Who completes this set?

[Taralon]

I'm playing an Archer romancing Jaheira.

I plan to bring Imoen, Keldorn, and Sarevok. Who should be the final person?

[Magior]

If you've won the game before, read on. Otherwise, I must warn you about some slight spoilers ahead.

Edwin - if you think you're a bit low on the mage department. Imoen's good for breaching despite her low level when you get her, actually, but you'd propably like a mage in chapters 2-3, anyway. In that case, I'd recommend taking Jan as your only mage and thief in chps 2-3 and dumping him for Imoen when you get her.

Korgan or Valygar - You have only one (Keldorn) and a half (Jaheira) tanks in your party until you get Sarevok so I'd recommend taking another, maybe aven as a 6th party mamber to be dumped for Sarevok. If you want Valygar for scouting and backstabbing, take him. If you plan to scout with your Archer and/or farsights/wizard eyes, take Korgan, as he's the the best fighter-type in the game until you get Sarevok (and probably beyond). I wouldn't take Mazzy as you already have your Archer for the ranged department. Oh, and Minsc is worse than any of the above (albeit funnier).

Anomen - If you can stand him and have need for an extra priest who can fight as well.

Haer'Dalis - If you know how to use him efficiently of want to learn to. He gets noticeably more useful when he gets the enhanced bard song (in ToB)

Or take none as you level up faster.

[Ned Flanders]

I'd recommend Aerie in any party. Her usefulness remains mostly in check with the level of foes you face in the game. In the underdark, she's a little weak due to the high number of magic resistant denizens and her relatively still low options of spell selections. However, during the end of SoA, she becomes a powerhouse and in ToB she's just flat out sick. When you have the option to start using cleric and/or mage spells in your contingencies and sequencers, she becomes a wrecking ball. With the right combo of spells and items at high level, she'll beat the snot out of any tank. I've posted the list of preparations previously on some other thread but I've used her as a tank before. Too bad Tenser's isn't "duration: 1 turn/level"...

[UserUnfriendly]

Check my signature...

aerie is by far the finest specialized demon hunter/undead hunter in the game. and we all know how many stinking demons and undead are in the game!

Go for watchers keep after underdark or in tob, after getting out she will be a god! also make sure you get the gold or silver ioun stone for her to raise wisdom and use machine of lum the mad for her wisdom. DO NOT USE DECK OF MANY THINGS for her! As she is multi her int will be raised. This is a bad thing...

her biggest problem is her low wisdom, and not much can be done except steps outlined above.

once you get wisdom raised to 18, she becomes a tactical nuke against the undead and demons.

[Maharlika]

Excuse me, Sarevok? I thought that this is an SoA forum and you'd only get the Big Bad S when you start playing ToB --- not unless you guys have found a way to bring in Sarevok for an NPC when playing SoA.

However, objectively speaking, based on your list of members: Archer, Jaheira, Imoen, Keldorn and Sarevok, I would go for Aerie. Userunfriendly and Ned have good points when they recommended her. You don't need Anomen anymore considering you've got two tanks (Keldy and BBS). Aerie not only provides the need for a cleric she also complements Imoen for the need for magic use. I tell you, that Horrid wilting spell ROCKS!!! Her ability to use clerical spell for her spell triggers, sequencers and contingencies is a HUGE plus.

[Astafas]

Yepp. With that party I would go for Aerie, even though she's one of my less favoured NPCs. On a side note, I find your party slightly too melee heavy; I probably wouldn't use both Keldorn and Sarevok.

[Astafas]

I'm actually playing an Archer myself right now. This is my party (maybe you find something/someone you like):

Elven Archer: Using Elven Court Bow for the moment and the Spear of the Unicorn for close up battle (which I really try to avoid, though). Wears a Leather Armor + 2 which will soon be replaced by the Shadow Dragon Scales.

Anomen: My main tank and Cleric. IMO, the best Cleric in the game. Vic gets more spells but Anomen got better STR, more HPs and will blow up the undead (instead of taking control of them). In comparison to Aerie he levels up much faster. Will wear the full Red Dragon Suit (nice to have when my mages start fireballing) and wield FoA with the Sling of Everard for distance fighting.

Valygar: The more I play this NPC the better I like him. Amazing what he will do when dualwielding Celestial Fury and the Corthala Blade together with a Girdle of Strenght. I let him backstab a lot.

Jaheira: Druid, romance interest and mage bodyguard. A very well balanced NPC. Uses Blackblood with, for the moment, the Shield of Harmony and throws Darts.

Edwin: A mage throws spells and Edwin got more of these than anyone else. That makes him the best mage, IMO. A great asset to any party. Will use the Staff of the Magi, of course, and the Boomerang/Firetooth Dagger. Robe of Vecna and Bracers of AC 3.

Jan: Extremely useful. All the thief skills you could ever wish for and the spells of a specialist mage as an extra. Light X-Bow of Speed later replaced by Firetooth X-Bow and a Short Sword, for the moment Arbane's.

[Catcher]

I'll give this a try and see. One thing to remember is that two of the stated team members won't be joining you until later ( in the case of Sarevok, MUCH later ). So then, you'll have a slightly evolving party, assuming you pick up Keldorn fairly early in Chapter 2. Aerie, as has been mentioned several times, is indeed a good addition, especially considering your ultimate party composition. She'll backup Imoen in the Mage category and will fill in some on the Cleric gap as well. Fortunately, clerics rise in levels faster than any class short of thieves, so her Multi-class won't be as much of a detriment in SoA. Furthermore, she's easy to pick-up early in the game so you can herd her along in levels. Thus, early in Chapter 2 you have PC Archer, Jaheira, Aerie, and Keldorn. This limits your choices on other NPCs unless you like to reload constantly or juggle members since Viconia does not mix well with Keldorn and Aerie and Korgan don't work out together. Furthermore, your needs are
1: some thieving skills, at least until you get Imoen
2: some additional mage capability
3: 1 front liner with good AC and hit points to help Keldorn tank.

With those needs, I would suggest filing in with Jan and Minsc. Jan would cover 1 quite well and 2 adequately until you get Imoen out of Spellhold. The extra spell per level he gets for specializing evens out his slow progression due to Multi-class and not having access to Necromancy spells is not a great loss in SoA. Minsc may not be the best tank, but he covers a need for some natural exceptional strength (so you can give strength enhancers to Keldorn and Jahiera) and he can wear the heavy armor for the extra AC steps you need.
With this party, you have two main tanks, you can rotate Jaheira as a spell-caster/second-line tank, your PC can pick off people as he does best or drop to melee if you have a leaker, and Jan and Aerie can toss spells with relative impunity.

[Taralon]

Thanks for the input. It's true Sarevok will not make an appearance until TOB, so I'm limited to at most 5 members for the duration of SOA. While Aerie does make the most sense, I'm very reluctant to get her due to her extremely low hit points. (Strangely enough, unlike every other NPC who gets more HP if you get them at a higher level than they would have from leveling from a lower level, Aerie actually gets FEWER HP if you get her at a higher level than if you get her from the get go...why is that?) I was planning to get to Imoen ASAP, and was going to use Yoshimo until then for the thieving tasks...so that's not too much of an issue. Aerie...well...I guess Aerie it is then... =)