About Henchmen (Noob Alert)

[Legacy_agvkrioni]

               Hey I just dropped 375 gold to buy 2 henchmen, and apparently you can only have one, at least to start with. I was wondering, is there a way to increase the number of people I can have in my party -- aka the # of henchmen I can hire at once?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               If you are talking about the game's original campaign (that is, you are talking about Tommi or the henchmen in the Trade of Blades), then you can only have one henchman at a time. Many modules allow more than one, but not the OC. There are ways to change this, but it's not easy and really not worth it. Everything in the OC can be done with one henchman at a time.

But, your money isn't wasted. You are likely to want to hire more than one anyway, as each of them has a quest that is worth doing, unless you are in a hurry.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par MrZork, 25 septembre 2011 - 10:49 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_agvkrioni]

               I don't really know what modules are. My friend gave me this game because he bought a mac laptop and obviously doesn't play the windows version. So I'm really new here. How do I make and or obtain a module that allows for more mercenary companions? I have the money, might as well take two with me.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               You're better off hiring them all, anyway.  The gold has definitely not been wasted.  Each has a unique quest , XP and rewards, some of the best items in the plague campaign.  Try playing with each one for a while until the end of Chapter 3 when you need to make a decision which one you like best.  It's good practice to see how different classes work with your own class and style of play.

There are utilities (like Oldmansbeard) that you can add more members to your party but can only use one of the Bioware-designed henches at a time.  I'm not sure how well the OHS AI works with the OC but you can experiment with it if you would rather have a bigger party.

edit: RE: MrZork's comment about the expansions... SoU uses only one henchman, HotU uses two.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par HipMaestro, 26 septembre 2011 - 04:36 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               Many modules allow for more than one henchman. And, in fact, I believe that the Bioware expansion packs, Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark also allow more than one henchman. (I am not sure about SoU, but I know that HotU does.) If you have the Diamond edition, then you have those expansions already. If you buy NWN from GOG (which is Diamond edition, but already updated with the latest patch), then you will have them as well. I assume some of the premium modules allow for more than one henchmen, but I almost never play with more than one, so I can't be sure.

There are lots of excellent community-made modules (which are free, btw) that allow for more than one henchman. As an example, the Aielund Saga (first chapter here) does. I don't know that there is any list of modules broken down by max henchmen, but the readme files will sometimes mention it. A nice module list is available here, in addition to those that have won other acclaim, such as the NWN Vault's Hall of Fame list of modules and award winners from the Academy of Modding Excellence.

(BTW, if some of the terms aren't famliar to you, a useful stop is always the NWN Wiki.)
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mystery X]

               If you are playing the Original Campaign (where you start off at the academy, to work on the mystery of the plague under the direction of Aribeth), that adventure is really balanced toward having one henchman at a time.  There are game modifications that you can put in your override folder that would allow you to have more henchmen, but you'll probably find that the game loses a lot of challenge.

I feel the same way about another popular inquiry for modifying the Original Campaign, which is to allow access to henchman inventory (something you can do with every module, official or not, besides the Original Campaign).  It feels annoying not to be able to equip them with magic items you find, but if you were able to make your henchmen more powerful with extra equipment, it again probably makes the Original Campaign too easy.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_jmlzemaggo]

               Not too easy. More fun.
But not too easy.
i would see it as fair.
The reason why I installed Tony K's AI, to get access to my henchy's inventory, is more about sharing the powerful stuff I found on our way than letting my companion die, while my own inventory is packed with übergear.