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C h r i s L e e ' s
B a l d u r ' s G a t e P a r t y C r e a t i o n F A Q
E n h a n c e d E d i t i o n
v1.17
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The officially latest (as well as latest, official) version of this
FAQ/Guide
can be found at www.gamefaqs.com.
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Table of Contents
!-
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To navigate to the different sections, simply use the shortcut key
sequence to
the right of each section/subsection in whatever "find" mechanism
you're using
in your browser or text editor. Section references later on in the
text ignore
the '!' so that you don't end up jumping to the middle of a random
paragraph,
so always be sure you start with a '!' when jumping around.
Introduction !int-
Races !rac-
Human !rac,hum-
Half-elf !rac,halfe-
Elf !rac,elf-
Dwarf !rac,dwa-
Gnome !rac,gno-
Halfling !rac,halfl-
Half-orc !rac,halfo-
Single Classed Options !sin-
Fighter !sin,fig-
Berserker !sin,fig,ber-
Wizard Slayer !sin,fig,wiz-
Kensai !sin,fig,ken-
Dwarven Defender !sin,fig,dwa-
Ranger !sin,ran-
Archer !sin,ran,arc-
Stalker !sin,ran,sta-
Beast Master !sin,ran,bea-
Paladin !sin,pal-
Cavalier !sin,pal,cav-
Inquisitor !sin,pal,inq-
Undead Hunter !sin,pal,und-
Cleric !sin,cle-
Priest of Talos !sin,cle,tal-
Priest of Helm !sin,cle,hel-
Priest of Lathander !sin,cle,lat-
Druid !sin,dru-
Totemic Druid !sin,dru,tot-
Shapeshifter !sin,dru,sha-
Avenger !sin,dru,ave-
Thief !sin,thi-
Assassin !sin,thi,ass-
Bounty Hunter !sin,thi,bou-
Swashbuckler !sin,thi,swa-
Shadowdancer !sin,thi,sha-
Bard !sin,bard-
Blade !sin,bard,bla-
Jester !sin,bard,jes-
Skald !sin,bard,ska-
Mage !sin,mag-
Wild Mage !sin,mag,wil-
Sorcerer !sin,sor-
Dragon Disciple !sin,sor,dra-
Monk !sin,mon-
Dark Moon Monk !sin,mon,dar-
Sun Soul Monk !sin,mon,sun-
Barbarian !sin,barb-
NPCs !npc-
Good-Aligned NPCs !npc,goo-
Neutral-Aligned NPCs !npc,neu-
Evil-Aligned NPCs !npc,evi-
Familiars !fam-
Appendix !app-
Special Thanks !app,spe-
History !app,his-
All Works !app,all-
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Notes on BG Enhanced Edition
!not-
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I never thought it would happen. Baldur's Gate - repackaged with
new content
on modern platforms. I personally use an iPad to play this (which
may date
this guide ten years from now), and it's delightful to use touch
navigation to
control characters I've been been playing with since the 90s.
And yes, if you've seen my other Party Creation FAQ (for vanilla
BG/ToTSC), a
lot of my gripes about ToTSC/BGTutu still stand. But BGEE is the
best way to
play Baldur's Gate now and it's so different now that really it's
not the same
game anymore, so some of my gripes aren't as relevant.
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Introduction
!int-
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If you're new to Baldur's Gate and are looking for a walk- through,
don't use
this. Use DSimpson's guide or google for dudleyville Baldur's Gate
(which is
an excellent per-area guide). This is about how to build a party,
how to best
use spells, etc.
You'll also note that I spent a lot more time in this version
making
comparisons to BG2. I do that to help contextualize a lot of the
discussion,
because a lot of the changes in BGEE are because Beamdog
effectively recreated
BG using BG2's game system. So, some decisions that made sense in
BG2 don't
make as much sense in BG/EE.
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Races
!rac-
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All races are considered from the perspective of what your PC
(player
character) should be. It matters less for NPCs since their stats
are already
set in stone. Though for NPCs (non-player characters), being a
Human with the
right stats is a plus since it enables dual-classing.
Rating scale:
4/4 - Amazing. Almost no drawbacks, you can't go wrong here.
3/4 - Good, not perfect. More drawbacks but not shabby if you
don't want
to be a cookie-cutter.
2/4 - Some problem or is a specialty choice. May be handy if
you want to
try something different, but you'll run into more
difficulties.
1/4 - Avoid. Either AD&D or Bioware had some implementation
problems that
severely cripples this.
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Human
!rac,hum-
Humans are the best all-around race in the game. They can play any
class in
the game (well except for Dwarven Defender which was introduced in
build 2014),
and they can also dual-class, which is way better than multi-
classing could
ever be. Simply put, the only area where they don't excel is in
being a bard,
barbarian, or sorcerer; other races can be those classes and since
you can't
dual-class them anyway, you might as well be another race.
Note also that with the availability of kits, humans become even
more amazing.
You can dual-class from a kit into a standard class, not vice
versa, but the
fact that you can combine a kit with any class is far better than
any other
race. For example, no other race can do the fabled Kensai/Mage
multi-class.
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Half-Elf
!rac,halfe-
Great for ranged choices (thanks to the +dex and +THAC0). Also
makes for
a great thieving race (comparable to halfling for best) thanks to
both a
possible 19 dexterity and beneficial thieving skill treatment.
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Dwarf
!rac,dwa-
Only use a dwarf if you're making a fighter type (or want to play
as a Dwarven
Defender) so you can benefit fully from a potential 19
constitution. In
addition to giving you a copious amount of extra health per level,
one Manual
of Bodily Health will put you into auto- regeneration territory,
which
basically means you never have to worry about healing this
character before
rest or before travelling.
A perfect candidate for a mage class. Gnomes are forced into being
illusionists, which limits single-class choice, but gives gnomes an
amazing
edge for multi-classing. Bonus to intelligence means gnomes
potentially never
have to worry about not memorizing a spell, but the penalty to
wisdom means
that you should never roll a gnome priest.
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Single Classed Options
!sin-
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------------
Most classes are considered from the perspective of what your PC
(player
character) should be. This is because for NPCs I rate them
holistically as a
combination of other factors (race, stats, alignment, specials) and
not just
their class, though generally a class with a high score here means
that an NPC
of that class will have a higher score, too.
I also list "prime stats" because these are the stats that are
relevant for
human dual-classing. To dual-class you need at least a 15 in the
prime stat(s)
of your starting class, and at least a 17 in the prime stat(s) of
your target
class. Note that some classes have multiple prime stats; you need
to have
15/17 in all of them.
Rating scale:
4/4 - Amazing. Almost no drawbacks, you can't go wrong here.
3/4 - Good, not perfect. More drawbacks but not shabby if you
don't want
to be a cookie-cutter.
2/4 - Some problem or is a specialty choice. May be handy if
you want to
try something different, but you'll run into more
difficulties.
1/4 - Avoid. AD&D, Bioware, or Beamdog had some implementation
problems
that severely cripples this.
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Fighter
!sin,fig-
If you don't know what to create, you can't go wrong with rolling a
fighter.
Able to wear all armor and use all weapons, this guy is tough as
nails. Plus,
while other versions of the Infinite Engine would irrevocably nerf
advanced
weapon specialization, BGEE maintains the power level of Advanced
Weapon
Specialization. You'll only be able to get up to five proficiency
points in a
weapon AND a weapon style _only_ if you single-mindedly invest in a
specific
weapon, but it's so brutally powerful as to be worth it.
Alas, mage fights are nowhere near as brutal in BGEE as they are in
BG2, so
being so anti-magic is not that great of a perk. Plus, at such low
levels the
1% Magic Resistance per level is barely noticeable. Finally,
because BGEE is
such low level combat, you _really_ need those extra magic items to
help get
your combat skills to feasible levels. Weapon and armor alone just
don't cut
it, especially given how much slower you accumulate them in BGEE vs
BG2.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Kensai !
sin,fig,ken-
The absolute worst part of this class is that you basically don't
get any
benefit until level 3. Until then, you're basically a naked
Fighter who can
occasionally use an OK ability (and it's not that great because
your THAC0
isn't noticably better than a mage anyway at such low levels). By
the end of
the game, you'll be noticeably better, but the lack of armor,
bracers, and a
distinct lack of Shield Amulets (compared to BG2) will make it hard
going. Not
as bad as a Wizard Slayer, though.
