Oh No! Not another Baldur's Gate thread!

[C0ckney]

well i managed to win (on only the 500th reload too!), just got lucky with a holding spell and my guys got a few lucky hits

another question(s), do you see the priest who was down in dragon's eye again, and if so where (like where on the way out)?

also if you start with only 1PC, where do you find NPCs to join your party?

thanks

[Jamski]

also if you start with only 1PC, where do you find NPCs to join your party?

You're joking, right?

-Jam

[C0ckney]

err, no

<---- real newbie

[Jamski]

You don't get any. But you guessed that already I suppose

-Jam

[duke o' york]

Stop using spoilers for stuff I haven't reached yet!

I played a bit on Friday night. I didn't advance the plot at all, or even take any more sidequests. I just went to the area southwest of Nashkel with the waterfall and caught a couple of wolves (), found the cat and protected the tree (dumb quest - if I'd have been evil then I would have chopped it down - is this possible?). I also got the bracers of archery by casting silence so they couldn't talk to me and start the fight, then setting Minsc on the chucky bloke and the others piling onto the other man. It's a good job my PC has both a composite bow +1 and a longsword +1. I'm now rich, and with a rep of 20. , er....
I went back to the Nashkel mine, and am now ready to set off east in search of fame, especially fortune, more rep points, exp, and some decent fights. "Spin the wheels!"

[Jamski]

Nice work Duke

Can I reccommend you clean the whole West Coast of all those rich Sirenes and Hobgoblins

-Jam

[duke o' york]

Well I'm going east first, to see what I can do. I'm going to avoid Durlag's Tower for the time being, because I reckon it may be a little too difficulty for my motley band of level 3 and 4 heroes.
I could do the west coast too though. Silence works against Sirens too right?

[Jamski]

Silence is your wonderspell at the moment, eh?

What works best with Sirenes is stopping them casting, either by disrupting their spells with arras or chunking them with a good backstab(s) or indeed, silencing them I suppose. I have to say its a spell I almost never use.

-Jam

[duke o' york]

No, I'm fond of grease as well, but I like the ability of Silence to get you free hits in a fight, by starting the fight before the aggressor is ready.
Oh, and MM, and Chromatic Orb, but I'm not at a high-enough level to deal mega-doom with these two quite yet. One day......

[Traianvs]

I never use area spells like grease etc... Because all I do is entangle my own units in it so in the end I'm ****ed instead of my opponents. Most locations in the BG games are so cramped or annoying with trees or hallways etc that I always butcher myself. I think fireball has a way too big radius to be effective. A fireball hurts nearly all my characters, often the caster as well!

Also with grease and web etc I can't backstab or go melee. Basically enemy spellcasters just hurl devastating spells at me so I die

[duke o' york]

[Sid Waddell voice]
You need....... arrers! Big Jocky Wilson at the back, cast grease. The enemy isn't going anywhere! Fill 'em fuller arrers! Wun 'undrerd anatey!
[/Sid Waddell voice]

Simple - just cast grease (with the fight paused, obviously) and stop your melee fighters running into the spell. Then stand well back and use missile weapons. Simple!

[Jamski]

You're missing out on the most effective strats in the IE games. Hold 'em in place, then toast them.

• Use an invisible or stealthed character to locate the enemies.
• Move up wizard (for Web), another wizard (for Grease) and a ranger or druid (for Entangle) all nice low level spells.
• Keep the casters back so they cannot be seen by the enemies.
• Pause the game.
• Cast all the entangling spells at once, so they overlap, and cast AHEAD of the enemy group, so the area effects them, without moving your casters into their sight.
• Then release pause.
• Use the whole party to eliminate anyone that escaped being held who tries to rush you (hopefully noone unless you were careless and got seen.)
• Now pile on with the area effect spells, starting with "cloud" spells with long durations, while peppering lightly with arrows.

This techique will kill 95% of the monsters and bosses in BG1, BG2, IWD and IWD2. Spiders and Dragons may pose a problem though.

-Jam

[Drogue]

Originally posted by duke o' york
I played a bit on Friday night. I didn't advance the plot at all, or even take any more sidequests. I just went to the area southwest of Nashkel with the waterfall and caught a couple of wolves (), found the cat and protected the tree (dumb quest - if I'd have been evil then I would have chopped it down - is this possible?). I also got the bracers of archery by casting silence so they couldn't talk to me and start the fight, then setting Minsc on the chucky bloke and the others piling onto the other man. It's a good job my PC has both a composite bow +1 and a longsword +1. I'm now rich, and with a rep of 20. , er....

I just did that part. Walking into Nashkel with 7 WW pelts was nice, especially since I had 15 grand in my pocket I have no idea how I've got so much, but I now have Shadow Armour, Composite Long Bow+1, Mace+1, Full Plate and ordered Ankheg I have virtually no money left, but with a rep of 20 and characters so hard it almost hurts, I don't really need it

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Jamski
Can I reccommend you clean the whole West Coast of all those rich Sirenes and Hobgoblins

I'll second that. Much experience, much loot Hard fights though. I usually try to do Sirenes one at a time, but found out I can put Dynaheir up front to get dire charmed (she hardly does any damage) and hide my ranger in the shadows. So I appear with Minsc, my PC and Imoen backstabbing. They didn't take long at close range.

As for West vs East, I never even bother with the East. Some of it's hard, there's little loot of note, it just seems a bit pointless. I might bother with the Basilisk area, Firewine isn't worth it IMHO either.

[Jamski]

Firewine dungeons are good for picking up infinite fire arrows though

-Jam