If you import a save everyone in your party appears to begin with. The party breaks up after the introduction though. You can recruit or re-recruit more people later.
At the beginning you can recruit: Safana, Minsc, Dynaheir and Viconia
Edwin, Baeloth, Neera, Rasaad, Dorn, Jaheira and Khalid become available as the game progresses. The new npc's are also obviously available.
The others are not available, although Imoen, Skie and a few others make appearances but don't join you.
EDIT: Seems I was talking out of my ass regarding the starting companions, I have corrected the starting roster.
huh garrick is playable. i thought as it seemed he did not have a voice he was an npc like he was in 2.
You are correct, Garrick is indeed not available. He simply gives you a small token to help you on your way. I've updated my original post to be correct.
I kinda miss imoen, but what they did makes some sense. I just wish they hadn't been soo specific about her level of skill. In my playthrough, she was slightly higher level as a mage than dynaheir, not exactly a beginner
No. After you are done with the first dungeon, the NPCs you mentioned will leave. You will meet again Tiax, but he will not join your party. Imoen will be replace by Safana.
When I first saw that, I was like "You mean, like, DA:I protagonist in your party?" Then I remembered it's also a paladin kit. If it helps, Khalid is a decent archer with a longbow, and Minsc can be very tanky. Also, M'khiin works well as an offensive caster and summoner thanks to her Shaman bonus spells, and she's pretty mean with a throwing axe. Also she's TN. Also, Glint could replace both Jaheira and Safana, letting you drop Jaheira, Khalid and Safana, to fit Minsc and Dynaheir in.
Glint can also cast restoration which Jaheira can't, and without getting into specifics, there are certain quests early on where you'll wish you had it.
I don't know if it's a bug, but I was able to recruit only Minsc without Dynaheir after dropping them both and telling them to go to camp - and then asking Minsc to join.
I dropped Minsc again shortly after inside the camp (I was just stealing his objects, for my evil playthrough :P) so I don't know if he complains afterwards.
You can always go with the "accidental death" - give Minsc items and armor to another character for cleaning and then send him out to scout naked - when he fails to survive remove him from the party and Dyna will carry on without him.... of course this may be difficult to justify to an Inquisitor LOL
The first time through I played good. I am now playing evil. Any idea where Dorn is? I didnt pay attention to him or some of the other characters. Right now my evil peeps party is in real need of some damage soaking melee. Vic and Safana arent the best of beatsticks
Corwin is an archer ranger, a suitable replacement I think. Unfortunately she only has 15 dexterity, but she works ok.
Corwin is a beast! I have her at -3 THAC0, with Boots of Speed on. She can kite and draw so quickly, she's become my main scout. Safana I just use for disabling traps and locks now. Kivan may very well not have lasted if he was part of the party.
I just started from scratch. I already let the flaming fist kill Viconia. Is she going to magically come back to life in SOD and pretend like we know each other? I had the same problem with BG2 back in the day. I had no idea who Minsc was.
Aw man. I liked a lot about bg2 but that was the dumbest thing. I finally figured out he was that guy who went crazy and attacked me in Nashkell and I had to kill him. It hurt my brain, I had to do like 1984 doublethink in order for bg2 to make sense.
Now I have this urge to start over and not kill Viconia this time so sod will make sense but that's a neurotic waste of time because I'll play the exact same game. I'll just pretend I didn't kill her. I mean my save file in sod won't be any different. If I believe that's what happened then that's really what happened.
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At the beginning you can recruit: Safana, Minsc, Dynaheir and Viconia
Edwin, Baeloth, Neera, Rasaad, Dorn, Jaheira and Khalid become available as the game progresses. The new npc's are also obviously available.
The others are not available, although Imoen, Skie and a few others make appearances but don't join you.
EDIT: Seems I was talking out of my ass regarding the starting companions, I have corrected the starting roster.
You will meet again Tiax, but he will not join your party. Imoen will be replace by Safana.
The party I want is
Inquisitor
Khalid
Jaheria
Safana
Corwin
Mage
Don't really want Neera and doing a good playthrough so wont take Edwin or Baeloth. Such hard choices!
Glint can also cast restoration which Jaheira can't, and without getting into specifics, there are certain quests early on where you'll wish you had it.
I dropped Minsc again shortly after inside the camp (I was just stealing his objects, for my evil playthrough :P) so I don't know if he complains afterwards.
Also, Viccy makes an excellent tank if you slap Holy Power or DUHM on her.
Now I have this urge to start over and not kill Viconia this time so sod will make sense but that's a neurotic waste of time because I'll play the exact same game. I'll just pretend I didn't kill her. I mean my save file in sod won't be any different. If I believe that's what happened then that's really what happened.