And while I do have the bonus CD lying around somewhere, I usually just use a mod to insert the bonus merchants into the game.
I thought Bioware actually officially patched those merchants into the game in one of their last patches. I could be wrong though. Either way, as you said, mods to get them into the game are easy enough anyway.
Improved Invisibility + Spell Immunity: Divination + Spell Immunity: Abjuration foils all spells that require a target*, Dispel Magic and True Seeing.
Note that this is of course unmodded behavior.
Not sure if altering spells should be classified as being a "smart" choice, and not sure if protecting Haer'Dalis is important anyway, but the problem is that yes, Dispel Magic and True Seeing are area effect spells. Causing enemy mages to cast it will cause everyone in the party who isnt protected by the above combination to lose protections. So Improved Invisibility is actually a debuff if using mods where mages are smart enough to use True Sight. Stopped using it with Tactics installed.
@Silence: Coran IS in Baldur's Gate 2. If I recall, Safana kills him
You mean you didn't save him?
Just running off memory! That part was so minor, it's kind of fuzzy in my memory banks.
@Silence Yeah I can see that, but outside of Haer'Dalis, none of your arcane casters really belong in melee. If you want to build your own mage guy, then totally arcane casters are illustrious at not dying. I was referring to the NPCs, rather than a player-made character.
You have to admit, Anomen can take a hit and dish out some pretty wicked melee damage. Plus, Crom Fayer.
Actually he really doesn't, but I count the ability to equip it and actually make good use of it as a major bonus. The only other NPC who really makes good use of it is Korgan and it's pretty safe to assume you're not using both Anomen and Korgan in the same playthrough. Keldorn is the natural choice for Carsomyr or the Purifier should you need to sword-and-board with him. Minsc whomps around with every other two-handed sword you can find or alternatively makes use of pretty much whatever you want when you go dual-wield. Valygar doesn't want it because you can't backstab with warhammers. Aerie and Viconia can use it if you really need but both of them are better off safely outside of melee because they are both made out of wet tissue paper.
I never really minded him in the party! Half his dialogues with the other NPCs crack me up. I've been meaning to turn him Chaotic Neutral and see how he interacts with parties because I've always gone the good route. Maybe they'll give us incentive to do that in BG2:EE?
And while I do have the bonus CD lying around somewhere, I usually just use a mod to insert the bonus merchants into the game.
I thought Bioware actually officially patched those merchants into the game in one of their last patches. I could be wrong though. Either way, as you said, mods to get them into the game are easy enough anyway.
I dunno, I have the "Planescape: Torment items" merchant (Robe of Vecna, etc) but no "Icewind Dale items" merchant. AFAIK only the former was patched in.
@Humanoid_Taifun yeah probably. When you've beaten the saga as many times as I have, you tend to try to do the most bizarre things possible just to shake it up, you know? I'm a hardcore meta-gamer at heart.
@sandmanCCL Playing Anomen in a good party is "shak[ing] it up"? :P What I mean is we have different philosophies how characters are the most effective. For example: Korgan is for me the most obvious choice for Crom Faeyr. The only other weapons that are interesting for him are Belm or Kundane, but giving those to him would just feel wrong to me. Like arming Minsc with a tooth pick.
Chaotic Neutral Anomen in general is shaking things up a bit. Pretty sure he attempts to murder Aerie and Edwin if you go CN.
In a good party, he's my tank. I don't bring Keldorn if I bring Anomen because there's only one Gauntlets of Dexterity to go around. Minsc goes full berserker fury with two-handers (or Valygar insta-gibs people depending on what I feel like doing), Aerie does her thing, my character is usually a mage/thief/bard of some kind, Mazzy flings arrows, Imoen does her thing. Crom Fayer makes tons of sense on Anomen in this party make up.
@sandmanCCL I think we're playing the game very differently. Interesting.
This. Somehow I've never thought of Viconia as "made out of wet tissue paper." I beef her up pretty well. All you need is some high level Cleric spells, and a strength girdle so she can equip worthwhile armor and kick ass.
