I can't imagine that many of you have had Eldoth & Shar-Teel in the same party, but if you have you'll know that it can be fun. Some time ago I used them together and they used a lot of insults but not much more. I guess my PC had high charisma which kept them under control.
However, today I had them in my party again and this time I have low charisma, so they killed each other. I never actually meant to keep them together, I was just exchanging Shar-teel for Eldoth. I only had them together for a few moments while I transfered the equipment from one to the other, yet in that time they came to blows. It was a very strange fight since Shar-teel had poor armour and a dagger, while Eldoth had better equipment but was using a bow in melee combat. After a prolonged struggle they both scored critical hits - Eldoth died first, followed shortly by Shar-teel from the effects of poison. So all at once my party of three was turned to a solo game. From a role-playing point of view this was great, but I already had plans so it was re-load time (again) I'm sorry to say.

So I thought I would share this episode with you because it's the NPCs that make BG1 unique and ask if any of you have had one of these interesting encounters that left you saying "thats never happened before".

This has happened to me a few times:

Jaheira and Xzar would argue. After 2 or so arguements, they would get into a fight, and I'd have no control over them. Eventually, one of them would die. Pretty annoying, but I haven't had Xzar and Jaheira in the same party ever since, so I don't mind that. It's the mixing of different alignments that causes these fights.

hmmm interesting... Eldoth and Shar-teel are both evil though

And evil guys don't kill other evil guys? If anything, they are MORE likely to come to blows (less inhibition about killing in cold blood).

I can remember clearly my first runthrough of BG with Montaron and Xzar in my party.

It was all going to well until we reached Beregost and started exploring a quiet dark house.

For whatever reason, Xzar and Montaron came to blows and Monty chopped Xzar to bits. Then he stormed off because Xzar was no longer in the party, never to return.

As you can imagine, on my first runthrough I had NO clue what in the world was going on. I'm still not entirely sure why they did it to each other.

Ahh well.

And evil guys don't kill other evil guys? If anything, they are MORE likely to come to blows (less inhibition about killing in cold blood). </font>[/QUOTE]And Shar-Teel hates men.

Jahiera will fight Xzar, and Khalid will start with Monty. But the two partners will aid each other... which is odd, since Monty seems more likley to slide a dagger in Xzar's back the moment he was distracted enough.
(Yes, I know they're 'compelled' to work together)

And evil guys don't kill other evil guys? If anything, they are MORE likely to come to blows (less inhibition about killing in cold blood). </font>[/QUOTE]Not necessarily true. A good aligned person will be willing to throw down the evil people, even if it means murdering them in cold blood so that they can achieve an advantage in the 'greater balance.'

Monty shouldn't even leave it Xzar is dead. If Xzar dies, you can ditch him and Monty will still stay with you. If Khalid dies, you can ditch him and Jaheira will still stay with you. Same goes for Minsc and Dynaheir.

When Kegain and Yeslick get together, they will fight and with them it's a good v evil situation. With Shar-teel and Eldoth it's a boy-girl thing and the dialog is just great. Then again with Quayle and Tiax it's two Gnomes who clash. These NPCs all let their personal feeling get the better of them. Nice idea by the programming team to think of this.

I'd pick a fight with Quayle any day! Bumbling Stimpultons!
At least, I think that's what he says. I haven't even bothered using him for a few years since he's so goddamn annoying.

If you enjoy this aspect of the game, watch out for the forthcoming BG1 NPC Project mod from Forgotten Realms. Once complete, it will give banters and quests to all 25 BG1 NPCs, to allow them to interact more fully with each other and you (just like in BG2!) and a small selection of romances for the more likely NPCs. At the moment it's in beta and for BG1TuTu only, but work is proceeding...