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Yeah I noticed that there were feats that modified initiative rolls, but initiative doesn't do anything because of the real time combat, as you've mentioned. At this point I'm just going through the game for the story and seeing what all I can break.
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Oct 31, 2017 13:52
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I'd play as a caster if I were you. At least the spells are kinda fun, as opposed to just clicking on poo poo and waiting for your dude to kill them.
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Oct 31, 2017 13:55
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I may do that when I go to NWN1. Cleric/Fighter or something like that. I'm past the Library part in NWN2 so I think I'm maybe at the half way point?
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Oct 31, 2017 13:57
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I can't remember but the expansion, Mask of the Betrayer is loads better than the OC. It's less combat, more role playing and people compare it to PS:T. A Cleric/Fighter is not really a caster, more of a buffer and a tank.
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Oct 31, 2017 14:03
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Last time I played through NWN1 I played a pure Paladin 1 to 40 through the Aielund Saga and it rocked. Would highly recommend. EMS, the balance module used for the saga, really improves a lot of the Paladin's abilities though it's a bit poorly documented. If you invest in Paladin you get a better variety of spells, your buffs are hard to dispel, all of your weapon buff damage spells stack and holy avenger becomes a monster ability that dispels at your Paladin level and gives you SR = to Paladin level. Pump strength and charisma and you're good to go. It's great hack and slash with a good story. Just equip a sword and shield and go and save some fair maidens and fight dragons. Much cleaner than a fighter/cleric. Though I always console my characters in 50 Int if they're non-wizards so I get access to skills and a full range of dialogue options/choices
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Oct 31, 2017 14:25
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paladins are pussies, tho
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Oct 31, 2017 14:27
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The dialogue options make them a bit more swashy/bravado in Aielund, though in general I accept the archtype's a bit boring/stale in D&D.
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Oct 31, 2017 14:41
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So do rangers in this game fight melee or something? I started BGII again and I just noticed Minsc is a ranger.. I have him using a bow though
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Oct 31, 2017 17:38
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Scent of Worf posted:So do rangers in this game fight melee or something? I started BGII again and I just noticed Minsc is a ranger.. Unless they're the archer kit, rangers are equally adept at melee or ranged depending on their proficiencies.
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Oct 31, 2017 17:40
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Yeah, they're p. efficient two weapon fighters because they get two pips in it for free. Scimitars or short swords (Belm or Kundane) in the off hand for +1 attack per round for the main hand weapon.
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Oct 31, 2017 17:56
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D&D Rangers are basically Strider from LoTR.
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Nov 1, 2017 12:44
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Scent of Worf posted:So do rangers in this game fight melee or something? I started BGII again and I just noticed Minsc is a ranger.. The worst thing about Minsc is that his weapon proficiencies are stupid for a ranger. Longbow (fine) two pips in 2 Handed Swords (Minsc stop you're a ranger) and one pip in Maces which is one of the worst 1 handed weapons in terms of cool weapons available (there's mace of disruption and ummm...) Scent of Worf posted:So do rangers in this game fight melee or something? I started BGII again and I just noticed Minsc is a ranger.. Rangers can do both really. Minsc is really a frontliner though. Rangers have the Archer kit, which thoroughly solves the problem of 'bows don't deal poo poo for damage after a certain level' Give an Archer GM is shortbows, grab the Tuigan Bow early and watch your Archer have 50% of your party's kills. ChrisBTY fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 16:55
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If BG1 had had kits Minsc would have just been a berserker and everything would have been much more sensible. Other than Minsc himself, I guess.
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Nov 1, 2017 17:01
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Everything about BG1's NPC roster makes more sense when you understand that almost all the recuitable NPCs were based on the developers' Dark Sun tabletop party.
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Nov 1, 2017 17:04
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 if you don't stick a suit of full plate on Minsc and have him gleefully wade into melee with a two-handed sword.He even has the right voice file for it. "Full plate and packing steel" indeed.
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Nov 1, 2017 17:41
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Two-handed swords also let him gracefully swap between ranged and melee without having to open the inventory.
