Baldur's Gate: The Thread

[Sylthia]

It seems various Baldur's Gate threads have come and gone, but they're all a bit old. So, here's a new thread to discuss all things BG.

I just beat BG: Enhanced Edition, and am going to start BG2:EE with the same character carried over, a Female Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric.

I'm going to try to play through my next game without the characters I always seem to wind up with, so no Minsc, Jan, or Viconia.

I'll probably give the new characters a go, and keep everyone around at least long enough to do their side-quests.

I wish I was ambitious enough to do a Let's Play, but it would probably take me forever, considering I started this playthrough months ago.

[Winthur]

I'm going to try to play through my next game without the characters I always seem to wind up with, so no Minsc, Jan, or Viconia.

Valygar and Haer'dalis to carry your swords
Aerie to romance Haer'dalis and be tertiary team tank
Jaheira for ultimate tag team tank (Anomen works too but Jaheira is more fun as a character + better late game)
Nalia/Imoen for thieving (Nalia is perfectly sufficient as a thief)

Everyone gets to cast spells, you have a nasty, nasty frontline (I seriously play Aerie as a tank) and you just win. About the only suboptimal thing is the lack of 2handed fighters (Jaheira gets Staff of Ram and that's it) though Haer'dalis and Valygar can conceivably do that, just not a "classic" choice. Also lulz ensue when Aerie and Jaheira fight for your affection. Everyone is Good aligned so you can max reputation out with no worries. Hilarious banter too.

[Sajiri]

Hows modding in the EE versions these days? BG was always my favourite series and I was really excited for BG:EE but without the banter mods it was...pretty lackluster. I never bothered with BG2:EE, just stuck with playing the old versions with Tutu, but I'd like to play it and see the new npcs

[Winthur]

Hows modding in the EE versions these days? BG was always my favourite series and I was really excited for BG:EE but without the banter mods it was...pretty lackluster. I never bothered with BG2:EE, just stuck with playing the old versions with Tutu, but I'd like to play it and see the new npcs

I'm just going to get out of the way that I hate the EEs so I'm horribly biased but you aren't missing out much on those unpersons NPCs and the EE modding scene grows but some cool mods still haven't been brought up to date.

[Sylthia]

Valygar and Haer'dalis to carry your swords
Aerie to romance Haer'dalis and be tertiary team tank
Jaheira for ultimate tag team tank (Anomen works too but Jaheira is more fun as a character + better late game)
Nalia/Imoen for thieving (Nalia is perfectly sufficient as a thief)

Everyone gets to cast spells, you have a nasty, nasty frontline (I seriously play Aerie as a tank) and you just win. About the only suboptimal thing is the lack of 2handed fighters (Jaheira gets Staff of Ram and that's it) though Haer'dalis and Valygar can conceivably do that, just not a "classic" choice. Also lulz ensue when Aerie and Jaheira fight for your affection. Everyone is Good aligned so you can max reputation out with no worries. Hilarious banter too.

Thanks for the recommendations. I've romanced all the default options in past playthroughs, so I'll probably keep Jaheira and Aerie around for early game and sidequests, but will take them out before the final team is formalized.

Did EE include the romance option with Haer'dalis? I've already done Anomen. I think Dorn and Rashaad, and maybe Hexxat are options, unless there are other ones that EE added.

I'm about halfway through the initial dungeon crawl. I will probably pick up Aerie as soon as I get out of the first chapter.

[Sajiri]

I'm just going to get out of the way that I hate the EEs so I'm horribly biased but you aren't missing out much on those unpersons NPCs and the EE modding scene grows but some cool mods still haven't been brought up to date.

The main mods I cared about was the Kivan romance mod (because Anomen is just an awful awful excuse for the only romance for female characters) but I dont think that one was updated for EE. Also Unfinished Business and various banter mods. No idea if those were ever updated. My game was modded to hell and back but those were the important ones to me.

[Sylthia]

The main mods I cared about was the Kivan romance mod (because Anomen is just an awful awful excuse for the only romance for female characters) but I dont think that one was updated for EE. Also Unfinished Business and various banter mods. No idea if those were ever updated. My game was modded to hell and back but those were the important ones to me.

It looks like Unfinished Business among other mods are listed here. http://forum.baldursgate.com/discuss...tible-mod-list I don't see Kivan, though, was he added as an NPC with a mod?

Nevermind, I see that listed as in progress. I looks like the post was last edited December of last year, so undoubtedly, they've added more mods since then.

I am loving the auto-loot or whatever it's called, now.

