Well, I rolled until I got as close as possible to 90, so with that and a reduction of WIS to minimum, I had enough points, I thought it would have a positive impact on the characters HP, iirc it resulted in 9 HP for my Half Elf Sorceror at the start of the game, I dont know if this helped tbh, but I had the points, so it probably doesnt really matter.
Thanks for the replies
How can a Sorcerer has more than 6 HP (4 Base + 2 from 16 Con) at level 1 (except if has knowledge of Find Familiar)?!? Or do you get more HP if playing on "Easy"? I've only ever played BG on "Core"...
There is a know bug that affects initial HP. If at any moment during character creation you go back to change your choices, the CON bonus may be added to your HP more than once. If you go back several times the HP keeps increasing.
So a Level 1 sorcerer, with 18 Con, could have 4+2 = 6 HP or 4+2+2 = 8 HP (if you go back once during character creation) or 4+2+2+2 = 10 HP (if you go back twice), etc.
This could have happened to me as I did alot of dicking around at creation.
@Oxford Guy, I had 18 because I was following this guide and it referred to a magic item in High Hedge, but I didnt know what it was until I went to High Hedge and couldnt see anything other than the claw which looked stupid
BTW if you roll a sorcerer that has high Charisma, even Friends (+6 Cha) can be useful, to help you get max store discounts (which you can get at 20 Charisma, or 45 base Charisma + Friends). Also, if your sorcerer has the highest Charisma in your party, it's still possible to make him party leader (i.e. the character at the top on the right) and get the benefits of that (better NPC encounter reactions, reduce store prices, helping with party morale) without exposing him to danger if you use a formation that puts the "leader" not at the front.
It can also be useful for Sorcerers to know situational spells that Mages wouldn't normally waste memorised slots to learn, e.g. Knock, for the occasional tough lock.
Well, I rolled until I got as close as possible to 90, so with that and a reduction of WIS to minimum, I had enough points, I thought it would have a positive impact on the characters HP, iirc it resulted in 9 HP for my Half Elf Sorceror at the start of the game, I dont know if this helped tbh, but I had the points, so it probably doesnt really matter.
Thanks for the replies
How can a Sorcerer has more than 6 HP (4 Base + 2 from 16 Con) at level 1 (except if has knowledge of Find Familiar)?!? Or do you get more HP if playing on "Easy"? I've only ever played BG on "Core"...
There is a known bug that affects initial HP. If at any moment during character creation you go back to change your choices, the CON bonus may be added to your HP more than once. If you go back several times the HP keeps increasing.
So a Level 1 sorcerer, with 18 Con, could have 4+2 = 6 HP or 4+2+2 = 8 HP (if you go back once during character creation) or 4+2+2+2 = 10 HP (if you go back twice), etc.
Well, its only cheating if you know what you are doing will affect you positively :P
Her CHA is 17, her initial spells were (still are) Sleep (pretty awesome) and Magic Missile, I'm going to have a serious look at that Sorceror link a bit later, thank you
Well, I rolled until I got as close as possible to 90, so with that and a reduction of WIS to minimum, I had enough points, I thought it would have a positive impact on the characters HP, iirc it resulted in 9 HP for my Half Elf Sorceror at the start of the game, I dont know if this helped tbh, but I had the points, so it probably doesnt really matter.
Thanks for the replies
How can a Sorcerer has more than 6 HP (4 Base + 2 from 16 Con) at level 1 (except if has knowledge of Find Familiar)?!? Or do you get more HP if playing on "Easy"? I've only ever played BG on "Core"...
There is a known bug that affects initial HP. If at any moment during character creation you go back to change your choices, the CON bonus may be added to your HP more than once. If you go back several times the HP keeps increasing.
So a Level 1 sorcerer, with 18 Con, could have 4+2 = 6 HP or 4+2+2 = 8 HP (if you go back once during character creation) or 4+2+2+2 = 10 HP (if you go back twice), etc.
That would be cheating, though...
It happened to me for one of my characters in Black Pits, but it wasn't intentional. I didn't even notice at first and, when I did, I didn't want to restart. In my case was a sorcerer too (8 HP at Level 1), so the difference was negligible at higher levels.
