I'm on Chapter 2, first time playing.

I got sick of Aerie and all her whining, and finally told her to deal with it or leave. She did and I was so happy, knowing I'm not going to have to listen to that nonsense anymore.

Now I'm beginning to wonder who will cast Haste just before a big battle or come through with some well timed Magic Missiles. Did I just make a big mistake? I'm considering dual-classing to a mage anyway, so I can probably work through it.

Any thoughts?

Lymond

There are other mages that are better in arcane terms, but aeries advantages are somewhat unique, nobody else can combine divine and arcane magic like she does. Putting clerical spells in arcane sequencers and triggers and continegencies has its uses, and her melee abilities arent that shabby if you buff her up appropriately.

If you want an almost pure mage, nalia can't be beaten. She has about 4 thief levels, which basically just means she can use more weapons, otherwise she's a straight mage with good intelligence (17). If you're evil, you might want to check out Edwin (though as a specialist he cant have divination spells), he also gets more spells per day than normal. The other mage that shouldn't be left out is jan jansen. He's a gnomish illusionist/thief, and comes standard with a few items that boost his thieving abilities at low levels. Once he gets more experience you can dump his personal gear for some more powerful stuff and he's a top-notch mage-thief (alhough be prepared for some odd banter)

Well, you were obviously romancing her, hence the 'whining'.

Can you blame her, though? She lost one of the greatest gifts she had, was enslaved, and lost her home. I don't blame her.

Of course you can blame her! She's an annoying little prat! I can't fly, but I'm not crying. Sheesh! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Well, technically she did cry :D

I definitely didn't mean to romance her. Perhaps I should have explained to her that I didn't like her "that way" and I just want to be friends. I still wouldn't want her back unless she quit the complaining, however.

And yes I can blame her. I mean, I was imprisoned for I can’t remember how long while some guy zapped me into unconsciousness over and over again and you don’t hear me boo-hooing about it. Life goes on.

andrewas (or anyone else for that matter) - what are “sequences and triggers?” I couldn’t find anything explaining that in the manual.

Lymond


on a side thought- could I have romanced Aerie if I was a female? Yeah, I think I want to go there.

There's a simple explanation for that.

You're used to it. She's not. Besides, how can anyone expect someone to act like they do?

These are spells that you memorise in order to fire several spells at once. Once you cast the spell (either spell sequencer, or spell trigger), you select other spells (3 i think) to be set off by the trigger. Then an icon will appear in your special abilities.

Firing the trigger has a casting time of 0 and instantly fires the spells you've put into it, so it can be a rather handy way to dispose of annoying enemies in one blow.

It's basically the same as a contingency spell (you'll see them all the time on enemy mages) but you can fire it at any point, rather than having to set conditions before hand.

I suggest you take her back. With ToB she is the most powerful spellcaster in the game.