I currently am trying to assemble my party that will be with me through most of the game. I have my main guy, Minsc, and Jaheira as mainstays, but the other 3 slots are up in the air. I wanna get rid of Yoshimo before going into the D'Arnise holding, despite his trap skills. I will then need a replacement thief.

But my main problem is choosing between the two most annoying character/mages in the game. I am probably gonna fill the empty slot that this decision makes with Korgan, as he is a great fighter and I love his wit and personality ( as well as his threats of bodily harm ).

So let's recap. I need a replacement thieve, one close to Athkatla and I need to know which of these two mages is going to be more useful. Keep in mind that the first time I played up to end of chap 2 with Aerie I mostly used her supportive spells like chant, barkskin, cure poison, and others like summon moster and flame blade for trolls. Could I easily get Nalia the lesser Restoration and chant spell that Aerie already has? Which of these two will become the more powerful mage with time is the question that is probably integral to my dilemma.

Thank you all.

I would personally pick Aerie. Not the best but I dont really like Nalia. Some people say that nalia is the second best mage in the game (after Edwin) but I dont really like her. Also, if your good alignment and want a romance, then pick Aerie

Get Jan Jansen, theif\illusionest

Funniest npc in the game, one hell of a theif and good as a supporting mage to Edwin or Aire\ Naila

In my first game my party was composed of

Jerome-Paladin
Minsc-Rager
Jaheira-Druid\fighter
Anomen-Cleric\Fighter (dual)
Jan-Theif\illusionest
Airie-Cleric\Mage

if i played it again i'd use the same party but drop anomen for edwin and arie for Vicona but thats me

Well I think you answered your own question. Those spells that you like so much on Aerie can not be replaced by nalia because those are cleric spells. However, if you wish for those spells and don't want Aerie, well pick up Viconia. Just be careful you don't get your rep too high or the high and mighty drow leaves in a hostile huff. Of course if you think you're getting too high a rep, like mine at 18, 1 more strike I'm out, just have her sneak off without anyone knowing to kill a worthless peasant for a whopping 9 rep drop. Heck, you want rep, you can always buy it back anyway. If you don't want Viconia I guess you can (shudders) Pick up Anomen, though he isn't a pure class cleric like Viconia. As for thieving, I suggest Jan as well.

I am curious though. Is the plot twist with Yoshimo really THAT interesting? Should I keep him till he ( spoiler ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

...screws me over, or should I just drop his arse now and go get jan, as I havent even seen or heard him yet and I already like him.

Oh, and Aerie and Nalia just conversed for the first time, and I must say it (shudder!) never have either of them sounded more annoying. I do wanna keep Aerie around for Minsc, as I really like Minsc and she does help him out emotionally. Nalia is just so f*ing annoying. I just wanna leave her in a room alone with Korgan for a few days (nights) I'll bet he'd set her straight.

I try and go with this balance

Fighter (Tank)
Fighter (Melee + 2nd Tank)
Healer
Theif
Spell Caster
Multi-roled char.

When you have a dualed or multi char it's often not the skills that are important but how you use them. Take Jan. With Edwin in the party he could be a played as thief with spells as a bonus. With Yoshi in he fits the mage role.

I personally like this party:

Korgan
Keldorn
Viconia
Jan
Edwin
Jaheira

With the relative main character instead of an NPC (ie Player Sorcorer for Edwin etc)
At the moment I have a Jester, named Ruadh, instead of Jaheira

However for ROLEPLAY purposes I enjoyed this party, which was my first completion.

Francis (Monk)
Mazzy
Aerie
Imoen
Jahiera
Valygar

I LOVE conjecture on the possible combinations, I like each of the characters and find it hard dropping them once they're in my party.

Yorick

2 most annoying characters in the game are

edwin-who considers you to be just barely above mustard slime on a good day
nalia-who blurts out just how bad her snobbery is every other sentence.

I also dislike jahira, however am currently playing with her because I want to explore her romance thread, and

spoiler










I've heard both the aerie and virconia threads are too short.

hey, if you've played out the aerie or jahira thread to the end, at the end of the game is there a scene where you and her and imoen wander off to find a new home?

Userfriendly,
Yes, but the good thing about Edwin is that he thinks your enimies are below mustard slime, and acts accordingly.
Nalia is a good mage who can max out and can use a shortbow.

Finally in answer to your last two SPOILER questions

No, I didn't think so.

No.

Yorick, how can you part with Minsc? His personality is great, he's funny, and he does much "Butt kicking for justice."

I have decided on the following party now.

Jander Sunstar ( half-elf/Kensai ) [anyone recognize that name by any chance? hint: Ravenloft]
Minsc ( because he is the Baldur's Gate 2 equivalent of Mort from planescape, and he kicks arse too )
Jaheira ( she is the normalest of the characters, to me. I also think she'll make a good...."Companion" )
Jan Jansen ( he should do as a thief and I would really like to confuse and demoralize my enemies )
Aerie ( she and Minsc need eachother and I love the stock spell suite she currently has, despite possible future shortcomings. )
Korgan ( he may be evil but he's oh so likeable and tough )

This setup should give me more than enough muscle power ( Jander, Minsc, and Korgan ) with plenty of spell power from Jaheira's healing and support magic, Aerie's combination of healing, support, summoning, and offensive magics, and to top it all off-Jan can confound my enemies with his Illusion spells, thus incapacitating the enemy while my muscle stomps them into the ground. This also leaves me the option to have Jaheira join the fighting, since she is good in a fight. That would give me not only strength in fighter quality, but sheer numbers to protect Aerie and Jan from several different fronts.

