i fail to understand how one could regard aerie a strong character. it´s not the hit points i´m concerned about since you can have stoneskin up 24/7... it´s her spellcasting abilities. sure, she has a lot of low-level spells... but she loses out the only things that make wizards worthwhile (project image and spell sequencer/trígger),
comparing aerie to a straight wizard would be difficult, because wizards can´t heal and aerie can´t recycle her spells/unleash them en masse with sequencers, both of which are very significant disadvantages. so it would make more sense to compare aerie with her chief competitor (strictly in terms of gameplay
), viconia.
total number of spells and their levels aren´t that far apart when you reach the xp cap (13/13/12/9/7/4/1 for aerie, 11/11/10/10/8/6/2 for viconia). aerie benefits from greater versatility, viconia from a higher casting level. so what does aerie have what viconia doesn´t?
- several low-powered but fast damage spells.
- equally fast area disabling spells
- first rate self-protection like mirror image and stoneskin
- anti-magic spells like pierce magic and breach
- minor sequencer for a speed advantage in a pinch
- contingency for, well, congingencies
- ability to use mage items
- good utility spells (eg otiluke, polymorph self)
viconia however has a number of advantages as well:
- better ac
- better thaco
- more hit points
- magic resistance
- better ´heavy artillery´ (fire storm, flame strike, glyph of warding etc)
- better summoning ability (skeleton warriors and pet fiends)
- better dispelling ability due to higher level
while aerie has access to a few types of spells viconia doesn´t, she can´t cast more spells in total (and her spells are generally less powerful because of her level). her better protection and anti-magic spells hardly begin to make up for her lack of magic resistance, worse ac and lower hit points. being able to use the robe of vecna or staff of the magi (imo the most powerful item in the game) is very nice, but most parties will include at least one full-time wizard who could make as good use of it. her major advantage lies in the casting speed of her wizard spells, cleric equivalents, while often as powerful or more, tend to be slow.
aerie is the only npc in the game that doesn´t do anything well:
nalia/imoen: marginal thief/good wizard
jan : bad wizard/good thief
anomen : reasonable fighter/good cleric
jaheira : reasonable fighter/good druid
aerie : bad wizard/reasonable cleric
moreover, without the higher-level sequencers and project image, there is little synergy between the cleric and wizard class compared to other combinations, which are truly more than the sum of their parts: jaheira and haer'dalis (i know haer'dalis isn´t multiclassed but he plays similar to a fighter/mage) fulfill their roles as fighters much better because they have access to various buffing spells, jan can hide by magic in between backstabs (staff of the magi and a strength girdle turn him into a veritable killing machine). aerie on the other hand remains just your average cleric with a few mage spells thrown in.