Most useless cRPG companions.

[Humbaba]

Oh what a good fucking character who has to use up all of his spell slots so he can do what a regular ass rogue can do a lot sooner, not to mention that mirror image and blur are utterly useless against all bosses AND he still can only use daggers.

1. why else would you use your spell slots? if you want your rogue to play like a wizard, roll a wizard.

2. he doesn't do what a regular rogue does, he does it better. Archmage Armor gets you way more AC than a regular rogue could get, and regular rogues don't get access to defensive spells at all except through UMD.

3. since True Seeing doesn't work RAW in this game, Blur and Mirror Image *does* work against bosses and against regular mobs. unless you mean bosses that target saves and not AC in which case I don't see how ES is any worse than a regular rogue.

4. all characters can only use one weapon type if you're building them properly. there's great daggers in this game with on-hit debuffs and/or buffs on equip. damage dice is irrelevant since they're completely overshadowed by sneak attack and DEX mod bonuses. and anyways you get more finesse training soon enough that you can switch him to another weapon if you really want to.

1. Which is exactly my point, Eldritch Scoundrel is a terrible hybrid class with no useful synergies between rogue and wizard.

2. Who gives a hoot about Archmage Armor, a regular high DEX rogue with the proper feats can have good AC as well, besides when your rogue is being targeted you're doing it wrong.

3. Let's pretend that's true, then there's still no reason for Eldritch Scoundrel to exist because any other old magic user can just cast blur etc. on any given rogue, you're only losing out on mirror image, which isn't that good anyway.

4. Wasting a level just to give him proficiency with better weapons (like kukris, of which there are much better ones than daggers) just so you have access to redundant self buffs is a bad deal.

1. Other than Shield spell, Stunning Barrier, Expeditious Retreat, Mirror Image, Shield spell, Sense Vitals, Mirror Image and Shield spell. Did I Mention Shield spell? Personal spells are a thing. Wolj can even get there as a Transmuter with the Hat that gives you Swift Hastes and Slows. Then there's endgame Hellfires.

2. ES can handle itself fine when targeted, but doesn't really need Archmage until late since it scales by Mythic Level. Losing Light Prof is significant given the good late Lights, you do have a point here.

3. see 1. The point that you can cover Wiz buffs for team with Scoundrel which frees up Wiz to cast offensive spells or leave Wiz home altogether, which is good early-midgame.

4. His weapons are fine already. Perfect place for Blitz Cut or Rapiers if you let Cam die, the Daggers are good anyway since Reducing/Sneaks/DEX-to-dam makes damage dice not matter. Retriever's Claw gives x3 crit multiplier and you get Blind on Crit early.

You're going to need a plan to Dispel things anyway so by the time True Seeing shows up you can use that (or Mind Blank now I guess). I just cast first round on hard fights then move in so don't get attacked much anyway.

Those few personal spells are of marginal use overall and not at all worth losing all the stuff rogue gets over eldritch scoundrel.

"The point that you can cover Wiz buffs for team with Scoundrel which frees up Wiz to cast offensive spells or leave Wiz home altogether, which is good early-midgame." Is there a reason why you don't buff pre encounter instead of mid encounter? Also why would you ever leave your mage at home unless your PC already is one?

"You're going to need a plan to Dispel things anyway" No I don't, I beat the game 3 times on core without dispelling much of anything except all that stuff on Areelu so I can hit her. Explain how it is a good gameplan to 1. cast a buff and then 2. rely on a dice roll so that buff even has an effect. Just use other buffs.

 

[Humbaba]

The "weakest" party member in wrath is probably greybor, because he bring nothing to the team and start with already 10 level, so not much build opportunity.

Imagine the state your brain has to be in to think that a slayer is weak.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Cernd is mathematically the worst companion in BG2 and is completely uninteresting.

...Outdone only by Beamshit's OC DONUT STEEL black vampire companion who is of course a giant mary sue to the point of even having the best stats of any companion.

 

[NecroLord]

Cernd is mathematically the worst companion in BG2 and is completely uninteresting.

...Outdone only by Beamshit's OC DONUT STEEL black vampire companion who is of course a giant mary sue to the point of even having the best stats of any companion.

