Who's going EVIL on their first playthrough?!

Debaser

Just checking!

Mungri

Me, Lawful Evil Swashbuckler / Mage solo, but mainly for the polymorphing imp.

lindz

Careful tho, temple donations are VERY pricey now. I have rep 3, and am REALLY regretting it.

State_Lemming

Evil has been pushed back to a second playthrough, I need some time to get my bearings with the game without the added challenge of society's scorn.

Mungri

Added challenge is equalized by killing firebead and having every NPC that joins you start at level 4.

darthchair

I've never actually had an evil character in any version of Baldur's Gate I've played. And any play through. Therefore...after I beat my first play through...I promise to go evil. Evil promises of evil!

Debaser

@darthchair @Mungri @lindz @State_Lemming I decided not to kill firebeard so I could pick my proficiencies myself. I am mostly OK with my choices so far I would maybe have chosen slightly differently for my PC but he is tanking like he should.

My rep is LOW....hovering at 2-3...everything is so expensive but no matter who crosses our path we've been victorious! Working on Dorns' quest...kind of interesting so far...three down and one more to go. But first I think we need to keep exploring the southern regions a bit and finish off the Naskel Mines.

darthchair

I think it's kind of odd...I mean if you have a very low reputation and you are evil...the shopkeepers mark up their prices? That doesn't seem like the smartest and most business savvy move if the shopkeeper hopes to live to make a profit.

colonel_burger

Right here baby! Really enjoying rolling with dorn.

@darthchair mods from gibberling3.org fix that.

darthchair

Really? I might look into that when I roll an evil hero. I kind of wish inventory on merchants was like in Fallout where you could kill the guy and then take everything he has. Unless you can. I never actually killed a merchant in BG I don't think. Never even tried to...can you? If you can I have missed out lol.

State_Lemming

darthchair said:

I think it's kind of odd...I mean if you have a very low reputation and you are evil...the shopkeepers mark up their prices? That doesn't seem like the smartest and most business savvy move if the shopkeeper hopes to live to make a profit.

Would you sell a gun to a wanted criminal, most likely a murderer at that? The fact they sell you weapons at all makes the merchants opportunistic scoundrels.

darthchair

@State_Lemming I sort of get you. But I also don't see the intelligence of inflating your prices to the guy that can turn you into a bloody smear on the wall or worse. I mean that'd be the equivalent of a bunch of outlaws riding into town in the Wild West and shooting up the place. Everyone in town is afraid of them. They go into the saloon and you're the bartender. Would you charge them 4X the price for whiskey shots? No. You'd be urinating in your pants and giving them drinks for free in hopes that they don't kill you.

State_Lemming

@darthchair Those merchants know that at any given moment a throng of soldiers will show up in a second even if you try to steal a pellet. They are more vigilant than the guards from Oblivion.

catfish

current party @ nashkel mines
PC - swashbuckler neutral evil
Monty
Xzar
Neera
Dorn
Kagain

Little short on healing, switched out branwen for dorn but need a couple levels on dorn.He does not seem to start with any spells.

darthchair

@State_Lemming I guess. But I mean if they have to have secret societies in Baldur's Gate to go after overly powerful wizards that don't play fair, I don't really think a throng of soldiers are going to be able to do much. Especially whenever you start moving up the levels and sporting enchanted armor, weaponry, and of course the buffs from magic users.

Arsene_Lupin

I never go evil on any playthrough.

I mean, I would if evil characters in any game were ever well-written... but they never are. They're just jackasses.

Which isn't necessarily something I don't like. Ideally, I like to play characters based on Toshiro Mifune's roles in Redbeard, Sanjuro and Yojimbo--basically, a person whose speech make him seem rude, callous, mean-spirited, crude, what have you, but whose actions are unerring FULL OF JUSTICE AND BADASSITUDE!

The only game I've seen handle "evil" storylines with skill and class have been the Legacy of Kain titles. I don't mind being evil, but I do mind being selfish and stupid.

So, yeah, in games like BG I have to go good all the time.

State_Lemming

@darthchair At a certain point don't guards just straight up assault you if you have a low enough rep? In my experience npcs tend to scatter when red circles start popping up.

darthchair

@State_Lemming I'm not entirely sure. I never played a bad guy. My initial comments were pondering what shop keepers drop as loot if you kill them (if you can kill them). Haha. I always loved in Fallout 3 how you get warnings practically for just eyeing up someone's dishes.

toanwrath

I am currently in the middle of my first playthrough, the first time I have done an all evil game. I tried twice in the past: Once in BG2, but I gave up because I wanted max reputation. Once in BGTutu, but I gave up because I didn't know who I wanted in my party.

This time, my party is:

Bjorn (Half-Orc Priest of Talos). Reason: Never played a cleric, never played a half-orc, never played evil. Knock out 3 birds with one playthrough.

