I actually try not to double up on characters on subsequent playthroughs, but the hardest character to leave behind in BG1 for me is definitely Neera. Like her personality, like her quest bits, like using wild magic.
I think for me Imoen is pretty much the only "essential" character. I can take or leave the rest in BG1; although I do love Minsc.
In BG2 Yoshimo gets added to the "essential" character list but only because hes (along with Imoen) so darned plot relevant.
Other than Immy/Yoshi I don't have characters that I "must" take in every play through. I have preferences of course - I like Viconia in a neutral/evil play through; I like Anomen in a good playthrough. I also like Keldorn but I can only play him as far as his storyline allows - I can't make myself part him from his family. I thoroughly enjoy Mazzy.
On the flip side there are several characters I will avoid like the plague; more in BG2 than BG1.
BG1 - I don't like Shar-Teel or Skie. Eldoth is... not really useful. And neither is Garrick - as fun as Garrick is.
BG2 - I avoid Jaheira & Aerie like the plague. Period. I do not like the auto romancing thing in BG2 and I wish that Beamdog had fixed it (damn Wizards for not letting them!).
Aerie as a character is somewhat irritating but I can deal with her because shes been through a pretty damn traumatic experience and it makes sense for her to be how she is; however when you lump the god awful romance on top of it? She just becomes outright intolerable. And worse dropping her means I need to drop Minsc too (after the "will you be my witch Aerie?" conversation) because I cant bare to seperate Minsc from his second witch.
Jaheira. Jaheira. CHARNAMEs surrogate mother/guardian. Jaheira. Whose husband died a horrible death not a week before the romance can initiate. Jaheira. Who is old enough to CHARNAMEs grandparent. I mean she has a somewhat unlikable character to begin with - she's preachy, stern, and kind of a word-that-rhymes-with-witch - lump that with an even more god awful romance than Aeries' and you have a character that I jettison as soon as it is politick for me to do so (once her romance starts in earnest).
I used to avoid Annoymen for much the same reasons as Jaheira and Aerie. Annoying character coupled with a god awful auto-romance. But then I gave him a chance with a male charname and found he was nowhere near as annoying as Aerie for example, and I actually found him quite tolerable. So I only avoid him when I am playing with a char that is romantically compatible with him. The same goes for Viconia - I only avoid her when I play with a romancable character. Otherwise I find her a genuinely interesting and likable character. Not my favourite character but definately the best of the original romancables. Although Viconia's romance revolts me almost as much as Jaheira's - Viconia is old enough to be CHARNAMEs great great grandmother you see. What more need I say?
BG1-There's so many great NPCs. Xzar, Xan, Tiax, Quayle, and Garrick come to mind. Needless to say I'd have trouble running a playthrough with just them, but they're my favorites. If I had to pick one, I'd go for Quayle, because of his versatility and general usefulness.
BG2-Jan. Always Jan. I really like Valygar, Haer'Dalis and Yoshimo, but I cannot imagine playing without Jan. I also keep Yoshi around for as long as possible, because although I love Jan, I like Yoshi even more.
@FrdNwsm If you do use Garrick, for the love of all that is holy, don't let ANYBODY tell you he's useless. So many tutorials and NPC rundowns bash him for being useless, but overall, bards are good for an empty slot. Bards are NOT useless. They just take a little more thought into their role because of their well-roundedness.
That's the problem. I have a pretty kick-ass core group of 6 right now, and it's hard to imagine which one of them I could drop in favor of such a usele ... I mean, well-rounded character.
If it wouldn't completely destroy game balance, and probably cause a complete meltdown of the engine, I think it would be nifty if I could drag along ALL the companions in every game. What's wrong with an army? I'm a Bhaalspawn aren't I? Maximum carnage!
I'd kind of like it if when you get a stronghold you could recruit NPCs to run it while you are gone.
Imagine having Anomen be the Steward of your keep while you are adventuring. Or have Jan Jansen run the thief guild in your absence (you'd corner the turnip smuggling market!). It would mean those NPCs would keep leveling with you (they'd have their own adventures) so you could swap NPCs out as needed.
>> I think it would be nifty if I could drag along ALL the companions in every game<<
Yes; you could have Kagain, Viconia, Xar and Montarn in the same party as Ajantis, Jaheira, Khalid and Imoen. The neutral members of the party could eat popcorn on the sidelines and make bets on who would win.
it's hard to imagine which one of them I could drop in favor of such a usele ... I mean, well-rounded character.
Seems a bit presumptuous, seeing as you said you've never used one before. But I'll let that slide.
By all means, if you have a 'kick-ass' six-person party, do not ditch someone for a bard. They're good for a complete five-person party (with thief, mage, cleric, fighter, whatever) groups that have a sixth slot free.
@Grum I would recommend the NPC Strongholds mod, but then I remembered you saying something about playing BG on your phone. But @ScotGaymer if you are non-mobile, you should check it out.
>>Seems a bit presumptuous, seeing as you said you've never used one before. But I'll let that slide. <<
I did actually roll up a bard and play him for 1 1/2 levels. I don't consider that really using one, so I didn't want to claim that I had. I did give him his two spec slots in longsword and sword and shield. With dex of 18 and chain mail plus buckler, he had an AC of 0 and a decent attack. The problem was that I am able to extrapolate, and could only see his effectiveness going down as enemy levels rose. Now, this was a plain vanilla bard; the Skald subclass looked more useful, but I didn't go into that. The fact that bards have to put so much into charisma stat was another annoyance. They can learn spells, but if they want to cast them they have to strip down to a Tee-shirt and a smile?
