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Old 01-02-2005, 04:14 PM   #1
Imrahil
Elminster
 

Join Date: November 4, 2001
Location: North Carolina, USA
Posts: 469
Most of these NPC's can be found by going to the Pocket Plane Group & looking at their extensive BGII NPC Mods listing. Some others can be found at the Spellhold Studios IE Modding Section or the Chosen of Mystra. If you can't find a particular NPC, just ask & I'll try to point you in the right direction, but I don't want to maintain a list of links when others are already doing an excellent job of that.

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This is an attempt to give a quick overview of all the available MOD NPC's out there. Some of the websites don't give a lot of information, & even then it's sometimes tough to tell whether it's worth the trouble to play through with a certain character. So, I've taken many of them through a game or two to see what they're like.

Some I've taken all the way through the end of Throne of Bhaal, while some (a couple of the One Day NPC's) I just took along on several quests. I've tried mixing & matching with various standard NPC's to get an idea of the banter you can expect as well as how well a character fares as a party member.

I'll just be looking at SoA content here, but I'll indicate whether or not the NPC has a ToB component (& sometimes, if I'm trying to decide between an Overall B or a B-, this can factor in). Some NPC's have minimal ToB content (Volo, ending comments, epilogue only), & I'll indicate this with "(basic)" in the ToB field. I'll try to keep Spoilers to a minimum, of course, although I'm taking extra quests, equipment, etc. into account. I will be detailing where the NPC is found, however.

Here's a list of the criteria I looked at in my evaluations:

Characteristics - Race, class, stats, etc.

Personality - A measure of how interesting the character is, as well as how they react to encounters & other NPC's.

Implementation - How "smoothly" the character is integrated into the game. If you can obviously tell this isn't a Bioware NPC, the character gets a low grade (I hope the creators of the One Day NPC's will forgive me for low grades here - they are what they are, after all). Bugs will also factor into this category.

Power - How well does the character survive in combat? A PC Sorcerer would probably be an A+ here, while Thieves generally suffer a bit.

Ease of Recruiting - How difficult is it to get the character into the party? The ToB NPC would obviously get an F in this category. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Overall Rating - Taking everything into account, how much would I recommend using the NPC in question. This isn't an average of the previous scores, though, as the whole can be better (or worse) than the sum of the parts.


With that said, let's begin (in descending order of Overall Rating)...


Name: Kelsey 2.1
Characteristics: NG Male Human Sorcerer
Str: 12 Dex: 16 Con: 15 Int: 12 Wis: 13 Cha: 14
Equipment: minor in-game items, Bracers AC 6, Kelsey's Cloak (a powerful, but not overly so, item), a few scrolls, other interesting but minor custom items found/made throughout the game
Personality: A+
Is it possible for an NPC to have too much dialogue? [img]smile.gif[/img] Kelsey comments on practically everything & banters with everyone, interjecting smoothly into existing banters. Kelsey is a bookish, unsure youth who gradually gains confidence in himself throughout the game. He is romanceable (for female PC's) & will even romance Imoen in the ToB portion. He has several minor encounters of his own & the voicing is very well done.
Implementation: A
Put simply, if you didn't know he was a MOD, you'd never guess. The only real downside is he uses the Elven Mage avatar, but that's a minor nitpick & there's a good reason for it. He occasionally comments that he wishes he could cast Infravision & (if you use an XP Cap remover) many levels later you can pick it & he'll still say that, but that ranks below Nalia's "helping the less fortunate" comment while clearing her Keep as far as problems go. As you can probably tell, I'm really reaching to find anything to complain about. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Power: A
He's a Sorcerer. You can't pick all his spells, but you can pick most of them. The only way he could be more powerful is if he were CHARNAME.
Ease: B+
I have to reserve the A's for those found in Chateau Irenicus, but you can easily enlist Kelsey by walking near the Firecam Estate in the Government District.
ToB: Yes
Overall: A
The best MOD NPC out there, IMO. Highly recommended.


