Baldur's Gate - Basic tips for new players

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by Bytebrain, Dec 9, 2012.

  1. Bytebrain

    Bytebrain Well-Known Member

    Jul 24, 2010
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    #1 Bytebrain, Dec 9, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2012
    Right, there's probably some people here new to the world of Baldur's Gate, and the rules of classic AD&D.

    There's an awesome introduction on the official sites forum.
    I'm linking to that here, and all credit goes to Winthal who made it, and please say thank you in his thread if you can make use of it, he deserves it.

    Basic tips for new players.

    Go here for additional help to newbies, but it's not guaranteed spoiler free, although they try to keep the thread relatively free of serious spoilers.

    If you're new to the game, there's a lot of useful tips there, and no spoilers.
    Please don't be intimidated by the wall of text, as its not compulsory to know all of it to enjoy the game, but there's bound to be something there to help you understand the basic rules and some tips to make your time spent in the Forgotten Realms more enjoyable.

    I've posted this link already in the release thread of the game, but it got buried very fast, because there's so many people asking for help there. Most of these can be answered in the link provide here.

    The official forum is filled with experienced players of the game, and they're all very helpful.
     
  2. Bytebrain

    Bytebrain Well-Known Member

    Jul 24, 2010
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    #2 Bytebrain, Dec 9, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2012
    Help on some basic stuff on the iPad edition of BG:EE

    A few hints on the iPad edition.
    The tutorial on the game could have been a lot more helpful fornipad owners, so here's a few tips:

    Tool Tips for spells and Special Abilities.

    It's not as easy as hovering the mouse over a spell like in the PC edition, but at least it works:

    Select a character with spells, click the spell icon so the various spells shows.
    Then click the "Help" button, navigate to the right in Help, and it shows the name of each spell.

    Get information on spells in Spell Book.

    Tap and hold the spell icon for a second, then release.
    A detailed description on the spell appears. This is important stuff.

    don't tap the memorized spells, as they'll get deleted, and you'll have to memorize them again by resting.

    Split a stack of arrows.

    Double tap quickly on the stack, and you should get an option to split the stack in smaller portions.

    Selecting doors, loot, chests, stairs etc.

    This is quite difficult and annoying, but until (if) a patch alleviated this issue, your best bet is to zoom all the way in close to select stuff.
    Especially loot from corpses can be right pain in the arse to select.

    EDIT

    A great tip found on the official forums regarding doors, stairs etc.


    "Anyway, to enter a door simply select your party, the whole party, then pause the game and tap on the door you wish to enter.

    If you see targeting reticles for your entire party where you tapped you missed the door. If you see only one reticle you have tapped on the correct spot. Unpause the game to enter the door. This has worked every time for me so far."
     
  3. PrayForDeath

    PrayForDeath Well-Known Member

    Jan 31, 2012
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    Thanks for posting this. I'm somewhat familiar with AD&D after finishing planescape torment earlier this year, but that game is light on combat, so I didn't have to go too deep into the mechanics.
     
  4. MrSpud

    MrSpud Well-Known Member

    Sep 1, 2009
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    Custom finishing carpenter
    Wasaga beach, Ontario, Canada
    There's a few things I haven't figured out, like how to center the screen to your selected character, or how to go from the map screen to another area and then back to gamplay at that spot. I believe clicking on it like crazy worked?!
     
  5. acrotran

    acrotran Well-Known Member

    Jul 31, 2010
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    I copied this from the main thread. Don't know who to attribute it to.

    Click on the spell, hold your finger on it for two seconds, release, and pop! The same thing applies for weapons, armours and items.

    I also had a hard time with doorways until I figured out you need to click near the bottom of the door (like how you click on a character's feet) to select it. Once you find the sweet spot it gets a lot easier.
     
  6. Bytebrain

    Bytebrain Well-Known Member

    Jul 24, 2010
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    A great tip found on the official forums regarding doors, stairs etc.


    "Anyway, to enter a door simply select your party, the whole party, then pause the game and tap on the door you wish to enter.

    If you see targeting reticles for your entire party where you tapped you missed the door. If you see only one reticle you have tapped on the correct spot. Unpause the game to enter the door. This has worked every time for me so far."

    This is really helping me out on the targeting issue.
     
  7. Sheinfell

    Sheinfell Well-Known Member

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    #7 Sheinfell, Dec 13, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2012
    [GUIDE:] Thoughts, Impressions and Strategies for the Black Pits (FEW SPOILERS AHEAD)

    So I made it through the Black Pits (BP), and thought I give some impressions of what I encountered, and some food for thought.
    While I try not to get into too much content detail, there are some spoilers in the wall of text below, so:
    SPOILER WARNING

    Experience and Level cap:
    500.000xp or level 10 for single class characters.
    Note that my Archer has 600.000xp, which he needed for level 10. So it seems the cap is an xp *or* level cap.
    For Multiclasses, the total amount gets split between the classes.
    My Gnome Fighter/Illusionist is lvl 9/10 , with 250.000xp in each class.
    This has some important impact on playing BP:
    • Abilities that are only accessible past lvl 10 are not available. E.g. the Monk getting +2 magic fists.
    • 7 points in weapons is the maximum. You get a maximum of 4 at the start, and can distribute maximum of 3 later.
      For Fighters this means you can only Grandmaster one weapon type, and get 2 points in a weapon style.
    • Clerics and Mages only get spells up to spell level 5.
    • Triple-multiclass chars should end up with lower levels than 10, maybe only 7 or 8 per class.
    • Dualclass: After checking some experience tables, I conclude that you could reach lvl 6 in any class, dual into something else and reach level 10 there. However, there seems to be a problem, which I will elaborate on below.

    Leveling Up:
    If you want to make your life a bit easier, set the difficulty to “Normal” before leveling up. This makes you always get the maximum number of additional hitpoints per level. While not neccessary, it can be handy, as the spread is huge.
    A Fighter gets 1d10 (1 roll on a 10-sided die) new HP/level. So he can get anything from 1-10. After leveling up 9 times to lvl10, the difference between minimum (9 hp) and maximum (90 hp) is as big as the giant you come across later.
    Also note that on Normal or lower difficulty you always succeed with learning a Mage spell from a scroll, which saves some hassle.

    Dualclass:
    I tried to dualclass some characters, just for fiddling around.
    Supposedly it is possible to dualclass any human character at lvl 2 and above, provided you go for something that is also a valid multiclass combination (e.g. Fighter/Mage), and your stats are good enough.
    However, in BP I only managed to dualclass a Thief into something else. I really wanted to try dualclassing a Fighter into a Mage, but could not get it to work, the “Dualclass” button stayed grayed out. I also tried it with a Cleric and a Mage, same result.
    As I already finished BP, I don’t think I will experiment around more at the moment.

    Stats:
    Aim for the best possible, as the fights get rather tough. Maximum Constitution (for more HP), maximum Dexterity (for better AC), and maximum primary stat seem to be a neccessity.
    You can get some items that raise your strength, to give your fighters even more punch.
    Also, there are Gauntlets that set your Dexterity to 18 (nice for a Dwarven Tank to get an additional AC point).
    For an Archer character, you might want 18 strength too, for the Composite Longbow.
    Note on Strength: Fighter classes (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger) get a maximum of 18/(1)00 STR (STR at 18 for Fighter types is the only stat that has sublevels). The maximum is randomised when you roll the stats, so it is actually 18/xx for any given character. Halforcs bypass that, as they go directly to STR 19.
    Note on Charisma: Have your Mage get 18 CHA. The reason is that higher CHA gives you discounts in the store. It should be your Mage, because he can cast "Friends" (raises CHA by +6 temporarily) on himself only. I mucked that one up (found out later), so I cannot give numbers for CHA >20.
    However, for example the price difference for the "Hands of Takkok" is a nice 2.000 gold between CHA 5 and CHA 18. And later equipment gets even more expensive than those. You can do perfectly fine without the high CHA, you just need to grind more for money.
    Unfortunately there is no potion of +CHA, so only your Mage can use this trick.

    Equipment:
    • You can buy some nice stuff at hefty prices, so expect some grinding.
    • Save money, only upgrade when absolutely neccessary.
    • You also have to spend some gold on getting spell scrolls for your Mage.
    • All good highend weapons seem to come with a maximum of 3 pieces buyable, so you might have to make some compromises; e.g. for my example party have one Fighter use 2 of the best Morningstars, the other a Morningstar and a Flail.
    • I might be mistaken here, but I cannot remember that I encountered any monster that was immune to crushing/blunt weapons. If I am right on this, getting as many crushing weapons as possible sounds like the best deal (as there are two fights where crushing is absolutely needed).
    • If an item has special powers that you can invoke, you find those under the "backpack" icon in your bottom command bar.
    • Composite Longbows are the best choice for ranged weapons. You get the best boni with the right race/class combination (see Archer below), and you get a wide range of specialised arrows.
    • Also note: Magic ranged weapons (e.g. Longbow +1) do not count for "needs magical weapon +x to be hit" . You will need ammunition of the appropriate +x magic level for this.
    • Katanas are the best 1H swords, with highest damage output (1d10) and speed. Scimitar and Longsword have the same speed, but do less damage (1d8).
    • Morningstars are the best 1H crushing weapon.
    • Halberds are the best for 2H piercing. For Fighters, I’d stay away from piercing weapons in general. 1H piercing weapons don’t do enough damage to even be worth mentioning.

    Some pieces are of note, e.g.:
    • Gauntlets that raise your bare fist damage and THAC0 by 4 each, perfectly geared for the Monk.
    • Ring of Regeneration, giving you back hitpoints over time.
    • A ring that lets your Cleric memorise more spells (you might want this at some point, but hold off as long as possible, it is expensive).
    • Boots that let you move faster, or phase out and become immune to normal weapons.
    • Quivers with unlimited +1 arrows/bolts.
    • A belt that raises your STR to 20.

    Equipment - a note on armor:
    On Core difficulty, I never bought anything past the basic armor, and did perfectly fine with my group. This might be different for other party combinations or higher difficulty, but I do recommend to put armor at the bottom of your shopping list.

    Equipment - magical protection:
    Magical protection items are Amulet, Cloak, Ring. You cannot wear two of those with the same bonus, which is important if you want to plan your loadout a bit. E.g. you cannot wear a "Ring of Protection +1" and a "Cloak of Protection +1", as both have the same "+1" modifier. A Ring+2 and Cloak+1 work fine. As there are no +3 items in BP, you are more limited in your choices. A viable example loadout is "Amulet of Protection +1", "Ring of Regeneration (counts as "+0"), "Cloak of Protection +2".

    Stores:
    After you finish a tier, all the stores get updated with new equipment.
    IMPORTANT: This also means that any good stuff you did not buy yet will be gone and replaced.
    So, before you finish a tier, better buy all the nice things on your shopping list.
    I will comment on this when I cover the fights.
    The character with the highest CHA should be in the party top spot when you buy expensive stuff (anything that costs you more than, say, 1.000 gold), as the prices are calculated based on the leader's Charisma stat.



    -----
    More to read in the next post.
     
  8. Sheinfell

    Sheinfell Well-Known Member

    May 14, 2012
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    #8 Sheinfell, Dec 13, 2012
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2013
    [GUIDE:] Black Pits, continued: Partytime

    Partytime, general:
    I did not find a way to replace a character with another, so it seems you are stuck with the party you pick at the start.
    While you might be able to do without them, I strongly recommend getting a Cleric and a Mage.
    An Archer comes in handy, I will write more about this later.
    You will also need some meatshields, so at least 2 Fighter-types are a neccessity.
    Spread your damage types for your Fighters. I made the mistake to focus both my Fighter and my Kensai on Swords (slashing damage), which was not such a great idea in hindsight.
    Focus at least one Fighter on crushing weapons is what I recommend.
    If you choose 3 Fighters, you could have each one specialise in one type. Not sure if that is a good idea, though. As said above, for Fighters I’d not pick piercing weapons.
    I made some mistakes and bad choices, but while they were inconvenient, they did not turn out to be showstoppers. So optimising to the extreme is not neccessary. However, some common sense should be applied: e.g. while an all-Bard party might work, you could be in for a really rough ride.

