Main character
true_shinken
Member Posts: 84
Hello, everyone.
I'm planning in advance for my full BGEE and BG2EE runs, so I can experience all the new content and stuff I have never seen before in BG1/2.
In BG1, I have played a single class Fighter and a half-elf Cleric/Ranger. In BGEE, I have a complete game with a half-elf Blade. I have used the new NPCs, but couldn't get Rasaad's quest to trigger.
in BG2, I've played as a Swashbuckler (several times), as a half-elf Cleric/Ranger (imported from BG1) and I playe some as a Blade and as Kensai. I've seen all three romances, though I never got Viconia to become good aligned in ToB.
So, I'm considering a new BGEE run (as soon as the patch comes out, probably) using all the new characters, Imoen and a main character yet to be determined. I heard there is a female-female romance, so I guess I could make her female (specially since I have yet to see Rasaad's romance in BGEE). I have no idea which class I should use (I will be using Imoen + new characters in BGEE, remember; in BG2EE, I'm not sure yet if I'll keep Imoen).
I want to check more strongholds (I've only seen Fighter, Thief, Ranger and Bard strongholds), evil options (not on my first playthrough, though) and all romances.
How should I build my main characters to achieve this in two runs?
I'm planning in advance for my full BGEE and BG2EE runs, so I can experience all the new content and stuff I have never seen before in BG1/2.
In BG1, I have played a single class Fighter and a half-elf Cleric/Ranger. In BGEE, I have a complete game with a half-elf Blade. I have used the new NPCs, but couldn't get Rasaad's quest to trigger.
in BG2, I've played as a Swashbuckler (several times), as a half-elf Cleric/Ranger (imported from BG1) and I playe some as a Blade and as Kensai. I've seen all three romances, though I never got Viconia to become good aligned in ToB.
So, I'm considering a new BGEE run (as soon as the patch comes out, probably) using all the new characters, Imoen and a main character yet to be determined. I heard there is a female-female romance, so I guess I could make her female (specially since I have yet to see Rasaad's romance in BGEE). I have no idea which class I should use (I will be using Imoen + new characters in BGEE, remember; in BG2EE, I'm not sure yet if I'll keep Imoen).
I want to check more strongholds (I've only seen Fighter, Thief, Ranger and Bard strongholds), evil options (not on my first playthrough, though) and all romances.
How should I build my main characters to achieve this in two runs?
0
Comments
If you have bg2 tweaks, and get 'remove romance requirements' 'concurrent romances-nothing can kill romance' components, you can create any character and can romance all four npcs in bg2 concurrently. So you will have Aerie, Jaheira, Viconia and even Anomen. The ladies will come to a cat fight and will force you to make a choice, but if you have 'nothing kills romance' component, even after you choose one over the another, both romances will continue. Note that if you have a romance active and is 'serious', if you pick a new romancable npc she will not hit on you, since game will know you have an active, serious relationship. If you get all three early you can have all three, and even add Anomen as a bonus. Wow, four partners, and all has healing powers, that charname will be one lucky fellow.
For strongholds, if you have a carefully planned dual class character you can get two strongholds, I think. Get fighter stronghold, dual to mage/thief or cleric and get the other. Or you can get 'multiple strongholds' component.
[Good]
Bard (Best IMO)
Fighter
Mage
Paladin
[Mediocre]
Cleric
[Bad]
Druid
Ranger
Thief
I don't even bother playing the last 3 mentioned.
The thief stronghold got ONE silly quest, and that's about it.
While the ranger is just two silly quests that can be glitchy, has almost nothing to do with rangers and the Witch of Umar hills is such a pun of a movie, not to mention it's a letdown when you get there and fight her.
The rogue one isn't even a quest it's more like "Go over here" and then you'll have to fight for 30 seconds and it's over. You get to run the thiefs guild yourself, but the charm kind of runs out when you have to go and collect / pay money every week and it's the same thing over and over again.
[Edited] :
Would also like to mention that the paladin stronghold almost deserves to be on top of the list, just because there is a quest where you actually have to use the know alignment spell, and depending on that spell you'll either make it or fail it.
Add in that you cannot kill Firkraag when you first meet him or the quests won't trigger and it's a bit of a pain. It irritates me that of all the classes, only Paladins are forced to slink away from Firkraag instead of confronting him as their knightly honor should demand.
But yes you'll fail your stronghold if you kill Firkraag the moment you see him.
The whole house isn't worth it's time at all, it sounds neat and stuff but it really isn't.
1.) Ranger house in Umar hills. Absolutely nothing to do there, it's just a house with no uses that you can rest inside.
2.) You got your own thief guild to run, but it gets more annoying than anything after you have tried it out. It's fun and charming that you can order your thiefs around, but after trying it out the first time it kind of loses it's charm.
Not to mention the thief stronghold is the easiest one to end up losing, just because if you don't come back to pay Renald you will end up losing it. And you will have to do this just about EVERY WEEK with the exception of the underdark. Really annoying to have to move away from a quest just to pay someone 500 gold and then return.
Most of the houses you get aren't that special, and except Planar Sphere and De'arnise there is just about nothing you can do. In the bard stronghold you'll most probably end up selling the place when you're done with the last quest.
Anyway, paladin quests being better RP-wise than ranger ones, say, is just a matter of perspective. The ranger quests are imo thematically suitable as well in that you are called on by a village you've agreed to protect. They don't give you glorious quests with a lot of pomp and fanfare, but then they're just villagers who need help. Though I do agree it's a nice touch that the paladin quests are often more about sorting out situations trying to determine what's right rather than using violence.
[Ranger Stronghold]
1.) The soldiers in the forest.
