Combat and Game Tips for a Newbie?

[noaxesbb]

Welp, I just got this game from the sale, and I think it was a pretty good deal. However, as soon as I got dropped into the game, I was kind of disoriented. I'm not exactly sure how combat works. I made it to the second area of the starting dungeon in Amn, and then two of my party members got their♥♥♥♥♥slain, followed by me soon after. I want to really like this game, and I've already taken a liking to it, but are there any tips so my♥♥♥♥♥doesn't get slain as easliy? Thanks dudes!

[fauxpas]

Play BG(1) first.

[Kangaxx]

Start as Fighter - he's tough and simple. Berserker kit is one of the best. Half-ork for the race (romance with Viconia and str bonus). Max Str, Con, and Dex.
Put all skillpoints in one weapon (five stars), then in style.
Armor class in this game the lower, the better (AC 1 is better then AC 5), same for THAC0.
Read spell discriptions, choose your spells wisely and don't forget to use them.
Also you should enable autopause in game settings. It helps a lot.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Also don't ignore the fine and extensive game manuals.
https://www.baldursgateii.com/manuals.html

[amigastar]

Search for "Baldurs Gate II Quest Order" on Google. Helped me to figure out where to go first without being slain.

[Ghoul Hunter]

Things to think about.

1. Your stats might be low, if you didn't stat your character properly in creation. This makes things harder. You can get 17-19 in any give stat at character creation, so you should do this. The game allows you to manipulate stats with your point total, so you're not totally based on RNG. Find out what stats are important to your character and maximize those. Some stats are 100% useless to certain classes.

2. Only fighters, paladins, and rangers are your combatants, if you're a beginner. Every other character class is worse at combat, and you're running the risk of them dying. This rule will change as you learn how to play better.

3. Use proper equipment. Every character has weapons they are specialized in. They will be weak if they don't use them. Your fighters should have the best armor and weapons (low armor number values are better in this edition of DnD). You can find everyone's specialties by pressing R to take you to the character menu.

4. Rest to get health back and re-memorize spells.

[Multihog]

Like mentioned earlier on this thread, read the manual. It's accessible from Steam by right-clicking Baldur's Gate 2 EE in your game library and selecting "Show user manual."

It doesn't take that long to read the important bits, and it helps a ton to know about THAC0, AC, a bit about the classes and spells, saving throws, hit dice, and other concepts.

The combat system is super fun, deep, and rewarding like no other (imo) once you've learned the basics.

[DaBeastieBoi]

Right click on the game in library and select properties. Under general there is a link to the manual. That should tell you everything you need to know.

[wendigo211]

I'll give you some tips:

1. D&D is built around 4 roles, to start with you'll want all 4 roles represented in your party:
   • Warrior. This is your Fighter, Ranger, Monk or Paladin. Their job is basically sustained DPS. They're the only classes that get more than 1 base attack per round. Their key attributes are Strength (damage bonus and hit bonus with melee weapon), Dexterity (armor class bonus and hit bonus with ranged weapons) and Constitution (hitpoints). Strength is a weird attribute because of the exceptional score. If you have an 18 Strength you'll see a second number that ranges between 01 and 100 (shown as 00), this value will give a bonus that ranges from +1 to hit and +3 to damage to +3 to hit and +6 to damage. It's generally woth it to have at least an 18:50 on any warrior. Stay away from Monks for your first run.
     
   • Divine Caster. This is your Cleric, Druid and Shaman. Their job is to heal and buff. They do have some offensvie spells. Hold Person, Domination, Rigid Thinking and Holy Smite are some of the more useful offensive spells they'll start with. However their strength is their buffs: they have quite a few spells that prevent conditions, and spells like Strength of One, Draw Upon Holy Might, Defensive Harmony, Bless and Chant can make battles easier for you. They want a high Wisdom (this gives them bonus spells), a 16 Constitution (more hitpoints), a high Dexterity (armor class and ranged weapon bonus) and at least a 15 Strength (for wearing armor)
   • Arcane Caster. This is your Mage, Sorcerer and Bard. Arcane spells are mostly about debuffs and destruction, but they also have the best defensive buffs in the game. They're probably one of the harder classes to learn, but they can change the tide of battle like no other. Some of the better early spells are: Spook, Horror, Glitterdust, Web, Stinking Cloud, Haste, Hold <monster type>, Domination, Emotion: Hopelessness, Animate Dead, Skull Trap and Greater Malisson. Because they can't wear armor, I recommend memorizing a Ghost Armor as well as Stoneskin and Mirror Image. Those three spells together should make your arcane caster pretty durable. Use the Mage to start, since it lets you try out all the spells and find what works for you. They want a high Intelligence (this helps them learn spells and determines how many spells they can know), a 16 Constitution (more hitpoints) and high Dexterity (armor class and ranged weapon bonus). Sorcerers don't need a high Intelligence.
   • Thief. This is the Thief. In the BG saga, you really only need one for disarming traps and opening locks. However their Set Trap ability can be pretty lethal, and with some investment in Hide and/or Move Silently you can sneak up on opponents and backstab them (often this will do enough damage to one shot a dangerous opponent). They want the same attributes as warriors but do not get the exceptional strength bonus.
2. Warriors should try to maximize their attacks per round. 5 is the maximum number of attacks per round the game engine allows. You can double this with Improved Haste (which actually halves the length of a round) get 10 attacks per round with Whirlwind Attack (high level ability). All characters have a base 1 attack per round. Warriors get an extra 1/2 attack per round at level 7 and 13. They also get an extra 1/2 attack per round when they Specialize (2 proficiency points) or gain Grand Mastery (5 proficiency points) in a weapon. You get an extra attack per round when dual wielding. This means a level 13 Fighter who is dual wielding with Grand Mastery gets 4 attacks per round. There are items, and spells which can boost this to the maximum.
   
