Few questions from a new adventurer
ancient_hunter
Member Posts: 6
HAIL!
I've never played one of these D&D rpg's before, heck I've never even played D&D so I have a few questions for some of you more seasoned adventurers.
1) I need a little clarity on damage, right now my PC (a dwarven defender) has a hit thingy of 7-12, I assume that means the lowest I can hit is 7 and the highest is 12... but then sometimes it says my character scored a hit of 22. can someone explain that to me?
2) How do I use thief properly? right now I am using that 12 year old girl that comes along at the beginning of the game, I didn't really know how to level her so I put all her points into lock picking, was that smart? How do I set traps for a battle tho? do you have to sneak in before engaging? I assume you need hide in the shadows (or maybe silent walking? which one?) I like thief's in newer games but im having a hard time figuring this out.
3) how does leveling work outside my party? is it auto? from what i've played i am assuming that characters you pick up are the same level of the PC but what about characters I drop from the party? Will they be forever the level that they were dropped at?
4) will the alignment of my PC have any baring on my party? right now I am loaded with evil characters (they seem cooler) minus the school girl thief of course, but I'll drop her if a better thief comes along. Anyways I just find evil characters a better fit tactically but my PC is neutral good.
5) what exactly is a combat round? Does my PC swing his mighty axe once every round? and I keep reading about "moral breaks" what are they?
Thanks for reading, I actually love this game so far, it's really hard and characters permadeath, how bad ass is that. (although I might soloing by the end lol)
I've never played one of these D&D rpg's before, heck I've never even played D&D so I have a few questions for some of you more seasoned adventurers.
1) I need a little clarity on damage, right now my PC (a dwarven defender) has a hit thingy of 7-12, I assume that means the lowest I can hit is 7 and the highest is 12... but then sometimes it says my character scored a hit of 22. can someone explain that to me?
2) How do I use thief properly? right now I am using that 12 year old girl that comes along at the beginning of the game, I didn't really know how to level her so I put all her points into lock picking, was that smart? How do I set traps for a battle tho? do you have to sneak in before engaging? I assume you need hide in the shadows (or maybe silent walking? which one?) I like thief's in newer games but im having a hard time figuring this out.
3) how does leveling work outside my party? is it auto? from what i've played i am assuming that characters you pick up are the same level of the PC but what about characters I drop from the party? Will they be forever the level that they were dropped at?
4) will the alignment of my PC have any baring on my party? right now I am loaded with evil characters (they seem cooler) minus the school girl thief of course, but I'll drop her if a better thief comes along. Anyways I just find evil characters a better fit tactically but my PC is neutral good.
5) what exactly is a combat round? Does my PC swing his mighty axe once every round? and I keep reading about "moral breaks" what are they?
Thanks for reading, I actually love this game so far, it's really hard and characters permadeath, how bad ass is that. (although I might soloing by the end lol)
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Comments
2. Thieves skill scores represent a % chance of success. Open locks & find traps are your basic dungeon-crawling skills, theses should be decent if you want to pinch locked away goodies, and don't want to get frazzled by traps (both of these only require 100 to be of maximum effect. Stealth skills are used by averaging hide & move silently... These get heavy negative modifiers, so if you want to sneak around and backstab during the day, theses can benefit from being over 100.
3. Not sure about this... I know that they are dependant on your level the first time you meet them, but I've never gone back to collect anyone I dropped for a significant time.
4. Most of the quests assume a good(ish) alignment, but there's not much to stop you picking an evil PC and doing good things. BUT which NPC's you can travel with is dependant on your current Reputation Score (1-20 rating, found on Records screen) - rep too low and the goody-two-shoes will ditch you, rep too high and the evil badasses won't be seen dead with you.
5. Combat round, I think is 6 seconds, your number of attacks per round should be listed on Records page (press R usually)... This is dependant on level, class and weapon proficiency. Morale breaks are when Khalid wets his little knickers and runs away because someone hit him with a sword. (There are spells to help, bards' songs can help and I believe the main PC's charisma score is also a factor.)
