Favourite NPC constellation

Garcia · Post by **Garcia** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 7:44 am

In your opinion what is the best way of combining NPCs. korgan is a sure pick for a tank but I like to hear your opinion beside him and why? I myself have not come to a conclusion yet.

Ajantis · Post by **Ajantis** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 8:02 am

I have try a few combination, below is one of them: the main character(druid), Aerie, Nalia, Imoen, Minsc, Keldorn.

Advantages: As you can see, 4 spell caster!! I was able to give my enemy a spell disaster! And my druid work as a partial fighter as well, with a -4 armor class + iron skin. Minsc and Keldorn work as good fighters, Keldorn with holy avenger, a Amulet(that give you 10% magic resistance), ring of Gaxx + green stone amulet, make him almost invulnarable to magic! Minsc? Flail of Age of course, and sometimes Mace of Disruption + 2 when facing undead. This team has no problem for any enemy, and I can have keldorn fighting one on one with Pit Fiend.

Disadvantages: Theif! I need a theif!! But you can solve this with potion of master theivery.

Omar · Post by **Omar** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 8:19 am

You can try a lot of combinations, but I believe that Viconia and Edwin are must-haves.Edwin is just an excellent spell caster,much better than Imoen,Airee and Nalia because of his high intelligence.
And Viconia,ahhh,she has no drawback whatsoever;give her the Mauler's Arm +2 (or even better the Crom Faeyr) and she will make an excellent fighter too because with the high strength bonus she will be able to wear plate mails and carry a Fotress Shield for example.Apart from this she has a high magic resistance; makes her a good spearhead in battles against mages.Then there are her cleric abilities:she is the best cleric in the game and her being evil makes fighting undead very very easy. I was able to gain control of liches with no problem whatsoever( around level 16 or so)!

Ajantis · Post by **Ajantis** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 8:23 am

I agree with you Omar, they make a group of best "Evil" party, which you can't acheive in BG1.

Garcia · Post by **Garcia** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 8:34 am

speaking of thiefs I heard that sooner or later Yoshimo will "stab you in the back" is this true and if so can you prevent it? Nobody likes a backstabber so if this is the case he is going to get a big nice boot in his backstabbing butt.

Ajantis · Post by **Ajantis** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 8:40 am

That's true, he'll turn against you at chapter 4, so if you need a theif, I suggest you take Jan, or just bring as much potion of theif mastery as you can...

Maurice · Post by **Maurice** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 8:53 am

In my first time through I used four self-made characters, one being a *very* good cleric from BG 1 as protagonist, and one of the others was a *very* good mage, also from BG 1. So I had no need for either Viconia or Edwin.

On my second time through, I'm doing a single-player game, with a fighter/thief. Since I already had an aversion against Edwin from when I met him back in BG 1, since I *still* don't like his arrogance, and since he's evil, I don't even WANT him in my party ... no matter how good he is. I prefer Nalia over him ANYTIME.

I do have Viconia in my party, though, because I wanted to see the Romance plot with her.

Maurice · Post by **Maurice** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 8:56 am

And as for Yoshimo ... SPOILER AHEAD!

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In Chapter 4 it'll turn out he's working for Irenicus after all. At first willingly (before the protagonist was ever in the picture), and later under the influence of a geas placed upon him by Irenicus. He cannot escape the geas, and therefor betrays you, and even attacks you. He asks you to seek forgiveness for him, by visiting a Temple (of Ilmater, if I remember correctly).

Garcia · Post by **Garcia** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 9:09 am

Thank you for your nice reply now I know what is the first thing I do when I get home!
bye Yoshimo!!

Ajantis · Post by **Ajantis** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 9:16 am

Maurice · Post by **Maurice** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 9:25 am

I should mention that shortly after Yoshimo leaves you, Imoen gets available for your party.

As for Yoshimo, some people have had some really nasty ideas to do to him before he betrays you. Some strip him of all his items, and give him nothing (or crap) in return. Some screw him over in his stats (I don't know how ... ShadowKeeper??). Someone else mentioned stashing him FULL of items, so he's encumbered and cannot move.

Ajantis · Post by **Ajantis** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 9:29 am

That's what I did to a betrayer. No need for the "Shadowkeeper", you got some cursed scroll did you? use them...

