I'm sure there has been one poor bastard (stalker) that has stalked the wrong lady and she ended up being a highly trained court Wizard, after that all the other stalkers stood over his mutilated corpse thinking for themselves...
Stalker #1 - "How do we prevent this from happening to us?" Stalker #23 - "We stop stalking women?" Stalker #93, #21, #2 - "Like that's ever going to happen!" *Stalker #73 and #61 do a brofist* Stalker #108 - "Let's come up with a few spells that will help us!"
Has anyone ever felt compelled to take a full party just for the sake of having a full party?
On one of my current playthroughs (the one I mentioned before), I have my Cleric, Ajantis, Coran, Kivan, Imoen, and Neera. I realized that Kivan was redundant because I have Imoen w/ Crossbow and Coran (who is a ranged beast), so I dumped him (plus he was yacking about going after bandits).
So that leaves me with my Cleric (healing, tanking), Ajantis (best tank in the game IMO), Coran (best ranged beast in the game except for maybe Dorn), Imoen (range + dualed for spell support), and Neera (spellcasting). All my bases are covered.
I know I should just go with 5 members. More xp to go around, but I can't help but feel incomplete without that 6th member. Any NPC recommendations that would go well with this particular party? Personally, I don't see a need. I have everything already well covered.
Has anyone ever felt compelled to take a full party just for the sake of having a full party?
On one of my current playthroughs (the one I mentioned before), I have my Cleric, Ajantis, Coran, Kivan, Imoen, and Neera. I realized that Kivan was redundant because I have Imoen w/ Crossbow and Coran (who is a ranged beast), so I dumped him (plus he was yacking about going after bandits).
So that leaves me with my Cleric (healing, tanking), Ajantis (best tank in the game IMO), Coran (best ranged beast in the game except for maybe Dorn), Imoen (range + dualed for spell support), and Neera (spellcasting). All my bases are covered.
I know I should just go with 5 members. More xp to go around, but I can't help but feel incomplete without that 6th member. Any NPC recommendations that would go well with this particular party? Personally, I don't see a need. I have everything already well covered.
Meh, maybe I should stick with 5.
I sometimes grab a full party just to spread out the experience. I find it very annoying when i have reached the experience cap and still have some of the game left. Other times i'll grab them in my no-reload game for meat shields.
There isn't much reason to have a full party in BG1, but in BG2 you'll end up with more dialogues and party banter so that's well worth it if you're into that.
I normally play with a 4 man group (CHARNAME + 3 NPC's) as my core team, then i'll once in a while pick up more members that i'll use for a while and then drop later on.
Kagain is without doubt the best tank in the game. Ajantis is a great all around character (good leader, decent damage, decent tank) but he's got nothing on Kagain when it comes to tanking.
I would pick up a bard for your team, some extra arcane magic, a high lore to identify items for you and decent at ranged combat. He'll also come with a good pickpocket, and there are some amazing items to pickpocket in BG1.
The only real bard possibility is Garrick because I have 20 reputation. Eldoth won't join unless I bring my reputation down a bit and he is saddled with Skie. Not to mention he needs the dexterity gauntlets to be a viable option (unless I want to keep him on the rear and just use him for his song). I guess I could get Garrick and I even thought about it.
I also thought about Faldorn. I am already in Cloakwood so I am about to run into her. As a druid she could compliment my Priest and her summons are certainly welcome.
That's really what it comes down to for me. Garrick or Faldorn, and I'm leaning towards Faldorn.
On a side note, Minsc is still available in Nashkel. Seeing as how Dynaheir is dead (I let her and Edwin fight it out and Edwin always wins) I could bring Minsc along. He hits a lot harder than Kivan which makes him a more logical choice seeing as how I don't need another ranged fighter. His dexterity is only 15 and Ajantis is using the dexterity gauntlets but I guess 15 dexterity will suffice.
I would either go with Faldorn or Garrick. I would pick Garrick over Faldorn because he will do more for your team. Faldorn has horrible dexterity and it's one of the reasons i dislike her.
