Advice on my party members

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Hey everyone

I have played BG1 a few times, though never actually completed it. I have installed BGT and plan to run it from beggining to end (finally hehehehehe)

After looking into continuity of some NPCs into BG2, I spent a long while looking at various forums to learn more about the characters in BG2, and decided to make this party:

Me - Paladin (Inquisitor os cavalier, would really appreciate opinions on which kit would be best!)
Minsc
Jahera (melee and druid spells)
Imoen (Yoshimo until I get her back)
Viconia (awesome cleric)
Edwin (awesome mage)

My two main concerns are:
Me as a paladin and Viconia: will she leave the group because I'm a paladin? I will have high charisma (18) and will keep reputation at 18.
Minsc and Edwin: will they fight because of Dynaheir in BG1? I don't mind them arguing once in a while but I really don't want one of them dead lol.

Thanks for any advice

 

Minsc and Edwin will end up fighting to the death eventually. Also if you are a paladin, you need to make sure you don`t get your rep too high, or edwin and viconia will leave.

Inquisitor is better than Cavalier, I belive. Due to the True Sight ability and the dispel magic ability.

I`d swap Minsc with Mazzy. She is more of a paladin type, but doesn`t argue with anyone.

 

Yeah, the Edwin-Minsc combo is a deal breaker. Normally, I'd advise you to take along Keldorn, make your PC a cavalier, and then you'd have both and wouldn't have to decide between an inquisitor and a cavalier. That said, I do agree that the inquisitor has more utility. The bonuses against dragons and demons are nice (and having essentially an unlimited supply of remove fear is good too), but it isn't like those groups of creatures are so prolific that you'd include a character just for when you fight them. OTOH, inquisitors shine against enemy mages, and there are a TON of such fights in the game.

The only problem with this theory is that Keldorn would prevent you from taking Viconia, as they eventually come to blows. If you really want a second mage in the party, Nalia is a perfectly acceptable choice. Yes, I know she's basically an Imoen clone being a thief dual classed to a mage, but in case you haven't noticed, Imoen is a really useful character - and so is Nalia.

While mixing and matching good and evil NPCs is certainly doable, I think you may get the most enjoyment out of your initial playthrough - especially as a paladin - if you go all goody-goody, and go for the high reputation. Since you already can't have all the NPCs returning from BG1, stick with just the Minsc and Jaheira. I personally hate party conflicts, and when I want to take evil NPCs with me, I usually go whole hog, and everyone - including the PC - is either evil or neutral. No good characters at all. (In fact, my current party is exactly like that - Korgan, Edwin, Viconia, and Jan - along with me of course. I will pick up Sarevok in ToB.)

Here's another thing if you want to take the continuity thing to a whole new level. In the very beginning of SoA, the game assumes that you were traveling with Imoen, Minsc, Jaheira, Khalid, and Dynaheir in BG1. If you really want continuity between the games, take that as your BG1 party.

So then we have your PC paladin, Minsc, Jaheira, and eventually Imoen back for your BG2 party (you'll have to take Yoshimo early on to have a thief, but Imoen works just fine as your primary thief once you get her back - especially with all the available items that add to thief skills that you'll run across). Truth be told, those 4 could probably run through the game by themselves without much difficulty, so your final two members of the party are up to you. Nalia, as I've already mentioned, would give you a second mage - and a very powerful one at that. Aerie, is a mutli-classed cleric-mage, so would give you both a second divine and arcane caster. As stated, Keldorn rocks. If you want some more archery flare in your party, look to Mazzy or Valygar.

Like I said, your base 4 characters are such that you have a ton of flexibility in your remaining 2 selections. If you're asking me what I would do to maximize my enjoyment on a first play, I'd make your PC an inquisitor, and fill the last two spots with Nalia and Mazzy.

 

I agree with Aldeth - for various reasons, not least of them being roleplaying, its not wise to mix good and evil characters together. Doesnt work.

