_____________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (PC) & Throne of Bhaal (BG2 Expansion, PC) FAQ/Walkthrough _____________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ January 18, 2002 Version 7.1 Written by: Dan Simpson Email: manymoose@hotmail.com Email Policy: (read before emailing me!) ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Got a question? Check the Frequently Asked Questions section first (it's after the walkthrough) to see if your question is already answered. If you are going to email me about this game, please put Baldur's Gate II as your email subject as well as the version number of the FAQ that you are looking at. So your subject line should read "Baldur's Gate II (7.1)" or just "Baldur 2, 7.1". Also please realize that I am not hiding cheats or any other information, i.e. everything I know about Baldur's Gate II is in this guide. If you see any mistakes, or have anything that you want to add please email me! I will, of course, give you full credit for your addition, and be eternally grateful to you. Email addresses are not posted in the FAQ, unless you specifically state that you want it to be. Also, if you have a BUG of some sort, try downloading and installing the Patch first. Sure, it's a large download, but it fixes a large variety of problems. Finally if you are on AOL and want a response from me, make sure that your email is accepting from Hotmail (webmail). I have gotten way too many emails returned from AOL with a message that the person wasn't accepting from Hotmail. ______________________________________Notes____________________________________ You will find the most up to date version of this FAQ at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ http://www.gamewinners.com/ http://www.cheatcc.com/ I also have an Item List FAQ & a Class FAQ both of which you can also find at GameFAQs. There are some patches you should consider getting: BG2: http://www.bioware.com/bgate2/bg2patch.shtml ToB: http://www.bioware.com/bg2tob/bg2tobpatch.shtml If you have serious BUG issues with BG2, this page will be your Bible: http://members.home.net/mrkevvy/ Throne of Bhaal, the official Expansion to Baldur's Gate II is out. David Gaider, one of the designers, has an unofficial expansion to the expansion (heh), which you can find here: http://www.attcanada.net/~hitch/IEEAIS/ The Darkest Day, an UnOfficial Expansion to BG2 is also out. You can find this here: http://www.teambg.net/tdd/ If you need a walkthrough for the Darkest Day, you can get Suburban Jub's fine walkthrough here: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/index.htm Special Thanks To: (see Final Words for a lengthier list) Steotia, Craig Gibbens, Rabbit, Aleph, Death Crow, Jeremy Treanor, Grack, Geoff Ulreich, Boogie, Souma, Blackhawk, Greymane, Vash, Max Chen, Taganath, Chris Emery, ShirouKyoji, Tim Lou, Kevin Logan, Ken Baker, CJayC, Wai Chu Yu, P.K., Willis Su, David Weldon, Ken Adams, Cyrille Artho, Hector E. Meza, SpookyScarecrow, Mishael, Matri, Henning Roes, Travis Archer, Jonathan Zimmerman, Redd Barren, Rick Harder, Rakhiir, David Lyons, Edward Adams, Gabriel, Pedro R. Quaresma, ShirouKyoji, ANDY, Adar, Rolander, JP, Dominic, Dranyth, Juky & 649 of 711, Kevin Chung, Ryan Brady, David Haire, Robert Pay, Nick McIsaac, jayhc, Cornelius Chesterfield, Mike O, Snark, RCL, James Prieels, Sarina, Per Jorner, Moby, Brad Beacham, Phobia, Pieter Spronck, ROB, Harry Smith, Chris Norman, Jafar Sadeq, Jason Cha, Alexander Ferguson, Brian Brus, alexcool, Marc Oliver, Tetrazome, Alex Malano, Khadgar, Alan Cherry, Andrea Nicoli, Paul Dickinson, SloppyDogg, Gunslinger, John Knudson, Brian Camley, John Winkleman, GOOD_ASH (Brian Phillips), Accord, Ard /Eathlon, Brawny Lam, Daniel Pang, Clayton, James Victor, Vladislav Brkic, Sergio Le Roux, Tim Marshal, Miguel, Doug Scheurich, Dave Loveland, CY Lee, Braden, Konstantin, Jeremy Hanson, Corvus Albus, Gareth Embrey, the Maxx, Lani Weaver, Michael Schneider, Carl Pettersson Anyone who emails me with nice things to say, you are appreciated! And last, but not least, thanks to Bioware for making such a great game! This FAQ looks best in a fixed-width font, such as Courier New. This Document is Copyright 2000-2002 by Dan Simpson Baldur's Gate II is Copyright 2000 by Bioware/Black Isle/Interplay BG2: Throne of Bhaal is Copyright 2001 by Bioware/Black Isle/Interplay I am not affiliated with Bioware, Black Isle, Interplay or anyone who had anything to do with the creation of this game. This FAQ may be posted on any site so long as NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling me that you are posting it. You may not charge for, or in any way profit from this FAQ. _______________________________________________________________________________ __________________ What's New in 7.1: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Included a link to Suburban Mod's The Darkest Day walkthrough, which can be found in the above Notes section. For a complete Version History, check out the Final Words Section at the end of the FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction I2. Throne of Bhaal Information II. What's New in Baldur's Gate II III. Creating a Main Character (or a Party) IV. Companions V. Gameplay Strategies and Tricks VI. Monster Fighting Strategies Walkthrough 1. Chapter 1: Irenicus' Dungeon 1.1 Irenicus' Dungeon Level 2 2. Chapter 2: Waukeen's Promenade 2.1 The Slums 2.2 Between Areas 2.3 De'Arnise Hold 2.4 Windspear Hills 2.5 The Planar Sphere 2.6 The Graveyard 2.7 City Gate 2.8 The Bridge 2.9 Government District 2.10 Umar Hills 2.11 Temple Ruins 2.12 Temple District 2.13 The Sewers 2.14 The Docks 2.15 Trademeet 3. Chapter 3: The Guild War 3.1 Working for the Shadow Thieves 3.2 Working for Bodhi 4. Chapter 4: Brynnlaw 4.1 Spellhold 4.2 Maze beneath Spellhold 4.3 Escape from Spellhold 4.4 Sahuagin City 5. Chapter 5: The Underdark 5.1 Ust Natha (Drow City) 5.2 Beholder City 5.3 The Illithid Lair 5.4 Exit from the Underdark 6. Chapter 6: Back to Athkatla 6.1 Three New Areas 7. Chapter 7: Suldanessellar 7.1 The Nine Hells X1. STRONGHOLD Walkthroughs X2. The Limited Wish Adventure Throne of Bhaal Walkthrough 1. Watcher's Keep 2. Grove of the Ancients 3. Saradush 4. Gromnir 5. Yaga Shura 6. Amkethran 6.1 Sendai 6.2 Abazigal 7. Balthazar 8. Throne of Bhaal Frequently Asked Questions Appendices A. Complete Kit Descriptions B. Charts & Analysis > Thieving Money Charts > Dual Wielding Analysis C. Cheats D. Trainers and Editors E. Manual Corrections & Addendums F. Bugs G. Strange Things Final Words.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. > > > > Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Baldur's Gate, your character faced the harsh light of reality. Pushed violently out of your home when your foster father was killed, you had to discover the truth of his killing, and your own past. What you discovered was that you were the offspring of the deceased Lord of Murder, the dark god Bhaal. He had foreseen his own imminent demise and so had spread his seed across the land. You were one of those children. So too was the evil Sarevok, the murderer of Gorion. He sought to become the new Lord of Murder, and sought to start a war between Baldur's Gate and Amn. It would not matter who won this war... so long as people died by the thousands. Fortunately for the world you were there to stop Sarevok and end his schemes. But the world doesn't stop for one heroic deed. Soon after your adventures around Baldur's Gate you and your companions were captured by an unknown force for an unknown reason. Could this be another spawn of Bhaal? Or perhaps something worse... Baldur's Gate II: The Shadows of Amn takes place just a few months after the events of Baldur's Gate. You have been captured and placed in a cage. All your equipment and money is gone. Your companions have been scattered. Who is behind this? And more importantly... why? There are two "bonus" CD's out there, one people got with the Collector's Edition and another for Preordering (either from EBworld or from the Interplay Store). These add new shops and items. You can also download these files from http://www.sorcerers.net/index.shtml (you can also check out the Frequently Asked Questions for more information) Collector's Disc: Aurora's Emporium in the Adventurer's Mart Sells all manner of Torment related items, such as Dak'kon's Zerth Blade and Vhailor's Helm. Talk to Deidre in the back of the Adventurer's Mart. Preorder Disc: Joluv in the Copper Coronet Sells all manner of Icewind Dale related items, such as Hrothgar's Axe and the Defender of Easthaven. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I2. > > > > Throne of Bhaal Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Throne of Bhaal is the offical Expansion Pack to Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. It has one area (Watcher's Keep) that can be reached in either game, and many other areas that take place after the events in BG2. ToB can be purchased in any store that sold BG2. Once you enter the Expansion areas (with the exception of Watcher's Keep) you cannot return to the original game areas. What's New in Throne of Bhaal: ------------------------------ - TAB key will now highlight doors, containers and items for you. (use it often!) - Wild Mage kit. Just like a mage, but with one key difference, Wild Surges. These are near unpredictible alterations of the magic. It might just make you itchy (or your enemies itchy) or it could even change your gender. You just never know. - New areas. - Completes the Baldur's Gate saga. - Experience Cap set much higher at 8,000,000. This allows most characters to get to level 40. - Many new items, and more items that can be built from other items. - More spells. - You can now remove spells from your spellbook. This is intended to get rid of unwanted spells when you can't learn any more. Tip: If you have duplicate Spell Scrolls, learn the spell once, then Erase it, then learn it again. This way you get the experience twice! - New super abilities for level 20+ characters. These abilities are exteremely strong and useful, such as Deathblow, Whirlwind attack and Summon Planetar. - Evil clerics can Turn Paladins along with Undead. (which adds an interesting conflict when you have Viconia and Keldorn in the same party) - Cloak of Mirroring no longer reflects spells back to their caster, merely blocks the spells. David Gaider (one of the senior designers of ToB) has released a few minor additions to Throne of Bhaal, which you can find at Baldurdash: http://members.home.net/mrkevvy/ToB/TOBtweaksandcheats.html They include new Bhaalspawn abilities, and tougher Demogorgon and Balthazar battles. Baldurdash: http://members.home.net/mrkevvy/ The Wish Spell -------------- The WISH Spell is much like its lesser brother, the Limited Wish, but a whole lot more powerful. As such it is very tricky to use. The Djinn you summon is pretty much out to get you, so having a good WISDOM is essential. 18 or more will get you the best responses, 9 or worse will get you some pretty awful responses. However, which wishes you get is also partly random. He then picks from a list of wishes that you can get (not all will be what you want), and if you have really bad wisdom, you'll be picking from a list of nothing but bad choices! Here is a list of all the wishes, sorted from the really bad to the sorta awful to the surprisingly good: 'Improved Haste' on all enemies in the area. Level Drain two levels from each party member. Bring a 'Meteor Swarm' down upon the caster. Temporarily remove half of the caster's HP. Caster loses all memorized spells. Party loses 10,000 gp. Temporarily reduce the Strength of all party members to 3. Temporarily reduce the Dexterity of all party members to 3. Temporarily reduce the Constitution of all party members to 3. Temporarily reduce the Wisdom of all party members to 3. Temporarily reduce the Intelligence of all party members to 3. Temporarily reduce the Charisma of all party members to 3. Heal all enemies in the area. Temporarily remove 15% of all party members' HPs. Summon an extra hostile monster into the area. Everyone in the area, both party members and enemies, become intoxicated. 'Breach' on everyone in the area, including the party. Blow all people, including party members, away from the caster. Heal everyone, party members and enemies included. Temporarily set Strength to 18 for everyone in the area, including enemies. 'Miscast Magic' on everyone in the area, including party members. 'Magic Resistance' on everyone in the area, including enemies. 'Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting' on everyone in the area, including the party. Incur bad luck on everyone in the area, including party members. 'Silence' on everyone in the area, including party members. 'Haste' everyone in the area, including enemies. 'Improved Haste' on all party members. 'Breach' on all enemies in the area. 'Restoration' on all party members. Raise all party members' characteristics to 25 for 4 rounds. 