Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

My ranking of best Baldur's Gate 2 companions strictly in combat effectiveness

1. Keldorn
Baldur's Gate 2 is a game where magicians are kings and everyone else is collateral damage caught in between. But Keldorn is the game changer in bringing magicians to their knees. He breaks their invisibility and then dispels their magical protections, so that you can begin hacking them immediately. He is like the perfect yin/yang balance here, the righteous anti-magician who defeats the perverted magic users of the world of BG2.

2. Anomen
A cleric who can lower magic resistance and use finger of death? That's pretty much every dragon fight won with one guy alone. Add in chaotic commands, and that's all the illithids defeated. Put in some summonable demons, with Keldorn's protection from evil, and you have some pit fiends to distract the enemies. Holy smite several times and Irenicus is dead.

3. Haer'Dalis
Highest AC in the game with a combo of Freedom of Action and Defensive Spin. An amazing decoy for all physical encounters in the game.

And that's pretty much it. 3-man parties are adequate for BG2, and 4-man parties are useful for harder fights.

Edwin is more powerful than any of them.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Edwin always left my party because I never played evil.

 

[hell bovine]

Edwin is more powerful than any of them.

And Aerie is more powerful than Edwin.

I think it depends what mods you are playing. I had Sarevok in Ascension and he was the one to die most often; same with Keldorn or Korgan. The bard is only slightly better, because a character who can be both invincible and an elven fluffball of rage & murder is much better. Or a mage-thief, backstabbing with that 9th level blade spell; that was lovely too.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

KORGAN: Excellent bully money hungry midget killing machine that makes Aerie flee from the party and suicide, eventually.

Ha, really? She goes off and kills herself? All the more reason Korgan's great. He had some good banter with Jan too, as I remember. And IIRC there was some good three-person banter with him, Jan, and Minsc. Jan stealing Boo, Minsc freaking out, Korgan telling Minsc to cool the fuck down because Korgan luv Jan. The Jan and Minsc banters were generally good since as I remember it Jan tormented Minsc more than anyone else.

Shouldn't have looked in this thread. Got tons of shit to be playing and now foggy BG memories are floating forward and giving me urges.

 

[Sodafish]

Edwin always left my party because I never played evil.

 

[Athelas]

How can you give a rating of Keldorn without mentioning Carsomyr, arguably the most overpowered weapon in the game?

I'm partial to Viconia because you can eventually get her to 100% magic resistance without buffs (her natural resistance + that armor of human skin + some accessories).

 

[DragoFireheart]

How can you give a rating of Keldorn without mentioning Carsomyr, arguably the most overpowered weapon in the game?

Because the arcane version of Carsomyr is superior.

 

[Lilura]

How can you give a rating of Keldorn without mentioning Carsomyr, arguably the most overpowered weapon in the game?

That's easy, Carsomyr isn't the most OP weapon in the game, not even arguably. In fact, it isn't even the best weapon for Keldorn or a pally of any kind. On-hit dispel is also inferior to the Inquisitor's innate dispel, at least in the default game.

I've always found the whole "zomg 100% MR!" amusing too (facilitated by Carsomyr or Viconia or not), MR really isn't that big of a deal.

 

[Sodafish]

Staff of the Magi is the most OP

 

[DragoFireheart]

Staff of the Magi is the most OP

That staff single handily helped be destroy the Cowled Wizards. The built in ability Spell Trap is hilariously amazing for just stopping most any magic and the duration is much longer than the spell version. The fireball-lightning effect is icing on the cake.

The on/off invisibility puts the spell Mislead to shame.

The only drawback is it's two-handed. If it was a one-handed weapon it's be stupid as fuck.

 

[Sykar]

Jan Jansen and his army of monkeys are the most powerful NPCs in BG2.

 

[Athelas]

That's easy, Carsomyr isn't the most OP weapon in the game, not even arguably. In fact, it isn't even the best weapon for Keldorn or a pally of any kind. On-hit dispel is also inferior to the Inquisitor's innate dispel, at least in the default game.

The Dispel spell/ability also strips party members of beneficial effects. It has a limited amount of uses before needing to rest. The Carsomy lets you deal damage while simultaneously dispelling. You have several dispelling attacks per round whereas you can only use DIspel once per round. Etc.

Though you're right about the Inquistor's innate Dispel being much better (I believe it's done at 2x their level).

I've always found the whole "zomg 100% MR!" amusing too (facilitated by Carsomyr or Viconia or not), MR really isn't that big of a deal.

Care to explain?

 

[Lilura]

The Dispel spell/ability also strips party members of beneficial effects.

Not if you aim it right, which isn't hard for people who are used to aiming fireballs in BG1 or whatevs. And dispelling your own is mostly a small price to pay for stripping a high level spellcaster of basically every buff so that they're literally naked and can be just casually poked to death with the pointy end of your sword.

...


You only need one casting per battle because one casting ends the fight. The spell is cast as an innate modal action, meaning the cast-time is minimal or non-existent. Inquisitors get more than enough dispels and true sights to be the bane of any spellcaster, demon or whatever likes to hide or magically protect itself.

...

One dispel is all you need. Carsomyr cannot even dispel PfMW because it's on-hit. Modal action is AoE, it's dropped like a bomb and can't miss. An Inquisitor is far better off wielding Flail of Ages with Belm or basically anything with good on-hit effects and/or uber perma-buffs.

 

[Athelas]

MR hipsters gon hip. Sick of hearing about it. I'll post properly later, gotta run for now.

You could've just posted an explanation in the time it took you to write 'I'll explain later' which you've done several times now.

