Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[Lacrymas]

My main conflic was Improved Alacrity vs Turn Undead (I love turning undead to allies). I don't really like the Cleric HLA's that much though, and Mass Resurrection is kinda lame for an evil priest. And constantly casting summoning spells without a break sonds fun.

If you want to go Cleric only for turn undead, I'd advise against it, especially since Control Undead is a necromancy wizard spell.

 

[Cryomancer]

Played a little of BG2 Classic. I really miss some things like the ability of zoom in and out, quickload with a button press, found harder to manage my spellbook and seems that some spells works differently, most notably animate dead. How can I take screenshots on classic version?

 

[agris]

Dude... assign L to quick load in the config program, and play in the right ducking resolution. The only reason you need to zoom is because the EEs handle game resolution like ass.

The spellbook management comment I don’t get at all. What is difficult about “memorized slots vs known spells”?

 

[Joseph Stalin]

- Detect Illusion is so underestimated thievish skill!

DI has literally never been underrated. Ever. Except maybe by you, since you just discovered its utility 20 years after the game was released.

You've brought so much to the discussion. Maybe a commentary on the weather outside, to keep the relevancy intact?

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Chippy He's using the PaintBG mod--a sign of distinguished taste. I recommend it.

 

[Gargaune]

Can anyone advise on party conflicts over giving Adalon's eggs to the demon in BG2? I'm going through it again and wanna to mix it up and give Adalon's precious caviar to the demon the drow summons in Ust Natha, but at the same time I also want to use companions I haven't used in previous playthroughs.

In particular, I was thinking of taking a five man crew down there, consisting of Keldorn, Mazzy, Imoen and Aerie, in addition to my evil mage PC. Now, Imoen's a package deal at that stage since I'll be taking Yoshimo into the Asylum, but I was wondering whether any of the other three will prevent me from doing the deal with the demon? I don't mind having to kill one of them if they rebel, but if they all turn on me or if I'm denied the option to give the eggs altogether, that's an issue.

I know I shouldn't be doing an evil run with a bunch of do-gooders at my back, but I've already played with most of the others.

 

[Cael]

Can anyone advise on party conflicts over giving Adalon's eggs to the demon in BG2? I'm going through it again and wanna to mix it up and give Adalon's precious caviar to the demon the drow summons in Ust Natha, but at the same time I also want to use companions I haven't used in previous playthroughs.

In particular, I was thinking of taking a five man crew down there, consisting of Keldorn, Mazzy, Imoen and Aerie, in addition to my evil mage PC. Now, Imoen's a package deal at that stage since I'll be taking Yoshimo into the Asylum, but I was wondering whether any of the other three will prevent me from doing the deal with the demon? I don't mind having to kill one of them if they rebel, but if they all turn on me or if I'm denied the option to give the eggs altogether, that's an issue.

I know I shouldn't be doing an evil run with a bunch of do-gooders at my back, but I've already played with most of the others.

Keldorn is a Paladin. There are rules against Paladins and Evil characters in a party.

Solution: Don't play Evil.

 

[octavius]

Wasn't that rule only in older editions? I use it as a "house rule" myself, though, as I don't think it was impemented in the Gold Box or IE games.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Can anyone advise on party conflicts over giving Adalon's eggs to the demon in BG2? I'm going through it again and wanna to mix it up and give Adalon's precious caviar to the demon the drow summons in Ust Natha, but at the same time I also want to use companions I haven't used in previous playthroughs.

In particular, I was thinking of taking a five man crew down there, consisting of Keldorn, Mazzy, Imoen and Aerie, in addition to my evil mage PC. Now, Imoen's a package deal at that stage since I'll be taking Yoshimo into the Asylum, but I was wondering whether any of the other three will prevent me from doing the deal with the demon? I don't mind having to kill one of them if they rebel, but if they all turn on me or if I'm denied the option to give the eggs altogether, that's an issue.

