Okay, another one of those tough decisions.

My current party consists of:

1. Gawaine (Lead Character) Lvl 10 Fighter
2. Aerie
3. Jaheira
4. Minsc
5. Yoshimo (Dropping him off at spellhold)
6. Anomen (or rather, Sir Anomen, I got him knighted)

Now, the problem is, I don't know whether I should drop Anomen for Keldorn. That Holy Avenger +5 is most definitely a great sword. And I am also working on getting a Mace of Disruption +2 for Anomen. What should I do?

On a side note, can paladins cast clerical spells? One thing good about Anomen is that he can support Aerie in her Clerical spells. And when Imoen returns, she can support Aerie's wizard spells.

Help. And Thanks.

Eeek your mad! Youve got 3 healers in your party!
Get rid of anomen and get keldorn, he dispells magic instantainiously.

I would personaly leave jahiera and ditch aerie for edwin. Or even better get viconia.

I'd drop Anomen and get Viconia. Best cleric in the game, and you've already got you, Minsc and Jaheira, so what do you need another fighter for?

Oh yeah, and Edwin's better than Aerie. Heh. I figured you're probably keeping her in the party for sentimental reasons, though.

Hmm...

I guess I should get another mage, eh?

Thanks for your opinion guys.

I'll consider what you guys have said.

Just like to add a note that Paladins can cast priest spells at higher levels but not Keldorn (not even lay on hands) because he has an inquisitor kit. He is terribly useful though and watch him rip with the Carsomyr:Holy Avenger+5. (especially Cowled wizards because it gives 50% magic resistance!!)

If it's a question between Anomen and Keldorn, get Keldorn. If you are open to any new face, get Viconia and just buff her up. She can use the Mace of Disruption +2 same as Anomen and she can actually fight better if you buff her up with certain items like magic girdles etc. You DO seem to have lots of healers in your group. And you want a mage that can cast at least level 8 spells, and i don't think Aerie gets to that point though i could be wrong. Aerie is best used as a support mage/cleric.

Drop the uppity knight wannabe and pick up Valygar. He is a great addition. If you want a good mage...pick up Aerie, dump her and then pick her up later. It shuts her up!

Good parties deserve an Inquisitor like Keldorn with his True sight and Dispel magic at Twice his level!!!
Anomen was a solid character for me ( his B.S. aside)He did 1042 (One thousand forty two) points of damage to a vampire in the process of destroying 4 more simultaneously. Plus he can wear that amulet that gives prot. from lvl drain amongst other bonuses.He has a limited fighter thaco and can specialize with some cool weapons, plus reach fairly high cleric lvl. I kept both with Jaheria, Aerie, Nalia and Gfish, a Pure blooded fighter.

Okay..
I've decided on my party.

I'll get Keldorn but dump Minsc.

So, my final party after Chapter 4 will be.

Gawaine (that's me!!)
Imoen
Aerie
Anomen
Jaheira
Keldorn

I don't know why, but Minsc seems weak, at least when compared to my pure fighter. Minsc has far too little life. (My Lvl 11 Fighter has 145 HP now.) And even Anomen has 100 HP.

Thanks. Any opinion of my new decision? I'm a first time BG player here (this is the first RPG that I'm playing...)

Still to many healers, like we said dump aerie for Edwin and dump anomen for Viconia

Healers? Who do you heal with draw upon holy might? I am sure foes love to get healed by holy word. And holy smight? or Turn undead one of the most useful buttons I found in certain parts of the game. High lvl clerics Melt Undead like Butta Baby.Oh yeah gate. any way respectable adventurers still kick ass with out chillin with creeps like edwin and freaky evil drow like viconia.

Your party looks reasonably balanced, it all depends on your playing style. You'll find out if you need another mage soon enough...depending on the way you play you may not need another one.

I have to admit, Aerie is the best back-up in the game! If you want to keep Anomen, dump Jaheira, get Viconia, and you won't miss a thing. the only thing you are going to miss is her shapeshifting spels and summon insects, but in general, Viconia is better than Jaheira. I think Aerie shoudn't be removed because she can substitute any mage in the game (except Edwin). Well, if you want to dump Aerie, then kick her out!

I've had very good luck with Valygar wielding Celestial Fury and a second Katana... Believe he is using Dakkon's Zerth Blade at the moment. Also like Viconia with a girdle of hill giant strength and the flail of ages. Hmm.. I use Jaheira as a caster mostly. She has the Staff of Arundel. She sure doesn't care much for Viconia though. Always breaking those two apart. Of course Minsc is using Lilarcor. Jan is a decent Burglar. Top it all off with my superb spellcasting abilities.

