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

[floyd]

I would be curious as to how high a level anyone has got jah to with exp cap off or ToB installed. Does leveling get quicker after lvl 15 (3000000 exp) or does it stay the same, or get worse? If it stays the same or gets worse I don't think she could get over lvl 16-17 even with ToB installed. That *sucks*.

[Nerull]

Originally posted by 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??????!!!!!!

SPOILER
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In ToB, you have to bring Sarevok back to life. He is an incredible fighter, and well worth it (especially in a neutral or evil party). He will probably rack up more kills than any of your characters (he has a chance to do 200+ points of damage with a strike, kind of like a super-critical).


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Death is only the beginning...

[Jerome]

Give Anomen some deccent armour and sheild, give him the Crom Fayre to fight with and he can get a THACO of -5 with and AC of lower than -10

AND he's got a big bunch of Cleric spells to boot. He can wipe the floor with Jaheria anyday! (though for the record i usually have them both in my party)

He's an asset to any party.....if you can stop yourself strangling the arrogant b*stard

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[trux]

There should be no argument - Jaheira should stay.

I hear some people saying that Jaheira can't survive. What's this all about? Are you using her wrong? She's incredibly powerful - a great fighter, with the capability of a great AC, Thac0 and damage, and druids are powerful as all hell. Let's not even get into how much more power druids attain in the expansion.

So admittedly she has some weapon proficiency problems, but that's the way druids go. Scimitar is a good weapon, and just because there aren't many in SoA doesn't mean there aren't many in ToB.

Forget Anomen weilding the Crom Faeyr. Give it to a GOOD cleric NPC like Viconia (I'd even rather give it to Aerie than see Anomen hold it.)

Besides, Jaheira is a far more intricate and necessary NPC than Anomen. I mean, really, who wants to hear even a single word he has to say? Not to mention the fact that, SPOILER...
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After (if) he becomes Knighted, he transforms into an absolute jerk. So he gets a Wisdom increase, he's still in no position to even compare to the cleric skills of Viconia. And as far as fighting goes, I'd rather have Aerie wielding the Crom Faeyr with a Tenser's Transformation spell active.

I suppose the simple fact is: I just violently dislike Anomen. I think he's a waste of game space, and would be better suited burned alive at the stake, naked, with an intelligence of 3.

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trux

[Gustave]

If anyone has ever tried having Anomen as a lover(did it the second time through), Anomen becomes an extremely interesting character..just my opinion tho

[Kitty]

Trux,
I am Anomen's fan, but I don't want to start a fight with you. It seems to me that you hate him mainly because of his bad behavior (namely arrogance) and not because of his abilities. You say you'd rather have Aerie wield the war hammer than seeing that weapon on Anomen's hands, but let's think reasonably: would Aerie have enough HP to go toe-to-toe against most foes? How long would you have to wait to give Aerie decent fighting abilities? It's well known that she is a very good character if you keep her throwing bullets and casting her well-known wide repertoire of spells while the tanks and archers whack the enemy.
Regarding Jaheira, as you and someone else said, can be a powerful character and she has a more interesting plot, and I don't doubt that. However,in BG II, Jaheira cannot achieve her full potential due to the XP cap and her slow leveling-up. And when I say Anomen is more likely to survive a battle when compared to Jaheira, I mean hitpoints mainly. I understand your point of view, but you must understand that lots of people choose their NPCs based on stats and not on their personality.

[trux]

Originally posted by Kitty: I don't want to start a fight with you

Hey Kitty,

No worries - if everyone liked the same things the world would be a pretty boring place, no?

You say people choose their NPCs based on stats, well Jaheira has the better stats in almost every category. The only category she's bested in by Anomen is Strength, if I remember correctly. However, a fighter's strength is often offset by a girdle or gloves (or in Anomen's case the Crom Faeyr,) so even this has no real bearing on his skill. His dexterity is horrible, completing blowing the AC bonus that a good dexterity like Jaheira's brings. His constitution is good, but again, if I remember correctly Jaheira's is better (I could be wrong about this though as I don't remember her exact score.) And as for his cleric skills, his wisdom is tragicly low.

In my opinion he's just a rather pedestrian character. He excels in little, and his personality is bothersome. I'm sure its different if playing a female PC, but when using a male PC I would rather pick up another NPC.

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trux

[deathknight]

Actually Anomens wisdom is raised to an acceptable level fairly early and his dex can be corrected with an item just as easily as another chars strength can be corrected with gauntlets or a girdle. Actually the dex gauntlets are perfect for him. There are not many characters that NEED the dex that bad and don't already have it.

Anyways to me Anomen allows my party more flexibility. Thats the key. Anomen can fit into any party. He levels up quickly, can handle the healing chores almost single handed.. to the point that you could go with only him as a healer and bring in a pure mage like edwin instead of say aerie. Plus anomen can be an excellent front line warrior as well. Actually I have 2 clerics now so he doesn't need nearly so many healing spells. Almost all the time I fight he has some kind of buff spell on himself that raises stats over 20. He kicks major butt like this IMHO. And the power of the skeleton warriors is sooo nice. Heh I got 4 memorized right now and its so nice to have at least 1 skel with me at all times if not more.
After Anomen gets knighted I actually noted that he undergoes a BIG personality change also. He doesn't complain hardly at all. Actually the only things he complains about is Jan and that is some of the most interesting dialog in the game when Jan goes at it with Keldorn and Anomen

Jah has some good qualities as well though and thats what makes this hard. She is a subpar warrior but i think some of her spells that she can cast i nthe heat of battle are better (like insect plague). depends if you really need a support person or another front line fighter that happens to have gobs of spells.

[This message has been edited by deathknight (edited 07-24-2001).]

[oldbittercraig]

AnnoyingMan might win the "number-crunching game" and wield Crom Faeyr- good for him, but Jaheira can wield the Impaling Spear (+10dmg) which is quite effective, too (admittedly at the cost of a shield).

Insect plague has saved my bacon more than once.

The romance quest and her constant chastisement of the Aerie is just an added bonus.

What it comes done to for me is that I enjoy having Jaheira in the party- I can't say the same for AnnoyingMan. Somebody mentioned dumping the arrogant bastard naked at the CC- I'd take it a step further and leave him only with the Girdle of Gender equipped...

[floyd]

In ToB I summoned Anomen by accident (not really a spoiler, just how you get characters if you create a new PC for ToB), and I was so disgusted that I took all his inventory, dropped it, and cast Imprisonment on him.. He's somewhere in the centre of the earth right about now. No one will ever hear his whining again