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fong posted:If you were to strip out all the vampire stuff I think she would've been a really great NPC. GuyDudeBroMan posted:Why can't they just make something middle of the road like a +2 item and some level 10 bad guys? Why does it have to be so loving extreme every time?
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Jul 17, 2014 02:24
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Yeah, I'd guess there isn't much satisfaction in making a weapon that's worse than stuff already in the game and hence isn't really going to get used by the sort of person to download and install mods. Though I personally would be pretty appreciative of a BG2 mod that sprinkles a bunch of non-sword weapons throughout the game that are roughly balanced with the longswords available at the same time - having to cheese my way through the Mind Flayer dungeon early just because I chose warhammers instead of swords gets annoying pretty quickly.
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Jul 17, 2014 04:04
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Factor_VIII posted:The reason she works for her employer is to escape vampirism. Though, to her creators' credit, they didn't give her a happy ending.
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Jul 17, 2014 04:07
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GuyDudeBroMan posted:Is there an improved tougher Irenicus fight mod that doesn't make him stupidly overpowered and boring? The end battle of SOA is incredibly underwhelming if you have even 1 single level of TOB skills. It's pretty obvious it was balanced for the SOA level cap and having TOB installed makes it anticlimactic as hell. Like even if you refuse to touch Watchers Keep in SOA (which everyone should do, other than the 1st floor for the potion box), you still end up getting at least 2 or 3 TOB levels from just the vanilla SOA content alone. sword coast stratagems does exactly this in the new version since they got rid of the old improved irenicus in hell. now its just a higher levelled, slightly harder version of the normal fight or so the readme says. no idea what its like to a fight him since i've never got out of chapter 2 in a modded game. the older versions used a version of the tactics battle which sounds good on paper but i've never managed to get that far to test it but it looks fun, i think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9o0jf92RVM
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Jul 17, 2014 12:02
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Factor_VIII posted:The reason she works for her employer is to escape vampirism. Though, to her creators' credit, they didn't give her a happy ending. Ahh I see. Still, there are a whole range of motivations for her to work for mysterious guy.
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Jul 17, 2014 12:29
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Imp Irenicus in Tactics was designed as an impossibly over the top fight - it's probably the most difficult in the series, including Ascension Melis.
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Jul 17, 2014 12:32
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Imp Irenicus in Tactics was designed as an impossibly over the top fight - it's probably the most difficult in the series, including Ascension Melis. Didn't stop some really dedicated people from soloing it. On insane. 
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Jul 17, 2014 12:44
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Oh, I've soloed it. It can arguably be easier.
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Jul 17, 2014 12:45
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kaschei posted:Yeah, you get the feeling the balance they aim for is "not much better than [whatever the two most powerful weapons to dual wield are]" I guess most of the people who make these mods are huge min/maxers so they don't understand the point of having stuff that isn't the best possible thing, because nobody would use it. It would be nice to have a mod that just increases the amount of decent weapons, especially in the bow area. It feels like if you want infinite ammo you've no choice but to go shortbow.
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Jul 17, 2014 13:27
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Taear posted:It would be nice to have a mod that just increases the amount of decent weapons, especially in the bow area. It feels like if you want infinite ammo you've no choice but to go shortbow. Or Crossbow?
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Jul 17, 2014 13:31
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Or Crossbow? Sorry I meant specifically in the realm of bows. If you start in BG1 as a fighter and put 5 points in Longbow it's going to be a LONG time before you're as good with the ones you actually need to use.
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Jul 17, 2014 13:44
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Quick question: What level should you be at before taking on the Bandit Camp in BG1? I've tried multiple times to defeat everyone in Tazok's tent, but every time I try, someone gets poisoned & dies or the entire party gets hit with the Panic spell. I tried the trick of luring one enemy out at a time, but that turns the rest of the camp aggressive, which only makes things more difficult.
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Jul 17, 2014 21:25
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It's been a while since the last time I played BG1 but I would say between 4 and 5?
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Jul 17, 2014 21:34
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Max Wilco posted:Quick question: What level should you be at before taking on the Bandit Camp in BG1? I've tried multiple times to defeat everyone in Tazok's tent, but every time I try, someone gets poisoned & dies or the entire party gets hit with the Panic spell. I tried the trick of luring one enemy out at a time, but that turns the rest of the camp aggressive, which only makes things more difficult.
