Bought myself Baldur 2 on Steam

bought myself Baldur 2 on Steam

recommend me a sensible newfriend character, I know next to nothing about how D&D works

Other urls found in this thread:

gamefaqs.com/pc/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/faqs/8566
sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/SpellProtections.htm
sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/ArcaneSpells.htm
sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/DivineSpells.htm
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Fighter is a safe bet. Don't multiclass it, just roll straight.
Once you're in the game for some time, you get basic understanding of what class does what and how the shit works, so maybe you'll want to restart with that in mind.
Anyway, fighter is easy to play and he stomps alright

Read this, it's not that long and contains most of the stuff that people don't get about the mechanics.

gamefaqs.com/pc/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/faqs/8566

Might as well start with a fighter. It'll be difficult at first, as will every other character when you're new with AD&D, but it's the simplest.

Or you could go mage. You'll die even easier, but you can stay behind the meatshields.

If you're willing to sit down and read a bunch of spells, take a Cleric/Ranger.
You can wear full plate mail and either dual-wield hammers, maces fails resulting in high dps, or use a shield and become one of the best tanks in the game. You also have access to all cleric and druid spells in the game.

It's a fairly safe character to play, very hard to kill especially when buffed.

make a human berserk and dual to wizard at level 7 or 9 or just make a elf multiclass fighter/wizard.
A Fighter/Thief/Wizard multiclass is also pretty good if you plan to play a small party

There are no fighter/wizard companion and since you should always have a couple wizards in your party it's a great MC option

Always go for dual wielding, 2h are just not worth your time save for Paladins and Fighter/Thiefs

Use this to learn how to beat enemy wizards
sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/SpellProtections.htm

And this to know what spells are actually useful at each level
sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/ArcaneSpells.htm
sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/DivineSpells.htm

is also a good build but there already are a few of great clerics in the game and you only need 1 in your party

I remember that one castle being awfully hard with trolls and shit like that, wasn't it timed in some way as well? I remember avoiding it until it was ALMOST too late

Just don't play any powergaming shit like Fighter/Mage/Thief. It'll suck all of the fun out of the game if you're playing normally (i.e. not solo).

Otherwise, pick whatever sounds most interesting. I assume you're playing the EE version, so you won't have to avoid any broken kits like Shapeshifter.

I'm a fan of Paladins from a lore perspective but that's just me.

if you recruit girl that offers that quest she can get impatient but I don't remember any time limit except her bitching and leaving the party

I think the only two outright terrible options are shapeshifter and wizard slayer.

>make a ranger subclassed as an archer because i legit like ranged/projectile weapons in bg1 tutu
>will prolly regret my choice in bg2

is ranged really that less potent in bg2?
i'd hate to play some sort of meta or anything, i just want to have a variety of class, not having everyone as a powertank fighter plus a couple of mage

chose a rnd character and have fun.

Paladin. Easy to get stats (you want 18 in dex, str, and 16 in con) because of their minimum required stats. Cavalier is a pretty powerul package and you can get around the "no ranged weapons" shit with magical throwing weapons. Plus some of the best gear is paladin-only

archer is an extremely powerfull kit, not sure where you heard its bad

they kinda lag behind once all your frontliners can reach 20+ strenght but archers are still pretty good at fucking up enemy casters

No, archer is really good once his bonuses start stackin up. One thing to remember in BG2 is to rush the Trademeet questline and buy that sweet, sweet infinite ammo shortbow early on.

>paladin
>cavalier

I'm sorry what the fuck
Inquisitor is the strongest kit by far and its very noob friendly

They're fine. Pretty much class in bg2 is fine. It's just that in bg2 you get a ton of neat melee weapons in comparison to the amount of neat ranged weapons. Plus since it's high level magic gets more dangerous.

They get worse as the series goes on because Fighters outclass them so badly in the APR department and there aren't many high enchantment bows/arrows around that let you deal with late-game immunities.

>you only need 1 in your party
>not having at least 2 divine and 2 arcane spellcasters (can be multi)

A lot of people don't really consider Inquisitors to be real paladins and, to be honest, they break the game if you abuse them.

Cavalier is a perfectly decent kit without being overpowered.

Twice the spellcasters means twice as much pausing in battle.

I played an archer once. He was an absolute mad killing machine. I dont think he ever missed, alot of shots with tuigan right off the bat and damage isnt too shabby with grandmastery and level bonuses.

Play BG1 first.

Is that a bad thing?

Not for a newbie. A newbie is going to like a character that hits two of the most annoying enemy types harder and easier, is immune to fear, moral failure, and a bunch of other shit, and can still cast priest spells.