I went back for Garrick and he's gone. I must have recruited him earlier just to see if he could ID items I had on hand and then I dismissed him. He isn't in the game. So I will run with Minsc or possibly Faldorn. Kinda stinks but oh well.
I wasted a ton of time in game. I left cloakwood and went after Minsc (Nashkel) and then realized I had rather have Kivan after all, then I went back to cloakwood and realized I sold the Halberd he was using so I went back to Nashkel, then I went back to cloakwood only to remember that I have to talk to Vai w/out scalps to trigger the end of Kivan's quest and get my +1 rep so I backtracked yet again - this time to Beregost. Then I went back to Cloakwood, and realized I went too far and needed to finish up at the third cloakwood (I swear I'm not making this up), so I went back to the third cloakwood (another 16 hours). I also rested several times during this charade and my game time went from 30 days (about average for level 6 I suppose) to 45 days. I am kinda bummed but I guess it doesn't have any effect on anything. At least I hope it doesn't.
I normally end up in the 80+ days before even getting into cloakwood.
Wow! You are probably more meticulous than I am. Plus I am playing on Normal difficulty so breezing through with minimal resting is easier. I should really bump it up to Core rules. The only reason I don't is because it saves me time. I don't have to reload several times at level up and when I fail to scribe a spell. I also don't bother resurrecting anyone. Irrespective of difficulty, anytime someone bites the dust, I instantly reload - which is easy because I quicksave about every 15 seconds.
I clear every area, open every lock, pickpocket every person. I used to do Durlag's tower and the Mage Island before going to Baldur's Gate but that's changed in my later playthroughs and now i'm saving them for end game, the way it was intended to have been played normally.
I have a few questions that I feel the need to ask, and they're all about the same character I am on the verge of creating:
I am creating a Swashbuckler that I plan to take through the entire saga. I hope to dual to mage at level 12 (as soon as I get 3 pips in dual-weapon and 2 pips in Scimitar). I could wait until 15 to get the extra bonuses, but...
Is it really worth all the extra downtime (not to mention not being able to reach as high a level as a Mage) just for +1 to thac0 and AC ?
I want 100 lockpicking, 100 dispel illusion, 100 find traps. I thought about using knock, but feel it would take way too many spellslots so I will invest in locks. I hope to go invisible and go around disarming traps. I also hope to dispel illusions. I want the most practical use out of my character, especially seeing as how he can't backstab, or else I would have chosen a Kensai or Berserker. That brings me to my next question...
Will the invisibility spell work for BOTH Hide in Shadows and Move silently or only one or the other?
I will have 315 points to allocate, any recommendations on how to use them?
I basically just want a caster who can help out with other things to eliminate the need. Otherwise, like I said, I would have chosen a fighter. I do want him to be able to hold his own, though - hence the Swashbuckler instead of vanilla thief.
Another question...
If I have all the correct ability scores (as well as constitution), can I dual into a conjurer (or any specialist class providing I have the recommended stats)?
Last question...
Wish. On my current roll I have 97 points (I use autoroller). I plan to allocate them as follows...
18 18 16 18 15 12
The tomes will get me what I need but I will only have 13 Charism (netting only +1 reaction).
Should I dump Wisdom and put it into Charisma instead, merely relying on potions to cast Wish?
Is Wish really worth it?
Here is something else: I want APR similar to a fighter. I will have 19 STR and I want to put it to good use. Will the following work...
Wield Spectral Brand+5 in the mainhand (which also takes care of the handful of enemies requiring +5 to hit), whilst wielding Belm+2 in the offhand? I am aware that the damage from Belm will be rendered moot against certain enemies, but will I still get the extra APR???
I will be extremely grateful is someone can help me out here! Any added advice is also certainly welcome!
I can't say much about this in general, but I can explain a couple of things. First, unless you use an editing program, such as EEkeeper, you cannot have a kit for your second class. Second, Belm (or any other APR boosting weapon) will always provide the extra APR, regardless of whether or not it is actually doing any damage.