I assume you speak of Hexxat? Never really played Enhanced Edition,because I hate Beamdog and their "remasters".

 

[Sarathiour]

By the end of the game, she can cast level 5 spells. I'm not going to argue that she's better than Jaheira or Branwen, but she does bring something unique to the table.

A subpar summon monster 2 and a heal spell ? Meh.

 

[Sarathiour]

The "weakest" party member in wrath is probably greybor, because he bring nothing to the team and start with already 10 level, so not much build opportunity.

Imagine the state your brain has to be in to think that a slayer is weak.

learn2read

 

[notpl]

Woljif from Wrathfinder. Eldritch scoundrel is a terrible hybrid and he's both a shitty rogue and a shitty wizard because of it.

Woljif is a phenomenal wizard. Spell sneak attacks are outrageously powerful in pathfinder, and items which grant damage boosts to specific spells/schools stack with the precision damage of sneak attack, so for example Woljiff as a rogue/arcane trickster casting maximized force sphere while holding the edge of force and some caster level-boosting items can one-shot any boss in the game, barring the (surprisingly few!) who are immune to precision damage.

The mistake everyone makes with woljif is trying to use him like a rogue. He isn't - I never made a single melee attack with him. He's a spell cannon who does the highest possible single-action damage in the game. And he does so with ranged touch attacks and high dexterity, and arcane tricksters can make enemies flat-footed at will, meaning he can easily hit even the most inflated ACs.

Honestly, I'm blown away by your "no synergy" comment. Did you just not realize that spell sneak attacks exist in this system? I find it incredibly hard to theorycraft a mage who isn't at least part rogue; arcane trickster gets full sneak attack and spellcasting progression, there's simply no reason not to take it.

Woljif does not get anywhere near enough spell slots to utilise him as a pure nuker like Ember, who's just a better nuker overall.

His purpose is one-shotting the all the nigh-unhittable boss encounters, not general-purpose nuking. However, I don't understand your complaint regardless - woljif gets plenty of spell slots, and with sneak attack his cantrip rays hit plenty hard if you don't feel like wasting a real spell.

Also, with a spell-sneak attacker build, there really isn't much else to spend mythic powers on except for more spell slots, so I gave them to him.

 

[Desiderius]

Oh what a good fucking character who has to use up all of his spell slots so he can do what a regular ass rogue can do a lot sooner, not to mention that mirror image and blur are utterly useless against all bosses AND he still can only use daggers.

1. why else would you use your spell slots? if you want your rogue to play like a wizard, roll a wizard.

2. he doesn't do what a regular rogue does, he does it better. Archmage Armor gets you way more AC than a regular rogue could get, and regular rogues don't get access to defensive spells at all except through UMD.

3. since True Seeing doesn't work RAW in this game, Blur and Mirror Image *does* work against bosses and against regular mobs. unless you mean bosses that target saves and not AC in which case I don't see how ES is any worse than a regular rogue.

4. all characters can only use one weapon type if you're building them properly. there's great daggers in this game with on-hit debuffs and/or buffs on equip. damage dice is irrelevant since they're completely overshadowed by sneak attack and DEX mod bonuses. and anyways you get more finesse training soon enough that you can switch him to another weapon if you really want to.

1. Which is exactly my point, Eldritch Scoundrel is a terrible hybrid class with no useful synergies between rogue and wizard.

2. Who gives a hoot about Archmage Armor, a regular high DEX rogue with the proper feats can have good AC as well, besides when your rogue is being targeted you're doing it wrong.

3. Let's pretend that's true, then there's still no reason for Eldritch Scoundrel to exist because any other old magic user can just cast blur etc. on any given rogue, you're only losing out on mirror image, which isn't that good anyway.

4. Wasting a level just to give him proficiency with better weapons (like kukris, of which there are much better ones than daggers) just so you have access to redundant self buffs is a bad deal.

1. Other than Shield spell, Stunning Barrier, Expeditious Retreat, Mirror Image, Shield spell, Sense Vitals, Mirror Image and Shield spell. Did I Mention Shield spell? Personal spells are a thing. Wolj can even get there as a Transmuter with the Hat that gives you Swift Hastes and Slows. Then there's endgame Hellfires.

