GameBanshee Forums

Currently I'm playing a Kensai Mage and I'm thinking

Keldorn
Jaheira
Anomen
Yoshimo
Aerie

Should I change:
a) Aerie for Nalia (Nalia will end up being higher level mage though
Aerie does have more spells leaned currently)
or
b) Keldorn for Minsc? (And boost Jaheira's strength and Anomen's dex
instead of Keldorns)

What are your goals? RP or powergaming? Either way, it's a matter of taste, but I'd drop Anomen for another fighter... Minsc and later Big S, for example. You dont need 3 divine casters, but could use another heavy fighter. After the natural selection you should have a very well-modified party, without having to suffer from annoying... well, overly-annoying characters anyway.

Powergaming.
How important will a high level cleric be towards the end of SoA, will Aerie be good enough for turn undead etc?

Not so bad... but there's something to be said for purity....

Not a bad group at all... and while I like Aerie, I do have to say, I would prefer to have a straight mage and a straight cleric... (which, if your main character isn't one or the other leaves your party a little evil with the seleciton of NPC's). The advantage is that they climb MUCH faster in spell ability, and can quickly overcome the weaknesses inherent in their class. That would almost suggest a better main character of a rogue type as most of the spell caster's are dual classed rogue....

Liked Minsc, but he has no special quests that add to your party's XP...

If you do run rogue... you'll find little need for Yoshimo, although you might want to take him out of Athkatla with you, other than that, it leaves the spot open for more useful players....

I wouldn't get rid of Keldorn, because let's face it Carsomyr is on of the best weapons in the game, and no one but a paladin can wield it. Plus he can cast true sight spell which is so great. Sure you can have your mage memorize it, but there are better things for a mage to memorize then this.

And I wouldn't replace Aerie with Nalia either because you're going to have to replace Yoshimo later anyways, and Imoen is better then Nalia, imho. I had no problem turning undead in the umar hills quest with Aerie so I don't think it will be too much of a problem later on either. She might not destroy them like a pure cleric might, but she'll certainly be able to make them run. And extra healing with extra damage is always great. Plus you can put cleric spells into spell sequencer type spells, and that can make for some very nice quick buffs in mid combat.

Keldorn is one to keep if you can hack having a Paladin in the party.

Anomen can get very good, but Viconia is more fun (even if she causes difficulties) - she gets to control undead, which is nice!

by the time I get Imoen, I find that Nalia is better - I have usually run her through WK. Aerie is good for the reason above - combining cleric and mage buffs and triggers/contingencies.

Minsc is fun for dialogue, but he is not that good a fighter - a lot of his scores are low which means he fails saves quite often. Valgyar isn't that great and Haedalis takes a while to become good. I have him with sword of the mask, plus belm plus some other sword - he can hit things for a fair bit of damage. Keldorn is the better fighter with Carsomyr.

I lost Jaheira to Imprisonment and need to get a scroll of freedom to get her back. Cernd doesn't seem as good and he's off baby-sitting.

Right now I have myself (36 level thief - I saved this character and started over with it), Anomen and Nalia.

I really, really don't want Imoen, but I'm afraid I will have to put up with her once I get to spellhold.

You don't have to have Keldorn if you are a thief, though. 'Use any item' will let you use Carsomyr. Although it is pretty funny to see a slender little elf girl walking around with this HUGE sword.

Anomen I keep mostly because of his cleric spells, but also because I have fun doing his romance

Well, I use power play and it was pretty easy to finish SoA. My main character is fighter. Minsc is very funny. Others are borring to me. And he is also a great fighter. I made him able to use two handed sword as good as two weapons in each hand. With some artifact that increase his strength he becomes a real fighting machine just like Keldorn and my main character. The same goes for Valgyar. So I used 4 powerful fighters, Aerie as wizard/cleric and Yoshimo(later Imoen). Most of the game I finished with ease. All dragons dead for example. And every stronger opponent.

with dragons it is about technique - I bashed the cr@p out of the shadow dragon with Haedalis and Mazzy hitting hard and the rest chipping in. I had set 3 traps which started off the damage, then moved in with Celestial Fury. I think the dragon miscast his "heal" which is why he went down easily - disrupting casting works with all dragons - I have also recently done in the dragon in WK and before that Firkraag. Dragons should show more respect.

my party at the moment is multiclass f/m/t PC, Viconia, Edwin, Haedelis and Mazzy. Mazzy is getting the hump with Viconia, so I'll need to drop Mazzy.
Viconia is at a level where most undead get recruited when she 'turns' them. I had a screenful of shadow creatrues all green-based. ended up just sending them to another room and locking the door.

I have Nalia's keep as my base and in the hall, I have positioned the NPCs who are not in the party at this time. I usually do that -select a room with storage nearby, empty out the inventory of a character I am dropping (except for 'personal' items), stand them in the room, move the PC to stand next to them and then remove them from the party. I tell them to stay where they are and they do. you end up with a room full of NPCs and all their equipment in storage so that it can be re-used by whoever is in the party. that way, you can select the most appropriate party for particular quests or to avoid internal conflicts that are getting OTT.

To kill dragons or anything pretty much I just cast 'Harm' then 'Flamestrike', dead.

I just feeblemind dragons. Just have to remember not to let Keldorn use Carsomyr on a succesfully feebleminded dragon or it will dispel the feeblemind. granted, it only works on dragons who are arrogant enough to stay in conversation mode instead of attacking right away, but it works.

I do wonder about the 'critical misses' that occur at that time. My party must be really gifted to be able to MISS a huge dragon that is standing perfectly still. Right now I only have Anomen and Nalia with me, and even the three of us have no problems handling them this way.