Alora!
I had never had Alora in my party - I never even encountered her in any game I had played. But I was looking for an NPC thief for my party and read about her. I used the cheat to "summon" her at the beginning of a new game, so she would be with me from the start.
I must say, she had me at her first line. She is so cute!!! Why didn't they put her in earlier in the game? She always makes me smile with her exuberant outbursts. But it seems the others like to pick on her.
I have Dynaheir in my group, with Minsc, Dorn, Sarra (my CHARNAME), and Kagain. Sometimes Dynaheir says something like, "It's hard for me to cast spells while I gag". And Alora responds with, "You needn't be so mean. I'm nice to YOU!"
Is Dynaheir talking to Alora, or someone else? Maybe Kagain? He never responds to her. Sometimes other characters will say things, and Alora gets offended. What is their problem with her? Jerks!
I must say, she had me at her first line. She is so cute!!! Why didn't they put her in earlier in the game? She always makes me smile with her exuberant outbursts. But it seems the others like to pick on her.
I have Dynaheir in my group, with Minsc, Dorn, Sarra (my CHARNAME), and Kagain. Sometimes Dynaheir says something like, "It's hard for me to cast spells while I gag". And Alora responds with, "You needn't be so mean. I'm nice to YOU!"
Is Dynaheir talking to Alora, or someone else? Maybe Kagain? He never responds to her. Sometimes other characters will say things, and Alora gets offended. What is their problem with her? Jerks!
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Also, the SCS and the BG1 NPC Project mods have a component that moves both Tiax and Alora to earlier reachable areas.
Spawning NPCs can get weird, though. Like one game I spawned all the NPCs at the beginning of the game, so when I met Minsc in Nashkel, he was already in my party. Like he had traveled through time or something.
Will the real Minsc please stand up? Please stand up? Please stand up?
That makes me wonder if I recruited him, and he was already in my party, would I then have two Minscs? And two Boos? You can never have too many Boos. "Go for the eyes Boo!"
Yet I do think Alora is a great addition to the party! Skie, too. Despite their late entrance onto the scene, they can rack up a commendable percentage of the party's kills in addition to providing the needed Thief services before game's end. Alora has a neat little niche owing to her combination of race and gender, giving her a definitive USP among the many cool companions BG1 gives the opportunity for.
It's fun to have Tiax in the party a bit when you change the game to meet him at the Feldepost Inn though.
As far as good/neutral thieves go, she's better at both thief skills and archey than Skie, Imoen and Safana but Coran is a better archer. Imoen and Safana can dual class to mage though, so depending on your party lineup they can be more useful (you need to give the INT tome to Safana for her to dual class).
But consider this:
- Montaron is a psychopath.
- Shar-Teel, as much as I like her, is a man-hating lunatic.
- Tiax is batshit crazy and if you have the BG1 NPC Project he can attack you if you don't lick his boots.
- Skie just whines all the time and is paired with Eldoth the walking diaper stain.
- Coran spreads his seed everywhere and refuses to commit no matter what.
- Safana is pretty much a female version of Coran, but worse.
- Imoen is MySpace: The NPC.
- Alora is nice and cute.
Montaron does have the advantage of being paired with Xzar, who is just fabulous.
In EE, however, Alora's Lucky Rabbit Foot finally works as advertised, and is astonishingly powerful. She's now easily the best Thief in the game (considered purely as a Thief, that is).
If you have room in your party for a full-time Thief, then Alora is the outstanding candidate (provided that your alignment and Reputation are sufficiently compatible), and it's generally likely to be worth swapping out whoever was your Thief (in the earlier stages) to recruit Alora once you can reach her.
Of course, if your party needs to combine the Thief slot with non-Thief abilities (or if you're playing low-REP Evil), then that's when other Thieves and part-Thieves may be a better choice.
She also says something like, "I'm so sweet my teeth and gums are rotten."
Gotta love that little scamp!
I'm so sweet, I've got rotting teeth and gums!
Which if you haven't tried, would really recommend.
Pretty much universal praise for it, I've yet to see any post saying the player didn't like it.
Regarding the BG1NPC mod, I appreciate the shout-out @JuliusBorisov. You have quite the memory.
The personality is what gets her in party. I really need someone to balance Kivan "Oh my soul aches" the archer.
Any single-class Thief (except a late-BG2 Swashbuckler) could reasonably be described as "pretty useless in combat" if you're comparing to a warrior class ... which is obviously as it should be, since the main purpose of the warrior classes is to be good at straight-up fighting.
However, you need* someone with Thief skills ... and compared to other straight Thieves, Alora is pretty decent in combat.
(* Well, okay, before some pedant butts in to disagree ... I do realise that it's possible to complete the game with no Thief at all, but it's a darn sight easier with a Thief in the party.)
Killing a lich/dragon straight off with traps seems to me to be pretty darn good "combat".
And it's not even about comparing her, to other thieves or not (they are all about same, except Coran). It's literally - leave her behind in a fight, and the fight will not change much. Or, likely, at all. That is the definition of useless.
Anyone willing to prove otherwise is welcome to post a stat screenshot, where Alora has, I don't know, 20% of the kills (with considerable total, obviously).