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I just hte decisions. My party before ToB:
Me: Monk
Keldorn (Carsomyr)
Minsc (dualing flail of Ages & Crom)
Jaheira
Imoen (not dropping)
Aerie

Who do I drop for Sarevok!!!???

I ended up dropping Minsc, just because I wouldn't need the added brawn that he brings. I didn't want to be without a certain level of spell casting, and Minsc for Sarevok seemed a pretty even swap.

Minsc. No question. They're both tanks, and Saverok is the superior tank. You can even get him to change his alignment, as time goes on, if you play your cards right.

mmm...interesting.
But how would you equip Sarevok weaponwise.
Perhaps Axe of the Unyielding with a shield?
Or do I have enogh proficiencies during the game to get him to dual wield with, say, Crom?

I would drop Aerie becuase she doesn't really add that much to your party. Sure she's a true cleric and gets their spells and turns undead but i felt sometimes when i had her that she was more of a liability than an advantage. You have Jaheira for healing and Imoen for mage. I like warrior heavy parties on the other hand. With Keldorn to destroy mages defenses you don't need to memorize those mage spells which means you can use one mage more effectively. You can get Sarevok to use nifty 2 handed swords and get Keldorn to dual wield Purifier and another weapon or Purifier and Shield or just use Carsomyr.

Gotta disagree here. I'd say drop Aerie, like I did. Unfortunately, she won't get any high-level mage abilities or spells until much later in the game, since her multi-class status limits her from casting 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells for quite some time. Also, you just can't have too many tanks in ToB; that's what it's all about. Between Imoen and Jaheira, you'll have plenty of spell-casting power. And Boo will tear your eyes out if you abandon him, god damn it!

As for equipping Sarevok, that's a matter of taste. Personally, I dumped all of his proficiencies into halberds, and had him use that delicious new Ravager +6. Until then, he was perfectly content to use the Soul Reaver until his alignment changed. You can also give him the Silver Sword, Warblade +4, or any number of halberds from BG2.

[ 07-09-2001: Message edited by: TheHellion ]

Hmmmm, you have the party that I had pre-TOB. Actually, I believe I posed a thread about this earlier... but,
I wanted Sarevok, to be sure, but I couldn't figure out who to drop! My PC Monk was, of course, undroppable. Aerie was just too fine a healer, and was useful for turning undead ( you know that part in Watcher's Keep, level 1, where all those minor shades charge at you? Just had Aerie turn on Turning Undead. Biggest gib i've ever seen ). Jaheira was a good backup tank/healer. Keldorn was my magekiller, with Dispel Magic and True Sight quickly making short work of any spell defenses. Minsc was my backup tank ( my monk was my prime tank ), and with CF/CF, he owned. Imoen was my main damage-dealer, with Horrid Wilting and Dragon's Breath. Hmmm, my advice: dont take Sarevok, the above mentioned party works well together, and although you could take Minsc out of the party with out too much trouble, what fun would the game be without his battlecries and conversations?
Hope this helps!

I alomst have thesame party as you do, except i got a fighter instead of a monk. I think I let Minsc out, for he's a strong fighter, but nothing more. He's a fine lad, but in BG2 I had a romance with Aerie and I want to know how it ends. Keldorn is my fav NPC, but he has got thesame profincies as Sarevok (well, MY Keldron has). I think you have to choose between fighters, else you got 4 fighters imn one team, personally I think that is too much...

I'd drop Jahiera. What does she do well? As a fighter, she is handicapped by the multi-class. As a druid, she is an inferior healer to a straight cleric, so if you're going to be stuck with a multi-classes priest, you may as well go with Aerie, who has the added advantage of mage spells.

My party through ToB was me (elf ranger), Minsc, Sarevok, Imoen, Aerie, and Nalia. Nalia is a superior mage to Imoen because you get to lug her around longer in the game (and thus rack up more XP). Despite what our fighter-heavy friends will tell you, there's nothing like dropping four Comets and three Dragon Breath's on a bad guy to ruin his day. Plus, neither Sarevok, Keldorn, nor Minsc (or your monk for that matter) can bring a Planetar or Deva to your aid.

With my party, we had the up-front hack-and-slashers with a strong group of spell casters and archers to back them up.

As for arming Sarevok, he starts out with a 2H Sword +3 and don't forget that he had Grand Mastery WP in 2H Swords. Buy Warblade +4 from Ribald or give him Soul Reaver +4 from the Underdark. The Githyanki Silver Sword is also good; it's "only" +3 but the vorpal blade effects are a good trade-off. He also has the Crossbow proficiency, so give him Firetooth +4 from Watcher's Keep. Once you get to ToB, he works well with Psion's Blade +5 or Gram the Sword of Grief +5.

Yes, Ixil's Nail and Ravager are +6 weapons, but there is no monster in the game who can only be hit by only +6 or better weapons and 5 proficiency slots are too many to pass up. Keep a 2H Sword in Sarevok's hands.