Well, its only cheating if you know what you are doing will affect you positively :P
Her CHA is 17, her initial spells were (still are) Sleep (pretty awesome) and Magic Missile, I'm going to have a serious look at that Sorceror link a bit later, thank you
Sleep is not always a good pick long-term for a Sorcerer, it's an awesome spell at low-levels, but becomes useless later on, as enemies with more than 4 Hit Die are totally immune it, so is a bit of a waste of learned spell slot later. I would just buy the Wand of Sleep instead, here:
High Hedge
You can even sell it and repurchase it fully charged, though by the time you've emptied it, it's probably no longer going to be effective vs. many enemies.
Spook is *excellent* though, as the saving through penalty increases as you level and even boss enemies can fail their save to it, though it only affects on enemy.
Magic Missile isn't very good until level 3 (2 missiles) or 5 (3 missiles) when you get more missiles, I prefer Chromatic Orb first, it does damage (which increases as you level, though not as much as Magic Missile) and a "save of else" effect, which also gets better as you level. I'd pick Magic Missile at level 3 or 5. Shield is also good at Level 1.
@Oxford_Guy Well, I'm kinda stuck with my choices at this stage , but hopefully I can rectifiy it later with more eductaed choices.
I had a look at that guide, it gave me the impression you could pick spells at level 2, I dont think I got a choice to "pick" any, but I think I can cast more, but that could be due to the ring either..*shrugs*.
BTW @Erg what alignment did you go for (affects which Familiar you get, once you find the scroll - NB: don't learn this spell, just cast it from the scroll, as you should only need to cast it once - will give your character 12 HP extra and a cool little companion, who has some interesting abilities)?
Also, which weapon proficiency did you go for? I usually go for Darts, as you never want to be in melee, and darts, although doing little damage, get 3 APR, so more chance of a critical hit (which sometimes is the only way you will be able to hit some opponents!). If you have 18 Strength, daggers can be okay, as can use both melee (for emergency use only or stabbing sleeping opponents) and ranged versions, as *all* daggers get the Strength damage bonus (so would do 2 x 3-6 damage at Str 18), though throwing daggers are heavy and there are no magic throwing daggers in BGEE (only melee ones), though there are in BG2.
Slings only get 1 APR, but you can get a +x magic launcher and +x (and elemental) magic bullets, so can make it easier to hit things, *and* they get the strength bonus, so are also an option if you have high strength. It depends on how many other slingers you have in your planned party, though, if you already have two, don't bother.
I had a look at that guide, it gave me the impression you could pick spells at level 2, I dont think I got a choice to "pick" any, but I think I can cast more, but that could be due to the ring either..*shrugs*.
You can still only cast 2 spells a day at level 2, but can learn at extra level one spell, so have more spells in repertoire to choose from, see:
BTW if you do decide to use Shadowkeeper to change your spell picks, I would drop your Con to 16 (or even 15, as you can get a tome to raise it to 16 quite early, though perhaps not for a newbie, as Sorcerors are very squishy early on and the extra HP may be needed at your first few levels and the tome can be difficult to get , unless you know what you're doing), and put those 2 points into something actually useful (even strength, which can help you to carry stuff, even before the melee/hurled damage bonuses kick in at 16 Str and the melee THACO bonuses at 17 Str).
Which race are you? Elves are best for a sorcerer, as can have 19 Dex (bonus to ranged THAC0, though AC bonus doesn't improve after 18 until 21 Dex, but if you start with 19 Dex, you can get up to this in BG2) and 90% immunity to charm/sleep (and infra vision, for what it's worth i.e. not much in BG). Elves can only have 17 Con (so I guess you're not an elf...), but this doesn't matter for a sorcerer. About the only downside is that elves can't romance Viconia in BG2, if you really want to do that, then pick a half-elf, as you at least get 30% charm/sleep resistance (and infra vision).
BTW @Erg what alignment did you go for (affects which Familiar you get, once you find the scroll - NB: don't learn this spell, just cast it from the scroll, as you should only need to cast it once - will give your character 12 HP extra and a cool little companion, who has some interesting abilities)?
Also, which weapon proficiency did you go for? I usually go for Darts, as you never want to be in melee, and darts, although doing little damage, get 3 APR, so more chance of a critical hit (which sometimes is the only way you will be able to hit some opponents!). If you have 18 Strength, daggers can be okay, as can use both melee (for emergency use only or stabbing sleeping opponents) and ranged versions, as *all* daggers get the Strength damage bonus (so would do 2 x 3-6 damage at Str 18), though throwing daggers are heavy and there are no magic throwing daggers in BGEE (only melee ones), though there are in BG2.
