Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[vazha]

*Get Kagain
**Put him in full plate
*** make the rest of the party ranged & spellcastery & support
=
Never worry about healing (or anything, for that matter) again.

 

[Sergiu64]

*Get Kagain
**Put him in full plate
*** make the rest of the party ranged & spellcastery & support
=
Never worry about healing (or anything, for that matter) again.

Doom guards and such will still kick his ass.

 

[Nano]

Kagain can step aside, the man-hating psycho Shar-Teel is the actual best fighter in BG1.

(1) She's literally the only companion that has both epic STR (18/58) and the ability to reach High Mastery in a weapon.
(2) She also has 17 DEX, meaning she doesn't have to waste an equipment slot on the Gauntlets of Dexterity. This frees her up to use the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, or the Gauntlets of Ogre Power to further increase her STR to 18/00. Kagain is stuck with the Dex gauntlets and doesn't have the same privilege. Combined with point #1, Shar-Teel is the obvious winner of the entire companion roster when it comes to melee THAC0 as well as damage.
(3) Don't let her CON score fool you. It doesn't give a penalty to her hit points, and Dexterity is by far the more important ability for Fighters in BG.

TL;DR A good offence is the best defense (and her defense isn't actually much worse than Kagain's).

 

[vazha]

*Get Kagain
**Put him in full plate
*** make the rest of the party ranged & spellcastery & support
=
Never worry about healing (or anything, for that matter) again.

Doom guards and such will still kick his ass.

if left unattended, yes. But I explicitly mentioned having spellcaster support - in this case, as far as i remember, there are couple of lvl 1-2 spells that make the doomguard encounter far more trivial.

 

[rojay]

Today I left early from work and played a bit.

When I was going to get Ajantis, I was thinking how are done to separate Kalid and Jaheira. When I was going to search the procedure in phone, there was a fight and Jaheira died.

2 questions:

The best archer is Coran or Kivan?

The xp to lvl up is different to each character?

My char to lvl 1 to 2 need 2500xp

Imoen is already in lvl 2 and need 2500 xp (total) to lvl 3.

When I'm up to lvl 2 she will be in lvl 3.

I usually lead Khalid into a fight and let him die. That or leave him in a building and drop him before he can get out.

Coran is better as an archer, but you'll get him late. Kivan is not a bad NPC.

Each class has different exp requirements to level. Thieves gain levels pretty rapidly at the outset.

 

[Cael]

Today I left early from work and played a bit.

When I was going to get Ajantis, I was thinking how are done to separate Kalid and Jaheira. When I was going to search the procedure in phone, there was a fight and Jaheira died.

2 questions:

The best archer is Coran or Kivan?

The xp to lvl up is different to each character?

My char to lvl 1 to 2 need 2500xp

Imoen is already in lvl 2 and need 2500 xp (total) to lvl 3.

When I'm up to lvl 2 she will be in lvl 3.

I usually lead Khalid into a fight and let him die. That or leave him in a building and drop him before he can get out.

Coran is better as an archer, but you'll get him late. Kivan is not a bad NPC.

Each class has different exp requirements to level. Thieves gain levels pretty rapidly at the outset.

Kivan can use Composite Longbows. Coran can't (18 Str requirement, IIRC).

 

[Poseidon00]

Kivan should have his own book series instead of Drizzt

 

[Nano]

Kivan can use Composite Longbows. Coran can't (18 Str requirement, IIRC).

The Dead Shot (6 Str req.) is better than the composite longbow.

 

[Thal]

Kagain can step aside, the man-hating psycho Shar-Teel is the actual best fighter in BG1.

(1) She's literally the only companion that has both epic STR (18/58) and the ability to reach High Mastery in a weapon.
(2) She also has 17 DEX, meaning she doesn't have to waste an equipment slot on the Gauntlets of Dexterity. This frees her up to use the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, or the Gauntlets of Ogre Power to further increase her STR to 18/00. Kagain is stuck with the Dex gauntlets and doesn't have the same privilege. Combined with point #1, Shar-Teel is the obvious winner of the entire companion roster when it comes to melee THAC0 as well as damage.
(3) Don't let her CON score fool you. It doesn't give a penalty to her hit points, and Dexterity is by far the more important ability for Fighters in BG.

TL;DR A good offence is the best defense (and her defense isn't actually much worse than Kagain's).

Constitution has much bigger impact, if you don't save scum HP rolls. Shar-Teel will have 5,5 HP on an average roll, while Kagain has 10,5, which regenerate when he rests or travels. His STR can be fixed with a Strength spell, which has a long duration and is easy to acquire. Now he's great at everything. Shar-Teel is great too, because she can work without any helps from items or spells. However, given her HP, I think she should be seen as a supporting fighter. Later, I would dual-class her into a Thief and just backstab everything into oblivion.

 

[Cael]

Kivan can use Composite Longbows. Coran can't (18 Str requirement, IIRC).

The Dead Shot (6 Str req.) is better than the composite longbow.

Isn't there a +1 Composite that is about the best longbow in the game?

 

[Nano]

Constitution has much bigger impact, if you don't save scum HP rolls. Shar-Teel will have 5,5 HP on an average roll, while Kagain has 10,5, which regenerate when he rests or travels. His STR can be fixed with a Strength spell, which has a long duration and is easy to acquire. Now he's great at everything.

Kagain doesn't wear a viking helmet. Checkmate.

Isn't there a +1 Composite that is about the best longbow in the game?

Dead Shot's still better. +3 THAC0 bonus vs. +2 bonus from the enchanted Composite, and THAC0 is king in BG1.

