I would go with Imoen over Jan, though if you can afford both in the party that might be the way to go. Jan says some really funny stuff, and seems to keep the whole atmoshere really light-hes also got a good thing going in terms of interaction with Minsc.
Spoiler:
/
/
/
/
He takes the piss(in a good way) out of Minsc and his relationship with Boo and even tends to have his own designs upon Boo. This drives Minsc nuts, and is made worse-or better lol- by the fact that Boo seems to like Jan too. Then thing tends to be quite farcical at times and is very funny.
/
/
/
/
Otherwise, Imoen is competent enough as a thief-you can always boost her thieving skills with items and potions anyway. As a mage she is quite a bit better than Jan, and is likely to be able to cast the kickass lvl.8 mage spells at games end. I dont think Jan, being multiclassed, would be able to do this.
As to Minsc v Valygar, I havent really played with Valygar so I wouldnt know .
Minsc does rock though.
[This message has been edited by Ravana (edited 06-05-2001).]