Kagain (Who I always though was pronounced Kuh-gain, but he says Kay-gen). Reason: Good frontline fighter with 20 Con, which means lots of hp and ridiculous saves.

Dorn. Reasons: Gotta try the noobie, and soooo much damage.

Xzar. Reasons: I always hated Xzar, but I figured I would try the commonly talked about Necromancer6/dual to cleric. And I want Montaron!

Montaron. Reason: I love this guy, his warcries are badass and he isn't too terrible in combat.

Edwin: Of course, so many spells. He is actually my weakest party member right now, purely because Xzar can throw daggers and Edwin can just sit on his thumbs when out of spells. Unless we are fighting humanoids, in which case Algernon's cloak is his favorite weapon.

My Rep is somewhere between 5 and 7, and I haven't had to buy temple reputation (yet). I figure if my reputation gets too high, I'll just go kill Drizzt...or try to.

Siddham

I'm a goody. Never play evil. Cannot.

State_Lemming

Arsene_Lupin said:

I never go evil on any playthrough.

I mean, I would if evil characters in any game were ever well-written... but they never are. They're just jackasses.

For the most part I'd agree. Although I think you can make a reasonable enough evil character in Knights of the Old Republic by being a largely neutral jedi and then hopping to the dark side when the chance comes up in the plot, but since that game also sports the pompous evil dialogue options I'm not sure if that counts.

I think more games should take the Deus Ex and Mass Effect route, where you can play as a character with flexible ethics, but you still have the same "save the day" objective.

ElysianEchoes

My character is CN but the party keeps getting more and more evil lol. Khalid and Xzar have bit it, though, forever. Ah well.

State_Lemming

@darthchair Bethesda games are a lot of fun like that, plus you can discreetly swipe things on display with much more ease than using the pickpocket skill in BG. :P

darthchair

The worst use of pick pocket I thought was in the original Fallout. Like putting dynamite on people. It was kind of annoying. Not that I tried blowing people up randomly with grenades or anything.

Pairdice

I'm playing an evil party

Dorn (party leader)
Shar-Teel
CHARNAME (lawful evil elf fighter with longbow)
Montaron
Xzar (dual class to cleric)
Edwin

I would have liked to create a ranger archer kit as my main, but rangers can't be evil.
Also, I'm short on healing until I get Xzar a tome of wisdom so he can actually dual class.
So far, I am really enjoying this group. I think I am going to keep my reputation between 6-8.

szb

I started my first evil playtrough yesterday.

Me, CE Dwarf Fighter/Cleric
Dorn
Monaron
Xzar
Edwin

My reputaion is 1. Guards attacked me on sight on Nashkel, and every time I go there, theres some bounty hunter attacking me.
In Beregost I ran into a pretty strong group of falming fist wizards/guards trying to take me out. Wonder what will happen in Baldur's Gate.
Main problem is that shopkeepers are asking 150k for the good magic items :-(

elminster

Evil playthrough has been going ok for me so far. I've been playing more of a "I'll help you so long as I get money" type of playthrough (for the most part I did help Melicamp which was at a point in the playhrough when I was debating how I was going to play it).

Dorn is fun to have, though he makes some battles very short.

My reputation is around 5 at the moment and I'm in Baldur's Gate. Obviously I don't have as much money as other people would, but frankly since I'm a bard I can steal much of what I need item wise (not everything some merchants don't give you the option). So I'm doing well I think. Plus for whatever reason I have a bug where when you kill commoners within visual range of other commoners (or random NPC's for that matter) they don't go hostile. It makes managing reputation without causing a scene very easy actually.

shawne

Me, I love the challenge. It'll be my PC, Dorn, Safana, Viconia, Edwin and Neera (assuming the latter two can get along).

toanwrath

So, i think that the game realizes when you are trying to balance reputation. At reputation 8 I killed Elvenhair Firebeard in his home and lost 2 rep for it putting me at 6 rep (mainly I wanted Robes for Xzar/Edwin and the 2500 xp). Then I figure, "Why not do his quest first, so I can get the reputation, kill him, and try and juggle my rep a bit?" Well, after I get him his book, he gives me the 1 rep putting me at 9. Then I kill him as usual, but this time i lose 3 rep (putting me back at 6 as if I hadnt helped him). So, either you lose more rep for doing bad things when your rep is higher, or the game knew that I was trying to exploit Elvenhair for xp and denied me my new rep.

toanwrath

@elminster
What bard kit are you playing? I am thinking of playing one as my next character but can't decide between Skald, Blade and Standard (not a fan of Jester).

elminster

Jester. Not sure why you are not a fan. I just killed a group of amnish guards (I was going on a killing spree to test that commoner "bug" which I now think is actually an intentional change) in large part because my bard song confused two of them and they ran around while my group and I killed their comrades. I'm not going to say it is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but enemies have a significant penalty to roll against it (a penalty of 4 against saving throws). Different bards have different uses, but for what I was looking for (a pickpocketing scumbag of a leader) it does the trick.