GameBanshee Forums

Baldurs Gate 2 seems to be a very balanced game.
So other than personal preferences, is it worth to change party members?
Currently I have myself as a fighter, the indispensable Minsc (and Boo - go fo the eyes, Boo!), Anonem, Valyagar, Jaheira and Jan.
They have levelled up several times, as I have done all the chapter 2 quests.
If for example I change Jan with Nalia, or Anonem with the Bard, I will have an NPC with high lore, etc. The problem is that I will have to level them up very slowly, etc.
On the other hand, the team seems to work well, and even the big-mouthed Anonem stopped complaining after the reputation of the party started to climb up.
This does not mean that everything is all right. My mage/thief takes centuries to level up and has collected (or stole) most of high level spells which he cannot cast because of intelligence limitations of his level.
So at the start of chapter 3 I have over 30 non-memorized spells waiting for Jan to come up with more intel.
I wonder if I had Nalia or Imoen things would behave differently.

My mage/thief takes centuries to level up and has collected (or stole) most of high level spells which he cannot cast because of intelligence limitations of his level.

You could drink some Potions of Genius or Potions of Mind Focusing. Once you increase your INT to 19 or above you will be able to add every spell to your spell book. The potion will eventually wear of , but the spells will stay in your spellbook.

Best regards,
Lark.

Depends whether you find the game to your liking or not, at the moment I seriously think your party needs a serious full time mage.

It's up to you how you play though.

[QUOTE=johnnybravo1]My mage/thief takes centuries to level up and has collected (or stole) most of high level spells which he cannot cast because of intelligence limitations of his level.[/QUOTE]Your intelligence will not improve when you level up! That's why it's important to give a mage a lot of points in intelligence when you create him/her. Lark's solution is good one. I'd recommend stocking up on those potions and when you use one, learn a lot of spells, not just one. You might eventually run out of potions of Genius and then find a terrific level 9 spell.
But, if you mean your pc cannot cast high level spells because he's relatively lowlevel - well, that's the disadvantage of playing a multiclass character .

You have Jan Jansen in your party. He's a good npc, both in therms of power and roleplaying, but your pc is also a mage/thief. Maybe you could drop Jan? One less partymember means more xp for the others, including your pc.
You could always take a mage in your party later.

[QUOTE=Coot]Your intelligence will not improve when you level up! That's why it's important to give a mage a lot of points in intelligence when you create him/her. Lark's solution is good one. I'd recommend stocking up on those potions and when you use one, learn a lot of spells, not just one. You might eventually run out of potions of Genius and then find a terrific level 9 spell.
But, if you mean your pc cannot cast high level spells because he's relatively lowlevel - well, that's the disadvantage of playing a multiclass character .

You have Jan Jansen in your party. He's a good npc, both in therms of power and roleplaying, but your pc is also a mage/thief. Maybe you could drop Jan? One less partymember means more xp for the others, including your pc.
You could always take a mage in your party later.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I could get more Xps per PC each time. But I need a mage anyway to breach and stun (or confuse) and haste before missiles further inhibit opponent mage to strike and my fighters go for the "steel massage".
The doubt that remains in my mind is - if I keep shuffling my PCs what about their levels? I should assume they must also gather XPs to level up and when they are off party they dont level up, do they?

I think changing party members is fun in Chapter 2, to experience the different NPC's, and do their individual quests. I had my main group (Cleric, Keldorn, Minsc & Boo, Jaheira, Aerie, & Yoshimo) for Chapter 2, which is when I did most of the quests not related to the main storyline. But I had each of my dudes take a turn sitting out a quest, for when I took Valygar to the Planar Sphere, Korgan to find that book, Cernd to beat up Faldorn, Mazzy to beat up that Ogre, Nalia to keep her Keep, and so on. All good stuff.

Personally, I'd take Yoshimo to Spellhold for drama. Then rescuse and "add" Imoen to the group. You'll need spell-power for what's to come...

Kicked out party members don't gain XP while they are not in your party.

You need 250,000 - 375,000 XP to gain a level on the long run, so some 100,000 XP more or less don't matter too much, you can afford to switch party members in early parts of the game.
If you meet NPCs you haven't met yet their level usually depends on your character's level, if you restart with a reimported high level character Minsc will have more than 1,000,000 XP when you rescue him at the start for example.

