Under Review: Dynaheir

recklessheart

What did everybody think of Dynaheir? It has occurred to me when I was reading through the forums that there are actually a lot of different compliments and criticisms being levied at her.
Personally, I have always thought of Dynaheir as a highly-esteemed Mage whose eyes are set on a larger picture, which alongside her diligent study of magic has left her somewhat detached and difficult to speak to. Furthermore, she has her own mission in coming to the Sword Coast, of which the protagonist is only one part, and she retains a certain level of cold professionalism in her task. Somewhat arrogant, she is occasionally impatient and demanding, eternally accustomed to how she would be treated in Rasheman, and therefore has been somewhat alienated by culture shock in coming to the Sword Coast.

Quartz

I couldn't vote for "I dislike Dynaheir: she is arrogant and unappreciative" because that's just characterization. If you hone a passionate dislike for a character for their attitude, that's called good writing. *COUGH!* ANOMEN *COUGH!*

That said, Dynaheir is pretty boring. She has some interesting backstory to share, particularly if you charm her before picking her up, but other than that, she's just dull to have around. Her interaction with other characters is very limited and yawn-inducing besides.

Arcalian

She's A Mage. *shrug* I didn't appreciate when Irenicus killed her, but that was more for Minsc's sake than her own (and the fact that I get real tired of "shocking twist" deaths.)

meagloth

Meh. That one person you save just to have killed and kicked out so you can keep Minsc. As xan would say "whatever" she just seems a little dull., character and utility wise. But don't get me wrong, I don't dislike her, I just don't like her enough to keep her around.

nano

I actually had no idea where she was the first couple of times I went through the Stronghold and just assumed I arrived too late.

ThacoBell

She always seemed boring to me compared to other mages.

CoryNewb

She serves her purpose in my goody two shoes run when bgee came out, if I were to bring minsc along again I would probably kill her off and try a different mage. She functions fine, no real need to dislike her IMO.

KidCarnival

And by "accent", I mean "death scream".

LordRumfish

Dynaheir has a sexy voice and I appreciate her portrait, but... she's very straightforward. If you want a group that is more serious and has less comic relief then I might take Dynaheir and drop Minsc (but that doesn't seem to be the popular choice, and it certainly isn't for me). I believe Dynaheir was in my party the first time I beat the game with a conjurer who should have been a wild mage if the option existed back then (I had Xan too, we were caster-heavy) and she functioned just fine.

I don't take issue with her mechanically. I tend to pick my NPCs for funny dialogue or interesting questlines, and Dynaheir's quest is all done by the time you find her. If you like to play a more straight-laced no-nonsense sort of game that involves serious characters, Dynaheir could be right for you.

Quartz

thedamages said:

She always seemed boring to me compared to other mages.

Nailed it.

Edwin: Stupid powerful. He fits an amusing personality, being the typical "trying really hard to be evil, menacing, and commanding, but he's actually a softie" card. He comes even more into his own there in Baldur's Gate II.
Xan: The designated "doesn't blow sh@$ up, but does everything else" mage who happens to have a freakin' badass, if somewhat situational sword. Furthermore his personality is your usual melodramatic, uninspired, cynical, sarcastic individual ... except dialed to the extreme, so it's hilarious.
Xzar: Chaotic Evil Necromancer is right up a lot of peoples' alley. And then he's batsh*# crazy with hilarious voice acting to top it off. And yet for some awful reason, you kind of trust him because he's typically more polite than other evil characters.
Dynaheir: Arrogant mage. Slow clap.

CoM_Solaufein

She's the best mage in BG.

Quartz

CoM_Solaufein said:

She's the best mage in BG.

FinaLfront

Nothing wrong with Dynaheir IMO, other than the fact that she is zero funny. I'd much rather have someone like Xan or funniest of all, Xzar!

"Montaron! I... I never loooooved yoooou!"

"I know of dragons with feet like rabbits, 'tis true, I swear!"

Arcalian

LordRumfish said:

If you want a group that is more serious and has less comic relief then I might take Dynaheir and drop Minsc (but that doesn't seem to be the popular choice, and it certainly isn't for me).

I had, but that's because I played BG1 645645755868 times.

And counting.

Alexisisinneed

I've always wanted to use Dynaheir, but I always created my own party when I played Vanilla BG. Now that I only play BGEE I think Neera is a much better Mage compared to Dynaheir.

deltago

Before getting her, you have Xzar, Edwin, Neera and maybe Xan to choose from before recruiting her. All four of those, as well as Garrick (barely), have a more "fun" personality to fill your arcane caster slot and Baeloth pretty quickly afterwards so...

If I am evil, I help Edwin kill her while Minsc watches.
If I am neutral I have edwin and her duke it out. The winner gets a free trip back to Nashkel.
If I am good I rescue her and bring her back to Nashkel where I drop her off at the inn with Khalid and Jaheira. That is where i think Irenicus captured them all and brought them to his dungeon.

