Druid weapons, honestly, are better than cleric weapons. Flail of Ages and Crom Faeyr are both excellent, but only one of those is available early, and Crom Faeyr requires a lot of gold and extra quests, plus sacrificing a couple of excellent STR-boosting items, while the best druid weapons are either free loot or are bought cheaply. Gnasher does more damage than FoA and is at least as good at disrupting spells, given its lingering damage. Belm adds 1 to APR and therefore compensates for the one great weakness of non-fighter classes, their base 1 APR. One of the most damaging weapons in the game is a spear, the Impaler from Ixilthetocal. Druids also get to use the Crimson Dart, available early from the first level of Watcher's Keep, as I recall, again, for free.
Another critical detail is the leveling issue. Druids gain levels faster initially, but then reach a couple of dry periods from level 13 to 14, and then 14 to 15. But once druids hit 3 million XP and therefore level 15, they will have more spell slots than clerics for the rest of the game. In a big group, druids tend to languish in the late game until TOB. In a small group, or solo, druids quickly outpace clerics in terms of spellcasting power.
And Insect Plague, at least outside of SCS (where it is weakened and many enemies use Fireshield, which in SCS blocks Insect Plague), is probably the best disabler in BG2. Generally, though, clerics are a little more user-friendly, given their more consistent leveling and better access to armor.
Avengers and Clerics of Lathander are probably the strongest kits of their respective classes, since they can reach unusually high APR early in the game. In SCS2, with the Shapeshifting Rebalancing component, Shapeshifter are probably the tougher class, given the absurd bonuses from Greater Werewolf Tokens.
I actually did a comparison of druid and cleric spell tables, THAC0, and damage capabilities at each stage of the game. I found that they were almost identical almost all the time. Besides, the reason why clerics and druids are useful in the first place is because of their access to divine spell buffs--most importantly, Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, and Remove Fear--which are far more important than their melee or tanking abilities.
Druids and clerics are generally identical in function and utility. Only the kits do much to differentiate them.
Those annoying skeletons at High Hedge. I know you need a skull eventually, but do they have to constantly respawn? Bah! We need a monster generator like the old Gauntlet days so we can bash it and stop the skele spawns.
Those annoying skeletons at High Hedge. I know you need a skull eventually, but do they have to constantly respawn? Bah! We need a monster generator like the old Gauntlet days so we can bash it and stop the skele spawns.
Why is a suit of ankheg armor hidden in a field owned by someone who could really use the money from selling it?
It's actually an ankheg shell. As ankhegs seem to inhabit fields quite often it is to be expected that they sometimes also die there. Amazingly the shell then decomposed into something wearable as an armor. The pearl is just further proof for this theory as they often carry around a piece of jewelry too.
Those annoying skeletons at High Hedge. I know you need a skull eventually, but do they have to constantly respawn? Bah! We need a monster generator like the old Gauntlet days so we can bash it and stop the skele spawns.
Red Wizard is about to die!
Congratulations! You now have enough crystals to enter the Mountain Kingdom! For some reason, that line in particular always stuck with me. Good times.
Druid weapons, honestly, are better than cleric weapons. Flail of Ages and Crom Faeyr are both excellent, but only one of those is available early, and Crom Faeyr requires a lot of gold and extra quests, plus sacrificing a couple of excellent STR-boosting items, while the best druid weapons are either free loot or are bought cheaply. Gnasher does more damage than FoA and is at least as good at disrupting spells, given its lingering damage. Belm adds 1 to APR and therefore compensates for the one great weakness of non-fighter classes, their base 1 APR. One of the most damaging weapons in the game is a spear, the Impaler from Ixilthetocal. Druids also get to use the Crimson Dart, available early from the first level of Watcher's Keep, as I recall, again, for free.
Another critical detail is the leveling issue. Druids gain levels faster initially, but then reach a couple of dry periods from level 13 to 14, and then 14 to 15. But once druids hit 3 million XP and therefore level 15, they will have more spell slots than clerics for the rest of the game. In a big group, druids tend to languish in the late game until TOB. In a small group, or solo, druids quickly outpace clerics in terms of spellcasting power.
And Insect Plague, at least outside of SCS (where it is weakened and many enemies use Fireshield, which in SCS blocks Insect Plague), is probably the best disabler in BG2. Generally, though, clerics are a little more user-friendly, given their more consistent leveling and better access to armor.
