47. The most stupid thing Irenicus ever did was not buying casting license in Alkhatla. I mean, did he *really* need those 10 000 gold pieces so badly?
I don't think it would have mattered. It makes more sense to think that he was taken in for the destruction he brought on the Waukeen's Promenade. If he had been sent to Spellhold for merely casting spells, Charname could have easily reproduced the event and followed him there without ever bothering with the guild war in Athkatla.
I think the new rule that large images have to be put into spoiler tags ruins the purpose of gallery threads. If someone's internet connection is too slow to process all those images, they wouldn't be browsing the thread in the first place.
Well, that change was actually for those whose internet connection is slow. I remember waiting for several minutes till one page of LadyRhian 's pictures loaded.
I would like this thread to focus more on unpopular opinions about the game, though.
For example: choosing a halfling at a character creation should be more popular. A halfling cleric is a wonderful choice - getting 19 DEX helps to be more tanky, plus THAC0 bonus to slings. A halfling barbarian is a good choice too - the rage completely compensates for lower base STR. A halfling thief has a lot of thieving points.
Related to Baldur's Gate EE: Dorn & Neera should have their stats nerfed. Compared to the original NPCs their stats are just to optimal. As if they were added by a user made NPC mod.
I always memorize 2+ casts of Goodberry, when someone in my party can. I just don't like it when one of my characters has lighter than "light wounds" (less than 8 HP) and feel like it's a waste whenever I overheal. Getting rid of those scratches is just something that makes me feel better, even though it doesn't give me an edge in battle. When no-one can cast the spell I always at least buy the 25 pieces that the merchant in the bridge district has on offer.
Oh, and another one: When a lot of people tell me I shouldn't watch a movie, or read a book, I get all the more interested in it. Having been on this forum for 3 years by now (half of the time as a lurker) I reeeealy want to read the baldur's gate novels by now. Can't seem to get my hands on them, though.
As a side note, I wouldn't mind if Goodberry got a little buff, like being able to munch multiple of them at once (maybe by right-clicking them in the quick item slot?) or getting rid of their bothersome "aura" (I think that's what you call it), that prohibits using more than one per round.
As a side note, I wouldn't mind if Goodberry got a little buff, like being able to munch multiple of them at once (maybe by right-clicking them in the quick item slot?) or getting rid of their bothersome "aura" (I think that's what you call it), that prohibits using more than one per round.
Agree with it as long as there is a maximum (7?) per munch/turn. Otherwise, we would have to use, for every charname thereafter, the fat merchant sprite as everyone would just hoard the berries and eat chunks of 50+ in each battle.
"Did Amelissan killed the Bhaalspawn? Nah, diabetes did"
Well, that change was actually for those whose internet connection is slow. I remember waiting for several minutes till one page of LadyRhian 's pictures loaded.
I would like this thread to focus more on unpopular opinions about the game, though.
For example: choosing a halfling at a character creation should be more popular. A halfling cleric is a wonderful choice - getting 19 DEX helps to be more tanky, plus THAC0 bonus to slings. A halfling barbarian is a good choice too - the rage completely compensates for lower base STR. A halfling thief has a lot of thieving points.
So... A halfling is like a gnome... But not as good?
Related to Baldur's Gate EE: Dorn & Neera should have their stats nerfed. Compared to the original NPCs their stats are just to optimal. As if they were added by a user made NPC mod.
Dorn, I can see your point - his base stat total is 90, although it's worth pointing out that that's only a little higher than, say, Imoen has, and I'd argue that she's more min-maxed in her distribution. And I'd also argue that as optimal as 19 strength is, who plays a half-orc and doesn't have 19 strength? It's just obligatory. Still, you're not entirely wrong here.
Now, Neera, that's a much tougher case. Her stat total is only 80, a bit below average by NPC standards. Plus, the distribution is wonky; 11 strength adds nothing relative to 10, her 14 con adds no bonuses, and her 17 dex and int could each use an extra point to be optimal. Again, Imoen's got higher stats and a better layout, with her 18 dexterity and 16 constitution. So yeah, not with you on that one.
Related to Baldur's Gate EE: Dorn & Neera should have their stats nerfed. Compared to the original NPCs their stats are just to optimal. As if they were added by a user made NPC mod.
