Does anyone else prefer swapping party members in and out?

AWizardDidIt

I find that more and more when I play either Baldur's Gate, instead of having a set party configuration, I just sorta swap people in and out constantly. Like I'll essentially pick up party members and drop them off in an inn, and then just cycle the entire party out every few quests. It's been a great way to experience characters I might not use as much and especially with mods like the BG npc mod get the most out of all the possible dialogues and combinations of characters. The only problem with this approach is that some NPCs during specific states aren't so amicable to being kicked out of the party (and this breaks a lot of romances) so it does require some console help to make sure there's minimal disruption for doing so.

I'm interested to see if there's anyone else who finds themselves doing this.

lunar

Well the npcs will lose out xp and stay lower level if you do this constantly. Also, some precious spell scrolls can be wasted on mage npcs you swap. Good for fun and rp, but not for a powerful party, I guess.

SharGuidesMyHand

I will typically swap NPCs in and out over the first half of the game, but by the time that I've reached Baldur's city, I've usually settled on a party composition that I will keep for the remainder of the game.

In my most recent playthrough, I believe that everyone except Edwin, Eldoth, and Skie spent at least some time in my party (Edwin and Eldoth weren't allowed in because their quests were just too overtly evil for my neutral good charname, and obviously Skie is tied to Eldoth's quest).

dreamrider

You virtually must do swapsies several times if you are doing a party playthrough AND trying to playout / acquire stuff from the EE only character quests.

booinyoureyes

I often have one dedicated "swap spot". So four NPCs that I plan on carrying through the entire saga and then one spare place to try out a few different NPCs. That spot usually goes to Sarevok when it comes time for ToB

jackjack

I tend to pick 4 "Lifers" and keep a rotating sixth spot, in order to do more quests. Once ToB rolls around, I tend to ditch whoever's in that spot for Sarevok.

elminster

lunar said:

Well the npcs will lose out xp and stay lower level if you do this constantly. Also, some precious spell scrolls can be wasted on mage npcs you swap. Good for fun and rp, but not for a powerful party, I guess.

Plus any NPC that isn't in your party when you beat Shadows of Amn and start Throne of Bhaal will be considered no different than if they were never in your party (they will have default equipment and spells).

FalkonSwiftblade

hey, how come I can't invite my party member back in? (she's custom) There's so many npc members in this game. I played this originally, and a 2nd play through now and I noticed I passed up a lot of extra members, so I'm trying to add some in and I've only had one so far say they'll meet me back in the inn. The rest just stand there and won't talk to me. I had no problems with them for rep sake or anything.

JuliusBorisov

Ctrl+Q will include the person you need into a party.

Try it, @FalkonSwiftblade‌

In order for that combination to work, enable the console in your baldur.ini (for e.g., follow the command here:: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/482188/#Comment_482188)