Minsc or Keldorn?

[Dundee Slaytern]

Eh? Minsc has better stats than Keldorn? Last I recall, Keldorn had way more stat points than Minsc. Throw a Gauntlet of Dexterity on him and even players will kill to have his kind of stat score. Minsc's DEX score is rather low too, 16 if I remember correctly.

STR is of course, a non-issue.
CON I forget.
WIS and INT, Keldorn metaphorically throws Minsc out of the window here.
CHA, Keldorn has an amazing CHA score, put him as the party leader and you no longer need the Ring of Human Influence. Minsc has a respectable score, but not as good as Keldorn.

Besides, Hayashi is a ranger already.

[Sir Goulum]

Originally posted by LennonCook: With Sir Gs suggestion of dumping Aerie for Keldorn- VERY bad idea. In a party of two mages, two clerics and a druid as the spell casters, an Inquisitor can be useful; but in a party with only one mage, one cleric and one druid, you have practically no spells to survive on, and only one good tank.

If you can stand her constant complaining and whining about her 'stubs'....i've never had her and never will!

[True_Moose]

Hey Dundee. You're right about the overall stats but...

Higher ST means no girdle needed later.
Higher Dex means you can give the Gauntlets of Dexterity to Anomen, who has **** for Dex also.
Difference of 1 Con. Dunno if there's a difference in HP, but if you're playing normal or harder, 1 hp is so seldom an issue, it doesn't much matter.
Wis and Int are pretty much inconsequential, EXCEPT against illithids. Besides, Keldorn doesn't use wis anyway (no spells.) The problem is I think Minsc's saving throws go up because of his wis.
Charisma is a non-issue, easily fixed by the ring of human influence.

[smacks himself, thinking "Here I am getting in an argument with a far better player than me who knows way more than me."]

I think it comes down to RPing though. I think it's funny when Minsc gets spells, and Keldorn's abilities didn't work for me xcept for TS. Anyway, just my opinion.

[Hayashi]

Thanks for all your replies.
I've gone ahead & sailed to Brynnlaw, taking Minsc with me. Perhaps Keldorn can come in later (I haven't decided yet).

When I completed BG2 the first time around, Imoen was good enough as a thief (detect & disarm traps, pick locks). I also tweaked her stats to match what she had at the end of BG1/ToSC (my main character is imported from there) so she is slightly better. And if her skills are too low, there are always potions to boost her thieving stats temporarily.

She was also a good few levels behind the rest of the party as I had done almost every quest I could find.

Almost all my NPCs have two uses (except Minsc):

Sir Anomen - cleric + secondary tank
Jaheira - druid (love her fire elemental summonings) + secondary tank
Jan/Imoen - thief + mage
Aerie - cleric + mage. Maybe I'll swap her for Edwin.
Minsc - tank + funny quotes

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by True_Moose: Hey Dundee. You're right about the overall stats but... Higher ST means no girdle needed later. Higher Dex means you can give the Gauntlets of Dexterity to Anomen, who has **** for Dex also. Difference of 1 Con. Dunno if there's a difference in HP, but if you're playing normal or harder, 1 hp is so seldom an issue, it doesn't much matter. Wis and Int are pretty much inconsequential, EXCEPT against illithids. Besides, Keldorn doesn't use wis anyway (no spells.) The problem is I think Minsc's saving throws go up because of his wis. Charisma is a non-issue, easily fixed by the ring of human influence. [smacks himself, thinking "Here I am getting in an argument with a far better player than me who knows way more than me."] I think it comes down to RPing though. I think it's funny when Minsc gets spells, and Keldorn's abilities didn't work for me xcept for TS. Anyway, just my opinion.

Nah, there is a difference between debate and argument. Different people, different strokes.

About the issue of STR, generally all the tanks in a person's party has some sort of STR Girdle. There are 2 in SoA( 3 if you do not make Crom Faeyr), and 1 more in ToB. This is why I say STR is inconsequential, because they all end up having godly STR anyway.

INT may be useless to a tank, but not WIS. WIS improves your saves against mental spells when it is high and vice versa. So while you always have to babysit Minsc from such spells, Keldorn with his Paladin bonus to saving throws and the bonus from high WIS, is nigh untouchable by mental spells. His immunity to Charm is the icing on the cake.

CHA is easily fixed yes, but Keldorn means less trouble. Maybe I am just a lazy guy who does not like to press 'I' everytime I want to shop. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

This is of course, all from a powergaming point of view. You have to have some kind of good story if you want to 'abandon' Minsc from a roleplaying point of view.