Xzar vs. Edwin for my evil party?
Oxford_Guy
Member Posts: 3,729
I'm trying to finalise my plans for my evil party set-up, CHARNAME will be a female neutral evil elf fighter/mage, focusing on dual-wielding longswords (and using a long/composite bow, but w/o proficiency) and self-buffs.
I'm more or less set on most of the party set-up and was set on usuing Edwin for my main AoE/Disabling spell Mage, but @Quartz has got me thinking about maybe using Xzar instead. Is this completely *insane*, like Xzar, or is Xzar worth considering over Edwin?
Edwin has his amulet, of course, which gives him extra level 1 and 2 spells, and is a conjurer, which has a more useless opposition school than Xzar (Illusions are the oppossing school for Necromancy), and higher Con (and therefore HP) BUT has low Dex (so might need the Dex gloves to stop being hit or to hit anything with darts). He also starts with the quarter staff proficiency, which is less useful early on than Xzar with daggers (which includes throwing ones).
Xzar on the other hand has higher strength (so can carry more stuff), 16 dex (so much better AC and slightly better at hitting things with throwing daggers/darts), and higher Wisdom (so better lore and possibility of dualing to a Cleric with helped from a tome, if I so desired), and a more useful starting weapon proficiency (daggers), but has worse Con (2 less HP per level), worse Int (10% less likely to learn a spell from a scroll) and, of course, doesn't have the extra spells Edwin gets from his amulet.
Of course stats and abilities aren't everything and both Edwin and Xzar bring strong personalities to the game, for better or worse...
BTW The rest of my party will likely be:
Dorn (NE) - Blackguard, two-handed sword (and two-handed style, probably)
Montaron (NE) - Fighter/Thief, short sword and sling (probably), then quarter staff
Viconia (NE) - Cleric, mace and sling, then hammers
Safana (CN) - Thief, daggers and crossbow, then club, maybe
[two thieves may seem excessive, but I ideally I'd like Monty to be able to scout and backstab reliably from stealth in daylight, though I might possibly drop one of them for Eldoth, but he'll need the Dex gloves...]
I'm more or less set on most of the party set-up and was set on usuing Edwin for my main AoE/Disabling spell Mage, but @Quartz has got me thinking about maybe using Xzar instead. Is this completely *insane*, like Xzar, or is Xzar worth considering over Edwin?
Edwin has his amulet, of course, which gives him extra level 1 and 2 spells, and is a conjurer, which has a more useless opposition school than Xzar (Illusions are the oppossing school for Necromancy), and higher Con (and therefore HP) BUT has low Dex (so might need the Dex gloves to stop being hit or to hit anything with darts). He also starts with the quarter staff proficiency, which is less useful early on than Xzar with daggers (which includes throwing ones).
Xzar on the other hand has higher strength (so can carry more stuff), 16 dex (so much better AC and slightly better at hitting things with throwing daggers/darts), and higher Wisdom (so better lore and possibility of dualing to a Cleric with helped from a tome, if I so desired), and a more useful starting weapon proficiency (daggers), but has worse Con (2 less HP per level), worse Int (10% less likely to learn a spell from a scroll) and, of course, doesn't have the extra spells Edwin gets from his amulet.
Of course stats and abilities aren't everything and both Edwin and Xzar bring strong personalities to the game, for better or worse...
BTW The rest of my party will likely be:
Dorn (NE) - Blackguard, two-handed sword (and two-handed style, probably)
Montaron (NE) - Fighter/Thief, short sword and sling (probably), then quarter staff
Viconia (NE) - Cleric, mace and sling, then hammers
Safana (CN) - Thief, daggers and crossbow, then club, maybe
[two thieves may seem excessive, but I ideally I'd like Monty to be able to scout and backstab reliably from stealth in daylight, though I might possibly drop one of them for Eldoth, but he'll need the Dex gloves...]
