A party for the dialogs!

[mrdeluxe]

Hi everybody!

Haven't ever played ToB, I need help choosing my party. I want one with most dialogue available between NPCs.

Some things I've found out after a search is that Imoen and Sarevok are probably integral to a first time experience through ToB, so they're in. With the PC that means 3 available slots.

I'm planning on finishing SoA with a party somewhat along these lines:

PC
Minsc
Jaheira
Imoen
Haer´Dalis / Jan / Edwin (haven't made my mind yet).

Also, I want to finish SoA with only 5 party members so I don't leave anyone behind on the Pocket Plane when I pick Sarevok up

What are your thoughts and suggestions? I can change my SoA party if the ToB interactions are worth-it, although I always have trouble kicking out Misnc, Jaheira and Imoen since they all, RP-wise, have strong reasons to see Irenicus dead.

P.S.: I forgot to tell that my PC is a Multiclass Fighter/Thief, but I don't really care about classes, just the quality of their banter.

[kmonster]

I recommend taking Aerie as character 5, so you also gain access to cleric spells.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Depends if you're talking about inter-party banter or PC to NPC banter.

Minsc has a fair bit of dialog with Aerie, Jan, and Keldorn.
Jan has lots of dialog with just about everyone.
Aerie and Haer'Dalis can have a romance if you're romancing her first, and if you get to ToB before they break up it continues as well.
Viconia has quite a bit of banter in ToB.
Jaheira will talk with the PC a lot, but not so much the other party members.

Off the top of my head, your best bet would be PC, Imoen (replacing Yoshimo), Minsc, Aerie, and Jan, with quest NPCs during SoA and Sarevok in ToB. The biggest problems with this match-up are that you're pretty heavy on rogues (Jan or your PC is all you really need, and even Imoen is more than capable of dealing with traps and locks) and mages (not a bad thing for BG2), and really weak on divine casters. You'll also be short on melee prospects during SoA, but with summons and intelligent spell-casting (or just taking one of the SoA fighter types) that's not a major problem. Having a core party of 5 during SoA allows you to take the other NPCs for their relevant quests too, which adds to your dialog count.

Alternately, you could just take Saerileth - she has lots to say on pretty much everything.

[fable]

Jan has lots of dialog with just about everyone.

And what he has with Sarevok is pretty damn funny, too.

There's also a mod that adds new interactions among party members, but I don't recall whether it applies only to SoA or to ToB, as well.