Minsc, Valygar, or Korgan?

[dizzyorange]

I can't make up my mind.

 

Minsc is the only NPC to make me laugh out loud (his reaction to the Five Flagons play is hilarious). Valygar is cool in a understated kind of way. Korgan's great (he's more Chaotic Neutral than Chaotic Evil IMO) too.

 

This is my first time through ToB so it'll all be new for me. My party is

 

PC fighter/thief

Sarevok

Jaheira

Viconia

Imoen

 

Who would you take?

[berelinde]

I'd probably take Minsc. If you appreciate his sense of humor, you'll probably get a kick out of him again.

 

Valygar has some good ToB dialogue, though, so that was a tough call.

[Domi]

Valygar. I like the guy, and from practical POV, Minsc is so two-handed sword, while Valygar lends himself to dual-wielding, which is something all my characters do in TOB, simply because we have so much super-powerful weapons with super-great bonuses.

[Gabrielle]

Minsc of course. Butt kicking for goodness!

[theacefes]

I say Valygar. He's just....cooler somehow.

 

As for Minsc...yeah okay he's got some funnies. Actually the only reason I kept him all these playthroughs was just so I could go to his inventory, turn up my speakers, and click Boo over and over and over until I got yelled at by someone within the 5 mile vicinity.

[dizzyorange]

I say Valygar. He's just....cooler somehow.

 

As for Minsc...yeah okay he's got some funnies. Actually the only reason I kept him all these playthroughs was just so I could go to his inventory, turn up my speakers, and click Boo over and over and over until I got yelled at by someone within the 5 mile vicinity.

 

 

Popular vote wins, I'm going with Minsc.

 

To Domi: Valygar is better conceptually suited to dual wielding, but Minsc has the two stars in dual wield as a ranger, so it shouldn't be too out of character for him to use a flail and axe, no?

[Domi]

IIRC, he doesn't have enough dexterity to be a good dual-weilder, but I can't remember of hand. Minsc is... let's say I can't have him in the party for too long. Plus Val dual-wields Celestial Fury and the Crom-Fayer in my games. Which makes him pretty scary.

[berelinde]

It's a flaw of the game engine that rangers can dual-wield even in heavy armor, and that they can still do so despite less-than-stellar dex. But there you have it.

 

Valygar is cool. His early SoA dialogue is nothing to write home about, but he improves greatly after chapter 3. His ToB dialogue is quite agreeable. So, I'd say definitely plan on including him in a later run.

 

But, dizzyorange, you said you already like Minsc. He's a known quantity for you. So you might as well bring him along for your first ToB run.

[dizzyorange]

Valygar is cool. His early SoA dialogue is nothing to write home about, but he improves greatly after chapter 3.

 

Yeah I like Valygar too, he might be the NPC closest to how a real life person would act.

 

His ToB dialogue is quite agreeable.

 

 

Hmm you're making me want to include Val in this party as well. I'm thinking carefully about who to bring because I don't plan on playing BG2 for quite a while after finishing ToB. Maybe in a year or so.

 

The NPC I'd drop is Jaheira. Immy, Savrevok I feel are kind of necessary to the plot, and Viconia is the romantic interest. Jaheira is very useful tactically, but honestly her character is kind of drab. She's kind of a "mother' type personality (no offense to the mothers out there ). It's going to be hard to live without her cool druid spells, but I think minsc, valygar, viconia, imoen, sarevok would be one cool party to finish BG2 with.

 

The next time I play BG2 (I swear I'll stay away for at least a year! hehe) I'm going to use only pint-size NPCs. Meaning a Dwarven PC, Korgan, Mazzy, and Jan. Are there any mod NPCs of short stature?

[berelinde]

No, alas, but perhaps that might change. There's talk of a halfling berserker character here, and my next "diversion" project will be a dwarven cleric.

 

I get sick of working on the same NPC for long stretches of time, so I break it up with other activities. With BG1 Gavin, it was Haldamir, an aloof elven tank. I expect to finish him in the next week or so. The next one will be Thuran, a dwarven cleric and mystic. Think grizzled old woman casting runes while crouched beside a dying campfire, or looking for auguries in the stars, and you've got her.

[Domi]

That sounds pretty good

 

I keep being confused about Alora - BG2 status though. Is she or is she not available?

[dizzyorange]

No, alas, but perhaps that might change. There's talk of a halfling berserker character here, and my next "diversion" project will be a dwarven cleric.

 

I get sick of working on the same NPC for long stretches of time, so I break it up with other activities. With BG1 Gavin, it was Haldamir, an aloof elven tank. I expect to finish him in the next week or so. The next one will be Thuran, a dwarven cleric and mystic. Think grizzled old woman casting runes while crouched beside a dying campfire, or looking for auguries in the stars, and you've got her.

 

Interesting. I wonder what the portrait will look like? I remember one of my old D&D books saying that female dwarves are indistinguishable from male dwarves to the human eye.

[berelinde]

That sounds pretty good

 

I keep being confused about Alora - BG2 status though. Is she or is she not available?

 

I think there's a beta that's speeding toward completion. In other words, not yet.

 

Edit: Female dwarves may or may not have beards, depending on player perception. According to page 10 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting sourcebook, some dwarvish women shave to conform to human standards of beauty while others braid their beards. But others have quoted source material saying that they do not grow beards or other facial hair, and others claim they have sideburns. So it's up to you. I tend to think of female dwarves with beards, since I grew up on Tolkien. When I write it, it's probably best to package bearded and beardless portraits and let the player choose.

[Caedwyr]

Beards vs no beards is a 2nd Edition vs 3rd Edition issue. I say go with the beards. Besides, who doesn't like braids

[berelinde]

Valygar's got braids, and it works for him!

 

(see, I can turn it back to the original topic)

 

And Korgan's a dwarf!

 

Say, that reminds me. We've had people say why they'd recommend Minsc, and others say why Valygar's the man, but nobody said anything about Korgan. Yet Korgan has several votes.

 

Thoughts?