    On another playthrough I would try this:
    • Halforc Berserker, specialised in Flail/Morningstar & Dualwield.
    • Halforc Berserker, specialised in Katana & Dualwield.
    • Halforc Kensai, specialised in Flail/Morningstar & Dualwield.
    • Elven Archer, specialised in Longbow. See below for thoughts on melee weapon choice.
    • Dwarven Fighter/Cleric, specialised in Mace & Sword+Shield.
    • Gnome Fighter/Illusionist, specialised in Longbow. See below for thoughts on melee weapon choice.

    Fighter Race choices:
    I looked at Dwarves as well, as they get the same +1 Constitution bonus as Halforcs, plus bonus saving throws. They lose out on 1 AC point, as their maximum Dexterity is 17, vs. the Halforc's 18.
    The Halforc on the other hand gets a +1 Strength bonus on top of the +1 CON, and does not have the -1 Dexterity penalty. This is balanced by the Dwarf's higher saving throws.
    For a Dwarf Fighter type the maximum STR is 18/xx , for a Halforc 19.
    So you can chose between better saving throws, but less damage, tohit and AC; or lesser saving throws, but higher damage, better tohit, better AC.
    As there is one highend item that brings your STR to 19, one for 20 and another that gets you to STR 18/(1)00, choosing at least one Dwarven Fighter does not sound too bad. Note however that Kensai cannot use the gauntlets, so you will have to use one of the belts for them.

    Fighter Weapon and Style choices:
    I delved into some numbercrunching, and other styles seem to be valid alternatives to Dualwield.
    Dualwield gives you 1 extra attack per round with your offhand weapon, with a tohit penalty.
    Also, to make full use of Dualwield, you need 3 points in the style. As I noted above you only get 7 points total; so if you want Grandmastery on your weapon (highly recommended), you will only get 2 points in Dual style, leaving you with a hefty -4 tohit penalty for your offhand weapon.
    While for any other style you have a maximum of 2 points, fitting perfectly into Grandmastery + maxed style.
    Twohanded weapons are slower, but you get a speed and damage bonus from the style.
    Singleweapon style gives a -2 bonus to AC, plus a very small bonus to critical hit (critical on 19+20, instead of 20 only). The AC bonus makes it a good choice for Kensai: he cannot use shields, so Sword&Shield style is out for him.
    Sword&Shield style gives a bonus to protection from ranged attacks, on top of the AC & vs. ranged bonus the shield itself provides. Note that I did not encounter that many ranged attackers, so this is of questionable value.
    Still, as your tank most likely will use a shield, this is a good choice for him.

    Now, the party I used to claw my way out of the Black Pits:

    Halforc Fighter:
    Summary: Keeper.
    Great meatshield, excellent damage output, weapon specialisation.
    I absolutely do not regret picking this one, and on another playthrough would bring a second one. As written above, I’d most likely change base Fighter to Berserker.
    The only downside is that you need to invest alot of money into good equipment.
    I chose Dualwield and Bastardswords as specialisation, for good damage output. Note that there are two cases where sword slashing damage is useless. After some numbercrunching, the Bastardswords weren’t the optimum choice, but the differences are very small and don’t really matter.

    Human Monk:
    Summary: I’d replace him with another Fighter.
    Nice damage dealer, moderately good meatshield.
    As he cannot wear armor, you don’t have to invest much in equipment.
    While “Hide in Shadows” sounds nice, it never worked for me in BP.
    Gets one specialised piece of equipment that increases his damage.
    The Monk has several downsides, though:
    - Due to the levelcap you cannot get the nice highend abilities which would make a Monk truly shine.
    - The best you get is +1 magical fists (again due to levelcap), and I am quite sure in the last battle you need +2 magical weapons to do any damage.
    - You cannot diversify damage types, as your best weapons are your fists, and those always do crushing damage. On the plus side, this comes in handy in one fight, provided you are lvl 9 or 10.

    Halforc Kensai (fighter kit):
    Summary: Keeper.
    A bit squishy compared to my base Halforc Fighter, due to less hitpoints; but still a good meatshield. Also, excellent damage dealer.
    My impression was that my Kensai always died faster than my Fighter (if the Fighter died at all).
    There are a few items that help with closing the gap, though.
    Cannot wear armor, so you invest less in equipment than for the base Fighter.
    THAC0, damage and AC are close enough together for the Fighter and Kensai to not make much of a difference.
    The “Kai” ability that lets you deal maximum damage for 10 seconds is an absolute killer, especially when combined with Haste.
    One nice trick is to use Invisibility or Etherealness (you can get those from items) to allow the Kensai to get to an enemy mage undetected, for a quick elimination.
    Excellent damage dealer, slightly offset by a bit more squishiness. Would I take him along again? Definitely yes.

