Party for evil mage

Curry · Post by **Curry** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 3:13 pm

I have finished BG1 once with paladin and twice with warrior, and they were all good guys. I dont remember who I had with paladin but my warrior crews were like this:

My good human figher
Ajantis
Minsc
Kivan
Coran
Edwin

My good human figher
Kivan
Ajantis
Khalid
Branwen
Imoen

Ok, now I created a lawful evil elf mage. I picked elf cause of the sleep/charm resistance, infravision and ability to wear the mithril mail while casting spells (AWESOME!), and normal mage cause I didn't FEEL like playing specialized mage. Here's the stats.

Str 16
Dex 15
Con 17
Int 18
Wis 10
Cha 10

Skilled in dagger

Now I am wondering which NPCs I should pick? I was thinking I should pick Kagain, Shar-Teel, Montaron, Xzar and Safana ...

Moleman · Post by **Moleman** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 1:59 am

Viconia makes an excellent healer/tank to evil party (that is, if your evil mage don't have prejudice against drow...)

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 3:07 am

Originally posted by Curry
I was thinking I should pick Kagain, Shar-Teel, Montaron, Xzar and Safana ...

These are all fine choices. However, you won't really need two thieves, so I would probably pick Montaron or Safana, not both.

For a powerful party, you could consider:
- pc, mage
- Kagain
- Viconia
- Safana
They're all single-class, so they'll level up fast and become quite powerful real soon. They also cover all fields of expertise you'll need in BG1.

Then again, if you're more of a roleplayer, I'd say go and pick the npc's you feel fit in with your other partymembers. For instance, for an evil party, Eldoth and Skie are good options. Granted, Skie is not the best thief in the game and she's available only quite late in the game, but you got to love her soundset.

Curry · Post by **Curry** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 4:16 am

Originally posted by Moleman
Viconia makes an excellent healer/tank to evil party

Healer maybe but tank with those stas ? ;P

garazdawi · Post by **garazdawi** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 4:43 am

Originally posted by Curry
Healer maybe but tank with those stas ? ;P

You'd be surprised at what good a tank she really is...just give her the gautlets of ogre power and she can be in your fronline

Moleman · Post by **Moleman** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 4:59 am

Yes, exactly. Only thing she's missing then is constitution and therefore have pretty low hit (life?) points. But it won't matter - if her armor class is low enough she won't be taking any damage and don't need much hit points!

Curry · Post by **Curry** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 1:42 pm

Branwen is neutral so she fits in evil group too.. Why shouldn't I pick her instead?

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 2:18 pm

Branwen is an allright cleric, but Viconia is a far better cleric. High wisdom and dexterity.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 2:54 pm

If you want some of the NPC's from the city itself in the beginning,
you could try this MOD.
Havent tested it myself

Moleman · Post by **Moleman** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 12:21 am

Originally posted by Curry
Branwen is neutral so she fits in evil group too.. Why shouldn't I pick her instead?

Granted, Branwen has higher wisdom than Viconia but armor class bonus from Viconia due to high dex means that Viconia survives better in the front line. Also, Viconia's 50% macig resistance can be a nuisance when u try healing her but on the other hand it gives protection against harmful spells as well. But of course there's no right answer to this - which one is better is mostly a question of personal preferences.

I for one, think that Viconia is much more pleasent to look at than bulky Branwen and of course if you play BG2 with male char, Viconia might have very special place in your PC's heart...

Also, Viconia has loads of 'sisu'

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 2:19 am

Mmm, I personally prefer Branwen to Viconia. Viconia's magic resistance is useful against spells casted by enemy, but she's also 50% resistant against magic casted by you, such as cure spells, in BG1. It can be fatal in BG1, as she's still low level with very low constitution (=very few HP), and you could waste your precious cure light wound spells on her before she's actually healed because she resist them. Branwen, on the other hand, has more HP (CON 15 while Viconia has 8) with respectable DEX 16. Because cleric can wear any armour (I give her Ankheg Armour, because it's light weight) and can use shields, difference in DEX is less important than CON, which is too much, in my opinion. Branwen's spiritual hammer as innate ability is very useful, and I use her as sub fighter in front line often.

