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3 SoD parties?

WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
edited April 2016 in Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
So I noticed that there are exactly 15 NPCs available in SoD. How would you distribute them over 3 parties and what protagonist would you choose for each party?

I have included the characters and their classes available below. Feel free to reference alignment, class, race, banter and romance in your considerations.

Also, does anyone know the alignments of the new NPCs?

Safana - CN Thief (Mage dual?)
Minsc - NG Ranger
Dynaheir - LG Invoker (Cleric dual?)
Viconia - NE Cleric
Edwin - LE Conjurer
Baeloth - CE Sorcerer
Neera - CN Wild Mage
Rasaad - LG Sun Soul Monk
Dorn - NE Blackguard
Jaheira - TN Fighter/Druid
Khalid - NG Fighter
Corvin - LG Archer
M'Khiin - TN Shaman
Glint - NG Cleric/Thief
Vloghin - NG Skald

7 good, 4 neutral, 4 evil.

I hear the evil default party includes Safana. I assume the neutral default party includes Khalid and maybe I'd put Glint in there as the thief (if Safana ends up in the evil party). Which leaves a decent but thiefless good party.
Post edited by Wowo on

Comments

  • PaulGreystokePaulGreystoke Member Posts: 63
    Okay, I'll take a stab at this. For a balanced party I like a tanky frontliner, a thief, a clerical caster, a druidic caster, & 2 arcane casters. There are only 2 thieves (Glint & Safana), 2 clerics (Glint & Viconia), & 5 arcane casters (Dynaheir, Voghlin, Neera, Edwin, & Baeloth), so CHARNAME will need to pick up the slack on the odd team out for each of these.

    For Team Evil, we have Dorn, Viconia, Edwin, & Baeloth. Throw in M'Khillin for druid spells (& maximum negative REP) & the team just needs a thief. I would go with a Half-Orc Fighter/Thief as CHARNAME for maximum carnage.

    For Team Good, let's try Minsc, Dynaheir, Rasaad, Glint, & Voghlin. We want a druidical caster, so CHARNAME needs to be a Shaman, since an actual Druid would be Neutral.

    For Team Neutral, that leaves Khalid, Jaheira, Safana, Neera, & Corwin. For balance, we want a cleric & an arcanist, so a Cleric/Mage or a Cleric/Illusionist would fit the bill. I'd probably do with the Gnome for the shorty saves.

    Each team would have plenty of spell power & CHARNAME would have romance options in each group. Every team would have characters from the original BG, BGEE, & SoD for added diversity.
  • JurisJuris Member Posts: 113
    edited April 2016
    Yeah there are definitely some 'gaps' to fill in DS. I divide it into 'good' and 'evil' parties. Neutral parties have less of a problem. The 'evil' party is really kinda screwed because unless charname is a thief they must take Safana, who is just a dull and boring pure thief. That suggests taking a thief or multiclass thief as a main character. Evil parties also have a lack of tanks - Dorn is a glass cannon. So making charname a fi/th seems like a good fit.

    Good parties have a lot more options - Glint is quite simply awesome in filling the cleric and thief role (and he has a lot of dialogue). The only thing good parties lack is a paladin, but they have plenty of tanks like Minsc Khalid and Jaheira. Rasaad is a bit of a class cannon. Still, a fighter or paladin type works really well.
  • WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
    Juris said:

    Yeah there are definitely some 'gaps' to fill in DS. I divide it into 'good' and 'evil' parties. Neutral parties have less of a problem. The 'evil' party is really kinda screwed because unless charname is a thief they must take Safana, who is just a dull and boring pure thief. That suggests taking a thief or multiclass thief as a main character. Evil parties also have a lack of tanks - Dorn is a glass cannon. So making charname a fi/th seems like a good fit.

    Good parties have a lot more options - Glint is quite simply awesome in filling the cleric and thief role (and he has a lot of dialogue). The only thing good parties lack is a paladin, but they have plenty of tanks like Minsc Khalid and Jaheira. Rasaad is a bit of a class cannon. Still, a fighter or paladin type works really well.

    Safana can be dualed to Mage and can hit max level as a Mage and level 9 as a thief making for a very strong build.
  • limalama45limalama45 Member Posts: 32
    I have run Seige with a Evil party of:
    Half-Orc Chaotic Evil Cleric of Talos, Dorn (who I romanced), Viconia, Edwin, M'khin and Shar-Teel (as my game bugged and she stayed on from BG1 as my Fighter/Thief

    I am currently running a good party of:
    Half-Elf Neutral Good Shaman, Minsc, Dynaheir, Corwin, Voghiln (romancing) and Glint

    After this I am going to run a more neutral party with:
    Half-Elf Lawful Neutral Enchanter as protagonist with his sidekick Human True Neutral Jester, Safana (romancing), Neera, Jaheria and Khaild.

    Then finally I am going to play a more crazy lunatic party with:
    Gnome Chaotic Neutral Swashbuckler, Safana, Glint (romancing), Baeloth, Dorn and Edwin.

    So the only character I won't be using is Rasaad but I think I may finish my play through with a Lawful Good Paladin and use him in the fold somewhere.

