when will i level up?

Joey

my party is only half way to level 2, but i'm at nashkel(sp?) already. It seems like i should be more powerful at this point but there were very few quests in beregost/friendly arm inn

Sed

@Joey
As @Sylvus_Moonbow implies, try going for a hike outside the cities. There are a lot of small adventures waiting along the Sword Coast, and one of the greatest things about BG:EE is the exploration of the different surroundings.

Beware Nexlit the Xvart and his minions

Remenissions

It's extremely hard to just go through the main quest line, city-to-city, and not die continuously. BG1 was made to make you go and explore to get experience/items/gold.

Joey

I fucking hate exploring. I suppose i figured it'd be more like the structure of BG2, or NWN or Icewind Dale or those other ones.

Are there any quests you can point me to for a level 1 party?

Sed

I would go for Bassilus the mad priest. You get the quest in the Temple east of Beregost, if you tell him you don't need his services.

Bassilus himself can be found on a map west of Nashkel (or slightly Northwest). It will also get you 5k gold. On the same map you also have some tough hobgoblins with a +2 shortsword and a talking chicken you can bring to High Hedge

Heindrich

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned rescuing/killing Dynaheir. It involves a fairly long trek to the Gnoll Stronghold, plenty of monsters to kill along the way and nothing particularly dangerous. On the other hand, I remember going 'off-road' too far from Beregost could lead to some pretty painful encounters for a low level party.

elminster

You get 2000xp (split between the party members) for successfully having Melicamp become human again. (same map as Bassilus)

Joey

@Sylvus_Moonbow Cheers for that, rattled through those and managed to get up to level 2, wahoo!

Sed

@Joey
A neat little trick for your next run if you quickly want to gain some levels:

Since XP is split among your party members, doing some of the easy fetching quests alone will get up a few levels, and then you go and pick up your party. The NPC's you pick upp will be roughly the same level as you, and you will have gained a few easy levels to make the start less painful.

meagloth

Joey said:

I fucking hate exploring. I suppose i figured it'd be more like the structure of BG2, or NWN or Icewind Dale or those other ones.

Uhhh, isn't that the whole game, exploring?

CrevsDaak

You will level up when times comes.
Or, when you've gathered enough experience points to advance one of the forty level available in this wonderous game.

Joey

i'm now at level 4 and i've over-come the 'hump' in the early game, seem to be gaining xp at a decent rate. One small question though, i have a fair bit of cash but can't find anything to spend it on. All my fighters have good weapons and armour, and the ones in the shops seem to be worse than what i have equipped. Is there anywhere i can get top notch stuff? Or am i better off waiting until i get to baldur's gate, which will presumably open up after i do the mines of neshkel

Basillicum

@Joey I'm assuming you've visited both High Hedge and Thunderhammer Smithy? Thalantyr in High Hedge has some expensive stuff than can really pay off if you use it right.

Also, take a look at the shop at Feldepost's Inn in Beregost and visit the merchants at the Carnival by Nashkel.

Try to focus on not only weapons and armour.

Joey

i should mention i'm a vet of bg2...the only thing i really want is more goodies for my spellcaster. My dragon disciple has the ring of wizardry for a healthy ten level 1 spells, is there any other items around that i could buy? I also have neera so any spellcasting boons at all would be beneficial.

Sed

There is an another Ring of Wizardry once you reach Baldur's Gate. Also the Amulet that gives 1 more lvl 2 spell slot.

Other than than it's just the Arch Mage robes.

LadyRhian

The archmage robes are well worth it, if you have the 26K gold to buy them. Another good dungeon without many monsters (but dire wolves, a vampiric wolf and a mustard jelly) is the Ulcaster Dungeon Ruins. At night, there is a Skeleton Warrior named Icharyd you can kill. There is a book to return to the Ulcaster Ghost that nets you 1000 exp. Icharyd is worth 950 exp.

