With the Enhanced Editions to Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 now out, and Gog.com having sales on both the originals and the Icewind Dale games, it seems like a good time to create a thread about our old friend the Infinity Engine.
I have Icewind Dale 1 from a long time ago, but never got too far with it back then. Other games like Diablo II and Star Trek Elite Forces caught my attention, and the old school D&D ruleset of Icewind felt too cumbersome for me. I tried installing ID1 again a few weeks ago, but could not get it to work on my Windows 7 box. So I finally broke down and bought it and ID2 off of Gog.com a few days ago. While I was at it, I discovered that Steam had a sale on the Baludur's Gate Enhanced Editions, so I bought those two. I wound up getting all four games for under $20.
I decided to start at the start, so so I rolled a toon to pwn Baldur's Gate 1. Terra started out as a regular Ranger, and I experimented with her using dual swords and a longbow. I found I liked the bow better, and thought about restarting her game to specialize as the Archer subclass. But I found https://eekeeper.sourceforge.io/, and instead I used it to change her class and move around her proficiency points a bit.
So far BG1 has been a blast. I still think the old school D&D rules are cumbersome and clunky. Especially where magic is concerned. I hate that memorizing spells business and having to rest to be able to cast them again. I much prefer mana point systems for mages. But gripes aside, it is still a good game, even after all these years. It feels a lot like the original Fallout rpg in its look and feel - the same isometric view and sprites. BG1 just has more party members and the D&D rules.
I have been using BruceVayne's soundsets in Oblivion for years, and many of them are BG characters. So now it is a kick to finally hear them in their original settings. I especially love Imoen and Viconia's voices. From "Good on you if you saved the day!" to "Nightsinger, give me power!". So far those are my two favorite NPCs as well. I loved Minsc in the tutorial, but have not found him yet - he's clear across the map from where we start!
My current gang is Terra (the PC), Imoen, Viconia, Neera (she's a new EE added NPC), and Kagain. I am a little light on the muscle, and am looking for another good melee fighter. I'd like to hire the new half-orc NPC Dorn, but I have not gotten the encounter where it happens yet. OTOH, the team is strong in ranged attacks, and when we all focus our fire on one target we can usually kill it on one round. Unless it is a boss. So fights against ordinary critters often consist of mowing them down before they can even reach Kagain.
So far I am not thrilled with Neera, but for now she is the only mage in town. I'd like to hire the new Drow mage the EE edition added, but he doesn't appear until 5th level. It is funny, my party seems to be going to the evil end of the spectrum. Maybe I should use EE Keeper to change Terra from Neutral Good to Neutral Evil!
Well, I've fired up Baldur's Gate again. I've taken a few attempts at completing this in the past, but I've never managed to get as far as the actual city of Baldur's Gate
But, at least it lets me plan my party:
Callidus (No surprises there ) Elven mage/thief
Jaheira (Khallid is going to have an unfortunate "accident" )
Kagain (You just can't kill this guy, he's part troll)
Viconia (Damn useful, and funny as hell when in a party with...)
Kivan (Expert archer)
Imoen (She's going to become a conjurer later on)
I had a lot of sucess with this party on my last run, setup in the T formation: Jaheira, Kagain, and Viconia up front as a wall for the other three, all of whom carried bows.
So far... I've just rolled up my character, and dived into shadowkeeper to change his appearance, because I prefer him to look like a mage than a thief. So he looks like a human mage, despite being an Elf
@SubRosa
I love Kagain. He's the archetypical crotchety old Dwarf. I put him in platemail, and he's built like a brick shithouse. He is almost as fun as Khelgar from NWN2.
I finally made it to Nashkel. There I recruited Minsc ("The squeaky wheel gets the kick!"), and found the Ankheg Platemail in the fields. I gave the armor to Minsc, since the green fits a ranger, and as a front-liner, he seemed like he would probably need it. Especially seeing that he does not use a shield. Now we are on the way west toward the Gnoll stronghold, to rescue Dynahair. I think I will give Neera the boot then, and try out Dyna.
I have also already modded the game (a few nights ago in fact), to change Viconia's portrait to one with greyish skin, like she has in BG2.
Who needs a shield when you've got a miniature giant space hamster? Minsc and Boo.
Is there any difference between playing a Good character and an Evil one? I know there is a Reputation stat, and that the Evil characters will bolt from your party if it gets too high, and the Good ones will leave if it gets to low. But is there really an Evil path to quests as opposed to a Good one?
BG I is a long time ago, so I'm going partly by BG II. A low rep stat will hurt your ability to get good deals in town. At lower ranges, some merchants may not even deal with you. At even lower ranges, guards, soldiers etc will attack you. As far as quests, there are some choices you can make in how to do them. Ultimately though, you're on a train to kill the Big Bad - he'll want you dead whether you're good or evil.
Just to see what it is like, I created Scáthach, a Lawful Evil Elf Kensai. http://i.imgur.com/7Rablgg.jpg. I think I'll use EE Keeper to give her a katana to start with, since I have no idea where to find one in BG1.
I also found http://www.moddb.com/games/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition/addons/super-ultimate-portrait-pack-zip for the Enhanced Editions, with hundreds of new portraits. Scáthach's portrait is from there.
I know the last time I played BG II, I was able to import a clipped screenie of Buffy's face and bring in her 'Innocent' voice set. That is a great portrait of your kensai!
So far Scáthach's game has been going rather well. I was worried at first about the Kensai's inability to wear armor. But going with an Elf - with the Dexterity bonus - has definitely helped. Between the 4 point bonus from her Dex, the Kensai's 2 point AC bonus, and another 2 point bonus from the Single Weapon proficiency, Scáthach started out with an Armor Class of 2. A +1 Ring of Protection found early on got that down to an AC of 1. That is a point better than Kagain in plate mail and a medium shield. Only Viconia has a better AC, with a -1 (wearing spint mail and a small shield).
Yesterday Scath made her way to the Friendly Arm Inn, and temporarily recruited Jaheria and Khalid for the extra muscle. I left Montaran and Xvar alone. Those two get on my nerves. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilIsCool after all, and those two are not. Viconia was added soon after. She quckly proved her worth by practically putting down the Ogre Girdle Thief single-handedly. Jaheria got whacked by the spiders in Landarin's Beregost house, and I did not bother to pay to get her raised. I recruited Kagain shortly after, and then gave Khalid is walking papers (but this time I remembered to take all of his stuff first! ).
So now Scath's party consists of Kagain, Viconia, Imoen, and Neera. I found a ring that doubles the number of spells wizards get. I think it might only be the 1st level ones. But it has proved very valuable. I have been getting better with Neera too. I got rid of her staff and gave her a sling, to keep her from running up into the fight. Her chromatic orb can be devastating, so can her color spray. The trouble with the latter is not hitting the party with it too!
Ahh, this is really a good idea. I have Baldur's Gate on my old computer, I think I got it from Gamestop.com, actually. It was my 2nd PC game. I was really into it for about a month, and then I got distracted. By the time I returned to BG, I couldn't get it to work. Then I got into Arena, and then Oblivion ....
I do want to give BG another try at some point, though. I need something other than Elder Scrolls. I might have to start all over again with the install.
It's a fun game for me, as a former table-gamer. I know what you mean about the spell memorization part; when we table-gamed, we primarily used a different system of rules from a gaming company called The Fantasy Trip (TFT), which has been out of business since the early 90s. The way TFT does it, I believe spells used up Intelligence or Strength instead of the way DnD does it. We did use DnD to 'enrich' our gameworlds, though. DnD has a heck of a lot more creatures, friends and foes in its encounter tables. More rules to flesh out environments, more potions & spells, that sort of thing.
Like I said, I'm glad you're doing BG. Maybe I'll join you.
Scathach and company have been roaming around east of Beregost. While in the Temple area they came across a pack of dread wolves, worgs, and vampiric wolves that were particularly difficult. http://youtu.be/1E1JbJeq2VA It is a little small, but that is what you get for an old game. I have it on the highest resolution possible.
Ha ha your mana points system almost sounds like a mod. It's the earliest version of mods.
We also had our own table-mods, one of my favorites was a system of Feudalism a friend worked up after studying Medieval Feudalism in high school. We also had rules for various drug effects (it was possible to find pot and coca leaves and alcohol, magic mushrooms, etc.). We also had a system for personality types. Some personalities were more prone towards drug addiction. Or womanizing. Or wh0ring, etc. Lying. Cheating. Looking back on it, it seems like everything we learned about the world around us (Earth, that is) could possibly wind up in our game, in some distorted way.
Just had a great moment. Scáthach and company were attacked by half a dozen Hobgoblins. Not too dangerous, but there were a lot of them. So I decided to lead with a color spray from Neera. One of those random, wacky Wild Magic moments happened, and instead of a color spray, she cast a fireball (a spell she does not know btw. That is what makes wild magic, well... you know). http://i.imgur.com/mB7VfUX.jpg She one-shot kills every Hobgoblin.
My party finally reached 5th level. It certainly takes a while to level up in this game. My guess is because experience points are divided out among the party. So the larger the party, the less xp each character gets. With that partly in mind I have been keeping the group down to 5 members. 6 people seem to get in each others way more too. I briefly had 6 when I recruited Safana. But I didn't like her voice, so I let her go before even finishing the same level I found her on.
Anyway, since I am high enough level now, I went and recruited http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Baeloth_Barrityl in Larswood. I have to say, he is a hoot!. I love his voice acting. It is sort of like Dr. Smith from the original Lost in Space, but less cowardly, more bloodthirsty. One of his battlecries is "I'm going to work out some anger on you!" So as much as I have grown fond of Neera, I decided to let her go in favor of Baeloth. So now Imoen is the only Good member of the party.
He's also damn powerful. He starts with a ring that gives him extra spells, and I gave him http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Evermemory. Now he has something like 24 first level spells he can cast. Or since he is a Sorcerer, he can cast any 1st level spell he knows 24 times.
I have to say, I am liking the Sorcerer class. Not having to memorize spells is great. It is such a pain in the rear to have to change the spells Neera knows whenever I have to identify items, rest so that she can use them, then rest again afterward so she can change back to her regular loadout. She is supposed to be able to cast any spell she knows when using Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, but I have found that is not the case. She knows Identify, and it never appears in the list of spells she can cast with it.
Wow, they must have done some adding and blending to BG I. Originally, the 'class kits' like Sorcerer, Archer, Kensai etc were not added till BG II. That is great news though. Yes, the Sorcerer class solves the most annoying aspects of the regular D&D mages.
Besides the bug fixes and upgraded screen resolution and widescreen support, one of the good things about the Enhanced Editions is that they were able to take the 'newer' things from BG2 and put them in BG1. So you can play all the special classes like Bards, Barbarians, and so forth, and all their various sub-classes. There are even some new classes, like Blackguards. As I understand it, gameplay-wise it is just like playing BG2.
You should give the Enhanced Editions a try.
Oh that sounds great! One of the reasons I didn't go back to BGI after II was because I got spoiled by all the gameplay improvements in II.
I understand that back in BG1 when you slept you did not get back all of the hit points you had lost, and how much you did get back was based upon the quality of the room you rented. But in the Enhanced Editions one sleep period either outdoors or at an inn will heal you up to full. At least so long as your sleep is not interrupted by an attack if you are outside. You can still pick from the 4 types of rooms at the inns, from Peasant to Royal, but it does not make a difference which one anymore.
There are also new NPCs to play with too, like Neera. I have to say I like the Wild Magic. It adds a lot of spice to wizardry. There is a new place called the Black Pits, which I have not tried yet. It is separate from the rest of the game world, but I understand you can export your character from there to the main game.
One of the downsides is that many of the old mods made for the original games do not work on the Enhanced Editions. Or they need a lot of work on your part to mod the mods to make them compatible. Like I had to do with that voicepack I created, or the new portraits.
Thanks for some of those pros and cons. When last I played BG II, I had a few mods (eg: widescreen) and had it going pretty well. I had a great editor that allowed me to tweak any of the characters (NPCs and Player Character) all around, add abilities etc.
The EEs have native support for widescreen displays, higher resolutions, and a lot of bug fixes. As I understand it, they took a lot of the fan made bug fixes and incorporated them. Baldur's Gate EE Keeper will let you edit your character and all of the companion NPCs, whether they are currently in your party or not. There is a spell, creature, and item browser, but as far as I can tell they are read-only. However, the character editor allows you to add or remove any item or spell to or from any character.
I think the reason I backed away from BG II the last time I took a TES-break to play it (maybe a couple years ago?) was because of a known bug where when you go to talk to someone you can't and get a spiel 'so and so appears busy'. Apparently the bug was introduced by the Throne of Baal expansion. There is a fix for it, but it is also known that the fix generally doesn't fix it - and it didn't fix it for me.
I think if I were to go back to BG, it would be back to II and without the ToB expansion - I didn't really care for it anyway. I know I enjoyed a couple mods to make the game look better on widescreen and an editor to tweak characters or respec them.
What I wanted was an elven no melee mystic archer (doh!) who had thieving skills. A dual classed Fighter-thief was good for bow and thieving skills but had no magic, had to be human and the melee skills were wasted. An elven archer (kit) was good but had no thieving skills. That's where the editor and some tweaks helped create what I wanted.
If you want simplicity I would suggest going with the Enhanced Editions. The EE natively combines the two games already, without you having to jump through a bunch of hoops to install this and that separately. They also add a little bit of new content, which you cannot get with the old games. I am not sure if they fix the "person appears busy bug". But from what I read they do contain a plethora of bug fixes from the original games. When it originally came out there were a lot of new bugs but there have been a lot of patches to fix them, and I have never had an issue when playing so far.
If you want more mods, go with BGT or Tutu. Tbh, I have not been very excited about the mods I have seen out there though. The only things I have really wanted with mods were more portraits and voices. I got an old portrait pack to work after some fumbling. Out of the voice mods out there I only found one voice I liked out of about 50 or 60. That didn't work natively in EE, but I was able to create a new voice using the sound files myself. The EE character editor has done everything I have wanted. As you said Acadian, it is simple enough to use it to give a character lockpicking and trap finding skills through it.
Thanks for the additional info. I'll wait until I get the BG bug again, but that EE does sound nice also.
As an added bonus to waiting, over time more old mods will be converted to the EEs, and more new ones will crop up for them. One thing I noticed reading opinions about the EEs is that when they first came out, many people who had tried them said you were just as well sticking with the heavily modded originals. But now that they have been out for a while, and bugs fixed, I see the opposite statements by people who own both. That you should go with the EEs.
In other Baldurdash, Scáthach and company finally made their way to the Nashkel Mines. Just before reaching them they got a not-so random encounter where they met Dorn, the new Blackguard npc introduced by the EE. As far as I can tell, to get him you have first talk to him at the Friendly Arm Inn, and then you will get this encounter when you travel from Naskhel to Naskel Mines.
So that brings the team up to 6 members again. I was thinking of cashiering Kagain now that I have Dorn, but then I noticed he has twice the hit points! I don't want to get rid of Viconia or Baeloth, as they are my sole cleric and mage support. Which just leaves Imoen. To be honest, I am not sure I really need a thief in BG1. So far there have been almost no traps at all that I have encountered. The treasure cave in the Lighthouse area is the only place I recall coming across them. There are a lot of places with locks to pick. But those are usually inside people's houses or inn rooms. Basically straight up thievery. I don't think I have ever had to pick a lock to finish a quest. I have already been thinking of dual classing Imoen since her thieving skills are not really critical. Mostly she is just an archer.
It is a real dramatic change from the Neverwinter Nights games, where a thief is a necessity. In those games traps are everywhere, and nearly every chest is locked. You would never get any loot without a thief, assuming you even managed to walk through a dungeon alive.
I never touched any of the NWN stuff. In BG II, you really do want a thief - but, since the levels are higher it's very easy to do that via dual or multi-class. I found that dual classing a fighter with solid bow skill into a thief worked fabulously - making a perfectly good, but very tough thief/sniper. A mage/thief can work well also.
Dorn looks badass, I checked his pic on the Wiki. Looks like EE adds a lot more companions that I thought, I thought that it's 2 or 3 but there are more. Also, it seems I was wrong when I said earlier in this thread that romancing isn't possible in BGI, they enabled in EE because it says that Dorn will romance the PC.
EDIT: Nope, I read things too quickly (as usual), looks like that he returns in BGII, that's where he can be a potential partner.
There are four new Companions: Dorn, Neera, Rasaad, and Baeloth who was originally a secret npc. But the secret about him is obviously out by now. Rasaad is the only one I have not had in my party, though I have met him. I just didn't need anyone like him. So far the three I have used have been excellent, though Neera's wild magic does come with a learning curve. It does make things a lot of fun though.
I noticed something last night about Dorn. He can carry 500 pounds, or weight units, or whatever they are called. He isn't just a pack mule, but a pack caravan!
Just installed BG1 on my laptop. Now I have to see if any of the save games on my old hard-drives are readable. The old dead machine that used to run it had EIDE only, and the new ones all do SATA only, so it could be tricky.
What you could try is putting the old hard drive in an external drive enclosure, and then connecting that to the new comp.
For s&gs I copied my portrait pack from BG1EE to BG2EE, the exact same files, to an override folder using the same path as BG1. They do not appear when I create a character. However, after I save a game and open it with EE Keeper, all the new portraits are there for me to choose from.
I finished the Black Pits 1 (for Baldur's Gate 1 EE). It was ok, but nothing spectacular. It is an arena-style mini-campaign. You are given a party of six characters whom you can keep or alter as you desire, the same as when you start a regular game (except you can import or change all six characters). It is separate from the regular campaign, though you can import or export characters between the two.
A note to keep in mind, the first character listed is considered to be the party leader, no matter how you might change the order later by moving the pictures around on the right side of the screen. For the entire campaign, npcs will refer to you by the name and race of that first character listed. So if you are importing a player character, or plan to export your character to the regular game, make them the first character.
There are 15 battles. You fight a battle in the arena, then return to a waiting room with merchants where you can buy new gear, potions, scrolls, etc... If your team members are killed or injured, they will be back up to full when you all appear in the waiting room. You can use the Rest function here so your mages can learn new spells. You are also given an amount of gold that you can use to buy things with.
You get a ton of experience points after every battle. I mean a ridiculous amount compared to the regular game. It is enough to go up a level every other battle. So you will end up at level 7 or 8 with every character in the party. I imported Scathach from my first save at the start of the regular campaign, and she ended up 8th level.
The battles are arranged into three tiers. The first tier battles are pretty easy. After that they get progressively more difficult. After you finish each tier, the vendors restock with newer, more powerful gear. They get +1 weapons at the start of Tier 2, and +2 at the start of Tier 3. You can also go back and refight any battle you want at any time. That is one way to grind up experience and get more money for gear if you want.
Export your character before the final battle. You can then take that character file and import the character into the main BG1 campaign if you start a new game. You start with all the experience and levels you had at the point you exported. That also includes your gear. So you can do this to start the game with a pretty uber character. Of course you will probably never level up even once in the regular campaign, considering how high your starting level will be, and how much xp you will need to make the next level.
This weekend. I'm getting this game on my old computer. I might have to buy it all over again, but I'm really drawn to BG again, after reading your exploits.
It is well worth getting. One of the best games I have played in a while. Definitely get the Enhanced Edition(s). They cost a little more, but $20 a piece is nothing compared to buying a brand new game and all of its addons.
