Minsc

Minsc (Pronounced "Minsk") is a prominent fictional character in the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons computer role-playing games created by Bioware. Appearing in all four games of the series, he served as a light-toned comic relief and was always accompanied by a pet hamster named "Boo", represented as an icon in Minsc's first quickslot. Minsc insists Boo is in fact a highly intelligent being in the body of a hamster ("the only miniature giant space hamster in the Realm [sic]"). Some suspect Boo may be just an ordinary hamster, and that Minsc has just taken a few too many blows to the head. (In Baldur's Gate II, he mentions that he was suffering from a head wound when he purchased Boo.)

He is one of several playable characters (PCs) available in the Baldur's Gate series to accompany the player's character through the storyline.

It is argueable that he is one of the most popular characters not only in the Baldur's Gate series but also amongst the Roleplay Community.

He is voice-acted by Jim Cummings.

Ray Muzyka, co-founder of Bioware has stated that Minsc is his favorite character from the series.

Game appearances
Minsc is a bald, purple-tattooed ranger from the Forgotten Realms country of Rashemen. Originally a berserker on his "dajemma", a rite of passage, to gain entrance to the prestigious "Ice Dragon Berserker Lodge", he swore to guard the witch Dynaheir. Following his failure to do so, Minsc becomes a mercenary and self-proclaimed "defender of good".

In the first Baldur's Gate game, Dynaheir and Minsc are ambushed by gnolls near the Wood of Sharp Teeth. Dynaheir gets captured and taken to a Gnoll Stronghold west of the town of Nashkel and Minsc and Boo travel back to Nashkel, where the main characters can meet him. The player will encounter him as a bulging fighter wielding a two-handed sword who is talking to, and even taking advice from, his pet hamster whose cuddly noises make sense to Minsc. He asks for the main character to help him free Dynaheir before she gets eaten, and will hold the main character to his word, with violence if necessary, and if the player does not rescue her within ten days after Minsc joins the party then he will turn on the group and attack. It is possible to encounter a sworn enemy of Minsc and Dynaheir, in that the mage Edwin Odesseiron will engage the main character with the offer to assassinate Dynaheir, an offer which naturally outrages Minsc, and keeping the two, or three, of them in the main character's company is sure to erupt into physical fighting at any time. If Dynaheir is rescued, she and Minsc will become inseparable, and if any of the two are later dropped from the party, then the other will also leave.

In Baldur's Gate II, Minsc and Boo are found alongside the main character as the game starts. Together with Imoen and Jaheira, they have been captured each in a separate prison cell, and he is in a brutal rage as Dynaheir has been murdered by their captor Irenicus. Minsc travels with the main character, if allowed, and develops long-standing bonds with other PCs Jaheira, Imoen and Nalia. In the place of Dynaheir, he chooses the avariel elf Aerie (or, if she is not present and Nalia is, he choses Nalia instead), whom he protects as his new witch. If this happens, should she be reduced to zero HP, Minsc will automatically fly into a berserk rage. He also has some famous banter with the chaotic gnome thief-illusionist Jan Jansen. If his old enemy Edwin Odesseiron joins the party, Minsc is prone to attacking him after a while, for a fight to death; the outcome largely depends upon how well each of the combatants have been equipped by the player before, and if Edwin has enough spells left.

In the released retail version of Baldur's Gate II, Minsc, unlike most other PCs in that game, did not have a personal mini-quest. However in a game modification called "Unfinished Business", a Director's Cut-style modification which adds quests left as unfinished code or hinted through interviews by the game developers, introduced a quest for Minsc called "The Kidnapping of Boo". This miniquest was stripped from the original version because Minsc's game voice recordings often included the squeaking of Boo, even if the game developers did not request this extra sound, and thus developing the miniquest would have required a new voice set not featuring Boo.

Boo
Throughout Baldur's Gate I and Baldur's Gate II, Minsc repeatedly refers to Boo as the only "miniature giant space hamster in the Realms!" Many suspect Minsc's belief results from the past "head wound" he also references on several occasions. However, miniature giant space hamsters verifiably exist in the AD&D game. They are first referenced in the AD&D Second Edition supplementary sourcebook Monstrous Compendium - 7 - Spelljammer (1990), as a creation of a genetic engineering guild of tinker gnomes, the highly idiosyncratic gnomes of Krynn. The gnomes reportedly bred giant space hamsters to power the paddle wheels of flying ships, then bred these giant hamsters in miniature form after presumably running out of normal-sized hamsters. The publishing of this sourcebook predated the release of the original Baldur's Gate by several years.

Another sourcebook that predates Baldur's Gate is the Planescape sourcebook, In The Cage: A Guide To Sigil, which features a full-page advertisement on the final page of the book for a vendor within the city claiming to sell miniature giant space hamsters.

Also, a similarity exists between the idea of space hamster of this game and the idea of the powerful, intelligent mice portrayed in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Boo appears in one of Minsc's quick slots within the game. Any attempt to remove him is prohibited by Minsc, who glares at the protagonist in response. As a result, Minsc is the only PC to have one less quick slot than normal.

Powers
Minsc is the strongest joinable warrior in both games (Strength 18/93) until the Baldurs Gate II addon Throne of Bhaal that introduced Sarevok (Strength 18/00), which at that time is not that important as strength items are quite frequent in the second game.

His other fighting stats - Dexterity and Constitution - are respectably high at 16 (15 in BG1), though he is best used as a second-liner, preferably wielding a two-handed weapon like halberd or sword, combined with a bow for a long-range attack. Minsc's stats make him a formidable warrior, and he is considered one of the most powerful PC fighters in the game. His development of clerical spells at the final stages of the game further boosts his efficiency.

References to Minsc and Boo

 * In the webcomic Megatokyo, Largo has a hamster as his conscience which is called Boo, a tribute to Baldur's Gate II of which Rodney Caston was famously a fan.
 * In the game Guild Wars Nightfall there is a skill called "Go for the Eyes!", probably named after the shout that Minsc shouts as he charges into battle.
 * In a Cartoon Network show "Codename: Kids Next Door" episode, a character voiced by Jim Cummings named Vin Moosk appears, who has a personality similar to Minsc, in being a tough warrior protective of the weak. Moosk is a fighter of ties; this is because he used to work as an accountant, until he discovered that he hated his job, and hated his tie even worse. Numbuh One confessed to him at the end of the episode that he was "the only cool adult I've ever met."


 * Occasionally in the game Oblivion NPC bandits will shout "Jump on my sword while you can!", which could well be a reference to Minsc's original line. It appears to be mostly Dark Elves or Wood Elves that make this comment.