Classes that stay interesting for a long time?
OperativeNL
Member Posts: 146
So right now I have a problem; I have such a hard time deciding which character class I want to do an entire trilogy run with. It's gotten so bad that at the moment I haven't even reached Baldur's Gate yet in BG1.
I've tried several classes but have a severe case of rerolleritis. So I would like to know, which classes stay interesting for a long time (hopefully the entire saga)? by interesting i mean: that even at higher levels, they still gain some really cool new ability which opens up the possibility for new tactics.
to give some examples, I believe that Fighters are quite dull. They just hack & smash. They get a little better at it while they level up, but that's about it. HLA-wise they just get hack&slash powers.
Thieves I find also quite boring. Once they have max'd out their thieving skills, there doesnt seem to be a real feeling of progress anymore, and they kind of do the same thing always (backstab, watch for traps, pick locks). The bounty hunter seems like an exception though, because his special traps change as he levels up all the way to the end of ToB. I do admit that the thieves HLA's are interesting though, especially Use Any Item, and the special traps are also quite cool for tactical play.
Oh and before you say "mages! MAGES !!!!" Yeah I know. Been there done that, played them so much that now I just wanna try something else.
I've been thinking about playing a shapeshifter, because I've never really played with druids before (never liked Jaheira much). The shapeshifting also seems cool and i could experiment with the druidic spells, of which I don't really know much about yet. The big thing that keeps me from playing one though is just the sheer amount of brokenness that seems to be in this class. It's like the core engine of the game just handles them badly, giving them wrong bonuses etc (at least that's what I've heard...) and the mods that apparently "fix" the shapeshifter just make them OP.
Another option could be the Dark Moon Monk. They keep improving for a long time. They gain the special bonuses to movement rate, immunities etc even at high levels. Then again, they are mostly "run up to enemy, punch enemy". Not really... tactically interesting for an entire saga?
Please, halp!
I've tried several classes but have a severe case of rerolleritis. So I would like to know, which classes stay interesting for a long time (hopefully the entire saga)? by interesting i mean: that even at higher levels, they still gain some really cool new ability which opens up the possibility for new tactics.
to give some examples, I believe that Fighters are quite dull. They just hack & smash. They get a little better at it while they level up, but that's about it. HLA-wise they just get hack&slash powers.
Thieves I find also quite boring. Once they have max'd out their thieving skills, there doesnt seem to be a real feeling of progress anymore, and they kind of do the same thing always (backstab, watch for traps, pick locks). The bounty hunter seems like an exception though, because his special traps change as he levels up all the way to the end of ToB. I do admit that the thieves HLA's are interesting though, especially Use Any Item, and the special traps are also quite cool for tactical play.
Oh and before you say "mages! MAGES !!!!" Yeah I know. Been there done that, played them so much that now I just wanna try something else.
I've been thinking about playing a shapeshifter, because I've never really played with druids before (never liked Jaheira much). The shapeshifting also seems cool and i could experiment with the druidic spells, of which I don't really know much about yet. The big thing that keeps me from playing one though is just the sheer amount of brokenness that seems to be in this class. It's like the core engine of the game just handles them badly, giving them wrong bonuses etc (at least that's what I've heard...) and the mods that apparently "fix" the shapeshifter just make them OP.
Another option could be the Dark Moon Monk. They keep improving for a long time. They gain the special bonuses to movement rate, immunities etc even at high levels. Then again, they are mostly "run up to enemy, punch enemy". Not really... tactically interesting for an entire saga?
Please, halp!
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Comments
I played through BG1 with an OP Skald in my group, but in BG2 I've only tried using a Blade in the dark pits 2, only due to not needing a thief, and it competes well with a kensai / mage in the same group, while being a lot faster to level.
Skald is better in BG1 due to the low level cap, Blade in BG2 because they are better at higher levels.