Some of the best magic items in the game can be found in Durlag's Tower, but the tower is Nintendo Hard. Tons of traps and monsters- especially in the dungeon (which is four levels deep). The top of the tower isn't as bad, and can be done by a party of 3rd level adventurers, but the dungeons are best at level 6 and up. Also bring potions of mirrored eyes or scrolls of protection from petrification if you go outside and up the stairs on level 2, as there are some Greater Basilisks up there that can put you in a world of hurt. On the other hand, there is +2 Scimitar hidden in one of the chimney cones. Also, take lots of potions of Master Thievery and Perception. The traps are nothing short of deadly (and you can now equip up to 23 potions in one slot!) so finding them and disarming them are very important.

Another good quest is the island of Balduran. Take a character who has a proficiency in Broad Swords to have your thief steal the best Werewolf-killing weapon from the top floor of the ship in the Northern Island. You'll need it to kill the Loup-Garou who lairs in the ship, and two back at home. There is also an anti-werewolf dagger on the ship as well, and Balduran's Butterknife (Which isn't magical and doesn't do anything, but it's amusing)>

Basillicum

LadyRhian said:

The archmage robes are well worth it, if you have the 26K gold to buy them. Another good dungeon without many monsters (but dire wolves, a vampiric wolf and a mustard jelly) is the Ulcaster Dungeon Ruins. At night, there is a Skeleton Warrior named Icharyd you can kill. There is a book to return to the Ulcaster Ghost that nets you 1000 exp. Icharyd is worth 950 exp.

@Joey Also worth mentioning when we're on the topic of Ulcaster (though it's not for spellcasters): you should get the Vampiric Sword. All you need to do this is get the idol from the archeological site two areas north of Gnoll Stronghold and the Ancient Armor from a skeleton in the Firewine Ruins, and give both items to Ulcaster's ghost. Then he'll give you the Vampiric Sword.

Michail

CrevsDaak said:

You will level up when times comes.
Or, when you've gathered enough experience points to advance one of the forty level available in this wonderous game.

40? It actually has an XP cap. Ah, yes, some people remove it, but it severely unbalances the game.

TurboTT

an easy way to level up, is to go to a farm north of friendly arm inn. Fight ankegh with sleep spell and command and you will fast level up.

CrevsDaak

Michail said:

CrevsDaak said:

You will level up when times comes.
Or, when you've gathered enough experience points to advance one of the forty level available in this wonderous game.

40? It actually has an XP cap. Ah, yes, some people remove it, but it severely unbalances the game.

I don't remove unless I'm playing a solo run. but you get OP anyway (lvl9/10 F/M :P)

meagloth

Joey said:

i should mention i'm a vet of bg2...the only thing i really want is more goodies for my spellcaster. My dragon disciple has the ring of wizardry for a healthy ten level 1 spells, is there any other items around that i could buy? I also have neera so any spellcasting boons at all would be beneficial.

How can a dragon disciple have ten spells? My game says they learn 4/level and that would double to 8 with evermemory. Am I missing something big?

TJ_Hooker

meagloth said:

Joey said:

i should mention i'm a vet of bg2...the only thing i really want is more goodies for my spellcaster. My dragon disciple has the ring of wizardry for a healthy ten level 1 spells, is there any other items around that i could buy? I also have neera so any spellcasting boons at all would be beneficial.

How can a dragon disciple have ten spells? My game says they learn 4/level and that would double to 8 with evermemory. Am I missing something big?

Well, for one he was talking about casts per day (of level one spells), whereas that line is referring to how many spells they know (i.e. how many spells are in their spellbook). Also, the description is wrong, it's supposed to say that Dragon Disciples have -1 casts per day (for each spell level) compared to a normal sorcerer. The number of spells known is the same. So a normal sorcerer would have 6 (level 1 spell) casts a day starting at level 4, meaning that a DD would have 5 casts/day. Slap on Evermemory and a DD can cast 10 level 1 spells per day.