Pure Fighter all the way, how viable is it?
deathgeonous
Member Posts: 64
Just what the title asks. How viable would a Pure Fighter Main Character be, starting from BGI all the way to BGII TOB? I ask cause I noticed that there is no GOOD Pure Fighter, and out of the Two Evil ones, Well, the better one shows up in TOB and the other guy... nah. So anyways, I was honestly considering going as a Good Berserker for the whole game, all 40 levels of it, and was just wondering how viable it would be?
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Solo, I imagine it'd be harder, since you'd lack both thief skills and any sort of spellcasting. Still, you'd be strong in melee and immune to a lot of nasty stuff, so I think there are probably worse solo choices.
Some characters, however, are much more difficult than others to solo, and there are fewer ways to play them. A Berserker is not one of them: its immunities when raging greatly simplify every stage of the game, from BG1 to ToB.
I'm doing a parallel universe run with the same MyChar and an all evil support party, btw. I have Dorn, Sarevok, Viconia, Edwin and Hexxat in that group. We're at the same point in time as the good guys, although the paths have now diverged slightly, due to Dorn and Neera having substantially different quest lines. Evil MC has had significantly more deaths, all due to trying to do Dorn's quest the hard way. However, I did already complete it the easy way, so these don't really count. I'm just obsessed with trying to whack those silver dragons. Your good berserker won't ever run into that particular problem.
Obviously, I cannot comment on play later than the Marching Mountains scenario.
Kensai is pure offense, Berserker, oddly enough, is better on the defense. This would make it, IMO, the better choice for a solo run. Choosing the best gear would have an impact on survivability, of course. But berserker immunities combined with the lack of gear restrictions make the berserker the better option, in my eyes. I'm not sure I'd like to try a solo run with anything other than a fighter/mage, or maybe a cleric/mage combo, however. Arcane spell buffs are just too useful in combat. And how are you going to reverse level drain if you can't get to a temple cleric? Sure, berserking makes you immune to that, but if the madness wears off in the middle of fighting a bunch of devil shades, for example, you'll get drained.
You'd have to pay close attention to time elapsed, and back off when the fit was just about to expire. Boots of the cheetah plus oil of speed when combined make you a really really fast runner, which can help you escape sticky situations. (Note that you cannot activate the pocket plane ability when in the middle of combat, so that doesn't work as an easy escape route).
Which makes me want to ask ... is it considered "cheating" on a solo run if you keep a cleric and mage in your pocket plane, to cast cures/restorations, and long lasting arcane spell buffs before setting out on a foray?
Once you equip her with a decent STR-enhancing item, she's a darn good Fighter. Some people prefer to use her mostly as an archer, and indeed she's the best in the game at that (and in that case doesn't need a STR belt), but she's also excellent (and I more often use her) as a dual-wielding front-row melee tank.
Kensai CAN survive BG1, but its a bit of a crapshoot; a few lucky crits and you are dead. Very, very potion dependent to be good, but really about as good overall as a Berserker when you are completely buffed up.
With a party, a min-stat human vanilla rogue could survive even. Some fights will be a bit harder, especially the odd plot-based fight.
After all, Sarevok is a pure Fighter with a random destructive ability (you have HLAs and Bhaalspawn powers) and high ability scores.
If you go with Berserker it's even better. The rage ability will save you countless of times.
You could make a Good Half-Orc with 19 STR and CON and 18 DEX, rest whatever.
Then just destroy stuff.
...Just make sure to put your INT at least 11 (or 10 and raise it with the Tome), because squids.
Would you take an NPC fighter with perfect physical stats into your party? Yes? Then he is just fine to use.
Charname doesn't need to be a munchkin god to be of good use!
Hehehehe! I did something a bit whacky, but it seems to be working out. Sarevok's stats are good enough, I dualed him over to mage. He's up to level 12 now. When he hits 18, he gets his fighter abilities back.
...Just why?
Wasn't his time in the Abyss torment enough?
The pimples were just the beginning...
Then came the pink robes.
I can more easily imagine a party in which Sarevok->Thief might make sense, and you'd get his Fighter abilities back much faster (perhaps even in time that you could still get some good use out of them!), although I've never done this myself. For example, if you took Hexxat through SoA but then decided (correctly IMO) that a single-class unkitted Thief doesn't really justify a dedicated party slot in ToB, then converting Sarevok into your Thief might be an interesting option ... I must try that some day.
And one of his quotes when he goes into stealth is "I am as unseen as death" which is badass.
Also, Backstab Deathbringer Assault. Nuff said.
Hexxat should have been a Shadowdancer. It was a wasted potential.
Here's Sarevok's pickpocket, stealth and spell failure quotes at 2:24.
Pure Fighters are awesome. I'm personally all about that Vanilla Fighter but I am a strange man. I like having my fighter be badass at front lining and ranged weapons (you know, other than throwing daggers and axes), but I'll admit that's somewhat silly of me since melee weapons become practically hands-down superior by late BG1. Early on it sorta sucks not to have ranged weapons though...
Interesting about the voice work though.
That being the case, I decided to experiment. When he does finally get to level 18, he'll be the world's toughest mage. He's at level 12 already, in the middle of chapter 8. I was also thinking about swapping out Hexxat for Jan, but she's doing OK so far. She can set some nasty traps (fire giants just vaporize), and with use any item as an HLA, she can double as a mini-mage, if given enough wands and scrolls. I understand she also has a side quest later on; pretty rare in ToB, so we can't miss out on that.
Besides, she's MC's sweetie; can't dump her at this point. She might want her coffin bag back, and that's our alternate bag of holding.
You do realize that there is absolutely nothing preventing a berserker from using something like Heartseeker or the Mana Bow? You just can't put expertise pips into archery, but in BG1 that's not a big deal, and if you have a dexterity of 18 (or more) your THACO with a decent bow and +2 arrows will be pretty fair. And by late BG2, even your "vanilla" fighter will be using mostly hand-to-hand weapons; all the fighter HLAs are geared toward that end.