Quick Ways to Get to Level 2
semiticgoddess
Member Posts: 14,903
Are there any simple or reliable ways of gaining XP early on in the game? I keep getting crushed at level 1.
I play with SCS, Item Revisions, and Spell Revisions.
I play with SCS, Item Revisions, and Spell Revisions.
3
Comments
Check https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/41113/fast-safe-xp-in-early-bgee and https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/18725/fast-relatively-easy-quest-xp-to-hog-before-expanding-your-party
Edit:
A good tip to remember is if you stay at the very edges of the various maps, you are unlikely to encounter enemies. Especially heading to the Basilisk map from the temple for early xp, hog the north edge of the map then exit east.
I always go solo until I reach level 5 before picking up any NPC's. I've tried, really tried to have a full party from the start, taking whoever you meet as you meet them, but find it just too frustrating when you know the game. It takes soooo long to level up.
Just to add, as long as you don't hit Nashkel, J and K and X and M will stay in place waiting for you.
Minimal reload, since otherwise I'm never going to learn how to play BG1.
As others have said the basilisks are a good option to get you going. The green scroll from the Carnival gives plenty of time for any character (even a mage) to kill every basilisk on the map (though with SCS that needs to be done by a character acting solo). If you don't know exactly where they all are then I would suggest using stealth or invisibility to scout them out ahead of time. Attacking the greater or lesser basilisk nearest Mutamin will activate him in SCS, so you may want to leave those for later. Alternatively, send in Korax guided by your thief, once the others are all dead - he has a pretty good chance to paralyse Mutamin before being killed.
Om topic: I always save melicamp the chicken South of High hedge. Thalantyr can "anti chicken" him. That is worth 2000 xp (and a rep +1?). There is 50/50 chance that melicamp dies in the proces... but in my "many reload" games melicamp always survives!? Go figure...
Use ranged weapons and rely on beefy NPCs for tanking. Kagain is exceptionally good at this. IR Large shields are great.
Gnoll stronghold is challenging but very doable on level 1.
Talking down Marl, doing the excavation quest, saving Bragge and finding Ruffie all provide good and easy XP (and in case of Bragge also gold).
If further input is needed, I have found that many no reloaders have posted very insightfull post on the topic. @Grond0 and @Blackraven in particullar.
It began with fighting Ankhegs. My War Hulk found a set of Full Plate Mail somewhere (any idea where I might have gotten it?) and equipped a Tower Shield, which in Item Revisions grants +3 to AC and an extra +2 to missile attacks. That, combined with his 2d8 hit points per level (21 HP at level 1) allowed him to survive Ankheg attacks, healing himself with my Alchemist's potions (which cost 8 gold and heal 2d6 HP). My War Hulk still died at least once to a critical hit, since helmets don't block critical hits in Item Revisions, but raising him at level 1 only cost 100 gold.
Meanwhile, my Alchemist used Grenades to deal with the Ankhegs. The grenades deal 1d6 damage, hit regardless of THAC0, and stun for 6 seconds (deafness for 12 seconds) on a failed save vs. breath at +3. But at 1 APR regardless of class and with a speed factor of 5, not to mention short range and a very party-unfriendly projectile (and the fact that Alchemists can't cast Shield in SR, and can't cast spells at all until level 2), plus the fact that non-Alchemists have a 15% chance of triggering a 3d6 fireball with stun and deafness on themselves when using Grenades, they're extremely dangerous. The only reason it was safe is because Ankhegs don't approach the party; they stick to using missile weapons.
My War Hulk's high STR (he gets +1 STR per level up to level 5) allowed him to carry stacks of Ankeg shells back to Beregost to sell for 500 gold apiece, allowing us to buy lots of potions to keep the party healthy. That got everyone to level 3 (I had already gotten some XP from other enemies, but repeatedly bankrupted the party paying for resurrections).
From there, we wandered around for a bit before coming back to finish the Ogre Mage that Shoal the Nereid brought to us... along with the gang of ogre berserkers that joined in and killed two of us the last time we were on the map.
I kept wandering around, running into some Sirines which I killed using stealth kiting with my Seducer and some traps from Imoen. At level 4, my War Hulk (at 84 HP) tackled Greywolf before we head into the mines. We suffered several deaths from the kobolds, but Kobold Guard poison wasn't a problem because of the cheap antidotes from my Alchemist. We got a lucky kill on the Kobold Shaman and Mulahey with Grenades.
Somehow I ended up with a Wand of Fire, which I used to kill Narcillus. Spook took down Zordral, Bassilus died to a Grenade (though he made some of his saves, dragging out the fight), my Seducer Charmed Silke and expended all of her spells, tanked Tranzig with a Wand of Monster Summoning (don't know where I got that, either), accidentally summoned some guards and lost 12 reputation from killing them plus a Traveler, but tricking a guard into killing Algernon using my Seducer's Charm, only to find that IR changed Algernon's Cloak so it grants +1 Charisma and nothing else.
Then I donated thousands of gold to restore my reputation, Charmed my way into the mansion at Beregost to steal the Wand of Lightning, and wandered around killing random things for a long time before ending up at the Bandit Camp at level 5 or so, using Grenades and a Wand of Fire to handle the enemies inside the tent and using multiple canisters of Pressurized Gas to poison the archers outside (each round for 10 rounds, save vs. death or suffer 1 damage per second for 12 seconds, later nerfed to 6 seconds).
My Alchemist carried the party with his potions and grenades, but creating all of the stuff he made cost the party thousands of gold. Our War Hulk was also very helpful thanks to his massive HP pool and his ludicrously high critical hits (usually 30-60 damage), but the War Hulk limits APR to 1 even if you're dual-wielding and hasted, his in-combat penalties to AC and his tendency to go berserk made him something of a glass cannon. The Seducer barely did anything; she was extremely fragile and had to get in close range to hit anything with Charm. The kits are actually pretty balanced. I'll be releasing them sometime after I finish my BG1 run.
Rule number 2: what the other guys said.
The easiest experience in the early game, barring mods or cheese, is almost always Shoal the Nereid, west of High Hedge. She's worth 5000 experience, has no ranged weapons, but if she talks to you you die instantly. Still, 5k experience is enough to get every single class to level 3. From there, my usual route's something like Beregost for the spiders and Marl, then the Friendly Arm Inn, Nashkel for the Pro. from Petrification spell from the Carnival, and then the Basilisks. You should be level 6 or 7 for solo classes, and maybe 5s or 4s across the board if you're in a party.
A dialog option tend to make this course of action legitimate : when you answer the ogre-mage, you can tell him that you can't let both of them continue hurting innocents (or something like that, I don't remember exactly what). I also think it makes sense to get rid of them, because the way Shoal answers when you say that you're willing to help her seems to indicate that she's not all that innocent in this whole story (she says something like "hmm, it will be most interesting" when you agree to fight the ogre-mage).
Also, btw, did you know Shoal is not evil (under Detect Evil by a paladin)?
Nope, did not know that. Thanks ! The way she answers, she must be neutral (can't check in NI at the moment).