I know I shouldn't be doing an evil run with a bunch of do-gooders at my back, but I've already played with most of the others.

Why are you playing an evil character in a good party?
one of the perks of being evil is that you get to play with the OP characters

 

[Lagole Gon]

Hey, guys...

Spoiler

 

[Cael]

Wasn't that rule only in older editions? I use it as a "house rule" myself, though, as I don't think it was impemented in the Gold Box or IE games.

It has always been there, even in the Gold Box games.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Gargaune I think Aerie, Jaheria, and Minsc will leave the party and attack you if you pick a fight with the dragon. I'm not sure if that triggers when you barter the eggs to the demon. I can't recall any ither NPCs turning on the PC to side with Aladon, but it's been awhile.

 

[Gargaune]

Gargaune I think Aerie, Jaheria, and Minsc will leave the party and attack you if you pick a fight with the dragon. I'm not sure if that triggers when you barter the eggs to the demon. I can't recall any ither NPCs turning on the PC to side with Aladon, but it's been awhile.

Thanks! Though, technically, she'll be picking the fight with me, so I don't know how that will affect things. I've tried to look around on Google, but info on this is very scarce. I'm willing to murder one or two of my companions at that stage, but the worst would be any of them piping up during dialogue and preventing the trade altogether.

 

[octavius]

Do it! Don't be a chicken.

 

[Dzupakazul]

Keldorn is a Paladin. There are rules against Paladins and Evil characters in a party.

Solution: Don't play Evil.

There is nothing remotely as explicit in the Baldur's Gate games. Not only does no one in your party care about what your main character's alignment is because it's mostly window dressing, Keldorn himself has a tolerable relationship with Korgan and has no issue fighting alongside Sarevok, Mazzy has vitriol towards evil but doesn't outright break a party - with vanilla evil companions, at least - and Aerie can only potentially be ran off the party by Korgan, or attacked by Chaotic Neutral Anomen.

one of the perks of being evil is that you get to play with the OP characters

Guy with 2xlevel Dispel Magic is the OP character.

The easiest way to try and have your cake and eat it too would be to kill off possible offended NPCs (Mazzy is likely one) and resurrect them after the deed is done.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Guy with 2xlevel Dispel Magic is the OP character.

No, it's pretty much the only perk of having a good party.
Edwin is easily the most OP follower.

 

[Dzupakazul]

No, it's pretty much the only perk of having a good party.

Being able to work easily at high reputation for discounts and having access to more NPCs in general is better.

Edwin is easily the most OP follower.

Nah. His entire schtick is that you get bonus spellslots. This is amazing when most other characters would only have 1 spellslot of a given kind, particularly for level 9 slots, but tons of spellslots are replicable by simply resting or abusing other mechanics. By comparison, Keldorn trivializes an entire aspect of the game (mage chess), Imoen / Nalia provide adequate arcane casting while filling a slot every party wants for quality of life but doesn't want many hard levels in (Thief), and Aerie has an unique among NPCs combo of divine / arcane. Edwin is powerful, sure.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Keldorn trivializes an entire aspect of the game (mage chess),

This barely exists in the game unless you install SCS.
So, yes, Keldorn's usefulness increases greatly if you install SCS.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Keldorn trivializes an entire aspect of the game (mage chess),

This barely exists in the game unless you install SCS.
So, yes, Keldorn's usefulness increases greatly if you install SCS.

SCS also nerfs Keldorn's power so there is that. Anyway I always take best girl with me so that means no Keldorn.

 

[Dzupakazul]

So, yes, Keldorn's usefulness increases greatly if you install SCS.

Not really. SCS has a component that explicitly nerfs Dispel Magic to 1x to 1.5x dispelling. You can choose, of course, not to install it, but multiple overpowered anti-mage tools are toned down by the mod, including Insect Plague as well.
Enemies still put up magic defenses, SCS or not, and many players struggle with the dispel game. Keldorn can, for example, dispel Firkraag rather reliably with just like 12 levels in his class.