Even on an older comp, they should run fine. I just checked, and BG1EE is only using about a fifth of a gig of memory.
Just out of curiosity I tried starting a new BG1 game with Scathach imported from the Black Pits. The game does not scale its monsters any differently. So the baddies in Candlekeep literally explode after one hit. The bears and wolves in the Candlekeep Coastway take a few hits before going down. But don't seem any different from when you start with a 1st level character.
I did notice that while Imoen was gaining experience points after killing critters in the Coastway, Scathach was not. So my guess is that if you import a character, you don't gain any experience until you reach the same amount you had from the Black Pits. For Scathach that is 161,000, and she needs 250,000 to hit the next level.
So it pretty much looks like if you do import a Black Pits character you will start the game quite uber, and that you will never level again.
I am going back to my regular game with Scathach, where she is about 5th level or so.
Imoen. I remember that name. Is Steam required for this game? .. I have Steam on my old computer, but not on the new one. I can't remember how I wound up with Steam back in October, so I'm thinking it was either from Baldur's or Sims 3.
It isn't required, unless you buy it from Steam! You can either buy it from Beamdog, or Steam. I got the Steam version because I found it on sale a few weeks ago.
See, I bought BG from gamestop.com. And I'm not sure if it's related to Steam or not. I don't remember how I got Steam on my old computer. *shrugs* It was either BG or Sims 3. But never mind. I'm going to try to see if I can get BG started.
Alright I found it. The GameStop icon. Amazingly I also wrote down my password on one of the walls in my room. I do this, ya know, write passwords on a wall near my bed. If I put them in a book, stuff will get lost. Books fall behind things in my room. I put the book in a specific place, and at some point it'll wander. Much better to write User IDs and passwords on a wall. The wall will never wander away like books do.
Hey SR, I see you are here. It's asking me to re-install, and I'm fine with that. But it's asking to put it in Program Files. Probably not such a good idea, right?
Looks like the Gamestop version does require Steam. You will find out when you install it. If it needs it, it will install automagically. I didn't even know Gamestop sold PC games via download. I always think of them as a place for console games.
The Baldur's Gate Wiki has a handy http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Areas. So too does http://mikesrpgcenter.com/bgate/maps.html. Just click on the map and it takes you to the page on the area. The first site gives you more detailed info on everything in the areas. The second is nice because it has the points of interest clearly marked on them. And of course http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/16497/eekeeper/p1 is your best bet for ubering up your toons...
I other news I decided to let Dorn go. I just don't like the 6 character group size. And for all that he's strong, he's kind of fragile. My other frontliners have twice the hit points. So now it is back to Scathach, Imoen, Viconia, Kagain, and Baeloth. So far I have to say Baeloth has been pure awesome sauce. Without the sauce though. He is just pure awesome. Now I know who his voice reminds me of. The Mark Hamill version of The Joker.
Scathach and crew have explorated the entire western half of the map from Candlekeep to the southern map edge. Now I am working on the last few areas in the east, with just Gullykin, Durlag's Tower, and Ulcaster to go. After that I will finally turn north, and maybe get cracking on the rest of the main quest.
You can roll your own drunks toons indeed!
Just got it from Beamdog. Installing now. GameStop is apparently broken. Wow 2.3 gigs.
Edit: It won't play on my old computer. DAngit. Keeps giving me crash errors. I'll try the gaming one instead, the one I got at Micro Center. I bet it'll work on there.
It ought to work fine on a new box. I am using the Enhanced Edition on my Windows 7 gaming rig, and it runs like a charm.
I tried Durlag's Tower tonight. I understand that it was one of the expansion packs for BG1. I did not like it. It has too many narrow, winding corridors. Trying to get a party of even 5 through the hallways was a pain, as the characters kept deciding to go off in different directions. I only did the outside of the tower, and the above ground levels. After that I left, and headed for Ulcaster. That is the last area left to explore south of the Friendly Arm Inn.
I rolled another toon for BG1 EE. Meet http://i.imgur.com/l1pAAzn.jpg, a Drow Fighter/Cleric. It was not easy making her, as the game does not allow elves to be Fighter/Clerics. So I started her as a half-elf, then saved the game, and used EE Keeper to change her to an elf. They don't have Drow in BG1EE. Viconia and Baeloth are just the Elf race, with an added Magic Resistance bonus. So I did the same with Tuonetar. I also gave her an Animate Dead spell to start with, so she can summon Darryl the Skeleton.
Finally, I took my Viconia soundset for Oblivion, and converted it to work in BG1EE. It works like a charm. I guess this means I won't be using Viconia this time around. That will give me an opportunity to try a different cleric npc, if I bother with another one at all. Since Tuonetar is a Good character for a change, I plan to try an all-good party with her. Imoeon of course, Minsc and Dynahair, and maybe Kivan.
Sounds neat! I don't know if BG I supports it, but a very cool character in BG II is a multiclass ranger/cleric. The big draw here is that character gets access to both cleric and druid spells. Normally the ranger only gets a limited amount of druid spells, but by multiclassing with cleric, it unlocks them all. And the ranger enhances the cleric's melee ability as well. Again, I don't know know if BG I EE will support that; BG I would not but EE seems to be a real hybrid game.
I was experimenting with several classes, including Rangers. But I tend to play Rangers a lot in D&D based games, so I decided to take a break from one this time around. Besides, given her name Tuonetar isn't really the woodsy type. She's more the living dead type. That is why I gave her the Animate Dead spell to start with. That extra party member helps out quite a bit in these early levels.
Tuonetar and Ims mosied south from Friendly Arm Inn and discovered Beregost. There they helped out/enlisted Neera, bringing a (albeit wild) mage to the group. They knocked around the town, killing spiders, surviving assassins, and the lot. Naturally Imoen burgled every house as well!
A trip west to High Hedge found Kivan. He was a bit of a flash in the pan. He died in their first encounter! It was a black bear, and he was dead before I realized it. I didn't much like his voice though, so I left him dead rather than take him for resurrection.
I find that tends to be my biggest reason for keeping or rejecting party members. What their voice acting is like. I just cannot stand Jaheria's voice, which is why I could not wait to get rid of her. The same with Safana the one time I tried her out. OTOH I just love Imoen, Viconia, and Baeloth's voices. Minsc has a really fun voice pack too.
Lol. Minsc and Boo are legendary! Happily, they are in both BG I and II. As are Jaheira, Imoen and Viconia. Once you someday get to BG II, there is a paladin named Keldorn Firecam; when it comes to the gritty noble heart of a knight, he is the real deal. I think, in general, they improved the personalities of the NPCs introduced in II.
I'm really glad you're enjoying the game. I know that I enjoy hearing how and what your characters are doing in BG.
I am still having a lot of fun with BG1. It was well worth the $10 I spent for it!
I discovered something today. Animated skeletons do not get experience points. So they make a great extra tank party member, without stealing the xp from the regular characters. They last for 8 or 9 hours, so you can summon one up at the beginning of an area and it will be good for the entire place. They don't like going through doors into new areas though. They tend to get stuck in the first side of the door, and you have to click on them and manually move them when you come back through again to get them following you once more.
I got mine from Steam during their Summer Sale last month. Both BG1 and 2 EEs were $20 together.
You cannot create your own custom classes like you can in Oblvion. You are stuck with what they offer. But you can do multi-class characters, which I think is what you mean. Tuonetar is my first stab at trying that out.
Oh, and while you do roll the dice for your stats, you can rearrange them however you want with the + and - buttons next to each number. So it is a good idea to just hit the reroll for a bit until you get someone with either an 18 strength, or just a lot of points in general, and then move them around how you like them.
I got ya. Well I'm rolling Sir Vayor now. He's a human, class is Paladin > Cavalier. This is the classic knight type. He is Lawful Good, just like the leader of my DnD party was way back in the '80s. *shrug* This is my mindset for tablegames, always has been. I've had CG and NG and various neutral characters join the party in the past, but the leader was always LG.
I rolled his stats, and you are right, it does allow us to change various numbers. ST = 13, DX = 14, CT = 12, IQ = 14, Wisdom = 16, and CH = 17. I gave him dual-proficiency with a longsword, and chose single proficiency with mace and sword + shield.
Yeah, I'm done! Rolled my first BG toon!
EDIT: Sir Vayor is running around Candlekeep so far. I think the last time I played BG I didn't know there's several things to do here in Candlekeep, so this time I'm just having SV do a few of these. He found a book for some woman in a stack of hay, and also got rid of some rats in a storehouse. He also got some cheap armor + helmet, and a small shield. Since he's got proficiency with longswords, he got one of these, too.
*cough* I'm using the easiest difficulty. Having some fun. Time sure is flying by.
I hope you have fun surveying the game with Sir Vayor.
Today Tuonetar and company made their way south from Beregost to Nashkel, finishing several little quests along the way. At Nashkel they recruited Rasaad and Minsc, and found the Anhkeg armor. Continuing south, I left off at Nashkel Mines.
I recall from the original BG I that Minsc was close to Dynaheir (a mage) and had devoted himself to looking out for 'his witch'. She died between BG I and BG II per the story. Would she fit into your party? I expect Minsc will encourage you to go get her.
http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Dynaheir
I am not sure what I will make of Dynaheir. I will just have to wait and see. I already have a mage in Neera, and don't think I really need a second one. If she was a sorcerer I would definitely go with Dyna. They are so much easier to use with than the other mages in D&D. It all depends on her voice as well. If it grates on me, she'll just have to go like Jaheria did. Of course I cannot just fire her, because then Minsc will leave as well. So I would have to arrange for her demise.
OTOH, I am loving Minsc. His dialogue is a hoot! He's also seriously good at killing things. So he's earned his spot on the team. Tuo let Rasaad go after today's gaming. He just wasn't measuring up. Tuonetar's animated skeleton seemed more potent in melee combat.
In other news, Tuonetar and crew 'splored all around Nashkel Mines today, but never went inside. Instead Neera brought up the subject of an old Wise Wild Mage named Adoy who might be able to help her control her magic. So Tuo packed up the team and headed east to Adoy's Enclave. That was pretty much a bust, though there was some serious killin' and a level up involved.
Now Tuo is headed west toward the Gnoll Stronghold where Dyna is being held. Rescuing her is next on the To Do list. The main quest will just have to wait its turn!
Neat! I'm so pleased that you like Minsc! As long as your party is basically good, he can always fit in as a heavy front liner. And you're right, his personality and dialogue is a hoot! Dynaheir struck me as reasonably competent and neither inspired nor unpleasant. As you say, check her out, then either allow her to be killed and keep Minsc or opt to keep both of them. As I said, she gets killed in between BG I and II anyway. If you play a woman in BG II and have Minsc, he will eventually 'adopt' you as 'his witch' to replace the role that Dynaheir held for him.
And I agree that Jaheira is both grating to take and not particularly useful.
Today Tuonetar explored the southern edge of the map from Nashkel all the way west to the Gnoll Stronghold. She and company rescued Dynaheir. I was pretty underwhelmed at first. She starts with absolutley nothing, and only knows a handful of spells. I took her back to Nashkel to buy some gear, and used EE Keeper to give her some more spells. Afterward the party headed back to the Gnoll Stronghold to finish up the critters there. We will see how well she does there.
Today Tuonetar and her band of merry heroes finished off the Gnoll Stronghold, and cleared out the regions around it. Dynaheir didn't really impress me. Her voice was fine, unlike others like Jahiera, but with Neera already in the party, Dyna is just superflous. I don't need two mages. Neera's wild magic makes her more interesting (you never know what you are going to get!), so she is the keeper. Since I cannot just fire her without losing Minsc as well, I had to get rid of her in a more proactive fashion. So tonight she sleeps with the fishes.
I also decided to dual-class Imoen. Thieves don't seem a whole lot of use in BG1. There are only a few places in the game with traps for them to detect, and I haven't seen any instance where you *have* to pick a lock. According to the rules, Mage was the only other class I could go to with her. So I used EE Keeper to raise her Strength to 17. That allowed me to dual her to a Fighter. After I loaded her stronger save, I dual-classed her, saved again, and opened that save with EE Keeper again and put her Strength back down to normal. So now she is a Fighter/Thief. That will give her more hit points, a better to hit roll, and allow her to use better weapons like longbows. If I can get ahold of the gauntlets of ogre power, she will be able to use a composite longbow.
I understand about Dynaheir. As I said, she dies anyway off camera in between BG I and II. I'm glad you have another mage you're happy with.
FYI, when you meet your pal Imoen again in BG II, she has already dual classed from a thief to a mage. Of course the nice thing about a character editor is that you can take a character that you like (personality-wise and such) and tweak them to anything you want.
EE Keeper sounds interesting. I might have to try getting that in my game.
I forget the name of the character editor that I used while playing BG II but they are neat. I changed Jahiera to a ranger/cleric and Aerie to a sorceress for example. And gave Minsc the true berserk power instead of the buggy frenzy thing that he has.
Yeh I tried messing with one editor I found on some website. Trying to cheat a little bit and add antidote to my party. But this editor only seems to work half way. Or maybe I'm not entering the code right. It's a typical thing though with me: I need lots of instructions (clear step-by-step) to get something working on PC, and this site's instrux are only half-baked.
Like here is what I mean... here is an example of some good step-by-step instrux, as found on a Wrye Bash website.
See that? Step by step. THAT's what I like. The BG editor page I found throws a bunch of codes up there, but no instructions, dangit.
It sounds like you are trying to use Shadowkeeper? - the character editor for the original versions of the BG games. I don't think that will work with the enhanced editions, because they are different. Use http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/16497/eekeeper/p1, it is made for the Enhanced Editions, and has always worked like a charm for me.
Tuonetar, Neera, Imoen, and Minsc have succeeded in clearing out the western half of the map, from Candlekeep all the way to the southern edge. They have shifted operations east, and just stared the Gibberling Mountains in the south-eastern corner of the map. I plan to keep working around here until Imoen gets high enough level as a Fighter for her Thief skills to become usable again. It should not be too much longer, she just hit 4th level, and only needs to make 5th.
I also snapped a http://i.imgur.com/eakibPb.jpg.
Oooh color spray. Prrretty.
Can't get EE Keeper to work. The program opens, and it's asking me to choose which game, but that's as far as I get. I choose BG1 and nothing happens. I wonder if I am picking the right download, first of all. I'm picking 1.0.2.4 > Download, right? Not 'Mac wineskin' and not 'SFX Installer?'
I'll be playing some Oblivion in the mean time.
That is the same version I am using, without the SFX or Mac thing. It usually automatically goes to BG1 to me. I think it remembers it from the last session, and since I am only playing BG1, that is it. You probably have to manually tell it where your game's folder is. I had to with both games. From the menu bar up top, click on Settings -> Installation Directory. From there you can browse for both games by clicking on the Browse:BGEE and Browse:BG2EE buttons.
It keeps saying I have to 'reload the game resources' for it to take effect. I mean, the program opens, and I've told it to look in Program Files (x86) > Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. I've also tried telling it Program Files (x86) > Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition > Data > 00766, because the installer seemed to suggest I try looking in a folder with a numerical sequence on it. I have no idea what 'reload the game resources' means.
Clicking the Help button .... I'm not seeing anything that says helpful. I'll be playing some TES 1: Arena in the meantime.
Renee, hope you get that character editor mod working - they add a wonderful dimension of flexibility to the game.
SubRosa, thanks for the screenie. I really enjoy following your Baldurventures!
Yes, I got it. I think I got it. Several files were scattered, I didn't realize they all have to be in one place. COOL.
Edit: wow WOW what a neat program! It's so easy to use once I got the hang of it.
Today's Balduring saw Tuon and company finish off all of the eastern side of the map up to Peldvale. Except for Durlag's Tower and Nashkel Mines. Imoen finally got high enough level as a Fighter for her Thief abilities to work once more - 6th level Fighter / 5th level Thief. So once they knock off Peldvale, I will take the band of merry adventurers south to finish off the mines and take a crack at the tower.
I have noticed that even with only 4 members, Tuon's party is much stronger, and higher level, than Scathach's was. I think it was because I was taking the evil option in many quests, I was missing out on a lot of experience point awards. Like with the Melicamp the Chicken quest. Scath simply dropped him off at the wizard's place in High Hedge. But Tuonetar actually stuck around and volunteered to help get him turned back to normal. There have been a lot of cases where Tuon has gone the extra mile like that, and gotten more XP. Now she is breezing through battles that had been really brutal for Scath.
Glad it's working well for Toon-Eater and her small band. Congrats to Imoen for getting her thiefy skills back!
I can see where Imoen splitting classes with a spellcaster would be good. She is basically a rear-liner to start with, and making her the magic support as well as the occasional trap finder and lockpicker rolls two jobs into one character. That leaves an extra slot for another front-liner. Or just for one fewer character. As I have noticed - less characters in the party means more experience for each.
Today Tuonetar and company finally knocked off Nashkel Mines. They headed back north, and are about to tackle the Bandit Camp.
Toon Eater! I didn't catch this before.
Sir Vayor, Imoen, Jaheera, and Khalid (I may have spelled those last two names wrong) are exploring some wilderness. Dealing with gnolls, skeletons, and other such baddies. They have 253 gold between them all, and so far nobody's died. I may even bump up the difficulty eventually.
Tuonetar and company spent the last few nights exploring Durlag's Tower. I got farther this time than with Scathach. But eventually I got fed up again. I just don't like that place. Too many traps, and the hallways and rooms are just too narrow and small.
So now Tuonetar and her group are exploring Cloakwood. They just picked up Coran, and agreed to help him with his Wyvern hunt. He does not look like much, with an ordinary longbow and plain leather armor compared to the others in the bunch. But he seems to be doing ok nonetheless. A 20 Dexterity helps!
Tuonetar and company explored all of Cloakwood today. After selling off the wyvern heads, Tuo parted ways with Coran. He was ok as a team member. But the crew really did not need him. So now it is back to a foursome: Tuonetar, Minsc, Imoen, and Neera. Plus Tuonetar's summoned skeleton of course. I left them on the doorstep of the hidden mine in Cloakwood.
Glad it's still going well. Your party sounds good!
Was Cloakwood forest accessible from the very start or could you only explore it after a certain point in the main quest? In the original version, these areas were inaccessible until you advanced enough through the main quest.
It was inaccessable until I did Naskel Mine, and then cleared out the Bandit Camp. Likewise, the city of Baldur's Gate itself was also locked off until finishing Cloakwood Mine.
Speaking of which, Tuonetar and crew cleared out the Cloakwood Mine. Then they moved north, clearing out the Farmlands and Wyrm's Crossing. Now they are in the city of Baldur's Gate, looking into this Seven Suns business.
I only played through BG I and TotSC one time, then got deep into BG II for several years. So I don't remember much in the way of quests and areas from BG I. I continue to enjoy the nostalgia of reading your updates as you crew progresses along. No doubt, Minsc and Imoen are the most memorable carryovers from I to II.
I was looking over my foursome's stats, and I noticed that Imoen has the best Thaco of the group! It is a 3. Turning her into a Fighter/Thief has made her rather awesome. Of course it helps that I recently gave her the book that boosts Dexterity by a point, to put hers up to 19.
Tuonetar and company made their way through the city of Baldur's Gate today, explored some of the sewers, and cleaned out the Iron Throne's building. Now they are back where she started, at Candlekeep.