    Elven Archer (Ranger kit):
    Summary: Definitely a keeper.
    Quite squishy compared to a Fighter, which can be a problem sometimes.
    Offset on the plus side by being able to deal excellent ranged damage, and also varying damage types later (with specialised ammunition like acid or fire arrows). Makes some fights alot easier because of that. Stick with longbows as this is where you get the best boni from this combination.
    While technically he can cast a few lowlevel priest spells, for me this amounted to 2 lvl1 spells only at lvl10, so just ignore this part.
    As I will note later, in hindsight I would have preferred to have at least one more character with good ranged weapons.
    For thoughts on what melee weapon to pick as backup, also see the Fighter/Illusionist below.

    Note on Elven Archer equipment:
    Elves get a small bonus for Longswords, so these are the best choice for melee.
    If you want to optimise, you can follow two paths; it depends on what you prefer and/or need more: damage or tohit.
    - If you don’t have 18+ STR, go for it with the gauntlets that raise STR to 18/00, to use a Composite Longbow.
    - If you want more tohit, there are gauntlets that give a +2 THAC0 bonus for missile weapons.
    There also is a Belt that gives 20 strength, but that one should go to a fighter (ideally with STR below 19) for additional melee damage.

    Dwarven Cleric:
    Summary: Never leave home without it.
    Essential for party-enhancing spells.
    Also, Dwarves can be tough (maximum Constitution 19). On top of that comes that Clerics can use any armor. These two together make the Dwarven Cleric quite durable.
    I chose a Talos Cleric, which was a mistake, as I never used his Lightning Bolt special ability.
    Lathander might be the best choice, as he has a special ability that buffs your fighting performance. Combined with the “Holy Might” this sounds like serious stuff.
    Also, in hindsight getting a Fighter/Cleric might be a good idea, but then you cannot pick the Lathander kit. Ah, choices, choices...

    Gnome Fighter/Illusionist:
    Summary: Keeper.
    Essential for some party-enhancing spells, namely Haste once you get it.
    I made it through the Pits without using any debuffs on enemies, but things like “Dispel/Remove Magic” should be handy in some cases.
    The damage spells are nice as well, but rather slow to cast. In some fights “Monster Summoning” was a huge plus, because you can present more targets to your opponents.
    With the levelcap I don’t think a pure Mage is worth it, also because they are really squishy which is extremely dangerous in the Black Pits.
    I could not decide on his weapon specialisation, so I mucked around and messed it up royally, leaving him without any really usable weapon type. Note that this did not keep me from winning the Pits, though.
    Next time, I would pick Longbow as specialisation as well, and then add a melee weapon.
    Undecided if I’d pick Onehanded or Sword+Shield for style specialisation. Onehanded gives a small AC bonus, and avoids having to switch weapons manually (which you have to do with Sword/Shield and Longbow). On the other hand, you won’t be needing the weapons that often, so it might be worth the additional manual actions to get extra protection from a shield.
    The melee weapon does not matter much, so pick whatever suits your fancy. As the best choice for the Elven Archer is a Longsword, maybe pick another crushing weapon for this guy here, ideally Flail/Morningstar: while in my example setup all good Morningstars will be used by your fighters, Flails are almost as good, and if you have a good Morningstar left, you can still give it to your Fighter/Mage.



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    I will cover the fights in the next post, but need some time to write it up.
     
  9. Sheinfell

    Sheinfell Well-Known Member

    May 14, 2012
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    #9 Sheinfell, Dec 13, 2012
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2013
    [GUIDE]: Black Pits, continued: Fight Club

    Toddlers in Turmoil, with Teeth - First baby steps in the Black Pits:
    When you are done with creating your characters, the first time you can save is after the first fight. This one is a breeze, if you lose you should reconsider your party setup. Just go through the fight and the dialogue, then save. Else all your character creation effort was for naught.

    Now you have 2.500 gold coins, let’s put them to good use.
    • Buy weapons for everyone that match their weapon skills.
    • Don’t forget to also buy ammunition for the ranged weapons. The maximum stack for ammo is 80, which is enough for now. Just check now and then, so your Archer does not run out.
    • Buy armors and shields. Stay away from the Platemails, as tempting as they look. They are too expensive for your current funds, and you don’t really need them. Other than that, get the best you can buy.

    Next, set the AI scripts for your characters:
    Fighters should get the default attack script, Ranged (e.g. Archer) the default ranged, Cleric is good with Cleric Defensive, and Mage with Mage Aggressive.
    Ensure that the “lantern” icon in the bottom right corner is activated, it controls if the scripts run or not.

    Check your Cleric’s & Mage’s spells, and change them if you want.
    Note that you need to rest to memorise any new spells.
    After a battle, spells get refreshed, so you don’t have to rest every time.
    Finally, I just noticed that some of my characters got leveldrained (by Ghasts, I think), which can be cured with "Lesser Restoration" Cleric spell. So check on that regularly, too.
    Once you have them, don't forget your battle abilities. You find them under the "4-point star" on the right of the bottom command line.

    Cleric/Mage party powerups:
    A nice trick I found on the Baldur's Gate forums: You can cast all the powerup spells (e.g. Bless, Haste) before you start a battle. This saves some casting time during the fight. Just make sure to start with the spells with the longest duration.

    My party for this playthrough:
    • Halforc Kensai. Single weapon, Flail
    • Halforc Berserker. Twohanded weapon, 2H Sword
    • Dwarf Berserker. Sword&Shield, Flail (my “tough-as-nails” tank. As he is a dwarf, we will call him Tankard)
    • Elven Archer. Single weapon, Longbow, Longsword
    • Dwarf Fighter/Cleric. Sword&Shield, Flail, Sling
    • Gnome Fighter/Illusionist. Sword&Shield, Longbow, Mace
    I decided to skip dualwield this time, to allow for some more diversity.
    As I noted in my first post above, my Mage does not have Charisma 18, which is a real boon for highprice shopping. If you have a Mage in your party and you want to lessen the grind, ensure he has CHA 18, cast Friend spell and move him to topspot when you buy expensive things.

    The first few fights are just for warming up, nothing special to note here.
    Be triggerhappy with the "Sleep" spell, it makes things alot easier. Later on, monsters become too resistant to it.
    Even the hobgoblins that gave me some problems on my first playthrough fell quickly to my blades.

    A brief history of battle... - Tier 1:
    Tier 1 has 5 battles, and nothing much to write home about.
    The only fight that could get a bit tricky is the one against the Necromancer. He casts Stinking Cloud, which in all likelihood will knockout some of your characters. Still, the fight isn’t hard, so you should easily be able to outlast the Necro and his merry minions.
    This fight is a safe place to practice spreading out your party right at the start, and keep them spread, to minimise potential impact of area spells.
    I forgot to make a note of this, but am quite sure you can get the Dale Protector bracers at tier 1 already. They are great for Archers; and on tier 2 you can buy a spare set for any backup ranged characters you might have.
    Oh, and I had some of my melee weapons break, so check that regularly, too.
    "Cloaks of Bravery": They are cheap, and I couldn't come up with any good cloaks to use for most characters anyways. While you won't get scared/confused often, when it happens, it is a royal pain. So stocking up on these early on does not hurt. They get restocked when you advance a tier.

    Tier 2:
    The stores are updated, so go shop around. Save a few thousand for getting magical weapons in a bit.
    I recommend to get the following before tier 3:
    • Cheetah’s Paws boots: all 3 for your Fighters, to let them close faster with the enemy.
    • Belt of Hill Giant Strength: Get it before you finish tier 2. It will disappear with the tier 3 store update.
    • Evendar’s Gift (Ring of Free Action). Also makes you immune to Haste, so use only when needed.
    • Xarrnou’s 2nd Sword Arm, bracers for Fighters.
    • Dale Protector, bracers for the Archer.
    • Brawling Hands gauntlets (set DEX to 18). I gave them to my tankard, for added tankiness.
    • Gift of Peace helmet. Good to make your tank even tougher, or boost someone else a bit.

    The Spider Druid casts Web, which might be a bit of a challenge. Other than that, easy fight.

    Fight against the Thieves, and most likely notice that you cannot kill the Shadows.
    They are the first monsters that cannot be killed by normal weapons. You need at least +1 magical weapons to damage them, so let’s do some shopping:
    Get +1 weapons for your Fighters. You can buy +1 arrows for the Archer, but that’s not really worth it, as he will chow through them quickly. Just let him plink away at the thieves.

    The fight against the Ogremage is the next-to-last in this tier. If you win the next fight, you will advance to tier 3. If you need more money, repeat the Ogremage battle, as it is really easy. Only if you see “Fission Slimes” spawn from the portals, restart the battle, as those are impossible to kill without proper preparation, and not worth the effort for that.

    When you had enough of the Ogremage, or got all the equipment you want, proceed to fight the Red Shirts...ermh, sorry... Red *Wizards* of Thay. I leave this as an exercise for the reader, just pay attention to the battle messages, especially which of the wizards casts what spells.

    Tier 3:
    With a nice reward in our pouch, and new equipment in the store, we can go shopping again:
    • Ioun Stones: (I chose the “Pale Green” one for starters): it goes in the helmet slot, and - important - can be worn by Kensai.
    • “Cloak of Protection +2”: Has two nice specials. I gave it to my Kensai.
    • Ring of Regeneration: For whoever you think it fits best. Mine went to the Kensai.
    • "Bracers to the Death" for your Mage, to raise his AC.
    • "Amulet of Power": reduces Mage casting time, and has some other nice boni.
    • Another "Sword Arm" gauntlets: I gave them to the Dwarf Berserker, and moved the +DEX gauntlets to my Cleric.
    • 25+ Fire Arrows. See below why.

    Things I recommend to get over the course of tier 3:
    • +2 weapons for Fighters.
    • Belt of Stone Giant Strength: More power for Fighters.
    • Quiver of Plenty for Archers/ranged. You have Pouch of Plenty for Slings, too, but I never needed it (Cleric too busy spellcasting to use weapons).
    • More Cheetah Paws, if you feel like it. They aren't expensive, and good if you can't think of other boots to use.
    • "Boots of Etherealness": If you need extra protection in a pinch.
    • If your Cleric starts to run out of spells (unlikely), tier 3 is a good time to get that “Ring of Sune”.
    • Note there is no (magical) armor on this list, see the equipment post for details.

    Alright, off to do battle...
    Now the gloves come off, and you will need to prepare specifically for almost each battle.

    First one goes against Trolls and Fission Slimes. Try it on your own first. If you win, congratulations, skip this part.
    If you don't, you most likely saw the Slimes happily multiplying, and the Trolls not dying. Help is on the way:
    Trolls regenerate. To finish them off, cast "Melf's Acid Arrow" on them once they are down. Or use Acid Arrow ammo, one shot is enough.
    Slimes split at some point, when hit by anything other than crushing weapons. And some things don't have an effect on them at all. The easiest way to kill them is to give Fire Arrows to your Archer, and let him shoot away. Fire spells also work, but they are too slow for my taste.
    Once you figured the rhythm of the battle out, it is easy. If you have trouble with the next one, repeat it to get more cash.

    Next up are Clay Golems and a Shambling Mound. Tough cookie. After getting your ass handed, figure out that you need +2 magical weapons to hurt the Mound. Again, investing in +2 arrows is a waste, you burn through them too fast for their price. Loading a Mage up on damage spells that work (no ice, I think) and focussing him on the Mound works well, too. Switch his script off for that, and cast manually.


    -----
    More stuff upcoming, either today or next Monday.
     
  10. Bytebrain

    Bytebrain Well-Known Member

    Jul 24, 2010
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    @Sheinfell

    Amazing effort, man!
    Respect. :)
     
  11. Sheinfell

    Sheinfell Well-Known Member

    May 14, 2012
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    Thanks ;) I did not find anything good on the Black Pits on the official BGEE forums, and alot of the information I looked up (like experience tables) is quite spread around.
    And I made notes and did some heavy thinking on what would make BP easier (some of the fights are quite tough, others are impossible if you are not prepared).
    So why let all the good info go to waste? ;)
    I am halfway through my second BP playthrough, found some more neat tricks, and hope to update more later today.
     
