KIVAN Gender: Male Race: Elf Class: Ranger Alignment: Chaotic Good Abilities: STR 18/12, DEX 17, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 8 A. Overall Abilities: 5+4+2+2+2+1= 16 (16/30) B. Class Abilities: 5+4+2= 11 (11/15 = 22/30) C. Fun to play: 17 (17/20) D. Gameplay: 12 (12/15) E. Related quests: 0 (0/5) F. TOTAL MARK: 67%

Comments: Kivan, the "other" Chaotic Good elf in the game, is the complete opposite of Coran. He is shy, not talkative and rather reserved. What makes him great, however, is his high strength and dexterity. He is without doubt the best sniper in the game. Give him a bow and the Bracers of Archery and he really rocks. You won't have the chatter other NPCs give you, but Kivan is a strong party member who can stand his ground. You can even make him a front-liner. The other good point is that you can pick him up early in the game, which helps.

XAN Gender: Male Race: Elf Class: Enchanter Alignment: Lawful Neutral Abilities: STR 13, DEX 16, CON 7, INT 17, WIS 14, CHA 16 A. Overall Abilities: 2+3+1+4+2+3= 15 (15/30) B. Class Abilities: 3+1+4= 8/15 (16/30) C. Fun to play: 13 (13/20) D. Gameplay: 12 (12/15) E. Related Quests: 0 (0/5) F. TOTAL MARK: 56%

Comments: Xan is the most pathetic figure I've ever met in a CRPG. He is really annoying and keeps saying that everything is hopeless. Try playing with him a few days and your morale will drop pretty low! He also has a very low constitution, ensuring that he gets as few HPs as possible(mages are already not too good in this area…). His good points are his dexterity, intelligence, wisdom and charisma, which are all pretty good. He also wields a Moonblade(+3 THACO/damage, +1 AC, +50% Fire Res.), which is one of the coolest weapons of the game. Unfortunately, Xan is an enchanter, meaning that he gets no invocation spells. No Magic Missiles and no Fireball! A pretty bad deal all in all: Xan is not worth the trouble.

BRANWEN Gender: Female Race: Human Class: Cleric Alignment: True Neutral Abilities: STR 13, DEX 16, CON 15, INT 9, WIS 16, CHA 13 A. Overall Abilities: 2+3+3+1+3+2= 14 (14/30) B. Class Abilities: 2+3+3+3= 11 (11/20 = 16.5/30) C. Fun to play: 16 (16/20) D. Gameplay: 13 (13/15) E. Related quest: 0 (0/5) F. TOTAL MARK: 59.5%

Comments: Branwen is really better than her mark shows. She has a good wisdom, which is good since she's a cleric. She can also stand her ground as a melee fighter as her strength, dexterity and constitution are more than decent, indeed. So we can easily see that she is well rounded all in all. Since she is single classed, she levels-up quicker than other multi-classed clerics, which means that she can cast more spells. Finally, she is True Neutral, which fits both into a good or an evil party(though Viconia may be a better choice in this case) and she has a Special Ability, Spiritual Hammer, which may come in handy in certain situation early in the game. All in all, Branwen is seriously worth considering as she is a very strong NPC.

FALDORN Gender: Female Race: Human Class: Druid Alignment: True Neutral Abilities: STR 12, DEX 15, CON 11, INT 10, WIS 16, CHA 15 A. Overall Abilities: 2+3+2+2+3+3= 15 (15/30) B. Class Abilities: 2+3+2+3= 10 (10/20 = 15/30) C. Fun to play: 12 (12/20) D. Gameplay: 12 (12/20) E. Related quest: 0 (0/5) F. TOTAL MARK: 54%

Comments: Faldorn is not great right out of the box as she is a druid. In Baldur's Gate, druids get less spells than clerics(and useless ones, on top of that!), worse armor(only leather) and a limited selection of weapons. They stand no chances against the clerics. Plus Faldorn's abilities are far from great: she is a weak fighter and an average druid. Her best asset is that she can summon Dread Wolves, which is kind of nice. You also get her late in the game, which means that by that time you should have a pretty well-rounded party. Not worth the trouble according to me.