Come up with something awesome for me to play?

Quartz

Please? I want to do a "hardcore run" (I hate that term, especially since I'm so not hardcore. I just mean no reloads unless my main character dies. Chunked chars? DEAL WITH IT. Bad HP rolls? DEAL WITH IT. Failed to learn spell? DEAL WITH IT. Neera drops a Cow in the middle of the Red Sheaf? [that may or may not have happened last time] DEAL WITH IT.) and I'm looking for something that sounds interesting to play. That means no Dwarven Berserkers or other such stereotypes. Look outside the box for me, if you please. I mean something strange, say, a Halfling Barbarian who dual-wields Axes or something. Who knows. Dual-class builds are probably out due to that being pretty difficult stuff, but if you want to mention them go ahead.

I'm leaning towards a warrior of some type, but I wouldn't mind some form of divine caster. (since I'm of the opinion that almost all divine casters in this game suck)

Oxford_Guy

neutral evil Jester, Familiar can cast Glitterdust (which , amongst other things gives -4 to subsequant saves e.g. e.g. against Confusion from Jester song) x 1 and Glass Dust x 2), has full bard lore and pick pockets skills, can cast spells wearing the new elven chain (or shield amulet), levels very quickly and will have a higher caster level than most single class mages ( so great for dispel magic, spook, chromatic orb,magic missile, skull trap etc., though Greater Malaison, Invisibilty, and Gliterdust also good picks for a jester). Mostly use song and spells, also wands for offensive power. For weapons (when needed) Darts of Stuning or Dagger of Venom (attack from invisibilty to boost THAC0) Minimum Bard Charisma plus Friends spell = big shop discount. Skald is also interesting.

Quartz

Yeah, my other on-going run is with a Jester. I'll be returning to it I'm sure, but I'm very confused with that one at the moment since the HP rolls and his familiar have made him by far the tankiest person in the whole party ... yes, my bard is a Tank because Dorn, Kivan, and Jaheira all can't roll Hit Points for shit.

I haven't had much use for his song yet but hopefully when I get the spells you speak of I may. At this point I regret not picking a Skald or a Blade.

Bards are definitely fun ... good suggestion!

Lemernis

Actually your own suggestion sounds pretty darn fun: a halfling barbarian who dual-wields axes, I'd have him use soundset Male 3 ("Time for bit o' the rough and tumble!"). Even just testing it out, equipping him at the Candlekeep Inn, I really, really like this little guy already. I would play him as a kind of mischievous sort who often gives cheeky answers. Like after just chunking Shank with a crit saying to Parda "Oh Parda, there was a man in there, he smelled like the stables, and he--and he tried to kill me, it was horrible."

Oxford_Guy

Quartz said:

Yeah, my other on-going run is with a Jester. I'll be returning to it I'm sure, but I'm very confused with that one at the moment since the HP rolls and his familiar have made him by far the tankiest person in the whole party ... yes, my bard is a Tank because Dorn, Kivan, aund Jaheira all can't roll Hit Points for shit.

I haven't had much use for his song yet but hopefully when I get the spells you speak of I may. At this point I regret not picking a Skald or a Blade.

Bards are definitely fun ... good suggestion!

Skalds are also great, especially in a melee-heavy party, but play very differently, and not having an effective pick pockets skill makes them less Bard-like. Blades are great for solo/duo runs, but get a crap song that doesn't improve until the HLA song at 3 million XP, and have nerfed lore *and* pickpockets , and make me just want to play a fighter/mage

Dee

My brother recently rolled up a swashbuckler and dualed to Fighter after level 6. By the time you regain your swashbuckler abilities (along with the AC, attack, and damage bonuses that entails), you'll have mastery (at least) in the weapon of your choice, and then you'll also get two-weapon style from your swashie levels if you play your proficiencies right.

He went with long swords, but any thief-specific weapon would be a sight to see.

