GameBanshee Forums

Don't feel bad! I can't play BG in the old format either. The walking speed is just shockingly slow.

As far as stats you really need to look at what stats are most important for your class.
Kensai/Theif:
What level will you dual class at?
Strength, Constitution and Dexterity are most important for any fighter thief combo.

Str: Important for Thaco and damage
Con: Important for hit points
Dex: Important for armor class, reaction and thief skill points
Int: 9 will let you use scrolls other than that not important for your character
wis: higher wisdom helps your saving throws but otherwise unimportant for your chartacter
Cha: I believe 8 or lower is negative reaction form other NPC's

BG games are very forgiving as far as character building goes. Assuming you're not playing solo of course. You'll have 5 more party members of your choice. Just make sure you got a well balanced party, and you should do just fine.

The stats for your character though do look pretty decent, so he should be fine.

As for weapon proficiency. Again BG games have tons of weapons. The great thing about Gamebanshee website, is that it has a nice database of pretty much all the equipment. So just think of which weapon you want to use, check out the database to see if there are decent weapons of that type in the game and stick to it. As a general rule of thumb though, the more common weapons have better variety and usually have a couple of powerful and unique weapons. Things like Long Swords, Short Swords, Staffs, Daggers, Warhammer are all pretty "safe" bets.

I suppose I would dual at 9, but I'm not sure if I'll make it that far. Every once in awhile, with a group of 5 members, I'll come across a group of gibberlings and they tear my group to pieces. As of now, I only have 2 melee members, which I think might be hurting me, but my character doesn't hit that often quite yet. I decided to drop Xar and his buddy for the Drow, and I'm starting to regret it (hooray for auto-save).

As far as I know, I'm only lvl 1, should I stay away from these groups of gibberlings? I'm starting to wonder if I'm suppose to be able to take these guys on right now, and that worries me. The hobgoblins were no problem at all, died without doing so much as a single point of damage. The little gibberlings are a different story, however. They travel about 6 deep =/

One option I suggest for BG (I did this on my last playthrough as a Human Berserker) is to play through as a single class (kensei in your case) and get as much XP as possible. Before the last battle use Shadowkeeper and drop your first class level to the level where you plan to duel class keeping XP constant then load the game and Dual-Class from that level with your current XP. Baldur's Gate can be very unforgiving if you decide to Dual at level 7-9 as there may not be enough XP to regain your Kensai abilities before BGII.

I know it is a little cheesy to do this, but I was in a position where I wasn't sure if I wanted to take my character through BGII as a Berserker/Mage or a Berserker/Cleric, and it was nice to play out the last battle with the Berserker, Berserker/Mage and Berserker/Cleric (though with the Cleric build, I didn't regain my Berserker skills).

I'm not sure why, but I'm getting decimated by everything =/ I'm using core rules, because I feel like I'd be cheating otherwise, but perhaps that's a bad idea? Using a party of the first people I meet (Imoen, the 2 guys that come up to you after you leave Candlekeep, and Khalid and his friend) and I'm getting slaughtered just one map next to the Friendly Arm Inn. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, though I'm sure there must be something I don't want to say it, but I don't think micromanagement is my thing =P

Edit: All of my guys are level 1, or 2, and they very rarely hit their target. The last fight was against 5 hobgoblins, I killed 2 of them, using all 5 of my potions in the process, as well as losing 2 party members, and sat there as my party was just swinging on them, no spells left or anything =/

Try use some bow's, it's always handy to kill stuff while they can't hit you, also first search area's south of Friendly Arm Inn.

Basically, you're doing it wrong. Sorry, but...
Your party is only just starting out and they're weak as kittens with minimal equipment. Use druids and clerics for buffs, soften your targets up with ranged attacks first, have mages cast disabling spells like Sleep on groups of enemies to reduce their numbers and make them easy targets, make sure your heavy hitters are closest to the hostiles, use the terrain to your advantage (narrow passages and/or crevices mean you'll only get one or two enemies attacking at once instead of being swarmed), and basically get to know how to survive fights. You don't have to take on every enemy, you can run away and live to fight another day, and you will get better results reducing their numbers with hit and run attacks and then mopping up the remaining foes than fighting 'like a man'. Have a character with a ranged weapon scout ahead (not too far ahead though) of your main party, take a shot at an enemy, and then draw them back in twos and threes to be ambushed by your main group.
Basically you need to really use tactics, especially early in the game, until later on your individual party members will be able to slaughter gibblering hordes on their own (at most in 2s) on autopilot.
And yeah, sadly micromanagement is pretty much the key to the game. The keys to micromanagement are 1: the space bar/pause function, and 2: knowing how the game works - especially the spell system.

If you stick at it it's well worth it, the BG saga is an awesome series, but it does take getting used to. Good luck!