Favourite Bioware NPC-s

1. Aerie Very multisided character. the late accesable Greater Restoration is multiply compensated with her sequencable Priest spells, like Bless+Chant,Silence2*, Holy Smite 3*, Prot Evil 10 rad+Def. Harm+Res. fear/Invis 10 rad+Mass Heal 3*, Holy Power+Righteous Magic+Improved Haste, and FInally, Greater Restoration+Mass invisibility+sp im. div. Few knows, but she can go melee very good, for example with FoA+Mauler arm. Her Attributes are also very good, High intelligence, and High wisdom, so she is the character for (limited)Wishes, even from scrolls.Her Romance (which is nice, especially HD isn't aboard) is not so long, as Jaheiras, or Viccys, so her romance fits for speedplayers. But the true reason her first place is her new Amaurena portrait. Until it's release, She was the second by me.

2. Imoen very Powerful mage, who can be modded to specialist (via NPCKit mod), or with IA, she can be a Sorcerer, which is the most powerful class. In the first case, she can use her thieving skill, which is almost enough for the whole game, especially with RIng of Danger Sense. As a Thief, she can use bows, such as Ghesen, or Tasheron Bow. But she is your best friend, who is by your side, from the beginnings, until the end. Only one hindrance: Her pink hair sucks.

3. Jaheira Very good fighter, with some additional combat/Healing spells. In combat she can use much combos, as the dualwield (Club/Scimitar),Shielding (Club or Scimitar) the ultimate damaging (Impaler+Whirlwind), or the defender (Staff of Woodlands). With Jaheira in the party, you can get a Ring of Wizardry. Her romance is very nice, but too long, to get the second, or the first place, and her portrait is nice, but not so nice to get the first Places.


Most hatred Bioware NPC-s

1. HD Very bad savings(not match to a high CON Dwarf/Halfling Fighter/Priest), Bad THACO, Bad AC especially at the beginnings, few wizard spells, Annoying voice, ugly portrait, and worst in my first BGII play, he stole Aerie, form my Halfling FT. His Innate Abilities are good, but if I need those, I will make a Blade PC, And a Fighter mage, especially dualclassed is far more powerful as a blade

2. Korgan Very Evil, doesn't get along with my favourite NPC,and others, Bad DEX, Annoying Voice, and there are a plenty of good fighters

3. Jan More Annoying personality, and voicing, than Anomen (4.). As a multiclassed thief, he has more ThS-S, as the required minimum, but not so much, as required to be a very effective multiuse thief, and as Mage, even Specialist, he vill get too late good high lvl spells. The thief class doesn't as much compensation, as the priest class is by Aerie.


Favourite Mod NPC-s

1. Sime As a Stalker-Cleric she gets every divine Spells, and Fighter HLA-s. Her beginning equipment is very nice, but nothing owerpowered. She can use a numberous crushing weaponcombos from the ultimate undeadkiller (Selune's Promise+Mace of Disruption+5) until the Supreme Destroyer (FoA+Crom). Her Romance is the nicest of all NPC romances, has a very nice voice, and last, and not at least, she is a very nice blonde(half)elven girl)

2. Kachiko The most powerful NPC in the Game, the Perfect Character to IA, or Tactics.As a Kensai, she can get maximum Damage, and as a Mage, she can get a lot of nice combat spells, especially if she wears the TS stuff. Her Yoshimo romance is very good, and her quest is the best created NPC quest ever.

3. Kivan&Deheiriana Kivan (and Deheiriana) is the perfect "friendship" character. Very much, and "Kivanish" iterjections, and Banters with the PC, or the NPC-s. He has a powerful class, and when you get his love, she can also get a very good class (Fighter-Priest-Mage). Both have nice voices, nice BG style pictures. It is an enjoy, to play with this mod.