The restrictions aren't actually that bad because there are enough
decent
magical Axes and War Hammers such that you won't really miss being
able to
effectively use anything else. Plus, it'll be a _long_ time before
you'll be
able to get that fifth proficiency point, and by then, you'll have
so much
extra health and potential damage resistance that you probably
won't miss Grand
Mastery that much.
And the costs are still the same as in BG: you give up the
Advanced Weapon
Specialization and faster experience progression of a Fighter for
Stealth (no
backstab though), Racial Enemy (+4 to hit and damage against an
enemy type but
-4 to reaction), and periodic uses of Charm Animal (once per two
levels per
day, rounding up).
Charm Animal isn't that great past the early game (when Bears and
Wolves can
terrorize you). Stealth is good for scouting _but_ requires you to
be wearing
studded leather armor or less. That's very bad, and you don't even
get to
backstab to boot! Racial Enemy can be potentially very good if you
pick a
decent enemy; the consensus is that Spiders are probably the best
choice,
though there are also some harder Hobgoblins later on in the game
and are
pretty prevalent, too. But do you really want to give up on a
potential for an
additional +2 to hit and +1 to damage (from 4 points of weapon
proficiency)
against _all_ enemies (including tough bosses) to get a situational
+4 to
hit/damage against an enemy type that you'll probably be able to
eventually
ravage anyway?
Most of the abilities don't matter for BGEE, and it'll be _very_
late in the
game before you get your first truly good ability (Animal Summoning
I).
However, the boost that the Beastmaster gets comes from having a
Familiar.
Alas, ever since the familiar nerf in build 2014, this is no longer
much more
than a health boost, regardless of your alignment.
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Paladin
!sin,pal-
Turn Undead isn't as great as on the Cleric - pretty much the best
part of
Turn Undead is being able to instantly wipe out or dominate all the
undead,
and the Paladin will be so much less effective than the Cleric that
you'll
never really reach this point.
(Note that if you want the Inquisitor just for the Dispel Magic,
you can pick
up Yeslick instead who has a Dispel Magic that _always_ succeeds
i.e. he uses
the vanilla BG version instead of the BG2 version of Dispel.)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Undead Hunter !
sin,pal,und-
The bonuses are good enough that this cleric gets no penalty for
having a bunch
of other clerics in the party. Lightning Bolt is nice and so is
Storm Shield,
but Storm Shield suffers from the same problem most defensive
spells have: very
hard to predict when you need it. Fortunately, normal missile
protection is a
beast in BGEE, it's just you'll very rarely ever get to use it
(since you only
have one use per day).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Priest of Helm !
sin,cle,hel-
True Sight is a bit too esoteric for most of the game, so it's not
that great
to have. Seeking Sword is much, much better and is basically an "I
Win Combat"
spell, especially if you precede it by casting Draw Upon Holy
Might. Basically
lets you convert your cleric into a powerful fighter at will and
shames the
low-level Shillelagh/Flame Blade/Spiritual Hammer weapons.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Priest of Lathander !
sin,cle,lat-
Overall Rating: 3/4 for the only one (PC), 2/4 if you plan on
having more
than just the PC be a Cleric.
Kit Changes:
+ "Hold Undead" once/day per 5 levels (starts with one use at
level 1).
+ "Boon of Lathander" once/day per 10 levels (starts with one
use at level
1):
For 1 round/level, the caster gains +1 to hit/damage/saving
throws and
an extra attack/round. Also grants immunity to level
drain.
= Requires good alignment.
Boon of Lathander is potentially great, but the duration is
horribly short at
low levels (you'll barely notice an improvement). Hold Undead is
probably more
generally useful than the other "minor" abilities that the Cleric
kits get.
Alas, none of the two abilities are enough to take away the fact
that multiple
clerics can get redundant.
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5. Druid
!sin,dru-
Overall Rating: 3/4 if you are able to get level five Divine
spells, 2/4
otherwise (such as due to multi-class or a poorly-designed
dual-class)
Black Pits Rating: 4/4 (see BUG?! note)
Prime Stat: Wisdom AND Charisma
Second, the armor. The Druid can use leather, studded leather, and
Ankheg
Armor. In BGEE, it can use Hide Armor. In terms of shields, the
Druid can
only use bucklers. In practice, this means that the Druid will
only be
slightly behind the Cleric when it comes to AC, since the Ankheg
Armor is
pretty good and the addition of a +1 Buckler in BGEE puts the Druid
at
near-parity with the Cleric.
So far, the Druid seems a bit better than the Cleric. Only
slightly less AC
potential and comparable weapon selection. But let's continue on
to
spellcasting. Both priest classes get access to Divine
spellcasting (which
allows for casting with armor), but they get slightly different
spells to
choose from. This is partially an artifact of the AD&D casting
system for
priests, as Divine spells have 'domains' and various priests get
varying levels
of access to different domains (major or minor). It's not really
talked about
much in the manual, which may lead to some confusion.
Note: refer to section spi- to see the various stats for the
Spirit Animals.
Do _not_ rely on information gleaned from BG2 as the Spirit Animals
have been
re-balanced to be more low-level appropriate. Notably, Spirit
Bears/Lions tend
to be more fighting-oriented, while the Snake and Wolf are a bit
weaker
melee-wise but have tricks up their sleeves (Snakes have a poison
effect,
Wolves have a hold effect starting at level 3 and at level 10 can
level drain
the enemy).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Shapeshifter !
sin,dru,sha-
Most of the perks of being a Druid except you also get the brutally
powerful
Werewolf form, starting at level 1. You can just leave yourself in
this form
all day long and slaughter the early game with no problem. The
only major
downside is that you lose all your spell hotkeys when you
shapeshift, which
makes it annoying to shift in-and-out of Werewolf form.
The downsides are not that bad. Yeah, you can't use better than
Leather, but
Mages can't use armor at all, so let's count our blessings here?
The penalty
to Strength and Constitution is severe and essentially means you
won't be
dallying into melee combat much unless you're shapeshifting into
one of your
better forms (which _sets_ your physical stats).
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Thief
!sin,thi-
"One step forward, one step back" is this kit. The extra
hit/damage and Poison
Weapon abilities are nice, but the severe drop in skill points
means that
you're going to have to focus really hard on your competencies.
Poison Weapon
also has the problem that you have very few uses of it, and your
THAC0 at low
levels means that you're going to be unlikely to hit in the next
round, making
it a waste. At least in the end game you'll be better at
backstabbing than
anyone (due to the +1 damage bonus, which gets multiplied).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Bounty Hunter !
sin,thi,bou-
Better than a normal thief. Sure you can't backstab, and sure the
perks of
being able to specialize in weapons is counteracted by the fact
that thieves
have very few proficiency points to begin with, but the AC bonus
and to
hit/damage bonus are extremely helpful and better than any NPC
thief can do.
With the BGEE level cap, you'll eventually have a total -3 AC bonus
and a +2
hit/damage bonus. At the very least you'll be an excellent backup
archer.
The main downside is that because of the way stealth works in BGEE
versus
vanilla BG, your stealth skills will really suck early on (since
it's just the
average of your Hide in Shadows and Move Silently skills). You
will need to
focus single-mindedly on one of them and hope to get the Studded
Leather Armor
that boosts your hiding skills even more. So the ability to
suddenly escape
any danger or gain the upper hand in battle will be really
inconsistent at low
levels (especially in daylight). It's too bad you don't start with
Shadowstep,
as that would fill in the gaps of this kit.
Overall Rating: 3/4, but 2/4 if you plan on getting an extra Bard
(like
Garrick) _and_ don't have Elven Chainmail for your PC
Prime Stat: n/a
NOTE: Beamdog has changed the functionality of the Bard Song in
BGEE.
Previously it was suppossed to offer a +1 luck bonus to THAC0,
Saves, and a
+2 bonus to Morale. Now it functions as a Protection From Fear
effect, and
when you first begin singing it removes any existing fear and
restores all
Morale.
A party is never hurt by having one Bard. More than one and you
weaken the
overall composition. This is because a Bard excels at being
versatile and
filling in whatever role is necessary at the time. However, if you
have more
than one Bard, in all likelihood you're using a generalist when
only a
specialist will do.
