Only very early. Once you get a wand of sleep (purchasable in High Hedge) it makes so many of those battles super easy (even with it not being as effective as the spell).
Yea it makes things so easy. Once you run out of the initial 20 or so charges you can sell the wand and buy it back and have 100 charges. Try as you might but you likely aren't going to end up using all of those.
cruising with my totemic druid right now, and I have used that wand a total of one time. I haven't died. My spirit animals, insect plague, cloak of fear, and iron skins are demolishing EVERYTHING. I'm about to enter the Iron Throne headquarters. It's a breeze and I haven't needed the wand of sleep, at all.
I voted Ranger, becasue I'd like to hear your views on the Beast Master. Don't their weapon and armor restrictions plus their rather weak summons make them a possible candidate?
I voted Ranger, becasue I'd like to hear your views on the Beast Master. Don't their weapon and armor restrictions plus their rather weak summons make them a possible candidate?
They get a familiar, which will help boost their health. They can't wear Ankheg mail but they can wear at least some of the dragon armors and (in both games) shadow armor.
They already get a bonus towards their stealth skills so you can play them as a stealth character (without a backstab) fairly easily in the first game (particularly once you get shadow armor and boots of stealth). Plus as a ranger they automatically get ** in dual wielding (for clubs in their case). So at the start of BGEE they could have ** in clubs, ** in bows, and ** in dual wielding (bows being something that will make the game much easier).
In BG2 they get access to clubs like Gnasher and Blackblood. These don't have a high enough enchantment to hit one of the rare enemies that can only be hurt by +4 and +5 weapons but in most cases they can be pretty effective. You can eventually upgrade the Club of Detonation to be a +5 weapon, but before that you can buy the Staff of the Rynn +4 from the Adventure Mart, or the Sling of Everand +5 from Joluv.
Summon Animal I and Summon Animal II are basically entirely fodder, but Summon Animal III can potentially give you some decent summons (namely the cave bear and mountain bear). They don't compare with what a Druid, Cleric, or Mage could summon at that point but they will do the trick.
I'd say the Beast Master is in the lower end of the warrior kits/classes, but he is still an easier solo than a druid.
Monks are one of my favourite class to play. For their speed, their immunity to magic and their versatility. That said, they are pathetically weak in BG 1.
Really i cannot understand you guys voting for monk.
Getting to TOB with a monk is trivially easy : Bgee is a walk in the park for every class. Monk do it through kiting and "backstabbing" with poison dagger Soa is the same if you know which quest to do first Once you get to hla levels (really simple once more), the monk is a powerhouse with permanent 100%MR, extremely low thaco and hitting very hard
This can be said for any game once you have enough experience with it. Dark Souls, Meatboy or even I Wanna Be The Guy are easy with time and multiple playthroughs. Baldur's Gate is actually quite a difficult series on your first run. There are numerous tales of beginners giving up before even getting to Nashkel.
First try playing it without any cheese or metagaming and then tell me it's trivially easy.
@Alesia_BH from the old Bioware forum has completed a no-reload as an avenger. Her favored tactic through most of her game was to combine whatever potions were needed with sword spider form. She actually stayed in sword spider form for most of her run. I was surprised at what you can do with that form.
She also has the game (with SCS) memorized so well, she can, for example, drink a potion of invisibility at the exact moment a mage begins the first syllable of the incantation of the one spell that might kill her - if only he could target her with it.
I remember a quote from one of her run reports: "Lavok said 'Incertus...', I said 'Bye! *gulp*" I thought it was pretty funny at the time.
She also told me once that her characters should never have to make a saving throw, ever. She doesn't roll them. She said that if her character has to make a saving throw, she considers it a potentially fatal mistake on her part, and a failure, even if she makes the save.
Anyway, a druid can do a solo no-reload, or at least, an avenger can. Most classes can, with enough metagaming. I'm not sure any of them are that much harder than another, for someone who has the knowledge. Playing blind, though, I would think fighter-mage, kensage, or fighter-mage-thief would be the only ones that could do it with some degree of ease. Any of the other classes is going to have a very hard time during certain scenarios.
