The NPC MVP

[Darviathar]

Is, in my opinion, without a doubt, Anomen DelRynn. I've been through Shadows of Amn three times now, and have sworn up and down NOT to continue using him, but just cannot help myself. I simply do not understand how anyone could choose Jaheira over him. Anomen's fighter level will forever remain at seven, but that really doesn't make all that much of a difference, since he can fully specialize in the flail or hammer, giving him plenty of attacks per round. THACO tends to rendered irrelevant by the time your reach higher levels (especially if you have any sort of giant strength girdle), so on pure fighting ability, Anomen is just fine. His spell casting ability is superior to Jaheira as well, since he doesn't waste time as a multi classed character. In my TOB game, Anomen is now 25th level, and has so many heal spells that I ditched Jaheira from the party in favor of Saervok. In my opinion, multi classed characters simply do not measure up. In my experience, they are less effective the further you get into the game. Jaheira was about 15/15 as a fighter druid, but had so few HP's that she simply could not tank fire giants for any amount of time. She simply did not have enough spell power (when compared to Anomen, who was 10 levels higher) to really amount to all that much use as a healer any longer. Now that Anomen has so many heal (the sixth level spell) spells at his disposal, I really don't have the need any longer for a second healer, especially considering that I have a Rod of ressurection to rez Anomen in case of emergency.

[Nanobyte]

There really isn't a NPC 'MVP', but to go against your idea of Anomen being the 'best' I would say Aerie makes a good enough Cleric to keep the party healthy, and (drat it, not Korgan but the Cavalier) makes a much better fighter than Anomen. Basically, people don't enjoy having Anomen around because of his alignment drop if he does not become one of the Most Radiant Heart. Also, as I hear from constant bickering, he is very annoying.

[Darviathar]

Originally posted by Nanobyte: There really isn't a NPC 'MVP', but to go against your idea of Anomen being the 'best' I would say Aerie makes a good enough Cleric to keep the party healthy, and (drat it, not Korgan but the Cavalier) makes a much better fighter than Anomen. Basically, people don't enjoy having Anomen around because of his alignment drop if he does not become one of the Most Radiant Heart. Also, as I hear from constant bickering, he is very annoying.

I just never had much luck with Aerie in my group. Without a doubt she was the only NPC that I absolutely hated talking to. Her HP's were wretched, and she was constantly being pincushioned by archers it seemed. I'm not a fan of multi classed characters to begin with. As I mentioned in another post, they seem to lose effectiveness at higher levels. They lag so far behind a single class character in spells that they are (in my humble opinion) redundant by the time TOB begins.

Anomen's alignment meshes perfectly with my style of play, so he's a natural for my team. I've never failed the Radiant Heart quest with him, so I have no idea how he behaves after that.

[Nanobyte]

And I do believe that Aerie is the only beneficial multi-class character in all of SoA. A Cleric-Mage? Can be pretty powerful if you choose the right combinations.

[Jimbo]

Did you know that the level and hit points that your npc's start with are dependent on your level? If you import a fighter of 9th level instead of 7th, your npc's will have higher hit points and levels sometimes. You can get Anomen with 9th level fighter instead of 7th sometimes too.

Jaheria is better played out as a light tank, and she is a spell casters nightmare with her spells and weapons. Weapons such as the sling, spears and staffs, with a good mix of summoned monsters and a mix of offense and defense spells, plus the ability to hit things and take a few hits make her a nice choice. Weakness is that she levels slow, needs a str item (she has decent con and dex), and unless you use shadowkeeper is limited to one prof point in two-handed weapons [bulldoodoo!dangnabit].

Anomen is great as a cleric-tank! He has good str, decent AC (jaherias is better lol), and decent con and wis (once knighted), can speciallize in alot of slots and make use of war hammer, flail and mace which have some great weapons available. Bad points are his lack of dex, bad attitude (untill knighted), low wis (till knighted).

I usually use Anomen, Minsc and me (the nutty bezerker) up front, with Jan, Jaheria and Iomen in the back.

Best all time Npc? Minsc and Boo! Why? Because I like em! That's why



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Drink and be merry
Jimbo
"Renegade, Rebel, and Rogue"

[Darviathar]

Originally posted by Nanobyte: And I do believe that Aerie is the only beneficial multi-class character in all of SoA. A Cleric-Mage? Can be pretty powerful if you choose the right combinations.