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Jul 17, 2014 21:42
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Mr. Neutron posted:It's been a while since the last time I played BG1 but I would say between 4 and 5? Factor_VIII posted:Just change your tactics. You could for example work your way through the camp from left to right and take care of all the mooks first. Then cast the level 1 cleric or level 2 wizard spell Remove Fear to make yourself immune to the Horror spell. A Web spell will also work wonders in the tent if your party has ranged attacks. I actually made inside the camp under the guise of wanting to join the bandits, so I don't necessarily need to fight everyone in the camp. I gave the web spell to Dynaheir, but it ends up hitting my party as well (but I guess that's the reason to use ranged weapons, though).
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Jul 17, 2014 22:25
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Max Wilco posted:I actually made inside the camp under the guise of wanting to join the bandits, so I don't necessarily need to fight everyone in the camp. I gave the web spell to Dynaheir, but it ends up hitting my party as well (but I guess that's the reason to use ranged weapons, though). I take it you're pretty new to this. Check your spellbooks for freedom-of-movement spells and (when you have some) cast them on your fighters. Web is nice because enemies can't attack your guys when they're caught. It's like a finicky repetitive hold person zone, as opposed to entangle (which stops them from walking, but still allows spells and attacks).
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Jul 17, 2014 22:47
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You just gotta learn how to aim that web spell so it hits the enemies and not you. Web/entangle is probably my favorite tactic even before I have access to freedom of movement gear. I use that tactic in every infinity engine game because it's so damned effective. Just scout ahead with a stealthed or invisible character and then lure enemy groups into ambushes with entangle/webs. Then you can pick them off at your leisure with ranged weapons or nail them with area of effect spells like fireball. A key to being effective with spells like web is to scout so you know what is coming and can plan the timing of using those spells. And later on like Sweart Gliwere said you can use the freedom of movement spell (4th level cleric/druid spell) in order to make your own party members immune to web and entangle. Then you can just tard your meleers in and not even worry about it. There are also some rings that give freedom of movement and in bg1 there is a two handed sword that gives that attribute.
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Jul 17, 2014 23:14
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sweart gliwere posted:I take it you're pretty new to this. Check your spellbooks for freedom-of-movement spells and (when you have some) cast them on your fighters. Web is nice because enemies can't attack your guys when they're caught. It's like a finicky repetitive hold person zone, as opposed to entangle (which stops them from walking, but still allows spells and attacks). He probably won't have access to any freedom of movement spells at this point, but he should have some potions of it at this point in the game.
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Jul 17, 2014 23:26
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sweart gliwere posted:I take it you're pretty new to this. MegaGatts posted:He probably won't have access to any freedom of movement spells at this point, but he should have some potions of it at this point in the game.
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Jul 18, 2014 00:52
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When scouting with a stealthed character, be mindful of named NPCs or baddies, approaching them is likely to pass you over a script trigger that forces the character into conversation and drops stealth.
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Jul 18, 2014 00:57
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Ginette Reno posted:You just gotta learn how to aim that web spell so it hits the enemies and not you. Web/entangle is probably my favorite tactic even before I have access to freedom of movement gear. I use that tactic in every infinity engine game because it's so damned effective. Just scout ahead with a stealthed or invisible character and then lure enemy groups into ambushes with entangle/webs. Then you can pick them off at your leisure with ranged weapons or nail them with area of effect spells like fireball. Having played through a good chunk of IWD: throwing web, entangle, then that Druid spell that causes spikes to come out of the ground for tiny amounts of ongoing damage while you just pepper enemies with arrows and have your tank melee anything that makes it through was the best option in at least 80% of the game's encounters.
