GameBanshee Forums

Gidday all,

I recently finished BG1 & ToSC with my Good aligned party (Me - NG Half Elf Bard, Minsc, Ajantis, Branwen, Imoen and Dynaheir) and now am getting stuck in with my Neutral and Evil parties.

The Neutral group is just out of Candlekeep (Chapter 1) and heading to Friendly Arm. I was thinking of getting some NPCs I don't use much, like Alora, Xan and Safana - although that will be too thief heavy, I think. My Neutral PC is an Elf CN Fighter/Mage. Any suggestions on playing Neutral? I was thinking that I'd mostly be altruistic with a mean streak thrown in.

The Evil group has made it to the Friendly Arm, and are heading off to get Viconia and then Shar-Teel. I am finding that playing completely evil (i.e./ killing those fools in the Inn, etc.) is not viable due to the dratted Flaming Fist guards and wizards turning up all the time! I'm definitely going to have to modify their behaviour.

With the Evil group, I was thinking of swapping Xvar for Edwin, although I'd like to keep the two mages, with me as a backup mage (NE gnome Illusionist/Thief). And I'll need Kagain as a front-liner.

I'll keep you guys posted of how things turn out!

Cheers all,
TGHO

For the evil party I'd go with:

(You),
Kaigan,
Shar-Teel, (she is a great character)
Viconia,
Edwin,
Xvar (forgot the spelling, you get him with that idiot montaron, just kill montaron, then kick montaron out of the party, it works a treat)


When I play an evil group, I always keep a reputation of 2 (I think it is) because at 0 you can no longer shop, I keep bribing the church, and it works out great, also, I try to stay at aroud 5 untill I have done Nashkel (however if I don't rush to Nashkel, I go alot more evil earlier)

For a neutral party Jaheria is a must. Go with some good characters and some evil. Being neutral doesn't make you a grey robot. You just don't really care either way - I think of it as whatevers best for you (good or evil).

[QUOTE=The Great Hairy]The Neutral group is just out of Candlekeep (Chapter 1) and heading to Friendly Arm. I was thinking of getting some NPCs I don't use much, like Alora, Xan and Safana - although that will be too thief heavy, I think. My Neutral PC is an Elf CN Fighter/Mage. Any suggestions on playing Neutral? I was thinking that I'd mostly be altruistic with a mean streak thrown in.[/QUOTE]
Neutral isn't easy to define, but I think of it this way: you don't harm other people to get what you want, but you don't bother to help other people because "it's not your problem". The idea that Neutral characters are supposed to strive for some sort of "balance" between good and evil seems schizophrenic and ultimately self-defeating to me. For example, if you help one town and loot another, that might seem like "balance", but what if you find out that too many towns have been looted by people such as yourself and there aren't enough towns left to help? Do you build a town so you can help it, and then later destroy it? Where does it end? I prefer my own definition of "Neutral".

A Neutral party is easy to create. Make your main character some type of melee character (a Fighter/Mage is suitable), and add Neutral NPCs who bring useful skills to your party. I suggest Safana, Branwen, Xan, and Jaheira, and since you need another melee warrior, Khalid, who wouldn't object to being in a Neutral party if he doesn't mind being married to a Druid. Garrick is another suitable choice (he could replace Branwen or Xan), but only if you would enjoy having a Bard in your party.

An Evil party is easy enough to create, but as you say, it isn't easy to play like you're "evil" in Baldur's Gate. Edwin, Viconia, Kagain, SharTeel, and Montaron would give you a party that's so flexible, you could play any type of character you'd like; I'd suggest a spellcaster of some kind. To avoid trouble with the law, don't act like a mindless monster and kill everyone in your path; that's not really what being Evil is all about. Being Evil means doing whatever it takes to get what you want, and ultimately, you want a lot of respect to make it easier to achieve your goals. From an Evil perspective, "respect" might mean that other people fear you, but you don't want an army on your tail for the rest of your life. It would be far better to lead an army of your own.

There are plenty of "what kind of party is the best" threads but ...

So your evil PC is Mage (or mage-something). I dislike playing with a full party, if you ask me, I'd take Montaron, Kagain and Viconia. They are powerful NPCs and you can recruit them in Chapter 1.