GameBanshee Forums

greetings all, I'm new here... it's nice to see people still play this game... anyway, I wanted to share a trick I found with the game...

some background info...
I'm playing the patched version of the game (the 3 official patches), by the way... also, my party is of true neutral alignment, consisting of 1 male human melee fighter (specializing intimately with the longsword), 1 male half-elf ranged fighter (specializing intimately with the longbow), 1 female human cleric (used as a healer, aura maker, and backup melee fighter), 1 female elf druid (used for summons, offensive spells, and emergency melee fighter), 1 male human wizard (I had to put all those scrolls to use, making him a master of magic), and Raimol (to stay back and protect the wizard)... [all level 10], also 1 Brown Bear named Oso (Druid's pet)...

I apologize if this 'trick' sounds redundant if people already know it... so, here it is... there is a way to add a human (and any other humanoid) to join your party as a full member, permanently... I armed my wizard with the 'Dominate Person' spell just to try out on one of the guardsmen at the Nulb inn... I was forced to take action, slaughtering the people in the building, because someone tried to rob me... anyways, I had no problem charming the guardsman with [Dominate Person], and it was timed for 144000 units of time, I think... so I brought him to my house in Nulb, and killed him using my melee fighter... I wanted to outfit him with better arms and armor, and he was already encumbered, so I planned to have my cleric cast [Raise Dead]... after the NPC died, his portrait was still listed in my party, but with the question mark inside the red circle (meaning he was dead)... so my cleric resurrected him, and the timer did NOT reappear, so I was able to control him as a permanent member of my party...

I was surprised by this, and decided to test it out on other NPC's... I reloaded the gamefile to when I was about to enter the Nulb inn... and it worked... I got Rentcsh (I think I butchered his name, but the big fighter in the Nulb inn), the other inhabitants of the inn, as well as one of Grank's bandits in the water elemental node within the Temple... I never saved the game after successfully gaining these members permanently, as I wanted to look at the stats of other humans... Pirates, Brigands, and even Black Jay of Hommlet are able to join... I'm sure every other human is available, assuming that their will saving throws fail... it's just important to attempt the trick when there are no 'witnesses' about... I was turned on by the people of Nulb since I massacred the inn... but I had no problem with Black Jay's 'conversion', since he was alone in his home...

anyway, this trick also works with humanoids... although the body armor doesn't show on their bodies, the AC bonus is there... the ones I tried without error are: Lizardmen, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears so far... what's interesting about these creatures, is that they start at level 0, and you can choose their 'career' paths to become a monk, ranger, barbarian, fighter, depending on their cultural background... funny thing about the hobgoblin, is I tried to talk to him after he became a permanent member, and he called me a 'son of a bitch'...

obviously, these NPC's are relatively weak compared to your basic 5 member party, but it's fun to use... they level up automatically, like an NPC would... they also loot a lot, so be careful... I suppose the only NPC I've seen worth taking is one (or more) of Grank's bandits... they are level 8 rogues with good feats, including two-weapon fighting and defense, good strength, and ok hitpoints (60, which could rise to 80+ at level 10, I think, since their constitution bonus is +4)... the only drawback is that they can only use light armor... but their dexterity bonus is +6! also, the chief cleric in hommlet may be fun to use, but I have so far been unable to break through his will saving throws... I had already beat the game, and killed most of the high priests, as well as the powerful enemies in the game, so I can't try to dominate them...

anyway, sorry about the long post, but I thought it could add some replay value to try and beat the game with alternate NPC party members... I'll try and level-up a Lizardman later, since they don't look to be too bad, as long as I outfit them with crafted gloves of +6 strength, like I did with Raimol...

Very cool. I hadn't known about this.

I suspect the game handles dominate like a condition - when it ends it removes the character from the party. Death and resurrection removes all conditions, but doesn't activate the end effect, so the guy's still in the party and the condition that'd make him leave is gone. Neat.

I'm definitely going to form a party of goblins now.

to elaborate on the trick... the [Dominate Animal] spell works in a similar way... the timer on the animals is only 10 units of time, so I had to kill and cast [Raise Dead] quickly... I've tried it on a wolf, and it starts at level 0... the drawback is that animals can't wear items... however, for someone who wishes to have more pets, this trick may be of use to you... just keep in mind that each animal takes up one of the NPC spots in your party...

the [Dominate Person] spell does indeed work on Goblins (those little monsters), and they can be trained from level 0 to become a Barbarian, Fighter, Druid, Rogue, or Ranger, I believe... HOWEVER, starting at level 2, the creature multiclassed automatically to become a Fighter (I tried to train him as a Barbarian), so I was a bit disappointed with this... but he did keep the Barbarian Rage and Fast Movement feats... so, for example, you can get a Goblin to become a level 1 Druid, with access to the early Druid spells, as well as getting a pet, but the Goblin will change to become a Fighter later on...

I did, however, manage to level up Grank's Bandit to level 10... by reaching level 9, he multiclassed to a Fighter, gaining all the respective feats, in addition to Power Attack... at level 10, he gained the Cleave feat... so, I have a very good NPC member that can make 3 attacks per round (two-weapon specialty), has 90hp, can wear up to heavy armor, and uses sneak attacks effectively!

also of note... when using the [Dominate Person] spell, and the humanoid starts at level 0, you could choose for the humanoid to become a Fighter... by doing so will allow you to choose it's first bonus feat...