Fineghal

I started out playing a singleton (because I've played most of Spidweb's other games.) But I'm finding it too difficult and frustrating. Is there anyway I can add another character (or create a new one?) in A5? I remember in E/A you could create a new character or add an npc, but I haven't found one.

What type of movement does A5 have? Is it tile based like A1-3 or Animated movement ala Geneforge? As I think on this could you anwser the same question about A4? Thanks! For some reason I find the live movement really detracts from my experience w/Avernum games.

I created a 2 character party with a mix of advantages. The problem is one of my characters has something like an 80% xp penalty and the other has a 50% one. Unfortunately it's gotten to the point where the level difference makes playing the game difficult. Fighter is at level 9 while Mage/Priest is at level 16. Any ideas for evening them out? Will the XP gain eventually get lower as her level increases? As is the game is becoming increasingly difficult to play, I'm into Chapter 3 and just took care of Elderan's tower. My fighter would die every major battle if I didn't buff both characters up considerably. And even then with repeated Beast Ceremony/shields/haste it was extraordinarily difficult.

So I've been playing through as a two character party, and am getting my butt handed to me on a nice avernite platter. I remember in previous games (A3, Nethergate etc.) a singleton's power grew exponentially. Slow at first, but then continually faster until the end of the game you had a /really/ good character. The logic of this seems simple: More party == more ways to divide xp. Did A2 NOT divide xp amongst party members? Or am I just not doing enough of the side quests?

For the record I loved Nethergate to death. I really think it has been their best game. The historical elements really clicked. Furthermore it was their first shift to the new engine.