What do you think about this party?

[Frostguard]

As this is my first game (and I'm not even at the end), I'd like to ask how good you think this party is; I don't have anything to relate to. This is why I'm curious about the opinions of the more experienced players.

I play with the Core Rules, but on four occasions, I had to reduce difficulty to easy (for a walkthrough without deaths).
1. Last battle of Shadows of Amn. The regeneration rate of the Slayer was so ridiculously high that I couldn't move away to drink a single potion, because it regenerated from "Badly Injured" to "Barely Injured" during that time.
2. Watchers' Keep, level 3. The room with the demons (in which the ones come from behind the party's backs). Not even the Boots of Speed could help moving the mages to safety before having them killed.
3. Watchers' Keep, level 5. The battle against the Guardians - the group which contained the Hive Mother, the Marelith, the Huntress and the rest.
4. Battle against Yaga-Shura. If I place the mages in a corner, surrounding them with the fighters and suddenly fighters teleport there from thin air, slaying the mages, then it's a pretty hard task to keep these mages alive.

So the party is:

1. Main character: Dwarven Berserker (Base stats: 18/53, 16 (originally 17), 19, 10, 10, 10 - current stats: 25, 17, 20, 10, 11, 19). Proficiencies: Axe +++++, Two-weapon fighting +++, War Hammer +++++. Crom Faeyr+Axe of Unyielding +5. Hits over 30 normally and over 60 with criticals, Horrid Wilting, Finger of Death and similar spells are ineffective against him (that's what the game says, I have no idea why and how). Due to the Cloak of Mirroring, I usually solo liches and beholder-ridden areas with him, leaving others at the entrance (for being too vulnerable against these opponents - no deaths).

2. Minsc: A very powerful one. Usually had two-handed swords (for over 20 normal and over 40 critical damage even with Lilarcor +3), but lately I switched to dual maces (Storm Star +5 and Skullcrusher +3. A very effective tank with amusing dialogues, the only one who could approach (and for a short period of time in chapter 1, overtake) the main character in kill-percentage. I don't really understand how he's a ranger, though; he's rather a fighter.

3. Nalia: I never really liked her, but she served as a substitute for Imoen, and when I got her back, Nalia was already so powerful that letting her go would've been a waste (especially that Imoen could fill up the vacancy created by the death of poor Yoshimo). She's a pretty decent mage, in the Throne of Bhaal, an ultimate machine of destruction (Time Stop - Dragon's Breath - Comet - Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting). With this combo (and a supporting Comet from Imoen), I could take down a dragon attacking head-on - a feat I could never achieve before.

4. Aerie: A versatile caster, but only supporting for me (due to slow development). Lately, though, she learnt how to cast Horrid Wilting, tremendously increasing her usefulness, but usually she summons and buffs. Also a decent slinger if necessary.

5. Anomen: The beast. Jack of all trades, master of all (no typo, double-checked). Fights almost like Minsc (only drawbacks are the relatively bad THAC0 and occasional running), learns spells like Nalia (or faster), has awesome AC and high health (second to the main character). It was also good watching him become a better man. Surprisingly, he could reach +++++ with Flail, which is a good combination with the Flail of Ages.

6. Imoen: A "second Nalia". Now that she can pull off a combo of Time Stop-Comet-Horrid Wilting-Horrid Wilting, she's as deadly as Nalia, the two capable of taking down almost anything. From different magical items, I could get her AC down to -5 (Anomen has the same value, Minsc has -4 and the main character has -7), and she has Angurvadal +4 equipped (although I look forward to have it upgraded) and surprisingly many HPs (over the half of the main characters'), she's quite a good melee fighter as well.

[Stworca]

If you're asking whether it is possible to finish the game with this party : Yes. It is.

[Frostguard]

If you're asking whether it is possible to finish the game with this party : Yes. It is.

Thanks a lot. I suspected as much (they had hewn through any enemy that wasn't a Dragon or Irenicus or some sort of super-demon), but I was still interested.