If you are happy with your party there's no need to change it.
Finishing the game with them shouldn't be too hard.

The only weakness is that you don't have a pure or dualclassed mage.
Since there are so many overpowered mage spells in the game, you might consider adding Imoen when you rescue her.
I'd exchange one of your rangers, since they are your weakest party members.
But you can replace anyone with Imoen or leave her behind without getting into serious trouble because of this.

[QUOTE=kmonster]Kicked out party members don't gain XP while they are not in your party.

You need 250,000 - 375,000 XP to gain a level on the long run, so some 100,000 XP more or less don't matter too much, you can afford to switch party members in early parts of the game.
If you meet NPCs you haven't met yet their level usually depends on your character's level, if you restart with a reimported high level character Minsc will have more than 1,000,000 XP when you rescue him at the start for example.

If you are happy with your party there's no need to change it.
Finishing the game with them shouldn't be too hard.

The only weakness is that you don't have a pure or dualclassed mage.
Since there are so many overpowered mage spells in the game, you might consider adding Imoen when you rescue her.
I'd exchange one of your rangers, since they are your weakest party members.
But you can replace anyone with Imoen or leave her behind without getting into serious trouble because of this.[/QUOTE]


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Thanks for your in-depth and enlightening reply.
When you say that rangers are not that strong, perhaps it should be verified what armor, rings and other magic stuff they are bearing. Anonem, for example, is now -8 armor, and Minsc is -2.
By now all the party members hare several anti-magic protection (sleep, hold, terror, etc)
My thief/mage is really very weak, thats why my anti-mage or anti-magic casting opponent tactics are:
2) dispose members in a semi-circle, out of sight of the opponents.
1) barskin everyone. main character has a special anti-magic spell protection
2) summon fire elementals, animals, etc to maintain a buffer against the attackers, at least 5 summonend creatures.
3) haste everyone
4) ranger attack - eveyone but Jan uses missile weapons - normally bullet +2 and fire arrows. meanwhile Jan breaches and starts casting his best magic offensive spells (stunning, confusing first the major opponents);
5) when an opponent manages to enter the semi-circle, the outer-most party members start wielding magic melee weapons, and the inner-most keep using missile and Jan continues to wield his magic equipment;
6) if this is not enough i put Jaheira behind the melee party members to restore their health.
7) if this is not enough, i change everything into melee and select all party in an all-out attack against each of the opponents.

Of course this does not work against dragons, mind-slayers and the like.

If the tactics above do not work, I have a hasted member (Minsc) that is used as a bait to attract as many opponents as possible from the main opponent group into my semi-circle, out of this opponnent groups sight, and dispatch them one by one. This tactic I used against the beholders in the Eyeless quest (very tough, by the way).

My experience tells me that haste and an all-out attack against one opponent each time is a good tactic (so far, because I am starting chapter 3 and there are still many mighty opponents to deal with).

Additionally, my figheter (main) character has a ressurection rod, Jaheira has the Harper Call spell and Anonem has the ressurection spell just in case .

Thank you all for your replies.

Permanent Party Members...

If you choose to do all the NPC specific quests here is a few tips of my own.

Evil parties...

In order to keep your evil party, I recommend you play all the rest of the goody-goodies first cause once you kick Korgan, Edwin, or Viconia out of your party you'll never get them back. I found that playing with Korgan, Minsc, Jan, Haer'dalis and Viconia was a very entertaining party. Jan and Haer'dalis combined resolves the thief skills problem. Plus,at higher levels they are quite the pair with a wide selection of abilities, mage spells and comparable combat skills.

Good Parties....

Don't combine good and evil. That just causes problems, some of them irrepairable. If you do, then I recommend alacrity on their tour of duty. Pay attention to how other goody-goodies get along with other goody-goodies. This website has a very good NPC section that goes into more detail. If they don't get along well then make their quests priority and lose them as soon as possible.

Choose a permanent party and play all the other NPC's first before picking up your permanent NPC's. Some NPC's are better suited for some quests than others.

J