'Resurrection' on all dead party members. All party members gain the temporary ability 'Greater Deathblow'. All party members gain the temporary ability 'Hardiness'. Create a random wand in caster's inventory. Create a random potion in the caster's inventory. Make it as if the entire party has just rested a full night and re-memorized all their spells. Cast a double-length 'Time Stop' and 'Improved Alacrity' on the caster. Upgraded Familiars: ------------------- Familiars are upgraded when you complete the regular game by beating Irenicus. You can now "feed" the familiars to heal them. You can also ask them for advice. If you want to see the old BG2 familiar list, it is in the Gameplay Strategies section below. Alignment Familiar AC HP Abilities --------------- ------------- -- -- ---------------------------------- Lawful Good Pseudo Dragon 0 48 35% magic resistance, renders victims unconscious, casts Blur, Ghost Armor, Detect Illusion, 2 attacks per round Neutral Good Pseudo Dragon 0 48 (same as above) Chaotic Good Fairy Dragon 0 24 45% magic res., casts Invisibility 10' Radius, Imp. Invisibility & Mirror Image 1/day Lawful Neutral Ferret -4 48 65% magic res., 95% Pickpocket, 60% Stealth, 60% Detect Traps True Neutral Rabbit 1 48 85% Detect Traps, 60% Stealth, 65 magic res., 50% detect illusion always haste Chaotic Neutral Cat -4 48 Pickpocket, 99% Stealth, 65% magic res, 60% Find Traps. Lawful Evil Imp -2 48 Polymorphs, 35% magic res., poison attack, regenerates 1 HP/second Neutral Evil Dust Mephit 3 48 Casts Glitterdust 2/day, 25% magic res., Prismatic Spray, Stoneskin, 60% damage resistant, immune to fire Chaotic Evil Quasit -2 48 Casts Horror, 35% magic resist., immune to fire, cold and elec., regenerates 1 Hp/second, 3 attacks per round, attack reduces target DEX Romances in Throne of Bhaal: ---------------------------- Yep, they all are continued, even if you ended them (such as Aerie saying at the end that you should just be friends). SPOILERS Viconia > You can convince her to change her alignment (you simply have to say "good" things, like killing is wrong, etc.) Aerie > You can have a child with her Anomen > Asks to marry you Jaheira > ? Viconia's alignment switch: When she offers to sleep with you again, turn her down because the "time isn't right", then when she asks what you think of her, be very very nice. When she asks you what it's like having the blood of Bhaal in your veins, tell her that you don't like the killing. Between meeting her wraith-brother and the destruction of Saradush (I told you there were Spoilers in here), you need to have at least ONE romance talk occur. If you skip this, you can't get her to switch alignments. When she sees the battle, tell her that you don't like it. Then when she asks if you want her to change, say yes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. > > > > What's New in Baldur's Gate II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a list of what's new in Baldur's Gate II (as compared to BG): - Familiars. Mages can cast the first level spell "Find Familiar" to get themselves a little intelligent creature called a Familiar. Not only do you get a permanent little scout/thief/monster, but you get a bonus to your Mage's HP as well. If your Familiar has 24 HP, then you get +12 HP. - Strongholds. Each class gets their own specific stronghold to call their own. A fighter gets a castle, a bard gets a playhouse and a thief gets a thieves' guild. - New Playable Race: Half-Orc. Half-orcs get a bonus to their strengths and constitutions and a penalty to their intelligence and charisma. - New Playable Classes: Monk, Barbarian and Sorcerer. Monk. The Monk is one of the more interesting new classes. They are very skilled at fighting without weaponry, and as they go up in levels their fists grow in power. At the 14th level they start gaining Magic Resistance. They also have other special abilities, such as Lay on Hands faster movement and some thief skills. The drawback? They can't wear armor or use two-handed weaponry. Barbarian. The Barbarian is a brute compared to the fighter. More vicious but less refined. He gets more HP, can berserk and moves faster. Drawbacks? Can't wear Full Plate or Plate Mail, and cannot gain more than Specialized in Proficiencies. Sorcerer. Normal mages have to first learn a spell, then memorize it, then spend time to cast the spell. The Sorcerer does none of these. They simply get a set number of spells per level and can cast a number of spells. This works more like "mana" systems of other games. - New sub-classes, called Kits. Each of the previous playable classes has been given three sub-classes, or Kits. These represent different philosophies within each discipline. For example, the Wizard Slayer (Fighter) won't wear magic items, but gains a bonus magic resistance and can disrupt mages spells permanently. For more information on the Kits see the Kits section in the Appendix. - More thief skills, such as Set Trap, Detect Illusion and more. - More spells, including Delayed Blast Fireball and Time Stop. - More powerful items. - Gem bags to hold gems and necklaces, Scroll cases to hold spells and parchments and Bags of Holding to hold everything else. - Bigger, fiercer monsters, including Dragons, Beholders and Liches. - Better resolution. The game officially supports up to 800x600, but unofficially it can go up much much higher. - Higher experience cap, set at 2.95 million experience points allowing your character to become as gods. (not quite, but that sure sounds good doesn't it?) - Grand Mastery does not yield an extra attack, it stays at 3/2 attacks per round. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. > > > > Creating a Main Character (or a Party) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The hardest decision in the game is also the first decision, and the one that has the farthest reaching effects as well. What you decide here will change everything and affect how easy your game is. What Class Do You Play?? Such a simple question, but no easy answers. A lot of which class you want to play has to do with your individual style as a player. If you like just rushing into the thick of battle without planning, maybe a Barbarian is the way to go. Meticulous planner? Think mage. Finesse fighter? Kensai or Monk. Trick: When you are rolling the "Attributes" for your character, if you press CTRL-8 the game will set all your stats to 18 (and 18/00 for STR). This ONLY works if you already have the Debug Mode enabled (see the Cheats section below). Here's the character I played through when I wrote the walkthrough: Male --> To have the romance with Viconia Half-Orc --> For the STR and CON bonuses Barbarian -> A very powerful class, gets 2 extra HP per level (over what a Fighter gets), can Rage, moves faster and at level 11 gains various weapon resistances. Lawful --> To get that high starting reputation. Good Dual Wield > Then I had him dual wield Katanas (the Celestial Fury is just awesome) and Long Swords. Favorite Kits: Fighter -- > Kensai (great fighters, and when dualled to a mage become extremely powerful, I've also heard good things about Kensai/Thief combinations) Mage -- > Conjurer (you lose some spells, but you can summon with the best of them! This is more subjective than the others) Druid -- > Shapeshifter (If you've played Cernd then you know that he is one of the weakest HUMANS, but when he becomes a werewolf he is very powerful) Priest -- > Priest of Lathander (This is subjective, I just like the Boon of Lathander spell) Bard -- > Skald (this has a LOT of good effects, and only one bad effect a low pickpocket score) Thief -- > Swashbuckler (this guy is awesome, practically a fighter!) Ranger -- > Archer (gives this guy a bow, and 5 proficiency in it and you have the best sniper in the game) Paladin -- > Inquisitor (used to be Cavalier, but I changed my mind. This guy's major plus is his Dispel Magic ability, which he casts at twice his level, plus with immunities to Hold and Charm) Keep in mind that only the Protagonist (main character) can have a Familiar. So if you aren't a Mage, and can't Dual to a Mage later, no one in your game will have a Familiar. Trick: When you dual your main character to the Mage Class, try this. Kick everyone out of the party, then learn as many spells as you can. You gain experience for each spell you learn. I was able to gain MANY levels this way! Dual Class Note: Can't get your character to dual class? You probably don't have sufficient STATS for it. Dualling requires your character have 15 of his current class's prime STAT (i.e. STR for a Fighter) and 17 of your desired class's prime STAT (i.e. INT for a Mage). See the Frequently Asked Questions section for more details. My second time through the game (when I wrote the walkthrough) I used this party: (slight SPOILER) Me -- Barbarian, as a Half-Orc to get me 19 STR and CON, then dual wielded long swords and katanas. Very strong. Jaheira -- Fighter / Druid, The best Druid in the game since she is the only one who can Raise Dead (with Harper's Call). Viconia -- Cleric, she is an awesome cleric (much better than Anomen) plus she has natural magic resistance. Edwin -- Conjurer, the only true mage in the game, also gains a bonus to the number of spells he can cast. Not only gains the +1 spell per level as a Conjurer, but gains another +2 spells per level from his Amulet (which can't be removed). Mazzy -- Fighter, Her bow ability is her best feature, but she also has a number of extra powers (such as Courage) that I found useful. Yoshimo -- Bounty Hunter, oh sure he isn't a long term solution, but that is exactly where Imoen returns. Charisma is your friend: ------------------------ So what does Charisma really get you? Well if you have a low charisma you may not be able to get NPC's to join you, if you pass a quest, the treasure may not be as good as it normally would be, (or there may be no treasure at all!) and shops WILL charge you more. So don't skimp out on the charisma. On the other hand, you only need ONE PERSON with good charisma, and it needn't be your main character. SPOILER: Plus, just outside of the first dungeon you find a ring that sets anyone's Charisma to 18. You will find this ring by finish the circus tent quest in the Promenade area. After maxing my reputation, I had my leader (with a charisma of 18) wear some charisma-enhancing items (nymph cloak, sword of the roses, helm of glory) to boost his charisma up to 23 before he talks to shop owners, and got a significant further discount from the increased charisma above 18. Useful for all those expensive items from the bonus CD's. (from RCL) Creating all Six Characters: ---------------------------- It is quite beneficial to play every game as a multiplayer (although it does create a bit of a hassle). It gives you the benefit of being able to create all 6 players in your party rather than depending on NPC's, and you can also Export and Import characters in and out at any time. Potentially, then, you could have a party of as many people as you want, just import and export as needed. To create a Multiplayer game just click the Multi Player button. At the next menu click "Connect". Now you have to set the type of Multi Player (the top button), using Serial is fairly easy (although it requires that you have some Networking installed...) Now click "Create Game" (whenever you are playing by yourself in the Multiplayer always use "Create Game", never use "Join Game"!). Name the session to whatever you want, and enter in your own name. Finally click "New Game". Now you can create as many characters as you want. Then once they are all created, click the little Check icon by each created characters, and then click the "Done" button. Voila! If I created six characters, this would be that party: Human Monk -- These guys are just awesome at the higher levels. Human Kensai -- To be dualled to a Mage at level 9 or 12, can be very powerful Human Skald -- Bards are fun, but this one is great. Useful for the great Bard Song. At high levels gives everyone +4 to hit, damage and AC! Elf Archer -- The best ranged weapons expert in existence! This guy is ridiculously powerful. Alternatively start with a Human Archer and dual at level 9 to a Cleric. That would mean you would want to start out with 2 proficiency in Slings. This way you get both Druid and Cleric spells at once. Human Swashbuckler -- A thief with great offensive abilities. Human Sorcerer -- Great magical abilities, don't have to memorize or learn spells. Or I might replace the Monk with a Half-Orc Barbarian (or Kensai) -- A hitpoint powerhouse. But naturally in Baldur's Gate II, I prefer to have most of my party consist of the pre-made NPC's that you find in the game. They're just more interesting to me. Warning: I don't recommend creating all SIX characters in the game. You will miss out on character specific quests (and there are a lot of these early in the game) as well as the fun interactions these characters have with each other. At most I would create 5 characters, then bring in an NPC, do their quests, then go on to the next NPC. Trick: To play with your own characters, but avoid the hassles of Multiplayer, simply copy the saved game out of the \MPSAVE\ directory and into the \SAVE\ directory. You can then play with your own party in the normal single player mode. (Grack) Thoughts on Kensai/Mages and other Combinations: (from RCL) ------------------------------------------------ While I can imagine how high level Kensais can be killing machines, I do not believe they are worth it if you dual them out at level 9. At that time, compared to normal fighters they only have +3 to hit and +3 damage (plus 3 uses of the Kai ability and -2 speed factors) - which is, in other words, about an additional 15%-20% bonus depending on your stats, skills and weapons. However, this is at the expense of not being able to use missile weapons and more importantly, not being able to use bracers, gauntlets, helmets, shields and armors. Even if you, for example, use the shield amulet to make up for the horrible AC, you won't be able to utilize other abilities offered by the equipment (such as super fire protection by wearing the whole set of dragon helm/shield/armor; increased charisma with the Helm of Glory; missile/beholder ray protection from the reflection/fortress/Balduran's shields, etc.). After you dual the Kensai to a mage, the inability to use bracers and missile weapons can make him a liability to the group for a long while until he regains his Kensai abilities. A Berserker warrior will be better mage-dualling material. First of all, he is almost equivalent with a level-9 Kensai in melee abilities with his +2 Thac0/ +2 damage during his rage. In addition, during his rage he will gain 15 hp and have very important immunities (which alone IMO makes up for the Kai ability); he can use ranged weapons if you want, and he has zero limitation to his equipment - even if you don't feel like enabling/disabling your magic casting abilities with heavy armors all the time, Bracers AC3 can help a lot. Personally, I will take all these advantages and additional flexibility over the Kai ability and -2 speed factors any day. Currently I have my Berserker/mage dual wield the Celestial Fury and Dak'kon's Zerth Blade, wearing the Bracer AC3. I used the