13-02-2004 16:56									#181
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It depends on what race your ranger is and what his(her?) stats are like. If your character is human, you could dual class to a cleric in BG2.

If not human, it depends on your style of play. If your character is an archer type, BG2 has the Archer kit which provides exceptional bonuses to missle weapons at the expense of melee combat.

If your a sneaky backstabbing thief type, there's the Stalker kit which allows your character to backstab at warrior THAC0.

There is however a little bonus given in BG2 to those who played TotSC. A new character only starts with xp equal to the exp cap of vanilla BG1 (89,000). However, TotSC increased the exp cap of BG1 to 161,000 so any character imported from BG1 having played TotSC starts BG2 from the higher experience level.

Also, there's various stat increasing tomes in BG1 that do not exist in BG2. The paladin I imported from BG1 had stats of str 19, dex 19, con 19, int 12, wis 15 and cha 19 due to the tomes. Such stats are not possible for a character created in BG2 without cheating.

	13-02-2004 19:11									#182
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Or you can download a cap-remover and start BG2 with 2,000,000 EXP if you want... it makes Jonny's Dungeon a bit ridiculous.

-Jam

	14-02-2004 04:36									#183
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I thought that it didn't matter whether you did Tosc or not. After all BGII's main storyline adapts itself more or less yo your level. If you do lots of sidequests (= lot of XP) then you'll have tougher battles in the main storyline. IF you only do the storyline you won't have that much XP and well basically if they make it too difficult you will be forced to do the sidequests. And in a good RPG it's not the intention to force players to do stuff

	14-02-2004 17:30									#184
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Yeah, it does scale the dungeon encounters according to average party level.
For example :
The Shadow Temple Ruins have groups of undead. They range from 2 skeleton warriors, at levels lower than 10 (I think) all the way up to 2 skeleton warriors, two greater mummies and a lich for each group at levels above 20 (I think) Its a bit of an evil dungeon at high levels, as you have much tougher fights then the Shadow Dragon before you even get there.

-Jam

	14-02-2004 23:03									#185
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quote: 2 skeleton warriors, two greater mummies and a lich

And a Lich!
painful!

	15-02-2004 00:33									#186
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And that's EACH random group. So you have to fight though 5 or 6 liches to get to the dragon...

-Jam

	15-02-2004 06:44									#187
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And ive never even been able to kill a lich
I've started BG2 about 10 times, trying to do every quest, but everytime I start again I need to reformat, or something bad happens to the computer (and that's on diff computers ) so I have to start all over again.

So I'm a bit reluctant to start me another game
Been a long time since i've played BG!

I've once made it till the point where you get out of the Underdark, but everything after that is a mystery to me. I don't even know the whole BG story

	15-02-2004 13:25									#188
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liches can be defeated with some cheese tactics .

I was a high level the first time I did those ruins. And I did face a few liches I believe.

send a few skeleton warriors their way (by casting summon undead or whatever the cleric spell is- make sure your cleric is over level 15 so you get the skeleton warriors). the warriors are immune to most of the stuff the lich can do- and causes the lich to waste his spells like time stop.

	15-02-2004 14:15									#189
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident liches can be defeated with some cheese tactics .

High level turn undead isn't cheese tactics.

	15-02-2004 15:48									#190
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quote: Originally posted by Trajanus And ive never even been able to kill a lich I've started BG2 about 10 times, trying to do every quest, but everytime I start again I need to reformat, or something bad happens to the computer (and that's on diff computers ) so I have to start all over again.

I find them quite easy actually. I've killed Kangaxx (a demi-lich) with a level 10 party before. Use Korgan berzerked (cannot be imprisoned, and with hand to hand, he is usually the one aimed at) and have mages use Melf's Minute Meteors, which count as +5 weapons, to harm him. Give Korgan any +4 weapon you have (Staff of Rhyn for example). As for killing normal lichs, I'm not sure what's so hard about them. Time Stop is annoying, but for me they usually use it to buff themselves up, and protect themselves. Put an elemental in front of them and then launch arrows at them. One of many tactics. I find Dragons, Vampires and decent parties you fight much harder, personally. I hate Vampires, but daystar makes them a lot more palatable

As for the lich for parties over level 20 in dungeons, shouldn't be a problem at all. Clerics are usually one of the highest in levels, since they go up quickly, and a level 20 turn undead kills a lich, IIRC.

	15-02-2004 18:21									#191
	Suffering from ads?

Ok, try fighting a lich with a solo 15/18th level fighter/thief and no "Protection for Undead" Scrolls. Man, that was reload frenzy....

