Starting a new game, need help with stats and creation

[AdmiralFlapflap]

I can't find my old save from BSG1 so I am starting a new party.

I would like to create a fighter mage. What stats should I roll for my main character? What race and other details should I take into account?

[Sstavix]

For a fighter mage you'll want to focus on Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. Constitution will be useful as well, since that can affect your hit points. Wisdom and Charisma will be your dump stats.

For races, humans will be useful, but elves would be a good consideration as well. Perhaps gnomes, if you don't mind going for illusionists and possibly dealing with lower strength. However, there is an abundance of strength-enhancing items that you can find, so that may not be as big of a deal.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

The latest, fine manuals --> https://files.beamdog.com

What character to create largely depends on difficulty mode + companions (perhaps replacing them frequently) + your knowledge of the rules, such as spells, strengths and weaknesses + your prior knowledge of the game in case of meta-gaming here and there.

Playing a multi-class fighter/mage is not trivial, because of mage class restrictions such as being unable to cast spells if wearing armor. That reduces the role of the character a lot compared with a pure mage. It is more complicated with a dual-class fighter>mage, btw.

[Zotliatlicor]

My view is that Constitution is far more important on the Fighter Mage main Character than Dexterity, but i think you should aim for as high as you can in both.

If main character dies it is time to reload, and there will be several ambushes where you are not prepared with spells. The Fighter Mage will eventrually be so well protected from damage that you could have a Dexterity of 3.

And you may even want to be hit. That is one of the strategies of the Fighter Mage Tank, with all the Buffs up. Double Fireshield and immunity to weapons make enemies kill themself on hitting you, while you pommel them with spells.

Strength is very ok to have at 18/9x, but as stated, you find several items that give you 19 ++ Strength for long times / all times. So a lower Strength is just fine, you will not be wearing the heavy Armours as a Fighter Mage.

Intelligence is your Prime Stat, and affect how much reload you must do when scribing scrolls, and how high level spells you can get without using items, which is tedious with lower than Max Int. Must be 18, or 19 for Gnomes.

So ideal you roll a Score of 86 or higher, with STR 18, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 18, WIS 9 ++ and CHA 5 ++. You will early on have access to a Ring that sets Charisma to 18.

Originally posted by Sstavix:

For races, humans will be useful, but elves would be a good consideration as well. Perhaps gnomes, if you don't mind going for illusionists and possibly dealing with lower strength. However, there is an abundance of strength-enhancing items that you can find, so that may not be as big of a deal.

There are several wrongs in this post: Humans as race is ONLY if you want to Dual Class FROM a Fighter into a Mage. Then and only then you HAVE to be Human, as only humans can dual-class.

Gnomes DOES NOT sufffer from Strength loss, Fighter Gnomes can get 18/00 just as any other race. Only Halflings get -1 to starting STR and have max 17, but they cannot be Mages at all. Gnomes get +1 to INT and -1 to Wisdom, and they MUST be Illusionists. Which is just fine, but they loose the Mage School of Necromancy spells, and some of the best damage dealing spells is from Necromancy (Skull Trap, Abidalzim's Horrid Wilting etc). As Specialist mages they also get the nice +1 spell pr Spell level that all School Mages get, and this is the main reason to play Gnome Illusionist.

If you want to be a Multi-Class Fighter/Mage you can choose either Elf, Half-Elf or Gnome:

Gnomes can be Fighter / Illusionist, with +1 to DEX and -1 to WIS
Elves can be Fighter / Mage, get +1 to DEX and -1 to CON, and +1 ToHit with bows & Swords, and resistance to Sleep/Charm. Stronger choice in BG1, than in BG2.
Half-Elves can be Fighter / Mage, has no +/-, and lesser resist to Charm/Sleep, but are considered more versatile.

If max CON is important choose Half-Elf.
If Necro Spells are important avoid Gnome.
If max DEX and sword boost is important choose Elf.

[Sstavix]

Originally posted by Zotliatlicor:

Originally posted by Sstavix:

For races, humans will be useful, but elves would be a good consideration as well. Perhaps gnomes, if you don't mind going for illusionists and possibly dealing with lower strength. However, there is an abundance of strength-enhancing items that you can find, so that may not be as big of a deal.

There are several wrongs in this post: Humans as race is ONLY if you want to Dual Class FROM a Fighter into a Mage. Then and only then you HAVE to be Human, as only humans can dual-class.

Gnomes DOES NOT sufffer from Strength loss, Fighter Gnomes can get 18/00 just as any other race. Only Halflings get -1 to starting STR and have max 17, but they cannot be Mages at all.

Ah, thank you! I got halflings and gnomes mixed up in terms of the Strength limitations.

I also forgot that humans can't multiclass in 2nd Edition. I guess I've been playing 3rd Edition / Pathfinder too much....

[red255]

Originally posted by Sstavix:

I also forgot that humans can't multiclass in 2nd Edition. I guess I've been playing 3rd Edition / Pathfinder too much.... :rose:

if you want a human that can multiclass, thats basically a half elf
I'm sorry that 2nd doesn't have all the whatevers you want. in 1st elf was a CLASS. as was dwarf, wasn't a race at all.

regardless for a fighter/mage I would generally recommend starting as a human fighter beserker kit and dualing to mage, probably level 9 is fine. this allows you to take grandmastery in your weapon of choice and otherwise be a full mage. if you want to be a fighter, have your familiar sit in your pack, get some extra HP, cast some defensive spells, mainly stoneskin and improved haste and tensers. and beserker rage.

so you can front line with like 300 HP. or back line as a mage.

obviously you do 18 STR/DEX/CON/INT. rest in Wis. Cha is 'useless' in BG2, and where its useful you get a ring of human influence to set it to 18 if you needed it right after you start chapter ....aerie circus tent, right at the start.

WIS is 'useful' for casting wish and getting a higher lore score.

isn't hard to get a stat roll that allows you 18 in those 4 stats and 10 or so in WIS and 3 in CHA.

I also like to give myself +1 all stats and +3 wis to simulate BG1. usually I just use EEkeeper and add the tomes into my inventory and use them at the start.