What would be the best items to buy first?
I'm only in chapter 3 ATM as an Inquisitor + Aerie/Yoshimo/Minsc/Anomen/Jaheira.
I have several side quests to do and the next part for me to go after Imoen is to go to the graveyard. I have about 21.5k gold. I bought the sling that doesn't require bullets and acts as a magical item for Jaheira. Everyone else has magic weapons (at least +1) to be able to attack most basic mobs (except for Aerie from range but she has a +2 staff is needed).
I think that the Robe of Vecna seems like it's a huge upgrade for casters, a game changing item and I'm close to having enough gold for it. I like to gear my main character as powerful as possible so I'm very tempted to buy the full platemail (1 armor upgrade from 3 armor) and I could also afford the belt of Hill Giant (19 str). My 3 fighters have decent strength though so (18/50+) so I'm not sure the belt is that big of a deal for lvl 14 (I think my main has 18/77 str if I remember well). I have the sword of chaos +2 on Minsc ATM and the Lilacor (+3) on my main. If I were to eventually find a better armor than the full platemail, I could just give that full platemail to one of my 2 other fighters (I intend on keeping Anomen and Minsc OR switch Minsc for Keldorn).
The plate of Balduran seems to be the strongest armor I could get and it costs about 40k gold. Should I save straight for that one instead?
There are some nice shields, I'm wondering if Anomen's shield should be replaced by an other one (one reflects projectiles for example or one has +4 armor). Otherwise, Anomen has the crappiest weapon on my team ATM with a +1 mace.
I have several side quests to do and the next part for me to go after Imoen is to go to the graveyard. I have about 21.5k gold. I bought the sling that doesn't require bullets and acts as a magical item for Jaheira. Everyone else has magic weapons (at least +1) to be able to attack most basic mobs (except for Aerie from range but she has a +2 staff is needed).
I think that the Robe of Vecna seems like it's a huge upgrade for casters, a game changing item and I'm close to having enough gold for it. I like to gear my main character as powerful as possible so I'm very tempted to buy the full platemail (1 armor upgrade from 3 armor) and I could also afford the belt of Hill Giant (19 str). My 3 fighters have decent strength though so (18/50+) so I'm not sure the belt is that big of a deal for lvl 14 (I think my main has 18/77 str if I remember well). I have the sword of chaos +2 on Minsc ATM and the Lilacor (+3) on my main. If I were to eventually find a better armor than the full platemail, I could just give that full platemail to one of my 2 other fighters (I intend on keeping Anomen and Minsc OR switch Minsc for Keldorn).
The plate of Balduran seems to be the strongest armor I could get and it costs about 40k gold. Should I save straight for that one instead?
There are some nice shields, I'm wondering if Anomen's shield should be replaced by an other one (one reflects projectiles for example or one has +4 armor). Otherwise, Anomen has the crappiest weapon on my team ATM with a +1 mace.
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another great item to buy is the fortress shield+3 from ribald, it costs around 13000 or so but it gives a +4 bonus to AC and another +7 to missile weapons if im not mistaken
if you have minsc around, it might be a good idea to give him axes for a weapon instead of two handed swords because then he can wear a shield and get a nice AC boost, plus ribald also have a medium shield+2 that only costs around 5000 gold which isn't priced to badly and can be helpful in the early game getting that +3 AC bonus ( plus if you are in the graveyard district you will find a +2 axe if you search for it)
with anomen I usually have him as the sling wielder, so you might want to give anomen the sling and switch jaheira over to melee ( since her dexterity it higher she can have much better AC that anomen unless you want to give him the bracers of dexterity) but if you are insistant on keeping him in melee, then you will definitely want to give him those bracers ( those can be found in the temple quest of the "unseeing eye") and I would suggest going to flail, defender of easthaven is a great flail although expensive, you can find an amazing flail in the "de'arnise hold" quest or if you take a trip to the temple district you can also find a pretty decent flail in the sewers
and speaking about the temple district, if you really want some great gear there are 2 areas that you can go to, to get it for free:
the first one is in the sewers itself, if you search around you can find a gang of chums who aren't so chumly but if you think you can take them on and succeed, you can find some great stuff, plus if you wonder around a bit you can find a green cloak that will give you a stackable +1 bonus to AC,
then if you really think you're tough there is a building on the temple map called "guarded compound" go in there and have a nice little chat with the owners and start your treasure hunting skillz of searching every last crook and crany for goodies on the first floor ( be warned that if you go near the stairs some beasties might come crash the party so you might want to be ready for that) - then when you have finished your business downstairs and head upstairs, and be PREPARED when you go up there - just because you know, worse case scenario right? anyway, loot the entire upstairs and you will find some killa skrilla and search every last crook and cranny and those 2 places will help give you some great gear and if at some money to help you buy some
Very little is as dangerous as getting an important character held, charmed, stunned or confused.
Don't buy things that can be easily stealed or looted, there is plenty of good armours and weapons you can have for free, focalize on items that you can only buy and that give some relevant and peculiar advantage to your party otherways impossible.