Some stupid fools are running around in the Temple forest trying to find a treasure for Lord Igen Tomblethen that his ancestors had hidden there. You have to either kill him in cold blood or run around like an errand boy and find this trinket.
2.) The Orcs.
You'll have to go to the mimic cave and fight some ogres.
3.) The Umar Witch.
It's so obviously taken from a movie and you have to go to the Temple Ruins to find her. There are some undead and a demon inside the temple, but the witch herself is a lousy low level mage that you could kill even with your starter party from Irenicus Dungeon.
[Paladin Stronghold]
1.) The paladin Orc attack.
It's pretty much the same as the Ranger one, it's even at the same place infront of the mimic cave. There is just one huge difference. In the ranger one you're only fighting ogrons and orcs, while in the paladin one you're actually fighting alongside other paladins of the radiant heart. You'll try to keep the other paladins alive while you're clearing out the enemies and there are : Orcs, Ogre mages and even two ETTINS. The huge guys that got a big club and will give you around 4 000 - 5 000 experience a drop. This battle is much more epic than the ranger one.
2.) The baron.
You're sent to umar hills again to help the local baron settle a dispute with the peasents there. But if you actually take your time to talk with everyone there including the peasents, you'll find out that the Baron has been up to something foul and it's not the way you think it is. You have the option to either side with the Baron or if you go deeper into the dialogues figure out that he is the enemy and follow true justice. A wonderful quest that show that you're there to help the innocent and weak. Once you return to the Radiant Order your superior will be shocked, but he'll stand by your descision when it comes up to the higher ups.
3.) Tyrianna the Annoying.
You have to guard one of the most annoying NPC's in the game. There are assassins after her and you'll have to guard her at a house in the docks. You'll end up talking with her a bit and then sending her upstairs. The assassins will come and you'll have to fight them, after that the person who will escort her comes aswell. This is an amazing part of the quest and makes it one of the most interesting strongholds. You'll have to use know alignment on him to see if he is the real guard to escort her, or an imposter. If he is an imposter you'll have to kill him, if he is the real deal you'll tell her to go with him.
If you didn't use know alignment on him there is a chance that after you sent Tyrianna with him, when you get back to hand in the quest your superior will say that it was an imposter and they found Tyrianna dead.
Warning : SCS fucked up this quest pretty much by giving the assassins here stealth, you'll have to reload about 5-10 times with true sight to prevent Tyrianna from getting chunked in one backstab.
4.) Firkraag
They send you out to kill Firkraag and get Carsomyr, the holy sword.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you see the difference between the ranger and paladin stronghold is immense. It's like they first did the paladin one, and then quickly threw together the ranger one and even made the orc attack take place at the exact same place as the paladins, just less epic and boooring.
This one is indeed well designed, it's too bad they didn't implement more class-specific ability usage in other strongholds.
The difference is when you're doing the ranger quest, you only talk to the Lord and then you either kill him or walk 2 meters to the east and loot the trinket.
While the paladin quest you'll have to talk with atleast 3 different peoples to get the best ending, and then you'll have to pick the right descisions when you talk to the baron.
The ranger quest you walk into with knowing they are bad people, and destroying the forest. You're right they are bad people and you don't have to kill them but then they will force you to run around the forest like some little kid (It's right next to them aswell, the trinket)
The paladin quest sends you there to HELP the baron, and only if you talk with everyone you'll notice that the baron is actually the enemy.
2.) It's not Madulf and his band, it's only Madulf and other than the dialogue with him it doesn't help much. Oh the major is rather happy about him. The point still remains, we're talking about a few low level orcs and ogrons. And then on the paladin side you got ETTINS, there are only so many ettins you fight in the game, and having TWO of them at one place, amazing.
Not to mention Madulf doesn't actually help you fight, he just stands there and protects the kids. While the paladins of the radiant order can actually do your whole quest for you with a little luck on rolls.
Tearing apart the forest - Check!
After gold and valuable treasure? - Check!
Doesn't care about CHARNAME? - Check!
Will fight and kill CHARNAME if he will stand in the way of getting the treasure? - Check!
Is very rude and pompous? - Check!
Will send CHARNAME of to find the treasure for him? - Check!
Is only satisfied when he got what he came for, or find out that it isn't there? - Check!
If that guy isn't evil, well Xzar is probably a saint.
And they just put more effort into the paladin one, i normally decline the ranger one even if i'm playing a pure ranger. Not worth the rewards and not worth the time. Well aleast the ranger one is better than the rogue stronghold (Original, no mods).
Made another thread so we don't go too much of-topic here. You can talk strongholds in http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/21906/strongholds?new=1.
I also made a list where i rate the strongholds and explain my rating.
From his point of view, you're asking him to stop what he has every right to do - the land is his, the mithral he's looking for is the property of his family, he's put a lot of money into it, and you're pretty much a nobody who shows up and tells him to cease and desist. Still he doesn't fight you unless you leave him no other options. Heck, if you had been a paladin, attacking Tombelthen would probably lead to expulsion from the order.
And if you do help him, as stated he rewards you fairly handsomely even though he ends up disappointed. All in all, definitely not what I would call evil behaviour by D&D standards, but very much neutral.
And i can't remember, where exactly was it stated that that part of the forest belonged to him and was his property?
Dual class -> You get the one that belongs to the class you have active at that moment. So if you're a F/M and you get to De'arnise after you dual classed, you won't be able to get it. But it is possible to do that stronghold first, and then dual class and be able to do the mage stronghold after. So dual classing actually lets you take two strongholds.
It's a bit anticlimactic, but you don't fail anything.
But yes you're able to do all quests up until that point.