If you have never played BG2 before, dont use any difficulty enhancing mods. That will make the choice between Cavalier and Inquisitor a bit more even, and you can decide more or less on roleplaying grounds. The inquisitor, I feel, is a stronger kit in terms of its utility against spellcasters, but its up to you whether that really, really matters. Not using difficulty enhancing mods should mitigate a lot of that need, and the game is completable with a very wide variety of party configurations.

So, assuming that you wanted your PC to be a Paladin of some sort for RP reasons, and you were limited to good characters, I would go with a party as follows:
Minsc
Jaheira
Aerie
Imoen/Yoshimo
Anomen/Valygar/Mazzy/Cernd

I would normally choose Valygar myself, but its up to you. Choosing Anomen would mitigate the need for Aerie, and you could use another character instead of her. Not many people like Aerie it seems.

 

Thx for the replies guys

Some really nice suggestions there.
When I did some research on which BG2 characters were available I was quite dissapointed that the only pure mages and clerics were evil ones: Viconia and Edwin. But at the same time they were the best at what they do in BG1 one too, and that's why I wanted to have them with me.

I guess Anomen could do the role of healer, but being multiclassed is a big drawback for me. I guess im used to always having had a pure cleric doing healing and party buffing + Jahera self buffing and offensive casting.
Besides it seems Viconia has a pretty interesting story that unfolds in SoA (correct me If that's wrong) and that I can actually change her alignenment to neutral at some point in ToB (correct me if thats wrong). So best cleric + nice story makes some nice play time
If the only problem I'd have is keeping reputation at 18, and I can live with that without any trouble. The difference between rep 20 and 18 is only -1 NPC Reaction and -10% discount on items.

I'm a huge mage fan, in fact all the games I ever ran in BG1 were with a mage protagonist, but it seems that Edwin actually ends up having more spells than even the best Illusionist Gnome I ever created lol. He's just and awesome mage, and I really like pure mages, I find them indispensable. I'd go as far as leaving Minsc behind if I had to choose between him and Edwin
Nalia for me is a no go, having another person being a weaker Imoen clone (at least that's what most people say about her in the forums) doesnt sound much fun. Aerie is just a weird build, not quite good as a cleric, not quite good as a mage. I dunno, I guess i'd have to try her to see how good it is, but if I take Viconia she becomes redundant.

Minsc is a cool character, I like his dialogues (at least in BG1) and his interaction with Boo. It would be nice to keep him, but by the looks of it I might have to swap him for Sarevok in ToB. Is Sarevok evil too?

So it would end up as
Paladin (me)
Jahera
Imoen
Anomen/Viconia (very inclined towards Viconia)
Edwin
Minsc (then Sarevok replaces him)

Plz feel free to say as much as you can about the characters we have been discussing in BG2. All I know about them is what I read in the forums, since I haven't played BG2 yet, and I would hate to have to leave behind an NPC with great potential.

Thanks again

 

OK, first of all, in regards to Anomen, Nalia, and Imoen - all are dual classed characters. As such, they level just as fast as their single classed counterparts (because they all have surpassed the level of their initial class), so Anomen is essentially a pure cleric with improved fighting abilities, while Nalia and Imoen are pure mages with thieving abilities.

OTOH, both Aerie and Jan and multi-classed, and as such, they do split their XPs between the classes and will level at half the rate as a single classed character.

Anomen has a personal quest in SoA, and upon completing it, he gets a serious boost to his Wisdom, at which point the difference between his spell casting abilities as compared with Viconia are minimal. And he's a hell of a lot more serviceable in melee combat as compared with Viconia. It is true that Viconia has a good story in BG2, but as stated, Anomen has a personal quest, and so he has a pretty good story too. It is possible to change Viconia's alignment to neutral in ToB. But it is also possible to change Anomen's alignment in SoA.

Honestly, the only reason to have Viconia in your party is if you want to romance her (and you're taking Jaheira, who has a much better romance and you can only romance one of them), or if you just really want to have Viconia in your party. Anomen is much better in melee, and thus I feel that he has much more utility.

