How do I make Jaheira a great healer and Khalid a great tank?

[Santidisiac]

I’m kinda new in dnd games and this game, while really fun, can throw at you too much stuff in a short period of time.

I saw in other posts that this two characers can be really good (and are canon in the story) if they specialize in healing/tanking respectively. I also saw that giving Jaheira a slingshot is a great choice.

Do I need to spent level up points in something specific? What’s a eficient way to do this?

Thanks in advance :)

[fauxpas]

Jaheria will never be a "great healer", but she's good enough to get you by, I tend to use her as a midline support fighter personally.

As for Khalid, buff his DEX and give him the heaviest armor you can get your hands on and he holds his own just fine.

[ÄmJii]

Khalid is fine on defensive stats, his DEX is 16 and CON at 17. His STR score of 15 is tad low, it is sufficient to wear heavy armor but not much else, so make sure you toss him the STR gloves once you reach the city of Baldur's Gate. Granted, it's bit of a late-game drop, but Khalid still makes a good archer with Longbows.

[Santidisiac]

Thanks for comments guys. Any advice on which spells to focus on Jaheira (healing, (de)buffing) and Dynaheir (attacking and whatever she is good at)?

[AlexMBrennan]

I'd go with healing since Jaheira, not being a real cleric, doesn't get anything that's be useful on the offensive until BG2. This frees up the real cleric to do the buffing & crowd control (remove fear, command, hold, etc).

Mages should primarily focus on disabling enemies (sleep, web, hold),

[Aryndra]

Khalid is a great tank. Give him some heavy armor, a tower shield, helm, and a magic longsword when you can and he will hold the line. Once you can get strength buffing gauntlets give them to him and he will deal out lots of damage like Minsc.

For Jaheira just max out with cure wounds (light, moderate, and serious) and similar spells. Slow/neutralize poison is good too unless you have a lot of antidotes in your inventory in which case stick with those so you have more spell slots for healing. Remove curse and cure disease are good too.

Dynaheir is great with evocation spells since she is an Invoker. She can deal out a lot of damage with magic missile, Aganazzar's scorcher, Melf's acid arrow, flame arrow, fireball, cone of cold, etc. Just have to keep her protected with fighters. It's wise to get her a good set of robes and perhaps a ring/cloak/amulet of protection as well as a few abjuration spells like mage armor, shield, globe of invulnerability, etc.

[Santidisiac]

Originally posted by Hithlyvari:

Khalid is a great tank. Give him some heavy armor, a tower shield, helm, and a magic longsword when you can and he will hold the line. Once you can get strength buffing gauntlets give them to him and he will deal out lots of damage like Minsc.

For Jaheira just max out with cure wounds (light, moderate, and serious) and similar spells. Slow/neutralize poison is good too unless you have a lot of antidotes in your inventory in which case stick with those so you have more spell slots for healing. Remove curse and cure disease are good too.

Dynaheir is great with evocation spells since she is an Invoker. She can deal out a lot of damage with magic missile, Aganazzar's scorcher, Melf's acid arrow, flame arrow, fireball, cone of cold, etc. Just have to keep her protected with fighters. It's wise to get her a good set of robes and perhaps a ring/cloak/amulet of protection as well as a few abjuration spells like mage armor, shield, globe of invulnerability, etc.

This sums up really well what I was looking for.

Besides making Jaheira a "good" healer, do I focus on melee or ranged damage with her?

Also, I watched a video that said that the sleep spell is reaaally good for the majority of the saga, but Dynaheir can't learn that. I'm planning to dual class either my Main Character (Warrior) or Imoen into a Mage to get access to those types of spells. Which one of those is better for the job? (I still gonna wait to around level 7, as I know nothing about dual classing right now)

[biogoo]

Khalid a great tank? No way. Almost every other character in the game capable of wearing full plate (15 STR) is better. Selecting from those available early:
- Montaron is stronger, has better AC and halfling saves bonus (you lose thieving abilities wearing heavy armour but so what, you are looking for a tank.)
- Kivan has over 18 strenght and also better AC (you lose stealth wearing heavy armour but who sneaks with Kivan...)
- Sharteel is even stronger than Kivan and has same AC.
Later on, with some items:
- Kagain (with gloves of dexterity) makes one of the best tanks in the game due to his regeneration.
- Viconia (with gloves of strenght) with her innate 50% magic resistance is also great.