You give up one of the best parts of being a Bard (being able to
identify
pretty much everything by mid-game), but you gain some very good
"oh shit!"
abilities. Defensive Spin works well for casting-mode, as what's
almost as
good as wearing armor while casting is having an incredible AC
bonus while
casting (and of course it becomes more amazing defensively if you
have Elven
Chainmail). Defensive Spin also works well as a temporary tanking
maneuver,
when you need someone to hold off a powerful Battle Horror or some
such while
everyone else plows in. Offensive Spin is a decent "need to kill
this Ogre
Berserker now!" ability, at low levels giving the Bard comparable
THAC0 and
better damage output to a similar fighter.
The Two Weapon Style perk is decent, but like many similar kit
advantages,
non-fighters have so few proficiency points to spend to begin with
that you
basically need to pick one weapon type and stick with it. In fact,
starting at
level 1, you'll only be afford to become proficient in one weapon
and then get
one point in Two Weapon Style--the rest of your character levels
will pretty
much be spent putting points into Two Weapon Style.
Note that if you plan on making your Blade focus more on fighting
than casting
(and you're willing to go through the massive reputation
hit/potential cheese
neessary to kill Drizzt), using Mithril Chain Mail +4 can
significantly
increase the power level of this kit. Mithril Chain Mail +4 and
Defensive Spin
can basically make the Blade untouchable.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Jester !
sin,bard,jes-
All the normal perks of being a Bard except you arguably have a
better Bard
Song. Note that this can affect pretty much anyone, as the
confusion effect is
distinct from the spell effect of Confusion. Also, unlike BG2,
because you're
at much lower levels, the fact that enemies get a +2 bonus to their
saves
matters less because they have crappy saves to begin with. Because
enemies can
still theoretically attack you while confused (one of the possible
behaviors
under confusion is for the creature to attack the nearest body,
which may be
the party member it is already attacking), this song is most
effective against
larger groups (so that there are many more "nearest body") or
casters (since
"attack nearest enemy" excludes any spell casting).
One caveat though: the Skald's song works best in a party that has
lots of
physical attackers, not one that has lots of casters. Though the
Skald's song
also works really well anytime you create summons (they get
affected by the
song, too).
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Mage
!sin,mag-
Specialists
Abjurer: 3/4, Additional Prime Stat: Wisdom
Conjurer: 4/4, Additional Prime Stat: Constitution
Diviner: 4/4, Additional Prime Stat: Wisdom
Enchanter: 4/4, Additional Prime Stat: Charisma
Illusionist: 4/4, Additional Prime Stat: Dexterity
Invoker: 3/4, Additional Prime Stat: Constitution
Necromancer: 3/4, Additional Prime Stat: Wisdom
Transmuter: 4/4, Additional Prime Stat: Dexterity
Specialist-specific Bonuses
+ +2 bonus to saves against their specialized school.
+ +15% to chance to learn spells of their specialized school.
- -15% to chance to learn spells of any other school.
Mages are great. They may start off really weak, but even just
after the first
level they become immense monsters of destruction. Almost any
party is
strengthened by having yet another mage--the only exception is
having a party
of 6 mages early on as you might find it difficult to complete a
single battle
(though then again, six simultaneous castings of even a spell like
Larloch's
Minor Drain will probably deal with the early assassination
attempts).
Alas, because BGEE is based off the BG2 engine, you can no longer
dual-cast
_into_ a Specialist Mage. The additional prime stats are just
listed here for
historical reference.
The rest of the kit features revolve around "Wild Surges," and it
bears some
explaining. Whenever a Wild Surge happens, a d100 is rolled, with
any special
modifiers added to it (explained a bit later). The final value is
looked up on
a 100-value table, where each number corresponds to a specific
effect. Lower
values tend to be worse (a roll of 17 for example, destroys all
your gold)
while higher values tend to be better. Notably, a roll of 100 or
higher casts
the spell without any alteration. Of the 100 possible outcomes,
only about 10
involve the spell casting without significant alteration. That
means the other
90 are either bizarre transformations of your spell (a roll of 48
changes your
target randomly) or a completely different effect (a roll of 7
instead changes
the sex of the caster). Some of these alternate effects can be
better than
your intended spell--for example, trying to cast Magic Missile on
an enemy but
then rolling a Wild Surge of 93 will instead hold the Target. Some
of these
effects are not better, and some are indeed catastrophic (a roll of
16 turns
the caster into a Squirrel).
Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, Chaos Shield, and Improved Chaos Shield
all provide
bonuses to your Wild Surge roll. If by default you only have a 10%
of a spell
casting somewhat normally under a Wild Surge, the +15 bonus from
Chaos Shield
will increase that to 25% (since rolls of 100-115 will just cast
the spell
normally). With Imp Chaos Shield and at maximum BGEE level, you
will get a
total +33 to your Wild Surge roll per use of Nahal's Reckless
Dweomer (or +25
if you just have a normal surge), which is just shy of coin flip
odds in
getting your spell to cast semi-normally (or 1/3 chance for a
normal surge).
Notably though, Nahal's Reckless Dweomer lets you pull _any_ spell
out of your
spellbook (including Improved Chaos Shield, which is a level 7
spell and
normally unattainable by BGEE levels) and does so even if you've
already cast a
spell that round. Also notably, because higher rolls on the Wild
Surge table
are "helpful" in that they do bad things to the target, if you're
running low
on spells, a strategic move to make is to do a Nahal's Reckless
Dweomer with an
offensive spell on a target; the result will hopefully either be
your spell
cast normally OR a helpful surge that does something bad to the
target (such as
a roll of 88, where a cow falls from the sky onto the target.)
So, the Wild Mage offers a lot of potential for excitement and
randomness in
your life. In terms of actual power, the Wild Mage gets extra
spells per level
and has no prohibited school - the Wild Surge mechanic is their
effective
downside. But, as I've said, there are ways to try and turn the
Wild Surge to
your advantage. If you choose this for your PC and also pick up
Neera, your
game will become certainly unpredictable. Pro tip: save often!
Bad Wild
Surges will happen eventually!
NOTE: An earlier version of this guide incorrectly suggested that
Chaos Shield
and Improved Chaos Shield stack. They do not. Only the first one
cast will
stick, so generally it's a good idea to just use Chaos Shield
(instead of
trying to get lucky by Nahal's Reckless Dweomer-ing an Improved
Chaos Shield).
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Sorcerer
!sin,sor-
Note that because the Sorcerer learns spells slower than a Mage
can, you
will ever be able to cast fifth-level spells with a Sorcerer.
This, however,
is more than made up for the fact that for the other 95% of the
game the
Sorcerer an outcast the Mage.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Dragon Disciple !
sin,sor,dra-
One less spell per day isn't that much of a loss since you still
are
on-par with a Specialist Mage's casting ability but have no
prohibited school,
and in return you gain an insane amount of good abilities,
including an
alternate weapon ("Breath Weapon"), crazy amounts of health (d6 hit
die and +1
Constitution), built-in Fireball frenzy potential, and incredible
AC bonuses.
BUG (as of build 2014): Interestingly, the in-game kit description
is wrong
about the penalty; the Sorcerer learns the same number of spells,
just loses
one spell cast per day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Monk
!sin,mon-
One thing to note since it isn't clear from the game docs,
especially since
this is actually a difference between how BG2/BGEE implement the
Monk versus
how the Monk is actually established in 3e D&D (where it's from):
the Monk
uses a fighter's THAC0 (-1 per level), not a priest's (-2 per 3
levels). So
eventually, even when you use your bare fists (and thus don't have
weapon-based
to-hit bonuses), you'll still have a decent hit rate, especially
given the
higher attack rate of being unarmed.
Given the above, as a general tip about playing with a Monk, early
levels are
probably best suited to brandishing a magical weapon and a set of
Bracers of
Defense AC 6. Later in the game (when you gain two attacks per
round), it
makes more sense to be unarmed and use Gauntlets of Weapon Mastery
instead of
Bracers of Defense - among other things, Stunning Blow becomes a
lot better
when you have multiple chances per round to trigger it.
Note: Stunning Blow actually works even when you're not using your
bare fists.