Forget waiting for level 15... The AC is largely irrelevant as your spells should stop you getting hit anyway. The THAC0 is slightly more useful, but not worth the extra wait in my book.
Wish is good. Charisma can be worked around... There's a spell called Friends (1st level) which you can use to negotiate, and also a number of items which boost it.
You'll be 1.5APR behind a fighter with grand mastery, but fighters can't blow things apart with spells!
I have a few questions that I feel the need to ask, and they're all about the same character I am on the verge of creating:
I am creating a Swashbuckler that I plan to take through the entire saga. I hope to dual to mage at level 12 (as soon as I get 3 pips in dual-weapon and 2 pips in Scimitar). I could wait until 15 to get the extra bonuses, but...
Is it really worth all the extra downtime (not to mention not being able to reach as high a level as a Mage) just for +1 to thac0 and AC ?
I want 100 lockpicking, 100 dispel illusion, 100 find traps. I thought about using knock, but feel it would take way too many spellslots so I will invest in locks. I hope to go invisible and go around disarming traps. I also hope to dispel illusions. I want the most practical use out of my character, especially seeing as how he can't backstab, or else I would have chosen a Kensai or Berserker. That brings me to my next question...
Will the invisibility spell work for BOTH Hide in Shadows and Move silently or only one or the other?
I will have 315 points to allocate, any recommendations on how to use them?
I basically just want a caster who can help out with other things to eliminate the need. Otherwise, like I said, I would have chosen a fighter. I do want him to be able to hold his own, though - hence the Swashbuckler instead of vanilla thief.
Another question...
If I have all the correct ability scores (as well as constitution), can I dual into a conjurer (or any specialist class providing I have the recommended stats)?
Last question...
Wish. On my current roll I have 97 points (I use autoroller). I plan to allocate them as follows...
18 18 16 18 15 12
The tomes will get me what I need but I will only have 13 Charism (netting only +1 reaction).
Should I dump Wisdom and put it into Charisma instead, merely relying on potions to cast Wish?
Is Wish really worth it?
Here is something else: I want APR similar to a fighter. I will have 19 STR and I want to put it to good use. Will the following work...
Wield Spectral Brand+5 in the mainhand (which also takes care of the handful of enemies requiring +5 to hit), whilst wielding Belm+2 in the offhand? I am aware that the damage from Belm will be rendered moot against certain enemies, but will I still get the extra APR???
I will be extremely grateful is someone can help me out here! Any added advice is also certainly welcome!
It's not worth it going for level 15, i would either pick 10 or 12 (if you want that proficiency).
For stats i would probably end up placing them like this.
18 18 15 (you'll get a tome to put it up to 16 in BG1) 18 18 (wis is better than charisma for you, extra lore and it will help you use wish (level 9 mage spell) 10 (you can pick up a ring in BG2 that puts this to 18.
I would use Scarlet Ninja-to +3/ Spectral brand in main hand and belm/ Scarlet Ninja-to +3 in of hand if i were you. That's two weapons that will give you APR.
I can't stand low charisma characters, but I feel like as much as I hate to say it, SionIV is right when it comes to the stat distribution. Even if you took the one point away from CON, a 14 CHA won't do anything more for you than a 10 will. (+2 reaction means practically nothing) A +10 lore is marginally more useful. Especially when it hits 21 and becomes a +20. And it can get even higher than that. Your CHA on the other hand won't ever be likely to get above 15 or MAYBE 16. (I can't remember all the various opportunities for enhancement)
Thanks, you guys are the best - very helpful and patient, and I have asked a TON of questions since arriving on this forum, but I am really starting to get a feel for the intricacies of this game now, and hopefully soon I will be like you guys - helping others.
I finished setting up my character before reading these comments, I hope I didn't mess up. But I had to finish creating the character after getting that roll - I couldn't wait and risk the game crashing or something. So I will tell you where I put everything and my reasoning for doing it - I just hope my reasoning is solid:
Str 18 - The jump to 19 is massive and only possible if starting at 18. This was a must. But going from 19 to 20 nets only +1 dmg, so in BG2 I will NOT be utilizing the Machine of Lum the Mad for Strength.
Dx 18 - This will hit 19, but for my character there isn't really any difference between 19 and 20 so I will not need to use Lum of the Mad on this ability score.
Cn 16 - I absolutely MUST start at 16 in order to bring it to 17, thus becoming the ONLY ability score in which I can afford to drop a point, which will happen in BG2 (Spellhold). Charisma don't count there.
Int 18 - This will hit 19 and there is absolutely no reason to bring this up to 20 by utilizing Lum's Machine.
Wis 14 - Ok, here was the big one. I went for 14, which will hit 18 after the three Tomes and Lum's Machine. I didn't go higher, and here's why:
Based on all my research, I can't find anything that says a greater Wisdom score than 18 produces better results in Wish. A Wisdom check of 18 is all that is required for the best chances at Wish; higher Wisdom does nothing here. Here is what convinced me:
Chr 13 - It will hit 14 and with friends hit 19 yielding a reaction score of +9. I don't know how often a Charisma check is done on the party (if at all), but playing chaotic evil with all evil characters, I feel my Charisma shouldn't be dumped because I don't want them stabbing me in the back. I don't know if +2 reaction will stop them from betraying me or if perhaps such a thing has more to do with my alignment. This is pretty much the biggest question I have on the choices I made concerning my ability scores - although I am not 100% on any of them.
I put one point in Scimitars and one point in two-weapon fighting. I will put the second point in two-weapon fighting after felling Drizzt.
I put all thief points into locks because I was going to anyway eventually but starting early got me the star-sapphire in the chest upstairs at the inn.
You'll get more lore from a higher wisdom score, and you'll get absolutely nothing from your charisma. Reaction score doesn't matter at the end of the day because reputation will also help you out, so ignore that.
Lum of the Mad will give you one of each stats, the deck of many things will give you +1 dex or int depending on if you do it as mage or thief.
Wow. I had no idea about Lum granting a single bonus in every stat - I thought you had to choose only one. That is excellent and gives me something else to look forward to. I also plan on doing the Hell trials.
To be honest, Lore is not that important to me because I don't mind paying the 100g to identify items. I realize that from a powergaming perspective it probably makes more sense to maximize Wisdom in this scenario but to be honest I am also coming at this from a roleplaying angle.
Thanks for your help - I really appreciate it. If I had it to do over again I probably would do as you said so that I could choose Strength in Lum's machine - added to the hell trials it could get me to 22 which is a big difference from 19 ...+4/10 for a difference of +1/3 if I'm not mistaken (it may even be +5/10).
Edit: I checked the wiki and it's indeed +4/10 which still would have been very nice. Perhaps I should reroll and do it like you said. Even if I have to dump charisma down to 8 it would be better. Now that I know that there is no charisma check for the party - that changes everything. I kept thinking it affected morale and such for some reason but now that it doesn't everything changes.
@Stormvessel, if you are still interested in the fate of Garrick, I've taken a look at your save and he is gone for good. Most likely he was unhappy, because of your reputation, when dismissed by the party.
You can still use the console (or NI) to get him back though.
@Stormvessel, if you are still interested in the fate of Garrick, I've taken a look at your save and he is gone for good. Most likely he was unhappy, because of your reputation, when dismissed by the party.
You can still use the console (or NI) to get him back though.
Yea, that playthrough is over, I am on a new playthrough now .
As soon as I get a few more playthroughs I will have the hard decision of which bhaalspawn to import for my first BGEE 2 experience.
Thanks for taking a look - that was awesome of you.
I hope I'm not too late. You've asked about thieving skills distribution and it seems this question has been overlooked. A thief iis my favourite class so I can't go by that question.
So:
There're rings in BG2 available not far into the game that give +25% to Find/Disarm Traps and +25% to Open Locks. So, don't waste points and don't put more than 75 into both these skills. Before you acquire these rings, you can use potions of master thievery to open locks and potions of power to disarm traps. There're many of these potions in the game.
Also, even taking into account you plan to dual-class, I would still put points into Set Traps. Even not the most powerful version of traps are useful. You need only 80 points in this skill because there's a ring giving +20% to Set Traps.
I would put 100 into Detect Illusion (it's a very useful skill, helps a lot against mages), 80 into Set Traps, 75 into Find/Disarm Traps, 75 into Open Locks. The rest you can put into HiS/MS - it doesn't matter which skill from these two, as @FinaLfront has found out: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/500058/#Comment_500058
Don't bother putting points into Pick Pockets - you can gulp several potions of master thievery, they stack and you'll easily have many points in this skill to steal from the person you need.
You'll have many items that give bonuses to HiS/MS, you'll be a mage so invisibility spells won't be a problem. Also, you've asked: "Will the invisibility spell work for BOTH Hide in Shadows and Move silently or only one or the other?" The reality is that the invisibility spell makes you - yes, you're right, - invisible and this is the only thing that matters. So, we can indeed say this spell works for both HiS/MS.
Comments
Stalker #1 - "How do we prevent this from happening to us?"
Stalker #23 - "We stop stalking women?"
Stalker #93, #21, #2 - "Like that's ever going to happen!"
*Stalker #73 and #61 do a brofist*
Stalker #108 - "Let's come up with a few spells that will help us!"
And there you go, here we are today.
On one of my current playthroughs (the one I mentioned before), I have my Cleric, Ajantis, Coran, Kivan, Imoen, and Neera. I realized that Kivan was redundant because I have Imoen w/ Crossbow and Coran (who is a ranged beast), so I dumped him (plus he was yacking about going after bandits).
So that leaves me with my Cleric (healing, tanking), Ajantis (best tank in the game IMO), Coran (best ranged beast in the game except for maybe Dorn), Imoen (range + dualed for spell support), and Neera (spellcasting). All my bases are covered.
I know I should just go with 5 members. More xp to go around, but I can't help but feel incomplete without that 6th member. Any NPC recommendations that would go well with this particular party? Personally, I don't see a need. I have everything already well covered.
Meh, maybe I should stick with 5.
I sometimes grab a full party just to spread out the experience. I find it very annoying when i have reached the experience cap and still have some of the game left. Other times i'll grab them in my no-reload game for meat shields.
There isn't much reason to have a full party in BG1, but in BG2 you'll end up with more dialogues and party banter so that's well worth it if you're into that.
I normally play with a 4 man group (CHARNAME + 3 NPC's) as my core team, then i'll once in a while pick up more members that i'll use for a while and then drop later on.
Kagain is without doubt the best tank in the game. Ajantis is a great all around character (good leader, decent damage, decent tank) but he's got nothing on Kagain when it comes to tanking.
I would pick up a bard for your team, some extra arcane magic, a high lore to identify items for you and decent at ranged combat. He'll also come with a good pickpocket, and there are some amazing items to pickpocket in BG1.
I also thought about Faldorn. I am already in Cloakwood so I am about to run into her. As a druid she could compliment my Priest and her summons are certainly welcome.
That's really what it comes down to for me. Garrick or Faldorn, and I'm leaning towards Faldorn.
On a side note, Minsc is still available in Nashkel. Seeing as how Dynaheir is dead (I let her and Edwin fight it out and Edwin always wins) I could bring Minsc along. He hits a lot harder than Kivan which makes him a more logical choice seeing as how I don't need another ranged fighter. His dexterity is only 15 and Ajantis is using the dexterity gauntlets but I guess 15 dexterity will suffice.
Faldorn :
Druid spells - Call Woodland being, Insect plague, Call lightning.
Garrick :
Arcane spells
Ranged attacks
Lore
Pickpocket
@Tresset may know the console code you need or another, better workaround.
C:CreateCreature("GARRIC2")Most of BG's NPCs are named intuitively.If Stormvessel uploads a save I can tell where Garrick is, since I could do a search with NI in his save.
I am creating a Swashbuckler that I plan to take through the entire saga. I hope to dual to mage at level 12 (as soon as I get 3 pips in dual-weapon and 2 pips in Scimitar). I could wait until 15 to get the extra bonuses, but...
Is it really worth all the extra downtime (not to mention not being able to reach as high a level as a Mage) just for +1 to thac0 and AC ?
I want 100 lockpicking, 100 dispel illusion, 100 find traps. I thought about using knock, but feel it would take way too many spellslots so I will invest in locks. I hope to go invisible and go around disarming traps. I also hope to dispel illusions. I want the most practical use out of my character, especially seeing as how he can't backstab, or else I would have chosen a Kensai or Berserker. That brings me to my next question...
Will the invisibility spell work for BOTH Hide in Shadows and Move silently or only one or the other?
I will have 315 points to allocate, any recommendations on how to use them?
I basically just want a caster who can help out with other things to eliminate the need. Otherwise, like I said, I would have chosen a fighter. I do want him to be able to hold his own, though - hence the Swashbuckler instead of vanilla thief.
Another question...
If I have all the correct ability scores (as well as constitution), can I dual into a conjurer (or any specialist class providing I have the recommended stats)?
Last question...
Wish. On my current roll I have 97 points (I use autoroller). I plan to allocate them as follows...
18
18
16
18
15
12
The tomes will get me what I need but I will only have 13 Charism (netting only +1 reaction).
Should I dump Wisdom and put it into Charisma instead, merely relying on potions to cast Wish?
Is Wish really worth it?
Here is something else: I want APR similar to a fighter. I will have 19 STR and I want to put it to good use. Will the following work...
Wield Spectral Brand+5 in the mainhand (which also takes care of the handful of enemies requiring +5 to hit), whilst wielding Belm+2 in the offhand? I am aware that the damage from Belm will be rendered moot against certain enemies, but will I still get the extra APR???
I will be extremely grateful is someone can help me out here! Any added advice is also certainly welcome!
Forget waiting for level 15... The AC is largely irrelevant as your spells should stop you getting hit anyway. The THAC0 is slightly more useful, but not worth the extra wait in my book.
Wish is good.
Charisma can be worked around... There's a spell called Friends (1st level) which you can use to negotiate, and also a number of items which boost it.
You'll be 1.5APR behind a fighter with grand mastery, but fighters can't blow things apart with spells!
For stats i would probably end up placing them like this.
18
18
15 (you'll get a tome to put it up to 16 in BG1)
18
18 (wis is better than charisma for you, extra lore and it will help you use wish (level 9 mage spell)
10 (you can pick up a ring in BG2 that puts this to 18.
I would use Scarlet Ninja-to +3/ Spectral brand in main hand and belm/ Scarlet Ninja-to +3 in of hand if i were you. That's two weapons that will give you APR.
Base - 1 APR
Dual wield - 2 APR
Belm - 3 APR
Scarlet Ninja-to - 4 APR
Improved haste - 8 APR
I finished setting up my character before reading these comments, I hope I didn't mess up. But I had to finish creating the character after getting that roll - I couldn't wait and risk the game crashing or something. So I will tell you where I put everything and my reasoning for doing it - I just hope my reasoning is solid:
Str 18 - The jump to 19 is massive and only possible if starting at 18. This was a must. But going from 19 to 20 nets only +1 dmg, so in BG2 I will NOT be utilizing the Machine of Lum the Mad for Strength.
Dx 18 - This will hit 19, but for my character there isn't really any difference between 19 and 20 so I will not need to use Lum of the Mad on this ability score.
Cn 16 - I absolutely MUST start at 16 in order to bring it to 17, thus becoming the ONLY ability score in which I can afford to drop a point, which will happen in BG2 (Spellhold). Charisma don't count there.