[Syrrah]

I don't know about dualclassing in your case. I mean, you obviously are new to this game and maybe it is then safer not to dabble in dual-classing too much. You will be one warrior or rogue short for a loooong time, until you hit the end of the game really.

It appears that you have the canon party: yourself, Imoen, Jaheira & Khalid, Mins & Dynaheir.

So basically you will be without a rogue exactly at the part of the game where traps are becoming deadly. And without the knowledge where exactly all traps are, unlike someone who played this game before has.

For your main: did you take sufficient intelligence for him to even become a mage? On the other hand, with Minsc and Khalid, the loss of one warrior will not be a tremendous loss.

Of course, Khalid could have a little "accident" and be replaced by Coran, allowing you to safely switch Imoen to a mage.

[Phoenix VII]

Imoen is good to dual-class to a mage. I wouldn't dual-class a fighter to a mage until Lv. 9 (full fighter HP and one more proficiency point) which you can't reach until Siege of Dragonspear or Baldur's Gate II.

[Lord Holland of Wessex]

Originally posted by Hithlyvari:

Khalid is a great tank. Give him some heavy armor, a tower shield, helm, and a magic longsword when you can and he will hold the line. Once you can get strength buffing gauntlets give them to him and he will deal out lots of damage like Minsc.

For Jaheira just max out with cure wounds (light, moderate, and serious) and similar spells. Slow/neutralize poison is good too unless you have a lot of antidotes in your inventory in which case stick with those so you have more spell slots for healing. Remove curse and cure disease are good too.

Dynaheir is great with evocation spells since she is an Invoker. She can deal out a lot of damage with magic missile, Aganazzar's scorcher, Melf's acid arrow, flame arrow, fireball, cone of cold, etc. Just have to keep her protected with fighters. It's wise to get her a good set of robes and perhaps a ring/cloak/amulet of protection as well as a few abjuration spells like mage armor, shield, globe of invulnerability, etc.

So give Khalid all the best gear and he becomes a good fighter, wow what a surprise.

Jaheria as a healer - what a waste, just use potions.

[Aryndra]

Originally posted by Neo:

This sums up really well what I was looking for.

Besides making Jaheira a "good" healer, do I focus on melee or ranged damage with her?

Also, I watched a video that said that the sleep spell is reaaally good for the majority of the saga, but Dynaheir can't learn that. I'm planning to dual class either my Main Character (Warrior) or Imoen into a Mage to get access to those types of spells. Which one of those is better for the job? (I still gonna wait to around level 7, as I know nothing about dual classing right now)

Jaheira isn't the best healer (Viconia would be best for that, imo) but she isn't terrible at it either. I always equip her with a melee build (scimitar/club and medium shield). Jaheira with healing spells and plenty of healing potions to go around for everyone is enough to get through the saga.

Dual-class Imoen at level 7 since that's when you can get 100% for detect traps and open locks. It will take a little time to get her thief skills back once she reaches level 7 as a mage but it's worth it. I'd go with this option since you are new to the game and dual-classing your character as a mage means they won't be able to use armor even though they are also a warrior.

Edwin is another option for a powerful mage but he is an evil alignment and will butt heads with the good members of your group (especially Minsc and Dynaheir). Viconia is the same, although not quite as much. Her and Jaheira do not get along. If you are playing as a good alignment and have majority of good aligned companions, evil characters will leave your party if your reputation maxes out. Sometimes the good and evil characters will reach a tipping point and actively attack each other. That's the cool thing about the Baldur's Gate Saga, is that party interactions and the like affect the story and how the game plays. Been playing since it was released in the 90's/early 00's and every playthrough has been fairly different.

[Tasi]

Originally posted by biogoo:

Khalid a great tank? No way. Almost every other character in the game capable of wearing full plate (15 STR) is better.

I disagree. Khalid can be good tank and even good damage dealer (melee or range).

Originally posted by biogoo:

Montaron is stronger, has better AC and halfling saves bonus (you lose thieving abilities wearing heavy armour but so what, you are looking for a tank.)

Khalid has exactly the strength he needs (to wear armour). Increasing it further for combat is easy (the easiest of attributes: spell, plenty of potions). Moreover Montarons strength difference gives only +1 to damage over Khalid (both of them would use strength boosting). Better Saves helps. AC difference of 1 point. Khalid has more HP. Moreover, Montaron is evil (while Khalid is used for good party).

Originally posted by biogoo:

Kivan has over 18 strenght and also better AC (you lose stealth wearing heavy armour but who sneaks with Kivan...)

Again, only 1 point AC difference. Strength is easy to fix (2nd level Strength spell) and does not give much towards “being tank”. Kivan has significantly lower HP. Hardly better tank.

Originally posted by biogoo:

Sharteel is even stronger than Kivan and has same AC.

Again: evil + only 1 point AC difference + easy strength fix + much worse HP

Originally posted by biogoo:

Kagain (with gloves of dexterity) makes one of the best tanks in the game due to his regeneration.

Hands down, I consider Kagain best tank. Unfortunately he is evil…

Originally posted by biogoo:

Viconia (with gloves of strenght) with her innate 50% magic resistance is also great.

evil + 2 point AC difference + much worse HP + magic resistance is nice but not that frequently used. You are mentioning gloves of strength but in that case Khalid can wear them also:)
Yes, all characters you have mentioned can tank. With exception of Kagain I would hardly call any of them better then Khalid.

[biogoo]

Well, I am not saying that Khalid is an abyssmal tank, just that he is not great, because the alternatives are simply better.

But I have to react to your "just 1 AC". The "just 1 AC" translates into 0-100% more damage taken, depending on the THAC0 of the attacker. For example a tank with just enough AC to be hit only by a crit (wearing a helm, taking no bonus damage) will be hit in only 1/20 attacks. A tank with AC that is 1 point higher will be hit 2/20 times from the same attacker, thus taking 100% more damage. The 1 AC matters, just as any other 1 point in a world where the numbers are decided by one d20 roll.

[Tasi]

Originally posted by biogoo:

But I have to react to your "just 1 AC". The "just 1 AC" translates into 0-100% more damage taken, depending on the THAC0 of the attacker. For example a tank with just enough AC to be hit only by a crit (wearing a helm, taking no bonus damage) will be hit in only 1/20 attacks. A tank with AC that is 1 point higher will be hit 2/20 times from the same attacker, thus taking 100% more damage. The 1 AC matters, just as any other 1 point in a world where the numbers are decided by one d20 roll.

Yes it depends on attackers THAC0. For attackers with very bad THAC0 this difference can mean up to 100% change chance to hit you. In principle it does not have to be but so far I know there is no enemy with very bad THAC0 and high damage. >> All enemies with this potential +100% increase chance to hit you are low level enemies with low damage.
And on the other hand enemies with high damage (or very high APR, with poison, etc.) have good THAC0 which translates to small average damage increase. In principle it can be even 0% increase but in reality it will be for most cases 5-10% damage increase. And in the same time Khalid has decent number of hit points: approximately +30% then Shar-Teel, Kivan or Montaron and 60% more than Viconia...
Khalid is not bad tank. In my opinion he is one of the best (if not the best one) tank for good party (with Yeslick).

[PancakeWizard]

Jaheira and Khalid might be your preferred healer and tank at first, but that'll change after Nashkel Mines and you've got a chance to get the characters you want in the party. Assuming you're playing a 'good' aligned party, Khalid will probably end up your secondary tank, and Jaheira a mid-way healer/caster that can look after herself in melee.

For instance a common grouping/line-up is Player (assuming you're a paladin/fighter/ranger type), Minsc/Khalid, Jaheira/Dynaheir, Imoen.

Personally I tend to get Khalid 'accidentally' killed and replace him with Branwen, then later replace her with Yeslick but I know many prefer to keep more high-powered ranged-weapon users in their party.