Going to give BG2 another whirl

I've really been wanting to get into this game, seeing as to how everyone keeps in high praise. I've tried 3 times to get into to it. The farthest I've gotten is out of the dungeon and into the inn of that desert city. Anyhow, I'm just having trouble slowing myself down and enjoying all the dialogue and the dialogue choices. But I'm determined to start again from the beginning. I've tried to play it as a mage, but it's simply too hard. Mage's melee with a staff rarely hits and I just don't like how you only have a certain number of charges per spell, per rest period. What are you supposed to do if you've run out on all ur spell charges and there are still plenty of monsters left? You supposed to run and hide and rest to refill the charges, cause that would be really hard imo. Then again, I don't wanna play the game as a warrior cause it just seems really boring and no strategy. I mean yes you get other characters. I don't know, maybe I should just try it with a pure warrior. Wish me luck guys. I'm off for an adventure.

A Sorcerer has much more Spell per day than a Mage, but only a few to choose from, but since I always use the same few Spells, thats no big proglem. There are interesting Guides for Spell-Selection at Sorcerers.net.

My favourite Class is a Fighter/Mage, casting Buff-Spells like Stone-Skin and Mirror-Image before the Fights or more debuff-Spells if the enemies are Mages.

Pobably a Kensai/Mage might be a good Solution too… although you need another Melee-Character to do the "tanking" (at least until you get Stoneskin and some good Robes (i.e. Robe of Vecna from the Bonus-Merchants).

Been a long while since I played BG2. I definitely enjoyed but I don't quite hold it as high as others do.

That first dungeon is dreadfully boring, so you might consider the DungeonBeGone mod that you'll find around - although as a new player I guess you'll want to see the story.

Mages start off very weak in D&D but come into their own later on. BG2 kicks you off around lvl 8, so it shouldn't be so bad. But yes, you'll need to rest all over the place to recover spells.

Mages are generally crowd-control area-effect specialists. Minsc and Jaheira are in that first room, so let them tank for you and get your character behind lending a little support. You'll want to take up a simple ranged weapon (say, sling) so your character has something to do beyond spells.

I know others will disagree but since it's a full party control game, I don't really see that it matters much what class you play. If you just can't get the mage going, the game won't be much different playing a fighter because you'll soon have some other mage in your party and under your control. *shrug*

Good luck!

I agree with using a Sorc. If you know how to build one, they become very powerful, very quickly!! If you want help with a build, just ask!!

yes please. I just started with a pure fighter. How do I give him spells? Do I need to change my class to a mage? How do I do so? But yes plz, give me a solid build for a sorcerer. I love lightning btw, hehe.

I wanna try doing the first dungeon as a pure warrior then as a pure sorcerer and see which one I like best. So yeah, can you do dual class, and if so how?

also, a quick question, how come Imoen can't cast any of her spells, they're all greyed out. I've rested and everything.

It doesn't sound like you played BG1. If you haven't, I would recommend it. Not only would BG2 be more fun, it wouldn't seem so hard.

Yeah, I haven't played BG1. I've never really heard ppl talking about it, but yeah it would make sense to play part 1 first.

Originally Posted by thartanian
also, a quick question, how come Imoen can't cast any of her spells, they're all greyed out. I've rested and everything.

Mages can't cast Spells when wearing heavier Armor than Robes. I guess you have equiqed her with a Leather Armor .

yup that was it, ty

IMO Baldur's Gate 1 hasen't aged that well… I always replay it with the BG tutu mod, wich is putting the whole Game into the engine of BG2 - the downside is, you have to have a full installation of bg 1 on your hard-drive and you can't play bg 2 while tutu is installed.

You can multiclass a fighter to a mage if he has insanly high scores in strength and intelligence (probably 18s). But you loose the Fighter Abilities until you get a higher Mage-Level. You can only dual-class to Class-combinations that are already in the Game for non-Human characters, but you can assign a Kit to your first class. Since you can't level up as a Fighter any more when you dual-classed, you might want to wait at least until lvl 7 (IIRC) for the fighter-Bonus-Attack or even later (lvl 13 ?).

As a sorcerer, there are a few spells you simply must have, so look around to get a rough idea of what to get. You can't undo spellchoices as a sorcerer. Examples: Stoneskin, mirror image, fireball, horrid wilting, various summoning spells, etc.

If you're going to multiclass a warrior to a mage, I recommend using Kensai as the base warrior class, as they gain some nifty bonuses that will become extremely powerful when you combine them later on with various mage buffs. Remember that stuff like Spell Triggers are amazing for such "battle mages", as you can instantly buff yourself with them.

Feat selection is VERY important: combat casting, spell focus evocation, anything to improve concentration, and a Sorc needs HIGH charisma; start with 16 and build up to 20.

Corwin, you are in the wrong Game… in BG are no feats and IIRC the Sorcerer has no Prime-Attribute

If you're playing as a Bard in BG2, you get to stage a production, so maybe some day, I'll play as Bard in BG2 (but that'll require that I finish the game first time around, though )

Corwin, could you give me a build for a sorcerer? Like the stats, skills, and spells.

Another suggestion, if you have the game and the time, is to play Icewind Dale. Because it's so combat-heavy and you create your entire party of six, it gives you an excellent handle on the game mechanics since it, like BG2, is built on the same engine with mostly similiar rules.
Then, you can create a bunch of prototype characters and push them through some battles. Then take what you learned there and apply it to BG2.

Yeah true, I'll see if i can find an old copy at the austin gamespot. They have tons of old games there.

Corwin, can you still give me a build for a sorcerer, just in case I can't get ID or BG