  • Sids1188Sids1188 Member Posts: 166
    edited April 2016
    Wowo said:

    Juris said:

    Yeah there are definitely some 'gaps' to fill in DS. I divide it into 'good' and 'evil' parties. Neutral parties have less of a problem. The 'evil' party is really kinda screwed because unless charname is a thief they must take Safana, who is just a dull and boring pure thief. That suggests taking a thief or multiclass thief as a main character. Evil parties also have a lack of tanks - Dorn is a glass cannon. So making charname a fi/th seems like a good fit.

    Good parties have a lot more options - Glint is quite simply awesome in filling the cleric and thief role (and he has a lot of dialogue). The only thing good parties lack is a paladin, but they have plenty of tanks like Minsc Khalid and Jaheira. Rasaad is a bit of a class cannon. Still, a fighter or paladin type works really well.

    Safana can be dualed to Mage and can hit max level as a Mage and level 9 as a thief making for a very strong build.
    A couple of issues there:

    1. She can only dual class with a tome. If you were using her in BG1 then that's possible. But BG1 has far more fitting thieves for an evil party (Montaron, Shar-Teel, Tiax), so unless you based that playthrough on the expectation of getting her later, it's unlikely you're going to have saved the book for her. Assuming metagaming is problematic.

    2. Unless you've been using her in BG1, Safana joins you at a very low level (from memory, I think she was level 4). I'm at the end of SoD now, and while charname is only a few k short of the experience cap, Safana only has 333k. If I had dualclassed her at 9, not only would I have lost my thieves skills for the majority of the game, but she actually would have never gotten them back - at the final battle, she would just be a single classed mage who is well behind in xp in a party that already has Baeloth and Edwin. I'm sure that I didn't do every quest or find everything (it was my first time in SoD after all, though I did everything I could find) but it would be disastrous to assume she's going to reach the xp cap before the end.
  • MoradinMoradin Member Posts: 372
    I'm currently in the middle of my "evil" playthrough.
    My previous "good" party included Minsc, Dynaheir, Corwin, Glint and Jaheira. My main character was a NG pure fighter (not a lot of muscle in SoD).
    My current party includes Edwin, Baeloth, Viconia and Safana. My character is a NE pure fighter and I'm planning on recruiting Dorn once I get there.
    Next I will be playing a neutral party and I was thinking of bringing along for the ride Neera, Jaheira, Khalid, Rasaad and M'khalin, leaving a spot open for either a fighter/thief or an additional mage. In alternative, I might want to dual Safana to mage and include her in the party instead of Rasaad (never liked monks anyway), but at that point CHARNAME would have to be a fighter once again, maybe a fighter/cleric. Will see.
  • WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
    Sids1188 said:

    Wowo said:

    Juris said:

    Yeah there are definitely some 'gaps' to fill in DS. I divide it into 'good' and 'evil' parties. Neutral parties have less of a problem. The 'evil' party is really kinda screwed because unless charname is a thief they must take Safana, who is just a dull and boring pure thief. That suggests taking a thief or multiclass thief as a main character. Evil parties also have a lack of tanks - Dorn is a glass cannon. So making charname a fi/th seems like a good fit.

    Good parties have a lot more options - Glint is quite simply awesome in filling the cleric and thief role (and he has a lot of dialogue). The only thing good parties lack is a paladin, but they have plenty of tanks like Minsc Khalid and Jaheira. Rasaad is a bit of a class cannon. Still, a fighter or paladin type works really well.

    Safana can be dualed to Mage and can hit max level as a Mage and level 9 as a thief making for a very strong build.
    A couple of issues there:

    1. She can only dual class with a tome. If you were using her in BG1 then that's possible. But BG1 has far more fitting thieves for an evil party (Montaron, Shar-Teel, Tiax), so unless you based that playthrough on the expectation of getting her later, it's unlikely you're going to have saved the book for her. Assuming metagaming is problematic.

    2. Unless you've been using her in BG1, Safana joins you at a very low level (from memory, I think she was level 4). I'm at the end of SoD now, and while charname is only a few k short of the experience cap, Safana only has 333k. If I had dualclassed her at 9, not only would I have lost my thieves skills for the majority of the game, but she actually would have never gotten them back - at the final battle, she would just be a single classed mage who is well behind in xp in a party that already has Baeloth and Edwin. I'm sure that I didn't do every quest or find everything (it was my first time in SoD after all, though I did everything I could find) but it would be disastrous to assume she's going to reach the xp cap before the end.
    Interesting points.

    A dualed Safana would feature in a neutral party for me consisting of Khalid, Jaheira, Neera, Safana (Thief 9 -> Mage 11) and one more and I'd definitely take them through BG1.

    Safana would hit Thief 9 -> Mage 6 by the end of bg1 and would need 199k to regain thief skills. Dualing at thief 8 would finish BG1 at 8/8 and require 44k xp to finish the dual which would be much much easier but then she would miss out on x4 backstabs.

    The last party slot might actually go to Glint as I love thieves in BG1 enough to have two in a party which would leave the protagonist as some sort of warrior (maybe a barbarian) and the necessity to be a thief in the good party AND the evil party.
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    If you don't let Safina into your party in BG1 she has lots of xp when you meet her in in SoD.