However, my main concern about the party was that I seemed to pick the least popular party members; as far as I heard, Keldorn, Viconia, Jaheira, Haer'Dalis and Edwin were the most popular members (and Sarevok, of course). However, as I didn't want to take evil characters, Sarevok, Edwin and Viconia fall out instantly; I strongly disliked Jaheira (not for her personality primarily, but rather because Anomen is a much better fighter, a much better caster, capable of tanking and soaking massive damage, so is easily more powerful in practically anything than Jaheira), and I didn't have room for Keldorn or Haer'Dalis.

The widespread unpopularity of most of the characters I used gave me the feeling that I might be doing something wrong.

[koz-ivan]

no there is nothing wrong with that team, it's solid, has a good balance of tanks, healers, casters, has enough thief to deal with the vast majority of things you need a thief for.

personally i'd likely swap out minsc in favor of keldorn or saravok as imho both of them have more utility than minsc. but i've been playing the game for years, and minsc's battle cries (once my fav part of the game) don't age terribly well.

Keldorn, Viconia, Jaheira, Haer'Dalis and Edwin were the most popular members

most of the above need a lot more management, or are more specialized / focused. in certain situations they shine, but in others they lack.

[Frostguard]

no there is nothing wrong with that team, it's solid, has a good balance of tanks, healers, casters, has enough thief to deal with the vast majority of things you need a thief for.

personally i'd likely swap out minsc in favor of keldorn or saravok as imho both of them have more utility than minsc. but i've been playing the game for years, and minsc's battle cries (once my fav part of the game) don't age terribly well.



most of the above need a lot more management, or are more specialized / focused. in certain situations they shine, but in others they lack.

Thanks for the help. In this case, I was truly lucky, since I decided who to take mostly randomly, and it turned out well.

I wonder, though, how powerful Keldorn or Sarevok might be. Minsc can deal 20+ damage (40+ when critical) with Lilarcor +3, but now he uses Storm Star +5 and Skullcrusher +3 for effectively double damage.

I would have an important question. Anomen has five proficiency points in Flail/Morningstar, and now he has Flail of Ages and Shield of Harmony. Now he obtained his second proficiency point in Two-weapon combat. Should I swap his shield for Ice Star +4 or not?

Thanks in advance for the answer.

By the way: I could have Angurvadal upgraded! I realised that Angurvadal +5 raises Strength to 22. Imoen has that and Tenser's Transformation - now she can become a brutally efficient melee tank, too, if required! That's great, because now she can protect the other two casters if someone attacks from behind.

[kmonster]

Dualwielding is always better since you do more damage, you don't even need 2 proficiency points in order to do this effectively.

Remember when was the last time Anomen missed a target or an enemy missed Anomen without rolling a natural 1.

[koz-ivan]

Dualwielding is always better since you do more damage, you don't even need 2 proficiency points in order to do this effectively.

there may be a few situations where a shield provides some kind of a buff / immunity that is helpful, but by and large yes, two weapons are usually better.

but i'd not try and dw w/o at least 2 points in dual wield, the offhand just does not attack enough for my taste to offset the larger penalty to the main hand attacks.

if you are really stacking ac, then a shield is ok, but by and large they don't seem to make that much of a difference on how often they get hit.

[Frostguard]

Thanks for the replies, I guess I'll just switch the shield to the weapon then. Although the shield provides Mind Shield and improves AC by 3, it might be good against Ilithids... If I meet any from now on (I don't forget how Minsc's damage output massively increased when I switched from greatswords to double maces.
My only concern, though, is Anomen's relatively poor THAC0 (not very poor, and you're right, he doesn't really miss besides natural 1 rolls).

[Frostguard]

All right, finished the game. Final opinions about party members:

1. Minsc: A certain bet. I'm pretty sure I'll try Keldorn, though (but his strength is only 17 as far as I saw, doesn't seem so powerful), but Minsc is a brutally powerful tank.

2. Aerie: I don't think I'll take her next time. Her ability to learn both Cleric and Mage spells is nice, but she's a multiclass. By the end of the game I had to realise that this hinders her effectiveness massively. She learnt a single ninth level spell, at the very end of the game, before Melissa. Buffing can be done by Anomen and Nalia/Imoen, Aerie seems pretty obsolete.

3. Nalia: Indeed a powerful one. I'll consider taking next time, but unfortunately there aren't too many substitutes for Imoen. I am not really willing to take Edwin (evil) or Jan (multiclass), but it seems that I'll have to choose from these three - and likely I'll choose Nalia from these.

4. Anomen: I'm pretty sure he'll be in my next game, too. I think I've specified the reasons.

5. Imoen: If for not else, she'll be in the party for the storyline. But anyway, I think she's better than Nalia. With Angurvadal and Tenser's Transformation, she's just as an effective fighting machine as Minsc or Anomen.

Some other experiences:

1. Some battles are ridiculously difficult. I would prefer very hard but actually doable battles (like Sendai or Balthazar - I could do them on Core Rules, they made me break a sweat but they were possible) and not impossible ones like Abazigal (had to switch back to Easy), Melissan (I could barely defeat her on Easy - and I had luck, always replacing the party so that the mages are not protected is something very annoying, someone always died). Also, the absurd situations where monsters are spawning from everywhere making the mages impossible to protect (Yaga Shura's camp) are not only irreal but extremely annoying, too.

2. Maybe it's a bug, but Melissan doesn't seem to be protected from the Axe of the Unyielding. After cutting her away from the power for the third time, the main character hit her with the Axe of Unyielding +5 and she was instantly killed (she didn't even enter the source for the fourth time, Solar came immediately). By the way, I'm not so sure that Crom Faeyr is the best weapon around - Axe of the Unyielding +5 might be even better. I managed to behead a Lich (Core Rules), another boss I don't really remember, and Melissan (on Easy).

3. Ironically, after killing Yaga-Shura, the Siege Camp is the best place to get gold and experience. I just had to sleep there - almost always I was awakened by two Fire Giants. Fire Giants are pieces of cake to kill, and they reward 16,000 experience, one or two Extra Healing Potions, one King's Tear and one Emerald each.

[kmonster]

Congratulations for finishing the game !

How useful were HLAs for your characters ?

[Frostguard]

Congratulations for finishing the game !

How useful were HLAs for your characters ?

Thanks a lot. It wasn't that difficult, except for several battles I listed above.
If with HLAs you mean High Level Abilities, I can tell you these:

1. Warrior classes: Moderately useful. I didn't use them with Minsc and no else had them besides him and the main character. With the main character, I used them in the more difficult battles. Hardiness came in handy against Draconis and some opponents like that, Greater Whirlwind Attack was great. I didn't even select Deathblow ever (it instantly kills low-level opponents, and the main character was already doing that with his ~120 damage per round), Smite was very good when overwhelmed (tossing opponents away to several screens' distance helped me not only once), but Critical Strike was the best. Guaranteed hit and double damage meant a guaranteed ~240 damage in that round, sometimes even more.

2. Cleric (Anomen): Handy, but not necessary. Implosion was impressive, but with the Clerics, summoning spells (Summon Deva, Summon Elemental) were more useful for me. The "Extra Spell" abilities were nice, too.

3. Mage: The best of all. Seriously, Dragon's Breath deals 20d10 damage and knocks opponents away; Comet deals "only" 10d10 damage, but it knocks opponents away and stuns them. Like I said, Nalia and Imoen could take down the dragon of the fifth level of Watcher's Keep using Time Stop and these spells (and some Horrid Wilting spells). I used them in almost every battle which involved a bit tougher opponents or a vast number of them. Without these, I wouldn't have stood any chance to finish the game.

[Frostguard]

Right, I've assembled the party for the second walkthrough. Not anywhere near to what I (or anyone here) would have expected.

