Question on D&D rules.

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Icefire

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I just installed Baldurs Gate 2 and am going to play for the first time. (yes, really. I never played it. I also have Icewind dale 1 and 2 to play, with heart of winter expansion.) Anyways, my question is, when re-rolling my stats for my character, I sometimes get strength that says 18/62 or 18/98. What exactly does that mean? Is it a percentage to 19? In other words an 18/62 would mean an actual strength of 18.62?Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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Yes, essentially its a percentage. So the higher you have the better bonus you get, with 18/00 considered 100%, just off 19 :p.

The bonuses:
18/01-50 +1 to hit, +3 to dmg
18/51-75 +2 to hit, +3 to dmg
18/76-90 +2 to hit, +4 to dmg
18/91-99 +2 to hit, +5 to dmg
18/00 +3 to hit, +6 to dmg
 
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And only warriors (Fighter, Ranger, Paladin...) gets that exceptional strength. One of really stupid things about AD&D in my opinion really. And if you got really high constitution (20 or more), you will regenerate health!
 
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Play BG before playing BG2
 
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Play BG before playing BG2

I played when it was first released. I never finished it. I don't even remember how far I got. Maybe I will play the original first, if I still have it. I got into action rpg's because due to health reasons, I could only play games in short bursts, and sometimes it was weeks before I could play the computer again. With no story, it was easy to pick up where I left off, without forgetting the details of the story so far. Now I have plenty of time, so I want to give these classics a go. Although I do not really care for party based games, I am hoping I will when I am done. I just need to make it throught the first few days, and hope I don't give up.
 
I agree about starting with BG1 for a number of reasons.

First, BG2 is a fairly difficult game, unless you're very familiar with D&D rules. BG1 has a much gentler learning curve.

Second, it's more fun when you're already familiar with a lot of the NPCs you'll be running into.

Finally, I prefer to import my BG1 hero to BG2. It improves the sense of continuity, and makes it more immersive imo.

Also... make sure to get the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion, if you don't already have it.
 
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U can play through BG2 with one character…… at least that's what my friend told me he did…………. not sure if he was just bragging :p
 
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Unless you are a purist, I'd play BG1 using the TuTu or BG:Trilogy mod to take advantage of the higher resolutions and other improvements in the BG2 framework.
 
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Play Baldur's Gate 1 through first. The start can be a bit rough, since you are on level 1 with all of your characters, but after that it should be easier than BG2 and you don't need to hassle with all the spells. :)

I suggest not to use any mods, since they are quite complicated to get it working, except The Widescreen Mod. And increase the game speed from config if you are playing BG1, since the game is very slow comparated to Icewind Dale and BG2, by +3 or so.
 
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I found that the mods from G3 seem to be pretty easy to get installed and working these days. You literally just double click on the executable and then tell it what you do and don't want installed. As long as you don't try to add to many, particularly content ones, there don't seem to be many incompatabilities.
 
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I recommend playing BG1 + EasyTutu. EasyTutu will update BG1 to the resolution and rules of BG2, removing the need to learn two different systems. It's basically like playing one big game.

Also, EasyTutu is very easy to install. Beyond that, no mods are needed in my opinion, though you should make sure you've patched in the bonus merchants in BG2. Originally those merchants were only available for special editions of the game, but now it's fairly easy to download a patch that adds them (especially one of them is essential, as she holds many of the most powerful and useful items in the game).
 
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Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. They are greatly appreciated. I have purchased a 4 in 1 off ebay that contains both games and both expansions. I only had BG2. It was cheap enough so having 2 copies of bg2 isn't a big deal. I also d/l'ed easytutu so I will install and run that once I receive the game. Thanks again for all the help.
 
THe party banter pack for BG1 is pretty good. It doesn't change any content (that I know of) or add any items, but it gives you the same kind of banter you get in BG2. I found it to be a nice addition to my last play through BG1, and it's easy to install and compatible with EasyTuTu.
 
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Yes indeed. However, I prefer playing both games as "pure" as possible, just to get a sense of their strengths and weaknesses. Basically, I only use EasyTutu + the two merchants (and they're actually official BioWare content).

That's just me though. :)
 
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