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Early on the Bassilus and Melicamp the Chicken quests are easy to do solo (or with a small party) and offer huge rewards for the difficulty involved. Bassilus can be a tough fight, but with the right conversation choices you can eliminate his entourage, the reward is 5000 gp and a +2 Warhammer. Melicamp is 2000 XP for killing a wolf and a skeleton. You can also talk to Noober on the Nashkel map and exhaust his conversation options for 400 XP.
If you're really having a hard time with low level hell, then you can skip it by Basilisk hunting with Korax the Ghoul:
Once you leave Candlekeep, don't pick up any companions. Just head south as soon you have control to ditch Imoen before she talk to you. That should take you to the High Hedge map. Keep to the top edge of the map and head East. You basically want to run from every encounter until you get to Mutamin's Garden, two maps East of Beregost. You might have to fight a wild dog in the temple map, but you should be able to avoid everything else. Korax is a Ghoul who will help you for a while before becoming hostile. Use him to kill the Basilisks on the map (he's immune to petrification and has a stunning attack), but avoid the group at the centre of the map. It can help to save after each Basilisk kill so that you can plot the most efficient path to them. You should be able to get 28000 XP pretty quickly since the regular basilisks give you 1400 XP and the greater ones give you 7000 XP. Now that you're level 5 or so you can go back to the first map and recruit your companions, they should scale up to your level.
There is some free gear you can find around the maps early on, but it requires a bit of a pixel hunt. There's a Ring of Wizardry hidden by the base of a pine tree in the south east part of the Friendly Arm Inn map, stay on the south edge of map as you walk east while tapping [Tab] and you should see it light up. Similarly there's a suit of Ankheg Platemail hidden in a farmer's field in Nashkel, southwest corner of this map.
You might want to avoid buying anything until you max your reputation, you get a huge discount in stores if you have a high reaction modifier (modified by charisma and reputation). Otherwise you should probably check the wiki[baldursgate.fandom.com] for: Ashideena, Varscona, the Stupefier and the Whistling Sword. Don't turn in the magical belt from the Ogre for the quest at the Friendly Arm Inn, the Elves' Bane girdle (an AC bonus of 3 vs. missile and piercing attacks, is worth way more than the quest reward offered and it's the only one in the game).
The first good Cleric you can use is Branwen, she's petrified on the Nashkel Carnival map, you'll need a Scroll of Stone to Flesh to save her. Jaheira (Fighter/Druid) is fairly good healer early on and you can recruit her at the Friendly Arm Inn. For mages the first good aligned mages you can get are Dynaheir (available at the Gnoll Fortress, just talk to Minsc at Nashkel to put it on your map) and Xan, available at the Nashkel mines. You probably want to rescue Dynaheir before you go to the mines, but the mines are closer and not impossible for a low level party. You could also dual class Imoen to mage as soon as you're able to.
Range characters excel in this version, so all you really need is a couple fighters to hold the line, while using bows and slings for everyone else.
If you follow the road to the Friendly Arm inn, and the Druid and Fighter with neutral and good ethos will be available. There is also a new character a bisexual evil orc fighter that can be recruited. (You can tell the new content added by the developers)
I forgot about Neera, but she's a wild mage and they don't really count ;)
First time through is learning mode. Reroll until you get good stats, and dial back the damage difficulty. You can jack it up later once you know what you are doing.
Save early and save often. There is no shame in reloading, especially when ou are learning the game.
Be careful farming experience early. Companions do level with you, but often later versions do not get their maximum hit points, so a character that is good if your get them at level 1 or 2 can be gimped if you get them at level 5.
Good starting character -- a dwarf fighter with maxed 18 STR, 17 DEX and 19 CON. Give him as many points in Axe as you can, have him dual wield axes, and let him tank away. Buy him some throwing axes so he has both ranged and melee.
Another good starting character -- elf ranger or fighter with maxed 18 STR, 19 DEX and 17 CON. Give him a couple of longswords and a composite longbow. He will be deadly at range and able to take care of himself if he gets into anything up close.
(Any resemblance to Legolas and Gimli is purely intentional.)
Sometimes running away is the best course of action.
Carry backup weapons. Iron weapons can break until you finish the Naskell mines adventure. Nothing worse than going to whack someone and finding you broke your only sword in that last battle.