-Jam

	15-02-2004 20:02									#192
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True, although with the f/t dual wielding a couple of +3 swords, the lich might not survive long enough?

How did you do it in the end?

	15-02-2004 22:36									#193
	Tired of ads?

Hide, trigger his true sight, run away.
Wait till it expired, hide, backstab (uneffective against undead, but still +4 to hit) - run away.
Wait for his timestop to expire.
Hide, backstab, then keep hitting him, hoping to disrupt anything he casts.
Run away again.
Take out the mummies with Fire arrows. Take out the skeleton warriors with Blackblood.

Thank god the whole bunch of them are so slow, and I had boots of speed.

Repeat for each group of 5...

The reloads come when he gets to cast Imprisonment....

-Jam

	16-02-2004 16:34									#194
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I have no idea what you're all on about! Yet.

I played some more on Friday night, and now have 2 saves to choose between. I killed the ogre on the way to Beregost and stole his belts, but the knight (Khalid?) bought it. Do I really need him at the moment? Should I go back to the save before the ogre fight and then do it again, or shall I continue with the corpse of the knight decorating the scenery of the Forgotten Realms?
I played on and got to Beregost, using the opportunity to practise Imoen's lock-picking skills and get some stuff from the various locked houses and treasure chests in the northern part of the town. Is there a decent fighter in the vicinity to bolster my party, because I don't rate Jaheira as a fighter at all? She is spending most of her time healing the wounds of other characters, but she's the only one who is at level 2. I really want to dump the necromancer, but need a suitable replacement. Any recommendations?

	16-02-2004 17:25									#195
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Kahlid is good because he is the only GOOD (i.e. non-evil) pure fighter in the game. On the other hand, his strength is a bit low for a fighter...

There's a good Dwarf fighter upsatirs in one of the bars in Beregost, and when you get to Nashkell there's a very strong ranger. If you head WEST from Beregost there is a ranger called Kivan in the "High Hedge" map wandering about. He's my favorite NPC. Very nice stats apart from low CON. And he has stealth.

Replace the Necro when you get to Nashkell. There you get a choice of 3 mages....

-Jam

	16-02-2004 17:39									#196
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The dwarf and ranger sound good. I'll probably go and pay them a visit.
I managed to wangle the day off work tomorrow (I have a doctor's appointment really early in the morning, but got the whole day off ), so I have a feeling that I may have a lot more to tell you all on Wednesday.
Just as a point of interest, are any decent items in locked chests? How many tries can you have at opening locked chests or doors? And how do I backstab someone?

	16-02-2004 18:51									#197
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quote: Just as a point of interest, are any decent items in locked chests?

YES!!!! Make sure that you have at least once person with 60-80% pick locks. Or get the spell "Knock"

quote: How many tries can you have at opening locked chests or doors?

As many as you want, normally.

quote: And how do I backstab someone?

Ah....
1.)Be a thief, or a thief multi/dual class.
2.)Use a thief allowed melee weapon. (i.e. this won't work with a Fighter/thief using a bastard sword)
3.)Hide-in-Shadows or use the spell "Invisibility"
4.)Stand BEHIND the person you want to backstab.
5.)Hit them.
6.)You have to score a hit as usual, but you get a +4 to your roll if they didn't see you. ADVICE - now is the time to have drunken those potions of x-giant strength.
7.)Your damage will be multiplied up to a maximum of x5 depending on level. Sweet.

-Jam

	16-02-2004 19:02									#198
	Got spare money?

That sounds tasty.
I had some fun with Imoen when I fought the ogre with the belts. I used her stealth and crept up to where the ogre was because I wanted to ensure that we wouldn't just come across him and find ourselves in a battle straight off. So far so good, but once she arrived in sight of the ogre, she decided to turn off stealth and fired an arrow at him. He er, noticed. I have no idea why this happened, but it was quite effectively because she just kept running away from him and he didn't bother hitting anyone else, so they could stand off him and fill him full of arrows.
I was a bit disappointed that she just lost stealth like that though. By the time he gave up the chase, he only had the time to whack Khalid and then die. I'll just keep practising with the locks then. Is there anything worth pickpocketing in the game?

	16-02-2004 19:08									#199
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You have the AI turned on. Its the left-hand icon of the two in the bottom right corner. Your characters will attack any enemies they see unless they are busy doing something else. Either turn it off, or keep your scouting character moving.

BTW, you just discovered the technique that will see you though to the end of the game. The AI will chase the "selected target" character ignoring the rest of the team unless attacked in melee. Pincushion them

-Jam

	16-02-2004 19:18									#200
	Full PM-box? Change here!

