Jaheira BG2 looks hard to replace

[Dorok]

I was going try continue Watchtower and bam once more Jaheira left and without sayign a word or any goodby, she hates me or what?

i'm a bit tired of her instability, so I started consider a definitive replacement. And I see nothing for my current party. For sure without Jaheira is fine but with my party she was a core element. I ignored both Anomen and Keldron and at this point I don't want bother with all the fuss with them. And anyway none has Iron Skins.

So just for the fun or arguing and party design, what would be a descent replacement out of Anomen and Keldron in party context I'm tedious to change now:
- MC Shadowmaster, mainly using long sword, staff and bow, and obviously quite focused on backstab.
- Hexxat using Crossbow and Dagger and backstab when possible.
- Mazzy only trained on short bow and short sword.
- Aerie
- Nalia.

Yeah yeah, Imoen was kicked out despite rescued, roleplay suspicious she is an infiltrate for the big evil and in charge to destroy party morale with constant whining and complains.

[Dorok]

Can't wait suggestions but the question remains.

Picked Korgan, terrible AC because Jaheira has stole many good stuff, and Mazzy is already the AC main deposit of the party.

That said when quoting Korgan raging, I realized I had Minsc alas very lower level and didn't thought one second of him.

[philos3]

Did Jaheira leave (in the middle of the night I think is when it happens) to resolve her situation with the Harpers? A guy named Terminsel (it's an anagram) will talk to you and give you a note from her. Check your inventory and look for a note. If she did you can get her back rather than recruit someone else. Go back (once again) to the "Harper Hold" in the docks district. You will have to face a few mercenaries when you enter but they should be easy at this point. You will find Jaheira upstairs and can recruit her back into your party. More mercenaries will confront you when go back downstairs.
If she left because of a reputation drop then she is gone for good I believe.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

It may be due to Jaheira's personal quest that she has left temporarily. It's not due to "instability": --> https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Jaheira#Quests_2

And there are similar events with other companions, too.

[Dorok]

@Damar:
I was joking for instability but for those I tried, only Jaheira left like 3 times, Mazzy only once because of a dispute with Hexxat but back in party after, Aerie never ever, Nalai never ever, Hexxat never ever she asks to leave after first quest done but you can say nope.

@philos3:
But Jaheira left 3 times she has a lover of what? I think the third time is probably your spoiler part, ok I didn't guess I had to go search her, she said in a note she was going to manage the problem herself. For the note I had no chance to miss it, a NPC quotes he found it.

So Jaheira has no descent substitute for my party?

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Nalia missing because of being arrested is just another form of leaving the party temporarily. Mazzy, on the other hand, is scripted to leave the party for one day while watching over her sister. I don't see a difference to handling Jaheira. And Aerie is the quite forced path to helping Haer'Dalis, who will run into serious trouble and will be gone from the party forever, if not rescuing him.

Hexxat, as one of the new companions introduced with the enhanced edition, I've never developed enough interest in her personal quest stuff beyond helping Clara to free Hexxat. Sorry.

[Dorok]

Oops right I forgot it lol. For Mazzy I just waited at Inn because the delay was precise, for Nalia yeah as bad if not worse than any Jaheira cases, still it's only one.

For Aerie I didn't noticed anything, and I delayed a lot help, are you sure you are forced to do anything but eventually ask what's the problem to the NPC?

That said for this last Jaheira cases if it's clear for player that he has no event to wait and just need check the guild, for sure it's different. I didn't interpreted it like that.

Yeah I can understand Hexxat problem generate no interest, I have a similar problem of Ministrels that look like a boredom guild.

[khumak]

For someone to fill a similar role to what Jaheira does your best bet is Anomen. I would put Viconia next and then Aerie, although personally I like Viconia better than Anomen even though he's probably stronger overall from a min/max perspective.

[haroldogiesta]

Believe it or not , The best replacment for Jaheria is Cernd.
Why? Ironskin + (greater) Werewolf. use lvl 3 mage spell enchant weapons on him and you are good to go. Also FIre Elementals solve many problems in the game.

Anomen -> No Ironskin. Bad Thaco. Bad DEX. Bad AC.
Vicona -> Play her as you would play a mage.
Aerie -> Better option if you are looking for a priest to do priest basic stuff like Summon Undead + Remove Fear + Prot From Evil 10' + Lesser Restorarion . Mage spells allow her to be usefull in combat.

[CaranBhelza]

@Dorok, out of curiosity, did you ever figure out why Jaheira left your party?

[Dorok]

@Supernaut:
That's just what quote philo in a spoiler section. For me she says in the note to not follow, ok. But nope you need read under the lines, come and follow me, women. :-) I will play a bit with Korgan, in fact he could make a good front pair with Mazzy. I reorg so Korgan is a bit more the first front and Mazzy uses more long range. It requires various adaptation, that's different but it could work. I rebalanced the AC and it's not too awful despite all stuff stolen by Jaheira, I bet she gaves all my stuff to her sect guild.

@khumak:
The problem of Viconia is I have doubts that she can make a good front and only one front, Mazzy, is short for me.

I don't remind clearly Anomen but that his development is a lot of fuss and involves Keldorn, a lot too late for that in this play, from my point of view.

@haroldogiesta:
Yeah without really trying her, that's my feeling for Viconia. For Aerie she is already in my party and can't front seriously.

