Let's Play - BGT with a Codex Crew

[Ulminati]

I spit on his broken body. I hope he burns in hell.

of Penny at last! A pity BG2 doesn't dole out alignment shifts to go with her newfound pair of testes. I call dibs on the cursed helmet of opposite alignment!

 

[Azira]

 

[Nickless]

Great update.


new portrait!

 

[Mrowak]

Also

There he is. Lets take our vengeance.

In good time pretty elf. I am something of an expert in vengeance and I feel we should have a full party before crossing this mage.

You gotta love Nickless's style. First time ever I see somebody in Bioware game who though evil, acts in sensible, believeable, responsible and not outhright selfish manner, without emo bullcrap in between.

Oldmanpaco delivers to Bioware

 

[Ulminati]

By the way -- I forget. Can't elves use longbows regardless of class in 2nd ed. D&D? Or was the elf wizard with longbow incline something they didn't introduce until 3rd ed? Looking at Pennys 15 str and 19 dex (should've gone 16 str and 16 con, ah well), I can't help but think her Thac0 and mad killing skillz would be better with a ranged weapon.

 

[waywardOne]

2nd didn't give weapon profs based on race. mages can use slings and darts.

 

[JrK]

Sadly, even elven wizaces can only use slings afaik. That's why I always tend towards making single classed rogues clerics and wizards into dual classes with three levels of fighter. So they are actually useful outside of trapfinding, healing and spellcasting respectively. That extra 1/2 attack/round and the increased amount of weapon options make a world of difference.

 

[taplonaplo]

I think the greatest benefit of starting out as a fighter is the 18/xx str (unless you know you are getting some +str items ) and the added hp. Proficiency points are nice, but in the end of the day, you will never use more than 2-3 weapons, and that +thaco/+dmg you get from specializing isn't all that much compared to how much more you can get with a high 18/ str. And in IE games thieves/clerics are waay more than trapfinding/healing which i think justifies them being inferior in combat, but unfortunately the racial bonuses are not significant enough to not do the dualclassing.

 

[Grunker]

No extra strength can make up for those delicious extra attacks you gain from specialization. At two prof. points. you get ½ extra attack.

 

[JrK]

And in IE games thieves/clerics are waay more than trapfinding/healing.

Sorry what? Seriously? They can't hit for shit, their spellcasting sucks if any and they have only 1 attack/round. That last part alone makes them useless for combat. In IE games attacks per round is king. I know you can give thieves a short bow, put that damage is pitiful and does not benefit from strength afaik, not to mention that those thief archers have a really hard time hitting anything at all.

 

[taplonaplo]

Attacks are useless if you can't hit the enemy. I prefer multi classes, you get the best of both worlds for most of the game.

 

[taplonaplo]

For fighters? without a shadow a doubt. Thieves are not big damage dealers for me unless they are F/T. Pickpocket is ridiculously good, Line of Sight mechanic is totally broken, not to mention set traps. I have no fresh memory of high level clerics in BG, but in IWD they made monsters out of your party together with mages. (+1 on every rolls is the real king, haste takes care of the attack per rounds). Can a DC do the same? ofc. Will that +1/2 attack make a difference? after a point not really.

 

[JrK]

Given the way XP works in ADnD (and IE) you are way less powerful as a multiclass than a dual class that has dualed over at some point. Even three levels of fighter, and the consequent boosts to strength, proficiency and attacks per round, gives any character a decent fighting boost. The fighter3->wizard I used in IWD1 was a master with the bow, starting at 12 thac0 and slowly lowering during the game. That's better than the 17-15 the thief is stuck with, or even higher for clerics/wizards. Of course a multiclass will have even lower thac0's, but those take twice as long getting the same spell levels. For a thief and cleric that isn't much of a problem though.

EDIT: ninja'd.

 

[taplonaplo]

I don't think you need anything above level 4 (5) spells in IWD1 to roll thru the game (based on my HoF playthru). (low level) DC has the advantage in the beginning, but it becomes irrelevant pretty fast.

In BG earlier HLA and useful high level spells offset this, but some kits do have advantages over DC OTOH.

I would consider it pretty balanced all in all.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

From what fan-made mod does this guy come from?

 

[taplonaplo]

Bioware official expansion

 

[oldmanpaco]

I finished Durlag's tower over the weekend (haven’t had time to play since) and I want some direction from the 4 people reading this LP.

What should I do next?
1) Werewolf Island (TotSC) – The last large ‘official’ section.
2) DSotSC – Fan made combat fest.
3) NTotSC – Fan made combat fest.
4) Finish BG1 – Just do the quests that will bring us to the end.

Paco has something like 180K already so I think the best option is to head to the finish and move on to BG2 but I will do what the people want.

 

[taplonaplo]

I'd like to see werwolf island before the end. Maybe big bad wolves can catch you off guard. It's pretty short anyway.

 

[waywardOne]

without ToTSC, isn't the XP cap 89k? i might go so far as to request that you chop them all down to ~120k before importing into BG2. if you're blowing through SCS like you have been before the squishies have even gotten stoneskin, i'm not sure there'd be any point.

 

[JrK]

4) Finish BG1 – Just do the quests that will bring us to the end.

Werewolf island is pretty boring, just like the maze island. I look forward to overpowered items in BGII.

 

[Ulminati]

 

[Azira]

Do the official expansion before the fan-made stuff.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I'd like to see werwolf island before the end. Maybe big bad wolves can catch you off guard. It's pretty short anyway.

We already have something like 20 causalities. That's enough.

without ToTSC, isn't the XP cap 89k? i might go so far as to request that you chop them all down to ~120k before importing into BG2. if you're blowing through SCS like you have been before the squishies have even gotten stoneskin, i'm not sure there'd be any point.

I'll see what we are at at the end of BG. Will probably reduce the XP.

4) Finish BG1 – Just do the quests that will bring us to the end.

Werewolf island is pretty boring, just like the maze island. I look forward to overpowered items in BGII.

I don't think there is as much overpowered crap in BG2. The BG1 mods are terrible.

Do the official expansion before the fan-made stuff.

Not going to do any of the mod stuff.

Everyone voted different. But at least I know there are 5 of you.

I'm tired of BG so I am going to push on through.

 

[Mrowak]

Everyone voted different. But at least I know there are 5 of you.

Correction: 6

And yes: finish bg1. BG2 is where the fun starts.

 

[oldmanpaco]

You ignored me....


I'll murder you for this.

Heh you ninja'd me.

6 readers now!!

Edit: Shit - ninja'd again.

7!!!!