[Russ]

So, the Shadow Dragon vaporized my priest. Anomen is now toast, living out a blighted existence in the plane of Shadow for the rest of eternity.

On the other hand, the Umar hills are now, so far as my archer can tell, completely clear of anything that's ever going to stomp on Imnesvale.

So, now it's Minsc, Jaheira, Jan, Aerie, and... Nalia? that's right, it's Nalia's keep quest....

I'm a roleplayer, so if a p.c. gets vaporized in the midst of a heroic encounter like a dragon fight, I leave 'em dead, rather than reloading. Otoh, I've just lost my best vampire-control character... and two emotionally immature mage-types in my party is going to get a bit much, rather quickly. (On the other hand, Jan's worth keeping simply for his evil cackle and "your kneecaps are MINE!").

So, while I'm fairly sure that Minsc and Jaheira's tanking abilities are sufficient for this party, I'm now, relatively speaking, crawling in wizardly firepower, and relatively short on the priestly side. Has anyone found Cernd to be worthwhile under such circumstances? Obviously, he's going to be no good with undead...