Baldur's Gate Beamdog's Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 Enhanced Editions

[Zboj Lamignat]

1. You have to attack from the back and be in stealth.

 

[ArchAngel]

Also you are going to miss a lot with it. It uses your thief base attack with +4 bonus which is still crap. One of the reasons why pure thieves are so crap in combat. You want a thief with 19 strength if you plan to go melee or a multiclass fighter/thief with 18/XX.

 

[Echo Mirage]

Speaking of backstabs and daggers. Why wasn't the Dagger of Venom+2 in BG 2?

I loved that thing. A perfect mage killer and one of the best weapons in any RPG I have ever played.

 

[Brancaleone]

I started playing BG2 EE, been a long time since I last spent a significant amount of time with an IE game, so my memory might be a bit fuzzy, but two things bother me.

1. What's up with backstabs? The new UI gives you an exact dmg range for your chars, but, apart from crits, I'm yet to see a backstab that actually dealt at least 4x (current multiplier for my assassin) minimum dmg or more. It's even funnier when you get a "backstab for quadruple damage" message, but the actual number isn't even divisible by four. You also seem to miss a lot when trying to backstab, which isn't something I remember.

Strength damage bonus is not subject to the multiplier, it's probably that.

 

[Infinitron]

BG backstabbing was always pretty unreliable, Black Isle put in the optional 3E-style sneak attacking in Icewind Dale for a reason

 

[Shadenuat]

I take it Rasaad sucks and should be avoided until BG 2EE?

He needs a few levels and equipment to work. To compensate for his poor AC you need magical bracers, AC6 helps (or Barkskin). His specials are damaging enough especially against undead.
A simple level 2 Strength spell should be cast on him every day.
Last but not least, you can put his first extra profiency point into either single weapon for +1 AC or Quarterstaves, buy him staff +3 in Ulgoth's Beard and just make him hit things using it's reach.

But yeah he's kinda lame, stats and personality both.
OTOH he's a lot more in spirit of actual BG companions. All other EE companions are overpowered as all fuck, gamebreakingly so.

 

[ArchAngel]

Neera is not much more overpowered than Edwin

 

[GarfunkeL]

Was it always like that or did the prestigious incliners from Beamdog fucked with the game in a yet another way?

The first is IE quirkiness when it comes to missing and positioning, though I wouldn't put it past Beamdog to fuck it up somehow. The second is definitely on them. With 18 INT you should pretty much always learn a spell and that's my experience from BG, BG2 , TuTu and BGT.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Strength damage bonus is not subject to the multiplier, it's probably that.

Yep, found the same info on interwebz, it's not an official source, but it would explain the dmg number being uneven, since my assassin is a halfing with +1 dmg bonus from his 17 str. Still pretty unclear, is a passive +1 from the kit included or not for example? And this +1 difference hardly explains the low dmg numbers I've been getting, but perhaps that's just my luck.

 

[Delterius]

Was it always like that or did the prestigious incliners from Beamdog fucked with the game in a yet another way?

The first is IE quirkiness when it comes to missing and positioning, though I wouldn't put it past Beamdog to fuck it up somehow. The second is definitely on them. With 18 INT you should pretty much always learn a spell and that's my experience from BG, BG2 , TuTu and BGT.

You likely played it modded. 18 INT puts you at 85% chance of learning spells. Source:http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Races_and_Stats#Recommended_Statistics_by_Class_4

 

[hell bovine]

Was it always like that or did the prestigious incliners from Beamdog fucked with the game in a yet another way?

The first is IE quirkiness when it comes to missing and positioning, though I wouldn't put it past Beamdog to fuck it up somehow. The second is definitely on them. With 18 INT you should pretty much always learn a spell and that's my experience from BG, BG2 , TuTu and BGT.

If you play on lower difficulty settings. I've had a 19 intelligence mage fail to scribe a scroll in original BG2.

 

[Shadenuat]

Strength damage bonus is not subject to the multiplier, it's probably that.

