Oh wow! I never realized that otyughs looked so awesome!
Did you know that the spells Lance of Disruption and Smashing Wave in Icewind Dale make whoever they hit immune to the spell for 1 second? Thus, if you had two druids cast Smashing Wave on an enemy at the same time, only one wave would damage the enemy. The reason why the spells do this is so that you can't hit an enemy multiple times with a single lance or wave. If they didn't make the enemy immune, the two spells would deal their damage to an enemy for each tick (an extremely short amount of time, less than a second) during which the enemy was in the lance or wave's hitbox.
1369: The Bhaalspawn defeats Amelyssan, making their fateful choice to ascend or remain on the mortal plane. 1370: Waukeen shows up again. Hi, Waukeen! 1372: In a parallel universe, Bhaalspawn Abdel Adrian finally gets around to killing his own version of Mellisan. Word is that the man was just addicted to side quests. And schtoinking vampires. Also 1372: Bane turns up again! Can't keep those gods down, eh? ALSO 1372: Elminster is dragged to hell by a demonic gentleman by the name of Nergal where he's tortured for years for the secrets of why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Stay strong, Elminster. 1373: 3rd edition D&D begins. A dark day for the Bhaalspawn's friends and allies as they struggle to adapt their old classes to D&D 3.0's class format. 1374: Shar eats the god Mask, growing in power, the Kalach-Cha has a few adventurers up in some backwater called "Neverwinter", and Khelben Blackstaff dies like a sissy. 1375: Eiliastraee shanks the Drow god Vhaerun - It's a bad decade for gods of thievery. 1377: A minor earthquake strikes Spellhold (probably Imoen's fault), freeing a bunch of prisoners (Oops). 7 years of (comparative) quiet! Yaaay! 1384: Tyr, the god of justice, straight up murders Helm. Sorry Anomen!
1385: Cyric, aided by the goddess Shar, assassinates Mystra, the goddess of magic and source of the Weave (honestly I rather assume that the Kalach-Cha helped, because we all know that the canon ending of MotB is the evil one). This results in the collapse of the Weave, Shar's Shadow Weave, and the subsequent madness and agonising death of most mages in a catastrophically horrible event known as the Spellplague.
Drizzt's wife, Cattie-Brie, and buddy, Regis the halfling, die horribly by being caught in the collapsing weave.
As a result of the spellplague, all but the most powerful deities lose their divine powers and divine realms and the Realms, being integrally linked to the weave, suffer catastropic and devastating natural disasters as the natural laws break down and terribleness reigns for the next hundred or so years.
So yeah. Did you know that every "happily ever after" epilogue of Baldur's Gate is bitter lies, that all of your friends "distant happy endings" probably take place at most 5-15 years in the future, and that even if you became a god yourself you probably lost your divinity and were ousted in barely over a decade?
Yay entropy!
Well yes and no
Starting with what directly related to Charname/Abdel. He lives to be about 150 and becomes the Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate where he is generally considered well loved and respected by the people. Unfortunately, he is either assassinated or if the PCs intervene suffers the worse fate of more or less becoming Bhaal. (Play: Murder in Baldur's Gate)
Cati-Bree, Regis, and all the others are brought back to life after the spellplague by Cati-Bree's Goddess in order to help Drizzt in his time of need (Read: The Companions). They are literally reborn and have to live out entirely new lives, fully conscious from the time of birth to adulthood. It's not described as a pleasant experience. They go on to stop the Orc Marches which are manipulated by the Drow (Read: Companion's Codex Series)
Most of the God's are back. The Godborn ultimately defeats Shar and Whats-His-Name becomes the new Mask. (Read: Godborn)
Also, Potions of Genius and Mind Focusing will provide a barrier against Mind Flayer Intelligence drain. Since the potions boost INT by 4 and 3, respectively, you can calculate how many potions you need to survive a certain number of Mind Flayer strikes.
Potions of Genius are significantly cheaper, but Potions of Mind Focusing last for 12 hours instead of 8 (so they can last two rest periods) and also boost Dexterity by 3.
