What’s the most fun play through for a new player?
Klorox
Member Posts: 894
Let’s say you’re going to introduce a player to BG, and they’re going to play all the games; BGEE, SoD, BG2EE and ToB.
What would you suggest they play for the most power and fun, and what companions would you take along in each game?
What would you suggest they play for the most power and fun, and what companions would you take along in each game?
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First game, there is a canon party if you want some semi-balanced group, Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc and Dynaheir is fine for a first time.
I personally like multi-class characters so my first suggestion would probably be a Fighter/Thief for the utility throughout the trilogy and for the better ranged options in Baldur's Gate. One of my easiest trilogy runs was with a Fighter/Thief. But this is subjective.
As for companions, I'd suggest a first time player choose more organically. Let the story play out and see what happens.
For companions I personally think Imoen is a must and I find I rely on Jaheira a lot, particularly in SoA. Insect Plague solves an awful lot of problems.
To someone who has played other D&D games and is more the roleplayer, I'd recommend they choose their favorite race, class and alignment.
(I picked elven ranger for my first playthrough and it was the right choice for me. I would have had less fun with lawful or evil alignment.)
To someone who isn't familiar with D&D and never heard of AD&D 2nd, I might recommend a Berserker as this is a really beginner-friendly class. With the rage protecting against some nasty effects and spells.
I'd recommend mage classes only to players who love playing mages in other games and have some knowledge of the ruleset already, as the variety of spells and what they do can be overwhelming.
As for companions, I think it is more rewarding for the player to find out for themselves. "Save often" is what I would recommend anyway, so why spoil the fun?
On the other hand evil party is more min-maxed and is better for players who know what they are doing. Just look at Edwin, Korgan and Viconia. They are very specialized and some even have an advantage over charname of the same class.
If you want evil party, ofc you have options as well but i not advise for first time.
The way their weapon specialization works allows room for error and doesn't require planning, unlike with fighters. But like with fighters they can get a large HP pool, benefits from all kind of defensive gear.
Bow wielding rangers are a great way to start BG1. And even though long bow options drop a bit in late SoA, they'll still be a very good class. Or dual wielding is great too, and the ranger can take advantage of a big variety of melee weapons.
Two-handed sword paladins of course do very well throughout the saga.
If you want to dabble with dual-wielding, rangers are a good starter character. You can just pick whatever weapons seem cool and not have to worry about 'best' weapons or what to grandmaster in for your first time around. Just make sure not to pick a two-handed weapon by accident (this means you Minsc!).
In the case of a new player, I disagree here. The problem with fighter is that it does require some more planning, because of the weapon specialization. Rangers give you the freedom to make a mistake or two on levelup and not have it feel costly.
Ranger also gives you a bit more versatility with your main character -- the stealth skill is enormously strong in the IE games. The light bit of casting adds a fun element to leveling up. Because of the ranger's increased versatility, they accommodate a wider cast of NPC companions, imo.
Obviously I concede that as a pure damage dealer fighter is better, but the class is really aided by foreknowledge of the games. A ranger can dual pip longbows and shortbows without much issue, and still have plenty of free pips for backup melee weapons. You can have two in both bows and your choice of melee by level six! Having a second melee weapon, for dual-wielding, by level 12. It'd take late BG2 (level 18) to have five pips for both longbow and shortbow, and that'd be sacrificing zero in melee weapons. Ranger archers will have this same issue of course.
Oh and just a last note, not on rangers, but the paladin's detect evil skill is actually something of an underrated ability for first time players.
(The stealth is overrated without backstab)
Even without the extra-damage, I believe there is a passive 4 bonus to hit from stealth (or invisibility). Unlike thieves, who have other priorities for their skills the first few levels, rangers are totally devoted to stealth. That bonus means they won't miss as much as fighters would.
For slightly experienced players, fighter/mage is easily the strongest choice for power, or fighter/mage/thief if you also want versatility.
No way would you want to be a singleclass warrior if you're looking for the most entertaining run-through. Singleclass rangers and fighters are too weak and one-dimensional to meaningfully contribute, and while inquisitors can meaningfully contribute, their dispel ability isn't needed in BG1 and is rendered redundant by Keldorn in BG2.
@DinoDin Oh yeah, I abused the CRAP out of detect evil as a kid. I always knew what to expect from a map.
I'd definitely second Paladin as one of the best classes for a new player. I'd put ranger in a close second-ish place, if only due to being less tanky and having more mechanics to learn.
