Anyone to help me decide on party formation?

[Aubrey]

Hi all.


I finished SoA with Sola mod, and now I'm in the Pocket Plane and I've just met...


S P O I L E R









...Saverok. I want to take him along but there is a small problem: I can't make my mind about who's going to be out. My party:


PC: Undead Hunter

Keldorn: All we know dear Keldy, right? I just can't imagine leave him out.

Imoen: The only thief I've got.

Tashia: Well, she's level 20 and her spells are really something! She was the one who saved the life of my entire party on my first encounter with Illassera (I'm talking about the Improved one).

Anomen: I wouldn't mind kicking him out, but he's my only and lonely cleric.

Solaufein: Great fighter and decent mage, plus there are battles ahead thanks to him. It's simply *impossible* for me to let him out.


But I want to get Sarevok as well. Any suggestions? or, you think I'm asking for too much?

Many TIA


Cheers

[VonDondu]

If faced with that choice, I'd let Keldorn retire and replace him with Sarevok. It's a simple process of elimination. You need a thief and a cleric, so you can't kick out Imoen or Anomen, and you want Tashia and Solaufein in your party or you wouldn't have added those MODs to your game. I don't know if I'd like Tashia personally, but if you like her, then keep her. That leaves Keldorn. You already have one paladin in your party. I'd rather have an Inquisitor than an Undead Hunter in the party, but you can't kick out your main character. So there you have it: you have a choice between Sarevok and Keldorn.

As much as I like Keldorn, I don't think you'll miss him. There are a lot of NPCs I'd miss (Jan, Aerie, Haer'Dalis, Minsc, etc), but when you already have a great party, you find that you can get by without any particular NPC.

[Silver Knight]

Boot Keldorn, Sarevok is far far better in combat!

[Aubrey]

Haven't decided yet

Tashia: She is funny, but her reaction before going to confront Irenicus at the Tree of Life was a bit disappointing. In ToB, she has some funny dialogues with Imoen, and Immy seems to appreciate Tashia's efforts to cheer her up.

The main reason for wanting to keep Tashia is her spells: She's level 22 and has lots of Chain Contingencies, Death Spells, Dragon's Breaths, etc. There is no chance for any other mage in the party to get *her* stock of spells till the end. Of course, she is vulnerable to fighter's attacks but her usual Chain Contingency (Stoneskin, Spell Deflection, Mass Invisibility) seems to work quite well at the start of a battle, making things easier also for the rest of the party.

Imoen: Not only she is the only thief in the party, but, believe it or not, it's the first time I have taken her with me. So, I'm interested in her progress through the game and in her dialogues with Sarevok as well.

Keldorn: From a RPG point of view, he has been a true friend to me, and I'm really very fond of him --he's probably the only NPC of the game whom I deeply respect. His True Sight and Dispel Magic special abilities have saved our lives many times so far. I believe it's just *unfair* to kick him out; not after all these battles he has given for me and my party.

Perhaps Sarevok is far better in the battle field than Keldorn, but with Ascension installed, fighters are as much needed as mages. This means that if I replace Keldorn with Sarevok, there would be just two pure fighters in my party.

And so, we are back at the beginning. If I hadn't Ascension installed things would be easier, perhaps. Maybe I would have to say goodbye to Tashia, hoping that Imoen and Solaufein would be decent enough as mages? Honestly, I don't know.


Cheers

[Littiz]

I'd get rid of that useless Undead Hu... uh.


(Never taken Immie before?!?!?! what were you thinkin' about?!?!? )

[VonDondu]

Originally posted by Littiz
I'd get rid of that useless Undead Hu... uh.

To tell the truth, that's really what I was thinking. I'd make the main character a dual-classed or multi-classed Cleric (human Berserker dualled to a Cleric, half-elven Cleric/Ranger, etc) and replace Anomen with Sarevok instead of replacing Keldorn. But that's just me.

Inquisitors are good, but Undead Hunters are obsolete when you have a high level Cleric on your team.

