Is it worth it to have Anomen join the party?

Spliff · Post by **Spliff** » Thu May 31, 2001 5:57 am

My party includes: Me,Keldorn,Aerie,Edwin,Yoshimo, and Cernd.
I haven't run into any problems so far w/o a true cleric. Any info on Anomen would be appreciated.

Manveru · Post by **Manveru** » Thu May 31, 2001 6:06 am

My answer for your topic title/question : NO

explanation :
1)I don't like him
2)I usually play clerics so he is kicked out of party at the begining
3)At the begining he has only 10 wisdom (shame for the cleric) and it increases to 16 only if you will solve his quest in a good way (He is better as chaotic neutral character)
4) Your party consist of Aerie and Cernd - they both could serve as clerics and are much better (however I have some objections about Cernd, Jaheira is much better)
5) If you want really powerful cleric then : Join to the party Viconia or alternative : Use one of mine custom NPCs : Branwen - she is said to be the best cleric in BG1. You could find her [url="http://www.worldzone.net/games/manveru"]here[/url]

koz-ivan · Post by **koz-ivan** » Thu May 31, 2001 6:36 am

yes, he is a great addition to any good group.

he is very versitile, good fighting skills + good cleric spells. it is important that he pass his quest.

his turn undead is awesome.
he gets more attacks / round than single class cleric.

very high strength, good w/ sling of seeking.
he can fight on your front lines or from the back w/ sling.

has ample spells, (not as much as viconia) but plenty.

has great interactions w/ keldorn.
won't cap out at level 14 like cernd or aerie.

cernd look's like your weak link, i'd drop him unless you really like his druid spells or werewolves.

ElvenKing · Post by **ElvenKing** » Thu May 31, 2001 7:13 am

I'm going to agree with koz-ivan on this one. For good aligned parties Anomen is by far the best cleric (unless the PC is a cleric) that you can pick up through the game. Here's why I think this to be true.

1) If his personal quest is done properly, his WIS jumps from 12 to 16, which is the same as Aerie. Therefore he gets bonus spells at Levels 1 and 2.
2) Even though he is dual-classed, he can still reach Level 20 as a cleric. Plenty of spells, and a powerful Turn Undead ability. Aerie can only reach Level 14 before capping out.
3) Since he is a dual-class from a fighter, he has a better THACO and can specialize (improving his To Hit numbers) or better in some great weapon classes such as War Hammers and Flails (for Crom Faeyr and Flail of Ages).
4) Has plenty of hit points and good natural strength. This allows him to wear the heaviest armours and means he can function well as a second tank. Plus he can do great damage with the Sling of Seeking.
5) If you don't take Keldorn into your party, giving Anomen the Gauntlets of Dexterity will drop his AC by 4 points. Couple this with a good shield (such as the Fortress +4) and a heavy armour, and suddenly Anomen has an amazing AC of -11 or better. This makes him a VERY effective tank. Even if you do take Keldorn or give the Gautlets to someone else however, his AC will still be at MINIMUM -7. Not bad at all.

The key to Anomen becoming a great cleric is his personal quest. Not only does he improve as a cleric, but becomes much more bearable personality wise within the party. I feel he is the only legitimate pick as a true cleric FOR A GOOD PARTY. This means you won't always be searching for ways to keep your reputation down in order to keep Viconia.
However, if you want a Neutral or Evil aligned party, Viconia is the way to go.
And what about Aerie you may ask? She's good as a backup cleric and mage, but not effective enough because of her low cap-out levels to be your prime cleric or mage.
Just my two cents,
ElvenKing

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Thu May 31, 2001 7:28 am

IMO, Anomen (after he becomes Sir Anomen) is the best cleric in the game. His clerical skills aren't the best - Viconia has a higher wisdom - but his his higher strenght, his double hit points and his better THAC0 makes him superior.

This said, you've already got enough priest power in your party. Sure, you can always use more, but maybe you should consider for example Haer'Dalis instead (a bit of everything as well as the use of instruments).

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu May 31, 2001 7:45 am

Anomen is an awesome tank. Gauntlets of Dex. + oil of speed + Potion of fortitude + Draw upon holy might + blade barrier = all you need for a fight. Add a couple of summoned skeleton warriors to lead the charge and soak up the brunt of targeted spells and it is amazing how much damage he can dish out.

