Baldur's Gate Beamdog's Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 Enhanced Editions

[ArchAngel]

Dorn has 19 str and low dex and con. He is a weaker version of what a PC character would look like. He is also weaker than Minsc with dex 18 gauntlets. And Minsc can go Beserk and be immune to most CC spells while Dorn cannot.

 

[hell bovine]

what spell r u even talking about?

Spellstrike, but I think I kidnapped too much of this thread already.

To get back on topic: one thing that I am curious about is how the shaman class will play in practice. I actually prefer druidic spellcasting to arcane, but druids were so poorly implemented in BG (especially the shapeshifter, and apparently the EE doesn't even fix that? ), that I switched to playing arcane casters.

 

[Jaesun]

How do Druids differ from 2nd Edition D&D and Baldurs Gate?

 

[hell bovine]

How do Druids differ from 2nd Edition D&D and Baldurs Gate?

I never played D&D, so I wouldn't now, but my gripes are:
the werewolf shapes are bugged (you don't get what you're supposed to get), the exp tables make leveling druids in the game annoying (just compare it to clerics) and the low level spell selection is a bit of a disappointment.

And then there is the cleric/ranger, which gets all the druidic spellcasting without being a druid (which in my opinion they shouldn't), because that's how spellbooks got implemented in the game.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[hell bovine]

The first character I ever made in BG2 was a shapeshifter. I'm still bitter about it.

 

[Shadenuat]

I am curious about is how the shaman class will play in practice

All druid kits except Avenger are shit, at least they were in non-EE BG2. They transfer too poorly into ToB. In original spirits had some use in beginning but quickly became obsolete. They have some unique abilities like immunities and magical weapons and extra effect (poison, fear, level drain on attack depending on spirit I believe) but that doesn't help. They take summoning slots which even regular druid spells can fill better.
Werewolf had Piercing weapon (golems say hai) for claws at max +2 even on Greater form and couldn't even compare to average dual class.

That's why I liked Revisions, by the way, since not only it gave them options, but it cut on cheating spells that 1-button won you fights (Insect Plague & Nature's Beauty, the last was bugged as aaaaaaal fuuuuuck).

EE, they're probably same, just now in BG1 you play like TuTu/Trilogy. So Faldorn gets 2 Insect Plagues, which is awesome, but you can't summon 20 bears now, which is not.

And you can't summon Unicorns a-la AD&D

I played Fighter 3/Avenger (+++++ Staves/++ 2-handed weapons), but there was that trick into converting character from BG1 vanilla to BG2 that dual class gets to choose a kit. Don't know if they fixed that.

 

[hell bovine]

I am curious about is how the shaman class will play in practice

All druid kits except Avenger are shit, at least they were in non-EE BG2. They transfer too poorly into ToB. In original spirits had some use in beginning but quickly became obsolete. They have some unique abilities like immunities and magical weapons and extra effect (poison, fear, level drain on attack depending on spirit I believe) but that doesn't help. They take summoning slots which even regular druid spells can fill better.
Werewolf had Piercing weapon for claws at max +2 even on Greater form and couldn't even compare to average dual class.

I know. That's the stuff I would like to see fixed, especially since the shapeshifting mods that I could find made them overpowered instead (e.g. claws as changeable weapons. I think it was Tactics or EoU?).

 

[ArchAngel]

EE has fixed werewolf druid a bit, not sure of details.

 

[Shadenuat]

I know. That's the stuff I would like to see fixed, especially since the shapeshifting mods that I could find made them overpowered instead (e.g. claws as changeable weapons. I think it was Tactics or EoU?).

There are a few but I didn't find any good. Some even allow spellcasting in wolf form which makes no sense.
It's hard to balance, it's like balancing monk, writing all stats through levels instead of advancing character through combination of equipment and spells. Normal shapeshifting like in IWD where you take various specialist forms would be a lot better.

EE has fixed werewolf druid a bit, not sure of details.

Probably weapon immunity, they were missing one. Maybe regen due to 25 CON & AC things.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Calling totemic druid shit is a bit of a stretch, no? Not the best kit in the world, but very good for the first half of the game and very beginner friendly. One of the better choices for small parties or if someone wants to try a pureclass solo.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Beamdog do some native advertising and also this: http://blog.beamdog.com/2016/02/fantasy-grounds.html

In the deep, dusty archives of Baldur's Gate (or, rather, the well-maintained archives of Mike Sass's hard drive), we found the original Edwin Odesseiron portrait by Baldur’s Gate artist Mike Sass. The piece was never made available… until now. Fantasy Grounds has the portrait available as a free download, and so do we!





Behold, the inimitable Red Wizard of Thay in all his original glory! Our friends over at Gamerati have an interview with Sass up right now discussing his artistic process and influences. Read the history, meet the artist, play the character, and enjoy the portrait!

VentilatorOfDoom

meh doesn't look 100% white

 

[Shadenuat]

Calling totemic druid shit is a bit of a stretch, no? Not the best kit in the world, but very good for the first half of the game and very beginner friendly. One of the better choices for small parties or if someone wants to try a pureclass solo.