Most hatred mod NPC-s

1. Xan THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINMENT. The Xan mod is great. Good chosable classes, good quests, banters, and iterjections, BUT the most important component, the bonded path, ends very, very badly. I played with a character from a beginning (fem. Elven archer. Yes, she was blond ). DO the BGI NPCProject Xanromance, and continues in the SOA, and when ends, nothing possible to rescue Xan... . It makes to me my first, and dearest BGINPCproject character unplayable, from that time, because she can't romance from emotionally reasons in my side, and even when played, those very sad moments comes true. And the BGII voicing is not the best possible. The BGI was better, but this is a very little badness, compare with the main one.

2. Yasraena Too powerful. Extremily high MR, 5* to a weapon to start. The weapon, which can Yas use it isn't the best, and drowish possible to play. Her quests, especially the Divalir quest is nice, but nothing Special, and there is a huge bug in the mod, at the end of SOA

3. Valen Another too powerful character. A vampire to play? I don't know. I didn't like Evil characters. This was the reason, that Valen is the third, not Solaufein. But the worst in the mod is, that you can't take her to some places, without some very-very nasty fights.

For the next time I recommend to include a last option to mod-related questions, "No NPC mods/Not telling", so those who don't play custom NPC mods can still vote for Bioware NPCs.

That have we spoken fore some times ago, that Non NPC mods cannot be compare with eachother.
Ease of Use vs IA vs TS vs ToD vs NEJ vs etc

As Baronius said, it was good to add a "none" option to the modded NPCs' poll options for players (such as me) who do not install and play NPC mods. I voted for the first two questions, but the poll didn't accept my votes, because I had left the next two questions blank.

As a side note, we have had a more or less similar poll before.

My answers:

A- Most favourite NPCs:

1- Valygar: For his family story. He will have a new and better kit in the next version of IA too.

(Note: Valygar is a very powerful warrior with his stalker kit (for those who know how to play him correctly and efficiently); the reason for which I change his kit is not that he was not powerful, the reason is that I don't like to see a ranger backstabbing and poisoning others.)

2- Cernd: For his family story and his new kit in IA

3- Imoen: In IA, she is simply the most powerful arcane caster in the game.

B- Most disliked NPCs:

1- Edwin: I can't tolerate him even for one hour.

2- Jaheira: For her rude comments at the beginning of the game near Khalid's body. Besides, I don't find her much useful in my playing style.

I have no third choice. I don't really hate any other NPC.

C & D- Modded NPCs:

I don't play modded NPCs. If I need a different NPC than those in the vanilla game, I'll make a custom one for myself.

3 favourite Bioware NPC: Well, my votes would go to Aerie, and Imoen, and maybe to Korgan. As the two first once can be used in nearly every kind of combination.

3 worst Bioware NPC: Go to Edwin, HD and Valygar. Edwin cause I like Dynaheir, and Minsc better in BG1, so... And HD and Valygar, cause how effective fighters they are, none at all.

And if push comes to shove, and I need to vote the best NPC-s, I vote for: Althon, Shar-Teel and Hubelpot. But who is Althon? Well, link.

And the worst, I can't give as I haven't nearly played the game enough to say!

Please note, I am playing IA, so NPC's strength is measured with that mod.

My favourite NPCs:

HD: I disagree with Trufa and Mikkola. He is one of the strongest NPC, of course he is weak at start, he needs some items, but later he is the best.
Viccy: I like to change her to good. Sadly she leaves at high reputation...
Anomen: One if the strongest character in the game.

My most hated ones:
Yoshimo: Traitor and weak.
Minsc: He is crazy. I hate his shouting.
No third.

I haven't played any NPC mod.

3 Favorite:

Jan. Very funny, and very powerful
Imoen. Best good Mage, and can do what I need for my thieves.
Minsc. I just love his personality, I just wish he were a Berserker or Barbarian (and sometimes change him).

3 Worst:

Viconia. Soooo overrated, Anomen is so much better. I never take her.
Nalia. I hate limosine liberals in real life, why would I like them in a game?
Cernd. So weak they made a mod just to make him competitive.

