6th party member

[Klutch]

I got branwen, imoen, dyaneir & minsc. Would I still get decent exp if I added another member, I am a ng berserker and it feels like we got everything covered, but another mule would be really nice I'm thinking.

[Tasi]

Maybe bowman? e.g. Kivan?

[Klutch]

i seen him in cloakwood, he might actually be a great addition because my only range unit right now is imoen, but shes doing really good considering her dex and the items shes gathered, i think i have a magic longbow aswell that i gave to minsc, speaking of which i need to change out his flail, his 2 hander broke and i been forgetting everytime im back in a town

i just beat the bandit camp, i infiltrated and while i was poking around some angry hobgoblin leader of the chill just went bonkers on me, what ensued was an epic swath of carnage from the cave all the way to the big tent.. really fun battle, my guys were completely filled up with loot, near death on a couple characters too... earlier i found a gem bag, and a potion case, are there any more storage items? im a little worried about whats ahead, the bandits near the bandit camp were immensely more difficult than the black talons, i really had to keep dyaneir and imoen at safe distances, and my girl branwen rocked it on default ai script.

i just dunno, i wish there was another bard.. garrick seems a bit off, i just can't get on with chaotic neutrals.

[Tasi]

There is another bard, but he is evil...
Ranged characters are good. I like Imoen and always play with her but give a try to Kivan or Coran (you will soon meet him) and you will be amazed how much better they are in comparison with Imoen when it goes about range attack.

[Tasi]

There are Potion Case, Gem Bag and Scroll Case (and in BG2 there are also Bag of Holding and Ammo Belt - which is also in SoD DLC for BG1)

[Black Sheep Inc]

Yeah, it's easy enough to hit the experience cap with 6 party members

[captainwiseass]

Ajantis is not a bad choice.

[stcaFylnO]

A dedicated tank never hurts, like Ajantis (already mentioned). There are others, but some are evil and may not fit wll in group; I've been trying a lot of them and even the multi-class ones are working well, like Yeslick.

More ranged is always helpful. I've been playing with Coran (already mentioned) and he is doing fantastic. After equipping him with some Gauntlets of Ogre Power (Hands of Takkok), he is great at melee without the need for constant potions and spell buffs. I just swap his armor depending upon his need for stealth or brawling.

If close to level-up and looking for some XP, learning patterns to farm Ankheg or Wyverns can be helpful. Also useful if swapping in new companions that havn't leveled up much.

Companions have some initial XP matching when first meeting them. So it is possible to solo and or temporarily disband prior to huge pay-offs, level the MC faster, then go meet the new companions and have them jump some levels. You are probably high enough level it won't matter though.

[julllong]

Maybe another mage like Neera or Xan?

[stcaFylnO]

Originally posted by julllong:

Maybe another mage like Neera or Xan?

sweet idea, two could stack AoE crowd controls faster, or kill faster by spitting multiple fireballs. It wouldn't be much of a mule, but wow, that sounds great.

[Mr. Nice]

Assuming the main Berserker is fine with being the tank, which,depending on stats, shouldn't be a problem, yeah having 2 arcane casters is rarely a bad idea. Of course, Imoen could be dualled into that, in which case probably fill that 6th slot with a thief at least until she reactivates her Thief Class. Coran would be good for that, you've just done the Bandit Camp so he's available to pick up now, and his awesome archery skills (he's technically an illegal fighter/thief build with three dots in longbow..., plus 20 DEX!) stay relevant even once Imoen's thief skills are back.

[Klutch]

I did grab coran for a little while, he had some nice stats. He wasn't working out though, I ended up taking Faldorn who I really like, but now I sorta wish I had 5 characters so I could take in a sixth here and there, but I like faldorn too much.

I ran into coran like 5 seconds after it was suggested, so funny. had a hell of a time figuring out the wyvern quest though, i ended up completing it without him, glad the quest still worked.

my berserker is amazing, i think i rolled a 97. he is really buff, im sad though that branwen wont be a npc i can take along to bg2 though, he really shines with a good cleric

edit: nm, i added his stats up I think it was 91. but still, he is awesome you can see a picture of him before i used tomes on him in my screenshots, now he is even better

[affairs most succubussian]

Grab Edwin, he's by far better that any other wizard char in the game (even better than CHARNAME if you picked mage), if you can tolerate his LE alignment and fantastic personality.

[Klutch]

Originally posted by The Warlock VDS45:

Grab Edwin, he's by far better that any other wizard char in the game (even better than CHARNAME if you picked mage), if you can tolerate his LE alignment and fantastic personality.

I couldnt tolerate him, i did see him and honestly if they gave the option i would have killed him.

edit: i took minsc, so it wasnt a option

Why does edwin end up being the best? Xan is a specialist too, he seemed pretty cool with his moonsword. I am using Dyaneir, and shes an evoker, I got her memorizing mostly damage stuff, like fireball

[affairs most succubussian]

He's a conjurer, which is the best mage speciliasation in the game. Moreover, he has an amulet only he can wear, which grants him an additional spell memorization per level. He ends up being the strongest wizard in the game (& BGII).

[Mr. Nice]

Yeah it's really that amulet, combined with the specialised wizard bonus gets 3 memory slots as soon as a level opens up. If you have two casters in the party, which specialisation doesn't matter so much IMO, since they can cover for each others gaps.
They over power it to 2 extra sots in BG2.