Party builds for LoB Difficulty

[Feradus]

I wanna start a loB play through but i dont know enough about this system of DnD to Make a party comp for it Can anyone let me know the best party comp to do this with along with a good mc, preferably with the actual companions and not custom ones thanks.

[Brevan]

LoB difficulty is a bit silly. The strategies don't change much, but HP are high enough to be a bit boring at times (I forget the formula, but it was something like +20 and then +300%, so a 3HP kobold goes to about 70HP).

Hand to hand fighting isn't a great idea unless you've got lots of disabling effects (Celestial Fury, Pixie Prick, Hold Person, Wand of Stunning etc). A reliable but a bit boring strategy is just summon some monsters (so any mage/cleric/druid NPCs) as tanks (since your summons all get their HP buffed by the same amount, even if just using Wand of Monster Summoning) and use ranged weapons (so an Archer MC is a solid idea).

[Sstavix]

For my LoB run, I wasn't taking any chances. I made a custom party in Baldur's Gate II (specifically, in the Throne of Bhaal section), exported them into BG1 along with any equipment I knew would appear in the game, and sold what I didn't need. Every spellcaster who could use a Wand of Summoning had one equipped, and I used the gold from my sales to charge each one to full.

The game was pretty much a cakewalk at that point, but it got me the achievement, which was all I was after at the time. Yes, it's cheesy, but if all else fails you can give that a try.

Edit: oops, my bad. Thought this was in the BG1 section. Although you can make a party in ToB, you can't bring in equipment. It will give your party a slight edge, but won't be nearly as overpowered as doing the same to the first game.

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Originally posted by Feradus:

I wanna start a loB play through but i dont know enough about this system of DnD to Make a party comp for it Can anyone let me know the best party comp to do this with along with a good mc, preferably with the actual companions and not custom ones thanks.

How many times have you already played in normal mode (no LoB)?

[Zotliatlicor]

I find LOB a wonderful experience, but it is like all other difficulty increases, something you get used to.

The Base game is considered Super Easy for me, even on Insane, but i don't use Mods like SCS and such to increse difficulty further. Those mods are also easy after a while, if you play this game over and over again. So everythinnng is 'an Aquired taste'.

The fact that so many "HARD" or "STRONG" enemies basically dies in one-hit 'cheesecakes' or other strategies (like some webs and Cloudkill etc), makes the LOB experience a refreshing playstyle for me. Monsters are now MONSTERS, and they are Though & Brutal. IF you go toe- to toe with them they hack you to pieces in a few rounds. Just like we did to them (Monsters) for years in any other difficulty....

The HP increse for ALL monsters, including your own summons, forces you to take a new approach to how you win combats. The HP increase is BIG. But it is also incresed AC and Thaco and Saves for all monsters. A Lot better saves and AC. Which means that spells that were Gold before are close to useless now, and vice versa.

Melf Minute Meteors (lvl 3) was the Bread and Butter for all mages in vanilla, now it only irritates the monsters even if you are a lvl 20 Mage. Fireball is the same, and so is most damage dealing Spells. Edwin can to more damage pr round dual Wielding to Daggers and attacking a 'Helpless' victim than he used to do with spells.

Arrows deal little damage so it will take ages to grind enemies down with just Ranged Combat. You will miss more shots than before, and a group of Goblins in Irenicus Dungeon has around 600 HP you must deal with. Later enmies are even beefier. But Ranged is still Good.

Archer (Crossbow) is a wonderful kit to play, because he actually Hits his enemies (his insane Thac0). As is Kensai Fighter versions. Even Wizard Slayer has merit, as enemy mages no longer dies in a few hits. A WS with Short Bow can disable a whole group of enemy Casters in a few seconds. WS / Thief is a GOD once you get to 3 million thief and can take the HLA Use Any Item. Backstab no longer "auto-kills" targets on hit, and you will miss more, so beeing able to escape and re-hide or go Invisible is important.

For starters, any character that is mage or part mage has an easier time in the start, as do any charcter that is Cleric or part Cleric (Summons Skeleton). Druids get super fast access to lvl 6 spells (Summon Fire Elemental) and that is more than enough reason to take Jaheira (slower since F/D) or Cernd. Fire elementals clear the entire map for you in almost any area.

I use to Duo the Irenicus Starter Dungeon just with Imoen no matter what i play, until i get closer to 250k xp (XP is increased greatly in LOB). Then i free Jaheira and Minsc for the few fights i struggle with, or just close to the end before leaving for good. Imoen has all the Spells you need to Succeed (so just start thinking new Tactic).

If you play a Chacter that has access to Find Familiar and are either Lawful Good or Neutral Good, (Mages & Beastmaster) you get the Pseudo Dragon and this little critter is Insanly STRONG in the early game (Irenicus Dungeon and City Maps). It can basically Stun lock every Monster in the early adventures, just protect it (it has very good AC too, and regenerates fast). You can solo as Mage with this Familiar.

Be prepared for Ambushes (in crossing of map) as you are quickly overpowered. Invisibility 10-15' radius is a life saver (Mages, and Druids).

