Who do people feel are the best NPCs to take through BG2? I know that it is good to spend some time with each so as to open up extra quests, but who are the best ones to progress the story.

Obviously Minsc, Jaheira and Imoen are integral to the story. Who else? Aerie? Nalia?

Tough one, but I'd have to go with...
1)Main character (obviously!)
2)Jaheira
3)Minsc
4)Imoen
5)Valygar (in ToB he has a funny dialoge with Imoen)
6)Viconia (best cleric in the game, as well as making a hilarious stab at Minsc)

The story eh? Hmmm... well TO THE STORY is different... Imoen, Jaheria is good, IMHO Minsc is aways requiered, and thats it!

Thats all that is needed for integrial storyline.

Now the BEST party depends on your own charater.

1)Cavalier--Anomen(yes i kno someone will contest this) Nalia, Jan, Minsc, and I ussualy go with Jahera*.

2)Mage (any kind)--Anomen, Jan, Keldorn, Minsc, Jaheria*.

3)Archer--Anomen, Jan, Keldorn or Jaheria*, Minsc, Nalia.

4)These are the only classes I have really played! :D [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] :D

*Jahiera can be replaced with anyone you want to romance with... IMHO anyway.

[ 04-17-2002, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: Black_Knight ]

But Viconia is evil. Doesn't that have a bad effect on the party?

Vicky lowers thine rep by 2 pts. but will stay in your party if the party's rep stay's below 18 (i think thats it.) Anyway some other NPCs may not like it but they most likely won't care. So have her if you want her!

Nice name btw.... (Aviendha i mean)
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(Black_Knight fits into charater.)
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"ALL HAIL THE MORNIG-LORD! WE OF THE BAND SHALL SMITE ALL THOSE WHO OPPOSE US! IN THE NAME OF THE DRAGON! IN THE NAME OF LORD MAT!!!

(i love those books. :D )

[ 04-17-2002, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: Black_Knight ]

It is always good to find likeminded people. It seems that people who like Black Isle games will more often than not, like Robert Jordan books.

All my characters are always named after characters from the books.

youre form australia? Nice... I want to go there...

anyways... keeping on topic :D [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] :D

you either need keldorn or a cavalier so someone can wield the holy avenger +5 Anomen is a cleric and you kinda need... unless you want (dramatic music plays) AAAAGGGGHH!!! MULI-CLASSES!!! (who never level up) Those are my reasons....

Excuse my ignorance. What's the Holy Avenger?

SPOILER!!!!!
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you get this ultimate weapon after you kill firkragg the dragon... it can only be used by paladins and is more commonly known as Carsomyr. (but spelled correctly. ;) ) It is a +5 and is the most powerful weapon in the game.... IMHO anyway.

this one is a little arbitrary and rambling:
party:
as Black_Knight very wisely notes, your party will depend hugely on your protagonist. i kinda find it hard (swallow) to dump jaheira, imoen or minsc. so i'd say keep them. (this is different if you're evil..) anyway why would anyone ever leave minsc. even considering the fighters and paladins in the game.. i have to say.. no one kicks butt like minsc does. i dont know what it is with him.. even if i try giving someone else greater strength (by means of a girdle or something) minsc always does max damage and is usually finished with his opponent before anyone else is finished with theirs.
so if you're a spellcaster like i am, you'd want to pick up keldorn and valygar along. that gives you 2 or 3 great fighters. keldorn can wield carsomyr, valygar dual wield katanas or shoot arrows. minsc - give him crom faeyr/skullcrusher or mace of disruption. that leaves you with a good party except you dont have clerical abilites.
the problem with taking viconia or other evil chars into your party when you're of good alignment is that they're going to leave when your rep shoots up. when i played.. i didnt consult walkthroughs to find out when exactly my rep was going to get a +. so you cant control it (coz you dont know when its going to happen).

one more thing: not that this is directly related.. but imho, crom faeyr is better by far than carsomyr. i know carsomyr is more cool and all but crom faeyr just seems to do far more damage, especially considering that you're strength becomes 25! and you can wield another good weapon.

Ah... yes. Crom Faeyr. I voted for the Carsomyr as I almost always play as a cavalier or another type of paladin, or a mage, or a archer... I havent really touched the others, even though I have beaten SoA and ToB about 6 times each! Anyways the paladin always needs the holy avenger and the archer... duh.... and mages can't use it. So I don't use it very often... sorry yall' my vote is with Carsomyr.

