Should I take Haer'Dalis if I'm a Blade?

Vallmyr

So I'm doing my full BGI>SoD>BGII>ToB run right now and am in chapter 2 of BGII. I've read that if you're romancing Aerie, which I am, and then have Haer'Dalis a love triangle forms. I'm interested in seeing this but I, myself, am already a Blade Bard. Should I take him a long to see it?

My Current party is
Charname Blade
Minsc (Changing to Mazzy once I get her)
Jaheira
Aerie
Viconia
Yoshimo (Changing to Imoen)

Unsure who I would change out, though. I really, really like Viconia and used her in BG1 and SoD but maybe I'll drop her now. Though I would like to take her to the Underdark since I didn't do that on my first run. . .

ugh, choosing a party is hard XD.

JuliusBorisov

There's a big spoiler about Aerie and Haer'Dalis, if your character is in love with Aerie.

There's no way to keep Haer'Dalis and still romance Aerie. You can drop an interest in Aerie, then they both could stay in your party.

Anyway, I think one blade is already enough for a party.

Vallmyr

Ah, thank you. Then I'll proceed with my current plans then!

SomeSort

JuliusBorisov said:

There's a big spoiler about Aerie and Haer'Dalis, if your character is in love with Aerie.

There's no way to keep Haer'Dalis and still romance Aerie. You can drop an interest in Aerie, then they both could stay in your party.

Anyway, I think one blade is already enough for a party.

If you're far enough along in your romance, this is not true.

If you're far enough along in your wooing, Haer'Dalis will end his romance of Aerie early and say he'd like to play at your wedding someday. At this point, you can keep Haer'Dalis and continue romancing Aerie without any problems.

Basically, it's a race for your romance to reach a certain point before Haer'Dalis' romance does. If you've been traveling with Aerie for a while, you should make it without much difficulty, meaning the only time you'll really come into conflict with Haer'Dalis is if you recruit him and Aerie at about the same time, or especially if you recruit him first.

brunardo

didnt know about the timing...I always get them same time so was always conflict

Skatan

There will be overlap in items and blade's to be efficient during mid-levels are rather item dependant, at least if you don't want to spend your few and precious spell slots on buffing pre and sleep post every fight.

So, I'd go without Haer'dalis.

But as a comment on the above, recruiting Haer'dalis late to avoid the confrontation; if you get him by level 15 he get's his second pip in longswords, which is unattainable if you recruit him before that since you can't place that second pip there while leveling him yourself. So there may be win-win here if you want it all by progressing both the love interrest with Aerie and reaching level 15+ before going for haer'dalis. You'd still have equipment issue though, but if you go with scimis yourself (Belm) and let Haer get shortsword (Kudnane) then you at least get one +APR weapon each. Then in the long run you can use scarlet yourself as well using the same prof. Also, Haer need the belt of fortitude IMHO. He's a bit weak otherwise.

SomeSort

Skatan said:

There will be overlap in items and blade's to be efficient during mid-levels are rather item dependant, at least if you don't want to spend your few and precious spell slots on buffing pre and sleep post every fight.

So, I'd go without Haer'dalis.

But as a comment on the above, recruiting Haer'dalis late to avoid the confrontation; if you get him by level 15 he get's his second pip in longswords, which is unattainable if you recruit him before that since you can't place that second pip there while leveling him yourself. So there may be win-win here if you want it all by progressing both the love interrest with Aerie and reaching level 15+ before going for haer'dalis. You'd still have equipment issue though, but if you go with scimis yourself (Belm) and let Haer get shortsword (Kudnane) then you at least get one +APR weapon each. Then in the long run you can use scarlet yourself as well using the same prof. Also, Haer need the belt of fortitude IMHO. He's a bit weak otherwise.

For what it's worth, I recruited Haer'Dalis early in my last playthrough, and yet when I got to ToB I noticed that he'd still managed to somehow pick up that second pip in longswords. Not sure when or why it happened, but it definitely did. (Note: I didn't assign it, I just noticed in his character record shortly after starting ToB that he had it.)

I did kick him out of the party briefly so I could have Aerie memorize a bunch of new scrolls to quick-level Sarevok a bit, no clue if that had anything to do with it.

Skatan

SomeSort said:

For what it's worth, I recruited Haer'Dalis early in my last playthrough, and yet when I got to ToB I noticed that he'd still managed to somehow pick up that second pip in longswords. Not sure when or why it happened, but it definitely did. (Note: I didn't assign it, I just noticed in his character record shortly after starting ToB that he had it.)

I did kick him out of the party briefly so I could have Aerie memorize a bunch of new scrolls to quick-level Sarevok a bit, no clue if that had anything to do with it.

Interresting. Maybe something changed in the last couple of patches and my info is now outdated. Haven't played BG2 or ToB in well over a year now.

Nuin

I've done it before. There's really no overlap due to the sheer number of one-hand weapons available in the game. You can juggle two dual-wielders, it's when you go for three that things can get tricky. You can even make one a ranged fighter to make the most out of all the special ammo you get. Anyway in difficult early-mid game fights blades should be using Melf's Minute Meteors or spells/items.
Ultimately we ARE talking about casters here.
You should really be making the most out of those higher spell levels while they last.

Son_of_Imoen

I found Haer'Dalis to be underwhelming, when compared to my first character I entered BG2 with, a Blade charname named Kheltick. Because of rerolling for good stats and a fun set of special abilities as the Bhaalspawn powers sat cosily next to the offensive and defensive spins, Kheltick was both powerful and fun to play. That being my first BG2 experience, even after 5 years I still can't shake of the feeling that Haer'Dalis is underpowered. But having read about the romance between Aerie and Haer'Dalis in this topic I'm curious to try him and Aerie out in a playthrough some time.

Nuin

It depends on when you get him. Due to the way npc levels are set up when you first meet them, and due to the way levels work for rogues (less XP for more levels) he can be very underpowered if you get him when your PC level is higher. Ideally you'll want to get him asap and then let him stick around for a few major quests.
HD is basically the reverse case for classes which require a lot more XP to gain higher levels (like clerics and mages). Viconia, Edwin and even Nalia are a lot more powerful if you wait a few levels before getting them, for example. HD is the only pure rogue in the game (besides Hexxat, who follows EE rules for her starting level anyway) so it's not something you figure out until after several playthroughs.

SomeSort

Nuin said:

I've done it before. There's really no overlap due to the sheer number of one-hand weapons available in the game. You can juggle two dual-wielders, it's when you go for three that things can get tricky. You can even make one a ranged fighter to make the most out of all the special ammo you get. Anyway in difficult early-mid game fights blades should be using Melf's Minute Meteors or spells/items.
Ultimately we ARE talking about casters here.
You should really be making the most out of those higher spell levels while they last.

This actually makes me want to try out a party of 6 dual-wielders. There are really five top-notch off-hand weapons, (Crom, Belm, Kundane, Scarlet Ninja-To, Defender of Easthaven), and then I guess probably Angurvadal for the sixth, (I'll need all the strength-boosters I can get, I assume, especially if I'm assembling Crom).

For the main hand, there's old standbys like FoA, Foebane, Spectral Brand, and Axe of the Unyielding. But I think this would be a good incentive to finally trot out some of the other top-tier one-handers that I never seem to wind up grabbing; Storm Star, Club of Detonation (better work on those party-wide fire resists!), Short Sword of Mask, maybe even Dagger of the Star. Or dual-wield with a Paladin and bring the Purifier.

It's impressive just how many amazing one-handers the developers gave us. Those guys were massive munchkins. (It's also impressive how many of them I don't think I've ever used. I guess I'm a massive munchkin, too.)