Differences between importing character from BG1 to BG2 and creating a new character in BG2?
csuzw
Member Posts: 48
What, if any, differences are there (or can there be) between creating a character from scratch in BG2 and importing an existing character from BG1? For example can it have any affect companion story/interactions if you treated them in a particular way in BG1?
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You can also bring a couple of items with you from BG1, to be found in the starting Dungeon. Chainmail +3, the Claw of Kazgaroth and the Golden Pantaloons can all be found if you have them on your exported character. NB the Claw of Kazgaroth will replace the Helm of Balduran, and the Chainmail +3 replaces the normal Chainmail +2 you find.
Probably the biggest advantage is that you get to carry over the effect of stat raising tomes though.
No plot flags or similar are imported, and BG2 assumes you travelled with the "Canon party" of Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc and Dynaheir regardless.
1) The additional xp is not as big a deal as you might think. You get so much xp in BG 2 that an extra 70K or so is near irrelevant.
2) The items are nice, but only the Helm of Balduran stays useful for long.
3) What is perhaps more significant in my opinion is that you retain spells you learnt, which can give a spellcaster a much more comprehensive spellbook than a new BG 2 character.
4) The tome thing is only relevant if you are using a powergaming character. You don't need a superhuman character to play BG 2.
Also note that, even if you removed the XP cap, your XP in BG2 would be set back to 89,000 or 161,000 respectively, and i expect the same to happen with the new edition.
EDIT: My memory came back. There is one BG1 npc interraction that has an effect in BG2, but we are in a no spoiler category....
As far as the XP, I tended to speed run through BG just far enough to get all the tomes and then export. Why? Because hit points were averaged for the imported character if you chose a kit. Having an 18 con elf ranger with over 110 hp (vanilla game where you re-loaded 100 times to get those max hp rolls) who then gets nerfed down to 81 when you chose stalker kit SUCKED. By importing earlier with just the tome boosts (say at level 5 or 6), you were brought up to the 89k xp minimum and still had 2-3 levels of full hp growth available in BG2.
Now that BG2:EE should maintain ALL your stats during transfer, this shouldn't be a problem anymore - so I'll be able to max out in BG before exporting.
It only gives you 89k exactly if you import a character who had less xp than that, which I've also done a lot when I only wanted the tome boosts and didn't care about finishing BG.
Each campaign has a starting XP value; 0 for Baldur's Gate 1, 64K for Siege of Dragonspear, 89K for Shadows of Amn, 2.5M for Throne of Bhaal, 0 for Black Pits 1, 500K for Black Pits 2.
If you import a character to a campaign with more than that campaign's starting XP (but still less than its cap), that character keeps their XP.
If you import a character to a campaign with less than that campaign's starting XP, then they are raised to that starting XP level. And they automatically take any levels gained this way; this can be buggy, as leveling during the character creation process is handled differently from leveling in normal gameplay. It is strongly recommended that you play characters to at least the starting XP value of the next campaign before importing, so as to avoid this.
(Example of buggy behavior: Suppose you have a level 6 Bounty Hunter (20K XP) dual-classed to a level 1 mage (0 XP) in BG1. If you import that character to BG2 and start the SoA campaign, they go up to 89K total XP. That's 69K mage XP, enough for mage level 7. This completes the dual class, while still in the character creation process. And when you play the character, while they'll be able to use thief skills and thief equipment, but they won't have any normal or special traps - the kit abilities of the original class are not restored by completing a dual in character creation.)