I just feel like it gets tiresome. Are you REALLY more effective when you commit so much time to pause-managing your casts?

you can just not pause, I don't pause in trash encounters and just cast whenever I feel like it

Post your favorite party. Not necessarily the strongest one, but one that fits your playstyle the most. For me it's all about having access to every possible spell and a wide array of tactics.

Inquisitor (Keldorn)
Cleric/Ranger multi (Jaheira edited)
Blade (Haer'Dalis)
Assassin (Imoen edited)
Cleric/Mage multi (Aerie edited to 18/18)
Wild Mage (protagonist)

what's the point?
you only need 1 cleric to cast party buffs and summons before combat, druids are cool too but not as essential

with arcane spellcasters you need 2 to tear down enemy casters defenses fast enough

I actually aim for a 2 arcane 2 divine party, armor of faith + defender of easthaven + hardiness cleric and a druid for summons and creeping doom. Still mad druids get outclassed as summoners by the endgame

What about the single most annoying enemy types, casters?
Inquisitor's dispel will get rid of every bad debuff on your party and strips defensive spells of casters.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned kensai/mage

>Blade (Haer'Dalis)

my niggah

how does wild mage and cleric/mage perform?
I've tried Aerie before but never reached ToB with her

Powergaming garbage.

What am I suppose to be doing with my party spell and equipment wise?

My brother is a +12 Hackmaster!

That's what your party is for

give them appropiate equipment and spells of course :)

post your party you tard

Wild Mage is like a pure mage for people who like to occasionally reload because your mage kills himself. But then occasionally something awesome happens. It's fun if you're on your nth playthrough and want some extra randomness.

Cleric/Mage is weak at first, but becomes crazy good if you give them robe of vecna and the amulet of power. It affects divine spells too if I remember correctly.
I like to make the pure mage the one with utility and crowd control, and the cleric/mage mainly learns damage and healing spells, they are the ones that never run out of something to throw at the enemy.

...

Cleric/mage is a fine thing to play as because then you don't have to carry a certain shitty NPC around.

Dwarf warrior long sword/hammer and shield, max strength and constitution, no charisma at all

I guess I'll have to go for a replay one of this days and give both a real try

>Can dual class from a kit, but not into a kit
Is this intentional or an engine limitation/ Or maybe it was changed in EE?

>getting both Gaxx rings

>Not wanting her to go into labor when fighting a dragon

I might be wrong, but I think only your first class can have a kit because engine limitations.

>Post your favorite party.
I roll with the Waifu Brigade.

High-Charisma Inquisitor or Cavalier PC
Jaheira
Viconia
Aerie with edited stats
Nalia at the start of the game, sub in Imoen when she becomes available.
I usually start off with myself and Jaheira as melee (with me being focused on DPS and Jaheira with a shield) and Viconia and Aerie with slings, eventually moving into having myself with Carsomyr, Jaheira and Viconia dual-wielding, and Aerie still with a sling.

Apart from the powergaming angle, Berserker/Mage and multiclassed Fighter/Mage are often seen as superior, especially for a new player.

>cleric/mage perform?
>I've tried Aerie before but never reached ToB with her
Amazingly, once she gets a few levels. She gets access to the Robe of Vecna and Amulet of Power which decrease casting time for her Cleric spells as well as her Mage spells, and she gets access to spell sequencers and contingencies.

Is ToB still bullshit for mages due to them giving the late bosses infinite magic resistance?

Also, how were you supposed to survive wing buffet? I completed BG2 but still have no idea how to properly fight dragons (specifically that move) and relied on luck to beat the one you have to fight.

Fighter/Mages can't wear armor apparently, how does this work?

t. another beginner

They can, but wearing non-mage armor disables arcane spellcasting.

they can but arcane spellcasting is disabled for any class when any armor that's not a mage robe is worn

kensai/mage or fighter/mage multi?

>that one creeper who played with Imoen romance mod

Blade.

Just use a potion and run back after wing buffet.

There are spells that lower resistances.

So it's just a less squishy mage who gets access to spells at later levels?

i fucking hated that expansion because of that massive spam of mages and spells everywhere.
i don't know if i would replay it for my new playthrough

Why are fighter/mage characters so powerful? Never played one and don't really understand how they'd work.

>still have no idea how to properly fight dragons
Use the Hold Monster spell.

you know perfectly well that it's canon

CHARNAME and her grew up together in fucking Candlekeep full of musty old men

they must've played doctor

And Fighter THAC0 progression, weapon specialisations, etc.

The Fighter kit offers a lot but it really depends on whether you can be bothered with the tedium of the xp grind.

It's a meleer who uses defensive spells for protection.

That works up until the bosses get infinite resistance which never goes down.

