Sykar wrote:His 7 levels in fighers give him a +2 THACO and 7 Hitpoints more on avarage
seriously go try this, i've never seen her hit points even approach ano's like i said earlier, in my current game (grabbing both fresh into chapter 2, ano's got 38 hit points on her - ie almost double. remember con bonuses for hit points in levels 1-9 are capped @ 2 for all non warrior types, so at the very least ano will have 14 more hp + the difference in hit dice rolls - if / when his con increases those bonuses also increase.
and 1 extra attack and +2 damage with his 2 stars in his two proficiencies. Viconia easily compensates with her high Dex his Figther and Proficiency bonus which nets Anomen one attack and +2 damage. Viconia can easily use Bracers of Archery to get another +2 Bonus while still having the option of getting a high AC. To have both Anomen absolutely must get Bracers of Dexterity which in general is more useful on the main tank
only if the main tank also has a poor ac - of all the melee types only keldorn & ano really "need" the dex boost, korgan could use a little help i suppose. hell most of my parties include a pc main tank, @ 19 dex already.
all that being said vicky's ac only really matters if you are letting someone / something beat on her, she could run around naked w/ the shield of reflection and just stay out of melee - and be virtually unhittable.
and Anomen cannot tank very well due to shortcomings I listed earlier unless you like to drink through health potions and chain heal him 24/7.
this is the part that's totally subjective, though it's certainly easier to manage him in & out of combat than it is to keep hd fully upright in combat. (hd's pretty awesome though when he's buffed)
it's one of the reasons i really like ano, you can treat him like a backliner medic, then send him charging into melee quickly w/o having to use many buffs.
His small boni from his fighter class stay static throughout the game and the more spells he gets the less it matters as the game continues and matters even less if you got 2-3 of the already mentioned superior melee characters because their melee and tanking capabilites scale throughout the game very well thanks to even bigger healthpools, better tanking spells and abilities or better stats or any combination of these.
actually not a whole lot scales much beyond where he is, even most of the warrior types don't have that many more hit points than ano (they only get 2 more levels of con bonus + the larger hit die) then the only difference is 1 hp / level. he (& she) also level faster which confuses everything when comparing them to warriors.
If you need a cleric as main supporter/healer/debuffer/bombardier Vicci beats Anomen. If you prefer controlling hostile undead instead of chunking she beats him as well but this is again a matter of personal preference.
vicky is the most dependable medic in the game - though aerie gets bonus points for being able to wear the robe of vecna & using alacrity as well as triggers and the like.
in an rp scenario i might prefer her control undead, but bg2 as presented chunking them is usually more effective.
If you really need a second melee figher Anomen can be decent. But many others are much better than him, even other multi or dual classed characters.
mostly true, however of those other choices most of them are poorer healers.
And before you start with dual wielding:
He has zero stars in it initially and needs 12 additional levels to get 3 stars in it if he can even get 3 stars which I do not know right now. So you need to wait until about level 20 so he can be turned into a decent dual wield character. :laugh:
really 2 stars is decent, 3 is optimal. depends on the situation and the equipment, and the ac of the opponent.
List of the most powerful melee chars in party play so all benefit from buffs and stuffs. Not talking about solo play here which doesn't matter much to me anyway:
1.) Haer'Dalis (with proper spell selection and micro)
2.) Jan Jansen (same again needs proper spell selection and micro)
while i love both jan & hd, to say that they are the most powerful in melee? - really stretching the line between micro & exploits - given a few rounds to buff and the ability to rest safely - they can shred and are very tough to damage.
that being said the more traditional tanks are far more effective coming off a cold start or when dealing with the fodder type battles.
3.) Jaheira albeit her stats are a bit worse for melee her Iron Skins, summons, heals and in ToB Nature's beauty give her a solid edge over pure fighters. Best tank in general but Haer'Dalis and Jan have better offensive capabilites in melee.
i always think of jaheria as a good -> great blocker, not a superior damage dealer, but doesn't embarrass herself. still ranked really high on the list. there isn't much that really separates her from ano in my book - that is mostly due to the equipment restrictions both face. and the "cleric" weapons outclass the vast majority of druid allowed weapons. (foa, crom, runehammer, mace disruption, defender easthaven)
4.) Sarevok thanks to teriffic stats and Deathbringer Assault. ToB only though
5.) Korgan tied with Valygar
6.) Minsc tied with Mazzy
really you could put 3-6 in almost any order depends on what you are looking for, you also left keldorn off the list. and the less said of cernd the better.
