Baldur's Gate and AD&D

[Lazy Gecko]

I got this game from the Steam sale. However I've never really been up to speed on the game mechanics and rulesets of D&D so I feel like I'm not really getting the optimal experience. The game's tutorials don't give you a lot of insight either, and there's not much available in Steam's Community Guides. I tried making a dwarf cleric but got absolutely slaughtered from what I assume was a fundamentally bad character build.

Yesterday I also tried watching a Let's Play. The guy seemed experienced but never really explained much of his decisions. For example the dice rolling for character stats. What exactly do the extra numbers mean, and why is a stat like 18/00 considered much better over something like 18/83?

I think I know how 2nd edition THAC0 works now, but I'd appreciate if someone could also give me a crash course on weapons and what their stats mean.

[Pachycrocuta]

In 2nd Edition (which is what Baldur's Gate is based on), a Strength of 18/00 (the only stat that has that extra /##) is better than 18/83 because the 00 is 100.

It has been too long since I played 2nd edition, or Baldur's Gate (I have all the game disks for the original, EXCEPT disk 1...), so I can't really comment on anything else.

[Deadite]

The /00 bit is for 100. Been years since i played Baldur's Gate but i recall at the time being a thief with exploding arrows was absurdly OP. On my last play through i did it solo with that set up. In games like this you will start again more than a few times till you find what class fits your play style.

[RoninaThorstone]

The /00 bit is for 100. Been years since i played Baldur's Gate but i recall at the time being a thief with exploding arrows was absurdly OP. On my last play through i did it solo with that set up. In games like this you will start again more than a few times till you find what class fits your play style.

Well, if you REALLY want to cheese through the game...

Ranger / Cleric duel class. Sounds dumb right? Duel wield mace of disruption and cromfyer. You will 2 shot kengaxx and just about anything else (even high level wizards).

[Lazy Gecko]

But what exactly do the extra numbers after the slash mean? Sometimes I can go higher than 18, but then the numbers disappear and I assume that is somehow bad.

[Zwergerl]

Warrior Classes are the only classes that can roll 18/xx for their strength instead of a flat 18 like the other classes. The lowest value here is 18/01, which is only a little bit better than a flat 18 (it gives +1 hit and + 3 dmg modificator with melee weapons), and the highest value is 18/00 (which represensts 18/100), which gives the char +3 hit and + 6 dmg bonus (and increased carrying weight).

All other classes can reach 18 strength at max, which equals +1 hit and +2 dmg mod. Except you're an halforc and roll 19 strength.

a tabular explaining stat values :

http://stane0.tripod.com/BG1Tables.html

[Arrashi]

If you want optimal experience... play blind. Back in the day we had no lets plays and no guides. That is the way to have most fun out of BG. No "what is most cookie cutter build guise !?!!?" Just let the game guide you, and figure out everything by yourself.

Tho, then again back in the day we had 200 page manual to the games too

[Zwergerl]

Tho, then again back in the day we had 200 page manual to the games too

which, of course, were always present in my the bathroom - and made the toilet 'sessions' take up to 30 minutes

[mireigi]

http://Sorcerers.net is probably your best resource for finding out stuff about Baldur's Gate.

http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG/index_tips.php
First link on the above page contains the entire manual for Baldur's Gate in PDF format. You can get a lot of info from there.

[Shinzai]

which, of course, were always present in my the bathroom - and made the toilet 'sessions' take up to 30 minutes

Are you a wizard?

I agree with most of the above posts. Play it blind, have fun, do whatever you want, listen to no one. Make mistakes, try things out. Don't worry if people die, unless they get petrified when you have no way of removing it. Punch dragons in the face. Live for next dice roll, not tomorrow.

[Deleted]

I only appeared on this thread because my eyes noticed *bling* Baldur's Gate.

My advice, as others have mentioned above: Play it blindly. I have played Baldur's Gate since 1998, and still play it today (actually just ended 1½ gaming session of Shadows of Amn). I have wasted thousands of hours on this game, single playthrough of BG2: Shadows of Amn can take you easily over 200 hours.

Just pick a class you seem to be interested of and have fun. Character creation is big part of it so you might want to look up some advice on how to not build your character as a complete mess just to make things easier.

Don't read walkthrough or over excessive guides about the game. It is 100% about discovering stuff yourself and having the greatest blast of an adventure which today's games cannot deliver in the same manner.

p.s. When I mean thousands of hours, I literally mean thousands <3

[Arrashi]

Just to add to my previous post. While BG1 and BG2 have "OMG BEST SETUP EVER SO OP GG NOOBZ !!!" that's not where the fun in game lies. Try diffrent classes with diffrent setups. Every companion have tons of text, and interactions with each others, and game really rewards trying diffrent setups. I myself finished bg1 with like 6 diffrent teams and bg2 with 4 diffrents setups and it was not only always possible, but also always fun.

