Choosing that sixth party member for a Nuetral Good Party. (Very cool story)

Debaser

Hey all.

Back at it again with a Cleric / Ranger (My first ever play-through was w/ a C/R)

He's Neutral Good and has ++Hammers, ++Flails, and ++Dual Wielding at lvl 1!

During my travels it seems that Dyaneir and Khalid seem to have been turned to stone by Basilisks after a first nights camp following up the Gnoll Stronghold. (They were looking for a place to wash their cloths and *Bam*, they were taken by surprise....)

Since I can get them unfrozen later and leave them out of the group, this leaves my current party:

01. PC: Torwind Do'Nado Cleric / Ranger
02. Jaheria
03. Minsc
04. Imoen
05. Neera

But for that coveted 6th position...I'm considering the following four:

01. Rasaad

02. Coran

03. Kivan

04. Viconia


I'm wondering if I should just take Rasaad on...or maybe give Coran or Kivan a try. If I take Kivan I've got a very Ranger-centric thing...if I take Coran I get another thief which is extremely flexible. OR...I could take Viconia..though I'll have to keep my rep at a certain level...in that first step towards turning her good.

Either way I'm kind of parking everyone so I can level them up myself.... but who would you take?

Madhax

I hear Rasaad is tough to make useful, but I'd take him purely because he's new. Not sure if you've tried him out yet. Cleric/Rangers are already very powerful, you hardly need to optimize your group at this point, right?

Kilivitz

Tough choice. I haven't used Rasaad yet (so I'm not familiar with playing low-level monks), but between Coran, Kivan and Viconia, they all add different things.

My first choice would be Kivan because in BG1 archery is king, but then again, Coran is just as deadly as Kivan with a bow, and as you pointed out yourself, having two thieves adds variety.

I always liked havng both Jaheira and Viconia around (they're always in my BG2 parties), because you can never have enough priest spells at your disposal. Having another healer leaves Jaheira free to focus on the more destructive Druid spells.

But then again, you're playing a Cleric/Ranger yourself, so you already got two priests.

So I guess I would take Coran or Kivan. I personally like Kivan better, but then, one thief is always more than enough for me, and I always take Imoen.

Debaser

@Madhax and @Kilivitz

Madhax I am very tempted to take Rasaad and keep him because he's new and I think that's cool / interesting. I rescued Viconia and took her in even with the rep drop just so I could go back to her later if I wanted. I took a look at Ajantis and he's like Keldorn without the personality, so I don't want to suffer someone lawful good if I don't have to take them.

A point in Rassaad's favor is that he can port to the next game. Which everyone else I have in party can also do.

I might not need neera, but she's the best caster aside from Edwin, so I'm kind of liking the idea. Plus she starts off with Identify, and that's been useful.

Kilivitz, why do you prefer Kivan to Coran? Is it a stat thing? Story thing? I'm just curious.

I was thinking of maybe ditching Neera after a time and taking both Coran and Kivan if I can, but getting to cloakwood in Chapter 2 seems not possible in EE?

Debaser

@Kilivitz Also Vicky is tempting...even with two clerics already...endgame that's a lot of summon spells and healing...and buffs...and support spells...and if I dual Immy to mage I'm golden with mage casting too. I just won't have a lot by way of thief skills.

Isair

Dual Imoen into a mage, take Coran. I'm assuming Jaheria is mostly melee focused? I like to split my party into 3 melee & 3 ranged, also 1.5 divine & arcane casters (1.5 divine doesn't really matter in BG1 however since you'll still reach the same spells as a multi cleric - though druids won't).

You could get Rasaad briefly so as to complete his quest, I hear there's a great belt to be had - One that would make Jaheira much more viable in melee.

You can always ditch Coran later on once Imoen has regained her thief skills & get Kivan. Better yet you could keep Coran & have his skills laid out slight differently to Imoen, so both with open locks & find traps but there's other skills to have them focus on - Imoen could assign some points to detect illusions while Coran could put some into set traps/pick pockets.

