Easy way to fix that. Just send Xzar to 'investigate' a dangerous area; once he's dead, you can kick him without Montaron leaving.

Cool, thanks. I never tried that path. I just hope monty wont leave down the line. I doubt that though.

To be honest you don't even have to hide your intentions - just target and kill him yourself then remove from party. Montaron is equally happy :)

First playthrough I went with the canon party, not that I knew they were the canon party at the time (this was several years ago.

The playthrough I just finished I dropped Jaheria (and by extension Khalid) because she was getting on my nerves and picked up Kivan, because I wanted him to be able to complete his... mission, and Branwen because I wanted a non-evil pure healer.

I will say that I was happy to have Minsc by himself in BG2. Dynaheir was restricted from using some pretty nice spells, and if I had had the choice (outside of killing her) I would have preferred a mage from a different school of magic.

Minsc
Dynaheir
Imoen
Yeslick
Coran (spelling?)

Next time I play (with the NPC mod) I'll try out someone different, though. Kivan is annoying as hell with the mod so I won't be using him.

It always kind of baffels me when people say edwin is the "best" mage.. He is really nothing special, Maybe they just prefer his specialization? Its dnd, there really is no best, Best is the one thats well played..


I honestly have no favorite party though. I like all of them for some reason of another. though Alora has a fond place in my heart, I love her cheerfull greetings of Hey there, hi there !

Shar'teal is really fun too, good for a change of pace.

I forget her name, but she is a theif in the mansion, part of the bard quests in cloakwood, with a garrek triangle.. well worth doing atleast once. She is can be fun if you really want a prissy girl that complains alot.. She is definatly not your typical NPC.


If i was just starting out, Id probably take jaheria, kalid, imeon, xzar, monty, and then when i got to nashkel id dump imoen and pick up branaween.. She is a huge difference maker. Use jaheria as a healer, and some random spells, and branween your main offencive caster, spells, like dispell, hold, and buffs/debuffs.

Xzar is great when you get him some spells.. Horror, and vampire drain turn turn the tides of any battle.. You can really jack up his Hitpoints. at times he can have more HP than some of your fighters !

and of course for some good fun, put tiax and yeslick in a party togther.. thats always good for a laugh..


As for imeon.. while she is cool and all.. She has zero bantar with any NPC, so she is sorta like a silent partner.. If it was my first time through i wouldnt bother with her.. though she is a great npc to dual class into your mage.. But still id pass on her first time through.

Sorry but I have to disagree here.
His amulet gives him extra spells level 1-3, and combined with a special ring you can max out how many level one spells you can memorize by level 4-5. 12 magic missile's memorized =dead enemies.
Conjuration is probably (my opinion) the most useful of the specializations, as the only thing it misses out on is some minor divination spells, (lack of identify hurts though) which Imoen can provide if you dual her (which you probably should).
Also if you have the NPC mod he is quite amusing.

I finished my first run a while back, and the party I used was:

Me as a Paladin
Minsc and Boo
Branwen
Coran
Imoen (not dualed)
Dynaheir

Ive always been partcial to invoker, or enchanters. I find divination a lot more usefull than just ID, clairavoyance, know alingment, farsite, oracal, detect invisibilty.. are all incredibly usefull.. (all though if you have every single encounter in the game memorized some of that becomes less usefull) But if not, using know alingment before you talk to someone is hugely important. and same with clairavoyance for getting more info about your enemey before you start talking. Detect invisiblity is also a great one, many spots in the game this is very helpfull. watch out for back stab.. this skill will save you a few relaods.

heck even casting infravision on certain characters can help in some places. the mines i really like infravision, sure there is magic for that too, but that means you have to skip using something else. Basically my point is, ID is probably the least usefull of all the divination spells.

as far as the number of spells, Its what i call.. Nice to have, but definatly not needed. for one, if im casting 12 first lvl spells, In most cases i could of spent my time casting spells that are far more usefull. Even at higher lvls, MM is good for droping Magic mirror, But dispell is far better than the old standbye MM. things like acid arrow, stinking cloud, web, strenth, haste, hold, vampire touch, slow, ext.. (way to many great spells to really list here) every time your casting a lvl one spell, that means your taking an extra turn to get to something more usefull.

You might have a point if you said, 12 chromatic orbs, or 12 color sprays.. (wink) But even those dont really get really great till upper lvls. all though early color spray can really help a lot, its better than sleep , they look all funky colors after ! But honestly, i would be mixing up the book, gotta have blind, charm, freinds and atleast one grease in the book.