 

[Cael]

Isn't there a +1 Composite that is about the best longbow in the game?

Dead Shot's still better. +3 THAC0 bonus vs. +2 bonus from the enchanted Composite, and THAC0 is king in BG1.

I prefer the +3 damage. BG's archery to-hit is already broken as even level 1 characters have no problems hitting.

 

[Krivol]

Kagain can step aside, the man-hating psycho Shar-Teel is the actual best fighter in BG1.

(1) She's literally the only companion that has both epic STR (18/58) and the ability to reach High Mastery in a weapon.
(2) She also has 17 DEX, meaning she doesn't have to waste an equipment slot on the Gauntlets of Dexterity. This frees her up to use the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, or the Gauntlets of Ogre Power to further increase her STR to 18/00. Kagain is stuck with the Dex gauntlets and doesn't have the same privilege. Combined with point #1, Shar-Teel is the obvious winner of the entire companion roster when it comes to melee THAC0 as well as damage.
(3) Don't let her CON score fool you. It doesn't give a penalty to her hit points, and Dexterity is by far the more important ability for Fighters in BG.

TL;DR A good offence is the best defense (and her defense isn't actually much worse than Kagain's).

That's true, unless you are playing EE, where you can find belt giving you 19 strenght (or sth like this). So Kagain + dex gauntlets, belt of strenght, full plate, shield and other protection stuff (rings, cape of balduran, helmet of balduran etc) makes him real tank. Still, Shar-Teel is quite undervalued and can be dualed to thief.

 

[NJClaw]

I prefer the +3 damage. BG's archery to-hit is already broken as even level 1 characters have no problems hitting.

But Kivan with the composite longbow +1 doesn't deal more damage than Coran with the Dead Shot thanks to his illegal +++ in longbows, so what's the point? Kivan is just actively worse, since he has the same damage with a worse thac0.

And if you really care about using the composite longbow for some reason, IIRC the STR requirement is checked only when you equip it, so you just need to equip the Gauntlets of Ogre Power or drink a potion to be able to use it even with a lower Strength.

 

[Fenix]

Kivan can use Composite Longbows. Coran can't (18 Str requirement, IIRC).

Coran has best portrait--->personality. Flawless victory!

 

[octavius]

Coran can also double as a trap spotter and remover.
And Coran is a chad while Kivan is a sulking emo.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

And Coran is a chad while Kivan is a sulking emo.

"my lifelong mate was tortured and murdered..."
"QUIT SULKING YOU EMO"

 

[slymer]

Trying to play through BG2 for the first time and this game is such a slog compared to BG1. Constant reloading, level drain, never have the right spells memorized, spells and weapons ineffective, mini beholders machine gunning me with spells. The unseeing eye quest took me like 4 hours to complete. I think I'm too unfamiliar with all the high level spells in BG2.

 

[d1r]

Kivan should have his own book series instead of Drizzt

Make that Coran, and we're good.

 

[Poseidon00]

Make that Coran, and we're good.

Kivan: The city is a symbol of man's excesses.

Coran: I want to fuck things

 

[Nano]

One time I went through the entire Unseeing Eye quest with almost no spells memorized, without resting, and without the Shield of Balduran. Never again.

 

[d1r]

Make that Coran, and we're good.

Kivan: The city is a symbol of man's excesses.

Coran: I want to fuck things

Tbh, just play with the BG1NPC mod. Coran and Kivan are well written characters in this one. The author who wrote Kivan even factored in his 8 CHR value (which would explain some of his really annoying banter injections and banter topics)!

 

[octavius]

I like some of the added quests and interjections for Kivan, but his banter is just so depressing.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I've finished BG2 but (not ToB yet) for the first time now. The furthest I've gotten before was the Underdark. This time I went through BGEE > SoD > BG2EE with the same PC (Druid). Overall my opinion on BG2 hasn't really changed drastically: I still think BG1 is better by a country mile. I find that the fabled Mage duels are a bit over hyped. After the first few times the repetition seeps in and dealing with them becomes formulaic and easy (breach their buffs, remove their invisi, kill them in a few hits), though this issue exists in BG1 as well, but that game used higher level Mage fights more sparingly. It's easier to find quests or things to do in BG2 as you trip up on a new adventure every few screens, but on the other hand the world feels like an amusement park now and not like a real place, which hurts the atmosphere. Quest design in BG2 is also pretty shit tier a lot of the time. In many Athkatla quests you could feel how the devs were deliberately wasting your time by making you run through multiple districts to talk to an NPC here and there before one of them tells you to go to the dungeon. Could've just told me right away, it didn't feel like I had to talk to all those NPCs. The music is a huge nosedive down the shitter as well; I think this pisses me off the most in BG2. I'm not really sure what happened here as it was made by the same composer. BG1 music is manly and heroic. It feels like it's calling you to go on an adventure. And BG2 music is.. it's just there. It exists, but apart from the main theme it is unmemorable (and still inferior to BG1's main theme).

Still feels like it was worth playing the game, at least once. I'm still gonna finish ToB, but after that I'm never touching BG2 again and will stick to IWD1 and BG1 for my IE needs.

 

[Gargaune]

The music is a huge nosedive down the shitter as well; I think this pisses me off the most in BG2. I'm not really sure what happened here as it was made by the same composer. BG1 music is manly and heroic. It feels like it's calling you to go on an adventure. And BG2 music is.. it's just there.

Really? I enjoy both, but I feel like BG2's soundtrack has the edge, especially in terms of manliness: