Favorite class and noobish questions

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Recently I did some exercise to find the lowest achievable AC and IIRC it was -34 with a swashbuckler, Drow Plate, Drizzt scimtar, shield etc. But then I read somewhere that the game has a hardcoded limit of IIRC -26 (or -24 like henkie says?). To put these numbers in context, Demogorgon has THAC0 -21 and Melissan -17, so even with AC -26 3/4 of Demogorgon attacks hits.

 

You fight Mellisan? And here I thought she was my ally. A strong dispel magic would be good, since I only used Keldorn for a little bit and consider the evil npc's a lot more entertaining, not to mention the fact that a strong mage equals a guaranteed reload for me.

 

You can kill her.

I just did the AC calculations again:
Drow Plate: -4
Elf. DEX 19+1(Lum Machine)+1(Deck): -9
Swashbuckler lvl 40: -17
Amulet of the Master Harper: -20
Boots of Phasing: -22
Tzu Zan's Bracers: -23
Cloak of the Sewers: -24
Helm of Balduran: -25
Ring of Gaxx: -27
Ring of Earth Control: -28
Scimitar +5, Defender: -30
Darksteel Shield: -35

 

How do you keep Drizzit's Scimitars? Some dude always comes and collects them sometime after I fight him. How do you keep the drow plate after leaving the Underdark (I always use it while I'm there, but it crumbles to dust upon leaving)? Doesn't the bonus AC that a swashbuckler receives only apply when he's wearing light armor? (I know UAI would allow him to use it, but doesn't the "light armor" requirement still apply?)

All this would apply in theory, but I wonder what the best you can get assuming only things you can keep? A Bard should also be able to do pretty well with UAI, and he could still get the Dex bonus to -5 if you started in BG1 and used a tome.

EDIT: One more thing on bards from above - I also use Garrick (and occasionally Eldoth) in BG1. In fact, I've had Garrick as my only arcane caster in BG1.

 

There are cheesy ways...if there is a limit of -2x it doesn't matter anyway because you get -32 w/out them. Either way, I wanted to determine the minimum first and then work from it. And I decided that it's not worth it, IF there is a limit then whatever AC you can get, it's not really good, so many enemies have THAC0 better then -10...even the red dragon in Act 2 has -12. If the limit does exist, you're still too vulnerable to make an AC based build IMO, so I stopped researching the topic.

No idea, I didn't playtest it. I would be surprised if it worked like this though.
A light armour doesn't cost much either, another -2.

Yeah, bard in a spin would end up with even 2 AC less, but I left out use of skills, spells, potions,... because it would complicate things. I have nothing against such calculations, I just don't want to do them myself.
Also, Shuruppak's armour gives +1 DEX, so you don't even need BG1 to get DEX of 21 and for non-cheesy things it gives as good AC as any other.

 

The thing with the bard song is that there's a HLA that overwrites it. The Skald has a great song at higher levels, which is almost identical to the one you get from the HLA, but once you get there, any bard can have this same song. At least Skalds still have the +1 to hit and damage, but the Jester doesn't have anything else. No disadvantages either, though.

 

I forgot about 1 thing, there's a ring of protection +3. Dunno why do several item guides miss it. IIRC you can use it with a Red Dragon armour. So by resigning from Drow Plate you loose just 1 point, not 2.

 

The reason why so many guides miss it is because you can only get it from the Deck of Many Things. The problem is that the Deck doesn't draw random cards - the previous draw(s) influence subsequent draws. For each draw there is a list of possible "good" draws, and "bad" draws, and depending on which it is, you get a different list for your next draw. The Deck will only give the ROP+3 on the third draw, and will only do so if one of the first two draws are "bad" draws. Since most people don't like the "bad" draws, they reload when they get one. However, if your first two draws were "good", then the ROP+3 is not on the list of possibilities for the third. You have to accept one "bad" draw in order to get it.

Although a lot of the "bad" draws aren't so terrible. Some of them allow a save to avoid the affects - I think "Void" is one such case. Successful saving throw = nothing happens, failed saving throw = imprisonment (I think). Point being, by that point in the game, your saving throws should be decent enough that you'll make them, and by accepting a single "bad" draw on your first two cards opens the possibility of a better 3rd draw. (I also think that the +1 million XPs for party is also only available on the 3rd card, and is similarly only available if one of the first two were "bad" draws. So you can't get both the +1 million XPs and the ROP+3.)

 

I usually try to get a bad draw on the first card, Donjon I think it was (the imprisonment one), then get the stat boost on the second draw and then either +hp or +fire resistance on the last. The ring of protection +3 is on the second draw (Key) so has to compete with the stat boost. Yeah, so fat chance of me ever getting that ring. You need to have had a bad draw on the first draw for that.

Interestingly, the Void draw (second draw) can be resisted with magic resistance and the cloak of reflection returns it to the source (the deck of many things in this case). Doesn't actually disintegrates the cards, though.

 

I've only played through a little bit of TOB, but so far I would say BG1 is my favorite of the 3. I'm tempted to take a character through the entire trilogy...

