after reading this i think im going to get jan but i just need to now is imoen really that important to the games story line

I would've picked Nalia over Aerie or Jan Jansen. You lack a mage who can cast level 7-8 spells, and it's gonna make harder in the long run. Especially because Aerie won't be able to summon fiends until her last level. Nalia can be a satisfactory thief if you get a ring(?) of trap detection and a ring of lockpicks. The first one can be found in the sphere quest and the second, if you cross the shadow thieves.

Between Nalia and Aerie, Nalia is the better mage (not by much though) but Aerie has the huge advantage of being able to cast priest spells (and not just low level ones but some that can do some butt-kicking). The only disadvantage of Aerie (if you ask me)is that she has low hit points and tends to die off rather quickly in the heat of battle.

As for me, I kept both Nalia and Aerie along with Misk, Jaheira, Imoen and my dude a paladin.

Since I have played the whole game I have noticed that you need a good mage in the end game. Jan will be difficult to have, since he level up his mage skills very seldom. It is the same thing with Aerie. You need a mage in your party, and there are only two to choose from, namely Edwin or Nalia (or yourself).

When I finnished the game, I had Jaheira at level 14 as a druid and fighter. This is why I think Jan or Aerie doesn't cut it as mages, since they are multicharacters. Any objections?

Well, actually there is a third mage npc that
can have high level spells later on and that is, of course, the very Imoen. She is also at least a fair thief. But there is one major drawback: in order to not have her fall behind in exp. points too much, you would have to get her asap. But that means leaving
many of the earlier quests for later when, in my experience, they are mostly not that challenging anymore.

Imoen is a capable NPC, but I mainly opted for getting her back asap for sentimental reasons.

Your call !

So long,

Ramon

I agree that you need a mage that can cast 7th and 8th level spells for the final set of battles. Either Nalia or Edwin should be sufficient.

However, it certainly helps to have a secondary mage. This secondary mage need not be as powerful as the primary mage. I tend to think that Jan or Aerie would be more than capable of this role.

The first time I played thru, my secondary mage was Imoen after I rescued her. She was more than up to the task after I got her some of the needed spells. In my view, probably the most critical "upper" spells for the secondary mage are the magic breeching spells. 2 mages casting Breech in the same round really takes the starch out of the toughest of enemy mages.

Actually I don't think you need to get Imoen early on. I picked her up when I was maxed in level (did EVERY quest I knew of before sailing) And when I got Imoen she was level 13 and got 14 soon after. thing to remember is that because she was multiclassed she gains slowly, and mages in general need a lot of exp to level, more than most classes. So Imoen can now cast level 7 and I'm only in the Sahuagin city for my second time. (Played all the way to the underdark with a wizard slayer and decided I was tired of using him.)

Hmm... Imoen is not multiclass. And the most she can be at is level 11 (400,000 exp).

yeah she sure is multiclass thief/mage, buddy

Well technically she is Dual classed which means that the first class gets locked, but still the fact that they did dual class her is so lame I think. I kept her strictly as a thief in BG1 and wish they continued, or at least dual classed her at the same level I did after I maxed the thief level