Nalia or Imoen?

Greak · Post by **Greak** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:21 pm

So my party consists of me (F/T), Keldorn, Minsc, Jaheira, Aerie and Nalia so far. I'm at chapter 3 so far, havent done many sidequests yet because I don't want to be 5 levels above Imoen once I finally reach her.

Now, my question is: who is a better choice for a mage, Imoen or Nalia? I'm not interested in thieving skills since my own character takes care of those, but what I am interested in is the amount of banter and interaction, from what I've heard Nalia is pretty boring? I would love to hear peoples opinions on which one is more interesting/plain better, because I need to decide whether to rush to Imoen or just keep leveling Nalia. Any help would be appreciated.

Pellinore · Post by **Pellinore** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:51 pm

Many people like Nalia but I can't bear to listen to her. I prefer to head straight to get Imoen unless I plan from the start not to use her, in that case I do all the quests first and go after her at the last minute...

Tower_Master · Post by **Tower_Master** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:59 pm

Howdy, Greak! Although some of Nalia's interactions (such as her father's funeral, once you've liberated the D'Arnisse keep) are engaging, and her heckling of Keldorn regarding the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart adds some nice inter-party dialogue, I'd have to say Imoen is far superior character for your party. Especially towards the end of the game and into ToB (should you plan to go down that route), Imoen's dialogue is far more entertaining than Nalia's and significantly less "whiney" (the NPC section of the BGII guide goes into this in detail, if you're not afraid of spoilers). As for their respective prowess as mages, the difference is largely negligible for the more casual player / non-powergamer. Best of luck!

Thrifalas · Post by **Thrifalas** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:32 am

Imoen, both character- and powerwise. Especially if it's your first time playing, you *should* use her. She is the character most linked to the story, bar yourself of cource. Also, her thieving skills is enough for most situations, where Nalia often fails with her lower percentages. Mage-wise they're pretty much the same.

Greak · Post by **Greak** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:34 pm

I've played through the game before, but I've never had Nalia in my party so I was mostly wondering if she would get "interesting" at any point of the game. But I guess not, so she had to go.

Though I effectively went from a mage with 1 000 000xp to 400 000xp in the process... But what the hell, family first. She'll catch up quickly.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:59 pm

Greak wrote:I've played through the game before, but I've never had Nalia in my party so I was mostly wondering if she would get "interesting" at any point of the game. But I guess not, so she had to go.

Though I effectively went from a mage with 1 000 000xp to 400 000xp in the process... But what the hell, family first. She'll catch up quickly.

If you're interested in roleplaying possibilities, then there's a new player mod that adds a romance for Nalia. Personally, I could care less about player romances in games. But it's up to you. There's also a great mod that adds more banter among all your party members that's very well written, as well.

For other play, I think Nalia makes an effective challenge choice. Like Cernd, she has significant drawbacks, and these can make it fun for players who enjoy the added strategic element of figuring out how to use her to greatest effect despite some handicaps.

Klorox · Post by **Klorox** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:21 pm

Pellinore wrote:Many people like Nalia but I can't bear to listen to her. I prefer to head straight to get Imoen unless I plan from the start not to use her, in that case I do all the quests first and go after her at the last minute...

Thrifalas wrote:Imoen, both character- and powerwise. Especially if it's your first time playing, you *should* use her. She is the character most linked to the story, bar yourself of cource. Also, her thieving skills is enough for most situations, where Nalia often fails with her lower percentages. Mage-wise they're pretty much the same.

I wholeheartedly agree.

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:41 am

If the average level of your party is less than 13th level when you go to Spellhold, Imoen will only have 400,000 experience points. That might be considerably less than the amount of experience Nalia has at the same point in the game. Otherwise, their Mage abilities are completely the same.

Their thieving abilities are a moot point if you don't rely on them. But Imoen has three more Thief levels than Nalia, which gives Imoen about 6 more hit points than Nalia. If you play on the Core Rules setting or higher, a couple of dice rolls at level-up could make the hit point advantage swing either way. But if you insist on reloading to get maximum hit points (or if you use a tweak that gives your characters maximum hit points), then I suppose that Imoen has the advantage when it comes to hit points.

Both of them can use a bow. I guess Imoen has a slight advantage when it comes to THAC0, but whether that is important is entirely up to you.

Their Dexterity, Constitution, and Intelligence are identical. But Nalia has higher Strength, which makes inventory management easier since Imoen has a severe weight restriction.

Nalia also has a nice ring. Imoen can't use it. In fact, it can't be removed. It might be an advantage, or it might be a problem if you would prefer to give Nalia a different ring.

That's all I can think of.

Dummy · Post by **Dummy** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:10 am

I took Imoen out of Roleplay causes too

*spoilers*

Spoiler

But i learned that it was a mistake very late in TOB, right now im standing for the Throne and Mellisan transforms Imoen into the Slayer and you cant do anything against it, so right now im missing a mage and im stuck in the 2nd Stage

But this will only happen if you installed the advanced mods i think

anyway usually i would always go for immy, and with a good party you could take both

davfrahen · Post by **davfrahen** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:16 pm

Nalia by a Long Way

At the moment I have Nalia - level18 and Imoen - leven 13. Nalia actually has a level 9 spell. Imoen has level 7.
Sounds an easy choice to me.

TheCrazdPariah · Post by **TheCrazdPariah** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:31 am

Imoen is prolly the better of the, at least spellcasting wise. She has a higher wisdom making her use of the wish spell much more effective than Nalia.

Klorox · Post by **Klorox** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:29 pm

Eventually Imoen will be more powerful, as people who use Nalia usually add her right at the start of Chapter 2, so she'll be a higher level Mage. I can't stand the fact that you can't remove her ring though. It really drives me nuts b/c I eventually get a ring I'd undoubtedly prefer she wear.

It really depends on what you need. Personally, I prefer Imoen b/c of the story, and I usually don't use a thief.

I've considered adding Nalia, but only if I mod her a bit. I don't like her attitude, nor do I like the fact that she's basically a clone of Immy. There's a mod I've seen in the past that makes her a Fighter who duals into a Mage at a low level... I'd give that one a try. There's also a Nalia romance that I'd be willing to try some time in the future.

Dummy · Post by **Dummy** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:25 pm

i played the drew barry i mean nalia romance in my last runthrough and i must say it fits the person kind of but i didnt like it too much :/

i prefer the sarileth romance