Xan or Dynaheir
Hi!
I'm about to finish the Nashkel mines and I'm wondering if I should take Xan instead of Dynaheir. I have a good-aligned party made of me (fighter), Imoen (NOT dual-classed), Ajantis, Kivan, Branwen and Dynaheir. The fact that Dynaheir doesn't have access to sleep or blindness is bothering me. Should I replace her with Xan? What do you guys think? I'm open to other options as well but I prefer not to have evil characters in my party.
Thanks!
I'm about to finish the Nashkel mines and I'm wondering if I should take Xan instead of Dynaheir. I have a good-aligned party made of me (fighter), Imoen (NOT dual-classed), Ajantis, Kivan, Branwen and Dynaheir. The fact that Dynaheir doesn't have access to sleep or blindness is bothering me. Should I replace her with Xan? What do you guys think? I'm open to other options as well but I prefer not to have evil characters in my party.
Thanks!
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Comments
Then again, Xan is quite funny, and as I recall there are more wands of fire than you can shake a stick at, which I think he can still use, despite being opposed to the school.
You could also go for Neera, as she is good-aligned. Wild mages are a little dodgy, though, so make sure you save a bunch!
(If you're looking for raw power, Edwin is the best mage in the game, hands down. He's evil though, so you'd need to be of average reputation, which I don't like to do.)
I would recommend Neera. I think she is easily the most fun Mage in the game. But of course, wild magic brings with it a unique set of challenges; like possible reloads after she accidentally kills you (or herself...)
Dynaheir - Nuke shit into oblivion.
Xan - More subtle magic approach.
Dynaheir lacks such spells as Sleep, Blindness, Hold Person, Confusion, Charm spells, Chaos, Hold Monster, Greater Malison, and Emotion: Hopelessness. Some of these spells are very useful indeed. I have found her 4th level spells to be rather underwhelming; some of the most useful ones are Confusion, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness, Spirit Armor, Fire Shields and Stoneskin ... and she can't use any of those first three! For her 5th level spells, you will likely end up only using Cloud Kill. A formidable spell, but the loss of Chaos, Domination, and Hold Monster is a shame. On the other hand, you can count on Dynaheir to blow stuff up. So from my perspective: Dynaheir is pretty good. Her lore is good (17 Int and 15 Wis), she has plenty of HP (16 Con), 12 Strength means she can actually carry things (90 lbs), and overall her stats are just pretty high. Her Dexterity is severely lacking, which is her biggest issue. I see you have Ajantis on your team, so I'm positive you have the Gauntlets of Dexterity on him. So basically: I find her 1-3 levels of spells to be completely satisfactory, although I miss Sleep at times. Her 4th and 5th level spell selection is highly lacking, but plenty of people just enjoy throwing around Cloudkill for all their 5th level spells anyway sooooo most people don't consider her at a loss, hah!
Xan lacks such spells as Magic Missile, Stinking Cloud, Web, Aganazzar's Scorcher, FireBall, CloudKill ... Basically the big damage spells. Magic Missile is his biggest loss, easily. I would suggest loading him up with Sleep, Blindness, and maybe some Larloch's Minor Drain for 1st level. Spook is a good spell as well. For 2nd level, he is perfectly capable of hurling Melf's Acid Arrows around, and Horror is a good spell as well. Of course, Mirror Image and Blur can be very useful for him, as you can send him second (after your tank) into melee combat with minimal worries. Overall, his 2nd level spells aren't really all that lacking. Melf's, Horror, Mirror Image and Blur are plenty useful. I find myself missing Stinking Cloud/Web once in a while (random tidbit, I prefer Stinking Cloud as Spiders/Ettercaps still fall to it), but that's it. 3rd level spells ... as people have been saying, he lacks FireBall. This isn't really a huge problem. There are tons of Wands of Fire around, and Oils of Fiery Burning and Potions of Fiery Explosions around to boot. Hand him your Wands of Fire whenever you find them, honestly unless you throw Fireballs at every group of 5 kobolds you find you really shouldn't have any conservation issues there. Seriously. Furthermore, GIVE HIM SKULL TRAP INSTEAD. Skull Trap fulfills the same purpose as FireBall, except for two things: One, it explodes in a smaller radius. Two, it is a Save vs. Breath Weapon instead of Save vs. Spells for the half damage, and almost all creatures have a lower Save vs. Spells so you will get the full damage in MORE often, thus making it essentially a better spell anyway! It may drop somewhere, or go buy it from Thalantyr in High Hedge. Also, I found Wraith Form in BG:EE and it actually works properly. This spell goes with Xan like milk and cookies. (It makes you immune to non-magical weapons and gives you +25% Magic Resistance, but makes you unable to cast spells until it wears off) Furthermore, he can totally use Flame Arrow. A lot of people enjoy forgetting that fact. Onto 4th level. Xan has no issues with 4th level spells, he has all the goodies there; Fireshield, Stoneskin, Emotion, Greater Malison, Confusion. 5th level spells ... Xan lacks the ability to cast CloudKill. That is admittedly a shame as it is a very effective spell. Throw around the spell Chaos for great justice.
