Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[VentilatorOfDoom]

hoverdogs power ranking is wrong. If you aren't an arcane caster (and this includes Haerdalis) you're a liability. Anomen the master race? roflcopter, a fighter/cleric with like 3 fighter levels and hardly any attacks per round, certainly only marginally more powerful than Viconia. Sarevok otoh can be dualed to mage and therefor deserves a top spot among the NPCs.

 

[MrMarbles]

mostly useless
Viconia ( )

A character with 50% innate MR and 19 dex belongs in mildly powerful or higher. Slap on some MR gear, and you have char that will almost never be affected by enemy spells, and has Chaotic Commands to get you out of a lot of sticky situations. Even better, enemy spellcasters will spend precious turns lowering her resistance (not so much in SCS). Her only drawback is low constitution, but that can be handled with some micromanagement (Girdle of Fortitude lasts 8 hours). With 19 dex and decent armour and shield she won't get hit often anyway. For evil parties, Viconia, Edwin and Korgan can handle most SCS fights.

SwiftCrack
#1 Nalia is still a mage but be a bit more competent when not casting. I don't like to abuse the resting system if I can help it. I also disagree about his Amulet being better than the Amulet of Power: it's not JUST a buff, it allows you to do broken shit.

You're right that lack of thieving can be compensated for with pots, no problem. Never had to walk past a chest in 2 playthroughs with Nalia as the only thief. Also agree with hoverdog that you can't just compare amulets. The biggest problem with giving Nalia the amulet is that you cannot give it to someone else. 2 spells is huge. So Nalia does a good job, but Edwin probably wins out.

Aerie? Really?

Anyway the top ranking should be:
Edwin
Korgan (Crom + Axe of Undying)
Keldorn (With Holy Avenger)

New player.

He could be a bigger noob than MCA playing Arcanum, still doesn't change the fact that Edwin is much amaze and a PC with the same stats as Keldorn and Carsomyr can easily solo the game.

 

[Lilura]

He could be a bigger noob than MCA playing Arcanum, still doesn't change the fact that Edwin is much amaze and a PC with the same stats as Keldorn and Carsomyr can easily solo the game.

Your point is as relevant as me having soloed the game (SoA+ToB) without leveling up, which is to say it isn't. Aerie > Edwin/Korgan/Keldorn.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Even Mazzy is pretty good with her own selfbuff.

But all the other fighters are just better.

 

[MrMarbles]

soloed the game (SoA+ToB) without leveling up

 

[UglyBastard]

Sounds pretty interesting. How did you do it?

You have no options and everything 1shots you.

 

[Lilura]

Maybe I'll do a Let's Play, since I've basically completed my Hordes of the Underdark one. Fucking Codex is so full of IE noobs.

 

[UglyBastard]

Would watch/read, it's probably very educational on abusing game mechanics.

I soloed the game, obv. with leveling up, and even that was tedious at times, though I had no access to spells because of Berserker/Thief dualclass. The most fun part was actually scrambling to kill anything after dualclassing into the useless thief (it got pretty boring after unlocking the fighter kit again though, was actually easier than playing with a party), so I guess no lvlup would put your creativity to a nice test.

 

[MicoSelva]

LoL @ character power rankings. You could not force me to take Aerie, Jaheira or Anomen into my party even if they were shapeshifted dragons and destroyed every enemy instantly with their fiery breaths.
On the other hand, Cernd is a bro, even if his usefulness around ToB is... disputable (switched him for Sarevok, to be honest, who is a bro in a more literal sense and fitted my evil party much more), Mazzy is awesome (I have thing for pint-sized fighters, gender aside), Viconia is a magnificent bitch, Jan is funny (or at least was when I was younger, his turnip humor might not have aged well alongside me), Korgan is the man and Edwin is just the right sort of arrogant and annoying prick. I also like Haer'Dalis (because bards are cool, and fuck the haters).
Minmaxing is fine in its own way, but I will always prefer playing to the party's strengths and around its weaknesses, because that makes for a much more fun game.

EDIT:
The IE noob that I am, I am of course also curious about that no-level-up playthrough. Definitely would read.

 

[Incantatar]

Trilogy no-level-up or BG2 no-level-up? I can imagine a F/M/T with 161k xp should be able with creative use of magic items to solo noreload BG2. Not playing noreload, where is the fun in that? The hardest parts are optional so it would be pretty fun to decide which risks to take and when to use certain non-infinite scrolls.
It's only really possible with meta-gaming so lets see first actions i'd do before Spellhold:
-get the Staff of the Magi
-Vecna's Robe
-Amulet of Power
-Horn of Valhalla/Efreeti Bottle/Spider Figurine/Vhailors Helm/Ras
-The easy reachable weapons with spells and passive effects
-Wands, scrolls and potions
-First lvl of Watchers Keep

With that you have infinite Invis, infinite summons and an arsenal of shit to protect yourself and fight with. Get the Cloak of Mirroring asap and just pass most of the fights. Only a few situations should be risky now.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Master race (shame they're both soooo annoying)

Aerie

lol fuck no. She's far to god damn annoying.

BG2 without crazy difficulty mods isn't hard enough to justify taking the absolute best characters that have annoying drawbacks. Edwin is awesome but I hate the reputation drawback, the conflict has has with Minsc, and having to resort to mods kinda removes what little C&C that exists in character selection.

But Edwin is arguably the best spell caster in a low rep party no doubt.