For Anomen, I vaguely remind from some plays decades ago that he was a good front, but yeah lack of Iron skin, summons, swarm, not sure.

Cernd, front, I have doubts, that's harsh for the armor and shield limit. I have doubts that morph can do the job. When I played Faldorn in BG1 I always used her as a back, and found her rather good in that role, but a front. But yeah i could try to see.

[Sin]

Originally posted by Dorok:

I was going try continue Watchtower and bam once more Jaheira left and without sayign a word or any goodby, she hates me or what?

i'm a bit tired of her instability, so I started consider a definitive replacement. And I see nothing for my current party. For sure without Jaheira is fine but with my party she was a core element. I ignored both Anomen and Keldron and at this point I don't want bother with all the fuss with them. And anyway none has Iron Skins.

So just for the fun or arguing and party design, what would be a descent replacement out of Anomen and Keldron in party context I'm tedious to change now:
- MC Shadowmaster, mainly using long sword, staff and bow, and obviously quite focused on backstab.
- Hexxat using Crossbow and Dagger and backstab when possible.
- Mazzy only trained on short bow and short sword.
- Aerie
- Nalia.

Yeah yeah, Imoen was kicked out despite rescued, roleplay suspicious she is an infiltrate for the big evil and in charge to destroy party morale with constant whining and complains.

Korgan is a damage dealer who should dual wield most of the time, but he can reach a decent AC - enough to "tank" on normal difficulty (mostly due to his hp pool)

Jaheira late game is the best tank in the game assuming you know what you are doing, so losing her IS a dent, that beeing said she is by no means irreplaceable.

Viconia can tank up to hardcore if you are careful, but again: not her purpose. She is a support character.

Haer Dalis is an increadible tank - so is any of the mages not called aeri you can recruit.
Stoneskin, Mirror Image, Blurr, Protection against magical weapons, Spell immunity, Resistance Fire, globe of invurnability and so on and so on ...
It takes buffing, but these characters can tank very well. Stoneskin needs to be reapplied regulary, the rest is there to prevent dispelling or to reduce the amount of hits stoneskin needs to absorb.

The reason Jaheira is technically a better tank is that her high level abilitys give her the earth elemental transformation which is sort of broken. Ironskin is also basically a stone skin.

Anomen like Korgan is DPS, he can tank on normal / hardcore but he should not.

[CaranBhelza]

@Dorok - Cools. I did not read Philo's comment as it might touch on some spoilers. Glad Jaheira is not gone for good because I am investing heavily on her in my current playthrough. Cheers!

[Dorok]

@Sin:
Ok thanks to share your point of view, I admit I have hard time with the "should" and on any DPS perspective. :-)

Still I quote Haer Dalis suggestion, I should try it.

I think notice you give tank a tank everything meaning, but I wonder, for stuff related to magic it's very variable from a combat to another when physical attacks is something present in most combats. And I quote the Ai is hardly able to apply your vision, AI mage tank, never. If I start make mages my tanks that will be a huge change and certainly a long learning curve.

@Supernaut:
Yeah Jaheira is no real trouble to keep in party, I felt a bit she left a bit too often but she doesn't really, it's only for short duration at least when you read notes with women perspective. :-)

[CaranBhelza]

Lol. I think Jaheira is the worst among the female characters when it comes to early dialogue. She'll judge you, put you on the spot, fight against other female characters trying to get close to you, and she'll nag.

But she is very useful. You pretty much have a solid tank with 17 Dex and 17 Con once you've fixed her Str weaknesses. Can cast Insect Plague and heal.

I just hate her portrait in BG2. I mean, just look at her BG1 portrait, you wouldn't even think she was married! And in BG2, it's like she had 14 kids or something... Sheesh.

[Dorok]

Originally posted by Supernaut:

Lol. I think Jaheira is the worst among the female characters when it comes to early dialogue. She'll judge you, put you on the spot, fight against other female characters trying to get close to you, and she'll nag.

But she is very useful. You pretty much have a solid tank with 17 Dex and 17 Con once you've fixed her Str weaknesses. Can cast Insect Plague and heal.

I just hate her portrait in BG2. I mean, just look at her BG1 portrait, you wouldn't even think she was married! And in BG2, it's like she had 14 kids or something... Sheesh.

I agree, BG2 portraits was a very unpleasant chock after BG1, can't bear the plastic style, and much worse but it's more obvious nowadays, female companions faces changed or done all into aryan top models is ridiculous and embarrassing for designers.

Just quoted that if I take back Jaheira in party, that's dead, I can't remove her from party anymore or she left forever, boredom design detail, for me a very annoying companion.

So I'm cornered into a very annoying choice, give up on many powerful items she has stolen when she silently left, or be forced have her in party without be able remover her or lost her forever. I'd better kill her to get the Xp and punish for for stealing me. :-p

If I knew all the crap design detail, when she silently left just leaving a note, I would have load back remove her all items and see later.

EDIT:
Ok thankfully I could delay at will the decision for Jaheira and still get back the important items, and remove her and get her back at will.

It's with the trick to not allow the companion talk to MC, either with overloading so the companion can't walk to MC, either using a two floor building so move the companion at second floor alone then remove him from party. Close doors of a room where is the companion should work too.