Agonizing over party members.
Marsproject
Member Posts: 5
Do any of you have a preferred group comp that you prefer to run with? Or group members that you MUST have on EVERY playthrough? Have you ever felt guilty for removing one of them from the group and going with another team build instead?
Because I sure as hell am....
The one group that typically run through on SoA usually goes like this...
1. Me of course. Usually a fighter type, ranger, paladin, fighter or fighter/mage, I sometimes roll a cleric or pure mage or a sorcerer, but only rarely.
2. Minsc(and Boo!). No group is complete without Minsc and Boo, because Minsc is the ultimate bro.
3. Jaheira. Capable front liner as well as part time healer and buffer? Hell yes.
4. Yoshimo. Despite what he does later in the game I feel an intense amount of loyalty towards him, he is an interesting character as well as a damn good thief.(Once he is done I tend to let Imoen stay with me, because I like Imoen, because after what she went through I want to protect, console and give her an opportunity to shove a stake into Bodhi and shove some lightning bolts up Irenicus' ass.)
5. Aerie. Because Aerie is just so god damned adorable and I usually romance either her or Jaheira since their non-romance endings are just so sad and depressing. That and I love how pumped Minsc gets when she agrees to become his new witch.
6. Anomen. Again capable front liner and an all around awesome cleric, heals, dispels, storms of vengeance and blesses for days. Granted he is kinda stuck up at first, but he becomes more endearing as the game goes on.
There are others I like as well and will sometimes temporarily remove someone from the group, usually jaheira, for a short while so I can have them along to at least finish their personal quests. Like Keldorn, whom I have for awhile because of his general paladin badassitude, until his personal quest comes up and I tell him to patch things up with his wife and spend time with his kids with my blessing. Jan I pickup sometimes to annoy Anomen, which is HILARIOUS, and Edwin so that I can turn him into Edwina so I can see that dialogue that Minsc gives which makes me laugh my ass off.
Now to my dilemma, i've wanted to have some of the newer characters, namely Neera who seems really fun to have, because of her being a wild mage and funny dialogue. I tried out Hexxat for a bit but I just don't particularly care for her, granted what she really is piqued my interest for a bit but I tend to find her really boring, that and I prefer to run a good party(I REALLY hate being evil even in games, makes me feel like a prick and I just don't like it...).
Well my problems aside, what about you guys? What party/party members do you always have to have?
Because I sure as hell am....
The one group that typically run through on SoA usually goes like this...
1. Me of course. Usually a fighter type, ranger, paladin, fighter or fighter/mage, I sometimes roll a cleric or pure mage or a sorcerer, but only rarely.
2. Minsc(and Boo!). No group is complete without Minsc and Boo, because Minsc is the ultimate bro.
3. Jaheira. Capable front liner as well as part time healer and buffer? Hell yes.
4. Yoshimo. Despite what he does later in the game I feel an intense amount of loyalty towards him, he is an interesting character as well as a damn good thief.(Once he is done I tend to let Imoen stay with me, because I like Imoen, because after what she went through I want to protect, console and give her an opportunity to shove a stake into Bodhi and shove some lightning bolts up Irenicus' ass.)
5. Aerie. Because Aerie is just so god damned adorable and I usually romance either her or Jaheira since their non-romance endings are just so sad and depressing. That and I love how pumped Minsc gets when she agrees to become his new witch.
6. Anomen. Again capable front liner and an all around awesome cleric, heals, dispels, storms of vengeance and blesses for days. Granted he is kinda stuck up at first, but he becomes more endearing as the game goes on.
There are others I like as well and will sometimes temporarily remove someone from the group, usually jaheira, for a short while so I can have them along to at least finish their personal quests. Like Keldorn, whom I have for awhile because of his general paladin badassitude, until his personal quest comes up and I tell him to patch things up with his wife and spend time with his kids with my blessing. Jan I pickup sometimes to annoy Anomen, which is HILARIOUS, and Edwin so that I can turn him into Edwina so I can see that dialogue that Minsc gives which makes me laugh my ass off.
Now to my dilemma, i've wanted to have some of the newer characters, namely Neera who seems really fun to have, because of her being a wild mage and funny dialogue. I tried out Hexxat for a bit but I just don't particularly care for her, granted what she really is piqued my interest for a bit but I tend to find her really boring, that and I prefer to run a good party(I REALLY hate being evil even in games, makes me feel like a prick and I just don't like it...).
