Need some party advice...

Parak · Post by **Parak** » Thu Aug 02, 2001 6:58 pm

This is my party as it stands now:

Me: Level 10 Inquisitor
Nalia: 11
Jan: 10/11
Anomen: 10
Jaheira: 12

Just got back from killing Firkraag (no cheats or cheese ;p) was a REALLY close fight, so close, that one second later I would have been dead (saved by a lightning bolt from Jan when Firkraag decided to munch on my panicked self instead of Jan, which saved the day).

Anyway, back to the point: I'm using Anomen as a cleric (with sling of everard), so basically I only have one tank, me. Which I guess can hurt some, but it hasn't really bothered me, up until Firkraag *wince*.

I'm considering about getting either Mazzy or Valygar (not sure which..), dumping Nalia for Edwin (How much trouble is it to keep him happy in a good party?) and later on Jan for Imoen (or keep Jan?)

Another problem is what am I going to do when I meet up with Sarevok in TOB(I'll want to get him for RP reasons). Granted this is a long long long while off, but I like to think ahead ;p

Thoughts?

Sojourner · Post by **Sojourner** » Thu Aug 02, 2001 11:13 pm

You have more tanks than you think.

Anomen - Give him the Gauntlets of Dexterity, good armor and shield, and have him wield the Flail of Ages

Jaheira - Give her a giant-strength girdle, good armor and shield, and have her cast Ironskins before battles

I would choose Mazzy over Valygar for her bow proficiency. If you pick up Edwin, don't let your party rep exceed 18 or he'll leave.

Parak · Post by **Parak** » Fri Aug 03, 2001 6:58 pm

Yeah, the grandmastery in shortbows is quite nice, but is it worth it to use her only as a archer?

Meerlight · Post by **Meerlight** » Fri Aug 03, 2001 8:37 pm

IMHO Archer except for the archer kit are pretty worthless. They can't help you out much in fights with powerful creatures because of the restriction of only having +2/+3 (tob) projectiles. I would take Valygar over Mazzy any day. I have had them both before. In one of my games when i played a Monk and had Valygar, Keldorn, Anomen, Imoen and Aerie in my party, Valygar got more kills than Keldorn and my Monk combined. And i was showing favoritism towards my Monk! Valygar also has access to some wizards spells and he can backstab which comes in handy.....

Xyx · Post by **Xyx** » Sat Aug 04, 2001 2:05 am

I've always wondered why the best un-buffed AC NPC in the game should be stuck in the back row with a bow... Mazzy can soak up blows better than Korgan, Minsc, Valygar, Anomen or Keldorn.

Then again, she is kind of hard to put in the right spot. She can't dish out insane amounts of melee damage like Korgan and cannot combine archery with spellcasting like Imoen and Nalia. This makes her neither an ideal front-liner nor back-liner, though she's decent at both.

Sojourner · Post by **Sojourner** » Sat Aug 04, 2001 2:13 am

Start giving Mazzy proficiency points in Halbard and equip her with a strength-enhancing item. By the time you reach ToB, she'll be cleaning house (esp. with the Ravager - don't forget to hold on to the Wave halbard). With the Gesen bow, she's one of the best mage-disrupters in the game next to my assassin.

[ 08-04-2001: Message edited by: Sojourner ]

KillerKid · Post by **KillerKid** » Sat Aug 04, 2001 2:24 am

Mazzy i think is stupid and sucky i have found that alot of characters are better. valygar is acually a good choice if you put on CeFu and another good katana perferbly Hindo's blade upgraded later in tob but u only get it at watchers keep until you get it use dak'konsm zerth blade which you can buy. i found that valygar was doing alot of dmg on my monk party to. now he wasnt dealing most of the dmg hehe. that always tends to be korgan and my main character. i tend to use korgan in every party which always ends up doing 20-40% (60% only when i used mages/theifs) of all the kills. valygar always tends to do 30% which is prety good. my mages tend to do around 3-5% each lol but they have there strong points like bring down defenses. i prefer having alot of good fighters in case you cant tell hehe. i hardly ever cast many good spells at all like those flying swords/timestop/contigency/any defense/and pretty much anything most people uses all i did was like lightning/MM with trigger and breach and i played the game using physical instead of magic

