New all purpose Baldurs Gate thread

[duke o' york]

Sorry Drogue!
I was just joking - I don't exect you to have committed the manual to heart (that's Jamski's job). I was just mucking about with the fact that this thread is filling up with spoilers and is pretty unreadable for Stuie.
Sorry if you didn't get the terrible gag.

(If I was really having a go, then I don't think dummy would be quite the term I'd use, whether I had to stay within the bounds of site decency or not)

[Drogue]

I know it was joke I was just explaining why I forgot

[duke o' york]

Before I go, can I just copy the ease of use pack straight to the folder with BG in?

[Jamski]

Yes.

-Jam

[Stuie]

Well, it's the weekend, so I've been playing like crazy (when not feeding the baby/taking care of the boys/annoying my wife - oh, wait, I annoy my wife by playing ). Anyway, some seeming dead-ends at this point:

The Unseeing Eye quest - should I level up a bunch before trying this one? I ran into some monsters after a couple riddles at a bridge that almost instantly killed my PC.

Haerdalis on another plane - same thing.

I just started chapter 3 - should Imoen be my main focus, or should I keep poking around the city? By the way, I haven't even left the city yet, other than the one attempt that resulted in picking up the poisoned guy and returning to the city.

Oh, and I managed the Stone Gollems....

Spoiler:

I hasted and invisibiled my PC and Jehira, snuck past the gollems, summoned a dryad and fought the cowled wizard dude. The dryad cast that spell that reflects spells back on the caster (can't remember the spell name) and the wizard guy died almost instantly. Then my PC and Jehira collected the goodies, ran past the gollems, the whole party ran out of the house, and we were quick enough that the gollems didn't follow. Cheap, huh?

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Stuie
The Unseeing Eye quest - should I level up a bunch before trying this one? I ran into some monsters after a couple riddles at a bridge that almost instantly killed my PC.

I would suggest it. It is a long and hard quest. The bit your doing isn't too hard (finding the rod part) but the next part is harder. Depends what level you're on. It's a tough quest, but possibly doable.

Originally posted by Stuie
Haerdalis on another plane - same thing.

Pretty easy at the moment, will get harder. Not as hard as unseeing eye, but there arehard parts.

Originally posted by Stuie
I just started chapter 3 - should Imoen be my main focus, or should I keep poking around the city? By the way, I haven't even left the city yet, other than the one attempt that resulted in picking up the poisoned guy and returning to the city.

Personally, absolutely not. I do all the chapter 2 quests before finishing the chapter 3 ones. For RP reasons maybe, but personally, I think getting enough XP from doing those before going to rescue Imoen is a better bet.

[Dis]

yep, finish more chapter 2 quests. It will allow you to do more things in the Underdark.

Here are some good quests to finish before finishing up chapter 3.

Slaver quest, and sentient sword, Nalia's Keep, Umar hills, windspear hills, trademeet, Harper quest, sphere thingy in the slums (Valygars quest), unseeing eye quest, those quests in the dock involving Edwin, and your stronghold quests.

there are some more quests that are nice to do in some of the city areas. Korgan's quests in the graveyard (and other places), Bridge murder quests, Anomen's quest,

[Jamski]

I ran into some monsters after a couple riddles at a bridge that almost instantly killed my PC.

These are the baby versions of what comes later in this quest. Be VERY afraid (unless you bought a certain sheild from Deirdre)

-Jam

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Jamski
(unless you bought a certain sheild from Deirdre)

I doubt it. Unless you know you're going to need it, it looks like a lot of money for a not-so-great item. But then in my file, Korgan has 3 shields for different purposes (Balduran's, Dragon Plate and +3 Medium) so he's normally my fall guy. Jaheira has the lowest AC however, due to Fortress Shield, which I might give to Korgan soon. Then he'd be -9 AC

Almost finished the Chapter 2 Quests now, only got Trademeet and the Planar Sphere left to do

[duke o' york]

I reached Nashkel (to interrupt your talk of this mysterious other world ) at the weekend, but since I was playing while in an advanced state of alcoholic refreshment then I've probably boobooed somewhere (like saving over the wrong file for example ). I haven't done much at Nahskel, though I killed the assassin in the pub at the entrance and will then be going round to talk to people. I killed the rogue cleric by Beregost and got the tasty reward for him. Fortunately all the skeletons died as soon as he did so it wasn't as tough as it could have been.
Xzar was killed by a knoll that he decided to chase. I wasn't too bothered as I filled the knoll full of arrows and then collected all the stuff I wanted from Xzar's body. Imoen is now at level 3, with only 60 or 65% find traps, but hopefully I can duel her at level 5 with these scores. I'd rather do it sooner than later, but obviously I want her to have some chance of surviving battles when she can't take care of herself any more. I didn't buy anything from Thalantyr, but will definitely be going back to do so later on, as he's got some great things. Would anyone care to tell me which spells would be useful later on? Also, do cleric spells just come "from God" when you level up, or can you have a choice of them, or buy them anywhere? I haven't bothered to donate money to the temples to increase my rep, as this is a waste of good money this early on. (and I'm tight)

[Stuie]

You know, what determines when those cowled guys show up? I got jumped by some harpers who immediately started pounding me with magic, but of course I refrained not wanting to incur the wrath of the cowled guys. Well, they showed up anyway and started attacking MY party. WTF!? It's the damned harpers that are using the magic!

Would anyone care to tell me which spells would be useful later on? Also, do cleric spells just come "from God" when you level up, or can you have a choice of them, or buy them anywhere? I haven't bothered to donate money to the temples to increase my rep, as this is a waste of good money this early on. (and I'm tight)

I'm still trying to figure out a good spell mix, and I'm playing the second game! For me it's trial and error, and unfortunately errors are deadly.

The cleric spells apparently "come from god." You get no choice in the matter.

As for donating, I never do. It's easy enough to increase you reputation through good deeds, so you shouldn't be throwing your money away. My rep max'd out pretty quick in BG1.

[duke o' york]

Well I'm up to 15 or so, but if I reach 19 before finding a new fighter then the dwarf will leave the party.

Can I find a fighter somewhere who can use the (probably magical) warhammer I took from the evil cleric?

[Stuie]

Would you settle for a good cleric? Not sure how much you want given away, so...

Spoiler:

Branwen is located near the middle of the carnival map just east of Naskell.

and even more spoilerish about that:

Spoiler:

Only one problem - she's been turned to stone.

I could also point you to a Paladin that I grabbed pretty early and kept with me the whole game...

Spoiler:

Arjantis is located on the map directly north of the Friendly Arms Inn. You won't be strong enough this early to handle the whole map, but you can enter, grab him, and leave without facing any enemies.

[duke o' york]

Before uncovering your naughty spoilers, can a cleric use this warhammer (I'm guessing they can, because I took it from one), and does the good cleric in question actually have any proficiency stars in it?

And I know I'm supposed to be forming a good party here, but I can't stand sucky paladins. Sanctimonious buggers! Yak!

[Stuie]

Actually she's true neutral, come to think of it. I think she has a proficiency of one for blunt weapons when you find her.