I have to admit that I am starting to get burned out on BG though. I skipped most of the sidequests in the city, because I just want to get to the end of it now. I'll probably take a break from the series afterward, and try some other game before going to BG2. I am not sure what. Tuonetar's game in Skyrim has not been grabbing me. A lot of people are playing Fallout these days, so maybe I'll roll a new toon and jump on the radiation bandwagon. Or dust off Lonesome Dove or my Winter Soldier Callieach.
It's hard working these older games into modern times, isn't it? .. Not that BG is bad, but that it's hard to include it if you've also got several modern games (like I do) going as well. Multiple characters in some of these other games too.
Makes me wish I had been a PC gamer back in the '90s. Without Fallout, Skyrim, and Oblivion, I would have had all the time in the world to focus on TES 1: Arena, TES 2: Daggerfall, and then Baldur's Gate, as the years rolled by. Know what I mean?
Its not so much that BG is an older game. That does not really bother me at all. It is just the fatigue of it being the same game for too long. I was able to play Oblivion for years, and Rome Total War for years before that. But I have not come across other games that can hold my interest for as long as they did.
No no, I'm not saying there is any problem because BG is old. What I am saying is in my case, I'm struggling a bit because I'm trying to cram all these different games and characters into my free time. It would have been interesting if I could turn back the clock to the 1990s again, and have played some of these older games back then. Focused all my time more casually instead of cramming.
Maybe you played BG back when it was new? ... I did not. I wasn't even gaming in those days. My gaming renaissance happened in February of 2000, when I discovered Tomb Raider on Playstation. I spent the next 7 years playing various editions of TR. Meanwhile, if I had an Xbox instead of a PS, I would have no doubt discovered Morrowind as well.
Sorry, just being a little philosophical.
To get back O/T, I last played some BG 3 or 4 days ago. It was fun. Sir Vayor, Imoen, Khalid, Jaherra, and a couple others are roaming south, trying to get to some mines so they can take care of the iron shortage somehow.
So many games, so little time. I know what you mean.
Had a whirlwhind session today that saw Tuonetar sneak back into Baldur's Gate, deal with all sorts of betrayers, get invited to the Ducal Palace, and have the first showdown with the Big Bad. Now they are chasing him through the Thieves Guild Maze.
Nice! My session wasn't so good. Imoen and Jaheera got killed. My fault really.
They party found some sort of graveyard. There was a mad wizard and a bunch of undead. Zombies and skeletons. The wizard made some sort of epic statement and mistook Sir Vayor for his father or something. The he started acting like he was going to do something over-the-top, so I initially had Sir Vayor & company get the hell out of there.
But then we went back. Killed one skeleton which had wandered off from the main pack. Then we got a zombie. The strategy was to lure these undead off one by one, until only the wizard was left. But at one point we got too close, and the wizard (or somebody) cast an Entangle spell, dangit. Most of the party was now entangled. Ironically, Imoen made her saving throw, so she was not entangled. But she got killed anyway! Arrgh.
Jaherra also got killed, which sucks because he is the party's only healer. Or he was. So now we're down to Vayor, Khalid, and one other guy (a Ranger) who I am forgetting his name. ... Anyway.
Enough with BG, time for a game I'm actually GOOD AT! .. I switch to Oblivion now.
I think I know the place you mean. It is the area south of High Hedge. Hang on to those bodies, and their stuff. You can get them raised at any temple. There is a big one in the area just east of Beregost. There's also one right beside the Friendly Arm Inn. In fact, if that was the place south of High Hedge, go the Temple east of Beregost. The priest there will give you a big reward. I think you need to take the mad wizard's holy symbol with you to prove you killed him.
Don't feel bad about things getting fubared like that. This game is just like that. 99% of the fights you will just walk through. But the boss fights will often come out of left field like that one, and kick your rear. That is why it is good to quicksave a lot. Just reload and give it another shot. This is not a game to play dead is dead like Oblivion. It just is not made that way.
I would not really be broken up about Jahiera getting killed though. I never liked her anyway.
I can't recall if it was a problem in BG I, but I really remember the mage fights of BG II. Those enemy mages could turn your whole party into frenzied or confused or terrorized loons!
Sorry, Renee. I never warmed up to Jaheira either. And Khaliid seemed a timid mouse just waiting for a real fighter to replace him. Lol.
Jaheira is annoying in BG II as well but if you piss her off in the starting dungeon, she'll leave and never return. I think that most of my characters did this.
Thanks SR, I will take your advice about the temple beside Friendly Arm. I figure Imoen is definitely worth it, she and Sir Vayor are supposed to have some sort of past.
I like Jaheira, call me crazy. If only for the fact that Jaheira can heal the others. But I don't mind Jaheira.
I finally wrapped up Baldur's Gate I this afternoon. That was a big fight at the end. But a little weird, as I finished off Savelok (he sounds like a Vulcan with that name) before killing his lackeys. So I get a message that Sav is dead. Then it goes back to fighting with the other baddies. Then a message that a final save has been made to export to BG2. Then back to fighting, then the game ends.
I fired up BG2 and tried to import Tuonetar, but it could not find the final save BG1 made. I had to use Explorer to copy the save folder from my BG1 saves to my BG2 saves. Then it could find her and import her. I was a little surprised to see that she has all her levels and spells from before. I did not play enough to see if all her gear came over too.
I was expecting her stats to remain the same, but the levels to reset. Then I tried creating a new character, and found that you start out at 7th level. So it is not unbalancing to bring in a PC exported from BG1.
I am done with Balduring for now though. I think I will play a bit more of Lonesome Dove in FONV. I also have a bit of a hankering for Neverwinter Nights again, maybe I will try NWN2 after that. Eventually I will get back to BG2 though.
Congrats! Taking a break between BG I and II is perfect. No rush and the two games are only gently linked, and that is mostly at the beginning.
Congratulations on finishing BG, IMO it's one of the greatest games ever made. I don't remember the exact details but all Sarevok's lackeys are named after some of the game developers, Semaj reads backwards as James, Angelo is named after Angelo obviously and Tazok is an anagram of Kozta, which is similar to Kosta and this was one of the BG developers as well.
I don't think a body actually appears that you can carry. Talk to the priest and click on his Healing Tab. He will probably have three or four tabs for different kinds of services. It will be the one on the far left. At the top be things like Cure Light Wounds, etc... At the bottom of the list should be a Raise Dead option.
I just got back from the grocery store. The cart I had the luck of picking had a rusty wheel that just would not stop squeaking. In no time at all I was thinking "The squeaky wheel gets the kick!"
Go for the eyes, Boo!
Ah, hamsters and rangers everywhere - rejoice!
The bigger they are, the harder I hit!
Buttkicking, for goodness!
Evil everywhere... careful not to step in any.
When it comes to quotes, Minsc and Edwin are my favorites, especially:
"'Edwin do this,' 'Edwin do that,' somebody get this jerk a banana!"
A few nights ago I started up a BG2 EE game, importing my kensai Scathach from BG1 and changing her alignment to Lawful Neutral. I have to say, I am liking Imoen even more in this game. At least I was until the game took her away from me! That just got me ticked off. She is my favorite NPC in the series. It almost made me stop playing the game completely, and did make me stop that night.
I read up, and found that at least I can get her back, eventually. Sigh. So I spent the last few nights since escaping the Irenicus Tutorial Dungeon recruiting Nalia and Viconia. Once I got the two of them, I ditched Jaheria and Yojimbo. I cannot stand Jaheria, and Yojimbo just seemed useless. He couldn't pick a single lock in the time I had him, and never did much of anything in combat.
So now I have a solid cleric, and a decent Thief/Mage. That fills out the must-have specialties. Scathach and Minsc are both bricks. So all I need are few more sluggers to keep the enemies busy. I am thinking of maybe picking up Cernd and Valgyar for future companions. I have heard Cernd isn't all that great, but apparently there are some mods that make him an absolute badass when he shapechanges. I get the impression that the Dwarf Fighter (I forget his name) is a good tank as well, but I am not sure I want another evil character in the party.
So you started BG2, eh? I was curious when will your adventures in Amn begin. I played BG2 before BG1 so I didn't miss Imoen that much because I had no idea what role did she play in BG1.
The Dwarf fighter (Korgan/Kargan?) is a tank but it's difficult to keep him in a party if you're not evil. Also, he's rather demanding about his personal quest and if you don't do it in short time, he'll leave.
I had Cernd in my party but just during the related quest, I'm not big fan of druids and I never properly learned to handle druids.
Yoshimo is not really useful but he's...interesting. There's more to him than meets the eye but I won't say anything more, else it'll be too spoilerish.
Good on you, SubRosa! Yes, loosing Imoen is a bummer and it does take a long time to get her back. Nalia can fill her slippers in the interim. Minsc (and Boo) is a keeper of course. If you can keep Minsc and Nalia in your party with Viconia along, then you should be able to add Sir Keldorn Firecam (paladin). As I like to say about Savlian Matius, when it comes to a noble selfless hero, he is the gritty real deal. I simply love Keldorn (especially if you tweak his stats to what they should be for his class). And his 'kit' of Inquisitor is absolutely the best of the paladin kits (true sight and dispel magic!).
I agree with your assessments that Jahiera is annoying and that both Yoshi and Cernd are worthless without some serious tweaking.
Today the party explored the Umar Hills, and added Valgyar to the ranks. Going on the Temple Ruins, they also joined up with Mazzy Star, and defeated the Shade Lord. I find I am liking Mazzy. She is quite good with that bow of hers. Valgyar is not impressing me, so I think he is going to get cut from the team. Though I understand I do need him to get into the Planar Sphere back in Akatha-whatever the city's name is.
Now I have plenty of money. More than enough to pay off the Shadow Thieves to get at Imoen. So I am not sure if I want to do that first, or try tackling that Planar Sphere. I might do the Sphere first, that way I can sack Valgyar afterward.
One thing I am curious about. Is Mazzy a Paladin or not? Her character sheet says she is a Fighter. But she has Paladin powers like Lay on Hands, and she certainly acts like a Paladin.
Sounds like you're having fun!
Mazzy is a 'wannabe paladin'. The only reason she is not a paladin is because paladins must be human and Mazzy is a halfling. Talk about unfair! She'd be welcome in my order any day, for her arm is strong and her heart is pure. She's a good addition to almost any party as long as you stay fairly 'good'.
I am still Balduring on. I finished off the Planar Sphere the other day, and finally gave Valgy his walking papers. So far I have not replaced him with anyone.
Instead I gave the Gauntlets of Ogre Power to Viconia, along with the Flail of the Ages. I used http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/16497/ee-keeper-updated-to-v1-0-2 to move around her proficiencies, to give her two points with Flails so she can use it well. That along with the Dark Mail have turned her into quite a tank. She has the best Armor Class in the bunch, nearly the best to hit, and can really dish it out with that flail. Throw in some of her buff spells like Armor of Faith, Bless, and Aid, she is something else. In the Planar Sphere, she was often the only one in the entire party who could do any damage at all, since the Golems are immune to spells, and apparently all magical and non-magical weapons. Only elemental damage enchantments on weapons could harm them.
Scathach is still the top damage dealer, and a 1 to hit Armor Class 0. Which I imagine is the best you can get. Throw in her Kai power, that makes her do maximum damage on every hit, and she can really wallop bad guys. She just picked up the Clestial Fury, which I am looking forward to putting to use. Not the least of which because it has a chance of doing electrical damage. That will give me two characters that can harm golems.
Scath's only downside is her Armor Class. At 0 it is the worst in the party. Not being able to use bracers, helmets, and other things that help armor really hurt. But I managed to find a Shield Amulet, which can get her AC down to -6. On point better than Viconia's. Of course that is when I remember to use it.
Today the party went off to see the Shadow Thieves and paid them to get into the Cowled Wizard's prison. Naturally it is not so easy as that. Scathach and company have to do some work for the thieves first. I left them at the docks, looking for Mook (how perfectly named!).
I have been in the mood to play Persephone again lately. http://i.imgur.com/hjb2Gd4.jpg It was not easy creating her in BG2. I had to first create a Sorcerer. Then I used EEKeeper to dual class her as a Fighter. Since the way the game works, she wouldn't be able to cast spells when wearing armor, I made her a Kensai. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it with a Dual/Multi class character, as opposed to a Sorcerer/straight Fighter, but it worked.
Wow! I'll bet P-10 will be kicking some butt as a sorc / kensai! I really liked both those classes.
One thing I learned about kensais is that they can't used ranged weapons of course, but they throw things just fine. Throwing knives have the same range as arrows, while axes have a shorter max range. So my kensais always opted for throwing knives when they needed a 'ranged' weapon. There's a couple throwing knives that will come back to you after you throw them so don't have to resupply knives. Where all this came in handy was with a kensai dualed to thief. They could engage with the throwing knife from right at the edge of stealth detection (just like an archer).
So far the Sorcerer/Kensai combo has worked well. Better than the pure Kensai did in Scathach's game. The Ghost Armor spell works well to help with the armor class, which seems to be the most difficult issue for the Kensais, given how they cannot wear armor, bracers, gauntlets, or helmets. Pretty much everything that lowers your armor class!
Is there a Summon Zombie spell? I know there is Animate Dead, but that always seem to bring a Skeleton. It would be nice if I could find a way to bring Darryl into the game as well.
Speaking of the game, last night Persephone made her escape from the tutorial dungeon. This afternoon she explored about the market a bit, and poked her head inside that circus tent and teamed up with Aerie. Afterward I decided to cut her though. It is just too confusing having all those Cleric spells and Mage spells in one character. I cannot keep straight what she can do. For good measure, I sacked Jaheria and Yojimbo as well.
That leaves just Peresphone and Minsc for now, kicking butts for goodness. But I am thinking a visit to the Copper Coronet will yield Nalia and Amonen, and surely Mazzy Star will be found somewhere in the near future as well.
Can't go wrong with Mazzy, Amoen and Nalia. I liked Aerie very much, simply because she was such a naive little sweetheart - I turned her into a sorceress and she worked much better for me. I still recommend you find and get Keldorn Firecam (beef up his stats some). He can be a really good tank with a couple nice mage-busting abilities, and a fantastic personality/noble nature. He makes a great complement to Minsc up front.
My fave class was the fighter (with 5* bow) then dual classed to thief. They can clear whole dungeons by sniping, handle traps, locks etc. We'd ignore melee and give her a 'summon' animal spirit power to use instead when it was 'hands dirty' time.
I never thought about changing Aerie's class. I could make her a pure cleric. That might work. I mainly picked Amonen for a cleric. He seems alright, but can be annoying, so I am not sure if I am going to keep him around. It sounds like Keldorn is a better pick than him anyway, so there might be a replacement happening there pretty soon.
I did pick up Amonen and Nalia in the Copper Coronet, and while I was at it, went exploring around the property and discovered a den of slavery and gladiatorial games. Persephone smote evil most smitily. Next up it looks like the slavers den. Though I'd still like to get to Nalia's castle, and get down to that Faery Queen with the acorns from those nice dryads in the tutorial dungeon.
Ahhh.
Brings back many wonderful hours of memories!
It brings wonderful memories back indeed.
As much as BGII is a great game in its vanilla state, a lot of content got cut and was later restored in the Unfinished Business Mod. It continues the quest from the circus as it was supposed to, and it also makes Nalia's quest longer. And it does many other things but these two come first to my mind.
As someone who seems to generally like CRPGs, but also as someone who's put off by having to learn reams of excessively fiddly rules, I've got to ask if the Baldur's Gate games are for me. I mean, they sound cool, but while I really liked Planescape Torment I found that I just couldn't get into it because the gameplay felt so obtuse (compare to Shadowrun Returns, a very slick, simple CRPG that I really enjoyed).
So basically, is Baldur's Gate like Planescape? Because I'm interested in buying it but I don't want to waste my money.
I never played Planescape, so I am not sure. I know it uses the Infinity Engine as well, and it was made by Black Isle. Black Isle also developed the Icewind Dale games, and the original Fallout games, and published the Baldur's Gate games, if that gives you something to compare by.
Sorry, Mustard. I've not played Planescape either so can't help compare the games.
I played Planescape for just a few hours but didn't like it. To me Baldur's Gate seems very different, more interesting. But I can't be fair enough because I never really gave PT the real chance.
Bah, you're all useless to me! Useless!
Actually, thanks for the input. I've done a bit more reading around and I think BGII just wouldn't be for me; I loved Planescape's setting but found the AD&D 2-based game system too annoying to enjoy. Seeing as BGII is based on the same engine, I think I'd probably end up losing interest as well. I think I'm going to give Neverwinter Nights 2 a go, that looks to be much more up my street. At least until someone makes a CRPG based on Pathfinder.
I would go for Neverwinter Nights 1 over NWN2. I thought it was the better game, more interesting at least.
Back on the Sword Coast, Persephone and company sacked Amonen, and headed over to the Temple District. There they got themselves hip deep in the sewers, hooked up with Keldcorn, and cleared out a beholder nest. Keldorn is definitely the better pick over Amonen. Now I think it is finally time to get out to Nalia's estate.
Yay! Keldorn! Nalia's estate is a blast, and rife with loot that should help your party muchly.
I was thinking that too about Nalia's Castle. I remember my time through there with Scathach that it was a veritable gold mine. I think the Gauntlets of Ogre Power were in there too. Though I might be mistaken. If I gave those to Aerie, she might make quite the Cleric Tank.
I have been playing BG2 for a while now and have formed some opinions on it. Especially vis a vis BG1.
One thing I definitely like about BG2 over BG1 is that I almost never get attacked while resting in BG2. Where it was almost constant in BG1. It still happens in BG2, but only very rarely. That makes me a lot more willing to rest, which in turn means I don't have to worry about conserving spells so much, and can turn the mages loose much more. I still prefer the Neverwinter Nights games in this respect though. You never get attacked while resting there.
OTOH, one thing I liked better about BG1 was the way the world was laid out in a wide open fashion. The game was laid out so you could walk from one outdoor 'level' to the next, and go all over the place at your whim. But in BG2 you start in the city, and the only way to travel to other places in the world is to first unlock them via starting the quest that takes place there. It makes the world feel much less open, and a lot narrower and smaller.
Another thing that is starting to drive me nuts is constantly hearing "My weapon is faulty!". It seems that no matter where I go, I am constantly fighting monsters that I cannot damage with my weapons, and that spells do absolutely nothing to. It looks like you need at least a +3 weapon to damage a lot of monsters. So of course those are hard to come by. Persephone is now hauling around the Flail of the Ages for a backup weapon, because it is one or the only things that can harm an Iron Golem. Thankfully the group just picked up that +5 Paladin sword for Keldorn to use. So now two members of the party can hurt things. Minsc has the Elven Court Bow, which is +3, but it never harms any of the 'special' monsters, even when using magic arrows.
It does take a fair amount of bean counting and knowledge to lessen frustration - especially when it comes to mage-busting.
I found any of the guides written by DSimpson http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/faqsto be extremely helpful.
Oh, and speaking of mage-busting, there are four key spells with which you can bust any mage. They are: Dispel Magic, Breach, True Sight, and Ruby Ray of Reversal. Keldorn comes with both Dispel Magic and True Sight (two reasons to love him), Breach is not hard to get fairly soon. Ruby Ray is a higher level spell so you have to fumble around with the lower level spell breakers until you get it.
