Here's a thread I made a while ago comparing raw ranged damage. Key takeaway is Gesen's shortbow > Tuigan shortbow > Light Crossbow of Speed > Firetooth crossbow for general adventuring, but Firetooth jumps from last to first in terms of 1-round spike damage when you start factoring in high level abilities. (But slings spike even higher still, so I'd still probably just go shortbows with slings or melee as a backup over crossbows.)
That's just damage though. Tuigan is the best for debuffing enemies with called shot. There are actually a ton of cool paralytic crossbow bolts that trade a little damage for stun, which is a fun argument for the Light Crossbow of Speed. Firetooth is pretty broken with some optional cheesy end-game ammo. Each of the top four launchers has its charms.
Getting killed by Tarnesh is a long lasting BG1 tradition, no need to feel bad about it. And it is actually far easier to run into a dangerous encounter with a mage in BG2. BG1 is, in some aspects, an old-fashioned game. The information is there, but it can be easy to miss. For example, the horror spell is countered by a level one priest spell, remove fear.
That said, BG and BG2 are not games where classes are balanced against each other. Archers are very good at causing damage, but this doesn't always give you the advantage. Particularly against spellcasters with disabling spells, being able to resist a spell effect is better. If you want a solid damage dealer who nevertheless is relatively easy to play, you can't go wrong with a dwarven berserker.
Being able to interrupt spells is even better than being able to resist spells, and on that point Archers are nonpareil. They: 1. Have the best THACO values in the game (possibly co-best with Kensai, depending on setup), meaning their attacks quickly become guaranteed hits, 2. (Assuming bows) wield weapons that have an extra base APR, giving them 2.5 APR before even leaving Candlekeep and 5 APR by early SOA, the highest sustained rates possible at that point outside of a dart-wielders (and Archers are the best dart wielders if that matters to you), 3. Doesn’t need to travel to the enemy to engage, allowing them to start interrupting the second the fight is joined and potentially interrupt even some first-round protection spells.
Especially for BG1, I don’t think there’s as new-player-friendly of an option as an archer, which is top tier in terms of damage output, safe, and excels against every kind of threat in the game. Useful while you’re still learning the ropes.
(Not a slam on berserkers, who really come into their own in the sequel thanks to their immunity to imprisonment and the general dominance of melee weapons over ranged. But even there Archers are phenomenal interrupters with the ability to interrupt through stoneskin with elemental damage, interrupt through PFMW with normal arrows, and even interrupt through both at the same time with normal arrows and Gesen’s or Firetooth.)
Also I returned Baldur's Gate 1, so no I can't start there and work forward, I tried to play it twice, both times got effortlessly killed by the guy outside that inn who casts Horror on you every time, and decided if the games not going to do anything to inform me of wtf I'm expected to do, it's not worth my time or money. So everything should be purely based on starting from BG2.I
Getting killed by Tarnesh is a long lasting BG1 tradition, no need to feel bad about it. And it is actually far easier to run into a dangerous encounter with a mage in BG2. BG1 is, in some aspects, an old-fashioned game. The information is there, but it can be easy to miss. For example, the horror spell is countered by a level one priest spell, remove fear.
That said, BG and BG2 are not games where classes are balanced against each other. Archers are very good at causing damage, but this doesn't always give you the advantage. Particularly against spellcasters with disabling spells, being able to resist a spell effect is better. If you want a solid damage dealer who nevertheless is relatively easy to play, you can't go wrong with a dwarven berserker.
Just from his placement I kind of figured he was a noob trap, but a counter to your remove fear point is everyones running away screaming, not exactly great when that includes the person with remove fear. I briefly considered getting it again for that classic BG experience but tbh I'm already using a touchscreen app so I'm losing out on a lot of functionality. I would genuinely buy a bluetooth M&K just for this game if they were supported, which it still confuses me how they aren't, original game had full keybinding.
Also I returned Baldur's Gate 1, so no I can't start there and work forward, I tried to play it twice, both times got effortlessly killed by the guy outside that inn who casts Horror on you every time, and decided if the games not going to do anything to inform me of wtf I'm expected to do, it's not worth my time or money. So everything should be purely based on starting from BG2.I
Getting killed by Tarnesh is a long lasting BG1 tradition, no need to feel bad about it. And it is actually far easier to run into a dangerous encounter with a mage in BG2. BG1 is, in some aspects, an old-fashioned game. The information is there, but it can be easy to miss. For example, the horror spell is countered by a level one priest spell, remove fear.
That said, BG and BG2 are not games where classes are balanced against each other. Archers are very good at causing damage, but this doesn't always give you the advantage. Particularly against spellcasters with disabling spells, being able to resist a spell effect is better. If you want a solid damage dealer who nevertheless is relatively easy to play, you can't go wrong with a dwarven berserker.
Just from his placement I kind of figured he was a noob trap, but a counter to your remove fear point is everyones running away screaming, not exactly great when that includes the person with remove fear. I briefly considered getting it again for that classic BG experience but tbh I'm already using a touchscreen app so I'm losing out on a lot of functionality. I would genuinely buy a bluetooth M&K just for this game if they were supported, which it still confuses me how they aren't, original game had full keybinding.
Fun thing. Despite the spell being called "remove fear", it also provides immunity to fear. If you know some fear's coming you can cast it pre-emptively.
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That's just damage though. Tuigan is the best for debuffing enemies with called shot. There are actually a ton of cool paralytic crossbow bolts that trade a little damage for stun, which is a fun argument for the Light Crossbow of Speed. Firetooth is pretty broken with some optional cheesy end-game ammo. Each of the top four launchers has its charms.
1. Have the best THACO values in the game (possibly co-best with Kensai, depending on setup), meaning their attacks quickly become guaranteed hits,
2. (Assuming bows) wield weapons that have an extra base APR, giving them 2.5 APR before even leaving Candlekeep and 5 APR by early SOA, the highest sustained rates possible at that point outside of a dart-wielders (and Archers are the best dart wielders if that matters to you),
3. Doesn’t need to travel to the enemy to engage, allowing them to start interrupting the second the fight is joined and potentially interrupt even some first-round protection spells.
Especially for BG1, I don’t think there’s as new-player-friendly of an option as an archer, which is top tier in terms of damage output, safe, and excels against every kind of threat in the game. Useful while you’re still learning the ropes.
(Not a slam on berserkers, who really come into their own in the sequel thanks to their immunity to imprisonment and the general dominance of melee weapons over ranged. But even there Archers are phenomenal interrupters with the ability to interrupt through stoneskin with elemental damage, interrupt through PFMW with normal arrows, and even interrupt through both at the same time with normal arrows and Gesen’s or Firetooth.)
It provides immunity to Magic Missiles, and wouldn't you know it, that's the only offensive spell Tarmesh knows.
He'll totally just keep throwing missiles at your shielded guy like an idiot too. At no point does it occur to him to switch targets.