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Jul 18, 2014 01:20
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Max Wilco posted:Exactly. This is the first time I've played either of the Baldur's Gate games (I'm playing through both via the Baldur's Gate Trilogy mod). The fact that I've made it this far is thanks to looking at walkthroughs, maps, LPs, and a lot of dumb luck. Even at this point, though, I still feel like I'm flying blind. I don't know if the party I have is any good, if there are spells I should have or don't need, or if my party's equipment is appropriate. I could make a post detailing the party I have and their equipment and spells, but that would probably be a massive post. Well, the spell is in the fourth level cleric and druid spell book so it'll be awhile before you get it. However, some potions are available to buy at high hedge. I recommend picking up as many as you can afford because they're so useful.
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Jul 18, 2014 01:26
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Max Wilco posted:Exactly. This is the first time I've played either of the Baldur's Gate games (I'm playing through both via the Baldur's Gate Trilogy mod). The fact that I've made it this far is thanks to looking at walkthroughs, maps, LPs, and a lot of dumb luck. Even at this point, though, I still feel like I'm flying blind. I don't know if the party I have is any good, if there are spells I should have or don't need, or if my party's equipment is appropriate. I could make a post detailing the party I have and their equipment and spells, but that would probably be a massive post. The one piece of advice is to really learn your spell effects. Learn every spell you have and exactly what it does. Try it out in the field too and get a feel for exactly how it works. Do this for both mage and cleric spells. Look for poo poo that synergizes well. Web and entangle or even grease, casted on top of each other to hold guys in place while you drop fireballs and ice storms on them is a great example. Many many fights in this game can go from "impossibly hard" to "trivially easy" simply by memorizing a new set of spells and using some new tactics. No grinding for levels are needed. Also be aware of your consumables. Potions, scrolls and wands can give you some MASSIVE advantages. If all else fails try just kiting the enemy or spamming summons. Missile weapons tend to dominate BG1 too. You might want to give everyone in the party a bow or sling. Use tons and tons of summons though, especially the animate dead spell. Summons are great for keeping the enemy busy while you unload on them with spells and ranged attacks. Crowd Control spells are also huge in this game. It sounds like you already experienced this from enemy casters. A horror spell, or confusion or whatever, can really destroy an enemy group. And obviously, it can do the exact same to your own group. Free action, and remove fear are pretty important counterspells that you should put up before a big fight.
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Jul 18, 2014 01:51
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Wolfsheim posted:Having played through a good chunk of IWD: throwing web, entangle, then that Druid spell that causes spikes to come out of the ground for tiny amounts of ongoing damage while you just pepper enemies with arrows and have your tank melee anything that makes it through was the best option in at least 80% of the game's encounters.
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Jul 18, 2014 02:18
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As long as you don't move too far up, you can also farm EXP by death fogging and spamming other AoEs in that monster spawning area in front of Poquelin. At that point you're pretty close to the end of the base game anyway so it's kind of up to you how much grinding you want to do.
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Jul 18, 2014 03:13
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I JUST finished Planescape: Torment and I'm about to start Icewind Dale. Does the story from BG1/2 follow over into Icewind Dale? Will I see some of the same characters/story lines in this game? Does IWD suffer from the same problem in BG2 of all the awesome items coming literally right before the last boss fight, so you never get to use them?
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Jul 18, 2014 13:48
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Story question: no Item question: you can get the most powerful items in BG2 straight out of the starting dungeon so I'm not sure what this question is about
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Jul 18, 2014 13:58
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Is there a mod for the Enhanced Editions that lets me tell the joinable NPCs to wait for me at inns? Because I miss that from my aborted attempt to play BiG World BG1+2+IWD and whatnot. It ran really badly. I don't miss that.
