Your Favorite EE NPC

shawne

Whether it's because they fit in your party perfectly or you love their stories or you can't get enough of their special abilities, which of the four new party members in BG:EE is your favorite?

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Jared4242

Baeloth is simply too amusing not to pick. I'd love to see him in Ust'Natha in BG2EE. Perhaps a quest involving him would flesh out the Underdark chapter a tad more.

SamuelVarg

I really like Neera but she is maybe to difficult and remind me to much of my ex.
Rasaad is really well acted and I has always loved monks. So Rasaad it is - with a little bias.

Anduin

I presently have all the new NPCs in my team, apart from Bealoth...

Dorn. He is so USEFUL to have around. But now I have completed his quest and neared the end of his chatty story... I think I may drop him for BeeCloth. He is epic useful.

Neera and Rasad are interesting. However they are carried in the team for fun reasons only. For instance, I can't drop Neera now because I am having wild (mage) kissy action.

And who knows, I may even kiss Rasads cheeks as well... So he stays too.

dstoltzfus

Dorn is by far the most consistently useful. The 19 strength really shines and Blackguard utility is really good. I really enjoyed his quest and his interactions.

I really hate Neera. I know that I'm a minority in this. Her voice and her personality are very very irritating. I dislike wild mages as well. But, it's her voice/personality that really makes her difficult to include in my party. Her quest was ok. It definitely isn't as good as Dorn's.

I have yet to play with Rasaad. I just haven't had the right party for him (besides one good party, I've been playing all evil parties or the random game). I will definitely pick him up with some game...

The big problem is Rasaad being a monk. It's hard for me to design a party around that. My initial plan was to wait until my party was around level 5 or 6 and then pick him up so that he can at least hold his weight. Sadly, many games (the few good ones that I've played recently) rarely make it that far.

KidCarnival

Dorn, not just because he fits best in my usually evil parties. Blackguard is an very powerful kit, and the entire Paladin class was previously off limits for evil, so this is refreshing. His presence also gives Shar-Teel the chance to really shine as a fighter/thief dual, so he isn't taking anything away from an old NPC.
Dorn's quest seems to be the best written (I haven't played Rasaad's though) because it merges best with the existing content. He doesn't have a new area, but it's more complex than Neera's. She has one map and one fight, and that's it (and a minor quest in BG, I read, but never endured her that long), where Dorn has Kryll (with the TWD reference) and Simmeon (with much better loot than Neera), plus the "interrogation" with Taris to point in the right direction (instead of "magically knowing the alcove's location"). It feels better thought out than Neera.

I have never been a fan of monks or lawful good, so Rasaad is more a burden than anything. To be fair, he does get better in mid game and can be somewhat effective, but not enough to stand out between the "becomes useful in midgame" NPCs. Around that level, I usually meet Eldoth and Faldorn, and I prefer both to Rasaad.

Neera... I wish so, so much I could cast Sleep or Command on her and let Ekandor take her to the dissection table. The voice, the personality, the yet-another-romancable-pointy-eared-caster... Ugh. I like the concept of Wild Mages, but she's so annoying, I only use the kit in Black Pits.

dstoltzfus

@KidCarnival, I agree so much that I wish I could give two likes.

KidCarnival

I'm not alone with my Neera hate!

BelgarathMTH

I had a really hard time deciding between Dorn and Baeloth, because I've known Dorn for a while, and he had been my favorite. Now, I've just met Baeloth, and he is hilarious, as well as the most powerful npc in the game, now. He reminds me of Maurice Evans from Bewitched.

I wish I could vote for the two of them together!

"The dark side is stronger." -Tavern rumor, Dark Wizard, Sega CD game

"I'd admit that I was wrong, but some divine power prevents me!" (Darrin: "Whose?") "(sneering) MINE!" (disappears while wind, thunder, and lighting flash through the Stephens' living room.) -Maurice Evans, Bewitched

dstoltzfus

I've just started a good alignment game to use NPC's I haven't used before: charname: Fighter/mage; NPC's: Alora, Kivan, Rasaad, Yeslick, Xan. I might begrudgingly do Neera's quest...and I'll probably do some of the side NPC quests (Coran, Misc/Dynaheir, etc.). But...time to try Rasaad.

franco

I guess I first settled on Neera because she seemed so wild and unpredictable that it was refreshing. I like the fact that you are constantly living with danger in a fantasy. I still find it funny when she says "watch this" when all I've asked her to do is walk about ten feet. I guess it's because I adore children with their wonderfully naive but optimistic attitudes.

I'm beginning to appreciate Dorn more with his Blackguard abilities and super strength.

With Rasaad, I've always been biased against the Monk class ever since it was introduced into AD&D. I never felt the eastern type martial artist fit in my feeling of medieval fantasy. The time and atmosphere seem to be good for another game.

I'm beginning to think that I will eventually gravitate toward Baeloth from all I've been hearing. I really love underdark characters. But, I haven't met the guy yet.

SCARY_WIZARD

Neera. She is mai waifu, et cetera.

Dorn is alright, but I want to scream at him about blood and thunder. Also hey bro we can't get to Baldur's Gate until quite a ways from now, stop pestering me to go there or I'm going to turn this car around.
Nawt tried Rasaad or Baeloth yet.

ajwz

Baeloth might well be my favourite character from the entire series now, not just the new characters.

Although I'm still hoping we get to recruit Magda at some point

KidCarnival

dstoltzfus said:

I've just started a good alignment game to use NPC's I haven't used before: charname: Fighter/mage; NPC's: Alora, Kivan, Rasaad, Yeslick, Xan. I might begrudgingly do Neera's quest...and I'll probably do some of the side NPC quests (Coran, Misc/Dynaheir, etc.). But...time to try Rasaad.