[Calemyr]

The new characters:
The original three are still in play:
Dorn: Tired of his master's capricious and increasingly suicidal demands, Dorn wants to find a way to break free.
Neera: Neera has been trying to create a wild mage settlement. Lots of side quests with some interesting loot.
Rasaad: Rasaad's caught up in a heretical movement. How pure he stays is up to you.

The new-new characters:
Hexxat: A tomb raiding thief who is far more than she initially appears. Evil by way of survival by any means, but rather less of a monster than most evil allies, her missions are mostly about teleporting to distant and exotic tombs in search of specific artifacts that she believes will buy her the one wish she truly desires. She's a love interest for females, which bums me out because she's probably one of the most interesting characters in BG2EE.

Wilson: Like Baeloth the Entertainer in BG1EE, Wilson is a hidden ally that is very easy to miss and is a very niche character - but a rather fitting one for a ranger/cleric. Put bluntly, Wilson is a bear. He can't use weapons, his AC is utter crap, and he can't talk, but the main character can understand him just fine, he can drink healing potions, and he's got strength and constitution out the ying-yang. At higher levels his claws count as magical weapons and he gains regeneration, too. Seeing as (at high levels) AC is a joke (who cares if you're AC is -10 when any actual threat's THAC0 is -5), having ridiculous HP/Regen is likely a better tank than having excellent armor. No personal plot, really (although an alchemist does ask to see him again, just to be sure he's happy and healthy), no banter, just a walking meat shield that would fit nicely as a Ranger's animal companion.

Modding in BGxEE: You can do so and there are an awful lot of mods set up to do so now. Not all of them, however, so be careful about it. Patches basically reinstall your game, so you lose any mods you've installed - forcing you to reinstall them. Keep copies of mods you like in a separate folder so you don't have to go searching for them again. Patches are pretty rare and usually quite large, so they're not too big a pain and generally worth the effort (and probably more or less done at this point).

It is actually possible to mod the Android version of the games (such as on my phone) in a limited fashion. Create a portraits folder in the same directory as your save folder and place any override files you like in there. You cannot modify the TLK file on the phone, so any mod that adds or alters text is not viable, but mods that update spells, items, rules, scripts, and configuration settings work fine (as long as the edit doesn't include text changes - you can change a katana +1 into a katana +5, but the description won't change).

[Sylthia]

The new characters:
The original three are still in play:
Dorn: Tired of his master's capricious and increasingly suicidal demands, Dorn wants to find a way to break free.
Neera: Neera has been trying to create a wild mage settlement. Lots of side quests with some interesting loot.
Rasaad: Rasaad's caught up in a heretical movement. How pure he stays is up to you.

The new-new characters:
Hexxat: A tomb raiding thief who is far more than she initially appears. Evil by way of survival by any means, but rather less of a monster than most evil allies, her missions are mostly about teleporting to distant and exotic tombs in search of specific artifacts that she believes will buy her the one wish she truly desires. She's a love interest for females, which bums me out because she's probably one of the most interesting characters in BG2EE.

Wilson: Like Baeloth the Entertainer in BG1EE, Wilson is a hidden ally that is very easy to miss and is a very niche character - but a rather fitting one for a ranger/cleric. Put bluntly, Wilson is a bear. He can't use weapons, his AC is utter crap, and he can't talk, but the main character can understand him just fine, he can drink healing potions, and he's got strength and constitution out the ying-yang. At higher levels his claws count as magical weapons and he gains regeneration, too. Seeing as (at high levels) AC is a joke (who cares if you're AC is -10 when any actual threat's THAC0 is -5), having ridiculous HP/Regen is likely a better tank than having excellent armor. No personal plot, really (although an alchemist does ask to see him again, just to be sure he's happy and healthy), no banter, just a walking meat shield that would fit nicely as a Ranger's animal companion.

Modding in BGxEE: You can do so and there are an awful lot of mods set up to do so now. Not all of them, however, so be careful about it. Patches basically reinstall your game, so you lose any mods you've installed - forcing you to reinstall them. Keep copies of mods you like in a separate folder so you don't have to go searching for them again. Patches are pretty rare and usually quite large, so they're not too big a pain and generally worth the effort (and probably more or less done at this point).

It is actually possible to mod the Android version of the games (such as on my phone) in a limited fashion. Create a portraits folder in the same directory as your save folder and place any override files you like in there. You cannot modify the TLK file on the phone, so any mod that adds or alters text is not viable, but mods that update spells, items, rules, scripts, and configuration settings work fine (as long as the edit doesn't include text changes - you can change a katana +1 into a katana +5, but the description won't change).

