Favorite class and noobish questions

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I consider BG1 to be about as hard as 2. BG1 is mostly easy early on (unless you solo a mage ), but there are several tough fights (the mage in Friendly Arm, the ogre with belts, Nashkel assassin, Greywolf). Availability of really nice items (for inexperienced characters) laying around softens is up though. Not for new players, I guess... although I accidentally found 1 myself and my uncle did extensive search and got another 2, so it can be done. And there is 1 fight that can be won only in a cheesy way - Drizzt. I don't think there's something like this in BG2.
In BG2 there are hard moments too, although less of them. Mencar Pebblecrusher
is hard. There are 2 fights between areas, that can catch you in bad moment and if you run away, you loose an item / a quest. Especially nasty when fought solo. And Melissan is very hard too, IMO harder than any mandatory fight in BG1.

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Also, ToB is hard if you don't have both fighters and mages, BG1 doesn't cause imbalanced parties so much trouble. Well, maybe the final fight is something like this; a mages-only party would have it hard, at least w/out cheese.

 

In BG2 you can get by without ever being in danger of dying through sheer planning and flawless execution of tactics. In BG1 a stray crit is all it takes to end one of your characters.

This is mind, BG1 is far more difficult than BG2 imo. With cheese though I think they're just about as difficult.

 

@Paracelsi

Agreed - the problem is that your low level characters simply dont have a lot of hitpoints. And they dont have a lot of good spells, so your casters sit there and do nothing a lot of the time.

Mencar Pebblecrusher is a very difficult fight, even with cheese, for a fresh party, but its also completely optional. You could do it at any time.

 

Just like all hard BG1 fights at least up to the tent in the bandit camp.

 

I wasnt aware the mage at the Friendly Arm inn was optional? At least not if you do the game in the order it is "designed" to be done in.

 

Yes, if you want to play it in the most straightforward order, it's mandatory. Though you still can decide that it's too hard and go somewhere else to get more experience.

 

Thats kinda my point. If I was a noob BG1 player, I would run right into the friendly arm inn to pick up Jaheira and Khalid based on the advice I received. That mage would slaughter me.

In BG2, the first dungeon is linear and everyone starts on level 7 anyway. After that, it would take some doing to find Mencar Pebblecrusher. I mean if I hadnt played the game 50 million times I wouldnt know he was there.

 

You're right.

I found him when playing for the 1st time, before leaving the promenade.

 

I agree it can ONLY be won in a cheesy way - I don't think the designers meant for you to even fight him. I don't think there's a means of taking him straight up. I know of three ways of beating him, all of which are cheesy, but I suppose the least cheesy is through summoning creatures every round, via monster summoning spells and wands, and animate dead from clerics, all the while having the rest of your characters fire missile weapons at him. Most cheesy is definitely sacrificing one of your characters and then shooting him from across the pond.

I would say that soloing BG1 is harder - next to impossible with a mage without some foreknowledge of the game.

As did I, but I spent a lot of time on the Promenade the first time through ToB - lots of places to visit around there, and I do believe the game designers meant for the circus tent to be your first significant quest.

Certainly the game does direct you towards the FAI. While the area of the FAI is certainly mandatory to enter, I don't think there's any event that actually requires you to enter the inn itself. You could conceivably play through the entire game without ever setting foot inside it.

 

IMO, the most cheesy is surround him with your npc's, then kick the npc's out of your party and attack him with your main character using arrows and halberds. He can't push the booted npc's away and they don't come to his aid. But he is only hit on criticals and it takes a long time.

 

I didn't think about a monster swarm. Have to try it one day.
There are at least 2 other ways (the latter is my invention):
Use a hasted decoy running around to keep Drizzt busy or surround him with invisible party members, so he can't move. In either case shoot him to death.

I don't have much experience with soloing, did both games with just 1 character, fighter illusionist. I believe the choice to be optimal (or close to) for BG2 and much less so for BG1, yet with BG1 I had no problems. BG2 was hard from time to time and I stood no chance against Melissan w/out wish-rest.

Actually you don't have to enter it at all, but isn't it Jaheira who directs you to Nashkel?

 

Mencar Pebblecrusher is the group in the inn in the promenade? That's strictly optional, and the game gives you plenty of opportunity to avoid the fight if you just blunder into their room.

The mage just in front of the FAI is pretty much designed to be directly in your path and it certainly seems that you're intended to meet him just fresh from Candlekeep. The only time I really had a problem with him, though, was when I solo the game. Otherwise I usually pick up Xzar and Montressor (although I dump them as soon as I can get Jaheira and Khalid) and the mage is not really that much of a problem. The biggest problem I usually have is encountering Kobolds as a random spawn on the way to the FAI, because they can kill you fast at level 1.