Back to the thread: Glau-uh... Glaue... to the hells with it! G.T.G was VERY right with the "wise" part but also had a great point with minsc. Sometimes he is just amazing... how he gets all of those kills when I have the +5 weapon and the girdle of streanth and whatnot? Its bloody amazing! Also good point w/the fighters... cept personaly I don't use valgar as i need someone with a peronality and a voice that dosn't sound so... boring. :D [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] :D

ive found that keldorn finishes monsters faster...when there are two kinds of the same monster, i sick keldorn and minsc on two different ones and keldorn usually has his monster dead while minsc has his around badly injured to near death

anywho...actually, ALL of the npc's are good if they fit into your party..even nalia, but who would want her? heh

the question is, how do you like your party? generally, i like to have 3 tanks, a cleric, a thief, and a mage

but you could have 1 or 2 tanks (clerics can tank if you want), a thief or two, and two or more mages, if you like pretty spelll effects

I prefer three tanks__(me) cavalier, minsc, anomen (kinda a tank) Two clerics (romance either jahiera, arie, or viconia and, unfortuetly, anomen) then two mages, one being my thief__Jan and Nalia__and of course my romance partner! (which seems to change with the months sometimes. ;) )

[ 04-17-2002, 11:18 PM: Message edited by: Black_Knight ]

Has anyone considered Mazzy?

Mazzy is good, and she has been in my party, I just don't put her on my list of "the best". Not bad NPC though--and a note is that you do not need the "best" party... you can put in anyone YOU want, acording to YOUR preferences and personal qualities. And variation is the spice of life.
[img]smile.gif[/img] :D :D [img]smile.gif[/img] ----hee hee! get it? VARIATION. Ha ha!

I hate to dissapoint all of you... but it is 11:30 on my side of the world and I have some W.O.T. to re-read so I have to get off... guess you shall be forced to go on without my guidence. C-YA All tommara!! HAVE FUN!!!!

;) :D :D ;) -variation! (Black_Knight snickers.) god i crack me up!

--PEACES YALL!!

The others are right. It all depends on you and your preferences. I beat the game with the following party: myself (half-elven archer), Minsc, Imoen, Mazzy, Haer'dalis, and Nalia. Used Minsc and Mazzy as my tanks, Immy and Nalia as my magic users, me in the back sniping and healing (gotta love being a ranger), and Haer'dalis just singing away. Strange party make-up, but it worked for me.

hi guys this isn't about the topic but how do i get one of those pics by the side of my name ????? if any1 can tell me i'd be very grateful

BALDURS RULEs !!!!!!

hi guys this isn't about the topic but how do i get one of those pics by the side of my name ????? if any1 can tell me i'd be very grateful

BALDURS RULEs !!!!!!

Do you mean like my crazy-looking magister underneath my name? Or do you mean a picture underneath the dotted line that pops up after everytime you post?

If you mean the former... DON'T WORRY!!!! It pops up by itself as it is a rank... or a level. (I guess you could call it that.) When you post so-and-so many posts you get a new picture and rank! For instance... you are an Elite Waterdeep Gaurd. When you post about fifty you become a Dungeon Master, then a Magister, and so on and so on...

If you mean the later then that is your signature.... just take a picture and put it into your sig on your profile page and.... VOLIA!!!

I don't have one... as I haven't found a good one.... not like I have been looking tho! :D ;) ;) :D ----Variation! (Black_Knight chuckles)

I liked playing Shadows of Amn with my dual classed fighter/cleric, Minsc, Anomen, Valygar, Imoen and Aerie. I'm not claiming this is the best party, but it's certainly among the more effective ones.

This my party:

My character
Jaheira
Aerie
Imoen
Nalia
Mazzy

My faveorite group is the one that im playing now:

1) Me: Wizardslayer/Mage
2) Aiere
3) Jan
4) Minsc (and boo)
5) Keldorn
6) Mazzy

[ 04-18-2002, 04:07 PM: Message edited by: Daniel_M ]

I remain by my position that the best party is a Berserker, Keldorn, Minsc, Viconia, Edwin, and Jan (or replace Jan with a custom assassin, whcih is my preference). I know everyone says that Minsc and Edwin/Keldorn and Viconia will kill each other, but I played through the game with no problems, and I did pretty much every quest I could find (which, I think, was most of them), so... behold the power of Cow!