Playing BGII for the second time

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I also found some weird people in a hidden room behind the Coronet that mentioned a Black Lotus but otherwise the room seemed completely pointless.

Mazzy rules. I am fairly certain that I will keep her in my party, especially now that she has a bow that can shoot 5 arrows per round. She is exactly the archer that I want covering my back. So the core party is likely to be:
Liam
Aerie
Jan
Mazzy

This means that I still have to find a way to get Jaheira, Nalia and Minsc's quests done and dusted so I can put them out to pasture.

 

Black Lotus is the Forgotten Realms' opium. Congratulations, you found a dope den.

 

Damn straight. She can be a pretty awesome dual-wielder too with the right equipment, and don't forget to check out her special abilities. Mazzy's got it all.

 

Is that the bow from the beastmaster? That ones pretty cool. You'll probably like Gesen's when you can make it too.

 

Man, I just spent AGES trying to work out how to get Mazzy out of the pit after knocking Squisher unconscious. Nobody told me that she'd been given a short sword to fight with. It wasn't until the millionth reload that I spotted the little message that said "You have gained an item". Bah.

Also, my journal is now overloaded with quests. I wish it didn't have to post twenty entries for every quest. Why can't it just have one up-to-date entry for each quest? It's so hard to find the entry you're looking for.

Anyway, Jan is now back after we cured the girl, and Jaheira has had her curse cured. Liam is sitting on about 400,000 XP now but everyone is miles away from levelling up. Mazzy still rules.

 

Since then, we have now managed to:
- rescue the kidnapped Boo. This is a cool new adventure added by Unfinished Business although Minsc now has the weird new ability to have Boo's babies. Bizarre!
- attempt to help Xzar but get him killed in the process (loads of XP for that though)
- fight a load of Harpers (it seemed much more difficult last time - but I didn't have the superpowered Mazzy then)
- find some Mithril to save the Umar forest

We've also given Minsc a well earned rest now that his quest is over so we're back down to five party members again.

 

OK - so I decided to go back to Trademeet, if only because it there are a zillion entries for it in my journal and I want to get rid of them all. I took the advice above and brough Cernd into my party and it was miles easier than using Jaheira because Faldorn did not cheat as much.

Cernd is still in the party now but not sure how much longer we'll keep him.

 

What are your tips for making my Ranger / Cleric focussed on frontline fighting? Now that Minsc has gone, Liam fills this role with Mazzy supporting with arrows and possibly joining in melee later if required. Because Liam is used as the first one to charge into battle, this kind of rules out shortlived self-buffs that have to be applied immediately prior to combat. Long-lived buffs like Ironskins are OK, as are anything that Aerie or Jan can cast on him whilst he's engaged.

We're doing the D'Arnise Hold at the moment, so the acquisition of the Flail of Ages has already instantly improved his tank-ness from what it was before, but I'm not sure of what else to do to make him fill that role most effectively. I guess this also impacts what sort of spells he should have in his spellbook, to support his role and to balance out what Jan and Aerie have.

 

Flail of Ages/Crom Faeyr is a good combination for dual wielders, though obviously you can't do it until chapter 6.

Spells? Armour of faith and iron skins, of course, and regeneration is a marvelous seventh level spell. Draw upon holy might is nice at lower levels, righteous magic is absolutely insane at higher levels (Kai for a minute or more? Yes please!). Oh, and spells like blade barrier and (later on) globe of blades are surprisingly effective if you're hasted, since they go off twice per round instead of once per round.

 

Yeah, have Aerie cast improved haste on you or Mazzy, double the effectiveness of regen too
If you're short on Chaotic command then use the Harmony shield.

 

Improved haste + righteous magic + critical strike. Slobber.

 

Prine - the problem with all that is the time it takes to cast them all. By the time all that has happened, the monsters will have eaten Aerie, unless it is a really telegraphed encounter that he knows he needs to prepare for. He's not going to go through all that every time he opens a door, otherwise he'll have to rest every 5 minutes to replenish. He'll probably have to rely on "always-on" stuff like Ironskins, plus maybe one pre-combat buff like Blade Barrier. The rest of the buffs will have to come from Aerie or Jan.

