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Special Abilities on Mage characters?

This may be a noob question, but I've actually looked this up multiple times and found nothing on it. I (mistakenly) started BGII before BGI, and made a new character from scratch. This character is a necromancer, and obviously I went through and picked all of their spells during creation, but after creation, they have spells in their "Special Abilities" tab, spells that I didn't even choose for the character. Can anyone tell me why this is? Are these abilities something you get while leveling in BGI? And since I didn't import they were randomly chosen? Any help or advice would be appreciated!

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  • JidokwonJidokwon Member Posts: 395
    edited June 2017
    There are six Special Abilities that you'll get from alignment/reputation throughout BG1. A new character in a new BG2 game is assigned these by alignment. Lawful Good would get 2x Cure Light Wounds, 2x Slow Poison, and 2x Draw Upon Holy Light(?), for instance.
    Kickdevil123JuliusBorisovThacoBell
  • Kickdevil123Kickdevil123 Member Posts: 8
    edited June 2017
    @Jidokwon
    I would agree with you, because the alignment of the character is something I wouldn't have guessed, however, I have created 3 or 4 characters, exactly the same (necromancer/L. Evil), and all of them had different abilities. Sometimes they would get some DUHL, sometimes Cure L., sometimes Minor Drain. So I would have to say that alignment doesn't seem to be a determining factor. Thanks though. And if you have anything else you might think influences it I'd be more than happy to listen.
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
    ThacoBellQuartzOrlonKronsteen
  • Kickdevil123Kickdevil123 Member Posts: 8
    So, if I am understanding correctly...
    The most extreme alignments have no randomness, always the same abilities. But, anything in between has an increasing/decreasing chance to get a harmful/helpful ability depending on how close/far the alignment is from good/evil?
    Quartz
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211

    So, if I am understanding correctly...
    The most extreme alignments have no randomness, always the same abilities. But, anything in between has an increasing/decreasing chance to get a harmful/helpful ability depending on how close/far the alignment is from good/evil?

    I don't know if the chances are actually higher, but you do tend to get a mix leaning into good resp. evil, depending, yes.
    Quartz
  • Kickdevil123Kickdevil123 Member Posts: 8
    Okay. Thanks guys, I appreciate all your quick replies.
    Quartz
  • SomeSortSomeSort Member Posts: 859

    So, if I am understanding correctly...
    The most extreme alignments have no randomness, always the same abilities. But, anything in between has an increasing/decreasing chance to get a harmful/helpful ability depending on how close/far the alignment is from good/evil?

    Yes.

    In BG1, at various points in the game you'll trigger a cutscene and gain a new special power. The power that is awarded is based on your reputation at the time: 11+ = "good" ability, (cure light wounds, slow poison, draw upon holy might), <10 = "evil" ability, (Larloch's minor drain, horror, vampiric touch).

    If you played through BG1 yourself, you could easily manipulate your reputation to get whichever abilities you wanted. You could have a LG character with all "evil" abilities or a CE character with all "good" abilities. When you imported, these would be the abilities you had.

    When you're starting a new character from scratch in BG2, though, the game has to make a decision about what abilities to give you. The "better" your alignment, the higher the game assumes you would have kept your reputation in BG1, and the more likely you are to get "good" abilities. The "worse" your alignment, the more the opposite is true.

    So for a LG character, the game assumes you had a reputation of 11+ for the entire game and gives you all "good" abilities. For a CE character, you get all "evil" abilities. For a True Neutral character, it assumes you kept your reputation right in the middle, (fitting with your alignment), and assigns abilities completely randomly.

    For something like CG, the game assumes you leaned towards good reputation but maybe weren't perfect about it, so it weights the odds towards the "good" abilities but might slip an "evil" one or two in there somewhere. For LE, you get the inverse with mostly "evil" abilities with maybe a "good" one or two, (or maybe not).
    RavenslightThacoBellOrlonKronsteen
  • Kickdevil123Kickdevil123 Member Posts: 8
    @SomeSort
    That makes a lot of sense. I have to say I do regret not starting in BG1, but have decided to make the character over in BG1 and attempt to work my way to where my BG2 character began.
    Anyway thanks again, question answered in full.
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    SomeSort said:

    If you played through BG1 yourself, you could easily manipulate your reputation to get whichever abilities you wanted.

    Shh... I've definitely never gone evil just for two casts of Horror instead of Slow Poison before going good again. Definitely not.

    :)
    RavenslightOrlonKronsteenSomeSortAndreaColombo
  • SomeSortSomeSort Member Posts: 859
    Quartz said:

    SomeSort said:

    If you played through BG1 yourself, you could easily manipulate your reputation to get whichever abilities you wanted.

    Shh... I've definitely never gone evil just for two casts of Horror instead of Slow Poison before going good again. Definitely not.

    :)
    I've always preferred one of each at every level. All the abilities are pretty useful, to be honest. Maybe skip the Larloch's on fighter-types and grab two Cures, instead, because four free HP isn't going as far when you're already getting 14+ per level.
    Quartz
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