Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[rusty_shackleford]

I just wanted party banter and stuff but the bg1 npc pack is simply modder-tier crap

 

[Sensuki]

It's slim pickings for XP out here. Starting Chapter 3 my PC and most of my party is still level 1. Only Jaheira and Imoen have leveled up. Wondering if I would have been better off running with a 4 or 5 character party.

After Nashkel I'm not really sure where I should be going. The game is pretty open, so I guess I can just check out one of the unexplored areas on the map.

The first few chapters are like that in the first BG. You can go exploring after you clear out the mines and side track the main plot to farm for some XP, but you will still level up "slowly". There are a lot of side quests you can do while on your way to the mines that can boost your levels, but they are easy to miss for first time players (and if you actively try to avoid encounters). Once you get to Baldur's Gate proper you will see a speed up in XP progression. In my first run way back then I barely hit the XP cap with a bog standard 6 member party, but in latter runs I was able to hit the cap way before the final chapter. This is for the base game, not counting the expansion.

A few months late here. You can get to level 2 pretty quickly in BG1 - definitely within the first 30-45 mins of playtime. I think it's easier with warrior classes or Fighter/Thief though. What I do is kill all the monsters in the Lion's Way (Gorion dies there - there's some Black Bears that spawn that are 125XP each which is pretty good for the start of the game, and there's a gem in a tree near Xzar & Montaron) and Coast Way map (Make sure to grab the Ring of Protection +1), and do the Friendly Arm Inn and there's some good Quest XP that you can easily do in the Friendly Arm inn and Beregost. Imoen will level up to level 2 off of that and then you upgrade her lock pick skill and go into the Beregost Blacksmith at night and lockpick the chest with the Bastard Sword +1, and then go to the Temple area in Beregost and kill the Vampiric Wolves, which are 2000 XP each - that will sling shot you to level 2, if you aren't already.

** At low level you can't take the full wolf pack all at once but you can pull them 1-2 at a time if you come from the south and take one step into the fog of war at a time

If you searched everywhere you'd definitely have enough money for a suit of regular Plate Mail before that point as well.

The very first time I played the original Baldur's Gate properly (not just borrowing the CDs from a friend for a few days), I got stuck because I couldn't figure out how to get to the Bandit Camp. There's like four ways to do it, and I completely missed one of them, and I 'killed' the other three possibilities. I think I had to ask a friend about it. I can see why this type of design isn't really a thing anymore but I liked the C&C in regards to ways to approach the Bandit Camp in particular. Reminded me a lot of Dark Sun Shattered Lands design.

 

[BruceVC]

So my experiences with level gain has its been " slow " but I am fine with that because I am really exploring and avoiding high levels areas. I just use basic level guides when I get annihilated and come back later. For example I visited the Firewine dungeons where most of my party was on level 1 and I killed an Ogre Mage but then met a wizard who with a single lighting bolt, obviously, killed 5/6 of my party. So the level guides on Beamdog help me understand what level you should be on to tackle certain areas

I have played for 20 hours and my party is only now on level 2. And its because I have a full 6 member party so I didnt gain levels early on with my single wizard but as I said Im fine with the slower progress. I haven't even started on Nashkal mines yet and Im just doing other quests like restoring Melicamp from his chicken spell gone wrong and Perdues Sword quest

 

[Sensuki]

So my experiences with level gain has its been " slow " but I am fine with that because I am really exploring and avoiding high levels areas. I just use basic level guides when I get annihilated and come back later. For example I visited the Firewine dungeons where most of my party was on level 1 and I killed an Ogre Mage but then met a wizard who with a single lighting bolt, obviously, killed 5/6 of my party. So the level guides on Beamdog help me understand what level you should be on to tackle certain areas

I have played for 20 hours and my party is only now on level 2. And its because I have a full 6 member party so I didnt gain levels early on with my single wizard but as I said Im fine with the slower progress. I haven't even started on Nashkal mines yet and Im just doing other quests like restoring Melicamp from his chicken spell gone wrong and Perdues Sword quest

Lightning Bolt and some other spells in BG1 are pretty nasty (even Magic Missile, from enemy Mages, anyway) and usually it's a case of IF they get the spell off, you are in trouble, but if they don't - eg you interrupt their casting with an arrow, they're the ones often in trouble. A tip might be that if you see a mage - try and get them with a fast casting attack spell such as Magic Missile, Chromatic orb etc, and arrows - good chance to disrupt their casting then.