Your Magic Item NR 1 should be to have the Wand of Summoning as quick as possible. Do the Stealing Shopping trick to get Gold.

Then you can send your summons in and use ranged until you are safe from aggro (the monsters target your summons). Then you go in with weapons. Dual wielding is superior for dealing damage, better than spells. You must focus Hard on debuffing your enemies AND buffing yourself.

Mage spells that Blind, Stuns, Holds, and disables are your New Bread & Butter. Hold Undead (lvl 3) was considerd a useless spell, in LOB it is Blissfully Powerful. Clerics will need Hold Person, Commands, Greater Commands, Doom's and Summons to take control of the field. Don't bother trying to Turn Undead, you can only do this in the late game vs easy low lvl Undeads. Disabled enemies are auto Hit (see Edwin with two Daggers...)

[Feradus]

Originally posted by Wicket W. Warrick:

Originally posted by Feradus:

I wanna start a loB play through but i dont know enough about this system of DnD to Make a party comp for it Can anyone let me know the best party comp to do this with along with a good mc, preferably with the actual companions and not custom ones thanks.

How many times have you already played in normal mode (no LoB)?

Just once, i am going to do a hard playthrough before lob though to get refreshed on the game

[Feradus]

Originally posted by Brevan:

LoB difficulty is a bit silly. The strategies don't change much, but HP are high enough to be a bit boring at times (I forget the formula, but it was something like +20 and then +300%, so a 3HP kobold goes to about 70HP).

Hand to hand fighting isn't a great idea unless you've got lots of disabling effects (Celestial Fury, Pixie Prick, Hold Person, Wand of Stunning etc). A reliable but a bit boring strategy is just summon some monsters (so any mage/cleric/druid NPCs) as tanks (since your summons all get their HP buffed by the same amount, even if just using Wand of Monster Summoning) and use ranged weapons (so an Archer MC is a solid idea).

I have heard from a few people that an archer mc is a decent idea so i think ill try that

[Feradus]

Originally posted by Zotliatlicor:

I find LOB a wonderful experience, but it is like all other difficulty increases, something you get used to.

The Base game is considered Super Easy for me, even on Insane, but i don't use Mods like SCS and such to increse difficulty further. Those mods are also easy after a while, if you play this game over and over again. So everythinnng is 'an Aquired taste'.

The fact that so many "HARD" or "STRONG" enemies basically dies in one-hit 'cheesecakes' or other strategies (like some webs and Cloudkill etc), makes the LOB experience a refreshing playstyle for me. Monsters are now MONSTERS, and they are Though & Brutal. IF you go toe- to toe with them they hack you to pieces in a few rounds. Just like we did to them (Monsters) for years in any other difficulty....

The HP increse for ALL monsters, including your own summons, forces you to take a new approach to how you win combats. The HP increase is BIG. But it is also incresed AC and Thaco and Saves for all monsters. A Lot better saves and AC. Which means that spells that were Gold before are close to useless now, and vice versa.

Melf Minute Meteors (lvl 3) was the Bread and Butter for all mages in vanilla, now it only irritates the monsters even if you are a lvl 20 Mage. Fireball is the same, and so is most damage dealing Spells. Edwin can to more damage pr round dual Wielding to Daggers and attacking a 'Helpless' victim than he used to do with spells.

Arrows deal little damage so it will take ages to grind enemies down with just Ranged Combat. You will miss more shots than before, and a group of Goblins in Irenicus Dungeon has around 600 HP you must deal with. Later enmies are even beefier. But Ranged is still Good.

Archer (Crossbow) is a wonderful kit to play, because he actually Hits his enemies (his insane Thac0). As is Kensai Fighter versions. Even Wizard Slayer has merit, as enemy mages no longer dies in a few hits. A WS with Short Bow can disable a whole group of enemy Casters in a few seconds. WS / Thief is a GOD once you get to 3 million thief and can take the HLA Use Any Item. Backstab no longer "auto-kills" targets on hit, and you will miss more, so beeing able to escape and re-hide or go Invisible is important.

For starters, any character that is mage or part mage has an easier time in the start, as do any charcter that is Cleric or part Cleric (Summons Skeleton). Druids get super fast access to lvl 6 spells (Summon Fire Elemental) and that is more than enough reason to take Jaheira (slower since F/D) or Cernd. Fire elementals clear the entire map for you in almost any area.

I use to Duo the Irenicus Starter Dungeon just with Imoen no matter what i play, until i get closer to 250k xp (XP is increased greatly in LOB). Then i free Jaheira and Minsc for the few fights i struggle with, or just close to the end before leaving for good. Imoen has all the Spells you need to Succeed (so just start thinking new Tactic).

If you play a Chacter that has access to Find Familiar and are either Lawful Good or Neutral Good, (Mages & Beastmaster) you get the Pseudo Dragon and this little critter is Insanly STRONG in the early game (Irenicus Dungeon and City Maps). It can basically Stun lock every Monster in the early adventures, just protect it (it has very good AC too, and regenerates fast). You can solo as Mage with this Familiar.

Be prepared for Ambushes (in crossing of map) as you are quickly overpowered. Invisibility 10-15' radius is a life saver (Mages, and Druids).

