welcome to the Reverse Question Thread, or "Baldur's Gate Jeopardy" if you like.
In this thread I want users to provide answers. But without any questions asked beforehand.
Instead it works the other way around. You present answers and the others must find appropriate questions that fit your given answer.
Example: Answer: "Boo" Possible Questions: "Who's the cutest miniature space giant hamster?" "What's the name of Minsc's animal companion?" "What is Oob spelled backwards?"
Please post only one new answer at a time. However you may post several questions to all answers given so far in this thread. Answers and questions have to be Baldur's Gate related.
I'll start first: Answer: "Plug tails"
Now it's your turn to think of questions that fit that answer or to provide a new answer.
Have fun!
for clarification: You can provide questions to old, given answers as many as you like. The rule above just says that you must not provide more than one new answer at a time.
for example: You do not always have to provide a question to the latest answer. Just provide questions to any previous answers you like.
In Baldur’s Gate I, Imoen’s stats allow her to be dual-classed into a Thief/Mage. Many people like this option, and choose to take advantage of it. My question is, would most people like the option to dual-class a Thief into a Thief/Mage or Thief/Fighter, with a mod NPC?
Hi, ive been searching for a few peices of artwork with higher resolution for a long time,
Here are the Art pieces im searching for:
Not sure if the Warrior was made by justin, but the Marilith was made by Sam Wood. If anyone has any High quality artwork of D&D's earlier edition with high resolution you can share them here in the thread.
What is the most powergaming party that you can think of?
two different groups of posts 1) multiplayer created party by player. What classes/races (and items) 2) charname + npc's. What npc's -this is not 1 vs 2 but creating 2 different threads for 1 purpose is silly -bg2 tob exp limit -no mods
and why is this the most powergaming?
for example F/M/T half-elf - like kensai mage but +100dmg with backstab Kensai13/Mage - i think everyone know why kensai/mage cleric/specjalist mage - healer who is almost immortal mage slayer13/mage - antimage edwin - most spells
npc's F/M/T op op sarevok dualed to mage op edwin - op op op aerie - op multi keldorn - op dispell Cernd - SS f yeah
Just recently finished my trilogy no reload run with David the Gnome. Next step is to try SCS, which most people say is to Baldur's Gate what abstinence is to safe sex: The best way to go.
I certainly hope BG with SCS is a more enjoyable solution, though.
The rules for the playthrough are as follows:
[spoiler] - Minimum reload (only if charname dies)
- Possibility of random spells as follows: - Each time the sorceress learns a new spell, I roll a d20+level charname+CHA modifier. - Difficulty is 15+level of the spell - CHA modifier is like TO HIT modifier (+1 at 17, +2 at 18) - For Charr'Neim, that gives a 35% chances of choosing spells at level 1. That increases up to 85% at level 18 for Lv9 spells. A 1 is always a failure. - This is supposed to represent how the sorceress is able to control and shape her powers more accurately, the more powerful she becomes. Might not be the best system, but I haven't come up with something better
- Choice of random spells: - Charr'Neim is able to cast spells due to Bhaal's Essence. Therefore, every time she has to choose a random spell, she will first choose at random Necromancy spells. - If no necromancy spells left for that spell level, then the choice will be random - As the Bhaal essence is the one responsible for the spell casting, she will not cast spells from Spellhold to Hell in BG2. That will be interesting as it is a big chunk of the game. I guess I will finally find a use for all those scrolls that are lying around. [/spoiler]
Charr'Neim:
[spoiler]
She is a 92 points elf sorceress (got that after 2-3 minutes of re-rolling. I could have settled with much less)
STR 7 DEX 19 CON 16 INT 15 SAB 17 CHA 18
Proficiencies: Darts (from playing in Candlekeep's tavern with Imoen)
Spells known: Chill touch and Larloch Minor's Drain. Yes, she failed both rolls. Given her strength/proficiencies, I already see a spell that is likely never to be used
Special powers:
- Foresee her own death. As a Bhaalspawn, she has gained the rare ability to emulate her Father's foresight. She will see her possible death in the near future and take the necessary steps to avoid it (AKA: Infinite reloads if she dies. Will probably need it with SCS installed)
Alignment: True Neutral (I am not a big fan of the alignment system, I have to say)
Personality: A charming individual with clearly a talent for diplomacy and leadership, Charr'Neim has always been fragile, even if she never seems to get sick. A smart kid from when she was barely a toddler, Gorion's tutelage has made her become very wise for her young age and eager to learn of what transpires outside the walls of Candlekeep. Trustworthy as only people who have never been betrayed can be, she knows how to get out of harm's way and the right things to say to avoid trouble and make friends. She is eager to go on her trip with Gorion (whom she loves dearly) and see the world.
