Manuals & Tomes

rodneyandsteptoe

There is a 'book' to increase every stat by one permanently in BG1. I was surprised to see that some players would use them on their NPCs rather than using all six on their character, seeing the PC can go onto BG2 with those stats...

So what do you do?

rodneyandsteptoe

I always use the six 'books' on me - I'll be interested to see if I'm in the majority or not...

beerflavour

Actually the tomes were not implemented correctly. You could use multiple tomes on the same character (i.e. there are 3 wisdom tomes throughout BG1 and TotSC).

Dunno why, but I used the tomes always on my main character. But tbh due to the class setup (F/M/C) and the starting stats only the intelligence and multiple wisdom tomes did offer any real improvement. So you can say I wasted them tomes.

Cheesebelly

I'll always use them on my PC, knowing that in BG2 I'll be forced to sacrifice 2 attribute points anyway. 1 if I don't want to keep my alignment though.

CCarluNN

The machine of Lum the Mad in Watcher's Keep is another opportunity to increase stats and perhaps also other little (permanent) things.

Sophia

I've always used them all on my pc, but maybe with bgee we will be able to have NPCs in bg2 with the same stats/proficiencies we gave them in bg1, so maybe I'll change my mind

Permidion_Stark

Ain't nobody touching my Tomes! They're mine! All mine I tell you!

Drugar

Most on myself, some others on my NPC's and if I run into them in BG2 I adjust the stats accordingly.

Djimmy

I get all the tomes. Sorry NPCs.

cutlasskiwi

Some for me and some for a few selected NPC's. Maybe I'll have a talent show between them to see who is worthy of a tome. Or maybe have them bring me some baked goods.

Anduin

I would be buffed enough from character creation (That CON is useful If I'm a fighter I suppose...) I would however try to buff up stats on npcs I would see again in BG2:EE. If I was desperate... I would ctrl-8 or CLUA a tome anyway... (I usually don't get that desperate though...)

Jaxsbudgie

Sometimes I play BG1 with the intention of not carrying my PC over to BG2, crazy I know! So I like to evenly distribute the tomes to make my party that much more solid. Wisdom tomes normally go to Viconia, Branwen or Xzar to dual class him into a Cleric.

Silence

Before I knew about BG2, I often used the tomes on my other characters. I often buffed Jaheria's dexterity and wisdom to make her a better character.

sandmanCCL

First off, there's 8 tomes. 3 Wisdom tomes to be found with Tales of the Sword Coast installed.

The "physical" tomes (strength, dex, con) are mine always. The rest USUALLY are, too, but as those stats are less important I have been known on the rare occasion throw some around to the NPCs for funsies.

Safana can dual-class to Wizard if you give her an INT tome.
Dynaheir AND Xzar can be dual-classed to cleric with WIS tomes (I think D needs two of them but still)
Using all 3 Wisdom tomes on Quayle makes him not worthless.

Tiax rules all even without the use of any of the tomes.

Communard

Using all six books on yourself is terrible even from a mechanical standpoint. If you're playing a Wizard then having your strength go from 8 to 9 has no actual benefit even though the "bonus" lasts all the way to the end of ToB. Whereas bumping (say) Minsc's strength by one point will have very real tangible benefits even if those benefits only last until Sarevok is defeated. Same with playing a fighter and boosting your own intelligence, what's the point?

Pecca

actually i remember that one time i stole the book of wisdom from the priest in baldurs gate and later talked him into giving it to me again. so i had 4 tomes of wisdom, i guess it is a bug but still...

and yesss, they all always go to me:)

g314

I pretend these tomes are Bhaalspawn powers, so I use all of them on myself. I use a NG mage/thief and I CAN'T STAND that I have to lose one dexterity point to save one of my NPCs in Hell. Anything, ANYTHING BUT DEXTERITY!!! >.<

Only exception, I give Aerie an additional Constitution point when getting to the Machine of Lum the Mad in WK. I'm not a warrior, so I wouldn't need it anyway.