It all began with... I accidentally discovered the Multiplayer. Soon I figured out that I can easily create six characters and assign all of them to myself, which is leading a party of six custom characters. I suspected (and I still do) that this would kill much of the storyline, but I already know it - and there were way too many classes I wanted to try anyway, so I decided to go this way.

Here it is (all of them are humans, as I intended to try dual-classing, which in the end I didn't do). I started from Shadows of Amn, of course.

1. Kensai: Wears no armour, but the damage bonus seemed extremely tempting - and so did his special ability, Kai. I was not disappointed. Although the Kensai gets killed pretty soon, as far as there is a massive tank besides him (revealed later), this character is a killing machine. Uses dual Bastard Swords.

2. Archer: Another class I wanted to try. Powerful. I haven't even used Called Shot yet (actually the Archer finished them off quicker when not wasting an entire round for that action). This character is equipped with a Crossbow, and strangely from a Ranged specialist, can actually protect the others in melee, too.

3. Mage: Definitely necessary, that's all. This time it's a pure mage, with substantially smaller health but quicker learning. Good to have around, but as with the other mages in the previous walkthrough, at this time of the game (beginning) the mage is pretty useless (for anything else other than Breach).

4. Berserker: Just to have a solid, certain point that cannot fail. Of course this one didn't. Dual axes, naturally (of course with changing to War Hammer later). Being the tank mentioned above, the Berserker is essentially the backbone of the party.

5. Swashbuckler: I had to include a thieving character, and from those, Swashbucklers seemed to be the most potent, in combat of course. They don't get backstab multipliers (I can't use backstab anyway), but with their weapon proficiencies, they can match a Ranger. Mine does, with the dual longswords.

6. Priest of Lathander: Just to have a Cleric (this subclass did not come with disadvantages, and it was a good-aligned one, enough reasons for me to try it). Lathander's Boon seems nice, I haven't used it yet. So far, just as any Cleric I tried, he's moderately useful. Far less useful than Anomen, though.

I would like to have a question about dual-classing. I simply can't do it - I could, but I don't want. Seriously, my characters start at level 7-9. To be able to use the abilities of the previous class, I should reach 8-10 with them - and we all know that it takes hundreds of thousands of experience, and experience rewards are poor in this section of the game. I didn't really want to play the first half of the game with a character that is useless due to having been messed up this way. I know, they become viable after a while - but who can wait that much?

Another remark: The game seems to be unbelievably easier with this party than with the first one. I remember the people at the sewers who demand 1,000 gold for passing by. In my first walkthrough, I had to lure them one by one to the others so that I could kill them. Now? I simply charged amongst them, cast a Breach on their mage, and the characters ruthlessly slaughtered them. The same happened to Tor'Gal and his companions, even though I visited him one or two levels earlier! Umber Hulks weren't that a challenge, either.

My only concern is that there will be only one party member using the Time Stop/Dragon Breath/Comet combination, which will make fighting Dragons slightly more difficult. But I will see.

[koz-ivan]

2. Aerie: I don't think I'll take her next time. Her ability to learn both Cleric and Mage spells is nice, but she's a multiclass. By the end of the game I had to realise that this hinders her effectiveness massively. She learnt a single ninth level spell, at the very end of the game, before Melissa. Buffing can be done by Anomen and Nalia/Imoen, Aerie seems pretty obsolete.

i'm not only the president but i'm also a client of the Aerie fan club, so this wounds me deeply. ;~)

aerie is one of the more intriguing npcs in the game for me, and yeah she levels slowly as a mage even compared to imoen - she doesn't have the mage punch of the other single classed mages.

on the other hand, she can do all sorts of stuff then nobody else can do - she can use her cleric spells in sequences, triggers & contingencies.

she's a mage that can wear helms & use shields - something as simple as the shield of reflection makes her effectively immune to missile fire.

further - she's a cleric that can wear robes - the robe of vecna improves the casting time of all her spells - not just the mage ones - so her in battle heals cast quicker than any of the other divine casters can cast.

lastly, her ability to mirror image, stoneskin, etc makes her a very hard to kill divine healer - that is a pretty handy thing to have if your other divine healer is ano and or jaheria who spend most of their time on the front lines.

