the bigger dogs either.

Wyvern · Post by **Wyvern** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 6:55 am

I tried Sharwyn, then I tried the sorcerer and then the cleric henchman... well, I like both Sharwyn and the sorcerer, they helped a lot... okee, I didn't advance a lot with them, I stopped all my characters advancement around lvl 4, just to try a new one. I guess it depends a lot on the class you play either. I played a fighter and the sorcerer can help a lot BUT you'll have problems with traps and locked things. I played a melee rogue with Sharwyn and it might not be the most powerful combination but I find it quite fun... although I have some problems when I encounter big guys like the halforc in the prison or luxor (sp???) in no-man's-land.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 8:46 am

I'm a big Tomi fan - the disarming/unlocking and ranged attacks are essential for me as a fighter (Ninja Dwarf

). I'm not sure about later on in the game - are there characters I would have huge problems with because they cast spells like Mantle or Prot. Magic Weapons that I would have no way to breach? And for that matter, would the sorcerer guy cast Breach or Pierce Magic if it was necessary?

Wooly · Post by **Wooly** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 10:12 am

Yeah, the sorcerer guy is pretty nice to have later on. He casts Stone, Damage reduction, Haste, Strength on you. He casts Pierce Magic and Chain Lightning and OPEN on chests. The only draw back is he dies really easy.

Linu is good later on. But so is everybody. The Half Orc is pretty good, but so is Grimclaw.

--Wooly

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 10:54 am

IMO, the best henchman depends upon your own profession, and their melee focus. If you're not running a wizard/sorc or a thief, you've pretty much got to use Tomi in order to avoid setting off traps and dying (or getting severely injured) repeatedly. Resting isn't always an option, and I hate longterm backtracking. (You could always gate to the Core, but that's really anti-RPG. Just my POV.)

Also, the spellcasting henchmen just let fly with everything in their book, regardless of its appropriateness. This lowers their attractiveness to me. Even if a henchman can't be told where to attack--a bad dev decision, I think--at least the barb and the thief count for more in actual battle.

Amidala · Post by **Amidala** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 12:33 pm

Of course

The best henchmen depends on your profession but this thread should be more about who uses which one and why, not looking for THE best.
Playing a dwarven babarian first chapter and up to character level 9 I can say this:
The Half-Orc babarian henchmen with the DOUBLE axe is the best pure fighter.
The sorceror is delivering the best light show and his area? unlock spell is just cool.
The cleric heals so you can fight fulltime instead of wasting 50% of your time with potion drinking (at hard fights).
However I have used Tomi 90% of the time because of traps.
It is just too anyoing if one get zapped all the time.
I am a bit disappointed because I have maxed my search skill all the time and I am not detecting anything myself.
I got me the moonstone mask with +5 to search, still hoping I can exchange Tomi for Daelan or the sorceror.
One bitter comment at the end, my plans to play the game thru without dying once are allready history.
Why ? Because Tomi failed to detect the one lethal chest trap that was around and burned me for 96 damage at level 6.
Since I got zapped another 2 times for equal damage later (though I had more life by then) I have the bad feeling that Tomi might detect every and all traps around but fails at the highest level traps around which are of course the only really lethal ones.

Calogrenant · Post by **Calogrenant** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 12:41 pm

At first I thought Tomi, the rogue, was the best option since there were lots of traps and locked stuff around, but, since i got a melee class (Fighter 5/ Paladin 4, though shouldve been only Pal 3 but oh well) I noticed that if its made for being picked, then I can bash it. And yes, traps can be tought, but if you hire the sorcerer (Spoiler, highlight to see

) you get this awesome ring with regeneration and something else as reward for his quest, add the 15 damage reduction ring the Spirit of Helm gives you and all traps automatically become a small nuisance

And, also the sorcerer always casts Mage Armor on me as first action, which is always handy.
I´ll try other henchmen anyway, thats for sure, but at first glance the spellcaster seemed to be a nice partner for my fighter, even when his casting script´s all messed up

fallenheart · Post by **fallenheart** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 1:40 pm

I'm playing rogue/figher. Linu has been great help for me. One negative thing I can say about her is that she would not use frigging shield. I told her to go back to melee from ranged, but she only changes her weapon. No shield.
What do I have to do to get her shield back?

[-Mortician-] · Post by **[-Mortician-]** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 1:47 pm

hmm

being a fighter, i rather enjoy Linu's Helpful hand when it comes to undead. Also when dealing with those Oh-so annoying droves of Fire Giants, she comes in handy to keep you in tip-top condition with her high-level heal spells

nVrt · Post by **nVrt** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 1:17 pm

Currently playing a Paladin. (go figure) I'm currently running around with Linu, and found her to be MOST helpful. Being able to fight just about nonstop is NICE. Though yes, a thief would be nice to have around, for those highly resistant chests... and ones with friggin HUGE traps on them.

Keshik · Post by **Keshik** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 3:02 am

Grimgaw is insane! With my dual-wielding Paladin/Sorc/Cleric the damage list gets up pretty high. Grim is quite good at opening locked stuff, as at his current level ~14 he gets bonus cold damage, which helps get through damage resistance.