    The "default" neutral party in SoD is Safina, Jalhera, Khalid, Neera and Dorn.
  • ZilberZilber Member Posts: 253
    Wowo said:

    Sids1188 said:

    Wowo said:

    Juris said:

    Yeah there are definitely some 'gaps' to fill in DS. I divide it into 'good' and 'evil' parties. Neutral parties have less of a problem. The 'evil' party is really kinda screwed because unless charname is a thief they must take Safana, who is just a dull and boring pure thief. That suggests taking a thief or multiclass thief as a main character. Evil parties also have a lack of tanks - Dorn is a glass cannon. So making charname a fi/th seems like a good fit.

    Good parties have a lot more options - Glint is quite simply awesome in filling the cleric and thief role (and he has a lot of dialogue). The only thing good parties lack is a paladin, but they have plenty of tanks like Minsc Khalid and Jaheira. Rasaad is a bit of a class cannon. Still, a fighter or paladin type works really well.

    Safana can be dualed to Mage and can hit max level as a Mage and level 9 as a thief making for a very strong build.
    A couple of issues there:

    1. She can only dual class with a tome. If you were using her in BG1 then that's possible. But BG1 has far more fitting thieves for an evil party (Montaron, Shar-Teel, Tiax), so unless you based that playthrough on the expectation of getting her later, it's unlikely you're going to have saved the book for her. Assuming metagaming is problematic.

    2. Unless you've been using her in BG1, Safana joins you at a very low level (from memory, I think she was level 4). I'm at the end of SoD now, and while charname is only a few k short of the experience cap, Safana only has 333k. If I had dualclassed her at 9, not only would I have lost my thieves skills for the majority of the game, but she actually would have never gotten them back - at the final battle, she would just be a single classed mage who is well behind in xp in a party that already has Baeloth and Edwin. I'm sure that I didn't do every quest or find everything (it was my first time in SoD after all, though I did everything I could find) but it would be disastrous to assume she's going to reach the xp cap before the end.
    Interesting points.

    A dualed Safana would feature in a neutral party for me consisting of Khalid, Jaheira, Neera, Safana (Thief 9 -> Mage 11) and one more and I'd definitely take them through BG1.

    Safana would hit Thief 9 -> Mage 6 by the end of bg1 and would need 199k to regain thief skills. Dualing at thief 8 would finish BG1 at 8/8 and require 44k xp to finish the dual which would be much much easier but then she would miss out on x4 backstabs.

    The last party slot might actually go to Glint as I love thieves in BG1 enough to have two in a party which would leave the protagonist as some sort of warrior (maybe a barbarian) and the necessity to be a thief in the good party AND the evil party.
    I EE Keepered Safana into a bard, because I wanted to play a neutral swashbuckler myself (and wanted to take a few characters to SoD), and it really seems to work with the character portrayed, I always did have a bit of a "Singer in a 30's club" vibe with Safana. I would not surprise myself if my party turned out to be me, M'khin, Safana, Voghiln, Neera and either Corwyn, Viconia or Dorn as added damage
  • RathenauRathenau Member Posts: 80
    I do wish they had included more evil characters from BG1, at least enough to fill a party with. Having seven good ones seems a bit over the top, especially with all the great companions they left out.

    Still I'm quite happy with most of them, with the exception of the simply dull Vloghin and the 'new and improved' Safana. What I wouldn't give to strangle her in her sleep but then again not like I'm going to take a goody thief with me.

    Guess I'll need to level one myself and get either the recently widowed Jaheira or the goblin in.
  • Sids1188Sids1188 Member Posts: 166
    Fardragon said:


    The "default" neutral party in SoD is Safina, Jalhera, Khalid, Neera and Dorn.

    That is true. I realised later that the reason she was such a low level was because during BG1 I had recruited her for a couple of minutes to do her quest and then drop her. She had remained at that low level when she came into SoD. Guess that's something to be aware of and avoid now.
  • WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
    Perhaps increasing her intelligence and dualing her to Mage is actually a way to justify the "development" of her personality?

    I still haven't started my SoD run so not sure if this fits or not, what do you all think?
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,758
    The Safana's character has been expanded based on BG1 Safana, I shared my feelings about it here - https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/760231#Comment_760231

    I don't think that dualling her to mage can mean much in that context, though.

    Personally, I'm enjoying Safana as a thief/mage because it gives many options, like using bows/crossbows and helping you to cover thieving abilities so that your main thief concentrates on backstabbing and dispelling illusions.
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    Yup, same old Safina, I didn't like her before and I don't like her now.
  • rapsam2003rapsam2003 Member Posts: 1,636
    Fardragon said:

    Yup, same old Safana, I didn't like her before and I don't like her now.

    That's basically the thing here. People complaining about "new" Safana...what's about her? She's still the same; she just has more dialogue, which gives us more insight into her personality. But if you didn't like her before, why would you like her in SoD?

    She didn't suddenly become different because she got "fleshed out". And if you think she did, then you need to go play BGEE without any NPC dialogue mods. Original Safana is basically the same as SoD Safana.

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