I would like to have a question about dual-classing. I simply can't do it - I could, but I don't want. Seriously, my characters start at level 7-9. To be able to use the abilities of the previous class, I should reach 8-10 with them - and we all know that it takes hundreds of thousands of experience, and experience rewards are poor in this section of the game. I didn't really want to play the first half of the game with a character that is useless due to having been messed up this way. I know, they become viable after a while - but who can wait that much?

dual classing is easier than you might think, yes there is always the "awkward" stage where the 1st class skills are missing and the 2nd class skills aren't tip top yet, but the first 5-7 levels go by pretty quickly and by then the 2nd class should be getting more and more useful.

then it turns into a grind until you get your 1st class skills back.

taken anomen for example, his minimal ftr levels have a huge impact on how effective he is later, imho that concept would be even more powerful w/ a kit and leveling ftr to 13. at that point you should have even more melee attacks, a maxed weapon skill and maxed dual wield.

you may have tried this already, but one "trick" to use is as soon as you dual class, then have you mages & bards scribe every scroll they can get their grubby mits on. this is even more effective if you "trim" the party down first. and even sneakier if you a - steal the scrolls from shops and b - forget and re-learn spells you have the scrolls for.

[Frostguard]

i'm not only the president but i'm also a client of the Aerie fan club, so this wounds me deeply. ;~)

aerie is one of the more intriguing npcs in the game for me, and yeah she levels slowly as a mage even compared to imoen - she doesn't have the mage punch of the other single classed mages.

on the other hand, she can do all sorts of stuff then nobody else can do - she can use her cleric spells in sequences, triggers & contingencies.

she's a mage that can wear helms & use shields - something as simple as the shield of reflection makes her effectively immune to missile fire.

further - she's a cleric that can wear robes - the robe of vecna improves the casting time of all her spells - not just the mage ones - so her in battle heals cast quicker than any of the other divine casters can cast.

lastly, her ability to mirror image, stoneskin, etc makes her a very hard to kill divine healer - that is a pretty handy thing to have if your other divine healer is ano and or jaheria who spend most of their time on the front lines.



dual classing is easier than you might think, yes there is always the "awkward" stage where the 1st class skills are missing and the 2nd class skills aren't tip top yet, but the first 5-7 levels go by pretty quickly and by then the 2nd class should be getting more and more useful.

then it turns into a grind until you get your 1st class skills back.

taken anomen for example, his minimal ftr levels have a huge impact on how effective he is later, imho that concept would be even more powerful w/ a kit and leveling ftr to 13. at that point you should have even more melee attacks, a maxed weapon skill and maxed dual wield.

you may have tried this already, but one "trick" to use is as soon as you dual class, then have you mages & bards scribe every scroll they can get their grubby mits on. this is even more effective if you "trim" the party down first. and even sneakier if you a - steal the scrolls from shops and b - forget and re-learn spells you have the scrolls for.

Thank you, and trust me, I did not intend to upset or offend you.

However, I must admit that the main use of mages for me were the high-level spells like Abi Dazlim's Horrid Wilting, Dragon's Breath, Comet. These could not be learnt by Aerie, only very late. The only lower-level spells that I used regularly was Haste, Bless, Chant and Lesser Restoration. In my second walkthrough, I began using Breach and some other nice spells (Invisibility). This is why I said that mages were pretty useless in the early game. In this stage, Aerie was my most useful caster as she knew all this spells, and could use them with a Minor Sequencer.

