Choosing companions to KEEP in one's party

Is there any consensus regarding which followers are less of a burden, and more of an assist, and does that choice differ greatly when your character crosses the Tech vs. Magick neutral line in a major way?

(I had done a bit of searching here already, and in retrospect might use the words "asset" versus "liability" if I suddenly had to replace this query!)

 

If you're going magic, Virgil will be your best friend regardless of alignment, because that boy is a healing magic machine.

If you're going magic and evil (or ultra-persuasive), Geoffrey Tarrellond-Ashe ALL THE WAY. He's funny and he's a frickin' magic tank.

If you're going tech, Jayna Stiles is a decent-ish healer, although you'll probably want to take that role for yourself eventually. Magnus is fairly good, but don't let him carry guns because he loves them but can't use the damn things.

Sebastian is quite useful for the morally ambiguous, too, being a vicious little sod with some neat tricks and grenades.

Regardless of your magic/tech tendancies, Gar, Chukka and Sogg Mead Mug all make good luggage carriers and meatshields, although you need to go persuasive very quickly to get Sogg early on.

 

IIRC, you don't need to have any persuasion for Sogg, just CHA 9

 

Some thoughts on the topic of followers:

Dog is extremely good at killing things, but unfortunately that also means he's good at nullifying experience.

Franklin Payne is hilarious, but most of his funny stuff can be heard without recruiting him. I usually skip him.

Jormund is usually more trouble than he's worth because the deck is stacked against him. In several playthroughs he had quietly died on me and i didn't notice until i did a headcount.

I've found than Zan Alurin tends to cast spells to excess, then pass out.

 

Thanks for all the help!

Having resisted reading any complete walkthrough for Arcanum, I haven't run across all of the names among the more generic types of games hints I will allow myself to read in depth. Jayna, now, is a new name, and all of the names (other than Dog) that Skyfish discussed were equally new to me.

Thanks for the answers, folks! I'm just starting my first run, despite having owned this for a couple of years. I just haven't been in an "oldies" mood . .

I will be playing using an 800 MHz PC, with a GF3 Ti 500 card, Win2K, and the only odd thing I've noticed is that the audio seems somewhat low-powered on the old PC I'm using (it's a cheap Aureal add-on card, hardly better than any of Realtek's onboard chips).

 

Welcome to Arcanum. We hope you never leave.

 

I am a testament to the latter.

I would say just dive in, play the game through, then read a walkthrough/story over-line. At that point, you should take a general idea of what kind of character you want for your second playthrough, and run with it.

 

back to topic and on the original question:
in regards of the story the most interesting NPC is Virgil. Zan tells you of visions she has in crucial locations, tho I'm yet to get those first-hand.
Magnus (and Loghaire) add a bit on a long sidequest. Vollinger has his own side-quest. Torian provides some info on Kree, although there are AFAIK only 2 quests to take you there.

most followers who have tech aptitude are good at making things. Magnus e.g. is a smith and a mechanic, Jayna is a herbalist and a drug maker. the major problem is that only very few techies actually master their disciplines, tho this can be modded (and I strongly suggest a level-cap removal hack to go with this unless you want the crafters to be dead weight in combat).

 

Haha, the same thing has happened to me. I still pick him however, just because a random fire elemental he has summoned has often turned the tide in a battle. I'm not that much of a micromanager to keep telling him to back off, though, and that often puts him among the casualties during a hard fight.

 

not to entirely derail the dickface discussion, but *Spoilers*

I finally reached the Iron Clan homeland, and got the interesting Magnus/Loghaire dialogue completed. (Side note: anyone ever taken Loghaire to Gilbert Bates? They have a pretty cool back and forth)

I was wondering if Magnus adds anything to the story from here on out. Right now I'm rolling with the following crew (Torian Kel replaced Magnus [persuasion master, baby] [also, has anyone tried to get Magnus and Torian Kel to join the same group before? They have similar issues with each other like Raven and Zan Al'urin. Magnus refuses because Torian used to be Derian Ka. Why do all the good characters have a stick up their asses? The bad guys seem willing to travel with pretty much anyone]

Chukka
Raven
Zan Al'urin
Loghaire
Virgil
Torian Kel


Anybody else I should pick instead of one of the above types? I'm looking entirely for story purposes here (except Chukka who is an excellent packhorse AND calls me Master which delights me every time I see it)

 

marlowe, as far as I've seen, Magnus stops contributing to the story after the Iron Clan. you should visit Kree with Torian anyway, he has fond memories of that place
*spoiler* if you actually read the books on the story, you'll know that there are a few semi-powerful beings in the Void - Krakatur (half-dragon), Bane of Kree (human warlord, Attila reference IMHO), Gorgoth (semi-sentient beast), Kerghan (human mage and techno-necromancer) and Arronax (evil elven mage and patron of the dark elves). Torian is supposed to have some story there, and quest items connected to Krakatur add some dialogue on him IIRC.

 

Mmmmm, Arronax... *shakes head and blushes* Yikes, I had a weird moment there. I sounded like the Angel fangirls from the series that span off from *shudder* Buffy.

 

Split the spam.

Will you guys take this straight to GD next time?