Bards like Haer'Dalis can be, but I find the Fighter hybrids like Anomen are much more threatening.
Anyone can wreck up the place with a Crom Faeyr. Sad part is that I hate waiting all those levels to get to the hammer...that's a long time to have a lot of pips in a weapon type that ain't that great otherwise.
@Quartz: I've never found clerics frail in BG2 either. Decent HP, good armour and great saves, as well as a number of great protection buffs.
A good solution to the Viconia strength problem is the Mauler's Arm. It's cheap, it's a mace, it grants 18 str and its available at the Copper Coronet. Use this on her and save the girdle for your kickass fighters. Note: I think you have to free the gladiator slaves to get this item.
Bards like Haer'Dalis can be, but I find the Fighter hybrids like Anomen are much more threatening.
Anyone can wreck up the place with a Crom Faeyr. Sad part is that I hate waiting all those levels to get to the hammer...that's a long time to have a lot of pips in a weapon type that ain't that great otherwise.
@Quartz: I've never found clerics frail in BG2 either. Decent HP, good armour and great saves, as well as a number of great protection buffs.
A good solution to the Viconia strength problem is the Mauler's Arm. It's cheap, it's a mace, it grants 18 str and its available at the Copper Coronet. Use this on her and save the girdle for your kickass fighters. Note: I think you have to free the gladiator slaves to get this item.
Yeah, that's a good option too. "save the girdle for your kickass fighters," meh there are 3 of them ... although I guess you would end up with 2 if you made the Crom Faeyr, wouldn't you ... I'm not lucky enough to have ever managed to forge that damn thing.
The wet tissue paper comment has to do with her poor HP pool. I'm aware you can melee with her, but I don't really see the point when she's so deadly with a sling. There's a lot of decent armors you can use with her really early on if you book it straight to her. The Mail of the Dead you find in the beginner's dungeon, for example.
You can turn anyone you want into a steroid monster made of beef and death end-game so I don't really factor that into "a character." End game, there is practically no difference between Anomen and Viconia, you know? It's very, very minor.
I never really considered the Mauler's Arm to be a "fix" for her low strength. It only gives you 18 strength while it's in hand, and she's deadlier with a sling. It's kind of a meh weapon overall as it's only +1. IIRC I usually ran with The Sleeper on her til I got Crom. Or maybe it was Anomen. Either way, I guess. They equip similarly. It's not like you need to max War Hammers first if you plan on using it because like you said, it's a long time before you get that bad boy. Unless you're a dwarf, warhammers aren't that great. Morningstars/flails are clearly the best blunt weapons early in BG2.
...God I am such a nerd. I swear to god I have every inch of the game mapped out in my head.
And now I'm having fun thoughts of Korgan with Axe of Unyielding (the vorpal one) and Crom going happy go berserker dwarfy in the face of things.
Also apparently Keldorn and Korgan have some good mutual respect dialogue. Kinda makes me wonder what affect Anomen would have their.
Ok so here is your party people.
DWing Korgan, 2h Sword using Keldorn, S/S Anomen, Imoen (required!), Mazzy. Now the question is do I play a pure tank and let our buddy Anomen offtank, or give us another divine or arcane Caster.
Ah you find party combinations in the strangest places.
All this talk of CN Anomen makes me want to recruit him in BG2. I've never actually played a game all the way through with the guy. I almost always use Viconia or Aerie as my resident Cleric.
And now I'm having fun thoughts of Korgan with Axe of Unyielding (the vorpal one) and Crom going happy go berserker dwarfy in the face of things.
Also apparently Keldorn and Korgan have some good mutual respect dialogue. Kinda makes me wonder what affect Anomen would have their.
Ok so here is your party people.
DWing Korgan, 2h Sword using Keldorn, S/S Anomen, Imoen (required!), Mazzy. Now the question is do I play a pure tank and let our buddy Anomen offtank, or give us another divine or arcane Caster.
