Hi, im playing the game for first time and i want experienced ones to tell me if im using party emmbers properly.
Im using the 3-3 formation
Members:
1)CHARNAME - Archer lvl 16 - using Heartfinder(or w/e),
2) Minsc - Using a +3 +1fire,ice,poison,ect alabard
3)Mazzy - Uses gensen (or w/e) bow and warrior longsword +4 as backup
Second line:
4) Jaheira - using some non bullet needing sling and a great suit having to lowest AC
5)Aerie - using +2 sling but with really nice cast speed
6) Imohen- Using +4 crossbow

Any tip to improve will be welcome


Plus i have some questions if you can answer me:

A- If my archer gets mastery in 2 handed weapon... it benefits the bow using? (bow is 2 handed i think)
B- I rode str has bonus in long bow damage.. but after i equip w/ 21str item i still deal the same damage
C- I did read aswell ppl talking about jaheira getting stoneskin... in my game she just doesnt have that spell... u got to install any mod or sumtin?
D- If my spellsbook get full on a certain level...is there any way to erase some spells?
E- I remember kicking ass in ID with otilukes sphere (or w/e), i just cant find it anywhere in BG2!!
F- BEfore getting in tough battles i love to use lotsa spells in my party members... i use :bless, haste, protection from evil, chant, defensive armony, stone skin and reflected image.
Am i missing any vital buff?
G- I really like my party members.. but i want to get all posible exp..so does any other NPCs who can join your party adds news and significant quest? wich ones, and when do they start?

Well thath all i remember right now, thanks you in advance for reading and of course if ya can answer any question i would aprettiate.

[ April 24, 2005, 04:13: Message edited by: drummerk12 ]

Well I am no expert...if your level 16 your doing well I think. Most people try to use weapons that they have proficiency points in...not many people give Mincs a halberd but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use one....this game can be played many ways and thats a lot of it's appeal. There is no right or wrong way to play it :) ...it's no 'cookie cutter' if you get my meaning. The Everard sling that I think you are using for Jaheira is probably the best sling in SOA *IF* you put +2 bullets in it. You might want to consider giving Jaheira a mace or other melee weapon and putting her in the front line instead of Mazzy. Short and longbows are generally better than crossbows because they are faster and you can find better ones in the game. The Gesen bow you are using is a very good one. Also you don't really want ranged weapons in your front line because they get penalties when fighting inside melee range.

A-nope..2 handed weapon style does not improve bow use. It improves 2 handed melee weapons use.
B-How did you figure out your damage? Look at the damage you do in the dialog box when you fight...it should be higher. Or maybe it is just composite longbows that do this....not sure.
C-She gets Iron skin not stoneskin. It is a level 5 spell and is probably better than stonskin because it can't be breached. No mod is needed.
D-I don't think so but you can take a potion to increase your intelligence to learn more. I assume your talking arcane (wizard) spells.
E-It's a level 4 wizard spell and not that great in BG2...not sure where to find one sorry.
F-Try this link for looking up spells http://members.chello.nl/~j.vanthull/BG2SR/Main.htm Their advice is pretty good.
G-I think they all have their own little quests that can add to variety, experience and fun to the game but none of them are vital to my knowledge.

PS- Once again I am no expert and if I've made any mistakes I apologize...I'm sure others will correct me if I did.

[ April 24, 2005, 08:37: Message edited by: Isshy ]

Members:
1) I suggest giving the Gesen bow to him instead if you can get 5 stars in short bows, or just use Strong Arm +2 (this will do more damage than the bow you are using now).

2) Minsc - He'll be better off using flail of ages +3 with crom fayer. This will way more damage than the halberd will, gives more elemental damage and you already have the dual weilding proficiences with him.

3) Mazzy - give her Tansheron's Bow +3, or keep Gesen if you give Strong Arm +2 to your Archer.

Second line:
4) Jaheira - Okay, since you already have 2 archers, I suggest going with scimitars, clubs or spears with her. She is strong enough to be placed on the front lines actually. Try using Belm +2, Blackblood +3 (duel-weild these) or use Spear +3, Impaler, which does a lot of damage.

5) Aerie - Staff of the Magi, although I think she conflicts too much with Imoen and Jaheria. You should probably dump her and let your other characters level up faster so Jaheira and Imoen can reach higher level spells quicker.

