I didn't want to start new thread for this, but for are the advantages of half-elf over elf? From description it seems there are none, especially in terms of abilities.
@Heindrich1988@beo And more class options in general, elves can't be bards or druids while half-elves can (which doesn't make much sense to me). As far as multiclasses go, I think half-elves are the only race able to legally select F/D, R/C, F/M/C and non-illusionist M/Cs (although certain NPCs cheat). Also +1 Con (at the expense of -1 dex) is the obvious one.
The Druid restriction makes perfect sense in AD&D as Druidism is a human religion, and Druids are merely the specialty priests of that religion. Later rules supplements added Elven priesthoods that were more like Druids. Unfortunately BG does not use much variability on religions and specialty priests. That is absolutely one of my very favorite elements of 2E rules, it is quite simple to customize a wide variety clerics; but BG only uses three ( as kits) plus Druids.
Half-elves can be interesting multiclasses, like Cleric/Rangers! Which are more powerful then Cernd. Unless he shifts in to tennis ball form. Maybe.
(Dumb forum jokes, ignore me.)
Straight to the point, and elf wins over half-elf anyday, unless there are certain things you want out of thieves skills (they have variant ones, though I can't remember the difference at the time). But the half-elf has open to them a ton of multi-classes an elf cannot get, which makes them interesting and competitive. If you can be an elven something or a half-elven something, it's probably better to be an elven something, but there are certain somethings that can only be half-elven, and some of them are quite powerful.
As a BG2:EE tip - do a few quests in the city before you leave to tackle other dungeons. The Circus Tent, Copper Coronet Backrooms, Thieves Guild, Bridge Disrict Murders and a few others will give you enough gear, gold and XP to hit the ground running.
While you hear about the De'Arnise Keep and Windspear Hills early on they're challenging for a party just starting out.
As a BG2:EE tip - do a few quests in the city before you leave to tackle other dungeons. The Circus Tent, Copper Coronet Backrooms, Thieves Guild, Bridge Disrict Murders and a few others will give you enough gear, gold and XP to hit the ground running.
While you hear about the De'Arnise Keep and Windspear Hills early on they're challenging for a party just starting out.
On the note of the De'Arnise Keep, Nalia will bug you about that every time you enter the Copper Coronet. Accepting the quest means starting a timer that will cause the quest to expire if you don't do it fast enough. Tell Nalia "I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk to you right now" each time you don't want to do it and you can put it off indefinitely.
Nalia was in the party as primary thief and mage (I EEkeepered her to dual at 7 for 100% traps and locks). I couldn't really say no to the lass. The challenges we set ourselves, eh?
@Heindrich1988@beo And more class options in general, elves can't be bards or druids while half-elves can (which doesn't make much sense to me). As far as multiclasses go, I think half-elves are the only race able to legally select F/D, R/C, F/M/C and non-illusionist M/Cs (although certain NPCs cheat). Also +1 Con (at the expense of -1 dex) is the obvious one.
Regarding bards and elves: One could consider that in many source fantasy melieu's (a certain early 20th century Briton comes to mind), the concept of an elven bard is just...nonsensical. They are in effect ALL bards, music and poetry is like...like...texting for 21st c. American teens. Likewise for druids...the idea of needing to become closer with nature would make no sense to an elf.
A very simple thing I have found really adds to my enjoyment of the game. Customize the Major/Minor colors of your NPCs!!
Another thing I found was that accumulating a bunch of Magical Items [particularly Potions] that I had no clear idea about how, when and where to use really started to be aggravating. At some point, probably near the beginning of Chap. 3 after clearing Nashkel Mines, start a list of all your Potions including how much Thunderhammer Smithy, for example, will pay for them, with a description of their effect and any class restrictions [ex. Potion of Heroism can only be used by Warrior classes -single or multi] Then make notes about obvious uses ~ example, your lesser strength potions may have the biggest effect when used to boost weaker NPCs rather than beasts like Minsc or Dorn. For instance, a critical back-stab boost for Imoen. This will help.
A 3rd point is that looting dead bodies of Xvarts, Gibberlings, Kobolds, Gnolls, etc. can become just a bit excessive for very little reward. After a while I just resolved to harvest a few extra White Wolves or Ankhegs for big bucks and cut myself some slack on the corpse piles of various shorties. [So long as you keep watchful for Spell Scrolls].
I think Planescape Torment was a lot better at explaining the rules of the game than Baldur's Gate was. In PST's character creation, you could see exactly what each stat did at different numbers. In Baldur's Gate, in order to figure out what bonuses a character gets from different strength scores (for example) without looking it up, there's really no easy way because you can only see the damage/thac0 bonuses once you finish creating the character.
