If you want to see what developers thought of the first game, you need only look at the second game and notice what changed.
NPC reaction rolls have almost no importance in BG2, and the game provides an item that boosts your CHA to 18 very early on. But they also made stat dumping deadly during certain encounters.
This suggests they wanted to streamline the role playing aspect of the game (probably to focus more on a unified story) while making more stats actually matter in the context of combat.
So, yeah, you can get away with a 3 INT human fighter in BG1, but given what mechanics they put in place in BG2, it seems doing that sort of thing wasn't the develper's intention.
What sort of mechanics are you referring to here? I mean, I have gone through BG2 with complete crap for int and wisdom, and I'm not entirely certain what the negatives were supposed to be.
In any case, I'm mostly talking about BG1 here, not BG2. While the developers are smart enough *not* to discuss how they intended players to play (that would only end poorly, I think), it really doesn't seem like they had anything against min/maxed players. I mean, look at the Mission Pack Save in Tales of the Sword Coast. The pregenerated character has:
I normally roll to get at least 84 (60 points after you minimise all the stats to 9/3/3/3/3/3). Then I assign them to get 18 in the classes major statistics (e.g. strength, dexterity and constitution for a fighter). I use the left overs to get at least 10 in everything else (Intelligence has to be 11 for fighters by BG2 for fighting Illithids...). I do this to make my life easier (and then choose to only every play on CORE D&D rules!).
However I am seriously considering doing a "proper" play through for BG:EE with statistics I *really* roll for (with dice!), which I will record (did anyone say YouTube?) and keep a journal for and everything. A real throwback to my first few adventures into the Sword Coast.
However I am seriously considering doing a "proper" play through for BG:EE with statistics I *really* roll for (with dice!), which I will record (did anyone say YouTube?) and keep a journal for and everything. A real throwback to my first few adventures into the Sword Coast.
For the real rolling, that would need Shadowkeeper (or similar) to be able to edit your CHARNAME's stats, though, wouldn't it?
However I am seriously considering doing a "proper" play through for BG:EE with statistics I *really* roll for (with dice!), which I will record (did anyone say YouTube?) and keep a journal for and everything. A real throwback to my first few adventures into the Sword Coast.
For the real rolling, that would need Shadowkeeper (or similar) to be able to edit your CHARNAME's stats, though, wouldn't it?
I would help for strengh scores of 18/XX, but for anything else, you could roll the dice, then allocate them to match when making the character on the game. It lets you finish picking your stats even if you have unspent points.
Roll 4D6 for each statistic, keep 3 highest. Arrange as desired. Using real life dice, of course.
Generally produces fairly weak characters, though it's not nearly as bad as 3D6 recorded in order. I'll roll and then pick a character according to what I've got, you can be a Cleric almost regardless of stats, Mage you probably want at least one stat 16+ etc. Makes for fun playthroughs where you just roll with what you've got
hmm... Usually I roll a lot of times trying to get at least 89 points. But when I get the BG:EE I think my goal will be 93 points. This is simply put because I want to play an elven fighter/mage with the stats: 18 18 17 18 4 18
That way after 7 playthroughs of BG1 my stats will be as follows: 25 25 24 25 25 25
And I'll be all ready for BG2:EE :P
There are 3 Tomes of Wisdom in the game, aren't there? I've always wondered why the number of Tomes available wasn't equal though.
It's so Viconia can end the game with an 18 Wisdom. ^.~
I bet you mean tha Yeslick can have a very good wisdom at the end of the game, and beat the s h i t out of Viconia ;-)
I roll till I get 82-84 and place accordingly. I usually only choose one of Con/Dex/Str to be 15-16, max my main stat and then average out the rest of the stats. For example, my gnome thief/illusionist that I am currently playing in BG2, her stats are 12/18/15/19/10/10.
If I am playing a stat heavy character (Pali/Bard/ranger) I usually min one of their main stats, max a second, and gimp a non essential stat. So a pali, I would probably roll 17/9/16/8/15/17.
I used to distribute stats myself but always felt like it was cheating. Now I just play with the default roll and do not feel less powerful. I feel like I'm being more honest this way.
Interesting variants. I'll usually roll an 85 point character, or perhaps 90 for a paladin. I'll max out the main state (i.e. DEX for a thief, etc.) but not max out the other stats. I don't like having dump stats, since having an INT less than Minsc's seems a bit inappropriate for the protagonist and party leader. I was thinking of running my crossbow-wielding Undead Hunter as:
STR: 16 DEX: 18 CON: 15 INT: 12 WIS: 13 CHA: 17
With all tomes and the stat changes in BG2, I believe his stats would be:
STR: 17 DEX: 18 CON: 16 INT: 13 WIS: 16 CHA: 19
Definitely high stats, but not maxed out in all physical ablities, which makes him more realistic to me. Interestingly, 17/18/16 is a pretty common physical statline for the NPC's.