Thanks for the info, although I do like my party members to have a bit of personality. That's half the fun with BG. Does Baeloth make a return as a playable NPC, or at least some other sorcerer? I do like having sorcs for the added spellpower, without the constant micromanaging of a mage. I was a sorc on my last playthrough, actually.

[Yora]

I've read Lord of the Rings when I was 12 or 13.

But Baldur's Gate made me a fantasy fan all by itself. I hadn't known anything about RPGs before and only bought it on a saturday because I got terribly bored out of my mind and was flipping through an old games magazine, where it got an extremely positive review. So I got on my bike and rode to town, just too kill the rest of the weekend somehow. Best descision of my life.

And just by the way, I think the game just got 16 years old last week.

[Calemyr]

Thanks for the info, although I do like my party members to have a bit of personality. That's half the fun with BG. Does Baeloth make a return as a playable NPC, or at least some other sorcerer? I do like having sorcs for the added spellpower, without the constant micromanaging of a mage. I was a sorc on my last playthrough, actually.

Nope. Baeloth hasn't returned and there are no sorcerers in the vanilla game. There are two mod sorcerers for BG2 you could consider: Kelsey and Tashia. Of the two, I'm partial to Kelsey. The guy is well written and well voice acted, and is a love interest for either a female main character or Imoen. I'm sure there are more than a few mods out there that turn Neera from a wild mage into a sorcerer (both are chaotic and poorly understood offshoots of "proper" magic, so a lot of the plot kinda makes sense anyway). Tashia is pretty good, I hear, but Kelsey just kinda knocks it out of the park.

Agreed on the personality. Personally, I take Imoen and the four official newbies. Wilson is interesting, but more of a joke character than a real party member.

[Sajiri]

I gotta say I never liked Kelsey. I can appreciate the quality of the mod and agree its well made but there's just...something about Kelsey that bugs me. Or maybe there isn't something, he was kind of bland to me.

I remember the first npc mod I installed was the Solaufein mod, at first I thought it was great, until I realised how much of a mary sue he became. Suddenly the whole game is about him. I ended up loving the Kivan and Deheriana mod, I installed it without reading it was possible to romance him in it which ended up a nice surprise, I always liked Kivan in BG1.

[Sylthia]

Nope. Baeloth hasn't returned and there are no sorcerers in the vanilla game. There are two mod sorcerers for BG2 you could consider: Kelsey and Tashia. Of the two, I'm partial to Kelsey. The guy is well written and well voice acted, and is a love interest for either a female main character or Imoen. I'm sure there are more than a few mods out there that turn Neera from a wild mage into a sorcerer (both are chaotic and poorly understood offshoots of "proper" magic, so a lot of the plot kinda makes sense anyway). Tashia is pretty good, I hear, but Kelsey just kinda knocks it out of the park.

Agreed on the personality. Personally, I take Imoen and the four official newbies. Wilson is interesting, but more of a joke character than a real party member.

Oh, I think I've heard of Kelsey, but didn't know he was a sorcerer, or male. I assumed he was a female NPC with that name.

[Calemyr]

I gotta say I never liked Kelsey. I can appreciate the quality of the mod and agree its well made but there's just...something about Kelsey that bugs me. Or maybe there isn't something, he was kind of bland to me.

I remember the first npc mod I installed was the Solaufein mod, at first I thought it was great, until I realised how much of a mary sue he became. Suddenly the whole game is about him. I ended up loving the Kivan and Deheriana mod, I installed it without reading it was possible to romance him in it which ended up a nice surprise, I always liked Kivan in BG1.

Kelsey is a decidedly low-key guy. He's like Kaiden or Jacob or Vega from Mass Effect. Generally low-key, controlled, got their crap together, and certain to spend more time worrying about the here and now than bemoaning their dark and painful past. Some people find that kind of character a bastion of sanity in a world of over-blown drama, others find that kind of character mind-numbingly dull. I found him to have a very nice angle on the whole story, seeing it from the perspective of a merchant, having friends and contacts in places other heroes would not, and just generally offering a lot without being very demanding in trade. I should note that his plot has so much in common with Neera (unusual mage offshoot hunted by other mages seeking to study their powers via autopsy) that I wouldn't put the two in the same party. Seeing as I never play female Scions*, I never look at him as a potential romantic interest. That said, his relationship with Imoen really fleshes out the story when everyone else is solely defined by their relationship with the Scion. Tashia, on the other hand... meh. Could be interesting, but no voice acting to my knowledge and a melodramatic backstory. Give me the stable merchant with the sense to keep moving any day.

