The Best NPCs

[fable]

Given the number of potential party NPCs and the variety of their skills and personalities, this seemed an appropriate question to ask. Whom do you like adding best to your parties?

[Ned Flanders]

So far, I've added Virgil. There is a half-ogre in shrouded hills who is a drunk. It seems like he wants to join but says I'm not the man through some drunken spittle. Also, there is some healer in Dernhold but she won't join either and then another person (priest) in the soggy barnacle? tavern in black root who says I'm not experience enough. I'm level 7 but can't seem to get anyone to join me.

[okuth0r]

ok, virgil will just about join you no matter what, hes pretty good too, lots of healing. to get sogg mead mug in the first town you need to have a 9 cha. to get the healer in derholm you need a tech level of 11 or higher. as for the preist im not sure. http://www.terra-arcanum.com http://arcanum.netfirms.com/index.shtml

[Taralon]

The top five NPC's I think are:

1) Worthless Mutt (Dog)
2) Chukka
3) Sogg
4) Gar
5) Loghaire

Obviously, I lean heavily towards melee types...but then again, what else are NPC's good for?

[friend_al_23]

I like Raven!

[Shadowwarrior]

Is there anyway to use a npc´s skill such as lockpick? It seems to me that the npc´s indeed are worthless at everything except fighting&healing, and perhaps making some tech-items. But everything else such as lock-picks and other skills only the protagonist may use. Why?

[fable]

This really should be in a separate topic, however--if you ready the lockpick in the NPC's hand, then attempt to unlock an item, the NPC will jump in and do it for you. This presumes you have the 1.70 patch, since earlier versions require both you and the NPC to have lockpicks readied.

[friend_al_23]

Both? Then you need two sets?

[Vicsun]

About the NPCs...
You can only have as much as NPCs as your charisma allows. The forumla is:
(charisma)/4=(number of possible NPCs)
For example if you have a charisma of eight then (8/4=2) you can only have 2 followers. If you have a charisma of 20 then you can have 5 followers. The worthless mut (dog) doesn't count as a follower, so you can have 5 followers + dog.
And oh yeah... Almost forgot - expert (or master) persuation also adds 1 to your max number of followers.

[friend_al_23]

FYI, you can have up to 20+ followers.

[fable]

Originally posted by Al Reyes:
<STRONG>FYI, you can have up to 20+ followers.</STRONG>

I've read elsewhere that the limit was nine. Where did you find more than twenty?

[friend_al_23]

I knew you would ask that.

Summons = 5
Followers = 5
Persuasion (expert) = 1
Dog = 1
Quest NPC = 1
Arronax = 1

and so on and so fort... Those other followers that do not count Arronax, Bane, Dog, etc.

[fable]

Al, I don't believe you can take summoned creatures very far, nor can they exchange inventory with you. They're not followers per se.

What do you mean, Persuasion (expert)? If you persuade somebody to join you, then they're a follower, and count to the total of nine you're permitted.

I also admit, I don't understand what's meant by Arronax, Bane, Dog, etc. By Dog, do you mean the Mutt? He's simply a follower, and counts (again) again the total your charisma can support, up to nine.

[friend_al_23]

FYI, the total number of followers your charisma can support can only be 5. You can, again, only have 5 followers since charisma do not go over 20 unless you cheat. Even with backgrounds, you cannot increase Charisma to more than 20.

Next, when I meant they "do not count", I mean that they do not take follower slot. Dog do not take the follower slot. See for yourself. Also, there are other followers that do not take follower slot including Arronax and Bane of Kree. Which concludes that you haven't finish the game yet.

Now, when I meant Persuasion (expert), it means that you will gain +1 bonus in your number of followers if you have persuasion skill level 3 and is an expert in that field. Read the manual or visit my site for more info about persuasion.

Yes, I do agree with you that you cannot take your summoned creature for a very long time since they will disappear if you sleep or if you loose all your manas. However, your familiar can be with your team and not take up follower slot for as long as you want. Cancel that, he will never go away unless he got killed or if you use Disperse Magick.

Back to summons. Yes, they can not exchange inventories with you but they do stay with you during battles and thus they are followers. You can control up to 5 followers as per intelligence.

My original statement was that you can have up to 15 followers and then someone (at the other board) made some corrections and said you can have up to 20+ followers. I don't know the exact number but that is what he said. He did list all of them.

What else would you like to know?

[fable]

Originally posted by Al Reyes:
FYI, the total number of followers your charisma can support can only be 5. You can, again, only have 5 followers since charisma do not go over 20 unless you cheat. Even with backgrounds, you cannot increase Charisma to more than 20.

Next, when I meant they "do not count", I mean that they do not take follower slot. Dog do not take the follower slot. See for yourself. Also, there are other followers that do not take follower slot including Arronax and Bane of Kree. Which concludes that you haven't finish the game yet.

Which concludes wrongly, then. I've played through twice, as an evil female Elven spellcaster, and a good male Dwarven techno-type. But I never focused on the "underlying math" questions, like how many followers you could max to at a time. I was more concerned with details of good/evilness plot derivations, etc.

What else would you like to know?

You're a fine resource to have in this category, @Al. I hope you'll think of some topics to open about the game that might be interesting to discuss. Just don't think your knowing something that something else doesn't about Arcanum makes them automatically ignorant and you all-wise. Life doesn't work out that way, not even for Bill Gates.