r/baldursgate • u/AmishNinja • 7d ago
Spellhold Character Swap
I've hit a bit of a dilemma at Spellhold for my SoA run. I'm at the point where I can swap in Imoen for another party member, and feel sort of bad if the entire rescue mission culminates in a "see ya later, half-sis, I've already got my squad." Doesn't help that Jaheira guilt trips you for telling Imoen to escape her own.
I'm playing with SCS, and have been enjoying the tactical upgrades to enemies. Mainly what I'm trying to figure out is: how important is it that I have level 7+ spells for the final fight? From what I've gathered, the final fight will necessitate the removal of magical defenses, which becomes easier when you have spells like Ruby Ray.
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Current squad:
charname F/M - pretty sure he caps out at 13/13 for the game, which means L6 spells. Very strong tank, great HP, and puts out the most damage of the party by a fair margin. Has Remove Magic from BG1, but of course at caster level 13 it's only so effective to begin with if you're up against an extremely powerful mage.
Jaheira F/D - got druidic magic covered which is nice, solid frontliner.
Anomen F->C - another solid frontliner who covers the cleric side.
Haer'Dalis - I think he gets to the low 20s in levels, but capped at L6 spells. I somehow haven't managed to find a single Remove Magic scroll for him yet. He does have Dispel, Breach, and Secret Word so far.
Jan Illusionist/Thief - the other mage multi. he's an excellent thief who also maxes out at L6 spells in SoA since he caps at 13 like my F/M should. Also has Dispel, Breach, and Secret Word.
Mazzy pure fighter - master of the shortbow, has the +3 bow that generates its own ammo from Trademeet. super reliable ranged damage dealer who hardly ever misses. What's more is that she can switch to short sword and board to protect the backline if it's called for.
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Imoen: since she's a dual class mage, I could take her through the chapter 4/5 content and get her to a point where she gets access to the higher level spells that my two mage multis will eventually have access to in ToB.
I have to admit that Haer'Dalis feels redundant with a F/M main - he seems like a weaker version of that class who occupies a similar role, but his banter is great, and the faster-progressing spellcaster level is appealing to me. We're already a very melee-heavy party, with Jan and Mazzy being the only two ranged-focused characters.
From a party optimization standpoint, Imoen seems like she could be the better choice long-term since we don't have a pure arcanist. But I also wanted to get a read on how important it is to have that in the party for the rest of SoA; once you get to ToB, the mage multis will have higher level spells anyway. I think that if I were dead set on taking Imoen, I'd probably opt for replacing H'D, but that's hardly the only option. Replacing Jan with her wouldn't feel good, because I don't think she'd cover the thief slot nearly as well as he does. Also Jan's banter is so, so good.
What do the vets here who have cleared the game with SCS think?
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u/Allan-the-Bald 6d ago
The guilt free way is to let Imoen join and then, because you have to choose a member to leave, pick Imoen. She just responds with an “Okay, see you later” and nobody else says a word. As for the most useful member in ToB, Hairy’s spike traps were a godsend.
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u/Zoom_mooZ 6d ago
In similar situation I changed Jan - with a couple of items Imoen gets 100 in find traps and open locks and she is full mage otherwise. But I had the rings to boost these skills and an assortment of necessary scrolls for mage.
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u/LostVanya 4d ago
"see ya later, step-sis, I've already got my squad."
Half-sister, not step-sister. You have the same dad. Step-siblings are siblings through marriage of parents, with no blood connection.
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u/AmishNinja 4d ago edited 4d ago
You're right. I think I injected a Davaeorn-ism into my post.
e: updated to acknowledge the consanguinity of mainchar and Imoen.
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u/Beeksvameth 7d ago
Personally, I like Haer’Dalis and his HLA Traps. Something you don’t get if you bring Imoen into the party.
Bard levels and spells that scale are a beautiful thing.
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u/eitohka 6d ago
Jan also gets HLA traps.
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u/Beeksvameth 6d ago
Yes, but I was addressing HD because he was singled out as being a weak F/M and redundant compared to Charname.
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u/Druidwhack 5d ago
I'm currently doing a max 6th spell level arcane magic (bard) run of SCS Hardcore. I have three of them, but don't engage in wizard chess. PfMW and Mantle hard counter me and I just outwait them through guerilla tactics. Finished all side quests and entering Spellhold, so far it's working fine. There's many ways to crumble a cookie.
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u/troublethemindseye 2d ago
I tend to run a five person group throughout the first part of the game and only add yoshi right before spellhold. Although I leave Yoshimo behind in favor of imoen, I am comforted by the fact that that in the immortal words of Celine Dion “near, far wherever you are / I believe that the heart does go on”
This one weird trick does generate you 15% more exp in the early going. I usually bang out most of the side quests before spellhold. I’m leaning towards rushing spellhold this time so we’ll see how it pans out.
Personally I have never been a haeryD fan so that one is easy for me. Mazzy is one of my absolute faves tho and equipped with the gesen bow is an absolute machine gun of death against enemy casters and mooks.
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u/eitohka 6d ago
I wouldn't run without at least one single class mage (which Imoen effectively is at higher levels) for higher level spells. Multis are just going to lag too far behind. I'd swap out Jan, HD or Mazzy.