Yep, found the same info on interwebz, it's not an official source, but it would explain the dmg number being uneven, since my assassin is a halfing with +1 dmg bonus from his 17 str. Still pretty unclear, is a passive +1 from the kit included or not for example? And this +1 difference hardly explains the low dmg numbers I've been getting, but perhaps that's just my luck.

To make the most out of backstabs, you'd want a weapon with highest enchantment rating, since it would mean better thac0 and bigger minimum damage, so your average backstab damage would be bigger and less dependant on lucky roll (+3 short sword might be better than +2 longsword, and better speed factor means you'll be a bit quicker to land backstab&rehide)
Yea and cast Strength on that halfling

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/faqs/43066

Neera is not much more overpowered than Edwin

Edwin can't cast Cloudkill as level 1 spell

 

[ArchAngel]

Strength damage bonus is not subject to the multiplier, it's probably that.

Yep, found the same info on interwebz, it's not an official source, but it would explain the dmg number being uneven, since my assassin is a halfing with +1 dmg bonus from his 17 str. Still pretty unclear, is a passive +1 from the kit included or not for example? And this +1 difference hardly explains the low dmg numbers I've been getting, but perhaps that's just my luck.

To make the most out of backstabs, you'd want a weapon with highest enchantment rating, since it would mean better thac0 and bigger minimum damage, so your average backstab damage would be bigger and less dependant on lucky roll (+3 short sword might be better than +2 longsword, and better speed factor means you'll be a bit quicker to land backstab&rehide)
Yea and cast Strength on that halfling

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/faqs/43066

Neera is not much more overpowered than Edwin

Edwin can't cast Cloudkill as level 1 spell

Most of the time neither can Neera and it can backfire badly. She is only good if you like savescumming a lot.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Was it always like that or did the prestigious incliners from Beamdog fucked with the game in a yet another way?

The first is IE quirkiness when it comes to missing and positioning, though I wouldn't put it past Beamdog to fuck it up somehow. The second is definitely on them. With 18 INT you should pretty much always learn a spell and that's my experience from BG, BG2 , TuTu and BGT.

You likely played it modded. 18 INT puts you at 85% chance of learning spells. Source:http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Races_and_Stats#Recommended_Statistics_by_Class_4

Was it always like that or did the prestigious incliners from Beamdog fucked with the game in a yet another way?

The first is IE quirkiness when it comes to missing and positioning, though I wouldn't put it past Beamdog to fuck it up somehow. The second is definitely on them. With 18 INT you should pretty much always learn a spell and that's my experience from BG, BG2 , TuTu and BGT.

If you play on lower difficulty settings. I've had a 19 intelligence mage fail to scribe a scroll in original BG2.

Oh FFS, screw the dot you nit pickers. Yes, neither 18 nor 19 INT gives you 100% chance. But Zboj was saying that he was constantly failing to scribe scrolls and that's more than the 15% chance he should have with core rules. I would lose out on 2-3 scrolls throughout the BG1 portion and maybe 3-4 in BG2 portion.

 

[Delterius]

Yeah but shit happens. Once I lost 3 scrolls at 19 INT all at once.

 

[ArchAngel]

Was it always like that or did the prestigious incliners from Beamdog fucked with the game in a yet another way?

The first is IE quirkiness when it comes to missing and positioning, though I wouldn't put it past Beamdog to fuck it up somehow. The second is definitely on them. With 18 INT you should pretty much always learn a spell and that's my experience from BG, BG2 , TuTu and BGT.

You likely played it modded. 18 INT puts you at 85% chance of learning spells. Source:http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Races_and_Stats#Recommended_Statistics_by_Class_4

Was it always like that or did the prestigious incliners from Beamdog fucked with the game in a yet another way?

The first is IE quirkiness when it comes to missing and positioning, though I wouldn't put it past Beamdog to fuck it up somehow. The second is definitely on them. With 18 INT you should pretty much always learn a spell and that's my experience from BG, BG2 , TuTu and BGT.

If you play on lower difficulty settings. I've had a 19 intelligence mage fail to scribe a scroll in original BG2.

