Anomen or Jaheira...which one is for me....getting more confused

[Kitty]

I like both Jaheira and Anomen and I usually have both in my party. However, if I had to choose only one, I'd go with Anomen. A previous post said it's not worth having someone just because of an item (in this case Crom Faeyr), but for me, Crom Faeyr is definitely not the reason for keeping Anomen; I keep him because he's a versatile character.
Besides, there are few really useful druidic spells Anomen will miss, such as insect plague and conjure fire elementals, and I see no reason for ditching him just because of them. In my opinion, Anomen has tons of useful clerical spells that Jaheira doesn't have, such as holy smite (this 3rd level spell becomes more and more powerful as he levels up); animate dead (skeleton warriors with good HP and an astounding magic resistance); earthquake, false dawn, lesser and greater restoration (ah, those pesky vamps) and so on.
When it comes to stats, Anomen is far better. IMO, his only weak point is dexterity when compared to Jaheira, but this is not a big deal since he has other advantages that can compensate this:
1. He levels up incredibly fast and can get level 7 spells.
2. He has huge hit points for a cleric. Jaheira has 17 Con vs. Anomen's 16, but she splits her hit points between her 2 classes. I never managed to have Jaheira with more than 85 hps by the end of the game.
3. He can get weapon mastery - and in my games I always choose maces or flails (and not hammers), since there are good ones available throughout the whole game.
This is just my opinion, and I'm eager to see more comments!
Cheers,
Kitty

[Gustave]

Well put Kitty, some always seem to forget about the Flail of the Ages or Skullcrusher or even the Mace of Disruption(all three that Jah CAN'T use),

As someone else said before, once you hit TOB, Jaheira just isn't worth the spot in your party. By the time Jaheira finally leveled up, Anomen leveled like 3 times. Another thing is, her hp just doesn't cut it. All in all, her hp total is only like 10 or 15 points higher than Nalia's or Imoen's. Her weapon choices aren't that great and you only get a choice of two decent spears and like one or two scimitars, so..

[floyd]

Originally posted by Cavern Sniffer: Personally I've always thought Crom what For was a waste of time and items. I've never built it, seen it or used it. Troll Slayers points are valid and mirror my own concerning this weapon. P.S. Jaheira's better than Amen.

If you have never built it, seen it or used it I hardly think you are qualified to testify to the Crom Faeyr's effectivness

I agree it is tempting to keep the Crom Faeyr's items seperate, but in my party everyone else that front-line fights has decent strength anyway (whether by items, or ... other (won't spoil) means). Minsc dual-wielding Crom and FoA truly lays down the holy bootheel!

And the bottom line on Jah vs Anomen for me is the slow leveling for Jah. Going from Druid lvl 14 to 15 is 1500000 xps!! My lord! And she is dual-classed, so that basically means 3000000 QUEST xps just for one druid level! That is just plain unacceptable. I would never use her to tank either, use a real fighter: Sarevok...

[homsuplee]

Jaheira's better. Role-play sex appeal.

But if you want to number-crunch, then crom faeyr does make a big difference with Anomen's +7/+12 as opposed to Jaheira's +not 7/+ not 12 . However Jaheira can stack up those iron skins and armors of faith, stuck with some TOB weapons, I'd say Jaheira could beat Anal-man, given a few fire elementals.

BUT
I don't like summons for normal fighting. What I usually do is rush me (berserker/mage), jaheira, anal, and keldorn into the fray, and clean up. Between me and anal-man, we racked up a very nice 80% of total kills. Anal-man can do grandmastery, so that means (since I took Baldurdash's gm patch) many extra attacks per round. And for vampires, I stick Anal-man with the mace of disruption +2, and send him in solo, and watch him clean house. He has 127 fire resist, so sometimes, me, jan and imoen tag along and shoot hundreds of fireballs around him for fun. But when dragons and liches, and big things like you know .... the ever fearsome thug or bandit comes along, I summon up some fire elementals from Jaheira (and then later have her summon their despot) and wham!, it's fubar for them.