editor just to change his appearance to a mage, and wear the traveler's robe just for the looks. Looks great (especially when he attacks), and is probably the best member in my team. Other People's Party Strategies: -------------------------------- If Geoff Ulreich created all 6 characters, this is how it would look: Paladin - Inquisitor (can't dual or would start as fighter for max weapon prof.) Definitely the only worthwhile paladin kit, immunity to hold and charm are PRICELESS, as is true seeing, and paladins are typically worthless as spellcasters, healers and undead turners next to clerics anyway (hence his disadvantages aren't really). Spec. in two handed sword, style, and longbow or crossbow (or both). He's a madman with the Avenger (a DMs worst nightmare). Fighter - to be dualled to a Priest at 9th level. Grand Mastery in Warhammer for the Crom Faeyr, the rest in sling (Priests can use it). Invaluable for healing, turning, summoning fodder, and dispelling. Monk - (can't dual, wouldn't anyway) This class is even more unbalanced than in the first edition AD&D rules, truly heinous by 15th level, a dervish of destruction at 20th. Thief - Bounty Hunter to be dualled to Mage (can't dual to specialist or I would do Conjurer - Divination (their opp. sphere) spells suck) at 11th, when his special traps have the Hold ability) - also allows him to hit max level in mage. Give him longswords, two wpn style (or one if you're gonna use a bow a lot), short bow (and/or crossbow for the light crossbow of speed). This will allow you to use most of the good long swords in the game. Get set snares, F/R traps, and open locks to 100, 100, & 95 respectively, ignore the rest). Bard - Skald (can't dual or would start as a fighter) Basically for his kick-ass song, but makes a nice 3rd mage as well. Give him longsword, 2 handed sword, 2 weapon style, 2 handed sword (for the vorpal). Nice for Lore skill (saves hassle), cast Friends before shopping. Sorcerer - (can't dual or would start as a fighter) A VERY powerful mage. All the characters should have 18/00 (fighters) or 18 strengths, 18 dexs, 16 cons (18 for the fighter and paladin). Mages get 18 intelligence (incl bard and bounty), and one of them needs an 18 (or close) wis for limited wishes. Priest needs 18 wis as well, and paladin and bard should be 18 charisma (save that ring slot for something better). Only took me 2 hrs to get 6 characters with the above stats. I made them all Lawful or Neutral Good to allow 20 rep. Have the Sorc. as your main character for the find familiar spell (use a scroll), this will net a psuedodragon (the best familiar). This party is a bit slow until the fighter dualls to cleric (lack of healing), but this doesn't take long at all, and soon after it is unstoppable. Also, Archers are WAY overrated. By the by, my first character (single player) was a kensai as well, but used two longswords. Foregoing a second sword for a measly AC bonus is silly, he was AC -6 by the end (using the shield amulet, which has more than enough charges to carry you through the end of the game. Also, not much lived long enough to swing more than once at him; he splattered creatures faster than Keldorn and Jahiera combined. That's 9 (NINE) attacks per round if improved hasted and using the dancing sword, 8 if you think the sword doesn't count :), 4 normally (still obscene). The best defense is, well, you get the picture...I was going to dual him to mage, but was having far too much fun with him as it was, and already had 3 mages by that point. My sorcerer spell picks: I have seen many people on the BBSs asking what spells their sorcerers should learn, especially at the higher levels, and I have also seen some truly awful replies. That said, here are my picks. 1st: -magic missile* -identify (even with a bard, no other great picks) -shield 2 others ( I did protection from petrification and charm person) Editor's Note: I would take Chromatic Orb here. It has some awesome powers and grows in strength as your sorcerer levels up. 2nd: -melf's acid arrow -mirror image -knock(*) -resist fear* (actually an area effect, contrary to what it says in the manual) -horror/web/stinking cloud (pick one - I chose horror since it allows you to take enemies out of action without affecting your party) 3rd: -fireball* __ -dispel magic ]__* -remove magic__] -haste 4th: -ice storm -minor sequencer* -stone skin* -minor globe of invulnerability 5th: -breach********** -chaos* -cloudkill* -lower resistance The above are not set in stone, but really are the best picks for a well rounded sorcerer, to be used for heavy artillery, fighting enhancement, and dispelling (with some defense set aside, mainly for the contingency spells). The offense is balanced for single target and area attack spells; the area attacks are balanced between damage-dealing and disabling (the latter of which won't hurt your party, good for in-close fighting. For the last three levels, I will list a small group of possibilities, with the first 3 (6th), 3 (7th), and 2 (8th) spells listed being the ones I chose. I found summoning spells to be fairly useless later in the game, especially against mages (death fog and death spell), with the possible exceptions of the nishruu and hakeashar. 6th: -contingency* -improved haste -pierce magic* -(chain lightning) -(death fog) -(summon nishruu) 7th: -delayed blast fireball -mass invisibility* -spell sequencer* -(limited wish (depending on your Wis)) -(ruby ray of reversal) -(summon hakeashar) -(khelben's warding whip)(great spell, but...no room:)) 8th: -incindiary cloud -spell trigger (I actually chose pierce shield, now regretting it) -(pierce shield) -(simalacrum) Again, these are not set in stone; they are just the spells I found my mages using over and over again the first time I played). The 2nd level knock is essential, by the way, if you use the party I suggested (monk or cleric detects traps, sorc knocks to unlock, paladin triggers traps until your dualled thief/mage hits 750,000 exp and gets his thief skills back). I marked with an * the spells I thought absolutely necessary. Brian Camley has a spell recomendation: I'd also like to add a suggestion for Sorceror spell picks - I used "protection from magical energy" - with this spell, I gave 100% protection from magic energy to all my characters, making the first battle with Irenicus a breeze... yes, it isn't as good as the scrolls of protection from magic, but you can cast spells, while being protected from a lot of damage that's coming your way. Max Chen has some spell picks of his own: 1. Identify spell is a waste to learn cause you can use scroll, pay shop or get identify glasses to do it for you and if your lore is high enough than you won't need any of those. I just stick with magic missile and chromatic orb(At lvl 10 it has possibility turn victim into stone and at lvl 12 instantly kill victim) 2. Lvl 2 Blur and Vocalize(Must have cause once silence your mage is useless) 3 Lvl 3 Lighting Bolt, bounce it off walls a couple time or reflect lighting protection and you will see dead body every where. Good for close combat. There is also another reason, coming up. 4. Great Malison, no save throw and cause opponents under the influence of this spell make all saving throws at a penalty of -4. Combine this with lvl 5 lower resistance. Otiluke's Resilient Sphere can be use both as offensive and defensive. Offensive is to take 1 enemy out and Defensive protect your weak or near death party member from getting kill.(Not that major but somewhat useful) Wizard eye is a very good spell for lvl 4. Heck it's better than all other summon spell. Wizard eye can tank like no other, as long you get the monster to attack it. As far I can tell wizard eye is unkillable. Tried killing it myself and send it after lich and dragon, even with cheat instant kill. Plus it is immune to most spell and unsummon spells, I think only dispel works. Also it is good to explore with wizard eye. HEH oh yeah demilich tried to imprison wizard eye many times but fail miserably. 5. Oracle 60' instead of 20'(book misprint?) Get rid of those invis monster. 6. Death fog instantly kill all summoned creature, regardless of hit dice or immunities(Haven't seen much computer summon monster) but hey they sure use it on my summon creatures. If P.K. created 6 characters, this is how he would do it: Cleric/Ranger Half/Elf (I love those too) Fighter Human (Dualled to Cleric at level 9) Fighter Human (Dualled to Druid at level 9) Fighter Human (Dualled to mage at level 10) Fighter Human (Dualled to mage at level 9) Thief Human (Dualled to mage at level 12) This team is really cool, plenty of hit points for everybody, weapon grandmastery for most of the characters and everyone of the team is a spellcaster! (This is especially usefull in BG2, since there are A LOT of spells and one gains XP when learning them) The (minor) drawbacks of this team is its (relative) weakness in the transition period but if you look closer you will see that you will always have at least 3 strong melee fighters in the team, and you can always live without a trap disarming thief (especially in BG2) since you can do the quests that do not imply dungeon crawling meanwhile. If jayhc created all 6, he would do this: I see that you have other people’s full-party strategies on your faq, so I thought - hey, I may as well send in my own. It may not have as much damage-causing potential at the end of the game as, say, a bunch of fighters dualled to mages and clerics, but I would bet that it can hold its own just the same – and would be more easily pulled off, to boot. 1) Dwarfish Berserker with grand mastery in axes. He should have a seventeen dexterity and a nineteen constitution; a high strength is preferable, too, but not necessary for the sheer tanking power. Give ‘im a fortress shield, dexterity gauntlets, some variant of full plate, a spell-bouncing cloak, a ring of regeneration … he could well have –11 or –12 ac by a fairly reasonable level, and have amazing saving throws and hit points to go along (at level nineteen, his median amount of hp – with a nineteen constitution – would near 125; and most people would take steps to be certain that it’s at least somewhat more than that). Heh. He’ll just sit there and soak up blows. For extra fun, let him don that shape-changing cloak found in the sewers – and turn into a troll for a moment or two when he seems near the brink of death. 2) Half-orcish Kensai. I would either give him grand mastery in two-handed sword, and specialization in two-handed weapon style; or grand mastery in long sword, and mastery in two-weapon style. He would get an extra attack per round with the latter, but the former would give him extra damage and double the chance of scoring a critical hit – and a half-orc with a nineteen strength and grand mastery in two-handed sword who scores a critical hit with, say, lilarcor – ouch. The Berserker could soak up damage and lead enemies away, while the Kensai demolished everything in sight. 3) An elfish Stalker with specialization in long bow and long sword, and mastery in two-weapon fighting. If possible, give him a nineteen dexterity: this increases his ability to hide in the shadows by a considerable amount; and that is crucial to any strategy involving him. At level twelve he gains the ability to haste himself – so he can haste up, hide in the shadows, and backstab any annoyingly difficult enemies who don’t have too many friends around. With a girdle of strength and a succesful backstab at level nine or ten, he does at least forty-five or so damage - keep him perpetually hidden for extra backstabbing fun. His main drawback – for which he is constantly being knocked - is a lack of metallic armor, but plenty of magical leather-class protection is available during the course of the game. His nineteen dexterity makes him quite an arrow slinger, too. 4) A half-elfish Ranger/Cleric, whose physical attributes I shall leave open to suggestion. My choice of this no doubt explains itself: he has access to both ranger and cleric spells; he offers a decent fighting ability, in a pinch; he can hide in the shadows to avoid any unnecessary conflict until he wants to reveal himsef (so as to heal team-members and not be killed himself beforehand). Add to this holy power, iron skin, negative plane protection, draw upon holy might, and a disruptor mace – you’ve got yerself an undead-killing machine. A human ranger could dual to cleric if you don’t want to end the game at 13/14. A Ranger dualled at nine, could still reach twenty in Cleric. 5) A gnomish Illusionist/Thief. There is never any need, in BG2, to have a straight thief: this alternative gives you hefty magical power in addition to more than enough ability to perform necessary thieving tasks (finding and disarming traps, and unlocking doors and chests). A thief hidden in the shadows can’t actively detect traps; but an invisible thief can, and this power makes him ever so much more valuable than a meandering normal thief. 