New all purpose Baldurs Gate thread

[duke o' york]

Not sure I want any halflings in my party!
Mind you, this is the first time out so I'm going to need all the help I can get, and having a necromancer on board will be useful to practise casting spells.
Will a necromancer join a good character's party or not?
Never mind, I can knife 'em when I get to the Inn. After remembering to remove any decent stuff they might have.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Who is Nevin? I got the antidote from the chest when I retrieved the sword. This had better be worthwhile, because I'm certain to find myself poisoned sooner or later and in dire need of that antidote.
Don't worry about telling me what you get for it, but knowing who Nevin is would be nice. Maybe I just forgot I'd spoken to him.

You know the haystack you get the book from. He's the guy with the cow next to it. I think Nevin's his name...

Originally posted by duke o' york
What would you suggest beginning with then? Something with an enormous sword? Or someone who can use magic straightaway?

For a first time, a fighter. Paladin's good for RP, but not as strong as a fighter. Mage is good but hard at the begining, with a pittance of HP. Thief is good, one of my favs, actually. Druid's are also quite good, since Cleric's level up very slowly towards the end, and druids are prety quick. Depends on you're style and you're party. There is a pretty usual party to take through (you'll notice with the quests, who you seem to be 'meant' to take) and so you don't need a thief, but an extra healer, mage or fighter is always good.

Ranger's not a bad choice at all, and has some nice RPing, playing it in character, it's just I never saw the point of them as opposed to fighters really.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Not sure I want any halflings in my party!
Mind you, this is the first time out so I'm going to need all the help I can get, and having a necromancer on board will be useful to practise casting spells.
Will a necromancer join a good character's party or not?

Xzar won't like it, but will if you keep your rep at 18 or below. And halflings make the best thieves, they get some nice modifiers.

Originally posted by duke o' york
Never mind, I can knife 'em when I get to the Inn. After remembering to remove any decent stuff they might have.

Good plan. You can practice with spells and then dump them later Keeps your party strong until you get someone better too.

[duke o' york]

I am still tempted to get a decent archer as my character, but I guess I'll bump into NPCs later on whop could fill that role just as well , while I need the fight now.
I still haven't been through the manual particularly well, so I'm not certain about dual and multiple classes, but will work it all out slowly and get to grips with the game.
Thanks for all your help so far.

[Drogue]

Both fighters and rangers can be good archers. Give a fighter a 5 in long or crossbow and you can do a lot of damage. You can find NPCs who can do fill pretty much any role.

I can try to do a brief explanation of dual and multi-classing:

Restrictions: Each class has it's restrictions for when dual and multi-classed. Whatever it is dualed with, a cleric can only use cleric weapons, a mage cannot use armour and cast, a thief cannot wear better than studded leather and use their skills and a druid can only use druidic weapons. These are the same whether dualed or multi-classed, IIRC.

Multi-classing is quite simple. You have two classes, and any Exp you get is split evenly between the two. You go up levels as normal (though get only half the HP bonus for each level of each class). Thus at the XP cap, you have 49500 in each, instead of 89000 XP. You get the skills of both classes, but also the restrictions, as above. Any race but humans can do this, and it is decided at the start.

Dual classing is a little more complex. You start as one class, and whenever you decide to, you choose to dual. You must have the minimum stats for the class you wish to dual too, and then you start from 0 Xp in that class. When you reach one level above the level you were when you dualed, you gain the abilities of your old class too. You continue to go up only in your new class, never gaining any more Xp in your old class. For example, a fighter dualed at level 3 to a mage, would start for 0 Xp as a mage. When he gets to level 4 mage, he gets his fighter abilities back, and so can use fighter weapons with their ability. He will always remain a level 3 fighter, but will continue to gain, as usual, in his mage class. Only humans can dual class.

The main difference, indeed only real difference, is that a dualed character advances in one class first, then their dualed class, in terms of experience, whereas a multi-class character chooses both at the start, and advances in them simultaneously.

[duke o' york]

Right........

So multi- is both together, and dual- is consecutive.

To be honest, I think I'll save this kind of shenanigans for my second time round, and just play a simpler version to ease me in gently. Though Jamski will no doubt be expecting me to empty all of the dungeons and slay every monster in the game before taking to the Swords Coast and doing the same there.

Maybe one day, but, unlike you Drogue, I am not yet worthy to apprentice myself to him.

[Drogue]

Pretty much. If you've started as an elf, you don't have much choice with your PC anyway. The only usual dual class is Imoen to a mage. I don't do it, but it can work out, if you want more magic over thievery.

But yeh, just play and learn as you go seems best

[Jamski]

I want those dungeons EMPTIED NOW!

My one short collection of advice :

• Talk to everyone with a blue circle.
• If you can't beat them now, come back later.
• Your Armour Class can never be too low.
• Use the weapons that you hit more often with, not the ones that hit harder. Most monsters only need one hit anyway.
• Get them before they get you - use bows, slings etc.
• Don't be afraid to use potions, scrolls and magic arrows. The game gives you plenty of "disposable" items.
• Look before you leap. Hide-in-shadows and Invisibilty are your best friends.
• Have fun

Drogue - you have learnt well Nice multi and dual information

Thus begins an apprenticeship

-Jam

[Drogue]

You know what I'd love? An arena where you could have two parties fighting each other. I'd love to see which is the best party

Simple rules: 1 PC, 5 NPCs.
Xp at the cap level for all characters.
Any weapons, bracers, boots, shields, rings and necklaces and armour found in the game. In other words, anything you can carry, is allowed, but not in your inventory.

If you can do a two player, and try this, anyone care for a battle? Maybe it would have to be done with only 3 characters each, which is a little annoying

[Jamski]

We could just imagine it. Better would be 1 PC and 1 NPC though to make it simpler.

-Jam

[duke o' york]

Beware my staff! And the book I found in the cowshed!

[centrifuge]

duke,

Talk to everyone that doesn't have a generic name (like townsperson, citizen, etc.) That way you'll catch almost every possible quest(even if you decide not to do them).

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Jamski
Its Dak'kon's Zerth. Dak'kon is the Gith, and his sword is a Zerth blade. This is annoying since Zerth blades cannot exist without their owner.
* Jamski likes being pedantic *

Yeah, dam it! Vhalior`s helmet casting simulacrum spell?
Other PT items in BG2 don`t have any sense! Why did you put this in game?

[Drogue]

Because they're very funky. Balduran's Armour/Helm/Shield/Sword all belong, all from Deirdre. However Robe of Vecna is very cool, Vhalior's Helm produces some interesting opportunities with selections, and there are many lil things that are very cool there. Having items from other games makes you smile, like putting in characters from other games. It makes you smile when you play them. A great idea IMHO.

Besides, without some of them, we'd be lacking in magical Katana's, and wouldn't have some of the other funky goods

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Drogue
Having items from other games makes you smile, like putting in characters from other games. It makes you smile when you play them. A great idea IMHO.

Besides, without some of them, we'd be lacking in magical Katana's, and wouldn't have some of the other funky goods

Vecna robe is cool- made fight with Irenicus much easier.

But if you played PT you would surely realise that their magic abbilities in BG2 don`t have any sense when trying to relate it to their original game.