Minsc: A warning
FredN
Member Posts: 817
.....I have said before that Minsc's alignment is chaotic stupid, but a recent play through took this to extreme levels. We had just finished freeing Nalia's Keep from the trolls, and I decided to go to the Temple District and save Viconia from execution. Everything went well until we started fighting the fanatics, and I made the really, really terrible decision to have Minsc go berserk. OK, that was my bad. I didn't really think things through.
.....Unlike someone like Korgan, whose attacks you can direct once he goes berserk, Minsc is totally uncontrollable. He will attack anyone and anything in sight. He ended up killing a civilian bystander, the guards got pissed at us, and in the end our reputation was 4; despised! And that self righteous supposedly "neutral" Jaheira blamed ME for it! I said "bugger this for a lark" and reloaded from an earlier save.
.....For similar reasons, never, ever, ever let Minsc anywhere near Aerie. He will adopt her as his "new witch". And while Aerie has some useful skills as a cleric/mage multi-class, she is somewhat fragile, since she is low in HP. So, she can be killed fairly easily by enemy mages or ranged weapon users. This will cause Minsc to automatically go berserk, with the usual predictably unpredictable consequences.
.....So, once we finish freeing Nalia's Keep, I grab all Minsc's gear, park his insane butt in the Copper Kettle, and dismiss him, never to be seen again. I then go recruit the far saner Valygar to replace him.
.....Unlike someone like Korgan, whose attacks you can direct once he goes berserk, Minsc is totally uncontrollable. He will attack anyone and anything in sight. He ended up killing a civilian bystander, the guards got pissed at us, and in the end our reputation was 4; despised! And that self righteous supposedly "neutral" Jaheira blamed ME for it! I said "bugger this for a lark" and reloaded from an earlier save.
.....For similar reasons, never, ever, ever let Minsc anywhere near Aerie. He will adopt her as his "new witch". And while Aerie has some useful skills as a cleric/mage multi-class, she is somewhat fragile, since she is low in HP. So, she can be killed fairly easily by enemy mages or ranged weapon users. This will cause Minsc to automatically go berserk, with the usual predictably unpredictable consequences.
.....So, once we finish freeing Nalia's Keep, I grab all Minsc's gear, park his insane butt in the Copper Kettle, and dismiss him, never to be seen again. I then go recruit the far saner Valygar to replace him.
0
Comments
And Minsc and Aerie are seriously sweet together. Both are beautiful characters in their own ways, Aerie is one I almost never run without. I’ve even used her as my only cleric more than once (although not my only mage!). The most obvious thought about her hit points is “why is she getting hurt?” This should not be happening, she should *always* have Stone Skin up. And should not be anywhere near melee. If your melee guys are doing their job, your rear-rankers should not even be touched most of the time. And suppress those incoming spells!
The problem in the instance that I cited was that I had never had Minsc go berserk before. I had no idea he was uncontrollable; I was expecting him to behave like Korgan. But that was just the last straw. I dislike Minsc in general. He is a totally delusional lunatic, who believes he is talking to ... a giant Space Hamster?? How do the other members of the party tolerate his constant cries of "Go for the eyes, Boo!" without insisting he be placed in an asylum somewhere for his own safety, as well as that of others. (Not the Spellhold asylum, of course). I can't understand why so many players are so fond of interacting with a blatant raving psychotic.
And evidence internal to the game suggest Boo is in fact, a miniature Giant Space Hamster who can talk to Minsc. At least Elminster himself suggests such is true. Of course this doesn't make Minsc NOT a lunatic. But he is perfectly functional with the right leadership! I always use him for at least part of the game. Actually, often ALL of BG1. And a ways into BG2. I have won the entire game with him on my team. Like most characters, he's as useful as you make him. Aerie even more so, I consider her essential.
In which case, then Elminster himself is not all that tightly wrapped either. Clearly his longevity has led to him exhibiting
early signs of the onset of pre-senile dementia. How sad!
>Aerie even more so, I consider her essential.<
Another point of disagreement. Aerie is a fairy whose wings have been chopped off. A flightless wanna-be Tinkerbelle.
I, however, am not Peter Pan. Once the circus tent side quest is over, she gets the boot also.
Sooooo wimpy! My end run team is MC, Edwin, Hexxat, Viconia and Dorn, with the final place being taken by either Korgan with the Axe of the Unyielding +5, or Sarevok who will eventually get Ravager +6.
Edwin: Best Mage, blows Imoen out of the water
Hexxat: Best thief ... much better than Jan, fight me on this
Viconia: Best cleric ... with the right gear and Lum's help, you can pump her Magic resistance up to 80%
Dorn: Best all around evil scumbag, totally epic ToB quest
Korgan/Sarevok: best warrior types
MC: best canditate to become the new God of Murder
My next run will be built around two PCs who both have below the game minimum scores (less than 75 total points). That sounds like fun to me!
