Import BG1:EE character or start fresh?

[Jesse Dylan]

So when I made my BG1:EE character, I may have made a few mistakes. I seemed to recall there not being any straight fighters in the game I liked, so I decided my player character would be the fighter. I also remembered the gauntlets of dexterity, wanted a high strength, and figured charisma gave me dialog choices (I think I was wrong).

Anyway, my character has 18+ strength, 19 charisma... really low wisdom/int (doesn't matter), but... like 10 dexterity.

Is my crappy dexterity going to hold me back in BG2?

I don't know what the NPCs in BG2 are like (never played it before), so I don't know if maybe creating a new character fresh would be better or if I should just keep my gimpy character with the massive charisma and crappy dexterity.

I normally play stealthy characters in RPGs, but I know you get Imoen right away, and she's really all the thief that is necessary in BG2, I'd imagine. All my thieves ever do are unlock things and check for traps (tedious) anyway.

Sorry, wall of text with no clear points. I am tired.

[happy]

you can find gauntlets of dexterity in BG2, but they are not easy nor quick to find, unless you use a walkthrough

also, in BG2, the first object you find is a ring of 18 charisma....

advice: make a fresh character with good dex in BG2, even though you have access to good thieves right from the start(not sure thats related, but yep, you were tired when asking, i didn t get the relation between your char and thieves)

oh , and please, for roleplays sake, make a fighter with some int, please, what good is a super fighter if he cant figure the difference between a sword and a mace....

[Jesse Dylan]

Yeah I think I'll just start fresh. I'm not sure what class I'll go with this time, maybe still a fighter since it seems like (at least in BG1) there wasn't anyone who could max out a weapon speciality like my fighter could.

So rather than lumping all my points into strength, it's better to spread them out, even for a fighter?

[happy]

well you ll have a loads of players telling you to min-max your character
so 18+strength, 18dex 18const 4 int 6 wis 8 cha sure is a great build,it works

but then again...
when BG was first released(98) BG2 (2000), well...internet wasnt as fancy as it is now and original players just didn t min max, they just made a character they liked, without knowing what other players made/chose

the game was designed to allow you to have fun and succeed with a non perfect character, you don t need minmaxing to enjoy this game

so only requirements are for a fighter

-have decent strength(over 15), decent dex(over 15) decent const(over 15)(favour one of these to 18 of course to give him a little flavour) that leaves plenty of points for making up a credible dude who just doesn t hit like a brainless bull(is your fighter a woman s man? go good charisma, is he a smart calm fighter? go wisd or int etc...)
...just like you made in the first place actually

a mage needs high int, and decent const(because having 17 hit points on lvl7 sucks)

a cleric-good wisdom

etc...

to see where i m getting at, just have a look at the NPCs you meet, they all have flaws, even the best fighter has crappy dext, even a great cleric has good wisdom but sucky strength...

yet , they still do the job, don t they?

as i m the first to aswer, i have leisure to tell you

YOU DON T HAVE TO FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO MAKE A DEMIGOD(well actually you are one...but still)

crappy characters are enjoyable, more than super heroes

if you go fighter, this is what i find a decent build(+s mean that of course you can go higher, but base number is enough to have fun)
STR 16+
DEX 18(because i don t like to get hit, you can go lower if you like clumsy powerhouses, switch dex for strg)
CON 15
INT 10+(because man, i don t like playing idiots)
WIS 10+(same as int)
CHA, whatever you fancy, an ugly dude is funny

this is just my way of playing

to be objective, fighters just need high strength, high dext, decent const,the rest is useless(well int is usefull against mind flayers but that is just the worst reason to have good int, just because of one type of ennemy instead of personal choice)

there is a HUGE difference between 17 strgth and 18/87, it s huge
at 17, your character will be a decent , reliable party member who needs other companions
at 18/87, well, with 18 dext, you just solo the game...


see what you prefer

just know that a crappy 15/15/15/10/10/10 fighter doesn t not mean you won t be able to finish the game, know that you ll always find objects to get to 18 somewhere

know that a 18/95-18-18-5-5-5 fighter will be a hell more efficient but smewhat will pretty much twoshot about anything, leaving you to wonder why you bother with a party...

ok; im done, now, i ll let the horde of furious powergamers tell you how dumb i am^^

this is a roplepalying game and you are free to enjoy it your way, even your BG1 character is ok(though low dex is actually the worst choice ever for a fighter^^)

just have fun and don t read other people s advice

[kaffekoppen]

Going to disagree about not maxing out your fighter's stats. It's really easy to get maxed strength, dex and con, so why not do it? Oh and by the way, I'm one of the original players and I min-maxed like crazy, and so did my friends. But no, of course that's not the most fun approach for everyone.

I guess I'd understand the roleplaying argument a little better for pen and paper (back when I played pen and paper, the stats were mostly for flavor), or if the game actually reacted to your stats a bit more. As it is, you hardly feel the difference between 3 and 25 charisma.

Oh and by the way, a good way to make an interesting party thief is to make it a multiclass. My most recent playthrough was with a fighter/thief, and I could backstab, handle traps and locks and fight on the front lines with no problem (in fact, stealth and traps made my fighter/thief deadlier than a plain old fighter). The thief class is quite crappy on its own but superb for multi- and dualclasses.

[happy]

well since you are polite, i ll have to agree with you, damn it!^^
indeed, we all min max at some point, and my first BG1 char(fighter/mage sure did have 18 int 18 dext)god he was awfull...

[Jesse Dylan]

Haha you guys are hilarious. :) And now I am thinking multi-class!!! I'll have to read up on the rules for multiclass characters. Sounds like starting a new character is my best bet, though. What's funny is that, in trying to make a "good" character (by taking internet advice), I actually ended up with kind of a crappy one. She does great with the gauntlets of dexterity in BG1, but she'd be sort of lame in BG2.

Now I am wondering about fighter/thief multiclass, but then I'll have to leave poor Imoen out in BG2. :P

[Jesse Dylan]

PS For the fighter/mage, how did that work? Fighter with no armor?? You did say he was awful, maybe that was why? :P

[happy]

in bg2, a fighter mage is totally awesome, probably the strongest class, you can find gauntlets to raise your armor and you have spells to toughen you up

but in BG1, well espiecially for a newbee, you end up having a useless fool, he has few hp and no armor and...no spells and can t hit anything^^

as you gain levels, you get better , level4 spells really help, but since you only reach them at end game, well, you ve spent your time running away

[kaffekoppen]

Agreed on fighter/mage being great. Better tank than a pure fighter and a pretty good mage at the same time.

Fighter/thief deals nearly as much damage as a pure fighter but can (at high levels) use more equipment and gets access to the most powerful ability in the game: Spike Trap.

[Jesse Dylan]

Is there a way perhaps that I could just respec my crappy BG1 character and carry her over? Or carry over, then respec? I am fond of her. However, I would definitely change her stats, if not her race/class as well.

[Another_Weasley]

how do you import characters from bg1ee to bg2ee?

[Jesse Dylan]

Isn't there an "import" button? Then you choose a BG1:EE save or endgame save thingy or something. I haven't done it myself, but I think that's how it works.

[kaffekoppen]

Originally posted by Jesse Dylan:

Is there a way perhaps that I could just respec my crappy BG1 character and carry her over? Or carry over, then respec? I am fond of her. However, I would definitely change her stats, if not her race/class as well.

You could just edit your BG1 character with EEKeeper. There's no legitimate way to respec or pick new stats.

[Jesse Dylan]

That's what I ended up doing. I'm happy now! :) I even switched proficiencies around to make her a longsword dual-wielder instead of wasting points on shield (that sucks) and longbow (that I never use)

[Into the Breach, Meatbags]

I wouldn't of started over, mainly cause those boosted stats from those books you DO NOT find those books at all again in BG2. So those are lost(hell...I found THREE damn books of Understanding [Wisdom]), you also start a level higher(if you hit the cap in BG1)

Charisma does make a difference, while it doesn't give you dialogue options it effects "Reaction" stat in the character screen. This dictates the success/fail of selection some dialogue options...naming going places you aren't suppose to and lying to them about it...haha

Importing a character also means you don't have to deal with the hell of rolling a decent Str score on a fighter...getting decent 18/XX is a ♥♥♥♥♥. That book from BG1 gives me a nice 19...and 500 Carry weight is useful! Same with 19 Con...haha