I cast my vote in favour of Neera based on the complex and deep consideration that, although her ability to conduct reliable spellcasting is negligible and her personality appears to have become increasingly confrontational and haughty in spite of the companionate relationship she and Charname should have surely developed over the course of their mutual adventures, she totally has the hottest looks.
I'm a huge fan of several of the mages on the list, and I almost voted for Xan, because his pessimism is so over the top, he always paradoxically makes me smile.
But, I needed to vote for Imoen somewhere, since I always take her. I like her sunny personality and optimism so much, and she's so plot critical, it just doesn't feel right not to have her in my party.
She's a fantastic thief through BG1, and she gets all her mage levels for free at the beginning of BG2 in my games. (I guess Irenicus brought "the power" out in her.)
There's an issue with her getting behind in experience and levels during her imprisonment by the Cowled Wizards, so she's never really the most powerful arcane caster you could have, but, she gets my vote just because she's Imoen. How could I not vote for my kid sister?
its funny even though Imoen is a mage for a lot longer then she is thief and that I duel class her in bg1 to fit in with Alora I still consider her a thief first and foremost
There's an issue with her getting behind in experience and levels during her imprisonment by the Cowled Wizards, so she's never really the most powerful arcane caster you could have, but, she gets my vote just because she's Imoen.
I've said many times that it would be SO COOL for them to add some Imoen-unique quest experience either after saving her or after getting her soul back, that would put her on par with the party average. I think having spent so much time as the subject of an experiment focused entirely on the *source of her power* makes perfect roleplaying sense as an opportunity for her to gain experience, level up and become more powerful. Certainly more experience there than returning acorns to dryads!
Jan was my "backup" mage in my last game, also doubling as my thief. Funny as hell, likeable with an understated softer side (his side quest was saddening, I felt for the little guy) and beyond useful with his thief abilities.
Failing that, more than likely Aerie. All teh spells!
Jan Jansen gets my vote but only SLIGHTLY. I do like that most of the mages are specialists, and so they all have their flaws. The only one of these on the list I am not a fan of is Quayle but that's just because he annoys me too much to put him in my party. The rest are all pretty Magnificent for their specialties, split class features, or (in the case of Nalia, as I have to find something good about her) looking like Drew Barrymore.
When he's not murdering my enemies in ways most magically deviant, he's making me laugh a lot. His snide comments and massive ego combined with his actual superior skill makes him one of my all time favorite npc's.
Edwin is the most powerful by virtue of his amulet, but Xzar is the most fun for me. Honorable mention to Xan for being both effective and funny as well. Tiax's Summon Ghast special ability is actually a great asset, but unless one is running SCS he isn't available for way too late in the game for me to want to add. Oh, and I'm a Neera fan as well. Not crazy about using Imoen as a Mage/Thief--like her better either as pure Thief or Bard, but that's basically a quirk of mine.
i subscribed here only to vote for nalia :-) (even though i have to say that Aerie is my favorite npc by far)
yes imoen has better thief skills, but nalia has 2 big advantages which are important to me: 1) in my playthroughs she has much more exp than imoen (in my last game i kept nalia and imoen in my group, because i like them both... but when imoen had level 16 my nalia was already stopping time :-) ) 2) nalia has mage appearance! i want to have at least one character with mage appearance in my group (but yes... i could use eekeeper to change the appearance of imoen)
Neera, her appearence in EE solved one of the biggest problems of original game for me, the problem being "Choosing your mage". "Mediocre" is a compliment for Dynaheir and Xan, Xzar's voiceset is amusing but I can't bear it for long, Edwin's character is unbearable for me and dualing Imoen before level 5 is just a waste of stats. And Larloch's MD & MM are very useful for interrupting spellcasting in early mage encounters. The situation was even worse in BG2 with Edwin being the only pure mage.
As for "magnificence" - Wild Mages become very useful alredy by the end of BG1, by the end of SOA they become demigods.
Comments
But, I needed to vote for Imoen somewhere, since I always take her. I like her sunny personality and optimism so much, and she's so plot critical, it just doesn't feel right not to have her in my party.
She's a fantastic thief through BG1, and she gets all her mage levels for free at the beginning of BG2 in my games. (I guess Irenicus brought "the power" out in her.)
There's an issue with her getting behind in experience and levels during her imprisonment by the Cowled Wizards, so she's never really the most powerful arcane caster you could have, but, she gets my vote just because she's Imoen. How could I not vote for my kid sister?
I also dislike that she makes me feel like a jerk whenever I don't keep her around (in both games)
Failing that, more than likely Aerie. All teh spells!
When he's not murdering my enemies in ways most magically deviant, he's making me laugh a lot.
His snide comments and massive ego combined with his actual superior skill makes him one of my all time favorite npc's.
(even though i have to say that Aerie is my favorite npc by far)
yes imoen has better thief skills, but nalia has 2 big advantages which are important to me:
1) in my playthroughs she has much more exp than imoen (in my last game i kept nalia and imoen in my group, because i like them both... but when imoen had level 16 my nalia was already stopping time :-) )
2) nalia has mage appearance! i want to have at least one character with mage appearance in my group (but yes... i could use eekeeper to change the appearance of imoen)
give nalia a good short bow and she rocks
Busting decepti chops since 1998...
Or was that Ironhide?
No matter. Both are red mean (magic!) machines.
As for "magnificence" - Wild Mages become very useful alredy by the end of BG1, by the end of SOA they become demigods.