[Pachycrocuta]

Warrior Classes are the only classes that can roll 18/xx for their strength instead of a flat 18 like the other classes. The lowest value here is 18/01, which is only a little bit better than a flat 18 (it gives +1 hit and + 3 dmg modificator with melee weapons), and the highest value is 18/00 (which represensts 18/100), which gives the char +3 hit and + 6 dmg bonus (and increased carrying weight).

All other classes can reach 18 strength at max, which equals +1 hit and +2 dmg mod. Except you're an halforc and roll 19 strength.

a tabular explaining stat values :

http://stane0.tripod.com/BG1Tables.html

From my experience with 2nd edition AD&D, only human males could get Str 18/00, while human females could get 18/98 or 18/99. All other races could get 18, if their race allowed that. Some races couldn't have an 18 in Str, and stats were different if you played a male or female (I think str only, though). Of course, that could have possibly changed for Baldur's Gate. Again, I haven't played BG in many a year, which makes me sad.

[Dilbon]

From my experience with 2nd edition AD&D, only human males could get Str 18/00, while human females could get 18/98 or 18/99. All other races could get 18, if their race allowed that. Some races couldn't have an 18 in Str, and stats were different if you played a male or female (I think str only, though). Of course, that could have possibly changed for Baldur's Gate. Again, I haven't played BG in many a year, which makes me sad.

That was 1st edition AD&D, racial restrictions were dropped in 2nd edition. Every warrior type character, male or female, could get 18/100 except halflings.

[Lazy Gecko]

I am not actually completely new to Baldur's Gate in general since I got Baldur's Gate 2 around 2005 or so and played it a great deal. I think BG2 was much, much more forgiving in the beginning though by having your characters start at higher levels and probably out-level the monsters you face in the first dungeon.

In BG1 I'm starting at level 1 with a meager 10 hit points. I made a dwarven cleric of Talos with some lightning powers for offensive capabilities. After the scene with Gorion in the wilderness, Imoen got killed while fighting some gibberlings. Then I met the dwarf thief and the mage, but the mage died as well soon after from some more gibberlings. So I traveled to the Friendly Arm to look for some way to revive my party. My memory of BG2 was pretty dusty so I had forgotten how the revival mechanics worked. Tried the temple and resting at the inn but neither did anything. Then I got killed by one of the mercenaries looking for me. I even tried running out of sight from him and let the guards take care of him, but he killed those as well.

[Shinzai]

I am not actually completely new to Baldur's Gate in general since I got Baldur's Gate 2 around 2005 or so and played it a great deal. I think BG2 was much, much more forgiving in the beginning though by having your characters start at higher levels and probably out-level the monsters you face in the first dungeon.

In BG1 I'm starting at level 1 with a meager 10 hit points. I made a dwarven cleric of Talos with some lightning powers for offensive capabilities. After the scene with Gorion in the wilderness, Imoen got killed while fighting some gibberlings. Then I met the dwarf thief and the mage, but the mage died as well soon after from some more gibberlings. So I traveled to the Friendly Arm to look for some way to revive my party. My memory of BG2 was pretty dusty so I had forgotten how the revival mechanics worked. Tried the temple and resting at the inn but neither did anything. Then I got killed by one of the mercenaries looking for me. I even tried running out of sight from him and let the guards take care of him, but he killed those as well.

Just out of curiosity, are you micro-managing the battles and pausing your way through, or are you face tanking and playing in real time? Because with the starting choices, if you roll a caster, you're going to have to kite almost everything, maybe let Imoen or the like do some tanking and rest to get your spells back after every fight. But, most random encounters will probably just kick your ass and I'd recommend zoning out of an area if you really have to. Running away to fight another day is a completely valid tactic. Don't ever feel compelled to risk dying to kill a mob, unless you know you can.

[Vespian]

which, of course, were always present in my the bathroom - and made the toilet 'sessions' take up to 30 minutes

Word. I substitute with actual literature these days A good toilet session should takes hours.

[Ashnazg]

Fighting dragons in BG2 is epic (without cheesing them).

[RoninaThorstone]

Fighting dragons in BG2 is epic (without cheesing them).

Bardarian cast Quivering Palm
Quivering Palm success! [16v14]
Firkraag dies.

[Zaelsino]

Fighting dragons in BG2 is epic (without cheesing them).

I don't know, I still felt heroic spamming wand of cloudkill on that jackass dragon who cheated me out of 10k gold at the start. Pay evil unto evil...