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I was just considering how my new group (beat ToB yesterday, yay!) should be constructed, and then I realized something:

If Aerie chose Haer'Dalis as her final lover, would her ending still be the "goes on a rampage of revenge"?

At any rate, since my frist group was good-aligned, I want my second group to be mostly neutral based, or at least, close as possible, while remainging feasible (so one or two good-aligned characters would be fine with me). I don't know if I want a monk or an archer or a mage yet, even. So any advice here would help also.

Thanks,
- Folken, mortal.

I think there ought to be a third ending for Aerie (but I also dislike her...'nother topic), but *not* for the case of choosing Haer Daelis' over yourself. If anything, that choice on Aerie's part would make her *more* likely to seek revenge since H-D is not exactly the voice of wisdom or restraint....and Aerie would be very unhappy with him in the long run I think (look at their respective alignments and personas).

IMO Aerie is a needy child who craves attention too much. I just did a game where I romanced her.....*NEVER* *AGAIN*!

-Polaris

Well Rangers (archers) are restricted to be good so for a nuetral party you can rule him out. I say go with the Monk. Its a very interesting class. Its like a fighter that requires a bit more than pointing and clicking... (no offense to fighters, I play fighters! they are my favorites!)

I believe that Haer-Dalis and Aerie never last until the end. After the *Possible SPOILER* bhaalspawn are killed in Saradush, Haer-Dalis and Aerie have a conversation in which Aerie is angered by HD's comments and says it is over.

How sad for that whining young elf. She needs some stability in her life, but just can't seem to find it.

I not only think highly of aerie as a romance interest, but also think of her as my single most valuable npc.
What you say, Aerie valuable???!!!
she's weak and her experience level is low due to dual classing, until you carefully and fully explore her. (and she sounds so sweet when she propositions you...)
Think of her as a demon/undead hunter. By spell triggering holy smites or bolts of glory, you can take advantage of a mage's ability to sequece damage spells with cleric attacks against undead and demons that cannot be saved or resisted against. once unleashed 3 sequeces of holy smites against a lich, who died instantly. and spell triggered bolts of glory took care of the balor in the slave lords area.

give her some decent strenth enhances and the improved mace of disruption and the shield of harmony, I once sent her alone agaist a lich, about 5 whacks later it was disrupted.

I think that if you treat Aerie right (give her good equipment and join her early to give her some good Hit Point rolls), she has incredible potential. If you keep treating her like a second-rate back row character, you'll obviously never see that happen.

As far as her romance is concerned, I think she shows real improvement and is actually the only romance interest that doesn't nag or b1tch at you. Sure she whines in the beginning, but that too gets less and less. Near the end of the SoA romance, she regains some of her former self-confidence and even stops stammering all the time.

Xyx,

I found Aerie irritating personally. As for the equipement, she not only needs strength enhances but CON enhancers as well. You also can't give her anything other than mage-gear unless you want her to give up on being able to cast mage spells (so no platemail, helmets, or shield of harmony for her). If you *do* give her gear like a cleric, you have a second rate cleric that averages 5 levels (or more) behind a single (or dual) classed cleric.

Nah, Aerie was ok as a backup, but I generally was not impressed with her.

-Polaris

aerie can wear a helm + use shields, and still cast mage spells.

*if* you really try to make aerie as usefull as possible, robe vecana, ring acuity, ect. she becomes *the* spellcaster, with plenty more spell options than any other caster.

minor sequencer o' doom for example...

If Aerie can use a shield and cast mage spells (to say nothing of wearing a helm), then this is a grade A bug. ANY armor (including shields, helms, etc) is supposed to disable her mage spells. It does for any F/Mu, I can tell you that!

-Polaris

P.S. As for being a premier spellcaster, first of all not all of us have the limited edition (and robe of vecna). Secondly, while Aerie has a good *breath* of spells, her aenemic level means she lacks *depth* of spells.

From my experience, an illusionist/thief with use any items can still cast spells with both a shield and helmet.

Mage multis have always been able to use shields helms and bracers without any spell casting restriction. I always thought everyone knew this.

Also, bracers count as armor, but they are made for mages, and meant not to disable armor.

As for number of spells, how many of those do you use between given rest periods anyways ? I personally never use cloudkill, dispel magic, see invisibility, sleep, carrion summons, or others like that. You stick to a trustworthy few. And really that is all you need. The thing with low int/wis is that you have to think economy, and not just go on a memorizing spree. And as a matter of fact Edwin (who is a better mage than the protagonist, unless the pro is a wild mage) and Aerie both memorize the same spells.

