Neera or Xan ???

buckbeach

Finally rescued Adoy and now (after quite some time) am mulling over taking Xan into my party. While his numbers are quite a bit better than Neera, she has acquired so many spells that Xan wouldn't have I am really not sure I want to spend the time building up his inventory to carry forth. Any words of wisdom?

JumboWheat01

Don't forget, Xan actually loses out on some health as he levels because of his super low CON. If something so much as points a bow in his direction, he's dead. Neera also has better natural AC because of her higher DEX. Even with the randomness of her spells, she's just so much more survivable if things go wrong.

Plus she doesn't have Charlie Brown levels of depression like Xan does.

TheArtisan

JumboWheat01 said:

Don't forget, Xan actually loses out on some health as he levels because of his super low CON.

He doesn't. 7 CON is just conveniently high enough to avoid penalties. There is no difference between Xan's 7 CON and Neera's 14 CON, except Xan can't use the Claw of Kazgoroth without losing hit points.

I personally prefer Xan in BG1 for his enchantment spells. Neera's much stronger in 2.

TheMetaphysician

I played through with xan for the first time, with the bg1 npc project and the extended xan friendship mods installed, and he has become my second favorite npc (after Minsc, of course). He is hilarious. I now can't get enough xan. I'm going to install the xan in bg2 mod to have him there too.

It helps that I installed the npc ee mod and turned him into a fighter/Mage, and into a blade singer (from the might and guile mod). That made him a much more powerful combatant.

The most annoying thing about the low con score is that he gets fatigued much more quickly than the others. Some of his dialogue from the mods I mentioned actually bring that up.

JumboWheat01

Artemius_I said:

JumboWheat01 said:

Don't forget, Xan actually loses out on some health as he levels because of his super low CON.

He doesn't. 7 CON is just conveniently high enough to avoid penalties. There is no difference between Xan's 7 CON and Neera's 14 CON, except Xan can't use the Claw of Kazgoroth without losing hit points.

I personally prefer Xan in BG1 for his enchantment spells. Neera's much stronger in 2.

One of these days, I will get the numbers right. Too much 3rd+, not enough 2nd edition.

magisensei

Play with the NPC you like the most.

There are enough spells in the game to build xan if you want, especially if you have enough gold - some of course it depends on where you are in the game as well.

"Ah Xan you have a moonblade that is almost useless as you will never melee"- "why ...oh why...."

mf2112

I much prefer Xan in that scenario. I want my magic to do Exactly what I want it to do.

GandalfPortraitGuy

The Moonblade isn't exactly useless. If a foe with low health is coming your way, you WANT to have a last resort, as magic spells aren't in high quality like the ammunition of a bow or crossbow.

sarevok57

well, xan cant cast envocation spells, so no magic missile, no lightning bot, no fireball, now you can use wands for that, but level 9 mages are more powerful than wands, and also, neera can learn any spell in the game, and she also gets a bonus spell slot per level, so in actuality neera is better in everyway pretty much, now unless you are playing some sort of no reload run, then having xan might be better because there is no chance of silly misfires, but if you don't mind hitting the reload button every once in a while, then you might as well choose neera

magisensei said:

Play with the NPC you like the most.

There are enough spells in the game to build xan if you want, especially if you have enough gold - some of course it depends on where you are in the game as well.

"Ah Xan you have a moonblade that is almost useless as you will never melee"- "why ...oh why...."

when I play speed run type games I always have xan meleeing, especially when fighting sarevok, I can get him up to 27 damage in melee

buckbeach

Lots of great insight. Any thoughts about comparisons of their THAC0, Wisdom, and Charisma's. At my point in the game I can get Xan's THAC0 down to 16 and Neera's to18, under their configurations.

sarevok57

in bg1 their wisdom and charisma is really going to do squat, wisdom is good for lore, but since both can learn identify, that is basically for the lulz, plus if at the best they can hit is 16 or 18 thac0, that also almost makes no difference, even with the 16 thac0 that character will need a natural 20 to hit a baddie with an AC of -4 or lower, so by late game, they will need super high numbers to hit baddies, and no doubt critical hits to hit bosses

for me, I like to take xan along every once in a while just to add some flavor to the party ( or if I do speed run type games) but if I want power gaming power, then I would take neera instead, the ability to be able to cast any mage spell in the game while getting that extra spell per level, is really quite useful

Svar

From a combat mechanics perspective, Neera is better, despite the fact that random crap happens sometimes. From a character enjoyment perspective, it's a matter of personal taste. Xan is great if you love openly manic depressive characters who just sort of shuffle through the hardships life throws at them. Neera is great if you prefer energetic, strong-minded characters who don't take themselves too seriously. From a story perspective, Neera has a lot more going on with her than Xan and you can reunite with her in SoD and BGII to continue her story, if you so choose.

