Help me finish my party!

Papa_Lou

Hey dudes.

So, after a little break from the series after completing my last playthrough, I've come back and rolled a Cavalier. I've never played a Paladin before, never even had Ajantis or Keldorn in my party before, so I decided- why not?

Aaaaand I kinda went overboard with it, party-wise. I want my parties in BGEE and BG2EE to be as holy as possible, because that's the kind of guy my cav is. Religion is extremely important to him, and he feels unsafe and cautious around anyone who isn't an open worshipper of some holy deity. I could go way more in-depth about the character and why he's like this, but that's for another topic altogether.

So, once I get this character to BG2EE, I'm a little stuck on what party I should go with. I'm pretty set on 4 of my NPCs being:

-Keldorn, because he can be my paladin-bro
-Rasaad, because monks are holy af, and I've never had Rasaad in a party before
-Anomen, because Anomen, and
-Aerie, because like Rasaad, I've never used her

So this party will be fairly new to me, the only NPC I've used before being Anomen.

The only thing is, I don't have a thief, and I have very little arcane power at my disposal. I've used Imoen in every single playthrough thus far and, even though she'd be an easy fix to my problem, I really really don't want to go with her again. Plus, Charname is a bit of an ass and was never fond of his little sis, due to her habit of stealing from anyone and everyone- a very unlawful thing to do.

I've been toying with the idea of creating a second character. She'd be a mage/thief, more than likely, and I could easily make up some roleplay-friendly story as to why she's there. Or, since I recently installed the mod to make Yoshimo stick around, I've been trying to figure out a way to make him fit in my charname's party.

So, what do you guys think? Will I be fine with just Aerie's arcane power? Or should I make that mage/thief? I've never created a second character for a party before, so is it even worth it? Is there really any reason a goody-two-greaves paladin would take a traitor like Yoshimo back into his party? Or should I just take the easy way out of this, and take Imoen along with me for the billionth time?

So many questions. Pls help.

Gallenger

Nalia provides you with *some* thieving (she'll need potions every now and again, but you shouldn't have trouble with money) and arcane to boot - she's just a different build of Imoen, and she certainly *means* well.

Mazzy would like to be holy, holy, but she's a halfling so, she isn't allowed - just build her as an archer if you're intending to use Rasaad as a front liner.

Skatan

I'd say Nalia is the obvious choice. Her thieving skills need potions and some items to be of good use, but it's doable.

The second choice would be to use another thief, like Yoshimo, and RP that your charname get's hung up on "turning" him into good and lawful, so that's why you keep him around. Maybe your charname get's saved by Yoshi in a random encounter (the dungeon) and then feel his good has made it clear that charname should keep Yoshi around. This of course works with someone like Jan as well, and that way you get more arcane as well (though Nalia as a SC mage is the better mage since you already have Aerie).

You can go without thief as well and use knock for locks and Rasaad or cleric spell to find traps. If your charname worhips the broken god, maybe he could even take pride in walking into traps to set them off? The damage to him would only strengthen his connection to Ilmater. (I know little about true lore though, so maybe there are no paladin's devoted to Ilmater, I'm just making this up while I write, hehe)

I've never tried any myself, but there's also mods with NPCs. Maybe one of those has a NPC who fits your demand.

profanitywarning

You could go without a thief. Sure, there would be some challenges, but it's possible. Nalia is a good option too, especially if you get lots of thief-skill enhancing items and teh occasional potion. Or you could take a custom thief. Thief/mage looks nice, but your themed party might appreciate a cleric/thief.
In the end, it looks like I'm saying nothing. Still, hope you have fun.

Wowo

Why not Jan Jansen? Sure, he's a heretic but every party needs some comic relief. Im sure he'd get on everyone elses nerves wonderfully.

Raven999

As your probably know by now, you could finish the game with just about any combination of NPCs.
However, I'd also be among those who would suggest another, more dedicated arcane caster.

Given your party composition and disposition towards having only "holy"/good-aligned NPCs, Edwin (the obvious choice to fill the role of arcane caster) is ruled out.

Since you also mentioned not wanting to use Imoen this time around, it seems that Nalia has become the consensus replacement.
As was pointed out, she's not much of a thief, but she'll definitely be able to fill out the role of the mage if you equip her with rings of Wizardry and/or Acuity.

Aerie will still reach high levels, but Nalia will gain access to the seriously potent spells like Project Image, Chain Contingency, Time Stop and Spell Trigger...much sooner than Aerie will.

Plus, Nalia would fit right into your party composition. Sure, she's not holy or even religious, but she's good aligned and has some good banter with lawfully-aligned characters like Anomen and Keldorn.

RelSundan

Aerie is good choice. She is the only mage you could use if you stay with the religious path. Because, mages can be compared to scientist, and clerics/paladins can be compared to religious people believing in God. There is no really good choice for arcane caster than her if you want a religious party.

Last slot goes to Mazzy IMO.