[Cerek the Barbaric]

This IS a fun and interesting thread. I agree that ANY NPC can be extremely valuable or totally useless - depending on your personal preferences and how you outfit them.

It also depends on your gaming style and strategy. Back in the Pen-&-Paper days, I was playing a thief in a 12-15 level dungeon. We had some fighter and ranger "tanks" and even a mage with a Staff of the Magi. They all ended up getting caught in a trap while I was scouting ahead of the group.

Had I NOT been playing a thief, our entire party would have been lost. I used my Thieving & Stealth Skills to avoid all the enemy soldiers (we were inside a fortress) until I was finally able to find the party members and revive them.

If I had been playing a "tank" I would probably have been killed before I ever reached the party and all of us would have lost a character that night.

Bottom Line - Everybody is useful in one way or another.

Going back to our original question, I personally like Edwin - I think he would make the PERFECT magic missile to toss at Demagorgon.