Few questions about Rangers and BG in general

[RaNkeri]

Well, I'm finally close to starting BG(thank god) and have planned of buying Baldur's Gate Compilation. There are still few questions that have bugged me for a while...

1. BGC contains the whole BG saga, and I'd like to know is ToB completely an independent game? By this I mean, is ToB meant to be installed after I've beaten SoA, or is it meant to be installed together with SoA? (I know it's early to ask a question like this, but please)

2. ToB increases the exp cap of my characters. Does that mean that I will also gain more weapon profiency points?

3. I'm going to make a vanilla Ranger, specialized in all bows, plus 2-handed and some of the 1-handed swords. (Going for dual wielding). That's why I would like to know, what is the best combination when dual wielding 1-handed swords? (After picking long bow, short bow and crossbow, I have 9 points to be used, meaning that I can specialize in 3 1-handed sword-types, after picking up 2-handed swords)

4. It's been quite some time since I last time played BG, so could you guys tell me, which one out of the four ranger's primary attributes (STR, WSD, DEX, CON) is the most important, which one is the second most important etc. (For example, DEX is the most important, after that STR, which is followed by CON and WSD)

5. How huge is the difference between an imported character(from BG to BG2) and freshly created character? (Except for the fact that imported character has more profiency points to begin with.)


Waiting patiently for your replies

[fable]

1) ToB is an expansion of SoA. The latter is required to run the former.

2) Yes. And the possibility ofl learning some rather advanced skills exists, too.

3) Do a search under wielding or dual wielding, and you'll get literally dozens of very well thought out opinions. We'd really keep those discussions limited to their respective threads, instead of creating a new repository for them. The site owner doesn't want duplicative threads on GameBanshee, siting the slowness of gamesites that permit endless thread duplication.

4) If you're going for archery (and you should consider making an archer), then DEX will be your most important stat. I'd put STR and CON right under that, since you can't always expect to take out enemies at a distance. WIS is nice, but you don't need INT, and CHA will take care of itself.

5) You don't get to keep your items, so there's really not that much reason for the carry over unless you're into roleplaying. That's at least my take on it.

Don't forget to check the sticky thread at the top of the forum about mods! And do a search on mods to view some discussion of these. They can really enhance the playing experience, adding new party NPCs, new shops, new quests, etc.

Have fun!

[kmonster]

1) I recommend installing ToB together with SoA.
3) Ranged attacks and dualwielding doesn't fit together well in BG2. Unlike in IWD2 you cannot switch from bow to dualwielding via the quick weapon slot. So each time you want to change from bow to dualwield you have to enter the inventory and change manually. It's doable in combat since you can pause the game when you enter the inventory, but it's annoying.
4) DEX is most important, especially for tanking, because of the +4 AC bonus for 18 dex which can reduce how often you are hit by up to 80 percent. 2nd most important is CON (hitpoints for survival) followed by strength which can be raised up to 18/00 for a long time with the level2 mage spells or even higher with special equipment.
Wisdom is totally useless for rangers, dump it as low as possible. Even int or cha are more useful.
5) Not big.

[RaNkeri]

I did the search and somewhat managed to find answer for the dual wielding question.

I would still like know, which style is more powerful in general: Using two swords at the same time, or using a 2-handed sword?


Otherwise, thank you for answering

[kmonster]

2-handed style is more powerful during most of the game. But once you reach more than 3,000,000 XP you can select greater whirlwind as HLA numerous times and get 10 attacks per round no matter if you dualwield or not, making the higher base damage and longer reach more useful.

[RaNkeri]

Do you mean using a 2-handed sword or dual wielding, when you mentioned 2-handed style?

[fable]

Two swords are more powerful, IMO, because you need to take into account not merely the power they pack, but what side benefits they bring. If you wield two magical swords and one lets you get off a vampire-clearing spell, or saves you from being slowed, or webbed--that must be taken into account.