Debating on switching up my party

revan299s

My current party is

Me: Fighter
Ajantis
Jaheira
Imoen
Garrick
Neera

I use the T formation and have myself Ajantis and Jaheira head up as tanks, Imoen and garrick are ranged.

This has worked fairly well so far and now I am at a point where potential party members keep popping up lol
(Rasaad, Branwen, Minsc/Dynaheir)
My one issue with my current party I really could care less about Ajantis as a character lol as for Minsc(and Boo! lol) so far seems pretty cool. my question is how do they compare in combat?

as for Garrick I kind of feel the same way as Ajantis but as he hasn't leveled yet all he does is shoot bolts.
So I am debating on trading him for Branwen or Dynaheir.(Branwen is my first choice as I don't even know how an Invoker is. Neera is the only caster I have experienced.) Do I need Minsc in order to get Dynaheir?

Don't know enough about monks to choose Rasaad.

as for Jahiera, Imoen, and Neera, they are permanent. lol

Now my final question, if I decide to replace them, whether or not I tell them to leave or simply place them in a house(so I don't lose their partner if I wanted them. I don't want to just kill them off that doesn't fit my character lol) can I come back an retrieve them if I don't like my choices? lol

CaptRory

You can always switch things up next game. I like to go around and recruit my party first thing then get on with the game.

atcDave

Minsc and Dynaheir are a team, if you take one you have to have both. Switching them for Ajantis and Garrik is certainly a good option.
Comparing Minsc to Ajantis; Minsc is better offensively, Ajantis is better defensively. So you will have more hitting power, but less staying power with Minsc. I've played plenty with both. I suppose I prefer Minsc, he's certainly more fun, and I tend to prefer hitting hard.
Dynaheir is an Invoker, which is just a specialist type of mage. Actually, Neera as a Wild Mage sort of is too. Basically it means they get an extra spell of each of level they can cast in exchange for a weakness. Neera's weakness is her chance of spell failure. Dynaheir's weakness is just that as an Invoker she can't cast Enchantment or Summoning type spells. Ordinarily I'd say that's a fairly serious shortcoming, but since you already have Neera its not quite such a big deal.

revan299s

atcDave said:

Minsc and Dynaheir are a team, if you take one you have to have both. Switching them for Ajantis and Garrik is certainly a good option.
Comparing Minsc to Ajantis; Minsc is better offensively, Ajantis is better defensively. So you will have more hitting power, but less staying power with Minsc. I've played plenty with both. I suppose I prefer Minsc, he's certainly more fun, and I tend to prefer hitting hard.
Dynaheir is an Invoker, which is just a specialist type of mage. Actually, Neera as a Wild Mage sort of is too. Basically it means they get an extra spell of each of level they can cast in exchange for a weakness. Neera's weakness is her chance of spell failure. Dynaheir's weakness is just that as an Invoker she can't cast Enchantment or Summoning type spells. Ordinarily I'd say that's a fairly serious shortcoming, but since you already have Neera its not quite such a big deal.

So in order get Dynaheir I need Minsc in my party.

However Minsc sounds like a good replacement anyway.

How about Branwen? I know shes a cleric but do her attributes leave much for dual classing?

CaptRory

Branwen is a cleric, and the rule of thumb is you don't dual class away from a spellcasting class. =3

I think you can dual Branwen to a thief, but there's already a glut of thieves in the game.

revan299s

Ah ok thanks guys. I take it once you tell them to leave they are gone forever, since no one answered that one lol

CaptRory

Depends on what's going on. If they're happy in the group you can generally find them again to rehire them.

atcDave

It's just been a while since I wanted someone back that I dismissed! I know in BG2 they're pretty specific about where you can find them again if you part on good terms, I just don't remember how it works in BG.

sarevok57

actually dynaheir can learn conjuration spells in bgee, only enchantment spells are opposed for her

sarevok57

you, minsc,jaheria,imoen, dynaheir,neera should be allright, very magic heavy

revan299s

Yeah, right now I'm not impressed with Dyna, but she is only level 1 where as Garrick was level 4 lol now I have no use for my Army Scythe +1 xbow lol I'll see how it goes, if I don't like it I can always load a save back up with Garrick or pick up Branwen

CaptRory

Dynaheir is one of the weaker mages. Her specialization has an especially bad downside, but she canc ast Slow Poison for free as a special ability and she has a lot of Con.

Time4Tiddy

revan299s said:

Ah ok thanks guys. I take it once you tell them to leave they are gone forever, since no one answered that one lol

They usually stay where you left them unless your reputation is opposed to their morality (high rep/evil NPC or low rep/good NPC). Sometimes they will also disappear if you didn't complete their required quest. One thing to note is that once you've talked to them and had them in your party, their level is fixed. So if you get someone to level 3, leave them, and come back at level 7, they will still be level 3. If you think you might want to get them at a higher level, it's best not to talk to them until then.

revan299s

Time4Tiddy said:

They usually stay where you left them unless your reputation is opposed to their morality (high rep/evil NPC or low rep/good NPC). Sometimes they will also disappear if you didn't complete their required quest. One thing to note is that once you've talked to them and had them in your party, their level is fixed. So if you get someone to level 3, leave them, and come back at level 7, they will still be level 3. If you think you might want to get them at a higher level, it's best not to talk to them until then.

Well, when I took Dynaheir I removed Garrick, now he seems to be gone from the game. Still haven't decided if I will keep Dyna. He dissappeared from Gnoll place and I dont see him at FAI like most party members.

Time4Tiddy

I think Garrick is based on your reputation. I have had Garrick disappear forever before when my rep was below a certain threshold, but I can't say for certain what it was. Other times he has said he enjoyed traveling together and would like to team up again in the future.

revan299s

In the playthrough we are referring too, I have never had a low rep aside from the very begenning. I even paid for a higher rep early on just to see if I get different dialogue options, so I'm not sure what happened with him.

Time4Tiddy

The only time that he disappeared forever for me, he had some comments about how he was better off without me or something like that and he was pretty angry. I assumed it was reputation related. Possibly it's something else entirely, but I've definitely had him wait around many many times.

Time4Tiddy

Was your rep 19 or 20? Neutral characters become unhappy if your rep is too high.

revan299s

Most likely it was. He never expressed any unhappiness in random dialogue.

kansasbarbarian

Ditch Garrick and get Coran. He is the best archer in game. Minsc is a powerhouse but goes down quicker than a Filipino hooker.

revan299s

kansasbarbarian said:

Ditch Garrick and get Coran. He is the best archer in game. Minsc is a powerhouse but goes down quicker than a Filipino hooker.

LOL I noticed this. And for some reason he always seems to be the biggest target lol Also I already traded Garrick for Dyna and not sure I want to get rid of her yet.

Current party for this playthrough;

CHARNAME: Fighter
Minsc
Jaheira
Imoen
Neera
Dynaheir

kansasbarbarian

That is a good party. Solid melee, good arcane magic, and druid has great divine magic. Immy as thief. You have everything covered.

revan299s

kansasbarbarian said:

That is a good party. Solid melee, good arcane magic, and druid has great divine magic. Immy as thief. You have everything covered.

Yeah. Just Neera sometimes... lol as frustrating as it can be with a Wild Mage I don't have the heart to replace her :P plus when it works it's awesome.