2. ES can handle itself fine when targeted, but doesn't really need Archmage until late since it scales by Mythic Level. Losing Light Prof is significant given the good late Lights, you do have a point here.

3. see 1. The point that you can cover Wiz buffs for team with Scoundrel which frees up Wiz to cast offensive spells or leave Wiz home altogether, which is good early-midgame.

4. His weapons are fine already. Perfect place for Blitz Cut or Rapiers if you let Cam die, the Daggers are good anyway since Reducing/Sneaks/DEX-to-dam makes damage dice not matter. Retriever's Claw gives x3 crit multiplier and you get Blind on Crit early.

You're going to need a plan to Dispel things anyway so by the time True Seeing shows up you can use that (or Mind Blank now I guess). I just cast first round on hard fights then move in so don't get attacked much anyway.

Those few personal spells are of marginal use overall and not at all worth losing all the stuff rogue gets over eldritch scoundrel.

"The point that you can cover Wiz buffs for team with Scoundrel which frees up Wiz to cast offensive spells or leave Wiz home altogether, which is good early-midgame." Is there a reason why you don't buff pre encounter instead of mid encounter? Also why would you ever leave your mage at home unless your PC already is one?

"You're going to need a plan to Dispel things anyway" No I don't, I beat the game 3 times on core without dispelling much of anything except all that stuff on Areelu so I can hit her. Explain how it is a good gameplan to 1. cast a buff and then 2. rely on a dice roll so that buff even has an effect. Just use other buffs.

Lol took you off ignore to see what Sarathiour was referring to and sure enough you waste no time demonstrating how you got there in the first place. Midcombat buffs? Who said anything about that shit?

Nice passive aggressive ankle-biting on Shoutbox whatever the fuck that is. Back you go, retard.

 

[Desiderius]

Hey, Sarathiour, help an old man out. What does parrot mean?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

parrot is an emotion that can't be described in words, you just know it when you see it

 

[Desiderius]

Or not in my case. *Now* all you faggots can celebrate a case where the old man *is* actually clueless.

 

[Sarathiour]

Hey, Sarathiour, help an old man out. What does parrot mean?

Zed Duke of Banville

Spoiler

I used it as "indeed,indeed" button here

 

[Average Manatee]

Cernd is mathematically the worst companion in BG2 and is completely uninteresting.

...Outdone only by Beamshit's OC DONUT STEEL black vampire companion who is of course a giant mary sue to the point of even having the best stats of any companion.

Stats are almost meaningless in BG. He doesn't need int or cha or str, dex is marginal (everything is going to hit him either way). Wis gives him maximum priest spell slots so all he's missing out on is 3 constitution.

Hexxat is actually substantially worse than Cernd because pure class thieves are fucking dogshit even with 25 in all stats, druids on the other hand have creeping doom which basically breaks the game.

Both are incredibly dull though. Rasaad also will put you to sleep with is dialogs.

In general, of Rance's regular companions, Kanami

Kanami is the fastest character and therefore the best for cycling through other characters in commander battles. Also you can exploit her spawning formula since the amount of troops she comes with is (IIRC) a multipler of the average of all troops your commanders have except those under 300, so if you know how to game it right you can start breaking the game by having her arrive with like 2000 troops and then you exploit similar other events to get better commanders to arrive with 2000 troops.

 

[Average Manatee]

Literally everyone else playing Wrath: "Imma make some cool gish multiclass or use one of the already existing gish classes that stacks a bunch of spells to be invincible and one shot everything"
Humbaba: "Let's take one of the weakest one-trick-pony pure classes (Rogue) and not do anything to improve it"

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Probably all companions in Jade Empire. At least in other RPGs they're actually better than nothing. in JE you have 2 choices, you can have a companion help you in a fight or have stand outside of the battlefield and give you a passive bonus. If you have them fight with you they won't do anything and they'll get knocked out almost immediately, so it's always better to get the bonus. It was a waste of time to program their AI and it would be better if they just gave you a medallion slot or something that replicates the passive bonus.