6) Imoen- Staff of the Magi

A-No, your archer does not benefit from this

B-I don't think so. I think it has to have a Mighty characteristic (or something) to allow strength bonuses. The Strong Arm bow does this but none of the short bows do. Maybe that's why you think that Long bows give this bonus.

C-The druid equivalent is iron skins

D-Just use a potion that increases your intelligence temporarily so you can memorize more spells. The higher your int score is, the more spells you can memorize. You keep the spells when the potion wares off.

E-It's still there, but I don't know where to look. I don't think I used it though in my games.

F- Well, clerics give lots of good buffs that work on the caster or the party (just read the descriptions) and chaotic commands is kind of essential in this game too. Maybe you just never got these spells yet because Aerie is multi-classed, thus having slow spell development.

Oh, and if you must give a sling to someone, Sling of Seeking +2 is probably the best sling you can use in SoA or ToB because it gives you a Strength Bonus, giving you a lot more damage than any of the slings that give you free bullets. Actually, the free bullets don't even give you the extra damage, just the extra thac0. Thus Sling of Seeking is the best.

I disagree. There was a post comparing the damage on slings with regard to strength a while back and the Everard (with +2 bullets equipped) was clearly the best. I searched for the post (under sling in title only), and found it, but the I couldn't access it for some reason. You would think the sling of seeking would be better damage wise but it wasn't.

[ April 24, 2005, 05:40: Message edited by: Isshy ]

Umm. Composite long bows count strength. Also, I think otiluke's resilient sphere is also a spell in BG2. Installing TOB allows you to erase learned spells.

Taken from my guide:

The slings category is not what you would expect since the both of the +5 slings available are pretty crap. The Erinne Sling +5 doesn't offer any real combat abilities and the extra 5 bullets isn't going to save the day or anything. In fact, you have so much gold in ToB that you could purchase over 500 bullets and it wouldn't put a dent in your wallet at all.

The Sling of Everand +5 that you can purchase from one of the bonus merchants in the Copper Cornet is also a big disappointment since it only produces normal bullets (base damage), but are actually +5 enchantment, however. Since normal bullets don't deal enough damage to justify their use, they are very ineffective against almost everything in ToB. You will most likely use quality +4 bullets with other slings anyway, rendering the extra ability useless. If anything, you could use the "Bag of Plenty +2" to provide you with an infinite supply of +2 bullets for ANY sling (which actually deal an extra 2 damage per hit).

The real shocker is that the Sling of Seeking +2 is the best choice for sling users. Since Baldur's Gate 2 provides you with many strength-enhancing belts, it is quite common to give the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength to your low-strength users (Like Viconia for instance). Since the sling adds your strength bonus to the damage, you will get 16-19 damage per attack using +4 bullets with this sling, which is much better than any of the others. Even further, you can purchase this from Bernard in the Copper Coronet (Slums District).

The only drawback to the Sling of Seeking +2 is that your thac0 will be 3 points lower than it would have been using the other slings, but this is really not a major concern considering that you are doing double or triple the damage per hit.

OK...I did a test of my own on the Everard sling (with +2 bullets) vs. the Sling of Seeking (with +2 bullets), no TOB testing in this forum so no +4 bullets (no expasions or mods). I attacked Keldorn (lvl 17 with -7 Thac0) using a R/C to hurl the stones (level 20 with ** in slings) until Keldorn was hit 20 times with each sling. The R/C had 18 STR in the first test (no belt) and 21 in the second (frost giant belt). Here are the results:

18 Strength:
Sling of seeking averaged 13.4 damage per hit after 20 hits. Lowest damage was 12, highest was 15. (missed 18 times)
Everard +5 averaged 15.2 damage per hit after 20 hits. Lowest damage was 13 high was 18. (missed 12 times)

21 Strength:
Sling of Seeking averaged 15.8 damage per hit after 20 hits. Lowest damage was 15, high was 17. (missed 29 times!)
Everard +5 averaged 17.8 damage per hit. Lowest damage was 16, high was 20. (missed 19 times).

Clearly the Everard is the better sling. You should check your facts before you give a newcomer incorrect advice (Double or triple damage?!)...I learned this the hard way myself... Sounds like your using a TOB guide for an SOA game as well.

PS- This was fun. Keldorn experienced morale failure repeatedly running away...thought Paladins were supposed to have lots of heart. I stopped attacking when he ran away until he recovered so he was standing still for all attacks and all were approximately the same distance.

PPS-If you include misses the both slings did LESS damage per round at 21 strength than at 18 strength. Wonder why they miss more with higher strength?

[ April 24, 2005, 09:55: Message edited by: Isshy ]

Dude, you are absolutely correct. My bad. To my defense though, I looked it up and Sling of Everard +5 was fixed in a patch and I obviously ran my own tests before that was fixed. There really was a time where Sling of Everard did not do the same damage as Sling of Seeking, but I made those tests a long time ago. I just recently installed the game again today actually with new patches and all. But it's good to know because I was going to use it in my next game. Thanks.

Yep I can understand that for sure. I just didn't want to have drummerk12 get it wrong. I'm very careful about the advice I give since I was once quite embarassed because I gave someone incorrect advice and was corrected by the very smart people that post here (I'm not one of the very smart ones I'm sad to say :p ). Imagine if the developers could get it right on the first try...these things wouldn't happen.

Weapon style generally only work with melee weapons. Two handed weapon style does not give bonuses to using bows.

Composite Longbows dont get added strength bonus. They only have a minimum strength requirement and they automatically add damage dependent on the bow itself.

Minsc is probably using the Dragon's Breath +4 halberd. If you also have invested points in two handed weapon style, criticals at 19 are great :yum:
Remember, Minsc comes with ** in two weapon style and NOT two handed weapon style. Two weapon style means you can use a single handed weapon (eg. mace) in your main hand and put another single handed weapon in your sheild slot to get an extra attack per round.

If Jaheira has the lowest AC and can cast ironskins, you should think about putting her up front. Monsters will attack her only while the rest beat them up from behind.

Well ty for the info, but when i post i actually meant ironskin insted of stone. Jhaeira doesnt have that spell!!! i look once and again and she just doest... i have her at lvl 14 and still no ironskin anywhere. Im playing the patched version w/ some fixes.
I do realize of ppl not using sphere of otiluke in BG2... well it was my main spell in ID. When u got a bunch of 20-30 damage mobs ahead u just send 1 of ur guys and cast it on him and moster will still atack him. Kinda cheesy but very effective.
1 more thing about the archer:
Presition shoot (or w/e) = lv3: +1 sumthing lvl6: +1 another sumthing lvl9:+1 (...)
My question is... will those abilities stack when i reack lvl 12? i mean will i have the one i get at lvl3+ the one at lvl6 and 9?
thanks all for ya help

err ... what?

The archer gets a +1 to THAC0 at every 3 levels. This stacks.
He also gets another called shot every 4(?) levels. The effects of the called shot do change as the ranger levels up. The effects of a called shot do not stack.

Ill try to be more clear...
"Called shoot" its every 3 levels ...
in lvl 3 you got +1 thaco when u use it
lvl6 you got +1 damage
lvl9 you got -1 sumthing (cant remember :p )
lvl12 you got +1 magic save
My point is when if when i reach level 12 or avobe... and use that special shoot (10 secs duration) ill get the benefit +1 magic save or.... that one plus the gained at level 3,6and 9.

Called Shot Effects do stack. You get them all in a single shot.

OK that all i wanted to know.. thanks a lot all... but still got the fact im 100% sure Jhaeira doesnt have ironskin in spell book in my game :( anyone know why?

It's a level 5 spell and it looks different than the stoneskin icon. Maybe you missed it? Otherwise, get a character editor (I'm not sure where to get it now actually, but it was called bgkeeper or something like that) so you can add that spell to your spellbook.

It's Shadowkeeper nonetheless Ironskin should be in the spellbook, it is a divine spell so it is automatically available... or should be.

I knew it was automatic, I meant that he missed seeing it when he hovered over all the icons.

I saw the icon once but not in jaheiras book... it like a blue arrow isnt it? im 100% sure it aint there.
Ill try that editor... i do not like to edit things but if you guys say that spell should be there.... anyway thanks all

It should be there for level 5 for all druids, including Jaheira.

Look here:
http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/bg2/character/spells/priest/5/

I seem to recall the same problem with Jaheira. Sometimes she doesn't have iron skins and sometimes insect plague is missing, it's been a long time since I've played with her though. I'll have to check if I have some old saves.