 

[Parabalus]

It's slim pickings for XP out here. Starting Chapter 3 my PC and most of my party is still level 1. Only Jaheira and Imoen have leveled up. Wondering if I would have been better off running with a 4 or 5 character party.

After Nashkel I'm not really sure where I should be going. The game is pretty open, so I guess I can just check out one of the unexplored areas on the map.

The first few chapters are like that in the first BG. You can go exploring after you clear out the mines and side track the main plot to farm for some XP, but you will still level up "slowly". There are a lot of side quests you can do while on your way to the mines that can boost your levels, but they are easy to miss for first time players (and if you actively try to avoid encounters). Once you get to Baldur's Gate proper you will see a speed up in XP progression. In my first run way back then I barely hit the XP cap with a bog standard 6 member party, but in latter runs I was able to hit the cap way before the final chapter. This is for the base game, not counting the expansion.

A few months late here. You can get to level 2 pretty quickly in BG1 - definitely within the first 30-45 mins of playtime. I think it's easier with warrior classes or Fighter/Thief though. What I do is kill all the monsters in the Lion's Way (Gorion dies there - there's some Black Bears that spawn that are 125XP each which is pretty good for the start of the game, and there's a gem in a tree near Xzar & Montaron) and Coast Way map (Make sure to grab the Ring of Protection +1), and do the Friendly Arm Inn and there's some good Quest XP that you can easily do in the Friendly Arm inn and Beregost. Imoen will level up to level 2 off of that and then you upgrade her lock pick skill and go into the Beregost Blacksmith at night and lockpick the chest with the Bastard Sword +1, and then go to the Temple area in Beregost and kill the Vampiric Wolves, which are 2000 XP each - that will sling shot you to level 2, if you aren't already.

** At low level you can't take the full wolf pack all at once but you can pull them 1-2 at a time if you come from the south and take one step into the fog of war at a time

If you searched everywhere you'd definitely have enough money for a suit of regular Plate Mail before that point as well.

The very first time I played the original Baldur's Gate properly (not just borrowing the CDs from a friend for a few days), I got stuck because I couldn't figure out how to get to the Bandit Camp. There's like four ways to do it, and I completely missed one of them, and I 'killed' the other three possibilities. I think I had to ask a friend about it. I can see why this type of design isn't really a thing anymore but I liked the C&C in regards to ways to approach the Bandit Camp in particular. Reminded me a lot of Dark Sun Shattered Lands design.

You can kill the guards in Candlekeep too, or go up to the Anhkegs and kill them while solo. Easy with a fighter.

 

[BruceVC]

So my experiences with level gain has its been " slow " but I am fine with that because I am really exploring and avoiding high levels areas. I just use basic level guides when I get annihilated and come back later. For example I visited the Firewine dungeons where most of my party was on level 1 and I killed an Ogre Mage but then met a wizard who with a single lighting bolt, obviously, killed 5/6 of my party. So the level guides on Beamdog help me understand what level you should be on to tackle certain areas

I have played for 20 hours and my party is only now on level 2. And its because I have a full 6 member party so I didnt gain levels early on with my single wizard but as I said Im fine with the slower progress. I haven't even started on Nashkal mines yet and Im just doing other quests like restoring Melicamp from his chicken spell gone wrong and Perdues Sword quest

Lightning Bolt and some other spells in BG1 are pretty nasty (even Magic Missile, from enemy Mages, anyway) and usually it's a case of IF they get the spell off, you are in trouble, but if they don't - eg you interrupt their casting with an arrow, they're the ones often in trouble. A tip might be that if you see a mage - try and get them with a fast casting attack spell such as Magic Missile, Chromatic orb etc, and arrows - good chance to disrupt their casting then.

