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This is my first play through of BG, I'm playing on the Baldur's Gate Trilogy mod and having a hard time deciding my future party. I plan on playing a neutral good/good play through and have the following NPC's in mind.

PC Me (Sorcerer)
Ajantis (Paladin, Front Line)
Minse (Front Line)
Imoen (Thief, maybe dual class to mage later?)
Dynaheir (Invoker)
Kivan (Ranger)
Branwen (cleric)

I am trying to decide which of these characters i don't need so i can have a 6 man party, Do i need at least 1 cleric? Is Ajantis necessary if i have Minse? Do i need a ranger (Kivan)? I'm have a hard time deciding who to throw out as this is my first time with BG. Any help will be appreciated!

Hey,

These are all fun, engaging characters that you've picked out. I'd say, though, that you're a bit heavy in tanks and wizards. You can either drop a warrior (Ajantis, Minsc, or Kivan) or let go of Dynaheir (who I don't think is the game's most exciting or content-filled character.)

Getting rid of Dynaheir might actually be easiest; in BG1, unless you're using difficulty-enhancing mods, I find that warriors are much simpler to use, much more protected, and often more powerful than wizards. It'd be a mistake to not have any arcane power with you, but a single sorcerer should easily fit the bill.

That said, you could easily stick with Dynaheir and lose one of your warriors. If you're new, I'd definitely keep Minsc for the comedy factor. You can decide if you want a stronger archer and weaker melee fighter (Kivan) or a less interesting but more reliable tank (Ajantis) instead. Bear in mind that Branwen, with the right armor, will probably in your melee group, too.

You certainly don't need a ranger; the class doesn't fill any role that a paladin won't. You do, however, want a cleric or a druid. Especially with HP being so low in BG1, you're going to want all the healing you can get. So definitely keep Branwen.

Or, have you considered picking up Khalid and Jaheira? They're some of the first NPCs you might, they're generally good-inclined, they're both entertaining (Jaheira bothers some people, but I love her) and, best of all, they're canonically the people you travel with.

Actually, the canonical BG1 group is the PC, Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, and Dynaheir, which is pretty damn close to what you're looking at. Consider using this template; it's a strong party, and it makes the transition into BG2 very smooth.

A final note: I wouldn't dual-class Imoen. You're going to want at least one rogue specialist to take care of locks and traps, and once you dual-class her, she stops advancing those skills forever.

Hope this helps, and let us know if you need anything else!

You have to decide on whether to have Jaheira and Khalid in your party before tackling the Nashkel Mines quest in case you didn't know.

Also you can't get rid of Dynaheir without losing Minsc too, and vice versa, and if you don't dual class Imoen because you want her to stay a thief you'll be very frustrated when you reach BG2.

One of the advantages of BG Trilogy is you can, if you're prepared to exploit the console and shadow keeper, stick two fingers (one finger if you're Amreican) up at the canonical bs (that's not aimed at you Garriath). If you do use SK and the console, then you can keep Imoen as a straight thief, even give her a kit if you so wish. You can of course edit any of the NPCs that way, but the only one I'd change, apart from Imoen, is Minsc.

The main problem of not having a 'canonical' part when you reach SoA is that party interaction is truncated. If NPC interaction is your thing it's something worth bearing in mind.

PS Be careful if you do pick up Minsc, you need to rescue Dynaheir as quickly as possible, leave it too long (in Minc's opinion) and you'll have severe problems.

galraen wrote:You have to decide on whether to have Jaheira and Khalid in your party before tackling the Nashkel Mines quest in case you didn't know.

Also you can't get rid of Dynaheir without losing Minsc too, and vice versa, and if you don't dual class Imoen because you want her to stay a thief you'll be very frustrated when you reach BG2.

One of the advantages of BG Trilogy is you can, if you're prepared to exploit the console and shadow keeper, stick two fingers (one finger if you're Amreican) up at the canonical bs (that's not aimed at you Garriath). If you do use SK and the console, then you can keep Imoen as a straight thief, even give her a kit if you so wish. You can of course edit any of the NPCs that way, but the only one I'd change, apart from Imoen, is Minsc.