 

[SwiftCrack]

LoL @ character power rankings. You could not force me to take Aerie, Jaheira or Anomen into my party even if they were shapeshifted dragons and destroyed every enemy instantly with their fiery breaths.
On the other hand, Cernd is a bro, even if his usefulness around ToB is... disputable (switched him for Sarevok, to be honest, who is a bro in a more literal sense and fitted my evil party much more), Mazzy is awesome (I have thing for pint-sized fighters, gender aside), Viconia is a magnificent bitch, Jan is funny (or at least was when I was younger, his turnip humor might not have aged well alongside me), Korgan is the man and Edwin is just the right sort of arrogant and annoying prick. I also like Haer'Dalis (because bards are cool, and fuck the haters).
Minmaxing is fine in its own way, but I will always prefer playing to the party's strengths and around its weaknesses, because that makes for a much more fun game.

EDIT:
The IE noob that I am, I am of course also curious about that no-level-up playthrough. Definitely would read.

I think you mean 'Blades' are cool, fuck bards.

 

[hoverdog]

Master race (shame they're both soooo annoying)

Aerie

lol fuck no. She's far to god damn annoying.

I didn't rank them by personality, dumbfuck.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Master race (shame they're both soooo annoying)

Aerie

lol fuck no. She's far to god damn annoying.

I didn't rank them by personality, dumbfuck.

No shit Sherlock.

EDIT: Your rating isn't accurate anyways unless you're claiming the entire BG2 saga and not just end game vs Ravager and Melissan. Aerie is fairly weak early on.

 

[MrMarbles]

I think you mean 'Blades' are cool, fuck bards.

Haer'Dalis can be made to work, but the need for constant micromanagement is a big drawback. Eventually it gets really fucking annoying to see his chunks spray around every time you forget to babysit him, and you start to wish you had a beefy character instead (Sarevok, Korgan) that you could just tell to go over there and kill some people kthx.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I think you mean 'Blades' are cool, fuck bards.

Haer'Dalis can be made to work, but the need for constant micromanagement is a big drawback. Eventually it gets really fucking annoying to see his chunks spray around every time you forget to babysit him, and you start to wish you had a beefy character instead (Sarevok, Korgan) that you could just tell to go over there and kill some people kthx.

People like to orgasm over mages, but the best killing machines are still fighters.

In particular, an Improved Hasted raging Berserker with Flail of Ages main hand with Belm or Crom Faeyr in the off-hand: not much will stop it short of 5+ Mind Flayers all rolling natural 20s.

inb4ZerkMageDualClassLoLProtectionMagicWeaponsIgnoresMindFlayerattacks

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

time stop, project image, chain contingiency, spell immunity, improved haste, protection from magical weapons, stone skin, spell trigger, sequencer, horrid wilting, SUMMON PLANETAR AASIMON, dragon breath

still, there will be people telling you stories about how awesome fighters are

 

[DragoFireheart]

time stop, project image, chain contingiency, spell immunity, improved haste, protection from magical weapons, stone skin, spell trigger, sequencer, horrid wilting, SUMMON PLANETAR AASIMON, dragon breath

still, there will be people telling you stories about how awesome fighters are

No Energy Blades? Improved Alacrity? Wish with +18 Wisdom?

Son, I am disappoint.

 

[Melcar]

And all that gets absorbed with enemy spell protections... except for the final Chromatic Orb.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Chromatic Orb, the true level one spam spell.

 

[Melcar]

Shame the IWD version is so shit.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Chromatic Orb, the true level one spam spell.

1st level: deals 1-4 damage and blinds target for 1 round
2nd level: deals 1-4 damage and inflicts pain upon target
3rd level: deals 1-6 damage and burns target
4th level: deals 1-6 damage and blinds target for 1 turn
5th level: deals 1-8 damage and stuns target for 3 rounds
6th level: deals 1-8 damage and causes weakness in target
7th level: deals 1-10 damage and paralyzes target for 2 turns
10th level: deals 1-12 acid damage and turns target into stone
12th level: deals 2-16 acid damage and kills target instantly

+6 to saving rolls.

With Greater Malison and Doom you can turn this spell into a dragon killing ball of death!

 

[Melcar]

Yeah. I make a point of killing all the dragons in BG with it.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Chromatic Orb, the true level one spam spell.

1st level: deals 1-4 damage and blinds target for 1 round
2nd level: deals 1-4 damage and inflicts pain upon target
3rd level: deals 1-6 damage and burns target
4th level: deals 1-6 damage and blinds target for 1 turn
5th level: deals 1-8 damage and stuns target for 3 rounds
6th level: deals 1-8 damage and causes weakness in target
7th level: deals 1-10 damage and paralyzes target for 2 turns
10th level: deals 1-12 acid damage and turns target into stone
12th level: deals 2-16 acid damage and kills target instantly

+6 to saving rolls.

With Greater Malison and Doom you can turn this spell into a dragon killing ball of death!

It's actually really powerful around level five and seven as well because your enemies usually have shit saves at that level, especially in Baldur's Gate I.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Chromatic Orb, the true level one spam spell.

1st level: deals 1-4 damage and blinds target for 1 round
2nd level: deals 1-4 damage and inflicts pain upon target
3rd level: deals 1-6 damage and burns target
4th level: deals 1-6 damage and blinds target for 1 turn
5th level: deals 1-8 damage and stuns target for 3 rounds
6th level: deals 1-8 damage and causes weakness in target
7th level: deals 1-10 damage and paralyzes target for 2 turns
10th level: deals 1-12 acid damage and turns target into stone
12th level: deals 2-16 acid damage and kills target instantly

+6 to saving rolls.

With Greater Malison and Doom you can turn this spell into a dragon killing ball of death!

It's actually really powerful around level five and seven as well because your enemies usually have shit saves at that level, especially in Baldur's Gate I.

In BG1 you shouldn't even be thinking about C.Orb.

Sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep.