Confusion about soloing

[The Lilarcor]

I have not played solo's and am a bit confused about them. Is pure soloing, going it alone, every step of the way and not relying on any others or can there be occasional characters to help. (like if you didn't want to kill Valygar and just bring him to the sphere) Please help.

[SixOfSpades]

It's whatever you want. A pure Solo character never lets any NPC join the party, EVER. If you want to go a touch softer than that, you can do things like recruiting Minsc and Jaheira into the party at the very beginning, and disband them immediately afterwards, just for the 3000 EXP they bring. Or you might want to recruit Valygar for a few minutes, so you can get into the Sphere without having to kill a Good-aligned character.

There's also a Solo character who recruits each of the NPCs, individually, for just as long as it takes to complete their quest.

There are also those who play Duo games: Main character and his/her romance interest.

[The Lilarcor]

ah, thank you.

[605]

The second option Six listed seems a little like it's too big of a pain in the butt, honestly. I just think of how annoying it is bringing a new NPC into my party that I want to keep. I need to completely stock them up with the best items I can afford, possibly from items I'd been lugging around knowing I'd recruit this particular person. Then I have to go all over and spend all my hard earned money buying this slouch the coolest gear they've ever seen, cutting into the funds my party has already earned before we even MET the new guy/girl. Then I need to reconfigure my party, calculating them into my new battle strategy after carefully examining the new options presented by this new addition. And finally, test and retest in battle, realizing slowly that the reason I'm not leveling as quickly is the fact that the chump in the dentless new armor is standing back soaking up some of my EXP. grrrrrrrr

But that's just me whining. It would REALLY become a pain considering that I'd have to go through that process every time I bring someone along with me, and then have to sell all the gear, and buy back a whole new set of equipment for the next NPC just to do their quests, rinse and repeat. Otherwise I can see that I'd spend the money I didn't spend on equipment for them to resurrect them instead, since they'd be getting spanked while I tried to defend them instead of killing bad guys.

I've never solo'd before, but I'd say that going 100% alone is probably best... unless you just leave the NPC at the map entrance and go without them to kill everything.

[Link]

Possible Spoilers!
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Yeah, I have thought about this myself. I never allowed anyone in my party (except for Imoen in the beginning; somehow she would come in my party whatever I said in the first dialogue But as soon as she was in, I kicked her out) I killed Valygar after searching for an option in his dialogue box that would give me the opportunity to send him to Planar Sphere. As I am Neutral Good (IIRC) that wasn't roleplaying very much, but it had to be done to keep my 100 % solo idea.

[Indemaijinj]

Most people consider it fine to have Valygar join you to open the Planar Sphere if you do not allow him to do anything else but following you and disband him as soon as he opened the door.

[Butterfingers]

The only ones for which soloing breaks down because of actual roleplaying issues are Rangers and Paladins. They have a very strict moral and ethical code. You could never refuse the classic Lady in Distress. Meaning that you would have to escort ladies like Aerie or Nalia, to give an example, to make sure they were kept safe. Especially Nalia, seeing as how she is Noble. After the job of course, feel free to let them go, except Nalia gets tricky. How could a Paladin or a Ranger not offer to protect her from the evil Roenals? To do so would cause all sorts of problems, possibly an alignment change or a Fallen status. Of course, this is not implemented in game, so, one must police him (Or her) self on how to actually roleplay. Rangers, and even more so for Paladins, are required to offer sanctuary to all those that ask.

As for Imoen, it gets even more complicated. If you did not take her along with you after your rescue, morally speaking, this could land you in all sorts of hot water. A real Paladin or a Ranger would get her out of dire straights, get her back into sunlit lands, and offer to put her up in a very nice inn where she would be safe.

My poor Cavalier ended up with a very different party then I had in mind. Jaheira, Aerie, Nalia, Mazzy, and Imoen. Notice a pattern? In the end, he was swamped with more estrogen then he could handle.

[karlosovic]

of course... sometimes, no matter how hard you try... the damsel you're protecting takes a hit and dies. If you really have to roleplay to such an extreme degree, let them be accidently killed in battle, and if you really feel bad about failing to protect them, go donate a few $$$s to a temple in penence. As far as I understand it, being a paladin is far more about intentions than results.

[super_smasher3]

But then his consience would still get him because he didn't make an effort to raise her from the dead.

[Xero279]

It can be hard making decisions like that, about paladins protecting everyone, but there are allways ways around it. for example, the Nalia and the Roenalls.

If you dont want Nalai to come with you, tell her to stay at her keep and maybe "hire some protection".

by hire some protection i mean take unwanted NPCs, Anomen, Keldorn, etc. etc., and take them in your party, and kicking them out in Nalias keep or outside, say they "are protecting her keep from evil and the evil Roenal family". that way she is protected, and you finally have a use for unwanted NPCs (like anomen )