Originally posted by polaris:
<STRONG>If Aerie can use a shield and cast mage spells (to say nothing of wearing a helm), then this is a grade A bug. ANY armor (including shields, helms, etc) is supposed to disable her mage spells. It does for any F/Mu, I can tell you that!

-Polaris

P.S. As for being a premier spellcaster, first of all not all of us have the limited edition (and robe of vecna). Secondly, while Aerie has a good *breath* of spells, her aenemic level means she lacks *depth* of spells.</STRONG>

Wait, I went through SoA with duals of F/M, M/F and C/F. In all cases to cast mage spells I needed only to remove an armor. I had Imoen equipped with buckler, and she did cast spells, too. I just went through manual again, and did not find any restrictions on any items except armor. BTW, I ususally did not give any armor to my F/M, the spirit armor was always more then enough.

Polaris,

Now everybody have the items from the collector's edition: you can download them from gamebanshee.

Originally posted by polaris:
<STRONG>Nah, Aerie was ok as a backup, but I generally was not impressed with her.</STRONG>

I am certain that, in SoA at least, a well-prepared Aerie can seriously kick Minsc's, Korgan's or Valygar's butt. Sure, she needs to rest immediately afterwards, but she's a very unique individual in that she can:

• Kick a$$
• Cast Mage spells
• Heal others

If you cannot find uses for someone like that, you should really try harder.

I liked Aerie for her versatility. Multi-class characters are inherently weaker than single class, but I used her as my healer. I had an elf ranger, Minsc, Sarevok, Imoen, Aerie and Nalia. Although she didn't have near the firepower of Imoen or Nalia, an extra delayed blast fireball or incendiary cloud came in handy. Also, in summoning a Deva instead of a Planetar (yes, Devas are weaker, but not by much), it freed up another comet or dragon's breath from Imoen or Nalia. Since I have a bias towards mage spells over priest spells, and I can't stand Jahiera, Anomen or Viconia, Aerie is the next best cleric around.

Plus, she could use shields, helmets, and cleric weapons in addition to all of the mage stuff. She is a good support unit in combat, either as an archer (think Sling of Everard +5), with a mace and shield (Storm Star and Sentinel), or as a spell caster. With her good mix of cleric and mage spells, she can be the one who memorises the wizard's eyes and other useful, but non-combat, spells. Also, she makes a good pack mule for scroll cases, gem bags, and other low-weight items, freeing up your higher-strength characters to carry the big stuff (until you get a bag of holding).

Her low strength could be overcome with gauntlets of ogre power or a girdle of giant strength. Aerie's primary disadvantage is her low CON. There's not much you can do there except rest alot, and as football has shown us a lot lately, taking a break every now and then isn't a bad thing.

Aerie's lack of Hit Points is partly negated with Stoneskin, Mirror Image, a good shield, the option to trade her Mage spells for heavy armor and the ability to cast Tenser's if things get hairy.

At the SoA cap, her Cleric abilities aren't too far behind the rest either.

I remember where I got my idea about sheilds and helmets:

1. In BG 1, you can not wear a helmet or sheild and cast mage spells.

2. In PnP ADnD rules you ALSO can not wear a helmet or shield and cast mage spells as both are considered 'armor'. When I read in the guide that 'armor' disables mage spell casting, I *assumed* (based on PnP rules) that that included shields and helmets as well (per PnP rules). It is interesting to learn that it doesn't....learn something new every day.

3. You are all right, btw. If you CAN use these items, then Aerie starts looking a *lot* better.

-Polaris

Originally posted by polaris:
<STRONG>1. In BG 1, you can not wear a helmet or sheild and cast mage spells.</STRONG>

Actually, in BGI, wearing a helmet and carrying a shield does not disable mage spells.

Originally posted by Xyx:
<STRONG>I think that if you treat Aerie right (give her good equipment and join her early to give her some good Hit Point rolls), she has incredible potential. If you keep treating her like a second-rate back row character, you'll obviously never see that happen.</STRONG>

I'll agree with that. While playing through SoA with her, she mopped up Kangaax, Firkraag, Drow in the tavern battles, beholders in the Underdark, and Nizidramanii'yt, to name a few.

with Aslyferund Elven Chain, a +5 AC shield and an AC or HP increasing helmet (Helm of Balduran improves both AC and HP) her AC goes down to -8, -9. even lower if you can convince your tanks to give up their Cloak of the Sewers and Ring of Earth Control
and with a good strength increasing item and a good cleric weapon her THAC0 also goes down to around -7. hell, you can even give her the Crom Faeyr if noone else finds a good use for it
together with all the mage and cleric spells - she's really a very versitile character.
and I just loved her romantic dialogues in ToB.