Name: Keto 2.0
Characteristics: NG Female Human Bard
Str: 11 Dex: 15 Con: 16 Int: 15 Wis: 9 Cha: 15
Equipment: generic non-magical equipment, Keto's Pipes (unremoveable), Keto's Bottle of Wine (unlimited supply, unremoveable)
Personality: A
Keto is a light-hearted Bard with a weakness for wine & a fondness for story-telling. She has cheerful, flighty voicing & has some very good conversations with the regular Bioware NPC's. Her joining-up dialogue is very well done & she can provide a lot of useful information even if you don't recruit her. Keto tells some fascinating stories (make sure to visit all the bartenders) & has a nice little "quest" with extensive use of cutscenes (which can, admittedly, get a little tedious if you play through with her multiple times). She has extensive banters with all the standard NPC's (for maximum effect, make sure to have Haer Dalis' & Aerie in the party at the same time for a while), interjects often, & has some very nice post-quest conversations (along the lines of "can you believe what we just did?").
Implementation: B+
The Pipes & Bottle of Wine don't seem to serve any purpose (the wine really ought to get her drunk if she drinks enough), & the Wine can become a permanent fixture in the PC's inventory if you boot her out. The lengthy cutscene during her quest is a bit overdone, but opinions will certainly vary, so I won't hold that against her. Some of the people in the nearby tavern still talk as if it hasn't been completed even after it has, though. A couple of very minor grammar mistakes remain to be fixed, but she's only on version 2 so far. The writing for the Bioware NPC's is very "in character" for them all.
Power: B-
Bards aren't really powerhouses, but Keto makes a nice support mage & party-booster.
Ease: B
Keto can be found spinning tales in the Five Flagons inn in the Bridge District & will happily join your party after a brief conversation.
ToB: No
Overall: A-
An excellent NPC for those who like lots of banter, dialogue, & role-playing (she may not be as enjoyable for pure power-gamers, though). Fun, entertaining, & adds a breath of fresh air to the whole game. The more I played with her, the more I liked her (hey - you try playing with every NPC under the sun & not becoming a little skeptical), but I'm leaving a little room for improvement in the grade. [img]smile.gif[/img]


Name: Saerileth 6.0
Characteristics: LG Female Human Cavalier
Str: 16 Dex: 14 Con: 12 Int: 14 Wis: 17 Cha: 18
Equipment: Plate Mail, Bastard Sword +1, Saerileth's Holy Symbol (in helmet slot, unremoveable), Potion of Fortitude
Personality: A
Saerileth has been sent from the Outer Planes by Tyr to look for a fallen Deva. She was told to seek out a Bhaalspawn who would lead her to her quarry. She's Human, but touched by the Outer Planes. She's 15 years old & a devout follower of Tyr, so she sees things in complete black & white, & sometimes comes across as very naive. Saerileth has several banters with the other NPC's, interjects quite often, & is romanceable (for Good Male PC's with a very high Charisma, although you probably don't want to be a Thief).
Implementation: B+
Saerileth has a fairly major quest, involving a trip to different planes (Planescape fans will recognize some of the locations), which in & of itself sets her apart from the Bioware NPC's, & also introduces some over-powered items available for purchase (ToB level while in SoA). The MOD also adds a new path to Spellhold, which aside from introducing a very early Dragon battle in an odd location, has a number of bugs associated with it at the moment. Aside from that, the whole concept of a 15-year old, level 10 Cavalier, Chosen of Tyr is a little far-fetched & the romance can seem a bit on the creepy side. It's possible to begin the romance after the very first dialogue, she's a bit one-dimensional, she uses a lot of parenthetical actions (which the Bioware NPC's don't use), & she's very willing to abandon Tyr's Quest if CHARNAME doesn't live up to her ideals. The extremely high Charisma requirement makes her seem a bit shallow & a few of the custom items that come with the MOD don't have detailed descriptions (damage, enchantment, abilities, etc.). Also, she doesn't even appear in the game if the PC is Evil.
Power: B
Saerileth is a bit low on hit points & doesn't have a good Dexterity, so while she's fairly powerful, she's not the most effective frontline fighter.
Ease: B
You can enlist Saerileth fairly early on by walking just outside the entrance to the Radiant Heart in the Temple District.
ToB: Yes
Overall: A-
Saerileth is a very nicely done NPC, but she doesn't fall into the seamless, "you'd never guess she was a MOD" category. Still, she has a lot of very well-done content & adds a lot to the game. If you don't have a problem with a 15-year old romanceable Cavalier with an extreme stat requirement who is prepared to disobey her God if you hurt her feelings, she's very worthwhile. I'd highly recommend avoiding the 3rd path to Spellhold aspect in its current incarnation.


