Finding ex party members

philly2silly

I need a mage as its costing me too much to identify magical items at 100gp a time. I let a few go in the past but don't know how to find them again.

Any ideas?

Stargazer5781

Do you remember who it was you let go? Neera, Xzar, Xan, Edwin, or Dynaheir?

KidCarnival

Edwin can't identify, it's divination and he's a conjurer.

Of the others:

Neera will go to the Friendly Arm Inn and wait near the counter.
All others will stay where you removed them from the party.
If you never had Xan in your party (refused his offer to join), he is gone for good.

Bards can identify items, so if you somehow got rid of all mages, you can get Garrick or Eldoth. Both can also learn the Identify spell.

Gallowglass

Neera always goes to the Friendly Arm Inn. The others usually wait wherever you let them go, so you'll just have to remember where that was or search until you find them.

However, if your reputation has subsequently become very high, then Evil characters will refuse to rejoin, or if your reputation has become very low then Good characters will refuse to rejoin. Similarly, if your reputation was already making them uncomfortable by the time you let them go, some characters will depart permanently instead of waiting - you can tell by the way they reacted when you let them go (if you can remember): if they spoke to you and then stood still, then they'll still be standing there now, but if they spoke to you and walked off then they're gone forever (except Neera who always walks off but merely goes to the FAI instead of leaving the game).

An alternative to a mage for identifying items is a Bard. Bards have much higher Lore than any other class, so they can usually identify just by examining an item without needing to cast Identify ... and they can also cast Identify if necessary.

philly2silly

I had Zan and Edwin. Guess ill just have to try and find them. What exactly is Lore anyway?
Thanks for the help.

Gallowglass

In practical terms, Lore is the ability to identify items merely by examining them, it doesn't serve any other function in the game. Everybody gets some Lore per level (with one-off adjustments for INT and WIS), but Bards get much more Lore per level than anyone else.

atcDave

philly2silly said:

I had Zan and Edwin. Guess ill just have to try and find them. What exactly is Lore anyway?
Thanks for the help.

Lore is even better than an Identify spell, when it works. Its how you sometimes identify things without even casting a spell (many characters can identify +1 items by themselves by the end of the game). But Bards are by far the best at it. Late in the game, a Bard in the party may mean no one even has to know Identify anymore.

KidCarnival

Edwin can't Identify. Identify is a Divination spell, which is the "forbidden" school for conjurers. He can't cast it from scrolls either. If you need a mage mainly to identify things, Edwin is the one mage who can't help you.
Depending on where in the game you are and what areas you have access to, there are NPCs you haven't met yet and some may be casters and you won't have to search all areas to find Xan.

Eldoth is a bard and in Cloakwood Forest - must have completed Bandit Camp.
Baeloth is a sorcerer and can use Identify scrolls. Spawns if you are level 5 and visit Larswood, but only pre-Bandit Camp.
Quayle is a cleric/illusionist. He stands on the bridge to Baldur's Gate. He can learn Identify and cast from scrolls. Must have completed Cloakwood Mines.

If you just completed the Nashkel Mines, you can go back to Beregost and find Garrick (bard) and Neera (wild mage).

Oxford_Guy

BTW if you do need to pay to get something identified, check the prices for identification at the Carnival stores, as they're usually cheaper

TJ_Hooker

Oxford_Guy said:

BTW if you do need to pay to get something identified, check the prices for identification at the Carnival stores, as they're usually cheaper

Really? Huh, I thought it was 100 gold everywhere.

Lemernis

Yeah, I never caught that either. I thought the merchant Identify service was a standard 100 gp everywhere. Good to know that it's available a little cheaper at the carnival.

Fafnir

It's 70 gp there, if I remember correctly. Negligible at best past chapter 2.

KidCarnival

I just happened to read on Dudleyville that the carnival identification price is 50 gold... I can't remember that at all from vanilla.

TJ_Hooker

I checked it out a day or 2 ago, the price to indentify varies with each merchant at the carnival. I think the prices ranged from 50 to 90 gold. Also, every merchant can only identify items that are similar to what they sell (e.g. the guys who sells magic jewellery can only identify magic jewellery), so the actual price you get depends on what you're trying to identify. It's kind of annoying trying to get a variety of things indentified, as you have to go and visit like 4 different merchants, all of whom are in different tents.

KidCarnival

Ah, that's why I never bothered with it beyond getting Branwen some basic stuff. And even for that, I had to visit one tent for armor (and it had no helms?!) and another for a hammer or sling/ammo.

atcDave

KidCarnival said:

Ah, that's why I never bothered with it beyond getting Branwen some basic stuff. And even for that, I had to visit one tent for armor (and it had no helms?!) and another for a hammer or sling/ammo.

Its funny to me that there can be an early game helmet shortage! I think the Neshkel merchant doesn't sell them, and there aren't any at the carnival. So you better keep the one you get from Neira (not Neera!) at the Inn if you're recruiting Minsc or Branwen.

KidCarnival

Yeah I had sold all the crap I had picked up on the way, then strolled to temple, got stone to flesh scrolls and went to get Branwen. I was certain I would be able to get her an armor, hammer and helm in the tents next to her, but no helms anywhere. I figured I just kill something, and loot a helm quickly... Exploding ogre has no helm, and on the northern side of the map, all I found was kobolds. I had to return to Nashkel and buy a helm I had sold before. And I forget about the helm shortage every time.

Maybe everyone rushed to make swords with the little iron they have.

Madhax

That reminds me of Icewind Dale 2. There's only, like, three helms in total for the entire prologue and first chapter, and more characters are capable of wearing them. I often wind up with at least one frontliner who isn't helmeted, it's quite silly.

KidCarnival

Minsc has a known habit of not wearing helms. Maybe it's because he could never find one...