This makes the early game a little bit better since you can gird
the Monk with
a half-decent weapon and still stun enemies.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Dark Moon Monk !
sin,mon,dar-
Another "one step forward, one step back" kit. The bonus against
Illusion
magic is very, very meh as the only Illusion spells that needs
saves
in BGEE are Blindness, Deafness, and Spook, i.e. spells that aren't
commonly
cast by enemies.
The extra spells are handy, but Chill Touch gets obsolete very
quickly. Having
only one cast of Blindness starts to lose its luster mid-late game.
Vampiric
Touch, while good, comes rather late and is a sorry replacement for
completely
missing out on Stunning Blow (which was the vanilla Monk's main
saving grace
early on) and only really serves to cushion the blow of losing a
personal Lay
on Hands.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Sun Soul Monk !
sin,mon,sun-
Overall Rating: 2/4
Kit Changes:
+ 2nd level: "Sun Soulray" once/day:
1d8 damage per two levels (max 5d8) to target. An
additional 6 damage
to undead.
+ 5th level: "Flaming Fists" once/day:
An additional 2d6 fire damage for one round, two at level
9.
+ 6th level: "Sun Soulray" twice/day.
+ 8th level: "Greater Sun" once/day:
Basically Fireshield (Red) except only 1d8+2 fire damage to
enemies.
= Must be Lawful Good.
- Cannot use Stunning Blow.
(Quivering Palm downside is not applicable to BGEE.)
This kit significantly improves the vanilla Monk, but not _quite_
enough to
bump the rating to a 3/4. Sun Soulray is a more consistent
alternative to
Stunning Blow, and Flaming Fists will let you pump out a decent
amount of
damage. Greater Sun is quite good, since a monk is (alas) going to
get hit a
lot in BGEE (though I imagine Greater Sun will actually get worse
in BG2EE
because the monk will get progressively harder to hit).
In return, you give up Stunning Blow, but like I said, Sun Soulray
is a more
consistent alternative. Not quite as potentially good (like
stunning a hard
enemy and slaughtering him with a party of 6 in one round), but
less prone to
long periods of failure (like much of the time early on with
Stunning Blow
where you'll just miss).
===================================================================
============
Multi/Dual-Classed Options
!mul-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Fighter/Mage
I've dropped the rating for a dual-class from the astronomical 5/4
to 4/4 since
you can no longer dual-class _into_ a Specialist Mage, but the
option for doing
a Kensai/Mage is still powerful enough to be a 5/4.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Fighter/Thief
Note, too, that this combination can wear Drizzt's Mithril Chain
Mail +4. This
is by far the best armor you can wear that still allows you to use
thieving
abilities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Fighter/Cleric
Lots of spell casting! This is probably the only case where doing
a straight
up human dual class is not as good as you might think, as you
essentially have
to choose which type of spells to neglect in favor of another. At
least with
multiclassing you get even progression between both (even if
neither can get
to the upper echelons of power), and a gnome benefits again by
being able to
be specialist on top of it. Keep in mind Quayle is also a
Cleric/Illuionist,
but also has the special ability to cast Invisibility once/day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Cleric/Ranger
===================================================================
============
Black Pits Addendum
!bla-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
With Black Pits in BGEE now offering you a chance to build a
complete party
from scratch (well, without cheesily doing a multiplayer game by
yourself), it
bears mentioning some slight changes into how various classes work
when you no
longer need to consider them solely from the perspective of your
PC.
The major deviation between Black Pits and vanilla BGEE is that
instead of
having a specific experience cap (161,000 xp in BGEE) you are
instead capped by
level (cap of level 10). Honestly, I don't know why Beamdog took
this approach
as it heavily favors certain classes over others. What this cap
means is that
each class is capped by an amount of experience necessary to get
them to level
10. Rogues are the most hamstrung by this rule, as they were able
to get to
level 10 in BGEE anyway, so their experience cap is unchanged.
Paladins/Rangers get the most help, as for this new rule means they
effectively
get an experience cap of 600,000, the most in the game.
This level cap functions a bit differently when you go into the
realm of multi-
and dual-classing. For multi-classing, the experience cap is equal
to the
class that has the highest; e.g. a Ranger/Cleric has the highest
experience cap
by consequence, 600,000 split between the two classes, and all the
Fighter/x/y
triple classes get 166,666 for each of the classes (500,000 divided
by three).
For dual-classing, the experience cap is equal to the class that
you dual-class
*into*. Thus, dual-classing into a thief yields the lowest
experience cap
(unchanged from the 161,000 cap), while dual-classing from a Cleric
into a
Ranger (not that that would be a good idea) would give you a total
experience
cap of 600,000.
BUG?! (as of build 2014): Druids appear to use the Cleric
experience
progression table for determining their cap, which means they are
actually able
to go level 11 instead of stopping at level 10.
Due to a quirk in how the Black Pits level cap works (you are
capped at level
10 rather than any specific experience), multi-class roles are now
slightly
favored (though it is unlikely for you to get the full benefit
unless you do a
lot of repetitive grinding), so consider single/dual-classing
comparatively
weaker. Though don't forget that only single/dual-classed Fighters
can get
Advanced Weapon Specialization (no cheating with Coran anymore!).
Otherwise, as long as you have some form of healing and some form
of arcane
casting, the ratings for various classes/kits above generally hold
true. For
full reference, I would break down the party composition like this:
1. Fighter-type
2. Fighter-type
3. Healer-type
4. Wild Mage/Sorcerer/Specialist Mage
5. Misc.
6. Misc.
For Misc roles, these are the kits/classes I would recommend (with
a rating
higher than 2/4, an asterisk denoting a rating change just for
Black Pits):
Skald 5/4* (see note 5)
Jester 4/4* (see note 5)
Archer 4/4
+1 pure Arcane caster 4/4
Totemic Druid 4/4* (see note 6)
Fighter/Mage Dual-Class 4/4* (see note 7)
+1 Fighter-type 3/4
Shadowdancer 3/4
Bard 3/4
+1 Healer-type 3/4
Blade 3/4* (see note 8)
===================================================================
============
NPCs
!npc-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
NOTE: This section is very much a work in progress; I do not have
data dumps
for the new NPCs in BGEE or even the updated ones for old NPCs
using the new
BGEE character system, so feel free to email/link me more
specifics.
Many NPCs 'upgrade' with your PCs level if they're not in your
party. This
means that every once and a while they'll gain more proficiencies
and (if
they're a thief) more thief skill points. Note that I use to have
this data
listed here but no longer have it for BGEE, so be warned: wait too
long to
recruit someone and they may pick up proficiencies or invest in
skills you did
not want them to, though they tend to invest their
proficiency/skill points
appropriately (i.e. they won't suddenly decide to pour all their
points into
Detect Illusions).
===================================================================
============
Arcane Spells
!arc-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Rating scale:
4/4 - Amazing. Memorize multiple copies of this.
3/4 - Good, not perfect. Still worth memorizing regularly.
2/4 - Some problem or is a specialty choice. I describe those
situations
where you may need this.
1/4 - Avoid. Either AD&D or Bioware had some implementation
problems that
severely cripples this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
First Level
!arc,fir-
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Armor (Conjuration) - 3/4
Useful until you get one of the AC 5 robes, Bracers of Defense
AC 6 or
better, or if you're a Bard who's using a different set of bracers.
Lasts
pretty much as long as you need it to, aside from any travel.
Doesn't get the
special AC adjustments for actually wearing scale mail, however.
===================================================================
============
Divine Spells
!div-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Rating scale:
4/4 - Amazing. Memorize multiple copies of this.
3/4 - Good, not perfect. Still worth memorizing regularly.
2/4 - Some problem or is a specialty choice. I describe those
situations
where you may need this.
1/4 - Avoid. Either AD&D or Bioware had some implementation
problems that
severely cripples this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
First Level
!div,fir-
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Cleric-Only Spells
Sanctuary - 3/4
Like a clerical version of Invisibility. Not quite as good
because you
can't cast it on other people and the casting time is slower, which
makes it
riskier to use as an escape spell. Still, you get this as a level
1 spell,
which is pretty bonkers.
Note: you _cannot_ Bless yourself without breaking Sanctuary,
despite what
the game says. You can do other bonkers stuff, such as casting
Sanctuary, then
Chant or Draw Upon Holy Might without breaking Sanctuary.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Shared Spells
Bless - 3/4
A +1 to hit rolls is no laughing matter. The morale boost
against fear may
help Khalid on occasion, but you're better off using Remove Fear
when actually
faced with fear. Note that unlike in Icewind Dale II, this only
lasts for 6
rounds rather than for many, many tens of rounds.
