-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Morty
It's made quite clear in the Sorcerer's description that his spells are governed by Intelligence, not Charisma. Not sure why, really.
That just means you need minimum Int (9?) to be one. Sorcerors don't get a bonus for high Int (they get lots normally though).
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jeivar
Quick question: What did the Charisma-induced reaction adjustment ever actually do? Does it affect anything other than store prices?
Lots and lots of conversations, yes. For starters, whether Fuller in Candlekeep gives you a few coins and a tongue-lashing, or a +1 dagger and "Gorion didn't raise you half bad" for bringing him a quiver of crossbow bolts.
The sorcerer's spells are technically dependent on no stat, though the game says "Intelligence."
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
I always thought that was based on your reputation (or alignment, since that's the only thing affecting rep at that point).
Also hope that sorc casting gets tied to CHA as intended. They're supposed to have more slots to make up for the extremely limited spell selection, after all.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mangosta71
I always thought that was based on your reputation (or alignment, since that's the only thing affecting rep at that point).
Also hope that sorc casting gets tied to CHA as intended. They're supposed to have more slots to make up for the extremely limited spell selection, after all.
Well, the BG2 Tweaks pack actually fixed that:
http://www.gibberlings3.net/readmes/...ks_tables.html
Of course, by the time you can cast Chromatic Orb or Magic Missile eight times, you'll already need a much bigger boat. :)
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mangosta71
I always thought that was based on your reputation (or alignment, since that's the only thing affecting rep at that point).
Cart before horse. Your reputation gives you a bonus or penalty to reaction checks. If your Charisma is just on the edge between two results, then the reaction you get will be different depending on whether your reputation is 8 or 12. But if your Charisma is 3, everyone who is making a reaction check will hate you whatever your reputation is.
(Which is not to say there aren't separate pure-reputation checks in the game: Jaheira's response to Elminster asking whether she was right to stand with you, for example.)
Quote:
They're supposed to have more slots to make up for the extremely limited spell selection, after all.
Not terribly relevant, since wizards don't get bonus spell slots for Intelligence in BG2 either, and in 3ed a wizard gets exactly as many bonus spell slots for Intelligence as a sorcerer does for Charisma. Sorcerers' greater number of slots stands out more, not less, in semi-2ed rules (which is more impressive: Having 6 spell slots compared to a wizard's 4, or having 8 spell slots compared to a wizard's 6?).
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kish
Cart before horse. Your reputation gives you a bonus or penalty to reaction checks. If your Charisma is just on the edge between two results, then the reaction you get will be different depending on whether your reputation is 8 or 12. But if your Charisma is 3, everyone who is making a reaction check will hate you whatever your reputation is.
(Which is not to say there aren't separate pure-reputation checks in the game: Jaheira's response to Elminster asking whether she was right to stand with you, for example.)
Ah. All I remembered was that my evil thief had to pick Fuller's pocket to get that dagger. Of course, I think that character also got caught stealing in the inn and informed the guard that he was an "uppity bald virgin," which may also have had something to do with it...
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kish
Cart before horse. Your reputation gives you a bonus or penalty to reaction checks. If your Charisma is just on the edge between two results, then the reaction you get will be different depending on whether your reputation is 8 or 12. But if your Charisma is 3, everyone who is making a reaction check will hate you whatever your reputation is.
Granted in BG 2, you can dump Cha and get that ring of Persuastion (Cha becomes 18).
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mangosta71
I always thought that was based on your reputation (or alignment, since that's the only thing affecting rep at that point).
Also hope that sorc casting gets tied to CHA as intended. They're supposed to have more slots to make up for the extremely limited spell selection, after all.
But it's intended to be INT based :smallconfused:
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Starbuck_II
Granted in BG 2, you can dump Cha and get that ring of Persuastion (Cha becomes 18).
That always seemed to me to be one of the worst places to put that ring. You can get it before cha is ever used, so there is zero reason (from an optimization standpoint) to do anything besides dump cha.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Unless you, you know, don't want to commit one of your personal fingers to that ring at all times.
Or want to import your character from BG1 (without cheating). Or--gasp!--don't want to metagame. Or want a Charisma higher than 18.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Weezer
That always seemed to me to be one of the worst places to put that ring. You can get it before cha is ever used, so there is zero reason (from an optimization standpoint) to do anything besides dump cha.
Unless you import your character from the first game.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kish
U
Or want to import your character from BG1 (without cheating). Or--gasp!--don't want to metagame.
What are you talking about? The whole point of BG is to spend ages rolling ridiculously high stats so you can better min-max your build which is designed around in-depth knowledge of what items are coming up. I mean honestly, next you'll be saying killing Drizz't for his stuff isn't standard policy :smalltongue:
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kish
Lots and lots of conversations, yes. For starters, whether Fuller in Candlekeep gives you a few coins and a tongue-lashing, or a +1 dagger and "Gorion didn't raise you half bad" for bringing him a quiver of crossbow bolts.
Which pretty much never occurs unless your Charisma is 18 straight up. I kind of don't understand why it seems that 18 Charisma is the only time Charisma actually makes sense -- but on the other hand, with players rigging their characters to have 18 in everything (or at least all the important stats...), that's not a big deal, I guess.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mr.Silver
What are you talking about? The whole point of BG is to spend ages rolling ridiculously high stats so you can better min-max your build which is designed around in-depth knowledge of what items are coming up. I mean honestly, next you'll be saying killing Drizz't for his stuff isn't standard policy :smalltongue:
Oh my lord did I not have time for that. There's something to be said for the modern approach of "Okay, you have 20 character points, go to it." Who has time to click the "Reroll" button for half an hour until the stats are somehow remotely adequate for your character? I mean, it wouldn't be a big deal in games that level up like Diablo, where you can actually change your stats - but the times those numbers actually go up (or down) on a permanent basis can be counted on one hand.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dianakingston
Oh my lord did I not have time for that. There's something to be said for the modern approach of "Okay, you have 20 character points, go to it." Who has time to click the "Reroll" button for half an hour until the stats are somehow remotely adequate for your character? I mean, it wouldn't be a big deal in games that level up like Diablo, where you can actually change your stats - but the times those numbers actually go up (or down) on a permanent basis can be counted on one hand.
Hint: The Tome of Leadership and Influence isn't that hard or lengthy to get in BG1. If you can tolerate multiple trips through the opening sequence, you can import/export characters after picking it up, easily getting to the maximum charisma.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Logic
Hint: The Tome of Leadership and Influence isn't that hard or lengthy to get in BG1. If you can tolerate multiple trips through the opening sequence, you can import/export characters after picking it up, easily getting to the maximum charisma.
If you're willing to cheat, it's much simpler and quicker to google Sword Coast Keeper.
I suspect "remotely adequate" is very much a factor of what you can get for a character. I doubt very much you could get stats in Neverwinter Nights that would be nearly as good as what you could typically get with just a few minutes of rolling in Baldur's Gate, but because you know that investing five more minutes would get you better stats, what would be very good stats in NWN is not "remotely adequate for your character."
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kish
If you're willing to cheat, it's much simpler and quicker to google Sword Coast Keeper.
I suspect "remotely adequate" is very much a factor of what you can get for a character. I doubt very much you could get stats in Neverwinter Nights that would be nearly as good as what you could typically get with just a few minutes of rolling in Baldur's Gate, but because you know that investing five more minutes would get you better stats, what would be very good stats in NWN is not "remotely adequate for your character."
Not exactly. NWN's Point-Buy system gives you enough points for 13s across the board, although diminishing returns mean that's the best you can get. That's actually a "remotely adequate" point total for BG, you often get much lower point totals than that using the dice rolls.
Of course NWN was (in theory) balanced with the point buy system in mind, with high ability scores actually being rare. Whether that is the case or not (especially when using Epic rules) is a matter of debate.
But BG is balanced on the assumption that an 18 or two isn't all that hard to get with a lot of patience and little min-maxing (or was that the other way around?). Average scores are absolutely meaningless (you don't get bonuses in most cases until 15).
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kish
Unless you, you know, don't want to commit one of your personal fingers to that ring at all times.
Or want to import your character from BG1 (without cheating). Or--gasp!--don't want to metagame. Or want a Charisma higher than 18.
Well, not all times. If you're really CharOp'ing it up, you only equip the ring before you have an encounter where it's relevant. Typically just before talking to a shopkeeper.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Calemyr
Not exactly. NWN's Point-Buy system gives you enough points for 13s across the board, although diminishing returns mean that's the best you can get. That's actually a "remotely adequate" point total for BG, you often get much lower point totals than that using the dice rolls.
Of course NWN was (in theory) balanced with the point buy system in mind, with high ability scores actually being rare. Whether that is the case or not (especially when using Epic rules) is a matter of debate.
But BG is balanced on the assumption that an 18 or two isn't all that hard to get with a lot of patience and little min-maxing (or was that the other way around?). Average scores are absolutely meaningless (you don't get bonuses in most cases until 15).