Mini Me · Post by **Mini Me** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 5:14 am

i prefer viconia because she is unique, and branwen whinges whatever you do.
Also, Branwen's portrait looks EXACTLY like Mrs. Howard Smith, the crazy biology teacher at school and that REALLY freaks me out.
I also think viccy makes a better fighter, because getting health back is easy, but dealing it out is important, and she does that much more efficiently than branwen if you give her the gaunts of ogre power because she does the damage and takes less
Also, when a NPC has high health, you think they can hold their own and dont pay much attention, then bam theyre dead. with a person of low health, you are aways conscious of them and take care of them so they are less likely to die.

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 2:33 am

Originally posted by Curry
Ok, now I created a lawful evil elf mage. I picked elf cause of the sleep/charm resistance, infravision and ability to wear the mithril mail while casting spells (AWESOME!), and normal mage cause I didn't FEEL like playing specialized mage. Here's the stats.

I wasn't aware of that a pure Mage could wear any armor whatsoever. Are you certain? A Fighter/Mage or a Cleric/Mage could of course...

Curry · Post by **Curry** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:03 am

elf mage can wear mithril

Moleman · Post by **Moleman** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:15 am

What exatcly is mithril armor in BG 1?

Minor spoiler:

Drizzt's Mithril Chain Mail +4 is the only one I can think of, and in the description it is said to be not usable by Mages (link).

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:07 am

Originally posted by Moleman
What exatcly is mithril armor in BG 1?

Minor spoiler:

Drizzt's Mithril Chain Mail +4 is the only one I can think of, and in the description it is said to be not usable by Mages (link).

Yepp, that's the only one. And there is none usuable by pure Mages in SoA either...

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 9:05 am

As mentioned above you'll need to multi- or dual-class to Fighter to make use of the Mithril, that said:

Montaron is a truly wonderful receptacle for this item. He can still use his thieving abilities while wearing the armour, making him one of the best combination front-liners in the game. Add in a Dagger of Venom, Boots of Speed, Gauntlets of Ogre Power (Viconia is more useful as missile and spell support - and she only has one weapon slot) and a Light Crossbow of Speed and you have a tremendous scout, cut-throat (terrifying Backstab damage), thief and warrior. Plus he has a wonderful voice set and a charmingly dubious relationship with Xzar...

...who (if you want a second mage) should also be in your group for his personality alone (plus he's a much better mage than Dynaheir ever was). Some might say Edwin instead and I do see their perfectly valid point, but - bah, Edwin's just <i>so</i> dull in comparison. That said you could include Edwin, too - why not run with a predominately evil mage group for a real change?

Shar-Teel and Kagain make excellent warriors (especially if you give the Gauntlets of Dexterity to Kagain - he suddenly becomes extremely fearsome) if you decide to go down a more ordinary route.

I'm just coming to the end of BG (I'm within the city at the moment) with an evil party and I've enjoyed it much more thoroughly than with a good party. Sharpen up those pickpocketing skills (Potions of Master Thievery are your friends) and get ready to steal, lie and cheat your way across the Sword Coast. Perhaps I'll see you over on the BG2 forum if you carry your character across as I plan to?

Moleman · Post by **Moleman** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 1:42 pm

Originally posted by Cass
I'm just coming to the end of BG (I'm within the city at the moment) with an evil party and I've enjoyed it much more thoroughly than with a good party. Sharpen up those pickpocketing skills (Potions of Master Thievery are your friends) and get ready to steal, lie and cheat your way across the Sword Coast. Perhaps I'll see you over on the BG2 forum if you carry your character across as I plan to?

Excellent suggestion! But actually, I'm a bit ahead of you. I just finished BG1 with evil party, myself(PC) being a fighter (I planned dualling to kensai/mage in BG2). I used all the other tomes on me (me being selfish and evil and all) except wisdom, so I now have 19 for str, dex and int.

Like you, I enjoyed compay of Kagain (who REALLY needs those gaunts of dex) and Viconia. But instead of Montaron and Xzar, I chose Edwin and Nalia, although I replaced Nalia to Skie later. Shar-teel was not needed as my own character is fighter and of course superior to Shar-teel in every way.

Playing the game with evil character is fun. But I am a little concerned - I'm afraid that some selfishness and evil ways from the game is transferring to my real life personality

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 12:41 pm

Originally posted by Moleman
But instead of Montaron and Xzar, I chose Edwin and Nalia, although I replaced Nalia to Skie later.

*psst* Nalia is a BG2 character. Did you mean Imoen?

Moleman · Post by **Moleman** » Sat Aug 23, 2003 6:23 am

Originally posted by JackOfClubs
*psst* Nalia is a BG2 character. Did you mean Imoen?

Yes, that's right... thanks.