I sometimes will bring khalid through the whole playthrough. Yea his strength sucks but he makes up for it with a relatively high constitution and dexterity. So basically until I get the gauntlets of ogre power to improve his strength he acts as a decoy for my party.
If you examine his corpse, a note written by Jon Irenicus himself can be found on Khalid. It says: "NOTE: KHALID DIED ON THE WAY BACK TO HIS HOME PLANET."
@elminster You're not wrong. You can just use Khalid as a decent meatshield, doesn't matter that he hits like a wet noodle. He has one of the best Dex/Con scores of all the fighter classes, so he doesn't NEED the gauntlets of dexterity to get a decent AC (unlike Minsc, Jaheira or Ajantis).
Tbh though I normally avoid him and Jaheira like the plague, I'd much rather go for Ajantis + Branwen/Yeslick for my melee & healing needs. Might have to force myself to play canon party on the first BG:EE playthrough though.
If Khalid were the Fighter/Mage he were supposed to be instead of a generic fighter, would he have been hated by the community. More curious, would he have been axed and gutted in BG2?
Then he would've been taken by the Cowled Wizards instead of Imoen and the main quest would be to find a crap to give, instead of collecting money for freedom.
@Dazzu - haha, yeah! You have to admire an NPC so universally loved and respected that the devs came up with their own way to drop him from the party in BG2!!
I've never understood the hatred for Khalid, as I play through first as a Fighter and then a Paladin I found he made a useful second fighter. Considering that in my final battle with Sarevok my paladin took an unlucky critical and only survived thanks to Khalid changing targets suddenly and striking him down from behind... it permanently cemented him as one of my favourite characters alongside Imoen.
You can imagine my reaction to the first dungeon of BG2.
@Dazzu - haha, yeah! You have to admire an NPC so universally loved and respected that the devs came up with their own way to drop him from the party in BG2!!
The poor guy was vivisected and tortured to death, sure he was annoying, but he didn't deserve that fate. Oh well, I did my best to comfort Jaheira....
To be honest I don't kill NPCs to break up couples. Either I let them join together or I leave them both.
Khalid isn't that bad of a fighter. Even despite his 15 strength (which doesn't provide any combat related bonus nor a malus) he can specialize in a weapon to make up for it. 4 specialization points in long swords and he's good to go. He gets even more attacks than a brute like Minsc (who can only spend 2 specialization points in a weapon). Shar-Teel would have been an alternative but she's got a low constitution score in exchange for a high strength. Kagain might be slightly better than Khalid.
I have to say, I never minded Khalid. In fact, I rather liked him, his stuttering warriorness made him unique in a nice way. Then again, I seem to be one of the few people who liked having the 'pairs' in the original BG, and I always overwrote whatever strength score they had with 'gauntlets of x' eventually anyway.
Having his widow throw himself, I mean herself, at me each playthrough also seemed to grate on me. "Oi bint, your dead husband was ma mate, WTF are ya doing and get off me crotch!"
this is my favorite thread atm, people here seem to be very creative when it comes to planning untimely deaths :P ...but to be perfectly fair, there's nothing wrong with Khalid, stat-wise. After receiving the gauntlets of ogre power he is actually the best NPC fighter in the entire game bar none. I'm not kidding. Shar-Teel has 1 point higher Dex and big str, but her con is a measly 9 so she's out of the race as soon as the gauntlets come into play. Also, if you take Khalid early, you can give him 4-5 stars in a weapon like sword or axe, making him a total beast, beating out the rest of the competition like Ajantis, Kivan, Coran etc. since they can have a maximum of 2. The only fighter left to compare him to is Kagain, and he has to choose between wearing the guantlets of dexterity or ogre power because of low scores in str and dex... so.. myeaah... oh, and he's also a fairly decent archer from the getgo
Damn. You guys are cold, and I routinely describe my "real life alignment" as Lawful Evil. Granted, I was like ten years-old and had never played D&D when BG1 first came out, but I ran through the game with Khalid as my main tank.
Although, hilariously enough, the first time I encountered an ahnkeg Khalid got hit with the breath weapon and died instantly as I walked along the road.
@Dazzu - haha, yeah! You have to admire an NPC so universally loved and respected that the devs came up with their own way to drop him from the party in BG2!!
The poor guy was vivisected and tortured to death, sure he was annoying, but he didn't deserve that fate. Oh well, I did my best to comfort Jaheira....
when i played BG for the first time Khalid usually lived the longest... nowadays he ...well... still outlives the other members oO
my group dies and he still stands: maybe i´m doing sth wrong
only one time was weird: i was trying to kill that ogre south of beregost and after many tries the ogre takes several hits while my group was still intact but then the ogre kills Khalid (crushed to goo) and dies right after... (still felt like a victory to me)
(truth to be told: i reloaded shortly after (can´t let Khalid die, i mean come on!))