Berzerker is the usual build, but they are one of the the cheesiest builds on the game, probably third to kensai / Mage and Ranger / Cleric.
Though Iron Skin takes forever ages to cast while Stoneskin doesn't, one major thing I dislike about them.
@Kurumi actually avenger is on my mind yes. However when I tested the illasera fight just now with a dummy avenger, it seems that her spider form is not immune to being held by her own web... :S
Now i wonder about Barbarian/Druid, how does that work? any tips on that?
Barbarian / Druid doesn't work, Barbarians cant dual or multi class.
*EDIT* Oh, and I'd seriously recommend going through BG1 and importing to BG2 with a blade. Getting the strength manual to increase strength from 18 to 19 is a ridiculously massive improvement, and will make a blade just plain amazing.
and regarding the Barbarian Druid.. you would have to edit your savegame with EE Keeper for that or use an edited DUALCLAS.2da (could send you - I made one for BGEE and BG2EE). I'm currently playing one and it's really fun because you can use the rage ability while you are shapechanged etc.
Poison is a strong tactical tool that can be either used to damage or disable foes from casting.
Later on, they can become deadly thanks to HLAs like assassinate, shredding people in seconds.
Sending people flying as chunks of meat was always fun for me.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/13700/mod-k-s-dual-class-mod-v1-1
You single class assassins, for one. You can get more attacks with haste, something you'll likely have permanently by the time you have HLAs.
Single weapon works best for me, unless you want to abuse staffs.. in all honesty, an assassin won't need to hit someone more than once with a good weapon to drop him when assassination is activated.
If you can't make up your mind.. why not multiclass? You won't get lvl9 spels with a triple class, but fight mage thief is still pretty strong: Backstab at the start, set up defenses with stoneskin, hack and slash away or keep spamming some more spells.
Clerics are also pretty strong, they are mostly a support class, but you can load up with tons of disabling spells, some offensive spells (holy smite is so good.. it's a very early access to abi dalzim i like to think), and with draw upon holy might/righteous magic they deal a lot of damage as it easily boosts their strenght to 25. If you want more melee power, you can go fighter cleric. Either go fighter and dual class to cleric to retain the 3 attacks per round and keep the big amount of spells, or go fighter cleric multicalss to have fighter high level abilities... hardiness + armor of faith sounds sexy enough to me.
If you want to play blade I would also recommend you to install Rogue Rebalancing mod. This mod makes blade (all bards and thieves) more similar to AD&D version. It makes him even more fun to play (more proficiencies, another special ability, different HLAs).
They lose level 7 / 8 / 9 spells, though with BG tweak pack stuff installed and the PnP progression mod, you can unlock higher level spells for them too, but they take ages to reach.
But there's nothing they really need from level 7+ spells, and you can get those from a mage in the group anyway.
It can be slow to level up. but its fun to play
They get up to lvl 4 cleric spells, so they aren't as boring as Fighters.
An interesting HLA they get is Summon Deva. Actually they can choose this ability several times.
Fighter/Druid or Ranger/Cleric are very interesting and powerful choices.
Personally, excluding Mage-types, my list of most interesting classes throughout the trilogy would be
1) Fighter/Druid or Berserker->Druid
2) Cavalier
3) Ranger/Cleric
Duel class - Cleric/thief was something I did recently and it was was fun for BG1 But I can see it might lose it's appeal come BG2... However it did mean that I didn't need another cleric, thief or druid in my party therefore I was able to have a different party configuration to usual. But obviously then you miss out on your chance to bang Imoen or Jaheira
However as we're looking to mix things up my vote is for the trice style multi-class of Fighter/Mage/Cleric. Should mix things up the most and be different from previous games.
Oh.. and I think you will be over being a shape-shifter by BG1.
Or is the Skald HLA song a lot better too? I never checked. They still cant melee like a blade though.
Erm yea, the HLA enhanced bard song replaces the Skald song, so its not a good kit for BG2.