A halfling, any halfling.
Winterisle
Member Posts: 111
So I would like to build a halfling to run through BG, SOD and BGII, expansions included, and I really don't know what to make. I've gone through all the games til the end as a human blade, a human Necromancer and, my favourite, a dwarven Priest of Talos. Right now I'm pretty far in the games with a half-elven druid, a half-elven jester and a gnomish illusionist.
BUT, I would like to build a halfling. I am tempted towards thieves (swash with a couple of short swords or assassin with sling+dagger) and clerics (not sure which kind yet...)
Anyone like halflings or as done a cool playthrough with them and can do some recommendations?
Cheers in advance.
BUT, I would like to build a halfling. I am tempted towards thieves (swash with a couple of short swords or assassin with sling+dagger) and clerics (not sure which kind yet...)
Anyone like halflings or as done a cool playthrough with them and can do some recommendations?
Cheers in advance.
1
Comments
Bonus to slings and Dexterity means they're a crack shot with the only cleric ranged weapon, and I don't have to tell you about the benefits they have for the thief class.
Fighter
Thief
Cleric
Barbarian
Fighter/Thief
Because of their hit to strength, focusing on a ranged build with halflings is ideal, however, going the cleric route, and gaining access to spells like Strength of One and Divine Favour can help with Melee.
So rolling a Cleric kit that you haven’t tried yet (Tyr or Tempus) might be good play even with a slight wisdom hit (there are enough tomes of Wisdom lying around to compensate).
Or go full rogue mode and roll an assassin or shadow dancer.
If I go assassin I will be centering on range with bullets at the beginning and, later on, on backstabbing when the fight has begun. I will not be a swashbuckler because I think I will not use slings that much, which would be a waste and not look so cool for RP reasons.
As priest I suppose I will be staying range with the sling and buffing allies.
The assassin has very few thief points, and the halflings robust pool from both racial bonuses and dexterity means they're the only race that can be a pretty capable all around thief in addition to just being a backstab machine.
It has low strength for sure, but there are remedies for that. Rage being the obvious, but potions and strength items can also get you places.
In BG1:ee you start out with 17 in strength. But raging gets it to 21. You can start out with the star sapphire gem in candlekeep for a financial good start.
Pick proficiency points in short bow and scimitars, and then Dual wield. There are some nifty scimitars somewhere that needs a new master.... Shortbows are for arrows of dispelling and such.
In BG1:ee and BG2:ee the gloves of ogre strength is a blessing. When you rage or potion buff you can wear the gauntlets of weapon expertise instead (when you get them).
For BG2:ee flails and scimitars are a good choice. Go evil in the hell trials for Blackrazor and the human leathers and your saving throw go through the roof.
Over all the halfling barbarian is fun - it’s no dwarf off course, but it’s quite good
They have high Dex, which is the one physical stat that a barbarian's rage doesn't boost.
For the Black Pits 2, I rolled up a Halfling Swashbuckler as part of the group, and by the end of the module she had the highest AC and THAC0 of the entire group (and you can pump up her AC/saves even more with Thief HLAs), even surpassing my Dwarven Berserker with Grand Masteries in Axes! It made me laugh to just see this teeny lil munchkin run into big clusters of enemies and just hack them apart while seemingly immune to everything. The big downside to the Swashbuckler is that they can't backstab. Ever. So that pretty much cuts out one of the most unique mechanics about Thieves, but if you want someone who fulfills all the usual Thief-ly duties while also being a solid melee combatant, Swashbuckler is well worth a look.
And finally, if you enjoy luring enemies into deadly trap clusters while your party bombards the hapless enemies with ranged weapons and spells, look no further than the Bounty Hunter. I STILL get a cackle every time there's a tough boss fight that I can lay traps in advance for and just watch them go hostile and instantaneously die. (It was VERY satisfying to see Imoen get her just desserts on Irenicus with 2 Spike Traps and 5 normal ones. :P)
Edit: forgot swash can specialize. Still, 1 thaco for swash vs -3 for fighter. How did you get swash better than fighter?
Anyway a swash lacks of apr compared to a fighter, has very good thac0 and ac, but if not dw or hasted has only 1 attack each round.
Slings are usually a subpar choice in BG1, being massively weaker/less versatile, so specialization in bows is nice for all the cool ammo.
Yeah, it was most likely coming from gear. IIRC, I had slapped on the Girdle of Stone Giant Strength on her, along with Gauntlets of Weapon Specialization, and Montolio's Cloak. (For weapons she was using the Short Sword of Mask and Lifedrinker.) Swashbucklers also get a +1 bonus to THAC0, damage and AC every 5 levels, and with enough XP grinding in BP2, you can hit level 40 for an additional +8 bonus to each.
It's worth pointing out that my Berserker was still dealing out more damage than her though, given that he was dual-wielding the +5 Axe of the Unyielding AND Crom Faeyr. XD But my Swashbuckler just seemed a lot more resilient in melee, especially if I threw on Greater Evasion before sending her in.
Note, you can use WW to good effect with weapons like the SotR to hit pretty hard, and even switch with the SotM to get dispels first. A Berserker can't use the SotM, and can't readily dispel things other than what, only proficient bow use? and with a very limited supply of ammo I'd say, esp in BG2. I suppose you can't use the SotM until fairly late unless you use a small party though.
Only few battles really need high enchantment weapons and for those mask and scarlet are perfect.
I usually give the best str belt to the one that hit more times so the dmg bonus is applyed to more hits.
Would this work better with a gnome?
Since gnome gets more class choices, it may be more interesting.
I hope you'll share his adventures with us!
a high level cleric hasted should do more then 50 dmg/round ranged, not super but not bad for a caster class.
the problem with the cleric is that his offensive buffs are level depending so if from mid soa he can buff very well before his stat bonuses are not as strong and last a lot less (HP and RM) and give less bonuses (DUHM, RM and also Holy Power for the hit point boost).
so a low str can be a problem until a str item is obtained or if the cleric has not a mage that can cast on him a 18.50 str spell.
@DreadKhan Yes, a cleric/thief gnome is a really awesome class and this can be seen in a few npcs in the game. I once built one and it was quite fun in the sense that you can be a full cleric and a full thief (usually a thief when exploring, a cleric during battles), leaving an extra free slot in your party so that I could play around with party configuration.
I must admit I'm quite happy to be starting with -1 AC using only splint mail and a shield. I should get to a ridiculously low AC quite soon, not to speak of SOD or BG2. Being a priest of Helm and having good armor makes sense from a rol playing point of view too
and your buffs will also give you a lot of hp more, my end game aerie goes from 68 hp not buffed to 117 hp buffed ( i don't use maxed hp roll on level up and CM rolls for D6, cleric for D8, so potentially a cleric can have way more then that).
a cleric is indeed a very good tank if properly used.
IIRC it does, but I could be remembering wrong, since I never used that kit. @semiticgod has some experience though, and he could say for sure I'd wager.
Clerics make very sturdy tanks, with their endless HP bonus' to make them almost impossible to kill. In my experience, that +10% HP Ioun stone works very well for a cleric using buffs.
Source: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Priest_of_Lathander