 

I just started Trilogy with a Blade
Just give him lots of wands and items early on so he can make up early lack of spells
it is pretty nice so far.. though I regret putting point in xbows instead of long bows; 2 attacks are better than one It is pretty cool overall

 

Do bards need intelligence to cast spells? I spent a while rolling a bard with decent stats but only 13 int...

 

Int has the same effect on bards as on mages. The maximum number of spells per level you can learn is limited but you can circumvent this with int raising potions.
I'd just create a new bard and roll until all stats but useless wisdom which can be dumped to 3 are maxed, 16 con is also sufficient.

 

I would tend to agree - there's just something about starting with a brand new character - that and because there's a couple dozen NPCs to chose from that there are a ton of parties you can come up with. Heck, even if you're evil, and you don't want to consider even neutral NPCs for your party, there's plenty of options. (Well, I guess there's not too many options for a thief. The only thief option that is evil is Montoron, until you meet up with Tiax in Chapter 5.)

The problem with ToB is that it's hard to make the game challenging when you have characters that are that high of level. Sure, you can put higher leveled enemies against you, but all that results in is pretty much everyone getting hit with every attack. A few more NPCs in SoA would have gone a long way too. Not necessarily the same number that was in BG1 - for some reason they sprinkled them throughtout the game, and you could find new NPCs in Chapter 5, but I think they could have done more than the 16 options presented to us in SoA.

I got the draw wrong - it's been a while since I really tested out the Deck. Now that I think about it, you're absolutely right. It's the 1st draw (not the 1st OR 2nd) that you want the bad card, as that opens up the better options for the 2nd and 3rd draw. The larger point is that while you can reload as many times as you want until you get three good draws, what most people consider the "best" draws (like ROP+3, stat boosts, XP boost) are only available if you also get at least one bad draw.

True, but 2 is the same as 2. Buy the Light Crossbow of Speed from Thunderhammer. It will cost you a few thousand gold, but it's nowhere near as expense as some of his other premium items. It's just +1, but it adds an attack per round, making it equivalent to a short bow for rate of fire. I actually like equipping a character with the Light Crossbow of Speed, just because so many NPCs have proficiencies in bows that there's a lot of party combos where you're competing for the few great bows available in the game. There's not nearly as many NPCs with missile weapon proficiency, and there are more choices with missile weapons besides (in addition to crossbow, you could take slings or darts).

[edit]: Oh, and the other thing with the blade is that you can get two stars in melee weapons, and that bonus even carries over to things that can be used as missile weapons of that item type. For example, if you get two stars in daggers, you keep the bonus when using throwing daggers. Same thing with axes and throwing axes. There are a few options that are pretty good in BG1, and once you hit SoA, there are a lot of options.[/edit]

And - more importantly IMO - it also affects your chance of success at scribing a scroll into your spellbook. I don't know what it is offhand, but a 13 is not going to give you a particularly great chance at success. You're definitely going to want to drink a potion of genius prior to scribing, because if I had to guess a 13 is only going to somewhere around a 50% chance of success. The number of spells limitation itself usually isn't TOO big of a deal. There are a lot of spells you can do without. (You don't NEED infravision for example.)

 

thanks for tip, sounds awesome

I know you get an extra 1/2 attack but Blade can't specialize,
he can put *** in two weapon combat and only * in rest but at least he can use all kind of weapons. So far I'm using Halberd+1 and with offensive spin and STR18 it is okay for my difficulty level

 

Low-level bards suck. Combat skills are pathetic, you need an absurdly high roll to have good stats, and you have very few mage spells. Plus the paper doll for a human bard is the weirdest looking thing.

 

true

I'm rocking a
18
18
15
14
12
18

Bard atm so 95 roll that is pretty hard to get, but it is easier with Bard tbh... 90+ rolls like 90-92 are pretty common tbh, you need like 3-8mins to get that. And you can dump CHA if needed... with tomes and stat boosts from bg1 and bg2 i will get reasonable INT/WIS and 20str 20dex 20 cha without any boosts, pretty sweet - can save some stat enhancing items for weaklings like Jaheira

Well offensive spin maximizes your damage and lasts 24s..(you get 1per day /4levels i think; you start with 1) so with 18 strength and duhm(bhaalpowers, you get that somewhere early or middle bg1) + for example 2handed weapon so you can attack from 2squares away you can have - 2attacks very early in BGT(3 if you go for dualwield) with maximized damage and you can attack from 2nd line...

ofc Berskers or Archers in BG1 very easily top that(bows top anything in BG1 anyways)- but it is something that can help to get through BG1 and early in BG2... it is first time I play Bard but as much as I know BG2 already I can sense that my HLAS Bard with UAI and 6th or 7th circle spells(PnP spells progression tweak i use) will be really powerful

 

You get DUHM quite late. Don't remember when exactly, but certainly after the Cloakwood mine.

And from my limited BGT experience, bows are much worse with the newer engine, still OK, but not even a must-have.

 

True you get DUHM late

So far my bard is quite ok and levels fast(currently level6), though with low HP lack of helmet hurts at times


about bows

They are still most powerful weapon early on, BGT doesn't change much. Those early 1-4 dice monsters 90% of the time won't even reach you if you have like 4-5 range attackers. I mean take 5 archers with composite bows and they will kill 80% of things before they even get close.