I used to be all about Xan, but since giving Neera a chance, I've found her to be a much more useful and enjoyable character.

buckbeach

Think I will go with Neera. Thanks everybody.

Sharguild

With a gun held to my head, I'd choose Neera.
Strapped to a chair in a gas chamber, I'd choose Xan.
Otherwise, Xzar in a heartbeat.
I can manage rep easy enough.

buckbeach

Sharguild said:

With a gun held to my head, I'd choose Neera.
Strapped to a chair in a gas chamber, I'd choose Xan.
Otherwise, Xzar in a heartbeat.
I can manage rep easy enough.

I'll keep this in mind.

magisensei

If Neera gets on your nerves because of her wild surges and Xan gets too depressing then bring along the great and powerful and mostly amusing Baeloth

Legendary

Xan. Get him Mirror Image and some defensive spells and he does decent melee damage inbetween casting. Plus Wild Mage is a shit class and it's unpredictability more frequently turns the tide of combat against you than for you. Not to mention that just, like, as a person Neera isn't great. Wait till you see the fit she throws when you remove her from the pt.

I'm biased though because Xan is arguably my favorite caster in the trilogy.

buckbeach

Lots of food for thought.

JumboWheat01

magisensei said:

If Neera gets on your nerves because of her wild surges and Xan gets too depressing then bring along the great and powerful and mostly amusing Baeloth

Now that's just insulting. Baeloth is much more than "mostly" amusing.

UnderstandMouseMagic

Why would anyone choose either of these when Edwin is just up the road?

JumboWheat01

Edwin is evil and not always compatible with all playthroughs.

rapsam2003

UnderstandMouseMagic said:

Why would anyone choose either of these when Edwin is just up the road?

Because some of them are goody-two-shoes who think 20 reputation is great. But that's not what the cool kids do...

magisensei

Err...Edwin is also kind of nuts - he talks to himself a lot and anyone that does that is a bound to be crazy.

But hey if Neera is to unpredictable, Edwin a bit crazy, Xan too depressing, and you don't like Baeloth then you could always try Qualye.

JumboWheat01

Mmm... clerical and illusionist spells, neutral alignment, AND epic gnomish beard. One of these days, I should totally put him in my party.

mf2112

You just get him so late in the game though...

JumboWheat01

Plus Elven Chainmail requires some very... questionable... acts in the first game in order to really bump up his survivability.

mf2112

JumboWheat01 said:

Plus Elven Chainmail requires some very... questionable... acts in the first game in order to really bump up his survivability.

Or just go with Ghost Armor and Stoneskin?

magisensei

JumboWheat01 said:

Plus Elven Chainmail requires some very... questionable... acts in the first game in order to really bump up his survivability.

No thats in BG2. In Bg1 just keep Dorn in your party until he finds everyone he wants to get revenge on and viola elven chainmail assuming you survive the battle.

Just keep Qualye back from all the fighting if possible while having him throw out spells. Increase his survivability with potions - just a bit more micro-management to ensure everything is okay.

JumboWheat01

And taking a blackguard around the Sword Coast to go on a revenge-murder spree doesn't count as a questionable act?

mf2112

JumboWheat01 said:

And taking a blackguard around the Sword Coast to go on a revenge-murder spree doesn't count as a questionable act?

Only if you went went on a murder-revenge spree.

magisensei

JumboWheat01 said:

And taking a blackguard around the Sword Coast to go on a revenge-murder spree doesn't count as a questionable act?

Nope - they betrayed him and left him to rot in prison - he is going out for revenge - he is not killing random innocents (even if he did it in the past) - plus once we meet his enemies they really are bad people its not like they are good guys or anything.

And really we are doing the same thing - remember revenge for Gorion's death and for the various bounty hunters he sent after us and general evil deeds against us and the Sword coast in general.

Now if you do Edwin's quest that is questionable act if not down right evil as it is obviously an assassination and there is no indication that Dynaheir is evil besides Edwin saying she is a witch.