Personally, my favorite mod NPCs have to be Kelsey, Tyris Flare, Fade, and Sheena.
Kelsey: As I said - a nice, grounded guy for Imoen who manages to have a little soul without being a drama queen.
Tyris Flare: Fighter/Mage Dual Class is pretty darn good to start, crossed with solid writing, portraits, and voice acting.
Fade: Still stuck as SoA-only (to my knowledge), but the girl is quite fun in a mischievously flirting way. I think I'd prefer Hexxat over her as my dedicated thief, however.
Sheena: I really wish this had made the jump to ToB. Sheena had a lot of heart and having a half-dragon fighter/mage ally was really quite cool. Pity it's SoA-only.

* I prefer to refer to main character of the Baldur's Gate games as the Scion. This is because the character's Bhaalspawn status is not unique, but their status as the heir apparent to Bhaal's power (seriously, nothing stops the Scion once they catch his/her interest). Besides, Scion is quick, clean, specific, and doesn't spoil things quite so much as as Bhaalspawn does.

[Sylthia]

I might go with Kelsey in place of Neera after I finish whatever side quests she has. I'm not a fan of Wild Magic. It seems to have adverse effects at the worst possible times, like healing Sarevok in the final battle.

[Sajiri]

Kelsey is a decidedly low-key guy. He's like Kaiden or Jacob or Vega from Mass Effect. Generally low-key, controlled, got their crap together, and certain to spend more time worrying about the here and now than bemoaning their dark and painful past. Some people find that kind of character a bastion of sanity in a world of over-blown drama, others find that kind of character mind-numbingly dull.

I dunno, that's not really the problem I had with him, Im not sure what it was because I typically like those kinds (and I really liked those three characters you mention). It's been so long since I played with that mod I can barely remember it anymore. I know other people have said he's the character you either really enjoy or you dont, but pretty much everyone agrees it's a well made mod and character, just not for everyone. I did think it was cute the relationship he formed with Imoen if you dont romance him, and he got bonus points for fighting with Anomen

God...I really just...I really hate Anomen so much.

[Calemyr]

I might go with Kelsey in place of Neera after I finish whatever side quests she has. I'm not a fan of Wild Magic. It seems to have adverse effects at the worst possible times, like healing Sarevok in the final battle.

Both of them have fairly significant presence in both SoA and ToB. There's not really a good place to drop one for the other.

...
...
... ...

Crap, you're killing me. Now I'm tempted to try a new play through of Baldur's Gate (including possibly a narrative let's play) presenting the whole thing in a framework similar to Dragon Age 2. By which I mean a retrospective, untrustworthy narration where the characters are treated as friends rather than as party.

"Hey, Cernd! I hear there's some odd trouble up in Umar Hills. Murders, strange animals, the works. Minsc is kinda riled up about it, so I'm getting some guys together."
"As the heron stands in the river and the snow falls on hills..."
"Yes or no, Cernd."
"Well then... 'yes'. I suppose it sounds like 'fun'."
"Good. We'll pick up Nalia on the way. She'll never forgive me if we leave her out of this..."

[Winthur]

God...I really just...I really hate Anomen so much.

He has some pretty cool character development for a video game; mostly by being quite a multifaceted character depending on whether he fails or succeeds at becoming a knight. Chaotic Neutral Anomen, once he gets past his initial angst, is actually not a bad romance.

Lawful Good Anomen is also probably the best cleric in the game, which helps.

I'll take him over Cernd any day, because Cernd is extremely boring (despite being a werewolf) and really, really sucks.

[Morty]

People give Anomen a lot of crap, but he actually straightens up a lot if he becomes knighted, and honestly apologizes to Keldorn for being such a jackass before.

Ah, Baldur's Gate. I'm definitely among the people for whom it carries immense nostalgia. As years pass I grow less and less patient with the crude AD&D engine it's shackled to, but I might still play it again at some point. I've never got far in a modded BG2, though. Have they got the banter-introducing mods to work with BG:EE by now?

[Sylthia]

I've played through this game multiple times and I still haven't done an "evil run" yet. I should really try it, but I just seem to be unable to play as a bad guy in these kinds of games. Although I've been told I make very good evil or otherwise antagonistic NPCs when I DM, so you wouldn't think that would be the case.