Thats good advice and I have 2 NPCS who have bows and they play a huge role around disrupting magic use and long distance damage

But I couldnt do that in my Firewine example because the Orge Mage is in this small room and immediately attacks you and the wizard is drawn towards your aggro from a passage that connects to the room. And the Orge Mage has spells himself so if I dont focus on him and try to kill the wizard with my archers he casts AOE spells like Confusion which also impacts most of my party

So I will come back to this dungeon later when Im level 3/4

 

[BruceVC]

Oh something else, deciding to be a wizard who has a quarterstaff wasnt the best choice for quicker level gains because my character has one effective combat spell and has to avoid hand to hand combat

But its fine, as I advance in levels he will become useful in combat

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Oh something else, deciding to be a wizard who has a quarterstaff wasnt the best choice for quicker level gains because my character has one effective combat spell and has to avoid hand to hand combat

But its fine, as I advance in levels he will become useful in combat

if you aren't used to AD&D it probably makes sense to go with a staff, but the mage's weapon is the sling, darts, and so forth in those editions

 

[Sensuki]

Oh something else, deciding to be a wizard who has a quarterstaff wasnt the best choice for quicker level gains because my character has one effective combat spell and has to avoid hand to hand combat

But its fine, as I advance in levels he will become useful in combat

May sound counter-intuitive but you can just have the Mage not attack in melee unless it's a trash fight with Xvarts, Kobolds etc. You can get some nice Mage gear at High Hedge from memory. It will be a lot cheaper when your Reputation has increased to 18-20.

 

[BruceVC]

Oh something else, deciding to be a wizard who has a quarterstaff wasnt the best choice for quicker level gains because my character has one effective combat spell and has to avoid hand to hand combat

But its fine, as I advance in levels he will become useful in combat

if you aren't used to AD&D it probably makes sense to go with a staff, but the mage's weapon is the sling, darts, and so forth in those editions

You right , I do understand the AD&D ruleset but Im not use to low level Wizard characters in the BG setting and how effective level gain works

When I played BG2 you start on level 8 or so and in other IE games like IWD I chose a Paladin or Ranger and they immediately contributed towards combat

But whats happening now in BG1 is my wizard basically holds back in combat because I dont like sleeping to relearn my one spell after every combat, I should have selected sling and darts. But its changing because he now has that story specific Cure Light Wounds and 2 spells and I have some nice scrolls which I reserve for difficult battles

But I definitely wasn't thinking logically when I made that selection, I learnt my lesson

 

[octavius]

So my experiences with level gain has its been " slow " but I am fine with that because I am really exploring and avoiding high levels areas. I just use basic level guides when I get annihilated and come back later. For example I visited the Firewine dungeons where most of my party was on level 1 and I killed an Ogre Mage but then met a wizard who with a single lighting bolt, obviously, killed 5/6 of my party. So the level guides on Beamdog help me understand what level you should be on to tackle certain areas

Instead of using a guide, you should have been using a scout.

 

[BruceVC]

So my experiences with level gain has its been " slow " but I am fine with that because I am really exploring and avoiding high levels areas. I just use basic level guides when I get annihilated and come back later. For example I visited the Firewine dungeons where most of my party was on level 1 and I killed an Ogre Mage but then met a wizard who with a single lighting bolt, obviously, killed 5/6 of my party. So the level guides on Beamdog help me understand what level you should be on to tackle certain areas

Instead of using a guide, you should have been using a scout.

You right but I dont mind my whole party learning hard lessons

I only use the level guides after being soundly defeated 3-4 times

 

[Sarathiour]

Oh something else, deciding to be a wizard who has a quarterstaff wasnt the best choice for quicker level gains because my character has one effective combat spell and has to avoid hand to hand combat

But its fine, as I advance in levels he will become useful in combat

May sound counter-intuitive but you can just have the Mage not attack in melee unless it's a trash fight with Xvarts, Kobolds etc. You can get some nice Mage gear at High Hedge from memory. It will be a lot cheaper when your Reputation has increased to 18-20.