Now for Nalia - I don't get why people refer to her as a weaker Imoen clone. It is true that they are both dual classed characters, and that since Nalia dual classed earlier, her thief skills are less developed than Imoen's thief skills. But here's the thing - you're never going to have to use Nalia's thief skills anyway with Yoshimo or Imoen in the party, and given your projected character selections, you're always going to have Yoshimo or Imoen around. From a pure character potential viewpoint, the dual classed mages are a clearly superior option.

So what you really get with Nalia is a mage that is every bit as good as Imoen (probably somewhat better, as she's usually a level or two ahead of Imoen), who has a much wider array of equipment selections as compared to a standard mage. For example, a pure mage cannot equip elven chain mail. A dual classed mage can, and still cast mage spells while wearing it. In addition to your standard run of the mill elven chain, there are several enhanced versions found in the game such as Sylvan Chian, Bladesinger Chain, and Aslyferund Elven Chain (that one is +5 and gives a base AC of 0). Now let's talk weapons. Dual classed mages can use short bows and still cast spells. The Tuigan Bow, Tansheron's Bow, and Gesen Bow are all excellent weapons, can be used by Imoen and Nalia, and will easily outpace the damage of any weapon a single classed mage can use when not casting spells. Thus Imoen and Nalia have utility in combat when not casting spells that Edwin simply lacks.

Finally, if you take both Imoen and Nalia with you, you'll never be hurting for mage spells. Sure, it's true that Edwin will get more spells per level than Nalia, but there are several items you can equip on Nalia that will increase her memorization potential, and when I take both Imoen and Nalia (which I often do), I'm never lacking in spells. Edwin is a great option if he is intended to be the party's only mage. If you have two, I'd definitely advocate the dual classes - combined they'll have way more spells than Edwin alone.

As for Sarevok, he's a pure fighter, a very good one, and will be a primary tank and damage dealer. So you can certainly pick him up in ToB, and you would replace one of your frontline fighters with him.

One more thing:

This still doesn't work, because you're still including both Edwin and Minsc, they will fight, and one of them will die. So I'd suggest you save yourself some grief, and pick one or the other. As I outlined above, my recommendation would be replacing Edwin with Nalia (who also has a very good story in SoA). The other issue here is that between you, Jaheira, Anomen, and Minsc, you have four front line fighters. Certainly doable, but more than you absolutely need. Most people will tell you the optimal number of front-line guys are three, although some prefer two.

And if you do want to eliminate one of those front line guys, the one you'd probably ditch is Minsc. There are a ton of funny banters with Minsc throughout the game, but he doesn't have a personal quest (unlike most other NPCs), and would have the least utility among the other front line guys as the only thing he can really do is tank (OK, he does get a few druid spells). But Anomen and Jaheira will obviously be more useful characters overall.

So here's what I think you should go with:

You (Inquisitor) PC

Jaheira - unlike most multi-classed characters, multi-classed druids are, IMO, superior to their single classed counterparts. Better armor, useful as front line characters, still get decent numbers of spells, and still have access to level 6 spells fairly early. She also has the most detailed personal quest in the game, has the best romance, and there are more than a couple pretty good items sprinkled throughout the game only useable by druids (and one that is only usable by Harpers - and therefore only Jaheira). For your first playthrough the game, I would consider her indispensable.

Imoen - obviously, she is the most important character in the game outside of the PC. You almost have to take her - and she has access to all the cool equipment selections that normal mages can use as I outlined above. Throw on some thief-specific rings and gloves, and she'll be more than adequate as the party's primary thief to boot.

Anomen - with one druid and one cleric, you'll have access to all the divine spells the game has to offer. Decently good personal quest which improves upon his starting stats, and has more utility than Viconia, who you wouldn't want to romance anyway with Jaheira in the party.