My Scions...
Chaotic Good Male Half-Elf Ranger, Jaheira Romance
Chaotic Good Male Half-Elf Ranger, Aerie Romance (Pretty much the same character as the first, I wasn't that original in high school)
Neutral Good Male Half-Elf Fighter/Thief, Viconia Romance
Chaotic Good Male Dwarf Fighter (First to play through BG1 with), no Romance, because I guess they don't like dwarves
Lawful Neutral Female Half-Elf Mage/Cleric Anomen Romance kinda, before I dumped him
Neutral Good Female Half-Elf Sorcerer Anomen Romance, why is he the only choice? I guess he's not that bad, but still.

Current Run
Chaotic Good Female Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric, Romance TBD

I wonder how many hours I've sank into this series...

[Winthur]

I've played through this game multiple times and I still haven't done an "evil run" yet. I should really try it, but I just seem to be unable to play as a bad guy in these kinds of games. Although I've been told I make very good evil or otherwise antagonistic NPCs when I DM, so you wouldn't think that would be the case.

The problem with BG is that it kinda sucks with evil options as they're almost always not profitable in comparison to the good option.

My evil parties tend to go for the highest reward option out of greed (I mean, dealing with paladins is a-okay if they pay well) and play at a pretty solid reputation as a result (because most of the best solutions are good, let's face it) except I allow myself to kill a bunch of people for personal gain.

Pretty profitable in BG1 at least. Drizzt is worth 12000 XP and cool equipment. Firebead Elvenhair is worth 2700 XP and a spiffy robe. Mad Arcand is worth 2000 XP. Joia is worth 900 XP with no reputation drop. Nice.

Chaotic Good Male Dwarf Fighter (First to play through BG1 with), no Romance, because I guess they don't like dwarves

Even when Gaider was acceptable, perhaps even kinda cool (yay Ascension mod!) he still didn't like dwarves I guess.

[Cheesegear]

I've played through this game multiple times and I still haven't done an "evil run" yet.

One of the problems with an Evil run is that there's really no benefit (aside from getting all the best NPCs in the game). Once your Rep falls below a certain point, Guards start attacking you on sight, all the Vendor prices go up and then you can't even use one of the best weapons in the game and everything's just a bad time all 'round. The best you can really do without making the game unfun, is running a Neutral main character, with a bunch of Evil followers (Korgan, Edwin, Viconia) and hope your Rep doesn't get too high.

[LibraryOgre]

Baldur's Gate is an early example of "Evil equals jerkface."

[Morty]

There are mods that let you keep your reputation down without murdering people. At least there was one for BG1; you basically paid bards to paint you as a dangerous person not to be trifled with. Which works well enough.

[Sajiri]

He has some pretty cool character development for a video game; mostly by being quite a multifaceted character

That's actually a lot of the problem I have with him, it's like they tried to cram too many personalities into one character. Sometimes he's overly confident and arrogant, others he's whining and needing babying, he can be the knight in shining armor or he can be a CN jerk. Admittedly he was mildly better if he failed to be knighted, but the whole romance with him just offended me in the way it was handled, though I may have been biased just because of the fact that male characters get 3 options one for each alignment, and females only get one option.

Spoiler

Show

His romance is like...an early conversation he's going on to you about how he singlehandedly defeated a band of giants, then immediately after when the topic of your battle with sarevok comes up he's all 'oh but of course no woman can do that alone'

He makes you choose for him a big life altering decision, and wont let you back out, then when it of course ends up wrong regardless of what you choose, he blames everything on you. Basically calls you a whore who tempted him from the righteous path and then at the end of his arc if you dont tell him you love him he threatens suicide/going on a murderous rampage. But the one that personally bothered me the most is when he asks to spend the night with you, you can't turn him down without ending it. Try telling him you aren't ready/sure and he says along the lines 'if you loved me you'd do it.' I dunno, to me that just ruined the character in my eyes forever.

Rant over. Sorry I dont do that often with video games >_>;;; Its all my personal feelings on the character though, just like any other, and Im sure to others he's not so bad, others again he might be hated as much as I do.

Also like earlier, Im jealous male characters get three choices...I want to romance Jahiera ):

[Winthur]

One of the problems with an Evil run is that there's really no benefit (aside from getting all the best NPCs in the game). Once your Rep falls below a certain point, Guards start attacking you on sight, all the Vendor prices go up and then you can't even use one of the best weapons in the game and everything's just a bad time all 'round. The best you can really do without making the game unfun, is running a Neutral main character, with a bunch of Evil followers (Korgan, Edwin, Viconia) and hope your Rep doesn't get too high.

