GameBanshee Forums

Hey all,

I was just wondering, for a fighter going through the entire Saga, which would be more important (if you could only start with one at 18) dex or con? I currently rolled a char. with 18 dex and 16 con, but I've heard later in SoA and especially into ToB, your AC almost becomes negligable against enemy THAC0 and that it's better off getting the extra HPs from Con.

If you are planning to wear heavy armour and not planning to use ranged weapons then Dex is not very important. Con will increase your hp so may be more useful.

Dex is more important. Getting hit less is more important than a few extra hitpoints. Getting hit less means less getting poisoned, paralyzed and saves you many healing spells. Better AC is only useless against a few enemies during the last 10 percent of your playing experience, the missile thac0 bonus you get for higher dex is also very important in BG1.
You could choose 17-17 as compromise, but it shouldn't be too hard to get 18 in both. More than 3 wis is useless for fighters and there's only one kind of enemy in BG2 where you might benefit from higher int, there's no other use for high int so 5 should be enough to start.

Does high dexterity still make it so you get hit less if you wear armour that has a low max dex bonus?

Intelligence is important. It determines the amount of choices you get in dialogue. In Fallout if you had a very lower intelligence some NPCs would refuse to talk to you. I don't know if this is the same in BG, or if your char can be deemed as stupid because of low intelligence. I'd never go with less than 10 Int. My 2 coppers.

Definitely dexterity. Even with heavy armor the bonus still applies. With a 16 Constitution you will have more than enough HP's.

[QUOTE=DaemonJ]Definitely dexterity. Even with heavy armor the bonus still applies. With a 16 Constitution you will have more than enough HP's.[/QUOTE]

I didn't realise the bonuses still applied in heavy armour, so if thats the case then I agree, go with higher dexterity.

Does high dexterity still make it so you get hit less if you wear armour that has a low max dex bonus?

You get always the full dexterity bonus to AC, no matter which armor you wear.
There isn't a max dex bonus in 2e games like the BG series. Max dex bonus only applies to games with 3e rules like IwD2.

Intelligence is important. It determines the amount of choices you get in dialogue. In Fallout if you had a very lower intelligence some NPCs would refuse to talk to you. I don't know if this is the same in BG, or if your char can be deemed as stupid because of low intelligence. I'd never go with less than 10 Int. My 2 coppers.

In BG1 low int doesn't matter at all. In BG2 I remember only one situation where very high int does matter, but you also need very high wis to get this dialogue option to get an unimportant bonus.(You can also get it by having someone else do the talking, I don't think it worth taking both 14 int and wis for this.)

Int and wis is important for adventure style rpgs like PST, not for mainstream hack and slash like the BG series.

[QUOTE=kmonster]In BG1 low int doesn't matter at all. In BG2 I remember only one situation where very high int does matter, but you also need very high wis to get this dialogue option to get an unimportant bonus.(You can also get it by having someone else do the talking, I don't think it worth taking both 14 int and wis for this.)

Int and wis is important for adventure style rpgs like PST, not for mainstream hack and slash like the BG series.[/QUOTE]
That is where all those potions come into play too.

For a melee character, the hp bonus that you get when you have 18 con is nice. That and good armor.

Also if you are somehow able to raise your constitution to 20 (dwarf19con and a tome) you get a natural regeneration that is very nice in Baldur's Gate 1

Tough choice, I always max out strenght, dex and con if fighter.
If going trough the whole saga then I'd advise to roll as many times as it needs to max out these.

[QUOTE=Coot]For a melee character, the hp bonus that you get when you have 18 con is nice. That and good armor.[/QUOTE]
I always had the view point that it was always better to get hit less than to be able to take more hits.

Especially since the HP bonus from the extra Con will usually only account for 1 possibly 2 extra hits while the extra Dex will allow you to not get hit 3 or possibly 4 times.

You should just be like me, and keep rolling until you get stats that total up to 95 or above. My current character (human cleric, and omg about to finish game!) had the following stats:

STR: 18
DEX: 17
CON: 17
INT: 13
WIS: 18
CHA: 17

I rolled her stats for 4 hours, because I was determined to bring her through ToB. Her stats going to ToB will be

STR: 18
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT: 14
WIS: 20
CHA: 18

She's hawt, imo.

[QUOTE=Alcyone]You should just be like me, and keep rolling until you get stats that total up to 95 or above. My current character (human cleric, and omg about to finish game!) had the following stats:

STR: 18
DEX: 17
CON: 17
INT: 13
WIS: 18
CHA: 17

I rolled her stats for 4 hours, because I was determined to bring her through ToB. Her stats going to ToB will be

STR: 18
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT: 14
WIS: 20
CHA: 18

She's hawt, imo.[/QUOTE]
If you are going to do that, why not just CTRL-8 or just take the first roll and edit the character in SK and save yourself about 3 hours and 58 minutes?

I'd feel dishonest.

[QUOTE=Alcyone]You should just be like me, and keep rolling until you get stats that total up to 95 or above. My current character (human cleric, and omg about to finish game!) had the following stats:

STR: 18
DEX: 17
CON: 17
INT: 13
WIS: 18
CHA: 17

I rolled her stats for 4 hours, because I was determined to bring her through ToB. Her stats going to ToB will be

STR: 18
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT: 14
WIS: 20
CHA: 18

She's hawt, imo.[/QUOTE]Too bad Clerics don't actually have any use for a constitution that's higher than 16... You could have had 19 dex instead

Rav

Sorry for the delay (started a new job & all) but I'm going to try and get them as close as I can to 18. The biggest problem is: I'm also aiming for an 18 in CHA. I know it's not very important and I can get that item in BG2 that buffs it. I just prefer having it that high for RP related reasons.

[QUOTE=Vaelan]Sorry for the delay (started a new job & all) but I'm going to try and get them as close as I can to 18. The biggest problem is: I'm also aiming for an 18 in CHA. I know it's not very important and I can get that item in BG2 that buffs it. I just prefer having it that high for RP related reasons.[/QUOTE]
There are 2 items in BG1 that also buffs the Charisma score of the wearer.