Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II Mod Thread

[hell bovine]

Unseeing Eye was kinda still mostly a cakewalk with the shield of Balduran thankfully, even tho Beholder's can take my Shield away and then stun or dominate, they are still somewhat easy to kill. Not looking forward to the Beholder's base later tho with the Hive Mothers and Elder Orbs. I also found a Eilistrae's Boon +1 circlet but doesn't seem to be working, It says that it increase Magic Resistance by 10% and +1 Saving Throws, tried it on Viconia since she has a natural 65 MR I think but its doesn't increase at all, other characters as well. Same thing for saving throws. Keldorn's is now gone.

Is it better to wait until chapter 3 or 6 to kill Liches in the city and try doing Kangaxx's quest or is there any helpful items I can acquire early to make things easier? I am thinking of doing Watcher's Keep at least to level 2 now to get the Poison flail head and upgrade the Flail of Ages to +4 early (I installed tweak), not 100% sure it will upgrade but I think its better than nothing, it will probably make things a lot easier to deal with if it works. I am also thinking of keeping the Real Illithium and upgrade the Mace of Disruption later.

Would like to do more quests but I would like to finish gearing myself better before over leveling, I don't want Undead to upgrade to Liches while I am unprepared. I still have Edwin's and Bard's quests and Planer's Sphere for easier quests I think in the city. I have 2 quests related to Temple Ruins but I am kinda uneasy about dealing with Thaxll'ssillyia and the improved Shade Lord.

Party: PC: C10/R9 -- Jaheira 9/9 -- Viconia 11 -- Yoshimo 13 -- Edwin 11

Edit:
Edwin's quest, Lich killed itself by Gate I think, summoned Glabrezu and since I wasn't in sight, they started killing each other. IIRC this is the easiest Lich so trying to practice on him on how to handle Liches.

This guide also looks pretty good, formatting and some links are kinda broken but its made by the same dude who played Tactics with SCS.

If you haven't played Tactics before, I'd suggest staying away from such guides; half of the fun is figuring those fights on your own.

As for the guide, I'd disagree about the party composition. BG2 went overboard with arcane spellcasting, and as a result NPCs which can cast mage spells are better than those who can't, even if you stay away from the cheesy spells (like illusion clones). Tactics and SCS are well doable with a recruited companions party, you don't need any custom made, and especially not if you take a sorcerer along. (A sorcerer, Aerie and Jan Jansen party would most likely obliterate everything standing in their path... if you can stand the dialogues, that is. Such is the price of power. )

 

[Xeon]

Doesn't Edwin get the Nether scroll in his inventory after killing Nevaziah? Tried several times but no scroll in his inventory.

I think Breach is bugged or something, if I understand it correctly, Breach supposed to remove everything but when I cast it on the Lich, it randomly removes one protection and sometimes multiple. I did install the SCS component to make it consistent.

I think I should get Secret Word spell too if I want to fight mages properly and its LV4 only. From this chart, Spell Turning can be disabled with it, and in the SCS description it says "More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning)".

 

[hell bovine]

I don't have EE, so I can't comment on any changes they have made. But - from what I remember - the best removal spell in Tactics was Ruby Ray, because it's alteration and therefore wasn't affected by SI:abjuration.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Party: PC: C10/R9 -- Jaheira 9/9 -- Viconia 11 -- Yoshimo 13 -- Edwin 11

I have to say this is a terrible unbalanced party. You need to drop Yoshimo and pick up Nalia or at least Jan if you are trying to keep alignments in order. Also your R/C and Jaheira fill the same roll. You don't need 3 clerics in your party you need 3 mages. Are you roling with only 5 chars?

edit: Well keep Jaheira until you get into the Harper stronghold and the Ring of Wizardry.

Doesn't Edwin get the Nether scroll in his inventory after killing Nevaziah? Tried several times but no scroll in his inventory.

Its not an item in inventory. If you saw him talking about it after killing Nevaziah then he has it.

 

[Xeon]

I want to keep Yoshimo for the story until I replace him with Imoen. Jaheira for Insect Plague mostly because mages, I am not sure if she'll be able to equip her amulet from the romance, since I did install the tweak to change her alignment into Neutral Good but that was after I started so her character's alignment is still True Neutral. I might drop her later on if she can't equip it. I am planning on going with 5 only and keeping the last spot for temporary companions to do their quests and will be filled permanently in ToB with Sarevok.

PC's role is mostly a buffed melee fighter, Jaheira is a supporter like Viconia, all members use slings except for Yoshimo/Imoen who use short bows.

