New character vs imported

FrdNwsm

I (finally!) managed to import MyChar from BG1 into BG2. I do note, however, that the Bhaalspawn abilities are different from those of a new character I created as a temporary substitute. Mind you, I prefer the old set to the new ones (2 heals instead of a heal and a vampiric touch, for example), but now I am curious. Why the difference?

joluv

In BG1, Bhaalspawn powers are determined by reputation at the time you get them. You get the "good" one (e.g. Cure Light Wounds) if you have a high reputation and the evil one (e.g. Vampiric Touch) if you have a low reputation. When you make a new character for BG2, Bhaalspawn powers are determined by your alignment.

FrdNwsm

Well, that's interesting to know. I had no idea; it doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere. When I rolled up the new character just to explore things, I picked true neutral as an alignment, more or less at random. I guess that's why he got a mix. So if my character had been evil, he would have gotten all evil powers? This is the sort of thing that should be emblazoned on a sign in big bold letters when you start the game.

My imported one still had a reputation of 16. I have no idea why. I mean, he's accused of murder! What does it take to drop your street cred, if that doesn't do it? And yet, whacking even one Iron Fist enforcer, totally out of sight of anyone, drops it through the floor. How would anyone know?

FrdNwsm

This brings up another question; if your reputation drops from positive to a very low value, do your powers suddenly change?

Tresset

FrdNwsm said:

This brings up another question; if your reputation drops from positive to a very low value, do your powers suddenly change?

No.

JuliusBorisov

If you import the final save from BG1EE to BG2EE, your charname in BG2 will get exactly the same Bhaalspawn abilities as he did in BG1.

lunar

When you create a new character, he gets those abilities based on the alignment. So a lawful good tends to get all good powers, while chaotic evil tends to get all evil. There is some increased randomisation as you go towards true neutral:a chaotic good character can get minor drain, horror or vampiric touch more frequently than a lawful good one. Vice versa, a lawful evil can get a few good powers more frequently than a chaotic evil one.

pixie359

@lunar I don't think I've ever seen an evil one on any of my BG2 chaotic good flavoured characters. You sure this randomisation is correct?

GreenWarlock

I just created a new CG character in BG2 and got a Vampiric Touch along side just one DUHM. I don't think there is any random involved though - LG will get all good powers, CE will get all evil, and other shades get a pre-determined variation in between. I suspect TN will get 6 distinct powers, but am too lazy to go through all the creation/start dialog again to find out!

elminster

There is certainly a degree of randomness to what you get when you create a character in BG2. I just made a lawful neutral fighter that got 1 minor heal, 1 larloch's drain, 2 slow poisons, and 2 vampiric touches.

I remade a lawful neutral fighter and got 2 larloch's drains, 2 horrors, and 2 draw upon holy mights.

So its not like there is even a consistent amount of low reputation vs high reputation abilities (in the first case the number of high reputation vs low reputation abilites was balanced, in the second case it wasn't).

GreenWarlock

Thanks for the correction, I have spreading misinformation and remember reading guides a decade ago that the Bhaal powers for a new BG2 PC were fixed by alignment. Should have known better than to trust what I read on the interwebz, even back then

lunar

@pixie359 yup, I create neutral good characters in bg2 very frequently, thanks to no reload approach. Most of the time he gets all good powers. Once in a while he gets one or two evil powers, I have seen minor drain, horror and vampiric touch on a neutral good char, abeit rather rarely. But it happens, and I have no logical explanation for this (even the character class is the same in some cases) so I think it is a bit random. I treasure characters with a few evil powers more, they are more edgy and hardcore in my eyes. :-)