6) A human Sorceror, who can launch chromatic orb and magic missile all day long. Give him breach and greater malison - and enemies are yours to try practically any magical strategy you’d like. You could replace the stalker with an inquisitor, to make mage-killing even easier; or a cavalier, to have effective leadership and ridiculous immunities. You could also try an archer, here – i’ve not tested the kit myself; but i’m told it’s ridiculously powerful, at any given level. A monk would be nice, but is a veritable liability until level fifteen or so. Throne of Bhaal Notes: (from Duncan Clay) ---------------------- The High-Level Class Abilities added in Throne of Bhaal gives many new possibilites to character creation. For example the Rogue High-Level Class Ability "Use Any Item" allows them to use any weapon and shield, wear any armor and helmet, use wands and cast spells from scrolls. But it goes beyond that, a dual class Kensai/Thief can now wear Full Plate Armor, have a familiar and wield the Paladin sword "Carsomyr". Since THAC0 progression stops at level 22, there isn't much difference between a Level 22 Fighter with THAC0 0 and a Level 40 Fighter with THAC0 0. A Level 40 Thief would have a THAC0 of 10 the same as a Level 22 Thief. This suggests Dual and Multiclass characters are the way to go. Here are some outstanding high level character abilities Level 39 Kensai - THAC0 & Damage Bonus = 13 (Melee Weapons) Level 33 Archer - THAC0 & Damage Bonus = 10 (Missile Weapons) Level 40 Wizard Slayer - Magic Resistance = 84 Level 40 Monk - Base Armor Class = -6 (-19 vs Missiles) Level 40 Monk - Lay Hands heals 80 hit points Level 40 Swashbuckler - Armor Class Bonus = 9 Level 40 Swashbuckler - THAC0 & Damage Bonus = 8 Level 21 Assassin - Backstab Multiplier = x7 Level 25 Bard - base Lore ability = 250 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. > > > > Companions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some companions don't like each other. For example, Minsc and Edwin will eventually come to blows. Anomen (if he fails his test) will try to hurt Aerie. Irenicus' Dungeon Characters: S D C I W Ch Race Class Alignment - Imoen 9 18 16 17 11 16 Human Thief/Mage Neutral Good Imoen is your old childhood friend from Candlekeep. In the first game she was a Thief, and now she has dual classed to become a Mage. SPOILER: Don't let Imoen memorize any spells as she won't be with your party for much longer. Grade: B+ She is the third best thief you can get in the game and the second best mage. This averages out well, especially since this game doesn't require that much out of a thief. I list her as "third best thief" because she can't level up in it anymore. - Minsc 18/93 16 16 8 6 9 Human Ranger Chaotic Good Minsc is a little loopier than last you saw him. This may be due to the death of Dynaheir -- whom he was sworn to protect -- but he seems to rely far too much on Boo, his pet hamster. Minsc will adopt Aerie as his witch if they are in the party at the same time. Then when she is injured or killed, Minsc has some... reactions. If kicked out: You can find Minsc again in the Copper Coronet Grade: A- Minsc is one of the best investments you can have in the game. He is the strongest of the NPC's and has decent abilities as well. Plus he soon begins learning Priest spells which further his power. - Jaheira 15 17 17 10 14 15 Half-Elf Fighter/Druid True Neutral Jaheira has some problems with authority, which in this case would be you. She believes that she should be leader. She is also a member of the Harper's, a "do-gooder" organization that also claims Elminster as a member. If kicked out: You can find Jaheira in the southwest of the Docks district, near the Harper's secret base. Grade: B A good solid performer, but nothing to write home about. There are better Priests out there, and better Fighters out there as well. The best reason to keep her is her Druid abilities as she is the best druid for some time. At the moment you really have no choice but to take her. - Yoshimo 17 18 16 13 10 14 Human Bounty Hunter True Neutral Yoshimo, feared by all, somehow managed to get himself captured and thrown into this dungeon with the rest of you. Why Irenicus would be interested in him is beyond me. If kicked out: You can find Yoshimo in the Copper Coronet. Grade: B+ There are several reasons to like Yoshimo: First he is the best thief in the game (he is the ONLY pure thief class and has a good Dex score as well) and second he can Dual Class to a Fighter later. If only he could dual to a mage as well... Athkatla Characters: STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA - Aerie 10 17 9 16 16 14 Elf Cleric/Mage Lawful Good Aerie is a winged elf. Well former winged elf as her wings were removed some time ago. She had been a slave before meeting up with Quayle and joining the circus. Found at: Waukeen Promenade Circus Grade: C+ A cleric/mage combines all magics into one (not Druid spells, but nobody's perfect), which is an incredible bonus. Except that she has rather weak stats. She doesn't excel anywhere, no single one stat stands out. As such she isn't worth keeping around for very long. - Anomen 18/52 10 16 10 12 13 Human Fighter/Cleric Lawful Neutral Anomen may not be a Paladin but he is deeply involved with the Order of the Radiant Heart. He believes in Law over all other concerns, making him neither good nor evil. Found at: Copper Coronet (Slums) Grade: C+ At the point in the game when you run across this guy is just won't fit into your party. As you can see by his wisdom score he doesn't make for a good Cleric, and with his DEX score, he doesn't make that great a Fighter either. Anomen later gets a chance to "upgrade", when he can either join the Knights or fail. If he joins he gains a +4 to his Wisdom score, which improves him as a Cleric. If he fails, he becomes emotionally unstable and may attack other party members. (after a conversation, of course) Upgrade: B- - Edwin 10 10 16 18 10 10 Human Mage Lawful Evil Edwin was with you on your last adventures, and he and Minsc don't like each other in the least. Edwin had wanted to kill Minsc's witch, Dynaheir, and now that she is dead, Edwin won't leave Minsc alone about it. Edwin gets the most spells of any mage, +3 for every level (1 from his Conjurer bonus, and 2 from his non-removable amulet). Found at: Shadow Thieves Guild (Docks, talk to Renal Bloodscalp) Grade: B+ What his stats don't tell you is that Edwin gets bonus spells making him the best mage in the game. The downside is that he is weak as a kitten and has so very little HP. - Haer'Dalis 17 17 9 15 13 16 Tiefling Blade Chaotic Neutral Haer'Dalis is not from around here. In fact he isn't even from this plane of existence! He is a Tiefling, born with part demon blood. It gives him an odd appearance and an even stranger attitude about life. Found at: Sewers (follow the Raelis Quest from the Five Flagons) If kicked out: Haer'Dalis will go to the main floor of the Five Flagons. Grade: D+ The ONLY Bard in the game, and he happens to be lacking the one thing that makes Bards extra special, their Lore ability. That said, he makes a great warrior, for a Bard. But if I wanted a warrior, I'd take a warrior - Jan 9 17 15 16 14 10 Gnome Thief/Mage Chaotic Neutral Jan loves turnips. Almost literally! And like most gnomes he is very eccentric, and loves to ramble on with stories that never get to the points. He wants to steal Boo from Minsc, and if he ever succeeded, one would imagine he wouldn't live long after that. Found at: Government District (near the Government offices) Grade: B+ My favorite Thief/Illusionist in the game! The only Thief/ Illusionist in the game! Unlike the other thief/mages he is a multi-class rather than a dual class, which is both a good and a bad thing. He keeps improving his thief skills, but gains levels slower. Plus he can make his own ammunition for his crossbow. - Keldorn 17 9 17 12 16 18 Human Paladin Lawful Good Keldorn is a dedicated man. So dedicated that he goes months without seeing his family. This will lead to conflict, and may cause Keldorn to leave your party forever. Found at: Temple District Sewers (MUST start the Unseeing Eye quest first) Grade: B+ The only Paladin in the game. If you want a Paladin this is the way to go. He starts out with decent armor and an interesting sword (if he is hit, it deals 5 damage to what hit him). As an Inquisitor gets immunity to Charm and Hold, which is very useful, and his Dispel Magic is very powerful. - Korgan 18/77 15 19 12 9 7 Dwarf Battlerager Chaotic Evil Although his alignment is listed as Chaotic Evil, Korgan is more Neutral Evil than anything (mercenary type that he is). Korgan is always on the lookout to make a buck, no matter the cost (of lives). Found at: Copper Coronet (Slums) If kicked out: Will be at the Copper Coronet, but requires a Bribe to rejoin you. Grade: A- The best fighter-type in the game. Good Strength, good Constitution and adequate Dexterity. And unlike Minsc (the other "strong" character), Korgan can be a Grand Master in a weapon making him very lethal indeed. Would be an "A" except that he is Evil, which makes it hard to keep him in a Good aligned party. - Nalia 14 18 16 17 9 13 Human Thief/Mage Chaotic Good Raised as a Noble, Nalia fancies herself as a "compassionate" noble, out there working for the good of the common man. She is incredibly naive about the world to the point of almost being stupid. (not quite, though) Found at: Copper Coronet (Slums) If she leaves: If you accept her quest, but don't do it right away, she will leave on her own. You will then find her near the De'Arnise Hold in a wooden palisade (SW of the Hold). Grade: C+ Nalia has very puny thief skills (she dualled over to Mage at level 4), making her primarily a Mage with SOME thief skills thrown in for good measure. However, as a Mage she doesn't have 18 INT (which helps) and doesn't gain Edwin's spell bonuses. - Viconia 10 19 8 16 18 14 Drow Elf Cleric Neutral Evil Viconia DeVir was forced out of the Underdark and has been living as an exile on the surface ever since. She journeyed with you in your earlier adventures. Fount at: Government District (near the prison) If kicked out: Viconia goes to the Graveyard Grade: B+ Personally I think she is the best Cleric in the game. Start with a great Dexterity and Wisdom and you have a great character. Give her the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength (or a similar Strength enhancing item) and she moves up to an A grade. Elsewhere: Cernd 13 9 13 12 18 13 Human Shapeshifter True Neutral Cernd was investigating the strange occurrences around Trademeet when he was brought in by the locals. Found at: Trademeet (talk to the Mayor) Grade: C+ At first glance you might think Cernd is the worst character in existence. Though not entirely true, it does have some merit. He is a good Druid due to his high Wisdom. The rest of his stats are abysmal, HOWEVER when he turns into a Werewolf, his stats LEAP upwards to the point of superhuman strength, dexterity and constitution. Mazzy 15 18 16 10 13 14 Halfling Fighter Lawful Good Mazzy is not your typical halfling. For starters, she's not a thief of any sort. Plus she's lawful good, heroic and no-nonsense. Very atypical for halflings. Found at: Temple Ruins (follow the Umar Hills quest from Delon at the Government District) If kicked out: Mazzy will return home to Trademeet Grade: B- A good Halfling fighter, but... in all actuality she is closer to a Halfling Paladin. She has several special abilities such as Lay on Hands and Haste. Valygar 17 18 16 10 14 10 Human Stalker Neutral Good Valygar's family has long lived in the shadow of magic. His own mother went mad with the power of it and was destroyed. Valygar escaped this fate by becoming a Ranger, albeit the only Ranger with mage spells (Stalker). Found at: Valygar's Cabin (Umar Hills, NE of the town) Grade: A- I would have preferred that Valygar had been an Elven Archer, but this is almost as good. Valygar comes with several magical items, such as his family Armor, that makes up for his being a mere Stalker. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. > > > > General Gameplay Strategies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Increase the Brightness Setting: -------------------------------- The "normal" brightness setting is so dark that at times you can't see things that should be quite obvious. So go into the Graphics options and move up the Brightness and Contrast settings! Save a Lot: ----------- The most important strategy in the game: Save often! There are 3 times when you should definitely save the game. When you win a battle, before you go to sleep, and everywhere else. You never know when you will go to a new area, have your best warrior charmed, and have half your party killed. So save often. Also don't just save over the same slot over and over, use at least 10 slots. This also means you should probably avoid the Quick Save. Well... not avoid, just don't use it exclusively. What I would do is to create an "Archive Save" whenever you enter a new major area. So when you get to the beginning of a new area save it as "Starting out in..." and so forth. Start with All your Old Items: (from Dranyth) ------------------------------ When importing a character from BG, or even reimporting a character from BG2 to go through again, you can retain your character's equipment in the beginning of the game (I imagine this would work in multiplayer as well as single player, but I've only tried it in single player). First, give your character all the great stuff you want to start with and then Export him to a character file, then start BG2 and start a single player game, importing your freshly exported character with all his goodies as your new character. Then when you finish your character creation it begins loading the first area, as soon as the loading screen completes but before it actually starts the game, hit the Spacebar once, now when the game starts you should be on a black screen and paused. If the game isn't paused, you'll have to start over after the whole in-game sequence is over, but if the game is paused you should have your sidebars up and everything (if it's a completely black screen you'll need to hit H to reveal the hidden sidebars), and you can go into your character's inventory. Immediately put all of your character's stuff on the ground, then exit his inventory and unpause the game, that first cry you give is where you lose everything that is on your character. Now, after the sequence is over and you're finished talking with Imoen (when you first have control over yourself), go back into your inventory and you'll see that all of your stuff is on the ground right where you left it, actually sitting on the floor of your cage. Take your advanced equipment and go forth to kick evil butt! (hey, if Minsc can hide Boo...) Editor's Note: Another way to do this would be to start a new Multiplayer Game with a new character. As soon as the game starts, then delete this character and import your old one. Familiars: ---------- Alignment Familiar AC HP Abilities --------------- ------------- -- -- ---------------------------------- Lawful Good Pseudo Dragon -2 24 50% magic resistance, renders victims unconscious, casts Blur Neutral Good Pseudo Dragon -2 24 (same as above) Chaotic Good Fairy Dragon 