I think I am set. I will go for the gnome as I never played one before either. The only thing i have to figure out is when to dual Imoen and Shar-Teel.
I guess these are separate topics, but given that i don't have other thieves and that i go for the complete saga, what would be the ideal dual level both for the long run and the early open locks/find traps needs?
I think I am set. I will go for the gnome as I never played one before either. The only thing i have to figure out is when to dual Imoen and Shar-Teel. I guess these are separate topics, but given that i don't have other thieves and that i go for the complete saga, what would be the ideal dual level both for the long run and the early open locks/find traps needs?
Personally I wouldn't dual Imoen at all. If you do, all you can have is open locks and find traps, but if you go thief all the way, you can get set traps or detect illusions, both are very usefull skills. Also if you dual him, you'll go for a very long time witouth a thief just at a point of the story where thief skills are becoming vital.
For Shar-Teel lvl 3 is a good point imo. You'll get an extra proficiency point and you won't have to wait ages to regain your abilites.
Personally I wouldn't dual Imoen at all. If you do, all you can have is open locks and find traps, but if you go thief all the way, you can get set traps or detect illusions, both are very usefull skills. Also if you dual him, you'll go for a very long time witouth a thief just at a point of the story where thief skills are becoming vital.
For Shar-Teel lvl 3 is a good point imo. You'll get an extra proficiency point and you won't have to wait ages to regain your abilites.
Wouldnt Shar-Teel be able to be a backstabber but also do all the thieving skills anyway (in the long run). Imoen will be of less value then. Maybe I am missing something, but Imoen will never be as good as Shar-Teel in backstabbing and I will probably and up giving her a bow in the end and make her a Swashbuckler. Is that what you had in mind?
To summarize: Shar-Teel, dual-classing to thief at level 3 Imoen, dual classing to mage at level 7 Edwin Viconia Dorn
PC options: Blade F/M dwarf (romance with Shar-Teel) F/M half-elf (romance with Viconia)
For the F/M scenarios is it worth specializing in bows in the beginning and move to dual-wielding later on?
Which one will make the most balanced group?
Unfortunately Shar-Teel isn't romanceable, so Viconia is your only option there. (At least with BG:EE. If you were playing Tutu or BGT with the BG1 NPC project installed I believe you could then romance Shar-Teel.)
As for F/M weapons, I've never actually tried putting 2 pips into bow from the start. But just testing it now via the console, I can't say that I would recommend it. I mean if you really love the bow and wish to use it in BG1... and are willing to wait until BG2 before you can dual-wield powerfully, then okay. But you're going to be so much more powerful as a F/M for much of the saga if you dual-wield from the get-go. You'll be able to Master (+++) in Two-Weapon Style at Fighter level 3. And if being powerful with the bow was the main thing driving it, you'd be better off with a plain Fighter who grandmasters with bow and develops a melee weapon after that. (No spellcasting then of course.)
I didn't think any npcs could be romanced in BG1 and BG1:EE keeps the npcs the same. The only exception to this are the three new npcs that were not part of BG1 originally.
I could be wrong though.
If you just want to be powerful with a bow I'd go with an Archer over a Fighter, Archers can also grandmaster bows but get +damage and +to hit extra with ranged weapons.
I think I'll skip the bow idea altogether since I am already convinced not to play archer (evil party and all) and doing so with a F/M is less optimal.
Jester? Free identify spell, free pickpocket (so that Imoen can focus on find trap, unlock and possibly set trap or stealth skills), free confusion spell from level 1. At level 10, bard ain't that far from Mage in terms of spell casting:
Bard level 10: 3,3,2,1 Mage level 9: 4,3,3,2,1
Importantly, Bard and Mage gets both 3 spell slots for level 2 (Invisibility!) Bard fights better than Mage and if you use console elven chain is very sweet for Bard (base AC of 3 instead of 5 provided by robe of evil archmage). Bard can use crossbow of speed or short bow for 2 attacks per round or use Chesley Crusher, a powerful +2 Halberd that sets attack per round to 1 and your attack per round is always 1 anyway so not much penalty there.
Comments
I guess these are separate topics, but given that i don't have other thieves and that i go for the complete saga, what would be the ideal dual level both for the long run and the early open locks/find traps needs?
For Shar-Teel lvl 3 is a good point imo. You'll get an extra proficiency point and you won't have to wait ages to regain your abilites.
Is that what you had in mind?
As for F/M weapons, I've never actually tried putting 2 pips into bow from the start. But just testing it now via the console, I can't say that I would recommend it. I mean if you really love the bow and wish to use it in BG1... and are willing to wait until BG2 before you can dual-wield powerfully, then okay. But you're going to be so much more powerful as a F/M for much of the saga if you dual-wield from the get-go. You'll be able to Master (+++) in Two-Weapon Style at Fighter level 3. And if being powerful with the bow was the main thing driving it, you'd be better off with a plain Fighter who grandmasters with bow and develops a melee weapon after that. (No spellcasting then of course.)
I could be wrong though.
If you just want to be powerful with a bow I'd go with an Archer over a Fighter, Archers can also grandmaster bows but get +damage and +to hit extra with ranged weapons.
Bard level 10: 3,3,2,1
Mage level 9: 4,3,3,2,1
Importantly, Bard and Mage gets both 3 spell slots for level 2 (Invisibility!)
Bard fights better than Mage and if you use console elven chain is very sweet for Bard (base AC of 3 instead of 5 provided by robe of evil archmage). Bard can use crossbow of speed or short bow for 2 attacks per round or use Chesley Crusher, a powerful +2 Halberd that sets attack per round to 1 and your attack per round is always 1 anyway so not much penalty there.
Make it a Blade instead of a Jester. I gave a Blade the Chesley Crusher and offensive spins were destructive.