Imnesvale · Post by **Imnesvale** » Sat Aug 04, 2001 2:50 am

How can you say so about Mazzy... she's the best archer in the game! Give her gesen and some good shortsword... she killed all the dragons in the game!!! (well almost, not the ToB ones... havn't finished those yet...)
PLus she ain't annoing like other NPC i know...

Quark · Post by **Quark** » Sat Aug 04, 2001 2:49 pm

I don't know about trading Edwin for Nalia, those thief skills (though limited) can still be helpfull.

seanthony · Post by **seanthony** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 5:20 am

It's funny that you should bring this topic up. I TOO am right in the middle of a game where my leader is a Paladin (Undead Hunter.. I just HATE Level drains! haha.. plus, if I wanted an inquisitor, I'd get Keldorn).

Anyway, I'm still in Ch2/3, about the same as you (I think).

Here's my party (which is VERY similar to yours):
Me- Undead Hunter (11)
Jaheira (11, I think)
Aerie (12-14?)
Jan (12-14?)
Mazzy (11-12)

For me, I'd prefer Mazzy any day. I mean, she's got the bow.. and she's got more HP (usually). If you're not as silly as me (coz I added proficiencies in SHORT SWORD.. DUH! Actually, my worst level up proficiency was when I gave Aerie a point in SWORD AND SHIELD!!!)... arm her with a two handed swords, or a halberd or something powerful. Then let her kick ass!

)

Oh.. and ditch Nalia. I hate her! haha.. she's a crappy thief.. and mage wise.. well, her HP is too low. I'd take Edwin any day (for his extra spells, the only problem is that he's evil).

And a comment for Quark: Nalia's thieving skills useful?!?! are you SERIOUS??! haha Level 4 thief is pointless. She can't even open the locks at Copper Coronet!

pomr · Post by **pomr** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 11:12 am

Nalia is like 'Imoen Lite', plus her portrait reminds me of a stoned Susan Sarandon.

Personally I think that Valgyar is a better front liner, and that Mazzy would be great to disrupt spells.

BTW - just as a side note, there are +4 arrows you can find all the way back in the original BG --> Arrows of Piercing. Just an FYI.

Doltan · Post by **Doltan** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 12:37 pm

I really enjoy playing with Mazzy, but I've had the same problem of deciding whether to put her on the front lines (with a shortsword or spear!), or leave her in the back with arrows. She can be a good tank given the right equipment. By the way, I would say use spears over halberds for her, because ixil's spike (TOB) is just awesome. The impaler in SOA is also nice.

Quark · Post by **Quark** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 6:04 pm

Potions, Potions, Potions

THE JAKER · Post by **THE JAKER** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 6:53 pm

Yeah, get Mazzy's STR up (there's so many ways...) and she is GREAT in the front line, plus like someone said she is really nice and pleasant to be around. She has loads of HP and she is great with a bunch of Whirlwinds. I think Korgan is the only better fighter, but if you need "Good" people... I only let her use a bow occasionally (although when she does use it she hits EVERY TIME!)

Hey speaking of characters that get tiny percentages of kills, I had Jan in a party where he was the only one w/ under 100 HP, so I had him just hiding out with the staff of magi, scouting and disarming traps but not really fighting except for the occasional handy spell... He ended up with a big 1% of the kills in the party!

Meerlight · Post by **Meerlight** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 6:57 pm

Actually FYI Arrows of Piercing only count as +1 weapons even though they give +4 thaco.

pomr · Post by **pomr** » Wed Aug 08, 2001 10:12 am

Only count as +1? That's pretty lame.

Thanks for info Meerlight!