Last time I beat ToB, I think I was FMT and had Jaheria, Viconia, Imoen, Jan and Sarevok. I kinda dislike Jan because he talks too much, got him because I thought I'll be able to complete his quest later but I guess it was just a slider or something instead IIRC. Since I did not have Ascension installed, I missed all Sarevok's extra contents I think and I would like to see it in this run.

Yea, Thanks. I advanced time with CTRL+T to check and Edwin changed to Edwina after couple of days I think so quest is working with no problems.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I want to keep Yoshimo for the story until I replace him with Imoen. Jaheira for Insect Plague mostly because mages, I am not sure if she'll be able to equip her amulet from the romance, since I did install the tweak to change her alignment into Neutral Good but that was after I started so her character's alignment is still True Neutral. I might drop her later on if she can't equip it. I am planning on going with 5 only and keeping the last spot for temporary companions to do their quests and will be filled permanently in ToB with Sarevok.

PC's role is mostly a buffed melee fighter, Jaheira is a supporter like Viconia, all members use slings except for Yoshimo/Imoen who use short bows.

Well your PC can cast insect plague and that spell is the main reason to keep her around. I do agree that Jan is a pain in the ass but he has a neutral alignment if you were trying to keep the party all good or all evil.

Anyway I still think you are under represented for arcane casters even when you get Imoen back but to each their own.

Also who are you talking to spellhold in the 6th spot?

 

[Xeon]

I don't think I'll be taking anyone else in there beside the 5, if you think it will be too hard without more mages then I'll probably take Jan like you suggested, after I finish everyone's personal quests. I am not in a rush to advance to the next chapter tho, will be doing as many quests as possible in Ch2 before proceeding.

I installed the tweak to keep companion from leaving depending on reputation, I assume that's what you are referring to with the alignment I think. Since there isn't too much reputation gains in BG2, I wasn't worried too much about it since I am not playing evil unless its something important to gain like the Pantaloon for the hostage.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Yeah I use that cheat too. Its almost impossible (well at least irritating) to play with evil characters and try to do all the quests. No dark side options and all that.

Are you only taking 5 to increase xp? You have an interesting style of play.

 

[hell bovine]

That's why it is more fun to go solo when evil.

 

[Xeon]

Are you only taking 5 to increase xp?

Not really, there are 2 types of exp gain in BG2 one shared and one for each party members so I am not that worried about it, But I do kick Yoshimo when I have Edwin memorize spells or when the shared exp from quest is large since he is temporary but other than that, mostly just sticking to 5 so I don't have to jiggle with set up too much when a temporary 6th party member joins at least until ToB.

Just finished the fight in the building with the Celestial Fury, that was tough. High level mage, Cleric, 2 Assassins and 2 tanks and the guy with the Celestial Fury who kills so fast. I cheesed it by going downstairs and luring some of them for easier time but was kinda tough. Got a lot of nice unidentified equipment tho, that Edwin can't identify.

Edit:
Temple Ruins, what the hell is up with level drains. IIRC level drains used to be by touch, fought the dragon and it killed most of my party by level draining them from a far and so fast, same thing with Shade Lord. I think you can't cheese the dragon anymore, tried to buff in the same room and it aggored, tried to put traps, it aggored, summon, aggroed.

Killed Shade Lord, Dragon is still alive, too strong for me right now, will have to visit him after I am higher level.

Edit2:
Good Cleric stronghold quests was boring, I liked the Fighter's and Mage's but Cleric's kinda sucks compared to them, at least it was easy unlike the Thief's stronghold which was tedious.

Edit3:
Rangers Stronghold got bugged a little bit where Delon shows up and tells me he has an offer for me but leaves without talking and I end up losing my Ranger stronghold. Guide said to reload and retry until it works and finally worked.

Jaheira's quest might have bugged out as well, when I was invited to the Harper's HQ, I was muted and Jahiera tried to talk to me but couldn't, tried waiting but did not talk after mute went away, tried saving and loading and didn't happen either. I hope quest line goes with no problems still.

Edit4:
Finished Druid Grove quest, Cernd sucks. I had hope duel the leader of the Druids and it took a lot of buffing for him to start hitting, he has lesser and normal Werewolves transformation, funny thing is, he has 2 Werewolf token now, he drops all items from inventory before the duel and gets a new one whenever he shapeshift.

