So... what and who EXACTLY can carry over from BG to SoD?
I noticed that most of my entire party (Neera, Rasaad, Dorn, Branwen, Imoen) carried over to Siege of Dragonspear just fine, with all their equipment... except for one thing: Imoen, who was fully kitted out as a level 10 thief (I didn't dual-class her since she was my only thief) disappeared and was replaced by Safana.
(Of course, narratively, this works by saying that Imoen dual-classed to mage and is now under the tutelage of Grand Duke Liia Jannath.)
If I had had a different party with me, would some of them have disappeared or been replaced too? BG@GameBanshee suggests that not all characters can carry through, in particular it doesn't mention Branwen... but Branwen *did* come through into SoD, complete with the three points of wisdom upgrade that I'd given her from manuals, she's now at 19 Wis.
So, can all characters - and their inventory - follow through, except for Imoen (and I take it Imoen's replacment by Safana is a standard thing: but what if Safana was already in your party with Imoen - which would only make sense if you dualled Imoen to mage at once - then would somebody else replace Imoen then, and if so, who)?
Also, for characters not in your party, can some of them be found again, or is it only "your party plus the new ones specific to SoD"?
And finally... If Imoen was in your BG party, and wearing good gear, does it disappear? She had the Eagle Bow, Shadow Armor and Sword of Backstabbing... I can technically cheat by stripping Imoen down to nothing before the Sarevok fight and loading her inventory on to other characters, then handing it back to Safana when I begin SoD (although I have to unequip Imoen's armour before the fight), but that's really not very honourable... So is there anywhere else that I could find either (a) whatever Imoen had been wearing, or (b) comparable equipment because all Safana gets is a plain leather armour and ninjato, which is pretty useless for a level 10 thief?
(Of course, narratively, this works by saying that Imoen dual-classed to mage and is now under the tutelage of Grand Duke Liia Jannath.)
If I had had a different party with me, would some of them have disappeared or been replaced too? BG@GameBanshee suggests that not all characters can carry through, in particular it doesn't mention Branwen... but Branwen *did* come through into SoD, complete with the three points of wisdom upgrade that I'd given her from manuals, she's now at 19 Wis.
So, can all characters - and their inventory - follow through, except for Imoen (and I take it Imoen's replacment by Safana is a standard thing: but what if Safana was already in your party with Imoen - which would only make sense if you dualled Imoen to mage at once - then would somebody else replace Imoen then, and if so, who)?
Also, for characters not in your party, can some of them be found again, or is it only "your party plus the new ones specific to SoD"?
And finally... If Imoen was in your BG party, and wearing good gear, does it disappear? She had the Eagle Bow, Shadow Armor and Sword of Backstabbing... I can technically cheat by stripping Imoen down to nothing before the Sarevok fight and loading her inventory on to other characters, then handing it back to Safana when I begin SoD (although I have to unequip Imoen's armour before the fight), but that's really not very honourable... So is there anywhere else that I could find either (a) whatever Imoen had been wearing, or (b) comparable equipment because all Safana gets is a plain leather armour and ninjato, which is pretty useless for a level 10 thief?
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For instance: I brought through the character file of a Druid Avenger (which I had played through BG1 using "BG TuTu" mod to play BG1 through the BG2 engine about five years ago, and then never bothered to actually play through BG2, losing interest halfway through the Irenicus Dungeon.)
I had long since deleted the savefile from the end of the BG1 installation, but had the character file left over, which should have brought through only the character. I was surprised to find myself starting SoD with a full-sized balanced party... consisting of Khalid, Jaheira, Dorn, Neera and Safana. None of whom had, in fact, been in the party I completed with BG1 - which had (I kept records of this even after deleting the savefile) consisted of Montaron, Xzar, Garrick, Shar-Teel and Imoen, the latter having dual-classed to mage already :-) (No doubt if I had brought the actual savefile through, that's what I would have got, except probably Safana instead of Imoen...)
Also when I imported a shadowdancer as character not save I do get Safana.
The game does check for CheckStatGT(Player1,89,LOCKPICKING) and CheckStatGT(Player6,79,TRAPS) if there's a thief in the party. If one of them is not fulfilled and the party is less than 6 people, you get Safana in Korlasz's dungeon (but if she was in the party before in BG1, you get her the way you left her, which might be not a great help, either).
The stat check was added in the last patch. I've been screwed by the game not giving me a thief, and my F/M/T never touched open locks or set traps.
I'm thinking "sure, I can deal with this" as Safana actually turned out to be a pretty good thief. I missed having a backup mage, but that's just an extra challenge. Then, after the prologue, everyone splits and their gear goes with them. Minsc had the two-handed sword +3 from Durlag's tower and the Paws of Cheetah boots. Khalid had Varscona +2, etc.
The rub came when I found Minsc and Dynaheir again. Minsc only had 84 HP, a random +1 sword, and Worn Whispers. Dynaheir never really had much in the way of weapons or armor, so I didn't notice much missing, but it was still a bit distressing.
It's almost like I signed on with their doppelgangers instead of the originals - and given this happened in Baldur's Gate itself... The real question is why, though. This feels like a bug, since I had the original characters in the prologue.
Have no idea about Minsc's HP, but sounds like a poor design and not a bug: instead of holding your party the game replaces them with their own version. But that's just a theory.
As the only reason I play SoD is to fulfill a fun run using EET I never had such issue, to be honest. EET uses the characters as they are - even in BG2.
for more reference and I am sure if you attach a zipped save BeamDog's QA will fix it for you, too.
EDIT: Everything the NPC had in their backpack would be in the PC's chest.
Apparently it is not.
It's fixed for games started in 2.5.17.
My bug report involved games started in the 2.5.17 version.
I have yet to get feedback on the bug report, so I guess its still being investigated?
Link to the bug report
https://support.baldursgate.com/issues/40288
This new bug will be investigated once the team gets new QA time on the IE games on PC.
I stand corrected: there is another XP adjustment in SoD for NPCs that were in party in BG:EE, up to PC's XP of 250000.
Just wanted to correct what I wrote earlier.
Safana got chunked upon returning to Ulgoth's Beard with the dagger.
I killed Dynaheir at Edwin's request.
I have just recruited Shar Teel as a fighter level 6 dualled to tyhief level 2.
I'm thinking that I will need a better thief in SoD prologue.
So that should probably be Coran, or will he join automatically?
EDIT
Just realised that for my evil party Tiax is the obvious solution. Yes he disappears in SoD after the prologue, but then others become available. He's not particularly powerful (32000 exp) but should be good enough for the prologue. He'll have to be carried through the rest of BG1.
the first dungeon of SoD isn't really "SoD" so much as it's a bridge between BG1 and SoD.
A quick rule? If they've got new voice clips, they'll be back. If not, say good-bye to the time investment.
what stats do they have? I knew Jaheira had better stats in BG 2 but not SoD. Thought Mincs' stats stayed the same across all games.
The one I do know to watch is Viconia who has better stats in SoD but only if you didn't recruit her in BG 1
Containers carry over if you complete BG1 and start SoD that way. If you import, they don't. [Edit: just read that different versions work different ways. This is my experience for the PC version]
One way to get more stuff across is to load up Imoen before the final battle, as all of that becomes available later. You can also load up other characters in BG1 providing they are recruitable in SoD. For example I generally complete BG1 apart from the final battle. I then ditch the party and get Safana and the EE characters and do those quests + load up Dynaheir's spell book at the end. Before going back and getting the old team back again.