3. Ranged weapon proficiencies. Ranged weapons have a base rate of fire that can be greater than 1. So, instead of starting with 1 attack per round, they could have 2 (bows and daggers) or 3 (darts). Some of them can also have the Strength bonus to damage (Slings, daggers, axes and hammer). For characters with an exceptional strength, the strength bonus weapons are the ones you want to use (throwing knives are the best, but others are still good). Other characters will want bows. For some reason all the good bows are short bows. Mages and Sorcerers may want to consider darts. Just stay away from crossbows.
   
4. Melee weapon proficiencies. Not all weapons are created equal, probably the most valuable weapons are the ones that give you extra attacks. The weapons that grant extra attacks are:
   • Scimitars/Wakizashis/Ninjatos.
   • Daggers. Magical throwing daggers when used as a melee weapon grant another attack per round.
   • Short Swords.
   Beyond that there are some good Two-Handed swords (particularly for Paladins), Warhammers, Staves and Longswords.
   
5. Weapon styles. If you're putting two or three points in it, the best weapon style is Two-Weapon Style. There isn't much that can compete with an extra attack per round. Even defensively, the faster you kill something, the less damage you take. However, once you get whirlwind attack, two-handed weapons become the best choice. None of the other styles are really worth the investment. Paladins will probably want Two-Handed Style, Rangers can do both. Fighter will have to chose if they want to commit to two-handed or dual wielding.
   
6. A good choice for a first PC is the Fighter/Thief. It's a class that plays like one of the Warrior classes, and it fills your need for a Thief which lets you focus on the other 3 roles with your NPCs. Personally, I like the Elf for this because of the racial proficiencies and resistance to enchantment spells, but the Half-Orc with its 19 strength is hard to argue with. Anyway you'll want a 19 Strength, 18 Dex, 19 Con with the Half-Orc. 18:50+ Strength, 19 Dex, 17 Con with the Elf. I would put three proficiency points in dual wielding and two in daggers (Half-Orc) or shortswords (Elf).
   
7. Watch the enemies and see what they do. The AI isn't perfect, but you can learn the basics of spell usage from seeing what works for the AI against you.
   
8. Don't be afraid to run. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, and in the first dungeon, using hit and run tactics to take out the mephit spawing portals is probably the way to go.
   
9. Avoid multiclassed casters in a full party. Jaheira is okay (Druids are wierd), but with Mages in particular it really slows down how quickly they level up and how long you have to wait before you get those juicy high level spells.
   
10. Keep your long lasting buffs up all the time. Some buffs are short and only l round (6 seconds) per caster level. Some last 1 turn (60 seconds) per caster level and other last a game hour or longer per cast. You can keep the turn per caster level and >hour spells up all the time.
    
11. You will probably have a hard time the first time you fight an enemy mage. True Seeing, Breach, Dispel from an Inquisitor and Insect Plague from a Druid are your friends for such a battle. Darts of Wounding and Arrows of Biting can also help.

Hopefully that's enough to get you started (and my brain is turning to mush anyway).

[noaxesbb]

I'm just now reading all these tips! Thanks guys for being supportive and I'll be sure to check the manual later tonight. Again, thanks for being cool! :D

[captainwiseass]

When fighting a group of enemies, kill the spellcasters first.

[Multihog]

Originally posted by captainwiseass:

When fighting a group of enemies, kill the spellcasters first.

And remember that said spellcasters usually have some form of protection spells active. That's when you need to cast spells that dispel protections, such as Breach, Spell Thrust, or Secret Word (there're more than that.)

[AlexMBrennan]

When fighting a group of enemies, kill the spellcasters first.

If you don't know how to counter specific protection spells then casting Jaheira's insect plague on one of your tanks (the spell won't harm friendlies) may still get the job done.

[Kangaxx]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

When fighting a group of enemies, kill the spellcasters first.

If you don't know how to counter specific protection spells then casting Jaheira's insect plague on one of your tanks (the spell won't harm friendlies) may still get the job done.

Why would he have Jaheira in his party?

[Dan]

Something I didn't realise for a long time is that spell casters can memorise each spell more than once. I find having 2-3 magic missiles are great in level 1 slots as they scale with the csster

[wendigo211]

I generally load up my level ones with Spooks and Blindness. Sometimes I'll use Chromatic Orbs, If you land a Greater Malison first, enemies only get a +2 to save which isn't bad for a level 1 save or die spell. Of course with Greater Malison and Spook enemies have a -10 to save, that's an almost guaranteed running away for 3 rounds.

MM isn't bad, but it caps at 5D4+5 or 17.5 on average. It's a decent poke, but there are better options.

Protection from Evil and Shield are some other level ones to consider. PfE stacks with other bonuses so it's a -2 to AC on top of other bonuses against most enemies. Shield gives you a 4 AC (2 Vs. Missiles), which makes it a viable alternative to Ghost Armor (2 AC) at level 3 if you're keeping your Mage in your back ranks. I use my Mages to tank, so I prefer GA.