BATTLE SPOILERS: Evil NPCs = Cold-hearted efficiency

[Tancred]

Usually I'm an out-and-out good guy, and have led two parties through BG saga... both good-aligned. My Evil party attempt fizzled out after a few hours... playing BG through again didn't appeal then.

Well, after getting hold of the Tactics MOD and seeing the Anti-Paladin kit, I thought I would try Evil once more. I've rolled up a pretty decent Anti-Paladin/Thief, the despicable Malvolio, and with Korgan, Viconia and Edwin on the team I was all set.

My only misgiving? Only having three NPCs to use.

Not a bit of it. These three are... something else. Spoilers ahead, folks.

MAJOR SERIOUS BATTLE SPOILERS
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My first surprise came when fighting the Shadow Dragon, a beastie that's always given my parties trouble at that stage in their development. I just couldn't leave that dungeon without giving it a try, though, so I quicksaved and decided on an experimental attack with one or two buffs to see how we fared and what tactics best suited this new party vs. Dragons. In about two minutes... Malvolio and Korgan had hacked poor Thaxyl'ssia to pieces.

No ifs, no buts, no offensive spells from Vic or Ed. Just 100% melee kill, two warriors vs. a Dragon. Remembering my last encounter with Thax - an elaborate, knife-edge affair involving lots of running away and shooting with spells and whatnot - this was... refreshing.

Later, we tried Firkraag. It took longer, but yes, dead, first time round. I didn't even need to rest when dealing with Kangaxx and the various Liches on that miniquest. Likewise the Slave Lords and the Twisted Rune, first time, no save required. The Rune was probably the hardest to boot, but showed some excellent teamwork from the Team (Edwin unpetrifying Viconia when the Beholder got too much, Viconia removing Edwin's fear when he got Symbolled). All these encounters were dealt with in a matter of half an hour of playing time. This is Core difficulty, nothing too shabby.

I don't know if the fact that this is the third time I've played BG2 all the way through means I've become a better player, or because of the reams of decent solid advice I've absorbed through watching this Forum, but this Team seem far and above anything I've used before. With the addition of an Imoen with an alignment shift (hurray Shadowkeeper) and The Other One From Throne Of Bhaal later on, I don't think anything's going to stop them.

So, the bottom line: Evil NPCs. They're incredible.

[untouchable]

Originally posted by Tancred: So, the bottom line: Evil NPCs. They're incredible.

The anti-palidin is, in my opinion, overpowered. That is why all these fights were so easy, dispel magic on every hit is a little much. An anti-palidin I played for a little while whiped the floor of every thing he faced, all improved batles in TOB solo on Insane. The lack of evil NPC in the game is a big letdown, the anti-palidin kinda makes up for it. Over all good job and hope you have fun being EVIL...

[Xero279]

If your looking for other evil NPCs, you can get..
SPOILERS
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... Solaufien or Valen, via their mods. sola is a evil drow fighter mage (duh [img]smile.gif[/img] ), and Valen (of course) is Bodhi's vampiric servant. I have Sola now, good man! powerful, he is.

[Link]

Equip Keldorn (or any paladin) with the Holy Avenger and he dispels at every hit as well..

Equip Edwin (or any mage) with the Staff of the Magi and he dispels at every hit as well..

Nothing too special, IMHO. The only major thing is perhaps that you can dispel early in the game as well, whereas both SotM and HA are obtained only after tough fights..

Minor Spoiler
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Holy Avenger: Firkraag's loot
Staff of the Magi: Loot from the Twisted Rune's mage.

[pcgiant]

AFAIK, Sola is never evil, regardless of the PC's alignment.

[LennonCook]

Originally posted by Link: Equip Keldorn (or any paladin) with the Holy Avenger and he dispels at every hit as well.. Equip Edwin (or any mage) with the Staff of the Magi and he dispels at every hit as well..

Actually, Carsomyr`s dispel on hit didn`t work properly... it does with Item Upgrade, though, because it changes it to match the staff of the Magi's - which does work. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Xen]

Originally posted by untouchable: Quote: Originally posted by Tancred: So, the bottom line: Evil NPCs. They're incredible.

The anti-palidin is, in my opinion, overpowered. That is why all these fights were so easy, dispel magic on every hit is a little much. An anti-palidin I played for a little while whiped the floor of every thing he faced, all improved batles in TOB solo on Insane. The lack of evil NPC in the game is a big letdown, the anti-palidin kinda makes up for it. Over all good job and hope you have fun being EVIL...[/QUOTE]No!!AP is NOT OVERPOWERD!!!...INQUISITOR WITH CARSOMYR IS JUST AS STRNG AS AP

xEN

[ 03-22-2003, 12:58 PM: Message edited by: Xen ]

[Annatar]

Feeling you really want to powerplay...? get Valen and feel the real definition of powergaming .

Sola will never be Evil, he can be Chaotic Neutral (if your Prot. is of evil alignment) or be Chaotic Good (if the Prot. is of neutral/good alignment)

Though him being Chaotic Neutral, make's him capable to fit in a Evil party.

But really, Valen is a great add to your party (thief and all, not needing to give Imoen a SK alignment change... just drop her [img]graemlins/evilhaha.gif[/img] )

[Kaltia]

I agree with Annatar, Valen's a good bet [img]smile.gif[/img]
Sola is, indeed, only chaotic neutral.
SPOILERS
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You can make Anomen that way too if you fail his test and want a reserve cleric.

Does anyone have a good link to where I can download the mods for Valen?
Thanks for the help