Should I change my party? (possible spoilers)

[Shotgun]

Okay, I've just started ToB (second time around) and am playing with a different party than before. Here's how it stands right now:

me (male, Cleric/Ranger)
Mazzy
Imoen
Aerie (romance)
Valygar
Keldorn

My question is, what's it like to Sarevok? I've always played a good party, but have read that ToB isn't like SoA where party members will really clash if they aren't good/evil. If I did take Sarevok, what are the advantages, and who should I get rid of? My choices would be Mazzy or Valygar. She's taken him on as a squire, so I'm not sure if that's an issue. Also, I like both of them, so the decision is tough (I use Mazzy's bow, and Valygar's hide in shadows--I wear armor, so don't).

Any thoughts?

[Aelia Jusa]

You don't have to worry about people leaving due to alignment or reputation clashes. Sarevok is a very good fighter, and depending on what tactics you use, probably better than at least Valygar. He has an excellent ability called deathbringer assault, which does 200hp of damage (and can affect all enemies, unlike vorpal effects) which occurs on a reasonably frequent basis. Plus from a role-playing perspective it's quite interesting to take him along.

You could always maybe take a set of leather armour along if you want to hide in shadows

[Shotgun]

This is true. I'll admit that I do love his backstab capability, though. Took out a few nasties before the fight even started! Does anyone think I should just keep my party the way it is?

[Lord]

Take out Mazzy and put in Sarevok, no arguement about it. BTW, Sarevok's deathbringer assault has a 1% chance of occuring, but I often have him do it.

[Shotgun]

Is that the only reason, Lord? Personally, I've kept Mazzy for all of SoA and I need more than that to get rid of her. She's one of the only ones who does ranged attacks for me (Keldorn on occasion), but I'd be more inclined to get rid of Valygar.

[Lord]

Originally posted by Shotgun: Is that the only reason, Lord? Personally, I've kept Mazzy for all of SoA and I need more than that to get rid of her. She's one of the only ones who does ranged attacks for me (Keldorn on occasion), but I'd be more inclined to get rid of Valygar.

Equip Valygar with a Katana (Celestial Fury is prefered) and a bow (gesen bow or better) in another slow. He can hold 3 weapons, so throw in another one, maybe Mace of Disruption +2 for when fighting undead.
Then get rid of Mazzy, give Sarevok a 2-handed sword, and your covered. Sarevok + Valygar will easily take out Mazzy + Valygar in a fight, ranged combat or melee.

[Imrahil]

From a pure powergaming aspect, I'd say Sarevok > Mazzy > Valygar. In ToB, Valygar brings the least to the table of the three, since he can't fight as well as the other two & his spells are too minor to be of any real use (yes, yes, they have some use, but don't make up for the drop in fighting ability).

From a role-playing aspect though, Mazzy+Valygar is a good team & I'd be hesitant to break them up. OTOH, Sarevok brings a ton of interesting dialogues himself, probably enough to trump any one NPC.

Have you considered dropping Keldorn for Sarevok? Sarevok > Keldorn in fighting, although Keldorn's True Sight & Dispel Magic almost make up for it, but Sarevok is a *much* more interesting NPC to have along from a role-playing perspective.

Or, perhaps, go with the best of both worlds & Save your game now, take Sarevok along, then once you're done, come back & play again without taking him along.

- Imrahil

[SixOfSpades]

Sarevok's chance of scoring a Deathbringer Assault is actually 3% on each melee hit. And it's 200 Piercing damage, so critters like Mustard Jellies are still gonna laugh at you.

As for the choice of whether or not to use him: If you've never done X before, then by all means you should try X and see what happens.

As for whom to swap out, I would actually give Mazzy the boot, from a powergaming perspective. You're certianly not lacking in Tanking power, so one must look to secondary skills--and most of this game is melee-oriented, so being good with Gesen isn't as useful as Valygar's Stealth and excellent Elemental resists, or Keldorn's anti-Mage abilities and Carsomyr.

[Shotgun]

Hm, good points. Although I like Mazzy personally (one of the least annoying characters!), I did use her the first time around. So, as much as I like her, maybe I'll switch her for Sarevok. She does have five slots in the short sword area, though!

I hesitate to get rid of Keldorn because he's weilding the Carsomyr (sp?) and he's been a good fighter for me, particularly when you give him the right armor and amulets.

I also like Imrahil's idea about saving one and trying both versions! So, I think that's what I'll do--drop Mazzy for Sarevok and later drop Valygar for Sarevok.

Thanks, everyone!

[ 01-14-2004, 09:21 AM: Message edited by: Shotgun ]

[Userunfriendly]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: Sarevok's chance of scoring a Deathbringer Assault is actually 3% on each melee hit. And it's 200 Piercing damage, so critters like Mustard Jellies are still gonna laugh at you. As for the choice of whether or not to use him: If you've never done X before, then by all means you should try X and see what happens. As for whom to swap out, I would actually give Mazzy the boot, from a powergaming perspective. You're certianly not lacking in Tanking power, so one must look to secondary skills--and most of this game is melee-oriented, so being good with Gesen isn't as useful as Valygar's Stealth and excellent Elemental resists, or Keldorn's anti-Mage abilities and Carsomyr.

the stun effect seems to happen a lot more frequently...

i've experimented with giving deathbringer to other fighers in my parties, and at fairly high levels, deathbringer stun seems to happen almost with every 3-6th hit...

deathbringer has not only a piercing damage, but has the same almost unstoppable stun as celestial fury...i've stunned clay golems with a fighter who has deathbringer...only for a few rounds, but that's all you need... [img]smile.gif[/img]