NPC Party

thurrain_pineshield

Hello all, new to the forums here and was having a hard time finding this discussion with the search function so my apologies if this topic is a dead-horse.

I've played through the BG saga several times and unfortunately always find myself using the same party makeup. I was wondering if anyone has any good party suggestions that are less-common. For example, I've never actually used Shar-Teel or Eldoth or Skie etc . My last play-through was the first time I ever recruited Coran and found out just how awesome he was.

So that's basically the point: what are some relatively unusual yet fun party-makeups for running through BG?

Loub

Faldorn, for one, is very very good due to the fact that Druids gain levels so quickly until they hit 12, so much that she will be the most powerful spellcaster in the first game if you don't remove the exp cap. Her shadow wolf ability is also incredibly cheesy.

Tiax, for another, is a strange little fellow. His voice is annoying, his wisdom sucks, his weapon selection isn't good and he will clash with a good party. He is also the dead last party member you can possibly get, which means you will most likely only be able to use him for the last fifth of the game or so unless you purposefully skip side quests until you get him. His innate summoning ability, though, is so broken it might make you lose your excitement over the game due to its sheer power.

Shar-Teel is good due to the fact that she is the perfect candidate for replacing Imoen as a Thief, considering she is much better if you decide to Dual her into one, although she, much like Tiax, will clash with a good party and her sheer batshittery might be a turn-off for some people. However, if you like backstabbery - she is the best in the business, due to fighter bonuses and ability to achieve higher proficiency levels.

GreenWarlock

I only recently discovered how awesome Shar Teel is as a dualed thief, despite playing the game on and off for over a decade! Another character I discovered only recently was Alora, the halfling thief you can recruit in Baldur's Gate city itself, and far and away the most cheerful character in the saga, great fun to have around. With the EE version of the game, I have taken to turning Yeslick (dwarf in Cloakwood mines) into Robocop - give him the Big Fisted Belt, the +1 con Buckler, the Gauntlets of dex and a spare charisma item, and 5 of his 6 stats turn red, mostly for the better (19 18 18 str con dex) and his special dispel magic can be a life-saver. It took me a while to get comfortable heading North of the Friendly Arm Inn at the start to recruit Ajantis, if you have not tried that yet. He is as solid a front line tank as you can find (short of Robocop) but also needs the dex gloves. Likewise, if you have not played with Kagain from Beregost yet, there is a lot of benefit from starting the game with a regenerating dwarf.

I have not yet had much luck with Xan, despite many folks saying good things. Likewise, I can never resist taking all the Wisdom tomes myself, so have never dualed Dynaheir or Xzar into Cleric - which would give an interesting new play through.

If you have not played with the EE characters yet, most have some kind of additional content unique to them, either new encounters, new areas, or both. The exception is Baeloth, who is overpowered fun as a Sorcerer with too many spells. A party with both Baeloth and Edwin will nuke all before them, especially if the PC is arcane and along for the ride.

Have you played all the way through with both Jaheira and Khalid? Many seem to discard Khalid at the first opportunity, but he is one of the few pure fighters who can achieve Grand Mastery, and grows into quite the beast by the end of the game.

One play through I found fun recently was my halfling dartflinger (fighter, grand master darts) who was 'heightist' and recruited a party of all the shorties (dwarves, gnomes and halflings). This means running the mainline quest to open Baldur's Gate early, as 3 important shorties live there (Alora, Quayle and Tiax) plus Yeslick is most of the way through the mines - so I allowed tall folks to help me up to the mines, although mostly they sacrificed themselves and were replaced (yes, I used and discarded every other character [deceased] in the game except Skie, who I have never recruited) - and it was interesting to realize that a party of shorties really does stand out visually traipsing around the world of tall folks. Ran out of shorties by Shadows of Amn though.

Twani

The Garrick, Eldoth, Skie trio is always amusing. You will probably never need two bards (especially two straight bards), neither who have the best attributes, and Skie you get so late that her skillpoints are all over the place. But the three of them will banter back and forth pretty constantly. It's definitely not a power playthrough, but it can be a fun one.

Eldoth will also get himself chunked by Shar-Teel, if you keep them around for a while. Shar-Teel herself can make a great thief.

If you can keep a good and evil party member satisfied, watch Alora and Edwin banter back and forth. It's surprisingly cute. And Alora's not bad, if you rush to BG to get her- and we all know Edwin's awesome.

meagloth

Play minimum reload, or don't resurrect. Then you'll probably be forced to take some new ones on. Or Maybe this old thread Will help some.

thurrain_pineshield

Loub said:

Faldorn, for one, is very very good due to the fact that Druids gain levels so quickly until they hit 12, so much that she will be the most powerful spellcaster in the first game if you don't remove the exp cap. Her shadow wolf ability is also incredibly cheesy.

I remember looking over her abilities and thinking the shadow wolf form would be something I'd rarely use, but given all this feedback I'll make sure to pick her up on my current game. I usually overlook the druid class altogether but its probably time I change that. She sounds pretty awesome.

GreenWarlock said:

Have you played all the way through with both Jaheira and Khalid? Many seem to discard Khalid at the first opportunity, but he is one of the few pure fighters who can achieve Grand Mastery, and grows into quite the beast by the end of the game.

Oh yes. I used to always drop Khalid and Jaheira because I felt they were an annoying duo. My last run-through I made sure to keep them both to maximize on Khalid's fighter abilities - mainly reaching high mastery/grand mastery in long swords and using the Varscona +2 sword. It worked out pretty well.

meagloth said:

Play minimum reload, or don't resurrect. Then you'll probably be forced to take some new ones on. Or Maybe this old thread Will help some.

This would probably help a lot. Granted, I almost always find myself rushing into some ridiculous situation unprepared and inevitably have to reload. It would definitely be a challenge. Also thanks for the banter link, I'll definitely check it out.

SirK8

meagloth said:

Play minimum reload, or don't resurrect. Then you'll probably be forced to take some new ones on. Or Maybe this old thread Will help some.

Playing a no-resurrect game helped me break out of my normal party. In fact this challenge was the best experience I ever had playing BG and changed the way I play the game in general now.

thurrain_pineshield

SirK8 said:

meagloth said:

Play minimum reload, or don't resurrect. Then you'll probably be forced to take some new ones on. Or Maybe this old thread Will help some.

Playing a no-resurrect game helped me break out of my normal party. In fact this challenge was the best experience I ever had playing BG and changed the way I play the game in general now.

I've always wanted to do something like this. Follow a more traditional DnD style character creation and then try to beat the game. This sounds like too much fun and some of those stories are hilarious. This is definitely about to happen, thanks for showing me this!

SirK8

On my most recent attempt I made it all the way to the final fight, but ended up dying. I had gone through all but 3 of the joinable NPCs. Next time I do this challenge though I think I will install the BG1NPC mod.