Ah you find party combinations in the strangest places.
It's funny because it seems to be pairing Korgan with the super-holy NPCs bring out some depth in him. Put him with like Aerie or whatever and he's just like "Yarr, I'm a surly tempered Dwarf" but put him with Mazzy or Keldorn and some interesting stuff happens.
PS Korgan with Axe of Unyielding and Crom was what I had when I beat the game with him. It may be why I'm in the minority that considers him a better fighter than The Big S
@MilesBeyond I've actually never used The Big S. My first BG2 game corrupted like right at the start of ToB and my last group was Kelly, Vally, Mazzy, Anomen, and Imoen with my Cavalier. And I hear Korgan also gives crap to I think Viconia or Nalia as well as Aerie. Or maybe he just threatened Edwin with an Axe to the knees.
Btw does anyone else share the feeling that the only proper weapons for dwarves are Axes and Hammers? Or am I the only person that does that.
Go Halbreds. He is the single most deadly possible bad-ass in the history of bad-asses with The Ravager. A lot of folks don't realize the S-Man has an ability called "Deathbringer Assault" (or maybe it was Doombringer assault?) which does like 200 damage on hit. Combine it with a weapon with a chance for insta-death for more insta-death!
Mmmmmm Ravager. Gloriously overpowered weapon.
@Schneidend: Don't do the Chaotic Neutral thing with him unless you're just screwing around with your playthrough. He tries to kill like 50% of the NPCs after you "fail" that quest because he gets even thinner skinned. Flips out at Keldorn and Aerie. Pretty sure Edwin's incessant taunting sets him off. Also pretty sure he attacks Viconia, whom he gets along with most the time otherwise simply because he's a womanizer and "durr hurr purty elf." Plus, he gains serious bonuses when he becomes Sir Anomen, and he's also way less of a tool douchebag.
@sandmanCCL: Yeah, Mauler's Arm just gets her into a good suit of armour early in the game. I never bother with finding Viconia a great sling. She does so little damage with one...in BG2, missile combat is less awesome in general, and slings are worse than bows. The other problem is that she only ever gets one attack, so regardless of the weapon she'll never do a ton of damage. That said, I don't bother melee-ing with her unless she's under a Champion's Strength or something. Though a Girdle of Strength + a Sling of Seeking is tempting...
I know what you mean though. I have the game mapped out in my head too. I think we just differ in how we like to play our clerics.
Personally, I get very annoyed by how often magical ammo needs to be re-filled. That's enough to keep me off slings.
Go Halbreds. He is the single most deadly possible bad-ass in the history of bad-asses with The Ravager. A lot of folks don't realize the S-Man has an ability called "Deathbringer Assault" (or maybe it was Doombringer assault?) which does like 200 damage on hit. Combine it with a weapon with a chance for insta-death for more insta-death!
Mmmmmm Ravager. Gloriously overpowered weapon.
Hah, I actually did an evil playthrough where I intentionally assembled and kept the Wave Halberd with him in mind, as something to tide him over until the Ravager appears.
@Schneidend: Don't do the Chaotic Neutral thing with him unless you're just screwing around with your playthrough. He tries to kill like 50% of the NPCs after you "fail" that quest because he gets even thinner skinned. Flips out at Keldorn and Aerie. Pretty sure Edwin's incessant taunting sets him off. Also pretty sure he attacks Viconia, whom he gets along with most the time otherwise simply because he's a womanizer and "durr hurr purty elf." Plus, he gains serious bonuses when he becomes Sir Anomen, and he's also way less of a tool douchebag.
I'll probably just do it for the evulz, the satisfaction of luring such an arrogant blowhard to his ruin (while simultaneously looting the hell out of a really wealthy family). If he tries to kill Edwin, who is going to be my loyal sidekick, or Viconia, who is going to be my mistress, I will simply END him.