My current run I stripped all the characters back to 1st level at the start of BG2, I figure since Irenicus had easy access to vampires it might have made sense for him to drain them all. 1st level characters being easier to contain and control. It still wasn't very hard to get up and running. They were only a level or two behind where they ought to be by the time they escaped Chateau Irenicus. But it did make for an interesting twist on things.
Oh, the humanity! The horror ... the horror ...the horror!
Sure, you can win with just about any sort of team, but I have low level ASPD, and gravitate to the Dark Side. Play Bhaal!
I actually did a play through once with all Good and Neutral crew. Jaheria, Mazzy, Keldorn, Imoen and Anomen. Boooooring!! I dropped the whole endeavor about 10% of the way through ToB. Heck, I had almost forgotten I had tried that.
Oh I should have added, Giant Space Hamsters are in fact a thing in the Realms. Actually the Spelljammer setting. So Boo is a miniature one, why not?
After taking 2-Handed Weapons speciality at level 9 you can put advances in Flail/Morning Star at levels 12 and 15 and dual wield the Flail of Ages and Defender of Easthaven before you leave for Part 4. Stack that with Armor of Faith and Hardiness and you get formidable resistances with massive offense. I haven’t done this with him yet but I hope to do so soon.
You are right in that he should never go berserk. That is a murderous mutiny! IIRC if he does go berserk you can end it with Dispel Magic, although I haven’t had that happen recently. If you are playing with Aerie and Minsc in the same party have her buff extensively and always use the Reflection Shield. As mentioned earlier, Stoneskin is a must.
There are many enjoyable interactions between Jan and Minsc also. A party with Aerie, Jan, and Minsc in it at the same time is going to have a lot of humorous and engaging dialog and a diverse offensive array.
But, as has been mentioned before, do not let him go berserk, if he does try Dispel Magic. I think that will work, although my memory is no longer a steel trap. Does anyone know if the Shaman spell Spiritual Clarity will end it, too?
Thanks!
I think the mistake some players make is assuming they have to toss the heaviest armor on Minsc and use him as a sort of weaker version of Keldorn or Sarevok. But you should be using Minsc to stealth and scout. Unlike BG1, you don't even have to wait for him to get sufficient levels to make it non-tedious to use. And it's mostly going to be used in dungeons and indoors anyways, so the daylight penalty is very situational.
You have easy early access to a +2 and +3 two handed sword for him. Pretty easy to transition him to dual wielding flails as others have noticed. And the longbow means you can always use him to interrupt casters at any stage of the game.
I find barkskin can help compensate for the low AC from relying on stealth friendly armor. Decent opening spellcast for him when combat starts. He generally won't draw most enemies' fire if he starts combat from stealth and sits at the range of the two-handed sword behind other tanky companions with shorter weapons.
Valygar's backstab really is of limited utility imo. Setting up backstabs costs you combat time that is better used making more attacks and spells/potions/item uses. The strength of both characters is the stealth and forward scouting. Stealth combines poorly on your trap-finding thief since both abilities are mutually exclusive. So it's a strong party that has one dedicated stealth character who is different from the dedicated trap finder.
Question 1 - What do you think about stealth vs invisibility?
Question 2 - It seems Aegir’s Hide plus a Helm of Charm protection would allow awesome stealth while giving immunity to two of the most common disabling statuses. Have you ever tried this?
I'd love to update the proficiencies on many NPC’s but EEKeeper doesn’t work on Mac.
Question 1: Does Near Infinity work on Macs?
Question 2: Do anyone have any suggestions for optimal proficiency allocation?
I see MacOS builds on the NearInfinity github.
I found them
Thanks!
Yes, I often find Aeger's Hide to be a must purchase early game item in SoA, because you generally have somebody in your party where it's best in slot, at least initially. The early +3 TH sword gives him broad mental immunities so don't even need the helmet, you can get a different one for him, such as more elemental resistance or Balduran's.
Invisibility is of course superior but it's not free like stealth. So the issue is, it's situational. Invis is great for guaranteeing backstabs midcombat, or getting out of difficulty situations like some of the theft quests if they go awry. Stealth is better for scouting ahead in the dungeons and wilderness.
Proficiencies, I'd say it depends on your party composition. Generally speaking the first pip I'd spend on two handed weapon style, but just the first point is all that matters, truly. Unless you're prioritizing the 2H on Keldorn or a protagonist, that will serve Minsc the best for much of SoA. You then have to decide if you're going to stick with mace or with a different blunt weapon, like flails. Axe is also a non-obvious solid investment for Minsc to have active by the time you get to ToB, throwing axes will probably serve him better there than the longbow.
Honestly, as with all paladins and rangers, you don't have to sweat the pips too much. You can't max out anything so even 1 or 2 "wasted" pips isn't going to hurt your build. Decide on your party comp and go from there, Minsc is highly flexible. Unlike say Keldorn there's no dedicated "best" weapon for him.