Oh, btw, Notice I didn't mention Keldorn or Anomen... I was rather bored with their high and mighty moral attitudes. Also, Edwin died rather easily. Wasn't quite as good a mage as he thought. But then I suppose he may have underestimated me.

P.s. You are all overraighting Aerie, Shes useless as a mage (16 int!) And the cleric is the same.

After reading 6 spells from a scroll she cant remember any more off them for her int. level.

Get a full mage and a full cleric I.E. Edwin and Viconia

I'm using a goody party here...

That's why I can't recruit Viconia and Edwin (I've already completed the quests for them, Edwin's in the Copper Coronet and Viconia is in the Graveyard).

Unless I change their alignments using ShadowKeeper, which means I might as well give Aerie 19 (full spells) Int. Right?

It's a compromise, knowing who is the best and possessing the best is different. It's not that I don't want, it's that I can't.

■

You need to get rid of Minsc and Jaheira, I hate both of those NPC's the most, I dropped them the first chance I got since they were sooo annoying. You are going to drop Yoshimo? But he is such a good thief, I know he is a bounty hunter, but he is an excellent thief, he is an invaluable NPC, priceless to me. My list is as follows and I do not plan on dropping any of them, I have my group just the way I like it now, I have gone through a lot of NPC's and these are the ones I prefer, my group can take on just about anything. Also I have bought so much crap for these guys that there is no way that I am going to let them go. I dumped Viconia since she brought down my popularity points, which stand at 16 right now also she seemed to butt heads with a couple of my members.

Thore (me) Level 10 Undead Hunter
Aerie
Yoshimo
Jan Jansen
Mazzy Fentan
Valygar Corthala

I dont like npc's i hate all the wining and the b.s you gotta put up with. plus there's also a lot of debate as to waht kind of party you should have, well if youve looked at a previous thread of mine youll see my party i have in MP.
2 kensai/mages (human) level 13 mage/level 7 fighters, both with at least an 18/90 strand 18 int, you should see em swingin a 2-handed sword, heh heh
1 fighter/mage (human) level 13 mage/level 7 fighter, 18/81 str, 18 int
1 fighter/cleric (half-orc) level 12 cleric/level 10 fighter, 19 str, 19 con, 18 wis, he kills stuff for a joke and heals when the damage is done, and he's got like a 3 THAC0
1 fighter/cleric (human) level 13 cleric/level 7 fighter, 18/00 str, 18 wis, plain and simple, she kicks ass
1 fighter/thief (human) level 14 thief/level 7 fighter, 18/76 str, 18 dex, his thieving skills kick ass and he can swing a sword with the best of him, and doing a backstab at x4 with a +2 longsword is awesome, heh, that takes out a lot of mages with one smack

this game i find is way better MP, although, ill be trying it SP once i finish it with this party

What's so annoying about Minsc and Jaheira? Minsc's the second best fighter in the game and Jaheira's the best druid. As for Yoshimo; you'll find out why so many people hate him soon enough.
Doesn't playing a game with team full of fabricated characters kind of make the game a little one-dimensional? Call me strange, but I actually like the character interaction.

To Thore:

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Ok, First off, Yoshimo is dumb and a traitor. He betrays you in spellhold, so get rid of him. And next, MINSC ROCKS! He's awesome and he's a really good fighter. I don't know what you're smoking!

Personally, I think you should go for:

Yourself: Front-line fighter
Keldorn, (better than Minsc): With Holy Sword, Carsomyr,True Sight and Dispel Magic he is essential
Jaheira: Back-up fighter and mage spoiler(insect plague is sooo useful )
Edwin (or Nalia since your party is Good): Main Mage, able to learn level 8 spells
Viconia (or Aerie, see Nalia): Cleric spellcaster (healer too but I use potions and regeneration)
Jan (or Imoen, worse): Back-up mage and thief, with the ability to provide missile support

This will give you a balanced party, with some back-up for keys classes if they are down. Spell-casters are essential and you only need two front-line fighters most of the time, to prevent the enemy reaching your back rows. It obviously is a very personal choice as we all have our favourites and different playing styles, so play with a party you enjoy, not necessarily the strongest one. Unfortunately you have progressed quite far in the game and I assume most of the quests are done. If this is the case, it would mean that any new NPCs joining the party would be unlikely to reach higher levels. If you insist on keeping Anomen, lose Aerie for Edwin or Nalia. If you want Aerie, use potions to boost her intelligence to learn more spells

I think one of the tougher decisions is (assuming you already know about Yoshimo's fate in Chapter 4) do you keep Yoshimo with your party thru Ch4 and replace him with Imoen OR dump his sorry ass for someone else (Jan Jansen, for example)? But then what do you do when it's time to go to the Assylum? Leave JJ behind to open a spot for Imoen? Leave JJ and take Yoshimo to fill the slot until Imoen takes it? Take JJ and leave Imoen on the island.