Slings only get 1 APR, but you can get a +x magic launcher and +x (and elemental) magic bullets, so can make it easier to hit things, *and* they get the strength bonus, so are also an option if you have high strength. It depends on how many other slingers you have in your planned party, though, if you already have two, don't bother.
The alignment was Chaotic Good, but it was Black Pits. Can you have a familiar in BP? I thought it wasn't possible, but I didn't try.
Initial proficiency was sling, followed by quarterstaff at level 6, but they weren't important because I had other party members for melee and ranged attacks, the sorceress would use weapons only when she run out of spells.
Also the spell picks were different from what I would have used in BG. I focused on spells useful in arena that I wouldn't have chosen in the main BG campaign, like Ray of Enfeeblement for instance.
BTW if you do decide to use Shadowkeeper to change your spell picks,
Which race are you? Elves are best for a sorcererbut this doesn't matter for a sorcerer. About the only downside is that elves can't romance Viconia in BG2, if you really want to do that, then pick a half-elf, as you at least get 30% charm/sleep resistance (and infra vision).
I wont use any mods to change my picks, but thanks for the link, it may be something that I will do in the future for a fun playthrough, but I would be afraid to use it now as maybe further in this playthrough may use it again to alleviate some other annoyance, i'll probably finish my current two plays (other is a Blackguard with the new characters) before I tamper
I chose a Half Elf, but I forget why, it was to do with the bonus/penalty mix on full elves, I think the half elf had less bonus but no penalty, but I always use Viconia and will romance her with my Blackguard later, dunno how she feels about putting out ofr another girl
My Sorceror is called Bloodrayne as her icon hair looks alot like Bloodraynes
BTW if you do decide to use Shadowkeeper to change your spell picks,
Which race are you? Elves are best for a sorcererbut this doesn't matter for a sorcerer. About the only downside is that elves can't romance Viconia in BG2, if you really want to do that, then pick a half-elf, as you at least get 30% charm/sleep resistance (and infra vision).
I wont use any mods to change my picks, but thanks for the link,
Well it's an editor, rather than a game mod, but if already quite a way into a game, I can see why you might not want to change things
it may be something that I will do in the future for a fun playthrough, but I would be afraid to use it now as maybe further in this playthrough may use it again to alleviate some other annoyance, i'll probably finish my current two plays (other is a Blackguard with the new characters) before I tamper
I chose a Half Elf, but I forget why, it was to do with the bonus/penalty mix on full elves, I think the half elf had less bonus but no penalty, but I always use Viconia and will romance her with my Blackguard later, dunno how she feels about putting out ofr another girl
Elves get +1 Dex, -1 Con (but doesn't matter for a sorcerer, unless you want to use the Claw), 90% charm/sleep resistance, infravision, can't romance Viconia
Half-Elves get no attribute bonus or penalties, 30% charm/sleep resistance, infravision, can romance Viconia
Humans get no advantages as a sorcerer, as you can't dual-class a sorcerer
It was probably the -1 CON that made the difference as I was aiming for the claw, not knowing its penalties.
I have the old strategy guides for all these games in the attic, i think I'll bring them down and have a read of them over the weekend, brush up on all of this stuff to make more informed decisions I think.
I love soloing a sorcerer. Currently doing a BGTutu game with SCS which is frustrating needless to say.
Here's what my planned spell list will look like. I've listed them in the order taken.
Level 1: Find Familiar (ShadowKeeper to Blindness), Sleep (eventually ShadowKeeper to Spook), Magic Missle, Protection from Evil, Chromatic Orb Level 2: Invisibility (eventually Shadowkeeper to Knock), Mirror Image, Detect Invisibility, Web (Blur gained from the Claw of Awesomeness) Level 3: Skull Trap, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust Level 4: Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin
Of course I also play with the xpcap remover :b
Level 2: Ray of Enfeeblement Level 3: Slow Level 4: Greater Malison Level 5: Breach, Spell Immunity
The Wand of Fear, Wand of Paralysis, Necklace of Missles, and the Wand of Frost let you survive the early parts of the game while you grind early xp. Charm/Killing Sirines in the Temple and rescuing Mellicamp gives 10k xp, enough to hit level 4 within 30 mins of starting the game. I do this strategy before picking up any NPCs even when playing with a full party. It's still hard to kill anything until level 7 when you have Skull Trap, Melf's Meteors, and a paralyzing Chromatic Orb, though.
It was probably the -1 CON that made the difference as I was aiming for the claw, not knowing its penalties.
