/vr/ - Retro Games

>Point #2
F/M/T and F/M/C cannot use Level 9 spells. They cannot even get mage High Level Abilities. I'm talking about the official game here. Anyone who tells you otherwise is using an unofficial mod or patch. F/M multiclass gets 2 level 9s. A fighter-mage dual class gets 4 level 9s. Obviously, you're gonna want berserker-mage or kensai-mage for the extra perks. My point is, when it comes to F/M/T and F/M and F-M, there is no clear-cut winner. Most of the idiots who insist that F/M/T is easily better than the other two are using no-experience-cap mods that let their F/M/T get level 9 spells. In the official game, that's impossible.

>Point #3
Some people keep insisting that skalds are useless in TOB because their bard song becomes redundant. Here's the thing. Yes, it becomes redundant, but SO DOES EVERYTHING ELSE. The game becomes a repetition of using GWWs, spike traps, improved alacrity, and so forth. But before you get HLAs, the skald's song is useful. It gets good at level 15, and really good at 20. You get HLAs at level 24. Hey, 4 levels is still something, especially in a party.

Monks are kinda average in a team, but yeah they're one of the easiest solos in the game. solo sorcs and multis are stronger but it's tedious to micromanage literally everything..

ToB is garbage btw.

>>3867614
>I'm talking about the official game here. Anyone who tells you otherwise is using an unofficial mod or patch.
That's nice, but the modded game is far more fun.

Anyway, going to try a solo BG1 using a fighter/mage.
Disabled traps and locks because fuck them.

>>3867816
>Disabled traps and locks because fuck them.

>>3867816
yikes

uuuuhhhh?

>>3867816
>removes experience cap
>disables traps
>disables locks


why even play?

>>3867846
Because standing around for 6 seconds after every corner waiting for the 1/round detect traps tick is a fucking chore.

>>3867613
>Let's talk about Baldur's Gate

Didn't care for this series. I tried to give it a fair shake despite its retarded censorship / exclusion of same-sex romanceable characters, but the story itself wasn't that interesting.

I never cared for the multiple choice dialogue options in Infinity Engine games. They always feel inconsistent with my character's alignment, and in some cases, the writers are virtually forcing you to concede to NPCs. e.g. Some stuck-up priestess in the first village of Icewind Dale drones on about how war and sectarian behavior is a philosophy that benefits the tribes. The only choice that allows you to disagree with her makes you come off like a belligerent jackass, to which she'll reply, "Thanks for proving my point." Shit writing at its worst.

Despite having a rushed and bugged out launch, The Temple of Elemental Evil was far more interesting to me, and perhaps even more faithful to the D&D ruleset. It's utterly unplayable if you don't bother to patch it or get it through GOG, though. (Also, not retro.)

>>3867848
someone make a mod that reveals all that shit once people get close

>Backstab+Dagger of Venom

>>3868003
>Mirror Image, Stoneskin, Protection from Magical weapons, Improved Invisbility (cast previously)

>>3867918
You're mixing things up there. The gender bullshit was introduced in Siege of Dragonspear, which is basically just a glorified fanfiction mod after Beamdog hijacked the series. And critizising Icewind Dale for its writing is pointless since it's a pure dungeon crawler which doesn't try to be a 2deep4u RPG.

>>3868056
>The gender bullshit was introduced in Siege of Dragonspear, which is basically just a glorified fanfiction mod after Beamdog hijacked the series

I distinctly remember BG2 (or at least Throne of Bhaal) having romance mechanics. They were just restricted to opposite-sex characters. Am I thinking of the wrong game?

I believe the Enhanced Edition might have mixed up the romance system, but it's no doubt some fanfiction-tier shoehorn written by someone who probably wasn't involved with the original staff. Which doesn't exactly remedy my grievances with this game...

>>3868072
So you wanted more faggotry? Siege of Dragonspear might be right up your alley.
Anyway, there are mods for BG2 same sex romances.

>>3868056
I wonder what went wrong in SoD. I just played BG:EE and it was great. I liked the new characters, they were a bit too stereotypical but fun. Rashaad was a bit boring but his story was good. Neera grew on me with her silliness. And Dorn was a parody of himself with the edginess.
Also played the Black Pits which came with BG:EE and Baeloth the arena master was well written, he was really entertaining. And no tranny bullshit anywhere. It only came with SoD, something went wrong real quickly there after BG1:EE.

>>3868080
>So you wanted more faggotry?

>more
>implying there was any to begin with

I just wanted non-restricted romances. The game didn't necessarily have to go the same route as The Sims and make every NPC bisexual. It would have been perfectly fine to have only a few characters swing the opposite way... or both ways. It certainly would have fit in with some of their personalities.

