Need some advice about TotSC

Midori

Hello there!

It's my first time playing BG with TotSC (though I've played BG a long time ago - never finished though) and I have a question if you don't mind answering.

Is it better to go through all the TotSC quests before or after you go trough Baldur's Gate? It seems like the quests in TotSC are quite hard (especially Durlag's Tower) and I'm not sure my 5-ish leveled party would be quite up to it. On the other hand, if I remember correctly, Baldur's Gate wasn't so hard (to a point where I quit at least).

What's your advice?

Heindrich

Hello and welcome.

Whilst an experienced player can get through TotSC quests at relatively early levels, all the TotSC quests are considered endgame quests for BG 1, and designed to be done near the end of the game. Durlag's Tower is especially difficult (the upper levels are okay, the basement is a deathtrap).

Make sure you got a thief trained to have 100 in Find Traps. It's gonna be useful.

Midori

Thanks for the quick reply!

The reason I asked at all is that I stumbled upon Durlag's tower on the map and I didn't remember it from the last time I played (totally forgot TotSC is included when I purchased BG:EE) so I went to check it out - only to be killed (repeatedly) by battle horrors. If that's what's guarding the place - I wonder what hell must be inside. Then I did a bit of googling and decided it's best to ask the experts
I'm currently at chapter 5 - so I guess it's best to wait till chapter 7 to get more experience right?

As for the thieves, I've got Imoen and Coran in my party - Coran with 100 in Picking Locks and Imoen with 100 in finding traps - so that part's already covered

Heindrich

Wow ur lv5-ish party is already in Ch.5? Did u rush through the main questline? There is a LOT of sidequests in BG 1 in the wilderness that's totally unrelated to the main plot. If u explore a bit more, u should be around 50K xp the first time u enter Baldur's Gate. (Assuming full 6 man party)

Such a party should be able to handle Battle Horrors, and the upper levels of Durlag's Tower aren't too bad. Some players try to do the upper levels and the first level or two of the basement in order to get nice loot earlier in their playthrough, but I personally just did it all in one go near the very end of my game (most in Ch.6 I think, or maybe very beginning of Ch.7)

By the way all the TotSC (including Durlag's Tower) quests are based in Ulgoth's Beard. You should be able to see it on the world map, though u need to unlock it by moving through the wilderness zones in-between.

Midori

I lied unintentionally - now that I've checked, most of my party is level 6 and only Yeslick and my Cleric/Ranger are level 5. Anyways, I went trough the whole map (except for the TotSC parts) and I'm pretty sure I picked up most of the quests. It won't hurt to check with a walktrough though

I think I'll follow your example and leave the whole TotSC for Chapter 7.

abacus

Make sure you talk to all the folk in Ulgoth's Beard before you start crashing around the tower... On my last run I forgot to do this, and I missed out on a bunch of related quests and didn't even get to fight the uber-baddy at the end of it all because I wasn't tied into its quest line.

Corvino

Level 6 is probably the lowest level I'd try and tackle the dungeon levels of Durlag's. The upper floors aren't too bad. You'll run into ghasts, traps and Basilisks but nothing you can't handle. The lower levels are pretty nasty, they're usually the final thing I do before the endgame showdown.