Name: Solaufein v98
Characteristics: CG/CN Male (Dark) Elf Fighter/Mage
Str: 18/21 Dex: 18 Con: 10 Int: 18 Wis: 10 Cha: 16
Equipment: mostly Drow equipment, which, while powerful, is next to useless considering when he joins up, Bracers AC 4, Ring of Regeneration, Wand of Fire, several spell scrolls & potions
Personality: A-
Sola has lots of banters & comments on events. The "-" is just because he doesn't quite "fit" with how he's portrayed in Ust Natha, IMO. He's a wannabe poet (although the poems are actually quite good) who broods a bit too much for the Drow Weapons Master you meet initially. You might not even notice it, though, so still very good in the Personality department. He is romanceable (for male & female PC's).
Implementation: B
No real bugs that I've ever encountered, although he occasionally says "I have seen no one" for no reason & he has no voicing. His joining-up fits in very smoothly with the storyline. He's a little on the over-powered side & sometimes tends to steal the spotlight from CHARNAME. A total of 90 ability points is on the high end for any of the NPC's.
Power: B+
A Fighter/Mage is already a strong multi-class, & Sola comes with a few nifty abilities of his own (although the ones in ToB could be considered overly powerful - a matter of taste, though & easy to ignore by not using his Special Item or Special Power). He has the same Magic Resistance as Viconia which, when coupled with his own buffs, makes him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
Ease: D
Sola's rating suffers from where he appears in the game (after completing Ust Natha & only if you make certain choices). No matter how appropriate it is that you get him when you do, it's not easy to recruit him & you'll either have to go to Spellhold with an empty slot or kick someone out in the Underdark.
ToB: Yes
Overall: B+
A very well done NPC. Worth the trouble of picking him up to play through with him at least once.


Name: Fade Beta 1
Characteristics: CN Female Fey'ri (Elven Tiefling) Thief
Str: 14 Dex: 19 Con: 10 Int: 16 Wis: 11 Cha: 16
Equipment: Short Sword +2, Shadow Armor, Fade's Amulet (immune to level drain, protection from Evil & Charm), a few Invisibility potions
Personality: A
Fade has led a bit of a rough existence, but has wound up working with the Shadow Thieves. She wants to help you rescue Imoen & offers to join your party when you talk to Aran Linvail. She has a bit of a mean-streak in her, but overcoming her heritage (the Fey'ri are NOT a nice group of people) is central to her story. Fade's banters & dialogues are very well-written & her back-story is well-crafted. She banters quite often & interjects in a lot of places. She is romanceable for male PC's & has a couple of nice quests.
Implementation: B
Fade is very good overall, but there's several minor issues to be cleaned up. There's a few spelling & punctuation mistakes, but given the amount of dialogue they're pretty rare. Her quests don't have Journal entries. She only has generic voicing at the moment - none of her banters or interjections are voiced. There's a banter that says "CHARNAME" rather than the character's name. You can pick up an annoying stutter-bug if her timers get messed up (see her Forum on how to fix it). At least one banter (with Mazzy) repeats.
Power: C
Fade's a pretty standard Thief, although her amulet helps her out & she has a couple of unique abilities (Invisibility 1/day & Charm Person 3/day).
Ease: B-
Fade can be added as soon as you talk to Aran (& it's so smoothly done you'd never guess you were meeting a MOD character), so as soon as you have 15,000 gps & get the key from Gaelan, you can add her to your party.
ToB: No
Overall: B
Fade is a very enjoyable & unique character with a deep & interesting back-story. Once a few remaining issues in her Beta release get cleaned up, she should move up the list.