The Druid restriction makes perfect sense in AD&D as Druidism is a human religion, and Druids are merely the specialty priests of that religion. Later rules supplements added Elven priesthoods that were more like Druids. .
By the way, Druidism is not a religion. It's a philosophy and a path. You can be a druid of various religions (Silvanus, Chauntea etc).
It seems even sourcebooks of ADnD didn't like the absolutely stupid restriction of elven characters not being able to be Druids. Or dwarven Druids.
I have played both a kensai and a berserker, and I have to ask: what were the dev's thinking of when they designed the Kensai profession?? As far as I can see, the Kensai is inferior to the berserker in just about every way.
1) Kensai AC is worse by far, since they can't wear armor or bracers. My kensai got to AC 2, my berserker was -4 at the same level. Want Bracers of Ogre Power? Sorry, no can do. 2) Kensai Kiai ability doesn't compare well with berserking, which gives immunity to mind control spells. Berserkers can kick siren butt. Dire charm? Never heard of it. 3) Kensai sounds exotic and raises the picture of someone like Musashi wreaking havoc while wielding a katana. Unfortunately choosing proficiency in katana turns out to be foolish; a +1 katana pales by comparison with Spider's Bane and its free action abilities. 4) Berserkers cannot dedicate proficiency slots to bows, but at least they can use them. Kensai can't use missile weapons at all. OK, they can maneuver around this prohibition a little bit by grabbing some throwing axes, but a berserker with a +1 composite bow can do a lot more damage due to the wide variety of arrows available. +1 throwing axe vs arrows of detonation. Hmmm.
Oh, this comparison is for straight Berserker vs Kensai. A lot of people are considering dualing over to mage. The Kensai does gain a bit in viability here, since the berserker won't be able to use armor while the Kensai gets his intrinsic -2 to AC. However, the berserk rage is still better, IMO, than the Kiai, and the berserker can still wear things like gauntlets of ogre power once he gets his mage level high enough to use his abilities again, or should be ...
It's not about greater/lesser. Things aren't meant to all be equal. As a role playing game it's more about character and story. Some class/kit options will be stronger than others. It's also another way for the player to effect difficulty. Play a stronger character to beat up on the game, a weaker character for a more thorough challenge.
@FrdNwsm I'll echo what @atcDave said. I personally cannot stomach the idea of a man who cannot control his temper (berserker) suddenly mastering magic, which (in my mind at least) requires patience and logic. Hence I'd never use a dual-class Berserker=>Mage even if it were "superior" to a Kensai=>Mage mechanically.
There was a pretty extensive debate on this topic in the this thread.
>> I personally cannot stomach the idea of a man who cannot control his temper (berserker) suddenly mastering magic, <<
This isn't totally true in this world; the BG berserker is quite in control of his ferocity, since he chooses when to use it, and whom to use it on. Think of it more as psyching oneself up for battle and tapping normally inaccessible resources as opposed to just losing it mentally. I will say that it's not in MyChar's psyche to study magic (nor could he even if I wanted him to, being a half-orc). He will stay a warrior to the end. But dual classing one's character seems to be a popular concept around here, so I mentioned it.
As far as balance ... every profession has its upsides and downsides, and needs to be played differently. But from a game design viewpoint, IMO (and of course it's an opinion, yours may vary) the various professional sub-classes should be approximately equally balanced. I think the Kensai sub-class needs a bit more of a boost to offset the drawbacks. Seriously, if you really want to handicap yourself, there are plenty of ways to do it.
Yeah we've had this discussion on the other thread Heindrich linked. Suffice to say I completely disagree. I dislike matchy matchy. I prefer a more organic eccentricity to these things.
I assume this thread is the one I'm looking for. I have a simple question. My whole party is at lvl 4 right now, neither of my mages can cast 3lvl spells. Do I have any chance to defend Cloackwood Mines with only one Dispel Magic scroll?
Initial choice of weapon issues was what I most regretted not understanding. Which armor it hits and what cannot be hit at all by a wrapon type, matters more than base damage. Base damage does make a difference, especially for low strength characters, but not as much as whether you can hit, how likely you are to hit, apr , speed,(against mages) and what magic versions are available. I really did not understand how superior blunt was against plate or platemail as well (even though I played all versions of DnD) or how critical crushing was for some monster types and that for inexplicable reasons club and mace are diff Prof. as are every seperate sword type, but spiked was the only weapon with two very diff types in a single proficiency, so I was deeply disappointed I started with 2 handed sword instead of spiked as primary weapon proficiency. Already too far in to game to start over but will add it when I can. Also it is not obvious that dagger is such an excellent missle for strength above 18/01 not just for the damage bonus but also the speed factor against mages matched only by the comparitivly wimpy darts
The only things I would add are to caution people using wild mage to buy anything they can ahead so less gold on hand to get surged and to save gems/jewelry and sell them only if really needed since they dont get surged
Comments
The main advantage (as far as I am aware) is that Half-Elves have more multi-class options.
http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/bg/character/races/index.shtml#classes
Like the main advantage of humans, who have no bonuses for anything, is that they are the only ones who can Dual-Class.