Wooden weapons and magical weapons are immune to the iron plague.
Montaron and Xzar suck, but they make very good meat shields as you head to the Friendly Arms Inn. If they live that long. Steal their stuff before you let them go.
Reference Ankhegs -- You've got your boiled ankheg, your fried ankheg, your BBQ ankheg, ankheg creole, ankheg stew, ankheg etouffee, ankheg thermidor, ankheg newberg, ankheg scampi, ankheg cocktail, and ankheg loie salads. No matter how you cook them, ankhegs are yummy, plus they give good experience and nice cash. Sleeping in an ankheg field is risky but profitable.
Don't mess with bears.
Use the button that highlights lootable objects on the map.
You can find great armour lying around in Nashkel for free. You can get 3 suits of plate by killing the flaming fist guys who insult you without any reputation penalty. Magical weapons can be found in many places but there are too many weapon categories to list them all here.
There's also a wand of lightning in Beregost you can get pretty trivially, which is a little bit more dangerous to use, but still really nice, if you're only needing to pop 1 enemy, or there's door nearby so you can fire and then shut the door.
between those two wands you're pretty well set. I usually grab a wand of summoning once I've got access to Baldur's Gate (you can also get one from the merchant at the entrance to Durlag's Tower if you REALLY need the extra umph ASAP (it's a bit pricy but there's enough easy quests that you can get the cash you need for it) or are having trouble getting past chapter 4). Hobgoblins and the ogres are the best minions it summons (the hobs hit pretty hard from range and poison the enemy, while the ogres just hit really hard), the rest of the summons are just fodder, but they are useful for taking hits or adding a bit of extra damage.
Considering the Enhanced editions, but I really dislike them adding new stuff. The new heroes are so out of line IMO, catering to Youtube audience more than the actual lore. Just my opinion.
End of the day, I would say Fighter/Thief is easier to play because Stealth-Backstab-UseMagicItem (you can wear anything you want from any class)
Spamming traps is complete cheese and should be avoided.
Weapons.. I would say the best you aim for Crom Faeyr and Ashideena (yeah, the Beregost warhammer, it just rocks).
Drizzt weapons are mega cheese, but scimitar mastery sucks in BG2. I still kill him every tim eon my evil playthrough though, just for the checkmark.
But Sorcerer... Well, it's like a chess match, but nothing can really stop a powerful sorcerer spamming Timestops and Planetars. Getting there though is whole another business :) There's nothing more pathetic in Forgotten Realms than a lvl 1 mage.
But if you're up to it, get web, get fireball, CC everything and burn it to hell. You get more and more powerful with every level.
If exploring cautiously, one can stay out of trouble quite well in this game. As a last resort, one can flee from combat and exit an area.
The two quickstart companions Montaron and Xzar can be reached without fighting. Ajantis, the paladin companion, is easily reachable without fighting, too. In the area north of Friendly Arm Inn. As a bonus, he will be level 2 if player character is still at level 1. So, one can fetch him early.
Deliberately choosing to not visit Friendly Arm Inn just because Tarnesh is waiting outside and attacks, there is no compelling reason to do that. The two story companions Khalid & Jaheira inside make the party more capable. <-- Ignore the haters that complain about Khalid. Yeah, he doesn't have all 18s in his attributes, and the things he says during combat are to match his character, but he can be improved during the game to become a reliable frontliner.
If meta-gaming some more, one simply travels to Nashkel, skipping through areas and villages like Beregost, avoiding combat (although that isn't really necessary) - and reaching Nashkel pleases Khalid&Jaheira as well as Montaron&Xzar and ends the time limit of their personal quests. Afterwards, one can travel freely within the semi-open world. So, explore, scout ahead carefully, withdraw in case of doubt, return to previous areas and side-quests as you like. A fighter willing to join is Kagain in Beregost in the west part of town in his shop. Again without any need to fight - unlike the west area of Beregost, which features some scripted events.
A cleric companion I pick up early is Branwen. East of Nashkel in AR4900 Carnival. Without fighting, but one must fetch/buy a stone2flesh scroll to free her.
