Deck of Many Things

PK2748

If you're playing a Bard and get the +1 attribute, what attribute do you get?

Mivsan

You'll get Dexterity.

Edit: Maybe for the sake of completeness and future reference, I'll list all of them. Also, just to keep things clear, the OP means the card "STAR" which increases the primary attribute of the character using the Deck of Many Things by one.


Strength:
Fighter
Paladin
Ranger
Barbarian
Monk

Dexterity:
Thief
Bard
Figther/Thief
Cleric/Thief
Mage/Thief
Fighter/Mage/Thief

Wisdom:
Cleric
Druid
Fighter/Cleric
Fighter/Druid
Cleric/Ranger

Intelligence:
Mage
Sorcerer
Fighter/Mage
Cleric/Mage
Fighter/Mage/Cleric

Dual classes:
Second class (the one you dualed into) if the previous class' abilities were not regained yet. Otherwise, the same as multi classes. So, for example, a Thief dualed into Cleric will get:
- Wisdom, if they haven't regained their Thief class yet
- Dexterity, if the dual was completed

Abel

Here's the relevant script from WeiDU decompiled dialog (domt.dlg):
IF ~~ THEN BEGIN 19 // from: 3.8 SAY #63800 /* ~A scene of a young woman emerging from a still pond greets you, the woman smiling gently and the night sky so real and vast it startles you. The card is labeled 'STAR'.~ */ IF ~True()~ THEN GOTO 30 IF ~OR(2) Class(LastTalkedToBy,CLERIC_ALL) Class(LastTalkedToBy,DRUID_ALL)~ THEN GOTO 31 IF ~Class(LastTalkedToBy,MAGE_ALL)~ THEN GOTO 32 IF ~Class(LastTalkedToBy,BARD_ALL) Class(LastTalkedToBy,THIEF_ALL)~ THEN GOTO 33 END
And the statistic increase part:
IF ~~ THEN BEGIN 30 // from: 19.0 SAY #70868 /* ~You feel a surge of Strength.~ */ IF ~~ THEN DO ~ReallyForceSpell(LastTalkedToBy(),GAIN_ONE_STR_PERMANENT) Wait(3) DestroySelf()~ EXIT END IF ~~ THEN BEGIN 31 // from: 19.1 SAY #70869 /* ~You feel a surge of Wisdom.~ */ IF ~~ THEN DO ~ReallyForceSpell(LastTalkedToBy(),GAIN_ONE_WIS_PERMANENT) Wait(3) DestroySelf()~ EXIT END IF ~~ THEN BEGIN 32 // from: 19.2 SAY #70870 /* ~You feel a surge of Intelligence.~ */ IF ~~ THEN DO ~ReallyForceSpell(LastTalkedToBy(),GAIN_ONE_INT_PERMANENT) Wait(3) DestroySelf()~ EXIT END IF ~~ THEN BEGIN 33 // from: 19.3 SAY #70871 /* ~You feel a surge of Dexterity.~ */ IF ~~ THEN DO ~ReallyForceSpell(LastTalkedToBy(),GAIN_ONE_DEX_PERMANENT) Wait(3) DestroySelf()~ EXIT END
Weird thing is the conditional sentences are evaluated backwards! Hence, the strange results for multi-classed characters. Rogue takes precedence, then Mage, then Priest and Warrior last. I'm not sure this was intended since Strength is the most useful of all attributes.

PK2748

Strength is my dump stat

Abel

Bards don't usually need Strength. Still the best attribute since it increases overall damage. You realize that when you play LoB.

PK2748

It increases melee damage. I don't play a lot of primary melee characters.

Arunsun

@PK2748 Unlike wisdom or charism for a fighter, which you can dump to 3 and have a character as convenient as the same character with 18 WIS or CHA would be (except for a select few dialogues), even a mage can use decent STR, if only to be able to carry more than just your staff and your robe. I hardly ever go for less than 14 STR even of a mage, because of weight allowance.

In 2E, STR is the very best attribute by far, and every character will make use of a decent STR.

SirBatince

am i the only one always going for the ring +3 instead of the +1 stat?

that thing destroys worlds.

Lord_Tansheron

AC and saving throw bonuses are usually either easier to get or less impactful than stat bonuses; but not always. What's best to take depends on many various factors.

PK2748

Arunsun said:

@PK2748 Unlike wisdom or charism for a fighter, which you can dump to 3 and have a character as convenient as the same character with 18 WIS or CHA would be (except for a select few dialogues), even a mage can use decent STR, if only to be able to carry more than just your staff and your robe. I hardly ever go for less than 14 STR even of a mage, because of weight allowance.

In 2E, STR is the very best attribute by far, and every character will make use of a decent STR.

I disagree, in 2nd edition Dexterity is much more important than Strength. At low level with rolled hit points not getting hit is everything, so AC and ranged combat is what matters. The only thing high carrying capacity achieves is my agile character has to decide what loot to take off your heavily laden corpse. At high level magic is supplementing everything you do in terms of damage and carrying. Strength typically matters very little comparatively

Lord_Tansheron

Can't speak to PnP, but in the 2e version BG uses at least STR is definitely the most useful stat. As you rightly said, magic supplements at higher levels - but that's primarily defensive supplements. The main offensive ones scale EVEN BETTER with more STR (thinking of Improved Haste, of course).
Additionally, both AC and ranged combat become progressively less impactful as the game goes on (particularly in ToB) making DEX less and less important.

PK2748

Yeah in BG you're level 5 in an hour. You've got good gear. Defensive items are easy to find. I'm playing in a pen and paper game right now. We've played five sessions and nobody has better than studded leather and our rogues just made level 2. It's different

gorgonzola

No sense to talk here of BG1 and how stats are important in it as we are talking of the Deck of Many Things, so of something that is not available until mid BG2 or later for most of the parties.

I agree that STR is very important, but there is plenty of ways to boost it and many STR enhancing items set the STR at a certain value, You can have 4 belts and some gauntlets to rise the STR of 5 party members and only some Charnames can get a natural STR better of the weakest of those 5 items.
STR is important, but the +1 from the deck is really useful only for some parties.
Also imo the building of Crom is not beneficial for all the parties and has not to be taken for granted, from my testing and the parties that I use I find more beneficial to have the belt and the gauntlets than the hammer. To carry more things the mages have a cheap spell.
Using a mod that make the STR enhancing items work as + something instead then set to something the thing is different and each natural STR bonus is way more important.

@SirBatince
"am i the only one always going for the ring +3 instead of the +1 stat?"
The ring is very often my choice, not always, but I must really need that +1 in a stat for some reason to prefer it to the ring.

Lord_Tansheron

As always, YMMV depending on your specific setup. It's all relative values, no universal truths in this game. Well one: Anomen is a boil on the face of the world.