Version used for review: 0.93.
When asked about his past, KHALID repeats what he told you before – that he was born and raised in the city of Calimport. From his reluctance to discuss his family you gather their relationship was a rather complicated one. Khalid is an experienced warrior, but everything he’s been through must have left a mark on his soul. He seems withdrawn at times, preoccupied with thoughts he doesn’t wish to share.
You’ll know Khalid as Jaheira’s husband from the first game and as the subject of many conversations with Jaheira after his death at the hands of Irenicus. Right out of the door, the first impressions with this mod are amazing. Khalid gets the same treatment that Jaheira does in the vanilla game. A more in-depth personality, numerous well written banters with both you and your other party members – the whole deal.
And I’ll say it: Khalid’s portrait is fantastic. In my opinion, it’s almost indistinguishable to the original BG2 style and it’s a perfect interpretation of Khalid’s original portrait. Of course, if you don’t like it, you can always EEkeeper in his original portrait.
Khalid also has voiced lines. Not with a replacement voice actor, but with lines taken and repurposed from Siege of Dragonspear. It does absolute wonders for his introduction, and it took me really off guard. It’s mostly restricted to within Chateau Irenicus, but hearing him actually react to what’s going on around him makes him fit in almost perfectly with Minsc and Imoen.
His standard voice set is also taken from SoD, but edited slightly to take out lines that imply that he’s a coward. It doesn’t feel like there are lines missing at all when you cycle through them, though. Obviously the recordings used for SoD are different than those used for BG2, but he fits in perfectly with the EE companions, and overall it doesn’t bother me at all considering they’re professionally recorded.
One thing I appreciate about this mod is that it heavily leans on Siege of Dragonspear to flesh out Khalid’s character. The events that occurred at Bridgefort and your subsequent adventure to stop the crusade was an important point in his life, where he was forced to be confident in his leadership role and ensure the safety of all those under his protection.
This also does wonders in creating some connective tissue between Siege of Dragonspear and BG2. Hearing someone actually talk about your previous adventure and the horrible circumstances under which you were forced to leave the city of Baldur’s Gate actually did wonders for my immersion in the game world and in Khalid’s character.
In Chateau Irenicus where the game begins, Khalid is lying next to Jaheira’s cage plagued with something of a magical exhaustion. The pair are both alive, but Jaheira urges you to help her husband before freeing her. Doing so, by giving Khalid a potion sitting on the same table as the key to Jaheira’s cell, will cause Jaheira to be teleported away. Her fate is that of Khalid’s, in the vanilla game. Dead, on a table, body mangled beyond resurrection.
Khalid’s grief is different to Jaheira’s – he has dreams in the way Jaheira does, but he works through his grief in conversation with you by discussing your shared history and his own with Jaheira. There’s no lesson to be learnt here, only that these things can happen, and you just have to push through. At one point, after numerous conversations with Khalid, he’ll have his chance to say a final, formal goodbye to Jaheira. It’s a heartfelt moment, and having now seen two sides of the same situation, it made me genuinely emotional.
The best praise that I can give to this mod is that it is genuinely on par with Jaheira as a vanilla NPC. There are a few VERY minor spelling errors occasionally, but there were in the originals before the EE too. At the time of writing the mod is still being patched so I’m sure they’ll be fixed up in time. There is some very minor use of descriptive parentheticals, but nothing more excessive than Viconia’s “*chuckles*” in her romance path.
The mod features some player-initiated dialogue, but it’s an optional install, and despite my dedication to pouring over all the content in these mods, player initiated dialogue completely breaks the immersion for me, so I opted out of it. Given the quality of writing demonstrated throughout the mod, though, it’s safe to say that it’s pretty good. You don’t miss out on anything important if you don’t install it, though.
Khalid has extensive banter with other companions and he’ll talk with just about everyone equally. The writing for the vanilla NPCs featured in the mod are on par with the original interpretations of the characters and nothing here ever felt out of place to me. Evil characters tend to mock him for his perceived timidness, and those that are familiar with him praise him for how far he’s come and share their memories of Jaheira.
While Jaheira may move on from Khalid a tad too fast for some folks, Khalid won’t. He’s not romanceable, and he’ll hold his loss for a long time. He does, however, have a friendship path for both male and female protagonists, but he’ll bond more closely with you if you’re male.
Khalid has a complicated past with his family. His brothers were nothing like him, and he didn’t receive much love from his father. He found his true family when he joined the militia, fighting alongside his brothers-in-arms. But that life is behind him, and through your support and mutual respect, he begins to see you as his brother.
It’s a heartwarming to see him grow more comfortable in the presence of the group without Jaheira, and he really comes into his own as an individual throughout your relationship. Two brothers, lifting each other up and facing impossible odds. Exactly the way it should be.
You can grow close as a female protagonist, and Khalid say that you remind him of Jaheira’s strength. It’s a nice moment, and you’ll also receive a gift from him that he said Jaheira found and wanted to give you.
Khalid is a half-elf fighter. To start with, he’s somewhat comparable to Mazzy, except just a bit tankier.
His strength is lacking but it’s the easiest stat to boost, so it’s hardly an issue. Overall, his stat spread for a fighter is decent. He starts with three pips in long swords, one pip in axes, and two pips in longbow. He’s definitely best as a frontliner and he comes with three pips in one of the most versatile weapons in the game. I gave him Blackrazor and a shield until I picked up The Answerer in ToB and he was a machine for the entire game.
At some point Khalid will start a conversation with you stating that he’s been practicing a new maneuver. From that point forwards he’ll have the unique ability Khalid’s Maneuver.
I got the ability in Chapter 2, and it’s nice to have a fighter than can throw on an extra buff in the middle of combat. +2 movement and +2 AC is pretty good in a pinch. The movement buff doesn’t affect your APR but it can allow Khalid to swoop in and save someone, or swoop out and save himself. The extra AC is good if you’ve got a tankier Khalid, with the Defender of Easthaven and some good armour.
The real conversation starts when you exit the Underground, however. Khalid gets his own unique kit, and I really like it. It fits his character fantastically and it puts him way above Mazzy’s level, even with her unique abilities.
It’s clear that this is more of a roleplay kit than anything, but as the sort of person who appreciates that sort of thing, it’s nice. Gameplay-wise, it has some neat perks, too.
5% Magic Resistance by itself isn’t going to do much, but when you’re stacking MR on a specific character, every little bit helps. You could also use the Sword of Balduran on Khalid too since he’s proficient, and it has an innate 10% MR. More saves are always nice, too.
The spells Khalid gets are used as innate abilities. Colour Spray and Reflected Image are all but useless in BG2 and Khalid won’t get this kit until Shadows of Amn is almost over. Magic Missile is handy if you need to interrupt a spellcaster, though by this point in the game you’ll have a million other ways to do that. Fireshield (Silver) is a new ability unique to Khalid and it gives him 20% MR and 20% Fire Resistance. You also get a bonus to THAC0.
With Enkidu’s Plate (ToB) which gives 5% MR and immunity to backstabs, The Sword of Balduran with an extra 10%, an MR amulet with another 10%, the Ring of Gaxx with 10% and the numerous other bonuses, and the Shield of Fyrus Khal with 5%, you’ll have a grand total of…
45% Magic Resistance. Add Fireshield (Silver) into the fray and you’ll have 65% MR. Is this worth it? No. Just use the Resist Magic HLA or have Viconia stack her MR instead and tank. Just ignore the Magic Resistance.
Touch of Midnight‘s description is slightly confusing, but the gist of it is that Khalid will be able to make magic users cast at +4 their caster level. A fully levelled bard using remove magic with a +4 to their casting level is great, since the spell is basically a dispel magic that only affects enemies. The lore boost is nice if you’re identifying items. Chuck this on a bard or mage and you can identify any item in the game. A nice touch if you’re playing with one mage and don’t want to waste the slots.
Khalid also gets quite a few unique items over the course of the game. The Harper Pin, which is fantastic, two tomes, one of which is received if you’re playing a female protagonist, and the Gloves of Harp and Hope.
The Harper Pin gives Khalid even MORE Save vs. Spell, giving him a total of +7 with his Kit. That’s great. You can only get the Kit, however, if you have him use the Book of Mystra’s light, giving him a +1 to intelligence, raising him to 16 Int as you can see in the record screenshot above. This will allow him to sustain three mind-drains from an Illithid, which is a rare thing for a frontliner. The tome is obtained after the Harper Hold quest, when Terminsel gives it to him.
The Dexterity tome can be used by either Khalid or your protagonist. If you play a ranged character or a thief, consider using it on yourself. Otherwise, give it to Khalid for an extra boost to his AC and ranged capabilities. Despite what the description says, it can be used by both Khalid and yourself.
The Gloves of Harp and Hope are fantastic. Acid Res., extra THAC0, and an extra two strength if given to a half-elf – ala Khalid or Jaheira. You obtain these from Bernard in the Copper Coronet. It stacks with any strength belt, so Khalid is likely going to have the highest strength out of any fighter in the game.
All in all, with a new kit, and some brilliant items, Khalid makes for one of the best frontliners in the game, making for an excellent companion for Korgan, seeing as he’ll never surpass our bloodthirsty Berserker.
Khalid has three quests, of a sort. Two of them are the same as Jaheira’s but with a twist.
Baron Ployer expects to see Jaheira with your group, but upon finding out that she died, his plans take a turn. It makes for a genuinely funny moment, on par with the vanilla game’s humour. I highly recommend checking it out, even if it’s not a mandatory quest.
The Harper Hold quest is much the same, just adjusted for Khalid’s presence rather than Jaheira’s. He reacts differently to the situation, and the encounter is on-par with the original.
The last quest is a unique one, taking place after the other two. It’s Khalid’s final goodbye to Jaheira. It’s a short story quest, but it rewards some nice quest experience. I won’t spoil it for you, as it’s quite an emotional moment.
Khalid fits in with the cast of characters amazingly and his introduction feels like it could have always been a part of the game. His voiced lines, his recollection of past adventures, even the dialogue options you get when talking to him – they’re all fantastically done.
Honestly I feel like the best way to experience this mod is to let Khalid fade a little into the background. He doesn’t demand your attention like some modded NPCs do, and he’s perfectly at home within a full party, interjecting and talking with you at about the same pace as Jaheira would do.
This is quite honestly a near perfect NPC mod for my tastes. It’s going to be a part of every single on of my modded installs from now on, even if I choose not to take him along. Having the choice between Khalid and Jaheira makes the loss of one of them hit even harder, because the protagonist unknowingly has to choose one of them, and then live with the consequences.
I sincerely recommend anyone who’s looking for a good NPC content to check out this one.
Thanks for reading.
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