Hi

I'm out of irenicus's prison and Imoen's been taken in by the wizards.

I'm trying to work out who i want in my final party. Minsc is already in. That leaves 4 spots available.

Edwin and Viconia - considered the best mage and cleric respectively. However they are evil and Edwin and Minsc have history. Is their aliignment going to be a problem? In BG1 my party maintained a heroic rep without even trying.

Possible picks
Aerie - cleric/mage
Yoshimo - thief
Gnome - can't remember his name

Thoughts/Suggestions?

If it's your first run you should avoid spoilers and enjoy the game. Finding out if Minsc and Edwin are going to fight is part of the fun.

Pick out the characters you need to make your party more efficient and don't worrry, if you have to switch later on, new NPCs that join your party are levelled up depending on your main character's level.

How about the evil alignment thing. Would that factor in negatively?

Do the characters level up after you've recruited and dismissed them? I thought they only match your level when you first recruit and not when you re-recruit.

I thought they only match your level when you first recruit and not when you re-recruit.

That is correct (this is what I meant, sorry if my post mislead you).

Regarding alignment, characters will complain and they may disagree and leave if you force on them party members that they can't stand. Play and you'll find out! ;)

Arguments happen. Just as in Baldur's Gate. Don't worry about it.

Who you have with you may depend on your class and alignment (although you can keep any alignment with you if you play your cards right).

Pick the characters you like the best -- I wouldn't even worry about class restrictions yet. You don't need to take everyone. There are sixteen different NPC's that can accompany you of differing alignments and skills. As long as you have the usual (fighter, thief, cleric, mage) you will be fine -- pick and choose as you find someone you like. Dump those that you don't like.

If you want a good fighter (well, berserker), Korgan is great. But he is evil too, so if you aren't into that, then Minsc is a good substitute. I prefer Korgan usually though.

Wont spoil it by giving out specifics, but be warned that although you can juggle your reputation quite easily to keep everyone from leaving because of your char there are certain NPC combos that wont work out in the long run (at least one that I know of from experience).

Enagonios is right, but don't let that become a worry. You won't suddenly find yourself in an unwinnable situation if it happens, and in any case said situations are very good story-wise, especially on your first run.

Pick the party you like, and just enjoy the game :) It's much more fun if you get caught by surprise.

Keldorn is pretty good, plus he is the only NPC that can use Carsomyr. but if your a Paladin then you probably dont need a second pally.


Korgan, Edwin and Viconia will complain, and may in fact leave if you rep gets higher than 18 (Heroic). but you can easily go club a few hobos to death to getyour rep to drop, then hit up a temple to bring it back up.


Anomen is a pretty good cleric too if you dont take Viconia.


Aerie's multiclassed so she levels in mage slowly, but having cleric spells too can in some cases free up a character slot.

Jan (the gnome whos name you forgot) is a pretty compitent thief/mage, thats another case of two classes in one, so that two frees up another slot, depending on what other classes you go with.

Mazzy's not a bad fighter, if you dont want the evily alignment Korgan.

Haer'Dalis has a few tricks up his sleeve.

Jaheira has some good druid spells, and unlike most druids she can wear metal armor

Cernd, once he gets greater werewolf can do some heavy damage.

never really tried Valygar, though.

Valygar is pretty deadly if you let him dual-wield a certain katana with anything else ;)

oh, and if its your first time, take yoshimo with you all the way, he is awesome. I'd rather have him than any other of the thief multiclass NPCs.

bioware NPCs yes, currently running through the game with Tiax. He rules (all).

Thanks for your input guys. I generally pick my own character as a Neutral and then try to pick the best people (not neccessarily good/evil) to round out my team.

In BG1 - my team rep reached 20 without even trying. All my characters leaned towards "good" I was tempted to pick edwin but ended up sticking with dynheir in order to keep minsc. I couldnt do the "leave them in a building and reform party" trick because the person would quit even if they could no longer walk up to me. I once left dynheir in friendly arms inn and was in baldurs gate when i got a message from her that she was leaving and taking minsc with her. Anyway thats in the past.

The present -
I'm leaning towards korgan and Visconia and maybe even Edwin just for a change of pace. I'm playing as a multiplayer and created a monk to back up my (primary) Ranger.
I imported my character from BG1 with equipment/armor and used the pause screen at the beginning to keep them in the game. I also brough some of my equipment from BG1 (gauntlets of dex and armor) so I have a pretty good starting equipment. With my own characters in place i just need 4 NPC's to round it out. I was concerned with the alignment thing because I may not get that discount from shops. On the other hand i amassed 106,000 gold at the end of BG1 and had nothing to spend it on. I hope i have the same good fortune and can buy all i need and have some spare change


I picked two "created" characters (i would have made 3) because i dont think i'll return to BG2 for a very long time. I have tons of games to get to. I owned BG series for almost 3 years and i just managed to find time to start playing. I wanted to max out my stay at BG world. I've finished Torment (top 5 best games) and Icewind Dale series. Once i finish BG series i plan to start neverwinter nights. I wish i had enough free time on my hands to do a second run though.

I imported my character from BG1 with equipment/armor and used the pause screen at the beginning to keep them in the game. I really shouldn't have mentioned this to a first-timer :o, i guess it would have been reasonable to assume Irenicus would have stored it somewhere in the starting dungeon anyways so meh.


Money is probably less of an issue in BGII than it was in BGI, so you should be fine on that front, and as stated above you can always kill beggars to lower your reputation (note:do it in a secluded place to avoid attention)

I really shouldn't have mentioned this to a first-timer

tsk :P

i guess it would have been reasonable to assume Irenicus would have stored it somewhere in the starting dungeon anyways so meh.

He does, Imoen says something like that iirc but "your best stuff" comes out to being a dagger+1 and long sword+1 :D Besides, there's nothing quite like the feeling the first time you play and you're all: "wtf? where's all my stuff???" :D

hah - yeah that was my reasoning...that, along with my old team members somehow saw fit to give me their best equipment prior to my capture. Imagination is a wonderful thing