Best NPCs to pick up?

So i adjusted the party size to three and created a NG party with a LG Fighter (prepped to be a Paladin), a CG Fighter (prepped to be a cleric of Kord) and a LG Cleric of Heironious. I plan to get Spugnoir for the team wizard, but what other NPCs should I recruit to round out the team? The cleric near Terjon? The thief in the WW? Meleny (I hear her stats are poor)? Or are their other new NPCs I have yet to discover that are worth recruiting? I want the toughest NPCs I can get before I start delving into the nodes. Thanks for the tips.

 

I enjoy Zaxis the bard, he can be a back-up for everything: healer, blaster, buffer, rogue, he does well with a shortbow and he can handle a longsword well. Have him charm some minions, sing for buffing, use a fireball wand, heal the downed cleric, and sneak ahead for scouting.

 

I almost always pickup Elmo before I go and do Emridy Meadows. He's perfect for wading into skeletons while the rest of the party kills from afar.

And he makes great fodder for the giant, making sure you get the head and xp early in the game. Us, a free suit of chain mail and a magic shield after the giant kills him!

 

Burne. Fireball, fireball, fireball, fireball, fight over. He's almost one-man army when you first pick him up, typically before any of your own characters have spells of that power.

 

Furnok has a Ring of Invisibilitiy which is useful whether or not you keep him around.

 

Is there a way to make the NPC's AI a bit more selective in the groups they join?

I would hope to god, that if 20+ available NPC's sitting around town see a Half-Orc fighter stroll up, smile at Otis and invite him to join, ride off into the sunset in search of adventure, then that same Half-Orc comes back the next morning wearing Otis' shield and magic axe, asking Fruella to be his bride, that they might raise an eyebrow. I would think, eventually, that Brother Smyth would walk into the tavern with tales of how that same Half-Orc keeps selling him the possessions of every would-be NPC adventurer in town.

"Sold me a nice rapier this morning, that Half-Orc did ... has Furnok's name engraved on the hilt; ain't that a coincidence? Where is Furnok, anyway?"

 

Oh, the horror!

My favorite drunk used as ... giant fodder? :dead:

Poor poor Elmo, he ends up as one of those smelly dark coils left on a giant den's floor.

 

Well if some of the NPC's die while with you , you will get the butcher of Homlett rep and the entire town will be against you.

 

Sometimes you get that rep for silly reasons. Is it my fault Fruella got eaten by a giant frog? or that Elmo got multiple critical hits from a troll? Even if you raise them from the dead, you still get the Butcher of Homlette trait. That is just wrong imo. If you raise them, their deaths shouldn't count against you.

 

It has been that way since I first installed your version 5.4 iirc. I might have to check that to be sure.

 

Just want to have it noted that Elmo dying in Emridy Meadows is not an issue, in my opinion. He is supposed to get crushed by that giant (in his first battle by my side) and his magic chain-mail is supposed to end up on the chest of one of my front line fighters.

And I fully understand your problem with Fruella. After my Chaotic Evil Half-Orc married her, she was ambushed by a band of wicked thugs just behind her own house! I personally blame Burnes' Badgers. Sons of bitches are NOT doing their job...

 

:twisted:
While her "husband certainly cried no tears at fruella's death, the party endeavored to carry on the fight against evil, even to the point of using her favorite cleaver to smite foes after her fall.

As for Elmo, his mail is only +1. I have no use for his axe, aside from cash value. His shield OTOH, is a different story.

Meleney lives on, we just take the sword and beat feet out of there never to darken her doorway again.

Spungoir (sp?) gladly donates his cash and scroll kit so he meets no accidents either.

I don't use Ronald, so I can't think who the third person is who dies. Unless the trader's hireling is counted when he dies in the fight?

I assume that the townies who ambush me after Lareth dies don't count?

 

You people are just ... evil.

NPC's have civil rights you know.