I'm in the first level of the dungeon below Spellhold, and Valygar just got killed thanks the some Umber Hulks. Now, while I have the Rod of Resurrection, I'm not so sure I want to bring Valygar back. The main thing I'm keeping him around for is his backstabbing and his use of the Longbow. Is it worth bringing him back to life for what he can offer, knowing that the first skirmish with Irenicus, as well as the City of Caverns and the Underdark, are ahead? Or can I afford to do without him for now, and pick someone else up after getting back to the surface? I have UBv15 installed, and Suna Seni was with Irenicus when my party was capture, so is it worth keeping him around for that and then off-loading him?

This is really a matter of your personal preference, and current party makeup. Valygar is an incredibly useful party member, and I've taken him all the way through the game more than once.

The question is, who do you see yourself going through the game with, and what roles do you maybe not have represented? (i.e. do you have a couple of good priests/healers, at least 1 good arcane caster, etc). If you have all of your core needs taken care of, there are a lot of different ways you can go on party member options, and Valygar is certainly not a slouch. I'd encourage you to figure out who will be in the party for the long run, and get them before you go too far. The further you go in the game before you add a party member, the less xp that party member will have when you finally add him/her.

Is Valygar worth resurrecting? Absolutely.

Sure, remove him from your party, dump his sorry corpse to the ground to be gnawed by gibberlings. :toofar:

Just ressurect him, man! If you want to remove him, you can do so after ressurecting him. But if you are RPing an evil guy who does not care about his companions and friends in arms, just...just do whatever you want. :nono:

If you have Suna Seni thing, it is really worth having Valygar alive:it can prove to be interesting at least!

Valygar is a powerful character and a boon to most parties. If you are only using him for his longbow and occasional backstab, then you are under-using him. Try a few different tactics with him- you may find that he will begin to shine in a different role.

If, for some reason, you cannot use the clerical spell Raise Dead, then just use the Rod. It is only one charge! You can use the sell-buy trick to refill the charges on it when you reach the surface.

Thanks for the input. Valygar has proven useful with both his katana and the Short Sword of Backstabbing; I use the sword for backstabbing and then follow up with the Katana which, with its poisoning, has helped kill more than one person. Of course, it feels better to backstab someone into little bits on the first stab.

My current party does have most of my bases covered. I've got my Fighter PC and Mazzy as my tanks. Saerelith is my Paladin so I can use Carsomyr and she also has Foebane when needed. Jaheira is along because she's my current romance, but she comes in handy with the sling and also for summoning all sorts of help as well as some handy spells. The party is rounded off with Nalia, who is my magic user, buffed with the Robe of Vecna and a couple of other goodies. She really came in handy in my 'fight' with the Shadow Dragon.

I can easily use the Rod of Resurrection, because it has a number of charges left and I've even got a second one in my pack.

I think I will bring the lug back to life.

Give Valygar Celestial Fury in his main hand and Kundane in his off hand, send him in behind a good tank and watch a whirl-wind of death!

Tips for how to play Valygar effectively can be found here (http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/10/5836.html#000002).

Thanks for the advice. I can get Celestial Fury and Kundane when I return to Athkatla.

Sikret's advice is good too, and I have most of the items he mentions.

I'll give it all a try.

With Jaheira alive in your party there's no need for using the rod of resurrection. Just use "Harper's Call" to raise him from the dead.

He's just a jumped up pseudo tank...

Unless you are severely lacking a fighter type in your party...I say stuff him.

But then again...I might be prejudiced because he hates Mages!! :evil:

But...but...Mages are Evil!!

That's just what the non Mage scrubs say...mostly because of how inadequate they feel compared to the raw unbridled power that is a Mage! :evil:

@kmonster

I might have Jaheira in my party, but when I don't need to use a spell slot on Harper's Call, I'm not going to. If the Rods run out, then I'll use Harper's Call.

You could just sell and buy back or steal back your Rod of Resurrection you know...

There's no way you can run out charges unless your party members die like flies all the time! :p

@Faraaz:Like your style! :grin:

Selling and buying wands are not cheesy (think it as the payment to re-charge them) but if you do steal them back, it can be considered cheesy. (I have done it in numerous occasions. :o )

But wands are so powerful in low levels, a low level mageling can still cause complete havoc and ultimate destruction if he posseses the right wands!

I'm using Valygar for the first time in my party. I know he doesn't like Mages, but hasn't really said anything yet to Jan or my protagonist about it (Illusionist/Cleric). Will he pick on Imoen?

I wouldn't worry too much about Valygar not getting along with characters like Jan and Imoen.

Valygar will speak to you on the subject of magic regardless of class. But you get special options only if you are a single-classed mage or cleric. Kind of a rip-off for your I/C, since logically they should get options for both (or perhaps even an alternate track), but...there it is.

And Valygar doesn't fight with anyone. Though you'd think he'd have a problem with Edwin, nothing ever really materializes beyond some harsh words.

I haven't had him in my party that long, but I've heard he may come to blows with Edwin OR Viconia. It's only a hearsay, but if Viccy's around, be careful when you speak to some of the NPCs in the government district.

Why? What happens if you speak to some of the NPCs in the government district with Viconia in your party?

AFAIK, speaking to some one special in Waukeen's promenade with Viccy can prove to be disastrous. But I do not know about Government District. Can you give us some hints, The Shaman?

Who would Viconia have to speak to in Waukeen's Promenade to get this reaction?

And I had to resurrect Valygar again after he got killed in the fight with Balor in the Underdark.

I'm not sure it's happened in my games, but iirc it was the "golddigger" female NPC around the center of the district - she has a name, but I don't remember what it was. She's the one that hints to Keldorn he might be cuckolded, and that has a word or two with Nalia if you have her in the party. She was somewhere in the lower terraces, if I remember correctly - the same one on which the Firecam estate is.

Okay, let me say this again. Valygar will come to blows with NOONE in an unmodded game. He doesn't like Edwin or Viconia, and one of the Valygar-Edwin banters sounds like there's going to be a fight, but nothing happens.

Regarding Viconia and Waukeen's Promenade, there's an elf-hater named Elmin Bergas (or something like that) near the northwest exit. If you speak with him with Viconia in your party, he goes berserk. And then if you kill him, your rep drops as if you'd killed an innocent because that's what he's flagged as. There are naturally ways around it, like letting the nearby guard take care of him, but it's better to leave him alone unless you really fancy getting rid of the racist pr*ck.

Funny. I killed the guy because he attacked Viconia, and nothing happened to my reputation. I did have many mods at that time, but still, none of the readme files stated anything about that part of the game.

I think Baldurdash removes the Innocent flag from the guy, which might explain why your rep didn't drop.

There's no fix I can find in Baldurdash concerning Belmin Gergas, the elf hater.

I remember the Waukeen guy now. When he turned red, the guard went after him and I let the guard get in the first shot before going in for the kill. I had no rep penalty, but I didn't have any Baldurdash fix, so I can only assume that it was either my trying to calm the racist down or letting the guard hit him first that allowed me to kill him without penalty.

Interesting observation about letting the guard get started first. I generally just avoid this guy, or let the guards do the dirty work, as I generally play good parties and don't want to risk the reputation hit... not to mention having guards and merchants go hostile on me.

Hmm, I always ended up with a Rep hit from killing him.