I know conjouring is really powerfull in this game, but for me it honeslty is closer to game breaking so i really dont use it much at all. Besides, clerics, druids and bards can also summon, and dont forget the wands. To me i just dont really need that many conjourations. Also different specializations get bonuses when casting spells, so if you have alteration as your specialtiy when you cast color spray the NPC's have a harder save to make. conjouring for the most part has no saves.. (flame arrow does) But you really do lose out on some of the benifties of specializing which is harder saves.


In the end, edwin is a good mage, and amusing, "in a what the hell is wrong with you kinda way" Definatly worth using.. But in no way superior to the other magess in my. His extra spells are nice, but normally they dont help a ton as if my book is getting low, i just rest, or head back to an inn.. cause if his book is running low, my clerics book is empty, and thats the spell book that never seams to have enough spells

My playthrough of BG used the canon party, I think. I know I used Ajantis and I think Kivan as well, but I don't know who they replaced.

On BG2 I play with a different group every time. In fact, I usually decide on my party before I pick a class for myself.

I just finished BG last night. Went with the complete canon party: Minsc, Dynaheir, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid. Very effective, but I plan to go with some of the others next time through.

I haven't played BG1 in a while.... but I played canon generally IIRC.

In BG2 I do (main is normally fighter/mage dual)
Keldorn
Minsc
Jaheira
Aerie
Imoen - well, Yoshimo at first, replaced later with Jan until I get Imoen.

I like Valygar, but I find Keldorn more useful in the long run with his anti-magic and magic-dispelling two-handed sword.

I know Aerie isn't popular from a powergaming standpoint, but she's so nice. Just need to boost her AC WAY up to help keep her alive. I love the spell flexibility - she pretty much never runs out of spells to cast. Dark Elf priestess has nice stats, but she is too wenchy.

My favourite party is:

Ajantis as party leader: because he has good CHA, is a decent fighter, I like doing good to the world, which Kagain would object to and Khalid is way too insecure and shy to be a leader.

Finch (mod NPC) as my healer (and she can survive in the front if you give her plate mail): she is very well-written, funny, absolutely loveable. Best mod-NPC that I know of, character-wise.

Kivan as my archer. Though I liked him better without the NPC1Project (on my first playthrough). *SPOILER* The NPC1Project makes him way too eager to go after the bandits and he does away with the infiltration disguise in the camp, forcing me into an all-out battle I'm not prepared for at low level. Managed to kill T. though, then fled for my live to return later if I got more xp under my belt in my current playthrough as a Mage.

Imoen. Not dualed if I'm an arcane caster myself (unless I'm not taking another mage). In my most favourite party though the mage is:

Xan: I just love his whining about how everything is futile and we are all doomed, because I've got a gloomy outlook on life too (though playing BG keeps me happy!).

My PC was a Bard (Blade kit, playing Tutu) on the first playthrough I completed.


Other favourite characters of mine are Coran: great Thief, if Imoen gets dualed. Alora: great personality, good for cheering me up (someone needs a tickle, someone needs a tickle! - hop skip to it!), Dynaheir with the Conjurer kit (EasyTutuKits) couples well with a dualed Imoen: D. for the firepower, I. for the versatility.

I personally don't much use the canon party for BG1. I usually do up until I get more people and then I stick with my personal favorite team:

Jaheira
Khalid
Ajantis
Branwen
Xan
PC (female elven ranger, no kit)

That's my dream team. <3

In BG2 I tend to always use the following as staples:

Jaheira,
Viconia,
Nalia,
Keldorn,

I sometimes put in Minsc, tried switching in Aerie til she got on my nerves ( :P ), use Mazzy specifically for her Shadow Lord quest and sometimes use Haer'Dalis. I've also been using Yoshimo more for his story.

Of course in an unmodded game Keldorn and Viconia try to tear each other apart. :P I do also tend to use modded NPCs in 2. I have a few that I haven't quite tried out yet but I'm looking forward to see how well the writing on them is done.

Actually, she's WONDERFUL from a powergaming standpoint - having both Cleric and Mage spells on one character opens up all sorts of possibilities. Throw Doom and Chromatic Orb in a Minor Sequencer, for example. (Cast Greater Malison first, and watch even dragons fall in seconds.)