Which of these 3 npc's would you kick out of your party?

[Kaistrian]

i myself am an archer too. fighter class.

basically i like it when i dont have to walk to people. and if someone comes close i usually cast entangle and step back a bit.

pairs can easily be seperated all it takes is khalid to show his bravery just one time and fight something strong all by his self. remove a dead party member and the other stays.

as for the edwin xan fireworks. i would try it out if not for the fact that edwin is lying dead on the bridge.

[ZFR]

imo,,

kick ALL 3 out....

your party should be:

you fighter
ajantis paladin
faldron druid
imoen thief (DONT dual class)
xan mage
garrick bard

have fun

[SixOfSpades]

Well, if YOU'RE a Fighter, you don't really need Khalid to do your Tanking (you will need a Tank at some points), even if he does have pretty good hitpoints. Personally, I can't stand Khalid's pansy-boy personality, even if he is a decent Fighter.

Kivan = Excellent. Best stats in the game, period. Great archer, excellent backup Tank with a good 2-handed weapon. Keep him.

Coran = His CON ain't the best, but so what? Give him a bow and watch the bad guys fall down. Slap a certain pair of Gauntlets on him when you want to Backstab, and ooooo baby!

If I were you, I'd lose Khalid.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Personally, I liked Dynaheir the best. As a specialist in Abjuration(?) she gets LOTS of the high-damage spells.

Edwin requires a more "subtle" approach and the only thing I saw good about Xan was his moonblade.

AFA Kivan having the BEST stats in the game....you gotta be kidding! He has the WORST hit points of any straight fighter class. Adjantis and Minsc are both more powerful...and he already has an archer.

BTW, Garnet, I may give Kivan a second chance. I created a ranger of my own to take through on my second attempt. And (just to ease your mind) Rangers have always been my favorite class too.

My first 2 PnP characters were rangers - based on Aragorn.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

OK, after contesting SixOfSpades remark about Kivan's stats, I decided to check it out for myself.

There are 10 total fighter NPC's in the game. I added all their STATS for a total picture and their Physical STATS to measure their fighting ability.

Here are the results.

Best total stats - Ajantis (88) Kivan came in 6th out of 10 total fighters. Coran, Kagain, Jaheira, and Montaron all had higher total stats.

Best Physical stats - Kivan (barely) with 49. However, Minsc, Khalid, Kagain, and Montaron each had a 48 in physical stats.

Minsc has MUCH better STR (+2/+4 (Kivan +1/+2)) and hit points (15 Con vs 14 Con).

The others would make good back-up fighters, but only Kagain had an extraordinary stat (Con 20 - lots of hit points), but this is offset by his low Str (16).

So, I will revise my earlier assessment and admit that Kivan is the 2nd best NPC fighter in the game. Minsc is still the best straight tank available.

The REAL surprise in this experiment was how powerful Montaron (halfling fighter/thief) is. It could be argued that he and Kivan are equals. Montaron was 1 point higher in total stats and 1 point lower in physical stats than Kivan.

As you can see, Kaistrian, it's all a matter of perspective and personal preferences.

[ 03-21-2002, 01:30 PM: Message edited by: Cerek the Barbaric ]

[Katherine]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: Kivan = Excellent. Best stats in the game, period. Great archer, excellent backup Tank with a good 2-handed weapon. Keep him.

It's a Khalid hating day here at the Ironworks. You'll have to get rid of Jah, as Lemernis said, as well. No big loss there. "good berries," indeed...

Six? I think lovable Shar-teel is the best fighter in the game (I know, I have an unhealthy bias towards the wicked). She's great when you have Eldoth in the party, too. Not to mention that she "can lead this party better than any man could."

[Lavindathar]

Cerek, your looking at this in only one dimension....you have to take into account what proficiencies they have when you receive them, also Base THACO, resistances (magic and physical), and many many more stats....the stats you read on the screen dnt make any of them better than any others, if you follow my meaning...

But as it happens, my favourite Tank is Minsc, and I think IMPO Kivan is the best NPC on the game.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

You're right, Lavindathar, there are LOTS of variables to consider.

Yeslick has clerical spells to back up his fighting ability. Garrick has minor thieving skills AND magic spells PLUS a great ability to Identify items.

Jaheira has her druidic spells and Kivan can use his stealth.

However, it was SixOfSpades that said Kivan had the best stats in the game....so that was the issue I was addressing.

And even though Kivan and Minsc have very similar physical stats...just adding them up does NOT take into account the extra melee strength Minsc has with his much higher STR percentile and extra hit points.

Kivan's hit points are pathetic...and that's what turned me against him on my first trip through. But - like I said - I may give him a chance on my next trip.

[SixOfSpades]

Well, as far as pure Tankitude goes, then actually Kagain's CON makes him a god, once he's got the Gauntlets of Dexterity. The way I play, the Tank is for DEfense, not OFFense, so Kagain's 16 STR isn't a problem--as long as he can get in everybody's face and keep them from attacking the guys in the back row, it's all good.

Shar-Teel's got good STR, but she lacks the hitpoints that a full-time Tank needs. I get the most out of her by Dualing to a Thief--158) STR, 4 stars in Large Sword and Quadruple Backstab. Eat steel, scum!

Kivan has the best overall stats because he's not weak in any category: Kagain and Monty have 'only' 16 STR, Minsc has 'only' 15 DEX and CON, etc. Kivan's not the best for any role, but he's a very versatile backup ass-kicker.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: Kivan has the best overall stats because he's not weak in any category: Kagain and Monty have 'only' 16 STR, Minsc has 'only' 15 DEX and CON, etc. Kivan's not the best for any role, but he's a very versatile backup ass-kicker.

You don't consider his 14 CON to be weak? Str & Dex can be augmented by magical items, but hit points can't be increased. And you don't find any Manuals until the second half of the game.

OK....in all fairness, I have to admit that Cerek's stats are similar. He started with just a 13 Con (I didn't know I could raise and lower stats at the time). However, he had 18 STR & DEX. The DEX especially helped. The lower AC meant he didn't get hit nearly as often as Khalid, so the lower HP weren't that big a deal. However, even with my Con as low as it was...I still had a BUNCH more hit points than Kivan.

Like I said, I've created a Ranger for my second trip through BGI....and I will probably give Kivan a chance this time.

Then again, I also plan to get Minsc and that would put 3 Rangers in one party...which you aren't supposed to do in PnP rules.

Hmmmm....we'll see what happens.