Crosswind · Post by **Crosswind** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 10:46 am

Grim is a freaking -house-.

I'm pretty much HIS henchman...I keep him buffed, heal him, and he does about 20 damage a hit, 3 or 4 times a round.

So cruel..

-Cross

Arakasi · Post by **Arakasi** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 11:12 am

Grim IS bruce lee, who needs anyone else

im a level 14 ranger who is pretty hard himself, but grim is running the show jsut

send him in and sit back and watch the bodies hit the floor............

NightFallMyriad · Post by **NightFallMyriad** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 1:30 pm

Personally, I'm really liking Linu. I think its great that they made a clumsy elf, seeing as how elves ares supposed to have high dexterity. I never get tired of hearing how her story goes and unlike the other henchmen (with the execption of maybe Sharwyn) she's soft on the eyes. The thing that bothers me about Sharwyn though is her in your face attitude. She seems too narcisistic for me.
The spellcaster guy is just an idiot. Logic and nonsense. What is this? Startrek? Not even terribly good I hear.
I haven't even spoken to Grimgnaw yet.

The half-orc dude is really cool and has some major issues he needs to deal with. Handy in a fight too. I take him along to the fray most any day just so long as a trap doesn't kill him first.

Tomi is absolutely great for disarming traps and picking locks, but then, I had my fighter learn a little about traps (enough to know which ones will kill me when I activate them), so if it's really high enough to kill me, odds are he couldn't disarm it anyway. Then it's trial and error. The lockpicking is handy, but it gets really annoying having to hear him say "Oh, I can pick that open easy" fourteen times in a row before he actually does it. In the time he does, either me and Linu or me and half-orc man could have bashed the thing open. Especially half-orc dude. 19 STR comes in handy for laying the smack down on those hard to beat chests and cabinets.

So in terms of RP, definately I'd go with Linu. Failing that, half-orc man is the way to go.

But if you're doing one of the quests that involves lots and lots of traps (*spoilerish* as in the one where you gotta get the artwork for Ophala), then pick Tomi until you're in the clear again.

Too many damned quests if you use all of them...

Mathurin · Post by **Mathurin** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 1:42 pm

The problem with the chests and having to tell him to pick it 20 times is that a lot of them are in outta the way places, and there is only 1 place to stand where you can interact with the chest, namely the place you are standing in when you click on the chest. If you don't move Tomi cant access the chest and thus doesn't try to pick the lock. Whenever you click on a locked chest and the doesnt pick, try clicking again and moving away a little, that will give him room to work. Don't move too far or hell just follow you away, just give the little guy some breathing room.

NightFallMyriad · Post by **NightFallMyriad** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 1:55 pm

Er... yes. I knew that.

It's just easier to bash it sometimes cuz your character strafes the chest leaving that "one place to stand" open for the other characters.

Fourteen is an exaggeration. I'm sorry that wasn't clear.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 3:39 pm

I know exactly how you feel with Tomi, and it's especially annoying when you have the sounds on and he says "I can pick that open easy" all 14 times...WELL WHY DON'T YOU??? Another couple bugs I've noticed with him are that occasionally, if you tell him to open a chest, he runs off to open a completely different chest. This is nothing on the Annoy-o-meter compared to when he runs halfway round a map, into a room full of enemies, to disable a trap that he saw through a wall, quite close as the crow flies, but in unexplored territory and a fair slog away from you. Tomi the Suicidal Maniac does have a certain ring to it...

So many people have told me that Grimgnaw is a total tank that I've decided to switch to him, since we can bash just about anything, I do have a point or two in Open Locks, and a certain trinket I talked a Vulcan out of

p) will regenerate me so I can walk all over traps without caring too much...

Nygma · Post by **Nygma** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 4:14 pm

I went with Tomi until Chap 3 for the locks and traps.

After I got a belt of fire giant strength (+5) and over 160 hp I decided I didn't need Tomi anymore so I tried out a couple of others. (Must... not... rave... about... acid... traps...)

Sharwyn was okay, though her practice of buffing my monk like he was about to take on the Twisted Rune gang instead of four orcs seemed a bit excessive. She also had healing spells, though she went through them pretty quickly.

I finally ended up taking Linu through for the end. Really, by that time any henchman at all was a hindrance more than anything. I had to keep breaking off to go save her. She has a lot of healing spells, though, and this really great Negative Energy spell.

Spoiler

When I went up against the two dragons, the one I wasn't attacking disengaged and went after her. She hit it with over 300 Negative Energy damage in one shot. I turned around after dispatching the corrupted copper and the silver was "near death" after that one spell. She's rather stingy about using it though.

Archimedez · Post by **Archimedez** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 4:51 pm

Thrust

Daelan the half orc started to thrust foes to the floor at level 12 or so.
This is really nice since he is more than 80% successfull.
It was really amazing when we were in a spider cave and he flipped over those spiders (which get a anti flip bonus).
Man he flipped the spider queen 3 times in a row...

I have to try out the Monk sometime his constitution says that he will have equal life to the half orc later, now add in the super saves, dex ac and wis ac bonus. No questions 5+1 attacks with 1d20 will rock too.
Only problem he is sick evil.