I don't play with mod NPCs, but had to vote on them for this. I have used Kelsey, I liked him, but voted for him once as the best and once as the worst in this poll (the program wouldn't let me vote otherwise).

Favourite Bioware NPCs:
Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira

Minsc is just too funny. And very effective, I always have trouble not including him in my parties. Imoen I like as part of the PC's story, and Jaheira was my preferred Bioware romance out of the three females. Others I like, such as Mazzy or Keldorn, I take in my parties left often.


Least Favourite Bioware NPCs:
Cernd, Haer'Dalis, Anomen

Cernd is pretty much useless for me. I dislike most of his dialogs and he's sub-par party-wise, with all the issues with Shapeshifters in the vanilla game. Haer'Dalis just isn't appealing enough dialogue/gaming wise for me to earn a place in the party. Anomen is just too annoying, although I usually take him as the cleric for good-aligned parties.


Favourite Mod NCS
Tashia, Kelsey, Solaufein

I like Tashia's writing, and I simply *can't* play without a Sorcerer, so she gets double merit points, same for Kelsey, whom I like a bit less. Sola has really nice banters, plus I already liked the non-modded character in-game. His battles are definitely over the top, though.

There's still quite a lot of NPCs I want to give a try though, so this one will probably change at some point.

Me, I have only two true favorit characters from all this NPCs, both from Bioware and custom... So I can´t vote...

Minsc and Viconia...

Minsc - I can´t play a game without him and without his comments and banters... And Boo is... just Boo and because he´s a tank. Just equip him with a good two handed sword, and I swwear to God, I wouldn´t like to stand aginst him, when he´s berserked...

Viccy - the best romance of them all, great stats and more importantly - she´s cute... High wisdom allow her to learn more cleric spells... Simply I like her.

Then this mod is for You. Berserker Minsc. I found on sorcerers.net

Yep, that's the one I usually use. Thanks Trufa!

Favorite Bioware NPCs

HD: I love blades, he is very powerful and i like his personality
Edwin: An extremely strong selfish evil wizard and he has good (evil instead) interjections (the best is in the kidnapper quest)
Jan: everybody favorite thief/illusionist, he is the best thief in the game and a strong mage too. His stories are funny and he is deaf

I like Anomen too, because he has very good quest if you choose the evil way

Most hated NPC:

Aerie: she is a stupid bitch for me, i hate her snivel. Grow up baby! (but she is a powerful caster)
Nalia: she is too snobbish for me


Favorite MOD NPC

Tsujatha: another powerful evil mage, and his banter with the other evil npc-s are extremely good
Kido: a true madmen, and a musthave member of a evil party
Tiax: I not play with him a lot but i like him because his madness and his class

Most hated MOD NPC:

Sime: I don't like her portrait and she too overpowered for my taste, i hate the lesbian/bisex romances too.
Chloe: she has laughable portrait and Don't touch my sis, you nasty little bitch!
Valen: She is vampire, this is not wrong. She is stronger than my party this is bad. Her EGO is too much, so she must time everytime if i put her in my party.

Favorite Bioware NPCs:

1. Minsc - Lately I've been trading him off early just to give other characters a chance, but he's my favorite for pure comic relief. Sometimes I take an NPC for the personality.

2. Valygar - Very powerful fighter in my opinion when equipped with the right weapons. I like using him for scouting and backstabbing.

3. Keldorn - Give him Carsomyr and gauntlets of dexterity and he's a top-notch fighter.

Least Favorite Bioware NPCs:

1. Cernd - Sheer uselessness and I hate his nature metaphors.

2. Jan - He's funny for a short time, but eventually I find myself clicking past his banters faster than I can read them. He also DIES a lot.

3. Mazzy - I'm not a fan of a short sword-wielding fighter. I'll use Keldorn, Minsc, or Korgan in her place. Plus, I HATE that portrait!!



I haven't done too much playing with mod NPCs yet, so these are generally first impressions...

Favorite mod NPCs:

1. Kivan - I haven't used him too much yet, but I love the archer kit. I'm a fan of bows. He was also one of my favorites from BG1.

