TOEE is orgasmic

[Cael]

Cael Your opinion is horseshit.
"Regular companions are shit because they're not perfectly optimized, the ogre and hillgiant are too powerful."

But you don't mind optimizing your party to death and casting all the buffs that make them as powerful as scropp and oohlgrist.
Not even talking about crafting or rest spam.

My take is whatever is in the game and you find entertaining, you should use.
And if you find something is overpowered or you want to go for a run with handicaps, it's fine as well, i know i did both and both were fun.

Everything should be allowed, nerfing and balancing is the real plague, along with the no fun allowed police.

I don't find exploiting bugs to be within the realm of "game as intended". However, if that is what you think is OK, I am not going to say you are playing it wrong.

 

[Max Damage]

Playing with what game gives you at face value =/= exploiting. You have your own view on what is a companion, and that's fine, but to exclude troll and hill giant and then call the rest lousy is a stretch. Hommlet alone has plenty worthy people to adventure with.

 

[Dorateen]

I took Scorp along, but the villagers got mad when we returned to Hommlet, and had to kill him.

Sad.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I took Scorp along, but the villagers got mad when we returned to Hommlet, and had to kill him.

Sad.

Temple+ adds an option which makes NPC tolerate monstrous companions.

 

[Roguey]

Agree to disagree, I guess. I've found Elmo, Furnok, Fruella, Spugnoir, Meleny, Burne, Zaxis, Otis, Schreng, Wonnilon, Oohlgrist, Scorpp and Trommel to be good/great. While some don't have maxed primary stats (Meleny), they often have good/unique equipment, and having 16 for casting stat is still high. When everyone uses buffs, lacking one additional +1 isn't that big, best druid spells are good no matter what, summons are also strong even with meh Wis.

A Hill Giant is ECL 14 without any class levels. Scorp has class levels, IIRC. In other words, he is more than double your level without any class levels, and should never be considered a legitimate companion. Trolls are ECL 11. Oohlgrist is a higher level than all your characters can legitimately get in the module (max 10) and that is before any class levels he has.

Saying Scorp and Oohlgrist as strong companions is like saying Saerilith is a well balanced one.

They're canon companions.

Scorpp keeps two boulders nearby for use
as missiles prior to melee. If combat goes
badly, he asks for quarter, offering to serve
the opponents if his life is spared. He will, of
course, seek to escape or kill his captors, as
opportunity permits.

If confronted by a party demonstrably
capable of killing him (and thus obviously a
fair match for the various Temple factions),
he tries to parley. (Of course he'd rather eat
humans than talk with them, but.... ) Being
a tribal leader, Oohlgrist knows rudimentary
Common. His first offer is to spare the
characters' lives if they pay ransom of gems
or many precious coins. Failing that, he simply
tells them to "go away, and Great Ugly
Troll Chief spare you"; he has other things
to do, and isn't hungry. If that ploy fails, he
offers his ruby necklace, and then his belt of
emeralds (but never any of his magic items).
Last, he volunteers (so to speak) to aid the
party in overcoming one of the Elemental
Temples, and will settle for as little as onequarter
of the loot gained thereby (but first
asks for half). Oohlgrist actually fights well
if he perceives no treachery, and if the characters
fight as well. If they try to betray him,
or expect him to bear the brunt of the fighting,
he immediately switches sides. Oohlgrist
will not cooperate for any extended
period of time. If the characters are weakened,
he turns on them

 

[Cael]

Agree to disagree, I guess. I've found Elmo, Furnok, Fruella, Spugnoir, Meleny, Burne, Zaxis, Otis, Schreng, Wonnilon, Oohlgrist, Scorpp and Trommel to be good/great. While some don't have maxed primary stats (Meleny), they often have good/unique equipment, and having 16 for casting stat is still high. When everyone uses buffs, lacking one additional +1 isn't that big, best druid spells are good no matter what, summons are also strong even with meh Wis.

A Hill Giant is ECL 14 without any class levels. Scorp has class levels, IIRC. In other words, he is more than double your level without any class levels, and should never be considered a legitimate companion. Trolls are ECL 11. Oohlgrist is a higher level than all your characters can legitimately get in the module (max 10) and that is before any class levels he has.

Saying Scorp and Oohlgrist as strong companions is like saying Saerilith is a well balanced one.

They're canon companions.

Scorpp keeps two boulders nearby for use
as missiles prior to melee. If combat goes
badly, he asks for quarter, offering to serve
the opponents if his life is spared. He will, of
course, seek to escape or kill his captors, as
opportunity permits.

If confronted by a party demonstrably
capable of killing him (and thus obviously a
fair match for the various Temple factions),
he tries to parley. (Of course he'd rather eat
humans than talk with them, but.... ) Being
a tribal leader, Oohlgrist knows rudimentary
Common. His first offer is to spare the
characters' lives if they pay ransom of gems
or many precious coins. Failing that, he simply
tells them to "go away, and Great Ugly
Troll Chief spare you"; he has other things
to do, and isn't hungry. If that ploy fails, he
offers his ruby necklace, and then his belt of
emeralds (but never any of his magic items).
Last, he volunteers (so to speak) to aid the
party in overcoming one of the Elemental
Temples, and will settle for as little as onequarter
of the loot gained thereby (but first
asks for half). Oohlgrist actually fights well
if he perceives no treachery, and if the characters
fight as well. If they try to betray him,
or expect him to bear the brunt of the fighting,
he immediately switches sides. Oohlgrist
will not cooperate for any extended
period of time. If the characters are weakened,
he turns on them

In 1e, hill giants weren't level 14 equivalent characters.

 

[Jason Liang]

What's wrong with Saerilith

 

[Lagole Gon]

What's wrong with Saerilith

No idea. Maybe you should make a poll to gather opinions.

 

[Jason Liang]

What's wrong with Saerilith

No idea. Maybe you should make a poll to gather opinions.

It would be pointless. My reply was rhetorical - Cael has had me on ignore for several years now.

Still, I find it weird that he used Saerilith as an example of a grossly "imbalanced" companion. We're talking about Saerilith, not Sepheroth.