Originally posted by: styrafoam
Originally posted by: zerocool84
Well looks like Fighter it is. How should I round out the stats??? I really know nothing about how to make the stats.
For a fighter you should favor strength and constitution.
Tons of great info on planet baldurs gate--
http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/bg/character/
What about your party members. Should you control them yourself, or have the computer control them or ? Should you really play it as true turn-based, or what should you have trigger a pause in the game action? That confused me as well.
Play in realtime with the auto pause set to enemy sighted(biggest one to use), party member near death, and there was a 3rd one i cant remember off the top of my head- target killed maybe? Run with your plate wearers in front as you explore, or a rogue in stealth if you are a more careful type except when you are in an area which is heavily trapped. Nashkel mines is the first place you encounter like this but there are tons throughout the game. If you expect traps turn on the dectect traps ability on whatever rogue class party member you have and have them advance in small distances. Traps will one shot most of your party early on if you set them off.
Its been a while since i played through, someone else will have more info im sure.
Basically everything you said was correct.
I am an experience player so I only use Auto-pause for Trap Detected. But newbs should use it for Enemy Sighted and PC death.
There are so many little tricks to the game I wont bother listing them all. The best way to learn is by playing.
A few things for BG2:
Traps arent as dangerous when your party hits higher levels, except for Death and Stone to Flesh traps, BUT, they provide excellent XP and should be disabled for that reason alone. Same with locked doors and chests.
To that end: Always have a thief in your party, and since you will forced to give up Yoshimo halfway through the story, that means Jan. Imoen and Nalia are OK, but they are dual-classed humans which means they dont advance in thief levels and their abilities never go up.
When you get 6 people, you will probably want to have two rows of: Warrior, Shooter, Mage/Healer. The warriors keep everyone else protected so they can do their job. Having two rows like that means you can navigate down narrow passages effectively and also keep the same thing set up in wide passages. This is the standard way of moving around all the time and should be used often.
Summoned Monsters are a great way of scouting out dangerous areas. Just send along an invisible thief or a Wizard Eye and you will detect any baddies before they see you. If they have the ability to see invisible at least the monsters can get hit first and the thief can sneak away in the ensuing mess. Also, many powerful monsters can cast a buttload of nasty spells when they first see you. Having those monsters soak up most of the spells early on is an excellent strategy. If all your summoned creatures get messed up, summon some more. Using Hakeshars & Nishrus against mages and liches is an especially good idea. Use elementals & undead against Mind Flayers & Vampires & Beholders.
I cannot stress this concept enough. Summoned monsters make the game a lot easier. Rarely will they be strong enough to wipe out the tougher enemies in BG2, but they are great for soaking up suprise attacks and special abilties of bad guys. Some of them like the Wood Nymph have spells of their own to heal and cure, so they should be used frequently as well. When you suck up all her spells, have her scout.
When you get to the Adventurers Mart in Waukeens Promenade, you can buy a shield from the lady in the back. The Shield of Balduran completely protects against beholder rays and its awesome. It will make a couple of ridiculously hard areas in the game pretty darn easy. Dont buy it until after you pay off the Thieves Guild fee. You won't need it before then.
OK, thats all. If you need any more help just do a search in the PC Gaming Forum for "shortylickens" and "Baldur". I have probably given a hundred or more tips over the years.