Your Magic Item NR 1 should be to have the Wand of Summoning as quick as possible. Do the Stealing Shopping trick to get Gold.

Then you can send your summons in and use ranged until you are safe from aggro (the monsters target your summons). Then you go in with weapons. Dual wielding is superior for dealing damage, better than spells. You must focus Hard on debuffing your enemies AND buffing yourself.

Mage spells that Blind, Stuns, Holds, and disables are your New Bread & Butter. Hold Undead (lvl 3) was considerd a useless spell, in LOB it is Blissfully Powerful. Clerics will need Hold Person, Commands, Greater Commands, Doom's and Summons to take control of the field. Don't bother trying to Turn Undead, you can only do this in the late game vs easy low lvl Undeads. Disabled enemies are auto Hit (see Edwin with two Daggers...)

Appreciate that brother, i think ill try that crossbow mc with jaheira and get a bunch of mages, sorcs clerics etc for the rest of the team. is it better to just run with a 4 man party instead of 6 for the exp increase?

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Originally posted by Feradus:

Just once, i am going to do a hard playthrough before lob though to get refreshed on the game

You already received many advices.
I add one consideration. LoB is not an higher difficulty, is a completely different game. It is more a challenge that requires to find the right strategy forgetting everything that worked in basic game. But not necessary more fun. Surely in BG2 is much better than BG1. As you already read some players like it, some not (I don't). Feel free to try it and leave it if you don't enjoy it. And try to understand the mechanics.

Consider also imported or modified charaters or a custom party, at least some members.

Good luck.

[Zotliatlicor]

There is so much XP availible that i would advise a full 6 person party. And you will have limitless gold which means you can buy every single Mage scroll in the game, and the XP for scribing scrolls is doubled (2.000 xp for lvl 1 to 18.000 xp for lvl 9).

Scrolls alone will give you tons of extra XP.

[Feradus]

Originally posted by Wicket W. Warrick:

Originally posted by Feradus:

Just once, i am going to do a hard playthrough before lob though to get refreshed on the game

You already received many advices.
I add one consideration. LoB is not an higher difficulty, is a completely different game. It is more a challenge that requires to find the right strategy forgetting everything that worked in basic game. But not necessary more fun. Surely in BG2 is much better than BG1. As you already read some players like it, some not (I don't). Feel free to try it and leave it if you don't enjoy it. And try to understand the mechanics.

Consider also imported or modified charaters or a custom party, at least some members.

Good luck.

Thanks Brother

[Feradus]

Originally posted by Zotliatlicor:

There is so much XP availible that i would advise a full 6 person party. And you will have limitless gold which means you can buy every single Mage scroll in the game, and the XP for scribing scrolls is doubled (2.000 xp for lvl 1 to 18.000 xp for lvl 9).

Scrolls alone will give you tons of extra XP.

Can anyone scribe scrolls or just mage?

[Zotliatlicor]

Originally posted by Feradus:

Originally posted by Zotliatlicor:

There is so much XP availible that i would advise a full 6 person party. And you will have limitless gold which means you can buy every single Mage scroll in the game, and the XP for scribing scrolls is doubled (2.000 xp for lvl 1 to 18.000 xp for lvl 9).

Scrolls alone will give you tons of extra XP.

Can anyone scribe scrolls or just mage?

Just Mages and Bards. For Mages you have to have Mage as an active class in Dual Classing (very rare to dual FROM Mage to anything, but can be done...), or Multiclass mage like Mage / Thief, (Jan Jansen) or Fighter / Mage, Cleric / Mage (Aerie) or just Plain Mage (like Neera and Edwin).
Mages that did dual class from Thief to Mage at lvl 4 (Nalia) and lvl 7 (Imoen). They are forever mages after that, but keep their initial thief abilities.

[wendigo211]

Imo, if you're going to start at max level for your LoB run, then a Kensai 18/Mage 24 is probably the best PC because it's the PC that can effectively treat LoB like any other difficulty. It has a good enough THAC0, to hit the LoB buffed enemies and, with mage defenses, it can soak up the enemy attacks. It's also a strong enough to caster to deal with enemy casters. And it can clone itself.

If you're trying to play through it from low level, then probably a Fighter/Mage, an Archer or a throwing weapon Kensai.

[luftatmer]

Originally posted by Feradus:

Can anyone scribe scrolls or just mage?

Why talking about crazy LoB when asking absolute beginner questions. Enjoy the game some more first, I would like to suggest.

[Feradus]

Originally posted by Zotliatlicor:

Originally posted by Feradus:

Can anyone scribe scrolls or just mage?

Just Mages and Bards. For Mages you have to have Mage as an active class in Dual Classing (very rare to dual FROM Mage to anything, but can be done...), or Multiclass mage like Mage / Thief, (Jan Jansen) or Fighter / Mage, Cleric / Mage (Aerie) or just Plain Mage (like Neera and Edwin).
Mages that did dual class from Thief to Mage at lvl 4 (Nalia) and lvl 7 (Imoen). They are forever mages after that, but keep their initial thief abilities.

Gotcha appreciate it