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Will Xzar get me through the day?

GlorenBronzebeardGlorenBronzebeard Member Posts: 45
edited June 2014 in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
So, my party is mostly good, ok everyone in my party is good except ol Xzar. Xzar has been with me since the beginning... I lost his little halfling buddy on the way to the mines but then abandoned him for the sun monk. When Kivan bailed on me because I took too much tune. I reloaded an autosave and decided to leave him an area behind, go back to grab Xzar as a filler, then get him back after dispatching the outlaws (a sort of bug I found to keep Kivan around... he is my favorite companion so far). Anyways... I had an unexpected fatality in Tazok's camp and was sort of forced into keeping Xzar till I could find someone else. Well to make a long story short, I have sort of just continued on with my life and Xzar is still in my party.

I want to keep him for Role playing reasons mainly because I have always enjoyed the idea of the Diablo style necromancer.... basically a "good" guy who uses dark magic. There was a character in the Diablo books called Zayl who was a creepy fellow who raised the dead, talked to a skull, gave the rest of the heros the creeps, but all and all, did good for himself and the others. I like to think Xzar as that type of guy... Sure he is dark, a minion of the Zhents, but perhaps him and the hero have a common enemy, the Iron Throne... Also his dual personality makes it viable that he can keep his cool -most- of the time, but perhaps has episodes of insane evilness.

Now.. Ive been becoming attached to him a bit.. He has saved my ass more than once with his ability to cast scrolls and drain spells. I wouldnt mind having a zombie or two in the party either as it might make for some fun interaction between him and the rest of the goodies, especially Yeslick. My problem is, I am curious as to if he will survive or not.. Ive heard that Edwin is the way to go, even though he is evil (LE).... Edwin doesnt make much sense RP wise due to being not being crazy and having his own dark agenda. I just feel without Edwin, my experience will be heavily handicaped as perhaps Xzar is not the greatest mage... In other discussions I have read Xzar, necromancy being the best, others say it is just about the worst you can get. Anyone have any feed back? should I keep my crazy necromancer? or change for the all powerful Edwin... or perhaps another alternative

~ Not required but give a brief "why" to your vote
  1. Will Xzar get me through the day?54 votes
    1. Xzar
      70.37%
    2. Edwin
      14.81%
    3. Another possibility.
      14.81%
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Comments

  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    GlorenBronzebeard said:


    I want to keep him for Role playing reasons mainly because I have always enjoyed the idea of the Diablo style necromancer.... basically a "good" guy who uses dark magic. There was a character in the Diablo books called Zayl who was a creepy fellow who raised the dead, talked to a skull, gave the rest of the heros the creeps, but all and all, did good for himself and the others. I like to think Xzar as that type of guy... Sure he is dark, a minion of the Zhents, but perhaps him and the hero have a common enemy, the Iron Throne... Also his dual personality makes it viable that he can keep his cool -most- of the time, but perhaps has episodes of insane evilness.

    Oh yeah, xzar is not that. He's CE. No good guy. Fun idea though.
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    Not only do Edwin have more spells but he'll also have more health, something which is quite important in BG1 when you have low health to begin with.

    Don't mistake Xzar for being good, he is evil indeed, he's just so crazy and over the top that it's hard to notice. I love him to death, just a shame about Montaron, they are best when they are together.
  • Montresor_SPMontresor_SP Member Posts: 2,208
    edited June 2014
    I picked the "neutral" option. Edwin has more spells and "only" misses out on the Divination school. Xzar has fewer spells and less hit points but better Dexterity and Strength, so he doesn't get encumbered all the time and can deal more damage with a sling when his spells run out. Xzar also makes more sense role-playing-wise.

    If you miss the blocked spell school, you can always pick up another Mage or one of the Bards.
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited June 2014
    Both Xzar and Edwin are amusing each in their own rights, but Xzar has some of the funniest voiced lines in the game. If you're enjoying him, then sure, stick with him.

    Edwin gets more spells (because of his necklace, which only he can equip) and arguably gets a better spell selection overall in comparison (i.e., the necromancer vs. conjurer question). Xzar not being able to cast Blind is a significant loss for me, but there are plenty of other strong spells at his disposal.
  • TwaniTwani Member Posts: 640
    Edwin is more powerful, sure, but do you really need the most powerful character? Nahhhh. If you're enjoying Xzar, stay with Xzar.

    He will leave if your reputation hits 18, though, and he definitely is not a good guy. He is completely evil. Probably more sane then he pretends to be, but definitely evil.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Xzar used to godawful if you picked him up at higher levels, since his HP rolls were subpar. Edwin used to get good rolls on top of high cons. :o Xzar isnt quite as forgiving if you roll hp, since a 1 is epicly worse than Edwins min of 3. Xzar can dual class too, if youre into that sort of thing. Its worth it once anyways.