(Dumb forum jokes, ignore me.)
Straight to the point, and elf wins over half-elf anyday, unless there are certain things you want out of thieves skills (they have variant ones, though I can't remember the difference at the time). But the half-elf has open to them a ton of multi-classes an elf cannot get, which makes them interesting and competitive. If you can be an elven something or a half-elven something, it's probably better to be an elven something, but there are certain somethings that can only be half-elven, and some of them are quite powerful.
While you hear about the De'Arnise Keep and Windspear Hills early on they're challenging for a party just starting out.
Another thing I found was that accumulating a bunch of Magical Items [particularly Potions] that I had no clear idea about how, when and where to use really started to be aggravating. At some point, probably near the beginning of Chap. 3 after clearing Nashkel Mines, start a list of all your Potions including how much Thunderhammer Smithy, for example, will pay for them, with a description of their effect and any class restrictions [ex. Potion of Heroism can only be used by Warrior classes -single or multi] Then make notes about obvious uses ~ example, your lesser strength potions may have the biggest effect when used to boost weaker NPCs rather than beasts like Minsc or Dorn. For instance, a critical back-stab boost for Imoen. This will help.
A 3rd point is that looting dead bodies of Xvarts, Gibberlings, Kobolds, Gnolls, etc. can become just a bit excessive for very little reward. After a while I just resolved to harvest a few extra White Wolves or Ankhegs for big bucks and cut myself some slack on the corpse piles of various shorties. [So long as you keep watchful for Spell Scrolls].
It seems even sourcebooks of ADnD didn't like the absolutely stupid restriction of elven characters not being able to be Druids.
Or dwarven Druids.
Here's a Chaotic Neutral Elven Druid http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Aerilaya
And a Dwarven Druid http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Pikel_Bouldershoulder
Both from ADnD.
1) Kensai AC is worse by far, since they can't wear armor or bracers. My kensai got to AC 2, my berserker was -4 at the same level. Want Bracers of Ogre Power? Sorry, no can do.
2) Kensai Kiai ability doesn't compare well with berserking, which gives immunity to mind control spells. Berserkers can kick siren butt. Dire charm? Never heard of it.
3) Kensai sounds exotic and raises the picture of someone like Musashi wreaking havoc while wielding a katana. Unfortunately choosing proficiency in katana turns out to be foolish; a +1 katana pales by comparison with Spider's Bane and its free action abilities.
4) Berserkers cannot dedicate proficiency slots to bows, but at least they can use them. Kensai can't use missile weapons at all. OK, they can maneuver around this prohibition a little bit by grabbing some throwing axes, but a berserker with a +1 composite bow can do a lot more damage due to the wide variety of arrows available. +1 throwing axe vs arrows of detonation. Hmmm.
There was a pretty extensive debate on this topic in the this thread.
This isn't totally true in this world; the BG berserker is quite in control of his ferocity, since he chooses when to use it, and whom to use it on. Think of it more as psyching oneself up for battle and tapping normally inaccessible resources as opposed to just losing it mentally. I will say that it's not in MyChar's psyche to study magic (nor could he even if I wanted him to, being a half-orc). He will stay a warrior to the end. But dual classing one's character seems to be a popular concept around here, so I mentioned it.
As far as balance ... every profession has its upsides and downsides, and needs to be played differently. But from a game design viewpoint, IMO (and of course it's an opinion, yours may vary) the various professional sub-classes should be approximately equally balanced. I think the Kensai sub-class needs a bit more of a boost to offset the drawbacks. Seriously, if you really want to handicap yourself, there are plenty of ways to do it.
My whole party is at lvl 4 right now, neither of my mages can cast 3lvl spells. Do I have any chance to defend Cloackwood Mines with only one Dispel Magic scroll?
Edit: Well, I eventually succeeded (by chance).
sword instead of spiked as primary weapon proficiency. Already too far in to game to start over but will add it when I can. Also it is not obvious that dagger is such an excellent missle for strength above 18/01 not just for the damage bonus but also the speed factor against mages matched only by the comparitivly wimpy darts
The only things I would add are to caution people using wild mage to buy anything they can ahead so less gold on hand to get surged and to save gems/jewelry and sell them only if really needed since they dont get surged