Fighter/Illusionist and Ranger/Cleric duo

[TheNightMayor]

Hey everyone, I'm a long time player and skulker on these forums, but this is my first post. Anyways, I've played BG2 and ToB for years, and recently picked up BG1 at a garage sale, along with TotSC. My friend and I are looking to duo the whole game, only taking on appropriate NPCs to fulfill their quests.

My question here is, is this a viable duo to run through BG1 and the expansion? I have no experience whatsoever with BG1 and it's content, although I'm currently working through a full party single player game, I think my friend and I will be starting our adventure before I finish. Just wanted to know if it was a fun, successful combo. The Ranger/Cleric combo will be a multi-class as well, if that makes a difference as to your decision. Our playtime will be limited so we don't want to be hung up on one battle for an incredibly excessive amount of time. Thanks for your input!

[VonDondu]

Welcome to the forums.

I once played all the way through the BG saga with a Cleric/Ranger and a Thief dualled to a Conjurer, and it was great, but I knew how to take advantage of the system. If you're not familiar with the content of BG1, you're at a disadvantage when it comes to powergaming and meta-gaming (that is, making decisions based on previous knowledge of the game). Unless you use a walkthrough, you won't know where to get the most experience for fast level-ups, or where traps are so you can avoid them. So I'm going to assume that you'll be muddling through the game and you need all the skills your party can muster.

You really need a Thief in BG1, especially when you get to the areas added by the TOTSC expansion. Considering the limited number of thieving points available to low level characters, I like to have TWO thieves so they can specialize in complentary skills--one character with 100% Find Traps, and the other character with 100% Open Locks, and the rest of their points in Stealth or Pickpocketing, depending on how I want to play them.

Spellcasters aren't so great in BG1 since their power is limited by their low level, but they do come in handy. Even a 1st Level spell like Chromatic Orb is useful. For fireballs, I rely on wands. There aren't a whole lot of useful buffing spells besides Mirror Image, Haste, and Invisibility (Stoneskin is not available). You'll want to use a lot of potions for getting buffed up. I think I'd rather play a Cleric/Ranger than a Fighter/Mage because of spells like Bless and Draw Upon Holy Might and spells like Animate Dead. You'd be surprised how much difference a +1 bonus makes in BG1. A Fighter/Mage probably isn't going to cast a lot of attack spells in combat, so you probably want to use offensive spells you can cast before the swordplay starts, such as Sleep, Chromatic Orb, and Emotion. You want your Cleric/Ranger to memorize a few healing spells--you'll need them.

If I was considering another duo (besides a Cleric/Ranger and a Thief dualled to a Conjurer), I would probably choose a Fighter/Thief and a Cleric/Illusionist. If I was intent on importing my characters into BG2, I might even play a single-class Fighter (which could be dual-classed in BG2). A Fighter is actually one of the most powerful characters you can play in BG1, just because a Fighter can hit the hardest and get the most attacks per round. Unless you have a party of archers who kill their enemies before they're attacked in melee, you need the strongest tank possible for most battles. Being tough isn't enough; you have to dish out damage as fast as you can, and Fighters get the job done. That's just how it works in BG1. (Although killing your enemies is certainly easier if your Mages and Clerics cast Hold Person and other spells on them.) So think about what you need and figure out what suits you.

Don't let your experience in BG2 and TOB give you the wrong expectations in BG1. It's not "a completely different game" or anything like that, but playing with low level characters who can be killed by a couple of arrows or a single wolf will take some getting used to.

[VonDondu]

My friend and I are looking to duo the whole game, only taking on appropriate NPCs to fulfill their quests...

It just occurred to me that you might have the wrong expectations when it comes to NPCs. If an NPC invites you to go on a quest, that's usually the extent of the NPC's involvement. For example, you're probably familiar with Minsc from BG2. When you meet him in BG1, he will ask you to help him rescue his companion Dynaheir. (He got hit on the head and she was captured and taken away by a band of monsters.) But you don't even have to talk to him to find the area where she was taken; in essence, you can do the quest without him just by stumbling into her. As long as you don't need his help (you probably don't), you might as well rescue her without him so you don't have to share the experience points with him.

There is also one BG1 NPC (you meet him briefly in BG2) who wants to hunt down a wyvern and take its head to the authorities to get a reward, but you can kill the wyvern (if you stumble upon it) and get the reward money without him. The main benefit in talking to him is that he'll tell you where to get the reward. A couple of other NPCs want to kill their personal enemies, but doing so isn't part of any special quest (you'll eventually kill both of them anyway), and they don't even have anything to say when you kill their sworn enemies. One NPC will claim that he wants you to help him with a quest, but when you get to the site where he tells you to go, he basically says, "Never mind." (He isn't Korgan, that's for sure.) So you shouldn't expect any significant NPC quests.

There is one exception, but I'd rather not spoil it. But even that particular quest isn't all it's cracked up to be. The main advantage is that you'll be introduced to another joinable NPC, but you probably wouldn't want her in your party, anyway, so it isn't any big loss if you don't get to meet her. (She makes a lot of whiny comments such as "Darn, I broke a nail" and "I have a cold".)

Even the NPC dialogue doesn't amount to much. Some of the NPCs will make short remarks to each other ("I don't like your company," "I feel the same way about you"--that's it), and sometimes having a certain NPC in your party will have a small effect on certain events (for example, if you have a Red Wizard in your party, you won't be attacked by any Red Wizards you happen to run into). That's about the extent of it. (On the other hand, there are over a hundred non-joinable NPCs who are worth talking to just to get some background information and a few laughs--a feature that was present to a much lesser extent in BG2.)

Most of the NPCs are cranky (even Imoen, or you might even say "especially Imoen") because apparently, the designers thought that making them cranky was the best way to give them "character". It's nice to have characters in your party who make unprompted remarks, but their vocabularies are so limited, you might get tired of hearing them after a while. (Although I have to say that Minsc never got old.)

[TheNightMayor]

Thanks

Thanks for the detailed replies in both threads, VonDondu. You gave me alot of useful information to digest and consider. Much appreciated!

[JackOfClubs]

One other thing: if you are playing the Ranger/Cleric for the ability to get both druidic and priestly spells that made this character so attractive in BG2, you may be disappointed. I think the same bug is in effect in BG1 but the low-level druid spells are not nearly as useful.

Also, due to aspects of the plog that I don't want to spoil, healing spells are much less necessary in BG1. (At least this is the case if you play a basically good character.)

[VonDondu]

Also, due to aspects of the plog that I don't want to spoil, healing spells are much less necessary in BG1. (At least this is the case if you play a basically good character.)

I can't figure out what you're talking about, unless you're referring to the innate abilities the main character possesses in BG2. In my opinion, there aren't enough healing potions for sale in BG1.

[kmonster]

I recommend to do some modifications to the game before you start. Get the ease-of-use mod and install some components:
In unmodded BG1 you don't get the maximum amount of possible HP and multiclasses are treated very badly. In my "no-reload" game Coran (fighter/thief) got only 9 HP total with 8 level-ups. I recommend to install at least the following components:

- max HP at level up
- always successful scroll scribing
- higher item stacking
- XPCap 500,000 instead of 161,000

I rcommend a fighter/mage/thief as first character besides the ranger/cleric. You'll level nearly as fast as the fighter/thief or fighter/illusionist and have only a few less HP.

Have your ranger/cleric start with hammer and sling and the F/M/T with sword and bow profiency.

[JackOfClubs]

I can't figure out what you're talking about, unless you're referring to the innate abilities the main character possesses in BG2. In my opinion, there aren't enough healing potions for sale in BG1.

Yeah, that's what I was referring to. I almost never use healing potions except very early in the game before you ge the innate abilities. Occasionally during really tough enemies. But at the end of the game I almost always have a stockpile of the things and don't usually need a cleric.