EDIT:
Also most companions in Wizardry 8. They won't go with you to some of the areas so they're not useful for filling a critical role in your party. Also the combat XP is split so the bigger your party is the slower will your characters level. So you get a parasite you can't really rely on. Unless you really want to listen to their comments it's better to just not bother with them.

I also never bothered with any of the MERC characters in Jagged Alliance. You get to them at the point where you can afford good AIM mercenaries and I never found any use for cannon fodder in the game. Technically you can use them to train militia or carry items around but resistance fighters can do that as well and they don't cost anything.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Hey, Sarathiour, help an old man out. What does parrot mean?

Zed Duke of Banville

Spoiler

I used it as "indeed,indeed" button here

= emphasis, indeed, interesting, hmm..., worth considering, pirates, Norway, tongue-in-cheek, mischievous

​

​

NG​

LG

_________ CG​

LN

_____

______

CN

​

LE

________

CE​

NE​

The parrot is a creature both majestic and versatile.

 

[Desiderius]

Literally everyone else playing Wrath: "Imma make some cool gish multiclass or use one of the already existing gish classes that stacks a bunch of spells to be invincible and one shot everything"
Humbaba: "Let's take one of the weakest one-trick-pony pure classes (Rogue) and not do anything to improve it"

Nok Nok would like a word with you.



Both straight Rogue and EScoundrel are great. What isn't great is carrying around 3 dead melee levels on a Ray nuker when you have (at least) three other companions already set up for that or pretending Scoundrel is bad because you're too lazy to read half the spells and abilities then anklebiting the guy who takes the trouble to explain why you're not right yet.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

Cernd is mathematically the worst companion in BG2 and is completely uninteresting.

...Outdone only by Beamshit's OC DONUT STEEL black vampire companion who is of course a giant mary sue to the point of even having the best stats of any companion.

Stats are almost meaningless in BG. He doesn't need int or cha or str, dex is marginal (everything is going to hit him either way). Wis gives him maximum priest spell slots so all he's missing out on is 3 constitution.

Hexxat is actually substantially worse than Cernd because pure class thieves are fucking dogshit even with 25 in all stats, druids on the other hand have creeping doom which basically breaks the game.

Both are incredibly dull though. Rasaad also will put you to sleep with is dialogs.

If I were playing BG2 ever again, I'd just use the LAN trick in the original BG2 to make a custom party of full sized sexslaves for my Gnome Wizard and not even use the companions. So dialogue doesn't matter. AD&D 2e monks are quite weak-- Almost as weak as thieves-- so I would never use Rasaad. That's of course assuming I'd even see him considering that the only way to play BG2:"EE" is to install "convenient NPCs" or just play the original. The only companions worth using are Jan Jansen (the best companion in the game), Imoen, Edwina, Aerie, Nalia, and/or Jaheira. Maybe if I've feel pity this time, I'll bring along Viconia so I can read his story about his cousin with the same complexion as a drow.

It turns out I'll only run the female caster companions with Jan Jansen being the only Male companion I run. Why? Because the only companions worth anything are the companions with spell slots. With them, I can do anything, like use the low level summon spells and such to get AI casters to waste their high level spells on them. Everyone else is a waste of time. (I forgot about Anomen, I usually do and never end up using him because Aerie is already a cleric; but he's pretty good). High level D&D is all about wizards. Everyone else is a liability.

 

[Shadenuat]

This thread is like pathfinder one but people are wrong about character building in many games at the same time with some of such games be 20+ years old, it's great.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

= emphasis, indeed, interesting, hmm..., worth considering, pirates, Norway, tongue-in-cheek, mischievous

Norway...?

In all seriousness, I was confused by this as well. I knew it meant a few different things but primarily I thought it was used passive-aggressively to imply the posted opinion was parroted. I've never used it for that reason but instead used it to denote apprehension recently. The way the parrot is lifting/rocking on its talons, looking this way and that seems like it's uncertain or indicating that it's treading lightly.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

= emphasis, indeed, interesting, hmm..., worth considering, pirates, Norway, tongue-in-cheek, mischievous

Norway...?