- Xzar vs. Edwin for my evil party?155 votes
- Xzar39.35%
- Edwin51.61%
- Something Different (Eldoth?!)9.03%
0
Comments
Of course, I still love both of them, and if you already played through with one, pick the other! They're both great characters. And if you have played with both, then pick whichever one you enjoyed more
Hmmm ... Edwin could fit your formula very well; no one else in your party truly needs the Dexterity Gauntlets so the Dexterity issue of Edwin could actually be very easily solvable.
The question is: Do you want someone versatile, or do you want someone who is guaranteed to blow shit up? Edwin is powerful of course, and you're clearly well aware of that. Xzar, on the other hand, is a very versatile character. So,
Since you seem very uncertain of exactly what you want for this party, I vote Xzar. He's adaptable, so if you change your mind about anything at any point, you can likely adapt him to that. It's worth mentioning that once you get the Dexterity Tome you can dual-class him to Thief as well, since you seem to be undetermined about your thieving area. He can become a Necromancer 7/Thief 8, actually pretty boss! Once Xzar gets going in the Thieving area, you could dump Safana (which is sad because she is sexy and fun, but ahh well!) and pick up Eldoth or something. He could then receive the Dex Gauntlets and be useful.
Edwin is similar Elminster but need 1000 years xD
From a powergaming point of view I'd pick Edwin as the better mage. From a roleplaying point of view, keeping Xzar allows you to keep Montaron without having to get Xzar "accidentally" killed.
No one knows where Dorn will start,you may be waiting a long time until you find him.
You,Monty and Vic up front. Xzar,Edwin and Safana with spells and arrows.
Maybe when you find Dorn...Xzar will accidentally get skewered on his sword.
That sounds wrong...but you know what i mean.
Drop Montaron when you get Eldoth, give Eldoth the gauntlets of dexterity and he'll be far more versatile than Montaron will ever be. He can cast spells, make use of the cheeky Elven chainmail the devs are throwing in, use the truck load of wands available, is a walking identify spell and can use his nasty poison arrows in conjunction with the longbow of marksmanship. Also, if you're feeling fruity, you can dump Safana for Skie, who is statistically a better Thief, although she may have awry Thief skills - nothing Shadowkeeper can't fix though.
EDIT: and I really like Viconia :-)
Would be fun to change Edwin for Xzar, but im abit to attatched to Edwin, maybe on my 3rd playthrough as the 2nd will be a good sided playthrough to pick up the monk (can't pick my brain to remember hes name...)
With both BG:EE and Far Cry 3 coming out, it might take a while before i can wrap my hands around a 3rd playthrough tho
*sigh* i need, i need a time stop spell so i can get more out of my limited time for gaming these days
Well, I always took Edwin... But it's all matter of personal preference.
Edwin is the best mage in the game, no question about it. however, you need a second one, a single mage is simply not enough... and out of all the other mages, Xzar should be that guy - everyone else has some glaring weakness, like the lack of necromancy and horror, Dynaheir can't do enchantment (very, very bad), and our dearest Xan can't even throw a fireball... compared to this, Xzar with his lack of mirror image (which is still bad) is a goddamn demigod, though a fragile one.
the only other mage teammate with potential (who I'll also be adding personally) will be Neera, or at least it looks like it.
No-one's mentioned Kagain, despite still being an illegally good tank in BG1. Regenerating HP due to his 20 Con is godly when you're low on healing spells and level 3 or less. He'll heal fully on almost any area transition. His relatively low strength and dex can be a bit of an issue, but he has boatloads of HP and great saves.
I know you're pretty keen on thieves, but I would happily drop either Monty or Safana for additional tanky goodness.
I would certainly Keep Monty as the backstaber thief, just make use of Knock Spells to unlock chests and focus on disabling traps.
Thinking of doing a similar evil party as an assassin with Neera as party mage but Neera might be too goodie toe shoe to be part of an evil party. I'm hoping shes neutral.
@Quartz: never did, I like his dialog a lot actually... however, double (or triple!) fireballs are just a too good thing not to have :C