Arie, is she good?

[Sir Exxon]

I like Aerie very much as an NPC, cause she is good to have as a spellcaster, she is a good romance-option, etc etc.
One of my favourites.


see ya!

[Nifft the Nimble]

In my experience, Aerie is an excellent Cleric and a fine back-up Mage. She's not going to get as many spells as Edwin or your average Sorcerer, and she's not going to be as good an archer as even Imoen, but she's able to use decent weapons, shields and helmets.

(Interesting and *** VERY SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH *** misuse of Aerie: in one party she was the only member who could use both the Mace of Disruption and the Shield of Harmony, so she stoneskinned up, boosted herself with clerical self-buff spells (I think Reightous Magic and DUHM) and took out a vampire nest mainly by herself.)

In conclusion: Aerie is pretty good.

-- Nifft

[F. Gottwald]

hmm, i don´t consider aerie to be a good char (at least not in soa).

she´s an acceptable cleric but mages only get powerful at very high levels... which she will never attain, and i consider her a worse overall spellcaster than, say anomen or viconia (which also have additional advantages apart from their magical ability).

nevertheless, any character has advantages that might make them the best for the role you intend to use them (and aerie has indeed a very wide selection of spells), so if you like her - either in terms of atmosphere or gameplay - take her along.
i usually don´t bother with her because she seems SO unfit for adventuring (and because she gets on my nerves quickly).

[SixOfSpades]

Cleric/Mages can be GREAT characters if you know how to use them. They take forever to get their high-level Mage spells of course, but the whole game is about planning ahead & delayed gratification. I wouldn't worry too much about Aerie's WIS and INT scores--16 is high enough for a strong spellcaster. NONE of the NPCs have what might be called 'perfect' stats, except for you-know-who, although Keldorn with the Gauntlets and Mazzy with a STR belt come pretty close. True, Aerie's hitpoints will always be a problem, but that's just another reason to keep her in back where she belongs.

[Aleksanr]

I just gave her the Giant fotress shield from Adventures Mart, ring of Protection+1 and Bracers of AC, Maulers arm, and Dang.... AC -5, Str 18 and inceredible abouts of magic to boot. (still on chap 3)

[Darkheart]

She's Ok as long as you don't let her get into a melee with anyone, but I have never really liked her because he's such a pathetic whiner, constantly crying about her missing wings. For that matter, Jaheira is a pompous do-gooding nag. Viconia is the girl for me.

[Neb]

If you ignore her whining she's quite a good character, give her a nice sling, the Reflecting shield +2 from the Adventurer's Mart, some good bracers, a robe of the good archmagi and boots of speed so she can run from attacking foes, now she should be reasonably protected.

She has immense amounts of magic and she's always been one of my strongest characters and one that I always bring(Along with Minsc and Jan) except when playing with an evil party.

[SixOfSpades]

You put the Boots of Speed on AERIE??? That means when the party's walkin' along & they run into a bunch of bad guys, Aerie is the first one they see, and they usually tend to focus their attacks on the first person they see. I always give MY Boots to Tanks or my Backstabbing Thief.