Bought the complete collection on Steam from the summer sale :) Some questions. :D

Danter

I already had BG1: EE before the sale because a friend gifted it to me last year. And I had 1 and 2 EE on my Android for some time. This is the first time I am owning Siege of Dragonspear, and I am really excited about it.

Let's see, in total I have bought Baldur's gate 1 twice, the original on Gog.com and the mobile version, I don't count the time it was gifted to me. I have bought Baldur's gate 2 4 times now. Once back when it was a brand new game, I didn't buy ToB for it though. Bought it again on GoG years later because I gave my copy to my brother. And then again on mobile, and then again just a few days ago. So yeah I guess you could say I love these games.

Funny enough though, I haven't ever fully played through either one. And I am looking to change that. I just started a game in BG1 with a Female Wizard Slayer who I plan to dual class to thief eventually. She's got good scores in her stats. And right now, despite not being able to wear the early ring of protection she has the best AC of anyone in my part with a whopping -2. Single weapon fighting style is amazing. I have her with 2 proficiency in Longswords and two in Single Weapon.

When would be the best time to dual class her? I am still not familiar with how fighters level up really, but I have an idea that a better to hit bonus and THACO comes with higher levels? There is also that cool +1% magic resistance with each level, it doesn't seem like a whole lot but I bet it would still be handy.

sarevok57

there are basically 2 options here, either level 7 or level 13, now as XP goes here is what they are per game:

BG 1: 161 000 ( level 8 fighter )
SoD: 500 000 ( level 10 fighter)
SoA/ToB 8 000 0000 ( level 40 fighter)

usually when people dual class fighters, they will choose either 7 or 13, because at those fighter levels, you gain your extra half attack per round

also note then when you dual class over, you will not be able to use your fighter abilities again until your theif levels surpass your fighter level by 1

so if you hit the 64 000 XP mark and hit level 7, and then decided to dual over to thief, you would have to hit level 8 in your thief class ( which requires an additional 70 000 XP ) before you get your fighter abilities back

so in hind sight, if you want your fighter abilities back in bg1 then level 7 is the level you want to dual at

but if you really want the best bang for your buck you will want to do it at level 13 ( granted it can be quite the trek back to level 14 but it's well worth it)

also, if you look at it from a max level stand point, if you dual at level 7 and once you hit ToB your thief level can hit level 39, but if you dual at level 13 instead, you thief level will still be able to hit level 39, only this time you will have more HP, attacks per round, proficiencies points and the like

although if you do go the level 13 route, you will obviously have to wait until SoA before you can dual over, and you might be near the end of SoA before you get your fighter abilities back

so in reality it really depends on how quickly you want your thief to get activated, if you want to start thieving as soon as possible, then level 7 fighter is the choice, if you can wait awhile and get the best bang for your buck, then wait until level 13

Danter

Thanks. That info was very helpful. As far as thieving goes I mainly want to do it for that nifty backstab. But being able to be nearly a max level thief either way is good to know. I suppose I could have my party carry me in SoA till I hit level 14 thief and become useful as a fighter again. the idea of my my PC being incredibly useful is appealing. I'll do it at 13. A six person party offers a lot of ways to make up for one weak link for a while.

sarevok57

also, when you dual over to thief, you will still be able to use your thief abilities, so its not entirely crippling, its just when you get your fighter levels back you will be god mode

Zilber

sarevok57 said:

also, when you dual over to thief, you will still be able to use your thief abilities, so its not entirely crippling, its just when you get your fighter levels back you will be god mode

No, that would be when you hit the "Use any Item" HLA

Danter

Zilber said:

sarevok57 said:

also, when you dual over to thief, you will still be able to use your thief abilities, so its not entirely crippling, its just when you get your fighter levels back you will be god mode

No, that would be when you hit the "Use any Item" HLA

I don't understand what you mean. >.< Do you mean how Thieves can use magic items? Wouldn't my wizard slayer kit still keep me from doing that?

bob_veng

since you haven't played any of the games yet, but have all of them, maybe you'd be interested to try a mod called EET as it seamlessly connects all the games so you can play like it was all one product.

Danter

I have actually played them quite a few times, I have just forwhatever reason never gotten passed the first several chapters. My current party in BGEE is now resting at the friendly arm inn after having questioned and killed the messenger for Mullahey. I played quite a bit last night.

Right now my party makeup is My Wizard slayer who is level 2, Imoen who is level 3, Jaheira lvl 2, Khaleid lvl 2, Xan lvl 2, and Rasaad lvl 2. I think that right now Rasaad is probably the weakest link, but I have a soft spot for monks. I've read that Xan isn't that great a mage, but I think he's actually pretty cool with that moonblade of his.

Any ideas on how to make him more survivable though? I've just been having him pick things off with a sling so far until I need his spells, but I used his sleep spell on the spiders in that gnome lady's house in Bergost and then had him help with his sword because his spell was so effective it put them all to sleep. If that's a good strategy I may use it more often. I also have him equiped with a ring of protection and with that ring that allows mages to memorize double the first level spells. I was thinking of saving up for this amulet of protection I found in a shop and giving it to him, but if I remember right, you can't have 2 protection magical items at once can you?

sarevok57

that is correct, you cannot have to items of protection on at once, but you can always give it to someone else,

and as for xan not being a "great mage" ironically he is one of the most powerful in the game, since specialist mages make their enemies save with a -2 penalty on their saves,

xan's enchantment spells are absolutely killer ( hence the reason why his sleep spell will be very effective against enemies with 4 HD or less )

but once you start fighting those harder enemies, then you can start using dire charm, emotion hopelessness, hold monster or confusions and chaos,

he might not be able to use magic missile or cast fireball, but he can still use wands of fireball/ lightning/ frost and the like,

also for level 2 mage spells, give him glitterdust, glitterdust seems simple at it's core, but man can it wreck havoc on baddies

Danter

Cool I was wondering what the heck people were talking about. I mean the guy has a whopping 17 int! That's nothing to sneeze at. I just downloaded a mod for BGII so I can have Xan in my party in that game too and tried to install it, but there was a problem when the installer was doing it's thing. In my chitin file it couldn't find the Aerie parts to install their stuff between them for some reason. So the thing didn't install. It gave me a debug file to give them at pocket plane, I'm just waiting on them to approve my forum account so I can post. They have the most infuriating CAPTCHA I have ever dealt with. As a dyslexic person who already has trouble recognizing characters sometimes these things make me nuts. I had to keep trying for twenty minutes >.<

Danter

>.< Silly me. I wasn't paying attention to the folder I was in. I was trying to install the Xan NPC mod into bg1 lol

Wrathofrecca

I hardly use my mages for spell sources of damage. They're mostly crowd control and buff/debuff bots so losing out on damage spells isn't a big deal. I support the above statement, those are all powerful spells, especially glitter dust.