Int 18 - This will hit 19 and there is absolutely no reason to bring this up to 20 by utilizing Lum's Machine.
Wis 14 - Ok, here was the big one. I went for 14, which will hit 18 after the three Tomes and Lum's Machine. I didn't go higher, and here's why:
Based on all my research, I can't find anything that says a greater Wisdom score than 18 produces better results in Wish. A Wisdom check of 18 is all that is required for the best chances at Wish; higher Wisdom does nothing here. Here is what convinced me:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/287702/#Comment_287702
Chr 13 - It will hit 14 and with friends hit 19 yielding a reaction score of +9. I don't know how often a Charisma check is done on the party (if at all), but playing chaotic evil with all evil characters, I feel my Charisma shouldn't be dumped because I don't want them stabbing me in the back. I don't know if +2 reaction will stop them from betraying me or if perhaps such a thing has more to do with my alignment. This is pretty much the biggest question I have on the choices I made concerning my ability scores - although I am not 100% on any of them.
I put one point in Scimitars and one point in two-weapon fighting. I will put the second point in two-weapon fighting after felling Drizzt.
I put all thief points into locks because I was going to anyway eventually but starting early got me the star-sapphire in the chest upstairs at the inn.
There it is. I hope I didn't mess up.
Lum of the Mad will give you one of each stats, the deck of many things will give you +1 dex or int depending on if you do it as mage or thief.
To be honest, Lore is not that important to me because I don't mind paying the 100g to identify items. I realize that from a powergaming perspective it probably makes more sense to maximize Wisdom in this scenario but to be honest I am also coming at this from a roleplaying angle.
Thanks for your help - I really appreciate it. If I had it to do over again I probably would do as you said so that I could choose Strength in Lum's machine - added to the hell trials it could get me to 22 which is a big difference from 19 ...+4/10 for a difference of +1/3 if I'm not mistaken (it may even be +5/10).
Edit: I checked the wiki and it's indeed +4/10 which still would have been very nice. Perhaps I should reroll and do it like you said. Even if I have to dump charisma down to 8 it would be better. Now that I know that there is no charisma check for the party - that changes everything. I kept thinking it affected morale and such for some reason but now that it doesn't everything changes.
You can still use the console (or NI) to get him back though.
As soon as I get a few more playthroughs I will have the hard decision of which bhaalspawn to import for my first BGEE 2 experience.
Thanks for taking a look - that was awesome of you.
I know the description says warriors only, but I've never played one personally, so I wasn't sure if it had been implemented.
I hope I'm not too late. You've asked about thieving skills distribution and it seems this question has been overlooked. A thief iis my favourite class so I can't go by that question.
So:
There're rings in BG2 available not far into the game that give +25% to Find/Disarm Traps and +25% to Open Locks. So, don't waste points and don't put more than 75 into both these skills. Before you acquire these rings, you can use potions of master thievery to open locks and potions of power to disarm traps. There're many of these potions in the game.
Also, even taking into account you plan to dual-class, I would still put points into Set Traps. Even not the most powerful version of traps are useful. You need only 80 points in this skill because there's a ring giving +20% to Set Traps.
I would put 100 into Detect Illusion (it's a very useful skill, helps a lot against mages), 80 into Set Traps, 75 into Find/Disarm Traps, 75 into Open Locks. The rest you can put into HiS/MS - it doesn't matter which skill from these two, as @FinaLfront has found out: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/500058/#Comment_500058
Don't bother putting points into Pick Pockets - you can gulp several potions of master thievery, they stack and you'll easily have many points in this skill to steal from the person you need.
You'll have many items that give bonuses to HiS/MS, you'll be a mage so invisibility spells won't be a problem. Also, you've asked: "Will the invisibility spell work for BOTH Hide in Shadows and Move silently or only one or the other?" The reality is that the invisibility spell makes you - yes, you're right, - invisible and this is the only thing that matters. So, we can indeed say this spell works for both HiS/MS.