Like the Shield of Balduran (that I don't use because I like the tactical problems of the battles against beholders).
About Jaheeira and Anomen I think that she will ever benefit from the strenght belt, she is a sling user and there are 2 slings that add strenght damage (and whith enchanted bullets every sling add strenght damage if EE has not nerfed it). Going from 15 to 19 give a great benefit, the one you get from 18.something or plain 18 is far less relevant. And the fighter cleric can benefit from DUHM, +1 to strenght, constitution and dex every 3 levels, if you give him the braciers good for you, but he can live whithout them both ranged and mlee.
Forstress shield is a good one, but quite expensive, from Ribald you can buy the shield that reflects bullets, costs a lot less, give only little less AC bonus against mlee and is a lot more useful against ranged since the attackers are damaged by their own arrows.
Including spells that are coded as bullets like lv3 Fire Arrow
Other items that you can only buy are the belt that halves magical damage and the cloack whith massive bonus at the save against breath and AC against ranged, both from a merchant in Trademeet.
From Ribald also the ring that gives one Improoved Invisibility x day, can be a life saver and he sells more then one.
Excuse me if often I don't give the name of items, I don't play an english version of the game and I gave also other reasons, but often I don't know or remember how an item is named in english version.
The merchant was using a bow against me for days and days and never went out of arrows, a sword popped out from a shelf and began to hit me, and my new statue was removed by the plaza and now is rotting in the jail under the town hall.
Also two philosophers that was pacifically discussing took their staves and began to beat me.
Even the 2 prominent families reconciled and allied against me.
My suggestion is never try to steal in Trademeet, do it in the Copper Coronet, that's the place where is really easy to do!
And: Arledrian has the cheapest bullets +2, and fairly cheap arrows +2 as well.
No stealing! C'mon.
Offensive items should be priority #1.
I do not buy armor, exception being a medium shield +2 to help survive the early game, playing on Hard difficulty. The Plate +1 armors you get for free are fine at the beginning. Get full plate armors from Jaheira's romance, Nalia's personal quest and then the Underdark.
I don't buy anything else until doing a major sell to get 100k gp (just before starting Chapter 4) and then buy the usual best items from Ribald, Deidre, Joluv, Bernard and Trademeet:
Looting at the get-go:
War Hammer +1 (Borinall's house)
Buckler +1 (Mae'Var's Guild house, 2nd floor, trapped door) (or just dual-wield)
Pickpocketing at the get-go:
Essential: Ring of Regeneration
First quest (to get good weapons and a lot of gold):
De'Arnise Hold
Then instigate Chapter 3!
Stuff I buy just after De'Arnise/beginning of Chapter 3 (with REP still at 12, CHA 18 + cast Friends)
Essential: Girdle of Hill Giant Strength
Essential: 1-2x Sling +2 if you have "slinger's"
Essential: Medium Shield +2 (for protagonist using Flail of Ages +3)
And: Arledrian has the cheapest bullets +2, and fairly cheap arrows +2 as well
Stuff I buy just before Chapter 4:
Essential: Defender of Easthaven +3 (for protagonist's off-hand)
Essential: Joril's Dagger +3
Essential: Battle Axe +3, Stonefire
Essential: Blackblood +3
Essential: Belt of Inertial Barrier
Essential: Shield of Balduran +3 (for the Underdark)
Nice to have: Cloak of Displacement
Nice to have: Ring of Air Control
Nice to have: Fortress Shield +3
Nice to have: Army Scythe +1
Nice to have: Sling of Seeking (nerfed to a +1 and no strength bonus by EE 1.3)
To consider: Necklace of Missiles (Red Tent, Trademeet)
Expensive, could wait til Ch.6: Robe of Vecna
Expensive, could wait til Ch.6: Robe of the Good Archmagi
If no Jaheira romance:
Buy full plate armor for approx. 4k gp (with REP 20, CHA 20) from Bel, or Temple of Helm
"No stealing! C'mon."
Why? Stealing is implemented in BG2, potions that boost thief sills also, and the OP has a single class thief in the party, and maybe has invested some skill points in pickpocket.
I can agree about not staking potions making a lev3 thief the best thief in the game, I can agree about not using steal/resell loops for infinite money.
But stealing, like hide in shadows, dealing whith traps or backstabbing, is a thief feature, there is nothing wrong in using it.
Also OP's charname is an Inquisitor, nothing forbid pallies to use flails or shields, but most of the players usually use a certain paladin only sword and choose proficiences according to that. Unless he switch Minsc for Keldorn, and that is a possibility he mentioned.
@biffyclanger,
about Firetooth I think that is a good weapon. But I think that killing golems trapped behind doors whith ranged weapons is not a good tactic. Super easy and involving no risk, shure, just as fake talking and attacking dragons, nuking beholders from ouside enemy view. I try to avoid similar tactics that spoil all the fun and trivialize enemies that are supposed to be a difficoult challenge. Whith the correct tactics, items and equipment a party can fight against golems, also at low level, in a fair battle. My choice, but if the OP want to use that tactic he alredy has an enchanted sling that hit +5 to do it, no need to spend money, as he at the moment has few, just for killing an Iron Golem in Nalia's quest.