Name: Tashia 2.05e
Characteristics: NG Female Elf Sorcerer
Str: 11 Dex: 19 Con: 15 Int: 16 Wis: 14 Cha: 12
Equipment: scrimshaw figurine which generates a strong (in certain situations) Summon once per day, Staff Spear, Boots of the North, Ring of Acuity
Personality: B+
Tashia is interesting, but not incredibly engaging. Her banters will have special interest for those who've played Icewind Dale I, as she makes some familiar references. She has several banters & interjections, but it seems like you only get to see most of them if you romance her (she's romanceable for a male PC). She starts off almost as unsure of her own self-worth as Aerie, although in her case it's due to an obsession over a former love. Her riddles are a nice touch.
Implementation: B-
No bugs, but for some reason she doesn't quite "feel" like a Bioware NPC. Some unique voicing in her banters may help in this respect. The quest at the end of her romance can result in some ridiculous loot (multiple Amulets of Power, the main bad guy dual-wielding 2 Malakars, etc.), which really hurts her in this category.
Power: A
She's a Sorcerer - see Kelsey for reasons behind the "A".
Ease: B-
Tashia is found in the tavern in Trademeet & has a minimum reputation requirement (10, although you really want to be at 12+ during some early dialogues). About as easy to recruit as Cernd.
ToB: Yes
Overall: B
Very interesting, intriguing, & worth playing if you intend to romance her, but a bit of a wallflower if you don't.


Name: Tsujatha 7.0
Characteristics: NE Male Elf Necromancer
Str: 17 Dex: 12 Con: 12 Int: 19 Wis: 16 Cha: 14
Equipment: Quarterstaff +1, Sillara's Ring (AC: 5, +1 spell/level)
Personality: B
Tsujatha is a well-traveled Elf, hailing from another plane of existence. As such, some things are very new to him (such as Dwarves & Halflings, although strangely enough he has no comments about the Drow). He has a decent back-story, but most of it is unknown unless you play out the romance (available to Good females). Tsujatha is a bit like Anomen if he were an ancient Elven Necromancer - very selfish & arrogant. He has different questions/interactions depending on the PC's class.
Implementation: B
Tsujatha is definitely overpowered - 90 ability points, high level (7th level spells while a 13th level Mage), & with a Ring to rival Edwin's Amulet (plus he can create a ridiculous amulet [immune to Level Drain & Imprisonment] - ummm... dude... if it's that easy, could you create 4-5 more of those?). He's a hundreds of years old Evil virgin (who's oddly enough a master masseuse & brings about a night of passion on the first try) who almost immediately falls for a good PC. Some Bioware NPC's don't sound very "in-character" as Tsujatha tends to get the last word on them. The generic lines & some rare unique lines are voiced, but most of his banters aren't.
Power: A-
As a high level Necromancer (who doesn't lose much - Mirror Image, Mislead, etc. - but gets an extra spell per level) with an extra spell per level from his ring, Tsujatha makes for a strong addition to any party.
Ease: C-
Tsujatha is found in the entrance to the Planar Sphere (although, other than being from another plane of existence, there's no good reason why he's there), so he's not easy to reach. You don't have to initiate Planar Travel to add him to your party, though.
ToB: Yes
Overall: B
Tsujatha is sort of a male equivalent to Tashia - if you've no interest in playing out the romance, he's good but not exceptional. Still, Tsujatha has a lot to recommend him compared to the NPC's ranked below him - a lot of effort has been put into his development. There's no big drawbacks to trying him out, just several little ones.


