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Wilson the Bear

Papa_LouPapa_Lou Member Posts: 263
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Hey dudes.
I only just recently found out about Wilson in BG2EE, and I'm totally intrigued. But, that being said, I heard he can't wear armour or use any items or the like (which makes sense, I assume bears aren't the most common customers at the local smithy).
So my question is, is Wilson worth it? I absolutely love the idea of having a bear NPC on my next run of the game, but if he's ineffective against late-game enemies, I'm not sure I want to put myself through that annoyance. Maybe there are some mods to make him better? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • mf2112mf2112 Member, Moderator Posts: 1,919
    He was fun for a few minutes for me then I let him go. I felt kind of the same way as Keldorn, RP doesn't feel right to keep him from his family or Wilson from....wherever. :-)
  • ameliabogginsameliaboggins Member Posts: 287
    should be able to wear belts as collars and rings as studs in his ears!

  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    Wilson became my Charname's animal companion in my druid playthrough.
    He is certainly not the best melee fighter or tank you can have, but roleplaying wise, he is pure gold in my eyes. Love him to bits (maybe also because bears are my favourite animals >.>)
  • mf2112mf2112 Member, Moderator Posts: 1,919
    Arunsun said:

    Wilson is objectively less strong than other melee fighters but he is not totally worthless and scales well with the buffs you can give him, most notably improved haste etc...

    RP-wise he is a wonderful companion for a druid or a ranger

    Buttercheese said:

    Wilson became my Charname's animal companion in my druid playthrough.
    He is certainly not the best melee fighter or tank you can have, but roleplaying wise, he is pure gold in my eyes. Love him to bits (maybe also because bears are my favourite animals >.>)

    I haven't done a druid or ranger playthrough with the EE's so maybe that is why it didn't click for me, so I guess I might have to try it sometime soon.
  • ConjurerDragonConjurerDragon Member Posts: 110
    edited June 2016
    elminster said:

    If you are interested in using Wilson and you haven't already read it you should check out his section in my NPC Guide to BG2EE.

    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=195278341

    You´ve got a typo in that guide for Dorn:

    If you didn't think it was possible for a character to get even darker then slaughtering a whole village than you will enjoy Dorn's first quest
    "then" and "than" should change their position.
  • AdlantisAdlantis Member Posts: 9
    Does Wilson have any party banter or is he just silent after being recruited?
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,725
    Adlantis said:

    Does Wilson have any party banter or is he just silent after being recruited?

    grrrr!
  • AdlantisAdlantis Member Posts: 9
    JuliusBorisov said:

    Adlantis said:

    Does Wilson have any party banter or is he just silent after being recruited?

    grrrr!
    Uh, I take that as a no? I had hoped for Edwina being made fun of by a bear :disappointed:
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    *Growl*
  • DregothofTyrDregothofTyr Member Posts: 229
    unfortunately, bears don't talk.
  • DregothofTyrDregothofTyr Member Posts: 229
    i wonder how difficult a beastmaster ranger & wilson duo would be? Anyone tried it?
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    edited June 2016
    I played a beastmaster with a full party (which included wilson). I ended up dumping him in ToB though. I found it to be too much work to micromanage him.

    Edit: To clarify when I played him he had a bug where he was moving essentially at the same rate as you would if you had the boots of speed. This made managing him a lot more work.
    Post edited by elminster on
  • OrlonKronsteenOrlonKronsteen Member Posts: 905
    He does present certain challenges, for sure, but there's something so cool about him. My problem now is that the mere idea of not rescuing him and taking him along makes me feel guilty. I also told my girlfriend about him and now whenever I start a game she asks me if I've rescued Wilson yet, adding to the pressure. I used to do about 90% evil play-throughs, but I feel so rotten about the thought of corrupting an innocent bear on a blackguard run that I find myself starting over with good characters. That bear!
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    elminster said:

    Edit: To clarify when I played him he had a bug where he was moving essentially at the same rate as you would if you had the boots of speed.

    That's not a bug, that's a feature :tongue:
  • MandragoraMandragora Member Posts: 79
    Buttercheese said:

    (maybe also because bears are my favourite animals >.>)

    my respect for bears has grown a lot after seeing the Revenant :smiley:
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    pvddr said:

    elminster said:

    If you are interested in using Wilson and you haven't already read it you should check out his section in my NPC Guide to BG2EE.

    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=195278341

    I didn't know that was your guide! I've read it and I've seen you post a lot on the forums but I didn't know you were the same person. Your guide is super well done and helped me a lot when I started playing again :)
    Glad to hear it. :)
  • PteranPteran Member Posts: 388
    GhavGrim said:

    Wilson can't romance Jaheira when she shapeshifts into a bear? BeamDog, what's WRONG with you????

    If Jaheira shapeshifts for longer than two hours does the change become permanent? Could be a nice way to provide Wilson with a romance option ;)
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    My druid Charname also would only shapeshift into bear form.
    Can we have a love triagle?

    You do have to cater to the furry demographic, too, you know >.>
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Yes, bring your full might to bear.
  • sluckerssluckers Member Posts: 280
    Wilson is good.

    He has weaknesses, and if there is one thing a player-who-wants-everything hates, it's weaknesses. But if that's not you, you should be able to find the good in him. I rather enjoyed him myself.

    He cannot wear armour and gets hit a lot. He has good APR but no, it's not a natural whirlwind. I believe he tops out at 4 APR. He does very well with improve haste and has a decent amount of hitpoints.

    Importantly, he has very good attacks, hits like a wrecking ball and rock bottom THAC0. He also gets animal rage. Some will complain that's it's not as good a barbarian rage, or berserker enrage, but it still provides protections.

    Wilson is very very weak against Mindflayers, obviously.

    But he slaughters beholders. Without haste, I used him to kill a crowd of 5-6 beholders and an elder orb. My party got in over it's head in the underdark beholder lair and I rushed him in to protect them. I did not expect him to survive. Yet he killed them all. I will not claim that luck wasn't involved, but his rage ability certainly helped. He wasn't much affected by their eye beams. The elder orb's spells were the big threat, but he can soak them up like the best of them.

    So he's good. Specialized, but good.
  • ArunsunArunsun Member Posts: 1,592
    sluckers said:

    Wilson is good.

    He has weaknesses, and if there is one thing a player-who-wants-everything hates, it's weaknesses. But if that's not you, you should be able to find the good in him. I rather enjoyed him myself.

    He cannot wear armour and gets hit a lot. He has good APR but no, it's not a natural whirlwind. I believe he tops out at 4 APR. He does very well with improve haste and has a decent amount of hitpoints.

    Importantly, he has very good attacks, hits like a wrecking ball and rock bottom THAC0. He also gets animal rage. Some will complain that's it's not as good a barbarian rage, or berserker enrage, but it still provides protections.

    Wilson is very very weak against Mindflayers, obviously.

    But he slaughters beholders. Without haste, I used him to kill a crowd of 5-6 beholders and an elder orb. My party got in over it's head in the underdark beholder lair and I rushed him in to protect them. I did not expect him to survive. Yet he killed them all. I will not claim that luck wasn't involved, but his rage ability certainly helped. He wasn't much affected by their eye beams. The elder orb's spells were the big threat, but he can soak them up like the best of them.

    So he's good. Specialized, but good.

    He has 5APR from level 31 on. So it's actually a permanent whirlwind with IH.

    Besides this point, I agree with you.
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