To be fair, it's easy to not encounter that problem that much. Evil members only start leaving if your reputation reaches 18. You can easily keep your reputation well-balanced with visits to the temple. If you do not purposely ignore all quests that give you reputation boni for randumb reasons you can keep your reputation stable enough to have good prices.

Some heavy micromanagers even hire all their evil members after they've maxed out their reputation (Viconia has to join first since if you invite her to party at 20 reputation, she will bring it down to 18 which will cause evil members to leave) and just pay attention to the reputation meter - as long as it doesn't budge within 18-20 (for instance, it doesn't drop from 20 to 19 or 18), evil members will complain but not leave. Very unwieldy to keep up long-term though.

The one benefit from being evil is that you get to have some pretty fun, challenging battles with the Cowled Wizard death squads, and they often drop very good scrolls as well. And XP, of course.

Baldur's Gate is an early example of "Evil equals jerkface."

To be honest in order to get most of the evil karma values in such a god tier RPG as the original Fallouts, you have to pretty much play Baldur's Gate evil style, harvesting entire villages and being an ass for no reason. Becoming a Slaver alone locks you out of a ton of stuff for considerably little benefit. The problem is, the karma system in Fallout was way better and more flexible than the reputation system, mostly because alignment wasn't a stiff thing and you really had to be a total jerk in order to reach the lowest of low karmas.

Just pick all the options that say "I WANT TO SKULLF*** IRENICUS" in dialogue, never mention Imoen at all, kill everyone you can get away with, keep a good face to the public and do whatever you want as long as there's profit in it for you - that's a pretty reasonable way to play evil, even if it's basically "goodish but you get to kill Drizzt and bang hot drow lol".

I mean, Korgan and Keldorn actually get along really well somehow, so nothing says you actually have to act like an idiot.

Also like earlier, Im jealous male characters get three choices...I want to romance Jahiera ):

Ease Of Use is your friend, it has a component that lets you romance regardless of sex and race. I had just pretended Viconia calling my female Blade "male" in my all-female team was just part of her and CHARNAME's kinky Vorpal Strapon +3 adventures.

As for Anomen being a jerk, well, romances in those games are mostly a fun distraction that kinda shoehorns into picking a right option, I guess. And he is kind of a megalomaniac who read too many chansons de geste in his youth, so I guess his attitude is somehow justified. At least you get two different Anomens to romance whether he screws up or becomes a knight - guess they wrote him that way to make up for lack of other romantic interests. Oh well. Not that I particularly enjoyed Anomen, but I guess that aside from obvious writing flaws he is somewhat interesting to explore. This is the same character that depending on your actions can murder Aerie (usually in bloody chunks) and turn with a hammer against Keldorn or he can become a remotely smart and righteous person with the stick up his ass at least lubed up a little.

Also I admit that I mostly end up with Anomen because he is just kinda really powerful and enables lots of strong tactics.

#StillBetterThanSolaufein

[Sajiri]

TThis is the same character that depending on your actions can murder Aerie (usually in bloody chunks)

...He can murder Aerie? But I love Aerie D: (sounds familiar, I cant remember anymore)

I usually didn't have room for Anomen anyway. My party would consist of my CHARNAME (usually fighter/mage and a surprisingly good tank), Minsc, Jaheira, Imoen/Yoshimo, Aerie and then the last spot would rotate through all the npcs to do their quests until I picked up Kivan mod, at which Aerie was the rotatable spot until I came back for her.

[Winthur]

...He can murder Aerie? But I love Aerie D: (sounds familiar, I cant remember anymore)

Aerie is a godtier character, heavily underrated by a lot of people. And yes, Anomen can get pissed off at her royally if he goes CN. I'm not sure if it leads to him killing her or leaving the party though, my memory is foggy on that.

Also your usual team is solid.

[Sajiri]

Im pretty sure a lot of characters could get pissed off at Aerie

[Sylthia]

So anyone know what Romance options are available for women in BG2:EE?

So far, I know of...
Anomen (not going to do again)
Rashaad (maybe? He didn't go for me in BG1)
Dorn (probably no, because he's evil)
Hexxat (another evil)

Mod-wise
Kelsey? At least he's not evil, but I don't know enough to say if I'd want to romance him.
Are there any other options, straight or lesbian compatible with EE?

I, too, would like to be able to romance Jaheira as a woman. I've done her as a male, but the option would be nice. Although it does bring up the True Neutral goes both ways meme.