@atcDave probably because that is way to harsh a penalty, and bg can be quite merciless when it comes to killing your character, although vanilla bg 1 had some chance of revival jargon based on constitution
In PNP being Raised would cost you a point of constitution. I'm not sure why they did away with that.
Having never played PnP I'd be interested to know just how regular an occurrence having to raise a character is?
For me, if I wasn't 'Queen Reload' - which actually has been helping me loads in improving my tactics - raising would be a regular thing in game even though I play with all the autopauses enabled (so closer to turn based). Funnily enough there's an anomaly with the way program works whereby if you're exploring a new area and come across an enemy the game will autopause as enemy sighted when the enemy is still in a darkened area, meaning you then have to move towards them in order to target them and make an attack, by which point you're even closer in to trouble. I may be wrong but I can't imagine you have to do that with PnP so you have a better chance of being able to avoid trouble (aside from the roll of the dice of course).
Vampires are no concern to me as of now, but I remember very well my first times on BG2 and back then the situation was for me exactly like BaldursCat describes it.
I couldn't beat them either and I avoided going out after sunset like the plague. (Actually I was really terrified running into them, because I knew that meant death).
Baldur's Gate Enhanced Editions will attract some new gamers I think many of which may have no preknowledge of either PnP D&D or any other D&D videogames. We should be considerate of them.
Glad it isn't just me! Some of the things I struggled with on previous playthroughs I've found easier this time around but the vamps seem to be getting more difficult.
& of course, even if a gamer does have knowledge of D&D they may not necessarily have knowledge of 2E rules given that we're at least two-and-a-half rulesets down the road. Even 3e/3.5e are a world away.
In PNP being Raised would cost you a point of constitution. I'm not sure why they did away with that.
Having never played PnP I'd be interested to know just how regular an occurrence having to raise a character is?
It depends entirely on the campaign. Some are fairly low magic so it's almost impossible to find someone who can cast raise dead. In these types of campaign a dead character typically stays dead (and then player gets to roll up a new character).
At the other end of the scale, some campaigns can be very high magic. In these campaigns death can be reduced to a mere inconvenience.
I really don't like reloading in games cos it takes away the 'drama' of it. Which is why I wish there were less 'I am screwed cos I'm a noobie and don't know what specific thing to do here' situations. Another obvious example jumps to mind: Greater Wolfwere in BG EE. I had no idea that you needed +4 weapons and didn't realise how important the dagger in the lower level was, so didn't identify it. I also didn't know the Sword of Balduran was in the very room, and previously sold all the shape-shifter specific items found cos nobody was proficient with bastard swords. In short I was left facing a hard-hitting combat monster that regenerated at super speed, and I had no weapons to harm it. Of course I couldn't even get off the island without killing it, so it wasn't an optional battle. That kinda situation goes beyond 'challenging', it's just frustrating'.
As for vamps. I guess I got lucky. I bought a Blade of the Roses very early (it's cheap if u save Hendak), and didn't encounter many vamps until I was fairly well equipped. I think it probably had something to do with my 'realism sleep pattern' that I try to stick to. i.e. I usually try to rest around midnight, and get up early morning, so probably avoided an early encounter with some vamps.
In PnP you don't usually need to get raised often. Not only is combat less frequent, but most DMs use some sort of "unconscious" rule; characters don't just drop dead at "0". It's a rare thing for me if a character needs to be raised. My four best characters never died. Once or twice in a career is probably more typical. I had one friend play a Monk that croaked so often he put a line at the top of his sheet "the Monk is in/the Monk is out" and checked whichever was apt.
ah monks, if monks from pnp are anything like they are in the bg series, that makes a lot of sense, until they hit level 18 of coarse
Yeah pretty much! This was an old 1E game. But the issues were the same, Monks were pretty useless until higher level. We were all impressed he kept at it as long as he did!
Comments
For me, if I wasn't 'Queen Reload' - which actually has been helping me loads in improving my tactics - raising would be a regular thing in game even though I play with all the autopauses enabled (so closer to turn based). Funnily enough there's an anomaly with the way program works whereby if you're exploring a new area and come across an enemy the game will autopause as enemy sighted when the enemy is still in a darkened area, meaning you then have to move towards them in order to target them and make an attack, by which point you're even closer in to trouble. I may be wrong but I can't imagine you have to do that with PnP so you have a better chance of being able to avoid trouble (aside from the roll of the dice of course).
Glad it isn't just me! Some of the things I struggled with on previous playthroughs I've found easier this time around but the vamps seem to be getting more difficult.
& of course, even if a gamer does have knowledge of D&D they may not necessarily have knowledge of 2E rules given that we're at least two-and-a-half rulesets down the road. Even 3e/3.5e are a world away.
At the other end of the scale, some campaigns can be very high magic. In these campaigns death can be reduced to a mere inconvenience.
As for vamps. I guess I got lucky. I bought a Blade of the Roses very early (it's cheap if u save Hendak), and didn't encounter many vamps until I was fairly well equipped. I think it probably had something to do with my 'realism sleep pattern' that I try to stick to. i.e. I usually try to rest around midnight, and get up early morning, so probably avoided an early encounter with some vamps.
It's a rare thing for me if a character needs to be raised. My four best characters never died. Once or twice in a career is probably more typical. I had one friend play a Monk that croaked so often he put a line at the top of his sheet "the Monk is in/the Monk is out" and checked whichever was apt.