Kilivitz

@Debaser to be honest, I never really used Coran because I always take Imoen along and one thief is usually enough for me. I don't do a lot of backstabbing or pick pocketing, so I just max out her open locks and find traps.

I also like getting my party together ASAP, so I tend not to use NPCs that are only available later. That makes me biased towards Kivan, but of course, it's a totally subjective thing.

Koson

Debaser said:

getting to cloakwood in Chapter 2 seems not possible in EE?

It never was possible unless you used a mod for this.

Thorsson

I had pretty much the same party; in the end I decided to keep Khalid. My reasoning was that he's an OK Tank if you kit him out, he can max out Longsword (which there are several good ones early) and Sword & Board. I've been using Minsc as an Archer or a second rank melee (2H Sword has reach), depending on whether there is room (outdoors) or not (indoors).

If I wasn't doing that I'd Dual Class Imoen fairly early and take Coran. He's still a good Archer and probably a second Mage is more useful than the differential between him and Kivan.

Lemernis

Well, Rasaad definitely has to be nursed along early on. And best I can tell, throughout BG1 he's only going to be useful sprinting at enemy mages or archers and a) using Stunning Fist vs mages (who have low AC, making it possible for him to hit with his high THACO), or b) forcing archers switch to melee. If you put the bracers of dexterity on him plus AC +1 ring, and use the Shield Amulet, he's actually fairly hard to hit. But he does relatively little damage as a tank in BG1. And when he does get hit himself, he takes some major damage. Rasaad in BG1 is not a tank but can eventually be useful as character who can stun mages. That's how I see him anyway.

From the list you gave I would probably take Kivan. Your C/R and Branwen can tank and Kivan can drop enemies like flies with his bow.

Quartz

Coran or Kivan.

Lemernis

Then again, Viconia would be a strong choice too what with the Command spell. Both your Cleric-Ranger and Viconia can make many a foe collapse in a dead faint using that spell. The casting time is almost instantaneous.

nemesis

Id choose Viconia. I have her with me and Im a Cavalier with 18 rep, She complains but hasnt left yet and is very handy to have along

Jaxsbudgie

Branwen.

Corvino

On my first BG:EE run I kept a 5th slot free to rotate in the new NPCs and complete their quests. Dorn, Rasaad & Neera can all be kicked without leaving permanently so you don't need to worry about losing them. Each also has a unique quest, new content and some new items, so it's worth doing.

This is pretty similar to a lot of BG2 playthroughs - getting a specific NPC for the duration of their personal quest then dropping them for the next NPC. A bit meta-gamey, true, but it means you don't miss out on too much of the new stuff.

Aristillius

Go Rasaad He is fun

Cyricist

I'd take Ajantis.

HELM... YEA!!!

LordRumfish

My choices were a little different this time around because I wanted to use NPCs I don't always use and finish the game with a minimal-caster party (I usually play a mage, or have a couple around). I will tell you what I did, then give my opinion about your sixth member.

1. Ajantis
2. Khalid
3. Jaheira
4. PC: Lirazel Amastriana (elven swashbuckler, Chaotic Good)
5. Rasaad
6. Imoen

In this case, I had two pure combat tanks up front, Jaheira was my only spellcaster (also a good tank in the ankheg armor), two sets of thief skills to rely on (Imoen could backstab/detect traps and I picked up all the utility work), and Rasaad was my venture into the new NPCs. He's a genuinely nice guy with a cool quest to do, and he works out fine after his first couple of levels. I used him largely as a ranged combatant until he reached about level 4 or so (fast XP table so not too hard to get him there), then sometimes he'd be a backup tank or someone to smack down archers/mages/skellies. When he ends around level 8, Rasaad is actually formidable in some of the gear mentioned above, and even without it he gets to AC 0 pretty easily. His fists are making 2 attacks per round at d10 damage I think? Anyhow, while he's not the most crazy-effective NPC in the game he grows into his powers and I like his character and his quest. If you don't try Rasaad on this run-through, give him a try on some future one.