4 24 32% magic res., casts Invisibility 10' Radius & Mirror Image 1/day Lawful Neutral Ferret 0 24 50% magic res., 75% Pickpocket, 40% Stealth, 20% Detect Traps True Neutral Rabbit -4 16 50% Detect Traps, 30% Stealth, 75% resistance to fire, cold, elec Chaotic Neutral Cat 0 24 Pickpocket, 99% Stealth, 50% magic res. Lawful Evil Imp 2 18 Polymorphs, 25% magic res. Neutral Evil Dust Mephit 6 24 Casts Glitterdust 2/day, 10% magic res. Chaotic Evil Quasit 2 24 Casts Horror, 25% magic resist. Note: To get items that were pickpocketed by a Familiar, talk to the Familiar and ask for any items they have. Also, familiars get upgraded in Throne of Bhaal, see that section above for more information. Familiars are great. Sure, only the Main Character can have a familiar (which means that if your Main Character can't cast Magic, you won't get one) and sure if they die then you permanently lose one point of Constitution. But Familiars make the best spies. They move faster than anyone else. Cast invisibility on a Familiar and you can scout out an entire area. (too bad they can't check for traps) The best feature of Familiars? They add HP to their mages! Say you summon a 24 HP Pseudodragon (size-wise think of that little dragon Eddie Murphy played in "Mulan"). Then your mage gets a bonus of half that dragon's HP added to himself, or a bonus of +12 HP. Familiars are NOT fighters. Never use them as such. At best they have special attacks that can render opponents helpless. In fact, unless you have a specific task you should keep your familiar in your Backpack. To put them there, talk to the Familiar (you have to click the Talk icon) and ask them to go in your pack. They are completely safe in the pack. To get them back out again, simply right-click the Familiar. Note: If you are a Sorcerer, DO NOT LEARN THE SPELL FIND FAMILIAR!! You can only learn a maximum of 5 spells per level and you don't want to waste it on a spell that you cast ONCE. Buy a scroll and cast it from the Scroll. (Put it in the Quick Item slot, then at the main screen click that scroll) You will also find this scroll in the De'Arnise Hold if you are having trouble finding it. Warning: Familiars can be LOST during transitions to and from various areas. Some that I know of are the Planar Prison and Jarlaxle's pocket dimension. What happens is your party is automatically teleported to a new area, but the Familiar is left behind. That familiar is then lost for good. Trick: The easiest way for a non-mage character to gain a Familiar is to use Alex Malano's "Anyone can cast Mage Scrolls" strategy. Just pause the game, go to your inventory, right-click a potion in the backpack to drink it, then swap slots with the Find Familiar scroll and the potion. Leave the inventory and unpause. You will cast the spell and get a Familiar. Cromwell the Smithy: -------------------- Throughout the game you will get spiffy little pieces of great items. These pieces can then be put together by Cromwell the Smithy. His average price is 5,000 gold and it takes a day or two to make. Oh, and you have to stay and help him (so, I hope you weren't already late for something). Here is a list of things he can make: Item Needs (where it is) The Equalizer Sword -- Pommel Jewel of the Equalizer (Irenicus' Dungeon) Hilt of the Equalizer (Mind Flayer City, Underdark) Blade of the Equalizer (Beholder City, Underdark) The Wave Halberd -- Wave Blade (Sahuagin City) Wave Shaft (Planar Prison) Gesen Short Bow -- Gesen Shaft (Tanner's House, Bridge) Gesen String (Spellhold) The Crom Faeyr -- Scroll of Crom Faeyr (Shadow Dragon) Hammer of Thunderbolts (Illithid Lair, Sewers) Gauntlets of Ogre Power (Planar Sphere) Girdle of Frost Giant Strength (Underdark) Mace of Disruption +2 - Mace of Disruption +1 (Bodhi's Lair) Illithium Ore (Athkatla, Bridge District) Vorpal Sword -- Silver Hilt (On a Githyanki, Slums, Chapter 6) Silver Blade (Saemon Havarian, Spellhold) Ankheg Plate Mail -- Ankheg Shell (Windspear Hills) Shadow Dragon Leat. -- Shadow Dragon Scales (Abandoned Temple) Red Dragon Plate -- Red Dragon Scales (Windspear Hills) These are without a doubt the most powerful artifacts in the game. The Crom Faeyr is probably the best of these, since it sets one's strength to 25. (it's a War Hammer with +5 to hit) Other Assembled Items: ---------------------- These have nothing to do with Cromwell, but are assembled nonetheless. SPOILERS Flail of the Ages -- Flail Head (Cold) (De'Arnise Hold) Flail Head (Fire) Flail Head (Acid) Bronze Horn of Valhalla -- Silver Horn of Valhalla ("Fish" House, Bridge) Diamond (anywhere) Iron Horn of Valhalla -- Bronze Horn of Valhalla (Maheer, Promenade) Beljuril (In a Chicken, Umar's Hills) Human Flesh Armor -- Human Flesh (Tanner's House, Bridge) Silver Dragon Blood (Underdark) The Horns of Valhalla are made by Maheer in the Waukeen's Promenade. See that section for more details. Mordenkainen's Sword has a Greenstone Amulet: (from Dranyth) --------------------------------------------- I was in Firkraag's Temple in the area just past the Orcish-Archers-behind- the-walls ambush, in the hall where you get attacked by the various golems. I happened to get attacked by an adamantite golem and two stone golems and backed off to let the stone golems into the room to take them out first, then went back up to see what I could do about the adamantite golem. I cast Mordenkainen's Sword and sent the sword after it while I sat back and watched. The golem had just coughed up one of his mini-Cloudkills and after a round or two my sword somehow got poisoned by it and began taking 1 damage a second. After it took 36 damage, the sword died. On the sword's body was a Greenstone Amulet! While I was writing this it occurred to me that if it had it when it died, perhaps you could pick pocket it... so I just summoned a Mordenkainen's Sword, had Yoshimo quaff a potion of Master Thievery to ensure success, and sure enough, when I pick pocketed the sword it gave me a Greenstone Amulet! I believe this is a very regular occurance then, I hope it will be useful. As I haven't fought Illithids yet, I'm not sure if these Amulets are that useful against them or not, but from their description I'd imagine so... ToB Note: This was removed for Throne of Bhaal. Healing Flame Trick: (from Mike O) -------------------- Slight SPOILER It turns out that raising a character's resistance to something above 100 not only blocks all damage by that kind of element, but actually heals the character by a small amount relative to the amount of damage that should have been done. The place I discovered this is also probably the best place to take advantage of it - in the Temple Ruins. If you stand on the incorrect letter of the room where you are susposed to spell out Amaunator's name you will get nailed repeatedly by a Flame Strike spell. But when I used the Red Dragon Scale in conjunction with a Fire Resistance ring and one other item I can't remember to raise different character's resistnaces to fire above 100, I could just sit them there and watch their health bars quickly raise. If you are evil in alignment you also get to enjoy their screaming in pain as they roast :) Any trap that causes damage of a certain type repeatedly will work, though fire traps are probably the most usefule since items that provide fire resistance are more common than any other kind. Editor's Note: There are also Fire resistant spells. Further, this works with any Resistance over 100%, including weapon resistances! Reputation: ----------- You really want a high reputation. The higher the better. Even if you have an evil party you want a high reputation. If you have a good or neutral party, try for a reputation of 20, if you have an evil party, you still want a reputation of 18 (the highest you can go before all the evil people start leaving). Because of these various things, I would not recommend having a mixed alignment party. By mixed I mean good and evil combined. The best part about a good reputation is that everything is given the "hero discount", up to 50% off of items in stores! Note: If you get an Evil person to join and your reputation is ALREADY above 18, then they will stay. Unless your reputation changes again. If you start at 20, get someone to join, then go down to 19 they might leave anyway. (from Moby) Trick: You know how if your reputation hits 19, evil people will leave the party? You can prevent this if you have Viconia. Whenever Viconia joins you, you lose 2 Rep. Whenever you dump her, you gain 2 Rep. So, whenever I found a quest where I would get a reputation point reward (after my reputation had reached 18), I would just load the game to a saved game before getting the reward, dismiss Viconia (and ask her to wait right there). My reputation would become 20. Then getting the reward would not change the reputation (since max rep is 20). Then get back Viconia, and rep falls to 18 again. This means that rep will always be 18 (you can always dump her to buy and sell stuff, then get her back). I don't know if you need to remove Edwin and Korgan too, but I believe they should be removed before your rep hits 20 when Viconia is removed. They may not gain some of the quest xp. Still, Viconia's level was good enough for turn undead (from Jafar Sadeq, sharktooth@hotmail.com). Level/Ability Drain: -------------------- One of the more annoying abilities of Undead creatures (Shadows, Wraiths, Vampires) is their ability to drain your characters stats or levels. First, it should be noted that Stat drains are TEMPORARY and given some time your stats will return to normal. No special action need be taken. However, LEVEL drains are NOT temporary. They must be reversed with a Restoration spell. Priests get the spell "Lesser Restoration" with their 4th level spells (A Priest must be on level 7 to cast 4th level spells). There are also Restoration scrolls and temples offer that service as well. Until they are restored, your people will be operating as though they were on a lower level, however they still accrue experience as normal; so once restored they will be fine. Romances: --------- The main character can have a bit of a romantic subplot with certain companions who join you. Male Character -- Viconia, Jaheira or Aerie Female Character -- Anomen Romances can only start in the city, or outside, NOT in a dank dungeon. (usually, there are exceptions) I'm not entirely sure how these work and assume that they just "happen". There is a slight consequence to having a romance with someone, but it doesn't come up until Chapter 6. Romances are essentially just the NPC and your character chatting. Relationships develop depending on your reactions to what they say. For example, Viconia respects strength, Jaheira honesty and Aerie niceness. Also, Romances have various subplots related to them: SPOILERS Viconia: attacked by a Drow and a Yochlol Jaheira: attacked by Bandits* Aerie: no subplot Anomen: Seeks revenge for the death of his father * I'd recommend downloading the Jaheira Improved Romance file, which you can find here: http://members.home.net/mrkevvy/ BIG SPOILER The Viconia romance has a "bad" ending no matter what you do. That is, you sleep with her, and she then decides to break up with you. Nothing you can do about it, really. It should also be noted that Viconia sleeps with you really fast, then treats you bad before giving in to you once more. In order to get a positive ending with Aerie, you must choose to NOT sleep with her. This still ends the romance (completes it, you could say), but on a more positive note. Haer'Dalis and Aerie can even have a little "fling." (I've heard on the official boards that Haer'Dalis was originally meant to be the second male romance, but that it was taken out due to time constraints. That is, in fact why he has a fling with Aerie, it was meant to be a Love Triangle, where he eventually chooses your character) Some things to keep in mind about romances: The gender of the main character for romance purposes is fixed at the very beginning of the game. This means that the girdle of gender bender will not have any effect on romances, and that you can start a multiplayer game with a male character, then switch to a female character and pursue a lesbian romance with Jaheira, Aerie or Viconia (or vice versa with Anomen - perish the thought). (Per Jorner) Dropping a love interest from the party will terminate the romance, so don't start one with someone you aren't willing to keep around permanently. This means that you won't be able to juggle Viconia for the reputation shifts if you're seeing her. (Alan Cherry) Also, a bug in Jaheira's script will break the romance off if she gets petrified after you're been summoned to the Harper Hold. After you destone her, Jaheira immediately takes off for the Harper Hold when you try to have her rejoin the party, even if you've already gone there. You can pick her up at the Docks, but the romance is still over. (I didn't know this had happened until Aerie started flirting again). You'll have to reactivate the romance from the console to proceed with it. (Alan Cherry) Editor's Note: You could reactivate it with the console: CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("JaheiraRomanceActive","GLOBALS",2) or CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("JaheiraRomanceActive","GLOBALS",1) or you could just download the program Shadowkeeper. See the Utilities and Editors section. The romance talks work on real time not game time, for instance if your having a romance with Aerie and she talks to you on day 10 you couldn't rest in an inn for 10 days and then she'd speak to you. Rather it seems you have to wait about 30 mins to 1 hour of your time before she speaks to you again. Unfortunately this doesn't mean your romantic NPC is going to speak to you every time sometimes you have to do something else before they talk to you again e.g. Jaheira won't talk to you after a while if you haven't done the bandit quest. (Miguel) Jaheira Note: Firstly if you buy Jaheira a necklace from a merchant in the docks area (next to the temple) and then tell her you have feelings for her this will start a romance with her, however you will not get summoned to the