Stalker(Ranger Kit) Or Blade(Bard Kit)
Bboy2073
Member Posts: 38
So I am trying to start my second big play though Of BG1EE and BG2EE and I cannot decide.I have narrowed it down ti these two classes and I plan on duel wielding no matter which on I chose. I am going to play a half evil half good party in both games but I am also not sure who should be in that too. Any help would be great
Post edited by Tresset on
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My advice is Stalker for a roleplay-heavy playthrough but Blade if you want to pick the eventually most powerful and versatile of the two kits.
As to party members, there's too wide a range of interesting options for me to advise on. A solid lineup would consist in two warriors, two arcane casters, one (ranged) thief, one priest. With a Stalker your protagonist would occupy one of the warrior spots, whereas the Blade would occupy one of two arcane spots in your party. There is no need to keep to that lineup though. In BG1 a (ranged) warrior-heavy party would be very powerful, whereas in BG2 you might want to go a bit more arcane-heavy.
Good luck deciding!
For both kits though, ranged is great in BG1. Stalker might want Longbow, while the Blade should strongly consider daggers for melee and throwing. Dagger of Venom is very powerful, and throwing daggers vs using a bow or crossbow will save you proficiencies, allowing DW with your first new pip.
Choose a Stalker if you like to use backstabs. If you like to chunk enemies from the shadows.
Mind you, even while you don't want "to duel class or multi-class" but still want to "play a half evil", a multiclass fighter/thief is a better choice because stalkers are rangers and thus can be only good.
A Blade is more diverse. Combine magic and melee fighting. Wands. Scrolls.
Blade will grow stronger in time, but due to the very few spell slots early in his career you will need to rest after each fight if you play CHARNAME as a F/M/T rather than a F/T, meaning if you buff him up pre-fight and don't wear armor. If you want to play the sage, the blade is prolly a "funnier" (subjective) choice. It's basically a single class F/M/(T).
The stalker will be good from the get-go and will require less resting and/or micromanaging. I'd choose elf for the benefits to THAC0 for swords and bows, unless ofc you have some RP reason not to. In the long run a stalker may prove less versatile than the blade, but will still be awesome. (If only the stalker kit would have had traps! That would have been an awesome kit, essentially a single class F/T).
If you have trouble choosing - pick both, start a mp game and either use them both throughout or dump the one you like less after some time, replacing him/her with a NPC instead. If you do this though, I think you will realize how much weaker the blade is in BG1 until he/she levels up or you cheese Drizzt out of his shiny armor and swords. This is due to ranger being fighter based vs the bard's crappy THAC0 progression and lack of fighter strength from the start.
Have fun!
Stalkers are the exact opposite : they are very solid from the start of the game until the end and require absolutely no buff to do so. They are also the best single class basckstabber in the game (especially when you start using critical strike + backstab)
however, they can never reach the level of power, of a fully buffed blade. They won't have the same versatility either.
As to power, its always a difficult one to judge... especially as there are so many existing kits that are already phenomenally powerful.
The bonus to the Bard's song is nice as the vanilla version is more or less useless.
The mod also adds a few more constraints to each kit... Jesters have a more limited weapon selection, Skalds get a penalty to casting speed (consider the Robes of Vecna to assess how significant that can be) and Blades not upgrading their song is now an actual negative.
The only element I didn't really like was the spell development... as that particular system was supposed to used alongside a balanced spell development for other casters (which it doesn't implement). As it is now, it probably makes a Bard's casting skills too strong vs Mages.
Don't underestimate the heavy magic damage your Blade can do once he advances in level. His or her spellslots can be used in two different functions: one is obviously to buff him- or herself, but in dealing magic damage a Bard has a huge advantage over Mages in that the level progression is much faster, so spells dealing x amount of damage per caster level, are far more effective when cast by a Bard.
The same higher level is an advantage when casting spells that require a saving throw by the enemy, though I'm not sure if saving throw penalties depending on level difference between caster and target is part of the vanilla game, or if it's in my playthroughs because of mods.