What part of Dorn's stats would you even hit? His WIS, INT and arguably CON are functionally worthless. His CON isn't even high enough to give him an HP bonus. If you lower his STR or DEX, his viability would plummet since they're his saving grace. Just because someone has a 90 stat total doesn't mean jack if they're spread badly.
What part of Dorn's stats would you even hit? His WIS, INT and arguably CON are functionally worthless. His CON isn't even high enough to give him an HP bonus. If you lower his STR or DEX, his viability would plummet since they're his saving grace. Just because someone has a 90 stat total doesn't mean jack if they're spread badly.
To be fair, he would still perform adequately, if not amazingly, if given 18/percent strength. But again, nobody does that with their half-orcs.
Neera's stats seem remarkably in-line with other BG1 mages, in terms of relevant stats (Dex, Con, Int). Dorn's relevant stats (Str, Dex, Con) are mostly in the same ballpark as Minsc, Kivan, and Shar-Teel. His strength is somewhat higher, so I can see maybe nerfing him on those grounds, but overall I think people tend to overestimate the power of his stats. Dorn and Neera are both strong NPCs, but that's because they both have very strong kits, not because their statlines are especially high.
Speaking of which, I think Dorn's statline is absolute garbage in BG2. Dunno if that's an unpopular opinion, but there it is.
I agree that the NPCs have powerful kits, therefore their characters should have been adjusted/nerfed. Compared to other BG1 tanks, Dorn is a Half-orc Blackguard as opposed to other vanilla classes. This particular Blackguard also comes equipped with a magic sword Beamdog shoud have added a magic armor as well and a bag of holding in his inventory
I don't like comparing Neera with Imoen, since Imoen is a single class thief with an option to dual class her into mage. The player can but doesn't have to go that route (devs obviously adjusted her stats so it is a a viable option, especially since there is a large choice of thieves in BG). And dual classed Imoen was the only non specialist mage NPCs (other than maybe charname). And then we get to Neera. Wild mage, basically a specialist mage from the start, just no forbidden schools. And wild surges, unless you are playing a no-reload game, are really not that big of a deal.
@Nihilus - there is merit in your words, but I'm not gonna withdrawn, because I want to reach treshold of 50 unpopular opinions: 50. It's cool that some NPCs are obviously stronger than others. It's cool that some NPCs have useless abilities and wasted proficiency points. It adds flavor to the game. 51. Here's really unpopular one - I disagree with common notion that wizard always beats other classes late in game. It doesn't work like that because of two reasons: firstly, classes weren't design to compete with each other, but as team. I mean, you can't really measure how useful is ability to disarm traps or to cast greater restoration, or even being able to carry 200 lbs or something. And other thing - assumption of "wizard always beats warrior" is only true when you assume that wizard knows he's gonna face warrior and will prepare right spells: PfMW, Absolute Immunity, Fire Shield, and so on... but why not assume that warrior is gonna do the same and use scroll of protection against magic? Maybe those protection spells will take places of, let's say, summons, that would deal with warrior with scroll - and warrior has advantage now. The same goes with certain enemies - yes, wizard has access to fire shield and stoneskin and may be able to defeat Iron Golem with that combo, but only when he remembered those spells. Also - hasted thief will be almost always able to backstab wizard before he casts True Sight, or use poison arrows/darts/whatever to cripple stoneskinned wizard. I'm not saying that warrior will win with mage everytime - I simply think that it's wrong to assume that he'll always lose.
I didn't know that - thanks, @Abi_Dalzim. It seems that as soon as PfMW wears off, wizard is lost - well, unless he has Polymorph Self and will be able to cast it.
I didn't know that - thanks, @Abi_Dalzim. It seems that as soon as PfMW wears off, wizard is lost - well, unless he has Polymorph Self and will be able to cast it.
If a wizard wants to solo an Iron golem, they need Mordenkainen's Sword or Imprisonment. I guess a combination of Stoneskin/Mirror Image, Enchanted Weapon, and Tenser's Transformation might work as well, although it's kind of beneath a mage's dignity to go to such lengths to be a fighter.
If a wizard wants to solo an Iron golem, they need Mordenkainen's Sword or Imprisonment. I guess a combination of Stoneskin/Mirror Image, Enchanted Weapon, and Tenser's Transformation might work as well
I guess that would work - but still, only when wizard is prepared. If I was to have my wizard remember spells before encounter with unknown enemy, I'd maybe choose Wail of Banshee over Imprisonment - or another Fireball in place of Enchanted Weapon.