Yes, I know there are mods that can quickly and easily accomplish this, but it still rubs me the wrong way that the developers purposefully created these restrictions in the first place. It was a different time back then.

>>3867918
waaaaahhh waaaahhh wahhhh, why isn't a game catering to my community when it makes up a whopping 3-4% of the country!! waaahh

Nothing against gays, but damn you bunch are a bunch of entitled faggots.

What character should I make in bg2? I played through bg1 as an archer and that got boring so I'm not going to carry over that save.

>>3868280
Anything that can cast is fun. Druid isn't that strong, so I'd recommend some cleric or mage. Maybe take a multiclass with fighter.

>>3868014
>Backstab+Dagger of Venom (used previously)

>>3867918
>I tried to give it a fair shake despite its retarded censorship / exclusion of same-sex romanceable characters
You're retarded and didn't play BG.

>>3867918
>exclusion of same-sex romanceable characters

What the fuck were you expecting from a game made 15-something years ago? DUmb fucking idiot.

>>3867816
>Anyway, going to try a solo BG1 using a fighter/mage.
>Disabled traps and locks because fuck them.

I just beat bg1 with a solo fighter, and I'm doing bg2 right now. Traps in bg1 are really not a problem if you use potions/scrolls wisely (and why won't you? you get more money than you can use and they last for a very long time)

In bg2 they're a bigger problem, sure, but just use potions at the beginnings of dungeons and you're fine

hell, if you're a f/m you can probably get spell defenses on top of that, and with super high strength (which you'll have), you can unlock most chests (not sure, but I'd bet 25 str can unlock all)

>>3868014
dagger of venom somehow bypasses that shit and still deals the poison damage, I would know, I just did a playthrough with a dagger fighter

>>3867848
>>3867919
This, even with thief in party I was too impatient to wait, easier just "disarm" it with someone with big HP amount.

>>3868405
>scs (installed previously)

>>3868557
Yep, non-physical damage goes through stoneskin.

i just downloaded bg2, what are the best classes for my first run?

>>3868212
I'm gay and I don't expect gay characters in any game, movie or series.
The majority is heterosexual, that's a fact.

MIKE PENCE

>>3868720
Fighter/mage multiclass.

>>3868720
Druids are really good.

>>3868720
Paladins can be very powerful, especially when you pick up that holy avenger sword. They're also pretty simple to use.

>>3868721
I'm autistic and I don't want autistic people depicted in any form of media. Why? Because it's either an ableist stereotype, an extreme version, or a romanticized version of how good/bad we have it.

But nooooo that doesn't happen.

>>3867918
The first BG doesnt have romance options you fucking faggot

>>3869074
What about Kino's Journey though

>>3869129
Kino isn't autistic, she just avoids getting involved.

>>3868720
Quarterstaff Kensai or a Cavalier with Bastard Sword is the typical suggestion I think.

Other good ideas are a Cleric of Talos, or a Gnome Illusionist.

Being a thief is fun but the game throws a lot of them at you for party members, really soon too. You're not supposed to walk around without one in general I suppose.

Actually if you let your second thief handle traps and locks (you need 100 find traps and 100 pick locks), you can roll an assassin and focus entirely on hide and move silently for backstabs (the best weapon type for backstabbing is a quarterstaff, or just the dagger of venom in BG1).

>>3869134
Except when she shoots that guy in the head with a rocket

>>3869140
Autism is not the same as lolsorandom.

>>3869145
that comment wasn't about autism and it was very much not a random thing when that happened, it was chekhov's gun all over

there was probably a reference to chekhov's gun in that actual episode

>>3869140
Shooting people with rockets is autism now?

>>3869161
learn to fucking read

>be me in 2003
>middle school
>end up getting into a dnd group
>bunch of nerds who played baldur's gate
>I never played baldur's gate
>I play a bunch of jrpgs and have some familiarity with wizardry and some games that use dnd monsters
>they decide arbitrarily that I must have played baldur's gate
>minsc shows up in the campaign
>we're an evil party
>so I cast domination on him and make him eat the hamster
>horrified faces
>that's too far man!
>dm roleplays minsc going insane and disemboweling himself
wish I'd known how funny it was at the time

>>3869229
Learn to fucking communicate, redditor scum

>>3869317
obviously I was responding to the part where he said she doesn't get involved, not everything is about your imaginary disability

Yeah but ... Monks are boring.

Part of the fun of the BG games is equipping your little guys with different mixtures of weapons and armour. Monks miss out on all of that.

Also, they don't really do much in a normal, party-of-six game. There's always someone else in the group hitting harder, providing buffs or magic... Monk just kind of flanks and kicks enemies...

And of course, because they can't wear armour, your sprite is permanently locked into that little kinda gay tunic that NPCs wear. So there's that, too.

>>3869615
>And of course, because they can't wear armour, your sprite is permanently locked into that little kinda gay tunic that NPCs wear. So there's that, too.
and you have to be a human, and male humans have the worst sprites tied with female dwarves/gnomes/halflings

I can't play exotic classes like Monks. They somehow tickle my fantasy cliché autism.

>>3869615
>There's always someone else in the group hitting harder, providing buffs or magic... Monk just kind of flanks and kicks enemies...

there's more to them, even in groups.

you can use them as scouts and to start off the combat by taking out the enemy mage, who tends to be the most dangerous enemy. stunning blow and quivering palm goes through stone skin btw. and monk fists have a speed factor of 0 which will interrupt enemy mages very well. also, the monk or a mage can cast cloudkill in a group and a monk can wade in and attack the choking enemies.

also, among physical classes, there's no one besides a kensai that can hit harder than a monk for the vast majority of the game. Monks' damage was bad in SOA because they can't get hasted, but with TOB installed they can use GWWs. 1d20+4+4+STRBONUS, 10 attacks per round (every round for as many GWWs you have), and 0 speed factor, and crushing damage (the best type of physical damage in the game) = fucking strong. Only a level 30+ kensai is comparable. Imp.Haste + CritStrike is nice, but not nice when ImpHaste gets dispelled. a monk only gets outclassed in physical damage in the last 5% of the game.

but yeah, I agree with your other points about monks not being as interesting to use. Solo monks get strong so fast that the game is even boring from a gameplay perspective

inb4 this gets deleted for not being retro

>>3869838
>also, among physical classes, there's no one besides a kensai that can hit harder than a monk for the vast majority of the game.
Assassin. Kensai/Thief.

Roll a Kensai, get max proficiency in quarterstaff and two-hand, level up to 15 or 16 for kit bonuses and max attacks, switch to thief.

Now Use the staff of the ram and once you get thief HLA you can use a full round of sneak attacks and get use any item. Monk gets btfo.

So, does anyone know where I can get my hands on the original versions of BG 1 and 2 short of spending a fuckton of money on Amazon or something? The Enhanced Editions' FMV audio is choppy as fuck on my crappy laptop, and I'm hoping that the originals run better.

>>3869904
The first game came out in 1998, though the sequel was released in 2000. The first game definitely qualifies as retro by /vr/'s rules.

>>3869927
pirate the gog versions

>MFW we finally got banished from /v/
Sad days guys

>>3869838
You know that they're actually only counted as +X weapons for the purpose of damage resistances/immunities, right?

>>3869931
I thought GOG had the Enhanced Editions, not the originals.

>>3869838
Flail of Ages +3 is 9.5 average damage with zero outside factors compared to the 10.5 1d20 does, and considering we're talking about ToB it should really be the +5 one, which does fucking nutso damage per swing. Factor in Grandmastery and things start to look a little different.

>>3869920
>kensai/thief
I meant single-classes. obviously dual and multiclasses will do way more.
>pure assassin
i was talking about SOA content (including watcher's keep), before getting into the TOB storyline... which is the vast majority of the game.That means no staff of the ram+6 and other nice shit because no cespanar yet. Dont forget that you can't backstab with stuff like carsomyr because only thief-class weapons can backstab.


>>3869934
You know that you're completely wrong about the game mechanics, right? Monk fists are 1d20+4 for damage and THAC0. and the other +4 was from gauntlets of crushing.

>>3869952
Hey, you clearly have never even used a monk before because if you did you'd immediately know that monk fists are 1d20 PLUS FOUR.
'
And I clearly said in the OP that i'm talking about the vast majority of the game, which is before you get into TOB storyline content.

Also grandmastery is shit in the ORIGINAL game. If you're using mods then it's up to you to tell us which ones you're using.

>>3869952
Seriously, test it out yourself with console commands and/or shadow keeper. make sure you attack an enemy with ZERO physical resistance

>>3869935
listen to what I fucking tell you and go look for the pirated original gog versions

>>3869962
nobody is playing SoA without ToB installed anon! everyone is pirating them together!

>>3869979
And? What's your point? I was clearly talking about SOA with TOB installed. Even with TOB installed, about 95% of the game takes place before you even set foot on Saradush.

>>3869983
you don't need the staff of the ram to outpace the monk's damage

>>3869986
Okay. Tell me how a pure solo Assassin will do more damage than a 1d20+4+4+STRBONUS monk who is doing 10 attacks per round.

>>3869992
obviously, we're currently talking about before you get staff of the ram +6 and cespanar weapons. So only with SOA and watcher's keep stuff.