I also don't think he will end up dual wielding, if only for the fact that I cannot envisage how it would be possible for anybody to dual wield a flail with something else (given the way the three flail heads would wave around and get in the way of your off-hand)

The general roles of the party look like being:

Liam - main tank and melee fighter with Flail of Ages, plus backup healer and summoner when not fighting

Jan - main role is to open locks and deal with traps, plus provide arcane support and use his crossbow

Aerie - main arcane caster plus be able to heal people engaged in combat so they don't have to stop fighting

Mazzy - ranged specialist getting in 3 or 4 shots before the enemy has had chance to think, switching to melee where necessary

 

If you're not dual-wielding, it's pretty simple. The heaviest armor you can get (scr*w scouting) and the biggest shield you can get. You'll also want a sling just because. (Fire off a round, especially with the Sling of Seeking or something, and then close for melee; free damage.)

Ironskins are a must, (leave all the other 5th level spells for Aerie to take) and don't count out Goodberry (2nd level). If you stock up, it can make a bit of difference for when resting doesn't seem RP-worthy. (Like Spellhold, Sahuagin City, and pre-Ust-Natha Underdark.) Heck, if you want to you can fill up all five levels of spells with healing! NPP is good, of course, until you get the Amulet of Power or MoD+2; though if you've got the money I'd go straight to Chapter Three to get the Amulet as soon as you can to free up the slots.

 

You don't have to use all of them. Use them as needed. Have iron skins on at all times. When you see an enemy, use righteous magic and have someone cast improved haste on you, then critical strike every round until whatever you're fighting is dead. If you're limiting yourself to hour-long buffs or ones you can toss out immediately, then you'd probably have been better off with a fighter/mage for the sequencers and contingencies.

You can dual wield or not, but you're sloughing off a lot of offensive power if you don't. You won't exactly be aching for AC with iron skins, so I'd question the usefulness of a shield. Anyway, who says you can't dual wield flails? Go watch a Bruce Lee film.

 

Yeah, but the Flail of Ages is a special weapon that has three heads. It must be a nightmare. Plus the animation of the hammer makes it look really big which also seems to count out dual wielding to me, even though I accept that with the over-the-top magical superweapons in BGII, I will be missing out offensive power and other bonuses.

Your advice has been sound though. Liam is now equipped with:

Flail of Ages
Girdle of Hill Giant Strength
Shield of Harmony
Balduran's Helm
Balduran's Plate

This gives him -7 AC and 4 THAC0 unbuffed so he is now much more effective as the front line tank than he was before.

In other news, random Harpers keep trying kill Jaheira and Aerie just offered to show Liam her body!

 

Trouble!! I just lost 3 party members all at once!! I was in the graveyard district trying to return a teddy bear to some kid when the following things happened one after another:
1) Jaheira vanished to go and face judgement by the Harpers. The note says I am not to follow her so no idea what will happen there, of if she will ever come back.
2) That Toenail guy came and kidnapped Nalia, although there's a bunch of stuff I can do to get her back, if I want.
3) Bodhi came up to me and offered to help me get Imoen for only 15,000gp. Sounded pretty good to me, but then no sooner had I done that when the wonderful Mazzy vanished as well - something about not being able to work with Bodhi.

So now I am left with just Liam, Aerie, and Jan. The most annoying thing of all (other than the fact that we will get creamed by the next person who attacks us) is that Mazzy had loads of expensive gear on her that I now can't sell.

My whole game has gone pear-shaped. Assuming that Mazzy has left forever, all my party composition plans have gone up in smoke. I have no idea what to do now......

 

Reload

Jahiera wil be back in a day or two I reckon. Don't think you can get Mazzy back (if you choose the 'evil' option, all the 'good' guys do a runner). Nalia, you can get her back but it's a pain in the arse.

The thieves offer you the help for 15,000 as well I think, so you're not saving anything going with the vampire.

 

Jaheira: HB, do you do everything Jaheira tells you? She says, "Stay put. Don't follow." Follow, darn it! Do the Harpers you've met so far seem 'stable' and 'friendly'?

Mazzy: She is one of the NPCs that leaves if you take Bodhi's offer. You will have to reload to get her back.

Nalia: Rescue her. You seem to know how to get that going.

 

Didn't she give you a warning before you made the choice ? Really, she at least should give back the equipments ^^

 

Yes, just follow Jaheira to the Harper Base, it will be OK.

Mazzy is gone for good. Reload or live with it.

Nalia's abduction is her quest. A man should have said something about the Isae Roneal's shady bussines to you just after she has been abducted. Investigate it, and Nalia will be VERY happy and indepted if you can manage to save her. (it is not that hard. Read your journal if you are stuck.)