  12. TrentO

    TrentO Member

    Jun 20, 2011
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    Agreed @Sheinfell great write up.
    Sounds like you enjoyed the Black Pits. We're pretty anxious to keep going on the concept.

    Best,
    -Trent
     
  13. Sheinfell

    Sheinfell Well-Known Member

    May 14, 2012
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    #13 Sheinfell, Dec 16, 2012
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2013
    Hi Trent, nice to see one of the developers show up here.
    Black Pits were a great start for me - instead of diving heads-on into BG again, as I can normally only play in small time chunks (family and job don't leave much room for hours-long sessions). I would welcome it, if the thing got expanded at some point.
    It would even make for its own action RPG - "Escape from the Underdark" - if properly fleshed out. Adding something like it into the main game (e.g. finding an entry to the Underdark, where you can participate in the pit fights) might be nice, too.

    Still need to do some finetuning and finish the writeup, got that planned for tomorrow.

    Some things I would appreciate if you take a look at them:
    1) What is with the dualclassing I mentioned? Does it not work in BP as in the main game? As I wrote, I only managed to dualclass a Thief, everything else failed, the button just stayed grayed out.

    2) Armor & equipment prices: On my 2nd playthrough (Core difficulty), I had no need for armor past the basic ones. Some difficulty finetuning might be appropriate; however, I guess on the higher difficulties armor becomes more of a neccessity.
    Also, equipment prices: I enjoyed that money was limited - unless you put in some serious grinding - and forced me to make choices on what to get and what to skip. The prices are the same as in the main game, correct? Would you folks consider upping the rewards a bit, then? Just enough to make it possible to get highend equipment for everybody without having to replay battles for hours? Maybe giving higher rewards on higher difficulty levels could be a solution.

    3) There is no twohanded crushing weapon on offer, which seems a gap in weapon selection to me. Paper AD&D has those, if I remember right; e.g. twohanded warhammers. Twohanded flails and maces would make sense, too, and are real medieval weapons as well.
     
  14. jackbear

    jackbear Well-Known Member

    Nov 16, 2012
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    marketing officer~
    Indonesia
    wow great tips !! thanks for the post...
    I play neverwinter before, but at baldurs gate's I feel my charactesr are soo weak =\
     
  15. Sheinfell

    Sheinfell Well-Known Member

    May 14, 2012
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    Well, you start at level 1, and you are supposed to be weak. Even more so in paper AD&D. Even small beginner monsters could kill most characters in a hit or two. Forces you to play a bit more in character (e.g. "Ambush on our caravan? RUN!"). Unfortunately AD&D didn't get the balance that right for higher levels...
     
  16. Sheinfell

    Sheinfell Well-Known Member

    May 14, 2012
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    #16 Sheinfell, Dec 16, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2012
    By the way: Does anyone here have experience with Wiki editing? I wouldn't mind having the Black Pit guide on the BGwiki (once I feel it is finished), for example, but I don't feel like figuring out wiki syntax and formatting...
    If you should be so inclined, feel free to add it there, or anyplace else. Just give credits, please.

    Useful Links:
    Also, good for everyone: I found excellent maps at Mike's RPG Center:
    http://mikesrpgcenter.com/bgate/index.html

    Might have been mentioned already, but Gamebanshee also has a ton of material, including maps:
    http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgate/bgeewalkthrough.php
     
  17. TrentO

    TrentO Member

    Jun 20, 2011
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    1. We're currently looking at a dual-classing bug. It seems to have two cases, no allowing dual classing and corrupting characters if you start dual classing and then exit out of the screen. Hopefully have it resolved soon.
    2. We wanted to keep the balance such that a party could never be fully maxed-out without replaying quite a few fights. The goal was a good player could win most fights on the third attempt. Early on it is the first attempt, but later on you need the extra loot to afford the needed equipment. We wanted it to be challenging and it is.
    3. That comes down to a Bioware technical decision to not render two handed blunts. We can look into it, but your two handed warhammer might look a little sword-like in game if we can pull it off.

    Best,
    -Trent
     

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