3 or 4 person groups...

malachi151

I've played a lot of BG1, but not so much BG2. In BG1 it was easy to use any size group you wanted, and I often preferred 3 or 4 person groups. I'm finding that much more difficult in BG2. For one thing, the characters seem much more chaotic. They come come and go and there is a lot of switching around, etc. early on. And of course you lose Imoen, who I like having in my group. Also, the NPCs in BG2 seem a lot more useful and necessary. Like they all bring something good to the table.

I'd like to plan for a 4 man group including Imoen, which would basically be a core 3 man group with one temporary member.

That basically means 2 other core members and one NPC that will be replaced once Imoen is rescued. (Plus I'd also take on an additional temp member for )

I'm thinking Jan can be the temp member to be replaced by Imoen.

If I'm a Fighter type then I guess I could take Aerie and Jaheira as my other two? If I'm a Wizard then I guess Jaheira and Anomen?

Valci

For what it's worth you could always try Nalia as your Imoen stand-in if you favor good alignments... Has a few less thief levels but a potion here and there will get you through just fine till you get Imoen back... Else they may as well be sisters separated at birth lol. Personally I'm a bit biased toward Jan as I often use him in my neutral/evil groups and I like his quirky personality... But either will do I guess.

DevardKrown

Jan Jansen, for all your Magical and Thieving needs.
Anomen, if you can stand him, as Front liner and Healbot.

with those 2 you got all base needs covered , Divine and Arcane Magic and Thieving, you can later replace jan with imoen for more mage power and less thief utility.

add yourself as Third and you still have one more spot for your 4 man party , leaving the last 2 for temporary companions.

use the 4th for what ever floats your boat , extra divine or arcane caster or a fighter type.


you could go as low as 3 but you might get problems lugging all the loot out of dungeons.

Pantalion

Hm. Jan and Aerie, with a Ranger/Cleric CHARNAME.

Both accessible right out of the basement, and covers all the bases with some redundancy.
Also bees.

abacus

I don't know what your experience/knowledge of the game is like... but if you're planning to take Imoen, you should really take Yoshimo. Without spoiling much, there are story reasons that you may enjoy.

Pantalion

abacus said:

I don't know what your experience/knowledge of the game is like... but if you're planning to take Imoen, you should really take Yoshimo. Without spoiling much, there are story reasons that you may enjoy.

Yes, definitely bring Yoshimo to get Imoen, and take the time to dual class him into Fighter level 13 with the Celestial Fury and Grand Mastery in Katanas first. You'll be so glad you did.

malachi151

Too late for that on this run, and I have always actually dumped Yoshimo for Jan, so I guess I'll have to try it some other time.

ThacoBell

Yoshimo is always an auto pick for me. His personality is simply delightful, and its an easier justification to swap him for Imoen.

tbone1

ThacoBell said:

Yoshimo is always an auto pick for me. His personality is simply delightful, and its an easier justification to swap him for Imoen.

His personality canNOT be better than Jan’s. Ever.

ThacoBell

tbone1 said:

ThacoBell said:

Yoshimo is always an auto pick for me. His personality is simply delightful, and its an easier justification to swap him for Imoen.

His personality canNOT be better than Jan’s. Ever.

Let me put it this way. I enjoy Jan as an NPC who is genuinely funny, for a couple hours of game at a time. Yoshimo is someone I would legitimately enjoy hanging out with IRL.