I was just scrolling through the out-of-party characters list in Shadowkeeper, and I found character entries for Branwen and Xan. What's more, Xan is listed as having a INT of 25! Yep. 25! I have yet to find either of these two in the game, nor have I ever heard of them being involved except through certain mods that import BG1 NPC's. The only mod I've installed so far is Kelsey. Someone please explain this. Is it yet another example of the developers leaving their work unfinished?

They join you in the tutorial.

FWIW, Xan has that 25 INT in the tutorial because you'll have to have him learn a spell, and that way he's got a 100% chance of suceeding (I know, he would with a 24, also).

all the party members in the tutorial have godly stats.

Yeah, they are definitely in the tutorial, and why they are so beefed up there is beyond me... maybe it's the dev's way of saying, 'HA! See, you can never have characters like this!' I know I haven't seen Branwen anywhere else than in the tutorial, but...

Spoiler (?)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Now, I may be wrong about this, but don't you also encounter Xan in the Docks lurking around the Harpers HQ, and sends you on a mission to find his thief friend inside the building? Or was that Xar... I can't remember for sure.

Minor Spoiler
~
~
~
~
It is Xzar in the Docks District, not Xan.

[ 09-17-2002, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

Xzar is the annoying zent from BG1 who travels with the equally annoying thief Montaron. Xan is the elf at the end of the Nashkel mines with the moonblade.

If you play the tutorial and look at your fellow NPC's character sheets you will see some other anomalies.

They possess BG1 (small swords, large swords etc.) weapon proficiencies instead of BG2 ones for example.

If your play the tutorial the xp earned will carry over, but only the ones earned by you.

The versions of Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira are not the same as those in the real game.

so do u advise that you play through the tutorial before entering the real game?

<font color="lightblue">If this is your first go at any of the BG games then yes; if you`ve played either before, than you don`t need to but you can if you want. </font>