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Nov 1, 2017 17:52
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kujeger posted:D&D Rangers are basically Strider from LoTR. Are the pips in two weapons due to Drizzt, or is that a nerd myth? ChrisBTY posted:The worst thing about Minsc is that his weapon proficiencies are stupid for a ranger. The mace makes sense from a game development perspective, sort of, since Minsc is one of the "default" companions and this game is full of god drat vampires 
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Nov 1, 2017 18:09
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Rappaport posted:The mace makes sense from a game development perspective, sort of, since Minsc is one of the "default" companions and this game is full of god drat vampires Minsc also changed his racial enemy from gnolls in BG1 to vampires in BG2, for that very reason.
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Nov 1, 2017 18:13
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Suspicious posted:Two-handed swords also let him gracefully swap between ranged and melee without having to open the inventory. Rappaport posted:Are the pips in two weapons due to Drizzt, or is that a nerd myth?
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Nov 1, 2017 19:03
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Ahhh, story time. Rangers originally were just straight up Fighters+ in AD&D 1e. There, they were also outright explicitly Aragorn: the Class, being human only and gaining the ability (amongst many others) to explicitly use magical items related to scrying, like, oh, I dunno, palantir. But they also got an absolutely massive bonus to damage against enemies of the "giant" subclass, which in AD&D was absolutely massive, because it included far more then just giants. Because of this huge boost to damage against, well, almost like half the enemies in the game, a lot of rangers dual wielded - after all, if getting the bonus once is good, why not get it twice? Now drow were ALSO introduced in AD&D, and Drizzt didn't start life off as a ranger, he started it off as a simple Drow fighter. And Drow in AD&D had the semi-unique ability in that they were all naturally ambidextrous. See, in AD&D, ANYONE can duel wield, it's just that you can only use a dagger or hatchet in your offhand, which had low damage, and you took a penalty to your attacks that was reduced by dexterity. Drow, on the other hand, could use anything in their offhand, which is the ACTUAL origin of Drizzt's two scimitars. Drow by the rules can't even be rangers. In AD&D 2e, these started to merge together. The ranger, it was decided, was no longer going to be straight up Aragorn: the Class. Instead, they went for it's previous niche of general woodsman and medieval special forces mixed together. Furthermore, 2e re-categorized things by...well, categorizing them in the first place! So now fighters, rangers, and paladins are all part of the "WARRIOR" subgroup and all gain extra attacks at the same levels and have the same hit die. Part of this was the desire to make the fighter stand out more - again, in AD&D, ranger and paladin were just straight up better, so they wanted to give ranger and paladin better "niches." So, they looked at rangers. They noticed just how well the HATES GIANTS ability synchronized with dual wielding, and, well, rangers were going to get a MORE robust favored enemy mechanic. So, they decided to bake the duel wielding proficiency directly into the class. Rangers could still wear full plate and grab a two handed sword when the need for it came but outside of full frontal attacks and the like, they were more likely to wear lighter armor and make use of their stealth abilities and two weapons. Now, obviously not in Baldur's Gate, but that's because Baldur's Gate is a video game and thus the narrative potential of stealth is dramatically less valuable. It's just that timing worked out weird. Crystal Shard, the first book that had Drizzt (where he wasn't even the main character and was literally made up on the spot), came out '88. 2e lands '89. Drizzt wasn't an inspiration for when they were working on AD&D 2e...but he got so popular, so fast, and the timing was so close, that plenty of people saw connections where there originally were none.
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Nov 1, 2017 21:15
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cigaw posted:
Magic is impressive. But now, Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
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Nov 1, 2017 21:29
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Dang Prof. Cirno, that's a lot of  . Great summary!ProfessorCirno posted:It's just that timing worked out weird. Crystal Shard, the first book that had Drizzt (where he wasn't even the main character and was literally made up on the spot). No kidding. I got both the Dark Elf and the Icewind Dale trilogies as a teen and remember reading the Foreword to one of them where Salvatore recounts running late for a meeting with the editors as they were picking the sidekicks for Wulfgar. Starved for time and out of ideas, this was his pitch:  "Erm, he's a Dark Elf!" "..." "His name is Drizzt Do'Urden, of House Daermon N'a'shezbaernon!" "Can you spell that?" "Not a chance!"I found it very funny at the time and read the books with gusto. sebzilla posted:Magic is impressive. But now, Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
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Nov 1, 2017 21:49
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ProfessorCirno posted:Drow by the rules can't even be rangers.  Your soul is forfeit.
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Nov 2, 2017 06:49
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What's a valley elf?
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Nov 2, 2017 07:03
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In the olden tymes TSR couldn’t stop making new elf subraces. If you include ones introduced in Dragon Magazine I don’t even know how many there were in total.
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Nov 2, 2017 07:38
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cigaw posted:Dang Prof. Cirno, that's a lot of Seconded, thanks professor Cirno, that's a cool history post 
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Nov 2, 2017 08:58
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Well poo poo I'm about to go read the Icewind Dale trilogy again.
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Nov 2, 2017 13:38
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Vargatron posted:Well poo poo I'm about to go read the Icewind Dale trilogy again. I re-read the first 6 Drizzt books about 10 years ago and especially the Icewind Dale trilogy was actually pretty fun pulp fantasy. Not great but I did enjoy it. The Menzoberranzan trilogy was kinda bad. Salvatore is really only good in writing battle scenes and wilderness adventure, not coming-of-age stories or dialogue. If you wanna read great D&D fantasy, go read Jack Vance's dying earth. It's basically D&D right down to the magic system. Dyna Soar fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Nov 2, 2017 |
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Nov 2, 2017 13:42
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Yeah Salvatore wasn't writing high art or anything, but he's really good with the fighting scenes. Best one from my memory was when Wulfgar hit somebody so hard with a hammer that their ankles broke.
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Nov 2, 2017 13:48
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Kavak posted:What's a valley elf? IIRC, what would become wood/wild elves - elves who live apart from civilization in general and build their own communities in harmony with nature far away from cities.
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Nov 2, 2017 14:21
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rope kid posted:
Dwarves can be acrobats but not barbarians??
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Nov 2, 2017 14:22
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Smashing Link posted:Dwarves can be acrobats but not barbarians?? Checks out. There was an incredible dwarf acrobat when I went to the circus a few months back but I've never seen a dwarf barbarian.
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Nov 2, 2017 14:40
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BTW, the rules never stood in the way of Bob Salvatore speccing Drizzt out however he wanted to. There's a very early 2nd Ed. supplement called Hall of Heroes that lists him as a 10th level ranger who can sneak and climb like a 10th level thief and does double damage + instant death % to an enemy if he rolls 5+ higher than he needs to hit. In a later 2nd Ed. supplement, he's listed as a dual-classed (??) fighter/ranger with a bunch of other goodies + insane thief abilities (including 5x Backstab). By the time the FRCS hardcover rolls around, he's a Ftr 10/Bbn 1/ Rgr 5 and technically legal, which in 3.X means nothing.
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Nov 2, 2017 17:24
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Cythereal posted:IIRC, what would become wood/wild elves - elves who live apart from civilization in general and build their own communities in harmony with nature far away from cities. The UA elves include dark, gray, high, valley, wild, and wood.
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Nov 2, 2017 17:29
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valley elves are from the valley. like, whatever...
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Nov 2, 2017 17:32
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is drizzt cooler or lamer than elminster
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Nov 2, 2017 18:03
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Elminster gets way more bitches. Including the freaking goddess of Magic.
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Nov 2, 2017 18:08
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cigaw posted:Elminster gets way more bitches. Including the freaking goddess of Magic. Also sometimes is one.
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Nov 2, 2017 19:30
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Drizzt is less of a self insert but has had more of a Sephiroth effect on the fanbase than him, so it breaks even.
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Nov 2, 2017 19:30
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Skwirl posted:Also sometimes is one. Kavak posted:Drizzt is less of a self insert but has had more of a Sephiroth effect on the fanbase than him, so it breaks even.
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Nov 2, 2017 21:00
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