GameBanshee Forums

New here as you can see by the number of posts.
I just wanted to know how many people have chosen aerie as part of their party.
I have played the game 5 times - never finished!
But i blame my college and teachers for giving me too much work for me not finishing the game.

Now i have seen that many people complain that aerie isn't much of a fighter or a cleric and she only has the ability to learn 11 spells per level.
As well as being damn annoying
However she can be an asset if you give her the right spells and equipment.
I personally equiped her with the gauntlets of ogre strenght, and staff of magi.
When getting that warhammer in the mind flayer caves, she proved to be a good warrior.

Now most people would say giving minsc or your main character the war hammer and gautlets would be a better idea.
But minsc has something like 18/93 why does he need them.
My main character had 18/00 - spent an hour getting that stat.
And you can equipe that girdle which sets strenght to 19 to one of your main warriors though IMO it does not do much if the NPC is already at 18 something.

Now as a cleric and mage, she can be quiet useful as an additional healer and she also has the offensive capabilities of a mage.
Now you really don't need the ability to memorise all 21 spells per level as there are only a couple, i would say max 6 which you are in constant need for per level.
Something like fireball, breach, pierce magic etc are a must.
And for level 6+ spells you can always give the ones she can't memorize to Imoen.

I've used Aerie in my good/neutral parties. She's the prefect backup for clerics and mages, good in both, not exceptional in either. I always make sure my own character is a mage when I add her on--or add in Edwin, despite his alignment.

Since My CP's are of good alignemnt all the time, she's almost always in my party.

I think I have 1 save(Viconia romance) where I decided to leave her out. Was a hard decision but with Viconia. Imoen and Nalia she wasn't needed.

Was a hard decision though, I like her character and her voice

I had Aerie in my party all the way through one game because she was my love interest. In subsequent games i dumped her for Edwin as soon as possible (i'm a bit of a powergamer )

If I remember correctly Aerie is excellent at turning undead. Anomen's turn ability explodes undead creatures, but it seemed to me that Aerie succeeded more frequently, though for her they just ran away...

I actually have had Aerie in all of my 'good' games, romance interest or not. I enjoy the protective stance Minsc takes with her, and feel the noble thing to do is protect her if you choose to enter the circus tent. But, then I'm NOT a power gamer, so that's that

I also just like having two clerics and at least three mages, so she's always a good back-up

(Why so many? I like to blow things up before they have a chance of getting close and messing up my pc's hair)

Ok either i am completely missing something or i am a gifted player.
Why are mages so important???
I finished BG1 without a mage until the battle with saverok.
Before that i did not use any mages no spells, heck jaheria was my only cleric/druid.
Yeah and Ajantis that paladin.
But even then i barely used any spells.
And the same thing in this present game.

If there is a battle, i haste my players, chant and bless etc etc.
And then send in the fighters to kick butt.
The mages just stand around and like throw in an odd fireball here and there.
Nothing more.

Also aerie has that protective aura around her, being an older brother, i just feel i have to have her in my team to protect her etc etc.
But as a romantic interest i rather go for jaheira.
Aerie as a romantic interest never crossed my mind.

Loner, she does to get to blow them up once in a while, either it was a computer glitch in the windspear caverns, but i saw Aerie blow up a vampire, which was very weird as it only happened again in chapter 6.

Fas: Well, it all depends on playing style.

What do you do against sanctioned mages? I would beat against them until I realized I needed to dispel that pesky thing, thus need a Mage or Cleric.

Against mind flayers? The spell chaotic commands helps hugely...

Having my thief scout the area, seeing lots of reds together (not blues, I don't do this to them) and using fireball, cloud kill, maybe web is fun too

I don't know, but I just like spell trigger, and having several mages hit a usually hard character together, *shrug*. They just have a power house of offensive skills if used properly, plus they can summon fun things

If I could, I would go through with an entirely magic party

(Currently have Imoen, Nalia, Aerie, Minsc, Anomen and my thief, and it's been fun and surprisingly easy *shrug*)

I'm presently using Aerie in my party for the first time, and it surprises me just how much she kicksa$$. One nice thing is that you can equip her with the robe of vecna, so not only do you get those mage spells wreaking havoc upon the enemy, but also the cleric ones (handy for healing too).

With Robe of Vecna, and mage contingency spells with a mix of cleric and mage spells, she can be quite good. Shes decent healer, and mage. Only scribe spells you will use for her

i used Aerie the first time i played...i play good party & she's my love interest..i think she's a very good back up for pure mage & cleric

ooo ... don't let Aerie's silly-girl personality fool you. She's the one who deals the most damage in my party (besides my fighter PC) and she's the first person I pick up once I get out of the Irenicus Dungeon.

