Mediocre Jill moves onto BG2!
atcDave
Member Posts: 2,673
I'm continuing to have a ton of fun with this less than optimal character. It is particularly fun from a *role-playing* perspective to run someone ordinary, and not at all a deep thinker. Its an exercise in reductionism to get things to a level our heroine can understand.
I find it particularly interesting to make the best of a team that is pointedly not run by careful planning and design. Jill in particular, is best used as an archer, Dexterity is her only natural bonus. But she often ends up on point, and she can be reasonably effective there.
I'm telling her story in AI images and videos. The whole thing is available as Jill and Christopher at davesgaming.blog.
I find it particularly interesting to make the best of a team that is pointedly not run by careful planning and design. Jill in particular, is best used as an archer, Dexterity is her only natural bonus. But she often ends up on point, and she can be reasonably effective there.
I'm telling her story in AI images and videos. The whole thing is available as Jill and Christopher at davesgaming.blog.
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Comments
Be aware that an Archer is not only a high dps toon, as all the Rangers he can hide in shadows and this can be the key to easily win some tough battles and can be also a lot of fun for the player (it depends on personal player taste, for me it is so, others can hate it). In some situations it is better to hit once or twice with your bow and run away to hide, this can be used to lure away from the enemy mage his warrior type helpers and kill them with multiple attacks while they can never get a single hit on you as you always turn a corner and hide before they reach you. Then you can deal with the mage attacking him with elemental arrows that disrupt his spells and erode his stoneskin without the hassle of his already dead helpers. This is one of the many examples of how hide in shadows is useful for an Archer.
I now have the link of your blog in my bookmarks, I will follow your Archer adventure with great pleasure.
Although I should mention, my protagonist is an unkitted fighter. She’s an archer in the sense the bow is her preferred weapon. She is now up to Grand Mastery with it. Short Sword is her second weapon, she has three pips in that. She does have a 17 dexterity, but no other bonuses of any sort. So she really is good with her bow, not as good as a Ranger-Archer. And she doesn’t have the nifty Hide in Shadows. Although she can wear decent armor, except she isn’t strong enough for any plate armor without a strength boost.
Having to choose I would choose a fighter with high dex over a one with high str.
I suggest you to invest on the long run some pips in axes, daggers or slings as without the damage boost that only a Ranger Archer get on the long run a bow will be a low dps weapon while as soon as you have items to boost your str its damage bonus is applied to returning axes and daggers (that have the same apr of a long bow and the damage of a bastard sword) as well as to slings that get damage boost from the launcher and bullet enchantment while arrows enchantment does not give you more damage.
When she will reach HLAs a GWW with the best sling and the best bullets while wearing a good str belt can give you probably around 200 dmg/round, something that with a bow is impossible if you are not an archer kit of the ranger class.
Returning weapons/sling for high damage and bow for the very effective elemental and dispelling arrows when are needed is the way to go for a fighter that has mainly a ranged role in the party.
Again, Jill is a Fighter not a Ranger, so she will focus on Short Sword as her melee weapon, then dual wielding. By the end of SoA she will move back to the front of the party (for a three warrior front). Maybe in ToB she'll start picking up some Hammer or Flail proficiencies, crushing is broadly better.
For now, she is clearly the dominant figure in the party with 40% of total kills. Now that Jaheira has the Giant Strength that may change? Or not, Jill has a very high Rate of Fire. She's my Ma Deuce (heavy machine gun!). Or Legolas?