Quartz

@Lemernis HAH! Glad I could be of help. I might do the same at some point ... Halfling Barbarians are so underrated, they're really quite badass. People don't like Fighter Halflings because "wah wah strength" but with Barbarians, their Rage ability overcomes that to some extent. I remember using it to pop the lock upstairs with the Star Sapphire, haha!

@Aosaw - Interesting. Nice idea! So, for example:

Level 1
Daggers *
Crossbow *

Level 4
Daggers **
Crossbow *
------
DUAL AT 6
-----
Level 1
Two-Weapon Style ***
Darts *

Level up to Level 2 ... then get experience and don't level up Level up suddenly at:

Level 7
Daggers **+** (From Fighter Levels 3 and 6)
Two-Weapon Style ***
Crossbows *
Darts *

ALMOST grand mastery. Almost. Dag nabbit. Still pretty legit! I would do it with daggers for role-playing reasons, plus throwing daggers FTW. The question at that point becomes what thieving abilities to utilize. You could always just maximize Open Locks and Find Traps so that you have someone who can deal with that, but I hate to do that to a player character (sans BGII. Ugh. BGII and its thief issue gets so effing old) ... Even with no backstabbing, Hide In Shadows might be a nice choice. Trap Setting probably not because all you would ever have is two regular snares that aren't that great. Detect Illusion could be interesting.

deltago

A deal with it run with an interesting outside of the box character huh...

Gnome Barbarian wielding a two-handed sword with a chr of 6 (to get all the deal with it infighting and storm outs)

or

A lawful evil half orc Monk once again with a chr of 6

or

dualled Archer/Cleric named david slinging his way to the throne of bhaal.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Quartz

deltago said:

A lawful evil half orc Monk once again with a chr of 6

My sister was playing almost exactly this in tabletop DnD ... hah! Wow.

Nice suggestions.

Bhaaldog said:

Could try a pure class cleric or druid.

Pure class Clerics are sucky IMO (especially in BG1), but Druids are pretty legit. I like Avengers.

moopy

Play a Cleric / Thief if you haven't played one before. I'm guessing you haven't from your comments on divine casters.

Take slings and quarterstaves and back stab with the staff. I did that with a half orc and the 19str + the cleric strength spells made for some nice backstabbing.

@deltago

I find that monks already have enough problems at low levels that I hate not being a lawful good monk so I can take Raasad's boots.

Edit:

For no reloading I found a CHARNAME wild mage to be really crazy and fun. I attempted to magic missle the assassin in the Nashkal Inn and it turned into a fireball. Killed the entire inn, set my rep to 1, Khalid and Minsc left my party and started attacking me. Craaaaazzzzzzzzzy.

Mykra

Quartz said:

Pure class Clerics are sucky IMO (especially in BG1), but Druids are pretty legit. I like Avengers.

Pretty sure the Divine Remix kits work with BG:EE. Those things make pure-class clerics not only legit, but damn fun.

Oxford_Guy

Quartz said:

@Lemernis HAH! Glad I could be of help. I might do the same at some point ... Halfling Barbarians are so underrated, they're really quite badass. People don't like Fighter Halflings because "wah wah strength" but with Barbarians, their Rage ability overcomes that to some extent. I remember using it to pop the lock upstairs with the Star Sapphire, haha!

@Aosaw - Interesting. Nice idea! So, for example:

Level 1
Daggers *
Crossbow *

Level 4
Daggers **
Crossbow *
------
DUAL AT 6
-----
Level 1
Two-Weapon Style ***
Darts *

I don't think you can put 3 points into a single weapon proficiency or style at level one, only two points, though maybe this is different when dual-classing?

KidCarnival

What Oxford_Guy said. I never had more fun with a character than my jester.

Corvino

Avengers are pretty fun, and you say you like them. Not 100% original but enjoyable nonetheless. They're a nice alternative to mages as a back-row offensive caster and get the frankly ridiculous insect plague and iron skins too.