Nalia - for all the reasons I listed above

Minsc/Mazzy/Valygar - Minsc if you want that 4th frontline guy, or just because you think he's funny. Mazzy if you want the best archer in the game, Valygar if you want a very good archer, who is also very effective at backstabbing, which is the one thief ability Imoen will not excel at. Either way, this is the character you'd most likely be dropping for Sarevok in ToB.

 

I wouldn't forget about Aerie -- I found her much more useful than Nalia. With Jaheira and in the party there was no shortage of divine spells. Imoen and Aerie also provided ample arcane spells as well. For me a fun paladin team was:

Me (Cavalier)
Yoshimo/Imoen
Jaheira
Aerie
Minsc

Tha last spot is for the NPC of the day to do their quests (although I kept Keldorn for a while 'cause he's such a nice guy -- and Mazzy ... damn her voice is almost as cool as Annah's). In ToB I had Sarevok.

I also like to have Viconia, Jaheira, and Aerie in the party at the same time for the cat fights.

 

Thx a million for this reply!!!! You have made great points here, and for someone who hasn't played BG2 yet it is great to have some experienced input

I didin't know Anomem and Nalia were dual classed, kinda assumed they were multi, so it's a good point for them here.

Still not too keen on these two, since Jan seems similar to Imoen's build for me, and I like Imoen. Aerie is still a strange build for me, maybe i'll try her in a second run through the game to see what it is like.

I think this settles the matter between Viconia and Anomen for me. I didn't know I couldn't romance more than one (I thought other NPCs could romance too, not just me). So if I romance Jahera, having Viconia is a bit redundant, especially because I won't be able to change her alignment (which I assume is through romancing her).

Also the boost you mentioned to Anomen's wisdom sounds awesome, because the main reason I didin't like him was his 12 wisdom stat. How much of a boost does he get? (plz spoil me hehehehehe).

So If the boost is good enough (I assume it is because you said his spell casting abilities as compared with Viconia are minimal) I will take him instead, though not exactaly as a front-liner, but perhaps once in while doing some melee.

Well I can't argue with the points you made in relation to better armour and weapon choice for a dual class mage, it sounds very reasonable and perhaps Nalia is a better choice combined with Imoen's magical abilities.
But I think I'll stick with Edwin merely because I am a huge fan of mages, and I think with the extra amount of spells he will have (more than Nalia and more because of his special item) I will probably make up for the lack of a good ranged weapon. Edwin and Imoen = sweet mage power

And since the points you made here have made me decide not to take Minsc anylonger, I won't have much trouble with Edwin. That actually solves the issues I was going to have running with Minsc and Edwin in BG1 (since I like to have a sense of continuity between both games).

I'll take Saverok and replace the person I'll use instead of Minsc for him. He is evil, right? If so I'll still have to keep my reputation at 18 for him, so having Edwin as evil wont be extra hassle.

I thought having some extra melees would be a good thing because the forums said that ranged weapons are not as effective as they were in BG1 (where they are very very effective).
But still my plan is to have 2.5 front-liners (myself and Jahera always, Anomen occasionaly); 1.5 healers (Anomen mainly, Jahera depending on situation); 1.5 mages (Edwin always and Imoen in between some archery), 1 thief (Imoen); and finally 1.5 archers (very inclined towards Mazzy for mainly archery and Imoen in between spells).

I'm inclined to take Mazzy, for although I think backstabbing can be fun, I find it difficult to manage with a full group doing things everywhere. Besides, this character will eventually be replaced by Saverok, so Mazzy seems quite good for archery for SoA. It seems she has some nice special abilities (haste and lay on hands, is that right?)

When saverok, joins Anomen will take a back seat and heal,cast spells & range wepons, and myself, Jahera and Sav will be fron liners, while Imoen uses ranged weapons and spells and Edwin bombards them all. Sounds fun

My new dilemma now is Inquisitor or cavalier.... hummmm reading through forums today I got mixed opinions, but it seems for a group (instead of solo play) cavalier seems best because other party members can easily do what an inquistor does (true seeing and dispel). So my cavalier would have lay on hands and access to his spells + some nice immunities.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this too plz

 

I wasn't necessarily advocating their inclusion in the party. I was just doing it for comparison's sake. Aerie is completely redundant given your other selections, as she would be your 3rd best mage and 3rd best cleric, and you don't need 3 of either.