2. Xan - Gloomy, I know, but I liked the character from BG1 and want him in BG2.


Least Favorite mod NPCs:

1. Yasraena - Too powerful in my opinion, although I enjoyed accepting her into the party, grabbing her health potions, then booting her out.

2. Kindrek - Enjoyable at first, but he took a lot of the fun out of fighting against mages. Not to mention, while switching around inventory, I'd drop something in his spot forgetting... OOPS, there went ANOTHER nice item... I forgot how many trinkets I lost that way, but it was too many.

Here goes..

-Favourite Bioware-

1) Aerie.
My all-time favourite character. Cute and sweet personality, romance is exactly my thing, and she's not too bad when it comes to spells either. The only downside is that when unprotected by spells, she has the tedancy to be beat up a lot. But hey, that's where my PC comes in. Leave my girl alone, damn you.

2) Edwin.
I don't know, I find him extremely amusing. He fits into parties a little less-than-evil as well, I find. I also love Laufey's Edwin Romance, which builds perfectly onto his personality.

3) Imoen.
At times serious, though usually light-hearted in attitude, which leads to some very amusing conversations. I like her. Not as much as I like Aerie, but I like her.

-Least favourite Bioware-

1) Viconia.
I'll admit, she's a well-written character with a lot of depth and thus easy to work with from a modding perspective. However, I find her cold, cruel and abusive behaviour to be very disturbing. Not to mention all the lies and unnecessary short messages during her romance. If I encountered such a bitch in real life, I would've smacked her sorry face many times already. No, Viconia is by far the worst character in the Baldur's Gate series for me, personality-wise.

2) Anomen.
He's powerful enough, though I can't appreciate his arrogance. His constant need to brag and lie, in order to give himself the illusion he's awesome. I can understand insecurities like that, but it makes him annoying and hard to deal with. He'll never admit he's insecure like that, and when confronted with it, he gets angry. A deep character, yet not in a way that's appealing to me.

3) Cernd.
I don't really understand this guy. I rarely take him along, though I have on occassion.

-Favourite Mods-

1) Fade.
I think Mistress Elysia has created one of the best Mod NPC's out there. Such an...odd, yet amusing character Fade is. Her romance is quite enjoyable as well, and the party could always use a good thief that doesn't die. Though I don't like the drunk scenes, when it comes to personality, deepness and quality of dialogue, Fade's very good. The only downside would be the absence of a ToB portion, perhaps forever.

2) Saerileth.
Very romantic, this mod. A young planar paladin joins the group, and instantly falls in love with the right kind of PC. A lot of options for romance and jealousy, an immense amount of dialogue. Her voice doesn't sound quite right (Sillara's voice sounded better with Yasraena), but it's decent enough. Well, not that my voice in the mod sounds any better, but eh..

3) Jon Irenicus.
God. What a project The Longer Road is. Full of content and dialogue, choices to make... I've never managed to get the "good" ending. He's so complex... The only thing I didn't like was the fact his non-removable mask gives him a permanent "haste".

-Worst Mods-

1) Alora.
Don't get me wrong. I love Alora in BG1. Such a wonderful character she is! However, in my opinion, this mod is very badly written. I don't know if it's still that way, though I assume it is. The Bioware NPC's aren't in character, and there are a lot of spelling and grammar errors. I don't claim to have a 100% grasp of the English language, but I know when I see an error, even if it's a complete lack of dots and commas.

2) Solaufein.
Doesn't blend in with the rest of the game. Would be a nic character if the standard version could be expanded upon.

3) Keto.
I don't know. Somehow she never ever stood out from the crowd. She didn't interest me at all.

for me, Korgan is no.1, the funniest lines ever. + he rocks in battle
From non - Bioware NPC Solaufein was very good for his dialogue (loved the Eclipse party banter), but incredibly powerful. Fade has nice dialogue and an interesting personality, but I don't like thieves or figher/thieves unless they're dwarves or halflings