Evolution: Well, she will be very careful after the first night. Not sure how she will evolve, personality wise. We'll see. Haven't decided who her companions will be either. At least another mage as this is SCS
[/spoiler]
Storytelling:
[spoiler]
My plan is to make it a bit more fun than David's. First section will be RP: quotes from books or people that have known her and tell about some parts of her adventures. Second section will be gaming: explaining my experience with SCS and where I am in the game
[/spoiler]
Well, hope you guys enjoy it if you get to read it :-) Will be probably asking lots of SCS questions too
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Serene Winterbloom, CG half-elven Beast Master:
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. The idea of this playthrough, when I started it a few days ago, was to see for myself how good or bad the Beast Master is as a kit. At this stage I can’t answer that question yet because Serene has shunned civilization and the many dangers that come with it, preferring instead to explore the wilderness areas of the Sword Coast and to befriend the many animals inhabiting the wilderness.
As to Serene’s personality, to be honest I haven’t given it as much thought as I’ve done with a number of other characters, but here’s a brief idea. She obviously adores animals and they adore her. Animals attack and kill for survival, and because they’re conditioned to do so, but at least they’re honest and reliable. On the other hand, (demi)humans, males apparently more so than females, hurt and kill for much darker purposes (profit, power, rancor, or sometimes even for fun). For that reason Serene’s very wary of (demi)humans, and shuns pretty much all contact with them, though she’ll always help someone in need. Due to her reticence she’s a bit insecure and shy when having to deal with people. She’s Chaotic in that she doesn’t generally stick to a fixed plan or abide by a personal code of conduct other than to be good to nature and its inhabitants, and kind to anyone that crosses her path. She worships Selûne the Moonmaiden, Goddess of many a female wanderer such as herself.
There’s one thing about this playthrough that I would like to draw your attention to. I’m playing with a component of the aTweaks mod that replaces Rangers’ rather weak Charm Animal ability with an ability called Animal Empathy. Every time the Ranger uses this ability, all animals on the map are either charmed for 5 rounds (after which they turn hostile), or become permanent friends of the Ranger. I think this ability is perfect for a Beast Master, and when I started this game I decided to use it as often as possible. The readme describes the component as follows:
"This component renames the Ranger's Charm Animal ability into Animal Empathy and adjusts it to more closely match its PnP counterpart. An animal attempting to resist this ability must now roll a saving throw vs. wands (with a −1 penalty) in order to avoid becoming charmed. The Ranger imposes an additional saving throw penalty for every three experience levels he has earned (i.e. −2 at 4th level, −3 at 7th level... etc.) up to a maximum of −6 at 16th level. Furthermore, if the animal fails its saving throw, it now becomes charmed for 5 rounds per level of the Ranger. Finally, being non-magical in nature, this ability now ignores any magic resistance of the target animal and can no longer be removed by Dispel Magic." [/spoiler] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. All Alone in the Wide Open World
In Candlekeep I picked up my quarterstaff, bought a suit of studded leather armor, a helmet, and a composite longbow and quiver, and did a few chores before I set out with Gorion. His death at the hands of a mysterious warrior devastated me. Gorion had been one of very few people I knew were trustworthy, though even he had been less transparent than I would have liked about matters such as my background. My friend Imoen found me on the Candlekeep Coast Way. I traveled back to Candlekeep with her, arranged for Gorion’s burial in Candlekeep, said goodbye to Imoen, and left the citadel for the wilderness. I knew I could go to the Friendly Arm Inn where friends of Gorion were supposed to reside, or to Beregost, a nearby town, but I preferred to explore the wilderness beyond the close surroundings of Candlekeep that I had already been allowed to reconnoiter time and again when I still lived with Gorion.