Name: Valen v43
Characteristics: CE Female Vampire Fighter/Thief
[note: values in parentheses are her Elder Vampire stats]
Str: 18/75 (22) Dex: 17 (21) Con: 9 (9) Int: 16 (20) Wis: 10 (10) Cha: 15 (19)
Equipment: Valen's Claws (+1 (+5) "Dagger", drains 1 (5) levels), Valen's Armor (low AC, undead resistances, regenerates 1 hp/2 sec (2 hp/sec), no weapon immunity (+2 or better to hit)), Boots of Stealth, Helmet of Defense, Gloves of Missile Snaring, various potions
Personality: A+
Personality is where Valen really shines. She forces you to play Evil, choosing the Evil path for you in many instances. She comments often & keeps in character as a bloodthirsty Vampire who'd rather slaughter anything that gets in her way (or even annoys her) than talk her way out of a situation. Her custom script is very impressive, as well.
Implementation: B-
Put simply, she's a bit too powerful, especially later in the game (the stats in parentheses above reflect her as an Elder Vampire at the end of SoA). No bugs that I'm aware of, but you'd be hard-pressed to believe she's a Bioware NPC. She has minimal voicing (& you'll probably get sick of hearing "I am hidden" by the time you're halfway through the game), & she suffers debilitating weakness under the sun, but even that hardly offsets her power. She triggers a group of Vampire Hunters later in the game (who can show up anywhere, even in the Matron Mother's own temple [img]smile.gif[/img] ) who are a bit over the top & don't help her in the believability department. She doesn't have a lot of banters, but does have some nice interjections.
Power: A
She's so powerful it hurts her credibility as an NPC, but later in the game she can single-handedly wipe out whole areas of monsters. Draining up to 5 levels per hit while regenerating 2 hp/sec can put down the toughest enemy in no time. She gets an "A" despite her weakness in the sun.
Ease: B-
Not too easy to get her, but no more difficult than, say, Mazzy. Once you've accumulated 15,000 gps & accepted Bodhi's offer, she's immediately available.
ToB: Yes
Overall: B
Well worth playing through with her just for her personality. If you're a bit squeamish about taking the Evil path even when playing an Evil PC, Valen will take up the slack for you.


Name: Yasraena 6.0
Characteristics: CG Female Elf (Drow) Fighter
Str: 18/97 Dex: 18 Con: 12 Int: 13 Wis: 12 Cha: 16
Equipment: Fireflower (basically a Flame Tongue shortsword), Ironkiss (does bleeding damage), Chain +1, Yasraena's Necklace (unremoveable, unknown properties), several potions
Personality: A-
Yasraena is a Good Drow who's on the surface looking for her master, Divalir, & heard that Irenicus might be a source of information. You meet her as you are breaking out of Chateau Irenicus & she is breaking in. She has nice, sultry voicing, gets along well with most of the standard NPC's (she has some really good banters with Minsc, Nalia, & Aerie, among others, but doesn't get along with Viconia very well), & has several interjections. Male PC's can attempt to strike up a romance with her & she has some extra friendship talks for a female PC. Her encounter with Divalir (& CHARNAME's reaction to it) is decent but a little sparse.
Implementation: B
The voicing varies a little bit in quality, but is good overall. Occasionally she turns & faces CHARNAME but doesn't say anything (no idea if I missed anything or not, but I don't think so). At least one of her banters (Edwin) can occur in the middle of combat & there are some rare spelling errors. She doesn't comment on the Underdark as much as I was expecting (compared to what Viconia says, for example) & has no comments about Drizzt. Actions are often portrayed through parenthetical comments (as in Planescape), which makes her stand out a bit from the Bioware NPC's.
Power: B
Yasraena is a Fighter, but has relatively low hit points & her custom items aren't incredibly powerful (although they get a big boost at the beginning of ToB), so you might want to use her as a flank attacker rather than a Tank.
Ease: A
You run into Yasraena at the exit to Chateau Irenicus (the ReadMe says she is compatible with Dungeon-Be-Gone, though I haven't verified this as I don't use DBG). You'll have to let her join then or else she's gone for good, & if you boot her from the party she's gone forever.
ToB: Yes
Overall: B
Very well done & engaging. It seems the surface is getting populated by a surprising amount of Drow, but Yasraena makes for a fine addition to the party.