It was in BG2 non-enhanced. Spirits either completely lacked magical weapons or it was so weak they couldn't even harm half of enemies in SoA. I remember checking with IE Explorer and finding out they lacked magical weapons at all. Fire elementals were the working horse for my solo playthrough. Mountain bears too, and Nymph for crowd control. Then Sunnis & Planetar.

I googled EE spirits, interestingly they changed them - because they had to adapt them for BG1: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/31754/totemic-druid-summon-stats
Looks supah cheesy, but they also nerfed them again in BG2 EE (well wolf anyway, and no more growing in HD). So who knows.
You don't lose anything in particular with Totemic druid of course. But you can't dual/multi either.

I don't know if it's fear of making some actual effort or their strange policies but why not just standartise some of spells across all games, give druids IWD spells & abilities. Beamdog adds shitton of free XPs and SCS-like cheesy scripts into their own locations and extra content, but leaves parts of vanilla untouched... but just parts, since they still changed some things in ToB, including actual balance and actual story fights.

 

[Eyestabber]

Beamdog do some native advertising and also this: http://blog.beamdog.com/2016/02/fantasy-grounds.html

In the deep, dusty archives of Baldur's Gate (or, rather, the well-maintained archives of Mike Sass's hard drive), we found the original Edwin Odesseiron portrait by Baldur’s Gate artist Mike Sass. The piece was never made available… until now. Fantasy Grounds has the portrait available as a free download, and so do we!





Behold, the inimitable Red Wizard of Thay in all his original glory! Our friends over at Gamerati have an interview with Sass up right now discussing his artistic process and influences. Read the history, meet the artist, play the character, and enjoy the portrait!

VentilatorOfDoom

meh doesn't look 100% white

Urgh. I can totally see why they didn't use this one. BG1 Edwin is best Edwin.

 

[FeelTheRads]

It looks horrible. Like a teenager with a huge pimple on his forehead and lotus pods on his cheeks.

 

[Shadenuat]

And then there is the cleric/ranger, which gets all the druidic spellcasting without being a druid (which in my opinion they shouldn't), because that's how spellbooks got implemented in the game.

EE fixed that, btw. Since rangers don't progress beyond level 3 in their spells, c/r gain druid spells up to level 3. So no ironskins, insect plague or Elemental Princes for you.

 

[Echo Mirage]

Is two weapon style always the best option, even for an average strength Thief?

Edit:

I have been wondering for a long time on what the difference between Move silently and Hide in shadows really was. Or how they interacted with each other. I found this several year old post. Perhaps its interesting to some people here.

After much searching around, I became frustrated with not finding the answers I've been looking for regarding the thief/ranger ability Hide in Shadows (HiS) and its counterpart for thieves Move Silently (MS). As such, I've conducted a thorough analysis of HiS and what affects it. This was done in a lightly modified Tutu client. No modifications to the thieving abilities were included.

Summary of findings:

- 1 point of HiS or MS is a 0.5% increase in chance to hide.

- There will always be a minimum 1% chance to fail under all circumstances.

- Penalties are percentage based. (This is explained in more detail later.)

- The ability to successfully hide = ( 2 / ( HiS + Move Silently )) * ( |100 / ( penalties - 100 )| ). (The formula may not be written elegantly and for that the writer apologizes).

- Therefore, assuming no penalties, having 100 HiS but 0 Move Silently (MS) results in a 50% success rate. Conversely, having 100 MS but 0 HiS also results in a 50% success rate. Given the additional benefits MS most likely provides, stealth points are best put toward MS before HiS.

- In order to receive no penalty to your HiS skill check, you must be in a shadow (the shadow must make your character appear darker when he walks into it or it must be night and you must be outside -- being in a shadow at night doesn't seem to provide a bonus). (All inside locations tested were all well lit and had no proper shadows.)

- Being out of a shadow during the daylight hours incurs a 50% penalty to your skill. (This is a percentage of your skill number, e.g. if you have 50 points in HiS you will have a 25% success rate. If you have 75 points in HiS you have a 37% success rate.)

- Being indoors in a lit area seems to incur a 30% penalty (it's the writer's suspicion that this is actually 1/3). If one were to locate shadows indoors this should be negated but could not be confirmed as no shadows indoors could be located for testing.

- Neutral/Friendly NPCs and party members do not hinder the ability to hide. The effects of hostile NPCs on hiding checks were not evaluated.

- Shields (any size), helmets and leather and studded leather armor do not affect hiding success rates. Elven chainmail was not evaluated.

- Night time ends as soon as the hour on the in-game clock reads "Hour 6." Night time begins when the clock reads "Hour 22." There is no easing -- it is either night or it is not.

- In order to successfully hide 99% of the time no matter the environemental conditions requires a total of 400 points into HiS or MS as the most significant penalty for hiding is attempting to hide during the day outside of the shadows which incurs a 50% penalty. Given the data, it seems as though the desired cap for MS is 255 (the max value as it's assigned only one byte) and 145 in HiS for 400 points total which should provide a 99% success rate in all environmental conditions (2 / ( 255 + 145 ) - 50% = 100%).