Just one question remains. Is Jan able to fight effectivly?

Best to keep him to the back & cast spells.

With me i used jan as a kinda confusor©harmer (dosent that sound intresting?)
I loaded him out with all the confusion type spells so he was able to deck most of the enimeys without much fuss then proceed to implae them with his hand little crossbow.

In an answer to your question: !yes!

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

Gotta try playing that assassin. I have played the game through with an assassin/mage and I really liked the assassin skill, at least in the beginning.

By the way, _max_RUSSIE, what did you mean by "the xp's rolling in"? Do you get more xp for each character if you have less people in your group??

Imoen can cast two level 8 and 3 level 7 spells when she maxes out and it was good enough for me.

I think you gotta keep Nalia. After the keep quest, she doesn't complain as much. However, I am just finishing up all the quests in Chapter 2 that I can do and most of my characters are around level 12.

Here's the party I currently have, I play multi-player (with myself). Created 4, have 2 NPC's.
1) Arianna - Human - Kensai (having the keep is an awesome stronghold. I store all my junk there, just in case I need it later)
2) Minsc(NPC) - (best character of the game - "Boo! Go for the eyes!!! Squeeeeek!")
3) Mo'Agnar - Half-orc - Figher/Cleric. This guys kicks arsss with 19Str/19Con. Dual-wield with Flail of the Ages and the Icewind Dale Flail you can buy. Eventually Dual wield Flail and Crom F. warhammer. Major Tank!
4) Sage - Half-Elf - Skald(Bard). I love this character. Lore all over, uses bows, can cast magic, and with the Elven Chain +3, has the lowest AC of any of my characters right now with Stoneskin and Spiritial armor to boot.
5) Nia - Human - Swashbuckler 10th lv/Dualled to Mage. My best mage and can use crossbow/shortbow and longsword and has good thief skills.
6) Nalia(NPC) - Good backup thief to my main one, excellent Mage. I stick with her mainly, but roll in other NPC's for short periods for specific quests like the Druid's grove or a couple of Jaheria's quests (gotta get that Ring of Wizardry!)

All in all, Nalia has worked great for me. I highly recommend the Half-Orc Fighter/Cleric combo, very cool.

Have any of you though how sad all this is? You done need 6 *&*&^ chars to play. Get *&^87 for support mage etc etc, its all unnesesary in the end.

For a start I have a new game, I am playing as an Assasin,

I have 4 guys in party : (I only have 5 if i want to have the extra quests, like valygar for planar sphere, and Hairy Dales for the theatre quest, i then chuck them)

Jaheira
Minsc
Edwin
Me (Assasin-Straight, no multi or dual crap)

I am finding this is the easiest game so far, dont need to worry about 2 more weak chars.

Fo really tough battles, i just trap the place out!

The Twisted rune battle ended in 10 mins 4 traps = One dead Lich, the rest is easy.

Backstab x7 Damage with holy might is a force to be reckoned with. (220 damage at crit!!!!,plus 38 poison damage from assasin )

Firkraag- 10 traps, one Magic Resistance spell (Jaheira) and 2 x magic missiles (Edwin duh!) Killed him off.

Last game i played was with a bloody good barbarian, with all 6 chars, everyone kept dying!!!

Just try playing with 4 chars for a while, and watch the xp's roll in!

Oh and next game ill play 1 Illusionist/Thief, One Cleric/Ranger and a Fighter, just to see what its like.

Nalia is a great spell caster but she can't pick a lock for sh*t. I found Aerie more valuable for a number of reasons;

1) Romance Thread. More interaction and dialogue which adds to the depth of the game.
2) Cleric/Mage ( twice the fun! )
3) Strong Lore. She can identify many basic magic items without an identify spell.

If you need a thief don't count on Nalia. She can find traps ok but don't count on her to disarm them.

**Spoiler**

This time around I am going to dump her when I get Imoen back. Imoen is a MUCH better thief and a decent mage as well.

The XP you get is divided among your chars so if you get 60xP and you have 6 chars each one gets 10Xp, if you have 3 chars and get 60XP each one gets 20xP. The less chars you have the faster you level up.

gone

I've found the best party to be...

PC: Whatever you want but I recommend being some sort of fighter type. Having low hit points sucks.

Tank: Minsc or Korgan. I think Korgan is a better choice but Minsc meshes better with other party members and has some quest options. Minsc is also a little more versatile.

Tank/Healer: Jaheira. She can fight and heal and a good quest. Much better than Anomen.

Thief: Jan Jansen is the best option hands down. More versatile than Yoshimo. A better thief than Inomen or Nalia.

Caster: I recommend Edwin, but Aerie is a viable choice.

Healer: I recommend Viconia, but Aerie is also a viable choice.

Get out of my brain! : )

I don't know how you can say Aerie could sub in for any primary caster.
She gets two level 6 spells at her highest level. A bard is a better caster. Jan Jansen is a better caster by being an illusionist. If you aren't playing a caster you have to plan the game around getting Edwin, Imoen or Nalia.

Also, Minsc has no quests. Korgan at least has one.