Companions Not In Group Leveling

Tesla

If you remove a companion and then add them to your group after you've leveled up a couple of times, do they not level up comparibly? Because if they don't, then you need to have the companions you want at the end to be with you during the entire game! Otherwise, you'll be level 10, and they'll still be level 3. Is that the case?!?

marktheshark

Yes. You don't get XP sitting around Nashkel drinking with Volo.

Tesla

That's insane!!! That means you'd better bring the five companions you want at the end with you the entire time. Otherwise, you'll be a sitting duck for the final battle.

marktheshark

Yup. That's why almost nobody picks up the NPCs in the city of Baldur's Gate.

The_Cheeseman

All you need for the final battle is a level 1 Mage with enough wands, so no worries there. Incidentally, each companion spawns at a number of different levels depending on what level you are when you meet them. So the companions you meet near the end of the game will start out at higher levels. So, technically you're much better off soloing your protagonist character to the level cap before recruiting anybody if you're concerned about pure efficiency.

ZanathKariashi

Yeah, as above...if you've never met them, they scale to your level at certain xp milestones (1, 2, 4, 6), but if you recruit them and kick them out, they remain the same level.

Once you know what you're doing it's ridiculously easy and quick to hit lvl 6+ as any class (to my best knowledge lvl 6 is the highest an NPC will scale to) and then pick up a party of well leveled characters.....the only problem though is that thieves will put all their points in Pickpocket, hide, and MS, and almost none at all in locks and traps..which is pretty bad. So if you're a thief, go to town soloing...if not...duo with Immy, Safana, or Monty. Those are the 3 earliest thieves if memory serves..though Monty will level slower due to mutli-class.


And..if you're a cheesy bastard..the only item in the whole game you actually need is Algernon's cloak (I've actually done a "Nude" solo using nothing but the cloak on a Bard...fun times)...everything else is optional.

Wanderon

As I understand it companions typically only have two or three level options so I suspect if you max out your PC before picking them up they may still be a few levels behind becuase I don't think fully maxed out companion versions exist. For some reason level 6 sticks in my mind as a top tier but thats just a guess.

The other drawback to late comers is you don't get to choose how they have leveled up along the way -no max hps might not have optimal weapon choices etc.

I'd say if you know who you want go get them asap and stick with them or else have a swap plan - like Branwen early and swap her for Yeslick later.

It definately makes the real late comers from BG City more difficult to plan for.

PugPug

On the bright side, there are respawning enemies in BG1, so there is an unlimited amount of XP in the game. Some of these enemies are worth quite a lot -- it gets better than the 15 xp individual wolves or whatever.

Or you could always cheat.

BG2 had a few respawning wilderness baddies, but not many and certainly not worth the XP you need at those levels.