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Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
Skull Trap is too much like a trap or a single-target strike rather than an area bombardment tool that we love to throw around. I say the doublesize radius of Fireball make it worthwhile more than the higher damage bracket of Skull Trap. We lose damage on single, centered, target, but we make it back on splash.
 

aloeh

Novice
Joined
Jan 18, 2021
Messages
47
Location
Goiânia - GO - BR
Finished BG1 some days ago, meh. The experience was not sooooo different when I played BG1EE "with my ass"* rushing the main quest in story mode and using save game editor. Yes I am ashamed of my performance in beamdog turd.

*do with ass: do something very lazy, do just you have to do. Example : this Explanation.

Played a little BG2, made a sorcerer, to a more variation of spell, (because just magic missel it's sad). I became a smeagol everytime I found a scroll in BG1 "My Precious", now I don't need anymore I have THOUSANDS (maybe 15). Life is cruel.

Guys, is better I play Icewind Dale (launched before) or keep in BG train?

Thanks in advance.
 

Kliwer

Savant
Joined
Oct 19, 2018
Messages
215
2) I'm not sure anyone should be taking advice from someone who installs NPC mods.

Xan is the only NPC mod I have installed. I just really like this character, sorry (I agree that most NPC mods are shit). In terms of strategic considerations, he won't change anything - you can exchange him for Edwin, who is even more powerful (slightly better stats, slightly better specialization) or Nalia. The only change that could be considered as a "cheat" is Minsca's transformation into a barbarian. But again - exchange it for Korgana and you get the same, only better.

BTW:
I just traded Jan for Imoen. What a pain... Imoen is behind the rest of the teammates by 1 million xp. Besides, it does not offer Detect Ilussion skill, unlike Jan. It hurts the most, even more than I thought. And she won't have a thieving HLAs.

Even if we assume Imoen doesn't have a xp lag, I still think that Jan is stronger and more useful. Yes - Imoen can be the team's main mage. But as an auxiliary mage, Jan does better. It is better to have: mage + thief/mage (multi) in your team than: mage + thief-->mage (dual). The mere Detect Illusion skill is invaluable (unless we have an inquisitor). There are also traps (regular and HLAs) - I personally hardly use them, but it's good to have them at our disposal in case of a really overcomplicated fight.

It's a pity. My conscience would not let me leave poor Imoen alone. Farewell brave Jan, hero of turnips! Hello, retarded sister!

What about giving up magic missle and fireball, is the +2 worth it?

Enchanter is ok - even strong - as long as we have a second mage. Enchatment spells do nothing if a saving throw is successful. So each hinder of the saving throw is very valuable.

Besides, it all depends on the playstyle. Some people beat the game mainly with offensive spells. I use them very rarely. Most of the damage is done by warriors; mages and priests are mainly for buffs, debuffs, summons and crowd control.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,997
Location
Platypus Planet
Conjurer isn't necessarily the best, certainly not in BG1. It's an easy choice recommended for most new players since Conjurers give up the least amount of spells while retaining the specialist slots, but in BG1 an Enchanter only loses out on Evocation spells which aren't all that important. The +2 DC to Enchantment spells that Enchanters get in BG is way stronger than anything a Conjurer will bring to the table.

What about giving up magic missle and fireball, is the +2 worth it?

Consider that Fireballs shot with a WoF can't roll a 1 on their damage rolls. All 1's will be converted to 2's, making the damage potential higher. Using a Wand also frees up 3rd level slots for other useful spells such as Haste or Dire Charm. An Enchanter can use Wands to cast Fireballs, so they don't actually lose out on anything important.

Magic Missile is good but overrated. You can easily interrupt casters with a bow, which are insanely strong in BG1 and you're most likely going to have at least one guy who is good at them.
 
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Lonely Vazdru

Pimp my Title
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
6,656
Location
Agen
fight.jpg


FIGHT !
 

ga♥

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Feb 3, 2017
Messages
7,587
Conjurer isn't necessarily the best, certainly not in BG1. It's an easy choice recommended for most new players since Conjurers give up the least amount of spells while retaining the specialist slots, but in BG1 an Enchanter only loses out on Evocation spells which aren't all that important. The +2 DC to Enchantment spells that Enchanters get in BG is way stronger than anything a Conjurer will bring to the table.

What about giving up magic missle and fireball, is the +2 worth it?

Consider that Fireballs shot with a WoF can't roll a 1 on their damage rolls. All 1's will be converted to 2's, making the damage potential higher. Using a Wand also frees up 3rd level slots for other useful spells such as Haste or Dire Charm. An Enchanter can use Wands to cast Fireballs, so they don't actually lose out on anything important.

Magic Missile is good but overrated. You can easily interrupt casters with a bow, which are insanely strong in BG1 and you're most likely going to have at least one guy who is good at them.

Fireballl by wand is capped at 6d6... while fireball by Edwin will reach 9d6 in BG1, where's the higher damage potential?
On magic missle being easily to interrupt, this only applies to you, not the AI, so not sure about the argument.