Too bad, Edwina turned back to Edwin again, I kinda wanted Edwina for the statues of heroes in Trademeet.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Temple Ruins, what the hell is up with level drains. IIRC level drains used to be by touch, fought the dragon and it killed most of my party by level draining them from a far and so fast, same thing with Shade Lord. I think you can't cheese the dragon anymore, tried to buff in the same room and it aggored, tried to put traps, it aggored, summon, aggroed.

I think you need to lower his magic resistance then nuke him with magic missiles in sequencers and from wands. Pierce magic is probably the way to go if you only have one mage because it removes a defense as well. Keldorn is useful as well for dispelling his defenses so your mage could just use lower resistance. Also having all your clerics/druids summoning what they can as fodder helps. Its been a while though so its a bit foggy and as I said before it works much better with multiple mages.

On a side note I installed the BWP last week using the automated installer. I forgot to look into the BGTweak pack options and now I cannot end romances. Viconia and Jaheria are both trying real hard to get in my pants and I'm terrified of inviting Anoman into the party.

 

[octavius]

Who are the recommended NPCs from BG1NPC?

Monty and Xzar are my favourites.
No "mushy" or juvenile stuff, lots of extra content, and one interjection that shocked me the first time.

Kivan also has quite a bit of extra content.

 

[Somberlain]

Temple Ruins, what the hell is up with level drains. IIRC level drains used to be by touch, fought the dragon and it killed most of my party by level draining them from a far and so fast, same thing with Shade Lord. I think you can't cheese the dragon anymore, tried to buff in the same room and it aggored, tried to put traps, it aggored, summon, aggroed.

Killed Shade Lord, Dragon is still alive, too strong for me right now, will have to visit him after I am higher level.

Shadow Dragon Breath causes massive level drain and is of course a ranged attack. It doesn't deal any other damage though, so Protection from Negative Energy spell, Barbarian/Berseker Rage or an item that prevents level drain makes you pretty much immune to it. You can get blinded for a short while but that's it.

Also, SCS component that improves Shade Lord gives him Darkling Aura, which drains one level from everyone near him every two rounds or so.

I think you need to lower his magic resistance then nuke him with magic missiles in sequencers and from wands. Pierce magic is probably the way to go if you only have one mage because it removes a defense as well. Keldorn is useful as well for dispelling his defenses so your mage could just use lower resistance. Also having all your clerics/druids summoning what they can as fodder helps. Its been a while though so its a bit foggy and as I said before it works much better with multiple mages.

On a side note I installed the BWP last week using the automated installer. I forgot to look into the BGTweak pack options and now I cannot end romances. Viconia and Jaheria are both trying real hard to get in my pants and I'm terrified of inviting Anoman into the party.

SCS, which Xeon seems to be using, prevents most of the vanilla tactics. Magic Missiles are completely useless if you installed the "Dragons get a HP boost" component, since Thax has something like 480 HP, other dragons have even more. He also only uses Protection from Magic Weapons so Breach and Lower Resist are only counter spells you need, Pierce Magic is kinda waste. Summons are also somewhat useless since he instantly banishes them with Death Spell.

 

[oldmanpaco]

SCS, which Xeon seems to be using, prevents most of the vanilla tactics. Magic Missiles are completely useless if you installed the "Dragons get a HP boost" component, since Thax has something like 480 HP, other dragons have even more. He also only uses Protection from Magic Weapons so Breach and Lower Resist are only counter spells you need, Pierce Magic is kinda waste. Summons are also somewhat useless since he instantly banishes them with Death Spell.

Yeah if the hp boost is there you are right about MM. I suggested pierce magic because it lowers resistance and takes down a spell defense. He rolls with one mage so that is a lot of rounds casting breach and lower resistance. But its been a while since I did any high level mage stuff so my memory is foggy.

 

[hell bovine]

You can always try to cast lower magic resistance/ doom/ greater malison/ feeblemind on the dragon. Feeblemind is game over for anything it hits, and I was quite surprised how many creatures can be affected by this spell (strangest one was the death shade from WK).

On a side note I installed the BWP last week using the automated installer. I forgot to look into the BGTweak pack options and now I cannot end romances. Viconia and Jaheria are both trying real hard to get in my pants and I'm terrified of inviting Anoman into the party.

Oh, you absolutely should invite Anomen tothe party. And Aerie. The more the merrier, after all, and then you can compare directly how bad they are. Also,imagine- little Quayle (or however Aerie names the backpack baby) will have two daddies and three mommies! Your bhaalspawn wil outdo Bhaal when it comes to parenting skills.

