Wee that red smiley I used looks like the Nirvana one!

Anyway, I made a character in BG1 (I get better rolls with that one for some reason) as a Human Fighter. Imported into BG2, maxed out Staff, and dualed over to Mage. The alignment of my character is Evil, not sure which right now. So I was minding my own business and then decided that it would be nice to have more than just me and Yoshimo in my party. I used Dungeon Be Gone since after years of this game I am sick of Chateau Irenicus, and decided to leave Jaheira and Minsc behind.

So I did the circus quest, and picked up Aerie, to be my romance and NPC. And then after a few sidequests I picked up Korgan so that I had a tank fighter.

Now my protagonist (with the maxed out Staff proficiency, Thac0 and AC bonuses with the kensai, and so on) is capable of doing very well on his own, but I am worried more about my late game party right now. I JUST picked up Keldorn after taking out the first level of Watcher's Keep and all of Firkraag with my 4-person group, since I started the Unseeing Eye quest.

I have Yoshimo, my only thief, and I will lose him as soon as I go after Imoen. Aerie is kinda weak and is multiclass so she doesn't advance too well. Korgan is a beast, but has issues with Aerie sometimes. Keldorn will have issues with Korgan, I fear, and he (like Aerie) is a good character in my evil guy's party.

What do you all think I should do? I really don't want Jan as a thief, and Imoen is a mage, which I already have two of...

Oh, and for the record, with my party I have done:

Windspear Hills, Planar Sphere, Circus, part of Umar Hills, D'arnise Hold, Slaver Quest, First level of Watcher's Keep, Maevar Quest, and a few others that I can't bring to memory.

Imoen is a mage, but remember she dual-classed to thief at level 7. She isn't much of a backstabber, but she will be totally functional when it comes to picking locks and disarming traps. If you take Imoen, you don't need Jan.

I think Aerie eventually leaves the party if you keep her and Korgan for a very long time.

You may want to ditch her and pick up Viconia instead. She's also romancable, and fits in better with the evil theme of the party.

From an RP perspective I cannot justify keeping Keldorn in the group, but I don't think he actually will get into a fight with Korgan, so that might actually work.

Well, I wonder if I should just restart the game with an export of my current PC and try to fix my party situation BEFORE I go and do all of those sidequests.

How does this sound?

There is some merit in that suggestion if you don't mind re-doing those areas. You obviously want as many party members that you are going to keep long term with you when you do those side-quests. Otherwise, they are missing out on valuable experience points.

I think I will do that, and I also start out the game with a slightly higher mage level as well, which will give me an edge with a smaller party...

So now it comes down to: What NPCs should I pick up if I want as few as possible?

I have a straight mage capable of dishing out some pain as the PC, and I guess Viconia, Korgan for cleric and fighter...

and then keep Yoshimo until I get Imoen, I suppose?

She will serve as another spellcaster, as well as a capable thief, but I really wish I had another option...

Doesn't SP have a thing that has keeping Yoshimo in the description? Or are their other custom NPC thieves I could install and try?

You can try Valen if you want. She would fit perfectly with your party as she's a fighter/thief and pretty evil. I've never tried her personally though. The mod is found here on SP.

I like that idea...

I had an older version of Valen I think...Or maybe it's still the current one, in which case I have Valen Mod...

My issue with that is if she dies...she dies...
And those vampire hunters who are oh so jokingly named beat the crap out of me last time I used her...

I will try it again this time though...

Thanks for the idea!

So unless anyone here has another idea, I have

Kensai/Mage PC
Viconia (Cleric)
Korgan (Beast)
Valen (Fighter/Thief)

All four of them are capable of doing one on one combat, and I have a Thief, a Fighter, a Mage, and a Cleric.

Before I make the move, does anyone object?

Good party. I love Valen, it's a pit you couldn't romance her and get turned.

Anyway, I started off with a CN Skald with the intentions of playing fairly good/neutral but have gradually started being more evil/obnoxious. What great fun!

My current party is...

PC (Skald)
Korgan
Jaheira - current off on harper hold jaunt
Aerie (Possible romance)
Delainey (Possible romance)
Yoshimo

... this party owns all at present. Korgan is an animal and great fun. Jaheira is a great tank as well. Both have -7AC and can take out most anything easily.

I have the same dilemma of replacing Yoshi and I will probably go for Valen as well as I want a combat thief and I fell she is the only valid one there is.

I have found that I need mages more than clerics and that the druid spells are far superior to the clerics (they are the besy anti-mage spells in the game). As much as I really like Viccy, for a four party team, I wouldn't use her.

I would suggest...

PC - Kensai/Mage (F/M is better)
Korgan
Valen or Jan
Aerie or Jaheira

If only I wasn't so bored I thought I would explode before you said this...

Now that I think about it, Jaheira is better than Viconia...

It's too late now, but I see now what you mean...I forgot about Vic's low strength and constitution, as well as her inability to specialize. Jaheira has better spells and defense mechanisms. The one good thing that Vic has brought me is her summoning, since those two mountain bears are doing a TON for me in the big battles. I wish there was just a way to play it multiplayer on my machine without the weird pausing, that way I could have my Kensai/Mage, a Kensai/Thief (which in another post was recently made out to be the best high level assassin ever), Jaheira, and a Fighter like Korgan or one I made...In IWD2 I can do that, but it has a different system anyway...

Want to get rid of the delayed pausing? Just move the save game from the MP folder to the single player folder.

what's the deal with that pause thing on MP anyway?

Evil Party:

You
Korgan
Solafein (well, chaotic neutral is pretty evil, atleast he is mad)
Valen
Viconia (with Crom Faeyr, and Con boosting things(perhaps even that belt that gives 18 Con 3 times/day))
Edwin


This I concider to be the best evil party, they can all fight fairly well, edwin is a great mage, Viconia can become a pretty damn good tank, and the others are pretty damn good too (ok, I dont know about that Valen person)


I just realized something. Can you get Edwin AND get Valen?