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I have what may be a bonehead question about hiring henchmen:

Each NPC wants a certain sum in gold to join your party. Do you have to pay them every time you swap someone out, or is it a one time fee? For instance, let's say I want to pick up the thief to disarm some traps and I pay him 250 gp (or whatever his fee is). If I later drop him from the party and add a cleric to fight undead, do I have to shell out the 250 again when I want him back, or will he join the party for "free"?

Thanks in advance.

It's a one time fee.

Pay each one, once. From then on, in any chapter, you may take that henchman without paying anything again.

All right, I just picked up Grin (the halfling thief) and he gave me this contract. Do I need to keep it or is it just taking up space in my inventory? Can I stash it in a chest or something and come back to it later like you can in BG?

I always keep the contract in my inventory.

But after Ch.2, you don't have to pay them anyway. So unless you're going for the items, just pick up the henchmen you need in Ch.1.

another henchmen question

If your henchmen die, they respawn, right? Do they respawn in the place where they died, at the Temple of Tyr or where ever it was that you initially picked them up?

Re: another henchmen question

Originally posted by HighLordDave
If your henchmen die, they respawn, right? Do they respawn in the place where they died, at the Temple of Tyr or where ever it was that you initially picked them up?

At the Temple of Tyr. So activate the stone, ask your Henchman to join up again, get some healing if needed, and teleport back.

yet another henchmen question

Can I give a henchmen a weapon other than the one they're carrying? For instance, the half-orc barbarian carries one of those double-bladed orcish axes. If I want him to engage in ranged combat, can I give him a bow and expect him to use it in ranged combat, then switch to the axe for melee? Or is that too sophisticated for the AI?

Truly, though, my only complaint about the game is that you don't have complete control over NPCs like you do in the Infinity Engine games.

Re: yet another henchmen question

Originally posted by HighLordDave
Can I give a henchmen a weapon other than the one they're carrying? For instance, the half-orc barbarian carries one of those double-bladed orcish axes. If I want him to engage in ranged combat, can I give him a bow and expect him to use it in ranged combat, then switch to the axe for melee? Or is that too sophisticated for the AI?

Truly, though, my only complaint about the game is that you don't have complete control over NPCs like you do in the Infinity Engine games.

No, you can't change their armour or weapons and it would be to sophisticated for the AI. However, there is an improved AI who opens up these possibilities, although I for one is always a bit sceptical towards unofficial patches.

I agree with you, even though I also feel they are somewhat more their own persons now.

@HLD, you can't see your henchman's inventory, and you can't give him or her anything. This is deliberate. Bioware didn't want players indulging in any inventory management for computer-controlled characters. Personally, I think its absence lessens the attractiveness of the game. But I understand that a player has developed code allowing this to happen.

It's also rather silly when you take on a new henchman and suggest they level up. (All henchmen are supposed to operate at one level below yours. They normally level when you do automatically, but if they've dropped behind because they weren't in your party, you have to suggest leveling to get it to happen.) I watched Sharwyn, for instance, suddenly switch from ordinary leather armor to that red +1 magic leather, all while simply standing there and leveling up. Very anti-RPG, since if she'd had the +1 armor all along, she only needed to don it.

Originally posted by fable
... I watched Sharwyn, for instance, suddenly switch from ordinary leather armor to that red +1 magic leather, all while simply standing there and leveling up. Very anti-RPG, since if she'd had the +1 armor all along, she only needed to don it.

Some equipment have level or ability restrictions. Perhaps that is why they don't wear it from the beginning?

Do you notice that the henchmen will fade out and then back in? Perhaps they have gone off to purchase some new digs or access a private cache?

Maybe they needed money in order to buy the new equipment, and while you were gone, they had already run out to the nearest equipment store, but hadn't had a chance to put it on yet?



Just some ideas ...... heh.



I don't mind the lack of access to the henchmen's equipment, nor the lack of total control of their character (afterall, this is supposed to be a SP game based upon the 3E ruleset), but I would like to have a say in how the henchman progresses. I can't stand seeing Tomi keep improving his Parrying skill when he'll never use it anyway. What I really need for him to do is to improve his Trap Disarm skill.......grrrr.

In response to the original question, you don't need to give Daelan a bow to get him to use a ranged weapon, simply speak with him about tactics and tell him to use his ranged weapon rather than engage in melee combat, although that would be rather silly with Daelan

One thing I thought was interesting; when I originally asked Tomi to use ranged weapons, he started using Sharwyn's (sp?) +1 bow.......I wonder how that happened.

Originally posted by Mathurin
In response to the original question, you don't need to give Daelan a bow to get him to use a ranged weapon, simply speak with him about tactics and tell him to use his ranged weapon rather than engage in melee combat, although that would be rather silly with Daelan

I think he makes some comment about it - something like "It's not the best use of my talents, but you're the boss"

Originally posted by Skilless
One thing I thought was interesting; when I originally asked Tomi to use ranged weapons, he started using Sharwyn's (sp?) +1 bow.......I wonder how that happened.

I've seen that happen too. Just another bug, though a harmless one.

WTF?

I swapped Tomi out for Daelan at the Temple of Tyr, but when I went back to pick up the thief, Tomi said he was there is someone else. What's up with that? I don't remember saying anything to him that would alienate him when I dropped him off, so will he join up with me again?

EDIT/Addendum:
Are the henchmen subquests on timers or do you have to talk to each one to trigger the quest?

Re: WTF?

Originally posted by HighLordDave
I swapped Tomi out for Daelan at the Temple of Tyr, but when I went back to pick up the thief, Tomi said he was there is someone else.

I'm afraid I don't quite understand you...

Tomi said he was there is someone else

I'm a little confused too. But did you hire Daelan without first dropping Tomi? This is the way I always swapped and I had no problems. On my second run through I have occasionally dropped Tomi, and when I tell him "I think I'll be better off on my own" and he responds "What, you want to break up a great team?" The possible responses are (more or less), "Yes", "No", "It's just temporary".

I noticed if I said the last Tomi says Ok, he'll hang about "for a while".

Maybe he grew tired of waiting and you were too long with Daelan? How did you drop him?