@Silence: I've never had an issue stocking ammo in BG2. BG1, very yes. BG2, not really. You get plenty and unless you're running a really sling-heavy party, you should always have ammo or some kind. I've never really noticed the lack of attacks per round to really matter with my clerics as I use Viconia mostly as a buff bot/healer for the majority of BG2.
I don't think it's necissarily that we use clerics different. I just think we utilize these specific NPCs in different ways. I have used her to run up and club things to death toward the end of the saga, but then again she still usually sits in the back because Korgan and Sarevok (or Keldorn and Valygar) are all the melee you need. They chew through waves of smaller baddies enough on their own so I'd rather keep the more essential members of my success out of harm's way as much as possible.
I'm ridiculously cautious, I guess. Comes from beating the entire saga solo with a Blade.
I support this wholeheartedly. My friend and I are going to do a multiplayer run and he's going to roll a halfling Assassin based on his very first D&D character to join my Blackguard. Serick "The Night" was his name, and his very first act in the game was to roll a 1 on his Stealth check. Next round he rolled a natural 18 on his Stealth and obliterated six goblins with opportunity attacks. I've had a soft spot for halfling Rogues ever since that fateful day.
I haven't fully decided if I'm going to do an Elven or Halfling Assassin. Either one will lead to a very........interesting relationship with a half-orc.
Elven Assassins are cool, too. I'm reminded of an elven Rogue NPC in the Neverwinter Nights campaign who has some fun dialogue and flirts with male PCs, but then dies horribly when the bad guys show up. I always wonder what might have been if that gal had actually been made a full companion.
Ya the only reasons I'm thinking elf over halfing are. 1 they're short. 2 Elves get +1 thaco with bows and longswords early which help. And elves also get that extra point for strength. If halflings got bonuses to short sword and daggers I might consider em.
The flip side is I know I'll roll another elven stalker one day, so that gives me more incentive to halfingize things (and those clutch extra thieving points since assassins get so precious few).
Comments
And while I do have the bonus CD lying around somewhere, I usually just use a mod to insert the bonus merchants into the game.
@Silence Yeah I can see that, but outside of Haer'Dalis, none of your arcane casters really belong in melee. If you want to build your own mage guy, then totally arcane casters are illustrious at not dying. I was referring to the NPCs, rather than a player-made character.
You have to admit, Anomen can take a hit and dish out some pretty wicked melee damage. Plus, Crom Fayer.
I never really minded him in the party! Half his dialogues with the other NPCs crack me up. I've been meaning to turn him Chaotic Neutral and see how he interacts with parties because I've always gone the good route. Maybe they'll give us incentive to do that in BG2:EE?
What I mean is we have different philosophies how characters are the most effective.
For example: Korgan is for me the most obvious choice for Crom Faeyr. The only other weapons that are interesting for him are Belm or Kundane, but giving those to him would just feel wrong to me. Like arming Minsc with a tooth pick.
In a good party, he's my tank. I don't bring Keldorn if I bring Anomen because there's only one Gauntlets of Dexterity to go around. Minsc goes full berserker fury with two-handers (or Valygar insta-gibs people depending on what I feel like doing), Aerie does her thing, my character is usually a mage/thief/bard of some kind, Mazzy flings arrows, Imoen does her thing. Crom Fayer makes tons of sense on Anomen in this party make up.
Anyone can wreck up the place with a Crom Faeyr. Sad part is that I hate waiting all those levels to get to the hammer...that's a long time to have a lot of pips in a weapon type that ain't that great otherwise.
@Quartz: I've never found clerics frail in BG2 either. Decent HP, good armour and great saves, as well as a number of great protection buffs.
A good solution to the Viconia strength problem is the Mauler's Arm. It's cheap, it's a mace, it grants 18 str and its available at the Copper Coronet. Use this on her and save the girdle for your kickass fighters. Note: I think you have to free the gladiator slaves to get this item.
