Hello there chaps, I'm considering a special playthrough for the release of BG:EE, a no-magic playthrough where I only use characters that are non-primary spellcasters (e.g. Paladins allowed cos their spells are ****e anyway) or not spellcasters at all (so no mages or clerics!).
To this end I started considering my main character and decided on a Berserker/Thief dual, however I'm not experienced with this class type so I have some questions for you guys. Note that since I'm playing BG:EE this will be virtually vanilla, only with the modifications/improvements that come with BG:EE obviously. (I will NOT be using illegal stuff like Fake Talk, although I'm going to abuse the **** out of traps =D)
Selection of classes:
http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Classes_and_Kits#Fighter
I chose Berserker because of the immunities, basically. I've been wondering how the **** I'm going to manage against vampires, umber hulks, etc etc without them. Enrage gives immunity to: charm, hold, fear, maze, imprisonment, stun, confusion, feeblemind, level drain and sleep. (according to IPIHC) This stuff is gonna be crucial. Loss of ranged specialization: pfft who gives a ****!
My only other thought was wizardslayer, but I tossed that one in the bin because I can't be arsed to wait for Use Any Item to overcome the no-magic items rule... No way I can cope without them in this playthrough. I am NOT interested in Kensai as I don't believe it fits the Fighter/Thief playstyle that I'm intending (straight up fighting with some scouting/ability use as necessary).
Any comments or suggestions?
Level distribution:
Fighter level progression:
http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Progression_Charts#Fighters_and_Barbarians
I'm thinking level 9 berserker to gain access to the final hit die, one more proficiency point, bit more thac0 etc, and also one more use of 'enrage' (i believe that will be 3 uses? 1, 5, 9, right?) After that obviously dual to Thief and max that.
Justification: I believe HP will be crucial for this playthrough (I'm already having nightmares about Kangaxx) and so I'd like to get that extra hp. I don't want to wait til level 13 as I already did a kensai/mage and I think I dualled around 7/9 and found even that to be very tedious to play while waiting for my old abilities to come back. I also don;t think it's crucial to do just for that extra 0.5 of an attack. I also think having extra uses of enrage is going to be very useful.
Weapon proficiencies:
http://mikesrpgcenter.com/bgate2/weapons/axes.html
Here's where I'm a bit stumped, I really have no idea what to go for. My character is going to be neutral, so I'm not going to be wielding Blackrazor or anything. Equalizer is a nice choice but hardly an endgame weapon. I will have lots of melee fighter allies so it's not like the Crom Faeyr will go to waste if I don't wield it, etc.
Also, I heard that 2-handed weapons are optimal for backstabbing rogues? 0-o Can anyone explain this to me? Also, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to be backstabbing all the time, so I don't know if I want to build my entire character around that. Having said that, UAI will allow me to use Carsomyr =D But then again, I was considering using Keldorn on my BG2 run, so I might want to give it to him...
Perhaps the Flail of Ages would be best, as Free Action will protect against slows and other annoying effects like Web, since I won't be having access to that spell with no cleric. (as long as BG2:EE doesn't have a cute cleric NPC as one of the new characters, =S).
Perhaps Belm for offhand?
What about not having access to haste/improved haste? Are there any weapons which become more useful because of this?
So yeah, lot of stuff to consider there. I'm thinking Longsword + Scimitar... But I need to know what you guys think of 2-handed. Ugh.
HLAs:
http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Epic_Level_Abilities
So I figure the best HLAs are the Thief ones, that's mainly why I'm dualling from Fighter, although also I'm going to use the Thief skills a lot I think.
The main ones are Use Any Item and the special traps, and of course Assassination is pretty awesome. Avoid Death is sort of useful. Not sure about Evasion/Improved Evasion though.
That's all I can think of for now.
To this end I started considering my main character and decided on a Berserker/Thief dual, however I'm not experienced with this class type so I have some questions for you guys. Note that since I'm playing BG:EE this will be virtually vanilla, only with the modifications/improvements that come with BG:EE obviously. (I will NOT be using illegal stuff like Fake Talk, although I'm going to abuse the **** out of traps =D)
Selection of classes:
http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Classes_and_Kits#Fighter
I chose Berserker because of the immunities, basically. I've been wondering how the **** I'm going to manage against vampires, umber hulks, etc etc without them. Enrage gives immunity to: charm, hold, fear, maze, imprisonment, stun, confusion, feeblemind, level drain and sleep. (according to IPIHC) This stuff is gonna be crucial. Loss of ranged specialization: pfft who gives a ****!
My only other thought was wizardslayer, but I tossed that one in the bin because I can't be arsed to wait for Use Any Item to overcome the no-magic items rule... No way I can cope without them in this playthrough. I am NOT interested in Kensai as I don't believe it fits the Fighter/Thief playstyle that I'm intending (straight up fighting with some scouting/ability use as necessary).
Any comments or suggestions?
Level distribution:
Fighter level progression:
http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Progression_Charts#Fighters_and_Barbarians
I'm thinking level 9 berserker to gain access to the final hit die, one more proficiency point, bit more thac0 etc, and also one more use of 'enrage' (i believe that will be 3 uses? 1, 5, 9, right?) After that obviously dual to Thief and max that.
Justification: I believe HP will be crucial for this playthrough (I'm already having nightmares about Kangaxx) and so I'd like to get that extra hp. I don't want to wait til level 13 as I already did a kensai/mage and I think I dualled around 7/9 and found even that to be very tedious to play while waiting for my old abilities to come back. I also don;t think it's crucial to do just for that extra 0.5 of an attack. I also think having extra uses of enrage is going to be very useful.
Weapon proficiencies:
http://mikesrpgcenter.com/bgate2/weapons/axes.html
Here's where I'm a bit stumped, I really have no idea what to go for. My character is going to be neutral, so I'm not going to be wielding Blackrazor or anything. Equalizer is a nice choice but hardly an endgame weapon. I will have lots of melee fighter allies so it's not like the Crom Faeyr will go to waste if I don't wield it, etc.
Also, I heard that 2-handed weapons are optimal for backstabbing rogues? 0-o Can anyone explain this to me? Also, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to be backstabbing all the time, so I don't know if I want to build my entire character around that. Having said that, UAI will allow me to use Carsomyr =D But then again, I was considering using Keldorn on my BG2 run, so I might want to give it to him...
Perhaps the Flail of Ages would be best, as Free Action will protect against slows and other annoying effects like Web, since I won't be having access to that spell with no cleric. (as long as BG2:EE doesn't have a cute cleric NPC as one of the new characters, =S).
Perhaps Belm for offhand?
What about not having access to haste/improved haste? Are there any weapons which become more useful because of this?
So yeah, lot of stuff to consider there. I'm thinking Longsword + Scimitar... But I need to know what you guys think of 2-handed. Ugh.
HLAs:
http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Epic_Level_Abilities
So I figure the best HLAs are the Thief ones, that's mainly why I'm dualling from Fighter, although also I'm going to use the Thief skills a lot I think.
The main ones are Use Any Item and the special traps, and of course Assassination is pretty awesome. Avoid Death is sort of useful. Not sure about Evasion/Improved Evasion though.
That's all I can think of for now.