Avengers and Clerics of Lathander are probably the strongest kits of their respective classes, since they can reach unusually high APR early in the game. In SCS2, with the Shapeshifting Rebalancing component, Shapeshifter are probably the tougher class, given the absurd bonuses from Greater Werewolf Tokens.
I actually did a comparison of druid and cleric spell tables, THAC0, and damage capabilities at each stage of the game. I found that they were almost identical almost all the time. Besides, the reason why clerics and druids are useful in the first place is because of their access to divine spell buffs--most importantly, Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, and Remove Fear--which are far more important than their melee or tanking abilities.
Druids and clerics are generally identical in function and utility. Only the kits do much to differentiate them.
I very much support this! A druid just rocks as my Totemic Druid Tale confirms.
I would like to mention that druids in in BG1&2EE do not get Remove Fear, though. They can get it through the Deva as soon as reach HLAs.
Keldorn & Viconia & the fact that, without mods, you can't have both in the party without him - the supposed wise one - having a complete hissy fit & kicking the bejesus out of her. Given that Viconia isn't actually *that* evil and she says enough in her dialogues to indicate she isn't like all other drow - okay so she's not Drizzt, but ya know - surely it would be a better fit with Keldorn's morality to give her a fair go? The whole thing just doesn't fit with what we know about both of them, we know he's not unreasonable so why can't there be a non-violent resolution?
Viconia trying to shag Sarevok, while im in the middle of a romance with her....
Not sure I can blame her ;-), also if you're after complete commitment romancing a drow is not really the way to go.
Another thing that narks me, & it's a bit an RL bleed-through, are some of the peasant dialogues where the women suggest their old men will beat them if they don't bring back any cash. I'd love an option where Charname gets to deal with that, it's pretty dark & not being able to address it is disappointing.
@baldurscat: you want to shank a quarter of Athlaka? Domestic violence isn't really the usual fare for adventurers.
"I will save you! Is your husband controlled by illithids? Is there a demonic cult involved? Does he have ties to the shadow thieves?! Tell me where my sword shall strike!"
"Uh...he...drinks too much. Can you solve that?"
At which point Anomen reminds you that you still need to save your sister or reclaim your soul.
I agree it's sad. But charname can't fix all woes in the world. Well, unless you choose godhood....
For me, it annoys me that dwarf npcs get great voices "By Morradin's Hammer!" and have accents in their dialogue, but a dwarven charname doesn't have that.
It annoys me that the Duergar in Irenicus' dungeon say "By Morradin's hammer!" It makes me feel like I'm killing some of Faerun's few good duergar. Did they escape the underdark only to get enslaved by Irenicus and killed by Charname? Sadness.
It annoys me that a dwarven charname asks Korgan "what is the dwarven word for..."
Nah you're not alone, Jan's not my cup of tea either.
The fact that the three fighters I take with me most (Minsc, Keldorn and Sarevok) all specialize in 2h swords while I'm playing a fighter that I want to specialize in 2h swords. Goddamn OCD.
Nah you're not alone, Jan's not my cup of tea either.
The fact that the three fighters I take with me most (Minsc, Keldorn and Sarevok) all specialize in 2h swords while I'm playing a fighter that I want to specialize in 2h swords. Goddamn OCD.
You can easily make Minsc hammer+mace, Keldorn gets Carsomyr, Sarevok takes the other 2-handers and wield bastard- and longswords yourself. Problem solved.
Nah you're not alone, Jan's not my cup of tea either.
The fact that the three fighters I take with me most (Minsc, Keldorn and Sarevok) all specialize in 2h swords while I'm playing a fighter that I want to specialize in 2h swords. Goddamn OCD.
You can easily make Minsc hammer+mace, Keldorn gets Carsomyr, Sarevok takes the other 2-handers and wield bastard- and longswords yourself. Problem solved.
I usually opt for longsword specialisation with two-weapon fighting but it would be nice if one of the other NPCs had longswords in their specialisation as there are so many good ones available (in BG2).
Heh, no rage, personally I like him & for RPing I'd keep him around for entertainment value in a serious goody-goody party, especially with a bard PC but I can understand why he'd be irritating. That leads me on to another thing that annoys me - & referring back to my initial point - even his quest doesn't
Hello. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. As far as I can tell, Anomen and Dorn are illegal (there may be other illegal NPCs extant, but these are the only ones I can think of as of this writing. I welcome expansions and corrections). To wit, Anomen never has the requisite 17 WIS to legitimately dual-class into a Cleric, not even as Sir Anomen, and only humans can be Blackguards. I consider the former more egregious as it goes back to the earliest versions of the game.