They get a familiar, which will help boost their health. They can't wear Ankheg mail but they can wear at least some of the dragon armors and (in both games) shadow armor.
Shadow Armor for the Beastmaster? This is new to me. I thought it was a thieves-only item. Ok the class disadvantges can be worked around to some extent. Nevertheless, don't you think the Druid's higher level spells (Insect Plague, Creeping Doom, Iron Skins, many useful summons) outweigh the Beastmaster's stronger physical prowess?
I'm now inclined to consider the unmodded Wizard Slayer (very vulnerable to magic until perhaps late TOB due to the severe item restrictions, no magic/summons) the weakest solo character. The unmodded Shapeshifter (vulnerable in human form, underwhelming in werewolf form) and the plain druid at least have very good spells, and the Beast Master is much less restricted when it comes to item use..
A Beastmaster can't use shadow armour, atleast not in my game? (only mod I have is SCS & BG1 NPC). Did finish the game with an Beastmaster without mods aswell, no shadow armour for her.
Specifically a Kensai. Whilst they can be very effective, they arent at all versatile and cant tank, so would be a nightmare to solo with.
A lot of people have said druid, but I would have to disagree. They are probably the weakest class in the game, but not the weakest to solo as. They have iron skins, shield of the archons, armour of faith, various elemental immunities, free action, death ward, summons (including the elemental princes), kill casters with insect plague (and creeping doom for liches) and can even meele with respectable competence as an earth elemental.
Hmm...looks like you are right about Shadow Armor (all rangers can't use it which is what threw me off). Either way he's got bow access in the first game and still pretty good stealth ability.
Rangers and paladins are incredibly powerful for solo once you get to ToB. Defender of Easthaven + Armor of Faith + Hardiness = you beat everyone.
I've actually done a solo run of Baldur's Gate 1 with an avenger. It's a really good class lategame, even without wands. I hit level 10 in the middle of the Cloakwood Mines, which meant I could cast Chaos multiple times per day and petrify people with Chromatic Orb, not to mention deal 10d6 damage with lightning bolts.
For me it comes down to the endgame: Ravager and Melissan. All the other fights are against weaker enemies, and you CAN pull through, although some harder then others. And if your primary class is weak, just do a dual/multiclass version of it.
My opinion is: - anyone who can grab a mighty weapon and Greater Whirlwind things to death WILL get through the game (barbarian is easiest, but any fighter, ranger, paladin, monk can do it too). These classes are also nobrainer classes requiring very few items during progression, as they can reliably bash skulls. Monk has low health which can be a problem, and his hand goes only +4 weapon, but I don't see that much of a problem after early game here either. - mages are totally versatile, but they take a ton of real life time for releasing spells one by one. They have Planetar to kill things, Mordekainen Sword, Stone Skin, Improved Alactricity (+ Robe of Vecna)... You get the idea. Wish is abusable during the final fight, and I think Pierce Shield/Pierce Magic works on both Melissan and Ravager, so there goes the magic resist problem (Khelben's Whardong Whip is also nice). - Medics and Druids are VERY similar. The weapon-choice makes druid a bit weaker, but not by much. 99% it is "Planetar fights my battles anyway" if you have problem. their ulimate resort-spell is Harm, which might demand a ridiculous amount of reloads, but eventually it'll work. - bard and thief. Thief can backstab for what it worth in a game constantly throwing you into pits with hordes of enemies, and both class can lay traps and Use Any Item, which'll bring them until Melissan. Their thac0 will suffer until late-midgame, but it IS possible to crawl through every nook. Bard suffer money-problem in BG1 by the way for a looong time not being able to pick locks, neither bashing them open. Rolling sufficient stats is also problematic with the high minimal charisma. Now my vote goes on these two simply for the first round vs Melissan. No idea how to pull that through. Traps don't help, they don't have HP, nor thac0/attack per round, no million spells in a single second...
Not sure if I want to stick with my choice, but it's a very close contest. Honestly, I think these answers are more reflective of the characters we don't know how to play. All of them are quite doable as solos--the biggest limiting factor is not the class, but the player's knowledge about the class.
I can think of very strong options for each of them:
-Fighters, rangers, and paladins can wreck BG1 with arrows and wreck BG2 with Celestial Fury or the Flail of Ages. Plate mail and potions are a sufficient defense for most of the game.
-Monks, like rangers, can slip past the biggest threats, but monks can also use hit and fade tactics thanks to their superior movement speed. Stunning Blow can disable almost anybody.
-Thieves have monstrous backstab damage, allowing them to take out the biggest threats early on. Traps will finish off the rest.
-Bards can use wands in BG1 and song stacking in BG2. Armor in BG1, Stoneskin in BG2.
-Mages and sorcerers can cast mage spells.
-Clerics have strong damage output thanks to their buffs, and strong summons in the form of Animate Dead. This will actually be enough for most of the saga, and like druids, they have Death Ward and Chaotic Commands (and unlike druids, also Remove Fear) to protect them from disablers.
-Druids are often underestimated. In BG1, they level very fast and can destroy many major enemies with Entangle and Call Lightning. Call Woodland Beings and other summoning spells will remain strong throughout the game. In BG2, Entangle and Call Lightning aren't as useful, but they get the best disabler in the game, Insect Plague, and their summons get even stronger. It's also worth pointing out that a solo druid will very, very quickly hit 3 million XP. And the moment that happens, the druid will have better spellcasting ability than the cleric for the rest of the game.
Look at the tables. A cleric will never be able to cast as many HLAs as a druid of the same XP.
I just don't see how an unkitted bard will do enough damage solo between the end of BG1 and the advent of Use Any Item and Spike Trap cheese. And even the latter won't save you if you aren't allowed to prepare a battlefield beforehand, which happens a few times.
Monk. You suck basically ALL the way through BG:EE and don't start to become passable until you are in BG2:EE. If this was for just BG:2EE and ToB, I would pick Druid though.
@Abi_Dalzim: Low damage output normally isn't what kills a character, not in BG2, where disablers tend to dominate gameplay. But bards are known for combining rapid level growth with level-scaled mage spells. A bard can do gobs of damage with Skull Trap and Flame Arrow and Sunfire spells. By the time you're fighting enemies who can suffer those spells and live, you will have the 3 million XP you need to get the Improved Bard Song and sing it via Mislead clones.
@Abi_Dalzim: Low damage output normally isn't what kills a character, not in BG2, where disablers tend to dominate gameplay. But bards are known for combining rapid level growth with level-scaled mage spells. A bard can do gobs of damage with Skull Trap and Flame Arrow and Sunfire spells. By the time you're fighting enemies who can suffer those spells and live, you will have the 3 million XP you need to get the Improved Bard Song and sing it via Mislead clones.
You don't get so many spells as a bard, though, so you're either resting after every significant fight, or you'd have to go without those spells too long. Plus, they're a lot less imposing if the enemies make their saves, so you might need Greater Malison, which limits your Stoneskin and Improved Invisibility. That said, I didn't consider Polymorph Self, which does give you additional options, I suppose.
Hehe, I'm prolly gonna get some heat for this, but I think plain clerics are kinda weak. My initial thought was to vote for WS but then I thought about clerics. They can't melee very well, lacking access to speed weapons. Sure, they can hit hard (with buffs) but with only 2 ARP, it just ain't hard enough. They can use slings but at 1 APR. They can summon and buff themselves, but lack the best offensive spells. IMHO, druids are a better solo class since they are more versatile and have good summons and more offensive spells, like insect plauges etc.
I'll make my vote for the Wizard Slayer; I know it's actually been done solo, but the inability to use potions or scrolls or amulets or any defensive items is murderous in BG1. BG2 is slightly better with immunity items in weapon or shield or armor form, but I think you have to just hope to save vs every Charm spell that's launched your way in BG1, where saves even as a Dwarf aren't that high.
Though powerful and well endowed with abilities, I find thieves to need the most management and situational awareness. You need to be on top of your game at all times to execute a lot of their greatest maneuvers. The human error element is ever present, whereas with a lot of other classes I feel there is a greater margin for error and a lot more 'fire and forget' abilities.
Though it might just be me. I make so many mistakes, misclicks and poor judgement calls my playthroughs should be branded comedies.
I Though it might just be me. I make so many mistakes, misclicks and poor judgement calls my playthroughs should be branded comedies.
While playing through IWD, I tried to backstab Joril with my halfling thief, who was slightly roughed up from the fight beforehand. Proceeded to bump into him, turn him around (face-to-face), roll a "2" to-hit, and subsequently get chunked. Poor Bilbo...
I clicked to vote Druid, but I'm really not sure. I like party interaction, not solo runs, so I voted by guesswork and instinct rather than knowledge and experience.
Druid I have done, just not a no-reload as Bengoshi (wow) and the spellcasting opens up a world of possibilities. I have had more problems with fighters and rangers against spellcasters to be honest.
Comments
They already get a bonus towards their stealth skills so you can play them as a stealth character (without a backstab) fairly easily in the first game (particularly once you get shadow armor and boots of stealth). Plus as a ranger they automatically get ** in dual wielding (for clubs in their case). So at the start of BGEE they could have ** in clubs, ** in bows, and ** in dual wielding (bows being something that will make the game much easier).
In BG2 they get access to clubs like Gnasher and Blackblood. These don't have a high enough enchantment to hit one of the rare enemies that can only be hurt by +4 and +5 weapons but in most cases they can be pretty effective. You can eventually upgrade the Club of Detonation to be a +5 weapon, but before that you can buy the Staff of the Rynn +4 from the Adventure Mart, or the Sling of Everand +5 from Joluv.
Summon Animal I and Summon Animal II are basically entirely fodder, but Summon Animal III can potentially give you some decent summons (namely the cave bear and mountain bear). They don't compare with what a Druid, Cleric, or Mage could summon at that point but they will do the trick.
I'd say the Beast Master is in the lower end of the warrior kits/classes, but he is still an easier solo than a druid.
First try playing it without any cheese or metagaming and then tell me it's trivially easy.
She also has the game (with SCS) memorized so well, she can, for example, drink a potion of invisibility at the exact moment a mage begins the first syllable of the incantation of the one spell that might kill her - if only he could target her with it.
I remember a quote from one of her run reports: "Lavok said 'Incertus...', I said 'Bye! *gulp*" I thought it was pretty funny at the time.
She also told me once that her characters should never have to make a saving throw, ever. She doesn't roll them. She said that if her character has to make a saving throw, she considers it a potentially fatal mistake on her part, and a failure, even if she makes the save.
Anyway, a druid can do a solo no-reload, or at least, an avenger can. Most classes can, with enough metagaming. I'm not sure any of them are that much harder than another, for someone who has the knowledge. Playing blind, though, I would think fighter-mage, kensage, or fighter-mage-thief would be the only ones that could do it with some degree of ease. Any of the other classes is going to have a very hard time during certain scenarios.
Ok the class disadvantges can be worked around to some extent. Nevertheless, don't you think the Druid's higher level spells (Insect Plague, Creeping Doom, Iron Skins, many useful summons) outweigh the Beastmaster's stronger physical prowess?
I'm now inclined to consider the unmodded Wizard Slayer (very vulnerable to magic until perhaps late TOB due to the severe item restrictions, no magic/summons) the weakest solo character. The unmodded Shapeshifter (vulnerable in human form, underwhelming in werewolf form) and the plain druid at least have very good spells, and the Beast Master is much less restricted when it comes to item use..
A lot of people have said druid, but I would have to disagree. They are probably the weakest class in the game, but not the weakest to solo as. They have iron skins, shield of the archons, armour of faith, various elemental immunities, free action, death ward, summons (including the elemental princes), kill casters with insect plague (and creeping doom for liches) and can even meele with respectable competence as an earth elemental.
I've actually done a solo run of Baldur's Gate 1 with an avenger. It's a really good class lategame, even without wands. I hit level 10 in the middle of the Cloakwood Mines, which meant I could cast Chaos multiple times per day and petrify people with Chromatic Orb, not to mention deal 10d6 damage with lightning bolts.
All the other fights are against weaker enemies, and you CAN pull through, although some harder then others. And if your primary class is weak, just do a dual/multiclass version of it.
My opinion is:
- anyone who can grab a mighty weapon and Greater Whirlwind things to death WILL get through the game (barbarian is easiest, but any fighter, ranger, paladin, monk can do it too). These classes are also nobrainer classes requiring very few items during progression, as they can reliably bash skulls.
Monk has low health which can be a problem, and his hand goes only +4 weapon, but I don't see that much of a problem after early game here either.
- mages are totally versatile, but they take a ton of real life time for releasing spells one by one. They have Planetar to kill things, Mordekainen Sword, Stone Skin, Improved Alactricity (+ Robe of Vecna)... You get the idea. Wish is abusable during the final fight, and I think Pierce Shield/Pierce Magic works on both Melissan and Ravager, so there goes the magic resist problem (Khelben's Whardong Whip is also nice).
- Medics and Druids are VERY similar. The weapon-choice makes druid a bit weaker, but not by much. 99% it is "Planetar fights my battles anyway" if you have problem. their ulimate resort-spell is Harm, which might demand a ridiculous amount of reloads, but eventually it'll work.
- bard and thief. Thief can backstab for what it worth in a game constantly throwing you into pits with hordes of enemies, and both class can lay traps and Use Any Item, which'll bring them until Melissan. Their thac0 will suffer until late-midgame, but it IS possible to crawl through every nook.
Bard suffer money-problem in BG1 by the way for a looong time not being able to pick locks, neither bashing them open. Rolling sufficient stats is also problematic with the high minimal charisma.
Now my vote goes on these two simply for the first round vs Melissan. No idea how to pull that through. Traps don't help, they don't have HP, nor thac0/attack per round, no million spells in a single second...
I can think of very strong options for each of them:
-Fighters, rangers, and paladins can wreck BG1 with arrows and wreck BG2 with Celestial Fury or the Flail of Ages. Plate mail and potions are a sufficient defense for most of the game.
-Monks, like rangers, can slip past the biggest threats, but monks can also use hit and fade tactics thanks to their superior movement speed. Stunning Blow can disable almost anybody.
-Thieves have monstrous backstab damage, allowing them to take out the biggest threats early on. Traps will finish off the rest.
-Bards can use wands in BG1 and song stacking in BG2. Armor in BG1, Stoneskin in BG2.
-Mages and sorcerers can cast mage spells.
-Clerics have strong damage output thanks to their buffs, and strong summons in the form of Animate Dead. This will actually be enough for most of the saga, and like druids, they have Death Ward and Chaotic Commands (and unlike druids, also Remove Fear) to protect them from disablers.
-Druids are often underestimated. In BG1, they level very fast and can destroy many major enemies with Entangle and Call Lightning. Call Woodland Beings and other summoning spells will remain strong throughout the game. In BG2, Entangle and Call Lightning aren't as useful, but they get the best disabler in the game, Insect Plague, and their summons get even stronger. It's also worth pointing out that a solo druid will very, very quickly hit 3 million XP. And the moment that happens, the druid will have better spellcasting ability than the cleric for the rest of the game.
Look at the tables. A cleric will never be able to cast as many HLAs as a druid of the same XP.
The tale of the Totemic Druid confirms that beating the game for this class is hard.
Also, The concept of this thread doesn't involve 1000 reloads to make through the game.
Though powerful and well endowed with abilities, I find thieves to need the most management and situational awareness. You need to be on top of your game at all times to execute a lot of their greatest maneuvers. The human error element is ever present, whereas with a lot of other classes I feel there is a greater margin for error and a lot more 'fire and forget' abilities.
Though it might just be me. I make so many mistakes, misclicks and poor judgement calls my playthroughs should be branded comedies.