A Dragon in BG1
Jaxx86
Member Posts: 26
There are plenty of nasty enemies in BG1, there are Wyverns, there are Demons with bat like wings, but there are no Dragons to test your awesome skills on. It would be extremely cool if there was a hidden side quest that led the player to a Dragon in BG1. Balance this bad boy to the likes of Firkraag and let the nostalgic times roll.
26
Comments
Killing dragons makes sense in BG2 because you're already an experienced adventurer. Kind of feels wrong if the big stuff like Dragons, Beholders, Liches and the like start appearing in BG1.
But hey, they have to add something for the new adventures.
Seriously, adult dragons seems "too much" for bg1 party. Like Tanthalas said.
On the other hand... Is it really normal that creature scales that much between games ? Amn safe places seems so much dangerous than the most dangerous place on the sword coast hahaha. Well you look at it this way, it's kinda funny isn't it ? And I really wouldn't want to play a "handicapped dragon" set in a way for us to get satisfied, if there is an adult dragon in BG1, I want a "real" one. But gameplay wise, there are ways to lessen this feelings.
Quick example. Imagine that you meet a group of high level adventurers in BGEE. They could take out a dragon while you clear out the dragons minions and try to support them a bit from afar, using summons or healing spells. It can add a taste of epic without plunging yourself too much in risk. And if you really want to die, then go ahead and try to tickle the great wyrm
I think dragons still belong in BG2 with higher level characters, aren't this meant to be all powerful foes in D&D lore?
But then I started to give it a bit more thought, and again, as usually I was at the same opinion as @Tanthalas. And as @Medillen says, it IS kinda weird how stronger tjose damned monsters are in Amn, compared to the Sword Coast... Gameplay wise sure,it makes sense,but it doesn't really feel real or right. Especially because while there are no dragons, liches, beholders and similiar heavy stuff in BG, BG2 is full of them! With ToB also comes Watchers Keep, which introduces a side fight tougher than amy of.the main quest line fights. So bottom line: hell yeah! Give us some big mean mothaf***in lizards!
(or other strong shit, like forementioned liches, beholders or demons)
As far as other strong opponents, I suppose they could add in an umber hulk or 2 for some tough single mob fights, but honestly that would be out of the normal cannon.
As I've mentioned before in the 'Wild areas in BG2' thread, the threats you face are scaled to your level. You're not saving cows from xvarts in BG2 because that'd be damned dull, considering you vastly overpower even an army of a thousand xvarts (somebody, please make a mod out of this so we can test it). Likewise, you're not running into liches and the sort in BG1 because they would snuff you out without a second thought.
I like only running into dragons in BG2. They're wise, old, powerful creatures and tackling one right after taking down some human bandits seems like a weird power leap.
Also, I've done a Pen and Paper D&D game a few years ago which had the party kill a (juvenile) dragon at level 3, and another at level 5. After that, any full fledged dragon was considered a future handbag or magical piñata because hey, if you can take 'em down at low level, how dangerous can they be?
I like them at the top tier of enemies, that's where they should be. BG1 can do with 1-2 more 'Sweet monkey on a stick, we're all gonna die!' fights, but a dragon's best saved for later.
Also for comparison the dragons in TOB were a lot harder than the ones in SOA meaning they could be a bit less powerful in TOTSC not to mention we already took down a tanar'ri.
So i honestly don't see any problems with having a single slightly less powerfull wyrm. And wouldn't this be the perfect monster to hide under a potentially expanded gnoll fortress ?
-Trent
Adding a dragon to BG1 that is damn near invincible is what I'd want to see. (As a side quest, obviously.) One that would be almost sheer suicide to take for even the highest level BG1 party.
I would think it can be probably be done, though. It's been so long since I've played, I can't quite remember if the spells available in BG1 are enough to defeat a fairly formidable dragon... But in any event, it just being barely achievable is what I'd want.
This would also allow for a large-scale battlefield, which is something that is not very prevalent in Baldur's Gate.
As to not yet getting to kill it in BG1, perhaps only catching small glimpse of it. As the party is still rather rookie, id say a allmighty dragon is a tad over the top there, as many already have pointed out.
MY opinion is that could do side-quests involving good dragons, and a lich that already battleled too much with other groups that he is weaker...
And for an opinion... that skulls from the lich could be a sidequest for bg1, like you killed the lich and gave the skulls for the places that you find at bg2, and if you don't do the quest, it says that another adventurers come up and killed him...
As I mentioned in another thread, it would require a bit of RP. The PC would have to either look for help from others to bring it down, or themselves be called to assist. Presumably even then it wouldn't be a straight-up encounter unless you wanted to it to be. There could for example be opportunities to seek special blessings/enchantments to give you a chance against the beast.
Unfortunately it seems from Trent's post that there won't be a dragon in the game, i.e. enemies will be kept roughly proportionate to the party level. It seems fair enough, although I do have question marks about the logic.
Rather than what @TrentOster says about enemies levelling up with you (although I do understand that a character's higher level could ensure that random encounters would be less likely to be Xvarts and kobolds anymore) - one of things I love about BG and BG2 was that every area was a danger, and that one might fall into a situation that your party couldn't handle.
In BG2 it certainly feels like your godly aura is pulling you into higher-level and more complex situations, but I like that you can still come across a pack of kobolds (underneath the Copper Coronet for example).
Dragons are cool and was miss them in BG1...