NPC Starting Level/Exp

[SaintedLegion]

Lots of questions regarding NPCs...

How is the character level/experience of NPCs determined when they join your party?
Is it worth finding the characters you want in your party as soon as possible, or will they level up just as fast as if you pick them up later?
If they level up before they join, do you have any control over how they level up their abilities?
I believe that if an NPC joins your party and then leaves, they will not gain any experience until they rejoin - is this correct?

Thanks for helping out a newcomer to the game.

[lompo]

Usually when you pick NPC they tend to have a similar lev. of the PC, so if you pick them later you can get them at an higher lev.
You want get them at an high lev. though (maybe 5 or 6 is the max).
Once you pick them up, they level with the grup, and if you kick them out they quit levelling.
The whole thing is good and bad: the abilities they gain are predefined, so if you get them later you wan't have the choice to customize them to your liking (which is bad especially for thieves), but in the case of mages getting them at an higher lev. could end up with them already knowing some good spells (i.e. Dynaheir could know fireball).
Good thing is that in the beginning you can switch and try many NPC without losing exp.

[Ellester]

Is it worth it? I would say no. It’s pretty balanced and the good NPC’s you’ll find fast without even trying. I would just play the game normally and not worry about the NPC’s. Also you’ll find a couple later in the game that is not accessible quickly, and their level is equal to yours. So they fit in real well.

I would say keep a few, like Imoen (if you’d like), for the whole game and level them up as you want, and have a couple that you can switch out when you find cooler NPC’s later in the game.

[flounder]

I personally like to get them earlier in the game because I like to have more control over my teams abilities as a whole.

[Erenor]

NPCs are always tricky, because you don't want to take experience points away from party members to level them up, but if you don't grab them quickly in the game they might choose weapon or thieving proficiencies you won't need or use. I always try to grab NPCs early so I can adjust them as they grow in experience and mold them the way I want them. Kivan and Viconia, some of my favorites, and most of the other early NPCs can be found in easier maps, so you can pick them up without risking killing off a level 1 or level 2 party. Pick the NPCs you want first, and then you'll have them just the way you want them as they level up.

[CFM]

My experience, playing the game only once:

-I used the same 6 NPCs the whole game, all picked up only when I stumbled upon them in Chapters 1 & 2.

-I did every quest in every area.

-When Chapter 5 started, all my dudes had over 89K XP (the cap without the TOTSC expansion pack loaded).

-In Chapter 5, I did all the city quests, and then the expansion pack areas.

-Towards the end of completing the expansion pack areas, all my dudes had 161K XP (which is the cap with the expansion pack loaded).

-Thus, all XP gained in Chapters 6 & 7 went to noone.

My conclusion:
Pick up and discard dudes whenever you want. There's enough XP to go around.

Downside:
The dudes' Hit Points may be less, if you normally reload/reroll when leveling up to get the maximum per level.