Well my problems aside, what about you guys? What party/party members do you always have to have?
3
Comments
Others I will let into the party for a little while even if they're not part of my final group:
Minsc. He's great at kicking vampire butt with Azuredge or the Mace of Disruption.
Jan Jansen, for his amazing thief abilities. He's nearly maxed from the start because of his custom gear. If you want something stolen, disarmed, broken into or turnipped he's your gnome.
Hexxat, for the awesome bag. I have mixed feelings about letting her into a good party, but... it's a bag of holding, guys. How else am I going to hoard these 15 suits of plate mail? I find her mist form ridiculously entertaining too, even if it's buggy at times. Great backstabber.
Nalia, for her quest. I always feel bad for her when I hear her plea in the Coronet and I enjoy her story and her lines. I feel like I might be the only one who actually likes her...
Mazzy. I just like listening to her voice. She's a cool halfling lass. But don't call her "lass" to her face.
Yoshimo. He has some funny banters and I have to get rid of someone to pick up Imoen, so I might as well bring him along for the final trip. Also writing this just made me realize I'm still carrying his heart around in one of my bags of holding; I should go take care of that.
Keldorn, my second front liner, must have for Carsomyr, dispel and true sight.Also mans the Firetooth crossbow. Never leave home without him.
Jaheira, primary sling tossing and healer, back up fighter, cool ( and long NPC quests);
Yoshimo, perfect thief for my party, naturally replaced by Imoen in chap 4 ;
Aerie, secondary sling tosser, healer and utility mage.
Rest of the NPC ( for me ) are just temporary fillers for their quests or items ( Hexxat gimme the bag and die ).
Jan -- when I don't play a thief charname, he's the only one who can get those thief HLAs. Hexxat can't replace him, because she's incompatible with too many other characters. Plus, he's hilarious.
Anomen -- he can both cast spells and serve as an extra fighter. Personality-wise, I always kind of liked him; yes, he has a lot of flaws, but flawed characters are the most interesting; and he can change over the course of the game.
Imoen -- I just feel too guilty leaving her behind in Spellhold.
Aeries romance, background, personality, class and ending are great.
Keldorns personality is great. His sidequest fun. I always punish the unfaithful bitch.
Korgan. Well korgan may be the best npc ever. To bad he only works with aerie in tob.
Best personaility and funny. Oh so fun
Jaheira - I can't stand the guilt trip Jaheira lays on me if I dismiss her (breaking the "romance" permanently as well). Also, I just feel really loyal to her after everything that happened in BG1, and then losing her husband, and all. I also like that her "romance" plays more like a deep friendship. I usually follow it by default - it's never even gotten to the "sex" part in my games, because there are so many places in it where it naturally stops because you haven't triggered this or that event. Plus, I don't like playing without access to Insect Plague and Fire Elementals, so my only other choice would be Cernd. Unless I'm playing a druid myself, Jaheira stays.
Imoen - she's been with me from the beginning, the little sister I never got to have in real life. I don't even want to think about the guilt trip she lays on me if I don't take her into the party in Spellhold. Yoshimo by default for the meantime, because otherwise you have to either lose Jaheira or leave somebody in Spellhold irretrievably. Which is okay, because I like him too. I was *so* mad the first time I played and couldn't get a redemption option for him.
Minsc - I occasionally do without him in favor of other warriors, but come on, Baldur's Gate without Minsc and Boo? It's just not the same game.
Having me, Jaheira, Minsc, and Yoshimo/Imoen only leaves me two slots to decide, and this is where I *really* get in trouble trying to decide.
Anomen - he's pure awesomess as a combatant and caster. He's kind of OP actually. I know if I don't take him, the whole game is going to be harder. I'm also in a minority who really enjoys his character story arc, and he's the best looking dude in the game. It's really hard for me to not take him, although sometimes I don't, depending on what class I'm playing myself.
Keldorn - ah, Keldorn, Keldorn, Keldorn. Not having him *hurts*, bad. His True Sight and Dispel free up so many spell slots for my casters! He's got that spiffy custom armor. He can use Carsomyr. He's the voice of reason and goodness for the party.
Aerie - I like her, and I've used her in a lot of my games, but, because of her woundedness, I have the easiest time forming up parties without her, imagining that she is much better off staying with Quayle. (I know, I know, I've played her whole character arc, she gets tough and powerful, but I'm having to make choices, here.)
