Started with bg2 again, need somehelp tough!

Graden · Post by **Graden** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:34 am

Hello

I discovered this awesome forum some days ago, and found it very nice to start with bg2 again. Since i played mostly good aligned party before i was thinking of trying out the evil path. So i did some brainstorming but i couldnt come to an good conclusion whom i should have in my party. So here are some things i would appreciate if you could help me out with.

1. My protogonist will be an kensai/mage, so wich npc should i take? (want max4 ppl in the party including me). I was thinking of Viconia,Edwin,korgan but then i need a thief

So i was thinking of getting rid of edwin and replace him with hear'd'alis but then again he cant find traps and open locks.

2. You guys are talking about some mods and extra npc, were can i dl them and what are they doing is it like extra chapters?

3. I really want viconia because of the romance make the game extra fun

What should i do so the first romance dialogue will appear ? Many thx!!!

Cowled Kensai · Post by **Cowled Kensai** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 9:30 am

Well I'll answer your questions from alst to first since I am a crazy soon to be choatic good Kensai/mage, as soon as I buy another copy of BGII I'll go down the list backwards.

3) To fall in love with Viconia is easy, not as easy as Arie (she practically says please romance me). Myslef I perfer Jaheria cause at the end of those Harper quests you get one kick ass pin, but lets talk about that drow chic. Just be nice, but defend your ethecs, don't insult her for further advice visit the stratics BGII site (not forum) click on NPC's on left hand tool bar then click on Viconia on the left then scroll down to PC Romances and Darkstar (at least that's his PC's name right?) gives you a romance walkthrough for that lustful gal Viconia.

2) Sorry partner I don't download mods, patches yes, mods no. If you wnat to get Shadow keeper visit a thread I started yesterday.

1) I usually go with full party but 4 NPC's lets venture shall we
The women your romancing
Keldorn (if good) or Korgan (if your evil)
Anomen (drop him if you ar getting Viconia so you will have 4 people inculung you)
Edwin (great magic user) if your good get Nalia then drop her for the pink haired formerly brown haired Imoen in the asylem
and finally Jan Janson if you want a rogue, but if your gonna use knock and stick to Imoen as a mage/theif you can never go wrong with MINSC AND BOO!!!

Graden · Post by **Graden** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:04 am

ok thx for the help!

So it will be:
1. Me as kensai/mage dual wieldeing katanas duel @ level 13 i think (tank/arcane)
2. Viconia (divine)
3. Korgan (tank)
4. Edwin (arcane)
5. (?)
Thats four full party. I was thinking of having a party of 4 but it seems impossible so i got to have a fith with some thiefing skills. I was thinkinh of yoshimo isntead of jan cuz of the fighting skill maybe i duel him to an fighter and then perhaps drop korgan ?, I already have me and edwin as arcane spellcasters, i dunno im just confused (always like this when i shall starta game with diffrent possibilities

) But i feel leaving korgan is not so good hes an awesome tank,, hmm

Anyone else who whant to share some thoughts and perhaps some epxerince share ?? Pls post it here !! thx once again, this is an great forum

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:45 am

[QUOTE=Graden]I was thinking of having a party of 4 but it seems impossible so i got to have a fith with some thiefing skills. I was thinkinh of yoshimo isntead of jan cuz of the fighting skill maybe i duel him to an fighter and then perhaps drop korgan ?[/QUOTE]
Welcome to the forums.

A party of four with Korgan, Viconia, and Edwin is not "impossible", and it's probably the most powerful party you could have when you consider how much faster they'll level up than a party of six. It makes an even bigger difference if you install Throne of Bhaal. You can get by without a Thief; just look at all of the players who solo a character who has no thieving skills. Of course, it would be nice to have a party member with at least a few thieving skills. Some people who take Korgan, Vconia, and Edwin make their main character a Thief or a Kensai/Thief or a multi-class Fighter/Thief. The last two are great at backstabbing, and they're a lot of fun to play.

As an alternative, you could recruit a fifth party member who has thieving abilities. Imoen has the bare minimum of thieving skills you'd need for detecting traps and unlocking doors and containers; she is also an excellent Mage, and she will stick with you even if you play the most evil character imaginable. Nalia is pretty much out of the question. Jan is a multi-class Illusionist/Thief who has excellent thieving skills as well as spellcasting ability, and he's the fifth NPC for a lot of players who play an evil party; his dialogue is also very entertaining. Yoshimo is a pure Thief, and he can be dualled to a Fighter, as you say. I think it would be best for you to take Yoshimo with you.

If you dual-class Yoshimo to a Fighter, I wouldn't get rid of Korgan if I were you. There's nothing wrong with having both of them in your party, and Korgan is the best "tank" character of all. But yeah, I really think you should take Yoshimo with you.

Graden · Post by **Graden** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 3:59 pm

Hmm i decided to choose the assasin kit as start. But i found it very strange that i deal only around 20 in dmg in the start when i backstabb. im level 8 and the modifier says i got x3 backstabbing dmg. So whats wrong i dont remember dealing out so low amount of dmg when i played before. I got 19 in strenght :/

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:03 pm

1. My protogonist will be an kensai/mage, so wich npc should i take? (want max4 ppl in the party including me). I was thinking of Viconia,Edwin,korgan but then i need a thief So i was thinking of getting rid of edwin and replace him with hear'd'alis but then again he cant find traps and open locks.

Take any NPCs you wish. If you're powergaming, you'll want to take NPCs who can fill out various other professions, such as a druid, a thief, a cleric, a tank or two. If you want more of a challenge or just seek to have fun, it really doesn't matter whom you take. After all, you've played before, so it's not like you're going to be walking into any real surprises--unless you try some of the mods.

2. You guys are talking about some mods and extra npc, were can i dl them and what are they doing is it like extra chapters?

Read the sticky threads at the top of the page, BG Reference Crossroads and Well-Balanced Mods (duh!).

Vanion · Post by **Vanion** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:38 pm

[QUOTE=Graden]Hmm i decided to choose the assasin kit as start. But i found it very strange that i deal only around 20 in dmg in the start when i backstabb. im level 8 and the modifier says i got x3 backstabbing dmg. So whats wrong i dont remember dealing out so low amount of dmg when i played before. I got 19 in strenght :/[/QUOTE]

Backstabbing does not take Strength into account. It works on this formula:

Backstab mod x (Weapon roll + Magic Bonus + Proficiency + Misc) + Strength

So, as an example, say you're an Assassin, have 19 Strength wielding a shortsword +3. The assassin gets a base +1 to Thaco and Damage at level one, which comes under the "misc" side of things. If you've multiclassed to fighter, you might get some extra damage for specialisation or mastery, but as a pure assassin you're only proficient in shortswords. With a backstab mod of 3, your damage looks like this:

3 (1d6 + 3 + 0 + 1) +8

3 (5 to 10) +8

15 to 30 + 8

23 - 38

Under the "Misc" catergory are any kind of kit bonuses, so for example the Kensai's +1 to hit and damage every 3 levels. Proficiency covers any bonus from specialisation (+2 to damage) to Grand Mastery (+4, I believe).

The real beauty of strength is in accuracy, damage over several hits, and having a lot of attacks per round. For a one off stabbety stab, proficiency matters more, though any Thac0 or damage bonus from great strength will always be great help.

On the question of party structure, you can manage without a thief by giving Viconia detect traps and Edwin knock. It means that you'll have to wait ages before trying to use certain chests, or simply reload (finger of death, whee!), but you'll certainly do fine. It does diminish your power somewhat, but the extra XP will make up for that. Because monster saves rapidly improve, second level mage and priest spells don't take long to become relatively useless without a malison or ten, and by the time you can cast Malison there's better offense to consider.

Miser · Post by **Miser** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 7:43 pm

[QUOTE=Graden]
3. I really want viconia because of the romance make the game extra fun

What should i do so the first romance dialogue will appear ? Many thx!!![/QUOTE]

Everyone's pretty much giving great advice already, so there's not much i need to say.

This is what i would suggest as your party composition:
1. Korgan (tanker)
2. PC, fighter/thief (support-fighter)
3. Edwin (mage)
4. Viconia (cleric)

Being a powergamer myself, i usually go with the most powerful people.

That said, Edwin's place in the party should be self-explanatory. In evil parties, Korgan is almost always my core tanker. Pure-clerics suck in my opinion, but Viconia does give the best romance. (I have a thing for ****y chicks.

) Nonetheless, she's still the best cleric game with that max wisdom and 19 dexterity.

That leaves the last slot for your PC and I gave ya a fighter/thief. They're fairly decent fighters, but not great tankers since they cant absorb as many hits as regular fighters, so hence, the "support fighter". Their strength, of course, lies with their backstabs. First-striking with a backstab at the start of every battle should help you win most of the time. The fighter part increases your Thac0 quite a bit, which gives your backstabs a higher success rate. With the thief, you also can deal with most locks/traps much easier.

ToB installed
As an alternative, you can also try a multi-thief/mage. You still get your thief to deal with locks/traps, but as a mage, you also get Project Image/Simulacrum. Basically, it's PC twin of Jan, except for the stats difference (and the turnip gibberish).

Miser · Post by **Miser** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 7:44 pm

I cant believe that was censored, heh.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 2:49 am

Instead of a fighter/thief, you can just pick a Swashbuckler. It leaves you without a backstabber, but because the Swashbuckler is a single-classer you'll lvl up more quick. Besides, who needs backstabbing with a powerful party like that?

Vanion · Post by **Vanion** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 4:12 am

Either that or start with Kensai and dual class as you originally intended. The kensai's +1 to hit and damage per 3 levels comes under "misc"...so, with that in mind, if you were to take kensai to level 12, you'd get a proficiency pip and a +1 to hit and damage at that level. With 8 points to spend overall, you could grand master one weapon and max out 2 weapon style for optimal offense.

That means that when you got your thief levels up to par (won't take too long to get to 13 in a 4 person party), your backstab will be phenomenal. No matter what style of weapon you choose, you'll be smokin'. And the awesome part is, with thief levels in ToB, you can take Assassination (x5 damage for the whole round, makes Whirlwind attack look almost painless by comparison), Use Any item (Any armour or trinket you please, even the Holy Avenger if you're so inclined).

The Kensai/Mage does have a lot of advantages over the Kensai/Thief, in that stoneskin and mirror image will really help you through those earlier levels. It's hard to go by a Kensai/Thief as a second line fighter and backstabber, though, especially come epic levels.