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I just finished my 1st time through BG2. I went with the first characters possible.

My made character was a straight fighter.

The rest were, as you can guess, Jaheria, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie and Nalia.

Once Yoshimo left I grouped Imoen.

I think I had the game on 'normal' difficulty and really had no trouble finishing it.

After I finish ToB (same party) i'll most likely play through again, so please suggest npc's who are completly useless.

The problem you're going to have is that no NPCs in BG2 are just outright bad.

Honestly, if you're looking for more of a challenge I'd encourage you to tweak your party strategy and play with the game's difficulty ratings. In terms of party composition, I would play against your type. Meaning, if you're a hack and slash player, make your party caster heavy and tank light (perhaps no real tanks, outside of a bard or hybrid character). Likewise, going heavy on "bard" characters is a good way to add spice to your playing life, a remarkably versatile class with no clear strengths. If you're the type of player who relies on healers a lot, don't add any real healers to your party, etc.

If you're just looking for more variety in your game, play with the NPCs you haven't tried yet. The additional stories and quests you'll uncover will be very entertaining. Mazzy, Jan, Anomen, and Viconia are all very interesting NPCs, well worth your time. They have quests and dialogues that will be very unique to your experience so far. Similiarly, make sure to try a new romance this time around. They add a lot of spice to the game. Likewise, some NPCs are more entertaining if combined with one another. If you're PC is romancing Aerie, for example, adding Haer-Daelis to the mix really makes both of those characters a lot more interesting.

Finally, I'd encourage you to look at the healthy modding community for your next play through. There are a lot of great mods out there that add encounters to the game (many of the mods are very balanced, others are incredibly overpowered) or interesting NPCs. Two of the most popular NPCs (and both are very balanced, even a bit weakish in places) are Keto and Kelsey. They each have extensive new dialogues and are fun to play with. The best mods can generally be downloaded from Pocket Plane Planet , and are generally easy to install/uninstall. For pure strategy, the Tactics and Ascension mods are the way to go. Tactics is overly difficult in most people's opinions; I personally don't care for it. Ascension is very balanced (done by a BG2 developer) and adds challenges to ToB. Anyway, you can find lots of threads on good/bad mods on this board.

However, I suppose if pressed to identify the weakest NPCs in BG2, I'd probably go with Cernd and Haer-Daelis. Though, quite frankly, both of those can be fairly potent if used appropriately (Haer-Daelis more at the end of the game, than the beginning).

Can't say there are any "bad" characters but there are a few i have always not liked having in my group:
Aerie, she's good but she dies too easy.
Anomen, dunno i just don't like him, might be his personality.
Yoshimo and Valygar, i am sure they are good if played properly but i dont like thiefs since they don't do good enough damage and can't take enough damage (i only use thiefs for find traps, disarm traps and unlock and Jan does that just fine).
Cernd, i i have actually never had him in any of my groups long enough to notice if he's any good (i like Jaheira and i don't want more than one druid).
Haer'dalis, same as Cernd, i have almost never used him.

Put 5 of those characters plus your character in a party and you have My worst party

You might want to look at this other message thread.

I don't think that any Bioware NPC is "completely useless". If you have a full party of six, your main character can be a Raggedy Andy doll and you'll still beat the game. That's assuming, of course, that you try to use everyone's skills properly. For example, if you don't let your Mages and Clerics cast their best spells, or if you try to make your Thief your main tank, no party will be effective.

Cernd is my least favorite NPC, but he does alright as a spellcaster. In my opinion, his shapeshifting ability is better than a Totemic Druid's special skills.

Mazzy takes a lot of heat because she's a straight Fighter and her Strength is fairly low. But ANY Fighter is a force to be reckoned with. And if you give Mazzy a girdle of giant strength, she can hit just as hard as any other Fighter (with the exception of a Deathbringer).

Jaheria, Aerie, and Haer'Dalis are often underestimated. That's understandable, because it isn't always easy to see how they can be used most effectively. But once you figure it out, they are terrific characters. Some people also underestimate Anomen and Keldorn, which to me is very shortsighted, since their talents are quite obvious. Just look at Keldorn's saving throws--he has a clear advantage over the other NPCs.

I think it's mostly a matter of playing style: if you don't take advantage of ANY character's unique talents, then of course you won't get the most out of them. This has been discussed repeatedly before.

If I wanted to create a "lame dream team" with my own characters, I'd choose:

1. Wizard Slayer (no magic items)
2. Beastmaster (nothing really useful)
3. Transmuter (no Abjuration spells)
4. Jester (I like the bonuses granted by other Bards' songs)
5. Totemic Druid (there's something to be said about Greater Werewolves with Iron Skins)
6. Assassin

The reason I chose the Assassin is because his low number of skill points prevent him from doing any sort of Thieving effectively. If you want him to have a chance at backstabbing, you'll have to put all of his skill points into Hide in Shadows and Move Silently, and he won't be able to pick locks and find traps. And even if he's invisible, his crappy THAC0 will prevent him from hitting anything. I'd rather have a non-kitted Thief.

thanks

Appreciate the input, will probably just try all new people. I guess I could always take the other side in the war aswell. Thanks again.

