Imoen

"Heya! It's me, Imoen." Imoen is a neutral good human thief and a potential companion.

She's one of the canon party members who adventured with the Gorion's Ward during the event of Baldur's Gate, alongside Jaheira, Khalid, Dynaheir, and Minsc.

Backstory
Imoen is the childhood friend of Gorion's Ward. They both grew up together in the library fortress of Candlekeep from the time when she was brought there, when they were both about the age of 10.

Prologue
In the prologue, she will greet you when you approach the front of the Candlekeep Library proper. She surprises you by knowing more about your impending journey with Gorion than you do.

Recruitment
Imoen is available from to recruit Chapter 1. She's the first companion who offers to join you and will join despite any answer given in dialogue.

Gameplay
Her valuable thieving skills can be very beneficial for a starting party, such as detect and disarm traps, open locks, pick-pocket, etc. She also has a very high charisma, making her an effective leader in regards to yielding better prices in shops and good reactions during particular conversations. She doesn't have major conflicts with any other party members and won't leave the player no matter what the party's reputation.

Imoen has one of the highest overall stats of all companions in the entire saga, being a human thief with a Dexterity score of 18 and an intelligence score of 17. You may dual class her anytime after level 2 to a mage, and the 161,000 experience cap present in and  creates a manageable cut-off point for regaining her thief skills. A dual-class by definition must have its new class exceed the level of its old class by one level in order to regain the benefits of the old class. Imoen may become a level 7 Thief at 40,000 XP, which will still allow her to reach a level 8 Mage at 90,000 XP (130,000 XP total). This allows a significant investment in 2-3 Thief skills, primarily lock-picking and find traps, as well as a third proficiency point, well placed in Long Swords. Therefore, it is suggested to dual class immediately after Imoen reaches level 7 Thief in order not to waste any earned experience, plus it will match up canonically with next installment.

At level 1, she has 8 hp and Weapon proficiency in Small Sword and Bow (Original Baldur's Gate) or Short Sword and Shortbow (Enhanced Edition). Her starting equipment are:

Short Sword, Short Bow, 40 Arrow, 3 Potions of Healing, Oil of Speed, Wand of Magic Missiles.

Her level 1 Thieving Abilities are:
 * Original: Open Locks 25%, Stealth 30%, Find Traps 30%, Pick Pockets 25%
 * Enhanced Edition: Open Locks 25, Find Traps 35, Pick Pockets 25, Move Silently 35, Hide In Shadows 15

Biography
"When asked about her past, IMOEN slaps your shoulder playfully. She says that you of all people should know, seeing as how you grew up together. Indeed, some of your fondest memories are of meeting this sprightly young lass. She apparently came to Candlekeep much as you did, though ten years later in life, and she spent much more time with the gruff Winthrop than Gorion. "Puffguts," she would call him, much to the old innkeep's dismay. She seems the eternal child, and is quite content to play the part of little sister, though you are both of comparable ages. You can tell by her hearty smile that she will always be willing to travel with you, no matter what path you take."

Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
By the time Siege of Dragonspear takes place, Imoen has started an apprenticeship as a mage under the guidance of Liia Jannath at the Ducal Palace of Baldur's Gate. Unlike in the other games, Imoen can not join the party as a regular member, because she is at first too busy with her training and is poisoned by assassins during the prologue, which prompts her to stay at the palace while the protagonist travels north to fight against Caelar Argent's crusade.

She does show up again during the finale, where she awaits the protagonist outside of the city walls of Baldur's Gate alongside Dynaheir, Jaheira, Khalid and Minsc. The six of them then leave the town behind them, starting the events of Baldur's Gate II.

Prologue
At the start of Shadows of Amn, Imoen, who is already a dual-classed Thief (level 7) > Mage, has freed herself from capture, and very soon comes to the player character's rescue. When the player awakes, she tells Gorion's Ward that they have been captured and tortured, but she doesn't know why. She relates something she overheard her captor saying: he wants to release the player character's 'potential', though it is not known what that means.

The player must escape the dungeon and may take Imoen with the party or not. Whatever the decision, once outside, Imoen is back with the player in a cut-scene in which Imoen attacks Jon Irenicus, their captor, with magic. But what is not known to the party is that casting spells without licence is forbidden in the city of Athkatla. Because of this, Cowled Wizards appear and spirit Imoen and Irenicus away to an unknown location. She then fulfills the classic damsel-in-distress role.

Recruitment
Imoen is available to recruit in Chapter 4 while the first part of game consists of the player gathering information and funds, and performing quests for the purpose of finding out where Imoen has been taken, and to gather the necessary resources to rescue her, which is eventually realized in Spellhold.

Gameplay
Imoen is a dual class thief (level 7) > mage with enough skill in Open Locks and Find/Disarm Traps to fulfill the fundamental needs of any party competently and is capable of reaching maximum level in her Mage class. She'll attain Bhaalspawn powers following the defeat of Irenicus by the end of Shadows of Amn, The changes improve her stats as well as add a number of innate abilities. All occur at a random time:
 * +1 Strength permanently
 * +1 Dexterity permanently
 * Cure Medium Wounds
 * Draw Upon Holy Might

In her Thieving Abilities at the start of the game in Irenicus' Dungeon are: Open Locks 100, Find Traps 95, Pick Pockets 35, Move Silently 30, Hide in Shadows 25, Detect Illusion 0, Set Traps 5. She lost 5 points in Move Silently compared to the first game.

The Imoen you meet at Chapter 4 has her own default spell selection, thus it's not recommended to teach the prologue Imoen any spells.

Biography
"IMOEN chuckles when you ask her about her past, assuming you are just trying to keep her mind on happier times and places. She indulges you, and certainly does cheer up when speaking of how you spent your youths together in Candlekeep. She arrived there the same as you, in the company of your foster father Gorion, but despite this similarity, she grew up much more carefree than you did. Indeed, her lighthearted outlook has long kept her immune to the hardships of the world, though the dark confines and horrors of your current location have definitely taken their toll."

Personality
Imoen is a care-free, optimistic, cheerful and easy-going character. She seems happy to have escaped the boredom of Candlekeep and eager to discover the world beyond the city walls. Imoen will try to joke around with Gorion's Ward and almost any other companions in the group and lighten their spirits in the hardest moments to come. She never picks up fights with any others, no matter how different they are.

Imoen is also unyieldingly faithful, extremely attached to Gorion's Ward, to the extent that she thinks it's her responsibility to safeguard the Ward and sees herself as the Ward's guarding angel.

In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Imoen appears a bit worried and more mature, as she struggles with her newly-discovered Bhaalspawn heritage and the nightmares related to it. Nonetheless, she retains a great portion of her care-free attitude.

Trivia
''Imoen: Was that another doppelganger? Chaname: The vile creature used your form to get me to lower my guard. A good trick, though not good enough.'' There’s also BDIMOEDO.DLG in addition to BDIMOEN.DLG which is the real Imoen’s, in BDIMOEDO.DLG, there’re unvoiced lines which a Greater Doppelganger in disguise of Imoen trying to trick charname, likely a cut content.
 * Imoen did not exist in the original concept Baldur's Gate.  Her character was a late addition to fill a non-psychotic-thief gap in the early levels. There was no recording budget left, so her lines were scraped together from voice-over left from a scrapped demo. The original character was a guard named Pique.
 * On the flipside, she was originally supposed to be available as a companion for the entirety of Baldur's Gate 2. After the part about her abduction by Irenicus was added, Nalia was created to fill the gap. That is also the reason as to why Imoen and Nalia are so considerably similar to each other. (confirmation needed)
 * The model for Imoen's Baldur's Gate 1 portrait was the wife of the team's lead terrain artist, Dean Andersen. (confirmation needed)
 * In Imoen's dialog file: