Edwin is arguably the best mage in the whole game (only you can be a better mage).
The PC can be a better mage? I find that claim questionable, hah!
Dual class a mage from a fighter and you got a mage who is good at using a longbow and a meleeweapon.
I find Edwin to be a crappy mage. With low dexterity he is very vulnarable and he contributes little to the ranged combat. And worst of all: he can't use the identify spell. This means dragging a bard with you or another mage.
Edwin is arguably the best mage in the whole game (only you can be a better mage).
The PC can be a better mage? I find that claim questionable, hah!
Dual class a mage from a fighter and you got a mage who is good at using a longbow and a meleeweapon.
I find Edwin to be a crappy mage. With low dexterity he is very vulnarable and he contributes little to the ranged combat. And worst of all: he can't use the identify spell. This means dragging a bard with you or another mage.
Dual classed Imoen is much better than Edwin.
Imoen can't dual to a specialist mage, so has less spells per level, also not only is Edwin a specialist mage (a conjurer, the least limited specialist mage class), but, combined with his personal amulet (that only he can use) , he gets an insane amount of spells. Arguably Con is more important than Dex for a mage (and Edwin has good Con), as AC can be easily boosted by spells or magic items, a Mage is rarely in melee combat, and Dex can be raised to 18 with the Dex gloves (assuming no one else needs them).
Yeah, Edwin is definitely not meant for physical damage. But the sheer amount of spells he gets really makes him one of the best characters in game. And, you should keep and dual Imoen anyway !
About Glass Dust, the effects @Oxford_Guy mentioned are indeed correct. Weird thing is that one of them is displaying the string @elminster mentioned (SPIN935D.EFF). I see no plausible reason to why this mistake was made.
Imoen can't dual to a specialist mage, so has less spells per level, also not only is Edwin a specialist mage (a conjurer, the least limited specialist mage class), but, combined with his personal amulet (that only he can use) , he gets an insane amount of spells. Arguably Con is more important than Dex for a mage (and Edwin has good Con), as AC can be easily boosted by spells or magic items, a Mage is rarely in melee combat, and Dex can be raised to 18 with the Dex gloves (assuming no one else needs them).
Valid points.
But Imoen's constitution is just as high as Edwin. And the gloves of dexterity prevent the use of other gloves for the mage (my Imoen uses gloves of archery) and, as you say, maybe useful for someone else. Futrhermore her HP's are slightly higher and - even dual classed - you can get her lockpicking or trap detection high enough to see you through the first half of the game. These advantages more than make up for Edwin's amulet, I think.
All depends on your style, I suppose. My parties are always very archer-heavy and magic is always the last resort. But my main issue with Edwin is what others consider an adadavantage: his specialisation, which prevents him from identifying. This makes him an expensive choice. Apart from the hassle to have to present each magic item or arrow for identification in a shop.
@Helias Yeah, if you only use one Mage (which I don't recommend), identifying items can be expensive. But not using Edwin is in my opinion worse. Damaging enemies isn't so advantageous as disabling them. With Sleep, Mages can render most enemies unconscious thus allowing automatic touch and no riposte. So you should trade one of your archers for Edwin and keep Imoen.
Dexterity isn't important for non melee/Thieves/Fighters/18- Strength characters. Why? Because they won't have enough attacks/damage to actually benefit from hitting. The only exception would be with the Light Crossbow of Speed which deals decent damage. Even then, if you disable your foes like I said, you will always hit anyway.
All depends on your style, I suppose. My parties are always very archer-heavy and magic is always the last resort. But my main issue with Edwin is what others consider an adadavantage: his specialisation, which prevents him from identifying. This makes him an expensive choice. Apart from the hassle to have to present each magic item or arrow for identification in a shop.
Yes, but lots of parties will have another mage, often multi-class or dual-class - either CHARNAME or Imoen/Safana dualed
Yeah, Edwin is definitely not meant for physical damage. But the sheer amount of spells he gets really makes him one of the best characters in game. And, you should keep and dual Imoen anyway !
About Glass Dust, the effects @Oxford_Guy mentioned are indeed correct. Weird thing is that one of them is displaying the string @elminster mentioned (SPIN935D.EFF). I see no plausible reason to why this mistake was made.
@Abel I've come to the conclusion it is not so much of a mistake, as it is evidence of an elaborate spy ring operating along the sword coast. Xvarts, Kobolds, Gnolls, humans; all of these creatures are somehow involved and have figured out the names of the Iron Throne leaders. For what purpose I am still unsure, but this clandestine operation is certainly extensive
No, it's the same as it's always been in BG1, but she was given more Wis in BG2.
That's why she's just fuching (wink wink) random in BG1.
I'd rather make my own fighter / cleric (or cleric of Talos) for an evil party than taking her in my party !
Bhaalspawn - Lawful Evil Fighter/Cleric of Bane (I have to check the level cap so that he can benefit the most of his fighter levels) Dorn - Dps Kagain - as the tank Shar teel ranged / DPS or thief Montaron - thief warrior Edwin : the mage
I might keep Imoen as thief/mage instead of shar teel or montaron in order to have access to identification.
Imoen can't dual to a specialist mage, so has less spells per level, also not only is Edwin a specialist mage (a conjurer, the least limited specialist mage class), but, combined with his personal amulet (that only he can use) , he gets an insane amount of spells. Arguably Con is more important than Dex for a mage (and Edwin has good Con), as AC can be easily boosted by spells or magic items, a Mage is rarely in melee combat, and Dex can be raised to 18 with the Dex gloves (assuming no one else needs them).
She CAN dual to a specialist mage in vanilla BG (with or without TOSC).
Evil parties are *much* more fun IMHO, though try to keep your reputation at 6 or above, unless you want to be hassled by the Flaming Fist constantly. It's also perfectly feasible to have some neutral characters within your party, I'm currently using:
Imoen can't dual to a specialist mage, so has less spells per level, also not only is Edwin a specialist mage (a conjurer, the least limited specialist mage class), but, combined with his personal amulet (that only he can use) , he gets an insane amount of spells. Arguably Con is more important than Dex for a mage (and Edwin has good Con), as AC can be easily boosted by spells or magic items, a Mage is rarely in melee combat, and Dex can be raised to 18 with the Dex gloves (assuming no one else needs them).
She CAN dual to a specialist mage in vanilla BG (with or without TOSC).
It's a missing feature that shall be fixed.
I doubt it will be "fixed" as BGEE is essentially using BG2 rules and this change would also mean you could then dual from a kit to what is essentially another kit, which woul be OP
Evil parties are *much* more fun IMHO, though try to keep your reputation at 6 or above, unless you want to be hassled by the Flaming Fist constantly. It's also perfectly feasible to have some neutral characters within your party, I'm currently using:
Imoen can't dual to a specialist mage, so has less spells per level, also not only is Edwin a specialist mage (a conjurer, the least limited specialist mage class), but, combined with his personal amulet (that only he can use) , he gets an insane amount of spells. Arguably Con is more important than Dex for a mage (and Edwin has good Con), as AC can be easily boosted by spells or magic items, a Mage is rarely in melee combat, and Dex can be raised to 18 with the Dex gloves (assuming no one else needs them).
She CAN dual to a specialist mage in vanilla BG (with or without TOSC).
It's a missing feature that shall be fixed.
I doubt it will be "fixed" as BGEE is essentially using BG2 rules and this change would also mean you could then dual from a kit to what is essentially another kit, which woul be OP
And if this is OP ? What's the problem ?
It is not a PVp multiplayer game, so I don't see what's so "overpowered" with this. If they try to get close to vanilla BG, this shall be an improvement.
On the other side, I think I can easily see the devs trying to use your argumentation to cover the fact they are too lazy to fix it to its vanilla BG state.
Same thing : if this is the BG2 rules, you shall be able to put your 4 stars in the weapon proficiency of your choice at the beginning. ;-)
other example : Same thing for the level 1 "protection against petrification". it is a level 2 spell in BG1. This should be brought back to level 2 in this game.
Baldur's Gate is already pretty full with incredibly overpowered things. Allowing dual-classing into kits would not add too much to it, and I think would be worth it with some extra flavor.
Same thing for the level 1 "protection against petrification". it is a level 2 spell in BG1. This should be brought back to level 2 in this game.
Why?
Because it was so in the first game ;-)
Then, why can't we put 4 pips in the same weapon proficiency at the beginning ? (we can do this in BG2).
