I always wanted an Elven Kensai and Dwarven Wizard Slayer but never got around to them =( Since its less than 2 weeks away however I'm trying to hold off until EE comes out before I go trying to quickly rush through the game.
Just more characters to add to the notebook by my desk.
Heck, technically AD&D had LEVEL caps based on race! Not a human? Sorry, you will never reach the highest level in most classes. I think a legacy description made it into BG. Doesn't the character creation screen say something about humans that 'they can be any class and advance to any level'?
Heck, technically AD&D had LEVEL caps based on race! Not a human? Sorry, you will never reach the highest level in most classes. I think a legacy description made it into BG. Doesn't the character creation screen say something about humans that 'they can be any class and advance to any level'?
Yeah! Remember the Unearthed Arcana from 1st Edition AD&D? Level caps for non-humans... They were pretty strict too. AD&D 2nd Edition raised them so much that they were almost pointless (ended up in the DMG there).
I wouldn't say I scoff at it but I do prefer racial caps. gives just a hint of reality in a fantasy based world in addition to providing some sort of 'bonus' for those who play humans. ~
My opinion after reading all this hasn't changed. I think I basically agree with @SandmanCCl. In a party game, the stats simply don't make that much difference to the outcome of the battles in actual practice. You are going to win by being an expert at tactics, the ins and outs of the pathfinding system, and your knowledge and expertise of how to use the spell system.
Maxed stats might help you in a solo game. In a party game, maxed stats just arent' going to affect the outcome with those small bonuses, at least not if you care about your friends. And don't forget that a lot of the supposed bonuses for stats are not implemented in the vanilla game.
I'm with @SandmanCCL on this one. I don't think that maxing your stats makes that much difference. The only exception would be dexterity, as AC matters hugely in vanilla BG1. I would take an AC bonus over hit points, because your hit points don't matter if they can't hit you. And if they can hit you easily, you can have all the hit points possible, and they're still going to kill you in two or three rounds. Meanwhile, your high AC characters, even with few hit points, are still going to be alive.
I know its a video game... but I still feel just silly when my Gnome rolls 18/92 Strength. Just doesn't seem right. Way back in the day (AD&D 1st Ed) races had strength caps... it was to give humans another advantage since they got no racial abilities like infravision and couldn't multi-class. I don't remember them all, but Humans could have 18/00, Dwarves up to 18/99 , Elves up to 18/75, etc. Of course, they also capped strength based on gender which wouldn't fly these days, as men's scores could be higher than women's of the same race. 2nd Ed. dropped these strength requirements, but kept other racial max/mins like the 17 max Dex for a Dwarf, and 19 Dex for an Elf, etc.
I do tend to scoff at it, though I'm more annoyed about appearances and damage in video games. Take a gnome warrior in WoW, for instance. The little guy has no muscles, because any heavy lifting he had to do while in Gnomeregan was done via robotics, and that's fine; Gnomes are engineering geniuses.
However, when I see a midget who stands no taller than 3 feet with a head bigger than a human's, dual wielding a "greatsword" the size of a gladius, I cannot help but scoff each time I see his damage and attack speed equal to that of medium and larger races. And don't even get me started on armor or health.
Sounds like everyone's beef with gnomes and their strength totals forget this is AD&D.
Pretty sure gnomes have gimped strength in every other version of D&D. And the sillyness of a little short guy wielding a sword 3 times his size is an impossibility in 3rd Ed and beyond.
Sounds like everyone's beef with gnomes and their strength totals forget this is AD&D.
Pretty sure gnomes have gimped strength in every other version of D&D. And the sillyness of a little short guy wielding a sword 3 times his size is an impossibility in 3rd Ed and beyond.
Unless they are a fighter and take the wield oversize feat while trying to steal the backstory from the Berserk anime?
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I always wanted an Elven Kensai and Dwarven Wizard Slayer but never got around to them =( Since its less than 2 weeks away however I'm trying to hold off until EE comes out before I go trying to quickly rush through the game.
Just more characters to add to the notebook by my desk.
Maxed stats might help you in a solo game. In a party game, maxed stats just arent' going to affect the outcome with those small bonuses, at least not if you care about your friends. And don't forget that a lot of the supposed bonuses for stats are not implemented in the vanilla game.
I'm with @SandmanCCL on this one. I don't think that maxing your stats makes that much difference. The only exception would be dexterity, as AC matters hugely in vanilla BG1. I would take an AC bonus over hit points, because your hit points don't matter if they can't hit you. And if they can hit you easily, you can have all the hit points possible, and they're still going to kill you in two or three rounds. Meanwhile, your high AC characters, even with few hit points, are still going to be alive.
I do tend to scoff at it, though I'm more annoyed about appearances and damage in video games. Take a gnome warrior in WoW, for instance. The little guy has no muscles, because any heavy lifting he had to do while in Gnomeregan was done via robotics, and that's fine; Gnomes are engineering geniuses.
However, when I see a midget who stands no taller than 3 feet with a head bigger than a human's, dual wielding a "greatsword" the size of a gladius, I cannot help but scoff each time I see his damage and attack speed equal to that of medium and larger races. And don't even get me started on armor or health.
Pretty sure gnomes have gimped strength in every other version of D&D. And the sillyness of a little short guy wielding a sword 3 times his size is an impossibility in 3rd Ed and beyond.