Jan is there if you want a do everything thief. Because he continues to advance in both classes, you can eventually max out all of his abilities. He'll be able to pickpockets, detect illusions, set traps (including the powerful HLA traps you'll get in ToB) etc. If all you need your thief to do is find and disarm traps, and pick the occasional lock, Imoen is fine as that's where most of her thief skill points are allocated.

It's at least 16 - possibly 17. I don't recall offhand, but I've played with both he and Viconia (never at the same time) and I found the efficacy in cleric spell casting to be comparable.

Anomen has sword and shield proficiency, and as such, is a very effective front-liner. Remember that you don't necessarily need your best damage dealers on the front lines (which will be you and Sarevok), but those with the best AC (Jaheira and Anomen will have shields with +3 or better enchantment on them). This is especially true because you and Sarevok will likely be using two handed swords, which have quite a bit of range on them. Anomen and Jaheira going with one-handed weapons will need to get close to enemies to attack, whereas you and Sarevok can "reach" (for lack of a better term) the monsters on the swing from further away - they will stand between and behind Anomen and Jaheira and swing.

Sarevok is evil, but because you bring him back to life he is indebted to you, and no matter how high your reputation goes he'll stay with you (he'll complain a lot though). There is also the opportunity to change his alignment from evil to neutral as well. (Although not by romancing him of course!) So if you don't include Edwin, you can go all the way to 20 reputation even if you have Sarevok.

Well, there's a difference between not as effective and ineffective. The Tuigan Bow gives an extra attack per round, and Mazzy has Grandmastery in short bows, so if you equip her with that, she'll fire 5 (!) arrows per round. That's a whole heap o' damage potential.

Yes - Mazzy is part-paladin (or at least as close to a paladin as any halfling can hope to be). One point though is her special abilities like lay on hands can only be self-cast. So she can use that spell to heal herself, but not others.

That's not entirely true - it's true that other characters can cast true seeing and dispel magic, but they can't do it as well. You see, here's how dispel magic works. When you're trying to determine if it's effective on dispelling, it compares the level of the character who cast whatever it is you're trying to dispel, to the level of the character that's trying to dispel it. If the two characters are the same level, the chance is 50%. There is a 5% modifier on the chance for each level in difference (a 5% increase for each level if your level is higher, a 5% decrease for each level if your level is lower). Once the level difference reaches 10, the chance either increases to 100% or decreases to 0%. But here's the thing - Inquisitors cast their abilities at twice their actual level. So a level 15 Inquisitor has the dispelling capabilities of a level 30 character. So you are nearly always at the 10 level difference cap meaning it works 100% of the time.

One more thing and a point for Edwin - he probably has the most entertaining personal quest of the game.

 

Hummm some intersting points there on the inquisitor and cavalier kits.
I dunno, when I look at the manual and it says the restriction cavaliers have is that they cannot use missile weapons I think "well, I don't think he would use it much anyway, but I can still use throwing axes if I need to at some points". And doesn't that awesome paladin only sword dispel too? I know you said it depends on the caster level, but what I mean is that the cavalier already has part of the inquisitor's speical ablility of dispelling through that sword.

But inquisitors lose lay on hands, cure disease, can't turn undead, and can't cast priest spells. It's almost like he becomes a fighter. Also, I read in the forums that his dispell ability actually dispells buffs on my party If it's not aimed with precision, and in the heat of battles this sounds a bit complicated. My party will be heavy on mage spells, and after reading these posts in another thread I was a bit worried it would make my mage spells go to waste:

Probably losing lay on hands, remove disease and turning undead wouldn't be so crippling, for I have sources of healing and turns in my cleric, but losing spells seem a slight waste.

