Which companion should fill my last spot?
ZeroxSP7
Member Posts: 55
I’m at a point in my game where I’m about to take on chapter’s 3 and 4 to rescue Imoen and I’m wondering if I should keep or replace Nalia. Here’s my current setup.
1. PC Fighter. Level 15. Longswords.
2. Jaheira. Level 11F/13D. Scimitars, clubs, quarterstaves, and spears.
3. Minsc. Level 14. Two handed swords, halberds, maces, and axes.
4. Anomen. Level 16. Warhammers.
5. Yoshimo. Level 17. Shortbows.
6. Nalia. Level 14. Slings
I plan to give Nalia a point in crossbows if she gets to that point.
Anyways, I know I’ll lose Yoshimo so Imoen will take his place. However, that’ll leave me with Nalia AND Imoen. That’s two mages. Is that ok?
I don’t mind having two mages. I just don’t know if there’s a better option. If I kept both, I would have one use crossbows and the other use shortbows or slings or some sort of combination like that. If I had to choose one mage to keep, it would be Imoen for roleplaying purposes. I can’t abandon family or friends.
If I had to keep Imoen and replace Nalia, I would consider Haer’Dalis, Keldorn, and Valygar. Here’s my thoughts concerning these companions though.
1. Haer’Dalis. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to play a Blade. No idea what to equip him with or what to have him do. So I’m clueless with him. He sounds like he’s a liability up front unless you cast Stoneskin and mirror image and etc but even then, he doesn’t have the AC or armor class or damage mitigation. So idk. Spins look nice but…..once per day? Idk.
2. Keldorn. So I just beat Firkraag. HARD freakin fight but I got a groove going. Just had to spread my guys out to avoid everyone being dispelled. This means I’ve got Carsomyr. Hurray! But Keldorn’s the only guy who can wield that thing. Cool. But Anomen has the dex gloves. And Keldorn’s strength is…eh. He can dispel like crazy though. That’s nice. That means I can have one mage focus entirely on buffs, damage, and crowd control spells and not worry about slotting breach and whatnot.
3. Valygar. Guy is specced into using Katanas and he’ll be my Celestial Fury user. Kickass. But he won’t have access to a +4 weapon until TOB. Idk what else to do with him either. I don’t backstab much. A lot of tough enemies seem to be immune to that too.
I wasn’t considering Mazzy because to me she’s just a shortbow user and those don’t really do damage. I saw how arrows got nerfed compared to BG1. If I wanted another physical damage dealer I’d just get Keldorn or Valygar.
I’m not considering Aerie or Jan either because they’re multiclasses. I don’t want any of those in my group. Jaheira is an exception because she’s my romance option.
So this is my dilemma. Do I replace Nalia with one of those 3 guys or go with 2 mages?
1. PC Fighter. Level 15. Longswords.
2. Jaheira. Level 11F/13D. Scimitars, clubs, quarterstaves, and spears.
3. Minsc. Level 14. Two handed swords, halberds, maces, and axes.
4. Anomen. Level 16. Warhammers.
5. Yoshimo. Level 17. Shortbows.
6. Nalia. Level 14. Slings
I plan to give Nalia a point in crossbows if she gets to that point.
Anyways, I know I’ll lose Yoshimo so Imoen will take his place. However, that’ll leave me with Nalia AND Imoen. That’s two mages. Is that ok?
I don’t mind having two mages. I just don’t know if there’s a better option. If I kept both, I would have one use crossbows and the other use shortbows or slings or some sort of combination like that. If I had to choose one mage to keep, it would be Imoen for roleplaying purposes. I can’t abandon family or friends.
If I had to keep Imoen and replace Nalia, I would consider Haer’Dalis, Keldorn, and Valygar. Here’s my thoughts concerning these companions though.
1. Haer’Dalis. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to play a Blade. No idea what to equip him with or what to have him do. So I’m clueless with him. He sounds like he’s a liability up front unless you cast Stoneskin and mirror image and etc but even then, he doesn’t have the AC or armor class or damage mitigation. So idk. Spins look nice but…..once per day? Idk.
2. Keldorn. So I just beat Firkraag. HARD freakin fight but I got a groove going. Just had to spread my guys out to avoid everyone being dispelled. This means I’ve got Carsomyr. Hurray! But Keldorn’s the only guy who can wield that thing. Cool. But Anomen has the dex gloves. And Keldorn’s strength is…eh. He can dispel like crazy though. That’s nice. That means I can have one mage focus entirely on buffs, damage, and crowd control spells and not worry about slotting breach and whatnot.
3. Valygar. Guy is specced into using Katanas and he’ll be my Celestial Fury user. Kickass. But he won’t have access to a +4 weapon until TOB. Idk what else to do with him either. I don’t backstab much. A lot of tough enemies seem to be immune to that too.