Harper hold (after the Xzar quest) until you have done the bandit Quest. Then After being summoned to the hold and completing that section the entire Harper quest is then tied up with Jaheira's romance talks, after 2 or 3 chats the next part of the Harper quest continues. (Miguel) Romances will be continued in Throne of Bhaal. Also, you might want to visit the BG2 page at: http://www.sorcerers.net/ To find some interesting utlities dealing with romances. Limited Wish: ------------- The limited Wish spell can be very powerful... however it can also have some pretty dire consquences. When cast it summons a Genie who will grant two types of wishes: repeatable and one-time wishes. By repeatable it means that you can wish for that again (such as healing your party), a one-time wish disappears after it is cast once. Whether you can wish for something at ALL is determined by how much WISDOM the caster has. Then whether the wish is successful is also based on WISDOM. Andrea Nicoli has this tip: I experimented them with Nalia (little dumb girl with only WIS 9) and lost all my spells. Then I discovered that, if you do not wait for the Dao to speak with you, but talk to him yourself quick with another character (I used Aerie who has WIS 17) you can get the whole list! (I think that in this way you can get your big fighter to receive the shapechanging ability, but I could not try because I had already used the one time wish). In this way you do not need a high WIS mage to cast this spell. Repeatable Wishes: Wisdom Result --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wish for my entire party to be healed. (WIS 10+) -- Heals the party I wish that none of my party would die (WIS 9-) -- poisons the party of their wounds. I wish that spells I have cast would be (WIS 16+) -- get Spells back restored, that I might cast them again! I wish for my spells to be restored! (WIS 15-) -- lose Spells already memorized I wish to make my party invulnerable. (WIS 12+) -- casts Globes of Invulnerability for the party I wish that magic would fail to affect (WIS 11-) -- Party can't cast me or my party. spells I wish to summon a horde to overrun my enemies. -- Summons a rabbit I wish to be protected from the undead. (WIS 10+) -- Negative Plane Protection, Party I wish to be protected from undead (WIS 9-) -- Summons Vampires right now. One Time Wishes: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wish to be rich. (WIS 10+) -- gives 2000 gold and several gems I wish for a powerful magical item. (WIS 11+) -- Full Plate +2 I wish to be more experienced. (WIS 3+) -- summons several Golems to fight I wish to see all as it really is. (WIS 12+) -- Glasses of Identification I wish for an adventure like none (WIS 10+) -- starts the "gong" I've ever experienced before. quest, and gives you a scroll I wish for control over time. (WIS 14+) -- casts Time Stop I wish to be anything I desire. (WIS 6+) -- Allows you limited Polymorphs I wish to be prepared for anything. (WIS 10+) -- casts Chain Contingency I wish that all my enemies will die. (WIS 11+) -- casts Wail of the Banshee Dual Wield Meteors: (from Lani Weaver) ------------------- Here's a great tip for those dual or multi-classed fighter-mages: Put all the slots you can into dual-wield, dual wield your best weapon in your off hand, then cast Melf's Minute Meteors. You will throw the meteor, then attack with the weapon in your off hand, from any distance! Lockpicking for fun and Profit: ------------------------------- Since your party gains experience for doing simple things, such as detrapping and unlocking, there are naturally a few tricks to maximize this. If you want to behave yourself and not steal from the shopkeepers, you can still gain the experience from lockpicking their chests. There are no consequences (rep. decrease, guards summoned, etc.) as long as you don't actually open the chest. (George Adam III) Pickpocketing Strategies: (from Henning Roes) ------------------------- I spent some hours and pick-pocketed nearly everybody in the game who was not hostile. It's easy even in the beginning with Jan and a potion. Commoners and Peasants: Nothing, 1-10 gold and minor spells Amnish Soldiers: 20-40 gold and a 30% to get a scroll (up to level 8) Nobleman/Noblewoman: jewels and gold It's worthy to take several trials on the last two categories if you need money and spells in the beginning. Special items: Ribald in the Adventurer's Mart, Waukeen's Promenade: Ring of Regeneration Guardian Telwyn in the Temple of Helm, Temple District: Helm of Glory (quest reward, if you want to have it before completing the quest) Tolgerias in the Council of Six Building, Government District: Ring of Ram (He will drop another one after defeating him in the Planar Sphere) Taquee the Djinn in Trademeet: Bottle of Efreeti Lord Feveron, in the Bridge district, can be pickpocketed for a scroll of Simulacrum. The Lady of the Keep, in the de'Arnise hold, can be pickpocketed for a scroll of Protection from Normal Weapons. Regardless of how high the thieving skills are, there's always a 1% of failure. Quicksave is a must. It's possible to steal from everybody who has a cyan circlet. So you can steal the Ring of Gaxx and get another one by killing him (but this seems to be cheating). Charming the creature increases the chances of pick-pocketing (don't do this to important NPC's). A Stealing Trick: (from David Weldon) ----------------- Here is a strategy that I used to great effect once I got the thieves guild stronghold. It actually only requires that you find a merchant who will buy stolen goods. First, save up 20K or so to buy the most expensive item you can find in Athkatla. Buy that item, then go sell it to the merchant who will buy stolen goods. (for example, Jayes in the right part of Waukeen's Promenade) Have a thief drink 5 or 6 potions of master thievery (you won't need any more after this, so use all of them that you can buy from local merchants if you want. I generally stopped at around 250 or so Pick Pockets). Proceed to steal and sell back the same item over and over to the merchant. You can rack up any amount of gold that you would want, and then never have to worry about stealing anything again. I actually bought and sold 4 items at a time, because that's what you can click on the interface screen without moving the slider. I netted about 30000 from the four items each time, and in less than 5 minutes I had more gold than I will ever need. It's a lot more rewarding to rip off the thieves' guild and laugh at how stupid their merchants are than it is to just edit your gold amount with a cheat or editor. At least, I felt so! "Shopthrifting" from Clayton a.k.a. Lord Nazgul, Monk Savant --------------- What you need: - some gold (the more the merrier) - a store selling high quantities of the items you want (i.e., selling 5 fireball spells as opposed to selling 5 single different spells) - something to sell (that short sword the goblin had works well) - a buyer with lots of room for the purchase What you do: - Select the items you wish to purchase (taking multiple copies where available). The cost will go up as normal, but don't worry about the cost yet. Notice the cost though. - BEFORE purchasing, sell the short sword (or whatever else). Upon completing the sale, you'll notice the cost will drop to the price as if you only selected a single copy of each item. - Complete the purchase. You will be allowed to make the purchase as long as you have enough money to cover the "cost" that is displayed. The game however still tries to charge you what it should cost. However, it will not leave you with a negative gold value. I've tried this in a number of stores now, and it has worked well. Works especially well with the merchant at the city gate. He had some nice scrolls, but I didn't have enough to purchase for all my mages. I figure he's owes me one after I stopped him from getting killed. Levelling up a Dual-Classed Mage Quickly: ----------------------------------------- If your main character was one class, and is now being dual classed to a mage, you will be at quite the disadvantage until your old class abilities resurface. (which happens when your current level, exceeds your old class' level) To speed things up, we take advantage of the Experience for Spells Memorized. First, save it. Then kick everyone out of the party. Now buy every spell you can, and learn every possible spell. Not only are you gaining experience, but you will be quickly gaining whole levels. This probably won't get you above your Dual Class requirement, but it will help a lot. Learning more Mage Spells than Normal: -------------------------------------- Normally mages are limited by their Intelligence as to how many spells they can learn per level. For example, someone with 17 INT can learn only 14 spells per level. To get around this, simply drink a Potion of Genius (or other INT raising potion) and learn all the spells you want. This also works to increase the ODDS that you successfully learn the spell. Although an easier way to increase the odds that you learn a spell is to temporarily drop the difficulty of the game to 'normal' where all spells are memorized. Anyone can cast Mage Scrolls: (from Alex Malano) ----------------------------- First, go into the inventory screen and drink, use a potion (may work with other use items, however I have not tested this). Then, replace the location of the "drunken" potion with any scroll of your choice, and exit the inventory screen. If done correctly, the character should start to cast the spell, and the potion is not used up. *(Note however, that I am using the unpatched version of the game and this may not work in later versions.) Editor's Note: Also an interesting way to get a non-mage main character a Familiar. "Fake Talk" as Applied to Stealing from Shopkeepers: (from Aleph) ---------------------------------------------------- Kudos to your "talk-fight" strategy. I have expanded on this a bit, and would like to give you another way to use it beyond dragonslaying... it's called the "Absent-Minded Shopkeeper". Steps. 1) Enter store. 2) Save game. 3) Ask to see goods and start stealing away from the Steal screen. 4) The second you are caught and the steal screen dissapears, hit space bar. Don't even wait for the normal screen to come back. 5) While paused, click on the storekeeper again (talk function) and unpause. If timed right, you will be able to talk to them again, and thus continue stealing. You can also quicksave while paused if you doubt your reflexes. 6) At the end, talk to the shopkeeper without getting caught and you should be able to walk away without their turning red, rep loss, etc. Great places to steal are the armorer in Waukeens Promenade, the mage at the back of Ribald's, the scroll guy in the Promenade, Gareth's contact (for glasses of ID), Trademeet (for acid club, inertia belt, others), and Underdark. Also note that while you can't steal from Ribald's goods, you can pickpocket him for a ring of regeneration. Note: There are times when this strategy will fail, causing the people to go hostile anyway. Stolen items can then be sold at any shopkeep whose goods are "stolen". (Roger the Fence, the Thieves Guild, etc.) Manipulating Things, without anyone Noticing: (from Rolander) --------------------------------------------- For some reason, if you are stealthed or invisible and you manipulate those objects, you do NOT come out of stealth/invisible mode and unalerted enemies (if present) will remain ignorant of your presence. Dunno if it's a bug, but it can avoid some unnecessary battle if you use a stealthed/invisible character to go in, activate and get out. (e.g. in the Shade Lord quest, I used a stealthed charactor to grab the 1st sun gem and sneaked him past the gathered shadows without a fight) Monks can wear Keldorn's Armor: (from ROB) ------------------------------- If you read the description for Keldorn's Armor it mentions that "few others than" he can wear it. Interesting. Turns out that Monks can wear it, if they have these stats: 15 STR 17 CON 12 INT 18 CHA You can, of course, improve your stats via items. Say you have only 14 STR and 3 CHA. So, if you put on the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength and the Ring of Human Influence, you will raise your stats and could then wear the armor. This is the ONLY armor that Monks can wear! It has an AC of 0, +1 to Saving Throws and Free Action on its wearer. Of course, when your Monk hits level 18 his natural AC is just as good as the armor, making it almost pointless. (You still get the Free Action and Saving Throw bonus, of course) So, if you have a Monk, go find Keldorn and swipe his armor. If you want Keldorn in your party and feel bad about this, just remember that he can wear any armor he wants, while your Monk can only wear Keldorn's. Fighter/Mages and the Corthala Family Armor: (from Henning Roes) -------------------------------------------- The Corthala Family Armor can be equipped by your main char if you can wear leather. But you cannot wear it if your WIS is too low. Drink a potion of insight, equip the armor. Then try a dispel magic on him and the additional WIS is gone but the armor is still equipped. Good armor for a fighter/mage early in the game since you can cast spells while wearing it and it stucks on you even after leaving an area (some checks are made then like the disappearing of drow armor when leaving the Underdark). Editor's Note: The requirements for wearing the armor appear to be: 6 STR, 18 DEX and 11 WIS Also, this only seems to work on dual classed Fighter/mages. (Elves and Half-Elves can't wear it) Special Abilities: ------------------ Your main character (Protagonist) starts the game with the special abilities that he/she had in Baldur's Gate. THESE ARE NOT SET IN STONE. If you created a new character from scratch these will be: (based on main character's Alignment) Lawful Good: Neutral Good: Chaotic Good: ----------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------- Cure Light Wounds 2 Cure Light Wounds 2 Cure Light Wounds 2 Slow Poison 2 Slow Poison 2 Slow Poison 2 Draw Upon Holy Might 2 Draw Upon Holy Might 2 Draw Upon Holy Might 1 Vampiric Touch 1 Lawful Neutral: (True) Neutral: Chaotic Neutral: ------------------------ ---------------------- ----------------------- Larloch's Minor Drain 2 Cure Light Wounds 2 Cure Light Wounds 2 Horror 1 Horror 1 Horror 2 Slow Poison 1 Slow Poison 1 Draw Upon Holy Might 1 Draw Upon Holy Might 1 Draw Upon Holy Might 2 Vampiric Touch 1 Vampiric Touch 1 Lawful Evil: Neutral Evil: Chaotic Evil: ------------------------ ------------------------ --------------------- Cure Light Wounds 1 Larloch's Minor Drain 2 Larloch's Minor... 