Levels 3-4 and unsure what to do!

xPersonOfChaosx

I'm playing Baldur's Gate and I'm not sure where would be a good place to go now. I've cleared the Nashkell Mines already and I'm considering attacking the bandit camp or exploring Baldur's Gate (or would now be too soon?). This is my party:

Me- Ranger level 4
Ajantis- Paladin level 4
Branwen- Cleric level 4
Jaheira- Fighter/Druid level 3
Xan- Enchanter level 3
Imoen- Thief level 4

I just want some advice because I keep going and getting myself killed fighting creatures a lot tougher than I am!

Thanks.

JuliusBorisov

If you get killed often, I advice to explore all the side areas on the Sword Coast and beyond. Visit all those unnamed areas around you, exlore them, find items and get a little bit more XP.

As for the question of the bandit camp vs the BG city, well, you can't enter the city yet because of the plot - the bandit camp should be cleared first.

Davide

Moved to the proper section.

Lateralus

Branwen is a powerful ally at that level, make sure you are unleashing her full potential!

wubble

Go back to nashkell and pick up Minsc, revel in the awesome buttkickingness that is Minsc. Oh and do his quest which will net you another mage who can cast magic missile and fireball (the two most important spells in the game). plus this will take you through a few wilderness areas which is always fun.

Wowo

You could do the bandit camp no worries just need to leverage your spell casters appropriately via spells like command, hold person, sleep and web as examples.

Ranged weaponry is powerful so don't be shy to try to get one character with low AC and have everyone else pew pew pew.

Francois

At level 4 you should be more than ready for the bandit camp. If you are having difficulty it may be more a problem of strategy. If this is your first game I'd say it's normal if you get killed often.

deltago

You are too early for Baldur's Gate. The roads aren't open yet.

Try exploring the coastline and doing the quests there. There is some good magical items along there and a ton of XP that can help you fighting through the bandit camp.

thelovebat

Explore wilderness areas you haven't explored yet, maybe pick up one of the Enhanced Edition NPCs if you're using that version of the game and start doing one of their questlines and dropping Xan from the party. Have certain spells and scrolls prepared in advance and save often so you can make use of spells, equipment, or potions that could help. Levels 3-4 is where the game should start to get easier and you can snowball into some pretty powerful characters with the right equipment.

I'd also try killing some ankhegs in the area you got Ajantis and doing a quest you can get there and complete. Ankheg shells can be sold and/or turned into a great set of armor if you take it to the right person.

Nimran

Go on an adventure!

Skatan

A general advice would be to put Ajantis and Jaheira in the front and have everyone else use ranged weapons. I guess as a ranger that you have some profiency in a ranged weapon and good dex, meaning your will outperform most NPC's in ranged combat making it more effective than to have a sling user with one attack per round, even if your ranger is a good frontliner as well.

It cannot be stressed enough how awesome ranged weapons are in BG1. When exploring new maps, have on ranged char in the front at all times, scout ahead and when you see an enemy, stop and fire an arrow then retreat to your main group for support. Then move forward again and rinse and repeat. This can make it easier and require less healing/buffing thus reducing the time needed for resting. Once you get more experienced (both yourself IRL and your characters in the game) you can step by step reduce your amount of "pulling" and dive into combat directly more often.