I wasn’t considering Mazzy because to me she’s just a shortbow user and those don’t really do damage. I saw how arrows got nerfed compared to BG1. If I wanted another physical damage dealer I’d just get Keldorn or Valygar.
I’m not considering Aerie or Jan either because they’re multiclasses. I don’t want any of those in my group. Jaheira is an exception because she’s my romance option.
So this is my dilemma. Do I replace Nalia with one of those 3 guys or go with 2 mages?
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Comments
2 mages can be useful also in less magic heavy gameplay, i.e. to lower MR and take down enemy's magic defenses faster ok to have a backup if your main mage gets incapacitated or does not have the needed spell memorized. Often I run parties with 3-5 arcane casters, but again it completely depends on player's style and preferred tactics.
Haer Dalis: even if EE has nerfed the Bard's song is still very strong once you learn how to play a blade. he can get 4 apr using 2 apr weapons, he can make his AC very low stacking the spin and the arcane spells that improve AC so his stoneskin will last forever, he is a decent arcane backup, has UAI and HLA traps. The Blades are equipment hungry to really shine. As your party is strong you can use this run to learn how to use a blade if you want. Possibly one of the best tanks in the game as he has also Mirror Images and the Mantle line spells + Spell Immunity, he can be untouchable for some rounds even late ToB.
Valygar: if you don't stab I don't see why using him, you already have a capable Ranger, if you stab even if many bosses and powerful enemies are immune to it there is a lot of foe to stab, even in ToB, a stabber can take down fast annoying helpers, dangerous mages and so on. Again it's a decision related to the play style, I like to stab a lot and my stabbers sometimes clear alone whole dungeons, other players almost never stab, but are perfectly effective with their own tactics. Very few enemies need a +4 weapon in the whole saga, the only problem of Celestial Fury is that in ToB the enemies will save more often vs its stun.
keldorn: as you told dispell, both from the sword and the Inquisitor spell, extremely powerful and useful. As he uses a 2H Sword with careful positioning he can hit while he is safe at the back of your tanks.
Jan is a multi, but thanks to his special equipment and the shorty bonuses is almost good as a pure thief and is a better secondary mage then a Bard, at cap level he will have 3 lev9 slots. If you like to have a real Thief and not only a "doors opener" and you want versatility is a strong choice even if he levels up slower.
So it depends completely on your style, if you like magic go with 2 mages, if you like physical damage dealers probably Korgan is the way to go, but the Ranger and the Pally are solid choices, if you like versatility the Blade or Jan.
About the weapons I don't see anyone focusing on Flails, FoA is crazy strong, 30% chance to slow the enemy without save and the Defender gives damage reduction.
Note that anyone you pick up at this point, if they haven't been in the party before, will catch up to 1.25 million XP. Which won't put them very far behind.
A Blade gets more uses of the spins as they gain levels. I think it's one each every four levels? Anyway, he'll have plenty of uses of those abilities.
Blades are built for the arcane melee style, which is potentially very powerful but tricky to use. You stay back most of the time and play support, until the time comes. Then you buff up with spells and spins, hit hard for a few rounds, and pull back again when the buffs run out. You can't stay in melee all the time because you don't have the defenses to survive without your buffs, but you don't need to because you have bard song and wands and spells that can help from range.
The song ... a blade's song has about the same area of effect as a fireball. So you have to be up close to the people you're trying to buff. The basic song is pretty mediocre with fear protection and +1 luck, but once you go epic the Enhanced Bard Song high-level ability is massively powerful: +4 to hit, damage, and AC, a bit of magic resistance, immunity to fear, stun, and confusion, and even immunity to nonmagical weapons.
Then again, when I've run Haer'Dalis, I've hardly ever used the spins - those parties preferred the songs.
Valygar also starts with specialization in spears, and you can pick up a +4 in the drow city for the very few enemies that actually need +4 to hit. Also, as a ranger, he can't go beyond specialization in his weapons anyway so he'll naturally pick up more weapon specializations as you go. You can probably find a +4 in one of those.
Still, if you're not going to use stealth tactics and backstabs, he's not worth it. That is an essential part of his kit, more so than it is for Minsc who's likely to wear heavy armor. Backstabs are quite powerful and useful for almost all of the game, but they require a lot of attention to use.
Mazzy starts out as a shortbow user. And then she picks another weapon because she's already maxed out bows, and by the time you reach epic levels she's got a solid melee backup. With her personal innate abilities that play well with it. The last time I ran with Mazzy (in my no-spellcasting party), she ended up as my flail user.
Keep Valygar for Celestial Fury. That's the best weapon for dropping the trash mobs. There's Hindo's Doom if you really need that +4 later in ToB, or give him one of the nice scimitars you'll find.
Offensive spin gives a healthy boost when needed and there are many items that also lower THAC0. Improved Haste and Tenser's Transformation can also be used to great effect when fighting the more challenging foes.