Tbh I'm not sure specific spells he can cast, since the manual says riest spells, but there are some that seem quite good (Armour of faith which seems to be self only; cure wounds which I think is always useful but not essential; barkskin thoug i doubt he would get that since it's a druid spell; chant not sure if he gets that; Draw upon holy might which seems a really nice spell if he gets it; hold person which would be just awesome if he gets it; resistance spells if he gets them; death ward, free action, well a few more that would be great if he gets it, but I'm not sure which spells he gets!)

Are these spells really that bad that can just be dismissed completely? I'm only asking because I haven't yet had access to them as a paladin since i have only played BG1 so far. These have also been said in the same thread as the one quoted above:

Thx for awesome advice btw!

 

The Cavalier is indeed pretty good later on, since his spell level is NOT capped at level 9 as the manual would suggest.
His spell level is actually character level - 8.
This would give him indeed a spell level of 9 under the SoA XP Cap, but in ToB it will continue to rise, so Armor of Faith and Duhm will become powerful.
Beginning with level 23 he can summon skeleton warriors, one of the best summons. Ok, at that stage he'll have a Deva, but still ^^.
With level 28 (6 Mill XP, yes that's late) his AoF and duhm spells are as powerfull as the cleric variants.

In my opinion he's tied in power with the Inquisitor, but i prefer the Cavalier.

 

This is true. The disadvantages of a cavalier are no real disadvantages at all. As you say, you can still use throwing axes and throwing daggers if you want to, and you probably wouldn't ever be using a missile weapon anyway, so it's no real restriction at all.

It does - but not at twice your level, and you have to hit them to activate that effect. You can't shoot it across the screen like you can as an inquisitor.

You have clerics and druids to cast all of those spells. Paladins get their first cleric spell at level 9 - one first level spell. After that, your advancement is similar to cleric who is 8 levels lower than you. So at level 10, you'll get a second 1st level cleric spell, at level 11 you'll get two 1st levels, and one 2nd level, etc. His casting level (for spells that are affected by caster level) is considered 8 levels lower than his actual level. Wisdom bonuses do not affect the number of spells you can cast, and you will never be able to memorize anything beyond 4th level.

Paladins can cast cleric spells (rangers get druid spells). He'll never get access to anything higher than level 4 cleric spells, and he'll never be able to memorize any more than 4 spells per level. So if it's a cleric (not druid) spell that's level 4 or less, he can get access to it.

They do get those spells (and chant too) because all of them are level 2. But both Anomen and Jaheira are going to have gobs and gobs of level 2 spell slots. Seriously - they will have somewhere around 12-20 (depending on where you are in the game) level two spell slots between them, and they can just cast them on your paladin. For example, it doesn't matter if it's a cleric or paladin that casts chant or hold person - it does the same thing. (Druids don't get hold person, and you're right that your paladin won't get barkskin.)

They aren't bad, it's just that you will already have so many low level spell slots that it won't matter. Look, if a paladin was able to get 6th and 7th level priest spells, that would be a big deal, because you don't get a ton of those high level spells until your druid and cleric are really high in level. But since you never will get anything beyond level 4 - and you won't get them until your around level 20 - the spells that you're getting are the ones that you have tons available already. I mean really - how many Chants, Hold Persons, and Slow Poisons do you need? Unless the answer is more than 5 of each, Jaheira and Anomen have you covered.

 

Well I think I'll go for Cavalier this run, and I'm sure I'll end up doing another run from beggining to end as a mage protagonist, and then I can get Keldorn and have a try at an Inquisitor.

I do see the great benefits of Inquisitors, but it seems more of a personal preference than a huge gap between those two. Besides I just feel Cavalier is more 'paladin-like' and paladins are my second favourite class in D&D after wizards.

One more issue i'd like some help on:

In order to keep my reputation at 18, I'll have to do some 'evil deeds' once in a while (lol) and I just wanted some advice on the best way to decrease my reputation once in a while without falling as a paladin.

I know in BG2 there's a slayer mode that decreases it by one point, but how often can enter this mode and reenter it again? More importantly, in BG1 I won't have access to that (at least I don;t think I will) so what is the best solution to this?

