To give people background, I've been playing BG2 since it came out and have played with a ton of content mods (NPCs, items, quests, etc) - things like Item Upgrades, The Undying, questpack, etc. But I haven't played with any tactical mods or with much tactics to be honest - Breach/Pierce Magic/True sight and then wail away with overpowered weapons.

I've spent the past couple days reading the FAQ, readme txt files, the stickied threads, and many of the threads on the first 6-7 pages of this forum. After all of that, I have a few questions:

Rather than blowing away my current install (Vanilla+G3+various content mods), I was just going to do a second installation in a different directory (c:\games\IABG2 or something like that). Does anyone know off the top of their head if I'll run into issues (registry issues, other pointers that could messed up, etc) - I've never run the game with different installs.

I usually start BG2 with the official BG1 cap (161k xp) or sometimes uncapped bg1, so ~237k XP. Is IA designed for your character to start with 89k or 161k starting XP? If I start higher than 89k will it throw off the IA experience?

I typically use Dungeon Be Gone and see that it's supported here. I see the note about waiting for the randomization text to finish before zapping off. My question here is - am I going to miss any content (I assume whatever items are randomize will show up in the piles at the exit)? I didn't see anything in the "Tactical Content" file, but thought I should ask. Does DBG give the correct amount of XP for IA (the regular version gives 100k XP to party, I'm not sure if this is changed in IA).

I see people discussing the Bioware NPCs with different classes (Cernd as Auramaster, Minsc as Berzerker, Imoen as Sorcerer, etc) - is this the standard Level1 NPC mod? shadowkeeper? Or does IA change NPC classes as part of the mod?

If I start a multiplayer game for more than 1 character created by me, should I move the save game from mpsave folder to save folder and play it in single-player mode (like I do now in vanilla games)? In either case, should I install that "fix" listed in one of the stickied threads in case the player-created extra character gets Imprisoned?

After reading throught the various threads on party composition, particularly for new IA players, I thought of using this party:

Vagrant (protagonist)
Berzerker
Valygar
Anomen
Nalia
Sorcerer/Imoen

is 1 full-class cleric enough? Should I replace someone with Jaheira?

I am aware to mix up the fighters' individual weapon proficiencies between the 3 physical damage types.

thanks in advance!

Hi and welcome to BWL, dante2377!



As far as I've heard, this is possible but a tad complicated. I haven't tried it either. Someone else who has practically tried two different installations on a single machine can probably give an accurate answer to this question.

It's recommended to start BG2 with the standard amount of xp rather than with higher xp.



You won't miss anything. Just wait to see the message "Item Randomizer successfully initiated" before leaving the dungeon.

Yes.



IA changes Cernd to Auramaster and Imoen to sorcerer. Minsk is not touched. Those who change Minsk's class, do it using shadowkeeper (it's harmless for Minsk and Jaheira, but don't try it for other NPCs).

Yes, it's necessary to move the saved game.



Yes, you need that fix.

Your party seems to be perfect. 1 cleric is enough.

thanks shadan.

I have a question about proficiencies. In his "started a V5 game" thread, Sikret had his protagonist with these proficiences:

Two Weapon Skills: +++
Long Sword: +
Axe: +
Club: +
Flail: +


If it's important to mix up the damage types, why have 2 slashing and 2 blunt weapons with no piercing? Wouldn't something like short sword be more appropriate?

Or is the mix-up-the-damage-types recommendation more across the party, not necessarily across each fighter-type?

So far just with DBG and the Circus, nothing has killed me yet. But I've yet to leave the Promenade.

PS I also use the widescreen Mod (mine is set to 1280 x 800) and it works great - the regular size (1024x768) is stretched since I have a widescreen laptop.

Welcome Dante and good luck with your 1st run through. That is a great party composition for a first run.

With the Vagrant protagonist I usually go with Axe , Flail and Short sword, like you suggest, as it covers all damage types. You can come across good versions of these weapons relatively early on and either upgade them later or find new/better ones in the mid to late game. I always leave the longsword for later because there really isn't a good longsword option (compared to Axes) in the early game but perhaps too many good ones later. Also because the Vagrant can put only 2 points into proficiency/weapon there will be plenty of time to add it later (usually after Spellhold).

You could use Clubs instead of Flails as there are Boss Clubs available early on. I usually leave Clubs to either Valygar or my custom Swashie/Cleric , Ranger/Cleric etc. as I plan on getting the Flail of defending and wounding much later on for my Vagrant. Having said that I see that you have Anomen in your party and he has 5 points in Flails so you can go either way. There are 2 great Flails available early (well one is a Morning Star but its the same proficiency).

