Even more stuff I don't know or know where to read about

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I think you've basically got the concept right. Every level a creature or person possesses includes some sort of die roll (whether d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12) to allocate a number of hitpoints for that level.

8 hit dice worth of monsters could mean one 8-hit dice creature (has hit point of d8 * 8 + con bonus), or two 4-hit dice creatures (2 creatures with d8*4+con bonus each).

More hardy creatures or classes tend to have better hit dice, like a fighter rolls d10s and a barbarian rolls d12s. Whereas a fragile mage rolls d4s. Most typical monsters, I believe, roll d8s, which is also what clerics and druids roll.

It should also be noted that in BG, after 9 or 10 levels the "hit dice" concept sort of goes out the window, as characters begin receiving a fixed, and dramatically lessened number of hit point per level.

Gotta run now, so I'll let someone else get your other questions....

 

I know the basics regarding classes constitution and which dice to roll, but I have no idea what dice monster summoning or the various elemental summoning spells use. Is d8 or d6 standard for summons, or do you need to check the monsters manual book for each creature?

 

I would imagine it varies between creatures.

This is a large part of why the Valen mod is considered overpowered.

As a side note, you can also drain a creatures stats to 0 in order to kill them.

 

d8 is standard. While kobolds may use a d4 for hit points, that's because their hit dice is listed as 1/2 (half). There are naturally a few exceptions, like death knights using d10, but they're very rare.

 

Actually, an Inquisitor wouldn't have a chance. Spell Immunity:Abjuration will shut his dispel down.....and, strangely enough, PFMW still works when you use Immunity:Abjuration (whether or not it should is another issue entirely). Not only will the Inquisitor be unable to touch you in melee, but he won't be able to disable your spell protections, either. You could also shut down an inquisitor by casting Imprisonment. Not only does it bypass magic resistance, but it also grants no save. Starting at around level 10, a warrior will lose to a smartly played wizard (or even a smartly played bard) every time. This discrepancy only gets worse as you gain levels, too.

 

No, Energy Drain is not affected by MR. And Dragons are not immune if they don't have other protections (Spell Trap, Spell Turning etc.).

 

What level are the standard dragons, like the shadow dragon? I guess it'd require around 2-3 mages filled up with that spell only

 

Heh exactly, there are much better 9 level spells to use against Dragons. Energy Drain is not so powerful for a 9 level spell.

 

Most of mine are around lvl23 (although all of them are overridden), so it would take around 12 energy drains to take them out. So yeah, you would be able to do a lot more damage with a timestop and a few other spells.

Generally hit dice is most important in determining the effective level of a creature. So a 12 hit dice air elemental is kind of like a level 12 creature and an 8 hit dice lesser fire elemental is kind of like a level 8 creature. If you summon 8 hit dice of monsters it could be say 2 lvl 4 creatures or 4 lvl 2. Some spells will only work on creatures with few than a set number of hit dice (eg a spell that effects only creatures of 8 hit dice or less would work on the monster summons and the lesser fire elemental, but not the air elemental).

 

If playing P&P a Kensai/Mage would not exist; simply because class kits cannot dual class in P&P. BG2 and ToB abuse this rule and ends up making the BG series a power gaming series. That is why I prefer BG1; it implemented the core rules much better than BG2 and ToB.

 

Well I also think so, but nonetheless I play BG2, as I think it's good still. You could concentrate on playing BG1 then

 

I do play both, but now I don't dual class and I don't select a demi-human unless I know they can gain unlimited levels in a specific class. i.e. Elves can gain unlimited levels as Magic Users.