The following is the data used to make the aforementioned conclusions...

300 iterations with 100 HiS and 25 MS resulted in 102 failures to hide (102 / 300 = 34% failure rate).

300 iterations with 20 HiS and 100 MS resulted in 129 failures to hide ( 129 / 300 = 43% failure rate).

300 iterations with 100 HiS and 100 MS during the day out of shadows resulted in 147 failures to hide (147 / 300 = 49% failure rate).

300 iterations with 100 HiS and 100 MS during the day in the shadows resulted in 3 failures to hide ( 3 / 300 = 1% failure rate).

300 iterations with 50 HiS and 50 MS during the day out of shadows resulted in 234 failures to hide ( 234 / 300 = 78% failure rate).

300 iterations with 100 HiS and 100 MS at night out of shadows resulted in 8 failures ( 8 / 300 = 2.6% failure rate).

300 iterations with 100 HiS and 100 MS indoors in the light resulted in 89 failures ( 89 / 300 = 30% failure rate).

100 iterations with 100 HiS and 100 MS during the day in the shadows while wearing a helm resulted in 0 failures ( 0% failure rate).

100 iterations with 100 HiS and 100 MS during the day in the shadows while holding a large shield resulted in 2 failures ( 2 / 100 = 2% failure rate)

100 iterations with 100 HiS and 100 MS during the day in the shadows while wearing studded leather armor resulted in 2 failures (2 / 100 = 2% failure rate).

If one wishes to verify the findings, add information not evaluated or work with thieving skills (or cheat), the hex information for thieving skills will be provided.

Once the character file is open, the binary shows only the adjustment above and beyond what bonuses are provided inherently through class kits and stats. For instance, with 18 dexterity, a thief will start with 20 HiS. If 20 points are put into HiS when creating the character, the hex will read 14 (20 decimal) instead of 28 (40 decimal). Until this discovery, locating the proper binary to edit was difficult.

The hex columns and rows for thieving skills are as follows:
A0x9 HiS
C0x8 Detect Illusion
C0x9 Set Trap
C0xB Open Locks
C0xC MS
C0xD Find Traps
C0xE Pick Pockets

 

[varangos]

does anyone have a link to cracked versions of both baldurs 1 and 2 ee patch 1.3?
reverting to 1.3 in steam makes the game a horrible mess,and the UI in 2.0 is just horrible.
i wish i had bought them in gog,fucking automated patch installs.

 

[Bester]

I reported a critical bug with the Cloud for savegames and then while I was taking a break for DS3, they fixed it and sent me an email automatically. Nice.

Whenever I reported bugs for PoE, they'd either dismiss it saying I surely must have been playing with mods or that they couldn't reproduce it (how much IQ do you need to reproduce well described bugs?) or they simply ignored my reports entirely.

It's refreshing to see a company actually reacting to bug reports.

 

[bloodlover]

I didn't find the other Baldur thread fast so I will just ask here: What would be more useful for a 6lvl sorc spell to pick up first: chain lightning or death spell? One of the NPCs has truesight so I can skip that for now.

Chain lightning is friendly and I think it interrupts spellcasting so I might take it first.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

I didn't find the other Baldur thread fast so I will just ask here: What would be more useful for a 6lvl sorc spell to pick up first: chain lightning or death spell? One of the NPCs has truesight so I can skip that for now.

Chain lightning is friendly and I think it interrupts spellcasting so I might take it first.

http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/Main.htm

 

[agris]

I didn't find the other Baldur thread fast so I will just ask here: What would be more useful for a 6lvl sorc spell to pick up first: chain lightning or death spell? One of the NPCs has truesight so I can skip that for now.

Chain lightning is friendly and I think it interrupts spellcasting so I might take it first.

http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/Main.htm

so Death Spell.

 

[Somberlain]

Death Spell is mostly useful for getting rid of summons. It doesn't affect creatures past a certain (fairly low) HD threshold so it won't work on anything powerful.

SCS info, not sure if it's 100% applicable to vanilla game:

Umber Hulks and all kinds of trolls, including Giant and Spirit Trolls are probably the strongest enemies vulnerable to Death Spell. If you use the SCS components that enhance various locations, DS will be really useful in de'Arnise Keep and Druid Grove, since those areas will have a lot of troll groups, which also include those annoying Spirit Trolls. If you pull multiple troll groups to your protected caster, you can kill like 15 trolls with one Death Spell.

 

[bloodlover]

Yeah I took Death Spell in the end though I already finished De'Arnise Keep and Druid Grove.

I will try going for Firkraag soon, when the party will be level 11-12, without cheesing him. I'm trying to do every quests in Athkatla before starting chapter 3.

edit: I am rolling a sorc so I have to be careful with spell selection but so far so good.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Imagine cheesing Firkraag.