Jaheira points you to Nashkel, but Xzar (or Montressor, I forget which is the talkative one) will also point you to Nashkel.

As for soloing, the R/C makes it quite easy, especially once you get Hold Person. It's usually how I deal with hard fights in BG: Hold Person, kill guy while he's immobilised. The R/C is easiest to solo with in BG1 and SoA, but once you get to ToB, a sorcerer is by far the easiest.

 

I tend to agree with you henkie, although my spell of choice for immobilization early on is entangle. It's level 1, any druid or cleric can cast it, and given the power of missile weapons in BG1, being held in place an unable to attack outside of melee range is just as effective as being completely immobilized. Add in that it's area of effect, and can be cast right on top of you without affecting members of your own party (like web does), and it's a winner.

I also agree with random encounters between areas. Two possibilities that can spawn between the FAI and Naskel is kobold archers with worgs and worgs with half-ogres. That's pretty much insta-death.

 

Run. Half ogres are helpless. Worgs do little. Kobold archers certainly have a chance, but it's far from insta-deatch. With a good party formation you have 80% of surviving w/out anybody killed.

 

Are these tomes hard to find? I don't want to miss any in case I try to go through BG 2 with this character.

You can fight Drizzt in this game?! I can't wait to kick his over-rated ass.

 

The easiest solo is the bard. He can use composite bows (two attacks per round, high damage), rush/steal the Necklace of Missiles (Fireball spell at level 1, use at will with recharge/stealing), use wands of monster summoning (free fodder), use wands of paralyzation (hold person at will, obtainable at 1 with effort) and he levels faster than the F/M/T. He can make himself immune to Fear using Bard Song and he can identify items at will so he can use them immediately. The only thing he can't do is heal himself, which is what potions are for.

Granted, in the traditional sense the Bard class falls flat. YMMV.

 

Tomes? I guess you mean the stat increasing ones?
No. You're unlikely to miss some and the rest depends on how do you play. If you try to go everywhere and do everything, you should get them all.

Easier said than done.

 

OK, this is off the cuff, and I don't know the exact area numbers, and I'll list them in the order you'll probably find them...

Charisma - in a cave in the gnoll stronghold. There are three caves in the zvart-infested southern portion of the map. The tome is in one of them, guarded by a carrion crawler.

Constitution - no idea what the area is named but it's one of the areas west of Naskel towards the coast. It's the area where you find Safana, and there are a bunch of sirens on this map. The cave where the tome is located is in the western portion of the map, and it is guarded by three flesh golems. (Only can be hit by magical weapons, so make sure you have some before going in.)

Intelligence - on the top of Razamith's tower in Baldur's Gate. It is guarded, predictably, by Razamith.

Dexterity - in a barrel next to the weapon salesperson in the thieves guild in Baldur's Gate. It's guarded by nothing - you can just go in the barrel and take it.

Wisdom (1) - in possession of one of the priests in the temple in the central map area of Baldur's Gate. I forget who the temple is dedicated to (Tymora maybe?) but it's the only temple on the center portion of the map of Baldur's Gate, just north of the Hall of Wonders. You can get the tome by completing a quest, or simply by pickpocketing it. (And you can still complete the quest if you don't mind fighting the entire temple of Umberlee to do so.)

Strength - the tome is in the one of the tombs beneath Candlekeep.

Wisdom (2) - is in another tomb beneath Candlekeep.

Wisdom (3) - on the altar on the 3rd (I think) floor of Durlag's Tower.

Honestly, the tomes are really overpowered. If I finish this playthrough with my R/C, he'll finish BG1 with just a 9 in intelligence, but a 19 in strength, dexterity, constitution and charisma, and a whopping 21 in wisdom.

You're aren't required to fight him, but you have the option to. I will say simply that should you decide to fight him, there definitely will be an ass kicking one way or the other. But save yourself the effort of a straight-up fight. There are only a few methods of beating him, all of which are cheesy. Granted, if you do it you get the access to the best weapons in the game, and the elven chain mail can even be worn by thieves.

 

The wisdom tome is in a tomb beneath Candlekeep? Definitely missed that one.

If the fight with Drizzt is near impossible without liberal amounts of cheese, than liberal amounts of cheese it is. Is is at all possible to win in a straight up fight though? Like, say I had a very well equipped party and my main character was a R/C with all tomes gathered.