He's pining for the fjords.

 

[Sykar]

Cernd is mathematically the worst companion in BG2 and is completely uninteresting.

...Outdone only by Beamshit's OC DONUT STEEL black vampire companion who is of course a giant mary sue to the point of even having the best stats of any companion.

Average attributes are useless and almost meaningless in determining how useful a companion is, thanks to a large abundance of stat boosting gear which sets the stats, not just add +x to it, like Gauntlets of Dexterity or Crom Fayer.
Jan Jansen for example ranks fairly low, but thanks to him being a mage/thief that will eventually reach level 9 spells and having access to thief traps can indulge in some of the juiciest cheeses in the game and can reach ungodly backstab damage via staff of the ram which enables him to one shot anything in the game that is not immune to backstab. Edwin ranks fairly low as well on that list, despite having the two stats at maximum that truly matter to a wizard, constitution and intelligence, on top of that he is the most powerful wizard in the game thanks to his amulet that is exclusive to him which grants 2 additional spell slots per spell level.
Viconia has an inbuild 65% magic resist that can be boosted to 100%. Slap on a Shield of Reflection and she is the only companion that can become immune to all ranged damage. Magic immunity also means that you do not have to worry about her getting CCed. She also has the most cleric spell slots and is the best archer among the non-fighter classes.
Aerie is a magic powerhouse thanks to her being able to combine clerical and arcane spells. There are some fun shenanigans you can pull by putting clerical spells into contingencies and triggers.
Haer'dalis can reach AC any other character can only dream of meaning he can become nigh immune to any kind of damage that requires an attack roll thanks to his defensive spin. If you do not mind cheese, you can give him freedom of movement and he can still move with an AC south of -20.
Cernd's failure is that he has at least in the unmodded game one of the worst kits since shapeshifting is extremely weak and he is even more restricted when it comes to what armour he can wear than a normal druid, which is none at all leaving him extremely vulnerable outside of his shapehifting form of which only the Greater Wolfwere is actually worth a damn. On top of his weak stats and terrible kit he also has one of the blandest personalities and his personal quest is straight up boring. All around he just does not offer much over any other companion. In contrast, Jan Jansen could have by far the worst stats and being just an illusionist, without thief multi, which is one of the weaker specializations and I would still take him with me because he is hilarious. By contrast, Minsc is a melee powerhouse, yet I tire quickly of his incessant "Go for the eyes Boo, go for the eyes AAARGHHH!" shtick so I get rid of him asap.

 

[CHEMS]

Virgil, if you play as a tech character.

Every fight starts with him screaming "aargh i'm seriously wounded, pls halp me", and after the fight he wastes his entire fatigue bar to unsuccessfully cast healing spells on you.

Came here just to say "Virgil" who's the biggest BITCH BOY in all of Arcanum, even if you have zero tech aptitude throughout the whole thing.

Are you being attacked by wolves?
Virgil will try to heal you and will pass out and die like a bitch.

Attacked by thieves?
UGH I'M SERIOUSLY HURT SIR PLIS HELP MEEEEEE

Do you need some one to resurrect you?
Virgil will gladly take the scroll and will pass out and die like a bitch during the summon.

Molochean boys ambushed you?
Time to heal your missing 5 hp with major healing, pass out and die like a bitch.

Plot moving forward and you reincounter him in some basement?
Watch him die like a bitch and after being brought back he's even gayer than before.

Why the fuck is a supposed ex bandit badass such a pushover bitch? I fucking hate Virgil. Also scratch that about him being the biggest bitch boy in Arcanum, he's the biggest B I T C H B O Y in all cRPGs.

 

[Sykar]

Virgil is actually a pretty good companion for a magic centred party. His background explains that he was not some tough street though, just a petty thief. His main failing is the weak AI script that does not check for technical aptitude. That though is not a failing of Virgil but of Troika for being too lazy to let the AI check for that and estimate whether it is even worth it trying.

 

[CHEMS]

No, he's a bitch. Even when enacting revenge on his dead brother he goes to Caladon to show them who's boss... by dying like a bitch in front of them! Man, fuck Virgil