Lilarcor makes a great weapon (+3 2H sword) for Minsc at this point and is not hard to get in the Slums.
Overall though, I agree. While BGII is a very good game, it is rather linear and, thus, limited in how long it is fun to play the same character.
I always found the funnest portion to be from the beginning until you actually depart on the 'go fetch Imoen' piece of the saga. That is, running all around the long list of areas and quests that help you build up for that.
Thank you for that link! I can see a whole bunch of monster fighting tips in there. Even one to bring all your gear from BG1. I saved that to my hard drive.
Sadly, Keldorn is no longer in the group. I made the mistake of going to the government district for another quest, and the next thing I knew we were visiting Keldorn's family. The end result, he has quit paladining to be with his family. It was the only thing I could do without feeling like a total ass.
So now it is back to Persephone and Minsc as the sole bricks, with Nalia and Aerie as magical/clerical support. I briefly tried out Haire Dalis, but he annoyed me, and his bard song didn't seem to do anything. So I washed my hands of him and his 'actor' friends. At least Mazzy is still out there.
I found a +3 Halberd called Dragon's Bane I think, and I gave it to Minsc, along with the dragon scale armor I got off the red dragon, and a dragon helmet. It is too bad he is a two-hander, otherwise I would have given him Peridan and the dragon shield too. I used EEKeeper to move his proficiencies around to the halberd skill so he could use it better. While I was at it, I changed him from a Ranger to a Fighter, so he could take more than two dots in a skill. It is not like he really ever does rangery stuff in my games anyway.
Aerie has been turning out to be an excellent single class cleric. I had Cromwell smith her up some Anhkeg Armor and gave it to her. Between that and her enchanted shield she has an Armor Class of -8. Her Flame Strikes and Poisons can really make a difference, same with Cause Critical Wounds (that was what put the Shadow Dragon on the ropes).
Nalia is going strong too. I took the Lower Resistance spell twice with her for dealing with those pesky bosses who are immune to everything. It helps. Her Fireballs have also cleared out rooms before the rest of the party could even get their swords wet more than once.
Last night I went to the Umar Hills and picked up Mazzy as well. As always, she's a solid fighter, and a cheerful addition to any party.
I started using http://sourceforge.net/projects/gemrb/files/Utilities/DLTCEP%20V7.2d/ to edit some of the items in the game to give them a +3, so they can hurt things. So far I have only done some of the Companion's unique weapons, like Mazzy's sword and bow, Keldorn's Hallowed Redeemer, the Sword of Chaos you start with, and so on. It has been making the game a lot less frustrating.
Now that for once people are not constantly whining in my ear to go do this or that, I am thinking it is probably about time to go looking for Imoen.
I have also been using the http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/index_mods_hosted_fixes_tweaks2.php so that my characters can actually try out the female romances. I only just started using it, but I think Aerie is hitting on Persephone with all her talk of sunsets.
That sounds great! Yes, I made Minsc a regular fighter but gave him the berserker power as well. That sounds great for Aerie - when I used her I went the opposite direction and made her a sorceress. But pure cleric sounds like it better suits your party. I always have Aerie in one way or another just because I love her personality. Although I like Mazzy, I never used her too often - only because I always had too many other characters I really wanted in my party.
If you have not done so, you can also create your own party members. They don't really have any personality beyond vanilla voice responses, but they can help fill in gaps.
Also, if you have not tried playing a monk, you might enjoy that as well. Kind of a slow starter but deadly at mid/higher levels.
Edit: Just saw your edit. Of the three women you can romance, Aerie is my fave by far.
http://cg-zander.deviantart.com/art/Imoen-439667893 on Deviant Art just now. Perfect to shrink down and use in the BG games, or Pillars of Eternity.
Oh, that does capture the thief turned mage that is Imoen!
http://i.imgur.com/WRoHxqB.jpg. Again, perfect for shrinking down to use in BG, or other games like Pillars or Wasteland 2.
Wow, that is nicer than your previous one. Good find!
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-everything-we-know/ Larian is making it (the same folks who made Divinity Original Sin).
I have been tinkering with Icewind Dale Expanded Edition. I bought it a long time ago, but never got far in playing it. I have been toying with running January and the Knights of Nerddom through it. But I keep ramming my head against the obtuseness of DnD 2.0 rules. For example, I am planning on playing January as a Paladin again. So I started her as an Elf. But elves can't be Paladins. So I started her as a Half-Elf, but half-elves cannot be paladins. I was thinking Blackjack would be an ideal Dwarf Bard. But dwarves cannot be bards (apparently there is a height limit to playing a guitar?). *grrrr*
I found a mod that ports the DnD 3.5 rules to IWD and the two Baldur's games. But it failed every time I tried to install it on either Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate 1. So I just deleted it. I did find a https://github.com/AstroBryGuy/NWN2SoundSets/releases/tag/v1.0. So January and company can use the same voices I am now using for them in Storm of Zehir.
I sympathize, SubRosa. Trying to preserve the essence of the same character across various games - each with their own quirky rules and limitations - can be a real challenge.
I just discovered that Icewind Dale 2 is going to get an enhanced edition thanks to a team of modders. It will be free to download once the beta testing is finished. From what I gather, you will need to already own Icewind Dale 2, and it will essentially act as a mod for it. https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/79872/icewind-dale-2-enhanced-edition-is-here-and-the-red-chimera-group-is-looking-for-playtesters#latest
I started playing the Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition. I never got far playing it before, so maybe I can finish it this time around.
I created January and her super friends - Avery, Ryo, Blackjack, Hannah, and Lucas (Lighthammer). Ok, Blackjack is not a super, but he does have a band, so he works as the team Bard. I created him as a Human, but then used EE Keeper to change him to a Hobbit. Lucas (Lighthammer), is a Half Orc Barbarian with a battle axe. Avery is an Elf Cleric of Lathandar.
I was going to make Hannah a Dragon Disciple Sorcerer, but then I found that she could not use a Longbow. I figured that since this is D&D 2.0, the spellcasters will spend 90% of their times not casting spells, and using missile weapons instead. Longbow seems like one of the best options. I was going to try doing her as a Fighter/Mage. But I vastly prefer the Sorcerer over the Wizard, since it does not have all the spell preparation nonsense.
Then I got the idea of Dual-Classing. So I started her out as a Human Fighter (since only Humans can Dual-Class). I am thinking that once she reached 2nd level I will dual class her to a Sorcerer. It will be rough for that first Sorcerer level. But once she gets to level 2 as a Sorcerer she should get all of her Fighter abilities back, including the ability to use pretty much any weapon.
January is a Paladin of course. I made her the Cavalier sublcass. The only downside of which is that she cannot use missile weapons.
So far so good. Mostly the fights have not been too bad. But there are times where one of my party gets one shot killed out of nowhere, even when fighting trash mobs of nothing but goblins. That is really annoying.
I also found the cheats for the Enhanced Edition, which are a little different from the original:
1. First edit the file called baldur.ini in the Icewind Dale - Enhanced Edition folder
(C:\Users\*username*\Documents\Icewind Dale - Enhanced Edition) - Windows 7
using a text editor like Visual Studio Code find the line:
INSERT INTO options ROWS (
And add the following in the line after it:
'Program Options', 'Debug Mode', '1',
2. Start the game and press [Ctrl] + [Spacebar] to display the console window.
C:ExploreArea()
This command reveals the entire map for the current area. Note that it doesn’t remove the fog of war; if a creature is out of your field of vision it will still remain hidden.
C:CreateCreature(“crenameâ€)
This spawns a creature, based on its creature file name, to the center of the screen (or nearest valid point). If you’re spawning a creature you know will be hostile, you may want to pause the game before entering this command for the safety of your party.
C:CreateItem(“itmnameâ€,##)
This spawns an item, based on its item file name, or a stack of the same item, in the inventory of the current party leader.
C:SetCurrentXP(####)
This sets the Experience Point total for the currently selected character or characters to the value noted in parentheses. Note that this sets the total, rather than adding a value to your current experience points.
C:AddGold(####)
In contrast with SetCurrentXP, this command adds an amount of gold to your party’s total based on the number in parentheses.
Without opening the console, the following commands work:
[Ctrl] + J - Move selected characters to pointer position.
[Ctrl] + R - Heal or resurrect the selected character or portrait.
[Ctrl] + Y - Kill selected monster or NPC with no EXP.
[Ctrl] + 4 - Display trigger polygons; shows traps.
[Ctrl] + 9 - Display character bounding boxes.
Area List (Icewind Dale):
AR1000 - Easthaven - Prologue
AR1001 - Temple of Tempus
AR1002 - House with Spear
AR1003 - Empty House
AR1004 - Hrothgar's House
AR1005 - Fishmonger's House
AR1006 - Winter's Cradle Tavern - Level 1
AR1015 - Winter's Cradle Tavern - Level 2
AR1007 - Pomad's Emporium - Level 1
AR1016 - Pomad's Emporium - Level 2
AR1008 - Snowdrift Inn
AR1009 - Old Jed's House
AR1010 - Scrimshanders's House
AR1011 - Warehouse
AR1012 - Torn Net House
AR1013 - Winter Wolf Pelt House
AR1014 - Strange Writing House
AR1100 - Easthaven - Chapter Six
AR1106 - Winter's Cradle Tavern - Level 1
AR1109 - Winter's Cradle Tavern - Level 2
AR1101 - Crystal Tower - Level 1
AR1102 - Crystal Tower - Level 2
AR1103 - Crystal Tower - Level 3
AR1104 - Crystal Tower - Level 4
AR1105 - Crystal Tower - Level 5
AR1200 - Orc Cave Areas
AR1201 - Orc Cave - Inside
AR2000 - Kuldahar Pass
AR2001 - Goblin Cave - Outside
AR2002 - Goblin Cave - Inside
AR2003 - Ogre Tower
AR2004 - Old Mill - Level 1
AR2005 - Old Mill - Level 2
AR2006 - Old Mill - Level 3
AR2100 - Kuldahar
AR2101 - Tower of Orrick the Grey - Room 1
AR2102 - Tower of Orrick the Grey - Room 2
AR2103 - Conlan the Smithy
AR2104 - House with Portraits
AR2105 - Townperson's House - Male
AR2106 - Townperson's House - Female
AR2107 - Temple of Ilmater
AR2108 - Oswald Fiddlebender's Airship
AR2110 - Potter's House
AR2111 - Root Cellar Tavern
AR2112 - Arundel's House - Level 1
AR2116 - Arundel's House - Level 2
AR2113 - Gerth's Equipment Shop
AR2114 - Evening Shade Inn - Level 1
AR2115 - Evening Shade Inn - Level 2
AR3000 - Vale of Shadows
AR3001 - Shrine of Auril
AR3101 - Cave - Gate Key
AR3201 - Cave - Vile Black Liquid
AR3301 - Cave - Sanctum Key
AR3401 - Cave - Carrion Crawler
AR3501 - Kresselack's Tomb Level 1
AR3502 - Kresselack's Tomb Level 2
AR3503 - Kresselack's Tomb Level 3
AR3600 - Temple of the Forgotten God Area
AR3601 - Temple of the Forgotten God - Level 1
AR3602 - Temple of the Forgotten God - Level 2
AR3603 - Temple of the Forgotten God - Level 3
AR4000 - Dragon's Eye Area
AR4001 - Dragon's Eye - Level 1
AR4002 - Dragon's Eye - Level 2
AR4003 - Dragon's Eye - Level 3
AR4004 - Dragon's Eye - Level 4
AR4005 - Dragon's Eye - Level 5
AR5000 - Severed Hand Area
AR5001 - Severed Hand - Level 1
AR5002 - Severed Hand - Level 2
AR5003 - Severed Hand - Level 3
AR5004 - Severed Hand - Level 4
AR5502 - Bridge To Labelas Tower
AR5101 - Labelas Tower - Level 1
AR5104 - Labelas Tower - Level 2
AR5102 - Labelas Tower - Level 3
AR5103 - Labelas Tower - Level 4
AR5201 - Solonar Tower - Level 1
AR5202 - Solonar Tower - Level 2
AR5203 - Solonar Tower - Level 3
AR5204 - Solonar Tower - Level 4
AR5301 - Corellon Tower - Level 1
AR5302 - Corellon Tower - Level 2
AR5303 - Corellon Tower - Level 3
AR5304 - Corellon Tower - Level 4
AR5401 - Sheverash Tower - Level 1
AR5402 - Sheverash Tower - Level 2
AR5403 - Sheverash Tower - Level 3
AR5404 - Sheverash Tower - Level 4
AR6000 - Upper Dorn's Deep Area
AR6001 - Main Cave
AR6002 - Barracks
AR6003 - Umber Hulk Labyrinth
AR6004 - Forge - Inoperative
AR6005 - Tiers Of The Dead
AR6006 - Hall of Heroes
AR6007 - Ettin Cave
AR6008 - Neo-Orog Cave
AR6009 - Orc Cave
AR6010 - Puzzle Room
AR6011 - Gear Room
AR6013 - Forge - Operative
AR6014 - Bandoth's Tower
AR7005 - Wyrm's Tooth Glacier
AR7002 - Museum Foyer
AR7001 - Museum
AR7003 - Slave Area
AR7004 - Frost Giant Cave
AR7000 - Lower Dorn's Deep Area
AR8001 - Main Cave
AR8002 - Watchtower - Level 1
AR8014 - Watchtower - Level 2
AR8003 - Gnome Mine
AR8004 - Gnome Hideaway
AR8005 - Marketh's Courtyard
AR8006 - Marketh's Palace - Level 1
AR8007 - Marketh's Palace - Level 2
AR8008 - Mine Area
AR8009 - Artisan's District
AR8010 - Malavon's Chamber
AR8011 - Great Forge
AR8012 - Broken Temple
AR8013 - Poquelin's Lair
AR8015 - Norl's House
AR8016 - Safe House
Area List 2 (Icewind Dale: Heart Of Winter):
AR9100 - Loneywood
AR9101 - The Whistling Gallows - Level 1
AR9102 - The Whistling Gallows - Level 2
AR9103 - Shrine Of Waukeen
AR9104 - Ranger's Cabin
AR9105 - The Cooper's Place
AR9106 - Cartwright's House - Level 1
AR9107 - Cartwright's House - Level 2
AR9108 - Trappers' Cabin
AR9109 - Thom Farlod House
AR9110 - Gravedigger's Shack
AR9200 - Barbarian Camp
AR9201 - Mead Hall
AR9300 - Burial Isle - Hjollder
AR9301 - Necromancer's Tower
AR9400 - Barrow
AR9500 - Gloomfrost
AR9501 - Seer Caves - Level 1
AR9502 - Seer Caves - Level 2
AR9600 - Sea Of Moving Ice
AR9601 - Icasaracht's Lair - Level 1
AR9602 - Icasaracht's Lair - Level 2
AR9603 - To The Sahuagin Temple
AR9604 - End Fight - Icasaracht
For the items list: http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/256221-icewind-dale/faqs/8494 (They should work)
I hope January and the gang enjoy Icewind Dale. I recall playing it once through many (many) years ago.
I just found out that Sorcerer's cannot dual class or multiclass in Icewind Dale. I imagine the Baldur's Gate games too. If they are even in the BG games. Grrr. It will not even work using EE Keeper, as the game is hard coded to not allow it. So if I want Hannah to be able to use magic and a bow, she has to be a Fighter/Wizard.
I hate DnD 2.0...
I think I recall that Sorcs in BGII could not dual class either. *sigh* Ah yes, the hard wired game trope of 'If you use magic, you shall not use a bow; if you use a bow you must use a dagger. . . . ' The bane of mystic archers everywhere. The best games I've ever played in terms of actually supporting mystic archery have been Diablo II and Oblivion. Oh well. D&D and Skyland were not good. ESO is not bad but it is more like Diablo II in that much of archers' magic is derived from their bow (skills where arrows can heal, split, come down as a persistent volley, etc).
Ok, I took another crack at Icewind Dale. I found a mod to help me. https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/40512/mod-small-phun-cheat-spells adds two spells. One allows the character to use any item, forever. So your mages and clerics can use composite longbows if you want (you still need to meet the strength requirement however). This spell won't show up in your inventory, it just sets your character so you can use any item.
The second is a spell to your character that gives you a full rest (recover hit points and spells) whenever you use it. It does not have a name that shows up in the interface, it looks like a multicolored egg, and it says there are two of the. When you click it, you won't see anything happen. But if you check your spell list, you will see it is refreshed.
How you get the spells is wonky. You have to use the console to add a potion that corresponds to the spell. Then you drink the potion, and the spell is added to you. You have to do this for every individual character. And the rest spell only works on the character who has the spell. So if you want to use it to rest your entire party, you have to give the spell to every character, and use it separately on each of them.
But it does seem to cover my biggest gripes in the game. So I restarted. This time Ryo is an Assassin. I plan to eventually dual class him to fighter once I level him up enough to get his Find Traps and Open Locks skills up to 100. He is a dedicated archer, using a composite longbow. Hannah is a Dragon Disciple Sorcerer, using a composite longbow when not using spells. Avery is still a cleric, but now he is using a katana (which is a two handed weapon in this game). And even though January is a Cavalier Paladin, she can now use ranged weapons. it is composite longbows for everyone!
Glad you're finding some workarounds. When a whole party opens up from max range with longbows, that can do some serious damage before your foes get to you!
I played IWD for a while today, and had a lot more fun than I did before. So it is working out better now. When I switch the entire party to bows, it is just stunning how they mow down the monsters as they run up.
Still pushing on with IWD. As I have read, it is basically a hack 'n slash, with a bare framework of a story hanging the disparate battles together. It is not as bad as Diablo, but not as deep and rich an RPG experience as say, Skyrim (and yes, you probably won't see Skyrim described that way often, but compared to Icewind Dale, it is!)
I have been enjoying the tactical side to the game. What I remember of the Baldur's Gate games was everyone running about pell mell and stabbing everything as quickly as they could. I would try to form a wall of fighters for my squishy mages to hide behind, and the bad guys would just run right around them and attack my mages anyway. But it seems to be working out a lot better in IWD. Maybe the AI is just dumber, because I can almost always prevent the monsters from reaching my squishies. Or it might just be that there is a lot of interiors with narrow hallways, where there is just no room to flank my fighters.
I am liking the Full Rest spell added by Phun Cheat Spells. It makes my spellcasters actually useful. Hannah can pretty much concentrate on just casting spells now. Though Avery still only uses a few buffs like Bless here and there. Still, I can use the Full Rest on each of them after every fight. That way they can use their magic every battle, like a real magician.
Plus, Icewind Dale is still a better love story than Twilight...
I found some more soundsets https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/38319/mods-awesome-soundsets-mods-master-thread-custom-soundsets-for-bgee-bg2ee-and-iwdee/p1. That allowed me to change around the ones I was using for Avery and Blackjack. Avery is now one of the new Sorcerer soundsets, and Blackjack is one of those from Heart of Winter that was done by Mark Hamill.
Still working through Icewind Dale. I am about a third of the way through the game now. I just got to Severed Hand (not a name I would have chosen if I was an elf making a fortress...)
This game really loves throwing hordes of enemies at you. You will take a step into a room, and a dozen monsters will attack you. Take another step, and a dozen more will come, another step, and... well you get the picture.
