Combat questions.
I have progress a lot since i started baldurs gate but i always wondered some things about combat.
In my group i have Imoen, the couple from friendly Inn (fighter n fighter/druid) and the new wild mage neera. I am a ranger.
The thing is that during combat i can see how much damage i, wild mage and khalid do but i cant see how much damage imoen or the druid do. Does that mean that their hits do not damage the target?
Moreover, i can see items having +thac0 but i know the lower the thac0 the better, so is it a disadvantage of the weapon? (this may be why imoen does not hit).
And im a bit confused about the druid. I think in my opinion spells in page 1,2,3 are useless. My druid cannot dmg like imoen (or at least i think so), their spells except heal/-armor are useless. Am i that wrong? any tips on how to play the druid? Or any tips in general about my other chars?
Regards - a noob!
In my group i have Imoen, the couple from friendly Inn (fighter n fighter/druid) and the new wild mage neera. I am a ranger.
The thing is that during combat i can see how much damage i, wild mage and khalid do but i cant see how much damage imoen or the druid do. Does that mean that their hits do not damage the target?
Moreover, i can see items having +thac0 but i know the lower the thac0 the better, so is it a disadvantage of the weapon? (this may be why imoen does not hit).
And im a bit confused about the druid. I think in my opinion spells in page 1,2,3 are useless. My druid cannot dmg like imoen (or at least i think so), their spells except heal/-armor are useless. Am i that wrong? any tips on how to play the druid? Or any tips in general about my other chars?
Regards - a noob!
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Comments
When a weapon gives a + to THAC0, it is actually a good thing.
With regards to druid spells, some useful ones would be:
Level 1: Bless is not bad. Remove Fear can come in handy as enemy mages love to cast Horror. Cure Light Wounds is nice. Entangle could be useful, but requires planning.
Level 2: Charm Person or Mammal can be useful, and I usually keep at least 1 Slow Poison memorized, especially if I know I'm going to be fighting spiders. As of right now I think Flame Blade uses the small blade proficiency, something that druids can't get, meaning you're going to suffer a penalty to hit, but I think they might change that and if so then it could be useful.
Level 3: Call Lighting is very damaging, especially for a 3rd level spell, but remember that it only works outdoors. Invisibility Purge and Miscast Magic can be useful when fighting mages. Hold Animal could be useful if you know you'll be fighting lots of animals (Cloakwood maybe).
the thing is that Imoen and Jaheira have melee weapons (Imoen dual and jaheira quarterstaff) and since i had them i havent seen a single damage being delivered from them, even with the easiest monsters. I dont know whats going on... so im gonna but imoen to fight 1vs1 a easy monster and im just gonna wait to see if it is going to drop dead.
Ranged THAC0 = based on DEX
its probably a bad idea to give imoen a melee weapon, since she has such a low STR
dual wielding makes this even lower....just give her a bow
also see characters profeniency....jaheira is good with clubs (++)
if character is using weapon without profeniency it suffers penality on THAC0
In melee you get damage bonuses from high strength. There is no stat that gives you bonus damage with bows (dexterity only gives bonuses to hit). Also, your ranger and Khalid are probably fighting with weapons that they are specialized in (2 proficiency points). This gives +2 damage. Also, depending on what weapons you're using, they probably have a higher base damage than arrows do.
On the other hand... Bows always get two attacks per round, that can make them more dangerous right at the start. And the bow's and the arrow's pluses stack, so their magical bonuses add up quickly. Imoen also has a +2 to hit with a bow (because of her high dexterity).
So its not uncommon for Imoen to do a majority of the party's damage early in the game. But later, as they get better gear (including strength devices or potions) and possibly weapon mastery; the warrior will become more important.
By your previous post it seems that you might not have checked your new recruits' proficiency before equipping them. Imoen has no skill in dual wielding, so trying to dual wield with her would result in catastrophic penalties to accuracy. I forget what Jaheira's weapon skills are, but she's more suited as a backup tank and caster than frontline damage dealer anyway.
There's an option you might want to toggle under 'gameplay' that will allow you to see the dice rolls for the attacks as they happen, which might give you a better sense of how the combat is flowing.
Notably, I recently brawled with a large group of enemy soldiers surrounding a single mage. My F/T snuck in, chunked the mage before he could cast anything, popped an invisibility potion, and ran out of the room even as I launched a fireball and entangle directly where he had been standing. He then chunked one of the surviving soldiers that came through the door with a backstab out of invisibility =D