POLL: WHO'S THE WORST NPC IN BG2

Heh. Haer'Dalis might make for an interesting tiefling, but he's a shithouse character. Send him in to fight and he'll be shredded quicker than you can blink; 9 constitution does not make for a great warrior. The only character with less HP than him is Aerie. As a Blade, his Lore leaves much to be desired (Lore, incidentally, is the only reason for having a Bard around in the first place). Yet another character that tries to do a dozen jobs instead of specializing in one, but just ends up being mediocre at everything.

Korgan is cool with two +3 axes but he can't see anything

Here is my take...

After doing the Nalia quest, she is a worthless rich ass Biach(who can now be my freakin servant since Im in charge of her damn keep now)... She might have some decent spellcasting abilities, but her thieving skills are HORRID. Even if you are good-aligned, you are much better off with taking Edwin...

Aerie sucks... Sorry, she just does. Period...

Mazzy... Cant really comment, never took her in.

Anomen... Same thing as Mazzy...

As far as who is great... Viconia... Throw on a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power(OR... Assemble the Crom Faer and get her proficint in Hammers..) and she can wear any armour. Not to mention she is a drow bitch who is fun to have around...(Gotta love those hormone driven overpowering women...)..

Keldorn... He rocks... period. Throw a pair of Gauntlets of Dexterity on him... and his dex. doubles! YOU HAVE A KILLING MACHINE AT YOUR HANDS! Not to mention something called the Holy Avenger...(hehe, for good measure I threw a pair of Boots of Speed on him...)

Minsc is a good fighter... But gets feebleminded and Charmed WAY to easily.

Ah well, kinda went off subject there...

-Wallace

Agree with Armisael's post about Haer'Dalis. Definitely not as good as advertised. I would've thought a tiefling would have SOME kind of special ability or even magic resistance. He's definitely better early on when you are looking at versatility in your party but a bit of a waste in the upper levels when you want someone to really max out their specialization. I had him in my party in Suldanessellar and in Hell and I used up about 7 charges of my Rod of Resurrection to salvage him because i got sick of reloading each time he died. His HP is too low and even if he dual wields his strength is not high enough to do significant damage. Plus he has those 2 special short swords that are ok in the early levels but way too weak in the later levels. Plus the really significant anti-mage spells are level 6 at least (except for Breach) and I never got him up that high.

Here's a list of the characters, and my opinions about them.

Useful characters:
Jaheira - Reasonable fighter, druid spells are great, has iron skins.
Minsc - Incredible fighter. The Ranger that Berserks. Funny as all hell, too.
Yoshimo - The only decent freaking thief in the game, and he betrays you. Go figure.
Aerie - An OKAY mage/cleric. Variety in spells and Turn Undead. Weak as a kitten, but her spellcasting stats are okay. Often, though, I drop her for...
Edwin - Best spellcaster in the game, no two ways about it, and joins Minsc in the 'comedy relief' pile, except with more wit.
Jan - I like Jan. I use him when Yoshimo scarpers on me. Another funny character.
Korgan - Very strong, has enrage, funny bugger.
Viconia - I always have her in my party. Best cleric in the game. Levels up fast and can fight decently too, with the right equipment (ie. something that boosts strength).
Valygar - If I want a ranged attacker, I use this guy. Uses the Stalker kit, so he gets some useful Mage spells, too.

Non-useful characters:
Imoen - No, no, no. Dual classed thief. Never dual class from a thief. You don't have her for half the game, either.
Anomen - ARRrrg- (one, two, three, four, five, six... seven... eight... nine... ten.)
Haer'Dalis - Read up a bit.
Keldorn - The only paladin in the game, and he went an Inquisitor. Why? Why!? I barely tolerate 'good'ness, and see no reason to compromise myself for a Paladin with a crappy kit. The only reason to have him around is because he's the only one that can use the Holy Avenger.
Nalia - Another dual classed thief, this time at level FOUR. Fat lot of good she is.
Cernd - I have nothing against Cernd, but by the time I get him I'm so used to Jaheira that I can't be bothered with another druid.
Mazzy - Again, there's nothing wrong with Mazzy, but I always play a fighter myself. Along with Minsc or Korgan, I just don't need Mazzy around.

Feel free to flame, or better still, post your own opinions.

Pretty comprehensive, ok here goes:

Jaheira - Agree. I use her more like a fighter that heals. With the Staff of Thunder and Lightning and the Armor of the Hart she's actually pretty good. But her druid spells are shit IMO, i just load her up with healing spells and put a defensive cleric script on her.
Minsc - Agree. Second best fighter in the game after Keldorn. If he has the Warblade or the Vorpal he kicks major ass. Only problem is he doesn't have a quest!
Yoshimo - Thief who can take care of himself in melee but I ended up hiring casuals for my thief spot in my first game so to speak (Yoshimo, Imoen and Nalia all filled in).
Aerie - For some reason she just turns me off, statistically she's not that bad.
Edwin - Agree.
Jan - Tried him really briefly so don't really know.
Korgan - Agree, if he is dual wielding magical axes he is pretty powerful. Third best fighter in the game.
Viconia - Read my post on Viconia earlier. Outfit her with the Girdle of Hill Giant strength early and she can be a pretty kickass fighter with str 19 and dex 19. I had The Gorgons plate armor and the saving grace shield and her AC was like -8 or something. I gave her proficiency in flail and gave her the flail of ages. Levels up quickly and gets some killer level 6 and 7 spells. Plus her magic resistance 60+% really helps if someone dominates or confuses your party. I have her with lots of dispel magic spells when this happens. Plus she's sexy!
Valygar - Found him a bit redundant but then again i was a stalker first time i played. If they had made his kit an archer he would have been much better IMO.

Non-useful characters:
Imoen - Didn't think she was that bad. Agree that she's gone half the game so she can't level up as high as say Nalia or Jan. But I thought she was important in terms of the storyline, I would've felt funny dumping her so I used her as my supporting mage and thief with Edwin my primary caster. Her thief skills aren't that bad if all you need is to open locks and find traps. And who needs pickpocketing anyway?
Anomen - Actually trying to work out if he is of any use. I currently have THREE clerics in my group but i might dump him soon if his quest doesn't hurry itself up. He is disrespectful to Keldorn too.
Haer'Dalis - Enough said!!!!
Keldorn - I actually think he is the best fighter in the game WITH the Holy Avenger and Gauntlets of Dexterity. Without either he is pretty average. Would've been a lot better as a Cavalier or better yet an Undead Hunter against those vampires.
Nalia - worse than Imoen, only reason the have her is to get the Keep if you are a fighter. Interesting subquest though.
Cernd - I just used him as cannon fodder and kept him in his Loup Garou form the whole time I had him which wasn't very long. In theory as a Greater Werewolf only silver or gold weapons should affect him, right? So why is he taking damage from hobgoblin arrows etc. He should be impervious to even +3 magical swords. I remember BG1, fighting that Loup Garou in Ulgoth's Beard. Even my 2H sword +3 worlds edge wasn't doing any damage to it. Cernd would have been MUCH better if he was the same.
Mazzy - Waste of time.

Whew!

I couldn't agree more with your take on Valygar and Keldorn. If Keldorn had been the Cavalier class, I'd definitely take him every time. And Valygar would be a LOT more useful as an Archer. The developers seem intent on picking inappropriate kits for their NPCs.

[Erekose]

Anomen is just a pain, i wanted to kill him after having him in my party for half an hour. Atleast Aeire can double as a back up mage. Make her memorise all the spell breaking magic and rip away at your foes with your own mage. The same holds for Imoen. Cheers

[Asphyxiate]

Useful Characters: Anyone Evil

Useless Characters: Anyone Good.

I don't want to hear any arguments, you KNOW its true.

Aerie. Why? Because she fools so many people into keeping her and she will never get past lvl 14/13. She will sit at that level 4ever because of the XP cap, and half of you if not more don't realize that. I carried her for a while b4 I realized that myself, so I am an idiot also.

The dual-classed chars are the best. The pure are second best. The multi SUCK for BG2. They will never reach high levels, you will be VERY dissapointed.