Potions of Mind Focusing, likewise, can negate the Dexterity penalty of Potions of Stone Form, which increase your saves by 3 apiece.
and a wizard lacking wisdom to get all the desired outcomes for Wish and Limited wish can drink a potion of insight before casting to gain access to all positive wishes
In the original Baldur's Gate TotSC, you could easily defeat Aec'Letec by... casting Cloudkill. Originally, he had only one level as a creature and would die instantly. That's even more anti-climatic that famed anti-dragon combo of 3 greaters malisions and death finger.
3 greater malisons + feeblemind + bitch slap Firkragg to unconsciousness was quite epic, though. I wonder now if you could charm him and steal Carsomyr (and his dignity) as well, after that
Did you know that if you magically increase your constitution and then get injured to the point of being below the HP bonus you will die a horrible death as soon as the stat increase wears off? P.s: even if you travel from an area to another and the stat increase wears off during travel hours.
Did you know that mind flayers drain health in multiples of 5.
So assigning 10 int to a character means they will only survive 2 hits from one but assigning 11 int means they will survive 3 hits
That's why 11 and 16 intelligence are good totals to dump spare stat points into to reach
@ajwz , I don't get it. How can you survive two hits on 10 intelligence when 10 minus (5+5) equals ZERO? It seems to me that you need 11 intelligence to survive two hits.
@abazigal5: All specific protection spells such as PFMW can be taken down by Dispel Magic if the caster's level is high enough. This also includes stuff like Stoneskin, Blade Barrier, Protection from Fire, and invisibility.
The buffs that cannot be removed by Dispel Magic are spell protections such as Spell Turning, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, and Globe of Invulnerability. Polymorph Self and Shapechange also cannot be dispelled.
Assuming that the gold coins in Baldur's Gate are made entirely out of gold and that they are the size of a US penny, if they weren't weightless then 108000 of them would weigh around 1600 pounds. Even someone with 25 strength wouldn't be able to bear the weight of all those hundreds of thousands of gold coins that players like me hoard! Gold is just too heavy!
It's especially ironic when a game treats lead as though it's the heaviest material in existence, since in reality gold is much heavier than lead (in terms of density).
Oh come on! Everyone goes the slave route. Why else would you recruit Garrick?
Recruit Garrick. Find potion of agility in building across the street from Silke's body. Have Garrick drink the potion. Go to Feldepost's Inn. Have Garrick pickpocket Algernon for his cloak. Take the cloak. Dismiss Garrick.
Somebody shagged a umber hulk, no just no. I'm hoping it's some sort of magical experiment gone wrong because sexy time with a umber hulk is a kink even I would shame.
Did you know that slimes only lack intelligence because Lollth turned down Ghaunadaur romantic advances. In a fit of rage Ghaunadaur struck most of them mad and took their intellects. As an unforeseen result, many of these worshipers ceased to exist, which caused the Elder Eye's power to collapse.
This might be another coincidence but it's an interesting one.
I think I read somewhere that Baldur's Gate was partially inspired by Diablo 1 (which came a couple of years before) with its camera angle and partially real-time gameplay, instead of being turn-based like Fallout.
Did you know that in Diablo 1, there is a mini-boss sorcerer called Zhar the Mad in the Catacombs levels that speaks in a crazy but comical way?
It reminds me of a certain evil necromancer NPC that is also mad and has a very similarly sounding name.
There are "hidden" portraits in the BG games? These are fully usable portrait sets that exist in the game files, but because they aren't in the portraits list, they don't show up. Now, some of them are understandable, like Imoen and Irenicus in BG2, but others, I don't know why they aren't in the list.
BG (without SOD) If you look in BGEE.lua, you'll see a bunch of portraits commented out, mostly BG2 portraits. Well, they're all really there, just uncomment them by deleting the two dashes in front of them and they'll show up in your game.
BG/SOD A bit odd here, the BG2 versions of Viconia, Jaheira, Edwin and Minsc are in the list, but all the others aren't. And they're not just commented out this time. Add the following to the portraits list in BGEE.lua. I tried creating an M_*.lua file with these in, but they show up blank for some reason.
BG2 is the most interesting one, there are six portraits named YANNER#. A search of the forums tells me that this was a portrait pack from back in 2013. So why it's not "activated", I don't know. Add the following to the portraits list in BGEE.lua.
