Oh No! Not another Baldur's Gate thread!

[Dis]

hey what do you know, it worked

That must have been what I did before, just forgot.

I tried remove paralysis on one of the NPC's that is frozen in that area. Didn't work. I didn't think it would.

Anyways, I guess I'll finish these areas, then head up to the bandit camp. I still have that dungeon to do with the infinite kobold archers with fire arrows. I'm wondering if that is worth it. I can't remember what item or experience is in there.

I would use Shar-Teel in my party, but I doubt she's better than Kagain. Kagain regenerates hit points!.

I compared my 2 top fighters in this game (one of them is my PC) compared to my good party. My evil party is far superior. Especially in hit points. Of course my good party doesn't have fighters, but a Paladin and a Ranger (Adjantis and Minsc).

so now I have 2 games I'm running at the same time, though currently I'm only my evil party to catch up and get inside Baldur's Gate.

[Qilue]

Originally posted by Drogue

Now that's what I call a word. Chunkified

On the Planet Baldurs Gate forums, the term was "Gibbed".

Anyway, the reason I was posting was response to a post waaaaaaaaaaaaay back on page 4 and probably no longer relevant. Bash on regardless I guess.

BG2
The Sir Sarles (the artist ****er) quest. You can give him the fake Illithium and still succeed in the quest. Just don't have the real stuff in your inventory.

BG1
Also, there is a second suit of anhkeg armour hidden in Naskell.

EDIT - The 'w' word is censored now.

[duke o' york]

My current party is: Mildred (PC ranger), Minsc (ranger), Jaheira (fighter/druid), Branwen (cleric), Imoen (sexy thief) and Dynaheir (toaster of baddies).
I'm intrigued to hear that Dis has a paladin (the ass ) in his party. Would anyone like to suggest making changes to my current party, and who should I bring in for whom? Of the above, Branwen is true neutral and wouldn't have made the "good" cut if I'd managed to keep Khalid alive, but I'd rather junk Jaheira at the moment because she ain't very good in combat despite being a fighter/druid, and doesn't have that many decent spells at the moment. Can a paladin take the fight to the heathens?

[Qilue]

Based on your previous posts, I'm guessing you're close to Coran. If you passed him by *gasp*, then go back. He's a fighter/thief and the best archer npc you can get (his dex is 20 and he has 3 *'s in bows). So, add Coran, Dual Imoen to a mage (will make sense in BG2 ), ditch Dynaheir, the space hamster (and it's sidekick) and go get Kivan (the second best archer npc).

Your party should then be Mildred (ranger), Branwen (cleric), Jaheira (fighter/druid), Imoen (thief->mage), Coran (fighter/thief) and Kivan (ranger and not a carrot)(also sounds like Clint Eastwood). With Jaheira (with the addon, she can wear full plate armour) and you up front, Coran and Kivan raining arrows, Branwen healing and Imoen raining spells, you should do ok.

[duke o' york]

Whereabouts can I find Coran? I know where I can get Kivan back, because he had to go when I rescued Dynaheir. However, I may well do what you say. Coran isn't a halfling is he?
My character is a pretty good archer, and so far I've been relying on the space hamster to take out the baddies/keep them occupied for long enough to arrow them to death, and had everyone else pile in with missiles. I really should have duelled Imoen before, and Jamski told me to, but I fancied having a pure thief. Fighter/thief is even better though, so I'll have to do that. Besides, Imoen already has 100% in find traps, so I don't need to give her more thief skills. Mind you, I noticed that I could have given her more than 100%. Is this just a trick to make you waste your points when you level up, or are there benefits to having more points on a particular skill? I mean, with 125% pick pockets do you successfully pick the pocket, take its contents and also the clothes of the person being robbed without their noticing or what?

[Qilue]

Coran is an elf like Kivan. You find him on a bridge in the first Cloakwood forest map. Besides, due to the limited enemy AI, you only need one tank (Jaheira is good). Send her out front to attract their attention, then have your archers massacre them.

There's only a couple of fights where you will need two tanks, but Kivan can fill that role quite easily. The one tank strategy doesn't work in BG2 as the enemy AI is a little better.

