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Every RPG protagonist I ever play ends up Chaotic Good, saving the world while stealing every gold coin from every peasant's locked drawer is the only way to go.
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Aug 13, 2014 10:29
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verybad posted:Alignment is a gameplay mechanic with very minor effects. Don't fret over it, just pick one that sounds appropriate and then play your character and make the kind of choices you think your character would make. That said, these games don't really tackle moral and ethical questions all that much, so there's not a lot of nuance and depth in that regard to them. They're murderhobo simulators after all. Your alignment should match your party's in general for optimum efficiency though. Clerics care most about this, since they have a lot of spells that hit all characters of on an opposing alignment axis (good-evil). Icewind Dale is the worst - Righteous Fury of the Faithful is an awesome buff spell but it only works on people of the exact same alignment. Whoops!
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Aug 13, 2014 10:31
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I don't think there's any downsides to being evil if you're not a cleric, other than a lower starting rep and being vulnerable to one cleric spell. It gives you a couple more dialogue options and alternative solutions to a few quests, but it's not like you're forced to do any of those things.
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Aug 13, 2014 10:37
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Eh, there's only two really relevant abilities when it comes to aligment: turn undead & holy smite. Turn undead charms undead instead if you're evil*, and you don't get holy smite (unholy smite is pretty much useless). If you do have holy smite, you don't want your frontliners to be evil because then it's not a party friendly AoE spell anymore. * this is mostly a downside, but it does turn one of the "bad" options with Limited Wish into "Summon Vampires"
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Aug 13, 2014 10:39
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verybad posted:Eh, there's only two really relevant abilities when it comes to aligment: turn undead & holy smite. Turn undead charms undead instead if you're evil*, and you don't get holy smite (unholy smite is pretty much useless). If you do have holy smite, you don't want your frontliners to be evil because then it's not a party friendly AoE spell anymore. Honestly I think being an evil cleric for charm-undead is actually more useful - any undead encounter basically turns into free trash for you to throw into the next fight, which is more useful to you than just blowing them up.
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Aug 13, 2014 10:57
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Jabor posted:Honestly I think being an evil cleric for charm-undead is actually more useful - any undead encounter basically turns into free trash for you to throw into the next fight, which is more useful to you than just blowing them up. The thing is most fights where this is the case (in BG1/2, not so much in IWD) the other enemies are undead too so you might as well just turn them and blow them all up. One place I can think of off the top of my head where charming the undead was more pain than it was worth was the Unseeing Eye quests, tons of undead on lots of screens.
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Aug 13, 2014 13:47
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Jabor posted:Honestly I think being an evil cleric for charm-undead is actually more useful - any undead encounter basically turns into free trash for you to throw into the next fight, which is more useful to you than just blowing them up.
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Aug 13, 2014 21:23
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*casts oracle on factor VII's post*
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Aug 13, 2014 22:07
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Arivia posted:D&D doesn't really work that way. As someone alluded to above it's very much its own thing. Build a character for Baldur's Gate; don't adapt one or you'll get frustrated at the game fighting you every step of the way. This. It's really not worth trying to square peg that round hole. Just play the game on it's terms and you'll have more fun.
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Aug 13, 2014 22:10
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Let's say I wanted to plow through BG1 with a min/max'ed multiplayer party. What would be a good setup. Right now I've got: Half-Orc Berserker Dwarf Fighter/Cleric Halfling Thief Elf Archer Gnome Illusionist Human Skald Will this party reasonably decimate everything? Should I make the thief an assassin? I still want to be able to pick locks and disable traps effectively.
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Aug 13, 2014 22:53
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IMO assassins gain thieving skills too slowly to really be effective in BG1. Plus their strength is the x7 backstab which obviously you won't get to.
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Aug 13, 2014 23:36
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rakovsky maybe posted:IMO assassins gain thieving skills too slowly to really be effective in BG1. Plus their strength is the x7 backstab which obviously you won't get to. Oh yeah, good point. I'll just roll with this setup then. I can't imagine anything being too much trouble.
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Aug 13, 2014 23:41
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hamsystem posted:Let's say I wanted to plow through BG1 with a min/max'ed multiplayer party. What would be a good setup. Right now I've got: 6x archer.
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Aug 13, 2014 23:47
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hamsystem posted:Let's say I wanted to plow through BG1 with a min/max'ed multiplayer party. What would be a good setup. Right now I've got: If you want to min/max dump the skald for something else. Bards are pretty awful in BG1 and 2 as far as I'm aware.
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Aug 14, 2014 00:06
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rakovsky maybe posted:IMO assassins gain thieving skills too slowly to really be effective in BG1. Plus their strength is the x7 backstab which obviously you won't get to. Assassins are just fine in BG1. Poison weapon on bows is amazing.
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Aug 14, 2014 00:08
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Iretep posted:If you want to min/max dump the skald for something else. Bards are pretty awful in BG1 and 2 as far as I'm aware. Their song seems pretty good but I guess I could offset what it brings with a second archer. Actually, I'm seriously considering 5 archers and 1 thief for traps and locks....
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Aug 14, 2014 00:44
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I'm starting a new BG2 game and I'm thinking of playing a Monk. I found them weak in 3rd edition D&D. In BG2, are they a powerful and interesting option? What sort of builds should I consider? Any items I should pursue?
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Aug 14, 2014 02:00
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They're a fighting class and in 2E that means there's only one build - pump the physical stats. But since monks are vaguely spiritual, they get the HP progression and strength limitations of a cleric. So you'll be getting 10 HP per level, maximum, and your native strength bonus will be +1 hit, +2 damage. They're passable fighters in the midgame but they suffer even more than the other fighting classes as the series descends into caster supremacy. They get pretty impressive AC but in Throne of Bhaal AC barely matters, especially in comparison to resistance or outright denial of attacks. Their innate abilities don't scale and thus stunning fist becomes pretty useless about a third of the way through BG2, while quivering palm has such generous saving throws that it's obsolete as soon as you get it.* One day I'll get off my rear end and somehow fix the scaling problem, but until then pureclass monks are dogshit. I actually got a decent way through coding up a monk companion (this was years before the Enhanced Editions) but dropped the character because even with good stats he was dying without constant attention and I didn't want to cheese him. The sun soul monk kit is actually pretty good, however, since unlike the vanilla monk their abilities scale very well through the games. Load your guy up with sneaking skills and he makes a pretty decent skirmisher / softener, cloaking and then unleashing direct damage fire and then running away. I haven't played the Moon monk but it seems like it would be less effective. The idea of the monk as it was conceived in 3E, before Bioware awkwardly crammed it into BG2 (along with other 3E things like epic spells), was a skirmish fighter, fast and difficult to pin with spells or ranged fire (especially at high levels, when they pile up immunities and become ridiculously hard to put down), ideal for hit-and-run harassment combat. The infinity engine didn't really lend itself to that kind of play, and so monks just became a lesser fighting class. In the Enhanced Edition the shadowdancer basically plays the role the monk was supposed to and does it exceedingly well, since stealth isn't a one-shot gamble for them. * though I remember that before BG2EE, stunning fist actually worked on a lot of stuff it shouldn't have - a strength-buffed monk could stunlock an adamantine golem and wear it down single-handedly. Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 02:33
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So I asked a couple friends earlier on IRC and they had some ideas, but I wanted to ask the thread to be sure: what are the go-to weapon groups/weapons for a kensai in BG2? Suggestions were: -Katanas (for Celestial Fury; might drop off in ToB) -Flails (the Flail of Ages of course) -Hammers (Crom Faeyr) -Scimitars (to grab Belm for an early offhand) -maybe Long Swords as just a general common option. Anything else? Also for new people: I just finished BG:EE at exactly 50 hours of playtime. That's doing everything in the original game, the expansion, and the added content for EE. That was with having completed the games multiple times before and using a walkthrough. It would probably be about 75 hours for a new player from scratch. I'm hoping I can get BG2 done in under 100 hours; it's even larger. Basically the Baldur's Gate games are HUGE. Enjoy!
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Aug 14, 2014 04:34
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Arivia posted:So I asked a couple friends earlier on IRC and they had some ideas, but I wanted to ask the thread to be sure: what are the go-to weapon groups/weapons for a kensai in BG2? Suggestions were: Well, if you're looking at long term, once you start getting ToB HLA's, there's a ton of poo poo you can do with 2 handed weapons and greater whirlwind. Impaler (Spear) has huge amounts of damage potential and Silver Sword (Great Sword) has a 25% chance of invoking a save or die roll so that's certainly something to think about. If you dig Flail of ages, there's The Defender of Easthaven available from a bonus merchant. If you're playing BG2:EE I'm pretty sure he's in there that makes a great offhand weapon because it provides bunch of protections and is a flail, so you don't have to mix and match proficiency. And, without spoiling too much, you can get 2 more heads for Flail of Ages once you're in Throne of Bhaal roper, so you should be fine sticking to it.
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Aug 14, 2014 04:54
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It depends who you want to take with you more than which weapons work best with a Kensai. For example, Celestial Fury is the ideal mainhand weapon for Valygar or Haer'dalis, while FoA is ideal for Minsc. Long Swords are a good bet simply because none of the NPCs use them, you can get that +4 one from the graveyard straight out of Irenicus' dungeon, and Daystar as soon as you're confident enough to tackle that Lich.
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Aug 14, 2014 10:18
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hamsystem posted:Their song seems pretty good but I guess I could offset what it brings with a second archer. Actually, I'm seriously considering 5 archers and 1 thief for traps and locks.... Bards are fine, the guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
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Aug 14, 2014 11:45
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fong posted:It depends who you want to take with you more than which weapons work best with a Kensai. For example, Celestial Fury is the ideal mainhand weapon for Valygar or Haer'dalis, while FoA is ideal for Minsc. Long Swords are a good bet simply because none of the NPCs use them, you can get that +4 one from the graveyard straight out of Irenicus' dungeon, and Daystar as soon as you're confident enough to tackle that Lich. I'm thinking Kensai/Mage PC/Keldorn/Mazzy (edited into a paladin)/Jaheira/Aerie/whichever one of Imoen or Yoshimo I have access to at a given moment. There's a lot of overlap but hopefully it's good overlap, if that makes sense.
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Aug 14, 2014 12:24
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hamsystem posted:Let's say I wanted to plow through BG1 with a min/max'ed multiplayer party. What would be a good setup. Right now I've got: Bards are good but don't play a Skald into ToB without the Rogue Rebalancing mod and un-nerfed spellcasting tables. Min-maxed party? Take a thief. The traps end all encounters where you get a chance to prepare (all liches, most dragons, Demogorgon, even the final boss of ToB). Use a mage with Project Image - it's infinite spells on a mage, pretty much. http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/EndlessSpells.htm Kubla Khan fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 13:25
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Trying to decide how to make a good fighter/thief. I want him to act as a frontliner that can do all the thief stuff too so I'm guessing the best combo is a berserker/swashbuckler. I don't care about backstabs so don't think I'm missing out on anything picking swashbuckler. What are some good end game weapons to pick for dual wielding? Also I'm guessing the best time to switch to swashbuckler is at lvl 9 berserker.
Iretep fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 13:39
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Iretep posted:Trying to decide how to make a good fighter/thief. I want him to act as a frontliner that can do all the thief stuff too so I'm guessing the best combo is a berserker/swashbuckler. You can't dual into a kit. Take a fighter/thief multiclass so you get both class HLAs.
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Aug 14, 2014 13:40
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Kubla Khan posted:You can't dual into a kit. I think I'm using a mod that allows me to because I tried it out recently. Edit: Well drat, seems like I dont have a mod for it after all. Back to the drawingboard I guess. Iretep fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 13:41
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Iretep posted:I think I'm using a mod that allows me to because I tried it out recently. The powergamer F->T dual is Wizard Slayer->Thief because UAI removes all of the Wizard Slayer magic item restrictions.
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Aug 14, 2014 15:22
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amanasleep posted:The powergamer F->T dual is Wizard Slayer->Thief because UAI removes all of the Wizard Slayer magic item restrictions. I don't know, berserkers rage sounds much more useful than causing spell failure on mages and a few point of magic resistance. Plus you get use any item pretty late into the game so you'd be out of magic items for a while.
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Aug 14, 2014 15:52
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Was I the only one that was mad when they upgraded the FoA to +5? It annoyed me that it had free action on it, which meant that I could not haste that character, something I did for virtually every fight. Also BG2 is hilariously easy as a wild mage once you get some levels. For the final boss fight, I cast wish something like 12 times in a row (one of the wild surges refreshes all your spells), giving every character the fighter HLA that improves defense or whatever, greater deathblow, 25 in every stat, and improved haste on every character. For many other fights I would time stop and cast 7-9 spells during it thanks to the level 1 spell removing the time between castings. Also for IWD, the first time I played it, I accidentally figured out that you can completely cheese the game by dropping a character or two midway through and replacing them. The replaced characters get a massive bonus to exp and level much faster than the ones that you started with. This means that they quickly overtake your other characters in levels. I always started with 2 fighters, 3 rangers, and a cleric. At the very beginning of the Yuan-ti place, I would switch out a ranger for a thief, and then after the boss switch another one out for a mage. After the next area (I think it was the troll place?) the mage would already be higher level than anyone else and could nearly solo the rest of the game. Anything that couldn't be killed with a few fireballs could be brought back to a doorway with the two fighters ready to block it after running through.
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Aug 14, 2014 16:44
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Iretep posted:I think I'm using a mod that allows me to because I tried it out recently. You could try this mod.
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Aug 14, 2014 16:45
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Stealth Like posted:Was I the only one that was mad when they upgraded the FoA to +5? It annoyed me that it had free action on it, which meant that I could not haste that character, something I did for virtually every fight. There's a (G3?) fix that prevents Free Action from messing with positive stuff like Haste and Boots of Speed.
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Aug 14, 2014 16:55
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a medical mystery posted:There's a (G3?) fix that prevents Free Action from messing with positive stuff like Haste and Boots of Speed. Ahh I wish I had know that at the time. I'm glad that in iwd2 it doesn't mess with haste.
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Aug 14, 2014 17:02
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Is it just me or do all of the feats in IWD2 seem kind of....silly. I find myself putting feats into things I don't care about because I just don't have anything else available. Is there a certain focus I should be doing for feats for my non-fighters?
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Aug 14, 2014 17:12
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Iretep posted:I don't know, berserkers rage sounds much more useful than causing spell failure on mages and a few point of magic resistance. Plus you get use any item pretty late into the game so you'd be out of magic items for a while. No doubt that Berzerker->Thief is easier to use early in the game. But late game inducing casting failure with no save is very powerful, and you can easily get to 100% magic resistance after you get UAI.
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Aug 14, 2014 18:15
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Jastiger posted:Is it just me or do all of the feats in IWD2 seem kind of....silly. I find myself putting feats into things I don't care about because I just don't have anything else available. Feats and skills don't seem particularly useful, except for thief, mage, and weapons. With spellcraft high enough, there are spell school focus feats that boost mages. Obviously thief skills and concentration/spellcraft for mages are good, and I guess someone should have the personality skills. That leaves a lot of questionably useful feats/skills and not a lot for my fighters to bother with. This is my first time playing IWD 2 though, hopefully someone else can set us straight!
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Aug 14, 2014 19:28
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So I'm playing through bg1 and I level up viconia with a proficiency in flail/morning star. Turns out she doesn't have the strength for these weapons. If I was playing on my computer I'd just use a save editor but I'm playing on my phone. Are there any items I can go find that boost strength a couple points? I think she is short 2...
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Aug 14, 2014 19:39
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There are belts of strength but I honestly can't remember where you get them in BG1.
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Aug 14, 2014 19:51
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There aren't any belts of strength in BG1, but there are the gauntlets of ogre power which set your strength to 18/00. They're on some hostile guy somewhere in the city of Baldur's Gate, don't remember exactly where.
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Aug 14, 2014 20:07
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Don't the ogres guarding the bridge on the way to the Gnoll Fort drop something like that too?
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Aug 14, 2014 20:14
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