Doom - 3/4
A pretty decent buff. Against a single, tough boss, works
better than
Bless.
Entangle - 2/4
Not nearly as good as in vanilla BG. This spell is no longer a
one-time
shot that holds things in place, now it's more like Web that
constantly tries
to re-snare people every round. While this sounds like it makes
the spell more
useful, it doesn't. The best part of vanilla BG's Entangle was
being able to
aim it well to block off some approaching melee monsters and then
later taking
them on one-by-one without entangling your own guys.
Shillelagh - 1/4
Pretty heavily nerfed now that you no longer get an extra THAC0
bonus due
to proficiency shenanigans. 2d4 damage and +1 to hit is better
than starting
priest weapons, but do you really want to burn a precious spell
slot (when
early in the game you have so few) on a marginal damage/hit bonus?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Second Level
!div,sec-
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Druid-Only Spells
Goodberry - 2/4
Each berry requires an individual round to use (like any other
item, it
qualifies as a spell-like effect). Makes it really inappropriate
to use in
the heat of combat, unless you have someone who isn't taking damage
very
quickly and you make sure you use-and-attack so you don't blow a
turn. What
Goodberry is very good for is that it lets you patch individual
bits of damage:
like if you have one party member who has two damage and another
with three,
you can use one Goodberry instead of two Cure Light Wounds. It
also is great
because the berries themselves last 24 hours, which means any left
over can be
held on to until later.
Eventually though, you may get impatient enough and wealthy
enough that you
can just go for Potions of Healing or Elixirs of Health instead.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Cleric-Only Spells
Aid - 3/4
A combination one-person Bless and Cure Light Wounds. Half-
decent again
because healing options are limited at this level. Only major
downside is that
instead of Bless-ing one person, you could be spending the round to
Bless _all_
your party members. Bonus hit points are never bad though, but Aid
is not
really the best bang for your buck as a second level spell.
Chant - 4/4
The best buff in BGEE and continues to be a great buff in all
other
Infinity Engine games (slightly worse in Icewind Dale II though).
Doesn't
actually show up as a bonus in your to hit rolls or some such,
basically any
body who is affected by Chant will get all their rolls modified by
+1 and all
rolls against them modified by -1 (so enemies don't have to be in
range).
Lasts only 5 rounds though, one less than Bless, so if you're going
to do both
buff Bless first and then Chant.
Barkskin - 2/4
In theory not so bad for druids, since it starts off being as
good as the
best mundane druid armor and keeps getting better (on top of bonus
to save vs
spells). In reality, you can either be a Fighter/Druid (who can
wear anything)
or find some Ankheg Plate Mail early on before this spell has a
chance to be
anything more than plain studded leather armor. You can cast this
on arcane
casters in a pinch, though honestly mages can wear some great late-
game robes
and bards can put on chainmail or cast Armor, which gives
comparable protection
except for 9 hours.
Farsight - 3/4
Good for the same reason that Farsight is great for arcane
casters.
Poison - 2/4
This potentialy nice BG2 spell doesn't really get a chance to
shine at
BGEE's lower level cap. Let the arcane casters worry about direct
damage.
Harm - 4/4
:D
Heal - 4/4
:O (isn't it ironic that Druids are absolutely destroying
clerics in
healing effectiveness?)
===================================================================
============
Familiars
!fam-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Familiars are relatively more powerful in BGEE than in BG2, so it
bears some
quick discussion on the various familiars, as well as collecting
their
information into one place. Special thanks to Ilya for bringing
this stuff to
my attention (I had just been using them as health boosts).
Rating scale:
4/4 - Amazing. Almost no drawbacks, you can't go wrong here.
3/4 - Good, not perfect. More drawbacks but not shabby if you
don't want
to be a cookie-cutter.
2/4 - Some problem or is a specialty choice. May be handy if
you want to
try something different, but you'll run into more
difficulties.
1/4 - Avoid. Either AD&D or Bioware had some implementation
problems that
severely cripples this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Note that as of build 2014, most familiars have been nerfed and no
longer use
BG2 stats.
Unless noted otherwise, all familiars have 12 hit points, 35% magic
resistance,
two attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d3 damage, and an immunity
to level
drain, sleep, and petrification.
===================================================================
============
Spirit Animals
!spi-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
They would've been absolutely broken if the pure BG2 versions were
transplanted
to BGEE without alteration. As it stands, they are still pretty
good (probably
the best and most consistent quality summons you can get) and they
get stronger
as your Totemic Druid levels up. Special thanks to Ilya for giving
me this
info.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Caster Level 1
Spirit Bear
Stats: 16 HP, Str 16, AC 6, THAC0 17
Attack: 1d4, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 15death 16wand 16poly 16breath 17spell
Resists: Cold 25%
Immunities: Fear, Berserk, Polymorph
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack Panics for 8s if
target fails
save vs death at +4.
Spirit Lion
Stats: 12 HP, Str 16, AC 5, THAC0 16
Attack: 1d4+1, Speed Factor 1, twice/round
Saves: 15death 16wand 16poly 16breath 17spell
Resists: Electricity 25%
Immunities: Charm, Polymorph
Special: Movement Speed +11
Spirit Snake
Stats: 8 HP, Str 14, AC 3, THAC0 16
Attack: 1d4, Speed Factor 2, once/round
Saves: 14death 16wand 16poly 16breath 17spell
Resists: Poison 100%
Immunities: Stun, Polymorph
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack poisons for 2
damage/second for 3
seconds unless target saves vs death at +3.
Spirit Wolf
Stats: 8 HP, Str 14, AC 3, THAC0 16
Attack: 1d1 + 1d3 cold, Speed Factor 2, once/round
Saves: 14death 16wand 16poly 16breath 17spell
Resists: Poison 100%
Immunities: Stun, Polymorph
Special: Movement Speed +8
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Caster Level 3
Spirit Bear
Stats: 32 HP, Str 17, AC 5, THAC0 16
Attack: 1d6, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 15death 16wand 15poly 16breath 16spell
Resists: Cold 50%, Electricity 25%, Poison 25%
Immunities: Fear, Berserk, Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack Panics for 8s if
target fails
save vs death at +4.
Spirit Lion
Stats: 23 HP, Str 17, AC 4, THAC0 14
Attack: 1d5+1, Speed Factor 1, twice/round
Saves: 14death 16wand 15poly 16breath 16spell
Resists: Electricity 50%, Cold 25%, Poison 25%
Immunities: Charm, Fear, Berserk, Polymorph
Special: Movement Speed +11
Spirit Snake
Stats: 15 HP, Str 15, AC 2, THAC0 14
Attack: 1d6, Speed Factor 2, once/round
Saves: 13death 15wand 14poly 15breath 16spell
Resists: Cold 25%, Electricity 25%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Stun, Polymorph, Petrification
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack poisons for 2
damage/second for 3
seconds unless target saves vs death at +3;
permanent
Free Action.
Spirit Wolf
Stats: 19 HP, Str 14, AC 3, THAC0 15
Attack: 1d2 + 1d4 cold, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 13death 15wand 14poly 15breath 16spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 50%, Poison 50%
Immunities: Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification
Special: Movement Speed +10; attack holds for 3 seconds
unless
target saves vs death at +5.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Caster Level 5
Spirit Bear
Stats: 48 HP, Str 18, AC 4, THAC0 14
Attack: 1d6, Speed Factor 2, thrice/round
Saves: 12death 14wand 13poly 14breath 15spell
Resists: Cold 75%, Electricity 50%, Poison 50%
Immunities: Stun, Fear, Berserk, Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack Panics for 12s if
target fails
save vs death at +4.
Spirit Lion
Stats: 36 HP, Str 18, AC 3, THAC0 12
Attack: 1d5+2, Speed Factor 1, thrice/round
Saves: 12death 14wand 13poly 14breath 15spell
Resists: Electricity 75%, Cold 50%, Poison 50%
Immunities: Stun, Charm, Fear, Berserk, Polymorph
Special: Movement Speed +11; permanent Free Action and
Death Ward.