Two Mages are good, but three Mages are better. I don't know how Imoen compares to Tashia and Solaufein, but she's been a pretty good Mage for me.

On the other hand, sometimes "less is more". The last time I played Throne of Bhaal, I only took a half-elven Cleric/Ranger, Imoen, and Sarevok (although I did edit Imoen to make her a 9th Level Thief dualled to a Conjurer with INT 18 like she was when I played BG1). Some of the battles were tougher with only three characters, but each party member had nearly twice as many XP points as those in a six-member party, and they were nothing short of awesome. The point is, it doesn't take six characters to beat the game (or two Mages, or three Fighters, or whatever). I think any party you take with you will do just great.

[ARcheR_S_]

Keep Tashia: She is really great.......and IMO a powerfull party member.

I think u should dump Solafein and start a new game with him another time.

Although dumping Keldorn would be a better option........u really got ure mind set on keeping him and I think Solafein would be the better choise in this case



-ARcheR_S_

[Aubrey]

@ Littiz --

I'd get rid of that useless Undead Hu... uh.

Okay, my friend, you have a point here. Telling the truth, I have thought it myself, but there is a question: isn't this considered to be cheating?

(Never taken Immie before?!?!?! what were you thinkin' about?!?!?

I was thinking that I don't like "I-care-not" girls; plus her voice gives in my nerves. Come on, Littiz! We have discussed it before, in other threads. Remember?

@VonDondu --

I'd make the main character a dual-classed or multi-classed Cleric (human Berserker dualled to a Cleric, half-elven Cleric/Ranger, etc) and replace Anomen with Sarevok instead of replacing Keldorn. But that's just me.

See my question above regarding cheating.

Inquisitors are good, but Undead Hunters are obsolete when you have a high level Cleric on your team.

I chose an Undead Hunter in order to have more chances against Improved Bodhi and her ugly gang. As Littiz already knows, I'm not some veteran in BG neither in RPGs. I got BG two years ago, approx., and I'm still "learning" to play decently.

The point is, it doesn't take six characters to beat the game (or two Mages, or three Fighters, or whatever). I think any party you take with you will do just great.

The last time I had played Ascension, which by the way was also my first one, I wasn't successful not matter the numerous reloads. I was disappointed and gave up playing for a few months. Now I want to finish it, and not by lowering the difficutly level...


@ARcheR_S_ --

Although dumping Keldorn would be a better option........u really got ure mind set on keeping him and I think Solafein would be the better choise in this case

A small problem with Solaufein: my Undead Hunter is She-Undead Hunter, which means that the two kids are in love. Who am I to separate them?

I would dump Anomen if there was another equally good cleric in my party...


Cheers

[VonDondu]

I don't consider replacing the main character with a new one to be cheating when you start a new game of Throne of Bhaal. Did you play an Undead Hunter in BG1? Well, even if you had, that doesn't mean you had to play one in Shadows of Amn, and you don't have to play one in Throne of Bhaal. When you start a new game, you may create a new character. That's the way it is, and it isn't "cheating".

Now, if you created a new character for Throne of Bhaal and then did some editing to create continuity between Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal (adding the romance variables, giving her the extra abilities she gained from using the Tears of Bhaal, etc), then I suppose you might consider that to be "cheating". The same applies if you edited your existing character to change her class but keep everything else the same. But my own reaction to that sort of "cheating" is, "So what?" In my opinion, you "cheated" when you added MODs to the game, which made even more sweeping changes to the game than a justifiable, reasonable editing of your main character would. Again, my reaction is, "So what?" If you're going to spend hundreds of hours of your life playing a game, a small amount of customization to make yourself happy is completely reasonable in my book. It's not like you're violating the rules of the game in a really important way, such as creating a character with a prohibited class (look at Aerie) or giving your character ridiculously high stats (like the Tomes did in BG1) or creating super-weapons for your character that upset the balance of the game (like you see all over the internet, or arguably, like the weapons Cespenar creates in Throne of Bhaal). If all of the things I mentioned (including the MODs) can be justified, then so can a minor amount of character editing.

