Jaheira or Anomen?

[Jennifer]

At the moment I have Jaheira in my party, but I never find any use of her. I find her a good healer but that's about it. I am thinking of replacing her with Anomen instead, but I would like your opinion about this.

Party at them moment
Me, Fighter
Keldorn
Aerie
Minsc
Jaheira
Jan

What's the up and down sides with Anomen and Jaheira? Except their personality etc.

[Pellinore]

Both need back-handed in my opinion. Jahiera is a better natural fighter but Anomen can buff himself pretty well. Anomen can also turn undead better than Aerie and has better spell choices than Jaheira (in my opinion). It all depends on your playing style and what character interaction you want...

[DaemonJ]

Your party already appears to have pretty good front line abilities.

I am not familiar with Anomen as I haven't used him but Jaheira has great spells available to her.

I usually have her memorize 1 Cure Light Wounds spell and that is the only healing spell I have available.

For party beneficial spells I use Bless, Barkskin, Protection from Fire, Strength of One, Defensive Harmony, Negative Plane Protection, Chaotic Commands, Insect Plague, Pixie Dust

For enemies I use Doom, Flame Blade, Charm Person or Mammal, Dispel Magic, Invisibility Purge, Summon Insects, Poison, Conjure Fire Elemental, Dolorous Decay, Fire Seeds

When you combine Jaheira's and Aerie's buff spell abilities they give a party a lot of help. For example, when faced with multiple opponents and you cast Bless, Chant, Protection From Evil 10', and Defensive Harmony on the party and then Doom on the enemy group the battle becomes much easier, at least for me it does. When you add Strength of One to the weaker members of your party then even they can deal out some decent damage.

[Onkel Bob]

In my opinion the druid has better spells available than the cleric. That being said I don't use them much myself. I think Aerie is capable of casting all the clerical spells I ever need. Same with Jaheira. Pure clerics are a waste of a spot if you ask me. Arcane casters have better defensive- and offensive buffs and are much better at casting damaging spells. And I hardly ever use healing spells during a battle. The summons are of similar power if you ask me.

So if it was me I'd prefer more arcane power. Nalia, Edwin, Imoen later or Haer'Dalis. Haer'Dalis if you want someone that can also double as a tank.

Or if you have a mod installed Kelsey would be a good choice too.

So to sum up: Nalia, Edwin, Imoen or Haer'Dalis over Jaheira over Anomen.

[Klorox]

What is the race and sex of your fighter protagonist?

I'd choose between them the one that gives you the romance, if you haven't tried it yet.

All things being equal, I personally prefer Jaheira. She's got a good story and a bunch of sidequests that yeild some good stuff.

[VonDondu]

Anomen PROs: Turn Undead, more weapon proficiency points (actually, the designers cheated him out of 4 proficiency points), better weapon choices such as Crom Faeyr, Defender of Easthaven, Improved Mace of Disruption, etc., buffing spells such as Draw Upon Holy Might, relatively fast advancement as a Cleric, Wisdom can be raised through a personal quest

Anomen CONs: low Dexterity (needs Gauntlets of Dexterity which Keldorn also needs), no access to High Level Abilities from the warrior pool, THAC0 not quite as good as a single-class Fighter

Jaheira PROs: Five special Druid spells (Ironskins, Insect Plague, Call Woodland Beings, Summon Fire Elemental, Nature's Beauty--the rest can be cast by Minsc), High Level Abilities from the warrior pool, Constitution 17, Dexterity 17, ability to wield scimitars, spears, and daggers, and most important of all, her presence in the group opens up a rich subplot involving Harpers

Jaheira CONs: low Strength (needs a girdle of giant strength), relatively low Wisdom, can't wield some of the better weapons in the game (although there are some nice quarterstaffs in TOB), relatively slow advancement as a multiclass character and a Druid (her THAC0 isn't any better than Anomen's due to the level differential), can't cast some of the best Cleric spells, can only put two proficiency points in each weapon type, can't turn undead

Anomen and Jaheira also have a lot in common. PROs: healing and resurrection spells, protection spells such as Chaotic Commands, can wear the best armor in the game and still cast spells, and both can be romanced (depending on your character's race and gender). CONs: can't use many decent ranged weapons (no bows and arrows or throwing axes), annoying personalities (sorry, I had to mention that because you really need a warning with these two), they have a Neutral alignment so they'll complain constantly if your Reputation reaches 19 or 20.

[Sparrow]

Anomen becomes a very powerful cleric, as the game progresses, getting many slots for important defensive spells. For example, in my opinion, Chaotic Commands is the most important defense spell, and toward the end, Anomen can protect your whole crew with that. As well as anything else you need, like fire protection, negative plane protection, etc.