That said, I'm rather of the opinion that BG2 just doesn't really have weak NPCs nor are there NPCs that are significantly ahead of the curve. I think half the Good lineup is more noteworthy than it's usually given credit for, and Keldorn deserves to be "up there" when it comes to talking strong picks.

I also suppose a player-made Inquisitor is, of course, much stronger than Keldorn, whereas you can't really make a CHARNAME that directly replicates Edwin's utility. But then again you can also make a CHARNAME who is a Sorcerer or a Fighter->Mage, and that's a stronger presence in slot than any other NPC as well.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Nerfing Keldorn's dispel would be stupid, you'd have to give him a different kit if you did that and I'm going to guess the geniuses that decided to nerf Keldorn in SCS didn't bother to give him a different kit.

 

[Nano]

Being able to work easily at high reputation for discounts

The price increase for evil parties is absolute bullshit and has no basis in reality. If we're talking about mods, the one that gives them the same discount as good parties is essential.

 

[Daidre]

By comparison, Keldorn trivializes an entire aspect of the game (mage chess), Imoen / Nalia provide adequate arcane casting while filling a slot every party wants for quality of life but doesn't want many hard levels in (Thief), and Aerie has an unique among NPCs combo of divine / arcane. Edwin is powerful, sure.

Bard have a similarly strong dispel thanks to his super-fast level progression too. And can use more convenient enemy-only Remove magic on top of that.

So it is not like Keldorn is an only character who trivializes whole defense-stripping thing in SCS.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

By comparison, Keldorn trivializes an entire aspect of the game (mage chess), Imoen / Nalia provide adequate arcane casting while filling a slot every party wants for quality of life but doesn't want many hard levels in (Thief), and Aerie has an unique among NPCs combo of divine / arcane. Edwin is powerful, sure.

Bard have a similarly strong dispel thanks to his super-fast level progression too. And can use more convenient enemy-only Remove magic on top of that.

So it is not like Keldorn is an only character who trivializes whole defense-stripping thing in SCS.

Dispel is capped at level 20 for everyone except for inquisitors, who cast it as a level 40 at 20.

 

[Dzupakazul]

Nerfing Keldorn's dispel would be stupid, you'd have to give him a different kit if you did that

No, why? You don't get to switch Cernd to a Cleric just because Insect Plague gets nerfed by the Fireshield component. Inquisitors still get True Sight, innate immunities, access to the Sword of On-Hit Dispel, and with time, their Dispel Magic still ramps up and is instantly cast. Note that even that component is modular and you can either choose a 1x or 1,5x rating, in the latter case the nerf is much less of a problem.

The price increase for evil parties is absolute bullshit and has no basis in reality. If we're talking about mods, the one that gives them the same discount as good parties is essential.

Sure, but until SCS was mentioned I kept the discussion purely vanilla.

Bard have a similarly strong dispel thanks to his super-fast level progression too.

Not quite. Let's take Firkraag. Firkraag is level 23. Keldorn's increasing his chances to dispel him significantly past level 12, which is 1,200,000 XP. To dispel Firkraag with the same chances, the Bard needs level 24, which is 3,080,000.

Dispel is capped at level 20 for everyone except for inquisitors, who cast it as a level 40 at 20.

Dispel is capped at level 30. Weapons like Carsomyr and Staff of the Magi hit as if they were level 30 dispellers, too.

EDIT: Actually, Dispel doesn't seem to be capped at all. I used the baseline of Carsomyr / SotM thinking it's the max, but really, when it comes to Dispel / Remove Magic, only your caster level matters, nothing else. If you're a level 40 caster, it seems your Dispel / Remove will also be level 40. The level 20 cap on caster level only applies to spell durations and max damage from spells like Skull Trap, but Dispel Magic doesn't run off a caster level cap; it's directly looking at your levels relative to the target's caster levels.