I thinks that's everything... Also, play around with spell books (Mage, Cleric & Druid).. Some of
Also, how can In tell what my characters moral breaking point is?
Sorry if all this seems rather basic, I'm still figuring it all out.
THAC0 is To Hit Armour Class 0. It represents a d20 roll. If your THAC0 is 10 and your enemy is AC 0, you must roll at least a 10 to hit... As AC goes above 0 they're easier to hit, as THAC0 goes down it's also easier to hit.
If your To Hit roll succeeds, you roll for damage (based on attributes, weapons stats, proficiencies, skills, class etc). Eg: basic longsword with no modifiers rolls 1d8, giving a potential damage between 1 & 8.
(Disclaimer: this next part I'm a little shaky on...)
I think that if your To Hit roll is 20, it's a critical, and whatever damage you roll is doubled. So in your example, you would have rolled 20 to hit, and then 11 damage, which was doubled to 22.
Bear in mind that certain fighting styles (selected in char creation/ level up screen, when you pick weapons) can let you cause criticals on a 19 or 20.
So under my PC in the "R" screen it says 'Number of attacks: 3/2' what does that mean in terms of attack turn?
Just saying hi, in a more original way.
HAIL!
And hailing :P
anyway, for whoever your thief may be I recommend you go for locks and detect traps. these will keep you alive and get you lots of locked away loot. after that I would focus on stealth, as backstabs can be a really powerful opening move if you can hit. do not worry so much about traps i think. you will find them in the diamond like tab on the bottom bar, but you are likely to hurt yourself as you fail. set traps is the bottom skill, and you need it high to succeed. also pickpocket is useless
On 3) Unless it has been changed in any recent patches, the level of NPCs depends on the average level of your party. Most, if not all, NPCs can come in a higher or lower level form, and which you get depends on the level of your current companions. I do not however know the exact maths behind it.
If you leave a companion behind, as far as I am aware, they do not level any further. At least that was the case with Neera in my only full BG EE playthrough. I recruited her at the very beginning of the game, and then left her and picked her up again in chapter 5... she hadn't levelled at all in the interval.
A few other points/hints I'd like to offer:
1) I see you chose a dwarf for your first playthrough. If you had any interest in the romance content, be aware that most NPCs refuse to romance shorties (dwarf and gnomes).
2) Make sure you train up Imoen or another thief to 100 in Find Traps. You are gonna need it for the endgame.
Oh really? I simply forgot to mention halflings! If they happen to be romance-compatible, my omission was due to carelessness, not insightful knowledge. lol
I do believe I've read somewhere that Aerie will romance gnomes.
Some pointers for the distribution of thief skills: Before you reach the Cloakwood maps, a Find/Disarm Trap of 40 will do. Durlag's Tower/late game areas - 100 for Find/Disarm Traps and 100 for Lockpicking. The two stealth skills do profit from higher points, however, in BG1, Invisibility (spells, potions) make a solid alternative for a backstabber and there are some stealth boosting items, too.
When stealthed, you can only passively scout areas; Invisibility will allow you to search and disarm traps without becoming visible. For backstabs, make sure your thief has a weapon that can backstab - Montaron is a fighter/thief multiclass and can use weapons that can't backstab. I'm assuming you have Montaron, since he and Xzar are the first evil NPCs you come across (and both are indeed very cool).
Re: leveling outside party.
NPCs will stay the level they were when you first talked to them. What level they are when you meet them depends on your own level. Some don't give you a chance to intentionally avoid them to get them at a higher level, but generally, the lower level you get them the better. Especially thieves, since NPCs will pick weapon proficiencies and distribute skill points on their own when they level up. With thieves, it's obviously the biggest issue (i.e. they put 100 in Pickpocket, but you need someone to disarm traps). The earlier/lower level you get an NPC, the more you can influence their proficiencies.
As far as I know, Neera will romance male dwarves (any race, actually) and Aerie does indeed romance gnomes.