After doing some research, my first ever playthrough was a half-elf Fighter/Mage. Possibly the strongest class in the game and it sure felt like it. I played heavily modded and with SCS and EET, and by late TOB, I truly felt like a god. I'd even go so far as to say the class is overpowered.
BUT, I really think it's the ideal class for a first time player, especially if you're planning on going through the entire saga from beginning to end (as you say in your post). Fighter/Mage gives you the best of both worlds; you get access to the saga's best weapons and best spells. With high strength and intelligence, you'll be solid. By the end of BG1, my protagonist was clearly more powerful than any of my companions; it stayed that way through SoD, SoA, and ToB. Fighter/Mage is simply a powerhouse.
FWIW, on my second playthrough I was a half-orc Fighter/Thief. Also a great choice. My lock-picking and find-traps were high enough that I never needed to take another thief, so it freed up a companion slot (usually for a magic-user). Backstab + invis potions = extremely powerful. For a new player, it's nice to *always* be able to open locks and pick-pocket (e.g. during times when you haven't met another thief yet). These games just have a HUGE amount of locked chests, wardrobes, crates, doors, etc and NPCs with goodies to be stolen; far more than any other game I've played in my life. And the "fighter" part means you're absolutely viable in raw combat all the way through the saga.
I think both options would be great for a new player planning to go all the way.
EDIT:
Speaking of stealth, it's worth mentioning that you can also stealth if you play a Ranger (or Ranger sub-class). As someone else who's still pretty new to these games, I think stealth is extremely useful for a new player, even without backstab, because you won't know what enemies you'll be facing on a first playthrough and you don't even know what the area looks like or where the points of interest are. I think BG vets take this for granted because the first time they played was so long ago. Scouting ahead with, say, a stealthed ranger would be extremely useful. I'm not sure how detection by enemies works in the vanilla games (I've only ever played with SCS), but I suspect you'll almost never have to worry about being detected.
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So, no off-hand DoE with your rat form. There are a couple other items with physical damage resistance; you can get missile damage immunity by pairing it with either the Orc Leather armor or the Belt of Inertial Barrier.
For the melee damage types, your rat-based immunity options are:
- Innate resistance from a level 10+ dwarven defender or a level 11+ barbarian
- Armor of Faith divine spell, with caster level 6+
- Hardiness HLA, available to any epic warrior or party-wide from a wish option.
Unfortunately, the rat form is very bad at offense. Its attacks deal 1d2 damage, with no stat bonuses. And you can't cast arcane or divine spells while in the form. Item abilities and pre-cast spells are about all that's left.
Going all in on indiscriminate fire ... I've dedicated an entire run to that (Kill it With Fire, over in the playthroughs subforum). Two fire-immune front-liners in BG1 so I could throw fireballs at everything, and I eventually got the full party to fire immunity in BG2. Even late-game BG1 battles are easily broken by a volley of six simultaneous fireballs, and filling the battlefield with fire storms and incendiary clouds basically destroys anything that isn't immune to fire in BG2.
Not really recommended for a first time, though. Reaching that point of party-wide fire immunity took considerable planning and foreknowledge.
One other thing to note for the fireball lover: the necklace of missiles is great, too. Cheaper and easier to recharge than a wand of fire, plus anybody (except a wizard slayer) can use it.
I'd go with a dwarf or halfling - the bonuses to saves and skills are better than the improved physical stats. But yes, a fighter/thief plays very well. I've run a lot of them, and my first runs to completion were dual-class versions.
Tactical flexibility is key for a fighter/thief. You can play archer with a ranged weapon, you can put on heavy armor and enter melee as a tank, or you can go with light armor and sneak around backstabbing. All on the same character, based on whatever's best for the battle at hand. Scout the enemies under stealth before you decide, of course.
Oh, you say that heavy armor blocks the use of thieving skills? No problem. It's not like you need to disarm traps and open locks in combat, except on very rare occasions. You can always just take your armor off when the coast is clear to handle those things. And heavy armor doesn't impede trap detection.
Overall it gives you experience with combat and you also have enough spell slots so you can try out different things.
In hindsight, I would advise a first time player to play the class that interests them, no matter what it is, because they will be more invested and have the most fun. All classes will be a learning experience, bar none.
I would also suggest to avoid multis and duals and to instead keep it simple and learn the game. My kids took this approach and wanted to be thieves or warriors or priests or wizards. The race for them was just as important as the profession, i.e. dwarven warrior, elven wizard, Bilbo, etc. The rest was just noise and confusing complexity for them until they actually had played through the game and understood all of the nuances that we as experienced players now take for granted.