Strongholds

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I have three characters who I will be moving from BG1 to BG2. I am not sure who the protaginist will be but the classes are as followed.

Ranger
Mage/Thief
Cleric/Mage

Which strong hold has the most interaction is actually makes the game fun. I normally start BG2 as a fighter and dual him to a Mage long after I have accepted the Fighter's strong hold. I have played the thief strong hold in the past and personally I have complete distaste for it. So the strong holds in question are the Magic User, Cleric, & Ranger. Which character should be my protaginist for the strong hold and why?

[ September 08, 2005, 22:19: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

personally I like the mage stronghold the best.

Otherwise the ranger is also ok.

You could also download weimer's ease-of-use mod, which can be found here. It will allow you to do all the stronghold quests, with any character.

 

Cleric stronghold is by far the most boring.
Mage's is pretty good and ends on a funny note.
Ranger's gets you decent rewards but is not very enjoyable.
Thief stronghold is actually one of my favorites and it only gets better with the Extended Thief Stronghold mod.

I guess out of your options, mage stronghold would be the best.

 

The mage stronghold has the best rewards

 

I'd go with the mage stronghold. There's so much excitement! Will one of the apprentices die today? Who knows?

 

Who cares? As long as ye git yer items, your got and done.

On contrary to what Shrikant wrote, the thief stronghold is also very exciting (How on earth could I forget good 'ol thief stronghold?)...

I'd still say get ease-of-use and install the all strongholds component If that's cheating, then cheating is both fun and rewarding!

 

I like the Ranger and Fighter strongholds, but the Fighter one is the longest. Luckily for you, you don't have a Druid, who is stuck with a very boring stronghold.

 

Thief stronghold sucks. The whole process of setting your thieves' risk ratings for the week is horribly poorly implemented, being tedious, confusing and clumsy. You just can't help thinking "Why can't I just go thieving for the ****ing quota!!". Even if it is the most lucrative (arguably) of the strongholds, I'd stick with either of the ranger, fighter or mage strongholds. Cleric is fine, but doesn't involve much of anything. That still makes it better than being Renal's line manager, though.

Personally, I'd go ranger, but I'm biased like that. Objectively, the mage stronghold is probably the most entertaining. And you get your own planar-travelling device! How good is that?

 

IMO, you get the best reward with the Ranger stronghold. There are enough rings of acuity and wizardry about and the staff of power pales in comparison to the staff of the Magi.
The dog can also take on Guenhwyvar (sp?), a large black cat you might chance to battle in one of your travels, and win. His innates are very useful too.

 

Yes, the golden dog figure is extremely useful. It doesn't look like much based on the item description, but with very high magic resistance, it can really soak up a lot of enemy spells for you.

 

There are two rings of wizardry ,one if you do not like Jaheira , none if you do not make the mage stronghold and do not like Jaheira
The staff of power can stun a lot of powerful enemies including Kangaxx

 

What are the items you get with each stronghold.

 

Some spoilers:
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There's one from the Harper compound. The ring of acuity (not wizardry) is from the Planar Sphere. So where's this other RoW?

 

@kuemper:
Mage stronghold, choice of last item.

 

Thanks Fel.

 

^I HIGHLY reccomend Ease of Use's Multiple Stronghold companent. It gets a little tedious after some time(nearly all of your strongholds call for help) but it is fun and rewarding and adds a lot to gaming time.

UGH I had Improved Lord Roneal for Fighter Stronghold and it was HARD as HELL! Still doable with some luck and a few casualties though I HAD to reload a few times. Fighter stronghold is very nice as it gives you many opportunities to become a kind, respected and loved ruler or a mad and bloodthirsty tyrant, whichever your tastes...

What about BARD stronghold? It is not much fun till the end but
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when you HAVE to act ont he stage I REALLY felt nervous but managed to play the game with very few faults(and it was damn hard too as I did not care much about the Rahersal) It is fun, but perhaps not very rewarding. (a dumb bardic toy and the fact that you can act quite well)

 

What are the magical items you receieve for the Ranger Strong Hold?

What are the magical items you receive for the Mage Strong Hold?

 

Absolutely really big SPOILERS ahead!!!
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For the ranger stronghold you get the Moon Dog Figurine, which I've heard is powerful enough to take on Drizzt's Panther Figurine, plus it has some good healing abilities and "Moon Dog Sight" (True Sight).

Mage stronghold varies depending on what you pick.
The first choice is between: Wand of the Apprenti, Dagger of <CHARNAME>, and Ring of Protection (not worth it)
The second choice is between: Mislead Scroll, ADHW scroll, and Meteor Swarm scroll (which I'm pretty sure kills one of your apprentices)
The third choice is between: Robe of the Apprenti (buy Bracers of AC3 instead), Ring of Wizardy (can be found elsewhere), Staff of Power (get the Staff of the Magi instead), and nothing (which gives you the best chance of all your apprentices surviving)

 

@ Silverstar

Where did you get the Improved Lord Roenall? Its not part of Tactics is it. When I fought him the first time, it was a joke. I thought it would be a good battle but my entire party immediately attacked Roenall. Then the battle ended. Total Time = 1 round. It would be nice if it was harder.

 

The fighter and mage strongholds are the funnest. The fighter one takes a long time and there are many battles, plus you get money every once and a while. The mage stronghold looks cool and you have a chance to get nifty items.