Also don't forget about Daggers (you don't have to be a thief) as there are some very cool ones to be had and you get to use Firetooth as a missile weapon for free.

thanks....I'm basically going to follow along the weapon prof's I see in the two "walkthrough" type threads. If I do this



and give protagonist Short Swords as well (for piercing), are there enough good short swords to go around or should I find another piercing weapon.

Looking forward to some of the first tough battles tonight after my wife and I get back and she goes to sleep.

thanks all,

Bill

PS - are people interested in me posting my IA newbie progress?

You might consider giving Anomen the Flail of Ages instead of using it as your prot. off hand weapon for the following reasons
* Anomen has grand mastery in flails and can be devastating in the early game with appropriate buffs and a speed potion.
* As an off hand weapon you will not hit with it often enough to utilise it's awesome slow power.
* Vagrant could utilise an off hand weapon with a useful power like Arbanes short sword (immunity to hold person) or Namarra (even though you are not prof. in longswords , its immunity to charm and confusion can be helpful and you won't hit that often with it anyway). Ilbratha is another possibility but I usually have Valygar equip it for the mirror image as he can be a bit weak defensively in the early going.

The shorty of backstabbing is a fine weapon and will take care of most anything even into the middle stages. There is a nice upgradeable short sword that uses cutthroat +4 as its template but it is a bit of a financial stretch considering that will not be your primary weapon. Cutthroat on its own should suffice, I think the Short Sword of Mask +4 is awesome with its 15% chance to entangle.

Incidently @Sikret

I encountered a Noble Rakshasa recently and this is what happened:
SPOILER!

In any event the sword of Mask is an underrated weapon IMO esp. when combined with Critical Strike.

See the Progress report for IA v6 (the entry about Swords of Mask). I quote:



In the original game, those two swords had wrong power numbers for their effects which could cause problems similar to what you have noticed. They are already fixed in v6.

So I missed the part in the suggested quest order about not going into ogre tower in the Druid Grove. That ended....badly for me.

Guess ill skip that in the morning and just try some more druids.

Namarra is the sword you get from the Crypt King in the Graveyard District. It doesn't grant immunity to Charm or Confusion. Perhaps you are thinking of another longsword? The Equaliser is the only one I can think of that gives those immunities.

Adjatha the Drinker protects from Charm and Domination, maybe that's what he meant.

I am pretty sure that there is such a sword early on (one gets the names mixed up ) . Perhaps it is Adjatha.

A couple of questions

- i didn't have a druid in my party. Some of the other posts I see have the protagonist challenge Faldorn, but I didn't see that option. I had Cernd take her out, but didn't know if I did anything wrong.

- After the trademeet quests (druid grove and Potion seller), I've got about 25k in gold. With my party description above, any advice on how to spend it (buy potions, a particular item, etc). I've just got some scrolls for Nalia so far.

- after the shadow thief in Trademeet told me about the rakshasha, when I went to fight her, I just attacked her - the other two didn't spawn in and she didn't seem to fight back from what I remember. After I attacked her, she turned red (e.g. I didn't use the Fake-Talk strategy)...

On a non-game related to the forum mods, how many posts are required to be validated until my posts don't have to approved and I can use the PM function? The forum and board FAQ/readmes weren't all that specific - "The BWL Council reviews each new user, and will probably relax this moderator approval restriction for their account."

In your main BG2 folder, there is a text file names "WeiDu.log"; copy its content and paste it into your next post here.

Basically there were 2 options - I offered to challenge, but she said I wasn't a druid and basically to go away. The "let's make a deal" option didn't give anything either.


Weidu log is pretty straightforward (and IA is the last)

// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Infinite Weapon, Potion and Ring/Amulet Stacking
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #1 // Infinite Weapon, Potion Stacking (ToB)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #3 // True Grand Mastery (extra half-attack, etc.) (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Shut Up "You Must Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth"
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Faster Chapter 1&2 Cut-Scenes and Dreams (Karzak, Blucher) (SEE WARNINGS)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings (etc.)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table, Saving Throws, Grand-Mastery, and Arcane, Divine Spell Progression (Blucher)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #10 // XP Cap Remover
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #15 // Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #16 // Keep Drizzt's Loot, Disable Malchor Harpell
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #17 // No Drow Avatars On Party In Underdark
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #18 // Imoen ToB Dialogue Fix
~SETUP-DUNGEONBEGONE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Dungeon Be Gone V1.6
~WIDESCREEN/WIDESCREEN.TP2~ #0 #0 // Widescreen Mod: Widescreen Mod v1
~SETUP-IMPROVEDANVIL.TP2~ #0 #0 // Improved Anvil for SOA & TOB

Ad. 1

Uninstall IA - install "multiple strongholds" form ease of use - install IA again (probably you've need to start a new game)

Ad. 2

Save the money for Treefolk's Arm, the best option, imo.