She is rarely in any of my parties. Better choices throughout the game.

CutlassJack

Dynaheir's best quality is she's voiced by Femshep (Jennifer Hale). Her second best quality is Minsc.

The main reason I don't take her along is that I just don't need a pure mage to babysit in my group. I prefer a dual classed Imoen or Safana in general. If I must take a pure mage, I like Neera more since she comes with more story.

After rescue, I leave her on the top floor of the Friendly Arms to 'recuperate' from her captivity, while Minsc stays with my party a bit to work off his debt to us.

Flashburn

I just dislike Dynaheir mechanically.

She can't cast Enchantment spells which are a big deal in BG1. That's literally it. Her school of opposition is incredibly useful and without it, she's just gimped compared to the other mages.

Xan is her exact opposite but it doesn't even matter simply because the game just throws tons of evocation wands at you to make up for it. But there are no wands of Charm Person/Dire Charm, Hold Person, or Greater Malison like there are wands of Lighting or Fire.

Unless all SIX of the other mages, not counting Imoen and Safana with a tome, have been chunked somehow (Neera, Edwin, Baeloth, Xan, Quayle, Xzar), there is no pressing reason to use Dynaheir.

recklessheart

Cool guys, thanks for all the comments so far!
I do see how she falls a little flat compared to the other Mages in the personality department, yet personally I imagine I would much rather have a responsible, anti-social Mage around than Xan, who I can't bear to listen to. Edwin and Xzar are excellent though, it must be said. I have yet to take Neera with me, but with respect it would be unfair to compare any of the strictly BG1 NPCs to her, Rasaad or Dorn for depth and development.

Calmar

recklessheart said:

What did everybody think of Dynaheir? It has occurred to me when I was reading through the forums that there are actually a lot of different compliments and criticisms being levied at her.
Personally, I have always thought of Dynaheir as a highly-esteemed Mage whose eyes are set on a larger picture, which alongside her diligent study of magic has left her somewhat detached and difficult to speak to. Furthermore, she has her own mission in coming to the Sword Coast, of which the protagonist is only one part, and she retains a certain level of cold professionalism in her task. Somewhat arrogant, she is occasionally impatient and demanding, eternally accustomed to how she would be treated in Rasheman, and therefore has been somewhat alienated by culture shock in coming to the Sword Coast.

I do not like Dynaheir very much and I find it very annoying and distracting that the supposedly highly intelligent wizardess is unable get the 'thou', 'thy', 'thee' pronoun stuff right. (You know, as in "Thou art wonderful. I appreciate thy wit. I like thee.").

But I find your view on her very interesting. I haven't looked at her that way.

recklessheart

Also thank you @Quartz for the feedback. If you are interested, however, please read the post I made here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/4235/top-5-npcs-and-bottom-5-npcs-best-party-combos#latest as regards Anomen as a 'well-written' NPC. It's somewhere towards the top of the most recent page of comments

karnor00

I feel that all of the BG1 NPCs are pretty bland. It's very rare to see anything in the way of banter from them (other than the BGEE specific NPCs which are much more interesting).

velehal

The problem of Dynaheira is Minsc. I can´t withstand him. I don´t think that somebody is funny when he is merely stupid and simpleminded. Alone she is ok. I can´t say that I like her or dislike her. I would probably use her much more if she wasn´t in a pair with Minsc.

elminster

CoM_Solaufein said:

She's the best mage in BG.

If you use two manuals of wisdom on her then she has a lot of potential as a mage-> cleric, but I wouldn't say she is the best mage.

Eudaemonium

recklessheart said:

Also thank you @Quartz for the feedback. If you are interested, however, please read the post I made here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/4235/top-5-npcs-and-bottom-5-npcs-best-party-combos#latest as regards Anomen as a 'well-written' NPC. It's somewhere towards the top of the most recent page of comments

Quartz said Anomen was well-written, not that he isn't a vile and hateful individual. They are not mutually exclusive categories.

element

I do like her a lot but I wont lie my favourite bit is her voice

'As directed' has turned out to be one of my favourate lines in bg simply because of how she speaks

KidCarnival

elminster said:

CoM_Solaufein said:

She's the best mage in BG.

If you use two manuals of wisdom on her then she has a lot of potential as a mage-> cleric, but I wouldn't say she is the best mage.

In theory. I also liked the idea to make her a shaman-like mage/cleric; especially with her Cure Poison ability, it seemed fitting. Thing is, she needs two tomes. You can get one from Durlag's early and easily, but the second one is in the city, which is a bit late.
For the first tome, you already need a few levels to get it, either to kill the Doomguards or to have enough stealth/potions/level 2 spells to sneak in and out. Then you still need the other tome and have to go through Cloakwood, which is usually a nice place to get levels back after dualing. You either drag around Branwen or Viconia so long. With Dynaheir, you drag much longer. Then you park Dynaheir and rush to grab the tome, which may or may not come with having to lock her somewhere, so you don't also have to replace Minsc for the time. Then you dual her and go to hunt ankhegs or basilisks or sirenes (because you better save those areas up, unless you are after a long and tedious downtime in mid/endgame.)