Well you can actually put 5 in the beginning of BG2, which may end up changing with BG2EE because of the high mastery limit in BGEE (except for abdel of course). But from a proficiency standpoint I hardly see how in within the walls of Candlekeep you became a high master of using a weapon.
You can actually run a high-reputation all-evil party and not risk your buddies leaving. They'll only quit if your rep goes above 18, but if it momentarily should, you can just kick out Viconia or Dorn and then reinvite them; your rep will go from 19 to 20 when they go, then from 20 back down to 18 when they rejoin.
I ran an "all-good" party but managed to keep Edwin in it, despite my reputation going up to 20, without mods. In vanilla BG, this is.
I'm not entirely sure how that works, but if I had to guess, Edwin's promise to serve the PC for a year may override his ability to leave even a max reputation party.
Plus, there is something rather delicious in forcing Edwin to do various good deeds while under the watchful eye of a Paladin whose ethos could be summed up as "good is not dumb" and with Minsc stationed right next to him.
Comments
"[enemy name] Investigating the Iron Throne
Husam says that the leaders of the Iron Throne are Brunos, Thaldorn, and Rieltar"
Looks like I'm opening up another bug thread
I find Edwin to be a crappy mage. With low dexterity he is very vulnarable and he contributes little to the ranged combat.
And worst of all: he can't use the identify spell. This means dragging a bard with you or another mage.
Dual classed Imoen is much better than Edwin.
About Glass Dust, the effects @Oxford_Guy mentioned are indeed correct. Weird thing is that one of them is displaying the string @elminster mentioned (SPIN935D.EFF). I see no plausible reason to why this mistake was made.
But Imoen's constitution is just as high as Edwin. And the gloves of dexterity prevent the use of other gloves for the mage (my Imoen uses gloves of archery) and, as you say, maybe useful for someone else. Futrhermore her HP's are slightly higher and - even dual classed - you can get her lockpicking or trap detection high enough to see you through the first half of the game. These advantages more than make up for Edwin's amulet, I think.
All depends on your style, I suppose. My parties are always very archer-heavy and magic is always the last resort.
But my main issue with Edwin is what others consider an adadavantage: his specialisation, which prevents him from identifying. This makes him an expensive choice. Apart from the hassle to have to present each magic item or arrow for identification in a shop.
So you should trade one of your archers for Edwin and keep Imoen.
Dexterity isn't important for non melee/Thieves/Fighters/18- Strength characters. Why? Because they won't have enough attacks/damage to actually benefit from hitting. The only exception would be with the Light Crossbow of Speed which deals decent damage. Even then, if you disable your foes like I said, you will always hit anyway.
I'd rather make my own fighter / cleric (or cleric of Talos) for an evil party than taking her in my party !
Bhaalspawn - Lawful Evil Fighter/Cleric of Bane (I have to check the level cap so that he can benefit the most of his fighter levels)
Dorn - Dps
Kagain - as the tank
Shar teel ranged / DPS or thief
Montaron - thief warrior
Edwin : the mage
I might keep Imoen as thief/mage instead of shar teel or montaron in order to have access to identification.
She CAN dual to a specialist mage in vanilla BG (with or without TOSC).
It's a missing feature that shall be fixed.
You can kill him, get him petrified by a basilisk, ...
It is not a PVp multiplayer game, so I don't see what's so "overpowered" with this.
If they try to get close to vanilla BG, this shall be an improvement.
On the other side, I think I can easily see the devs trying to use your argumentation to cover the fact they are too lazy to fix it to its vanilla BG state.
Same thing : if this is the BG2 rules, you shall be able to put your 4 stars in the weapon proficiency of your choice at the beginning. ;-)
other example :
Same thing for the level 1 "protection against petrification". it is a level 2 spell in BG1.
This should be brought back to level 2 in this game.
Because it was so in the first game ;-)
Then, why can't we put 4 pips in the same weapon proficiency at the beginning ? (we can do this in BG2).
But then, it's not the same situation as BG1 which allowed dual classing to a mage kit
I'm not entirely sure how that works, but if I had to guess, Edwin's promise to serve the PC for a year may override his ability to leave even a max reputation party.
Plus, there is something rather delicious in forcing Edwin to do various good deeds while under the watchful eye of a Paladin whose ethos could be summed up as "good is not dumb" and with Minsc stationed right next to him.