Not if you aim it right, which isn't hard for people who are used to aiming fireballs in BG1

Dispel has a bigger area of effect and no clear visual feedback that indicates that area of effect. And the enemy can put up a protection while the other party members are in the midst of the battle. Though I suppose I mostly like Carsomyr because it reduces the need to micro-manage.

 

[hell bovine]

One dispel is all you need. Carsomyr cannot even dispel PfMW because it's on-hit. Modal action is AoE, it's dropped like a bomb and can't miss. An Inquisitor is far better off wielding Flail of Ages with Belm or basically anything with good on-hit effects and/or uber perma-buffs.

But that is only because default mages in unmodded BG2 cannot buff properly, which is probably one of the biggest disappointments in the game. An overpowered magic system, but the enemies don't know how to use it. By comparison, the only thing I've used dispel in Tactics was to kill project images instantly (those teleporting mindflayers :D), because every mage had a spell immunity abjuration on. Tactics went overboard in other departments, but it had fun mage battles. So did SCS in BG1.

Anyone played SCS for BG2? How are the enemy spellcasters? And how does it combine with Ascension?

 

[Somberlain]

Anyone played SCS for BG2?

I thought most codexers use SCS but if they don't, they should. I wouldn't even dream of playing without it. BG2 is a fairly combat centric game and SCS makes combat much, much more interesting.

How are the enemy spellcasters?

They are much smarter with their spells, and SCS also has options to enable "pre-cast spells" for enemy casters, to simulate pre-buffing. It gives powerful casters some fairly monstrous protections right from the start. Mages also frequently use Spell Immunity: Abjuration and Divination, which makes things a lot tougher and more interesting.

 

[Greatness]

Anyone played SCS for BG2? How are the enemy spellcasters? And how does it combine with Ascension?

I can't speak on Ascension, but for SCS in BG2:SoA it's pretty much a natural extension of what you seen in SCS BG1. It's arguably even a bit more interesting since both you and the enemy casters have more tools at their disposal.

 

[DragoFireheart]

How does a solo Sorcerer/Mage handle the dead magic zones in Watcher's Keep on the third floor? Run away?

My Fighter/Mage just suited up Red Dragon Armor, as many AC boosting things as possible, and hacked away.

 

[hell bovine]

I thought most codexers use SCS but if they don't, they should. I wouldn't even dream of playing without it. BG2 is a fairly combat centric game and SCS makes combat much, much more interesting.

They are much smarter with their spells, and SCS also has options to enable "pre-cast spells" for enemy casters, to simulate pre-buffing. It gives powerful casters some fairly monstrous protections right from the start. Mages also frequently use Spell Immunity: Abjuration and Divination, which makes things a lot tougher and more interesting.

I can't speak on Ascension, but for SCS in BG2:SoA it's pretty much a natural extension of what you seen in SCS BG1. It's arguably even a bit more interesting since both you and the enemy casters have more tools at their disposal.

Tempting... :D

How does a solo Sorcerer/Mage handle the dead magic zones in Watcher's Keep on the third floor? Run away?

My Fighter/Mage just suited up Red Dragon Armor, as many AC boosting things as possible, and hacked away.

From what I recall, they aren't really "dead magic" zones, but rather spell failure & dispel effects applied at regular intervals. Contingencies still work and probably some spell protections; never tested whether spell immunity abjuration did, though. The wild magic zones are potentially more dangerous, due to the randomness of the surges.

 

[DragoFireheart]

From what I recall, they aren't really "dead magic" zones, but rather spell failure & dispel effects applied at regular intervals. Contingencies still work and probably some spell protections; never tested whether spell immunity abjuration did, though. The wild magic zones are potentially more dangerous, due to the randomness of the surges.

Do you know for a fact that Chain Contingency works?

 

[Sodafish]

Does it dispel simulacrum/tenser's transformation? If not those could be helpful.

 

[Lilura]

But that is only because default mages in unmodded BG2 cannot buff properly, which is probably one of the biggest disappointments in the game. An overpowered magic system, but the enemies don't know how to use it.

Sorry, but do you know what I'm talking about? I was just saying how the Inquisitors innate dispel special ability is far superior to Carsomyr's on-hit dispel for anyone who actually knows what they're doing, which stemmed from some guy falsely thinking Carsomyr is the most OP weapon in the game, something I thought people stopped parroting 10 years ago along with "zomg, 100% MR". I guess the Codex is sort of behind the times, at least re: the IE...

Anyone played SCS for BG2? How are the enemy spellcasters? And how does it combine with Ascension?

Brute force methods still work. Casters also cheat (not talking about sim pre-buffing). I beat SCS2 Ascension battles without taking dmg by casting level 2 spells from sequencers. SCS2 is tactically a joke, I'd rather play heavily modded DA:O.

 

[octavius]

I beat Drizzt with both my hands tied behind my back.

 

[hell bovine]

Do you know for a fact that Chain Contingency works?

My memory is not what it used to be , but 99% sure.

Does it dispel simulacrum/tenser's transformation? If not those could be helpful.

The applied dispel effect is always successful, so it depends on whether the spell can be dispelled in the first place - I don't really remember if simulacra/tensers are "dispellable", my guess would be yes.

 

[DragoFireheart]

hell bovine VentilatorOfDoom

Still debating which class holds the title of supreme power: Wild Mage or Sorcerer.

I feel like the Wild Mage is more powerful, but having to find scrolls is a pain. Sorcerer does not have that limitation and can get things like Chain Contingency much sooner than a mage.

But Nahal's Reckless Dweomer is so amazing though...