I agree, she can use helms as a Mage and she also can use robes as a Cleric. However, that didn't help her too much. Imoen could reach 85 HP and -5 AC, too, without these possibilities (some amulets and similar accessories helped). With this, using a powerful longsword (Angurvadal +5; Aerie can't really use very powerful weapons like that) and Tenser's Transformation, she could become one of the best tanks I ever had.

For me, whatever happened, though, she was pretty easy to kill. Even when she got Tenser's Transformation, she had around 80 HP - as much as Imoen without Tenser. Mirror image and Stoneskin is nice, but are slow to cast; if she does that, she rarely has more time for anything, making her pretty useless, doing everything in order to keep herself alive.

Don't be offended, it's a matter of playing style. My style is heavily offence-based. This is why I usually like casters who can take a punch even while not being protected, because I prefer all my melee fighters in the frontline mowing down the opponents, to finish them more easily. This is why I liked Imoen; if an opponent came close, there was no problem. She switched to Angurvadal, cast Tenser's Transformation, and single-handedly got rid of the threat. Nalia, though much weaker (she knew Tenser's Transformation, too, but Spectral Brand +5 is a far inferior weapon to Angurvadal), could endure enough damage, Aerie was far too fragile. And of course, a Mage without Dragon's Breath is... Well, I don't know anything to compare.

As for dual-classing, especially the extreme amount of grinding is what frightens me - not to mention that the character would be extremely useless for a huge period of time. If I could, I would dual-class my character around level 4-6, but it is impossible in this game (I wish I could do it during Character Creation). Anomen could give proficiency points to Flail even to +++++ even as a Cleric, so that's not a problem.

[galraen]

You are definitely missing something about dual classing, it really doesn't take much time at all to get your original class back.

For example I just started with a Kensai, she reached 9th level on exiting Chateau Irenicus and I dualled her immediately. The party I started with was the PC (8th level Kensai), Imoen and Jaheira; I absolutely loathe Minsc as mentioned before.

I went straight for the Circus, picked up Aerie, IMO one of the most powerful NPCs in the game. Went to the Copper Coronet and picked up Nalia, and freed Hendak. Then cleared the first level of Watcher's Keep, although never bothered triggering any of the statues. From there I cleared d'Arnisse Keep and upon completing it my PC reached 10th level Mage. None of the fights so far have been taxing, and now my PC has her Kensai skills back, I don't foresee any problems from here on in.

The PC is equipped with Frost Reaver and Stonefire, with Azureedge as a backup (I endeavour to only use it as a melee weapon when fighting undead).

Jaheira is the weak link at the moment as she doesn't have any decent weapons, but I'm off to Trademeet so that is about to change.

Aerie has the girdle of Hill Giant strength, she only has 56 HO at the moment, but if you can't hit her with a weapon you can't hurt her. With the girdle and the Flail of Ages she's a useful backup tank, but will be replace by Jaheira in that role soon.

Nalia isn't a brilliant thief, but with the ring of lockpicks she can serve for now, and once I pick up Danger sense she'll be good enough for trap detecting and lockpicking. She's the best mage of course, being one level ahead of my PC, and will remain the best. Imoen won't even catch up to the PC, so I doubt I'll keep her, four mages in the party would be serious overkill.

I'll pick up Mazzy at some point, and may well use SK to turn Imoen into a pure Swashbuckler, as I didn't dual class her in BG1 anyway.

Girl Power rules!:laugh:

[Frostguard]

Interesting. It is true that I've had no taxing battles so far with my present party, except for one, down in the Pit of the Faithless - around the end where I had to fight four Gauths at the same time, with no chance to separate them. The following tactic could actually do me the job (please note that again I'm going for a no-death walkthrough, as I will always do): Fortunately I have two Wands of Cloudkill, each with 50 charges. Actually, I wasted 10 charges to create a near inpenetrable cloud, with the final one actually touching the Gauths so that they attacked - and by the time they reached me (I went away), they were all Near Death. The Archer sniped them down.

It is interesting that you went to the Watcher's Keep in Shadows of Amn. That being said, because I'm pretty sure that the enemies are weaker (and thus provide less XP) when you visit it back there. Why? Even when I stepped on the first level, I was pretty sure I didn't meet Mephits there when I cleared it all in the Throne of Bhaal. That was just a suspicion, but I tried the second level - and in the Fire Library, I didn't meet the two usual Fire Giants (not as if I had stood any chance) but some Desert Trolls and a Ruhk. Then I decided not to clear the second level (there were two Fire Giants, and as far as I remember, one Fire Giant awards 16,000 experience points) but to continue the savegame where the first level is cleared (Foebane +3 is still nice for my Kensai, my Mage will like Crimson Dart +3, and Ammo Belt will definitely make everything easier).

I guess there is no problem if I clear the remaining levels in Throne of Bhaal.

[galraen]

I don't go there for the XP but for the items, and I don't usually trigger the statues until either late in the SoA or after Saradush. The main reason for going there early is to avoid the mist wraiths in order to be able to get the quiver and ammo belt; I did kill off the golems and give the slippers to the lich this time though to enable my PC to reach level 10 mage.

PS By no deaths I take it you mean no reloads if someone dies; does this include the PC? Reloading isn't really necessary if one plays it right, but I don't have tactics or any other such mod installed and am playing on core rules. I do have Item Upgrade, but haven't used it with this party yet, may well do so with Azuredge though. Being good means no Liracor or Crom Feyr of course, and no dealing with the thieves guild other than absolutely necessary. I was toying with taking Saerileth into the party, but only recently played through with her. I'm still not sure about going after Celestial Fury either; sure I know that the guys in their are part of the slave trade, but there's no way for the party to deduce it, so really I'd have to justify breaking and entering plus murder and can't; likewise no Horn of Valhalla either.

[Frostguard]

No... You got it wrong.

No death means that I reload at an instant when someone dies (from the party, of course). I needed it quite a lot of time in my first walkthrough, and several times already in now, the second.

What do you mean that good characters do not get Lilarcor or Crom Faeyr? I was good in my first walkthrough and got both (though I don't think that I'll do it again, I don't wish to kill the pet and I don't need it anyway). And why wouldn't I get Crom Faeyr?

I've done only one evil walkthrough so far (not in Baldur's Gate II) and it was more of a suffering, only curiosity kept me going. Since then, I have not done so, and I will not. I don't dare say that never, but for a long time, for sure. It's because I'm overly empathic. It doesn't matter if I want or not, whenever I commit an evil deed - even in a game - immediately thoughts burst my mind, that how the victims could feel (only if they are innocent, though - I don't really feel that when some muggers attack me or something like that), and what if something like that happened to me or my family. I can't really get rid of that feeling.

I don't really want Celestial Fury, either (I don't use katanas, they're powerful but their enchantments and bonuses are usually poor). I didn't like Celestial Fury too much, either; yes, there is the 5% chance for 20 bonus damage (but, doing the maths, on average it's +1 each round, which isn't too much) and the stun, but it's almost unnecessary (it won't stun the most powerful enemies, where I would need it). But I think I'll still clear the compound (there are slavers there - I vaguely recall some NPC hinting it, though I'm not sure). I think that Long Swords (Angurvadal +5), Warhammers (Crom Faeyr) and Axes (Axe of the Unyielding +5) are the best choices for weapons. Bastard Swords are decent, too.

However, I'd like to ask a question. If I use weapons that require no ammunition (Short Bow of Gesen of Firetooth) and I give ammunition to the user, he uses them. Does the bow or the crossbow still shoot the no ammunition-projectiles or those are disabled?

[galraen]

And why wouldn't I get Crom Faeyr?

Because to get the Belt that is needed to upgrade the +3 hammer to Crom Feyr you have to make a living sacrifice to Domogorgan obviously not something a good, or even neutral person would do. The fact that the only NPC that complains about doing it is Saerileth is I'm afraid yet another example of Bioware screwing up. Any Paladin or Ranger in the party that allowed it to happen should immediately lose all their powers and abilities and have their alignment changed to Chaotic Neutral at best. Any Druid who participated should also face retribution, all others should have their alignments shifted at least one step towards evil.

Celestial Fury isn't the best weapon available, but I do like it's stun capacity, sadly like all other Katanas you don't get your strength bonus added to the damage either.

I agree about the weapons you mentioned, the Axe of the Unyielding is the main reason my PC went for Axes, the glitch that allows you to use throwing axes helped too mind, although I abuse that as little as possible.

As for the 'No deaths' thing, I find that strange, Raise Dead and Resurrection exist for a reason. Certainly Bioware yet again screwed up the imlementation, Elves shouldn't be raisable for instance, and they don't reduce your constitution by one and make you make a system shock survival save either. Great game though BG2 is, Bioware certainly screwed up an awful lot of things!

PS I don't know the answer to your last question, I'm they use the arrows additional elemental damage if they have any, so using Acid Arrows will finish off a Troll when using Tasheron's bow, but not sure about the rest.

[Frostguard]

Not necessarily. I don't know how this game considers summoned creatures, but the fact that they appear from nothing, disappear to nothing and give no experience when killed suggests me that they are not real living creatures, rather something else. Mere projections of planes, illusions, or whatever (the only other creatures that did not award experience were the illusions in the Circus Tent of Athkathla). Besides, the Demogorgon sends some nice demons after the "sacrifice" to kill the party, which is, again, suspicious. This being the case, I can rather imagine this sacrifice as a mockery, a taunt to the Demogorgon (though it is possible that I simply want to justify getting the girdle, who knows - but the fact is that this explains why the Demogorgon intends to have the character killed by his minions afterwards).

By the way, I didn't even know that Katanas get no bonus from Strength (if that is the case, I'm completely sure that I will not use them). When I generate characters, I always make sure that their strength is over 18/90 (to ensure the +5 bonus damage), and later on, I equip them with items that increase Strength (Angurvadal, Crom Faeyr, Girdle of Fire Giant Strength). My Berserker with Crom Faeyr had 25 Strength of course, meaning that he got a +15 bonus to his damage.

Why I do a walkthrough without deaths? It's actually pretty easy to explain. During a long part of the game (until I found Mekrath), I had no means to resurrect a dead party member (that time, I didn't use Anomen's Priest capabilities, it took me a while to realise what a powerful caster he can be). I was used not to letting anyone die that far, because I thought I had no means to revive them. I found the Rod of Resurrection, but so to say... It was too late. I was completely used to that; I couldn't get over letting anyone die. This is why I decided so. It wasn't really a decision, my habit took me further. At one point, extremely annoyed by a battle, I decided to carry on when someone died (final battle with Irenicus), but I felt so frustrated that I couldn't go any further, I reloaded and killed him without deaths (I reloaded before killing him, though I was near).

By the way, with another, "experimental" party I learnt how to backstab (with an Assassin). Powerful indeed. Too bad that Stealth is dispelled right after the strike. But I didn't carry on too much; I was just curious about some classes I wanted to try, too (Barbarian, Paladin (Cavalier), Sorcerer, Assassin).

Can anyone tell me why Paladins need Charisma? It frustrates me. They would be decent without that requirement. What do I mean?
They would use Priest spells; therefore, they need high wisdom (being a perfectionist, "needing a high xy" means "needing 18 xy" for me). Being melee fighters, they need 18 Strength (attack), 18 Dexterity (AC) and 18 Constitution (HP). So far four attributes, and then give Charisma - they have only one attribute they don't need.

And again a question, does anyone happen to know what rendered my main character invulnerable to most magic in the late game? Not that I complain, actually it is a pretty good feeling to see that the Berserker takes a Horrid Wilting head-on (getting it to the face) and then seeing two words in the log: "Spell ineffective". But I didn't understand what did this.