What existing spell/character/mechanic/class do you never use, and how would you change it?

Ravel

Personally I very rarely use the spell find familiar. Now, having frequented a few Baldur's Gate forums and boards, I know that there are quite a few people out there that use it..., but I just can't get past the constitution penalty.

I'm not suggesting it be removed..., but perhaps altered so that it can be overcome - though not with ease. Maybe allow the character a chance to save once per day on which the character must roll a natural 20 in order to succeed, or perhaps allow the penalty to be removed at a temple for a hefty fee.


With this thread, I'm hoping we can find some common annoyances or weak aspects of the game which have simple fixes or improvements. Naturally I wouldn't expect the dev team to incorporate any of these suggestions unless they have OVERWHELMING support from the players, but I thought it'd be good to see what we can come up with.

Tanthalas

The only thing I use familiars for is the extra HP and -1 inventory slot.

AndreaColombo

The only thing I use familiars for is the extra HP and -1 inventory slot.

Same here.

lansounet

Same as above about familiar.
I never use lightning bolts or most fan-shaped aoe spells.

Corvino

I never use druid shapeshifts, they're just not tough enough considering you can't cast shifted. However, this is a pnp feature and a druid selling point, so it's not going to get cut

Tanthalas

There actually is a nifty use for one of the special Druid kit shapeshifts (the Avenger I think?).

Web plus the Spider is nice.

ajwz

Bard song
Hide in shadows
Detect traps/illusions
all need a toggle mode so that the AI continues to try to do them constantly while not in combat. I know there are some scripts which do this but no one like scripts because they suck.

mch202

well... infarvision

Nimz

Completely agree with @Ravel regarding the find familiar spell and the constitution penalty if it dies.

To high a penalty to make it worth while in my albeit limited experience.

lansounet

Bard song
Hide in shadows
Detect traps/illusions
all need a toggle mode so that the AI continues to try to do them constantly while not in combat. I know there are some scripts which do this but no one like scripts because they suck.

I don't know what's your problem with scripts, there are some really good ones that do exactly what you're looking for and no more.

ajwz

Bard song
Hide in shadows
Detect traps/illusions
all need a toggle mode so that the AI continues to try to do them constantly while not in combat. I know there are some scripts which do this but no one like scripts because they suck.

I don't know what's your problem with scripts, there are some really good ones that do exactly what you're looking for and no more.

I dont like using them because they interrupt with orders in combat or movement pathing

lansounet

Not if they are scripted right with a single ActionListEmpty() trigger... Check the Rogue Rebalancing mod and the scripts it provides.

willmcclure72

Character: Edwin
Spell: Web
Class: Druid, Fighter
Race: Gnome, Halfling

I never use any of these, i hate having to kill Dynaheir for edwin, i hate web becuase it messes with my party, i hate druid becuase of there lack of weapon choices, i hate fighter because its to basic for me and melee is not so good in bg1 and idk why buy i never use gnome or halfing for some reason idkk

Ravel

Race: Gnome, Halfling

...idk why buy i never use gnome or halfing for some reason idkk

Same here. I can't quite put my finger on it, but my guess is that the bonuses and class combinations just aren't as attractive to me on those two races as on others.

Part of the problem, I believe, is that the racial bonuses aren't terribly well-defined. You can see a direct dex bonus when rolling an elf, but when you're told that a class has "limited resistance" to x... it doesn't really impress the importance of that racial ability without giving specifics.

dandy

I find the game more pointed towards tall folk, male characters, good characters, and the basic fighter/mage/thief/cleric classes, and I just find it hard play as anything else because of the difficulty of making it work with my internal RP

The only real suggestions I have are based off of NWN and IWD features, which are different rules, so they wouldn't work

Tiggrr

Bards. Fantastic in a F2F game, but with limited party slots and many abilities marginalised, they just aren't good enough at anything in particular.

Spells like stinking cloud/web/lightning bolt/ice storm which risk damaging the party.

Fragile mages like Dynaheir, Xan and Aerie. Prefer dual-classed. It's a daft trait of 2e that a mage is so much more powerful with 1 or more levels of fighter (yes, Imoen, or thief). If I'm not playing a mage myself I'll play thtough the early levels of BG without one.