The monsters are spread out, and seem to have a short radius from which they will go hostile. Basically the fog of war around you. So you will be slugging it out in a huge battle in a large room, and there will be monsters at the other end of the room too far away for you to see. So they will not go hostile and join in the fight. Not until you walk far enough in to see them.
So what I have started doing is set up my team in one spot, and cast buff spells on everyone. Then I send January forward as a scout to get the monsters attention. Then she goes back to the party, and leads the monsters into their longbows. Rinse and repeat, each time with January going a little farther to get the next set of monsters.
Now that we are high enough level, Hannah has a fireball spell. That is also handy for just lobbing into rooms past the fog of war. I have cleared out monsters I never saw more times than once that way.
https://i.imgur.com/MydsVl1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rQqDGHf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/gqLvKKH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ECaJJFy.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/AFitjZ5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/V0MHYdn.jpg
Those tactics sound wise. I recall from BG2 that is helped to have your party all together how you want them, then send a scout out to go fetch some foes for them.
Certainly no lack in variety when it comes to foes and spells in this collection of shots.
Yesterday I beat Icewind Dale like a red-haired gnomish stepchild. It was a grind. I am glad I had that rest cheat mod, and the cheat codes to rest. Otherwise I do not think I would have made it. I really like the rest mod, as it allows me to use my magicians like they should, as people who cast magic for a living. Rather than people who use a sling 99% of the time, and only cast a spell once in a blue moon.
I started the Heart of Winter dlc, and got a little way into it so far. I think it is meant to be played with a different group of characters. But I did it with the same team from the original campaign. I was able to import them from after the end of the original game, so they came over with their levels and items. It was a little confusing, because the original character files I made of that at first level were also there. But I got which ones were which sorted out eventually. If you start out with a first level character, the game automatically levels you up, so I think you are supposed to be something like 11th or 12th level, like the ending characters were.
Heart of Winter looks pretty small from what I have seen of the strategy guide on the GameBanshee site. I am just about halfway into the first part of Burial Isle, so still early on. I am not sure if I want to stick with it, or maybe go to something else. I have been thinking of maybe trying a more personal third-person/first person game like Fallout 3 or New Vegas instead. Or maybe even going back to January's Skyrim or Oblivion games.
So many games, so little time!
I dimly remember Heart of Winter. Actually the only thing which I remember, is that you fight some ice dragon at the end.
So apparently in 3 days there is supposed to be some fancy to do regarding Baldur’s Gate III.
https://baldursgate3.game/
So they are previewing for the preview to happen in 3 days. I love game companies...
TBH, I am not excited with Baldur's Gate 3. It is being made by Larian, so it will probably be using the same game engine as the Divinity: Original Sin games. I could not get into DOS because of how insanely hard it is to mod, and the lack of console commands.
I beat Icewind Dale - Heart of Winter like a red-haired orc stepchild. It really was short.
https://i.imgur.com/sPC99Tm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ERzxbOL.jpg. I made her a Fighter-Mage, something I have never tried before. So far it is ok. I am using an Armor spell to make up for the inability to wear armor. But you can carry a shield, so she is going the Longsword + Shield route.
Are you planning to run a party or mostly solo / just Imoen? Because with F/M the only thing you actually need is a thief, the rest is optional.
Neat. Fighter/Mage suits Blood Raven.
Lopov: I only just started the game. I did not reach the Friendly Arm Inn when I stopped yesterday. I recruited Khalid and Jaheria there. But have not done anything with them yet. I used EE Keeper to change around some of Jaheria's stats and weapons. So hopefully I will like her more this way than my past games.
Acadian: I was not sure how to create Blood Raven. A paladin was my second choice, since that is also a fighter with magical abilities. Or a Fighter/Cleric. But I have never done the Fighter/Mage before, so I thought it might be a nice learning experience. So far all I am using her magic for is an armor spell to make up for her not being able to wear armor. That and an Identify spell.
I've almost always edited stats in GateKeeper / Shadowkeeper, both for my PCs and NPCs. Have you ever played through the entire saga, Throne of Bhaal included? You probably have, just askin'.
I have been all the way through BG1 only once I think. I also did the Black Pits all the way through once. Though I have started several other games, just never got all the way done with it. Likewise, I have started BG2 a couple of times, but never finished it. I never even started Throne of Bhaal.
I use EE Keeper a lot. It is the same basic thing as Shadowkeeper, just for the Enhanced Editions. I use it to tweak the companions stats and proficiencies. Like changing Minsc from a Ranger to a Fighter, he works much better that way.
Black Pits is something that I've never done. I did the other two expansions, namely the Durlag's Tower and the one that takes place on some island, but I don't remember the name. It adds a village far to the north and you can sail from there.
I actually started with BG II, my brother bought me this game as a birthday present when I was still fairly young. He dislikes/d any games played from an isometric perspective but knew that I love/d them, so he bought it to me. I spent many years playing BG II only, then I moved on to BG I and lastly also to ToB. I think I've made it only two or three times from BG I over BG II and finally to ToB. BG II is still my favorite of all, also because of nostalgia. But if one prefers exploration over story, BG I is a better choice.
I have Baldur's Gate on my gaming computer, but have not gotten really far into it. I think if I had a computer back in the '90s, and slso know about BG back then, I probably would have played it, because I had more free time in those days. But I was also prettier back then, had more of a social life than I do now! Still, I think I would have at least tried BG.
Nowadays there are too many other games competing for my gaming time.
Many years ago I played once through BG I, Tales of the Sword Coast and Icewind Dale. Then I found BG II and spent several years there. I did ToB once but really enjoyed just playing BG II. Eventually, computers advanced beyond BG II, it became buggy and I quit. Within the last year I spent about $4 on Gog and got BG II EE. It installed and plays flawlessly and is wonderful to have as an internet-free game.
I have the command console figured out so can use any codes I need to but I got confused reading about what I guess is EE keeper. I used to have something like that years ago and it was great. If I get back more seriously into it, I'll have to ask SubRosa more about installing EE Keeper for BG II so I can adjust classes a bit and change some of the companion classes.
I have a link to EE Keeper on the first page. It wasn't working when I just checked, so I updated it to point https://eekeeper.sourceforge.io/. I don't remember installing it. I think it was just you unzip all the files to a folder and run the shortcut to it. It is a pretty simple save editor, that allows you to change your stats, add or remove inventory items, and so forth.
Oh, thanks! As is so often the case, your threads on the games you play double as great resources.
Blood Raven just recruited Minsc. It is fun to hear his voice again. It reminded me that he is voiced by Jim Cummings, https://www.starwars.com/video/a-pirate-s-life.
Minsc is a keeper all right! As you said, I imagine he works well as a Fighter in BG I. In BG II, you might consider trying him as either a Berserker or a Level 9 Ranger dual classed to Cleric.
I did get EEKeeper installed and it looks comfortably familiar to the 'trainer' I used for BG II years ago. Haven't done anything with it but it looks promising. Thanks for your help/encouragement.
Minsc has some of the best lines ever envisioned in a game.
"A den of stinking evil! Hold your nose Boo."
and don't forget... "Go for the eyes, Boo. Go for the eyes!
I like the story between Minsc, Edwin and Dynaheir in BG I, though on the other side it's difficult to keep them in the same party. I kept Minsc in BG II only if he was my companion in BG I, else I'd "remove" him from the game. I once roleplayed a neutral evil Half-Orc, the entire party in BG II was composed of mostly evil-oriented characters, only Minsc was the good-aligned one. Despite constant quarrels and protests I managed to keep Minsc in the party through the entire game. I remember an event from the Underworld, where Korgan, a chaotic-evil Dwarf suggested slaughtering some innocent villagers, and Minsc protested. It was on the protagonist, that is on my Half-Orc to decide, and he sided with Minsc. Korgan grumbled but eventually got over it. It was worth keeping Minsc in the party.
https://i.imgur.com/LNFtYDd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xpvORBN.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/pyu0veY.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/TSk7JK0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xqp7zjZ.jpg
On the whole I am liking the new version of the game. It comes with a lot of small improvements, and has a lot more options now that you can now turn on and off. The whole interface is a lot more readable, especially the spell books, which now have the names of each spell listed beside their icons. The map has an option to add an overlay that shows which areas are accessible and which are not, which is another ease of life thing.
However, you can no longer use the Function keys for things like quicksaving and quickloading. Beamdog says that doing so can cause bugs. I also found that my old NWN2 Soundset mod won't install on version 2.660. But I was able to make a simple soundset by hand, and it will works.
All in all it is an improvement. Currently I am planning on following with BG2EE, and I will use the updated version of that game too.
It's Drizzt, right? It can only be him. Now let's click on the photo...yup, I was right. for me.
I saw an ankheg the other day. Annoying creatures. Their armor is good but their pincers are sharp. Still, I avoid them, whenever I can.
I think that Siege of Dragonspear looks about the same like the updated BG EE. Are you planing to play SoD after BG I before moving to BG II, it serves as a prelude to events of BG II?
Wow, it's been decades since I played BG1, but I am quite current on BGIIEE. Your game and user interface looks stunningly like BGIIEE. I really had to study what you were doing to ensure you weren't playing BGIIEE in those screenshots.
Lopov: I don't have Siege of Dragonspear, though maybe some day I will look into it. I just have so much other stuff I have not gotten around to it yet.
Acadian: It looks like BG2EE has the same version number as BG1EE, so I think they did the same updates and improvements on both games simultaneously. Probably the same with Icewind Dale EE.
I quite liked SoD as well. Some things / events are predictable for those of us that've played BG 2 but there was still at least one surprising story twist close to the end.
I often joke that I've spent my entire youth playing Baldur's Gate and original FOs with occasional jumps to GTA. But the sheer amount of hours that I've invested in BG II, definitely surpasses any other game that I've played since then.
I beat BG1 tonight. I was worried for a little while, because I got stuck at one point. After you kill Rieltar and the other Iron Throne leaders in Candlekeep you get thrown in prison. The game just froze on that, no matter how many times I reloaded. In the end I had to skip over that completely, and after killing the Iron Thronites I had to use the console to teleport myself to the catacombs. But it worked out. *phew*
So I updated BG2 to the latest game version, and imported Blood Raven. Ready to go shadowing in Amn.
'Grats to Blood Raven! With BGIIEE +EE Keeper, I'm interested in what sort of a party she puts together. Specifially, how she modifies the NPCs (like Minsc as a fighter instead of ranger) to end up with a functional mix but still keeping all or mostly NPCs.
Oh my, I can't begin to explain how much I miss those character portraits.
Blood Raven escaped from the Irenicus dungeon a little while ago. It has been a really long time since I have done BG2, so I had forgotten almost the entire thing. I changed things up a little with the Raven this time out, and now have her dual-wielding longswords. In BG1 she was doing a longsword and buckler. I also used EEKeeper to give her the Wizard-Slayer kit for her Fighter class. I am not entirely sure if it is applying all the Wizard Slayer bonuses. But it did add the penalties, like not being able to wear bracers. So it probably is doing the good stuff too.
I also modded Minsc again, and this time made him a Barbarian. Like in BG1, I have him using a two-handed sword. Both seem to suit him. The other two in my group right now are Jahiera and Yoshimo. But I don't know how long I might keep them. Is there a Find Traps spell for wizards? Blood Raven picked up a knock spell in the Irenicus dungeon. So if she can learn Find Traps, she technically won't need anyone with thief skills. Oh wait, even if she finds the traps, I don't think there are any spells to disarm them. So she will still need a thief after all. Oh well, I always like Nalia anyway.
I will probably go looking for Aerie next. My last time playing her I made her a pure Cleric. I might do that again, as I found the Mage/Cleric combo a bit overwhelming when it came to all the spell choices.
I also started using https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/tweaks/tweaks/, which is combination of hundreds of mods for all the Infinity Engine games. Thankfully you can pick and choose each individual mod you want when you set it up. It can take a while to do, since there are a lot. But there are a lot of things, from hiding helmets, to two handed axes, katanas, bastard swords, etc...
Congrats on beating BG I, you've been through really fast.
A lot of fun with BG II, story-wise is IMO the game even better than the first title.
I returned to Baldur's Gate EE (the first one) and just finished the tutorial. Spoke to Belt and he says "You are now ready to start your adventure and will be returned to the main menu. Good luck with Baldur's Gate!"
I click End Dialog, and now I'm back at the main menu. I see buttons for Tutorial (Done), Baldur's Gate, The Black Pits and Credits.
I try Baldur's Gate, but I don't see a way to continue with the tutorial character I just rolled. In the menu I go like this...
BALDUR'S GATE
SINGLE PLAYER
NEW GAME (choosing Load Game only puts me back in the tutorial)
CREATE
IMPORT
SAVED GAME
And from here I can see the final save I made in the tutorial. I click on this, see my character in the IMPORT CHARACTER window so I click on him, and choose DONE.
From here, I am stuck in the Character Generation menu. I can choose IMPORT or START OVER, both which put me in a loop of menus. How do I actually start the game with the guy I rolled??? Or is this not possible?
I have never done the Tutorial. I just started it and went through a little. There is one point where you Export your character. That saves a copy of the character and their stats, picture, and such. Basically your character sheet. Start a New Game, and where you create a new character click on Import, and you should see your character in the list (If you Exported them).
You can use this to bring your character into different campaigns, like going from BG1 to the Black Pits, or to Baldur's Gate 2, and so on. Neverwinter Nights 1 does it a lot more. It is what allows you to play the same character in all the user made modules out there for it.
If you didn't Export the character at the time go back to the Tutorial if you have a save from it, and Export them. Then it will be in the list.
If worse come to worse just create a new character right there. You can always make them exactly the same as your tutorial character.
Okay thanks I'll see if there is a way to Export then.
Strange that the game doesn't tell us how to do this (or maybe it did, but I just missed it). Then again, BG was made in the era during which hand-holding was not as prevalent as it was later on...
In the Tutorial it tells you how to Export your character.
So here's how to do it. In the game click on the custom-made toon character and go into Record (5th icon on the left) The EXPORT button is in the lower right.
"This will save your character to the "characters" folder in your Baldur's Gate directory. You will be able to use this character in future multiplayer games using the Import button on the Character Creation screen. Exporting a character will not remove them from the current game, nor will it alter then in any way."
And then there are 9 Filenames we can choose: 01FIGHT, 02THIEF, 03MAGE, and so on. We can't name our own Filename? Guess I'll choose 01FIGHT, since my toon is a Fighter.
Alright. Spoke to Belt, now I'm in the main menu again. Click on Single Player > NEW, and voila, there is Lord Redbeard. Not a very clver "Renee" name, but I was tired.
Thanks much!
Lord Redbeard (the red-bearded fighter I rolled a few days ago) got pwned last night. Soon as it happened, I spontaneously honored his death. It just felt right. At the time he was traveling with Imoen, the two half-elves from Friendly Arms, and a second, somewhat annoying thief, whose name I'm forgetting.
I am honoring his falling because I feel like I got too ambitious with this game, pushing too fast into what I'm assuming is the Main Quest. But that's for another discussion, perhaps.
I really like having the one half-elf guy around ... um .. Jaheira. He's a druid. He can cast Entangle, which is pretty sweet. Problem is, when he cast the spell everybody was already in combat, which meant Redbeard and virtually all the others got entangled in those magical weeds! Only Imoen was running free at that point, since she usually stands off to the side with her bow.
Lord Redbeard got caught up in those weeds just as the party got attacked by a band of hobgoblins. Eventually, he fell. So now I'm at that point where I'm about to roll a new a nu t00n, actually more than one. I need a name for a new fighter, preferably male. And I can't think of a name!
But I thought of some cool names for other characters.
Ayn Strand -- Shaman probably, since Ayn Rand was often associated with intellectual pursuits, religion, political themes, and so on.
Faye Daway -- Illusionist
Luke Zhatkil -- Hmm, could be a Fighter.
Hmm, could be Luke. But I want a cooler name for my party leader. Maybe derived from classic Crusades/Dark Ages times.
Poor Red Beard. That is why I don't like web spells. They often are just as bad to you as they are to the enemy.
I was thinking you should create a Bard type character sometime named Alfred Capella, or just A. Capella for short.
A. Capella, sweet! <>
Okay, so Entangle is a tricky spell to use, got it. Wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong.
Check out the character names from the movie https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186336/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0. There is a gold mine of names for you there, like Archer Bowman, Manley Battle, or Shepherd Hunter.
Awesome, thanks hon. And here's one for you: Tonight I found this https://www.verymanynames.com/medieval-names/. At the top of the page are names which are still popular today like Matthew, Andrew, Alice, and so on.
Just keep scrolling down. Eventually the names become more obscure. Like Aelflaed, Cwenburg, and Ethelfrith.
I have a question. So I know how to export and import, but is it possible to make two characters of my own, and have them both in the same save instance? Or am I stuck with rolling with just one PC, and picking up pre-made NPCs along the way?
You can only have one player character, and you cannot make custom NPCs, like new games allow you to. So you are stuck with the toon you roll, and the NPCs you meet along the way.
macole, absolutely!
Well I made a guy and used that site to give him a first name: Hadden, second name Nuff. Hadden Nuff. Hadden's sort of like Lord Haaf-Mersey, my Skyrim paladin. Lawful Good, Paladin, yadda yadda. For some reason, I've always liked this archetype of character when structuring a leader.
Dang though, I really want to add my own follower(s) with Hadden. I made Faye Daway, the illusionist too. I wonder if there's any mods ...
You're brave (and positively stubborn ) to approach the BG with the DiD, it's one of those games for me, where I wouldn't even think of reloading, if my main character got killed. I'd often OP-them form the start, but I did, because I was mostly interested in story, combat comes for me always as secondary. So are you already rolling someone new?
How do you make your character OP from the start?
Yes I already rolled somebody new, his name is Hadden Nuff. He's still in the opening village (Candlekeep or whatever it's called). My first guy, Lord Redbeard, did not spend as much time in this village. I think he did 3 or 4 tasks for villagers and then he was off, which was really MY impatience with getting into outside the village. Little did I know we cannot go back in once we've left.
I don't mind starting over, but let's say after 3 or 4 times I'll want to get further into the game, while still playing more cautiously.
Baldur's Gate has a command console, like most games. And there is EE Keeper, which is a save game editor that lets you change your stats.
Yes, I have EE Keeper, did not know we can change play-character stats. Probably a lot of things I don't know about it. I remember using EE to give my party Antidotes, though. Seems like every other time they encountered baddies they'd poison one or more of my party!
Options in EE are almost limitless. You can for instance give your player a special petrifying gaze attack that turns enemies into stone. I once did a short playthrough of a beggar who'd turn people to stone. It's just an example of what can be done with the BG Keeper.
Ha ha that sounds pretty sweet! So your beggar was like Medussa.
Well I'll just give Hadden some sort of boost to his stats, maybe start him Level 2 instead of 1. I noticed BG is similar to the table-games we used to play, in the sense that this game levels up pretty slowly. 🎲 Which I like. Because back in the day when we all rolled dice, it took a long time to level up one of our PCs, days, weeks or months, not hours. When somebody finally went up, it would cause for celebration.
