I never tried an evil party, but I've taken Viccy in good parties (BG2 with Aerie, Jaheira and Viccy is just insane).
Also in my first ever playthrough, I used a fighter charname, Imoen, Xzar, Montaron, Kivan and Xan. I found it hard and it was a pretty gimpy party, I didn't anything and never went to the friendly arm inn at the start of my first game.
I tried once, and I enjoyed traveling with them both, but then they got chunked and it was on one of my no-reload-unless-tpk-if-they're-chunked-they're-chunked playthroughs. It was a very sad day. Their remains stayed in the Nashkel Mines and never went away. I would go back and pay my respects to them quite often. So sad. I liked them both, they amused me.
It depends, if I'm running an evil party, I'll keep them for a while. If I'm running a good party, I'll pick them up, run up to Friendly Arms in and get Jahiera and Khalid. Then I'll hit Bergerost and do some quests, pick up Kivan, and drop Xzar and Montaron then. Of course even as an evil player, I might change my party, go do some quests, then change back to who I was using before.
I personally like them, and as was mentioned already Xzar with wisdom tomes becomes a very interesting cleric. I'm currently running:
PC - Blade Kaigan Monty Xzar - necro/cleric Edwin Faldon
Very interesting and not overly powerful party but they certainly get the job done. I will say that it absolutely sucked to get the party started without a cleric at low levels.
Sorry for bringing up this old thread, but I can't use Montaron's hide-in-shadows for some reason. Maybe I am overlooking something, has this something to do with Montaron beeing multiclass?
I have Monty in my current party, focussed on the stealthy skills for scouting and backstabs, but I couldn't resist taking Edwin, so I made Xzar do the Basilisk walk...
Current party is: CHARNAME (NE female elf fighter/mage), Dorn, Monty, Viconia, Imoen*, Edwin
* not dualed, has maxed out find traps/open locks, now moving onto set traps, Edwin helps out with invisibility when she needs to backstab, which Xzar wouldn't have been able to do...
Xzar is the best cleric in the game, perioid. Monty's got sling thac0 bonus and rocks with the 19str/6int belt as melee. Use them every playthrough where you are not playing Cleric or thief as protagonist.
who didn't? not only they're the coolest characters in any CRPG fucking ever, they also have the most amounts of interactions during the game - several banters between themselves, two separate "outside" NPCs interacting with the party if they're in it, and also several verbal fights, then a silent but deadly disposal of the two meddling fools (also known as K-k-k-khalid and Jaheria) if by any misfortune you're still carrying them.
I'm still angry at BG2 for the way they treated my favorite characters.
BTW I have Monty in my party and it seems I need to Xzar in my party too to get some information out of the mages on the top floor of Sorcerous Sundries, is it worth my while temporarily unpetrifying him* (he's in Mutamin's garden...) and taking him to Sorcerous Sundries to discover what they have to say?
I often use them, as I often play evil. Xzar is really squishy, but he makes up for it with strength. In a current game, Edwin is almost breaking down with nothing but scrolls and darts in the inventory while Xzar happily walks around with a some winter wolf pelts and random swords. My PC is Priest of Talos, so I didn't dual Xzar to cleric. He makes a nice sidekick for Edwin in the back row. Montaron is a very capable thief and fighter and babysitter for the mages, usually with a crossbow and switching to melee if someone gets too close to the casters. I have nothing to complain about, they belong to my fave NPCs. Oh the lengths I have gone through, trying to defend Xzar in BG2... Futile or not, I will always try.
I often use them, as I often play evil. Xzar is really squishy, but he makes up for it with strength. In a current game, Edwin is almost breaking down with nothing but scrolls and darts in the inventory while Xzar happily walks around with a some winter wolf pelts and random swords. My PC is Priest of Talos, so I didn't dual Xzar to cleric. He makes a nice sidekick for Edwin in the back row. Montaron is a very capable thief and fighter and babysitter for the mages, usually with a crossbow and switching to melee if someone gets too close to the casters. I have nothing to complain about, they belong to my fave NPCs..
Seems a bit of a waste to give Monty crossbows when he starts with 2 points in slings and gets the halfling +1 THAC0 sling bonus *and* they're added some magic elemental sling ammo to BG, slings also get strength bonus damage added to them in BGEE, so that's at least another 1 point of damage for Monty. I'd rather use the proficiencies he gets at levels 3 and 6 for daggers or staves, for the dagger of venom and staff of striking (or even the +3 staff), respectively, as these are both great for backstabs, but I guess it depends whether you focus him more on stealth/scouting/backstabs or locks/traps and ranged,,,
If he's my only thief, I completely neglect stealth/backstabs. Still takes a few potions to disarm all traps in Durlag's Tower, so I wouldn't want the trap stuff even lower. And I go for crossbow because I usually give the cleric the +3 sling, which would leave Monty with the +1 sling. I rather have the crossbow from Beregost and some good bolts and use the proficiencies on that. Kagain and Dorn do the front row, so Monty mainly babysits the mages and it's more important to have him as a decent ranged fighter and to disarm traps.
If he's my only thief, I completely neglect stealth/backstabs. Still takes a few potions to disarm all traps in Durlag's Tower, so I wouldn't want the trap stuff even lower. And I go for crossbow because I usually give the cleric the +3 sling, which would leave Monty with the +1 sling.