I always tried to find a good excuse to leave Khalid and Jaheira at the Inn.
The new npcs, in that aspect, are more than welcome :P
Considering the fact that my first D&D pen and paper party consisted among others of a sorceress, a monk (!) and i was playing a bone knight, a darker type of knight, well, it's like deja vu with a strong sense of nostalgia.
It's clear that Khalid's death in BG 2 was a plot device to make Jaheira romanceable and to be honest, I didn't like that at all. I'm a big fan of the Khalid - Jaheira couple and I always take both of them in my party. I also don't get all the hate for poor Khalid. Believe it or not, but he was my main tank during all of BG. You just need to give him some affection and he'll crush any enemy for you. (well, he did for me, at least) No, seriously, he isn't that bad for a Fighter character. I gotta admit I think his stuttering is extremely cute, tho. XD
To add insult to injury, I usually had Jaheira beat him to death so I could remove him from the party without losing her.. the few times i actually wanted to bring her judgmental, condescending, nagging bony arse along. Branwen & Viccy
There was a playthrough tester who had K&J and X&M in their party in the Nashkel mines and the two sets of NPCs went at it so badly that he could only pick one side and join in. It's Harpers vs. Zhentarim anyhow.
I rather like Khalid, and I always make sure to recruit him along with Jaheira whenever I play! I don't care very much for stats as I am much more interested in role play (aside from which, Khalid's stats are quite effective if he is used as a defender or an archer). The two of them are the best friends you will find shy of Imoen (and Minsc doesn't count because his judgment is a bit warped). Khalid is friendly and good-hearted, and though he may not be the most courageous warrior he makes up for it with his kind nature. He helps to keep Jaheira's temper from flaring up too badly, which is always a good thing for my group's morale (even Boo has been known to quiver at the sight of an angered Jaheira).
That being said, I am rather torn as to who I will have in my party for this release. I like to stick with the canon party members, yet I also want to adventure with the new characters. I suspect that my party may change hands a few times throughout the story, though I am not sure who will remain to see the story to its completion.
Khalid needs more love! Remember the poor guy's fate in Baldur's Gate 2...Showing a bit of appreciation is the least we can do, no?
That's exactly what we do.... We know the torture he is going to face, so we just put him down early, preventing him the future extreme agony he was going to face. I think its a noble thing to do..
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Tbh though I normally avoid him and Jaheira like the plague, I'd much rather go for Ajantis + Branwen/Yeslick for my melee & healing needs. Might have to force myself to play canon party on the first BG:EE playthrough though.
But then you'd miss out on the new NPCs.
Considering that in my final battle with Sarevok my paladin took an unlucky critical and only survived thanks to Khalid changing targets suddenly and striking him down from behind... it permanently cemented him as one of my favourite characters alongside Imoen.
You can imagine my reaction to the first dungeon of BG2.
that he cant fight aint realy my problem nude maby but he did seem to die fast even with cloth on
Khalid isn't that bad of a fighter. Even despite his 15 strength (which doesn't provide any combat related bonus nor a malus) he can specialize in a weapon to make up for it. 4 specialization points in long swords and he's good to go. He gets even more attacks than a brute like Minsc (who can only spend 2 specialization points in a weapon). Shar-Teel would have been an alternative but she's got a low constitution score in exchange for a high strength. Kagain might be slightly better than Khalid.
Having his widow throw himself, I mean herself, at me each playthrough also seemed to grate on me. "Oi bint, your dead husband was ma mate, WTF are ya doing and get off me crotch!"
Although, hilariously enough, the first time I encountered an ahnkeg Khalid got hit with the breath weapon and died instantly as I walked along the road.
Usually Khalid would get really drunk and volunteer to check for traps naked in Nashkel mines.
nowadays he ...well... still outlives the other members oO
my group dies and he still stands: maybe i´m doing sth wrong
only one time was weird: i was trying to kill that ogre south of beregost and after many tries
the ogre takes several hits while my group was still intact but then the ogre kills Khalid (crushed to goo)
and dies right after... (still felt like a victory to me)
(truth to be told: i reloaded shortly after
The new npcs, in that aspect, are more than welcome :P
Considering the fact that my first D&D pen and paper party consisted among others of a sorceress, a monk (!) and i was playing a bone knight, a darker type of knight, well, it's like deja vu with a strong sense of nostalgia.
Damn devs reading my thoughts.
To add insult to injury, I usually had Jaheira beat him to death so I could remove him from the party without losing her.. the few times i actually wanted to bring her judgmental, condescending, nagging bony arse along.
That being said, I am rather torn as to who I will have in my party for this release. I like to stick with the canon party members, yet I also want to adventure with the new characters. I suspect that my party may change hands a few times throughout the story, though I am not sure who will remain to see the story to its completion.