I, too, was a "slow learner" when it came to combat in BG1/SoA/ToB. But after playing the game several times, I got much better at it. I used to play on the "Normal" setting, but now I play on the "Core Rules" setting. The characters you can develop in these games are very powerful, if you know how to unleash their potential. The last time I played Throne of Bhaal, I laid waste of so many enemies so fast, it scared me.

[Aubrey]

@VonDondu --

You are pretty convincing, aren't you? Okay, then. As Aerie would say, "I'll do it!" (What, girl?)

The fact is that I'm not starting a new game in ToB; I'm just continuing from Shadows of Amn. In such case I suppose I would have to use Shadow Keeper to edit and change class to my pc character. And I think that your suggestion of a Berseker dual classed to cleric is actually a good idea.

Now, how am I suppose to do it right? I know I should change class and kit's abilities to get the Enrage; I'll raise my wisdom for Cleric's class, which means that I would have to lower my charisma, but I don't mind that. And then? Should I keep the same level I have had as an Undead Hunter or lower it?

If you guys can help with the editing issue, I'd appreciated very much!

TIA


Cheers

[Aubrey]

Instead of editing I tried Sojourner's suggestion found in a older thread: moving the game's file into multiplayer save folder, changing the pc character, saving and finally copy the new game in the single player's save.

BUT.

1. The new character begun at level 19!
2. My reputation dropped from 19 to 11!! I know I can raise it again with SK, but why did this happen? Any ideas?


Cheers

[Littiz]

Dear @Aubrey, you just started with the base Reputation.
New char, new everything.
Feel free to raise it...

And just try and check if the Sola romance is still running (I think so, but after all, you just changed his partner!!! )

Ascension is damn difficult, I beat it in a week...
But when I finally did it, I was so excited that I detailed the whole fight in a post!
Go then, you can do it!!!!

I just removed from my memories the Immie thing... just ununderstandable!

[VonDondu]

Aubrey, if you'd like, I'll edit your character for you. Just send me the exported character file, or better yet, send me the Final Save from Shadows of Amn and I'll change your character's class for you.

FWIW, I'll create a new character to use as a model and then make the changes to your existing character. I'll make her level up a couple of times to make sure she gets the spells she's supposed to. The new level of your character will depend on her current amount of experience. I suggest dualling her from a 13th Level Berserker to a Cleric, but we could also do it at 9th Level, or any other level you prefer.

[Aubrey]

@Littiz

And just try and check if the Sola romance is still running (I think so, but after all, you just changed his partner!!! )

How am I supposed to check it? Any suggestion as to where I can find the Clua commands for this? I also suspect that they might differ from the original's game. But, maybe I'm wrong.

Just for the records, Solaufein had declared his loyalty and love to her before fighting Irenicus. I think that's the end of the romance -- or not?? If you have any info just let me know, okay?

About Immy: yeah, let's forget it. No hard feelings. Right? Right!

Cheers

[VonDondu]

The easiest way to figure out which Global Variables are at work in your game is to use to use ShadowKeeper. The very last tab is called "Global Variables". There are a bunch of Global Variables, so you just have to skim the list.

Your character's special abilities (such as Enrage and the special abilities you acquire from using the Tears of Bhaal) can be found under the tab called "Affects". You can copy Effects from one character to another instead of trying to edit them yourself.

[Aubrey]

@VonDondu --

I'm thinking of accepting your proposal and sending you a copy of the SoA final save instead of messing up with the variables. Can you send me a pm with your e-address?


Many thanks, indeed!



Cheers

[VonDondu]

I sent you a PM with my email address.

There's one other question I forgot to ask you. Which MODs have you installed? (I've got copies of Solaufein, Kelsey, Tashia, and Ascension, and I can download others if necessary. I have a clean copy of TOB to work with on my hard drive, so it's not too much trouble.) Do you know in which order they should be installed?

[Aubrey]

I'm sending e-mail replying to all your questions.


Thanks!