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Jul 18, 2014 14:07
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Ginette Reno posted:
Unless he's playing with some mods that give access to areas out-of-order, neither of the 2 Rings of Free Action nor Spider's Bane are accessible until you beat the Bandit Camp. Like...he could be at the level cap and he still would have no way of getting those items. Max Wilco posted:Quick question: What level should you be at before taking on the Bandit Camp in BG1? I've tried multiple times to defeat everyone in Tazok's tent, but every time I try, someone gets poisoned & dies or the entire party gets hit with the Panic spell. I tried the trick of luring one enemy out at a time, but that turns the rest of the camp aggressive, which only makes things more difficult. First, who's in your party? That'll help a lot. Second: There's really only 2 threats in the tent: the mage, and the hobgoblin with his +3 bow and arrows of biting (poison damage). You absolutely need a counter to the mage's horror, or your dudes will run around like assholes and you'll die horribly. Easiest counters you'll have access to: -Bard song via Garrick (this'll only prevent fear if you're playing BG Enhanced; I don't think Bard Song in any other iteration of the BG games does ANYTHING other than make a music icon appear on your portrait) -Remove/Resist Fear (level 1 priest, level 2 mage). This is an incredibly useful spell since the description makes it look like it removes fear, but really it's a long-running prevent fear. Use it as a pre-battle buff. The other thing the mage will do that's a huge pain in the rear end is cast Melf's Acid Arrow, which will loving melt right through your guys. There's not a good counter to that (there are some resist acid scrolls in High Hedge, but not enough to cover your whole party and you won't know who the mage is aiming at) in the game. So the mage needs to die before he can start getting those spells off. Best ways to kill him: -Focus fire his mirror images down with shitloads of ranged weaponry (Kivan can attack 2.5x/round with the bow and knock off his images; if the game is running the BG2 engine you can even hit him before the images come down). Once he's down to his normal image, get right in his face and use the potion of firebreath (there's 1 or 2 in the Bandit Camp) and he'll go down immediately. For the archer, just get right in his face with your best melee unit (you might want to buff him with an Oil of Speed--you'll have 1 or 2 of those too, I'd think) to force him into melee (or force him to take a steep penalty for fighting with ranged weaponry vs. melee. A handful of normal antidotes (you can get like 6 of them from the gnome woman on the 3rd floor of the Friendly Arm Inn) will handle the arrows of biting if someone does get poisoned, but don't use them until the battle is over. Their damage over time is slow, and you're probably better off using a character's turn to continue fighting rather than wasting it on quaffing a potion. Other fun things: -Did you save the Potion of Insulation (black icon) you got after you killed Mulahey in the mines? That thing is made for the bandit camp. Not only does it give you -10 AC vs. crushing (which allows you to trivialize Taugosz Khosann, the human bandit boss in the outside area, should you do a raid rather than infiltration), but it also makes you immune to lightning. Why is immunity to lightning fun? Because the treasure chest in the back of the Boss Tent is trapped, and will shoot a high level lightning bolt when touched. So you could just make yourself immune (or make lightning heal you if you're also wearing the Boots of Grounding), pop an oil of speed, and then rush to open the chest, then run around the tent as lightning chases you and melts all the baddies. Note: This'll probably end up killing Ender Sai, the friendly elf dude in the back of the tent. Not sure what happens if he dies.
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Jul 18, 2014 14:53
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FairGame posted:A handful of normal antidotes (you can get like 6 of them from the gnome woman on the 3rd floor of the Friendly Arm Inn) will handle the arrows of biting if someone does get poisoned, but don't use them until the battle is over. Their damage over time is slow, and you're probably better off using a character's turn to continue fighting rather than wasting it on quaffing a potion. It should be emphasized that you should never attempt casting while poisoned, because the poison damage will disrupt spellcasting.
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Jul 18, 2014 15:21
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Story question: no So I won't see ANY story items/characters/references from BG1/2 into IWD 1/2? I get it, its a different region of Faerun, just wasn't sure. Items: What? Where? I know you have to build that halberd and you don't get the last part of it until the very end of the game before facing, I think, Bodhi. I know you can get the flail pretty quickly (though its difficult, and I'm never a fighter so it doesn't matter for me), but beyond that, all of the super uber items are hidden at the end of the game. Or am I way off base here?
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Jul 18, 2014 15:31
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Are you seriously talking about the Wave which is a lovely artifact from one of the shittiest weapon groups  There are hilarious amounts of insanely broken weapons, how did you miss all of them
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Jul 18, 2014 15:43
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The Robe of Vecna (best robe bar none, arguably best armour in the game) and the Shield of Balduran (utterly trivialises Beholders to the point that they become free exp), are the pick of some really good stuff available from 2 merchants in the Adventurer's Mart and the Coronet respectively. They are expensive, but available literally at the start of the game.