@Abi_Dalzim lower resistances also works, you have to cast it two or three times but then you can just magic missile the thing to death. The way I normally do it is just spamming melf's minute meteors at them.
I know its a super old engine but it bugs me how all the woman anims have short hair.
The courtesan and siren hairstyles should have been options to choose from
As well as selecting no hair: The new colors make an approximation to the skins color easier, but there's still a difference between a bald and a skin-color-hair character.
I find posts describing Keldorn as a "racist" for correctly identifying the evil drow Viconia as evil because she comes from a race that is 99.9% evil as completely insufferable.
The only thing that is worse is the bellowing from the "where is the +5 katana" crowd who clearly didn't read the warning that magical katanas are rare when they were misallocating their pips.
I like fighting mind flayers. In fact, they may be my favorite enemy to fight.
I wish Dynaheir and Khalid were the two that made it.
The EE exclusive content in BG2 is an unmitigated and unplayable disaster and completely unnecessary. "You know, thank goodness for that added content... There just wasn't enough to do in chapter 2"... Was said by no one, ever. Maybe instead of adding ****-tier content, fix bugs like troll death, OK?
Anomen and Aerie aren't annoying, Minsc is though (and he's got nothing on Neera).
I like Viconia. But Keldorn is right to turn on her.
She is verbally abusive towards her own party members, worships an evil goddess, and openly advocates that the party do selfish and cruel things. It is only a good Charname's influence that keeps her from being a violent criminal.
Burning Hands is a pretty aight spell. The animation freeze is annoying, but it does good damage, has a fast cast time and is nice to finish off an enemy with high AC when your fighters can't land a hit. I generally have a couple casts memorized and three of them in a sequencer.
Burning Hands is a pretty aight spell. The animation freeze is annoying, but it does good damage, has a fast cast time and is nice to finish off an enemy with high AC when your fighters can't land a hit. I generally have a couple casts memorized and three of them in a sequencer.
Weighing the merits of that vs. Magic Missile:
1. It does more damage on average: a max of 21-23, or 22 average...if they fail their save for half. Magic Missile caps out at 10-25, or 17.5 average, better if they're gonna save since it has no saving throw.
2. But Magic Missile also lets you keep more distance, doesn't freeze you in place, and has a better energy type compared to fire which is easier to resist. Honestly, I think this clinches it, especially since a lot of tough enemies will probably save anyways.
Burning Hands is a pretty aight spell. The animation freeze is annoying, but it does good damage, has a fast cast time and is nice to finish off an enemy with high AC when your fighters can't land a hit. I generally have a couple casts memorized and three of them in a sequencer.
Weighing the merits of that vs. Magic Missile:
1. It does more damage on average: a max of 21-23, or 22 average...if they fail their save for half. Magic Missile caps out at 10-25, or 17.5 average, better if they're gonna save since it has no saving throw.
2. But Magic Missile also lets you keep more distance, doesn't freeze you in place, and has a better energy type compared to fire which is easier to resist. Honestly, I think this clinches it, especially since a lot of tough enemies will probably save anyways.
Well, so maybe I've been using Xan a lot lately so MM wasn't an option. But it's actually not a terrible spell. Enchanters are pretty awesome so I recommend giving them Burning Hands for some emergency damage.
Burning Hands could hit 2 enemies if targeted well.
Which would require careful maneuvering and probably put them at even more risk. Also note that I compared the two after level 10, when their damage is maxed out. By that point, Stoneskin will protect you while you cast. If you're comparing at, say, level 5, they're about even on damage before the saving throw is taken into account. Now, if you're using an enchanter like Xan, then it's a decent substitute. I'll admit, I've never really bothered with him before because I usually have a mage already (or have committed to not using a mage) by the time I do the Nashkel Mines.
Comments
If someone's internet connection is too slow to process all those images, they wouldn't be browsing the thread in the first place.
I would like this thread to focus more on unpopular opinions about the game, though.
For example: choosing a halfling at a character creation should be more popular. A halfling cleric is a wonderful choice - getting 19 DEX helps to be more tanky, plus THAC0 bonus to slings. A halfling barbarian is a good choice too - the rage completely compensates for lower base STR. A halfling thief has a lot of thieving points.