Well you can still reach 18 Con with an elf if you use the Con tome, which can be obtained pretty early on
I always get at least 17con on my PC for this very purpose. The Claw of Kazgaroth is (one of) the best items in the game, imho. Save vs. death doesn't really matter much when your PC failing such a save means a re-load 90% of the time.
It was probably the -1 CON that made the difference as I was aiming for the claw, not knowing its penalties.
Well you can still reach 18 Con with an elf if you use the Con tome, which can be obtained pretty early on
I always get at least 17con on my PC for this very purpose. The Claw of Kazgaroth is (one of) the best items in the game, imho. Save vs. death doesn't really matter much when your PC failing such a save means a re-load 90% of the time.
It also affects save vs. poison, which is much more common, so I usually don't give Dorn the claw until after the maps which have lots of spiders on them...
I wish I'd read this thread before making my character, I definitely prioritized both Cha and Int, leaving myself with a 10 con! Oh well, I don't want him on the front lines anyway. Probably the thing I'm most upset to learn is Elves can't romance Viconia?!?! Grrrrrrrrumblecakes.
Don't read if you don't want any spoilers. It's not a 'You just ruined the game for me,' one, but it's something that will turn a spell caster from good to great quickly in the game.
When you get to the Friendly Arm Inn, immediately go to the right from where you zoned. Keep walking right while hitting tab. About the second set of rocks you see will have a ring. Identify it at the Priest's building inside the Inn, put it on your Sorcerer. You will never take this ring off.
Thanks so much for this! Not only would I never have noticed that ring there, I didn't even realize one could use tab to highlight lootable areas! Super useful, now I'll spend way less time hovering my mouse around the map looking for items.
@Thermos You can talk to an NPC in the Inn that hints at a powerful ring lost just south of the walls. I remember finding this the hard way years before I had access to online walkthroughs
@Bhaaldog this is NOT the way to play a Sorcerer...
Trial and Error should be left to the Mages. Sorcerers really do have need to know spells that newbies don't really understand WHY they're good. Making sure you take Blindness and Sleep instead of Find Familiar and Magic Missile is important.
Sorcerers are much easier if you have already played a mage and know the spells. When sorcerers where added in BG2, we had already learned about mage spells from BG1.
You guys are right, I take it back. Assuming you're running with a party to cover your rear the first few levels, you'll be fine. Most newbies can figure out that Web is good and Fireball is better (although may not realize that Skull Trap is best)
Following @Fardragon's good point, it might not be a bad idea to have a tip somewhere (in the manual or tutorial, or during character creation) advising new players to avoid Sorcerer until they've played through the game with a Mage in their party, so as to learn more about the spells. Getting it all horribly wrong on a first playthrough can be so discouraging that some players never try again, and there's probably more danger of that with Sorcerer than any other class.
Making sure you take Blindness and Sleep instead of Find Familiar and Magic Missile is important.
As your initial selection at character creation, that's sensible advice. But Magic Missile is a pretty good choice for a Sorcerer after s/he's got a few levels - we shouldn't leave newbies reading this with the impression that Sorcerers should never learn Magic Missile at all. Unlike Find Familiar, which of course they should never learn.
Comments
@Oxford Guy, I had 18 because I was following this guide and it referred to a magic item in High Hedge, but I didnt know what it was until I went to High Hedge and couldnt see anything other than the claw which looked stupid
It can also be useful for Sorcerers to know situational spells that Mages wouldn't normally waste memorised slots to learn, e.g. Knock, for the occasional tough lock.
This sorcerer guide is quite helpful, though geared towards BG2, and you might want different spell picks in BG1:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/faqs/11588
Her CHA is 17, her initial spells were (still are) Sleep (pretty awesome) and Magic Missile, I'm going to have a serious look at that Sorceror link a bit later, thank you
More information on the bug here:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/15125/started-charname-with-18hp
High Hedge
You can even sell it and repurchase it fully charged, though by the time you've emptied it, it's probably no longer going to be effective vs. many enemies.
Spook is *excellent* though, as the saving through penalty increases as you level and even boss enemies can fail their save to it, though it only affects on enemy.
Magic Missile isn't very good until level 3 (2 missiles) or 5 (3 missiles) when you get more missiles, I prefer Chromatic Orb first, it does damage (which increases as you level, though not as much as Magic Missile) and a "save of else" effect, which also gets better as you level. I'd pick Magic Missile at level 3 or 5. Shield is also good at Level 1.
