Most used combination of NPCs

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What are the most popular combinations of NPCs used to get the team balance right?

 

Minsc or Keldorn
Anomen
Jaheira
Aerie or Jan Jansen
Edwin
Me -- whether Mage/Thief or Fighter/Thief

 

I always try to get 2 fighters, 2 healers (at least one a cleric for undead-baiting), a thief, 2 or 3 magi and a romantic interest in my party.
At the moment my party consists of Korgan, Valygar, Haer D'aelis, Yoshimo (I'll sub him for Jan or Immy later) Viconia and me, a conjurer. A little cleric-lite, especially with all the hitpoints that Korgan notches up (and then loses), but it seems to be going OK.
A mighty fine party would be a fighing PC, Sarevok, Jaheira, Sir Anomen, Edwin and Imoen.

 

I always have 1 mage/sorcerer/mage-thief/mage-cleric, one druid (Jaheira), one ranger, another fighter (usually another ranger), and then whoever I feel like including at the moment. Basically, the first four are there the whole time, and then the last two slots get switched around so that I can go through all the NPC's side quests.

 

I play a good character so I prefer
Aerie
Jaheria
Minsc
Mazzy
Yoshimo then Imoen

 

me - fighter
minsc
valagar
jahiera
viconia
nalia

 

I usually play good characters so heres my list.
Minsc: Great tank.
Valygar: ok str. dual wielding katanas
Yoshimo: later swapped for Imoen
Nalia: ok mage
Aerie: ok mage/cleric. And for the romance.
Me: I'm usually a fighter/thief or a Cleric.

[This message has been edited by Tasohan (edited August 20, 2001).]

 

I've been running most of my game with:

Me (paladin tank)
Valygar (so he can wield Crimson Fury)
Jaheira (low AC and insect summoning)
Jan (casting and thieving -- replaced by Imoen later)
Aerie (casting)
Mazzy (air support with her bow)

Then you just neutralize their mages as best as possible, summon a few helpers, and wade right in. I'd rather have Yoshimo instead of Valygar, but I got him disintegrated a long time ago.

But it depends upon how you play and who your main character is. If I were running a mage, I wouldn't need both Aerie and Jan/Imoen. If I had an archer or other ranged attacker, I would drop Mazzy for Minsc or Keldorn. If I had a thief, I'd probably get rid of Jan completely and let Aeria and Jaheira take over spell casting while I added another fighter.

 

A lot of different combinations work well, but I really like to have three good frontline fighters. In my Wally game I only have two, and it's very hard for them to form a front line for the archers and spellcasters to sit behind.

I think my favorite combination thus far would be me, Valygar, and Jaheira up front, Haerdalis as the switch-hitter, and Aerie and Immie as firepower. (Minsc and Valygar are pretty interchangeable tactically, but I find the uncontrollable berserking a pain in my ass. Jaheira isn't as good a frontline fighter in the early stages of the game, but once you find her a good weapon to match her weird proficiencies she mows 'em down with the best of them, and her Iron Skins spell gives her the edge over Anomen in my book.)

 

There should be a poll to show which NPC's are most used.

For Evil party the choice is obvious:
Edvin, Viconia and Korgan.

For Good party there are so many to choose from but I bet Imoen and Keldorn are almost always used.

For Good party I tend to use Imoen, Jaheira, Keldorn, Valygar and Yoshimo... .

 

Keldorn kicks ass with his Carsomyr and makes another great front-liner, but my good characters feel guilty keeping him from his family and my less-good characters object to his Viconia-killing policy. (-:

 

Just remember to keep your rep about 10 or so and your good/evil pals will be fine, BTW don't get npcs into party together as they will debate and kill each other.

 

Oh let me see.

Tenalt Amren-Swashbuckler/Mage, Part-time fighter,thief,Mage.
Viconia-My healer lady+casts spells to **** up opponents for my fighters.
Mazzy=Fighter Front
Valygar=Fighter Front
Cernd=Fighter Front/Caster of fire elemental and Insect Swarm.
Minsc= Fighter Front


I prefer a large fighter majority.

 

Team balance?

I always play as TN F/M/T so I never need to bother about team balance.

I use all NPCs equally - except romanced (who is always in the party) and except Keldorn who I don't need anywhere, but then again I want to solve even his wife's affair "subquest".

 

One magic user(sorcerer): my protagonist
One cleric: always Viconia
Two fighters: Minsc and Mazzy are the best
Two dc or mc thiefs: Imoen or Nalia and Jan(always gets a seat in the party)

That was my yet best party makeup ever.

 

As a general rule, I tend to keep 3 fighter types, one thief, one cleric and one mage. Multi-classed or even dual-classed characters can make this even more interesting by fulfilling more than one role. Jaheira's healing spells are indispensible but she makes an excellent fighter when you need her to. Aerie's combo of cleric and wizard spells makes her useful during and after battle. Nalia can provide nice backup either with a bow or with spells. Having gone through the game a few times, however, I prefer playing with NPCs I have yet to use and/or those who have interesting dialogues.

 

Nalia's kind of the weak sister of the group. She's exactly like Imoen, only worse--they can reach the same level as mages, but Imoen has more thief skills and a better THAC0 under her belt.

 

My second time through I wanted to build a completely different party from the first time, but I just couldn't leave Jaheira and Jan behind- I love their sarcastic remarks too much! I wanted to leave Aerie behind because I am allergic to whiny children, but on the other hand, she really has great stats (give her a girdle of giant strength and this girl could solo the game) and in the end, I kept her just for her skill set. Sure wish I could "mute" her though.

I really liked Keldorn in the first game but this time I'm trying Korgan instead. I tried Viconia- again- but couldn't keep her in the party for more than 15 minutes real-time. That girl is just mean.