Spirit Snake
Stats: 23 HP, Str 16, AC 1, THAC0 13
Attack: 1d6, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 11death 13wand 12poly 13breath 14spell
Resists: Cold 50%, Electricity 50%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Polymorph,
Petrification
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack poisons for 2
damage/second for 5
seconds unless target saves vs death at +1;
permanent
Free Action.
Spirit Wolf
Stats: 28 HP, Str 15, AC 2, THAC0 13
Attack: 1d2 + 1d4 cold, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 11death 13wand 12poly 13breath 14spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 75%, Poison 75%
Immunities: Charm, Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue,
Petrification, Level
Drain
Special: Movement Speed +10; attack holds for 3 seconds
unless
target saves vs death at +4.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Caster Level 7
Spirit Bear
Stats: 72 HP, Str 18/37, AC 3, THAC0 12
Attack: 1d8, Speed Factor 2, thrice/round
Saves: 10death 12wand 11poly 12breath 13spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 75%, Poison 75%
Immunities: Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Fear, Berserk,
Polymorph,
Sleep, Fatigue
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack Panics for 20s if
target fails
save vs death at +3.
Spirit Lion
Stats: 54 HP, Str 18/68, AC 2, THAC0 10
Attack: 1d6+2, Speed Factor 1, thrice/round
Saves: 10death 12wand 11poly 12breath 13spell
Resists: Electricity 100%, Cold 75%, Poison 75%
Immunities: Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Charm, Fear,
Berserk,
Polymorph
Special: Movement Speed +11; permanent Free Action and
Death Ward.
Spirit Snake
Stats: 34 HP, Str 17, AC 0, THAC0 11
Attack: 1d8, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 9death 11wand 10poly 11breath 12spell
Resists: Cold 75%, Electricity 75%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Polymorph, Sleep,
Fatigue,
Petrification
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack poisons for 2
damage/second for 5
seconds unless target saves vs death at +1;
permanent
Free Action.
Spirit Wolf
Stats: 42 HP, Str 16, AC 1, THAC0 11
Attack: 1d2 + 1d6 cold, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 9death 11wand 10poly 11breath 12spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Charm, Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue,
Petrification, Level
Drain
Special: Movement Speed +10; attack holds for 5 seconds
unless
target saves vs death at +3; permanent
Death Ward.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Caster Level 10
Spirit Bear
Stats: 96 HP, Str 18/83, AC 2, THAC0 10
Attack: 1d10, Speed Factor 2, thrice/round
Saves: 8death 10wand 9poly 10breath 11spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Charm, Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Fear,
Berserk,
Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification,
Level Drain,
Normal Weapons
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack Panics for 30s if
target fails
save vs death at +3; permanent Free Action
and Death
Ward.
Spirit Lion
Stats: 72 HP, Str 19, AC 1, THAC0 8
Attack: 1d8+2, Speed Factor 1, thrice/round
Saves: 8death 10wand 9poly 10breath 11spell
Resists: Electricity 100%, Cold 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Charm, Fear,
Berserk,
Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification,
Level Drain,
Normal Weapons
Special: Movement Speed +11; permanent Free Action and
Death Ward.
Spirit Snake
Stats: 45 HP, Str 18, AC -1, THAC0 9
Attack: 1d8, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 7death 9wand 8poly 9breath 10spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Charm, Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Fear,
Berserk,
Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification,
Level Drain,
Normal Weapons
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack poisons for 2
damage/second for 6
seconds unless target saves vs death;
permanent
Free Action and Death Ward.
Spirit Wolf
Stats: 56 HP, Str 16, AC 0, THAC0 9
Attack: 1d4 + 1d6 cold, Speed Factor 2, thrice/round
Saves: 7death 9wand 8poly 9breath 10spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Charm, Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Fear,
Berserk,
Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification,
Level Drain,
Normal Weapons
Special: Movement Speed +10; attack holds for 7 seconds
unless
target saves vs death at +1; attack does
level drain
unless target saves vs death at +5;
permanent Free
Action and Death Ward.
===================================================================
============
===================================================================
============
General Pointers
!gen-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Issues/Notes
!gen,iss-
Dual-Classing
As mentioned in the Human section, once you hit level 2, you
can dual-class
your character. You must have 15 in your primary class's prime
stat(s) and
17 in your target secondary class's prime stat(s) to be eligible.
Once you
dual, you essentially start over as a level 1 character, though you
retain
your hit points (so starting off as a fighter and then dualing
gives you
advantageous health).
Once your secondary class attains one level higher than your
primary class,
you get all your abilities back from your primary class but only
continue
gaining experience in your secondary class. You abide by all the
rules and
restrictions of a multi-class of the same type (in terms of
armor/weapon
usage). However, it's important to note that you do _not_ stack
the benefits
of your primary or secondary class, you simply use whichever is the
best. So
if you had a level 3 fighter/level 5 mage, you use the THAC0 of the
level 3
fighter instead of the level 5 mage. Same thing with saving throws
and
weapon proficiencies. So dualling a level 2 fighter isn't strictly
the best
thing to do, as even a high-level mage will get comparable THAC0.
But then
again, even just doing a level 2 fighter/* multi-class will get you
weapon
specialization and an early boost to your health.
Invisibility
Invisibility from potions and spells is different from stealth
(which is an
ability). Notably, doing modal abilities (such as Bard Song, Find
Traps,
Disarm Traps) does not disable invisibility. Using potions that
are
automatically self-targeted also does not disable invisibility.
Interacting
with the environment (opening doors, looting--even if you don't
pick up an
item--any thing on the ground, etc) _does_ still disable
invisibility.
When you make an attack (and not the random swings that your
character always
does in combat, but an actual THAC0 roll), you still break
invisibility, though
you get a +4 bonus to your THAC0 roll. Importantly though, you can
cast
certain types of spells without breaking invisibility:
1. Untargetted hostile (red icon) spells that have an area
of effect do
not break invisibility (not many of these in BGEE).
2. Untargetted non-hostile (blue/white) spells do not
break
invisibility.
3. Targetted non-hostile (blue/white), non-area of effect
spells that
are aimed directly at the caster do not break
invisibility.
4. Spells that create a weapon do not break invisibility,
though when
you attack with them you still break invisibility
normally.
There is a small exception to #1: Sunfire still breaks
invisibility, probably
because internally it's treated as a targetted hostile spell that
simply has
the caster at its center. There is also an exception to #3:
Otiluke's
Resilient Sphere still breaks invisibility.
So as examples, casting Chant won't break Sanctuary, healing
yourself is
fine, casting Melf's Minute Meteors won't hurt Invisibility, and
you can even
prepare for a fight by doing Sanctuary and then Draw Upon Holy
Might. However,
you can't cast a Fireball, nor cast Strength on an ally, nor use a
Potion of
Explosions, nor can you even Bless yourself (despite the game and
manual
explicitly saying you can).
Improved Invisibility (which is also provided by Shadow Door)
functions
like Invisibility, except when you would break Invisibility, you
instead merely
become partially visible, which means you can't be directly
targetted by _any_
spell (friendly or hostile) and any attacks against you are made at
a -4
penalty and you get a +4 bonus to saves.
Multi-Classing
Similar to dual-classing. The way BG handles hit points,
though, is that
you roll a hit die as you level up but then halve it (or third it
for a triple
multi-class).
Respawns
Enemies respawn aggressively in BGEE. They won't, however (or
at
least try not to) if one of your party members are in sight range
of the spawn
point. This is handy in particular areas (thinking of Ulcaster
Ruins or
Cloakwood Mines) where respawning is very aggressive. Respawns
also occur
when you load the game, as a form of 'punishment' for
saving/loading a lot.
Stealth
Both "Hide in Shadows" and "Move Silently" serve almost the
exact same
purpose. The two scores are averaged to determine your "Stealth"
percentage
(which Rangers just use straight-up), so effectively each point in
Hide in
Shadows and Move Silently contributes a .5% chance of success (i.e.
stealth% =
(hide in shadows + move silently) / 2).
If you're outdoors and not actually in shadows, your stealth
rate is
halved. If you're indoors and in a brightly lit area, your stealth
rate is
reduced by a third. This is really annoying because the check is
applied every
round, so when exploring you would do best to try to jump from tree
to tree (or
avoiding internal lights), only running on when you succeed the
next check.
