Is Dorn any good how should I build him? SOLVED

[PlatinumSun]

Just bumped in to him who should I kick out of my party?
At the moment it is: Me, Imoen, Khalid and Jaheira, Minsc and Dynaheir. Who should kick? If its a pair I will replace the other with Neera.

[jonnin]

He is evil, so unless you want him to leave or want to micromanage your rep by doing random acts of evil you should lose him.

what are "you" ?

If you are not a cleric, I would get one instead of dorn. He is good at hitting things, but so is minsc. Khalid is useless, but J makes up for it, almost. He will run away if he gets scratched.

[Caethyril]

As mentioned, it makes a big difference what class your character, the protagonist, is. If Imoen's your only thief, definitely don't swap her out for Dorn. If Jaheira's your only healer (druid or cleric), don't swap her out for Dorn/Neera. In my experience Khalid makes a great frontline fighter if you just get a high-charisma character to lead the party.

Minsc & Boo are a slightly reckless duo and have a couple of minor special abilities (berserk is great if used with care); Dorn has some fancy antipaladin abilities and is perhaps slightly steadier in terms of damage. Not sure there's much to pick between them in terms of combat ability. Dynaheir's flexibility is somewhat cramped by her specialisation, but she's a better-than-average glass cannon with a Slow Poison special ability; by contrast, Neera is more flexible but much less reliable at the cost of being potentially more deadly (to either side) thanks to her wild surges. Mostly depends on how you want to play.

Like jonnin says, though, Dorn's evil, so if you recruit him then keep your reputation below 18 (I think?) or he'll walk out on you, equipment and all.

[possessed_toaster]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Khalid is useless

I disagree. In my current playthrough I use him as an archer. He just got to level 6, which means 3 pips in longbows, and I gave him some nice equipment, and is becoming a machine gun archer. His Dex is not optimal, but definetly good enough, since bows are overpowered in BG1 anyways. Currently he has by far the most kills in the group.
And if he really needs to go into melee he just gets a potion of *giant strength, I have too many of those anyways.

[Caethyril]

Originally posted by PlatinumSun:

But how do I build him what weapon skills do I level for him. I heard Dorm makes a really good archer. And what spells should I use for him. I heard Dorm makes a really good archer. And any what gear should I give him?

I mostly used him as a tank/damage dealer: two-handed sword, best armour, belt of anti-piercing or whatever it's called to compensate for the lack of a shield. I imagine he's pretty decent with a bow, too, though he only really got use out of it early on (up to ~chapter 4) after which he meleed through pretty much every encounter (with mage, cleric, and potions for support). I'd equip & play Minsc similarly, but again, they're pretty versatile for non-fighter classes so it's mostly up to you. What does your party lack? I think everyone ought to have some kind of ranged weapon equipped anyway, just in case.

[possessed_toaster]

Originally posted by PlatinumSun:

But how do I build him what weapon skills do I level for him. I heard Dorm makes a really good archer. And what spells should I use for him. I heard Dorm makes a really good archer. And any what gear should I give him?

It's really not that difficult, there are not a lot of choices to make when leveling a fighter in BG. The only choice you have is which weapon skill you have him learn and that's it. So it really comes down to what you want him to do. If you want him to be an archer go for longbows, if you need a sturdy frontliner give him a shield and whatever 1-handed weapon you want. If you want him to deal the most damage go for 2-handed or two weapons. I don't know what skills he has when you recruit him, so putting 3 pips into two weapon style might be too much, takes a very long time.

When it comes to equipment, well, everything that gives AC, Saving Throws or immunities/resistances is very welcome, but you probably figured that out already.

[possessed_toaster]

Originally posted by Caethyril:

I think everyone ought to have some kind of ranged weapon equipped anyway, just in case.

Reminds me of a nice group I once made for BG1: A mage/cleric for the little magic you really need, one fighter/thief throwing darts, and 4 archers (ranger kit) using longbows. Only very fast enemies in large packs ever reach melee distance.

[Damn_Monkey]

Originally posted by PlatinumSun:

But how do I build him what weapon skills do I level for him. I heard Dorm makes a really good archer. And what spells should I use for him. I heard Dorm makes a really good archer. And any what gear should I give him?

Dorn is an amazingly straight forward character to play. He starts out with 2 pips in two-handed sword and two pips in two-handed weapon style. He will get 2 more eventually. He also starts out with a really nice 2 handed sword. That should pretty much tell you what he should be doing. It's not complicated.

As far as spells...he only gets 3 abilites that again, are not head scratchers. Use poison weapon on mages to interupt their casting. Use his death touch to heal him. Use Aura of Dispair when facing a large group of non casters.

Since poison weapon works with range weapons, putting those two pips into longbows isn't a bad idea, but I still think he deserves to be in the middle of combat swinging his giant sword around.

[Caethyril]

Originally posted by possessed_toaster:

Reminds me of a nice group I once made for BG1: A mage/cleric for the little magic you really need, one fighter/thief throwing darts, and 4 archers (ranger kit) using longbows. Only very fast enemies in large packs ever reach melee distance.

I'm not surprised! Even with only 1 archer (admittedly, an elf with 19 dex) I breezed through everything up until Baldur's Gate. Those bandits never knew what hit them. =D

[NobleBucket]

Pro-tip for using Dorn: His poison weapon ability, when combined with explosive arrows, can deal damage to and eventually even kill certain NPCs that are supposed to be immune to damage (the most notable example of this are that group of ghosts in those ruins, which drop end-game loot when killed).

[jonnin]

Originally posted by possessed_toaster:

Originally posted by jonnin:

Khalid is useless

I disagree. In my current playthrough I use him as an archer. He just got to level 6, which means 3 pips in longbows, and I gave him some nice equipment, and is becoming a machine gun archer. His Dex is not optimal, but definetly good enough, since bows are overpowered in BG1 anyways. Currently he has by far the most kills in the group.
And if he really needs to go into melee he just gets a potion of *giant strength, I have too many of those anyways.

Fair enough. My complaint stands though, something is seriously wrong with his 'morale' and he runs in panic after 1 -2 hits in most of BG1. Ive reached a 0 tolerance with him. If he dies, Ill 'comfort' J and keep her, and if he runs, I will kill him myself.

[Tio Taveira]

The only thing that I find "bad" about him (combat wise) is his 14 CONS. Other than that he's a beast in BG but in BG2 there's Korgan.

[possessed_toaster]

I think the ghosts are actually in Durlag's tower.

[Caethyril]

There's a group of ghosts in Firewine ruins, if I remember correctly.

The only ghost at Ulcaster ruins is Ulcaster himself.

[voehringer_nitron]

Khalid gets a lot of hate for his morale, but his breaking point is the same as Kagain, who nobody seems to mention. And they are both only one point worse than Coran, though most people use him as an archer.