A Compromise: Nalia or Aerie?

[el_kalkylus]

Gotta try playing that assassin. I have played the game through with an assassin/mage and I really liked the assassin skill, at least in the beginning.

By the way, _max_RUSSIE, what did you mean by "the xp's rolling in"? Do you get more xp for each character if you have less people in your group??

Imoen can cast two level 8 and 3 level 7 spells when she maxes out and it was good enough for me.

I think you gotta keep Nalia. After the keep quest, she doesn't complain as much. However, I am just finishing up all the quests in Chapter 2 that I can do and most of my characters are around level 12.

Here's the party I currently have, I play multi-player (with myself). Created 4, have 2 NPC's.
1) Arianna - Human - Kensai (having the keep is an awesome stronghold. I store all my junk there, just in case I need it later)
2) Minsc(NPC) - (best character of the game - "Boo! Go for the eyes!!! Squeeeeek!")
3) Mo'Agnar - Half-orc - Figher/Cleric. This guys kicks arsss with 19Str/19Con. Dual-wield with Flail of the Ages and the Icewind Dale Flail you can buy. Eventually Dual wield Flail and Crom F. warhammer. Major Tank!
4) Sage - Half-Elf - Skald(Bard). I love this character. Lore all over, uses bows, can cast magic, and with the Elven Chain +3, has the lowest AC of any of my characters right now with Stoneskin and Spiritial armor to boot.
5) Nia - Human - Swashbuckler 10th lv/Dualled to Mage. My best mage and can use crossbow/shortbow and longsword and has good thief skills.
6) Nalia(NPC) - Good backup thief to my main one, excellent Mage. I stick with her mainly, but roll in other NPC's for short periods for specific quests like the Druid's grove or a couple of Jaheria's quests (gotta get that Ring of Wizardry!)

All in all, Nalia has worked great for me. I highly recommend the Half-Orc Fighter/Cleric combo, very cool.

Have any of you though how sad all this is? You done need 6 *&*&^ chars to play. Get *&^87 for support mage etc etc, its all unnesesary in the end.

For a start I have a new game, I am playing as an Assasin,

I have 4 guys in party : (I only have 5 if i want to have the extra quests, like valygar for planar sphere, and Hairy Dales for the theatre quest, i then chuck them)

Jaheira
Minsc
Edwin
Me (Assasin-Straight, no multi or dual crap)

I am finding this is the easiest game so far, dont need to worry about 2 more weak chars.

Fo really tough battles, i just trap the place out!

The Twisted rune battle ended in 10 mins 4 traps = One dead Lich, the rest is easy.

Backstab x7 Damage with holy might is a force to be reckoned with. (220 damage at crit!!!!,plus 38 poison damage from assasin )

Firkraag- 10 traps, one Magic Resistance spell (Jaheira) and 2 x magic missiles (Edwin duh!) Killed him off.

Last game i played was with a bloody good barbarian, with all 6 chars, everyone kept dying!!!

Just try playing with 4 chars for a while, and watch the xp's roll in!

Oh and next game ill play 1 Illusionist/Thief, One Cleric/Ranger and a Fighter, just to see what its like.

Nalia is a great spell caster but she can't pick a lock for sh*t. I found Aerie more valuable for a number of reasons;

1) Romance Thread. More interaction and dialogue which adds to the depth of the game.
2) Cleric/Mage ( twice the fun! )
3) Strong Lore. She can identify many basic magic items without an identify spell.

If you need a thief don't count on Nalia. She can find traps ok but don't count on her to disarm them.

**Spoiler**

This time around I am going to dump her when I get Imoen back. Imoen is a MUCH better thief and a decent mage as well.

The XP you get is divided among your chars so if you get 60xP and you have 6 chars each one gets 10Xp, if you have 3 chars and get 60XP each one gets 20xP. The less chars you have the faster you level up.

gone

I've found the best party to be...

PC: Whatever you want but I recommend being some sort of fighter type. Having low hit points sucks.

Tank: Minsc or Korgan. I think Korgan is a better choice but Minsc meshes better with other party members and has some quest options. Minsc is also a little more versatile.

Tank/Healer: Jaheira. She can fight and heal and a good quest. Much better than Anomen.

Thief: Jan Jansen is the best option hands down. More versatile than Yoshimo. A better thief than Inomen or Nalia.

Caster: I recommend Edwin, but Aerie is a viable choice.

Healer: I recommend Viconia, but Aerie is also a viable choice.

Get out of my brain! : )

I don't know how you can say Aerie could sub in for any primary caster.
She gets two level 6 spells at her highest level. A bard is a better caster. Jan Jansen is a better caster by being an illusionist. If you aren't playing a caster you have to plan the game around getting Edwin, Imoen or Nalia.

Also, Minsc has no quests. Korgan at least has one.