Tigerin · Post by **Tigerin** » Thu May 31, 2001 9:26 am

Hell drop cernd take Anomen!!!!!!!
I like him very very very much as a warrior/healer... it's like the best thing one could ask for!

Eldric · Post by **Eldric** » Thu May 31, 2001 1:01 pm

Originally posted by Spliff:
My party includes: Me,Keldorn,Aerie,Edwin,Yoshimo, and Cernd.
I haven't run into any problems so far w/o a true cleric. Any info on Anomen would be appreciated.

I see that this is largely a pro-anomen thread; however my experiences with this push me towards being devil's advocate in this case.

IMO, Anomen has way too much baggage to be in the party. His alignment is lawful neutral, yet he's attempting to enter the Radiant Order, largely more of a Good organization than anything else; this would tend to indicate he's more concerned with the law than the purpose of the law.

But that's not even the main problem. Forty or so days into our quest to rescue Imoen, he's notified that his sister was slain or murdered. At this point, he wants us to stop what we are doing (namely, rescuing Imoen, who is MY sister, who is STILL ALIVE, btw), and see to the care of a dead woman. This is a prime case of caring more for the law than the purpose of it. From my point of view, a dead person has alot of time on their hands, whereas a live person in a life threatening situation DOES NOT. The murder mystery can wait, however it makes more sense to get to Imoen as soon as possible. When it's dead vs living, the dead need to bury the dead.

I had no problem with going on his quest and helping, it was the insistence that we do it immediately and leave the quest we were on that was the problem. Couple that with the fact that Aerie more than equals his clerical skills (turn undead, etc), and that we already have three tanks, it was easy to tell him where to stick his demands; of course, he took off as a result. We've been just fine ever since.

koz-ivan · Post by **koz-ivan** » Thu May 31, 2001 1:22 pm

Couple that with the fact that Aerie more than equals his clerical skills (turn undead, etc

early in the game this may be true, but by the time both cap out, anomen has six or seven levels on aerie.

aerie ia also a very versitile char, but as a cleric, she pales in comparison to anomen.

Eldric · Post by **Eldric** » Thu May 31, 2001 2:46 pm

Originally posted by koz-ivan:
early in the game this may be true, but by the time both cap out, anomen has six or seven levels on aerie.

aerie ia also a very versitile char, but as a cleric, she pales in comparison to anomen.

Conversely you could say that anomen is worthless as a mage. There are always going to be discussions about multiclass characters vs one class chars. My position is that Aerie has proven more versatile as a result of her multiclass talents, and with jahiera (pure cleric) in the group and the front line fortificaton taken care of, it then becomes a matter of "the annoyance factor," as opposed to how useful he is.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu May 31, 2001 5:19 pm

If you're running a good/neutral party, your only really effective cleric choice is Anomen. Aerie is a great backup mage/cleric, but should never be in the front lines--she lacks the power that Anomen and Viconia (for priests) and Edwin (for mages) can bring to a high level party.

Eldric · Post by **Eldric** » Thu May 31, 2001 8:32 pm

Originally posted by fable:
If you're running a good/neutral party, your only really effective cleric choice is Anomen. Aerie is a great backup mage/cleric, but should never be in the front lines--she lacks the power that Anomen and Viconia (for priests) and Edwin (for mages) can bring to a high level party.

Strategically speaking, spellcasters (be they mage or cleric) are more useful to the rear of the party. That's where Aerie is in my team. The frontline tank tasks are handled by myself, Minsc, and to a lesser degree, Valygar. The reason spellcasters are better to the rear is that it is counterproductive to fight and cast at the same time, and IMO cleric spells amount to more than healing a party after the fight is over; they also consist of a plethora of offensive options. The latter are more easily accessible when battle is not up close and personal; therefore I consider a fighter/cleric NPC somewhat of a waste from a team oriented offensive point of view, if you are using them as a tank. And if you put them in the back, that wastes their fighting ability, when they could be serving as an excellent tank. Qualification: You do need at least one generalist in the group; that keeps efficiency to a max and waste to a minimum via a prepoderance to specialization. Personally I feel that the generalization task should be reserved for the player character, not the NPC's; that's the exception to this rule, but it's my exception, not necessarily anyone elses; someone else may enjoy specializing their PC. For that matter, someone else may enjoy adhering to no strategic system at all.