Comments
Did you know that the spells Lance of Disruption and Smashing Wave in Icewind Dale make whoever they hit immune to the spell for 1 second? Thus, if you had two druids cast Smashing Wave on an enemy at the same time, only one wave would damage the enemy. The reason why the spells do this is so that you can't hit an enemy multiple times with a single lance or wave. If they didn't make the enemy immune, the two spells would deal their damage to an enemy for each tick (an extremely short amount of time, less than a second) during which the enemy was in the lance or wave's hitbox.
Starting with what directly related to Charname/Abdel. He lives to be about 150 and becomes the Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate where he is generally considered well loved and respected by the people. Unfortunately, he is either assassinated or if the PCs intervene suffers the worse fate of more or less becoming Bhaal. (Play: Murder in Baldur's Gate)
Cati-Bree, Regis, and all the others are brought back to life after the spellplague by Cati-Bree's Goddess in order to help Drizzt in his time of need (Read: The Companions). They are literally reborn and have to live out entirely new lives, fully conscious from the time of birth to adulthood. It's not described as a pleasant experience. They go on to stop the Orc Marches which are manipulated by the Drow (Read: Companion's Codex Series)
Most of the God's are back. The Godborn ultimately defeats Shar and Whats-His-Name becomes the new Mask. (Read: Godborn)
So assigning 10 int to a character means they will die in 2 hits from one
but assigning 11 int means they will die in 3 hits
That's why 11 and 16 intelligence are good totals to dump spare stat points into to reach
Potions of Genius are significantly cheaper, but Potions of Mind Focusing last for 12 hours instead of 8 (so they can last two rest periods) and also boost Dexterity by 3.
Potions of Mind Focusing, likewise, can negate the Dexterity penalty of Potions of Stone Form, which increase your saves by 3 apiece.
That's even more anti-climatic that famed anti-dragon combo of 3 greaters malisions and death finger.
A clay golem, for example, can still be stunned by Celestial Fury, even though they are immune to celestial fury's damage and lightning.
P.s: even if you travel from an area to another and the stat increase wears off during travel hours.
I think...
The buffs that cannot be removed by Dispel Magic are spell protections such as Spell Turning, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, and Globe of Invulnerability. Polymorph Self and Shapechange also cannot be dispelled.
It's especially ironic when a game treats lead as though it's the heaviest material in existence, since in reality gold is much heavier than lead (in terms of density).
Half-Elves (Human/Elf) - Player's Handbook
Half-Orcs (Human/Orc) - Player's Handbook
Half-Ogres (Human/Ogre) - Races of Destiny, Savage Species, Bastards & Bloodlines
Muls (Human/Dwarf) - Dark Sun 3.5
Aasimar (Human/Half-Celestial) - Monster Manual
Tiefling (Human/Half-Fiend) - Monster Manual
Gensai (Human/Half-Elemental) - Races of Fearun
Feytouched (Humanoid/Half-Fey) - Fiend Folio
Allear (Elf/Giant Eagle) - Bastard & Bloodlines
Alicorn (Elf/Unicorn) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Blinkling (Halfling/Blink Dog) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Burrower (Gnome/Umber Hulk) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Decatuar (Elf/Centaur) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Green Folk (Human/Lizardfolk) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Grendle (Human-Dwarf/Troll) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Half-Gnoll (Human/Gnoll) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Half-Goblin (Halfling-Gnome/Goblin) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Half-Hobogoblin (Dwarf/Hobogoblin) -Bastards & Bloodlinse