With the AI on, then will the wizards cast spells as well as the archers firing arrows, or will I have to control the wizard to do that? I tried switching control of the character, but every time I went to do that the ogre would almost catch Imoen, and I had to keep her running.

	16-02-2004 19:22									#201
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

If you want your characters to do anything with the AI other than just use the weapon in hand on the nearest foe, you have to press "r" for the character sheet and then find the button that let's you adjust the scripts. I advise leaving them all on the default script though, and contraolling them manually, as the AI is very poor. (i.e. will cast charm spell on undead...)

DON'T FORGET TO PRESS SPACE TO PAUSE EVERY TIME YOU GIVE AN ORDER IN COMBAT!!!

-Jam

	16-02-2004 19:26									#202
	Put an end to popups!

Yes, I just thought of that after I'd made my last post. It is all so simple now, but I got carried away amusing myself by playing chase with the ogre.
I can see that I've got a lot of practising to do all day tomorrow.

	17-02-2004 01:07									#203
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One thing about that dwarven fighter- he is evil. Evil I tells ya!

I would recommend keeping Khalid. But that's just me. If you don't ming evil guys- that dwarven fighter is good. I think you have to say the correct things to him to get him to join your party. I don't think that's too difficult- just remember he's a dwarf.

And later on you can get Minsc- who is a ranger, but essentually a fighter. He has a quest he needs to go on. I believe you only get 10 days to finish it, so keep that in mind. But 10 days should be plenty of time.

	17-02-2004 01:17									#204
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Minsc suffers a bit from being a ranger, but he does have the highest strength in Baldur Gate, and he has... Boo!

-Jam

	18-02-2004 16:12									#205
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And what might Boo! be pray tell......?

I've taken the dwarf for the time being, but I'm going to boot him out, and the necromancer for that matter, as soon as possible. Likewise the rubbishy bard bloke. I've got him up front in the hope that he dies soon.

I'm going to have to go back to the Friendly Arms now to pick up some antidotes because noone in Beregost sells them and I always get poisoned by the spiders in the house. I am planning to kill one and then retreat, heal up and antidote myself before going in to polish off another, but I don't have enough antidotes to do this that often.
I'm also cheating because I got tired of being beaten to a pulp by the town guards and will now save before entering a house to break into chests so they don't turn up all the time. I've also done this before picking pockets and got a mysterious cloak from the bloke upstaris in the inn with ants in his pants. I don't know where to find one at the moment, but what would happen if I go to visit the chap upstairs in the other inn with a paladin in my party?
My party are rubbish by the way. I only managed to kill Silke (?) after a couple of reloads when she killed most of my party with spells. They're all still level one apart from Jaheira, and I really need to find somewhere to go and kill useless beasties for a bit to level up. How often will they respawn? Will I really have to wander around for ages until a new one comes back? How can I get good experience points for nothing (re: gold pantaloons), or for very little danger to my party?

	18-02-2004 20:57									#206
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

re: getting beat up by the guards


Be careful with this, It will knock your reputation down to zilch and your party members will tell you to piss off and then leave you. If you want to rob places, don't do it when there are people in the house

	18-02-2004 21:07									#207
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I know that. Besides, I always got killed by the guards so it didn't affect my rep in the end anyway.
That's why I've taken to saving before going on looting sprees, in case the watch turn up. I send Imoen in by herself, and try to use hiding in shadows as often as possible - this certainly got me the cloak from that fat man, but I can't afford to find out what it does. Well, I could, but I'd prefer to spend the cash on other stuff. In fact, I suppose that I could find out and then reload to save 100g.

	18-02-2004 21:10									#208
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Best way to get EXP early on is to cover all the maps near Beregost and kill everything you see with bows 'n' arrows. But Naskell is designed for levels 1-2 anyway, so you can just go for it.

Don't try using melee at level 1. You only get one or 1 & 1/2 attack per round, and you miss a lot. One hit, and you are dead at level 1. Bows have 2-3 attacks per round, miss about the same amount, and disrupt enemy spell casting. Plus if they are dead before they reach you, you can't get hurt.

As for Boo... wait and see

That cloak you got is one of the best items in the game, BTW.

-Jam

	18-02-2004 21:12									#209
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I can't remeber if this is the case for BG, but in many of these games you can't use an item unless it's been identified.

	18-02-2004 21:23									#210
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In BG you can wear an item or wield a sword etc, but you can't use the special powers of a magic item till its been IDed. Don't bother IDing magic arrows for example, once you know what each type looks like, just use them.

-Jam