Oh FFS, screw the dot you nit pickers. Yes, neither 18 nor 19 INT gives you 100% chance. But Zboj was saying that he was constantly failing to scribe scrolls and that's more than the 15% chance he should have with core rules. I would lose out on 2-3 scrolls throughout the BG1 portion and maybe 3-4 in BG2 portion.

I remember being angry because I would fail these checks in a row in both bg1 and bg2 and that continued in Bg1EE as well. I just learned to lower the difficulty before scribing scrolls and bringing it back up afterwards.

Chance to learn spells from scrolls is one feature of IE games that I would not miss if it was removed.

 

[Lilura]

Chance to learn spells from scrolls is one feature of IE games that I would not miss if it was removed.

That's just because you're a scrub, though.

 

[Dreaad]

There's like 50* the amount of gold you need, available in each BG, loosing 20+ scrolls doesn't even hurt.

 

[hell bovine]

Oh FFS, screw the dot you nit pickers. Yes, neither 18 nor 19 INT gives you 100% chance. But Zboj was saying that he was constantly failing to scribe scrolls and that's more than the 15% chance he should have with core rules. I would lose out on 2-3 scrolls throughout the BG1 portion and maybe 3-4 in BG2 portion.

This entire "random chance isn't working for me" argument is quite old. Mainly because people tend to remember strings of failures often, so they assume something must be wrong. How many scrolls you have lost, for example, is dependent on how often you scribe them, so quoting 2-3 isn't much. My mages have easily lost 10 times that, because I prefer arcane spellcasting and used a lot of wizards & bards in my games.

PS you can easily google the answer on their forums, apparently someone was willing to do the most boring experiment in the existence of gaming to show that you indeed have 85% chance to scribe scrolls even in EE

 

[ArchAngel]

There's like 50* the amount of gold you need, available in each BG, loosing 20+ scrolls doesn't even hurt.

It does because # of scrolls is limited, especially before you get access to BG. There are like 2 fireball scrolls and both you cannot buy.

 

[Somberlain]

1. What's up with backstabs? The new UI gives you an exact dmg range for your chars, but, apart from crits, I'm yet to see a backstab that actually dealt at least 4x (current multiplier for my assassin) minimum dmg or more. It's even funnier when you get a "backstab for quadruple damage" message, but the actual number isn't even divisible by four. You also seem to miss a lot when trying to backstab, which isn't something I remember.

Proficiency, weapon and ability bonuses are multiplied by backstab, strength bonus is not. I'm fairly sure this is part of the P&P rules too.

 

[hell bovine]

There's like 50* the amount of gold you need, available in each BG, loosing 20+ scrolls doesn't even hurt.

It does because # of scrolls is limited, especially before you get access to BG. There are like 2 fireball scrolls and both you cannot buy.

You can, however, get a mage drunk on intelligence raising potions. With 24 intelligence, they will always succeed. (or you can just use fireball wands instead)

 

[Lilura]

There's like 50* the amount of gold you need, available in each BG, loosing 20+ scrolls doesn't even hurt.

Yeah, Potion of Genius gives +4 Int to a max of 25. Now, 19 Int grants 95% scribe-chance - and that's enough.

"Getting mad" due to scribing failure is just stupid: scrolls are found reliably at vendors and as static and random drops. And moreover, so what if you failed your last chance (it can happen): learn to live without, it's part of the game.

Proficiency, weapon and ability bonuses are multiplied by backstab, strength bonus is not. I'm fairly sure this is part of the P&P rules too.

Indeed..

Backstab damage = weapon roll + weapon enchantment + weapon specialization * backstab level (+ Strength bonus).

(by "Specialization" is meant the table that includes Proficient -> Grandmaster)

 

[Shadenuat]

I had 20 INT gnome Illusionist in IWD EE, she reliably failed scribing scrolls all the time, even of her own spec.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussi...o-copy-spells-75-of-the-time-even-with-22-int

 

[ArchAngel]

I had 20 INT gnome Illusionist in IWD EE, she reliably failed scribing scrolls all the time, even of her own spec.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussi...o-copy-spells-75-of-the-time-even-with-22-int

I guess they are using new Xcom random number generator where you can fail 100% attacks :D