Okay, I'm playing now so these things keep cropping up, but...
If you take a full party of 6 to rescue Imoen & you then take her with you you have to leave a party member stranded on the island, there's no passage back to Athkatla for them, that kinda sucks. Currently RPing leaving Nalia in Athkatla; she's had an invite to assist the Council of the Six.
Hello. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. As far as I can tell, Anomen and Dorn are illegal (there may be other illegal NPCs extant, but these are the only ones I can think of as of this writing. I welcome expansions and corrections). To wit, Anomen never has the requisite 17 WIS to legitimately dual-class into a Cleric, not even as Sir Anomen, and only humans can be Blackguards. I consider the former more egregious as it goes back to the earliest versions of the game.
Aerie is also illegal, if I remember correctly. Elves can't be cleric/mages. Personally, it doesn't bother me so much, but I am left wondering why the NPCs are allowed to be special rule-breaking snowflakes and we aren't.
Jarrakul: You're right about Aerie. I didn't think of it before because it seems a fairly sensible thing to me that an elf should be able to do that as well as a half-elf. Thanks for putting your finger on why these rule-breakers stand out to me as well. It would seem to me that the developers could just as easily have made these characters entirely legal as not. I don't see the why of it either.
Wubble: I don't see the illegality in this case. I just checked, and Jaheira appears to meet the race and ability requirements for being a Fighter/Druid in both games.
Comments
Another critical detail is the leveling issue. Druids gain levels faster initially, but then reach a couple of dry periods from level 13 to 14, and then 14 to 15. But once druids hit 3 million XP and therefore level 15, they will have more spell slots than clerics for the rest of the game. In a big group, druids tend to languish in the late game until TOB. In a small group, or solo, druids quickly outpace clerics in terms of spellcasting power.
And Insect Plague, at least outside of SCS (where it is weakened and many enemies use Fireshield, which in SCS blocks Insect Plague), is probably the best disabler in BG2. Generally, though, clerics are a little more user-friendly, given their more consistent leveling and better access to armor.
Avengers and Clerics of Lathander are probably the strongest kits of their respective classes, since they can reach unusually high APR early in the game. In SCS2, with the Shapeshifting Rebalancing component, Shapeshifter are probably the tougher class, given the absurd bonuses from Greater Werewolf Tokens.
I actually did a comparison of druid and cleric spell tables, THAC0, and damage capabilities at each stage of the game. I found that they were almost identical almost all the time. Besides, the reason why clerics and druids are useful in the first place is because of their access to divine spell buffs--most importantly, Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, and Remove Fear--which are far more important than their melee or tanking abilities.
Druids and clerics are generally identical in function and utility. Only the kits do much to differentiate them.
I would like to mention that druids in in BG1&2EE do not get Remove Fear, though. They can get it through the Deva as soon as reach HLAs.
It is so ridiculous that even the deva acknowledged it with Mazzy.
Another thing that narks me, & it's a bit an RL bleed-through, are some of the peasant dialogues where the women suggest their old men will beat them if they don't bring back any cash. I'd love an option where Charname gets to deal with that, it's pretty dark & not being able to address it is disappointing.
"I will save you! Is your husband controlled by illithids? Is there a demonic cult involved? Does he have ties to the shadow thieves?! Tell me where my sword shall strike!"
"Uh...he...drinks too much. Can you solve that?"
At which point Anomen reminds you that you still need to save your sister or reclaim your soul.
I agree it's sad. But charname can't fix all woes in the world. Well, unless you choose godhood....
For me, it annoys me that dwarf npcs get great voices "By Morradin's Hammer!" and have accents in their dialogue, but a dwarven charname doesn't have that.
It annoys me that the Duergar in Irenicus' dungeon say "By Morradin's hammer!" It makes me feel like I'm killing some of Faerun's few good duergar. Did they escape the underdark only to get enslaved by Irenicus and killed by Charname? Sadness.
It annoys me that a dwarven charname asks Korgan "what is the dwarven word for..."
Now let the rage commence.
The fact that the three fighters I take with me most (Minsc, Keldorn and Sarevok) all specialize in 2h swords while I'm playing a fighter that I want to specialize in 2h swords. Goddamn OCD.
Millenia is plural, not singular.
Wubble: I don't see the illegality in this case. I just checked, and Jaheira appears to meet the race and ability requirements for being a Fighter/Druid in both games.