Is IMOEN necessary for the plot ..?

[liorde]

Hello all,
After I have rescued Imoen from Irenicus and let Yoshimo go, I realize that either I amnot using her as she is suppose to be used, or, she is a rather weak, spellcaster and thief all together.
I cannot make her wear any leather armor cause it will make her spells disabled, then again, she is so very vulnerable I cannot have her touched by anything as she will perish .
So what can I do with her? I went through a lot to retrieve her but now I see that she is not very helpful.

What do you folks suggest?
My party is a full party, including Imoen we are 6.

Thank-you.

[kmonster]

Imoen is not neccessary for the plot.

But she isn't vulnerable either. A simple stone skin combined with mirror image should be enough to absorb more than 10 hits. With armor spells you can get her AC good enough to avoid most attacks.

[Pellinore]

Imoen isn't THAT weak. I rather like having her in the party.

[liorde]

But if you put armor on her her spells become disabled.
Is there some way to go around this limitation?
A special item maybe??

[Klorox]

She should be wearing some Wizard Robes when you find them, stay far away from melee combat and cast spells. When she's not casting, she's a pretty good shot with a short bow.

If Imoen is in melee combat, you're doing something wrong. She should be in the back row.

[Crenshinibon]

You can give her Wizard Robes, some of which are VERY powerful or you can equip Imoen with an Elven Chain type armor, which doesn't disable her spellcasting.

[Raven_Song]

But if you put armor on her her spells become disabled.
Is there some way to go around this limitation? A special item maybe??

Elven Chainmail or Bracers

*edit"

Crenshinibon beat me too it.

[dragon wench]

Where are you presently? Are you still in Spellhold, or have you ended up further than that? If you have emerged from Chateau Irenicus Part Two, you will soon enough end up in an area where good elven chain is quite easily accessible.
You should also check with the merchants you encounter for Bracers of Defense 3, or 4, they alone will get Imoen's ac down to at least zero.

[RBitG]

My advice is to drop Imoen, I find her to be an average character at best. Athough doing the terrible deed can be painful.

[DaemonJ]

Once Imoen has a wizard's robe on she rarely gets hit. Granted she can't get into melee but then as a mage she shouldn't be there anyway.

[Ian Kognitow]

Actually, with the Elven chain mail (one of which can be upgraded in ToB), and often just the 3AC bracers, I've often tended to tank Imoen--dual wielding swords--later in the game. Though not as good as a fighter/mage, she's very powerful with a Prot. Magic Weapons/Improved Haste/Tenser's transformation trigger. This is of course provided that you have someone else available for casting.

And as a basic thing, don't forget to use Mislead so that she will typically not be targeted until it's dispelled.

[CFM]

My opinion of Imoen is that she functions as a wizard, with the ability to handle shortbows & locks & traps.

Now, she may not have Edwin's Amulet, but does this make her a lemon?

[Onkel Bob]

I actually find the part about her being able to use a bow really cool. You can cast one spell per round in most of a normal game, but that doesn't mean you can't do something else. No reason not to shoot a few arrows between spells. Especially with the Tuigan Bow...

Her and Nalia are pretty even I think. Imoen has better thieving abilities but Nalia has a cool ring...

Nalia is better if you don't hurry a bit to get Imoen of course...

[Pellinore]

Immie is nowhere near as annoying as Nalia.

[Jedi_Sauraus]

Frankly after recently trying Edwin I'm appaled at myself for ever taking Nalia.
Imoen is only a must for roleplaying reasons as 3/4 of the game is centered around rescueing her.

of the 2 I find Imoen's voice and text's more annoying. you probably also got the 400k imoen at spellhold. I just shadow keep her so her expierience is about 700k or 2 levels behind mine, if she spawns with 400k. usually the game is kind and spawns imoen with 1.2 million so she's only 1-2 levels behind.

as a mage she carries her weight in the team, but the same can be said of all mages. she's a good option if your not big on thief HLA's, backstabbing (and have no other thief to disarm/open locks) as a mage she's more powerfull than jan though he can get nasty traps. it's your call ditch her if she annoys you.

[Raven_Song]

Immie is nowhere near as annoying as Nalia.