I summoned Silver, my Faerie Dragon familiar, and had her cast Invisibility 15’ Radius on the both of us. Protected by invisibility we traveled south until we reached the High Hedge area. It was replete with Undead and Gnolls. We slipped by unnoticed and headed further south. It was interesting to see the landscape gradually transform from very plain, green and rich in vegetation into the sandier, rolling Red Canyons. It was there that I spotted a rabid she-wolf. It pained me to kill her but she would have infected others of her kind with her taint. In slaying her, I rescued a hen from certain death. Amazingly, the bird spoke to me in the human tongue. “He”, Melicamp was his name, told me that he’d been turned into a chicken as a result of some magical experiment. He begged me to bring him to his master Thalantyr at the High Hedge. I might have refused if I hadn’t heard positive stories by Gorion of Thalantyr. The wizard didn’t disappoint. How he did it is completely beyond me, but he restored Melicamp to his human form. I was glad to have been of help and asked for no reward when I left them. Outside, a pack of wild dogs I befriended helped me slay a few of the area’s many Gnolls.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
I would have wanted to rest there and then, but even with my canine companions by my side I considered the area too dangerous, so I reluctantly traveled to Beregost. There I was invited into his home by Firebead Elvenhair, an old friend of Gorion and Tethoril. He asked me to acquire a book for him that he was after at Feldepost’s Inn, but before I could speak to the innkeeper I had to calm down an angry patron who seemed to hate adventurers ever since his son had died as a young adventurer. Fortunately the argument was settled with a round of ale even though I really don’t care for ale. As a thank you for my service Firebead gave me a book with a rather dark tale, The History of the Dead Three, and he offered me to rest at his place. I said my prayers to Selune and slept like a baby. The following morning I left the village, but not for long. On the southern outskirts I ran into two Ogrillons that attacked me. I had to run around a lot to keep my foes at a good distance for me to attack them with my bow. On one of the two monsters I found a letter for a woman named Mirianne. I returned to Firebead and asked him if he knew her. He directed me to her place. Mirianne was thankful and gave me an enchanted ring that should protect me against both physical and magical attacks.
I traveled south again, and made the mistake of sticking to the road for a while. Three Flaming Fist Officers accused me of banditry for some reason. I denied the accusation and told them to take me in so I could defend myself before a court of law. They would have nothing of it and attacked me! As with the Ogrillons, I had to run around a lot to keep them at bay so I could hit them with the occasional arrow. This strategy was tiresome but I dared not engage them in melee, clad as they were in their suits of plate mail. Our running around drew the attention of a number of Hobgoblins of the Marrow Sucker tribe. They were less resilient than the humans, so I downed them faster than the Flaming Fist Mercenaries. When battle was done I owned three suits of plate mail armor and a pair of enchanted boots that Taerom Fuiruim identified for me as Silent Whispers, very useful for sneaking. I visited the Temple of Lathander on the eastern edge of town to find out what services the temple provided. The high priest Keldath Ormlyr told me of an evil Cleric somewhere to the west or south-west of Beregost who had been killing many people and animating their corpses, and of an equally malicious Wizard east of Beregost that had managed to dominate a group of Basilisks and used them to petrify people and animals. I shall keep an eye out for both wicked males.