Baldur's feels harder than the table-games though, that's why I want to cheat a little. With the table-games we could choose modules, https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dnd+modules&form=HDRSC2&first=1&tsc=ImageHoverTitle. These were basically adventure books, and they were all leveled. So if most of your party was Level 3, we could choose a module which too easy, just right, or even too hard!
To me, Baldur's feels too easy sometimes, but too hard other times (especially when poison or some exotic magic gets involved). I want to at least try to level the playing field for Hadden Nuff.
Buffy's playing ESO every morning but currently porting over to BGII EE for much of the rest of the day.
I enjoy BGII but it does take quite a bit of party tweaking to suit me. Currently Buffy is an Archer but has a fairly full suite of Druid spells. Acadian is a L13 Fighter dueled to Thief. Minsc is a keeper and he is a Monk. Aerie is also a keeper and she's a Sorceress. Will pick up Mazzy as our other keeper soon and plan to turn her into a human Inquisitor. That leaves a guest slot that will likely settle down into Nalia and perhaps later Imoen.
Is Acadian an NPC who can be hired or picked up? Or a custom-made PC? If he's a player-character, how are you able to get two PCs in one party?
Buffy is the protagonist. Acadian is a a created NPC. You can build your whole party of (max) 6 if you want. We are using in game NPCs for the other 4 party members.
Okay, that right there. Acadian is a "created NPC". How did you do this?
Because what I want to do is roll a PC, and then add my own NPC into his party. But I've noticed BG only has pre-made NPCs.
It is not real intuitive. I'm playing BG II EE Shadows of Amm.
Single Player > New Game > Create your PC up to where you get Accept available at the bottom of the menu but don't click Accept. Instead, click Create Party. The next menu allows you to make additional custom party members.
Ah, that's BG2, I am playing the first game. Maybe that's why I can't find any options
Aww, sorry. I played BGI first one time with expansions back around 1990 then immediately moved to BGII and really preferred it. I also tried Icewind Dale one time and went back to BGII. As modern computers got stupid about older games, I had to give up BGII. Thanks to GoG with the BGII EE and some encouragement for SubRosa, I added BGII back into Buffy's very limited lineup of ESO and BGII.
I am glad to hear you are having fun with BG2 again, after all these years. I might get back to it with either January or Blood Raven someday.
Renee: This works in BG1 EE as well. At the very end of character creation there will be a button for Create Party.
You can also create a party by going to the Pregenerate Character button, which is right below the New Game button. It takes you through the whole character generation. Then at the end click on Export, and pick a file name for the character. That saves the character for later. Do this for all the self-created NPCs you want.
Then when you want to start a new game, go to the New Game button, create your main character there, and as Acadian said at the end click on Create Party. It will show a list of 6 character slots, with the one you just created at the upper left. Then you can go to the other slots and pick Import, and select the characters you pregenerated before.
This is handy because it gives you plenty of time to pregenerate each custom NPC. Especially since if there is not a portrait you like, you can exit the game and go find/make one. Or if you want to exit the game to check on a rule about skills or something. Then you don't have to start completely over.
Acadian: Now you have me thinking of doing BG2EE with January as a Paladin, and bringing in a couple of friends. Maybe Okami/Ryo as a Fighter/Thief. Or as a Thief dual-classed to Fighter. All I ever use a thief for is traps and lockpicking. Once those are at 100, I don't see much need for more Thief levels. Then maybe Gadget as a Cleric. That is how I ran him in Icewind Dale.
Then maybe I could also run Aerie as a sorcerer. I never thought of running Minsc as a Monk! The last time I made him a Barbarian.
Okay cool I'll try looking for that next time I'm playing some BG.
So Buffy's still splitting our game time between ESO and BGII EE. We rely quite heavily on the editor to tweak things and have at least a couple games in BGII going. What seems to be giving us the most fun is Buffy running solo as an elven no-melee mystic archer. She is sort of similar to a Shadowdancer thief dualed to Mage with a boatload of bow enhancement - and little resembles any vanilla class.
About the fact she is no melee. Psychologically, do you think there's any connection, even a subconscious one, that this has anything to do with your former career as a pilot in the Air Force? I don't know if you ever saw combat, but as a pilot, you would've gotten that perspective where you'd never have to see combat first hand. Everything's very precise, you might only get one chance to fire that missile into its target, but everything's also from a distance. You'd be trained in this way. Which is similar to your elf, who's entire approach toward combat is specifically geared toward not dealing with enemies in close quarters.
It's a stretch, I know, but this is how I think in terms of my own characters, sometimes. I sometimes realize there are certain aspects of them that I've subconsciously inserted or inspired from my own habits/psyche/emotions/whatever. If I roll somebody who is particularly evil for instance, there are times I realize what's really going on when they become torturous, or gross, or whatever. Maybe I'm releasing pent-up anger from the past, or dealing with stress which is going on in my day-to-day.
But I have my limits. I could never roll a Rattler, for instance. Because there's just nothing there in my own head which equates to somebody THAT evil.
Damn, sorry. I need coffee! ☕
Nope. I was a pilot in the Marine Corps and we get plenty of opportunities to take metal to the face. Lol. Buffy's no-melee fetish stems from the fact that she is too small and weak to do anything with a 'hitting stick' except piss off her foe. Nor is she strong enough to properly wear real protective armor. Hence, she learned early on to rely on ranged weaponry with magic, speed and stealth to compensate for her limitations. At least she's a small target.
It is cool that you are getting back to BGII after all this time. I still enjoy playing those 20 year old games. They are as fun as they ever were. More fun, as now I know how to mod them with the console and save game editors.
Thanks, SubRosa, and I certainly agree. EE was a dramatic improvement since BGII became unplayable for me years ago due to glitches. Thanks for your comments through the thread regarding the editor as it really provides the flexibility that I want. I've been running Buffy in numerous combinations and set ups but keep coming back to going solo as a mystic archer being the most fun - sniping and casting with no melee.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now y’all. Anyone here going to check it out?
I'm curious about BG3 but, like all D&D games, it starts with a couple inherent drawbacks. D&D rules try to preclude bow + magic and force you to bow + melee if you wanna be an archer. And for mages, the cumbersomeness of pre-memorizing spells the night before pretty much rules out regular mages and sorcerers can't multi/dual class. . . . I do look forward to seeing some reviews of it though.
BG3 was made by Larian, who also did the Divinity Original Sin games. I played D:OS 1, and it looks very similar to BG3. It is a 3d isometric game. But it is turn-based, rather than real time with pause, unlike previous Neverwinter, Baldur's, and Icewind Dale games. That has its pluses and minuses.
I personally find it more minus, as turn based games in general are slower, and drag combat out. They also add in micro-managing things, like how far you can move and still attack in a turn, change weapons, stand or kneel, etc... Plus your party cannot move in formation and act as a unit, which makes teamwork harder, and battles more chaotic, as you quickly get all spread out. The real time with pause in games like Pillars makes combat flow a lot more smoothly.
Also, because it is Larian making it, there is no command console to tweak the game with, either to cheat or just fix bugs (I cannot imagine playing an Elder Scrolls game without the command line to fix bugs, especially for quests).
It does have mod support. But I am not sure how mod creation works. I did not see any developer supplied modding tools. So my guess it is something like Pillars of Eternity 2, where you can use an advanced text editor like Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code and write it all out in code.
Well, given that the reviews seem to indicate that it is good, and the fact that people in my D&D group are enjoying it, I decided to take the plunge and get Baldur’s Gate 3 for my PC. I will post my impressions once I have spent enough time with the game.
I am eager to hear more about it too. In spite of what I said about turn based games, I am still thinking of getting it myself.
Should I do a new thread for it or do you folks think it’s fine to discuss it in this one?
This is probably a good one to keep it in. We are already talking about it here, and it is in the series.
Very good. I’ve still not made it out of the character creator yet, so it may be a bit before I can talk about it. And I promise, no spoilers.
Well, just put the spoilers in
Ok, I broke down and tried out BG3.
It is an addictive game. I have been playing it non-stop since I got it.
I also have not played any of the recent editions of D&D. I stopped at 3.5. So it might be that this is similar to 5th edition rules. I don't know. I have seen a mod that adds more 5E spells, so I am guessing it might not be.
It does feel a lot like the Divinity Original Sin games. But the ability to mod helps alleviate that. And it does have more of a D&D feel than that ever did. The old stats are there. The skills are different from what I am used to, and they have profiencies, which give you a bonus to your skills. There are also Feats, but it feels like you get them a lot less than you did in D&D 3.5.
There is no command console.
There are a lot things the game does not tell you. So buckle in.
You will find mounds of dirt by passing perception tests. But you cannot do anything with them without a shovel. You can buy one in the Druid Grove, which is the first settlement that you come across, relatively soon into the game. You can also get them randomly. You only need one, just leave it in your inventory the entire game.
There is a new system of Resting. There are two types: Short Rest and Long Rest. A short rest heals half you damage, and I think refreshes your spells. A long rest takes you back to your camp. It is its own worldspace, where all of your companions will be waiting. You can talk to each there, change out who is in your party, that sort of thing. Kind of typical in most RPGs these days, like the Normandy in Mass Effect. You can sleep there, and it heals all your damage, refreshes all your magic, etc... However, to sleep you need camping supplies, aka food. You will find it throughout the game. You need 40 points of food to sleep. So don't sell any of it. Hoard your vittles.
There are about 8 or 9 companions in the game. They are called Origin Characters. Each has their own quest, like companions usually do. You will find a Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, and Wizard pretty quickly. There is a Warlock in the Druid Grove, and his quest leads you to the Barbarian (Karlach, whom he thinks is a baddie, but she's not). What is unusual about the Origin characters is that you can play one as your main character if you want. And I think the companion version is still out there, and you can recruit them. Or so I gather.
There is also a special Origin character called the Dark Urge. He starts as a Dragonborn (Fus Roh Dah!) Sorcerer. But if you play him, you can change him to any race, class, sex, appearance you want. The only thing that you cannot change is his background, which is the Dark Urge. Basically you have an evil past, and through the game you will be continually prompted to commit evil acts by a voice in your head. Or so I understand it. You don't have to give in to the voice, you can still play a good character. But those urges are always there. I might try this out when playing Blood Raven.
I think there are some other non-Origin character companions too, like Minsc and Jaheria. I have not gotten far enough to find them however. Apparently you can find Jaheria in Act 2, and Minsc in Act 3.
It has all the standard D&D classes. You can multiclass. Though how is not obvious. When you level up, there will be a little button in the window telling you your new class updates that you can press to multiclass instead. I do not think there is an XP penalty for multiclassing. And I do not know if there is any limit to the number of classes you can take.
You can edit your character's appearance. It was not as intuitive as I would like. I spent about a day constantly going back and restarting to tweak January's appearance. The main thing to start with is that there are four body types. You pick them at the bottom of the screen from a row of little buttons. They are average woman, average man, big woman, big man. In addition you have a choice of sex at the top of the screen, giving you options for female, male, and non-binary. I went with NB for January to see what that is like. It has no bearing on your appearance at all. So far someone called me "They" once in the game, I think it might be just that pronoun use that is different.
There are no sliders for face or body. You have about half a dozen preset faces to choose from for each race. They are well done though. So no complaints. You can pick your hairstyle from a bunch of options. Plus colors for hair, eyes, makeup, scars, facepaint, and the like. You can also select from several voices. The acting is good. But my only complaint is that they are all English, so in the end they all feel really similar. It would have been nice to have more variety. Even if it was just choosing between Posh, Chav, Irish, and Scottish. I still can't tell when my character is talking, because I can't distinguish her voice from most everyone else's.
Speaking of which every voice in the game for every character is English. Even goblins.
You can move things in this game. I mean like crates and barrels. In fact, you can even pick up chests and put them in your inventory. So if you cannot pick a lock on one, just carry it with you for later. The game never tells you can do this, and it is not very intuitive. It won't tell you what you can or cannot move. Just mouseover what you want to try to move, click and hold, and try to drag it aside. If it is moveable, it will show you a gray outline of where it will go.
This matters, because there are several places with levers hidden behind crates, and you have to move them to find the lever, to open a secret door, to reach the rest of the dungeon. There is also a very early dungeon with a bunch of oil traps on the floor, that will flood the room with oil, and then firebolts will fly from the walls and ignite it. But if you move crates over the traps, that will block the oil, and you might survive.
Magic use is still something I am getting used to. You have cantrips, which you can use with no limits, so that is good. I think that is from 5E. You will have some basic damage spells, that do an ok amount of damage, like 1d8. I created January as a High Half Elf, and she started with a Firebolt cantrip that does 1d8 damage. It is nice. Not awesome, but nice.
You still have to prepare your spells from a list, at least with cleric, paladin, and wizard. But you cannot take a spell multiple times. I think the game lets you cast the same spell as many times as you want, until you get to your casting limit for the day. You can change out your prepared spells, but then you have to rest for them to take effect (not sure if it is a short or long rest). I have not tried a sorcerer, so I am not sure how they differ from wizards in this. Though I might try multiclassing January as one later.
There are weapon and armor presidencies. But it seems like you can use anything you are not proficient in. If you do have one, it unlocks extra actions you do with them. And there are a lot of those. Everyone has a bunch of basic actions like jump, crouch, dip (as in dip an arrow into a flame to turn it into a flaming arrow), shove, etc... There is even a non-lethal attack mode which is nice to have for a change. Then on top of that you get bonus actions granted by weapon feats, like special attacks. Then you get bonus actions due to your class. Then you get spells. Then you get feats. When you are playing a spellcaster you can get a ton of stuff in your action bar really fast. Thankfully there is a Custom view where you can put the things you use on a regular basis.
This is a very vertical game. By that I mean there is a lot of stuff you can climb on top, like roofs, hills, cliffs, etc... Height matters in combat, as you get penalties to attack enemies higher up, and bonuses to attack ones lower down. You can also jump across chasms.
It is Turn based. And you cannot hold your action. You have to act, or end your turn, in order. If you have multiple characters going continuously, you can pick their order however. There are also regular actions, and bonus actions. Some spells and abilities are bonus ones, which you can take in addition to a regular one. For example, the Barbarian's rage is a bonus action. So take that first, then you can make your attack as a regular action. There are a lot of bonus actions like that, which you want to do first, because they usually are minor buffs.
Fighting is intense. Like the Divinity games, pretty much every fight is a boss fight. There are no trash mobs, no walkovers. Even goblins are a real threat. Once you are out of the tutorial, you will be taking a lot of damage, every fight. I cannot imagine playing this game without a cleric in the party. They will spending a lot of time healing. I rolled January as a Paladin, and took the sublcass with the most healing options, and I am glad of it. Both she and the cleric spend a lot of time healing the party during battles.
The map is that from the Divinity games, and it is... confusing. There is so much stuff on it, but most of it makes no sense when you look at it. There is no compass heading, so you can lose your bearings really fast. I found that keeping the mini-map unlocked works the best for me, because that does have compass headings on it. So I can look at that to see where I am going.
There is fast travel. But it is only to waypoints that you discover as you go. You can fast travel from any point on the map. But you can only to to the specific waypoints.
Oh, when you rest and go to your camp, after you wake up the next day it takes you right back to where you were on the world map. Also time does not seem to pass. It is always daytime.
There is an option to respec your character, changing class, appearance, etc... Once you are out of the tutorial the first dungeon you come across will probably be the Dank Crypt. You have to explore down into it. There is a secret button you need to discover in an area behind a statue of a deity. Pushing it opens a secret room. Within is a room with a giant sarcophagus. Activate it, and an undead guy named Withers pops out and talks to you. He will leave, and will then be in your camp. Go to him, and he will respec your character for a small fee. But you cannot change your appearance or race.
The camera is very limited. I cannot find a first person option. You can zoom in and out a certain amount. But you cannot change the angle from which you view the game. So you cannot ever look up, which can be annoying when you are trying to fight someone above you. You can press the O key to go to a top down view however. You can also rotate the camera a full 360 degrees, which is nice.
Ok, mods. There is mod support. But it is not robust. I have no idea how the mods are made. They are binary files however, and there are no modding tools. So I don't know people make them. But there are a lot of them. So maybe it is not too hard.
Mods come in .pak files. Unzip them from whatever zip or rar file you download them from and copy them to this folder: Username\AppData\Local\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\Mods
Then you have to use a mod manger to active them, otherwise the game will still ignore them. https://github.com/LaughingLeader/BG3ModManager/tree/master seems to be the most popular one, and I am using it. There is no real installation. Just copy it to your drive and run the .exe. You will want to set up your game path file in its preferences once you start it.
It had some bugs when the game was released, but those were fixed already. You will not need this anymore, as it fixed in an update to the game. However, the same fix causes the game to lock up whenever you need to make a dice roll if you still have a Mod Fixer. So delete your old Mod Fixers.
You will need the https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/550, otherwise your game will CTD on startup. This comes with an additional option file that removes an annoying error message, which I recommend using as well. Otherwise it terrifies you by telling you it cannot create a working story. Even though it is fine and you can just click that to make the message go away. The optional mod just removes that message.
These did not originally appear in the BG3 Mod Manger. But now they do show up at the bottom under Overrides. You cannot turn them off or on, they always work so long as they are in the mods folder.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/590 - this is an absolute necessity. Otherwise you will need to be doing a full rest after every battle. It replenishes all your spells and abilities after every fight. I would not play the game without it, given that nearly every fight is a boss fight. It won't replenish your health however.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/538 - this mod increases the number of short rests you can take. I am using the 99 rests option. The downside is that once this is used, it is always active. Even if you remove the mod, you cannot change to a different version without starting a New Game.
These two mods do not work together! Well, yes they do, here is how. Start with only Short Rest Tweaks active. Start you game, make a new save, exit. Now deactivate short rest tweaks. Then turn on Action Resources Replenish. Go back to your new save, and you will still have your higher number of short rests.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/206 - This is your basic character trainer. It gives your player and all companions a potion at the start of the game. You drink it, and it will put a bunch of options down in your action bar. You can change your stats by adding or subtracting from them, gain feats, proficiencies, increase movement rate, armor class, etc... You can use each option multiple times, to get the end stat you want. When you are done, there is an option to click on to finish. The potion remains in your inventory, and be used again as many times as you want.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/105 - increases your carry weight to some insane amount. Basically you won't have to worry about how much you can carry, and just play the game and have fun instead.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/377 - is one I am trying out that raises the level cap to 20. It is normally at 20. Since I am still only level 4, I am not sure if this is good, bad, or whatever.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/570 - is another one I am not using right now. It also raises the level cap, but in a different way. You can still only reach level 12 in any one class. But if you multiclass you can reach a total of 20 in both combined.
In addition there are some race specific mods I am using, but they are probably superfluous with Choose Your Stats. They are Elf Unleashed, Half-Elf Unleashed, Human Unleashed, etc... They basically add a few extra starting feats to each race in question.
Wow, thanks for the detailed info!
Yes, the game is 100% a “tweaked†version of D&D 5E. It’s probably as close as you can get to the tabletop experience without actually participating in an actual tabletop game. It’s very, very close.
I’m having a good time with BG3, but I do have some… observations about the game.