With Xzar, it's worth it. You grab the Durlag tome before going to Cloakwood and get his levels back there. He's usually at ideal dual level on the first or second Cloakwood map, so no need to park and lock Monty. And for your troubles, you get the cleric with the highest possible wisdom of any NPC, pure clerics included, with good strength and dex.

With Dynaheir, you plan your entire game around dualing Dynaheir and the result is a medicore mage/cleric you could have gotten elsewhere (Quayle) with less work.

TL;DR: Dualed Dynaheir to cleric; not worth it, wouldn't dual again.

recklessheart

@Eudaemonium I know, and the point I'm trying to make is that Anomen is not well-written. Nalia, Jaheira and Keldorn all in their own way represent pride and/or status as a hindrance or idiosyncracy that can conflict with doing or seeing the most prudent point of view. Anomen is, as you say, vile, but in such a way that goes far beyond believable character discrepancy.

Mathsorcerer

As I have said before--not on every "rate the NPC" threads, mind you--there are no poor-quality NPCs, only poor-quality players using--misusing--them. There is no NPC who cannot become useful and capable if given the correct set of equipment and/or the correct set of spells to memorize.

Tetraploid

I like Dynaheir. Xzar, Edwin and Xan all have extreme negative personality traits one way or another, whereas Dynaheir simply has a certain arrogance about her but without being crazy-power-obsessed. I see her as a determined, powerful woman who is used to being respected, and there's nothing wrong with that. That said, thinking about the supposed canon party, I really can't imagine she and Jaheira would ever be friends for long. You can only have so many alpha females in a group!

elminster

KidCarnival said:

elminster said:

CoM_Solaufein said:

She's the best mage in BG.

If you use two manuals of wisdom on her then she has a lot of potential as a mage-> cleric, but I wouldn't say she is the best mage.

In theory. I also liked the idea to make her a shaman-like mage/cleric; especially with her Cure Poison ability, it seemed fitting. Thing is, she needs two tomes. You can get one from Durlag's early and easily, but the second one is in the city, which is a bit late.
For the first tome, you already need a few levels to get it, either to kill the Doomguards or to have enough stealth/potions/level 2 spells to sneak in and out. Then you still need the other tome and have to go through Cloakwood, which is usually a nice place to get levels back after dualing. You either drag around Branwen or Viconia so long. With Dynaheir, you drag much longer. Then you park Dynaheir and rush to grab the tome, which may or may not come with having to lock her somewhere, so you don't also have to replace Minsc for the time. Then you dual her and go to hunt ankhegs or basilisks or sirenes (because you better save those areas up, unless you are after a long and tedious downtime in mid/endgame.)

With Xzar, it's worth it. You grab the Durlag tome before going to Cloakwood and get his levels back there. He's usually at ideal dual level on the first or second Cloakwood map, so no need to park and lock Monty. And for your troubles, you get the cleric with the highest possible wisdom of any NPC, pure clerics included, with good strength and dex.

With Dynaheir, you plan your entire game around dualing Dynaheir and the result is a medicore mage/cleric you could have gotten elsewhere (Quayle) with less work.

TL;DR: Dualed Dynaheir to cleric; not worth it, wouldn't dual again.

Meh Dual Dynaheir at level 5. Since you can't use level 4 enchantment spells from an offensive standpoint I don't think you lose out on much with her unless you plan on single classing in order to get level 5 spells (Cloudkill or possibly Cone of Cold). You dual at level 5 and you are back as a cleric at level 6 (total XP just shy of 50,000 xp). You could wait longer if you really want that 3rd casting of a level 3 spell, but from a functioning standpoint it probably isn't worth it (you've always got wands of fire after all). Does she require more effort than Quayle? not necessarily. You are less likely to have to worry about having to use potions to boost her intelligence when she's memorizing spells and frankly because you won't be worried about level 4 and 5 spells you can probably get all the spell memorizing done that you will ever need before you even reach Quayle.

Since Xzar can't get level 4 spells while dualing she basically is a more defensible version of Xzar that can't use Sleep. Her dexterity isn't nearly as good, but she has spells like Mirror Images, Blur, Blindness, and Spook that can help protect her to make up for that. You certainly have to plan more around when you are going to dual class with her and you need to be in Baldur's Gate to get the second Tome of Understanding, but between the spells I've listed on top of the ability to cast Holy Smite and Turn (rather than control) Undead I think she provides a fair alternative to Xzar. Not as awesome as Quayle mind you but then again...nobody is (well except Tiax since he rules all).