A whole new outlook on Xan
TethorilofLathander
Member Posts: 427
Admittedly, I never really liked Xan. The mix of elven and depressive just didn't go for me, especially considering he's a Moonblade wielder. Then I found this artwork created by Smilika on DeviantArt and it completely changed how I perceived Xan 
What do you guys think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WesctGgqlL8
What do you guys think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WesctGgqlL8 5
Comments
This artwork is simply beautiful. I think the romance mod must have been the inspiration for this one. Xan is popular with girls, despite his dark outlook to life. He has 16 charisma after all, lol.
Xan can be rather dour and boring by himself, but shines in situations when combined with a npc or pc trying to cheer him up. his interjections/banters with bg2 npcs could have been great.
I used to play Mages as damage dealers ... then I learned about this wonderful thing called "crowd control" and all of a sudden my Mages were actually more helpful. Despite not throwing out lots of damage, they managed to contribute to the fights much more -- less damage done to my party, quicker fights and all that.
Xzar & Monty died right in the middle of the mines fighting Khalid & Jaheira, and Minsc went berserk the instant I had him join our group and had to be killed. (I now know why Minsc went berserk, but at the time I was like WTF?)
Yet as we travelled, though the enchanter never ceased to provoke my ire, a curious aspect seemed clearer and clearer of him. Though he may have been constant chiefly in his outlook, finding dismal portent awaiting us in every crooked turn of the path or greying sweep of the clouds overhead, such constancy ran through his being. He spoke of his responsibilities as a Greycloak of Evereska, and though I bear no love for the surface darthiir or their blundering orders, one cannot deny that Xan truly undertook his duty despite many wearying predictions of his inevitable ruin. I found him spineless, at first; yet my people are skilled at discerning the truth behind speech and action, and for all his speech the darthiir was constant in his sworn duty. Perhaps it was this constancy that proved him worthy of the moonblade in his hand; had he been judged on speech alone the blade might have leapt from his grasp and skewered him upon the merest utterance of his low hopes for survival. Doubtless that would have proven an amusing spectacle.
Make no mistake; such bleak speech became tedious and grating to the nerves all too swiftly. Still, as one travelled beside the ever-constant darthiir one became used to such pronouncements, however grudgingly. There came the sense of rote repetition; of a refrain taken up and repeated until it became mantra. After every desperate skirmish in which our company of 'suicide-mongers' remained standing and his predictions were proven shortsighted, Xan's gloomy refrain seemed just as hollow as his own pronouncements of life. For all his sweeping declarations, the jaluk's gaze was constantly turned inwards, his speech dire assurance to himself above all others. One wonders what so terrified him, in dreams of success and his duty completed. Perhaps it is no surprise he found great comfort in the study of magical trinkets and weapons, attempting to master the burdens of lineage and duty placed upon him. I was simply content for any reprieve from his incessant, cloying misery.
What makes Invoker so gimped is that there are no wands to make up for the forbidden school except Sleep, which becomes less usefull on higher levels. Normally, you'd just switch to Emotion - Invoker can't do that.
On higher levels, I still mostly use it as that - for pure damage, there are many alternatives. MM is nice to have, yes. But it's far from essential.
If someone really insists on using damage spells with Xan, they can always use Melf's Acid Arrow, Flame Arrow, and Skull Trap. All very nice spells.
Xan is fairly useful for crowd control in BG1, and once he has put everyone to sleep, he can take out his moonblade to hack at them. In BG2 there are less spells from his class so it's a bit harder to play him as an enchanter. Fortunately, the mod allows you to turn him into a sorcerer or fighter/mage.
He was one of the NPCs that really made me laugh when I first played the game because of his comment of feeling insignificant in the forest, but when you take him into town, he's still depressed!
-Xan was captured by Mulahey and investigating the same thing you were, so it makes perfect sense for him to come along
-Gorion dies, Imoen force-joins your party so I taker her
-Kivan hates Tazok and is hunting the same bandits you are, makes sense he'd chill with me
-Branwen hates Tranzig (whose name sounds like he should be a Swedish thrash metal band) so she joins
-Yeslick is in the mines, so it makes perfect sense for him to be "canon"
This makes a very nice balanced party with my fighter/illusionist gnome. Also funny to see that little guy romance the strapping young lass Branwen: Warrior Princess with the BG1NPC Project mod
Also, I like the idea of an alternative cannon party. It wouldn't be hard for CHARNAME to miss Minsc along the way but Xan and Yeslick are right there along the way of the main story line. Makes sense he'd find them.