The main problem of not having a 'canonical' part when you reach SoA is that party interaction is truncated. If NPC interaction is your thing it's something worth bearing in mind.

PS Be careful if you do pick up Minsc, you need to rescue Dynaheir as quickly as possible, leave it too long (in Minc's opinion) and you'll have severe problems.

Galraen is the change in banter a feature of EE? I thought that SToA acts as if canonical happened even if it didn't. For example if minsc dies in BG1 he will still be alive in SToA even though it doesn't make sense.

And that brings up another idea if ^ is true. If you want Minsc without Dynaheir just let Dynaheir die??

If you want Minsc without Dynaheir just let Dynaheir die??

The original poster did say he wanted to play a good character/party!

Galraen is the change in banter a feature of EE?

I obviously didn't write my post very well, as I'm not at all sure what you mean by that. I haven't seen EE, and won't until they get the bugs (according to what I read in another thread) out and even then not until they've finished the whole game, i.e. SoA and ToB.

The reason I mentioned using BG Trilogy along with SK and the console is that you can overcome the insane insistence on having dead characters foisted on you. With BGT if they die in BG1 then they don't appear in SoA, except for Imoen of course. My current party in SoA for example is

Main - Thief/Wild Mage (I cheated, never played a WM before so wanted to try it out without starting again)
Branwen
Imoen - I changed her to a blade as I didn't want two M/T
Yeslick
Ajantis
Saerileth

I had Dynaheir in BG1, but obviously she's deceased. Which reminds me I forgot to point out that you can have her in the party without the Psychopath as long as you don't pick him up in the first place. Not surprisingly she never mentions Minsc if he isn't in the party, she obviously is relieved to be rid of him!

Obviously with that party there is no banter in SoA apart from the PCs interaction wtih Saerlieth. Having heard it all before, been there, got the T-Shirt, I don't miss the banter.

Thanks for the input guys, I definitely appreciate it! Now i have my party narrowed down to this...

Me (sorcerer)
Ajantis (paladin)
Imoen (theif/mage)
Minse (ranger)
Branwen (cleric)

I dropped Kivan and Dynaheir because they seen the most dispensable, and less usefull then the others. I am going to dual Imoen to mage after she gets all her important thief skills up then just use the cheats to level her through mage so she can use her theif skills again. (Will that overpower her to much?)

Now i need to decide who to round my team out with, Ive been picking my characters mostly on battle effectiveness using a party creation guide on gamefaqs.
I was thinking choosing one of the following...

Yeslick (fighter/cleric)
Faldorn (druid)
Garrick (bard)

Which of these NPC's do you guys think would round my team out the best, or is there another NPC that would be better? Again thanks for the help !

EDIT: looks like you can't get Yeslick or Faldorn until late in the game, so maby i will go with Garrick for awhile, unless someone else would be better?

What levels can they get to on the cap? In SToA druids are strong early because the leveling table they gain so fast. I think early in the table is slower though.

Also what spells will the druid get? What are available in BG or tutu if you play that? The insect 5th level spell is crazy powerful and the 4th level summon nymphs could be pretty crazy too.

Assuming ToSC is installed -

Sorcerer level 9,
Ajantis level 8,
Imoen (best combo, opinion obvious;y) 7th thief/8th Mage could make it to 6th thief/9th mage
Minsc level 8
Branwen Level 8
Yeslick level 7/7
Faldorn Level 8
Garrick level 10

So no Insect Plague, but will get Call Woodland Beings (which really shouldn't work in a dungeon, city or in the Underdark!)

If Imoen stays as a thief then she can get to level 10

Is it possible to play with Minsc without Dynaheir or Jaheria without Khalid legitimately? I think I knocked off both of them my first playthrough, because I wanted their partners. It's kinda annoying that when you ditch one, the other one also leaves, grr.

Furthermore, Imoen starts as a level 7Thief 8Mage in SoA so if you want the convertion as seamless as possible, that's the way to go, imo.

1. Not that I know of

2. True, but they distribute her thieving skills poorly, but why on earth didn't they just import her as she was at the end of BG? Is it really beyond their skills to do that? Of course not, they just couldn't be assed to do it properly.

PS Despite my bitching, I still think that the BG series is the best CRPG of all time, but it's very far from perfect