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Best No Reload Solo Characters/Builds for Saga (no Siege of Dragonspear)?

EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,519
edited July 2016 in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
NOTE: Check my next post in this thread for further information and perhaps more legibility! Thankee!

Greetings, all!

The title says most of it. I'm a big fan of an Elf Fighter/Mage or an Elf Sor. The EFM has the advantage in most departments, esp. the physicality + magicality, but the Sor has the ability to learn spells ahead of the curve and is generally less item dependent.

What proficiencies are best for the EFM? The ES? What about starting spells for the EFM? The spell progression for the ES? (I have a strong idea of the ES spell progression, but want to compare notes.)

I'm not using mods for my BGEE (but I may use EEKeeper to set stats to base 18 all around or 18/00 for STR), but I have SCS and BGTweaks installed on BG2EE.

Thankee! Smile! Jesus loves you!
Post edited by Endarire on

Comments

  • RelSundanRelSundan Member Posts: 918
    All these cut phrases gives me a Damn headache. Depends on if you are playing with SCS. Soloing SoD seems almost impossible. A F/M/T will do best. Make sure you can just go invisible through the first dungeon. But in other battles you will lack proper defense, and will be very vulnerable.

    A sorcerer might also work, just stack up on wands before SoD. You will need a lot of summon spells as well. No matter how many spell protections you have, if all focus is on you, you will perish pretty quickly.
  • jtthjtth Member Posts: 171
    edited July 2016
    FMT. Sorc is fine but has a rough start and requires abuse of rest until you get PI and Dark Planetar, then the game is no longer fun. I found that engagements got pretty repetitive.

    Thief/Mage is quite fun, though anymore I prefer to play without arcane magic, or with only one user in my party.

    There are dozens of threads for SCS Sorc spell selections. Don't ever take fireball.

    (You can solo SoD and all the side quests just fine. The last fight is quite hard but doable.)
  • EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,519
    What is 'PI?' Why Dark Planetar over normal?

    I'm using parts of Sword Coast Stratagems and BGTweaks and the whole of Wheels of Prophecy for BG2EE. BG1EE has no mods for me.

    I don't have Siege of Dragonspear at present and don't plan to use it for this run. I do plan to run the Black Pits in BG1EE before continuing to BG2EE.

    Is Elf the best race for Fighter/Mage? If not, what is?

    If I go Fighter/Mage or Fighter/Mage/Thief, what are the best weapon proficiencies to pick and when? What about thief skills?

    Why Fighter/Mage/Thief over Fighter/Mage? FMT can handle some locks, traps, and pickpocketing, but levels more slowly than a 1- or 2-classed character.
  • joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137
    If you're going to use EEKeeper to get perfect stats and enter BG2 with 1,250,000 XP, then you have some margin for error.

    "PI" is Project Image. Gnome is the best race for F/M. All weapon proficiencies are good. Put points in Find Traps first, since you can use Invisibility and Knock.

    F/M/T over F/M because traps and backstabs.
  • EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,519
    Why Gnome for Fighter/Illusionist/(Thief)? Animate Dead, Skull Trap, and Horrid Wilting are my favorite Nec spells!
  • RelSundanRelSundan Member Posts: 918
    Because the gnome is a specialist mage, he will get 1 more spell slot per level and he will have those shorty saves (better save vs.)
  • TarlugnTarlugn Member Posts: 209
    One question: do you indeed try to complete the game in one session as per "no reload" - does that mean that instead of choosing load game upon main character death, you just roll a new character?
  • alceryesalceryes Member Posts: 380
    Tarlugn said:

    One question: do you indeed try to complete the game in one session as per "no reload" - does that mean that instead of choosing load game upon main character death, you just roll a new character?

    Correct.
    But to many it's not just 'on death'. 'No reload' can also mean you only get one save (when you're taking a break, IRL) and there's no reload due to bad situations (NPC/companion dies, missed a good reward, etc.). Some also self impose restrictions on when/where you can save (like only at an inn at night, for instance).

    There's many different flavors to the 'no reload' gameplay.
  • TarlugnTarlugn Member Posts: 209
    Okay, so saving goes :smiley:

    I was somehow thinking of Diablo 2 and it´s hardcore which ends pemanently on character death - I haven´t ever made apst Raganishu in that mode ( Raganishu is 2nd main plot miniboss ).
  • EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,519
    My runs have used no reloading with certain caveats:

    -Ensuring I learn Mage spells. No other class gains the ability to use its class features through a random roll.

    -If there's a bug or a seeming bug. I've found two in BGEE 2.3 - en route to Ulgoth's Beard (bugged south and east exits on the screen before) and because 2.3 changed how much money I needed to donate to the temple to rep up.

    -Reaching a checkpoint. (Completing BGEE, completing the Black Pits, completing Shadows of Amn, completing Throne of Bhaal.)

    -I have experimented in lost games to determine the effects of certain things which I feel fine with.
  • alceryesalceryes Member Posts: 380
    Endarire said:

    My runs have used no reloading with certain caveats:

    -Ensuring I learn Mage spells. No other class gains the ability to use its class features through a random roll.

    If you want to be sure of learning Mage spells (several, including myself, think the learn percentage is bugged anyway) just push the game difficulty down to 'normal' while learning. No reload needed.
  • EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,519
    Alc: I could, but that's more work than save/reload. It's not the fun kind of interaction with the game, just busywork to get what the game assumes I'll have.
  • alceryesalceryes Member Posts: 380
    Endarire said:

    Alc: I could, but that's more work than save/reload. It's not the fun kind of interaction with the game, just busywork to get what the game assumes I'll have.

    Assuming you learn it properly on the second try. ;)
    After that I think adjusting the difficulty is quicker (and guaranteed).
  • EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,519
    I've used Q for Quicksave and W for Quickload for so long that this just worked well for me.
  • Jaheiras_WitnessJaheiras_Witness Member Posts: 614
    Reloading for failed scrolls is pretty lame. The check is there for a reason, you are not supposed to have 100% success guaranteed.

    The solution is potions btw - Mind Focusing and Genius, they are there for a reason.
  • EndarireEndarire Member Posts: 1,519
    Let's just agree to disagree on this one. AD&D 2E's ruleset is a patchwork of rulings and rules that made a lot more sense to their authors. D&D 3.x changed the rule for Wizards learning spells to be one that Wizards were expected to take 10 on and auto-pass and, again, the check for learning a spell (especially when the game just assumes a Mage will learn the appropriate spell) seems arbitrary and ridiculous when no other class has an outright chance to fail at learning their vital abilities.
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