There's a +2 sling (only for THAC0, though, not damage) in Baldur's gate now
If he's my only thief, I completely neglect stealth/backstabs. Still takes a few potions to disarm all traps in Durlag's Tower, so I wouldn't want the trap stuff even lower. And I go for crossbow because I usually give the cleric the +3 sling, which would leave Monty with the +1 sling.
There's a +2 sling (only for THAC0, though, not damage) in Baldur's gate now
two actually, but Monty is still badass with crossbows, considering those have Bolts of Lightning, which fry things pretty damn effectively. (especially if you're using old school prof system from tweak pack, where slings and crossbows are grouped together)
though I have no idea whether you can buy those in an "unlimited" fashion, like most other ammo types.
Still pretty late in the game; a lot later than getting the neat crossbow from Thunderhammer Smithy. That can be bought fairly soon with enough stealing. I usually have my cleric with hammer and shield to support the melees if needed, so the sling mostly fulfills the purpose of keeping them at distance if they need to heal, without taking off a shield. There is a good amount of lightning bolts, and for random battles with weaker enemies, Monty does enough damage with regular bolts +1 or +2. So far, I didn't run out of lightning bolts when I needed them.
I'm planning on replaying the series again as an evil Blackguard.
-Blackguard PC. Tank and leader. Bastard Swords & Longswords with a shield. -Dorn. Main damage dealer/butcher. There's no overlapping with two Blackguards. Different roles and double the evil...and poison. -Viconia. Main Priest and secondary tank with STR gauntlets or archer with Slings with that huge DEX. -Montaron. Main Thief and/or sniper and can tank also or go defensive. Super versatile and hilariously awesome. -Edwin. Main mage and spell machine. No surprises. -Xzar. Secondary mage. Good archer. YES, archer. Good DEX and Throwing Daggers. Plus higher STR to carry a ton of them.
That's an evil dream team right there. Alternatively, you can get Shar-Teel instead of Dorn, if you want to romance her with the NPC Project mod.
...-Xzar. Secondary mage. Good archer. YES, archer. Good DEX and Throwing Daggers. Plus high STR to carry a ton of them...
You'd dual him to Thief, eh?
It can be done with the Dex tome, but I suspect @Archaos means he's an "archer" because he can throw daggers well (but then Edwin can throw darts well after he gets his 2nd proficiency, if wearing the Dex gloves, which I often give him, to also help his AC)
Comments
Also in my first ever playthrough, I used a fighter charname, Imoen, Xzar, Montaron, Kivan and Xan. I found it hard and it was a pretty gimpy party, I didn't anything and never went to the friendly arm inn at the start of my first game.
PC - Blade
Kaigan
Monty
Xzar - necro/cleric
Edwin
Faldon
Very interesting and not overly powerful party but they certainly get the job done. I will say that it absolutely sucked to get the party started without a cleric at low levels.
Depends on what armor he is wearing.
Ah ok, that makes sense. Thanks!
Current party is: CHARNAME (NE female elf fighter/mage), Dorn, Monty, Viconia, Imoen*, Edwin
* not dualed, has maxed out find traps/open locks, now moving onto set traps, Edwin helps out with invisibility when she needs to backstab, which Xzar wouldn't have been able to do...
I'm still angry at BG2 for the way they treated my favorite characters.
* I'm using Edwin as my main mage currenty...
but after this thread
I will give them a try
My PC is Priest of Talos, so I didn't dual Xzar to cleric. He makes a nice sidekick for Edwin in the back row. Montaron is a very capable thief and fighter and babysitter for the mages, usually with a crossbow and switching to melee if someone gets too close to the casters. I have nothing to complain about, they belong to my fave NPCs.
Oh the lengths I have gone through, trying to defend Xzar in BG2... Futile or not, I will always try.
And I go for crossbow because I usually give the cleric the +3 sling, which would leave Monty with the +1 sling. I rather have the crossbow from Beregost and some good bolts and use the proficiencies on that. Kagain and Dorn do the front row, so Monty mainly babysits the mages and it's more important to have him as a decent ranged fighter and to disarm traps.
though I have no idea whether you can buy those in an "unlimited" fashion, like most other ammo types.
There is a good amount of lightning bolts, and for random battles with weaker enemies, Monty does enough damage with regular bolts +1 or +2. So far, I didn't run out of lightning bolts when I needed them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Cat
Are you sure Xzar isn't just pretending to be insane?
-Blackguard PC. Tank and leader. Bastard Swords & Longswords with a shield.
-Dorn. Main damage dealer/butcher. There's no overlapping with two Blackguards. Different roles and double the evil...and poison.
-Viconia. Main Priest and secondary tank with STR gauntlets or archer with Slings with that huge DEX.
-Montaron. Main Thief and/or sniper and can tank also or go defensive. Super versatile and hilariously awesome.
-Edwin. Main mage and spell machine. No surprises.
-Xzar. Secondary mage. Good archer. YES, archer. Good DEX and Throwing Daggers. Plus higher STR to carry a ton of them.
That's an evil dream team right there. Alternatively, you can get Shar-Teel instead of Dorn, if you want to romance her with the NPC Project mod.