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Yes, the lazily-named AllNPCsAtTheBeginning mod. If you use that, you won't have any trouble getting (and keeping) Faldorn early, since she never complains about beating up the Iron Throne and their Cloakwood mine. (Presumably because the programmers figured that since you have to do that eventually, ...) Dynaheir won't be moved (for plot reasons), but I think Minsc gets moved a tiny bit within the Nashkel map, with Edwin standing in sight range IIRC.

 

One cleric alone is enough healing power.
Ajantis has lay on hands and your character will probably also gain a few healing powers.

You might want to change Branwen for Yeslick later since she is neutral and her "Our actions are not those of warriors bold" screaming once your reputation gets higher than 18 is really annoying(She won't leave though.).

If you want druidic spells than drop Minsc,Ajantis or Dynaheir for Faldorn.

I would try to roll the following stats

STR 18
DEX 18
CON 16+
INT 18
WIS 3+
CHA 18

Wisdom is not really important since your lore will soon be high enough anyway. You can use the identify spell until then.
Wisdom doesn't effect spell resistance in BG1 or BG2, that's just a manual error.
You can set your strength to 10 if you can't get a roll that high.

I would install the maxHP and no scroll scribing error parts from the EoU mod.

As for weapon profs:

2-handed long range weapons are the best melee choice since you can't use a shield or good armor.

Long swords are common in the game and therefore a good choice as starting weapons, but since both Minsc and Ajantis start with long sword profiency, quarterstaffs are even better, especially since there are monsters who require blunt weapons to take damage.

It's not very important what you choose as melee weapon, bows are better for 99 percent of the time since they grant twice as many attacks per round and a greater range.

I don't know if crossbows are worth it. The by far most powerful one, the expensive light crossbow of speed is not better than a simple nonmagical composite longbow.
The bow profiency seems to be the better choice at the start, you get new profiencies at level 4 and 8.

 

A low wisdom will affect the lore of a bard. Keep that in mind when fiddling with the stat points.

EDIT: Concerning crossbows, there's a very good one (heavy crossbow of accuracy) you can get (much later in Baldur's Gate city) by siding with the druids when you talk to Aldeth Sashenstar.

 

The heavy crossbow of accuracy has only one attack/round, so it's inferior.
If you side with the druids you won't get a quest and other useful items in return.

A level bard with 18 int and 3 wis has already 40 lore at level5 which should be more than enough. His lore will even increase by 10 per level.

 

Bard with 3 wis will be sucky for RPing. He will be so dumb.

Go with bows all the time, they are cooler, faster and have better arrow types!

 

In pen & paper maybe, but it won't make a difference in BG1 or BG2.
You can also raise your wis somewhat during the game.

 

No, that's intelligence. 3 WIS means he'll be extremely gullible or naive, and most likely very childish. Think Elan (from OotS) with more empirical knowledge. Or me.

 

I know that low wis score means childish and naive attitude, BUT a score as low as 3 means that the person's brain is so clouded he can't know where he is, or notice his surroundings, or know what is going on. He may still be smart, for example he can solve complex mathematic problems with ease, but is generally aloof. And with as low score as 3, he may not even remember his name or will have to think for it!

Think about Albert Einstein. I think, if he were to be converted into AD&D, he would have inhuman INT (19), but a bad WIS score, as he was generally abstracted, contamplative, forgetful, and maybe even childish. (I can't forget his pic showing his tongue out! )

Do you agree?

PS:I know Elan! He is one of the reasons I start to love bards!

 

You need a wisdom of at least 9 or 10. Otherwise any Bonus the Bard gets for being a bard when it comes to his Lore Value will be entirely nullified and you'll rely on your mages using the Identify spell. Despite what some here are saying do not use it as a total Dump stat. Even if it means your stats have to be a little more even and you don't get as many monster stats. Take a bit out of strength. There are strength enhancing items in both games. More than enough in BG2 for that matter.

 

Sorry, Einstein would have had a fairly high wisdom score -- just read his work (including the political stuff).

 

Einstein had a very sharp wit. INT 18 and WIS 3 would be an idiot savant.

In a strictly practical sense, lore is quite useless and certainly not worth lowering your STR for.

Edit: for clarification, you absolutely should take an 18 STR in BG1 if possible, because by the end of the game it'll have increased to 19, which is as good as or better than any STR enhancing item you can get before chapter five in BG2.

[ February 22, 2006, 04:57: Message edited by: Prine ]

 

Pfft. Wow, handicapped for one or two levels; that'll really kill you. Bards get buttloads of Lore, so a little -20 penalty from a 3-6 WIS or a piddling -10 penalty from a 7-9 WIS is nothing. Especially when you'd be counting on ID spells anyway if you just didn't have the bard.

I'd say it's worth knocking down the strength to a certain point in an MP game or something(characters with less than 12 STR can't carry s***), but past that, just take the hit.

 

"... which is as good as or better than any STR enhancing item you can get before chapter five in BG2."

Actually: ... which is as good but no better than any STR enhancing item you can get before chapter two in BG2.

 

It's as good as the girdle of hill giant strength, better than the gauntlets of ogre power, and one more strength enhancer you can give to another character, no matter which way you want to slice it. And since the only strength enhancer in BG1 is a pair of the latter, you'll come out on top there, too.

 

You probably won't even get the gauntlets of ogre power if you roleplay BG1 without spoilers.

2 strength spells in a row give 18/00 str too, but you probably won't memorize enough of them for your party, especially since you'll want to cast other powerful level2 spells.