For minimal reload run they shouldn't be too bad, but a bit squishy early on.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Dee

Oxford_Guy said:

Quartz said:

@Lemernis HAH! Glad I could be of help. I might do the same at some point ... Halfling Barbarians are so underrated, they're really quite badass. People don't like Fighter Halflings because "wah wah strength" but with Barbarians, their Rage ability overcomes that to some extent. I remember using it to pop the lock upstairs with the Star Sapphire, haha!

@Aosaw - Interesting. Nice idea! So, for example:

Level 1
Daggers *
Crossbow *

Level 4
Daggers **
Crossbow *
------
DUAL AT 6
-----
Level 1
Two-Weapon Style ***
Darts *

I don't think you can put 3 points into a single weapon proficiency or style at level one, only two points, though maybe this is different when dual-classing?

It's different when you dual-class; after level 1, you can put as many into whatever you like, which in this case means you could put four slots into a single weapon if you like.

Quartz

Aosaw said:

Oxford_Guy said:

I don't think you can put 3 points into a single weapon proficiency or style at level one, only two points, though maybe this is different when dual-classing?

It's different when you dual-class; after level 1, you can put as many into whatever you like, which in this case means you could put four slots into a single weapon if you like.

Holy crap, seriously? ...Okay, so if I'm understanding you, you actually could Grandmaster.

Level 1
Crossbow *
Two-Weapon Style *

Level 4
Crossbow *
Two-Weapon Style **
------
DUAL AT 6
-----
Level 1
Daggers ****

Level 3
Daggers *****

Level up to Level 5 ... then get experience and don't level up Level up suddenly at:

Level 7
Daggers *****
Two-Weapon Style ***
Crossbow *

Lol wow. If you can seriously do that, I'm convinced I'll have to do it.

Bhaaldog said:

How about a half-orc darts player?

Not that I hate darts (I love 'em), but I think in that case, I would definitely go with Throwing Daggers, what with strength bonuses and such ... neat idea!

moopy said:

Play a Cleric / Thief if you haven't played one before. I'm guessing you haven't from your comments on divine casters.

Take slings and quarterstaves and back stab with the staff. I did that with a half orc and the 19str + the cleric strength spells made for some nice backstabbing.

@deltago

I find that monks already have enough problems at low levels that I hate not being a lawful good monk so I can take Raasad's boots.

Edit:

For no reloading I found a CHARNAME wild mage to be really crazy and fun. I attempted to magic missle the assassin in the Nashkal Inn and it turned into a fireball. Killed the entire inn, set my rep to 1, Khalid and Minsc left my party and started attacking me. Craaaaazzzzzzzzzy.

I would actually prefer a Gnomish Cleric/Thief because honestly Half-Orc Cleric/Thief is so ridiculously powerful ... there are literally no drawbacks at all. 19 Str/18 Dex/19 Con/18 Wis why not? Dayum! Meanwhile with a Gnome I kinda have to work my way to good stats with Tomes. Furthermore, I enjoy the Saving Throw bonuses and they get good Thieving Skills bonuses whereas Half-Orcs get nada. ...I just don't like Tiax, because his stats are seriously abysmal.

I personally edited those two items (Moonlight Walkers and Glistening Bands or whatever) in NearInfinity to include Lawful Neutral and Lawful Evil. The alignment restriction on Monk items is completely absurd and I think Overhaul should be shot for it. With Rasaad's items I can kind of understand, but when I hit the other one and it was ALSO only for Lawful Good, I just about shat myself in anger. ...But anyway, Monk actually not be a bad idea. It would be really difficult early on, but yeah. Recruit Kivan ASAP, hah!

As far as a Wild Mage goes, I have far more fun just taking Neera than making my own.

Mykra said:

Quartz said:

Pure class Clerics are sucky IMO (especially in BG1), but Druids are pretty legit. I like Avengers.

Pretty sure the Divine Remix kits work with BG:EE. Those things make pure-class clerics not only legit, but damn fun.

Ahh, it works with BG:EE? Interesting. Okay, I should try it some time.