Garrick and Imoen are the worst, most useless NPCs!!!

Remove all ads!

Imoen is weak and a horrible thief, if you ask me Alora or Coran are both much better. Garrick is a horible fighter and pretty useless, instead of garrick you should substitute anyone but Imoen. (by the way what is a bard useful for anyway, mages are more powerful and can have a lore rating just as high, if lore is what makes bards special!!!

[This message has been edited by The Fat Egg (edited July 22, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by The Fat Egg (edited July 22, 2000).]

 

hmm, I must disagree on this one...

For starters, THE advantage of Imoen is that you get her at the beginning of the game. You can chose ALL her thieving skills, and thus adjust her to your needs. (for example : if you get Coran, he'll have stealth and open locks maxed out, but practically no find traps, which is, IMHO, a bit more important...)
Bards on the other hand, are excellent magic back-ups for your party. If you think your party is to weak for toe-to-toe combat with 2 mages, but you find your magic inadequate (sp?) with 1, a bard is a perfect solution. At higher level (7 and higher), he'll be an excellent spell-disrubtor : mirror image to protect him, mass magic missiles to harras enemy spellslingers. Although I must agree that they are rather weak implemented in BG... But, you made there a statement which is rather... eh, WRONG. Mages can NEVER have the same lore as bards at higher levels. I'll give you the figures : a level 9 mage (161,000xp) with intelligence of 19 (lore bonus +12) will have a lore of 9*3lorepoints/level + 12 bonuspoints = 39 !!
A level 10 bard (161,000xp) will have : 10*10 (+possibly a bonus) = 100 !!!
Rather large difference, don't you think ?

Now, I'll give you the way I solve this :
first, you can choose to keep Imoen a thief all the game, and max out her stealth, find traps and open locks. You can get one mage (Dynaheir, Edwin) for primary magic use, and a bard (Garrick, Eldoth) for back-up.
Or, you can dual Imoen to a specialist of your choice at level 5 (she then has find traps = 100%), and take Coran as a scout/assassin.
You'll have both times 2 magic users, and all thieving skills covered...

 

Once again I agree Imoen is better than Coran in regards to thieving, however I stand true to Alora. As for bards, why not just get a mage or a cleric or even a druid clerics and druids are also powerful fighters and can either cast spells or be in your front line. And they all have more powerful magic than a bard can have!

 

hmm, have you ever attacked Borda ? The bard at the west of the Xvart-village map ?
If you can't stop him from casting Mirror Image, you're DEAD MEAT : one horror to scatter the pack, then magic missile to kill you all !!!
I can't recall one single druid or cleric that is a treath for the entire party !!

 

Yes I have. You must simply pause right when you see that bard and have your long range fighters shoot at him!