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Jul 18, 2014 15:50
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Ilyich posted:The Robe of Vecna (best robe bar none, arguably best armour in the game) and the Shield of Balduran (utterly trivialises Beholders to the point that they become free exp), are the pick of some really good stuff available from 2 merchants in the Adventurer's Mart and the Coronet respectively. They are expensive, but available literally at the start of the game. Those two items are broken as hell and make the game un-fun in my opinion. (Same with the spell reflecting cloak you get later on) The best weapons in the game are actually the ones that give +1 attack per round, eventhough they are only +2 enchantment or so. That extra attack makes them pretty broken and stupid. I know you can get the bow at the very start of the game, the very second you walk out of the intro dungeon and get to the Inn for the first time. I think the other +1 attack weapons come pretty soon after that. The "best weapon in the game" is the Holy Avenger and you can get that as soon as you can kill a dragon (which is immediately at the start of the game, if you feel like using cheese).
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Jul 18, 2014 16:03
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Agreed on those 3 items being broken. I use the relevant components of SCS to move them to ToB, or in the case of the shield, remove it from the game entirely.
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Jul 18, 2014 16:13
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fong posted:My main problem with Hexxat is that she doesn't need to be a vampire. Her writing is good and her quest is fun, a straight graverobbing theif NPC would've been great and would've fit really well with the original content. I haven't played the ToB portion of her quest but in SoA her vampirism isn't very central to her story at all and in most ways it just makes her stick out and not mesh with the original game content. She's a Vampire so that the Thief class sucks a little less, which is hard to do because AD&D is terrible. I found Hexxat pretty inoffensive. She's a lady vampire but she's pretty chill about everything and mostly just a self interested mercenary type. I'm okay with that. Rasaad's quest on the other hand is ten kinds of schizophrenic with awful voice acting. Repeat the awful voice acting part for Neera. Really Dorn and Hexxat I both found perfectly tolerable, they do a good job of filling out the evil roster, the others are kinda garbage. Jastiger posted:So I won't see ANY story items/characters/references from BG1/2 into IWD 1/2? I get it, its a different region of Faerun, just wasn't sure. Dude you can get a ton of super powerful poo poo like, right out the gate in BG2. Celestial Fury, Daystar, Flail of Ages, Robe of Vecna, all the poo poo in Trademeet...all that stuff is accessible IMMEDIATELY after Irenicus' tutorial dungeon. Captain Oblivious fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Jul 18, 2014 |
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Jul 18, 2014 16:18
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Off the top of my head, the really powerful items that are limited to the end of the game are Crom Faeyr, Blackrazor (REALLY the end of the game in this case) and Notable items you can get in Chapter 2: Carsomyr Robe of Vecna Shield of Baldarun Staff of the Magi Ring of Human Influence Celestial Fury Taralash Usuno's Blade Firetooth Dagger of the Star Crimson Dart Flail of Ages Hindo's Doom Angurvadal Spectral Brand Storm Star Staff of Striking Staff of the Ram Belm Short Sword of the Mask Erinne Sling Ring of Gaxx Ring of the Ram Axe of the Unyielding Foebane Helm of Balduran Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization Gauntlets of Ogre Power Belt of Inertial Barrier Cloak of Non-Detection Amulet of Power and loads of other poo poo I've no doubt forgotten [edit] Oh yeah, Daystar. There's a huge huge huge amount of content in the main BG2 world + Watchers Keep, almost all of which is accessible immediately after the starting dungeon.
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Jul 18, 2014 16:31
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Is Blackrazor really that good and I'm just missing something? It never really seeemed to fit into any of my character builds. There always seem to be better weapons 
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Jul 18, 2014 16:36
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I'm probably 60% of the way through BG:EE playing a berserker...which is fine but I kind of wish I had picked a class with some abilities to use. Can I just EEKeeper (never used it before) my guy into a fighter/cleric multiclass or something? How hard is that (ie do I have to figure out my exact exp to add in or something?)
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Jul 18, 2014 16:38
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+3 THACO, +1 HP every 5 seconds, Immune to charm and fear, 15% chance to drain 4 levels from enemy and heal, haste, and raise strength of wielder for people who've forgotten (C+P, obvs) I never thought much of it but when I actually used it, it was really good.
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Jul 18, 2014 16:39
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