Just give her any strength-enhancing girdle, ring of Wizardry, Robe of Vecna, Amulet of Power, wands, lots of area-spells like fireball (against the undead), a big war hammer and Everard's Sling and watch her kick some serious ass (20 to 25 damage per round). With her around, she makes Viconia and Edwin pretty much redundant. And Jaheira's only useful in conjuring Fire Elementals in my opinion. That ex-Harper can't really fight, even with good equipment.

As a love interest, she's quite a cheese (but I did her romance on my first round), though it's amusing to read her melodramatic expressions

Ok in this game i have learnt the need for mage esp against dragons.
You need atleast cloud kill, greater malison and emotion to get rid of them.
As for chaotic commands, i actually defeated the mind flayer cave and the ones in the under dark with using it.
It took nearly 6 days game time and nearly a week in real time but i did it.
Then i come here learn about chaotic commands and boom try the place again, done in under 1 hour of real time.
Mages do have their uses.
Like you said it depends on your playing style.
And a couple of questions regarding the items you have listed.
What is the robe of vecna???
I know you can by the robe of the good archmagi in Trademeet but where do you get this robe??
Also Everard's Sling, you get that in chapter 6??

I also used her in my party.. cleric/mage multiclass is one of my favourite.

@Fas

Those 2 items are off of the Bonus Merchants that were in the Pre-Order and Collectors Edition of Baldur's Gate 2. So, if you haven't gone to downloads on GameBanshee and got the bonus merchants zip (for those of us who got a regular copy of the game), you will not see these items nor the merchants who sell them (Robe is on Deidre in Adventure's Mart, Sling on Joruk (sp?) in the Copper Coronet). Don't worry, you add them without restarting or messing up your current game.

As for Aerie, Since my PC is a Paladin and my group Good Aligned (Jaheira being my only neutral), I use her.

If you want her to fight, the robe is good, but also, Mauler's Arm +2 (makes strength 18 till you can get Crom Faeyr) & a belt of Fortitude take out her stat weaknesses, while a Sensuate Amulet and Baldur's Helm take care of Hit Points. Lastly bracers to lower her A.C.

Also, for turning purposes, I gave her the ring of human influence and the nymph cloak. This gives her along with the Sensuate Amulet a charisma of 22, throw on the spell Friends for a 26 charisma (god-like charisma) and turn, nothing usually resists and most Vampires tend to drop dead (she becomes so cute it make's the undead sick). I'll let you know if it affects Liches when I fight another.

Orland

She's a good NPC IMO. Give her the robe of Vecna and she'll become really helpful even in combat having the ability of casting healing spells very quicly......moreover you must not think at her as a fighter type.....She's a good additional mage/cleric. I usually have her+mage+cleric.....That's my opinion..

I always bring her along. She's flexible, and very usful once you've given her that robe.

Robe of Good Archmagi: get from the Smithy at Trademeet. His store is marked in your map. Opened 24 hours!

Mages? It depends on your style of play I suppose. Personally I have always had a mage, area effect spells are crucial sometimes!

I am currently playing IWD which as many of you know is very battle intensive. I gave up BGII at the final battle cause it was SOOO frustrating - but now I realise I was in the BG frame of mind! I hadn`t loaded BGII for some six months then just popped it in the other day for a look after weeks of playing Icewind Dale in Heart of Fury mode and guess what? Wiped the floor of the last battle in 25 minutes with few injuries and barely remembering my character names never mind their spells and proficiencies!! lol!!

Anyhow, back to mages check out the following stats on my IWD team:

Ranger Level 17

Exp Value to Party 28%
% of total kills 27%
Exp value of kills 818,530
No of kills 322

Paladin Level 17

Exp Value to Party 6%
% of total kills 10%
Exp value of kills 198,455
No of kills 119

Thief Level 20

Exp Value to Party 1%
% of total kills 0%
Exp value of kills 38,100
No of kills 10

Fighter/Cleric Level 14/15

Exp Value to Party 7%
% of total kills 8%
Exp value of kills 232,745
No of kills 99

Fighter Level 18

Exp Value to Party 25%
% of total kills 25%
Exp value of kills 754,230
No of kills 293

Mage Level 17

Exp Value to Party 30%
% of total kills 26%
Exp value of kills 879,230
No of kills 310

The stats say it all! Despite only having 50 something life points (compared to my party average of 150!) he is my most vital character! He obviously does not often get involved in melee but his conjuring and area effect spells are SO crucial!! I must admit, when I first checked out these stats I was stunned! especially as to how useless a level 20 thief can be!

Next time through IWD I might just take the Ranger, Fighter and Mage! Lets face it the others do look pretty useless despite their level! Where some of the traps might kill a level eight they barely bruise at this level and the mage can use "knock" for all those chests.

If only I could bring these guys into my next BG game - I would wipe the floor!

Hehe - I just love these games!

Oh - and I kept Aerie, I just liked her <shrug>

Orlando thanks alot for the info.
I never new that there was this add on.
Is there anything else?
Also to ask what/where is the Mauler's Arm +2 and the Sensuate Amulet??