1.) The listing for nudity and strong sexual content on the rating is no joke! Heed it. Indeed, your party’s character models come equipped with removable underwear that, upon removal, provides you with a good view of all of your characters’ bits and bobs. There is an option that supposedly allows for you to “turn off†the nudity, but it doesn’t seem to do much beyond maybe obscuring some of the more explicit details of the body (like female breasts have their nipples obscured). I’m currently playing a Dragonborn, a race of lizard like humanoids that are descended from dragons, and instead of a cloaca like you might expect for a lizard being, for whatever reason the males have human like genitalia, only covered in scales. With the nudity turned “off†you can still see all of this on him, so I’m not sure what is going on with that. I guess the best practice here if you don’t want to see your characters naked is just to never ever click on the underwear that they are currently equipped with. I should probably play around with this more but honestly, I don’t want to, lol. Whatever, I can deal with it, just not really sure what it adds to the game.
2.) After you’ve spent 6 hours creating your character in the character creator, the game forces you to do it all over again on a separate character! Yay! The game tells you absolutely nothing about who or what this character is besides referring to them as a “Guardianâ€. Since it allows you almost full control over what this character looks like (they apparently can’t be of the Dragonborn race for some reason), it seems that this character is going to be important to the story somehow. It annoys me a bit that we get to customize this character while knowing nothing about them and their relevance to the story, but not really a big deal.
3.) You can not max out a stat at the beginning of the game even if you have enough points to do so. It is possible I’m just not understanding why but it seems like an arbitrary limitation. In the D&D 5E campaigns I’ve played, we either roll dice for our stats or the DM will give us a spread of set numbers we can use wherever we want, so this part is a bit unfamiliar to me in the game.
4.) Goblins, despite being evil little brats, are frickin’ adorable in this game and I just want to cuddle them.
I have the nudity turned off too, and I only took a character's underwear off once to see what they did with a non-binary character. That was enough for me.
It does not surprise me though. Cyberpunk was exactly the same. It seems to be the current trend in video games that there are options to pick for genitals. If you have the nudity turned on you will get options to choose your character's genitals, the same as other body parts.
The Guardian character is a mystery to me too. I just skimmed over creating them. I did see a character in the cinematic right before the crash who looked like the Guardian. I think it was when the nautiloid was flying over the city of Baldur's Gate. There was another guy beside him with a telescope.
I think this character shows up later in the game. Not as a companion, but rather in cutscenes, maybe as some sort of mentor/narrator? I have only read some mentions of it in reviews, I have not gotten to them actually being in the game.
Given the English accents and small statures, Goblins are basically homicidal versions of Oliver Twist. But instead of sweepin' ya' chimmnay fur ya guv, they want to gut you and eat your innards.
Some other observations.
You do not need a Rogue to pick locks and deal with traps. First you need Thieves Tools for locks, and Disarm Trap Kits for traps. Sometimes picking locks/disabling traps uses one up, sometimes it does not. If you fail it uses one up, but sometimes when I succeed it also uses one. So stock up on these.
Doing either is a Dexterity check. It is modified by the Sleight of Hand skill, which gives you a bonus. There is also a pair of gloves you get early on that gives you another bonus to it. I think there are other things that can also boost it, but don't remember what they are right now.
Detecting traps is a Wisdom check, and uses the Perception skill. So having a proficiency in Perception will give you a bonus at that. There is no trap detection mode. It just happens passively as you go through the world, and all your party members will roll for it. So there is a pretty good chance someone will see a trap if it is there. However, the game does not automatically stop movement upon finding a trap. So it is not unusual to see it, and then step on it before you can stop (turns out right clicking with that mouse will halt all actions. Too bad I never remember that).
They have a sort of Karma system that allows you to reroll failures in most tests. You build up these points by doing inspirational things. Each background from character generation has certain actions that accrue inspirations. This is in both the PC and the Origin companions. You can bank a total of 4 of them. Each time you want to do a reroll, it uses one of these points. It is a nice system that can help prevent your game from being ruined by one bad roll.
The environment is something you can often alter. By which I mean throwing an acid or fire bomb will set the area around the target on fire or bathed in acid. But there is a 2nd Level Cleric spell called Create/Destroy Water that you can cast on the such areas. If you go the create route, it causes a rainstorm, and that puts out the fire and acid. But if you then cast a lightning spell in the pool of water it forms, it will cause damage to everyone in the pool.
The same is with things like pools of oil. You can shoot fire into them and cause a big explosion. There are also barrels of oil in some places that you can shoot with fire spells to blow them up. I have seen barrels of water too.
So keep in mind that you can probably manipulate the environment to your advantage. Usually I only notice these things after the battle is over.
Edit to add:
Oh, and there is no Alignment in this game. Though Paladins still have to follow a code of ethics based on their order.
You can also throw things. There is a button for it in the Common actions list. Those things you can move like crates, you can also pick up and toss around. You can do this in combat, and literally use them as throwing weapons. I just tried it with a crate, and killed a guy with it. Hilarious!
There are generic Hirelings you can recruit as well. You get them from the same NPC who respecs your characters. I have not tried them, but my impression is that they are the same as the generic Adventurer's you can hire in the Pillars of Eternity games. You basically create them from scratch and they join your party. But they have no quest or anything unique about them.
I have been confused on how the game does armor and dexterity bonuses. I just found this, so I will post it here:
Light Armour: Full Dexterity modifier added to based equipped armor.
Medium Armour: Gain +2 max Dexterity modifier plus equipped armor.
Heavy Armour: No benefit from Dexterity modifier
Khajiit, is this how D&D 5E does it? I have not played since back in the 3.5 days, when it was all over the map what armor allowed what Dex bonus. I remember the Chain Shirt was kind of the sweet spot, giving you a +4 or +5 to AC, but allowing a similar Dex bonus. Now, it's not nearly as OP. But this way is simpler.
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-oathbreaker-subclass/. It sounds a lot like the old Anti-Paladin/Blackguard class from older D&D. Basically your evil paladin, who looks good in black.
Some notes on Classes.
BG3 is still pretty much the same as D&D 3.x when it comes to the base classes and multi-classing. Every time you level up, you can pick a new class to do it in. From what I read there is no experience penalty for it, and so no favored classes. You can be a level 1 character in every class if you want.
There are no ability score requirements for multiclassing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/14ugffa/guide_to_multiclassing_in_bg3_and_some/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1
There are no prestige classes like in 3.5. But the standard classes do have subclasses.
I have only played a few classes so far. So my observations are limited. However:
Paladins absolutely rack ass in this game! Holy fuck are they badass! They get divine smite at level 2, and it adds a huge amount to your melee damage when you use it. It acts like a 1st level spell, so it uses your spell slots. So you are limited. Not that anything can take more a few of those and remain standing. As you level up, you can upcast it to do more damage.
The Fighter I was not that impressed with. I know they get some stuff, still have good hit points and all the weapon and armor presidencies. But they lack a lot of the really cool Wow abilities that other classes get. Like Divine Smite above.
The Barbarian is also an absolute beast. They don't have to go unarmored, but they start with an ability called Unarmored Defense. When they are not wearing armor they add their Constitution modifier to their armor class. And of course your Dex modifier adds on to that as well, as normal. So really that is the route you want to go. Plus they get the highest hit die, and their Rage is a Bonus Action. So you can Rage out and still attack in the same turn.
There is an Origin companion who is a Barbarian. I did this with her, gave her a pair of bracers of defense, have the cleric cast a shield spell on her, and she has the best AC in the group. As soon as I found her, I stopped using the Fighter and put her in instead.
Clerics start a little slow. But they pick up speed around 4th level and up. They start with a spell called Guiding Bolt, which not only does damage, but it also makes the next attack upon the target have Advantage. That must be some kind of 5th Edition thing. It basically means the target is vulnerable to things like a Rogue's Sneak Attack. It took me a long time to realize this, and was criminally under-utilizing this ability. Use either in combo with a Rogue, or just to set up your tank's next attack.
Inflict Wounds is another 1st level spell that does huge damage, but you have to be in melee range.
Shield of Faith gives the target a +2 to AC until the next long rest. Really good spell. Paladin's get this too.
Create/Destroy Water is handy for putting out fires, which does matter, as people throwing firebombs or acid sprays at you will set the ground on fire or make it acidic for multiple turns, doing damage to you the whole time. Creating water will put it out. On the opposite side, mud will significantly slow your movement, maybe making it impossible for your tanks to close to range. So a Destroy Water will remove the mud (I think, I have not tried it yet). Casting water on someone before they go into a fire will also give them resistance to it.
Silence is one to be careful with. It is an area effect spell, that cuts off all magic use by everyone who is in the zone, friend and foe alike. Since it works a spell, a Paladin's Divine Smite is included in this. So be careful kids!
Spirit Guardians is a 3rd level spell (so you get it a character level 5). It sets up a zone around that does damage to all enemies that come within it, every round. Very handy. You can cast this, be curing people, and still kill the bad guys at the same time.
The Rogue I just could not get a good handle on, so did not keep in the party for long. I could not figure out how to get Sneak Attacks on people. (This was before I figured out the Guiding Bolt spell). I think it is also supposed to be possible if the Rogue is attacking at target that is already engaged with a party member. But that never seemed to work for me when I tried it. Maybe I just never had the right chance, and don't remember.
The Wizard did not do much for me. He kept almost dying too quickly, which is a common thing all around in this game at the start. However, being a wizard seems to work more like a sorcerer did in the old days. All the spellcasting classes choose what spells they are going to prepare. Then they can cast any of them any number of times. So you don't take Identify 3 times, and Magic Missile once. There is a limit to your casting slots for each level, which tops out at 4 per level for everyone. This makes wizards a lot more useful IMHO.
The Cleric works exactly the same way with their spells. They have a large pool of spells to chose from, but they have to prepare a set amount of them between Rests.
I am not sure how Sorcerers work in all this. I suspect that they do not have the big pool of spells to pick from at any time and change out as needed. I *think* on level up you learn a small number of spells, and you can only cast them. So you never go through the preparation phase, but have less to chose from overall.
Sorcerers also get access to something called Sorcery points at Level 2, and can do Metamagic with them. That seems to be things like altering spells' range, how many target's they effect, turning off friendly fire for area spells, etc... I think you can also use these points to get extra spell uses for Paladin abilities like Divine Smite. A lot of guides suggest the Paladin/Sorcerer route, just for the this.
The Warlock is a class I have been having fun with. Their basic Blast invocation does 1-10 damage, so that is a huge step up from the older versions of D&D where it was only 1-6. You can add knockback to it, and extra damage based on your charisma. And at higher level you can multiple beams. At the start of the game, your Warlock will probably be the best ranged fighter you have.
They can also create a magical Pact weapon that they can summon, or turn a regular weapon into one. It makes them work pretty good as a sniper mage/melee fighter. Plus they have some good armor magic. There is an invocation that gives them the Mage Armor spell without using a spell slot. Pus other spells that give them bonus hit points.
Screenshots. These are tough. FRAPs does not work with BG3. I have no idea why not.
However, Windows 10 does have a built in Game Bar feature that you can turn on in your Settings -> Gaming section. You start with Win + G. Then start your game. In game press Win + Alt + PrntScrn to save a picture. It will save it to your Videos\Captures folder.
https://i.imgur.com/Fx9ktfK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/t6I5OiK.jpg
In other news, I decided to stop using that Level Cap increase mod. My characters are getting too overpowered at this point. I am leveling up twice a gaming session. So I might try that other mod that lets you get up to 12 / 12 level with multiclassing. Or not use one at all. I'll probably start a new game for this, given that now I have a better idea of how the game works.
Oh, and other things the game does not tell you. You will find little crevices and burrows in your journeys. But you are too big to get into them. If you have a Gnome or Halfling you can cast a Diminuation spell or potion on them, and then they can get in. Or a mage can use the Gaseous Form spell. Thankfully I took this with Wyll the Warlock. But I missed a lot of those places before he could get it.
I just looked it up, and there is a Cat wildshape that the Druids can do, and it can get into those little burrows. So you were right.
I got Astarion up to 3rd level, and subclassed him as an Assassin. One of the abilities he got from that gives him Advantage at the beginning of every fight. So that gives him a Sneak Attack right out of the gate now.
I have been playing with him in the party tonight. I found a couple of mods that change his appearance, one that gives him a softer face, and another that gives him long black hair. So now he looks like an androgynous anime hero/villain. Which I find works much better for me.
I am working the sneak attacks better now, getting that extra party member in close to his targets to trigger the sneak attacks. I think it makes the sneak attack automatically, even if you don't specifically click on the button to make it a sneak attack. Or at least that was how it looked when I was reading the combat log.
https://i.imgur.com/tVwOQr5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/t2nX74w.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KiTOn8w.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/eg5H9UT.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/aL9jE9M.jpg
My youngest son is playing the game. He tells me that the story is really good. I've watched a bit and aside from some nit-picking details it's a WOW
Khajiit: I am finding that Astarion is growing on me. Having restarted January's game a few days ago, I discovered that one of the recent updates changed your first encounter with him. Originally he ambushes you and holds a knife to your throat, accusing you of being a Mind Flayer thrall. In the new version he ambushes you and pulls a knife out, and accuses you of being a thrall. I think it is because people were just instantly killing him with the original way.
And I think his come on in the camp was something more. I don't think I am spoiling anything when I say that he is a vampire. I mean, the red eyes and fangs that he has are kind of dead giveaways. He is looking for a new source of blood.
January is the Oath of the Ancients I think? Is is the nature-based one, that gives Speak to Animals and other nature stuff. The emphasis on kindness and hope it tenets has is what I thought aligned best with January's own moral compass. It is the same reason she is a Kind Wayfarer in the Pillars of Eternity games.
Macole: It is a very, very complicated game. And it can be very unforgiving. But it is also very addictive. It really draws you in. The story is indeed well done. It starts out appearing simple. You and you party were abducted by Mind Flayers and had their tadpoles implanted in your brains. You escaped, and now have to get them out before the turn you into Mind Flayers. But it very quickly becomes more complicated. There is a lot more going on than originally meets the eye.
I think January head-butted Astarion my last time around too!
Skorge has a soul patch!
You can actually talk to the animals you come across in the game, like rats, bears, and the like. You won't learn anything critical from them, but it is cool that they took the time to implement that much in the first place. The same with dead bodies. In some cases they do have things they can tell you that are quest-related.
A note on multiclassing. When you take your second class, you will not get a tab for its spells/abilities on your action bar, like you do with your starting class. So you have to manually put all their actions into the Custom tab.
This game has so much stuff in it that I never would have expected. I did not know that the Forest Gnomes could do that.
Sorcerers have to pick a sublcass at chargen. One of them is the Dragon Disciple (so there is the old prestige class worked into the regular system). When you pick that, you have to pick a sub-sub type, of which kind of dragon your ancient ancestor was. I took Blue for January, because it comes with a lightning spell.
Likewise, Wild Magic is one of the other Sorcerer subclasses. That was in BG1EE as a separate class, one their new NPC Neera was one. So there is that class also folded into the regular structure.
Wizards also have to pick a subclass later on. Theirs are all the standard Wizard specialties, like Evocation, Abjuration, Necromancy, etc.. You get some bonuses with spells in that school. But thankfully you don't get locked out of casting spells from certain other schools, like in the older versions of D&D.
Fighters have something like that too, and so do Barbarians. So it seems that every class has a subclass that you have to pick at Chargen or at level 3.
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Nice pics. January's threads has got style galore.
One thing about this game that is becoming very frustrating is that it often punishes you for attacking monsters, at least if you are a paladin. The problem stems from the fact that the developers want you to be able to play either the good or evil route. Which means you either wind up working for the Big Bad - a cult called The Absolute - or against them. To make that possible the cultists won't be initially hostile to you. So you can walk right up to goblins as they are torturing people and they just say hello to you. Which really ruins immersion for starters.
It also makes playing a paladin difficult. If you just attack them, you become an Oathbreaker, basically a fallen paladin. Nevermind that the goblin you attacked literally just regaled you with how he tortured, murdered and ate someone, and put added emphasis onto the latter fact by pointing out the meat from said person roasting on the fire. Killing that guy is evil. Being chummy with him is good.
Riiight.
The only way you can fight the members of the Absolute without breaking your oath is by walking up to them and talking to them. Then you have to find a dialogue option to start a fight. The important thing here is that way you are not attacking them - who are as far as the game is concerned - a neutral NPC. They go hostile before you swing on them, so killing them does not break your oath.
Sometimes there are no dialogue options to start such a fight however. So then you cannot fight the bad guys. It gets very frustrating, especially in the ruined temple at the end of Act I, where the Absolute have an outpost.
I am not sure how this works for non-Paladins. I suspect that the game does not care if you just attack them on sight. There is no Alignment system in this game. So there are no points for good or evil, or lawful or chaotic acts. Except where Paladins are concerned with their Oaths.
I finished Act 1 finally, after doing everything (I think) there is to do. There is a lot of stuff, hidden away in little nooks and crannies on the maps.
I finally got to meet the mysterious Guardian, whom you are prompted to create the appearance of at the start of the game. They appear to you in a dream, where you meet them in astral space as a battle goes on in the distance. They tell you that they have already saved you once, and replay a flashback of the nautiloid crash, and how after you were thrown out of it, some force held you up in mid air to prevent you from splatting across the landscape.
This was the second appearance of the Guardian I think. The first was also in a dream sequence, but with even less.
I was made instantly suspicious however. I have no evidence to back it up, but I think the Guardian is the mysterious leader of the Absolute cult, the Big Bad of the entire game. I think they are trying to groom you to work for them.
But maybe I am just being paranoid.
That could be too. Though they *say* that they are keeping the tadpoles in check. And clearly something unusual is going on there. Numerous people point out that ceremophosis should have happened already. Somehow the tadpoles have been hijacked, or mutated, and turned the people infected with them into the lieutenants of the Absolute.
The main menu of the game has a picture of a subterranean temple with a skull. I remember that from the previous games. I think it is a temple to Bhaal. So I wonder if the three lieutenants of the Absolute are the Dead Three - Bhaal, Bane, and Myrkul. There was a book in the game about them, and there is a loading screen blurb. That might make the Absolute the original god of Death, Jergal.
I have seen some speculation online about who the Guardian is. Some people think they are Mystra. Though I suspect not. Given how the Guardian makes a comment in your head about Mystra after Elminster comes to talk to Gale, and deliver a new revelation.
That was interesting btw. Elminster appeared in Baldur's Gate 1 as I recall. He has the same opening line here as he did there. After that he is Gandalf. They seriously made an effort to not just make him look like Gandalf, but the voice actor was making a real effort to sound and speak like him as well. As I am a LOTR stan, I love it.
The maps in this game are small by comparison to the Elder Scrolls or Fallout verses. But there is so much packed into them that it takes forever to go through every nook and cranny. I spent days in the Druid Grove alone.
I kind of accidentally found out who the Guardian is by looking at the wrong article. Suffice to say, we were both wrong.
I am well into Act 2 now, and I can say that the Githyanki and Mind Flayer involvement is not tangential to the story. They are central to it. Read every book and Gith disc you can, in order to familiarize yourself with their history.
I still don't know who the Absolute is. So I am not sure if they are a Gith or Mind Flayer, I suspect neither. Somehow they have hijacked the Mind Flayer tadpoles, and they are using them to create a cult of super telepaths to take over/destroy the world. I still suspect the Dead Three gods: Bhaal, Bane, and Myrkul are their lieutenants, because I keep seeing subtle references to them in the game. I kind of wonder if the Absolute is the goddess Shar. As both Shar and Selune are prominent in the game.
https://omny.fm/shows/stuff-to-blow-your-mind/from-the-vault-mind-flayers
Edit: And I just found out that Volo (who you meet in the Druid Grove, and later in the game at the Goblin Camp) is a character from the Faerun setting. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Volothamp_Geddarm
I started a new Warlock character today.
