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After all these years and I still love these two games. Go figure. But since I've gone through the game TWICE now (once as the ubiquitous Kensai-Mage and once as a pure Archer) I've decided I'm through of regular vanilla SoA and ToB, now I've installed (collective gasp here) a MOD! OH NO! What'll come next? Powergaming for Opal? Oh wait, he HAS done that too (in Morrowind, right now actually). Well anyhow...

The mod's a teeny tiny one, and one I really love (at least, I WILL love if it lives up to my expectations). It's the Sharpshooter Thief Kit pack, which is basically a thiefish archer. The Sharpshooter does not get the damage bonuses the Archer gets (quite a pity) but he DOES get a called shot (all this information is available here). The important thing is, called shot is (as far as I can tell) cumulative, so the -1 to spell resistance will stack. (If I'm wrong, half the reason I got the Sharpshooter will vanish. Poof! So please tell me!) The idea was something I read here in the forums (I forgot who said it), basically:
Timestop
Twang
Twang
Twang
Feeblemind

Now, the party I had in mind for this excursion is the party that I ALWAYS seem to end up with:
Minsc
Keldorn
Anomen
Viconia
Yoshimo (later Imoen)
Me

Sometimes I might replace Viconia with Cernd, or perhaps Aerie, but it seems Minsc + Keldorn is a bit redundant. Keldorn, especially, is hardly useful for ANYTHING except Casomyr. Well that and Truesight. Oh and we can't forget Dispel Magic. OK, OK, he's damn useful. But he's SO bland! And I just don't have the heart to kick out Minsc, plus he's super funny! I guess, then, that I've only got one slot open (please don't tell me to kick out Immy. I may be learning to powergame but my roleplaying instincts are still strong). Maybe I should try out Jan. I hear he's hilarious, but that in order to get the best conversations you need Korgan and/or Viconia in your party, and I really don't want either (replace the great Minsc and Boo with bloodthirsty Korgan? Why??). Anyway, any suggestions as to who to put in the party?

By the way, for the lazy, here's the Kit I downloaded:

SHARPSHOOTER: This sort of thief tends to be a stealthy character, preferring to engage their target from afar with bolt or arrow rather than face them in dangerous melee combat. Unlike the ranger, they use their skills to aid their dubious activities involving the property and lives of others rather than the protection of the great outdoors.

Although well - versed in the use of many missile weapons, the sharpshooter is not as resilient as a true warrior and the propensity for missile attacks over melee means that they lack the opportunism of other thieves when it comes to backstabbing. They tend not to see this as a disadvantage, instead striking from the shadows with a well - aimed projectile, or setting a deadly trap for those who would follow, when necessary.

Advantages:

- Can attain Mastery in any missile weapon a Thief can use, and place 2 points in Two Handed Weapon Fighting Style
- Can make a Called Shot once per day per 5 levels. When he activates this ability, any shot made within the next 10 seconds is augmented in the following manner (according to the level of the Sharpshooter):
4th level: -1 to THAC0 of target
8th level: -1 to save vs magic of target
12th level: -1 to strength of target
16th level: +2 bonus to damage

Disadvantages:

- Cannot be of Lawful Good alignment.
- Backstab multiplier capped at x2.

Imagine THAT dualed over at level 12 to a Mage! Stay behind, snipe them to death, AND be able to cast devestating spells as well!

jan has great banters with everyone. especially anomen, minsc and edwin, so if you're looking for some good banter, there it is (and for your next runthrough, download the banterpacks )

you could pretty much pick any NPC and theyd fit well into that party (provided they dont clash with the current party members.......which come to think of it rules out edwin and valygar anyway.)

basically there you have two good priest-like characters - one who can tank (anomen) and one who can sit back and sling or protect the mages from anything that slips through the net of your tanks.

you also have two mages. you and imoen should be nice and solid tossing out spells at the back - be sure to share themage equipment between you as it is limited.

so then we come to the other two, who are at the moment Minsc and someone else. your party is well balanced, you have lots of possibilities for healing and magic usage and you're looking to have two solid tanks in addition to anomen. so minsc, good choice can use the 2 handed swords but by the end, look to utilise his dualweilding. within 2 proficiency points, Minsc can become a whirling dervish of death with maces and longswords. As for the other tank, valygar has been ruled out - as has keldorn - by your party selection. so you have left korgan, mazzy and jaheira.

people do say that mazzy is best left at the back slinging arrows. i disagree. her strength stat is 15 IIRC and her dex is 18 and her con is 16 or 17. now, add one of the readily available strength-enhancing items and she becomes one heck of a tank. as soon as you get her pour all her proficiencies into halberd (even though it really isn't roleplaying) or drop 2 points in dual weild and one into, say, axes and weild kundane and frostreaver
however, she is a bit.......bland, being the paladin wannabe type and all and as that is the reason you're leaving out keldorn it seem mazzy is unavailable also.

so the choice seems to be between jaheira and korgan. Korgan starts with a good proficiency choice and can easily be converted to weild the powerful crom fayr with stonefire or frostreaver
As for jaheira, her druid side does limit her weapon choices significantly. however, her weapon picks are weapons unlikely to be used by anyone else in the party, so theres no chance of conflict. she can also be converted to a dualweilder relatively easily, although it does take longer to get the proficiency points, she only needs two and then can dualweild belm and a club. however, the clubs and scimitars are not as powerful as other weapon classes (but they are underrated), so if youre powergaming this might not be an option for you. her other weapon choices are spear and staff. it is quite viable to go this way as there is a good +4 staff early on in the game (and will get you through most of the rest of the game too) and she can use all the elemental staffs. and of course in ToB one of the most powerful weapons is a staff. you could also use spears. there is one spear in SoA worth using, so if you go staffs and spears youll be waiting a while but it's worth it. i am of course talking about the impaler - noone can sniff at an extra 10 damage.

so, on the purely fighting side, korgan would seem to have it - lots more HP (he has 19 con, she is a multiclass), a slightly better THAC0 (but nothing that can't be remedied with some gauntlets or a belt) and better weapon choices.

however, jaheira has her druid powers as well. aside from being able to use the best anti mage spells in the game (the call insects spells), she also has direct damage spells, some of the best summons in the game and something which, in my opinion, puts her above korgan in the tanking charts - ironskins. ironskins will protect jaheira from melee damage for a couple of rounds, by which time her opponents are dead. in SoA this can be compensated for, but in ToB, especially in large parties (5-6), the character who can keep themselves from direct damage (fighter/mage and druid characters) are the most likely to survive.

so, there you have it. my slightly biased view as to who should tank in your party. korgan probably has slightly better dialogue, but you're powergaming right? who cares about dialogue?