My third attempt to get away from Beregost was more successful in that I got much further south. I traveled mostly hidden in shadows till I met a nobleman north of Nashkel. I thought he was lost and tentatively approached to help him, but he seemed to know his way better than I expected. He thanked me and gave me ring that would increase my presence and comeliness. Sigh, he must have noticed my timidity. I put on the ring. Hopefully it does what it says. In Nashkel I spoke with an Amnish soldier who told me about a missing guard captain and about troubles in the Nashkel Mines region. Berrun Ghastkill, the local mayor, confirmed the soldier’s words about the Mines, and asked me to investigate. When I entered the local inn I ran into trouble again. A Priestess attacked me, hoping to claim an apparent bounty on my head. This must have been an obvious misunderstanding, but there was no reasoning with the woman. I had to play hide and seek with her, running inside and outside the inn and the local store, to exhaust her spell repertoire. Meanwhile I attacked her with my bow. At one point she commanded me to lay down, but the brief duration of her Command wasn’t enough to hurt me. In the end a well-placed arrow felled her.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
At the inn I rested but had a very vivid dream about overcoming Gorion’s loss. I also perceived an unknown and not necessarily pleasant masculine presence. In the morning I woke up with the ability to heal myself and my animal friends. Perhaps the Moonmaiden has had a hand in this, even though I never sensed Her presence. I decided to travel to the nearby Mines to investigate, as Ghastkill had requested me to. In an empty storehouse I encountered three beautiful, healthy war dogs that accompanied me while exploring the area.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
They even defended me bravely when a bounty hunter spotted me near a sculptor who was working on an impressive rock carving. This time the bounty hunter wasn’t after me but after the sculptor, who was accused of having stolen a number of gems. I find bickering over such material things a complete waste of time, but apparently it was a very serious matter, at least to the bounty hunter. He suspected me of wanting to claim “his” bounty, and proceeded to attack. My hounds fought bravely while I kept pelting him with arrows. I felt a pang of remorse when all three war dogs fell to the bounty hunter’s mighty halberd. His death, shortly after that, didn’t do anything to console me. I could have at least tried to heal one of my companions. In the future I shall be more careful. My animal friends are just that: friends, not cannon fodder. The emerald thief died as well by the way, even though nothing had hit him as far as I know.
I traveled back to Nashkel so I could report the unfortunate event that had played itself out. I first arrived at the Nashkel Carnival where I perused some of the merchants’ wares in the hopes of finding any useful items. I bought an oil of speed, a potion of invisibility and a scroll of protection from petrification with which I would be able to take on the Basilisks that Keldath Ormlyr had told me about. In Nashkel I couldn’t find Berrun Ghastkill to tell him about the emerald thief, so I left him a message at the local Temple of Helm and traveled in a northeasterly direction, to the area where according to Ormlyr the Basilisks were to be found. I scouted the area hidden in shadows and found a great number of Basilisks indeed. After I cast the scroll of protection from petrification they were defenseless against my arrows. Even though my animal affinity is mostly with mammals and birds rather than reptiles, and with Silver of course, I would have never attacked the giant lizards if they hadn’t been completely corrupted by the evil wizard. The area was replete with petrified people and animals. A Ghoul offered me to help and serve me. I would not normally ally myself with undead, but I accepted its offer. Silver cast Invisibility 15’ Radius on the three of us, and so we approached the wizard, a Gnome, and his last two remaining Basilisk pets undetected. I asked my ghoulish companion to try and hold the wizard, while I would be pelting the Basilisks with my arrows. This plan completely failed. The Ghoul never managed to even touch the Gnome and was annihilated soon after by the Wizard. The latter, alarmed by what had just transpired, went looking for other threats to rout. This left me the opportunity to appear from stealth and take down the Gnome’s last two Basilisks. When I was done, I hid in shadows again and soon tracked my foe a small distance to the south. A brown bear sensed my good intentions, and helped me take on the Gnome. The bear's vicious attacks hurt our foe more than once before I slew the evil Wizard with an arrow in the chest. The Mage managed to blind me before he fell, but with my brown bear by my side I had little reason to panic. The Gnome dropped a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power that I’m wearing at the moment. They increase my strength, if only slightly.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
