GameBanshee Forums

I have spent a lot of time playing BG2 (a ton), but I skipped the original BG. Well now I have the original and I want to take a character all the way through from the beginning to the very end. Unfortunately, I know nothing about BG other then what was carried over to BG2. This is mainly a problem with NPC's because I don't know who to get. But I would really like to have these NPC's:

Jaheira
Khalid
Minsc
Imoen

I don't know who to have in the last slot and I don't know how good of a party this is anyways, but it seems like it would fit best in the story that picks up in BG2. I'm also considering my class and I thought paladin but it doesn't seem to fit well in that party. I think I need a mage PC of some type and a cleric NPC. Anyways, could you tell me what you think about a PC class and about some NPC choices, because I know nothing about them. All help is appreciated.

You could take Dynaheir, she's Minsc his mage, it fits into the story.

I can't recommend a cleric, but maybe a fighter/cleric, clerics don't have great spells in BG.
Except miscast magic and summon skeleton

And when you remove the XPcap you'll have some nice added bonuses, but I've just finished with a full cleric and it didn't really work for me.

You could go as a Druid, druid's rock in BG2, although they rock a lot less in BG.

Well, I dont have much advise for you so far, but I'm in the same boat. Beat BG2, never played BG1... just started about a week ago.

I'm going with a Dwarf multiclass fighter/cleric. That way he'll compensate for my lack of a cleric in the party and also I can carry him into BG2 and have him become a very powerful character. And I'm taking all the story NPC's, just for the fun of it.

For best story purposes take:

Yourself
Imoen
Jaheria
Dynaheir
Minsc
Khalid

I too am playing from the beginning and plan to take my character through the entire series. I am nearly done with TotSC right now. I used the party above, except I had Kivan before Dynaheir became available. Then I dropped Imoen (left her in Beregost Tavern) and kept Kivan because he was cool and my main archer. It was pretty tricky playing without a thief (disregard if your main character is a thief) but overall it wasn't too bad and I rather enjoyed it. Then I picked up Imoen and dropped Jaheria for Durlag's Tower after my final save (another challenge to play Durlag's Tower with no healer, but I baught tons of healing potions and rested whenever I needed) and that worked out well in the end. I had more firepower without her, but I still had her long enough to serve the story, same with Imoen.
Also Coran is a great character that has a cameo in BG2 (you may have seen it), he can be your archer instead of Kivan as well, and is a solid thief to boot.

Been a loooooooong time but IIRC, there is a dwarf cleric available, though later in the game. Branwen I believe is also a cleric, and Viconia is also available (again I think).

Originally posted by Eriks
For best story purposes take:

Yourself
Imoen
Jaheria
Dynaheir
Minsc
Khalid

Strangely enough, that was the party I did AFTER playing BG2 (some of the party went all the way to end of ToB). Dynaheir is pretty awful, IMAO, but she's worth it to get Minsc.

OTOH, there are about a billion other characters you can get, from Xzar & Monty (bleh ) to Xan, Viconia and that whacko Gnome that shows up in spellhold, so please yourself

ah yes I forgot about Viconia, maybe because I never use her. What is she like as a character by the way? I know she is chaotic evil... how would she fit into a good party?

Well, Viconia's the best NPC cleric in the game. Branwen is ok, as is Yeslick, but Viconia is "teh win1111". I *think* you need a CHA item to keep her in BG1 if your rep is above 18, as with Edwin, Shar-Teel, Kagain or any of the evils.

Of course, character interactions are pretty much non-existent in BG1, sadly.

I love the happy party mod for BG2

what does it do and where can i get it?

Originally posted by Eriks

what does it do and where can i get it?

From Sabre here Basically it stops fighting in the ranks when reputation becomes too high/too low for some party member's comfort.

e.g Viconia will leave if the party reputation becomes too high, Jaheira will whine if the reputation moves too far away from neutral etc. The Happy Script fixes this.

I'm surprised that no one else has asked this, but what class is your main character, and what is his alignment? Surely those have an effect on party composition.

As Mister Popo pointed out, Minsc and Dynaheir are a travelling pair, just like Khalid and Jaheira. If you dismiss one of them, the other one will leave as well. There are cheesy ways around that (send the one you want to dismiss into a locked room so he or she can't talk to your main character, or simply let the one you don't want in your party get killed), but I think you need to ask yourself why you want any of them in your party, and if you want to get rid of one of them, why you want to do that. Keep in mind that Shadows of Amn assumes that Minsc and Dynaheir were travelling together when they came looking for you.

Well, colour me surprised

Actually, I didn't even know there WAS a happy party fix for BG. I was thinking of something like the CHA cloak (doesn't stop grumbling, will stop them leaving). Man, I could have avoided Jaheira's constant grumbling ......

Anyway, if you read the original post, the dude's thinking of playing a mage PC, and one would suspect neutral-good if they care about alignment, as there are NO evils in the party.

If you play with the three duos - PC/Imoen Jaheira/Khalid and Minsc/Dynaheir, however, you won't have a cleric unless the PC is one or you do one of the cheese tricks to ditch one of them *cough*Dynaheir*cough* - especially if your PC is a mage Then you can pick up Branwen at any point.

My 2 gold worth, YMMV

Re: Well, colour me surprised

Originally posted by nephtu
if you read the original post, the dude's thinking of playing a mage PC, and one would suspect neutral-good if they care about alignment, as there are NO evils in the party.

If you're addressing me (no offense taken), then I was basing my question on remarks Antimatter made in another message thread. He has already made it to Nashkel, and Minsc refused to join his party. So obviously, he has chosen a class to play, and I'm not sure what it is. Since Minsc wouldn't talk to him, that makes me wonder what alignment he has chosen. ("Reaction" is based on Alignment, Reputation, and Charisma.) I feel the same way you do: if he wants to have a party of Good NPCs (one Neutral), then I would expect his PC to be Good as well, but he hasn't made that clear.

Re: Well, colour me surprised

Originally posted by nephtu

If you play with the three duos - PC/Imoen Jaheira/Khalid and Minsc/Dynaheir, however, you won't have a cleric unless the PC is one or you do one of the cheese tricks to ditch one of them *cough*Dynaheir*cough* - especially if your PC is a mage Then you can pick up Branwen at any point.

My 2 gold worth, YMMV

I know what you mean, but actualy BG works very good with 2 mages, so I wouldn't ditch Dynaheir, she's a decent mage.
As for a clerics, if you realy want to play those three couples, I usualy try to give Jaheira (in my first game) a lot of healing spells. And at some point give her both the tomes of wisdom.

Re: Re: Well, colour me surprised

Originally posted by VonDondu
If you're addressing me (no offense taken), then I was basing my question on remarks Antimatter made in another message thread. He has already made it to Nashkel, and Minsc refused to join his party. So obviously, he has chosen a class to play, and I'm not sure what it is. Since Minsc wouldn't talk to him, that makes me wonder what alignment he has chosen. ("Reaction" is based on Alignment, Reputation, and Charisma.) I feel the same way you do: if he wants to have a party of Good NPCs (one Neutral), then I would expect his PC to be Good as well, but he hasn't made that clear.

Yes, I was at least partially addressing you (No offense intended, either ) - The big problem is, of course, some people are really focused on NPC alignment, others don't care. Rarely do they bother to make what they're looking for clear, except in some ostentasiously aligned RP-ish posts. Reaction is a real issue that people need to be aware of, certainly.

Cheers!