Though, because of how low level you are for much of the game, your
stealth
skill may be so low so as to limit your hiding to only a couple
rounds of
consistent use at a time.
"Move Silently" allegedly increases the time it takes for you
to become
visible after you break stealth (by doing something instead of
failing a
stealth check), though there has been no independent confirmation
of this.
Because of this potential, though, and since a point in Move
Silently is
otherwise identical to a point in Hide in Shadows, it behooves you
to put
points in Move Silently first.
Thieving Skills
While the game says you get capped to 99% if you go higher than
that, you
do get penalized on your thieving skills based on factors like
armor, light
level (for stealth), and for pick pockets what you're trying to
steal. As
such, Hide in Shadows/Move Silently and Pick Pockets are skills you
should
theoretically want to put higher than 99%. Open Locks/Find Traps
are
hypothetically handy to have higher than 99%, but in BGEE no
lock/trap has such
a high difficulty. None of the remaining skills benefit from
having higher
than 99%.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Enemies
!gen,ene-
(Greater) Basilisk
They are always forecast in some way (via advance warning in a
quest or
petrified statues of other people). Don't try to get by with just
using
summons, as Basilisks can petrify at will, meaning you either have
to output
a crap load of damage or have a high number of summons. Also,
Basilisks'
petrify is separate from their attack. If you have anyone out of
melee range,
Basilisks will easily try to petrify them independently of
attacking whoever
is in range.
Drizzt Do'Urden
Killing this guy is quite an accomplishment. The rewards are a
severe hit
to your reputation, but also three of the best items in the game:
Mithril
Chain Mail +4, Frostbrand Scimitar +3, and Defender Scimitar +5.
The chain
mail has great AC but also is wearable by thief-y types (and
Rangers) without
disabling thief abilities. Frostbrand is the best scimitar a non-
good aligned
character can wield (and the best druid weapon). Defender is the
best overall
weapon in the game, doing the equivalent of a +3 scimitar, but also
providing
a -2 AC bonus.
I don't think I've heard of a legitimate (read: non-cheesy) way
to beat
this guy. I'll be honest and say I used the undead trick to kill
him, which no
longer works with BGEE's improved AI. I've also heard that you can
glitch out
his pathfinding by using ranged weapons from across the lake in the
area he's
in. If you _do_ try him legitimately, you'll probably need a lot
of summons, a
lot of strength potions, and a crap- load of healing potions. He
has high
(perhaps impregnable) magic resistance.
Note that with a decent Pick Pocket score, you can trivially
take Drizzt's
weapons. Even if you don't have a decent Pick Pockets score or a
Ferret
familiar, so long as you have a Bard or a Thief of some kind you
can just quaff
a couple of Potions of Master Thievery (they stack) and get a
decent success
rate. Only way to get Drizzt's armor is to kill him, though.
Greater Wolfwere
There are two that I can recall, one on the island with the
Balduran
shipwreck and one when you get back. They have the special
distinction that
not only do they have insane regeneration (5 hp/round), but they
can only be
hit by literally only four weapons in the game:
1. Werebane, the dagger that's +4 against Lycanthropes
2. Sword of Balduran, a bastard swords that's +4 against
Lycanthropes
3. Flame Tongue, a long sword that has a +2 against
regenerating
creatures
4. Bastard Sword +1, +3 vs Shapeshifters (self
explanatory)
Not even Melf's Minute Meteors (which count as +6 weapons) can
damage them
otherwise. Even if you do have characters who can use these items
(and you
have the items to begin with), you still need to surpass their
health
regeneration in order to make a dent. In all likelihood, you need
to do some
combination of:
1. Buffing up the strength of your weapon-wielders to help
them
outpace the Greater Wolfwere's health regeneration.
2. Using a hold effect to help accomplish the above.
3. Using a lot of Wands of Fire/Frost at once to do a lot
of damage at
once (and they have 50% elemental resistance to boot).
Tough fight, so make sure you're prepared before you go to Ulgoth's
Beard
(though you get weapons 1 and 2 as a part of the quest that leads
up to the
Greater Wolfweres).
Ogre Mages
The moment you see these, either launch an Arrow of Slaying or
start
casting Magic Missile/some other 1-speed damage spell. Ogre Mages
invariably
start with something that's very annoying (generally Improved
Invisibility or
Mirror Image), and you definitely want to prevent that.
Sirines
The bane of all BG parties, basically low-level Mind Flayers.
By far the
best approach is to send in a single fighter with a Protection From
Magic
scroll used on them. They may still get confused even if they
avoid the Charm
spell (the confuse is a per-hit effect they have), so have some
decent AC on
them. Failing that, a berserking Minsc will still get charmed but
may still
attack the Sirines. Failing that still, you may get by with one
heck of a
backstabbing thief with Boots of Speed. Run away after you
backstab and try to
hide once you're out of range. Your thief may still get charmed,
but by being
hidden and away from everyone they may not do anything.
The following characters won't get along with each other (meaning
they will
eventually come to blows):
Montaron & Xzar and Khalid & Jaheira
Kagain and Yeslick
Edwin and Minsc & Dynaheir
If you're not trying to role play your character, it's worth being
of neutral
alignment, so you can easily adjust your reputation so you can mix
and match.
By far my favorite combination is to do the first 3 as good and the
latter 3 as
evil (Vampiric Touch on melee classes is really good).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Special Armor AC Bonuses
Bonus to Saves
con 3 n/a
con 4-6 +1
con 7-10 +2
con 11-13 +3
con 14-17 +4
con 18-25 +5
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
THAC0 Progression
As you can see from the above chart, the relative slower
progression of
Paladin/Rangers vs Fighters and Clerics vs Druids weakens their
combat prowess.
In fact, Clerics get particularly hurt as they end up having a
THAC0 no better
than a less-combat-heavy Thief/Bard (though they do get Draw Upon
Holy Might to
help things along).
===================================================================
============
===================================================================
============
Appendix
!app-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Special Thanks
!app,spe-
Beamdog most of all for putting together all the disparate mods,
revamping BG,
and giving it a new life.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
History
!app,his-
2014.02.13 - v 1.17
sin,thi,sha-: adjusting for balance changes.
sin,mag-: adding specialist mage bonuses, adjusting Enchanter
score.
arg,fou-: removing redundant note about 5-summon limit for
Spider Spawn.
2013.08.26 - v 1.16
sin,ran,bea-: downgrading since familiars have been nerfed.
npc,neu-: adding Safana details, upgrading.
all arc sections: adding notes where appropriate since in
build 2014 touch
attacks now do impact damage.
arc,fif-: removing obsolete note about Entangle for Cloudkill.
div-: removing disclaimer.
div,fir-: upgrading Command Word: Die.
all arc and div sections: upgrading summons as appropriate now
that they
use the BG2 versions.
2013.08.19 - v 1.15
div,fif-: adding note that only single-class clerics in Black
Pits can
memorize fifth-level spells.
div,six-: fixing reference to "fifth-level" spells.
fam-: updating with new familiar stats (don't know when these
were
changed, whoops).
npc,neu-: adding Skie details, fixing shortcut (was goo,neu-),
fixing
entries that didn't list quantity of proficiency points.
npc,evi-: adding extra note to Eldoth.
gen,cha-: removing erroneous no-hide armor data note.
2012.07.01 - v 1.13
npc,goo-: adding Dynaheir proficiency, removing "DATA
INCOMPLETE" note.
2012.05.28 - v 1.12
sin,bard,jes-: updating Jester description and note with
tweaks in build
2014.
2012.03.12 - v 1.11
div,six-: adding sixth spell level section for Black Pits.
2012.03.12 - v 1.10
sin,dru-: upgrading for Black Pits, fixing shortcut key.
sin,dru,tot- and sin,dru,ave-: upgrading for Black Pits.
bla-: clarifying note about experience caps, adding two bug
indicators.
2012.03.11 - v 1.9
Fixing various typos and grammar errors from the v 1.8 update.
sin,sor-: adding note about getting fifth level spells.
bla-: downgrading Shapeshifter and adding note.
arc,fou-: adding Enchanted Weapon, Ice Storm, and Wizard Eye.
arc,fou-: note about Confusion's save penalty.
arc,fif-: adding Oracle.
arc,fif-: adding all the Conjure Lesser Elemental spells.