Jan Jansen - I think he's the best thief in the game, he's hilarious, and he synergizes comedically with Minsc. He has a great character story, too. He comes with near 100 percent detect illusions, so he can replace Keldorn's True Sight spells as far as freeing up spell slots for the party casters. I have a *terrible* time not taking him, but in my last run, I had to leave him in Spellhold, because I couldn't stand not to escort Imoen. So, in my current run, I have no choice but to take Yoshimo/Imoen instead of Jan, so I don't run into that problem again.
The evil characters are fun to check out, but I can't stomach playing evil, so I've never even played out their storylines. I'd like to see the Edwina thing at least once, but the one time I tried to start an evil party, I wound up rerolling a good character before I ever even got the evil one out of Athkatla. So, all evil toons are usually automatically eliminated from consideration.
Really, just having to make the choices among the ones I've listed above is enough to make me start gnashing my teeth and pulling my hair out! I'm also a huge Branwen fan, and I've recently discovered a very good, fully written mod that puts her into BG2, so now, my problem is even worse.
This issue of party selection is one of the main triggers for my severe chronic restartitis.
Permadeath (chunking, petrifaction followed by shattering, etc) helps makes the decisions for you.
[And adds a valuable level of drama and gravitas to everyone's endeavors methinks.]
My last run Khalid was killed by an invisible demon in Durlag's tower [I believe it backstabs in SCS?] -- I hadn't intended to continue running with either of them (I just wanted to travel with Gorion's friends for a bit--connect with my father's past), but I couldn't leave Jaheira alone and in mourning.
I think having company to travel with and enemies to vent her anger on helped... for a time.
...Jaheira was cut in twain by Sarevok mere minutes before our "victory".
Yoshimo exploded in grizzly and unexpected fashion due to an unusually destructive flamestrike cast by an enthralled priest moments after discovering Illithids lived in the sewers...
Viconia was petrified and subsequently shattered by an elder orb and and a vampire, in turn after (of all the incalculable luck) we accidentally stumbled upon a meeting place of the twisted Rune.
(Or perhaps she was disintegrated? Even memories are mortal it would seem...)
Minsc, Boo, Valygar, and Mazzy were all Imprisoned beneath the earth by Kangaxx and the lich in Amanutor's old temple. (Sadly, I never made it back to the city of coin with the Freedom scrolls I unearthed in the underdark; no doubt they still exist there, under the earth and will do so for time inestimable...) [Also note: Minsc's berserk does not protect from Imprisonment/Trap the Soul
Keldorn has the happiest ending -- I gave him leave to spend time with his family and he put down his sword. (Honestly, I have no idea why he thought he was sworn to help me in the first place? I think he just wanted an excuse to neglect his family and feel relavant -- maybe his wasn't the happiest of endings...?)
Edit: How did I forget Edwin/a? For shame.
Keldorn: as stated by others, he is such a great character and possesses such great abilities I wouldn't want to play without him. I always feel guilty though requesting him to leave his family to continue our journey.
Mazzy: she epitomizes the kind of character I would love to have by my side in RL when the ish hits the fan. I almost always have Valygar along long enough to become her squire and I love her relationship with Korgan.
Jaheira: my favorite of the romaceable characters. She is a very well-developed character and I genuinely feel bad every time we encounter Khalid's tortured remains. To me she represents a bridge to BG1 and a huge motivator for revenge in BG2.
The rest I can cycle through, but those three are always with me.
To the point I've never romanced anyone but her until recently where I'm running my games without her as the interest. Right now I'm looking at Jaheira as I think I'd like her more than Aerie ... though the avariel isn't bad by any means.
I have a followup question to that without creating a separate thread and since it kind of ties into this. My next playthrough I might go Paladin and if so, does anyone find that as an odd choice if you romance Jaheira? The two things seem against each other. She's about nature and balance (nothing bad there) but paladins tend to be more "good for all things" as well as more "civilization" affiliated.
Jaheira, the appropriate mourning period for an elf maiden is a good century, I assume you could match even one percent of that before "moving on" quite so ardently. The fact that you're verbally attacking everyone in the group is a sure sign that you shouldn't have skipped grief counselling, so I'm going to recommend you take some bereavement leave until you've got past the worst of your issues.
