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There is an interesting thread currently on page 2 debating Kivan or Coran as the best archer. What I am wondering is who is the better tank or melee for a good (rep 20) aligned party? Khalid as a pure fighter can get extra specialization in long swords (as a lvl 6 he currently has ** in bows and *** with longswords, not sure if he could have been even higher in swords had I not added the extra * in archery early on), the guantlets of defense raise his dex to 18 which helps his a/c, and he can use a long sword and shield.

Minsc on the other hand is stronger, and comes with dex 18, but as a ranger can never get more then ** in weapon profciency. But then 'go for the eyes Boo, go for the eyes' trumps 'Gorian would be proud of you' every time

In my party, the melee character is primarily to occupy the attention of a bunch of bad guys while the rest blow them away with longer ranged weapons. The ability to do melee damage is important, but so is the ability to simply stay alive with the least amount of damage possible.

Minsc has either 15 or 16 dex not 18. I personally prefer Minsc. But Kahlid with the gauntlets of dex, advanced weapon speciallization and potions of strength is probably a better Tank than Minsc who would also need the Gauntlets of Dex.

Kaigan Is the Best NPC Tank in the game (20con)

Khalid is a far better tank than Minsc.
The best one is Kagain, if you give the gaunlets of dexterity to him and cast 2 strength spells, he has 18/00 strength, 18 dex and 20 con. And don't forget the bonus for having **** in axes and the huge racial savig throw bonusses.

Jordoo wrote:Minsc has either 15 or 16 dex not 18. I personally prefer Minsc. But Kahlid with the gauntlets of dex, advanced weapon speciallization and potions of strength is probably a better Tank than Minsc who would also need the Gauntlets of Dex.

Kaigan Is the Best NPC Tank in the game (20con)

You are correct, I forgot that Minsc had the dex gauntlets before I removed him to get Kivan.

While Kaigan may be the best tank, this is a good aligned party (rep 20) so I doubt he would stay for long (or even join up) since he is evil aligned.

Ajantis makes a very good tank as well.

Arkanis the dwarven fighter who joins you in the "learn how to fight" training in Candlekeep makes an excellent fighter. He just lacks dexterity which can be boosted with the gauntlets anyway. Frankly, most of the Candlekeep NPCs (Canderous, Mordain, Deder & Arkanis) are quite special. There is a description in Dan Simpson's guide what do in order to let them leave Candlekeep with you.

In this case you'd rather create characters yourself.

kmonster wrote:In this case you'd rather create characters yourself.

At least it'd be a little more fair, those guys are almost all broken.

Deder Rocks. He is seriously hacked with extra thiefing points. That whole group is actually very good. I played them once with my main character being an elf fighter basically two handed sword and bows. I quit when everyone was around level 6. They have no personallity at all and would easily make it through the game with no problems. Great Tank, great thief, two clerics, two arkane caster, basically make your PC whatever you want they are really only lacking a good back up tank and powerful archer and my PC covered both of those but probably wasn't really needed.