Woah, a lot of posts gone!

Anyway, I was thinking. What is it that makes the three evils so good? I get the feeling they are better than the other NPCs. Edwin is no wonder with his 3 extra slots, but the rest? Would I get as rocking a fighter as Korgan if I made a dwarf berserker with 5+ on axe? I think not. Same with Viconia, although I cannot put my finger on exactly what makes them rule the others. Anyone care to enlighten me?

No, aside from Ed, there's nothing outstanding about them, it's just that the alternatives aren't much good. It wouldn't be too hard to generate characters as effective as them, but they have personality, and personality goes a long way. : )

The one thing that these 3 have in common is that each is a pure class character.

Korgan: pure fighter
Edwin: pure Mage (Conjurer?)
Viconia: pure cleric

I know that this is what a number of people have cited as their reason for their belief in the superiority of this evil trio of NPCs.

There are not that many other good versions of these pure class NPCs.

Mazzy could be seen as Korgan's opposite, since she's a lawful good pure class fighter.

Nalia is the closest thing to a pure good mage. (I play her that way since she really had only 5000 XP as a Thief before dualing to Mage). But she cannot be nearly as potent as Edwin due to the fact that he's getting 3 extra spells per spell level (1 per since he's a specialist and 2 per since he's got that non-removable amulet).

Finally, the closest thing to an opposite number for Viconia is Anomen. Even though I'm a person who prefers to play paladins, I find Anomen to be a major pain. There were times when my last paladin just wanted to haul off and stick the Holy Avenger right up his useless ass. Viconia may be "evil" and her conversations do little to change my mind about that. However, as a paladin, I don't find her nearly as annoying as Anomen. Vic and I just have some philisophical differences. Anomen is an arrogant, pompous, unreliable jerk who should be fed to Fiirkrag as an appetizer!!!

Viconia also has something like 65 magic resistance

Korgan is the least powerful of the three evils. He does have the most hit points, and that is really the only thing that distinguishes him from say, Mazzy. Mazzy needs strength enhancing equipment to be on the front line and would need to be saved before level 9 and when she wastes her proficiency on short swords. This is not an easy task. Korgan is a bit clumsy in my opinion, and _could_ use gauntlets of dexterity.

Didn't BG I have a bunch of specialist mages? (Quayle, Edwin, Dynaheir, Xan, and more) Pretty sad that everyone had to be lame dual/multi-classers in this game. But any party with both Edwin and Nalia is the most powerful party available, in my opinion.

That 65% magic resistance that Viconia has is something that you will thank her for when your party gets chaosed and she doesn't.

NO! MY Korgan can beat the crap out of Edwin anytime!!! no cheats!

MY edwin could beat the crap out off Korgan
It's about what do you prever