 

[Lilura]

I think Breach is bugged or something, if I understand it correctly, Breach supposed to remove everything but when I cast it on the Lich, it randomly removes one protection and sometimes multiple. I did install the SCS component to make it consistent.

Liches are immune to fifth circle spells and lower. Breach is a fifth circle spell. Therefore, Liches are immune to it.

 

[Somberlain]

I suggested pierce magic because it lowers resistance and takes down a spell defense.

Yes, and it's useful against some other dragons, but at least in my SCS game Thax doesn't have any spell defenses. He only uses Protection from Magical Weapons which is a combat defense and thus unaffected by Pierce Magic.

Of course, if one uses a different set of mods that cause him to use spell defenses, then Pierce Magic is of course better than Lower Resist.

 

[Malpercio]

Was checking spellhold studios out of curiosity, then I remembered it's dead.

Where do people get their mods nowadays? Or is the community just dead?

 

[Xeon]

Pocket Plane Group 1 / 2
Gibberlings 3 is what I mostly use
TeamBG

Shadow Dragon Breath causes massive level drain and is of course a ranged attack. It doesn't deal any other damage though, so Protection from Negative Energy spell, Barbarian/Berseker Rage or an item that prevents level drain makes you pretty much immune to it. You can get blinded for a short while but that's it.

He also only uses Protection from Magic Weapons so Breach and Lower Resist are only counter spells you need, Pierce Magic is kinda waste. Summons are also somewhat useless since he instantly banishes them with Death Spell.

Thank you. I did use Negative Plane Protection, I just couldn't kill him before the effects ran out and as soon as that does they die fast. Will try again after I get amulet of power and I might get Minsc for his enrage to try it. If I still can't, I might wait until Imoen joins the party and get Jan like oldmanpaco suggested and try it then. I picked the options that don't add extra HP.

Liches are immune to fifth circle spells and lower. Breach is a fifth circle spell. Therefore, Liches are immune to it.

I installed an SCS component that supposed to make Liches and Rakashas to be affected by Breach.

More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning)

Although it isn't documented, the 5th level spell Breach will remove a creature's combat protections (such as Stoneskin) even if that creature is protected by Spell Deflection, Spell Turning or Spell Trap; it will not, however, affect creatures like liches or rakshasas, because they are immune to spells of level 5 or below. This component removes both features: Breach now bounces off Spell Turning (etc.), but it affects even those creatures immune to "normal" 5th level spells.

Once this component is installed, the Breach effect of the Wand of Spell Striking will behave in exactly the same way as the Breach spell.

Enemy wizards will assume Breach works this way (and so won't target characters protected by Spell Turning etc with a Breach), even if you don't install this component.

Edit:
Finished the Ranger's Stronghold and got the Idol, looks amazing.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Was checking spellhold studios out of curiosity, then I remembered it's dead.

Where do people get their mods nowadays? Or is the community just dead?

Big World Project
Big World Setup

You can use the BWP guide to install anything you want.

BWS makes it all much easier. It will automatically download any mods you want and you can customize the components any way you want. If anything it makes it too easy to add mods so make sure you go through the list and get rid of 90% of what thy suggest you install. Works with BP or just BG2.

 

[Tigranes]

Also,

http://www.gibberlings3.net/

 

[GarfunkeL]

And the mods that BWS doesn't get, you can just Google their filenames and download them manually. BWS is pretty nifty indeed.

 

[Somberlain]

I picked the options that don't add extra HP.

Okay, in that case spamming Magic Missiles can be viable. Also, putting three Flame Arrows on a Spell Sequencer deals loads of damage at levels 15 and above. All the dragons (modded ones may differ) have a magic resistance of something like 45-65 so two Lower Resists should be enough to deal with that, at least on higher levels.

 

[Malpercio]

Was checking spellhold studios out of curiosity, then I remembered it's dead.

Where do people get their mods nowadays? Or is the community just dead?

Big World Project
Big World Setup

You can use the BWP guide to install anything you want.

BWS makes it all much easier. It will automatically download any mods you want and you can customize the components any way you want. If anything it makes it too easy to add mods so make sure you go through the list and get rid of 90% of what thy suggest you install. Works with BP or just BG2.

Sorry, I'm retarded. I mean where do they get their NEW mods nowadays. Like, there is a community that still publishes news about mods and shit?

 

[Somberlain]

Beamdog forums do, there are even some new mods coming up now and then. Also, after Siege of Dragonspear comes out, modding community will probably get another spike in activity.