By late game, Aerie isn't all that nice though. Her HP's will be very poor to begin with. She'll pale in comparison to Edwin, Nalie, or Imoen as a pure caster, and lack the healing touch of Viconia or Anomen as a healer, I've always preferred experts in a field to a jack of all trades, so perhaps it is just my playing style. If it wasn't so hard for me to fill the "thief" role with one of my slots (Imoen most of the time), I could let Aerie hang out to serve as #2 caster/#2 healer, but that just doesn't leave much space for tanks, and my playing style heavily relies upon them to get most of the work done.

[Nanobyte]

That's just it. That's what makes multi-class characters (balanced ones) so beneficial. It's like taking two characters and putting them into one, so you can have more room for more NPC's to join your party. I didn't say Aerie was the 'best' choice, I said she was beneficial because she is the only Cleric/Mage.

[Darviathar]

Originally posted by Jimbo: Did you know that the level and hit points that your npc's start with are dependent on your level? If you import a fighter of 9th level instead of 7th, your npc's will have higher hit points and levels sometimes. You can get Anomen with 9th level fighter instead of 7th sometimes too. Jaheria is better played out as a light tank, and she is a spell casters nightmare with her spells and weapons. Weapons such as the sling, spears and staffs, with a good mix of summoned monsters and a mix of offense and defense spells, plus the ability to hit things and take a few hits make her a nice choice. Weakness is that she levels slow, needs a str item (she has decent con and dex), and unless you use shadowkeeper is limited to one prof point in two-handed weapons [bulldoodoo!dangnabit]. Anomen is great as a cleric-tank! He has good str, decent AC (jaherias is better lol), and decent con and wis (once knighted), can speciallize in alot of slots and make use of war hammer, flail and mace which have some great weapons available. Bad points are his lack of dex, bad attitude (untill knighted), low wis (till knighted). I usually use Anomen, Minsc and me (the nutty bezerker) up front, with Jan, Jaheria and Iomen in the back. Best all time Npc? Minsc and Boo! Why? Because I like em! That's why

Yes, I sure do know that an NPC's level is partially dependent on the level of the main PC. This is especially effective in Throne of Bhaal, since I was able to shuttle out a few of the stand by's that I had finished Shadows of Amn with, while maintaining about the same effectiveness level wise.

I tried to use Jan (instead of Imoen) this time, but my old dislike for multi classed characters bothered my conscience to the point that I left him to return to turnip sales.

I usually don't like evil NPC's (and keeping my rep at 18 is a pain...thank god for my my slayer shapechange instant rep loss ability), but Edwin has proven a welcome addition to my group this time through. Because he is a conjurer, he has a ton more spells than Imoen and Nalia. His side quest is also far more interesting. For anyone that casually dismissed him as a snooty SOB, I highly recommend that you give him a try.

[Alaric]

I have to agree with Darviathar about Anomen. He is a well rounded character. He can become a tank - I have him in my front lines. He has great weapons that he can chose from, i.e. Crom Faeyr, Flail of the Ages, etc. He can boost his combat abilities by using spells like Righetous Magic and Draw Upon Holy Might. He can use his spells to help heal the party, protect the party, or attack the enemy. He does have a low dexterity but there is an item that he can equip that will increase this stat giving him a better AC. He is also a undead killer. By using his turn undead ability, Anomen was able to totally destroy a lich in one round. He also levels up pretty quickly giving you access to more spells and higher levels spells.

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All the world is a stage and we are all actors playing our parts.

[ravensong]

I have a really hard time deciding who the best NPC is.

Keldorn was amazing, his dispels and true seeing just make the game Sooooo much easier, he also gets his "summon deva" as a special ability instead of having to summon it like a cleric would, at a much faster casting rate.

Aerie was an absolute monster. There were better Mages and Better clerics, but none that were both. Sorry, I found her good enough at both to justify her lack of being amazing at one of them. Sequencing her Cleric spells was just devestating in most cases. She also consistantly had an AC several points lower than my tanks, so she didnt really find herself in trouble too often.

Jaheira also kicked ass for me. You do have to boost her str but she DOES get to be a much better fighter than Anomen. Everyone rags on her cleric ability, but hey, she's not a cleric, she's a druid, with some of the coolest high level spells. The Elemental Lords that she can summon by the end are almost worth the price of admission alone, rivaled only by Planetars. I found her to be a very effective fighter with points put into staff and simitar.

I Loved Minsc, but had more than enough beef up front between Jaheira and Keldorn, with my Archer backing them up, so we sadly parted company. I also for roleplaying reasons, held onto Imoen even though when I rescued her, she was at least 4 levels behind Nalia. Wound up being very Mage heavy because of it.

Final party:

Sorrow (Archer)
Keldorn
Jahiera
Aerie
Nalia
Imoen

The game was almost too easy with this group.