Half-Bugbear (Elf/Bugbear) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Half-Kuo-toa (Dwarf/Kuo-toa) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Houri (Elf/Nymph) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Jovian (Human-Orc-Half Orc/Hill Giant-Fire Giant-Frost Giant) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Krestel (Halfling/Harpy) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Lasher (Dwarf/Roper) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Lurker (Gnome/Cloaker) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Merg (Human/Merfolk) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Mind Ripper (Humanoid/Mind Flayer) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Morlok (Gnome/Troglodyte) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Piper (Elf-Halfling/Satyr) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Spring Child (Humanoid/Dryad) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Sthien (Elf/Naga) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Trixie (Gnome/Pixie) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Watcher (Dwarf/Gargoyle) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Wendigo (Dwarf/Frost Wolf) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Woodwose (Elf/Treant) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Wretch (Orc/Hag) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Wyrd (Elf/Ogre Mage) - Bastards & Bloodlines
Changeling (Human/Half-Doppleganger) - Eberron Campaign Guide
Shifter (Human/Lycanthrope) - Eberron Campaign Setting
Fey'ri (Sun Elf/Demon)- Races of Fearun
Tannaruk (Orc/Demon) - Races of Fearun
Chaond (Human/Half-Slaad?) - Monster Manual II
Zenthyir (Human/Half-Lawful?) - Monster Manual II
Whispling (Halfling/Demon) - Fiend Folio
Maeluth (Dwarf/Devil) - Fiend Folio
Mechanatrice (Human/Inevitable) - Fiend Folio
Shyft (Human/Ethereal Creatures?) - Fiend Folio
Half-Kender (Human/Kender) - Dragonlance Campaign Setting
Draegloth (Drow/Demon) - Monsters of Fearun
Mephling (Humanoid/Mephit)
Burrower (Gnome/Umber Hulk) Burrower (Gnome/Umber Hulk) Burrower (Gnome/Umber Hulk) Burrower
Somebody shagged a umber hulk, no just no. I'm hoping it's some sort of magical experiment gone wrong because sexy time with a umber hulk is a kink even I would shame.
I think I read somewhere that Baldur's Gate was partially inspired by Diablo 1 (which came a couple of years before) with its camera angle and partially real-time gameplay, instead of being turn-based like Fallout.
Did you know that in Diablo 1, there is a mini-boss sorcerer called Zhar the Mad in the Catacombs levels that speaks in a crazy but comical way?
It reminds me of a certain evil necromancer NPC that is also mad and has a very similarly sounding name.
There are "hidden" portraits in the BG games? These are fully usable portrait sets that exist in the game files, but because they aren't in the portraits list, they don't show up. Now, some of them are understandable, like Imoen and Irenicus in BG2, but others, I don't know why they aren't in the list.
BG (without SOD)
If you look in BGEE.lua, you'll see a bunch of portraits commented out, mostly BG2 portraits. Well, they're all really there, just uncomment them by deleting the two dashes in front of them and they'll show up in your game.
--{'BAELOTH', 1},
--{'NCERND', 1},
--{'NKELDOR', 1},
--{'NANOMEN', 1},
--{'NEDWIN', 1},
--{'NHAER', 1},
--{'NJAN', 1},
--{'NMINSC', 1},
--{'NVALYGA', 1},
--{'NYOSHIM', 1},
--{'NKORGAN', 1},
{'MANLEY0', 1},
BG/SOD
A bit odd here, the BG2 versions of Viconia, Jaheira, Edwin and Minsc are in the list, but all the others aren't. And they're not just commented out this time.
Add the following to the portraits list in BGEE.lua. I tried creating an M_*.lua file with these in, but they show up blank for some reason.
{'hephern', 1},
{'mkhiin', 2},
{'NAERIE', 2},
{'NANOMEN', 1},
{'NCERND', 1},
{'NHAER', 1},
{'NIMOEN', 2},
{'NJAN', 1},
{'NJON', 1},
{'NKELDOR', 1},
{'NKORGAN', 1},
{'NMAZZY', 2},
{'NNALIA', 2},
{'NVALYGA', 1},
{'NYOSHIM', 1},
{'unnamed', 1}
BG2 is the most interesting one, there are six portraits named YANNER#. A search of the forums tells me that this was a portrait pack from back in 2013. So why it's not "activated", I don't know.
Add the following to the portraits list in BGEE.lua.
{'NJON', 1},
{'SAREVOK', 1},
{'WILSON', 1},
{'YANNER1', 2},
{'YANNER2', 1},
{'YANNER3', 2},
{'YANNER4', 1},
{'YANNER5', 1},
{'YANNER6', 1},
{'ohhex', 2},
{'ohhexx', 2}
Remember, there needs to be a comma after each line except the last one.