Oh, and another one: When a lot of people tell me I shouldn't watch a movie, or read a book, I get all the more interested in it. Having been on this forum for 3 years by now (half of the time as a lurker) I reeeealy want to read the baldur's gate novels by now.
As a side note, I wouldn't mind if Goodberry got a little buff, like being able to munch multiple of them at once (maybe by right-clicking them in the quick item slot?) or getting rid of their bothersome "aura" (I think that's what you call it), that prohibits using more than one per round.
"Did Amelissan killed the Bhaalspawn? Nah, diabetes did"
Now, Neera, that's a much tougher case. Her stat total is only 80, a bit below average by NPC standards. Plus, the distribution is wonky; 11 strength adds nothing relative to 10, her 14 con adds no bonuses, and her 17 dex and int could each use an extra point to be optimal. Again, Imoen's got higher stats and a better layout, with her 18 dexterity and 16 constitution. So yeah, not with you on that one.
Speaking of which, I think Dorn's statline is absolute garbage in BG2. Dunno if that's an unpopular opinion, but there it is.
EDIT: What I'm trying to say is "Now that's a post appropriate for this thread!"
I agree that the NPCs have powerful kits, therefore their characters should have been adjusted/nerfed. Compared to other BG1 tanks, Dorn is a Half-orc Blackguard as opposed to other vanilla classes. This particular Blackguard also comes equipped with a magic sword
@Jarrakul
I don't like comparing Neera with Imoen, since Imoen is a single class thief with an option to dual class her into mage. The player can but doesn't have to go that route (devs obviously adjusted her stats so it is a a viable option, especially since there is a large choice of thieves in BG). And dual classed Imoen was the only non specialist mage NPCs (other than maybe charname). And then we get to Neera. Wild mage, basically a specialist mage from the start, just no forbidden schools. And wild surges, unless you are playing a no-reload game, are really not that big of a deal.
50. It's cool that some NPCs are obviously stronger than others. It's cool that some NPCs have useless abilities and wasted proficiency points. It adds flavor to the game.
51. Here's really unpopular one - I disagree with common notion that wizard always beats other classes late in game. It doesn't work like that because of two reasons: firstly, classes weren't design to compete with each other, but as team. I mean, you can't really measure how useful is ability to disarm traps or to cast greater restoration, or even being able to carry 200 lbs or something. And other thing - assumption of "wizard always beats warrior" is only true when you assume that wizard knows he's gonna face warrior and will prepare right spells: PfMW, Absolute Immunity, Fire Shield, and so on... but why not assume that warrior is gonna do the same and use scroll of protection against magic? Maybe those protection spells will take places of, let's say, summons, that would deal with warrior with scroll - and warrior has advantage now. The same goes with certain enemies - yes, wizard has access to fire shield and stoneskin and may be able to defeat Iron Golem with that combo, but only when he remembered those spells. Also - hasted thief will be almost always able to backstab wizard before he casts True Sight, or use poison arrows/darts/whatever to cripple stoneskinned wizard. I'm not saying that warrior will win with mage everytime - I simply think that it's wrong to assume that he'll always lose.
The courtesan and siren hairstyles should have been options to choose from
The only thing that is worse is the bellowing from the "where is the +5 katana" crowd who clearly didn't read the warning that magical katanas are rare when they were misallocating their pips.
I like fighting mind flayers. In fact, they may be my favorite enemy to fight.
I wish Dynaheir and Khalid were the two that made it.
The EE exclusive content in BG2 is an unmitigated and unplayable disaster and completely unnecessary. "You know, thank goodness for that added content... There just wasn't enough to do in chapter 2"... Was said by no one, ever. Maybe instead of adding ****-tier content, fix bugs like troll death, OK?
Anomen and Aerie aren't annoying, Minsc is though (and he's got nothing on Neera).
She is verbally abusive towards her own party members, worships an evil goddess, and openly advocates that the party do selfish and cruel things. It is only a good Charname's influence that keeps her from being a violent criminal.
She's not misunderstood. She is evil.
1. It does more damage on average: a max of 21-23, or 22 average...if they fail their save for half. Magic Missile caps out at 10-25, or 17.5 average, better if they're gonna save since it has no saving throw.
2. But Magic Missile also lets you keep more distance, doesn't freeze you in place, and has a better energy type compared to fire which is easier to resist. Honestly, I think this clinches it, especially since a lot of tough enemies will probably save anyways.
Besides, who cares if it roasts your entire party?