This is because I want to have Edwin in the group in both BG1 & 2, and tbh, the difference between a reputation on 20 and 18 is only -1 to reactions and 40% discount on items (rather than 50). It's definitely something i can live with, especially since my paladin will start with and 18 charisma and practically staright away will pickpocket a cloak that will put him at 20.

 

Viconia is more of a classic priest character. It rarely comes to a point where I'm forced to choose between her, Jaheira and Anomen in my parties since she plays poorly as a melee/support character. As far as role goes she's more like Aerie if you already have another full time mage. Call them backup characters if you will, adding utility and stability to a party. I wouldn't add them to (permanently) fill in for a particular role unless your party is actually designed to be synergistic - a classic party needs to have a sturdy healer (ex. Jaheira/Anomen), warrior (ex. Minsc/Korgan) and wizard (ex. Edwin/Nalia/Imoen).

I wouldn't entirely dismiss Paladin spellcasting, what with spells like Armor of Faith and Draw Upon Holy Might. If you've seen a 25 Strength paladin wielding Carsomyr+6 at 10 attacks per round then you'll see that the price for the Inquisitor's abilities is steep, it's just that the option to completely dispel all the protections off a very angry high-level mage before he goes on a Timestop+offensive spells blitz is often worth more than any extra damage.

Once you get the Slayer ability in BG2 you can use it once per day iirc. In BG1 there's no shortcut to lowering your rep afaik, besides killing someone.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that if you're going to run through BG1 too, that you'll need to rely on stacks of throwing axes, which are really, really heavy. And since you'll go through them at a fair rate and they don't usually show up as loot, you'll need to go back to a town to restock quite often. I had a half-orc kensai using throwing axes and even with 19 strength he could still only take about 100 with him.

There's one magic throwing axe that returns to your hand after you throw it (so it's like unlimited ammo) in BG1, but you can only get it quite late into the game. In BG2 it's no longer a problem anymore since you'll rely mostly on melee anyway.

As you say, the paladin spells are not that useful if you have a cleric or druid already. Basically the only ones you'll want to memorise are armor of faith and draw upon holy might, as these can only be cast on the caster itself. But even so, they won't be really useful until you're at least lvl 20+, as they improve as you level up and a pally is hugely lagging behind on caster level.

Regarding dual classed casters like Anomen and Imoen, it has been mentioned already, but they really don't have much of a disadvantage compared to pure classed casters. In fact, I consider a fighter/cleric dual class strictly better than a single class cleric. The only disadvantage is that you'll be lagging a bit behind a single class cleric, but in return you get far superior melee capabilities, so that you are actually useful on the front lines.

And if you think Edwin's casting abilities are the best it'll get, play as a sorcerer for a while. They give up some versatility due to a much smaller spell selection they can use with respect to mages, but can use these spells as they see fit. You can use all your lvl 5 castings on lower resistance or instead use all of them on breach or even use them all on summoning skeleton warriors. As a mage you'd need to reshuffle your spellbook every time, but as a sorcerer, you don't have to worry about that and you don't have to think ahead on what you'll be encountering next before you make a spell selection in your spell book and rest.

 

Thx for the feedback

I am now convinced Anomen will be a good healer to have around instead of Viconia. It also gives me the chance to bring in new characters with quests attached to them instead of trying to stick with the same party I was planning to play through the entire BG1 and 2. (Me paladin Cavalier / Minsc / Jahera / Viconia / Imoen / Edwin)

In relation to the BG1 reputation issue, if I indeed get one of my NPC companions to kill an innocent and get a -5 reputation, that wouldn't make my paladin fall as long as my reputation stays above 8, or would it? That's the crucial question lol

 

I'm not sure if caster level rules work in BG2 as they do in more recent D&D games. Bards, for example, get to level 13 earlier than any other caster and get Skeleton Warriors as soon as they hit that level.

I'm assuming this applies to other casters (Paladins, Rangers) as well.