I'm considering keeping Imoen until I can find Coran, and replacing him with her.

Is he good enough? Can you get him at a low enough level so that he'll be able to handle the traps in Durlag's Tower later on?

This is considering a Tutu game.

TIA

Well, depends on how many folks you have in your party, and how much of the south you do before opening up the Cloakwood. To get Coran at L5, the PC needs to be L4 or better. Anyway, no matter when you pick him up, his Traps ability is at 20%. So it is probably best to get him as fast as you can open up the Cloakwood, because then you get him at L3...and can have more control of his development.
Or you can just Shadowkeep in whatever stats you want.

I'd just use shadowkeeper. Take away from Pickpockets, or something, and add what you've taken away to Find Traps.

I think the game was designed not for you to keep your party from start to finish due to the obvious placement of unique NPC's throughout the games' chapters. This allows for a more "fun factor" as opposed to a seek-and-destroy gaming experience.

That being said...I still like to keep my party from start to finish anyhow ; )

If you can do away with pickpocket and a power backstabber, then go with this party:

Ajantis - charisma, tank (use Tome of CHA & STR on him)
Minsc - tank (I use Dudleyfix* which beefs his DEX & CON to BG2 levels)
Branwen - healer, summoner (use 2 of 3 Tomes of WIS on her)
Kivan - archer, scout (use Tome of CON & DEX on him)
PC - DC Fighter/Illusionist (use Tome of INT & WIS on him/her)
Imoen - by level 10: locks 100, traps 100, stealth 65 (add items for 115)

*Be warned that the Dudleyfix nerfs Ulgoth's Beard (no map access) - you'll have to teleport yourself there with the cheat console!

I set the xp cap to 501,000 (note Imoen stats above are for the 161,000 cap) so my main PC can reach 8/11, but it will be a lot of traversing the countryside to reach it...

Hurray for resting in the same spot trying to spawn bandits for a year! :D

Getting XP points...

Just go traveling across to a certain spot and back in the Cloakwoods and you'll be able to wrack in points and acquire quite a few Wyvern heads to boot [this can be a hard battle with high level characters, so it can be fun practicing tactics when you get jumped by two Wyverns and three spiders at once!.] A bit boring, but then you get rewarded with a cool PC character that you are trying to DC.

I'm thinking of sliding the difficultly level all the way over before I hit BG city since my team will be up there in levels by then [not sure about that Durlag's Tower though!]

Too add on to that, make someone the "Antidote" carrier. And have them fill every slot, and I mean every, with 5 antidotes. You'll need 'em. :D

Coran can be recruited extremely early in the game--I've never been Level 1 when I got him, though I have been a Level 1 Fighter upon arriving at the Bandit Camp. Although trying to Tank one's way through all those damn Kobolds in the Nashkel Mines at Level 1 isn't something that really smacks of wisdom.

All of my characters keep Antidotes on them at all times--although Healing Potions take priority, of course. The middle slot is usually filled with something like a Wand of Fire or Potion of Explosions, for emergencies.

Coran early...but not going to take PC to BG2 (for me anyway):

I've posted in the past to trying him out early, but I've found it's just too distracting from the overall flow of the game. Since you need a thief and an archer, stick with Imoen and Kivan. Kivan can be improved by letting him read the CON tome (to 15 CON) and then the DEX tome (+1 AC / +5% stealth.)

Side note: if you do take Coran, do give him that DEX tome. He will benefit more that anyone else in the whole game from this tome -- +1 AC, +1 THAC0 (missile only), AND +5% thieving skills (+2% for stealth.) Baby!

The icing on the cake is your PC: he/she can provide you with mage power the last third of the game and be a wicked archer the first half or so and do both for the final hard areas of the game. Assuming a 161,000 xp cap, then you'd have to decide to DC at six for a 6/9 F/M (2-5th level spells) or seven for a 7/8 F/M (1/2 APR, +1 THAC0!) I want both, so that's why I jacked the xp cap a bit for myself...me so bad.

You don't need too many antidote potions once your PC gets those special spells and Branwen keeps about 1/2 those slots filled with Slow Poison [recommended.] This will leave room for other potions on a couple of characters.


***Spoiler***
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Here's an item guide for Kivan (allow scouting at will):

Prior to ToSC & late Candlekeep:
Studded Leather Armor +2
Cloak of the Wolf
Helmet of Defense
Bracers of Archery
Boots of Avoidance
Ring of Energy
Halberd +1 (slightly faster then Two-handed Sword +1)
Longbow of Marksmanship (PC gets Composite Long Bow +1)

After ToSC & late Candlekeep:
Studded Leather Armor
Cloak of Protection +2
Kiel's Helmet
Bracers of Archery
Boots of Avoidance
Shield Amulet
Ring of Energy
Ring of Fire Resistance
Two Handed Sword +3 (PC gets Spider's Bane)
Longbow of Marksmanship

Kivan's AC will be only one (1) for both, so keep him behind the tanks. Note the Shield Amulet for emergency A/C boost. The Helmet of Defense goes to my PC once I get my hands on Kiel's Helmet. This allows your archer to never panic and keep plucking those almighty arrows!

[ 01-04-2007, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: Roboghost ]

Uhh, thanks, I think.

Coran did just fine as my Thief. I don't know how the rest of the thread evolved the way it did, but hey.

BTW, the point of NPCs in this game is that they're individuals. I wouldn't cheat to change them in any powergaming way.