New party help

[Pellinore]

Help flesh out my party... I have started a (very) evil game and have 4 in my party. I like a lot of banter so I want a 6 person party but I am at a loss who to add... Here is my current party:

Thief (me)
Korgan
Vicky
Edwin

I have thought about adding in Yoshi and SK' ing him into a fighter... and then try the "drop him off in the Copper Coronet before heading to Brynnlaw routine". I have no plans of adding Immie or Nalia or Jan. Am I stuck with HD?

[Grombag]

Well I suggest taking up Cernd (keep him in his wolf form I hear good things about it) as a front row fighter. You just need to switch with his human form to buff him. As second character I would sugest Jan. He can act as a backup mage and his alot of banters well jus my 2 cents

[Thrifalas]

Jaheira is always a good pick, seeing as you're lacking fighters. I'd go for her, switch her for Big S later on, and add Jan or another backup mage. *chough* Immy *chough*.

[Pellinore]

I left Jah & Minsc rotting at Jon's playground, lol.... I have all the thieving skills covered but could use extra spell power due to Eddie's restricted school(s). I used Jan on the last runthrough. Just wanted somebody different. I think I will go with Cernd and HD or maybe forced to pick up Immie again...

[Crenshinibon]

Haer' Dalis is a worthy addition to any group. In my opinion, he's one of the strongest NPCs out there, not to mention that he's the most versitile choice for you, as you don't want to pick up Jan.

[Celacena]

HD is often under-rated - when you get him up high, he flies and if you give him the right weapon proficiencies, he can have vorpal attacks.
his casting is quite useful too, eventually.

[Crenshinibon]

While Haer' Dalis IS strong in late game, he is very powerful early on, bards in general are. I hardly ever use Offensive Spin or Defensive Spin, only when I run out of buffing spells, as a last resort.

Give him wands and heavy armor (or an elven chain) and don't have him cast ANYTHING but buffing spells. As far as NPCs go, his stats are very nice, although he does have problems with learning spells. Wands are really powerful and the Wand of Cloudkill never loses effectiveness. Early on I usually use wands of: Monster Summoning, Paralyzation and Fire as the first one serves as an ever effective for of meat shielding and the second one is also effective as your opponents' saves are low. The last one can cast Fireball and Aganazzar's Scorcher, which is also an effective Troll-killer.

[Saros]

Originally Posted by Crenshinibon

While Haer' Dalis IS strong in late game, he is very powerful early on, bards in general are. I hardly ever use Offensive Spin or Defensive Spin, only when I run out of buffing spells, as a last resort.

Give him wands and heavy armor (or an elven chain) and don't have him cast ANYTHING but buffing spells. As far as NPCs go, his stats are very nice, although he does have problems with learning spells. Wands are really powerful and the Wand of Cloudkill never loses effectiveness. Early on I usually use wands of: Monster Summoning, Paralyzation and Fire as the first one serves as an ever effective for of meat shielding and the second one is also effective as your opponents' saves are low. The last one can cast Fireball and Aganazzar's Scorcher, which is also an effective Troll-killer.

The Defensive spin is a waste of time, yet an Offensive spin cast on top of all buffs, including Improved Haste, adds not 1, but instead 2 additional attacks per round. Not to mention the fact that the spin adds +2 Damage, THAC0(Haery's Thac0 is pretty awful) and of course max damage with every attack. The offensive spin is far better than Kai, and lasts longer too. So it should be used whenever possible.

Wands are good, yet I suggest not using them. Haer'dalis has enough defensive spells to cast in the middle of combat, or Offensive spins to activate for that matter. His Spin is more deadlier than any wand. Blur, ProMW, Mirror Image, Spell Immunity and Offensive spin are the most often used things in combat. In chapter five, a Remove Magic is added in his book, which should occupy most of his 3rd lvl slots. Wands are really best if left to other mages, with the exception maybe of a Wand of Spell Striking. Also, a Harp of Pandemonium used occasionally may help quite a lot, especially in the early chapters.

Haer'dalis can easily learn spells, he simply has to imbibe 3 potions of Genius in order to raise his Int to 25 before learning any new spell. This way even on Insane, all spells are learned without failure.

Heavy armor isn't really the greatest possible defense for Haer'dalis. AC is important in SoA to some extent, yet I suggest using the fourth level spell Spirit Armor instead of giving him the Bladesinger Chain. Because with it, Haer'dalis cannot wear an item of protection. And he really needs one, because his saving throws are awful. An unenchanted Elven Chain is an acceptable armor choice for him, yet he may very well stay unarmored until the beginning of ToB.

IMHO Haer'dalis is the best tank for caster-heavy party. If he's well protected with Elemental and Magic damage protection spells, ProMW, Blur, Mirror Image, Spell Deflection, Spell Immunities, then he can attract all of the enemies, while your mages/clerics can use without fear their Area of Effect spells on the whole group.

With HLAs, things are even better. UAI gives not only the opportunity of using all of the deadliest weapons at great speed, but also improves his defense and AC. I usually give him The Cloak of the High Forest(Cernd's cloak), Jan's Adventurewear(Jan's armor), The Holy Symbol of Shar(Viconia's Holy Symbol, I usually kick her out of the party when I get the symbol), and he becomes even more deadlier and tough in melee.

[chaosjinni]

Just curious - are you playing a vanilla thief, or a kit?

[Celacena]

Vicky gets a new symbol every time she rejoins the party...

I kicked her out while I tried for Throne (selfish I know) and when I had her rejoin, she was given another Holy Symbol. Imagine how many you could get if you were indecisive about whether she should be in the party or not...

I agree with the above - using spirit armour on HD. there is a problem that I have noticed and that is when you rely on SA and some unkind enemy de-buffs your character - Edwin has AC9 without buffing and for him to lose spirit armour mid fight, he is VERY exposed.
I have been having him add SA to my other characters from time to time - it is a swell increase in AC to have.

having a contingency of SA, globe of invulnerability and another, such as mantle is handy - instead of him having the protections run out, they only kick in when needed.

[Saros]

The exploit(or bug) with clerics getting new holy symbols after rejoining is fixed by the G3 fixpack, which also transforms Viconia's Holy Symbol to be that of Shar, and not of Talos.

[Pellinore]

I am playing an assassin. I really like a full party for banter and fighting what seems to be the entire Amnish army is taking its tool. I can't step foot outside an inn without someone dialing Athkatla 911 on my butt. Another tank would be nice but I am CE with a rep of 1, let Minsc & Jah rot in prison, made Anomen run off with his tail between his legs... I think I am left with HD and Cernd.

[Kulyok]

Try Xan NPC from Pocket Plane Group - Bending Baldur's Gate 2 and the Infinity Engine . He's Lawful Neutral, so he doesn't really care if the party's good or evil(since they're doomed anyway), and he's got lots of banter with Edwin(and Edwina), Korgan and Viconia.

(As a bonus, he's got four quests, an extra BG1-style flaming sword animation component, and an alternative class component: Mage, Sorcerer, Fighter/Mage or Wild Mage).

[kmonster]

If you have only 1 reputation the only other NPC who'll stay with you in SoA is Imoen.

[Pellinore]

... wow, not even the CN npcs?