------------------
Life is wasted on the living.

[Ace Flashheart]

If your planning to take your party through to ToB go Jaheira, she will (eventually)become a better fighter than Anomen and there a lot of weapons in ToB that make Crom Feyer look like chicken feed (not to mention staff of the ram +6 that J can use but A can't).

Having said that in just SoA I would suggest going with Anomen as he is probally next to Edwin the best NPC in BG2 (as an added bonus you can alter his alingment to more suit your own).

NB: Having Jaheira also allows you to participate in her romance and side quests which through the corse of the game will allow you to pick up many exp and magical items which you wouldn't have been able to get any other way.

[Haddar - Servant of Talos]

I have both Anomen and Jaheira in my current party. And if I had to leave someone I would leave Jaheira. Anomen is currently equipped with the Mace of Disruption +2 and a nice little shield and I have no intention to equip him with Crom Faeyr. That one is going into my PCs' hands, who is also a dual Fighter/Cleric =). I really like Fighter/Clerics because of their Combat abilities combined with some of the clerics really nasty spells. I just want to say that Draw Upon Holy Might is a good one if you have a Fighter/Cleric. That was not one of the nasty spells i was thinking of =). The clerics also have this little abilty calles "Turn Undead" which is very useful when you have levelled a couple of times.

Anyway, Jaheira is also worth having in your party. She can deal some damage in combat. I agree, she is not supposed to be in the frontline, not for me anyway, but she can summon those elementals and their burning rage which helps a lot. I use her as a backup in almost every aspect. A backup fighter (belm is truly a nice scimitar), a backup healer, a spell-disruptor (insect plague) and as a "summoner" (think of those elementals again). This whole backup-role really goes with my party, so her spot in my party is just as important as Anomens or anybody elses.

As for the Crom Faeyr. I believe all the trouble of getting the items and so is worth it. You guys say you lose two strengt-increasing items. But you only lose one. You get one back when Cromwell has made the hammer. And a really good hammer too! Do you really need 4 guys in the party with a strength of 18/00 and over? Sure, it can be helpful if you have 4 tanks or so, but then again, your tanks usually have a quite high basic strenght anyway. And not many people use 4 tanks either. The mages? They don't need 18/00 + strength. Clerics? Naaa, not really. But if you do need it sometime you have something called "M-A-G-I-C" or "P-O-T-I-O-N-S".

*Phew* This was a loooong post for me!

[Silverblade]

So who has the higher potential when going on to ToB? Anomen or Jaheira?

[deathknight]

IMHO Anomen takes the cake over jah and I haven't even played him out to his full potential. His aerial servants are nice just like jah's fire elementals are and now that I can summon skeleton warriors he is the summoning machine. His melee is so much better than Jahs that its not even funny. The main thing you miss out on I think is the spell disruption of the insect plague. Ironskins makes up for some of jah's weaknesses in melee but not all of them. Plus I just can't see going into ToB leveling so SLOW. You are getting into some high levels there...
IMHO crom faeyr is just icing for anomen. I don't have it with him now and him and my own char are definatly the MVPs of my current game.

[Kitty]

When the issue is the plot, Jaheira may be better, but when the matter is fighting and surviving, I think Anomen wins.
IMO he's one of the few NPCs who don't need stat enhancing items to be a good character. Unlike Jaheira, Anomen doesn't need any strenght or HP enhancement; and as for his dexterity, I don't care - he can wear very heavy armors and get a decent AC.
Weren't for Jaheira's bad hit points and VERY slow leveling up,it would be very difficult to choose who is the best priest.

[Aellinsar]

On the first page, someone said something about replacing a party member with Sarevok . . . isn't Sarevok like the evil half-brother of the player character? How the heck did you get him in your party??????!!!!!!
On the subject of Anomen and Jaheira, I went with Jaheria. She's pretty good with a scimitar, and Summon Insects and her Conjure Fire Elemental spells really helped me . . .

------------------
On the heights, all paths are paved with daggers.