I had a look at that guide, it gave me the impression you could pick spells at level 2, I dont think I got a choice to "pick" any, but I think I can cast more, but that could be due to the ring either..*shrugs*.
Thanks for the spell advice though
Also, which weapon proficiency did you go for? I usually go for Darts, as you never want to be in melee, and darts, although doing little damage, get 3 APR, so more chance of a critical hit (which sometimes is the only way you will be able to hit some opponents!). If you have 18 Strength, daggers can be okay, as can use both melee (for emergency use only or stabbing sleeping opponents) and ranged versions, as *all* daggers get the Strength damage bonus (so would do 2 x 3-6 damage at Str 18), though throwing daggers are heavy and there are no magic throwing daggers in BGEE (only melee ones), though there are in BG2.
Slings only get 1 APR, but you can get a +x magic launcher and +x (and elemental) magic bullets, so can make it easier to hit things, *and* they get the strength bonus, so are also an option if you have high strength. It depends on how many other slingers you have in your planned party, though, if you already have two, don't bother.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/7205/getting-shadowkeeper-to-work-with-bgee#latest You can still only cast 2 spells a day at level 2, but can learn at extra level one spell, so have more spells in repertoire to choose from, see:
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Progression_Charts#Sorcerer Glad to help, I still learn new things via this forum all the time!
Which race are you? Elves are best for a sorcerer, as can have 19 Dex (bonus to ranged THAC0, though AC bonus doesn't improve after 18 until 21 Dex, but if you start with 19 Dex, you can get up to this in BG2) and 90% immunity to charm/sleep (and infra vision, for what it's worth i.e. not much in BG). Elves can only have 17 Con (so I guess you're not an elf...), but this doesn't matter for a sorcerer. About the only downside is that elves can't romance Viconia in BG2, if you really want to do that, then pick a half-elf, as you at least get 30% charm/sleep resistance (and infra vision).
Initial proficiency was sling, followed by quarterstaff at level 6, but they weren't important because I had other party members for melee and ranged attacks, the sorceress would use weapons only when she run out of spells.
Also the spell picks were different from what I would have used in BG. I focused on spells useful in arena that I wouldn't have chosen in the main BG campaign, like Ray of Enfeeblement for instance.
I chose a Half Elf, but I forget why, it was to do with the bonus/penalty mix on full elves, I think the half elf had less bonus but no penalty, but I always use Viconia and will romance her with my Blackguard later, dunno how she feels about putting out ofr another girl
My Sorceror is called Bloodrayne as her icon hair looks alot like Bloodraynes
Half-Elves get no attribute bonus or penalties, 30% charm/sleep resistance, infravision, can romance Viconia
Humans get no advantages as a sorcerer, as you can't dual-class a sorcerer
I have the old strategy guides for all these games in the attic, i think I'll bring them down and have a read of them over the weekend, brush up on all of this stuff to make more informed decisions I think.
Thanks for all the help Oxford_Guy
Here's what my planned spell list will look like. I've listed them in the order taken.
Level 1: Find Familiar (ShadowKeeper to Blindness), Sleep (eventually ShadowKeeper to Spook), Magic Missle, Protection from Evil, Chromatic Orb
Level 2: Invisibility (eventually Shadowkeeper to Knock), Mirror Image, Detect Invisibility, Web (Blur gained from the Claw of Awesomeness)
Level 3: Skull Trap, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust
Level 4: Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin
Of course I also play with the xpcap remover :b
Level 2: Ray of Enfeeblement
Level 3: Slow
Level 4: Greater Malison
Level 5: Breach, Spell Immunity
The Wand of Fear, Wand of Paralysis, Necklace of Missles, and the Wand of Frost let you survive the early parts of the game while you grind early xp. Charm/Killing Sirines in the Temple and rescuing Mellicamp gives 10k xp, enough to hit level 4 within 30 mins of starting the game. I do this strategy before picking up any NPCs even when playing with a full party. It's still hard to kill anything until level 7 when you have Skull Trap, Melf's Meteors, and a paralyzing Chromatic Orb, though.
EEKeeper that bad boy: Human, with 16 CON. Problem solved.
Trial and Error should be left to the Mages. Sorcerers really do have need to know spells that newbies don't really understand WHY they're good. Making sure you take Blindness and Sleep instead of Find Familiar and Magic Missile is important.
True that. People learn it best if they learn for themselves. Otherwise, how does innovation ever occur?