One thing you could try is having NPCs who hate each other in your party. e.g. Korgan and Aerie, Edwin and Minsc, Viconia and Keldorn.

[QUOTE=SirCumscissors]My made character was a straight fighter.

The rest were, as you can guess, Jaheria, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie and Nalia.

Once Yoshimo left I grouped Imoen.
[/QUOTE]


I hardly think that's even close to the worst party ever. It's pretty decent!

I read about a guy who solo'd BG2 all the way to the end of ToB with a Jester and with all 9's as stats (except in INT, DEX, and CHA, which were set at their minimum). If that can beat the game, adding a party should make it easy as pie.

[QUOTE=krunchyfrogg]I hardly think that's even close to the worst party ever. It's pretty decent!

[/QUOTE]

I don't think he was suggesting that his party formation that you quoted from was the worst party ever. He was mentioning those NPCs as his party the first time through the game, and was looking for suggestions to create a more challenging game experience (i.e. create the worst party) for his second time through.

indeed

I just stuck with those that came first, was just wondering if other npcs weren't as effective. Many good ideas have been posted though to make the 2nd time through more challenging, or atleast different.

[QUOTE=krunchyfrogg]I read about a guy who solo'd BG2 all the way to the end of ToB with a Jester and with all 9's as stats (except in INT, DEX, and CHA, which were set at their minimum). If that can beat the game, adding a party should make it easy as pie.[/QUOTE]
I think you're referring to Bob the Jester, who was played by BraveSirRobin. He posted his story at the now-defunct BGDungeon Tavern. It's offline now. He did it before Throne of Bhaal was released, so as far as I know, he didn't solo TOB with that character. Even so, I'mimpressed that he managed to beat Shadows of Amn with a solo Jester. Some of the encounters were nearly impossible, but he found ways to win them.

[QUOTE=boo's daddy]One thing you could try is having NPCs who hate each other in your party. e.g. Korgan and Aerie, Edwin and Minsc, Viconia and Keldorn.[/QUOTE]Ha! That would be interesting, to see who would be in the party last. Also, imagine this group in the Underdark, Edwin and Minsc bopping each other on the head, Keldorn impaling Viconia, Korgan running after Aerie swinging his axe, all while being surrounded by a group of flabbergasted Mindflayers.

[QUOTE=Faust]I don't think he was suggesting that his party formation that you quoted from was the worst party ever. He was mentioning those NPCs as his party the first time through the game, and was looking for suggestions to create a more challenging game experience (i.e. create the worst party) for his second time through.[/QUOTE]


Ooooooooooh, my bad!

In that case, make sure you pick up Cernd. He sucks.
[QUOTE=VonDondu]I think you're referring to Bob the Jester, who was played by BraveSirRobin. He posted his story at the now-defunct BGDungeon Tavern. It's offline now. He did it before Throne of Bhaal was released, so as far as I know, he didn't solo TOB with that character. Even so, I'mimpressed that he managed to beat Shadows of Amn with a solo Jester. Some of the encounters were nearly impossible, but he found ways to win them.[/QUOTE]Thanks you for both the refresher and the correction! BTW, I hardly think the jester is the worst class. I think maybe beastmaster or avenger is the worst.

[QUOTE=krunchyfrogg]In that case, make sure you pick up Cernd. He sucks.
[/QUOTE]
I agree, but he is the only one I can think of from the vanilla game. Haer'Dalis is not too strong, but I can usually get him up to snuff with a careful choice of gear and spells.

I don't care for Valygar or Anomen but it is more due to their lackluster personalities than to their competence. I also can't stand Jan, but I realize no one will agree with me.

I recently finished a game with the Solaufein mod and found him rather disappointing. He doesn't have any ranged weapon proficiencies but, being a Fighter/Mage with low CON he has very few hitpoints and tends to get killed in melee when his stoneskins wear off. I've never had so much trouble keeping a character alive.

[QUOTE=JackOfClubs]
I recently finished a game with the Solaufein mod and found him rather disappointing. He doesn't have any ranged weapon proficiencies but, being a Fighter/Mage with low CON he has very few hitpoints and tends to get killed in melee when his stoneskins wear off. I've never had so much trouble keeping a character alive.[/QUOTE]

Solaufein is a very powerful (over powered in my opinion) NPC mod. Of course, he's not going to be a mindless character to use (as he's a wizard/fighter hybrid) but his stats are astoundingly good (18 str, 18dex, 18int...).

Anyway, it sounds like you're best bet is going to be just to pick up the NPCs you haven't used. Personally, of the ones you don't mention, I found Mazzy, Jan, Keldorn and Viconia to be entertaining (and Anomen in his own special way...he at least has an interesting quest). Cernd and Haer-Daelis are certainly not weak, but they do require a bit more tweaking in terms of strategy than other NPCs. As an NPC, Haer-Daelis is his most interesting with Aerie in the party. Cernd could use a bit more fleshing out, though. Some of the NPC mods are as good as the official campaign characters (I found Keto to be particularly good; Kelsey is solid as well. Solaufein is also very popular, though a bit more powerful).