Haha, yes, I'm going to get BG2 soon.......can't stand the suspense.

I'm going to import my ranger from BG1, thinking of dual-wielding swords for him. At first I thought of either using the feralan or stalker kits, but then I checked again and they removed the feralan. :(

So is the stalker kit any good? I want to dual wield long swords, I heard the stalker can only use concealable weapons, and that would suck for my purposes.

Also, does the ranger's armour class go down like the fighters as you advance in level?

And another thing? Do we get to choose extra racial enemies, are we stuck with the old one, or can we replace our old choice with a new one?

Got some answers for ya here...

The Stalker kit can use any weapon, but is limited to studded leather. As you may know, a Ranger never wears better than studded anyways, because his Ranger abilities get disabled... but a Stalker absolutely *cannot* wear better than studded leather.

Other than that, though, the Stalker is better at stealthing, and gains the ability to backstab, so he's definately worth considering!

No, a Ranger's armor class doesn't go down, but then again... a fighter's armor class never goes down either, unless he puts better armor on. The Kensai, a fighter kit, does get a -2 armor class bonus.

As for the racial enemy, I'm *pretty* sure you have to choose a new one.

hmm...what you mean that rangers abilities get disabled? My pure ranger wears plate and have -8 ac plus casts his ranger spells.
Now my archer can only wear leather at most but even then there are many nice leather based armors out there and my archer have ac of -6 (shadow dragons armor is very nice for him)

Wearing anything better than studded leather disables the ranger's ability to hide in shadows...

Note: Shadow Dragon scale armor does allow Ranger stealthing.

You are correct. Upon checking my plate wearing ranger he was unable to hide with it equiped

I am rather fond of my Archer. I like to sommon cannon foder in front of me and pummel the enemy with ranged attacks.

what lvl is your archer and which summon spell you use (the I or II ??)

Stalker sounds good to me! Thanks for replying guys.

And I'm damn glad I can choose a new racial enemy. I actually chose skeletons in BG1!

I'm brand new (still haven't gotten BG2 yet) so please forgive what may be a stupid question here . . .
When you complete the quest(?) that gives you the "stalker kit" do you retain any "pure ranger" bonus abilities or do you lose tracking, sm, hide, + damage to giant-class, cleric spells, and dual-wield?

Himbald, there are no quests for obtaining the kits (its not true p&p after all). You choose the kit on the character creation section, i.e. at the beginning of a new game.

Arrgh, I know nothing about AD & D, so I can't really help you there.

Another thing though. I worry that my armour class wont be good enough even with the Shadow Dragon's armour.

My dexterity is 20 and I plan on wielding two long swords.

Is wielding longswords even a good idea in the first place? I hear there aren't any good ones.

I've found 2 magical longswords (not including +1's) so far, one that makes you immune to confusion and feebleminded and it draws life from your opponent everytime you hit them and transfers it to you.

The other is just a regular standard +2 long sword.

Sorry about the confusion. My ranger has not the ability to summon. I leave that to the other magic users.

Aaaaargh!

NO BG2 yet!

Thanks for the help guys.....

I just wanted to answer your questions about the longswords.
My ranger is a stalker, he uses duel longswords. one is the blade of roses +3, blessed by the passion goddess, Sune.
My off hand sword is Ras, longsword +3, with the ability to attack by itself every 4 rounds or something like that. i havent quite figured it out yet. but my char is pretty powerful.
The armor he wears is the "Armor of the Deep Night". pretty neat color, dark purple, mysterious if you know what i mean. pretty good armor class also. You can obtain this armor by completing the shade lord quest, the mayor gives it to you.
c-c-c-ya-lata!