With Imoen, if her level is at 7 or less and if you have the addon (xp cap of 161k), you can still dual her to mage and she will reach level 8 as a mage. Level 6 is better as she could reach level 9 as a mage and re-gain the thief skills sooner.

[Jamski]

I'd rather junk Jaheira at the moment because she ain't very good in combat despite being a fighter/druid, and doesn't have that many decent spells at the moment. Can a paladin take the fight to the heathens?

She'll always be a better fighter than a cleric of the same level, due to better Thac0 and better attacks/round. Plus she can use daggers

Mind you, I noticed that I could have given her more than 100%. Is this just a trick to make you waste your points when you level up, or are there benefits to having more points on a particular skill?

Depending on the environment, person you are robbing, etc etc, there can be hefty -x% penalties to your ablities. For stealing from some shops 200% or 250% is best to be safe.

-Jam

[duke o' york]

Well I've got Imoen at level 6 now, so it seems as good a time as any. It won't take her as long to get her thief abilities back either. Which direction is Cloakwood? I'm guessing north-east, but I've only just finished the southern section of the map so I haven't reached Coran yet.
If I duel Imoen then will she just become an ordinary wizard, or can I specialise her? She also won't be able to wear her shadow armour! But then I could give that to Coran when he reaches us anyway. The trouble with getting Kivan in for Minsc would be that I'd either have no wizard or no thief, depending upon when I make Imoen duel. I'm tempted to send Minsc against a basilisk unaided and then have him turn to stone. That way I get to keep Dynaheir for as long as I want too.
What sayeth thou Herr Jamski?

[Jamski]

You can't get him until chapter 4 IIRC, so do the bandits (chapter 3) first, then go to Cloakwood, by which time Imoen will be getting close to getting her theif skills back (although a dual at levels 4-5 is MUCH faster - getting level 7 Mage is a LOT of EXP, it will take you untill the final scenes to get her back as a thief.)

If you want Coran, its probably best to swop him for Minsc's stoned body though. Nice plan

-Jam

[duke o' york]

In that case, I shall go to hunt the bandits and then go to Cloakwood after passing by the east of the temple. I like being sneaky, but my class won't let me wear shadow armour.

[Qilue]

You can't get into the cloakwood until after the bandits quest is done, so leave the rest of the maps until you have Coran.

If you really really want to keep one of a pair (Jaheira/Khalid, Xzar/Montaron, Space Hamster/Dynaheir), there is a way that doesn't involve killing one of them.

Find a house, cave or whatever that is a separate map that you'll never enter again. Then, selecting you and the one you want to be rid of, enter that house leaving the rest of the party and the one you want outside. Then remove them from the party in the house.

Since their partner is on another map, they can't pull them out of the party. You then get to keep the one you want and you get rid of the dead weight.

It's an exploit, but it's much kinder than sending them naked into a hopeless fight.

[duke o' york]

My characters may be good, but I sure as heck ain't!

I'll have to find the cash to buy Jaheira that poison dagger from Beregost though. Can she use a short sword? Imoen has a +1 short sword, and Dynaheir has a +1 dagger, but the poison dagger would be very nice indeed.
Oh, is that woman I met on the coast a thief? I suppose I could use her until I got to Coran. But that wouldn't really be worth it. Also, will the fact that I am at level 6 or so for all the charatcers cause problems when I meet Coran? It will mean that I might have less chance of quickly boosting his find traps skill because he will already be fairly proficient in whatever the game thinks he should be and will require more exp per level. That's the only problem with duelling Imoen as far as I can see: the loss of trap detection. I know that Jamski knows where they all are anyway, but I don't (first time through and all) and don't want to have to reload all the time while I work out where they are.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by duke o' york
That's the only problem with duelling Imoen as far as I can see: the loss of trap detection. I know that Jamski knows where they all are anyway, but I don't (first time through and all) and don't want to have to reload all the time while I work out where they are.

Why not use the cleric spell Find Traps? As Jamski said earlier, it's useless when you know where all the traps are, but until then you might get some use out of it.

[duke o' york]

How long does it last though?

[Qilue]

Jaheira can use a scimeter and there's a few magical ones floating around. There's only really one dangerous trap, but with a potion of electrical resistance, it's easily negated.

The ettercap traps are more annoying than dangerous, but you should have Coran before you reach them.