AndreaColombo

I like cheese too much to spare any of the tomes for NPCs. CHARNAME is the only one whose bonuses carry over to BG2, so the choice is pretty obvious.

Doom972

I don't see the point of giving the tomes to NPCs. The game isn't that hard anyway, and the stat improvement won't carry over to BG2.

Kholdstare

I usually give them all to myself, but if Rasaad will keep his stats into the next game, I might just shower him in the ones that aren't useful to my character (Strength, Constitution, etc)

unfortunate_one

I always gear my original stats to complement to tomes later in the game. If the boys and girls at Beamdoag wanted to have some fun and get rid of the tomes, my PC would be stuck with a bunch of 13's, 15's, and 17's.

Awong124

Mine mine mine!

sarevok57

@Pecca i did something like that too, one time i was playing an evil team ( all six characters were made by me) and when i first came to bg the city i stole that tome from buddy buddy, then after i finished all the quest stuff i just started massacuring everyone in the city to see if my team could survive the onslaught of flaming fist wizards, and when i went back to buddy buddy i killed him and he had a tome again, so my cleric had 22 wisdom in bg 1, man did that ever kick butt for bg 2, then having 23 wisdom in ToB, does anyone know how to intentionally make that bug happen?

shawne

My first playthrough was with BGT and included Jaheira, Viconia, Edwin and Imoen, so dispersing the tomes actually did work out quite well across the entire trilogy (since the stats/classes are preserved, which means Imoen can also remain a full thief in BG2). Whether the same principles will apply with the EEs, who knows?

Tr_ond

First time i played Baldur`s 1 gate i gave the tomes to the party member that would most benefit from them, After Baldur`s gate 2 came out all go to CHARNAME.

Schneidend

Unless your CHARNAME actually has a decent score in that stat to begin with, using a Tome is pointless. I'm not going to waste Wisdom tomes on my 11 Wisdom CHARNAME.

sandmanCCL

Pecca said:

actually i remember that one time i stole the book of wisdom from the priest in baldurs gate and later talked him into giving it to me again. so i had 4 tomes of wisdom, i guess it is a bug but still...

and yesss, they all always go to me:)

To the best of my knowledge, if you steal the book before he gives it to you, the dialogue will still happen when he's actually supposed to hand it over but you won't gain another tome.

I can confirm it's that way for BGtutu at least, so I would imagine BG:EE will work similarly.

@Schneidend: Yeah I think the same way mostly. The physical stats tomes are pretty much always going to go to the PC but if I'm a thief or fighter, I don't really care about int/wis/cha and will pawn those tomes off on people that benefit more out of it even if it doesn't help in BG2.

I suppose if you're a non-fighter and are at 16 CON, you could pawn that book off on an NPC as well. Out of 25 NPCs, there are 11 who gain benefits from it. I think that's the most of any book besides dexterity.

Space_hamster

I always shared the books with my weakest party members, there are enough buffing magic items to go around anyway. ::shrug::: I guess I'm just too nice of a party leader.

Schneidend

@SandmanCCL
Unless I get lucky and roll up some really good scores in the first five or so re-rolls, I'll likely give Kagain the Con tome since the only "must-have" for my warrior PCs is a good Strength. Once I can get an 18 Strength without gimping my other stats, I usually stop rolling. Strength tome will go to my PC for a total of 19, while Dex will have to see if my PC ends up with a 14 or 15 or better, otherwise I won't bother. Xzar or Edwin will probably get the Int tomes, and Viconia will get Wisdom.

MetaSieg

All for the PC. Sorry party members but unlike you I can carry those stats over.

rodneyandsteptoe

Interesting to see there is a reasonable % of players who would 'share the love'! I must admit that even for my Paladin, having ALL the bonuses seems to me the thing to do - boosting her low INT may save her one day when fighting a mind flayer...