Disposable Aerie? (possible spoilers)

[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by Dron_Cah: Is there a character that can reasonably replace Aerie?

Imoen, Nalia and Jan are all capable of replacing her Mage half, and Anomen and Jaheira can replace her Cleric half--Cernd cannot. I am not, however, saying that Aerie is a useless little bink who's easily overshadowed by Anomen & Nalia.

Also, as a side-note, is Jaheira as good as Cernd?

Jaheira is much better than Cernd. He has 4 more points of Wisdom, but that doesn't really count for all that much in terms of spells per day. It is a nice plus that he will reach the all-important Level 15 twice as quickly as she does, but since he's a Shapeshifter, he'll suck for the rest of his life.

Does Nalia have anything else to add after I get the stronghold?

Once you've had her in the party for a week or two and have cleared the Keep, then she'll have nothing else (besides the occasional banter) to add. Unless you're doing her Romance, which I personally didn't like.

If you're trying to Romance Jaheira, good luck. You will definitely need it.

[Russ]

As an older gamer, the Jaheira romance is pretty much the only one that doesn't make me want to run to a corner and twitch...

but without disputing your basic premise, which is inherently subjective, let me suggest something: there's nobody scripted in the game who can really flat-out replace another. There are close matchups among the tanks and head-thumpers, obviously... but the real question, imho, is more of "can I handily do without her?"

And for that, the answer is a resounding yes. Two easy option, neither of which involves the evil characters except Viconia, since you're trying to keep that BG1 flavor (I assume this means the well-intentioned but wet-behind-the-ears main p.c.).

Option A:
You
Jaheira
Minsc
Yoshimo=>Imoen
Anomen, Viconia, or Cernd
Nalia

Option B:
You
Jaheira
Minsc
Jan (possibly under-rated, but incredibly useful)
Viconia or Cernd
Character-of-the-moment poss. to be replaced by Imoen

What is your p.c.'s actual class? Mage npc's abound in the game. head-thumpers abound. Where the game is shy is that both the straight clerics available are so potent in the personality department that they're hard to deal with. If your p.c. is a cleric of any type, you can blow Aerie off with ease, and there's nothing to say you can't d a Cl/Mg yourself....

[Dron_Cah]

My character is a monk. BTW, that was the root of my question as well; can I easily survive without Aerie? Thank God the answer is 'yes,' as her whining is about to make me lose whatever is left in my stomache after Nalia!

Thanks for the suggestions!