Aerie, why are you constantly seeking reassurance? This is not mentally healthy, especially since your newfound therapist is quite probably an elf of two decades old, and involves constant heavy travel, danger and high stress situations. Either get back to the circus or head North until you hit Baldur's Gate, things are probably a lot more your speed up there.
Viconia, you're a Drow banished from the Underdark. You survive by flouting my good name and travelling in the company of both an established hero and cosmically powerful demigod. Considering that literally the only thing between life and a horrible, stake-related, fiery death is that people love me too much to murder my travelling companions. I'm willing to tolerate the interparty conflict since you're not the one instigating it, but for the love of Me, stop threatening to leave because I'm not a hated criminal you psychotic harpy.
Edwin, whilst I must confess that it is a tad amusing to watch you suffer from your own hubris, over and over, your severe disciplinary issues and inferiority complex are not conducive to a healthy workplace environment, and the fact you try to leave with all my stuff as soon as a Wild Mage gets into my group means that I'm going to have to terminate your employment.
And you. Give me my stuff back you jerk.
Keldorn, I'm not sure how they perform interviews in the Radiant Heart, but this is the second time a Paladin's threatened to attack me based on no reason whatsoever. Even if you do somehow pass the interview process, I'm afraid you were only a few days off retirement anyway, and I can scarcely wait put you out to pasture, you insufferable cuckold.
Nalia, it's a good thing that you have the title and the wealth, because you certainly don't have the personality. I've already had words with Aerie about the dire state of her hair, and she at least has the excuse that she crashed into a bird's nest, but uniform violations and econocentric feudalistic elitism aside, complaining about "not helping the needy enough" whilst working to clear your keep of a troll infestation was definitely the last straw.
Also I totally Charmed your Aunt and made her fight those golems. Stuff that up your restraint hole.
Anomen, Anomen, Anomen. Where to begin? The hypocrisy? The gloryhound behaviour? Bringing family matters onto work time? No, I think it's got to be the misogyny. Anomen, it's the 14th century now, and working Amazon warriors have been a fact of life now for fourteen centuries. At some point you're going to have to come to terms with that fact. As it is, it's time for you to go to diversity training and perhaps work out some of your daddy issues.
Haer'Dalis, I've told you before that your narcotics-use was to be kept out of the workplace, but here you are still touting ornithological pet names at pretty much everything with a second X chromosome.
And myself.
On top of that, as a minstrel I have to say that your singing is terrible, and not getting any better, I'm going to have to let you go, because I don't like you enough to stage an intervention.
Cernd, I'd say I disliked you on a personal level, but frankly that would imply you had a personality, and be unprofessional, to say the least. Generally your problems with excessive bodyhair would be acceptable, given that we also accept Korgan into the company, but the fact you refuse to actually wear clothes compounds the issue. Please, please go back to whatever hippy commune spawned you, and take your obnoxious love-child with you.
Yoshimo, I'm routinely delighted by your performance and commendable workplace ethic, and barely even regret dualling you into a dual-wielding katana wielding combat monster, but in the end I'm afraid that we just have to let you go. We do respect your tenacity and suicidal loyalty to the group, we just wish it was our group.
Minsc, I would take umbrage to the fact that you take direction in your day to day affairs from a rodent, but frankly I'm pretty sure the hamster is smarter than you. Despite your emotional outbursts and questionable mental health, I'm inclined to say that your hamster-based coping mechanism actually leaves you capable, if only barely, of agreeing to a contract of employment, if not being tried as an adult.
Imoen, whilst I'm aware that nepotism is a fine and splendid thing, I have to say that your time in Spellhold seems to have had an overall positive effect on you. Sure, you've lost your immortal soul, but at least you've stopped talking about knives, cutting, the darkness inside, and "being made to see", which frankly was so disturbing it gave me nightmares featuring you for several months. Nightmares full of long, largely unskippable, tedious monologues.
Dorn, I'm not sure what happened to you either. You used to be a fun guy to be around, seeking revenge whilst tirelessly stabbing everything and everyone who crossed you and accusing everyone of disloyalty, which is exactly what I'm expect from my half-human resources manager, but ever since you murdered an entire wedding full of people and turned from self-interestedly evil to "mindlessly murdering puppies" evil, I'm afraid we don't have a place for people like you in our outfit, which is exclusively for the self-servingly evil.
Picking my party nowadays is frequently less "Who can't I do without?" and more "Who can I put up with?".