    Really though, you can use any of the mages and get good results, just dont expect Xan to make a good Edwin. However, Xan is very good at taking down Sleeped dudes at low levels. But losing the option of damage spells WILL mean some fights are gonna be harder, but slow is usually more devastating than fireball.

    evils will leave if your rep gets too high (might not leave if you can keep it at 20, and started there).
  • JaxsbudgieJaxsbudgie Member Posts: 600
    Xzar every single time (although having said that I don't dislike Edwin ... and if I'm not playing a Mage myself I'll pick him up... later down the line).
    If this is your actual first play through then I wouldn't do what I'm about to suggest ... BUT I'm going to say it anyway, if you can get your hands on a tome of wisdom (there are three in the game in total I believe) you can dual him in to a Cleric. Which in my opinion, makes sense from a role playing perspective... Necromancer>Cleric just makes sense? Plus with Dorn's side quest now throwing in a set of Elven chain mail (admittedly a little bit later in the game... but by then you probably wouldn't have even gained your Mage levels back anyway!) it makes perfect sense! (In case you don't know, Elven chain mail allows arcane spell casters to cast spells while wearing it).
    Plus that makes him statistically the best Cleric available, with his decent strength he can equip all armours and couple his dexterity with a shield and he's unstoppable! Give him the ring that doubles your number of level 1 Mage spells and the ring that adds one extra divine spell slot per page and, well... yeah.

    Is it obvious I'm a fan of Xzar? This is like that time I made Viconia a Cleric/Mage and my little mind was blown.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    Just fyi, Xzar is not a "Good guy". At least with the NPC project installed he isn't. But hey, if you wana role play it that way, great!!
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    edited June 2014
    From a power perspective, Xzar will get you through to the end of the game. Any of the mages CAN do that. The OP shouldn't worry about having to have THE BEST in each class. There's a lot of flavor in NPCs out there and any of them (in pretty much any combination) will work out.

    Where I am confused is, Xzar isn't JUST crazy. He is clearly every bit as EVIL as Edwin. Heck more so. He's just insane on top of that. And Xzar and Monty go well together for a reason. They are both cut from the same cloth. Monty does the body in and Xzar reanimates the corpse. In fact, I'd bet that Xzar was at least a minor nod at Herbert West.
  • kiwidockiwidoc Member Posts: 1,437
    edited June 2014
    Here's a hint if you want to keep Xzar and dump Montaron (at least it works in unenhanced BG) Go into a building you don't need to enter ever again. Select all the party except Montaron, and leave. It's a good idea to split them, as every time I've tried to play with both of them they end up killing each other!
    Reading these comments has persuaded me to try the mad mage on his own .. he makes me laugh and that's got to be good.
    Anduin said:


    Edwin is just a jumped up simian. No to the guy who wears pretty jewellery and wont let you share...

    But he's such a hilarious jumped up Simian - especially if you're going to use the romance mod in BG2.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    kiwidoc said:

    Here's a hint if you want to keep Xzar and dump Montaron (at least it works in unenhanced BG) Go into a building you don't need to enter ever again. Select all the party except Montaron, and leave. It's a good idea to split them, as every time I've tried to play with both of them they end up killing each other!
    Reading these comments has persuaded me to try the mad mage on his own .. he makes me laugh and that's got to be good.

    Anduin said:

    If not Xzar then Xan.

    Your going to die anyway...

    Edwin is just a jumped up simian. No to the guy who wears pretty jewellery and wont let you share...

    This will work in the EE as well.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    What is interesting (to me at least) is that, according to D&D PnP rules, insanity precludes spell casting. If you are insane, you can't form the spells. Technically, Xzar should not be able to cast.

    Still, he's a laugh riot to have along in any group. Gotta love him quoting Oppenheimer.
  • ArchaosArchaos Member Posts: 1,421
    @the_spyder Tell that to Larloch.
    "Larloch possessed incredible power and was a superintelligent genius. Over two thousand years, he'd composed perfect plans to deal with nearly every possible situation, and even for things he was not prepared for, he could come up with an almost-perfect response in moments.

    But he was also insane, his mind affected by his extreme age. Sometimes he could be calm and even whimsical. Other times he was crazed, snarling and launching spells at random."

    Or Halaster Blackcloak.
    "Halaster had become completely mad and wanted nothing to do with the outside world. He left his hold to live in Undermountain itself, allowing the keep to fall into ruin."
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    the_spyder said:

    What is interesting (to me at least) is that, according to D&D PnP rules, insanity precludes spell casting. If you are insane, you can't form the spells. Technically, Xzar should not be able to cast.

    Hilariously, doesn't he have the highest over mental stat total of the NPCs? It's gotta be close anyway.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    I usually take both. I also grab Baeloth since I can't get enough 'Butt-kicking for evilness!'. Seriously though, even when I play good or neutral charnames I always bring at least two wizards.
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    If there's something I like more than Xzar role-playing wise, is rolling up a female charname.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    @Archaos - LOL. Yeah, there are loads of inconsistencies in the rules. I just report em. I don't pretend to explain em. Maybe there are degrees or types of insanity that preclude spell casting? Or maybe someone at Wizards just didn't think it through, because most of my Wizards are insane with power lust. Who knows.

    Still, I think Xzar is a scream most of the time. I just wouldn't check into a hotel with him for fear that I'd end up as a walking corpse, minus some 'parts' that got sold into the black market.
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