But yes, he'll be well behind a full warrior or even the likes of Anomen. Which still isn't that bad, as enemy AC varies widely in higher-level play. Sure, mind flayers are dangerous, but their AC of 5 makes them easy for just about anyone to hit.
1. PC Fighter
2. Jaheira
3. Minsc
4. Anomen
5. Imoen
6. Nalia
Using the rogue tables he will never get the natural Thac0 of a warrior, this is one of the reasons why he is equpment hungry, he needs every item that boosts his Thac0, but the Blade is the only not warrior that can have 3 pips in DW so can get 4apr using 2 speed swords, 5 apr with the spin, 8 Improved Hasted, from his own spell book, offensively he has a lot of potential.
And I am not even talking of Mislead that lets him attack with 8apr and with the further Thac0 boost of attqacking from invisibility with the enemies that can not retaliate as his invisibility is automatically applied after each attack, I regard it as bad cheese that I never touch, I like the tasty one that involves cereativity, as it takes away all the difficulty from the game, but he can do it...
Defensively the defensive spin or the HLA song give him -10AC, but he has also arcane spells like Blur to boost it further and he has Mirror Images, Stoneskin, Spell Immunity, PFMW to negate the attacks that go trough his AC. He can be your best tank both as he is fitghting or he is boosting your fighters with the HLA song.
About the song I suggerst to everybody using a Bard to install the Tresset's Choice Tweaks compnent that makes the AoE of the song larger, the Beamdog nerf has made it too small making impossible not only to boost your mlee and ranged guys at the same time, but even all of the mlee guys if you want to spread them for tactical reasons. In a party with a lot of apr the song is really powerful as they will hit more often, for more damage and will also be more resilient and immune to annoying effects. He can not use the Mislead clone to sing after the nerf, but once a day he can use the Simulacrum from the Helm, at high levels using the Wish from your mages to recharge the items he can do it before every tough battle if needed.
As a caster he will have less spells then a mage and he never reaches the high level spells but if you don't have an Inquisitor his Dispel Magic will be the highest level one as well as the other spells that are level depending, for the other spells it is mainly relevant in the first part of the game as later the mages reach the cap level of the spell, for DM it is true all game long.
Part of his spellbook will be dedicated to the spells that he uses for self defense like Stoneskin and he will never be an arcane caster as good as a Mage, but he is a good arcane backup for the party, particularly if there is only a true Mage. Your Mage gets killed or incapacitated? You need a second caster to take down faster the MR of a dragon, or the defenses of a Mage or to nuke a certain area or to buff faster your fighters with Improved Haste? He can do it, no one can pretend that he is as good as caster as a mage, but he can cover the role of secondary caster perfectly.
Add to the mix UAI, Pickpocket (potentially infinite money and all the best items way before a party without a stealer can afford them) and the HLA traps and you see that he can find his place in most of the party compositions. To shine he needs some items that can be useful for other party members, equipping him well is one of the keys to his effectivenes, and he is not a point and click toon, he needs buffing and party tactics that make his perks useful, so is not the toon thart everybody likes and learning how to use him can take some time, but he can be one of the most valuable NPCs in BG2 so, maybe not in this run, I suggest you to try him at least one time, his value is not immediately appearent but is there.
They are almost clones, but don't be fooled, their spellbooks can be loaded with different spells so they can cover different Mage roles. I.e. one can use the RoV + AoP + Improved Alacrity (when she reaches lev 9 spells) to spit spells at machine gun pace while the other can focus on sequencers and contingiences so is not affected at all by the lack of items that make spell casting faster.
Or you can prepare their spellbooks for 2 different battles and swap the robe and the amulet so the one that has the dedicated spells will cast faster. Or you can have one of them memorizing wishes (to rest) while the other uses her lev9 slots for other spells, the "Wish caster" will still be a valuable secondary mage as long as she has enough PI at lev 7 to be sure that the rest option shows up every time.
2 Mages can be a really powerful choice or one of the mages can be redundant and have little impact on the game, it completely depends on you.
pierce magic can be super-useful. And he can also backstab lateron, so he is quite
nice to have. Also gnomes rule.
At the least I like Jan more than a bard. Bards always feel weaker than pure mages
as well as pure fighters. In many ways pure fighters may be better because of tanks
and dishing out a lot of damage, but I love magic in BG2. I think magic is actually
very nice in BG2, even more so with some mods making this even more strategic
and tactical. But even without that, greater malison, breach and pierce magic is
SUPER nice against annoying enemies.
My first mage choice is usually either my main char, or Edwin. One mod also lets
you buy a teddybear granting some protection against fear or so - I always have
Edwin carry the teddybear in one hand, to show that this big evil mage is more
like a big boy. It's very RP-immersive!!! Fireball thrown with the right, teddybear
held in the left.