You can turn anyone you want into a steroid monster made of beef and death end-game so I don't really factor that into "a character." End game, there is practically no difference between Anomen and Viconia, you know? It's very, very minor.
I never really considered the Mauler's Arm to be a "fix" for her low strength. It only gives you 18 strength while it's in hand, and she's deadlier with a sling. It's kind of a meh weapon overall as it's only +1. IIRC I usually ran with The Sleeper on her til I got Crom. Or maybe it was Anomen. Either way, I guess. They equip similarly. It's not like you need to max War Hammers first if you plan on using it because like you said, it's a long time before you get that bad boy. Unless you're a dwarf, warhammers aren't that great. Morningstars/flails are clearly the best blunt weapons early in BG2.
...God I am such a nerd. I swear to god I have every inch of the game mapped out in my head.
And now I'm having fun thoughts of Korgan with Axe of Unyielding (the vorpal one) and Crom going happy go berserker dwarfy in the face of things.
Also apparently Keldorn and Korgan have some good mutual respect dialogue. Kinda makes me wonder what affect Anomen would have their.
Ok so here is your party people.
DWing Korgan, 2h Sword using Keldorn, S/S Anomen, Imoen (required!), Mazzy. Now the question is do I play a pure tank and let our buddy Anomen offtank, or give us another divine or arcane Caster.
Ah you find party combinations in the strangest places.
PS Korgan with Axe of Unyielding and Crom was what I had when I beat the game with him. It may be why I'm in the minority that considers him a better fighter than The Big S
Btw does anyone else share the feeling that the only proper weapons for dwarves are Axes and Hammers? Or am I the only person that does that.
Go Halbreds. He is the single most deadly possible bad-ass in the history of bad-asses with The Ravager. A lot of folks don't realize the S-Man has an ability called "Deathbringer Assault" (or maybe it was Doombringer assault?) which does like 200 damage on hit. Combine it with a weapon with a chance for insta-death for more insta-death!
Mmmmmm Ravager. Gloriously overpowered weapon.
@Schneidend: Don't do the Chaotic Neutral thing with him unless you're just screwing around with your playthrough. He tries to kill like 50% of the NPCs after you "fail" that quest because he gets even thinner skinned. Flips out at Keldorn and Aerie. Pretty sure Edwin's incessant taunting sets him off. Also pretty sure he attacks Viconia, whom he gets along with most the time otherwise simply because he's a womanizer and "durr hurr purty elf." Plus, he gains serious bonuses when he becomes Sir Anomen, and he's also way less of a tool douchebag.
I know what you mean though. I have the game mapped out in my head too. I think we just differ in how we like to play our clerics.
Personally, I get very annoyed by how often magical ammo needs to be re-filled. That's enough to keep me off slings.
What I don't ONLY play paladins. Really considering a halfling assassin for an evil playthrough.
I don't think it's necissarily that we use clerics different. I just think we utilize these specific NPCs in different ways. I have used her to run up and club things to death toward the end of the saga, but then again she still usually sits in the back because Korgan and Sarevok (or Keldorn and Valygar) are all the melee you need. They chew through waves of smaller baddies enough on their own so I'd rather keep the more essential members of my success out of harm's way as much as possible.
I'm ridiculously cautious, I guess. Comes from beating the entire saga solo with a Blade.
Also, wands.
I support this wholeheartedly. My friend and I are going to do a multiplayer run and he's going to roll a halfling Assassin based on his very first D&D character to join my Blackguard. Serick "The Night" was his name, and his very first act in the game was to roll a 1 on his Stealth check. Next round he rolled a natural 18 on his Stealth and obliterated six goblins with opportunity attacks. I've had a soft spot for halfling Rogues ever since that fateful day.
I haven't fully decided if I'm going to do an Elven or Halfling Assassin. Either one will lead to a very........interesting relationship with a half-orc.
The flip side is I know I'll roll another elven stalker one day, so that gives me more incentive to halfingize things (and those clutch extra thieving points since assassins get so precious few).