[Klorox]

Funky “Who should I add to this party” question:

Ok, here’s my proposed party (I’m actually still in
BGI, so this will take some time)

Protagonist Cleric/Ranger MC
Minsc
Jaheira
Imoen

The first 4 NPCs are with me now, solving side quests in the city of Baldur’s Gate (yeah, I'm doing the whole series). They have stuck by me through thick and thin, and there’s no way I’m dumping them in SoA or ToB.


Ok, so the 5th and 6th members of my party are the problem here. I can’t figure out who to use! I think my party is pretty balanced so far, but I also think I could use one more mage, or possibly someone who is good at taking care of mages.

Here are my options:

1)Keldorn. His abilities speak for themselves, and
wielding the great Carsomyr is nothing to sneeze at.
2)Mazzy. This machine gun is a killer with Tansheron’s
or Gesen’s bow. Easily disrupts mages, and even makes
a great tank in a pinch (str bonus and halberds
baby!).
3)Nalia. Best good aligned mage NPC in the game
(sorry, no Edwin in this party). I kind of find her
to be a weak clone of my little sis.
4)Valygar. Interesting choice, as backstabbing takes
care of mages pretty quickly and effectively. Doubles
as a pretty good tank, and is an all around good
character. Boring soundest though.
5)Aerie. Stick the Robe of Vecna on this one and watch
the spells fly! I do find it kind of redundant to have
two clerics in my party, though, especially when
there’s a druid too. Too much divine magic power.
6)Haer’Dalis. Another interesting choice. Blades are
cool, HD is cool. Makes a good backup mage and backup
tank.
7)Jan. Jan takes care of dispelling illusions (through his thief skills), adds a backup mage, and is pretty funny too.
8)Nobody. A party of a C/R, Jaheira, Minsc, and Imoen is powerful and balanced enough.
9)Sarevok. This might be the most interesting (read:
wacky) choice I can think of. That’s because I’d dual
class this guy into a Mage when I recruit him. My plan
(if I go with this guy) would be to go through SoA
with only 5 characters (listed above), and randomly
add the other NPCs for their own personal sidequests.
I would save all the scrolls I didn’t need (I use that
“no bottoms” patch), and have Sarevok scribe every one
of them, with only him, me, and Jaheira in the party
(J stays for romance and XP reasons). I know it would
still take a long time to get Sarevok’s mage level to
pass his fighter level, but this is the quickest way I
can think to shorten it.
10)Sarevok. Same as above, but DC him into a Thief. Having a guy w/ ***** in 2HandedSword weilding Carsomyr +6 is outright nasty.
11)Use any of the NPCs mentioned above in SoA, sub in
Sarevok in ToB (please mention NPC for SoA below).

Any opinions on my above choices, and/or other options
are all greatly appreciated.