2012.03.07 - v 1.8
rac-: adding various notes about Dwarven Defender kit.
sin,fig,dwa-: adding new kit.
sin,ran,arc-: removing bug about ranged weapon attacks/round,
fixed in
build 2014.
sin,thi,sha-: adding new kit.
sin,sor,dra-: adding new kit.
sin,mon,dar-: adding new kit.
sin,mon,sun-: adding new kit.
bla-: adding new kits to the mix.
2012.02.20 - v 1.7
Exanding bla-.
sin,bard,ska-: adding note about Melf's Minute Meteors.
gen,ene-: adding note about the Tanar'ri.
2012.02.18 - v 1.6
Modifying various notes to indicate that Level Drain _can_
occur in BGEE.
Adding various pointers to indicate that Yeslick has a killer
Dispel Magic.
New minor section: bla- (just some minor notes for Black Pits).
arc,thi- div,sec- div,thi-: Removing discussion on rounding
errors (BGEE
is more robust with partial damage versus vanilla BG).
div,fou-: adding missing Cleric spells (Holy Power, Lesser
Restoration,
Farsight).
div,fif-: adding missing priest spells (though really only for
Druid since
only they can cast fifth-level) spells (Cause Critical
Wounds, Insect
Plague, Magic Resistance, Mass Cure, Pixie Dust, True
Seeing).
gen,ene-: adding section for Greater Wolfwere.
gen,cha-: adding information for Hide Armor.
2012.02.06 - v 1.5
arc,sec- arc,thi- arc,fou- arc,fif- and div,fir-: upgrading
rating for
Invisibility and Sanctuary, adding extra notes for all
Invisibility
effects. Adding note for Sanctuary that the game example
of casting
Bless doesn't actually work.
gen,iss-: adding details on what breaks invisibility effects.
npc-: making a note that an evil party is really good now.
npc,evi-: adding Baeloth.
arc,thi-: upgrading Detect Illusion and adding extra notes.
arc,thi-: upgrading Dire Charm and adding extra notes.
arc,fif-: downgrading Animate Dead.
div,thi-: downgrading and tweaking Animate Dead note.
gen,cha-: fixing Monk THAC0 progression, adding experience-
based chart.
2012.02.04 - v 1.4
sin,bard-; sin,bard,bla-; sin,thi,swa-; mul-: adding notes
about Mithril
Chain Mail +4.
sin,bard- and gen,iss-: adding notes about Drizzt's weapons
trivially
pick-pocketable.
sin,pal-; arc,sec-; and div,fir-: clarifying that Detect Evil
now sucks in
BGEE.
npc-: cleaning up Eldoth, Shar-Teel, and Xzar of various
(formatting)
mistakes.
arc-; div-; and gen,iss-: docking a point from all vanilla BG
summon
spells due to the BG2-style five summon limit, discussing
it in
gen,iss-.
arc,sec-: downgrading Agannazar's Scorcher and discussing the
damage it
does to intermediary targets.
arc,fou-: adding Contagion, Farsight, Secret Word, Spider
Spawn, and
Teleport Field.
arc,fif-: adding Sunfire.
div,fir-: clarifying the BG2-style saving throw.
div,thi-: adding Cure Medium Wounds.
div,fou-: adding more notes to Call Woodland Beings, adding
Death Ward,
Negative Plane Protection, and Poison.
npc,goo-: adding information for Alora, correct missing info
about Lucky
Rabbit's Foot.
npc,evi-: adding information for Tiax and Viconia.
2012.01.30 - v 1.3
Cleaning up references to ToTSC.
sin,bard,bla-: Defensive Spin also works great when not
casting btw.
sin,mon-: adjusting some notes; Monks get a fighter's THAC0.
sin,wil-: some text clarification.
npc-: cleaning up various "????" where they shouldn't be.
npc,neu-: adjusting Garrick to reflect Bard Song changes.
npc,neu-: incorrectly referenced Skie instead of Safana in the
discussion
about Skie's merits.
arc-: updating spell schools, removing section note.
arc,fir-: changing Nahal's Reckless Dweomer to reflect that
Chaos Shields
do not stack.
arc,sec-: adding Ray of Enfeeblement.
arc,sec-: modifying Melf's Acid Arrow to reflect its ability
to interrupt
casting.
arc,sec-: Stinking Cloud has the downside that Free Action
doesn't pair
well with it.
arc,thi-: rewording Fireball spell description (was awkward
before).
arc,thi-: Ghost Armor description changed to reference
"illusion" not
"enchantment."
div,fir-: fixing reference in Detect Evil; most enemies are
now evil.
gen,iss-: updating "Stealth" note with actual mechanics of
"Hide in
Shadows" and "Move Silently."
gen,iss-: removing the issue with pausing breaking
spellcasting.
gen,iss-: removing reference to +4 THAC0 bonus in Mustard
Jelly note.
2012.01.28 - v 1.2
Correcting version number.
Updating some NPCs with updated numbers and a few minor
revisions for
analysis. Importantly, Yeslick gets an upgrade because his
Dispel
Magic ability is based off of vanilla BG dispel, not BG2-
style dispel
(in other words, it automatically succeeds).
Updating Knock: you _do_ get experience from picking locks.
Updating parts of Wild Mage analysis.
Adding Summon Insect to div,thi-.
Downgrading Holy Smite to 4/4, updating Cleric/Druid analysis
as a result.
Adding ratings for Familiars.
Updating various notes to reflect that the electric hammer
(Asheena?) uses
the ToTSC model (1d4 base, not 1d8 base damage).
Updating various notes to reflect that various weapon-creating
spells no
longer use proficiency (which is both a plus and minus).
2012.01.18 - v 1.00
New bug note for Archer.
Updating spells analysis (still need to confirm the existence
of various
priest spells).
Updating some Familiar analysis.
At this point, the guide is "complete enough" to warrant a 1.0
blessing.
2012.01.16 - v 0.98
Updating various bug notes and class descriptions with the 2012
build of
BGEE. In particular, Bards and Archers have had their
caveats tweaked
thanks to the fix for Ankheg Armor and the inclusion (at
last) of Elven
Chainmail.
2012.01.07 - v 0.97
Including mention of a buckler for the Shapeshifter.
Mentioning level five Divine spells more explicitly in Druid
discussion,
downplaying shapeshifting compared to vanilla BG.
Altering druid rating to be more reliant on access to level
five spells
than other factors. Removing mention of Flame Blade.
Nerfing Flame Blade spell.
Nerfing Call Lightning.
Adding Call Woodland Beings and Iron Skins to divine spell list
(more
complete revamp of BGEE spells coming soon!).
2012.01.03 - v 0.96
Several changes thanks to Ilya Nemetz:
1. Correcting Bhaalspawn power to Horror.
2. Upgrading Beastmaster, Familiars are way better
(relatively) in
BGEE than BG2.
3. Upgrading Priest of Helm due to Seeking Sword
duration.
4. Downgrading vanilla Paladin to 3/4, Cavalier to
4/4, upgrading
Blackguard to 5/4.
5. Listing out the Spirit Animals for the Totemic
Druid (new
section spi-).
6. Specifics on some familiar quirks in BGEE (in new
section
fam-).
Mentioning that Monk's Stunning Fist actually works with
weapons.
Adding on to Monk analysis to clarify the 2/4 rating.
New section to list out familiars.
2012.12.14 - v 0.94
Updating bug notes to reflect that issues are not yet fixed in
the latest
build (2011).
2012.12.11 - v 0.92
After talking on the forums, Totemic Druid isn't bugged after
all!
2012.12.09 - v 0.9
Revising Races section (rac-) to also include new classes and
new shorty
racial bonuses.
Revised class analyses; some ratings got adjusted.
Significant re-working of the Bard section (sin,bard-).
Fleshed out more of the NPC section, revised the scope.
More accurate spell list, with updated analyses.
2012.12.08 - v 0.8
Initial release. Still missing some data, but important to get
out there.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
All Works
!app,all-
===================================================================
============
The Stinger
-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
"There are two reasons I pound this pick against these rocks.
First because
I imagine this rock to be my captor's skull. Second, because the
meager spark
that leaps from my attempt is all the light I'll ever know again.
If you be a
new slave like I once was, you shall learn these simple truths soon
enough."
- Andarsson
===================================================================
============