You make it sound that those +2 to enchanter spells makes a difference, while I never noticed super saves when using sleep with Edwin.
 

Nano

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
4,647
Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In
Fireballl by wand is capped at 6d6...
But wands in BG2 use a casting level of 10. As for BG1, big whoop, whether it's 6d6 or 9d6 it's more than enough to blast the enemies there.

There's just no good reason to memorize Fireball unless you're an Invoker. Level 3 mage spells are way too competitive for it.
 

Alrik

Educated
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
72
Losing Web/Stinking Cloud is a much bigger problem than losing Fireball.
 

Ninjerk

Arcane
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
14,323
Idk how they compare damage wise b/c who cares, but I love the availability of explosive arrows in BG1.
 

Melcar

Arcane
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
35,215
Location
Merida, again
It's not like web and stinking cloud are must have spells in a full party based playthrough. The game is perfectly playable with an Enchanter (BG1). Just different ways to approach encounters.

Sent from my Redmi 4A using Tapatalk
 

slymer

Augur
Patron
Joined
Jun 15, 2014
Messages
103
Location
California
Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
Finally completed Throne of Bhaal tonight. That final boss fight was a doozy. Completed the entire saga in a little over a month, I believe I started on January 5th. I finished the game as a 24th level Stalker. Got a little burnt out at the end and didn't finish all of watchers keep. I'd give BG1 a 9/10, SoD 5/10, and BG2/TOB a 7.5/10. I might give BG2 a higher score on a 2nd playthrough now that I'm more familiar with the high level spells and abilities. The lower score is mainly due to frustration and a lot of reloading. I probably wouldn't ever replay SoD if I did do another play through.
 
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,509
Location
The Present
slymer I'm just about to enter SoD for the first time. Leery, since BG is my all time favorite series. I've put more hours into them than I could attempt to recollect. What about SoD did you dislike so strongly?
 

slymer

Augur
Patron
Joined
Jun 15, 2014
Messages
103
Location
California
Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
slymer I'm just about to enter SoD for the first time. Leery, since BG is my all time favorite series. I've put more hours into them than I could attempt to recollect. What about SoD did you dislike so strongly?

It just felt really unnecessary to me. It probably would've been fine under a different name as a regular D&D Forgotten Realms adventure.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,997
Location
Platypus Planet
For Me SoD was a solid 8/10. It had great dungeon and encounter design with some cool questing as well. The final chapter was atrocious, however, and I would never replay that again, but the parts after you leave Baldur's Gate and before the final assault are pretty good.

Just don't expect the expansion to bridge BG1 with BG2 like Beamdog said that it would. It doesn't. It's just some extra adventures you can go on before BG2.
 

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
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Combatfag: Gold box / Pathfinder
Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
I thought SoD was ok. It wasn't bad, although there were some cringe bits, and it wasn't great even though it did have some interesting encounters, areas, and ideas. I'd probably put it around a 7-8/10. It's definitely worth at least a playthrough to see if you like it or not.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
SoD writing/plot is awful.
Dungeons are good, so are the encounters. The boareskyr bridge(sp?) encounters were probably the most memorable. Art is really good.
Also, the archer they introduce
just completely fucks you over at the end no matter how well she liked you. Asshole.
Plus one of the major plotlines is never going to be resolved unless larian is kind enough to give it a nod somewhere in BG3.

Kinda feel bad for everyone who worked on it except for the writers because the writers really pulled them down.
 

Yosharian

Arcane
Joined
May 28, 2018
Messages
9,419
Location
Grand Chien
BTW:
I just traded Jan for Imoen. What a pain... Imoen is behind the rest of the teammates by 1 million xp. Besides, it does not offer Detect Ilussion skill, unlike Jan. It hurts the most, even more than I thought. And she won't have a thieving HLAs.

Even if we assume Imoen doesn't have a xp lag, I still think that Jan is stronger and more useful. Yes - Imoen can be the team's main mage. But as an auxiliary mage, Jan does better. It is better to have: mage + thief/mage (multi) in your team than: mage + thief-->mage (dual). The mere Detect Illusion skill is invaluable (unless we have an inquisitor). There are also traps (regular and HLAs) - I personally hardly use them, but it's good to have them at our disposal in case of a really overcomplicated fight.

It's a pity. My conscience would not let me leave poor Imoen alone. Farewell brave Jan, hero of turnips! Hello, retarded sister!
You can fix all of these problems with Shadowkeeper or whatever it's called. You can modify what skills Imoen has invested in, and bring her up to your level.

Also I'm pretty sure CDTweaks already does the latter? You are using that right?
 

Gargaune

Magister
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
3,136
Yeah, I'll go to bat for SoD as well, it's a decent module. It's really let down by bad writing, but it's got great dungeons and itemisation and solid combat. I think people come down quite hard on it in measuring it against either main campaign, when the proper comparison is with ToB.
 

ScrotumBroth

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 13, 2018
Messages
1,288
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In
TOB's writing was like a retarded step child compared to OG campaigns, so...
 

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