I currently have two "tanks", a cleric, a warrior/druid, a mage and a mage-thief. If we could have 7 characters I might take a bard, but I don't see giving up one of my core group for one.
Anomen and Viconia seem a little more fragile by comparison, since they don't have Stoneskin. One of the great weaknesses of clerics is that they don't have a good way of avoiding spell disruption.
Except maybe achieving an extremelly good AC via armor+shields+dexterity?
Comments
In BG2 Yoshimo gets added to the "essential" character list but only because hes (along with Imoen) so darned plot relevant.
Other than Immy/Yoshi I don't have characters that I "must" take in every play through. I have preferences of course - I like Viconia in a neutral/evil play through; I like Anomen in a good playthrough. I also like Keldorn but I can only play him as far as his storyline allows - I can't make myself part him from his family. I thoroughly enjoy Mazzy.
On the flip side there are several characters I will avoid like the plague; more in BG2 than BG1.
BG1 - I don't like Shar-Teel or Skie. Eldoth is... not really useful. And neither is Garrick - as fun as Garrick is.
BG2 - I avoid Jaheira & Aerie like the plague. Period. I do not like the auto romancing thing in BG2 and I wish that Beamdog had fixed it (damn Wizards for not letting them!).
Aerie as a character is somewhat irritating but I can deal with her because shes been through a pretty damn traumatic experience and it makes sense for her to be how she is; however when you lump the god awful romance on top of it? She just becomes outright intolerable. And worse dropping her means I need to drop Minsc too (after the "will you be my witch Aerie?" conversation) because I cant bare to seperate Minsc from his second witch.
Jaheira. Jaheira. CHARNAMEs surrogate mother/guardian. Jaheira. Whose husband died a horrible death not a week before the romance can initiate. Jaheira. Who is old enough to CHARNAMEs grandparent. I mean she has a somewhat unlikable character to begin with - she's preachy, stern, and kind of a word-that-rhymes-with-witch - lump that with an even more god awful romance than Aeries' and you have a character that I jettison as soon as it is politick for me to do so (once her romance starts in earnest).
I used to avoid Annoymen for much the same reasons as Jaheira and Aerie. Annoying character coupled with a god awful auto-romance. But then I gave him a chance with a male charname and found he was nowhere near as annoying as Aerie for example, and I actually found him quite tolerable. So I only avoid him when I am playing with a char that is romantically compatible with him.
The same goes for Viconia - I only avoid her when I play with a romancable character. Otherwise I find her a genuinely interesting and likable character. Not my favourite character but definately the best of the original romancables. Although Viconia's romance revolts me almost as much as Jaheira's - Viconia is old enough to be CHARNAMEs great great grandmother you see. What more need I say?
Drow stay frisky for centuries, and look good doing it. I'd be more concerned about the tendency to sacrifice males to Lloth, myself.
BG2-Jan. Always Jan. I really like Valygar, Haer'Dalis and Yoshimo, but I cannot imagine playing without Jan. I also keep Yoshi around for as long as possible, because although I love Jan, I like Yoshi even more.
@FrdNwsm If you do use Garrick, for the love of all that is holy, don't let ANYBODY tell you he's useless. So many tutorials and NPC rundowns bash him for being useless, but overall, bards are good for an empty slot. Bards are NOT useless. They just take a little more thought into their role because of their well-roundedness.
That's the problem. I have a pretty kick-ass core group of 6 right now, and it's hard to imagine which one of them I could drop in favor of such a usele ... I mean, well-rounded character.
Imagine having Anomen be the Steward of your keep while you are adventuring. Or have Jan Jansen run the thief guild in your absence (you'd corner the turnip smuggling market!). It would mean those NPCs would keep leveling with you (they'd have their own adventures) so you could swap NPCs out as needed.
Totally a request for BG3.
Yes; you could have Kagain, Viconia, Xar and Montarn in the same party as Ajantis, Jaheira, Khalid and Imoen. The neutral members of the party could eat popcorn on the sidelines and make bets on who would win.
By all means, if you have a 'kick-ass' six-person party, do not ditch someone for a bard. They're good for a complete five-person party (with thief, mage, cleric, fighter, whatever) groups that have a sixth slot free.
@Grum I would recommend the NPC Strongholds mod, but then I remembered you saying something about playing BG on your phone. But @ScotGaymer if you are non-mobile, you should check it out.
I did actually roll up a bard and play him for 1 1/2 levels. I don't consider that really using one, so I didn't want to claim that I had. I did give him his two spec slots in longsword and sword and shield. With dex of 18 and chain mail plus buckler, he had an AC of 0 and a decent attack. The problem was that I am able to extrapolate, and could only see his effectiveness going down as enemy levels rose. Now, this was a plain vanilla bard; the Skald subclass looked more useful, but I didn't go into that. The fact that bards have to put so much into charisma stat was another annoyance. They can learn spells, but if they want to cast them they have to strip down to a Tee-shirt and a smile?
I currently have two "tanks", a cleric, a warrior/druid, a mage and a mage-thief. If we could have 7 characters I might take a bard, but I don't see giving up one of my core group for one.