As far as Xan's stats go: 13 Strength means decent carrying weight (90 lbs), 16 Dexterity is pretty decent, 7 Constitution is really low but JUST short of a Hit Point penalty, so 7 Constitution is really the same as 14 Constitution in the end sans the Claw of Kazgaroth use. 17 Intelligence, he's tied with Dynaheir. 17 is good. His Wisdom is just short of a bonus to Lore, ahh well. 16 Charisma can make him useful if you give him a Nymph Cloak and have him talk to people for best results (and cheaper store prices). His Moonblade is easily the second-best sword in the game, after Drizzt's Twinkle (+3 Scimitar, -2 AC). It is a +3 Moonblade, -1 AC, +50% Fire Resistance. A popular tactic with Xan is to have him throw around Sleep, Emotion, Hold Person, all that kind of disabling stuff and whoever falls to it, have Xan beat them to death (+3 Moonblade and no chance to miss means he'll actually be throwing around boatloads of damage) and whoever doesn't fall to it the rest of the party deals with.
Dynaheir is a nuker and Xan is disabling and finesse. That is it in a nutshell. They are both good characters, and I think you will do great with either of them. In the end, I typically prefer Xan as he really only misses Magic Missile and CloudKill, but since you don't have a second arcane caster or even a bard, Dynaheir is not a bad choice either. Up to you. Enjoy yourself, hope my post helps your tactics with whoever you pick.
Also, Xan nukes great. Two words. Skull Trap.
Considering Fireball has a Necromancy equivalent at literally the exact same level that actually scales better into the end-game AND is a damage type that isn't resisted by any enemies as opposed to the most resisted damage type in the game, Fireball is far from the "best spell in the game."
Also he can still cast Fireball. Wands are your friends.
Xan is my favorite wizard in the game. He's the only one who's capable of inflicting decent melee damage.
Step 1) Buff self with "Strength"
Step 2) Crowd Control
Step 3) Gleefully attack without missing
One of them cool forum badges!
Sheesh, whats with the hostility.
"You are so irritating."
- Most powerful mage in the game.
I do think allot of new players were not giving Edwin a chance because it was basically him vs Dynaheir & Minsc.
To the point, "If i must".
I usually kept Dynaheir for the dialog, if OP is really a new player... try keeping characters that entertain you rather go for the powerful. Xan has some of the funniest dialogs imo, if you into cynical humor. But if you already have Minsc in the Party i would keep Dynaheir. I always liked the interaction dialog between them two.
I hope this passes the bar of "usefulness" for a post.
I mean he really said three things:
Xan or Dynaheir
I have a good-aligned party
I'm open to other options as well but I prefer not to have evil characters in my party.
Which kinda means saying something along the lines of "LOLOLOL EDWIN IS SOOPAR POWERFUL EVERYONE ELSE SUCKS" is not exactly helping the topic at hand. I won't sugar coat it, you looked like a total noob with that first post, but now that you have elaborated yourself you sound great. I especially like your point, "try keeping characters that entertain you rather go for the powerful." That is always true, well said.
Btw, trust me plenty of players give Edwin a chance ... he's freakishly powerful and fairly entertaining to boot. A lot of people pick him just for his raw power though, which makes me kinda sad. I enjoy his personality, even more so in BGII.
Also, if it's ever a Edwin or Minsc/Dynaheir question ... Edwin, without a doubt. Dynaheir is okay but Minsc can burn in the seventh layer of my anus. I love how obvious this post makes it that you didn't even attempt to skim my wall of text.
Fireball has a lot more style than Skull Trap, which is why I like it better. Also Skull Trap requires something to be close to it, and even more importantly, has much less range, meaning there's a very good chance you end up in your own blast range when it blows up.
The scaling thing doesn't matter much either, because BG1 doesn't get to those levels anyway.
Skull Trap's range *is* its biggest decrement, I'll admit. I actually prefer the smaller exploding radius 'cause I'm less likely to hurt my party.
I stand with sandman on this one. Skull Trap > FireBall.
And anyway, I can't even remember too many enemies that would resist Fireball, especially in BG1. It's always worked just fine for me. It blows up instantly, respectively far away, and burninates absolutely everything it touches, apart from like three or four things.
If both the resistance and damage scaling only come up in BG2, and we're talking strictly about BG1, the only things for Skull Trap's "favor" are it's harder to blow up and easier to murder your own party. Edit: And more difficult to find - there are Fireballs everywhere but I don't remember ever having found a Skull Trap in the first game.
Sandman gave only some of the facts, which I am not ignoring. He said that Skull Trap is harder to resist and does greater damage in the long run, both of which I am acknowledging. I merely added some facts that he either chose to ignore or simply forgot: it's much harder to use, can't be thrown into a group of enemies that can't see you, and that neither the fire resistance nor higher maximum damage, the biggest benefits of Skull Trap, ever come up at all in BG1.
Perhaps that makes you think I am "opinionated" and drives you out of the discussion, but I assure you that was not my intention.
From the manual:
Skull Trap -
Range: 20 yards
Casting Time: 3
Duration: Until triggered
Saving Throw: None
Area of Effect: 30
Fireball -
Range: Visual range of caster
Casting Time: 3
Duration: Instant
Saving Throw: 1/2
Area of Effect: 20
No one is sending Edwin or Dynaheir into melee combat unbuffed. I don't know why they do with Xan.
It was of longer range in Icewind Dale, and indeed I used it a lot more in that game than in BG, but then again, that game had even less fire resistant monsters (what with being set in the north).
So I use my 3rd level spell slots with skull trap, and every mage has a wand of fire, now I can take my pick on which one to use.
@sandmanCCL
Why bother trying to keep Xan alive though? Trying to keep him alive is in vain, as he is doomed anyway.