Imoen - No Spoilers Please! :)

Ironhammer33

I have not yet finished BG and have never leveled any pc or apc (additional player character - I saw someone say this in a different thread and would love to remember who to credit them) beyond level 04. Nashkel Mines, etc.

Having said that, I really want to play an "all evil" party because of the addition of Dorn! So, I have seen many people mention that Imoen is important in BG2 or something to that effect. My intentions are to play and beat BG:EE, BG:DS and (of course) BG2:ToB with an "all good" party and the aforementioned "all evil" party and I wanted to know if Imoen was, in your opinion(s) and/or experience, truly important enough to keep her in the "evil party" FOR STORY PURPOSES.

Yes, powergaming is fun but ultimately story is more important to me. So before I figure out what type of evil aligned character I want to roll up, I would like to know if it is generally suggested I keep Imoen or not.

Thank you for your time and assistance!
"Buttkicking for goodness!"
-Iron

BillyYank

There's no reason to keep her in the party. In those places where the developers (both Bioware and Beamdog) want her around, she'll just show up.

Ironhammer33

@BillyYank

Thank you Billy! I appreciate your answering my inquiry!

sarevok57

also a heads up, in bg2 there is only 5 evil companions to choose from

and in ToB one more becomes an option

so I would suggest that you make an evil character that will fit with that group, because if you don't like what those evil companions are you will have to put with either neutral or good guys, if you want to know a little bit on who they are I will give you what type of general class they are in this next spoiler:

2 of them are going to be melee characters, 1 of them is a cleric type, 1 of them is a thief type, and 1 of them is a mage type, and in ToB that character is a melee type

FinneousPJ

If you're going to have Imoen in the good party I see no reason to experience her a 2nd time with the evil party unless you really like having her around.

Griboe

No way, you can easily do without her!
Play whatever class you want regardless of "evil" party composition.
Have FUN, unlike the rest of us who plan every single detail of a playthrough...and then don't finish it.

Ironhammer33

Griboe said:

No way, you can easily do without her!
Play whatever class you want regardless of "evil" party composition.
Have FUN, unlike the rest of us who plan every single detail of a playthrough...and then don't finish it.

Ha ha ha ha ha!!! Well, I think you might be able to tell that I already AM a super planner like the rest of us because I am stuck, unable to move forward per se because I want to "ensure" the characters I play and complete BG:EE with, will be there for the entire long haul! I wonder if that is something built into all RPGers.

@FinneousPJ
I only asked because if Imoen was important to the future storyline, etc. I didn't want to ignore her in BG:EE and not have a greater say over her skills, etc. for the following games.

@sarevok57
That is awesome. Even better knowing that thief and healer will be covered in the future and I can just add another mage, or fighter/mage type, or warrior.

Personally, I think I am going to try and replicate, or rather make my character much like one of Faerun's best known, and one of my favorite villains, Artemis. I believe Assassin and Fighter should do just fine but I'm guessing that I should go with Assassin all of BG:EE and then dual into Fighter during SoD and beyond.

Actually, talking about SoD. Will playing SoD, increase the XP cap for BG2:EE?

Thank you all.
Don't forget that night time is the best time to sneak up on evil.
-Iron

FinneousPJ

@Ironhammer33 What skills you level her up with in BG EE have no effect on BG2EE unfortunately.

gorgonzola

Ironhammer33 said:

healer will be covered in the future

Healer? imo is almost not needed in BG2 and TOB.
There is plenty of potions and few items that give regeneration, and a wonderful item that now I don't want to spoil. Usually my party uses less then 20 healing spells from the beginning of SoA to the end of the saga, a less experienced player can need more castings, a lot more. And don't get me wrong, healing spells are great, nothing wrong in using them.
My point is that the divine casters, both clerics and druids, can do a lot of other useful things for the party, things far more essential. And you have other ways to heal.
I rate their healing capability something like the 10-20% or their usefulness.

So I discourage the new players from thinking at clerics and druids as healers, it can be very misleading. Memorize and cast healing spells, they are good, but be always aware that your divine casters can do much more. A healing spell is very rarely the key to win a battle while other of their spells can be the key to transform an almost impossible fight in a relatively easy victory. And most of the new players are totally unaware of this. Read the divine spells descriptions as they get new spells and always, when a battle is not trivial, ask yourself "how my divine caster can help in this situation?".

Riderat

@gorgonzola Completely second this, and thic comes from someone completely oposite of a power player. I didn't use healing spells (like cure [any type of] wounds) in my first run when I was learning the ropes of the game (and there are plenty of ropes left for me to discover). Potions are much more eficient. Besides, on higher levels, closer to the end game, some other cleric/druid spells are much more worth than pure healing.

As for Imoen, I don't see a reason why couldn't she hang out in an all out evil party. I doubt that you will keep your reputation lower than 7. And she can tag along easily. Besides on she can dualclass into a mage, which is awesome. I almost always take her with me. Just because I feel that I need to take care of the kid.

megamike15

i remember during a patch they made it so imoen won't leave even if you had low reputation. that may have been 1.3 and only applies to bg2. not sure i always have the npcs don't leave part of tweaks installed anyways.

Caikeigh

You're totally fine without her. When I wanted to solo the game, I was scared that her auto-joining the party was going to ruin the Steam achievement, so I killed her before she could reach me. No problems so far. You can always bring her along in a different playthrough when you think she fits your party better.