Ad. 3
Afaik, there's no hostile dialog option with her/it until you pick quest from Dao (sorry for my english), if you attack her/it directly sidekicks will not spawn, iirc.

What is everyone's thoughts on the multiple stronghold option (I know it was recommended in the FAQ or readme)?

So you'd recommend saving for the blackblood club then (part of the Treefolk Arm)? Is the Root of the Problem retrievable early on (if you follow the standard walkthrough)?

Yes and yes. Treefolk's Arm is one of the best weapons in IA 5, if not overall the best. It's +6 weapon (I mean THACO) vs. unnatural creatures, the one and only +6 weapon in entire mod, not to mention it's mage's nemezis (+ 4 acid damege per hit) and cosidering the usefulness it's extremely cheap. No suprise that in IA 6 Treefolk's Arm is tweaked. ;]

You probably must install multiple strongholds for Root of the Problem if your prot is not a druid.

AFAIK , are not the upgraded Staff of the Ram , Ravager and Dagger of the Star +6 also?

From the docs in the folder

Yes, he will need to start a new game.

Since I'll have to start a new game to get the strongholds, I'd like some specific weapon proficiency advice:

For my Berzerker who will use 2-handed weapons (2h sword, staff, halberd), for my 6 starting slots I'd choose:

** 2Handed weapon style, ** 2-handed sword, * staff, * halberd. I'll then put the next two points in staff and halberd to get ** in all of them. After that, which weapon should I max out to ***** first?

For the vagrant, he gets ** in two-weapons style for ranger, so I'd go for my 6 points this way: 3rd * in two-weapon, ** in axes, ** in clubs, * in shortswords? Thoughts?

I would recommend not putting ** in Two-Handed Weapon Style - at least not at the beginning - the second point doesn't give much in the way of benefits. I would max staff first, blunt weapons are generally useful against a wider variety of enemies.




Sounds good to me.

Raven - the second * in 2-Handed weapons makes you hit a critical on a roll of 19 or 20. That's doubling the number of times you crit. How is that not worth it? That's a big damage output, especially in a mod that's designed for longer battles and during the early stages where THACO can be an issue, you're doubling your chance to hit.

Isn't it the first star which gives the critical hit bonus?

No, it's the second * for 2-Handed weapons. For single weapon style it's the first * that gives the extra crit.

They're all vanilla.

I mean that there's no other, than Treefolk's Arm, +6 (THACO) weapon added by the mod.



Yes, you're right.

Generally, 2H weapon style bonuses are, imo, the best - exellent bonuses to hit, damage, speed and critical strike, no penalty to hit.

But, on the other hand, for exemple ***** in staffs and * in 2H is probably better than **** in staffs and ** in 2H, so maybe it's a good idea to go for the grand mastery first and then put the second * in 2H. Heh, I prefer barbarians over berserkers so no problem for me.

Treefolk's Arm was a tad overpowered in v5. It's rebalanced and fixed in v6. As you know, IA v6 will be out soon; so, if you want your v5 game sessions to be somewhat useful for future, I recommend that as long as you are playing v5, you start practicing tactics which don't heavily rely on this club. Go for forging Phosphorus rather than Treefolk's Arm.

Like Sikret said, it's the first point that gives the crit on 19. My druid (who cannot put more than one point into weapon-type styles) still scores a crit on a 19 with her staff.



You should never be needing a crit to even land a hit with a single class fighter, even in IA. So scoring a crit on a 19 is not doubling your hit chances. However, it certainly is useful which is why I recommended one point in Two-Handed Weapon style (rather than none).

Weird

The exact text (I'm staring at the character creation screen now) reads:



I've always read the last sentence about critical rolls to be part of the "second slot spent" criteria, otherwise it would have been mentioned prior when describing one slot benefits.

But I did test it out with that new character with just one * in 2HW and it did crit on 19's. Weird.

Maybe we should change the text on the proficiency to match so it's clear?? I read the text above as the crit bonus on the second slot. Maybe it's just me..

No, you're right, the text is misleading. Unfortunately, lots of the descriptions both in-game and in the manual are inaccurate.

Maybe wrong topic to ask but i dont wanted to start a new one.

Question about vagrant quest?

SPOILER!



Anyway if mod thinks this post contains any spoiler can remove post.

Thanks.

If you have finished the whole quest including the final battle I would have thought you would know the answer. I can send you a PM if you want.

I dont want to spoil to much, if can send me pm, thx.

I'm not sure I understand you - is it that you don't want to post spoilers in this forum (in which case, don't worry, you haven't), or you don't want any spoilers in the PM I send you?

Sorry my mistake You can send me PM with full spoil, i just dont wanted to spoil topic ok.

No worries I understand now. I'll send you the PM in the next few minutes.

SPOILER!

No, but there are quite a few of them.