I traveled further to the north until I reached the Larswood. Unwillingly I got involved in a dispute between two Druids. They attacked me, one after the other. Both summoned dogs and bears to aid them, but the animals’ loyalty was with me, not with the Druids.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
My next stop was the Friendly Arm Inn, where I was awaited and attacked by a Wizard who, like the Priestess in Nashkel hoped to claim the price on my head. This can’t be a coincidence. It has me worrying. Anyway, I frustrated most of his spell casting with my arrows, even though at one point he did hit me with a Magic Missile, and slew him.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
At the Inn I finally met Gorion’s friends, Khalid and Jaheira. The former seemed affable enough. I could even imagine him as a traveling companion. His wife however was bossy and impatient. It was due to Jaheira’s personality that I declined their proposal of traveling to Nashkel together. Instead I spoke with a few of the guests, including a gnomish scholar I made happy by handing her a belt I had found on the corpse of a hostile Ogre that had crossed my path some time before, and also a gnomish Cleric I humored by clearing her Beregost home of a number of huge spiders for her. West of the Friendly Arm Inn I ventured briefly into the Cloakwood. Besides natural creatures, the area housed many Tasloi and also huge spiders. Together with a Worg I bonded with I slew the many Tasloi and was rewarded with what Taerom Fuiruim would identify as a Cloak of Non-Detection.
Back in Nashkel, Berrun Ghastkill seemed to have little interest in the death of the emerald thief and the bounty hunter. His only concern was the situation in the Mines. I’m really reluctant to go in there though. I don’t even understand why he asks me. I’m one of the forest, at home under the open sky, with animals by my side. Perhaps in the future I could become the Ranger Protector of some place. I’m not accustomed to crawling through dark stuffy mines, and probably never will be. At any rate I decided to first explore the wilderness areas west of Nashkel. There I had various interesting encounters. First there was a hunting party whose leader tried to provoke me into a fight. I’m no friend of pleasure hunters, but I decided not to take the bait, and they wandered off. Not much later, two bandits wouldn’t part with me on such peaceful terms. I had to fight the both of them, one in melee because he was suspiciously eager to run from me in order to attack me with his darts. After he fell I discovered why: he had wanted to paralyze me with Darts of Stunning. The other bandit fell to my arrows. I also helped a little boy get his dog back. But what he had called his dog seemed more like a Dread Wolf to me, which was curious to say the least. I had no means of empathetic communication with the beast although it did follow me back to the child, possibly thanks to the scent of a chewed bone the boy had given me. When I wanted to ask the boy about his curious companion, he turned into a fiend and teleported away with his wolf before I could do anything. Further west I found a dead cat for a sobbing little girl. This time no fiendish shapeshifting or teleporting. The girl was genuinely thankful and told me her father would raise the cat. I told her to be very careful of her feline companion. They aren’t supposed to die all the time. I also protected a Dryad against two oafs that wanted to cut down her lifegiving tree for supposed treasure. In the end the oafs were the ones that got cut down. A mighty Dire Wolf helped me against the two louts .
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
Accompanied by the Dire Wolf I further explored the area until I ran into a Gnoll that spoke to me about a woman being captured in its former stronghold. The monster had been expelled from the stronghold for its desire to eat the woman.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
I had to act swiftly. A woman’s life was at stake here. I traveled west following the Gnoll’s directions. It was a long trek until I spotted the Stronghold. A bridge leading to it was guarded by two Half-Ogres I had to dispatch. I scouted the area for different entrance routes and for animal companions but found only one entrance and no animals to bond with. Two or three of my arrows would normally suffice to slay one Gnoll. I didn’t have too much difficulty felling pretty much all Gnolls in the area. Their Chieftain, who looked sturdier than the others, I stunned with one of my Darts of Stunning before pelting it to death with my bow and arrows.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
The captured woman was Dynaheir, a Sorceress from Rashemen. She wanted me to look with her for her protector Minsc, but she had no idea where. I guided her back to Beregost where I had some business with Taerom Fuiruim. The trip to Beregost wasn’t without dangers. Dynaheir nearly died in an ambush, but survived thanks to a healing potion I gave her.