That said, whenever I'm about to get tired of my group, Korgan starts mumbling about tree-huggers and daisy-eaters. Gets me every time, he's just so CUTE!
Your charname has issues.
Deep, disturbing objectivity-deprived issues.
But they're amusing issues.
9/10
Would hire.
My party offers a top-notch health package, moderate severance package and an "up-or-out" culture that suits overachievers. I think you'd do well here.
We also embrace team involvement in maintaining work-life balance -- specifically via violent removal of life obstacles to work performance. A service I imagine you could benefit from....
(Note: "Up-or-Out" in this context mostly refers to fast level advancement or disintegration-like death effects. Again - we strictly cater to overachievers. And I hasten to note that our combat pay is top notch--and our only pay!) [We dock Korgan a potion to maintain pay-parity -- it's apparently just the principle of the matter for him.]
Jan: Best thief in the game since Imoen is out of action for so long. I like to get my final party ASAP (the only thing I dislike about FFIV is the lack of this) so that all my actions have meaning and my experience gain contributes to the end game. Jan is also hilarious, a decent spellcaster and quite capable with the Firetooth crossbow. Usually, he'll be the one using it, and he can use anything later on thanks to UAI, which usually means he gets the cool 2 handed weapons I don't have anyone else left to use. His banter is the best, obviously.
Keldorn: Dat True Sight, Carsomyr and Dispel Magic! Would never dream of doing without them, they help me breeze through a lot of mage battles, especially once I've Secret Worded and Breached the bastards. I really respect his deconstruction of the usual paladin tropes, finding him a realistically flawed old time soldier, akin in my eyes to Barristan Selmy from A Song Of Ice And Fire/Game Of Thrones.
Anomen: Duel-wielding Flail of Ages and the Defender of Easthaven (usually replacing the latter with the Runehammer by end game TOB) for massive damage, great elemental coverage and permanently abolishing clay golems and trolls as annoyances. Bless and his other useful spells are also immensely handy. Arrogant though he is, I can endure; he's good enough as a character to be worth it.
The others will vary, but I only ever play as an Archer or a Sorceror so I've got my usuals.
If a Sorceror, Mazzy joins as a substitute archer. Strictly speaking this isn't necessary but I still love to have a ranged fighter perforating the enemy with arrows, and she's fantastic at it with her 5 proficiency points right from the get go. Also an amazing person whom I'd love to know in real life, and reminds me of Brienne of Tarth (another ASOIAF/GOT character).
Rassaad is probably now going to be an ever-present in all my parties now too. Monks rule, and I'm delighted to finally have an NPC one.
Jaheira tends to be my Romance, I love the character, who reminds me somewhat of my own real life fiancee, particularly her loving heart underneath her deep sarcasm...which I love in itself anyway. Weapons wise, she struggles though for most of the game, but she does me a few nice favours anyway and has some great summons.
Aerie is my traditional Archer-romance so I've got another mage besides Jan. I do like the personality, and the dual casting is fantastic. When my current archer run hits BG2, I'll try Neera in that role, who may end up directly more permanently replacing Aerie.
Minsc I absolutely adore, but he's totally out-classed in the game by Keldorn or Mazzy and I just don't have another slot in the party for him. I used to run him a lot but have switched to Mazzy for a dedicated ranged option; I don't need another front liner with Anomen and Rassaad/Jaheira unfortunately.
But seriously
But to be fair ... Charname is pretty awesome.
Also I want to point out that Viconia gets along with most of that team actually the only NPC who will fight with Viconia is Keldorn, but you can keep them in the same team if you are willing to make sure that they never stand closer than 1/3 of the screen from each other unless in combat. Its a bit annoying but you don't have to do it forever:
I'm pretty sure if you get Viconia to change alignment maybe even before that, Keldorn no longer attacks her at all so if you romance her that's an option. I've never tried this but it might make it so that she can pick up both Devas as well!
Viconia is pretty awesome, with a few items she gets 100% MR from gear so you can just have her tank all of the casters while still having -12 AC... Base 65% + 10% amulet + 5% shield + 20% human skin for example.
You can run back to Adalon's lair and fight her after meeting her at the exit. She's pretty presumptuous and a bit of a bitch to you anyway so if your not playing a pure lawful good character, you can probably RP killing her. Its not like your breaking her eggs, her genes live on! You can even deliver her eggs somewhere if you wish.
The only downside is that her turn undead kinda sucks and so does her lack of the holy smite type spells.