Category: Baldur's Gate

Report Content

• Soloing - the Introduction
• The Blade Kit explained
• Used Baldur’s Gate II Setup

1. Part 1: Irenicus’ Dungeon
2. Part 2: The Circus Tent & Slums Slaves
3. Part 3: A Tanner & More Slaves
4. Part 4: The Astral Prison
5. Part 5: Daystar & Mae’Var
6. Part 6: Some Beholders & a Lich
7. Part 7: Druid Grove & Guarded Compound
8. Part 8: Planar Sphere & Kangaxx!
9. Part 9: The Shadow Temple

Introduction

With a small group of Forgotten Realms fans at Shrimprefuge, we decided to take on the Baldur’s Gate world using only one character (hence solo). For most of us, this will be the first solo run so I figured we (and other readers) could use a report writeup as the characters progress through the game.

Before picking the class bard and kit blade, I did some basic research on how to play and which strategy should work - and which won’t. The most resourceful report was definatly andijvieschotel’s one from the BioWare forums. Thanks to him, I managed to get through some very otherwise tough portions of the game, especially in the beginning. Let’s get on with it, shall we.

The Blade Kit

For those who are not very familiar with Bards in Baldur’s Gate, here is the official kit description.

The blade is an expert fighter and adventurer, whose bardic acting abilities make him appear more intimidating and fearsome. His fighting style is flashy and entertaining, but is also quite deadly.

Advantages

May use Offensive Spin and Defensive Spin abilities once per day per 4 levels. Offensive Spin lasts 24 seconds, granting the blade +2 to hit, +2 to damage, and an extra attack. As well, all of his attacks do maximum damage for the duration. Defensive Spin lasts 24 seconds, roots him to the spot, but gives -1 AC per level of experience. This armor class bonus does not go over -10.

May place three slots into two-weapon fighting style.

Disadvantages

Only has one-half normal Lore value.
Only has one-half Pick Pockets percentage;
Bard Song does not become better with levels.

› Continue reading

Lots of misunderstanding exist for breaking through the spell protections of high level spell casting creatures. This guide is an almost exact copy of zvijers guide at the gone forgotten wars forum, also carried on by “The Hero’s Guide to a Successful adventure“. I found this to be very informative and vital for solo runs. The strategies explain mage protections in weimer’s Tactics modification.
All credits go to Xyx, Alson and Littiz for their Spell Reference Guide!

Article Index

1. Spell Protection Categories
2. Remove Magic VS Breach
3. Smarter Magics: Unable to defeat?
4. Beating difficult Mages without magic
5. Cheesy ways of getting rid of Liches

Last Update: February 02, 2007, at 11:35 PM

Spell Protection categories

So What is spell protection? Spell protection is in 3 catagories…spell protection to protect you from physical damage, like stoneskin, and protection from magic weapons. It is also elemental protection, like protection from cold, and protection from the elements. And last, protection from spells, like spell trap and spell shield. So, to be able to punch thru protection spells, you need in your arsenal spells that can destroy all 3 types of spell protection, right? Wrong! Now due to the way the game works, protection from spells is incredibly easy to get around…simply hit the target with area effect spells…like my favorite, incindiary cloud, or abi dahzim’s horrid wiltings…since a protection from spells DEPENDS on the enemy casting a spell directly at you, like polymorph other, or magic missile, if your enemy hits you with a area effect spell, or just plain bashes you with this big hammer, all the protection from spells in the game wont help you at all…so this means that the spell turning, spell trap, globe of invulnerability and spell shield that enemy mages put up are completely useless…you hit the mage or spell casting monster with an area effect spell, or holy avenger, and all the protection from spells it casts does nothing…
› Continue reading

Party Numer TWO - 06 Jan. 2006

Download savegame here!

Savegame #2, 06 Jan. 2006 (Warning: mods required, see below)

Attitude: Xandarr, my main character. I decided to create a melee divine spellcaster, for the very first time, since I’ve been using Arcane Magic way too much. I ended up with three members who are able to cast divinity spells, which is awesome. Xandarr is also the main melee mob killer, besides Keldorn. He performs this job very well using two maces or a flail, fully buffed up with his own spells. Type: Human Chaotic Good, Cleric/Ranger Name: Xandarr Strength: dual wielding melee combat, maces/flails, divine magic	Attitude: Ah, my beloved Inquisitor. I love this guy, especially when he’s wielding the Holy Avenger, the +5 two-handled sword carefully preserved by Firkraag. The only paladin in the game. His only weak point is the low DEX, but that can be easily fixed by a pair of gauntlets. Keldorn’s True Sight and Dispel Magic are very powerful and useful too. Type: Human Lawful Good, Inquisitor Name: Keldorn Strength: melee 2-handled swords, crossbows, innate abilities
Attitude: I never picked up Valygar, besides the planar sphere quest. My party is always too full. Instead of creating the cheesy Kensai/mage I’m used to, I am doing fine unlocking Valygar’s true powers: also katana’s of course. Give him a pair of haste boots and some buffs and watch him kill. As a ranger, Valygar can also cast some useful (divine, again) spells. Radical Enemy is a plus! Type: Human, Chaotic Good, Stalker Name: Valygar Strength: dual wielding melee combat, katana’s, special abilities	Attitude: Cernd is the only Druid/shapeshifter in the game and it’s time to spread the word: shapeshifters are powerful if you use the right strategy. Partially thanks to the shapeshifter fix modification, of course. And Cernd has access to some pretty powerful spells, and can serve as a backup healer. Yes. Type: Human, True Neutral, Shapeshifter Name: Cernd Strength: melee (shapeshifted), divine magic
Attitude: I cannot live without a proper backup mage, whether it’s a silly Illusionist or not. I did not rescue my sister yet, so chances are I’ll ditch Jan in the future. I know all his silly stories and he was never really useful, except as a backup. But I need some thief abilities (my previous main char was an assassin). Type: Gnome, Chaotic Neutral - Illusionist/thief Name: Jan Janssen Strength: Magic: Illusions, ranged - crossbows	Attitude: Ah, the main damage output has finally arrived. There is sadly no sorcerer present in the unmodified version of BG2, and I cannot live without Kelsey anymore. He never ever let me down: whether it’s spamming fireballs or lowering mage’s resistances and breaching their shields. Less spell picks, more spell memorization slots. That’s a pretty good deal. Type: Human, Lawful Neutral Sorcerer Name: Kelsey Strength: Arcane magic.

› Continue reading

A few days ago, Obsidian’s modular Roleplaying game Neverwinter Nights 2 was released. NWN is well-known for its overwhelming amounth of fan-made modules and even whole Community Packs. This is the result of BioWare’s powerful Aurora Engine toolkit, which came packaged with the game. So actually it’s not that strange the game gets so much attention - take a look at UT2004’s numberous modifications or Total Conversions: with UnrealEd this is all possible.

BioWare’s previous critically acclaimed Roleplaying game, Baldur’s Gate II, did not feature any toolkits when it was released in 2000. BG2 used Planescape Torment’s and Icewind Dale’s Infinity Engine to render scenes. (Acutally the Infinity Engine was first used in BG1, released in 1998. Black Isle did Planescape in 1999) Thanks to BG’s widely accepted “Best RPG Game ever” state, fans started engineering tools to hack the file system used by this engine. Various File extractors and speech decompilers started showing up and before you know it, complete Conversions for Baldur’s Gate became available! Let’s dig really deep and list a (short, can’t possibly list everything) couple of popular modifications for Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, and for the expansion pack, Throne of Bhaal.

› Continue reading