6th NPC for Evil Party - Do I EE Keeper Hexxat?

Matteo12345

All:

I am looking for recommendations for the right 6th party member for my evil group for both SoA and ToB. My PC is a F/M/T (this is probably my favorite PC I have ever played, at least through BG). My group for SoA will be:

PC - F/M/T
Edwin
Viconia
Dorn
Korgan

While I have heard some bad stuff about Hexxat, I am leaning towards adding her as the 6th party member, but I really don't need the thief levels. Thus, I am thinking about using EE keeper to make her either a F/T or a M/T. Whatever change I make to Hexxat, I will carry over into ToB. I would like advice as to what is better for both SoA and ToB, as well as what makes sense from a roleplaying perspective (if her dialogue, for example, suggests a hatred for the arcane, I wouldn't want to make her a mage). Alternatively, is there are thief kit I could use that would make her useful through ToB and make sense from a roleplay perspective (assassin or shadowdancer maybe)?

If there is a better NPC for purposes of bantering with the rest of my party, I would consider adding him/her over Hexxat.

Finally, does anyone have any advice once I hit ToB regarding the ToB NPC (not sure if I can name under forum rules)? Should I drop someone to add him? If so, who?

I am not sure if this matters, but I am not a huge fan of having to buff like crazy before every battle and having to micro all six party members in combat. This kind of makes me drawn to making Hexaat a F/T as I can just give her some dual wield weapons I have never used before (like daggers, short swords, or longswords). But, I am concerned about only having one high-level mage when ToB comes around (I'm not going to dual the ToB NPC as it would take too long to get him back to full strength).

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Kurona

Shadowdancer would be thematically appropriate for Hexxat - more or less - but the kit needs micromanagement to truly shine. And by ToB you lose the most powerful weapon in the Thief's arsenal, the traps. Swashbuckler might be more up your alley for a hands-off approach but frankly it doesn't fit her. I would go for F/T.

For ToB and Big S you could drop Viconia. At that point you should have near-perfect saves and plenty of gear to cover immunities. Dorn can cast Remove Fear and is natively immune to fear and level draining while Korgan can rage.

This would leave Edwin as the sole full-time caster. It can be rough if you have SCS but it's not insurmountable if you pick spells wisely and make sure to have a stock of scrolls and wands of spell striking.

Matteo12345

THanks. Would she be able to hold her own with the micro? Also, why do theifs lose traps in ToB? I have never really used traps in any of the games, but is there something to ToB specially?

jsaving

Thieves don't lose HLA traps but shadowdancers do. It's a huge liability toward the end of the game, unfortunately.

butteredsoul

This may surprise you: well... let me explain before I tell you, otherwise you may flag my post

I did an evil party run with a F/Th and had the exact same group as you've planned. Sure you could get Hexxy, but your PC, like mine, has thief stuff covered.

So I went with another NPC who fills a hole in your planned party, is surprisingly effective, contributed throughout the adventure, and had some fun banter. The NPC isn't evil, but this recommendation has made some questionable life choices that some would say lack a certain morality. Therefore, said NPC deserves a run into hell with a dastardly band of misfits. That person is:

Cernd!
Yep, Cernd. Those druid summons, insect spells, fiery nuts, and elemental forms were effective weapons from start to finish. Don't believe he's not a good guy? Just ask @ThacoBell.

Also, I was running Ascension and SCS as well, so having a shapeshifter when we had all of our stuff taken from us in Spellhold was a life-saver.

Kurona

Cernd is not a bad idea at all. He's more useful than Viconia in ToB and he meshes fairly well with evil parties assuming you don't go destroy nature. He even occasionally defends you from the accusations of good characters on the grounds that evil can bring back balance.

Matteo12345 said:

THanks. Would she be able to hold her own with the micro?

The Shadowdancer entire shtick is to hide and backstab constantly thanks to Hide in Plain Sight. Works very good for the majority of the game but by Throne of Bhaal anything stronger than trash mobs (and sometimes even trash mobs themselves) is immune to backstab. The bit about traps has been covered by @jsaving.

Matteo12345

Thanks for the tips. I think I am going to keep viconia for the romance option though. Is two divine casters too much?

Maybe I could eekepper hex for a shadow dancer and then drop her come ToB for the ToB NPC?

Kurona

Two pure divine casters is overkill for ToB yeah. If you really want Viconia drop Hexxat. Especially if your Charisma is low because it's possible to lose Hexxat permanently during the ToB part of her questline.

butteredsoul

Kurona said:

Two pure divine casters is overkill for ToB yeah.

I disagree. Druids and clerics have enough non-overlapping goodies to carry one of each.

Kurona said:

If you really want Viconia drop Hexxat.

I agree!

Skatan

I like Hexxat, thematically, and have used her, at least partly, in many different playthroughs. One of my favorite charbuilds on her was a level 8 mage dual to thief. She got 2 level 4 spell slots, access to wands, invisibiliy and some other spells and then just a regular thief. I did this becuase I played a 4 man party and wanted another supporting arcane caster but it played it to be kinda cool. I RP'd it that she had been a mage before being 'turned' and that her dualing was started afterwards, so I made her start as a freshly started dualled thief which eventually regained her mage powers as she regained control of herself. This made her good, but not OP, and at least gave her some greater abilities than just standing around with a bow or throwing daggers, which she usually does since I hate to micro too many characters.

Thematically maybe not so correct, but she could perhaps be made into an evil bard (blade) since it could fit into your group. Bards are easy, though the singing part doesn't fit her so good, but a blade is not a singer really and kinda does what my mage/thief did.

Also, personally I don't think there's overlap between druids and clerics since they can be used differently. I normally gravitate towards druids and often skip clerics, but they can fill very different roles.

Matteo12345

Thanks. I think I am going to give Hexxat a whirl as I have already used Cernd and my last play through was a Ranger/cleric who abused the heck out of insect plague . I will likely then drop her come ToB. For just SoA, would she be better off as a mage to thief, shadow dancer, a multi thief/mage, or a multi F/T?