GrimReaper · Post by **GrimReaper** » Thu May 31, 2001 9:03 pm

I like Anomen. Last time I played I had him and Aerie in my party. I do agree that a cleric is more than just a healer in a party and they have a lot of good offensive and support spells. I found Anomen to fit right in, however, because I used Aerie as my offensive and healing cleric while Anomen was mainly used to cast spells before battle to help the party. Also, by the end of the game, his AC was -12 and his strength 25 with Crom Faeyr, plus his spells which made him even better (Righteous Magic, etc.), and became the best tank fighter in my party by far.

Krimmy · Post by **Krimmy** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 12:46 am

Nope, that sucker should die a most horrible death(as he does in all my games)

I don't have anything against Clerics in general, I just don't like Anomen as a character but to each his/her own.

[ 06-01-2001: Message edited by: Krimmy ]

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 12:58 am

Originally posted by Eldric:
Conversely you could say that anomen is worthless as a mage. There are always going to be discussions about multiclass characters vs one class chars. My position is that Aerie has proven more versatile as a result of her multiclass talents, and with jahiera (pure cleric) in the group and the front line fortificaton taken care of, it then becomes a matter of "the annoyance factor," as opposed to how useful he is.

Jaheira is neither a single class character or a Cleric. She is a multiclass Fighter/Druid. Clerics and Druids are both Priests, but they have a slightly different spell selection.

As to the question of Anomen vs Aerie, the answer is simple: If you really need extra mage power, go with Aerie. If you don't, absolutely choose Anomen.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 8:36 am

I certainly thought it was worth it to include Anomen in my party. As soon as he has passed his test, he's a very good cleric and fighter.

I gave him 5 stars at sling, and equipped him with the STR bonus Sling of Seeking. In this way, he could stay behind the front line and cast offensive spells. Also, in this way he doesn't need the DEX gloves for good AC, so you can give them to Keldorn instead.

Thanks to his high STR and good THACO, Anomen became very powerful and deadly with his sling, he dealed out more damage that Minsc.

On a personal side, I know many people find Anomen irritating, but I liked him since I think he, together with Jaheira, is one the more interesting characters in the game. This does not necessarily mean I like him a lot, but he has some more depth that many other PNPC:s.

So, my advice is: Go for Anomen

leeho730 · Post by **leeho730** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 9:11 am

Hell yeah! Anomen is very good... and in ToB, he will reach lv7/40. Grand mastery, extra attack, decent strength. Just make sure you pass the test. Throw Aerie out unless you are romancing her.
Aerie will reach lv 20/25 (mage/cleric) in ToB, which means that she will get her spell slots maxed out, but she will miss some special abilities...

[ 06-01-2001: Message edited by: leeho730 ]

The Outsider · Post by **The Outsider** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 10:56 am

Here's a little caveat for anyone who's thinking that they'll take Anomen and ... 'adjust' that problematic WIS score.

I tried that once. However, after his personal problems are resolved, the stat change overrides Shadowkeeper permanently. I had him set at 25 (for total overkill), reset him to that, and still got stuck with 16.

Just for the obsessive cheeseheads out there.

Eldric · Post by **Eldric** » Mon Jun 04, 2001 1:49 am

Originally posted by Astafas:
Jaheira is neither a single class character or a Cleric. She is a multiclass Fighter/Druid. Clerics and Druids are both Priests, but they have a slightly different spell selection.

True enough...and in all honesty, I've never even noted Jaheria's class status, as my evaluation of her has been completely from a spellcaster/fighting status position. Class labels to me have been less significant than the results of a team effort in a conflict. Her position in the formation is a direct result of her individual performance either as a fighter or a spellcaster, as was Anomen's, and not by virtue of the class labels.

Originally posted by Astafas:
As to the question of Anomen vs Aerie, the answer is simple: If you really need extra mage power, go with Aerie. If you don't, absolutely choose Anomen.

As to Aerie's true value, Manveru had an interesting post on 6-1:
____________________________________________
We shall see .... in ToB according to my calculations Aerie will be powerful combo : 20thlevel Mage /25th level cleric with 8000000 Xp. - it means contingency/chain contingency/sequencer/minor sequencer/spell trigger + all cleric spells : what do you think about spell trigger with three flame strikes ?........She will be powerful enough to kick many asses.