Worthy mages in BG1 - advice needed
egalor_original
Member Posts: 92
So, I'm searching for a useful mage. The ones that I know do not satisfy me due to the following reeasons:
- Dynaheir (because she's a female and follows Minsc, and this playthrough I decided to move away from Minsc);
- Xzar (I'm not into Necromancers, and I also don't need his follower - a second thief);
- Neera (she's a female, and due to roleplaying concerns it's not fun at the stage);
- Xan (he's an enchanter, and can't cast fireballs, magic missiles and other similar spells);
- Edwin (I turned him down already because I didn't want any harm to come for Dynaheir).
Are there any other mages out there, or should I dual Imoen into a Mage and pump her with spells?
- Dynaheir (because she's a female and follows Minsc, and this playthrough I decided to move away from Minsc);
- Xzar (I'm not into Necromancers, and I also don't need his follower - a second thief);
- Neera (she's a female, and due to roleplaying concerns it's not fun at the stage);
- Xan (he's an enchanter, and can't cast fireballs, magic missiles and other similar spells);
- Edwin (I turned him down already because I didn't want any harm to come for Dynaheir).
Are there any other mages out there, or should I dual Imoen into a Mage and pump her with spells?
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Xan is probably the best, he can't cast fireball directly, but can cast it from wands of fire (same for magic missiles)...and Skull trap is superior to fireball anyway (Fire resistance is pretty common, while resistance to raw magic damage is effectively unheard of, aside from some items in BG2, and EE increased the range of Skull trap to be equal to fireball..so..it's primary downside doesn't exist anymore...it's basically the 7th level Delayed-blast fireball, as a 3rd level spell that deals magic damage instead). Sleep is a head above more powerful then Magic missiles can ever aspire to be for BG1, and Blind or spook are superior vs single targets above the level that sleep effects. Not being able to cast web is the biggest strike against him, but it's not a huge deal.
So, it's Xan then.
The above point about Xan is fair, though. I had 2-3 wands of fire without buying or searching for them, so if that's the only spell you are worried about, you should be fine.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/14092/mod-valerie-npc-for-bgee-bgt-tutu
You can always use ShadowKeeper to change Xan's Kit, which would allow him to cast other spells.
Xan is very capable (if depressing). His loss of magic missile and fireball is inconsequential due to the above stated use of wands, skull trap and other available level 1 spells. His decent Dexterity is a nice bonus, making him harder to hit and meaning his sling/dart THAC0 isn't too horrible.
I'm tempted to use Quayle as my backup mage/cleric to go with Xan & Viconia in my current run, if only because I've never used him before though.
I'd kind of like to kick him in the nuts on general principles.
@captRory
No need to jump to conclusions. He/She could have a perfectly valid reason. You're making a bit of a leap.
What alignment are you?
My favorites in this group are Neera, Edwin, Imoen, and Xzar due to how useful they all are.
You should Dual Imoen at level 6. And if you want to shadowkeeper her wasted 15 thief points into hide in shadows into Find Traps or Open locks...giving you 100 points in each by level 6 (which is all she needs really to be useful) I always do it so...blah.
Imoen will get to level 9 as a mage from there, so she'll have access to all of the spells in the game, and with the int tome she'll have max spell slots for her level / int.
Neera is my next favorite because she starts off with a Gem bag! And I just really like her. She's got extra casts, decent stats, and gets down to 0AC fast with the Claw of Kazaroth. Plus she can Identify like crazy with the Evermemory ring. Yes she's a wild mage, things can go wrong. Spend one spell slot on a spell to keep percentages for error down...and if you want to give her the int tomb she'll have max spell slots.
Her drawback is low HP. She is a glass cannon.
Edwin is far more powerful than the other two in terms of firepower, he gets the most spell slots...with the Int tome he gets 19 intelligence and can learn every spell in the game without failure. EXCEPT he gets no divination, so no identify. (which means I never take him as my only mage)
If the PC is not a mage AND is evil, I tend to favor Xzar and Xan, if he's good I take Immy and Neera...I'm not a fan of Dynaheir, and even if I take Minsc I usually have her wind up with Khalid, petrified for their own protection under after the iron crisis is over.
I rank them in order of usefulness like this.
01. Neera (For her identify and extra spell slots with Evermemory.)
02. Imoen (For Thief Skills, high HP bonus, and good weapon proficiencies like shortbow and single weapon style to keep her AC down.)
03. Edwin (Because he can bring the pain.)
04. Xzar (For personality, and because he can dual to Cleric or Thief with a tomb...and he's extremely powerful in the Cleric role actually due to his high wisdom)
05. Xan (Wands make up for the school he doesn't get...but I honestly just never use him since...well ever. He does have a cool sword though, I've never completed a game with him in my party but I have picked him to try him out few times and wasn't wowed.)
06. Dynaheir (I've played with her in the "Cannon" party...but honestly...she's just not that good. I find her to be lacking in power as she develops, though wands again can help with her the same way as with Xan...but she still always feels a bit weak and I don't really dig her personality.)
07. Quayle (I've never had him in a party....maybe I should one of these of these days. His stats always sort of put me off, but he's probably more flexible than Dynaheir, but slower to level. *Shrug*)
Like I said, I really like Xan and I'd take him before Dynaheir any day of the week, but I was just pointing out that there are a couple of invocations that you miss and can't really be replaced with wands. The other notable one is cloudkill, unless EE packed in a wand somewhere I haven't found. Finally, EE added 1 scroll of minor sequencer, which is a nice spell to have. Oh, and Web, as mentioned earlier by @ZanathKariashi
I'm chaotic good.
Me too I'm thinking about dualling Imoen into a mage, but still I would think that Xan could be still more efficient. As for Neera, she does not speak to me after I rejected her initially (due to a bug or whatever) so she's out of consideration.
This is especially a very important choice, as I plan to export this party to BG2EE later on. So, I'm still thinking on it
Nah Xan is NOT better than Immy.
Immy can have Single Weapon Fighting Style, Short Bows and Short Swords (AC bonus and decent ranged and close up fighting)
She can be a 6/9 Thief/Mage Dual Class with useful skills (Find Traps / Open Locks) Close to maxed, or maxed with a nudge with SK at that level.
She has high Charisma, which helps if your PC doesn't.
And she's got 16 con, so her HP will always be pretty darn good.
Plus robe of archmage, stoneskin, etc. She can off-tank and pull with her bow!
Xan...is just kinda...mediocre to me. Not nearly as versatile, etc. Immy makes it so whatever other thieves are about can actually focus on cool skills that do things rather than utility stuff you need but isn't as fun.
I mean he gets more spell slots...but it's not that good of a tradeoff...Neera and Edwin both really benefit more from that.
Or am I missing something completely out?
The key fact to remember is that BGEE operates with an experience cap; that is, characters will stop gaining strength long before the end of the game. In your example, Xan will eventually become a level 9 mage, no more. Imoen would become a level 5 thief/level 9 mage. It will just take her longer. In the end, as a mage Imoen will be basically the equivalent of Xan, but will also have 5 levels of thief.
Quite sure you can just slay one of them and keep the other no strings attached
We just dont have so great casters in bg1 after edwin and charname but you can use shadowkeeper and take the one you like the most.