[ 07-10-2001: Message edited by: HighLordDave ]

Just one thing for Sarevok. He's an effective fighter but in your group, it's not very important to add strength.
But when I started TOB, I was searching for a good thief and he appeared to have the potential I needed. So, exit the fighter and long live to Sarevok thieve L1.
Like this, you'll say that's a pretty bad joke but the thieves have a new ability when they reached high levels like using any equipment. Just think of Sarevok, hiding in darkness, ready to backstab with Carsomyr...
Quite nice, isn't it ?

My group is Me (dual class fighter/ mage), Imoen, Aerie, Minsc, Keldorn, Jaheira. But I also think this group has a thief problem. Is there a better combination. Those traps really hurt! Sarevok and Minsc are about the same but Minsc is a lot more fun and not chaotic evil!

Well, after reading all these diferent opinions, I have decided to swap Minsc for Sarevok and arm him with the Ravager+6. I don`t want to drop Aerie or Jaheira for the romance and because so many tanks simply aren`t fun to play. Wheather Sarevok is Evil or not, he is your brother, and I enjoy the roleplay as much as the game itself. (that`s also another reason I use a monk, Candlekeep, and why I won`t dual Sarevok. Besides, Carsomyr is supposed to choose it`s owner, or at least avoid non paladins using it, no matter what ability the thief has)
There are better ways to arm Sarevok like the axe of the unyielding+5, for me the best item in the game, but , as per the thief, it just would`t fit Sarevok...

But HEY, keep the opinions flowing...

Unless your character is a thief (or a multiclassed thief-something else), you won't be able to have a real good one during TOB (Yoshimo cannot be revived).
You can still detect traps and become invisible with spells but I think it's just regretfull not to have a thief in your group.
And for now, the only character who can be a great one is Sarevok.
It's not only usefull to have a thief but with the new abilities, you can make him quite powerfull.
In fact, Sarevok is just a great son-of-a...god and his your half-brother, so, make him a little place

I really don't have any clues for which character you must drop. In fact, all characters have their interest, for fun, story and tactics. If you want to test all this possibilities, you'll have to play more than one group.

I've finished SOA four times :
One with a group made with characters of different alignment.
The second with a rather neutral group.
The third with a good one (the best for power)
And the fourth with a bad, bad one (my favorite). And Sarevok is just fine in this group.

I had an identical group as well (except for a barbarian instead of your monk). I guess it is pretty common to pick up Keldorn and Aerie to add to the no-brainers of Minsc, Jaheira, and Imoen. When I made the choice, I dropped Minsc for Sarevok because they serve largely the same role. From a party balance standpoint, the other option would be to exchange Keldorn for Sarevok. Keeping Keldorn over Minsc gives you the two (almost) essential abilities, True Seeing and Dispel Magic, in huge abundance. If you aim to maximize your party's power, then dropping Minsc is the answer. But if you would miss the big dumb lug, than consider dropping Keldorn and have Imoen or Aerie memorize the True Sight.

As for dueling Sarevok to a thief, I've honestly never understood that. Yes, it would be cool to have Sarevok backstab with his outrageous 2-handed sword ability, but you have to wait nearly half of TOB to even get to that point (at least the way that I've accumulated experience). Also, Carsomyr really isn't superior to the other 2-handed swords in the game so why long for it so?. In the meantime, while Sarevok is learning to be a thief, you miss out on the best tank in the game (besides my barbarian!). I say, enjoy Sarevok while you have him and don't bother working towards something that would get boring very quickly.

In fact, I just keep Sarevok as my pet's group. Just to remember him of the past (he'll have to pay). That's why I made him a thief, to make him search for trap and resurrect him after, yek, yek...

Really, you don't have to break your group for such a guy, he doesn't deserve it.

In my case, I took him in my evil group because I still had a place :
Me : Fighter_Mage
Korgan
Viconia
Edwin
and now Sarevok

lets put this another way:
what combo do you prefer?
Sarevok (armed with ravager+6)
+
Minsc(dual wielding axe of unyielding+5/Crom)
or
Keldorn (Carsomyr)

Take into account roleplaying as well...

I have never understood the people who want to dual-class Sarevok. Apart from the role-playing aspect, what's the point?

He is a very powerful pure fighter. Arm him with a 2H sword and he's a walking can of whoopass. If you dual him out the second he joins your party, you either need to go through Watcher's Keep with him as your thief or wait until you're half way through ToB to get his fighter abilities back.

Leave him as a fighter and give him Warblade +4 (or an equivalent weapon; see my post above). Give him Boots of Speed, the Helm of Balduran, one of your Gridles of Giant Strength and the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization. Load him up with Greater Whirlwinds and Greater Deathblows. Then unleash him on a spellcaster and see how long it takes Sarevok to cut them to ribbons.

Well, it's for the roleplaying aspect and to have a thief. I'm of the old school of D&D, and for me, a group of characters is supposed to have minimum one fighter (or Pal, ranger, and so on...), a cleric, a mage and a thief.
I don't really look to optimise my group, just to make it fun. And I really don't need an another fighter in my evil group.