I was thinking for running an Assassin as:
STR: 16 DEX: 18 CON: 15 INT: 16 WIS: 9 CHA: 11
With all tomes, he'd be:
STR: 17 DEX: 19 CON: 16 INT: 17 WIS: 12 CHA: 12
So I do make sure to get the CON bonuses, have a reasonable STR (moreso for carrying weight than the low THAC0 and damage bonuses), and maxed DEX.
I've gone both ways. I've min-maxed, especially for attempts at gimmick games like solos and no-reloads, and I've also made role-playing builds based on a character concept. Even so, I still typically metagame to take stat boosts and gear I miight end up using into account so that I'm not wasting too many points at the end.
Even with high rolls with the difficulty turned up, you can still really get your butt handed to you through hard enemies unless you exploit limitations in the game (Drizzt comes to mind)...I'm sure some mages in the game can be a pain in the butt also depending on what spells they have and whether the encounters are random or not. I only care about stats when it comes to mages/clerics because it affects their spell slots and for mages how much spells they can have.
I usually limit myself to a certain number of rolls (5 or 10 generally) and use the best of them. I never use cheese (if you do this, it certainly doesn't bother me, I just call it cheese because it's the word I've used to describe it for years, to each their own) such as putting INT all the way down, because I enjoy the roleplay aspect of character stats, even if the game doesn't care that my character is as dumb as a bag of rocks, I certainly do. So, I try to create the most powerful character I can within the limits I set for myself and within the level of roleplaying that I enjoy.
Comments
In any case, I'm mostly talking about BG1 here, not BG2. While the developers are smart enough *not* to discuss how they intended players to play (that would only end poorly, I think), it really doesn't seem like they had anything against min/maxed players. I mean, look at the Mission Pack Save in Tales of the Sword Coast. The pregenerated character has:
STR: 18/90
DEX: 19
CON: 19
INT: 6
WIS: 7
CHA: 20 (18 +2 Cloak)
However I am seriously considering doing a "proper" play through for BG:EE with statistics I *really* roll for (with dice!), which I will record (did anyone say YouTube?) and keep a journal for and everything. A real throwback to my first few adventures into the Sword Coast.
Generally produces fairly weak characters, though it's not nearly as bad as 3D6 recorded in order.
I'll roll and then pick a character according to what I've got, you can be a Cleric almost regardless of stats, Mage you probably want at least one stat 16+ etc. Makes for fun playthroughs where you just roll with what you've got
15/18/13/14/18/14
Despite the suboptimal melee stats, he still managed to be a definitive badass throughout, easily my favourite run through.
17 / 15 / 15 /10 / 15 / 15 Shapeshifter
18/38 / 19 / 17 / 10 / 14 / 10 Archer
18 / 19 / 16 / 10 / 10 / 10 Assassin
18/78 / 18 / 18 / 17 / 8 / 6 Kensai (for dualing purposes, can dual to either a Thief or Mage).
I dont know if thats min maxing, but those are just acceptable stats to me for my characters
I bet you mean tha Yeslick can have a very good wisdom at the end of the game, and beat the s h i t out of Viconia ;-)
If I am playing a stat heavy character (Pali/Bard/ranger) I usually min one of their main stats, max a second, and gimp a non essential stat. So a pali, I would probably roll 17/9/16/8/15/17.
I used to distribute stats myself but always felt like it was cheating. Now I just play with the default roll and do not feel less powerful. I feel like I'm being more honest this way.
STR: 16
DEX: 18
CON: 15
INT: 12
WIS: 13
CHA: 17
With all tomes and the stat changes in BG2, I believe his stats would be:
STR: 17
DEX: 18
CON: 16
INT: 13
WIS: 16
CHA: 19
Definitely high stats, but not maxed out in all physical ablities, which makes him more realistic to me. Interestingly, 17/18/16 is a pretty common physical statline for the NPC's.
I was thinking for running an Assassin as:
STR: 16
DEX: 18
CON: 15
INT: 16
WIS: 9
CHA: 11
With all tomes, he'd be:
STR: 17
DEX: 19
CON: 16
INT: 17
WIS: 12
CHA: 12
So I do make sure to get the CON bonuses, have a reasonable STR (moreso for carrying weight than the low THAC0 and damage bonuses), and maxed DEX.