[spoiler] Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. [/spoiler]
We're currently in Beregost where I just picked up a suit of Ankheg armor that Faerom Tuiruim has made for me from an Ankheg shell I had left with him a tenday ago. The armor is much too restrictive to my taste though, and I notice myself struggling to hide in shadows when I wear it, so I just keep it in my Bag of Holding. Dynaheir is polite, respectful, and of unquestionable moral integrity. Nevertheless I’m inclined to leave her. I wouldn’t want to expose her to the dangers of my adventuring life. Perhaps I’ll look for this Minsc and leave her with him, once we find him.
I'm unsure how to proceed. Serene (currently level 6) is very much a loner, and at this point it would feel a bit out of character to me if I had her form a party of six. Another disadvantage of traveling with a (big) party would be that it would take away much of the incentive to be creative and optimally utilize Serene's skills, abilities and items, relying instead on the other NPCs' input (spells, arrows etc). Anyhow, the only NPCs I can imagine her with are:
- Kivan: a CG Ranger just like Serene, stealthy, sensitive, aloof, similar outlook on life, - Khalid: very kind, humble and timid, much like Serene, - Faldorn: more aggressive than Serene, but with an amazing connection to nature (more so than Jaheira in my imagination), something that Serene will surely appreciate, - Coran: my first candidate. Coran could be the ideal partner both for the purpose of survival (Fighter/Thief, traps/locks, stealth, deadly with his bow, and the already found Gauntlets of Ogre Power would allow him to be a good melee fighter), and also in terms of role-play (they're both comfortable in the wilderness, which makes Coran easier for Serene to relate with, there's a romance opion, and his sparkling personality could really help Serene grow as a character and become a bit more open and sociable herself). - Dynaheir: kind, responsible in exercising her profession, self-confident but not arrogant.
What do you think? Should Serene continue to travel just by herself (and with Silver and her animal companions of course)? Would traveling with the above party of six make any sense to you RP-wise? (In terms of survivability I think it would be a great party of six.) Would other NPCs than the ones I mentioned make more sense? Would it be more fitting for Serene to just take one or maybe two companions with her? If yes, which NPCs would you consider most fitting?
Who was your charname when you first finished BG? I still remember the charname pretty well, despite it being sometime in 1999-2000 when I first finished the game.
charname was a female human cleric named Clerica wielding Ashideena. I don't remember her actual stats, and I don't really remember who else was in the party.
Interesting, I don't actually remember my charname when I first finished BG:EE. I'm a pretty avid re-roller, so I can't remember which one actually finished BG:EE!
What is the name of Wondrous Gloves in the game override? Or where do i find the item file? Was planning on moving it over to BGEE so i'm able to import this item into BGEE through BGEEkeeper. In BG2EE it's named BRAC25 but i can't find the file anywhere?
As we all know, there are a lot of seeming "loose ends" in the BG series, especially in BG2, where there appears to be a number of characters and subplots that are never fully explained - i.e: the minotaur (Andorian) under the Copper Coronet sewers, the guarded compound in the temple district, etc. BG fans have gone so far as to create their own fanfic and mods that attempt to explain these situations.
"Back then the individual designers were free to populate their areas with whatever they wanted, so I took the liberty of including a lot of the D&D characters from my youth (i.e., the alter egos of my high school friends). One of them, Andorian, the minotaur, still raises questions on the message boards. I love the speculation involving him, people thinking he belongs to a hidden quest and so on. Sorry to disappoint, he’s just the D&D character of one of my friends and I had nowhere else to put him."