In your opinion.

Imoen is only a must for roleplaying reasons as 3/4 of the game is centered around rescueing her.

Well it is and it isn't. There are those dialogue options about not caring about Imoen and hunting Irenicus instead.

Imoen was apparently originally intended to die upon exiting Irenicus Dungeon, and was only re-included in Spellhold much later, due to protests by some "fans".

[Celacena]

With Imoen expecting to be rescued, I always make sure that I have either an expendable party member who I am happy to junk, or ensure that the party has room for her - I also make sure that I have appropriate kit for her AND a scroll-case full of spells that she may not yet have learned when you split up. I usually keep the bracers of AC4 for her plus cloak/ring of protection so that she is safe if we are ambushed - the tuigan bow is a great weapon for her and I often give her 'boots of avoidance' to enhance her AC in missile exchanges - I think she can use a girdle of some kind, as she has lost her belt at that point. I use her as spellcaster and artillery and if I have spare boots of speed, as a fast scout - her magic allows her to use invisibility of course, in addition to hiding skills. as a l2 spell I have mirror image memorised for her - another handy protection, but she copes fine.
the character I most miss is Yoshimo - I get his thieving skills high and then he rats on us. a resurrected Yoshimo free of his geas would be welcome.
it depends on how senior she has got, but I often omit Nalia to make room for Imoen.

remember - the smaller the party, the sooner NPCs will level up!

[Ian Kognitow]

With Imoen expecting to be rescued, I always make sure that I have either an expendable party member who I am happy to junk, or ensure that the party has room for her - I also make sure that I have appropriate kit for her AND a scroll-case full of spells that she may not yet have learned when you split up. I usually keep the bracers of AC4 for her plus cloak/ring of protection so that she is safe if we are ambushed - the tuigan bow is a great weapon for her and I often give her 'boots of avoidance' to enhance her AC in missile exchanges - I think she can use a girdle of some kind, as she has lost her belt at that point. I use her as spellcaster and artillery and if I have spare boots of speed, as a fast scout - her magic allows her to use invisibility of course, in addition to hiding skills.

That's one course of action. Another, again with Imoen expecting to be rescued, is to backstab her for taking you for granted and not getting out of trouble herself. Almost as much fun as just leaving Jaheira locked up (and ultimately caved in) in Chateau Irenicus.

[Jedi_Sauraus]

hahahahaha nice one Ian, leaving jaheira in the dungeon to be (ultimatly) sealed of when the Chateau caves in. I hate Jaheira so I may try it once thx for a good idea .

Also I still think that the game pushes you and Imoen together. if it were truly your choice, the game would'nt force you to go to spellhold instead you could take the land route and ally up with the elves........ or something like that to you meet Irenicus.

or, for example, select the evil dialogs about not caring for Imoen ect ect. get a vision of Immy dieing while Irenicus steals her soul

going to spellhold and the underdark is good because you visit new locations and gain alot of exp. I'm just saying pursueing Irenicus without rescueing Imoen could have been handled diffrently for an evil player.

I did not play BG1 so I feel no attachment to her and once I finally get her, I'm more attached to my team as it was before chapter 4 and am thinking damn time to give up a usefull teammate to go rescue a complete stranger

[Raven_Song]

Also I still think that the game pushes you and Imoen together. if it were truly your choice, the game would'nt force you to go to spellhold instead you could take the land route and ally up with the elves........ or something like that to you meet Irenicus.

I was told that the original concept of the gmae was that you would travel to Spellhold to take your revenge on Irenicus for him murdering Imoen, at the end of Chapter 1.

or, for example, select the evil dialogs about not caring for Imoen ect ect. get a vision of Immy dieing while Irenicus steals her soul going to spellhold and the underdark is good because you visit new locations and gain alot of exp. I'm just saying pursueing Irenicus without rescueing Imoen could have been handled diffrently for an evil player.

I personally feel that Bioware expected people to play good characters, or they were certainly pushing for it. When you consider that there are double the number of good NPC's, and that of the evils (who really aren't all that evil) Viconia is redeemable (and indeed Korgan was originally planned to be redeemable by Mazzy) it does not seem that they really wanted to develop an evil path.