I'm playing BG2 thru for the 2nd time (this time as an elven swashbuckler) and have a full party of 6 without that !@$#%& Yoshimo. Who will *I* leave behind? I haven't decided yet.

Minsc is a rather weak character in my party. And are there any two-handed sword better than the Lilacor that can be used by a ranger??

Yes, there are swords better than Lilarcor. The Warblade for one, 1D12 +4 +4. The Vorpal Blade for another. Those are just the two handed ones.

The NPC interaction is one of the reasons why BG2 is better than BG1 in my opinion. And even if you are playing a good party there's no need to edit the alignment etc. you can still play good and have them in your party. If you must edit anything just edit your rep to make sure it doesn't get to 19 and you will be fine. Changing alignments make for some odd-sounding dialogue.

My party is:

Banaden (me), lvl 14 or was it 15 crusader (I simply love paladins, everywhere)
Minsc
Nalia
Jaheira
Mazzy
Valgyar

I always have played in every game in more melee oriented style. Truth to be told, I have yet to use many spells in BG2 either. Most combat I do is melee + ranged, and spells go in when I need some serious debuff/heal/buff/prot, nothing more really. My main char uses the Carsomyr +5 sword, Minsc (being a ranger and all) has Celestial Fury and Cromm Faeyr and simply flattens everything on his way. Nalia uses neat short bow (beats me, forgot the name) and Jaheira got some VERY good sling, forgot the name tho heh.. Mazzy and Valgyar are my reserve melee chars, but currently they use pretty good short/longbows with best arrows I can buy. And I can buy now a lot. At start many was scrace, I grabbed all I could and sell and now suddenly I have a lot of cash .

I had Keldorn, he was OK, but I am good at my heart as a RL person . So I didn't let Keldorn's family fall apart and released him from my service. While I lost good fighter, it was a good deed I feel heheh.. Yoshimo was suspicious to me, to I released him when I met Keldorm and now I know it wasn't such a bad idea. Good thing I stripped him of all the goodies he had heh. Aerie and her blasted wing-mourning was giving me the creeps to at one point I simply booted her - fly away, fly. Minsc may be simpleton, but he's funny nevertheless and a VERY good fighter, provided he has the needed gear. Nalia as a thief is not bad at all, she's good mage to me also and is using her bow pretty well. Jaheira is good druid and uses sling well, and if needed the can swing her scimitar well also - with the proper gear, what she also has.

So while my party is more oriented for melee and ranged attacks, it has not hindered me at all. When battle starts, my ranged combatants get usually already few hits in and at that moment the spellcasters have launched up only some buffs. Then the melee moves in and my main char starts to dispell and smack and Minsc - when hasted - is like a Windmill of Death. My battles are, so far, usually rather short - ranged attackers do nice pre-damage, then melee ones hurt bad, with ranged ones supporting, and when needed Nalia or Jaheria throw in some debuff/buff/heal. And with weaker mobs - usual ones - they often drop from ranged attacks before melee chars even get to them heh - it aint nice to face my group only to see some big hulks running to you with big weapons and then get 3 arrows and 1 bullet in belly . I have the "Pause on seeing Enemy" turned on, so I can usually check what enemy I am facing and then set the attacks.

Right now this group works very well, I do not foresee any big changes generally. Some are coming though, take Imoen for example.. Then I have to see what to do heh. Mazzy may have to go prolly..

Well, my party is as follows:
Vlade (me, fighter/swashbuckler)
Keldorn (melee,Carsomyr)
Minsc (ax-thrower/melee)
Valygar (longbow/shortbow)
Imoen (shortbow)
Aerie (sling)
Basically, when I picked up Minsc he got a slot in ax so he became the ax thrower ie keep pumping his ax and sword and shield style. When Valygar upped I chose shortbow so he could use the +3 shortbow. When I met up with Adamentite Golems, Keldorn and I will melee and Valygar and Imoen pump those guys full of arrows...

Aerie better than Anomen? (Sir) Anomen with the gauntlets of Dex makes him awesome with the sling, and you need those high level cleric spells. Nalia is all the thief you'll ever need, but Yoshimo then Imoen works better if you're a spellcaster. And don't worry about the traitor thing; you'll reach your exp cap around the time of getting out of Underdark, so wasted exp points aren't something you have to worry about. Its fun to do ch. 3 with five characters so you can always take in drips like Aerie, Cernd and Mazzy for their quests.