Even against trash, it's a bad idea at low level. Sling is only if you want to see thme doing something, they will barely contribute either way due to dogshit thaco and low STR.

 

[Nano]

Use darts, not slings. Seriously, it's 3 APR vs 1.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

there is a tendency for people to ruin crpgs for themselves by reading guides
it is a top sin up there with reloading the moment something goes wrong rather than only when you get a legitimate game over

 

[BruceVC]

there is a tendency for people to ruin crpgs for themselves by reading guides
it is a top sin up there with reloading the moment something goes wrong rather than only when you get a legitimate game over

I agree but Im not doing that because it destroys the excitement of learning and exploration

All Im doing is googling " what level should you be on for Firewine dungeon " and the results are mostly on Beamdog forums or Steam. So to be technically correct its forum comments around that specific questions and I dont read everything, it takes me 10 seconds to get my answer

But I do use guides for advice in initial class creation in some games that Im not familiar with but not D&D games. So I would use a class guide in Wizardry or M&M

 

[Grunker]

The BG1 NPC pack is a huge steaming pile of dogshit that took the worst parts of proto-BioWare NPCs and cranked it up to 11.

May god have mercy on your soul BruceVC

I like it. There are some NPCs you have to avoid like the plague, but others are juuuust fine. It’s not like BG2‘s NPCs aren’t whiny cunts as well.

Now romantic encounters is another story. Why tf did you install that Bruce

 

[BruceVC]

The BG1 NPC pack is a huge steaming pile of dogshit that took the worst parts of proto-BioWare NPCs and cranked it up to 11.

May god have mercy on your soul BruceVC

I like it. There are some NPCs you have to avoid like the plague, but others are juuuust fine. It’s not like BG2‘s NPCs aren’t whiny cunts as well.

Now romantic encounters is another story. Why tf did you install that Bruce

I like optional Romance arcs in all my RPG and it seemed to enhance that in BG1

 

[Grunker]

The BG1 NPC pack is a huge steaming pile of dogshit that took the worst parts of proto-BioWare NPCs and cranked it up to 11.

May god have mercy on your soul BruceVC

I like it. There are some NPCs you have to avoid like the plague, but others are juuuust fine. It’s not like BG2‘s NPCs aren’t whiny cunts as well.

Now romantic encounters is another story. Why tf did you install that Bruce

I like optional Romance arcs in all my RPG and it seemed to enhance that in BG1

Romantic Encounters aren’t “romance arcs”. They’re shittily written random and short dialogues between random NPCs in random maps. It’s hyper cringe and does nothing but pollute your game with random fanfic filler

 

[BruceVC]

The BG1 NPC pack is a huge steaming pile of dogshit that took the worst parts of proto-BioWare NPCs and cranked it up to 11.

May god have mercy on your soul BruceVC

I like it. There are some NPCs you have to avoid like the plague, but others are juuuust fine. It’s not like BG2‘s NPCs aren’t whiny cunts as well.

Now romantic encounters is another story. Why tf did you install that Bruce

I like optional Romance arcs in all my RPG and it seemed to enhance that in BG1

Romantic Encounters aren’t “romance arcs”. They’re shittily written random and short dialogues between random NPCs in random maps. It’s hyper cringe and does nothing but fill your game with random filler

Im fine with that, in 20 hours of gameplay I have only explored one Romance from the mod so its not an issue for me. I only purse the ones I want and ignore the ones I dont want to follow like the male courtesan

 

[Sarathiour]

I thought that romantic encounter was only for bg2.

 

[Grunker]

I thought that romantic encounter was only for bg2.

They made another one for BG1.

 

[Nano]

The BG2 one has an encounter where you can try to rape someone. It's kinda wild.

 

[BruceVC]

The BG2 one has an encounter where you can try to rape someone. It's kinda wild.

I dont remember that, do you remember where it was?

 

[Darth Canoli]

But whats happening now in BG1 is my wizard basically holds back in combat because I dont like sleeping to relearn my one spell after every combat

So, you rolled a 12 INT mage?
Next time, roll a 6 STR fighter instead, I've heard it's really fun to play...