2 Larloch's Minor Drain 1 Horror 1 Horror 2 Horror 1 Slow Poison 1 Vampiric Touch 2 Slow Poison 1 Draw Upon Holy Might 1 Draw Upon Holy Might 1 Vampiric Touch 1 Vampiric Touch 1 (new charts from Death Crow) Souma has an interesting Evil Abilities strategy: I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how useful some of those evil powers are. Well, it is when you use the Call Woodland Beings spell (with Jaheira natch). Not only do you get to cast Mass Cure as a Level 4 spell instead of a Level 5 (sort of), but if you don't need the Nymph getting in your way afterwards, you can use those evil Larloch's Minor Drain and Vampiric Touchs on it and gain big hit points temporarily. BIG SPOILER: Eventually you will lose these special abilities when Irenicus finishes what he began at the beginning of the game. Soon after you will gain a new ability, to become the Avatar of Bhaal, the Slayer. The Slayer is immensely powerful, and immune to just about everything. However... There are a couple things to keep in mind about the Slayer. First, you lose 2 reputation points every time you become the Slayer. Not much, but it can add up if you use it too often. Second, if you stay the Slayer for too long at one time, you will die and the game will end. END SPOILER Dual Classing Restores Traps (with generous assistance from the Lord of Fire) ---------------------------- One way to get Yoshimo's (or anyone's) Set Traps ability back (after having set a trap) is to dual class, then cancel that dual. When that is done your old abilities are restored to you, including your set traps. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. > > > > Monster Fighting Strategies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Defensive Spin Trick: (from Tim Marshal) ----------------------- Blades can move while in defensive spin. All that is needed is to have the free action effect on the blade before or during the spin(i.e. potion, spell, ring). Haer'Dalis has become one of my best lure characters. Equip him with Stonskin, several items that grant magical resistance, and the ring of free action. Have him go into defensive spin and you are nearly untouchable. Regenerating Monster Fighting: (from Jeremy Treanor) ------------------------------ I've found a lot of the battles with the monsters that regenerate quickly (greater werewolf,the prince in underdark, etc.) rather annoying when you can't seem to do enough damage to hurt him to 'barely injured', but I did find one trick that seems to work consistently. Firstly, you need to knock down some of it's magic resistance (high resistance doesn't let this trick work.) Then cast harm and pray that your priest/druid is good enough to make contact. (Having autopause when a weapon becomes unusable helps too.) If you make contact, the creature should be down to about 1 point, so you hit him with a magic missile. Since his resistance should still be down, he should die. Vampire Fighting: (from Jeremy Treanor) ----------------- I found that having two clerics (Viconia + Aerie, my first time through) does absolute wonders in the vampire dens and other places where there are undead creatures affected by sunlight. Two simultaneous castings of false dawn knocked out every vampire that swarms around you. If they should survive, they're still confused and more than a little vulnerable. How to Kill Civilians (without really trying): (from Willis Su) ---------------------------------------------- For those that are able, cast the necessary protection spells (Protection from Evil), and summon forth a demon (Cacofiend, Gate, etc.). The demon that you summoned will tear everyone in the vicinity to shreds without affecting your reputation. Just make sure your party can contain the demon so it kills whom you wanted it to kill, or else you may start to lose quest-vital NPCs. This is in response to those neutral characters/townsfolks that sometimes turn hostile either through theivery on your part, or due to some other scripting bug. Use it cautiously. Demon Fighting: --------------- Find yourself fighting some mighty demon? Pit Fiend? Glabrezu? Well fear no more! Simply cast Protection from Evil on your party and they will ignore you! This is not a guaranteed strategy, some demons will attack you anyway. The "Fake Talk to the Enemy" Strategy: (Dragonslaying) -------------------------------------- This is my favorite fighting strategy in the game, and it is incredibly simple to pull off. Many enemies start out with the Light Blue circles around them indicating that they are neutral, then you talk to them and they become hostile later. (Or sometimes they talk to you) What you do is this. First make any normal battle preparations (cast protective spells, haste and whatnot), then PAUSE the game. Now click on every enemy as though you were going to TALK to them. Then switch over to attack mode and Force-Attack your enemies. When you unpause the game they won't attack you. And if there are more than one enemy, the others will wait a while before attacking, watching you take out their comrades! This can be repeated as often as desired, and if you want to keep doing it, be sure to pause about every 5 seconds and continue it. (they will become hostile after 6 seconds -- one round -- and attack you) Where is this strategy MOST useful? Dragonslaying, of course! The three dragons in the game all start out with Light Blue circles around them. So, do the fake-talk to them, and start attacking. You will get quite a lot of time before they raise their defenses, time that you can use to do some damage. Note: There are times when you absolutely should NOT use this strategy. Some monsters don't die, instead they start talking when they get close to death. With the Fake Talk, you won't reach this point and the monsters will never die. Don't use it on Lassal, Kangaxx, Lavok, Irenicus and anyone who is particularly crucial to the plot. Dragon and Lich Slaying: (by Max Chen) ------------------------ 3 of the 4 Dragon have no magic defense against electricity even the 4th one is weak against it. This is where lighting bolt come in. Bounce it off the wall a few times and watch their hp go down. Fighting against lich especially against time stop. Use fog of war to your advantage, hide in fog of war and summon creatures to attack lich(don't follow, only send your summon creatures, you won't be able to see anything but you will get message at the bottom to know what's going on). It will waste some of it's spell against summon creatures, I think most lich only have 1 time stop spell and they will waste that as well. Don't cast all your summon creatures all at once, lich sometimes can unsummon all your summon creatures, so send it one by one. Fighting Monsters who Level Drain: (mostly from Travis Archer) ---------------------------------- There are many types of undead that will "drain" your levels when they attack. You may be a level 12 fighter, but that vampire just made you into a level 10 fighter. This is easily fixed with a Restoration spell, but there are some other consequences of level drain as well. When a spellcaster is drained, they will lose the higher level spells. Memorize your most important spells first. That way, they're the last spells to get level-drained. Examples: Lesser Restoration, Raise Dead, Heal. This makes mopping up after vampire encounters a lot less annoying. When you restore levels, spells are not re-memorized, so don't forget to do this before you rest. Negative plane protection, which protects from level drain, has a disappointingly short duration, and having to memorize and cast it 6 times before a fight is obnoxious, so I recommend that you do one of the following: a) cast it only on your spellcasters (rememorizing spells is annoying) b) keep your casters in the rear and don't cast it at all c) use limited wish instead to protect your whole party with one spell. (best choice) Golem Fighting: --------------- There is a great little trick for defeating any Golems you might run into. Simply take the Ring of Earth Control and use it's Control/Charm Earth Elemental ability on the biggest Golem around. Despite the description of the spell, it accutally works on the golems too! It might take a couple of tries, but you can rest in the same room as the golems and try again. After you've gotten the biggest on there charmed, let him kill off the others and then loot the treasures before the spell wears off. (from Greymane) Clay Golems: ------------ Clay Golems MUST be hit by BLUNT weaponry to score effective hits. Sample blunt weapons are: Clubs, Maces, Morningstars, Fists and Staves. Hit them with anything else and you will get the "weapon not effective" shtick. One exception to this are weapons that have bonus damage, such as +1 fire damage. The weapon itself won't hit, but it will still do its fire damage. Mages: ------ Mages have increased in power by LEAPS and BOUNDS since Baldur's Gate. They're much more annoying now. Two spells in particular make them tough to fight: Contingency and Sequencer. These allow mages to cast spells almost INSTANTLY at almost any time. Then add in their new protective magics -- Protection from Normal Weapons springs to mind -- and defeating mages in Baldur's Gate II becomes much more difficult. Mage does: Protection from Normal/Magical Weapons Counter with: Breach (lvl 5) Mage does: Shadow Door/ Invisibility AND Protection from Normal Weapons Counter with: Purge Invisibility or Glitterdust or Remove Magic THEN Breach You cannot Breach anything that is invisible, so you have to get them to be seen first. Note: True Sight dispels any and ALL protections from the illusion school. That's right, no more Mirror Images, Simulacrums or Invisibility! Dispel Magic is more of a clean-up dispeller to be used in sequence with Breach. It usually takes care of whatever Breach doesn’t, leaving your enemy mage wide open. I like this spell for it's versatility (removing negative and positive status) but you're better of using Remove Magic in sequence with Breach as you won't end up removing your own protections, plus you'll want to save your Dispel Magics when baddies start throwing out Maze spells. Generally, Ruby Ray of Reversal gets rid of everything that protects from spells while Breach takes care of anything that protects from weapons and elements. (entire NOTE from John Winkleman) I let my archers take care of mages most often, so countering their Globes of Invulnerability is not a priority. A Spell Thrust could be used to cut a Minor Globe out, however. Leo Wang recommends summoning Nishruu (and their higher level counterparts, Hekaeshars) to deal with mages. Nishruu are mage-eaters for the most part, as they are drawn to mages like bees to pollen. Magic attacks heal the Nishruu and best of all, Nishruu cause mages to forget spells. Summoning up these bad boys make the end game mages (such as Irenicus) pretty easy. Nishruu are a 6th level spell, and Hakaeshars are 7th. Cyrille Artho doesn't think too highly of Nishruu's: Just a comment about the usefulness of Nishruus and their "relatives": I used them now and again vs. wizards, but did not like it very much when one of my Imoen was charmed and turned against me (incidentally she had summoned the Nishruu herself). What would the Nishruu do? After I killed the enemy mage, it would "home" on Imoen. Until I had realized that and disposed myself of the Nishruu, it had already eaten some magical items (among them the Bracers of Protection!). That really pissed me off, and I didn't use Nishruus anymore. Not to mention that they might also degrade items that you would otherwise pick up after the battle. Henning Roes has an interesting tip for fighting mages: Normally the high-level mage casts heavy protections on himself and it takes some time to take them down. In my second game I found a new strategy to get rid of their protection-from-magical-weapons like mantle etc: I used normal weapons in that case. I didn't do that in my first game because I wanted enchanted weapons as much as anyone. So I never thought about how useful non-magical weapons are. Fighting the Cowled Wizards for Fun and Profit: (from JP) ----------------------------------------------- We both know that you can't cast spells in athkatla unless you want to face the cowled wizards, right? And if you want to get them off your back you pay corneil at the council of six building. I finished the game as a paladin (I imported my character from Baldur's Gate) and then played it again as an Invoker. I didn't want to pay corneil the 5,000 gp because I saw the cowled wizards as a potential source of both gp and exp. If you want to face off with the cowled wizards, here's what I recommend: 1. Isolate your mage from the rest of your party. 2. Go to a spot anywhere in athkatla (I did this near the archway in the bridge district) where there are only a few people, lessening the risk of killing someone accidentally. 3. Cast a summoning spell, preferably summon nishruu. The "spokesperson" for the cowled wizard should appear shortly after the nishruu materializes. Don't expect the nishruu to do heavy damage. His only purpose is to distract the cowled wizards from attacking you. 4. Don't wait for him to appear! Quickly walk away from him and then attack him using your nishruu. 5. He'll say something short and three (or four, I'm not sure) other cowled wizards will appear behind him to attack you. 6. Walk away until you don't see them anymore (or until they're covered by the fog of war). Your nishruu will attack them and they'll attack your nishruu. 