Tips for 1st BG playthrough and char build

Originally Posted by Maylander
Unless he wants to be very cheesy, he can't get Minsc without Dynaheir, and having both Dynaheir and Neera is overkill in my opinion. Magic just isn't that strong in BG1.

I didn't want to be cheesy but I wanted to keep Jaheira but couldn't stand Khalid. So I vanished him and than, according to the "in for a penny, in for a pound" principle, I vanished Dynaheir so I could keep Neera…

So my party was Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, Neera and Branwen. Neera is a "must have" for the fun factor she provides

Neera? I don't remember such character in BG, but then again, it was ages ago.

She is one of the new characters added in BG1 EE.

Branwen was always a favourite of mine and I was extremely disappointed she wasn't available in BG2!! I couldn't stand Minsc!!!!

Originally Posted by Maylander
Unless he wants to be very cheesy, he can't get Minsc without Dynaheir, and having both Dynaheir and Neera is overkill in my opinion. Magic just isn't that strong in BG1.

Sadly Dynaheir was killed in a skirmish with Gnolls shortly after my party rescued her. Bad things happen in life.

Originally Posted by Maylander
Unless he wants to be very cheesy, he can't get Minsc without Dynaheir, and having both Dynaheir and Neera is overkill in my opinion. Magic just isn't that strong in BG1.

See, I don't really get this mindset. It's just too rigid and limiting. I had Dynaheir AND Edwin in my last BG EE playthrough and it was fantastic. Admittedly it takes time to develop their power, but utterly worth it come mid-late game.

Also, it's not cheesy to get Minsc without Dynaheir. In fact for specific parties, it's a perfectly logical role-playing option.

Sorry never played BG, so what this about getting Minsc without Dynaheir and cheesiness and all? If there are going to story spoilers i don't wan to know since I am about to start BGEE soon!

Some companions will want other NPCs in the party and will bug you about it. It also works the opposite way as well with some NPCs not liking others.

Iirc the Minc-Dynaheir thing is a little more special. If you dump one of them, the other one will leave as well. The only way I know of having just one of them in the party is an "accident" where one of them gets killed.

Besides Minsc and Dynaheir are there actually other NPCs who really want to have a certain NPC in the party?

Yes - Jaheira and Khalid work the same way.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
Iirc the Minc-Dynaheir thing is a little more special. If you dump one of them, the other one will leave as well. The only way I know of having just one of them in the party is an "accident" where one of them gets killed.

Besides Minsc and Dynaheir are there actually other NPCs who really want to have a certain NPC in the party?

I don't understand. So if a party member dies they are gone forever? You can't revive them or you choose not to revive them?

You choose not to revive them but I have used a less drastic way of getting rid of an unwanted party member. You can enter any location that you don't plan on entering again, kick the unwanted NPC out of the party and leave the location. Their "other halves" don't seem to notice that love of their life is gone…

Advantage of this little exploit is that, if you ever change your mind, you can go back to the location and invite them back to your party.

Am I right to understand that you can't actually talk to your companions in the way that you would in later games?

I don't know about the EE, but in vanilla BG1 the companions were very simple. Good and Neutral Characters leave if you were evil, evil Chracters would leave if you are good, neutral characters would nag if you are to good. Some Characters had timed Quests and would leave if you wouldn't do the Quests in time, and some Charas would even fight each other to the death at one point - but there wasn't "real" dialogue after they joined the party, just some sentences at some points and some scripted events, no multiple choice-dialogues like in BG 2 or the later Bioware games.

There is a good mod that changes this, but you have to use BG tutu or BGT for it to work.
http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index…ads&showcat=11

Actually, it depends on your reputation. You can keep NPCs of an opposite alignment in your party as long as your rep doesn't go too high or too low for their liking.

Originally Posted by Fenris
I don't know about the EE, but in vanilla BG1 the companions were very simple. Good and Neutral Characters leave if you were evil, evil Chracters would leave if you are good, neutral characters would nag if you are to good. Some Characters had timed Quests and would leave if you wouldn't do the Quests in time, and some Charas would even fight each other to the death at one point - but there wasn't "real" dialogue after they joined the party, just some sentences at some points and some scripted events, no multiple choice-dialogues like in BG 2 or the later Bioware games.

This is still the case, except that the new characters (Neera, Dorn and Rasaad) have BG2 style dialogues.

Also, in addition to Minsc + Dynaheir and Khalid + Jaheira, Montaron and Xzar are also connected.

Arent two of the bards/thieves that you get late in the game also connected? Not that I ever use characters that join in chapter 5…

Other than that you can get different receptions at places depending on the party makeup, there is for instance a bunch of red wizards that are friendlier if you bring Edwin along etc…

Sadly the party banter is very easy to miss since most of it consist of short soundbites. It should had been presented more clearly (like in BG2).

Originally Posted by Zaleukos
Arent two of the bards/thieves that you get late in the game also connected? Not that I ever use characters that join in chapter 5…

Hah, yes, you're right of course. Eldoth and Skie are connected, but like you I rarely use characters that join too late.

Run into some weird trouble that I might need help with.
I'm currently doing Dulag's Tower and recently killed the succubus. Seems like the succubus casted Energy Drain on my main fighter, Khalid. I quick saved as soon as I got to the 1st level of the Labyrinth while Khalid was still alive (even the thumbnail on the save shows him with 1/10 of this life). Now that I got back to the game, while the thumbnail suggests he is alive upon loading I find his character portrait grey and a corpse just in front of my party(his actual position in the formation) which disappears immediately unless I pause straight after loading. The corpse is not clickable. I know I can get him resurrected in a temple but I understand that means I would lose his items and I'd rather not risk that (had gotten his AC down to -5 and his THAC0 to 6 at lvl7).
Any ideas?

Edit: Bit more Googling led me to this. Am I right to understand that EE bug just killed my char and there's nothing to do about it (=the items)?

Edit #2: Seems that I was wrong about losing the items of a dead party member if you don't pick them up. Don't think that's the way it worked in PS:T or if it makes any sense.
False alarm I guess.

I don't recall that getting someone resurrected in a temple means losing their items.

Afaik, the only way you can lose items is if the character is disintegrated, petrified and shattered, or banished (Imprisonment spell). Those effects are permanent except for Imprisonment which can be reversed.