It boosts Aerie's Divine spell casting speed as well, it's the best item in the game for her if you plan on keeping her.
I told that Firetooth is a good weapon, and agree whith you on how is usefull. I just told that for iron golem hunting the OP already has a weapon.
I agree also on faketalk being an abuse, exploiting a weacknes of the engine, I classify it as a cheese more than a cheat, but shurely is an abuse.
Nuking from outside the enemy sight is not an abuse, and there are more examples in the game.
Beeing abuse or not each of thet tactics trivialize the game.
I think that there is clear design intention regarding the possibility to use a lot of cheap tactics (involving or not involving chease and cheating) for low level parties to take advantage of, and even a shield was introduced to trivialize fights whith beholders. They even gave us the ctrl-k option......
But I dont't think that those "backdoors" was left open to help low level parties, was left open to help low level players........
BG2 is a complex strategy and tactic game, not only a CRPG, there is a lot to learn to play it good. If tailored for the new players (and also the most experienced has been a newbie) would have been trivial for the experts. And if taylored for the experts impossible for newbies. As it is, whith those "easy backdors" and the possibility to mod it or to auto nerf ourselves is enjoyable by everyone.
I didn't say that doors whith golems are not to be used, just that I don't do it anymore, but in the past for me it was a lifesaver. There are other things that I use and players better than me don't use anymore, I still have a lot to learn and improove. My point is that super easy is not always good and if cheap tactics are avoided, as long as the player has acquired the knowledge needed, the fun is enhanced. In this game the player has a certain amount of frustration, then he win the battle, after some realoads, and has a certain amount of satisfaction, somehow related whith how much frustration he had before. As long as the frustration is not so hight to transform a game in a nightmare.
Oh, wait...
Nevermind.
Stealing from Trademeet need 105 or higher to be on the safe side.
If you plan to do lots of stealing - prepare stacks of Potions of Master Thievery or Perception early in the game.
One very important thing to steal is the Cloak of the Nymph (with the ring of Human Influence from Circus gives you 20 Charisma which means max merchant discount based on charisma).
With those 2 items you will find that your pockets are somewhat deeper ^^.
I will buy a Firetooth early in the game only if my charname is an Archer or Fighter type with at least specialization in crossbow ( I use it not for high damage sake but for disrupting casters with the fire from a distance). Fire goes through Stoneskins.
Anyway the items that is useful to buy early in the game differs alot from your party composition at times.
Right now I am running a new game with the 5 new EE NPCs (you will be surprise my shopping list is really abnormal compare to normal party). It is really FUN when you have no priest/druids in your party ^^ and a Grizzly bear that can shred your party to pieces if he is charmed/dominated ^^.
If I have an axe-user (korgan or charname): Stonefire. ~3500 gold IIRC at ~18 charisma and average rep.
If I have an mace-user (Viccy usually): Strongarm. ~3000 or so ?
If I have a long sword-user (charname): Blade of roses (cheapest +3 weapon?). also around ~3500 IIRC
If I have a staff-user (jaheira): Staff-mace +2, cheap, around 2-2500 or so?
If I have a xbow-user: army schythe (Usually Jan Jensen)
If I have two x-bow users: Firetooth (charname) though I tend to avoid buying stuff from watchers keep to early for balancing issues.
Sling of everard and sling of.. whatever the other one is called (the lesser one). I normally have two sling users in most parties.
Belt of STR for whomever need it most.
Fortress shield and shield of deflection, or whatever it's called, for whomever uses shields (like Jaheira)
The rest goes into scrolls for my arcane users.
So as you can see I tend to favour +2 weapons or higher as prio 1. Especially for proficency groups where it's more difficult to find early weapons or where they specifically tailor to an NPC's needs (lacking strenght, APR, one-handed staff mace etc).
Pretty much everything else can/should be looted, like Wyvern's tail, Lilarcor in the sewers, Belm, Kundane, Melodic chain, Daystar, CFury, boomerang dagger, arbane's sword etc.
Late game I tend to skip balancing and just buy everything that isn't bolted down, like RoV, DoE, Scarlet, shield of cheese, etc.
it was a joke.
Not only the merchant in the Copper Coronet is REALLY hard to steal from, AFAIK the hardest in all bg2, but also the sword that attack you whithout someone that welds it and the bow that never runs out of ammunitions are items sold from the Trademeet merchant. That is the best merchant to steal from in the game, easy and whith a lot of good named items.
The rival families and the philosophers are other things Trademeet related.
In this game a failed stealing can never cause a havoc like the one I described in my little joke.
About the mace sold in the CC, that give a strenght bonus and all the weapons whith similar effect I usually avoid them. Giving the mace to Viconia or Aerie give a real bonus as they have very little strenght, but if I am not very careful in inventory management there is the risk that as they swich to sling get encumbered and can not move anymore.
R.B.: "I don't sell that ring"
Charname: "Dont joke, I have Nalia in the party!"
R.B.: "Ok, special price, only for you, it costs exactly as much as 2 Master Thievery potions"