Advice for a Baldurs Gate 2 noob?

[Gosling]

Kensai/Mage, bro.

 

[MMXI]

I never bothered with rangers in BG2. What makes ranger/cleric special?

Ranger/cleric multi-class, by the way. Dual class is okay but you won't get any of the ranger's high level abilities.

What makes them special? They get all the druid spells, including iron skins. With a few hardiness high level abilities along with some whirlwinds, and with all the cleric and druid buffs you can cast, you end up as an invulnerable killing machine. You can also spit out a few powerful summons to help you out.

 

[bloodlover]

Just play the game as you see fit and experiment with it. I asked the same questions around here at some point and after playing 30 hours or so I got bored of my berserker (the most often recommended fighter n00b learning class here). So I made a wild mage, the way I wanted it to be, had a lot of rages till I learned to play with it but in the end enjoyed the game.

I think the beauty of this game (well RPG's in general) is that you can experiment and choose the way you play the game so listening to some else's advice will just ruin the experience for you.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

Would just like to add that everyone who has said sorcerers are more powerful than mages aren't completely right. By end game wild mages are pretty much without a doubt the most powerful spellcasting class because they basically can use all of their level 1 spells as any other spell they know, but casted quicker. With Robe of Vecna (which is a super cheese item) you can basically take down any single monster with a time stop/improved alacrity/lower resistance/multiple damage spells of your choice given by your wild mage spell. Plus, until you get to those higher levels, wild surges can be effing hilarious.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Kensai/Mage, bro.

Seriously, i was a n00b and that was fun.

 

[Decado]

Roll a Swashbuckler or a Cavalier. Playing either one will be a good way to break into the game.

 

[20 Eyes]

Roll a Swashbuckler or a Cavalier. Playing either one will be a good way to break into the game.

Swashbuckler is great, I'd definitely recommend that as a class for beginners. Good combat abilities, good rogue abilities, and it's definitely nice for the game because you don't really get much selection on picking a rogue for your party. But I'd go Inquisitor over Cavalier. The anti-magic capabilities are just too nice. And it's not something game-breaking like...

Ranger/cleric multi-class, by the way. Dual class is okay but you won't get any of the ranger's high level abilities.

What makes them special? They get all the druid spells, including iron skins. With a few hardiness high level abilities along with some whirlwinds, and with all the cleric and druid buffs you can cast, you end up as an invulnerable killing machine. You can also spit out a few powerful summons to help you out.

Ranger/cleric is insane, partially because you have access to every divine spell in the game. It's too broken. It's like bringing your corvette to a bicycle race. Towards the end of the game, you'll be powerful as all-fuck no matter what class you take. But cleric/ranger is something that could solo the entire game by itself, I think something along the lines of a swashbuckler would be more enjoyable for an initial run.

Kensai/Mage

Another broken combo. Any kind of fighter/mage is just silly at later levels. No wonder most of the Codex doesn't seem to think much of Baldur Gate's combat, I'd hate it too if I went through the game with an uber min-maxed character build.

 

[laclongquan]

I larp a sword saint turn mage:

Kensai: 7 levels. Holy fuck it's hard. You have to babysit that sword saint all the way through battle. Full investment into quarterstaff, by the way. At level 7th he's a pretty good one hit wonder.

Mage get really bad beginning. After dual, I have to choose dagger, so damage is minimum. Really weak mage, until we can regain the ability to use staff.

IIRC, Kensai/Mage cant use bracers.

EDITY: Whoops. I mean K/M in a Trilogy run, not BG2. Havent try this shit in pure BG2 yet.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Make one Kensai/Mage and one Ranger/Cleric. The rest of your party can consist of whatever the fuck you want because you won't need them. Take 4 Jesters for all I care.

I never bothered with rangers in BG2. What makes ranger/cleric special?

The speciality is actually an exploit. See, Rangers do get low level druid spells. But the game just unlocks the druid spell book for them, so if the same character has lots of high-level divine spell slots (like a cleric has) he will have access to the full range of cleric & druid spells. Which means a hefty increase in combat prowess because now they have a physical protection spell (Iron Skin) plus some powerful offensive too (Nature's Beauty, blind everyone, no save).

 

[commie]

I envy all you fuckers that have had the time to just play a game(BG just one example here, other advice like this is on the MM and Wizardry threads etc.) so much to be able to try out every possible combination, see how they play, their usefulness or otherwise.

I barely have time to play a game once so what shitty class or bad decisions regarding character development and working out what skills are useful and what are useless I make, I tend to have to live with. Probably why I've never finished BG or BG2 despite starting them at various times during the years. I just hit a dead end with a character regarding utility or fun, but don't have time to start all over again.

That's why I like the advices here even if they 'spoil' personal experimentation somewhat.

Thanks bros!

 

[Decado]

Roll a Swashbuckler or a Cavalier. Playing either one will be a good way to break into the game.

Swashbuckler is great, I'd definitely recommend that as a class for beginners. Good combat abilities, good rogue abilities, and it's definitely nice for the game because you don't really get much selection on picking a rogue for your party. But I'd go Inquisitor over Cavalier. The anti-magic capabilities are just too nice.

First time I ever beat the game was with a swash. It's nice, having those thief abilities (pick lock/find traps) taken care of so you essentially save a party slot to fill with another tank/fighter/mage.

The reason that I always suggest a Cavalier over an Inquisitor is because 1) There's already an Inquisitor in the game and 2) The Cavalier has way better passive bonuses (resistance to fear, extra damage to demons and dragons) which might be an easier thing for a noobcake to juggle.

Also that thread on Bioware is funny. It's hilarious reading about people getting their asses kicked on BGII like it's the fucking final exam of RPGs. It just goes to show you how easy shit is, anymore. And BGII wasn't really all that hard, compared to older games.

 

[Johannes]

Also that thread on Bioware is funny. It's hilarious reading about people getting their asses kicked on BGII like it's the fucking final exam of RPGs. It just goes to show you how easy shit is, anymore. And BGII wasn't really all that hard, compared to older games.

Nah, I think it should be pretty hard if you play it without earlier D&D experience. It's not really obvious to find the best ways to beat all the different kinds of enemies before a decent amount of trial & error and reading a ton of spell descriptions and such.