So the answer is... there is no answer! It was all just a colossal mindf##k by Bioware, and their devs have been watching us and laughing at us this whole time!!!
My least favorite: Vampires. Most. Annoying. Monster. Ever. Plus, they disappearing-icon-kill you half the time. My other least favorites, though none come even close to the vampires: Doppelgangers, Ettercaps, Spiders.
So... I just found a cool potion in this game that reminded me of a story from way back when I was like 13. I found this really cool looking potion in one of the bandit camp rooms. It was called an "Oil of Fiery Burning".
"Sweet! Maybe I'll shoot fire out of my hands or become like the Human Torch or something" gulp "OUCH!"
BG can be crazy hard sometimes, and when you are young the enormity of the game can confuse you. I also remember being fatigued and thinking how lazy my characters were and another time being shocked that my potion of healing wouldn't cure my poison.
There are so many areas where you can just screw up in hilarious ways as a new player. I'd like to hear some stories like this. Come share your growing pains and have a laugh or two at your noob past selves
One of the most prevalent (and valid) complaints when comparing BG1 and BG2 NPCs is that the BG1 NPCs have substantially less dialogue and interactions than the BG2 ones. While this is certainly accurate, I don't agree that this is entirely a drawback for the BG1 NPCs.
While the BG2 NPCs are more talkative, I've always felt that the BG1 NPCs projected the more interesting and memorable personas - i.e: Kivan as the quiet, no-nonsense tough guy (picture Dirty Harry with a bow instead of a magnum), Shar-Teel as a defiant, man-hating ultra-feminist, Eldoth as a charming scoundrel, Ajantis as a youthful, overzealous do-gooder, Safana as a conniving seductress, etc. By contrast, many of the BG2 NPCs, despite talking a lot more, often seem either forgettably bland (i.e: Keldorn, Mazzy, Cernd, Valygar), or just annoying (Anomen).
I'll admit that there are definitely times when playing BG1 that I wish the NPCs would interact more than they do. At the same time though, I also appreciate that the "less is more" approach of BG1 interactions allows you to form your own interpretations of the characters. For example, although not explicitly scripted, I've always imagined that there was a burgeoning romance developing between Kivan and Branwen, based on the obvious admiration that they show for each other (which is especially significant since Kivan never seems to have anything nice to say about anything else).
I also find that in many cases, the more a BG2 NPCs talks, the less likable or interesting they actually become. For example, the interactions between Mazzy and Valygar, while admittedly humorous, also make Valygar look like a lifeless wuss and Mazzy like a bit of a naive snob - which is not how I would picture either character otherwise. In BG1, Viconia presented to me as a sympathetic, persecuted character, and I was only too happy to accept her into my party and keep her under my protection. While she initially presents the same way in BG2, as soon as you rescue her, she starts berating Aerie (and also has some unkind remarks about Imoen IIRC), so much so that I just can't bring myself to accept her into my party (at least, not as long as Aerie is still in it). Likewise, Anomen is just such a flat out jerk to other party members that I often come to wonder whether I should keep him in, and whether I really should care whether he ever becomes a knight (heck, for the sake of the Order, I should probably not want him in it, LOL).
As I'm currently playing BG2 with BG1 NPCs imported through multiplayer, I currently have a party that is a mix of BG1 and BG2 NPCs, and I've been able to observe the differences side-by-side. While the interactions between the BG2 NPCs can make the game seem more spontaneous, I just can't bring myself to feel bonded to the BG2 NPCs the way that I am to the BG1 ones. For example, I recently swapped out Branwen for Anomen, but after playing with him for a while, I quickly felt so disinterested in him (and the game in general) that I revisited the save from prior to the swap and restarted playing without him.
So, if anyone out there has had the patience to read through this post, do you share any similar feelings?