The quest triggers very soon after meeting her. I meanwhile have a tolerance to keep her in the party exactly as long as it takes to get and complete the quest; then ditch her right after it's finished. If you hear her final comment, you'll hate her even more than now. (It IS possible!)

DJKajuru

He's truly the only one I liked. He's charismatic, has an exotic class and some interesting dialogue.

Senash

I like Neera a lot and she is the first NPC who is able to compete for my CHARNAME's heart alongside Viconia. But Dorn has such good voice acting and is such a strong character. I picked him up with my Chaotic Neutral protagonist for the first time and even though I had to accept his flaws (you know, killing, murdering, chunking innocents to pieces...) we kinda became best buds!

redline

I think my tastes closely match those of @KidCarnival, both in terms of Dorn appreciation and Neera hate.

One thing I'd add about Dorn, though, is something that's not even directly about the character, at all: I love the dialog the PC gets as part of his quests. Only with Dorn do I feel like my evil CHARNAME is not just a snarky jerk or a petulant (albeit powerful) brat. When he's talking to Dorn, he's the badass I really want him to be.

"If you're questioning me, Dorn, I will end you."

You don't get to say things like that with Neera, that's for damn sure.

KidCarnival

I also like the dialogue and extra interaction Dorn has with other NPCs. I don't know about Rasaad and Neera and if they have this, too. From what I read, Rasaad only has dialogues with Viconia. Dorn can potentially talk to everyone (except Baeloth and Ajantis?) in his accussation talk and outside of that, Shar-Teel, Edwin and Viconia either address him or join a conversation. If you accuse Xzar, his answer seems very out of character, but the others (at least the ones I've seen so far) are all fine.

Necomancer

Rasaad had an interesting story behind him and seemed the most likable of the new NPCs. Neera was alright, but at times annoying and truth be told I never got her alignment. Shes more chaotic good then chaotic neutral, and her story seems more like a sorcerers tale then a wild mage. I can't help but feel she was made a wild mage simply for the desire to have a wild mage and chaotic neutral simply for the desire to have a neutral character.

I honestly cannot stand Dorn. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way. Mayby its the fact hes horribly over powered, or that he blatantly defies the race/class allowances (I want to be a half-orc paladin, darnit). His introduction seemed to say to me "Look how awesome this guy is and so handsome that even female elves want to bonk him and hes cursed too or something I guess but like alot of fantasy curses it gives him POWER!" and I just kinda rolled my eyes and moved on. I was also pretty annoyed that when I did let him in my party I lost 2 reputation. I can understand that with the drow, they're natural boogyman, but its not like half-orcs start with -2 reputation so why should recruiting one take it down? I kind of have the feeling that was just a way to help evil parties keep their rep down. Honestly I'd probably like him more if I let him travel with me for a bit and got to know him, wich I plan to do eventually.

BelgarathMTH

I don't think the rep hit is because he's a half-orc. It's because he's a blackguard. He can hardly make a secret of it, what with the fear aura and all.

Necomancer

belgarathmth said:

I don't the rep hit is because he's a half-orc. It's because he's a blackguard. He can hardly make a secret of it, what with the fear aura and all.

I did consider it might be because hes a blackguard but then I thought "How would people know?". I didn't remember they have a fear aura. I suppose thats a good point.

Kaltzor

I haven't really spent much time with them, except Baeloth... And that was in the Black Pits... Though I do think they did a good job with him there.

Splod

They all leave me wanting more... Hate is maybe too strong a word, but I'm not a fan of any of them. Mechanically or through their backstory.

atcDave

They almost struck out with me. I have no use for evil characters; ever, so half the new characters are non-starters. I won't even purchase Dorn on iPad, he never has been, and never will be in a party of mine.
Rasaad isn't nearly as bad. But I'm really a fan of western fantasy, eastern Monks don't really fit in with the sort of party I want to run.

But Neera is pretty awesome. She is so funny, makes me laugh every time. And the wild magic is great when it misfires. I've never enjoyed hitting reload as much as I do with her around, every screw up is good for a laugh. And since I typically run warriors (not always, just usually) its great to have a mage I can recruit so early in the game. If only she were chaotic-good she'd be the perfect fit; fortunately, chaotic-neutral really causes no problems so I'm happy to have her around.

Mathmick

Wild Mage.

That is all.

Calmar

Neera is lovely. To me, she's one of the most likeable NPCS. She has a believable personality that I can easily empathize with and I like her voice and portrait.

Oxford_Guy

Baeloth is amusing, but he's far too OP for me to use him in the game, tried him once and it really just spoiled the game for me

AlexT

Neera.

But then again, I may be a bit biased.

KidCarnival

atcDave said:

If only she were chaotic-good she'd be the perfect fit; fortunately, chaotic-neutral really causes no problems so I'm happy to have her around.

She is, same as Jaheira. Neera is neutral to give each new NPC a different alignment, and the two others need good or evil for their class/kit. That's how I see it; there is nothing neutral about her.

Drugar

I dunno, I see CN for Neera. She's a nice girl, free spirited, doesn't like being told what to do. But she's not much into self-sacrificing her own good for the safety of others, nor motivated by a desire to better the world. Also, while she seems apologetic for harming others, most of the time she also appears to believe they're way overreacting to being set on fire.
Empathy for others is a defining trait of Good and she's...not strong on that.