You can get by with a combination of Aerie and Jaheira; it's just a matter of personal taste, whether you like powerful clerics. I never use shapeshifting, and the animal summoning is fun, but not needed (except for the duel at the Druid Grove).

Some of the spells Anomen gets and uses in TOB are interesting; I always use him.

[Raven_Song]

Jennifer

Are you playing an unmodded version of the game?

[Jennifer]

I have a few mods installed, such as Kelsey, Xan, Setup-Ease, Quest-Pack, Banter-Pack, Unfinnished Buisness.

[Raven_Song]

Ah ok - none of them really alter Jaheira or Anomen so all of the advice already posted still stands.

[Ieo]

I've only had Anomen in my party once ever, and then I quickly got him killed, so I can't say much about him. Sorry.

As for Jaheira, she was my favorite backup fighter + semi-buffer and offensive caster (yes, insect plague is my favorite spell ever). She is also fantastic with SLINGS and a girdle of strength. Why? Because slings, with the exception of one, has a strength bonus. As she levels, she can average 25 hp damage per hit easy.

[Ieo]

(Oops, Anomen uses slings too. Why did I forget that?)

More healing power, turn undead - Anomen. Decent healing power, nature-type attack and other spells (e.g. iron skins), Jaheira. Hm. Since you already have Aerie, I'd skip Anomen myself.

But I end up choosing one over the other for role-playing purposes.

[Celacena]

Jaheira - better quests - can use insect plague - IMO one of the best offensive spells for its level in the game - IP can distract and cause mis-casts - also gets however many enemies are around. J gets good high-level abilities too. stroppy madam at times.
I have her with a girdle of STR or gauntlets of ogre power dual-wielding belm and rashid's talon.
I tend to have her use the dragon-scale armour plus ring of fire protection and the dragon's helm, so that she is fire-proof - which is handy when luring monsters into fireball attacks or fire-storms.
entangle is handy as are the summon creatures - woodland cretures - nymphs - can do mass heal BTW - check their casting, it is like having extra spells - Anomen can't do that.

(Sir) Anomen - turning undead is pretty handy - not much in the way of quests and boy does he moan. he seems to have 'morale failure' more often than J. I use him to deal with undead - with MoD+2. can raise skelly warriors of his own - which unlike creatures, are immune to certain attacks.
I sometimes give him the gauntlets of DEX although Keldorn gets priority if he's in the party, as K is a two-handed weapon specialist and thus is prevented from using the shield - I give the shield to Anomen to make up for it. usually can get Anomen to AC -5 without over-blessing him with kit.

[Jedi_Sauraus]

Since this thread is about Jaheira and is not old yet, I'd like to ask a question;

how does jaheira fare as a healer compared to a multi class cleric, and how do you usually equip her ?? from expierience I know that taking a single class healer such as viconia is useless in ToB. I've heard she has cool quests but her manner is annoying at least early on. does she stop being rude to you later on? for example Aire's manner changes over time: at first she moans over everything, but halfway through the romance she cheers up. are those druidic spells really worth it ?? also as a multi class how powerfull is she in SoA ?? aire finally becomes usefull mid ToB which is a tad too late for me and I'm not taking viconia ever again her romance was a let down and refused to start in ToB. to place this in context my next party will be either sorceror or Paladin or ranger, Korgan, Imoen, Keldorn, Minsc, and Jah/Aire of course if I'm a paladin keldorn goes out Nalia goes in. what would you guys do in my position Jaheira yes or no ??

cheers

[Raven_Song]

As a healer she is sub-par, I certainly would never ave her covering that role alone. If you compare her WIS to other Cleric/Druids you will see its not great

Viconia/Cernd 18 WIS
Aerie 16 WIS
Jaheira 14 WIS
Anomen 12 WIS (but with possibility to go to 16)

Certain druid spells are brilliant, insect plague and natures beauty, and many of the summoning spells are a real help, although remember Jaheira will have less spell picks than the others so you will need to pick carefuly.

IN SoA alone dual class is preferable to multi, although with ToB multi-class is often considered superior due to the range of of HLA's. That being said you've got to get the multi-class character through SoA first, which can be a struggle.

Personally the combination of her personailty and her limited use at lower levels has always made me lose Jaheira as soon as her quests are complete. That being said you will hear countless testimonies to her being the best tank in the game.

Also rember that mods will play an important role, I use Divine Remix which restricts her from using metal armours (like a proper druid should), but adds spells like Sunscorch and Alicorn Lance.