Grab some ammo for Imoen in prologue, start chapter 1, recruit Imoen, grab secret diamond in this map, go to crossroads map, kite ogre with arrows to get belt for quest, grab secret ring +1, reach Friendly Arms, kill Tarnesh with help of the guards and Imoen's wand to interrupt his casting. Grab secret Evermemory ring, recruit Khalid & Jaheira and accept some quests. Go to Beregost, calm down Marl in inn, grab some quests, kill Silke at the end of hers, steal 1,5-hander +1 at night at smithy or Algernon's cloak at inn (if Imoen can level locks or pickpocket), kill assassin at one of inn (low AC at this point, beware), clear house of spiders, return stuff to Friendly Arm's questgiver. Then you can go straight to Nashkel or return Colquetle's amulet with Zhurlong Boots to Beregost. Once you reach Nashkel grab quests, recruit Minsc and progress stuff on the way to Gnolls' Stronghold and Dynaheir.
Some other tips would include hoarding every potion and wand for later, harder fights.
There is trick for getting free 300 gold by talking to Elvenhair sage 30 times in a row.
Silke has Staff+1. One area northeast from Nashkel has half-ogre with Two-hander+1, high charisma Charname can get Dagger+1 from Fuller for bringing bolts. Taerom smithy has some +1 weapons if you trade some earlier loot for cheaper ones. You can provoke 3 flaming fists on a dare on road to Nashkel, low AC, but no reputation loss and free plate mails. Ankheg mail is hidden on Nashkel map. Mines map has one hidden wand and protecting Prism nets Longsword+2 +1 cold.
I do that almost every time and it works well enough.
Tbh in general evil parties have it ways better.
Korgain in Beregost is just awesome fighter with obscene survival.
Viconia drow priest is amazing at what she does, and you can pick her super quick after Friendly Arm.
Edwin mage in Nashkel is outstanding (and yes, I always use the feminine girdle on him lol)
Xzar and Montaron are okay as well. Safana is just awesome to have around and great rogue.
If you run goody, you pick Emoen, the space hamster team and just rock as well. Minsc can be molded into outstanding frontliner. Grab Branwen to heal and you are all set.
In general I prefer soloruns though, either easy thug life with Fighter/Thief, or something challenging and complicated like solo Sorcerer.
Joking aside.... Baldurs Gate 1 favors Fighter or Ranger/Archer due to level restriction...
Casters start being good when they reach lvl 3 magic, which is basically end-game BG 1.
My advice: Do get as much XP you can from CandleKeep ! Find a way to have canonfodder (like summoning staff, traps, fighters) so your party can just rain down dmg.
Party composition ; 1 Fighter, 3 dmg dealer (range), 1 support (healer), 1 magic
You will love crowd-control magic like : Sleep, the vine yard, paralysis, summoning, fear.
In Baldurs Gate, they matter (often the difference between losing or winning) !
If you go the magic route...you'll need to build a party ASAP (3 party can be good at beginning: MC (magic), imoen(range), fighter.
Imoen is a key character (probably your best character after you) in BG 1.
In Bg2 imoen is meuh due to the story (spoiler)
Back to Bg1, you want to maximize XP gain.. (trap disarm, lockpick, learning magic etc etc.)
Also, you'll encounter enemies thata are too strong for you.... Save Save ALOT (Save, quicksave) and note where the enemies are so you can come back to them later (and gain XP/items)
The most fun you can get out of the game is to do BG1 EE, the expansion, BG2 EE (by loading your BG1 champ, make 2 copies of save before that due to bug), and fufilling your destiny
Also this game has a LOT of wasteful space... a lot of running around for very little interaction compared to the next game, BG2 has meaningful area's.. this one doesn't.
I followed the advice up there:
Used to ghoul to tank basiliks for easy, foot in the door, levels
Killed the 3 flaming fists who threaten for easy early plate for myself/kalid/jahara
Found the wizard ring and ring of protection as TINY little specs on the early maps
And yes, 3 characters at range are my highest damage atm, spammed fireball to beat the chess arena.
Well the lower floors of Durlag's tower are the toughest part of BG. I often do the top floors early myself (more basilisks, +2 scimitar and a +Wis tome), but I usually leave the lower floors till later... It's a bit of drag having to go through Nashkel after you've killed the Cambion and Aec.
Durlag's Tower is the Watcher's Keep of BG.