Baldur's Gate First time playing BG2 - advice about difficulty level and settings

[Dramart]

Am I still underestimating it if I plan on taking the first skill points roll that's 90 or above? I think I prefer playing strong character on higher difficulty to weaker character on lower difficulty, even if it's effectively about the same.
BTW I wonder how many people roll just once and play, which most likely results in a ~78 score I think.

90 is very good. What class did you choose? Just play on the core difficult since it was the most voted option. If it's too difficult change it to normal. Max HP I think is good, but it's up to you. Just try and see what you like.

 

[Chippy]

Play on normal difficulty and don't reroll your HP on levelling.

 

[agris]

one_hit_point are you playing the EE or regular? Either way, use core rules and "nwn-style HP" from tweaks anthology, which ensures you always get the top-half of the HP die. If you do core/core, you'll end up savescumming when your warrior gets 3 HP.

Don't play with other rules tweaks though, like wearing multiple protection items. it will ruin the difficulty. there are a few convenience tweaks that are truly just that, convenient. those include the containers mod and the keyring. do not install items from mods, story mods, writing from mods, or big system-wide rebalance mods. Do not install big mods. Do not install any item mods. The gear-driven character progression, and customization, of characters in BG1/2 is one of the excellent aspects of its gameplay. I have yet to find a mod that adds items that doesn't thoroughly ruin this.

Some of the core, non-item non-new kits aspects of rogue rebalancing would be good to install if plan on playing a thief, as the way pickpocket failures are handled is much better. Before it essentially meant either reloading or killing a town, with RR it's a bit more logical.