Name: Chloe 1.2
Characteristics: N Female Human Kensai
Str: 13 Dex: 25 Con: 16 Int: 12 Wis: 12 Cha: 14
Equipment: Rage of Acadia (Scimitar), Lathander's Blaze (Short Sword) - start off in the +3/+2 range but get upgraded later
Personality: A
Chloe is extremely interesting. You learn her whole back-story (although the whole "we invented the Kensai style" thing seems a little silly) & your interaction with her can vary depending on your class. She's very mercenary in her attitudes. She's got divine blood, like the PC (which is how her Dex is explained), which makes for some nice conversations. She's romanceable (for female PC's, which is presented in a smooth, understated way) & will romance Imoen if the PC is unavailable. She banters well with the standard NPC's, comments on everything you'd expect her to, & is very well-voiced. For a bit of entertainment, make sure to have a female PC, Chloe, Jaheira, Aerie, Viconia, & Nalia all in the party at once.
Implementation: C
My computer had a tendency to freeze up for a minute or two while Chloe was in the party (not crash, so if you wait it out, everything resumes). Could be just my PC, but it's my review & it only happened while she was a party member, so she gets penalized for it. Her interjections tend to replace existing ones, so if you're talking to, say, Renal & Chloe has something to say, you wind up with Chloe's dialogue but the choices to respond to Renal displayed at the same time. It can be a little confusing & would benefit a lot from being able to hit Continue, then seeing the choices you're used to seeing. The 25 Dex is just silly & almost single-handedly destroys her credibility, IMO, divine blood or not. 19 or 20 would be good enough to get the point across (& if you ShadowKeeper her down to believability, she can't use her swords anymore).
Power: B-
As a Kensai, Chloe starts off a little weak, but catches up later. She'll rack up the kills as long as you don't rely on her to be a Tank, but more of a flank attacker. You'll definitely want to get her a Girdle to make up for her low Strength score, though. If you stick with her starting weapons, it will likely take you til ToB to get her 5 *'s in 2 different weapons & 3 in Two-Weapon.
Ease: A
You can quickly pick up Chloe in Chateau Irenicus at the beginning of the Plane of Air section.
ToB: No
Overall: B-
Worth downloading, but I hope some more work is put into her. Chloe has a lot of potential to be a great NPC.


Name: Kido Alpha 3.2
Characteristics: CE Male Human Jester
Str: 11 Dex: 17 Con: 13 Int: 16 Wis: 8 Cha: 15
Equipment: Kido's Dagger (throwing, returning, Stuns 4 rounds unless a ST vs. Spells is made), Buckler +1, Spear +1, Kido's Hood (unremoveable, unknown properties)
Personality: A-
Kido is a Chaotic Evil Jester (he explains how he can be CE to Nalia) with a fun personality (but a bit of a cruel streak - see his banters with Aerie). He has some good banters with Minsc & Jan (among others) although he doesn't get along with Korgan or Anomen. His voicing is rather... unique, but it fits his quirky personality. He's a devoted follower of Cyric & enjoys sowing confusion & seeing madness in the world.
Implementation: B-
In the version I played, you should probably avoid Wellyn (the spirit in the Graveyard) completely, as a scripting error can cause Kido to vanish forever. After talking to Xzar, Rylock doesn't reappear, so you'll have to CLUA him back in. There's a couple of minor cases where the Bioware NPC's don't sound completely in character (Anomen, Cernd). Only Kido's generic lines & conversations with CHARNAME are voiced - none of his banters with the other NPC's have voicing. There's a few more minor errors that remain to be cleaned up (e.g. dialogues out of order).
Power: B
I had underestimated the Jester's abilities up until this point - Kido was actually quite useful, both as a support mage & an infinte Confusion spell. He was particularly helpful when we'd get ambushed - no sooner would the enemies appear than half of them would become Confused. That Dagger of his makes him a pretty strong combatant as well.
Ease: B
Pretty easy to find - he's in the basement of the Five Flagons Inn, enjoying the play.
ToB: Yes
Overall: B-
Kido is a very entertaining & unique character to have along. There's several minor issues to be cleaned up & he could probably stand to have expanded voicing, maybe a few more banters with CHARNAME, & possibly a quest or two, but overall Kido's very well done.

[ 08-05-2005, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: Imrahil ]
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