That's less of a BG thing and more of an AD&D thing.
The BG2 NPCs are specially powerful compared to your average AD&D party.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ThiagoMartell
That's less of a BG thing and more of an AD&D thing.
The BG2 NPCs are specially powerful compared to your average AD&D party.
That is mostly because 1/2 are multiclass or Dual classed and they have to have high stats (you need a 18 in second class and 16 in primary to dual).
If converted to 3.5, they could legally have lower stats.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Starbuck_II
That is mostly because 1/2 are multiclass or Dual classed and they have to have high stats (you need a 18 in second class and 16 in primary to dual).
17 and 15, actually.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
...to dual-class. And between Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2, the number of dual-classed characters is three (3): Imoen, who is the main NPC, Nalia, who has the same Intelligence and Dexterity as Imoen, and Anomen, who does not in fact meet the Wisdom requirements for his dual-class.
So no. That is not why almost all the characters in the Baldur's Gate games have very high stats.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Well, the major reason to have a bard in the party is to use lore to identify magic items, which means he needs high scores in both int and wis, and cha is his primary attribute, and he's dependent on dex, and needs con to be able to survive the hits he can't avoid... Bards have mad MAD. And if you need to have 5 high scores to be useful as a bard, it's only fair to let other NPCs have high scores in all of their stats. And then there's the fact that a lot of items have minimum stat requirements. For example, Viconia can't wear plate mail without a strength-enhancing item of some kind.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
While it is not as easily refuted as the idea that the NPCs have super-high stats because of tons of dual-classes...I don't think it's because someone at Black Isle said, "We're going to have to give all of them stats good enough to be good bards!" either. And "One of the NPCs is unable to wear the heaviest armor her class can wear" seems to be an argument against what you're using it as an argument for.
In fact, I'm pretty sure it was a matter of, "We're going to give most of them very high stats just because we want them to have very high stats." Maybe it was meant to be a disincentive to create full multiplayer parties and ignore all the NPCs and their attendant plot. Either way, if it takes you half an hour to get stats for your PC that are "remotely adequate" by NWN standards, you're having truly terrible luck.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kish
While it is not as easily refuted as the idea that the NPCs have super-high stats because of tons of dual-classes...I don't think it's because someone at Black Isle said, "We're going to have to give all of them stats good enough to be good bards!" either. And "One of the NPCs is unable to wear the heaviest armor her class can wear" seems to be an argument against what you're using it as an argument for.
In fact, I'm pretty sure it was a matter of, "We're going to give most of them very high stats just because we want them to have very high stats." Maybe it was meant to be a disincentive to create full multiplayer parties and ignore all the NPCs and their attendant plot. Either way, if it takes you half an hour to get stats for your PC that are "remotely adequate" by NWN standards, you're having truly terrible luck.
It's mostly in BG2, of course. If you load some of the tweak packs for the Baldur's Gate Trilogy, there's an option to give BG1 npcs their BG2 stats. Every change is for the better - most returning NPCs got a stat boost.
I always figured it came from two parts:
1) Only allies with good stats got played in BG1. Who took Tiax or Quayle seriously?
2) BG1 was a story about an orphan at war with a brother from another mother. BG2 was the story of a demigod of murder trying to confront a demigod of ham. It is epic in every respect, with dragons and dead gods and demons and drow and Jim Cummings and David Warner. It's big.
And, as with Mass Effect, the difference between 1 and 2 is that party for the first game was just the misfits you ran across, while the party for the second game are the elites - some of the most veteran and talented adventurers you run across. You're running with the big boys, now, the ones with the natural advantage - and that means better stats.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kish
...to dual-class. And between Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2, the number of dual-classed characters is two (2): Imoen, who is the main NPC, and Anomen, who does not in fact meet the Wisdom requirements for his dual-class.
So no. That is not why almost all the characters in the Baldur's Gate games have very high stats.
You missed Nalia.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
I stand corrected.
Still not the reason for the high stats.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Has anyone preordered the game yet? I want to know how preloading works...
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ThiagoMartell
Has anyone preordered the game yet? I want to know how preloading works...
As I understand it, you download the game but can't actually play it until it comes out. You gain the benefit of not having to wait for the install.
-
Re: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Calemyr
1) Only allies with good stats got played in BG1. Who took Tiax or Quayle seriously?
No-one. Also most people will take characters they can recruit early, given that you have to complete a good 3/4 of the main quest before you can even meet anyone in Baldur's Gate itself.
Guess which characters are carried over?