7. Try to remember where they were before you walk away. They're usually huddled together when they begin attacking you. 8. Wait for a few moments to let some of their protective spells expire. You don't have to wait that long anyway. Cast shadow door. 9. Cast area effect spells like death fog, cloudkill, web, ice storm, etc. On the ground near where you last saw them. You can't see them and they can't see you, but you know where they are, so use that to your advantage. 10. Use multiple web spells if you have to so that they don't approach you. In time, they'll all die and you get around 14000 exp. Search their corpses for potions, scrolls and gems. I did this a lot times and it pays off rather well. however, it's not infinite. You'll eventually face a high level wizard (I forgot his name) who'll cast time stop and summon a pit fiend. I tried to beat him but he cast dimension door and ran away. The final fight with the cowled wizards will occur when their spokesperson tells you that the highest members of their order have come to fight you. To beat them, simply repeat the process I said about defeating them. But be careful! One of them (her name's zalladora, I think) can (and probably will) cast two time stop spells at the beginning of the battle! Keep your distance from them. When zalladora is near death, she'll attempt to cast her third time stop spell. If she does, she'll cast gate and summon a pit fiend and cast dimension gate to get out. It's up to you if you want to prevent her from escaping or if you want to fight the pit fiend instead. Either way, if you survive, the cowled wizards will never bother your spellcasting in Athkatla again. Matt Warner has an easier way to cast spells in Athkatla: I've just found a neat little way to rid yourselves of the interference of the Coweled Wizards without paying the hefty 5000 gold bribe, or going through the effort of killing wave after wave of wizards until they give up on you, though that will probably yeild a bit more treasure than my method. If you just want to be done with them quick and easy, do this: Have a mage cast any spell that will attract the attention of the wizards, stoneskin or mirror image work well. Of course, so does everything else but those spells are nice and non-offense. A lone wizard will dimesion door in to yell at you before bringing in several more wizards to kill you. He'll have some kind of hefty enchantment up (stoneskin?). The *instant* he actually shows up (i.e. has the blue ring around him), pause. Employ the fake talk strategy: Have someone talk to him and unpause. Pause again (before anyone actually walks over and starts talking to him) and force-attack him while he still has the blue circle around him. You probably won't be able to hit him due to his powerful protection spells, but this doesn't matter. Every 5 seconds or so, back off and fake-talk him again. As long as you keep doing this, he won't go hostile and his friends won't gate in. Within a short period of time, his spell wears off and he returns to a more normal-looking color. Coincidentally, he's also now vulnerable. Kill him. He only has a plain quarterstaff on him, but that's not the real treat here. After this, no more wizards will show up and attack you for spellcasting. Apparently, since he never gets to speak, the game never triggers any more attacks since the first attack was never completed. Since more wizards won't show up in the middle of a wizard attack if you cast spells, this catch gets applied for the rest of the game. This doesn't appear to screw anything up (it's just a flag not getting set to "true", shouldn't affect anything else. Hasn't yet in my game, anyway.) The Invisible Door Blocker Strategy: (from Phobia) ------------------------------------ What you do is make a guy invisible with a ring, potion, stealth, etc. and have him stand in a doorway (if the doorway is too big, you can have two people standing there side by side, this only works in doorways that you can stand in, the HUGE ones don't count). Then you send someone into the room, the invisi-guys will move to let him through, then go back into place, when the enemies see you, run back through the doorway. The enemies will run into your invisible characters and not attack them because they can't see them, then you can take the enemies out with spells and ranged weapons. Editor's Note: I would turn the Party AI off for this strategy. You need to prevent your invisi-guys from attacking and becoming visible. Tough Battle Tips: ------------------ Strategy tip for dragons and other tough battles: I went to the Windspear Hills right after doing Nalia's Keep on my first run - through, and when I reached the Red Dragon, was still quite low level, as I hadn't done any of the town quests except Aerie's circus and the slaving ring in the Copper Coronet. I figured, oh what the hell, I'll give it a go anyway, and proceeded to prep for battle. By chance, I remembered Yoshimo's set snares ability, and strung snares all around the big lizard before attacking. They must have accounted for at least half the damage I did to it, and I managed to kill it without any severe injuries to my party. And there I was with a +5 Holy Avenger and no freaking paladin to weild it !! Anyway, I thought I should mention this as it seems many people have overlooked this ability on the BBs I've looked at, and it can prove invaluable in any number of combats (especially those you can prep for). IMHO it makes the bounty hunter far superior to the other thief kits. (Geoff Ulreich) Other strategies that I have heard of to kill tough monsters: - Back away from the monster so that you can't see it anymore, then cast Cloudkill. - Use a Monk's "Quivering Palm" attack to kill it. - Have a Kensai/Thief backstab it. - Have a Cleric cast Thac0 modifying spells on self, then cast Slay Living on target. (Adar) - Summon forth a Pit Fiend, then keep the party out of the battle. (Adar) Project Image and Cloudkill: (from Jafar Sadeq, sharktooth@hotmail.com) ---------------------------- I rested once before killing the black dragon. I used the cloudkill strategy, had Nalia memorize 3 project images and 6 cloudkills (using a ring of wizardry). Then just project image, hit 6 cloudkills in general direction of dragon, quickly kill the image with the best fighter (my beastmaster dual-weilding the bone club and gnasher) so I could get another image and set off more cloudkills as soon as possible. It took all three images' cloudkills, otherwise the damage would be so slow that it would cast heal before it could be killed. (I once managed to get an image to project another image, but wasn't been able to repeat it.) I did not rest once after this and finshed the game without using any spell other than one Protection from Evil 10'. Infinite Lightning Bolts: (From Brawny Lam) ------------------------- I was fighting Kuo-Toa in the underdark exit: In the heat of battle, I accidently got Imoen to cast lightning bolt on my ranger PC. Luckily enough my ranger was wearing the Cloak of Mirroring, so the lightning bolt got reflected back to Imoen, who was wearing the Cloak of Reflection, so the lightning bolt kept being reflected back and forth from my ranger to Imoen and vice-versa. Now here's where it gets interesting. Every time a lightning bolt got reflected, the original lightning bolt would continue to bounce around the room. So after a couple of reflections, I had about 4 to 5 lightning bolts bouncing all over the place vapourizing everything in their path. I was quite happy that the Kuo-Toa were being turned into ash before my eyes, but not quite so happy when it killed my entire party as well, except for my ranger and Imoen, who were still reflecting lightning bolts back and forth. Not sure how useful this trick is, but I thought I'd mention it since its cool looking at all those lightning bolts flying all over the place. It'll probably be more useful if the party was protected from electricity. Beholders: (from Paul Dickinson) ---------- Beholders have interesting behavior patterns. If any party member is visible (and hostile), a beholder will immediately start pelting them with gaze attacks, cause wounds, slow, paralyze, petrify, or whatever. If not too busy pelting party members with nasty magic, they will move towards the nearest foe and chew on them. Note the distinction between foe and party member. Beholders don't seem to want to waste their gaze attacks on summoned creatures. This means that one can have a stealthy or invisible party member observing (and thus allowing control of the battle), while one or more summoned creatures trash the beholders, who have really pathetic physical attacks. The moon dog figurine works quite well here. It moves fast, can heal itself, and stays around for long enough to kill quite a few beholders. Mind Flayers: (from Mishael) ------------- An easy way to kill Mind Flayers is to summon a bunch of Invinsible Stalkers, then cast Haste on them. Invinsible Stalkers are immune to all sorts of Mind control spells including charm, domination and confusion. As far as I know, they cannot be mind devoured. You may see some marks of confusion on their head, but they are not confused. You can control them as long as they are alive. :) More Mind Flayers: (from Jonathan Zimmerman) ------------------ I wanted to share my battle strategy for the mind flayers in the Underdark. I use both pairs of boots of speed on my two best bowmen, and cast chaotic commands on them. I move the rest of my party off in a corner. The bowmen pop into a room with the flayers and start shooting arrows. While the flayers take time using their psionics, my fighters are pumping them full of arrows. Once they try to close and drain your intelligence, just back up and start firing again. They will never catch you. This works best if you've cleaned out the entire city, up to the first door you need a flayer to open. That way, you have plenty of room to run around. This strategy does use a lot of arrows, though. Editor's Note: Not if you have the Tansheron's Bow (from one of the Merchants in Trademeet). Even More Mind Flayers: (from Henning Roes) ----------------------- Only one spell (chaotic command) and one fighter are involved. Cast it on your best melee fighter and he's protected from psionic blasts. This spell lasts for a long time. Then give him the best AC (-11 does it). Since Mind flayers have to hit your Fighter in melee they have to make a critical hit to drain the fighters brain. Just slaughter them while standing in the door so only one or two of them are able to attack. The INT-lowerance disappears after a short time so there's no need for a restoration-spell. Ullithids drain 4 or 5 levels (better than the usual Mind Flayer) - INT 5-6 is a must. Don't care about the Umber Hulks in the Under Dark. Use them as a shield while fighting and healthy. I finished the Mind Flayer City with only 1 spell and some healing potions. Even in the sewers in the Temple District it's very easy. Equip a shield to get a low AC. My fighter wasn't hasted or othwerwise improved. Kill Mind Flayers with Undead: (from James Victor) ------------------------------ Let someone cast Wizard's Eye and have it position istself wherever the mind flayers are situated. Have your mages/clerics cast animate dead and let the wizard eye guide them the way. Since animated skeletons have no brain, flayer's psionics are useless and since mindflayers have weak stats, they are easy to slaughter. For better results, have a cleric cast Strength of One and another spellcaster cast Haste for better results. A couple of batches of "enhanced" skeletons would do the trick. Editor's Note: The Wizard's Eye doesn't do anything itself, it is simply used so you can see where the skeletons are going. This way you can keep your party well away from the battle. Mind Flayer Mind Control Collars: (from Travis Archer) --------------------------------- Some SPOILERS ahead. These devices are one-shot mind control items which never fail. Only 1 is necessary to get to the Elder brain, maybe 2 if you're unlucky. Which leaves 2 or 3 extra. These come in very handy in tough fights. These devices make the most impossible combats _easy_. The mob stays under your control until attacked. It won't leave the map, but it's still your pet when you come back. I used one on the Demilich, and one on Shangalar, because: The Demilich is probably the single hardest opponent because he Imprisons at will. He's immune to almost every spell, and he's beefy like an Adamantite Golem. (Weapons do 1-5 damage depending on enchantment) With one of these devices I made him my pet! On a funny note, you can make him Imprison himself, but then you don't get his loot or experience. :( So, I used Freedom and then just ambushed him while he was still "green". By the time he turned red he was dead. I used this on Shangalar and he wasted his buddies while I watched, then I finished him off. (Wait until he gets all his defenses up before you use it on him) This can be used on Dragons as well, which is amusing as hell, but not the Avatar of Rillifane who is immune to everything. :( Chromatic Doom: (from the Maxx) --------------- You remember that first-level mage spell "chromatic orb", and the first level priest spell "doom"? The ones that just seemed really crappy at the start? Well, if your mage is level 12 or higher, any enemy hit by it must save vs. death, or be instantly killed. Now, granted, dragons have a good save vs. spells, but not after you hit them with doom. If you have Aerie in your party, have her throw the two spells into a sequencer, or minor sequencer. I was able to kill the shadow dragon in Suldanesselar, the red dragon in Watcher's keep, and one or two others, only using these spells, nothing else. Note: Make sure to place doom in the sequencer before you put chromatic orb in first, or else you just wasted a spell. More Snare Tricks: (from Willis Su) ------------------ To expand on that tip, lets consider this: with not only Bounty Hunter kit's Set Special Snare ability, even a regular snare cannot be stopped by any creature's resistance stats or saving throws. What that means is thieves' snares are, in actuality, the best weapons in the game for defeating just about every boss and mini-