Omar · Post by **Omar** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 9:41 am

I gave Yoshimo the respect he deserved while fighting in my party by giving his heart to the priest of Ilmater and avenging his demise by slaughtering Irenicus.
To bad it had to be Yoshimo as the other thief characters in the game are just crap;Imoen and Nalia can't improve and Jan has only a strenght of 9, WOW....backstabbing galore!!!

Omar · Post by **Omar** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 9:44 am

I meant,the respect he had EARNED

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 3:44 pm

if u really want to screw yoshimo dual class him to a mage just before u enter spell hold, a level 1 mage wont exactly put up much of a fight

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I was shocked when he betrayed me however, he was a great NPC. I think they deliberatly made him appealing (by giving good stats, a katana +1 only usable by him and giving him a lot of exp) so that people would

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 4:00 pm

if u really want to screw yoshimo dual class him to a mage just before u enter spell hold, a level 1 mage wont exactly put up much of a fight

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It was a great twist in the plot when Yoshimo betrayed me but was a real pain as he had spent a lot of time in the party and thus it was wasted exp.

I think they deliberatly made him appealing (by giving good stats, a katana +1 only usable by him and by giving him high exp when u meet him) so that people would keep him with the party and thus get betrayed.

I used to think that a pure thief is not really any use but now i have re-considered, jan is good at lockpicking and trap detecting but sucks at stealth and backstabbing due to his poor strength. he is also not really a very good wizard either and therefore not point having him for either a wizard of theif IMHO

nalia's theif level is only 4 so she is obviously not very good although her stats are good. its quite ironic that she cant even pick some of the locks in her own home

Imoen is the best after yoshimo but you have to go through a fairly large part of the game without her which sucks

I am currently playing a game where i want to use all the npc's that i havent used b4, Iam soon realising why i didnt use them before.

as i have used imoen and jan b4 i have only Nalia for theiving. which is proving annoying

[This message has been edited by Cloud (edited 12-11-2000).]

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 4:12 pm

sorry about the sort of double post, i press submit by acccident when i hadnt finished

so if you buck can delete the unfinished post and this one i would be most grateful

getsleepy · Post by **getsleepy** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 5:42 pm

My main char is a swashbuckler/mage so I have no need for another thief since I can pickpocket/detecttrap/picklock on my own.
Melee:
I used keldorn for holy avenger sake and combine with Minsc, wielding 2 axe+3 you get pretty early on... My fighter defence has never been breached, beside the fact minsc's low int gets him dominated far too often, even a greenstone amulet can't save him.
Ranged/Spell:
Anomen with seeker sling+2 and his str, a good ranged fighter to kill mages fast. Viconia is good, but in ranged fighter sense, she's about the same as Anomen. The extra 3-4th level spell doesn't do you much difference either. Her low str really sets her back on good armors. Of course you can get her the str19 belt, but the belt works better on a melee fighter.
Jaihera is good because she has that nasty Insect plague spell (100% spell failure), which even Ironcus can't get away with. The spell even spread to all near by, so all hostile spell casters are disabled. Her AC and HP make her a better choice than Cernd.
Nalia... Nalia... Good dex... OK str... Ok int... Ok con... To say the truth, I just like her ring and I kept her for that ring. Besides, I need someone to fire that phatom arrow from the +3 shortbow.

I tried the evil party before but it didn't work wonders like this one I'm having now.

Hazim ibn Gorion · Post by **Hazim ibn Gorion** » Mon Dec 11, 2000 10:44 pm

right now I'm working with:

me (undead hunter, carsomyr, yadayadayada)
Minsc (dual maces)
Jahiera (impaler spear...neato)
Valygar (archer and celes. fury-great backstabs)
Nalia
Yoshi (will replace with Imoen when...well, you know)

Great ensemble. Romance with Jahiera is the most interesting of the three. Main weakness is relatively weak in priest spells, but between my paly and Jahiera, we get it done.

Played my first game evil with:

me (monk)
Korgan
Vicky
Edwin
Jan
Cernd

This is also a very nice combo. Would probably replace Cernd with Jahiera if I did it again.

Garcia · Post by **Garcia** » Tue Dec 12, 2000 3:54 am

It provides a rather large mind job with Yoshimo backstabbing you!
If you're main character isn't thief and you don't want to "waste" exp. on Yoshimo.
Jan? Good thief, bad mage, bad strength
Is he worth it?
I must admit I am a bit confused.