This is going to be a mercifully limited playthrough journal commentary-wise, I plan to just hit a few highlights.
I set out to try give myself a bit more challenge so I figured I'd try SCS with a party of three companion NPCs that I don't often use and are not regarded as particularly powerful. And I wanted to try a Fighter/Mage build that is a bit unusual. Anyway, here is the party:
Hector, human CN Barbarian 3/Transmuter Tiax Rasaad Safana as Swashbuckler
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. As you can see I made some edits made via EE Keeper. I won't bore folks with the details of a few missteps that I made, but I learned in a slightly roundabout way that the way to get a dual-class Barbarian/Specialist Mage is to 1) start with Fighter, 2) dual to Mage, 3) via EE Keeper assign the Mage specialty kit (here Transmuter), 4) use EE Keeper to add the Barbarian Rage innate ability.
Hector is a hulking warrior who wields a haldberd. As I'm playing him, more than half of his spell slots must be filled with Alteration spells--which I'm pleased to find are (at least for me) really fun for a meleeing Mage.
Oh, and Hector loves his cat familiar. He uses her to scout just about constantly. Haven't yet had the cat try pickpocketing, but tonight I'll see how that goes.
I'm just having some powergaming fun for this run, so I'm metagaming and reloading at will.
Hector and Tiax went straight to the bassilisk map in order to level Hector to just shy of Fighter 3/Transmuter 4.
It's a shame that Color Spray doesn't scale to opponents, because it is so darned cool. I'm going to miss using it when enemies start to consistently save against it:
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. And the Alteration spell Strength is seeing a lot of use as well right now.
So this is a motley bunch, and I am very pleased thus far with the unusual chemistry of this party. The personalities seem to contrast one another well. Tiax and Rasaad adventuring alongside one another is... just special.
In terms of utility they complement one another rather well also. Tiax is a little badass! I mean I know from Cleric/Thieves; but especially with his Summon Ghast ability the little guy is really proving a much stronger contributor than I remember. I'm going to be fascinated to see how well Safana performs as Swashy. I just added her to the party, but so far so good. This is the first time I'm using Rasaad as a Sun Soul Monk. So that's kind of an interesting departure as well. I'm looking forward to when he gets Stunning Fist.
Anyway, I'll just post anything that seems noteworthy about the battles, or otherwise seems worth mentioning. About the only thing to note thus far is the SCS sirines weren't as hard as I expected. I did have to wait out some of their charms on some of the party, but no one was really in any serious danger. And I had Tiax just sneak into the pirate cave and steal the treasure, rather than have the party try to take out the flesh golems.
Now its been like 8 years sense I last played the original game but I could have sworn after defeating saravok the game was open, then after an unknown amount of game time when you went to rest a new movie scene played something about "dark shadows ascended on your camp" and blah blah then the game was over. I thought thats what led you up to bg:2
Hi everyone. I've been playing the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series since they've come out and followed them since Bioware had little tombs of them on a bookshelf on their website to click on years ago.
I've partied up with everyone hero and villain in the, or near to it, and recently I made a party to incorporate all the new heroes. I love the voice work of the new heroes though I have trouble sometimes keeping Rasaad alive.
So I've put some thought into it and drew up my own 6 member party of self made heroes. Long as you can still do this I was going to do it through multi-player and save it over to my single player saves.
I'd rather reclass some npc's though, I did that years ago through Shadow Keeper. Problem was getting their stats correct, like their save vs throws, to be correct for their new class. If I take Mincs for example and give him 1 experience point and change him to level one cleric (for example) and adjust his save vs throw and stats, will he level up the same way a cleric would or would his programming only level him up like a ranger?
What determines if an opponent is chunked when by hit cold damage?
I doubt BG treats creatures (or items) with a special flag to keep them from chunking. So, tomes, plot items, unique magic items etc. can be lost, no? With what chance?
And if there is no protection for unique items, why would anyone choose Ice Storm or Cone of Cold as damage spells?