It feels really good so far.
The Eldritch Blast visuals and sound effects are based AF in this game.
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Just wait until you get to some fights in high places. You will be blasting bad guys off of cliffs to their doom, sometimes into rivers of lava below.
Good times.
And I love your nicknames: Assy, Lazy, and Shady are awesome. That means you have Karly, Gally, and Wyllie coming up.
In other news, I took Gale out for a bit. He becomes a lot of fun once you pass 5th level. Fireballs! He can clean out half a room in the first turn.
I am about half way through Act II now. Maybe more. It is weird because you start the Act with two options for how to move forward. Take the road west toward Baldur's Gate, or go through the Underdark in the same direction. I read that either way you pick, you wind up in the same place at the end. And apparently you can still go back afterward and explore the other path.
Edit to Add: Ok, I looked it up. If you take the Underdark route from the Grymforge, it leads you to the Shadowlands. It just puts you closer to the Inn of Last Light, which you want to find sooner rather than later as a lot of quests start from there. Plus you can get protection from the curse on the Shadowlands. I think you just get on an elevator in the Grymforge, and appear in the Shadowlands, with nothing between. But I am not positive. So it is the quicker route.
However, if you go the aboveground route you go through a small-ish map on the way. It has some outdoor encouters. But more importantly there is a destroyed Lathander temple with monsters, and under it is a Githyanki creche. This is directly tied to Lazy and her personal quest. And you will find out more about what is going on with the Artefect, and who might be in it, and why it is so important.
I took the aboveground route, which took me into a really cool (as in, really horrific) area that had been taken over by Shadows. I think I am basically at the end of the act now, as I just assaulted Moonrise Tower, the stronghold of the Absolute. I am not sure, by my guess is that the Underdark route also leads you to Moonrise Tower? I am not sure. Or it could just be that the Underdark route leads you to the Shadowlands.
Shar and Selune are really central to what is going on in the Shadowlands, which was cool. You got to a lot of insight into the inner workings of the Sharrans. It made me uncomfortable having Shady in the party. Because the Sharrans are so plainly evil and manipulative. On one hand I feel sorry for Shadowheart. Shar is plainly using propaganda and manipulating her emotions to make her a puppet. OTOH, she is seeing all this horror in the Shadowlands caused by Shar, and all she can think of is how wonderful it would be to become one of Shar's chosen Dark Justiciars. It does come to a very dramatic head at the end of her personal quest (which is also tied in to the main quest at this point). There is a chance to bring her back from the Dark Side. But I had to roll a 20 to do it.
I also just found out who/what the Absolute is, and the same for their 3 lieutenants. I am not going to spoil it.
I have reached the end of Act II. Some quests and places in the world do have to be done in order, otherwise you get locked out of them for good. For example, once I completed the main quest for Act II, I found I cannot go back to the Act I areas at all.
I tried going back to the Grymforge from the Shadowlands. I found a small temple of Shar area that was empty, and the elevator down to the Grymforge. But it would not let me use the elevator, and the fast travel waypoints are gone from the map.
I also found that some quests I did not finish are now impossible to complete. Most notably there is one to fix the Shadowlands.
I also got lucky, in that I accidentally did one in the right order. Save the Tieflings is one you want to do before you make your final, big assault upon Moonrise Tower. I did this by accident. I went in the tower and found them first. Apparently if you do the big attack, you get locked out of saving them, and fail the quest.
Likewise, if I had not done the Githyanki creche already, that would now be locked out as well.
The Find Mol quest cannot be finished in Act II. It goes on to Act III, so you don't have to worry about being locked out of that one.
So be careful before you finish the Acts, and make sure you have done everything there is to do first.
I would say it is actually best if you have Wyll in the party when you find Karlach, as I think there is more dialogue that way. Talk to Karlach first. There is a lot more going on than Wyll is aware of. You do not have to kill her to keep both her and him in the party.
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Lots more adventuring tonight. I finished Astarion's quest, and faced down his master Cazador. Cazador's plot to make himself a Daywalker vampire ala Blade was already looking pretty horrific. But it was a lot worse than imagined. However, with friends like Minsc and Boo at our sides, evil was most handily smoted.
This quest - and Astarion - were really well done. There is not much to recommend him at first. He's pretty much straight up Chaotic Evil. But my K-Pop facelift makes him more likeable. Also, as you get to know him, it becomes very plain that he is a victim himself, of Cazador. He was never even allowed to feed on, much less kill any of the people he hunted for over a century. He had to bring them all back to Cazador. He has never actually fed on anything other than animals. H really strikes me very much as the victim of an insanely abusive relationship, which is quite accurate really. It was portrayed with extraordinary depth and emotion.
The final confrontation between him and Cazador was really good. You have an opportunity to redeem him, or go the opposite route and embrace the evil. It should be no surprise what route January guided him on. It made for a very satisfying and cathartic ending.
Besides the choices of Astarion going fully evil or good, there is a second choice to make as well, concerning the other vampire spawn in Cazador's lair. You have to decide to kill them all, or set them free (on the condition that they keep their fangs to themselves). There are no really good choices here. You get to meet them first. They are people. They have names, histories, personalities. They are all victims like Astarion was. Killing them is clearly mass murder. But the alternative is loosing a lot of vampires on the world. And who knows how many deaths they will precipitate?
January again followed her conscience. She could not kill them, even though they were vampires. Everyone deserves a second chance. That brought a familiar feeling of loss. She broke her Oath. Again. Sigh.
In the past I just reloaded and tried a different route. I just did not feel like doing that all over again. So I went back to camp and met the Oathbreaker Paladin waiting for me there. He explained that he does so for every paladin who breaks their oath. He can guide you in the new path as an Oathbreaker. Or he can redeem you and let you reaffirm your Oath.
January paid the man 1,000 gold, and redeemed her Oath. She is not going to be become an Anti-Paladin any time soon. The little ceremony of her doing so was again, nicely done.
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I am closing in on the finale of the game. Just a few more quests left to go.
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*Important Safety Notice*
It seems that Larian made a little stealth update in one of the recent patches. They removed the need to use a Mod Fixer to make mods work. However, the same fix causes the game to lock up whenever you need to make a dice roll if you still have a Mod Fixer. So for example, if you want to pick a lock, or make a Persuasion attempt. So delete your old Mod Fixers. That means physically removing them from your Mods folder, thanks to how the game works.
I beat the game like a red-haired Tiefling stepchild.
Act III in the game takes place in Baldur's Gate, and it is huge. I would guess it took about as long to go through Act III as it did for me to do Acts I and II combined. Every building has something go on inside it, usually related to one quest or another, even if you do not know it until later.
The endgame was good. It was very exciting, not to mention challenging. There are about 4-5 basic endings you can choose, depending on your actions at various points. Mainly they boil down to the Good vs Evil camps. Either you destroy the Elder Brain, or you take control of it and become the Absolute.
The Good route has some more wrinkles in how you go about it. I am going to try to avoid getting too spoilery. You can stick with your Guardian the entire way. But that means betraying the Gith, and killing someone that is very important to the destiny of the Gith races (not Lae'zael). Or you can betray the Guardian and side with the Gith. If you go that route someone has to turn into a Mind Flayer. Either you, the special Gith person in question, or Karlach.
So either way you go the Good route, you have to betray someone, which I did not like. I hope they change that in a patch, and make it possible for the Guardian and the Gith to cooperate, instead of being forced to choose between them. It leaves a sour note to the ending of an otherwise grand adventure.
I think they set up Karlach to be the go to for most people to pick becoming a Mind Flayer if they sided with the Gith. But that was just unthinkable for me. I suspect a lot of other people agree. She seems to be the most beloved of all the companions. She certainly was for me. She is awesome! Even more so than Minsc (way hotter to... and I do mean that literally).
I also figured out who the weird undead guy Withers is (the one you respecs your character and whom you can hire adventurers from). At an early point he asks you what the value of a mortal life is. Later I read an in-game book, where a certain god did the same thing.
There is a post credits cutscene in which he pretty much gives it away.
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Congrats of finishing the game! Thanks for your insights throughout. Not gonna play it now but great to know where to find some good tips/perspectives. Just in case, you know.
Nice to see Minsc still buttkicking for goodness.
Um. . . don't want to thing too hard on where netherstones come from.
Always good to have dragons on your side!
Karlach has absolutely beautiful ears.
The game does not seem to be ideal for archers. Usually your team archer in an RPG is a Ranger. But BG3 Ranger class does not seem to have much of any archery based abilities. I was pretty unimpressed with it overall. But maybe I just was not giving it as much of a chance as I should. You could go with a Fighter and pick the Archery combat style (it gives you a bonus to hit, plus allows you do the equivalent old Power Attack feat, taking a penalty to hit in exchange for a bonus to damage). The main thing is that Fighters get a lot of extra attacks in this game, way more than anyone else. I made Minsc a Fighter, and I think he was attacking 4 times a round by the end.
Bows are also nerfed compared to Crossbows, which do more damage, and have no reload speed penalties at all. There is a mod that evens bows out with them however.
Magic works pretty well, especially for a D&D game. Wizards, clerics, paladins and the like will have a lot of spells that they know. When Clerics and Paladins level up they automatically learn all the spells for the next level. Wizards pick a few they can learn every level up. But they can also learn spells from scrolls, which more than makes up for that.
They still have to prepare spells from their full list in order to cast them, with a smaller number of prepared spells than total. However, unlike the older games you do not have to prepare the same spell multiple times in order to cast it that many times. You can only prepare a spell once, then you can can cast it as many times as you have spell slots.
Spell Slots are the old how many times you can cast a spell of each level per rest. As you level up you get more Spell Slots. The max seems to be 4 per spell level. But it goes pretty far.
So for example Magic Missile is a 1st level spell. You only prepare it once. But if you have 4 Spell Slots, you can cast it 4 times.
In addition to this all spellcasting classes get bonus spells, which do not need to be prepared. They are always castable. They still use a Spell Slot when you cast them. Well usually they do, there might be a few freebies once per long or short rest. I don't remember for certain. What those bonus spells are depends on your subclass. For example, a Light Domain Cleric gets Ray of Fire, Fireball, and Flame Strike as bonus spells as they level up.
Then there are Cantrips. In the old days they were just really weak spells. Now they are pretty cool. Cantrips do not have to be prepared, and they do not use a Spell Slot. So you can always cast them anytime, as often as you like. They are not overly powerful. But the damage ones do scale up. As a High Half Elf January automatically received a Firebolt Cantrip. It started doing 1d10 damage. But by the end of the game it was doing 3d10.
Many spells can also be Upcast. You can use a higher level Spell Slot to cast them, and get more damage by doing so. Typically you are adding a 1d8 or 1d10 to damage for each level up you go. So you can cast a 1st level spell with a 5th level slot and do insane damage. The Ray of Fire spell is normally just ok. But when you upcast it, it becomes a magical minigun.
The Short Rest Tweak mod and the Action Resources Replenish After Combat mods essentially make spellcasting per encounter. Your Spell Slots replenish after every battle, and you can cast spells continually while out of combat. That also makes spellcasters much more spell castinging.
Sorcerers of course do not have to prepare spells. All their spells can be cast at any time. But as before they get a lot fewer of them, and they can't learn them from scrolls. Sorcerers also get access to Meta Magic feats, which the other spellcasters do not (it seems like Wizards ought to get it too). These are various feats that allow you to do things like cast spells even when silenced, double the range of your spells, cast two spells when normally you can only cast one, etc... There is even one that allows you to recover expended spell slots during combat.
The Sorcerer/Paladin is an Uber multiclass. The reason is Paladin's level up their Spell Levels and Spell Slots slowly. And their main attack is a Smite, which is basically a spell that enhances your weapon attack and adds more damage. But each smite uses a Spell Slot. So you use them up quickly, especially at low levels.
One thing about this game is that you only have one set of Spell Slots for all you spells, even across different classes. So a Cleric/Wizard has just one set of Spell Slots for the spells of each class. So when you add in some Sorcerer levels, that gives your Paladin much more Spell Slots, and at higher levels. In the late game January was using her Smite at level 5, making multiple attacks, and easily dishing out over a 100 points of damage in one round if I really wanted to. This really cuts Boss enemies down to size quickly.
Also, the Counterspell is really cool. Make sure all your spellcasters who have access to it take this spell. If an enemy tries to cast a spell at you or a nearby party member, your Counterspell will go off and interrupt their casting. That stops them from casting the spell. This will save your group from many fireballs and lightning bolts. Best of all you can still act normally later in the round if have not acted yet. And you can still do this after taking your actions for the round. But I think it does use a Spell Slot every time. That is not really a big deal though.
Misty Step is also a really handy low level spell. I think it is 2nd level. It allows you to teleport a short distance, to any place you can see. There is a lot of jumping up and across to places in their game. But some locations are too far to jump. But you can still Misty Step there. It is also a way to move a huge distance. You can use your full movement for a round. Then you can Misty Step even further ahead, about the same distance. And on top of that you can expend your main action to use the Dash ability (which everyone gets), and once more double your base movement. This came in really handy in covering vast distances in the late game, where there are some timed missions, and you have to get things done fast.
Dimension Door is a 4th level spell that does the same, but allows you to take one other party member with you. Arcane Gate is a 6th level spell that is even better. It allows the caster to create a gateway, placing each end where they want it. Then anyone can go through the gate and pop from one side to the other. This helped a lot in the final battle when I had to cross a battlefield that was filled with ensnaring tentacles and a dragon. I had Gale create a Gate around most of it.
Thanks for all those neat details!
Assy really did not impress me with his Sneak Attack damage. He was usually only doing 20-30 points of damage at best. But that did not come near the total damage my paladins, barbarians, and fighters could dish out in a round. They were averaging 60-100 points a turn due to their extra attacks, and just doing more per single attack.
It might be because I dual-classed Assy as a Ranger, so he only got to around 6-7th level as a Rogue, and about the same as a Ranger. I was hoping the Ranger class would come with some sick archery powers, like flaming arrows, or double arrows, etc... that other games give their Rangers. But he got none of that.
Maybe if I try to stick him to pure Rogue he will work better? Or if I leave him his one level in Rogue, and go Fighter for the rest of the game. He would still get the sneak attack, and get lots of extra attacks that way.
I was unimpressed with Wyll as a Warlock too. I think it is because I made him Pact of the Blade, and tried to make him both a melee fighter and a spellcaster. Maybe I should have taken one of the other Pacts, and gone a pure spellcaster route with him? I don't know.
*****
I also made a few new discoveries in the last few days starting (and restarting, and restarting) Blood Raven. If you start as a magician class, and then multi-class as a Fighter, you do not get all the starting Fighter proficiencies (the armor, shield,and weapon ones). You don't get any extra profiencies. So you have to take them all with your Feat choices later, which are few and far between with the vanilla rules.
So start as a Fighter (or Barbarian, or Paladin), and then multi-class as a spellcaster later. Otherwise you will be hamstrung.
My original intent was to play Blood Raven with the Dark Urge Origin. What I had read was that while you have a mysterious past and get prompted to do all sorts of evil things, you had the choice to not do those things and play a good character. Nope. That is a lie. Near the end of Act 1 you will murder Alfira (the Tiefling bard at the Druid Circle). There is a convoluted work around, but you just end up killing someone else instead. Which is not better in my book. So looks like I will never play that one.
So now I am playing Blood Raven for the 4th or 5th time, as a regular custom character, starting as a Fighter first.
*****
I also figured out a few things about the into cutscenes of the game. The first city the nautiloid flies over was not Baldur's Gate, as I had imagined. It was some other place called Yartar, a few hundred miles east of Neverwinter. Though still on the Sword Coast.
In the second set of cutscenes, when the nautiloid comes back from Hell, several people observe it from the ground. The first is a Tiefling. She is Nadira, one of the people in the Druid Circle. You find her sitting on top of a hill with a telescope later. The second group you see watching through a telescope is a Bugbear and a Drow. The Drow is Minthara, a possible companion who works for the Absolute who you can only recruit by doing the evil route. Those two are in the Goblin Camp, and you see their goblins running out after the crash site.
Finally, right before you fall out of the nautiloid you look across you and there is a Mind Flayer staring back at you from across a breach in the hull. I think that might be the person who saves you from dying in the fall, and is very important later in the game as an ally. But I am not sure about that. The timing might be off on where he was at what time. Unfortunately all the Mind Flayers do look alike, and tend to dress exactly alike as well. He was somewhere on that ship, and might also be the one who infected you with the tadpole.
I’ll let you know what I think because I’m just going to leave Assy as an Assassin (get it? ).
My character Saryn is a Pact of the Blade warlock. The cool thing about this is that, yes, you can stand back and shoot fools with Eldritch Blast (which feels so right in this game!), but you can also use your Charisma score to hit with your Pact melee weapons which makes the warlock even more versatile. A really good combo is Warlock/Vengeance Paladin. Get a Glaive or some other heavy weapon as your Pact weapon and go to town with some smites! Probably want to start off as a Paladin to get those proficiencies right from the start.
Speaking of the class proficiencies, not getting the new class’s proficiencies sounds like a bug to me. You absolutely get the new proficiencies for a multiclass in D&D 5E.
I experimented a bit more with dual weapons, and I think I finally figured it out. Under the boxes to select your weapons there is a button to turn on two weapon mode or not. With it on you automatically strike with both your equipped weapons. With it off you only strike with your main hand weapon, even with two equipped. Then you had to use a bonus action to strike with the off-hand weapon. Assuming you did not use your bonus action for something else. I was doing it without both weapons selected all through my last playthrough, and I think that's why it felt really meh to me.
I also figured out that you can dual wield ranged weapons, using hand crossbows. Astarion dual wielding them is pretty good. Better than him using a longbow. The Dual Weapon abilities are confusing. The Feat allows you to use larger than Light weapons. And it gives you a +1 to AC. The Two Weapon fighting style that Fighters and a few others get gives you your ability bonus on your offhand weapon, rather than just your main hand weapon.
For some reason Rapiers are not light weapons. But Scimitars are. Even though both are Finesse weapons.
Now I have Astarion using two +1 Hand Crossbows, and two +1 Rapiers, and I will see how that works out.
I also just got Wyll, and leveled him up again. The other Pacts did not do much for me. Familiars seem really underwhelming in this game. In other games they gave you a spell or power. But in this they just seem to be a very low hit point henchman. The Pact of the Book did not seem much better. So I went with Pact of the Blade with Wyll again. Maybe I could try to multiclass him as a Paladin, to take advantage of that Charisma bonus. A Pact Glaive + Smite might be just the ticket.
I think you are right about the Mind Flayer you find just after Astarion. The one who tries to put the hoodoo on you, and gets his face caved in by my boot instead. He probably is the one who infected us. Though he may or may not be the same one we saw before flying out the hole in the nautiloid. They all look the damn same!
I did go Thief subclass with him. Next time I get a feat I will do the sharpshooter. So I will see how that works out.
I used the Great Weapon version of that for my paladins, fighters, and barbarians, and I usually just turned it off because the "To Hit" penalty was just to high in most cases.
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