The way dual-classing works within BG2's experience limits basically means "fighter/mage = mage with shitload more HP"

its a mage that can tear shit up with weapons
if thats not valuable to you the slower progression will feel like an hindrance yes

>archer
why not an elf ranger then? they get innate longsword / longbow bonuses and can be pure beasts in both melee and ranged.

Not that simple, you don't get level 9 spells until the end of the game.
Multiclassing a mage isn't as bad as D&D3, but it's still not a trivial loss in spellcasting.

So dual classing is pretty much always the way to go?

Why are things like warrior/monks not recommended? Don't monks get stupidly broken on their own?

wear robes of the archimagi at first and later on there are some armors that allow spellcasting

you shouldn't worry about armor anyway, wizards have some amazing defensive spells like mirror image and ironskin so if you avoid getting mobbed you'll literally take no damage

+1 to hit literally doesnt matter honestly, you don't really miss anymore past midgame

>recruit monk npc in bg1
what the fuck worse than garrick -10/10
>get him back near the end of bg2
holyshit.

>mfw robe of vecna and amulet of power

Thanks guys. So this guy isn't positioned in front of the group but rather behind the melee fighters? I'll try dual classing after level 7 in BG1 then.

Dual classing is the powergamer's choice, but I'd honestly not do it as a newbie. The way it works makes your character have a "downtime" until your second class catches up to the first, and depending on how high of a level you dual from, that may be half a campaingn of your main character being a deadweight. Don't dual class unless you really know what you're doing.

Multiclassing (i.e. what non-human races get) is an entirely different story and it's safe to do for a first-timer.

+1 hit is +5% hit chance.

If you need to roll 15-20 instead of 16-20 to hit then your average DPS becomes 25% larger.

Garrick is actually very good.

Bards only need half as much exp to level than wizards so his spells are more powerful than for example Edwin's. Garrick also can equip bows to do lots of damage when he isn't casting spells.

*casts alacrity*

>past midgame you don't miss anymore

Never dualclass as a beginner.
It's easy to fuck up and also your class is worthless for a large part of the game.

Multiclassing is different and it's okay.

What's the point of a sorcerer?

special snowflake wizard
but in all honesty not having to memorize specific spells could mean less metagaming

What did EE change from the original, class-wise? Did they touch exploits like ranger/cleric?

its a more powerfull mage if you know what you're doing

what they lose in versatility is generally not a big sacrifice considering most spells are way too situationals to do anything in most situations, and those situations usually can be solved in more conventional manners

EE didnt bring any balance changes afaik

More spells per day and you don't need to find scrolls.

The first thing doesn't really matter because you can rest wherever you want and the second thing only matters much if you want to play with 3+ arcane spell casters.

Cast as many spells as you want every day, not just what is applicable to your situation out of all those you memorised.

Oh baby.
Is that mod also available for the EE edition?

Mage: cast a large variety of spells a smaller number of times

Sorceror: cast a smaller variety of spells a larger amount of times.

It is indeed.

no, they just added kits and proficiencies from bg2

I think so.

That thing is actually one of the best NPC mods around and adds a lot of decent non-romance content.

New version cut the most 'offensive' content though.

>Thanks guys. So this guy isn't positioned in front of the group but rather behind the melee fighters?

F/Ms are tanky as fuck and shit out damage left and right towards the late-game.

To be honest, I really wouldn't recommend going the dual-class route though. It really is just for powergaming and you'll have to deal with a long period where your character will be mediocre as fuck.

These days, I always go with the Blade kit for the Bard. They sort of function as a low-rent Fighter/Mage but with light-speed xp progression so you can have all the fun of throwing around high level fireballs early in BG2.

So dwarf rape? Good.

You should start with the first Baldur's Gate. Some people say it's possible to skip it, but it's BS.

Nah, that still works.

I believe they fixed stuff like the broken Shapeshifter though.

Yes, it should work with the Enhanced Edition. Can't find anything about a separate install, so it should just be fine.

I agree, and not just for Baldur's Gate - it's written a lot better than a lot of the romance/npc mods for later games like NWN 1 and 2. How it was managed in BG's engine, I have no idea
>mod writer comes into one of these threads and talks about a secret extra-good end if you fulfil a bunch of conditions
>it was so long before I tried the mod I forgot how to do it
;_;

There are some, but they're mostly bugfixes. E.g. thieves not being able to wield scimitars in the original game was an oversight, not done for balance reasons, etc.

I'm fine with them removing the hilarious cursing. I'm all okay with swearing, but having a high fantasy game where one modded character suddenly starts dropping fucks like a fucking teen seriously clashed with muh immersion.