>>3869994
oh, and inb4 "Spike Traps"

well, duh.

>>3869992
pausing the game to do 9 apr with greater whirlwind spam does a lot more damage with a fighter.

>>3870007
With what pre-cespanar equipment can you do that?

A monk will be doing:

1d20+4+4+STRBONUS

A fighter will be doing:

STRBONUS+4(grandmastery)+2(gauntlets-ext)+ WEAPON

now which pre-cespanar weapon will you choose? h

>>3869994
If the monk gets GWW then the assassin gets improved haste assassinate.

the assassin gets 7x backstab multiplier, so you tell me which is stronger, GWW or Assassination?

>>3870015
celestial fury and the equalizer :^)

>>3870015
Not that guy, but aren't there bosses that need +5 weapons to hit?
That makes monk suck for the majority of the game, they suck in SoA before they get their AC and unarmed damage up and GWW, and then they suck in ToB against the harder bosses.

>>3870020
Okay, that's a good point. I will concede on that. However, keep in mind that assassin still has a thief's THAC0. and you're limited to 1 assassinate per fight. OTOH monks will be doing 10attacks per turn for like 10+ turns in a row. An assassin will have bigger initial burst damage, but a monk will be doing more consistent damage. But okay, I will reword my phrases to say "alongside kensai AND assassins".

ANYWHO, I hope you're not the same guy who said this though "You know that they're actually only counted as +X weapons for the purpose of damage resistances/immunities, right?" Because that's TOTALLY wrong.

>>3870027
Monk will outdamage that. Also, I'm not sure you're very experienced with the metagame.. Since you're a solo fighter, you're going to be using GWW, not cristrike+imphaste. That means, you won't be using belm in the offhand. There's a much better offhand weapon than equalizer for GWWing... but i ain't gonna help ya. Find it yourself :p

also, *snort* slashing damage

>>3868720
There are plenty of companions to compensate for whatever shortcomings you have. The more physical classes (like fighter, ranger and paladin) tend to be easier to pick up and play but you'll want to be managing your companions spells anyway.
Just pick whatever sounds fun and try to have a mixture of divine spellcasters, arcane spellcasters, tanky warriors and a thief in your party.

>>3870037
>aren't there bosses that need +5 weapons to hit?

Nope. Only 1 boss requires +5. and it's a completely optional fight from using the deck of many things that 99% of players will never encounter in their games.

>That makes monk suck for the majority of the game
Nope. You were wrong about the bosses needing +5 weapons.

>they suck in SoA before they get their AC and unarmed damage up and GWW
Nope. You clearly never used them, so you shouldn't really be judging them. They're still great before getting GWW. Their damage goes up ridiculously fast in solo runs, and 4 attacks per round ain't shabby. They get 2 HLAs at level 20. You get to level 20 ridiculously quickly in a solo game.

ALSO, wands of cloudkill are fucking awesome. the other thing that makes monks great is that they can use the amulet of power.

>and then they suck in ToB against the harder bosses.
Nope. They're still perfectly viable and strong. Obviously, not as strong as a Foebane+5/AotU,belm,imphaste,critstrike kensai or whatever. But that's the last 5% of the game. I'm judging the class as a whole.

>>3870037
there are times you can only hit with +6 weapons which only come in 2-handed varieties, meant to give not-mages a way to compete with the mage's maximum shenanigans mode.

so a monk is sort of about as good a fighter as a buffed cleric using sword and board, except they can also get buffs, except also they can't get the best buffs, which are cleric/mage self-buffs and haste from potions.

the real crisis of the monk is not being able to wear as many magical artifacts, which are extremely powerful and versatile in baldur's gate.

>>3870058
A bit unrelated, but which games are fun to solo? Always played with full party and want to give it a shot. I tried it with BG1, but most of that game is about clearing dozens of maps with mainly weak ass enemies and it got boring fast.
BG2? IWD?

>>3870062
Aren't you the guy who said "You know that they're actually only counted as +X weapons for the purpose of damage resistances/immunities, right?"

You clearly have never used a monk.

>>3870067
no anon that was a different guy and there are a lot of reasons why I only ever played monk on paper

>>3870058
greater demon in underdark, and there's definitely another one somewhere.

>>3870081
if you use mods that change enemy AI then basically every mage of the requisite level until you finish spell-stripping

>>3870062
>>3870079
>>3870062
There's sooo much wrong in this post.

>so a monk is sort of about as good a fighter as a buffed cleric using sword and board
Wot? Is that based on theory or experience? You're discounting stuff like ApR and GWW and Hardiness. JFC please actually TRY a monk. you've clearly never used one.

basically, a monk can't use imp. haste. this was a big fucking weakness in SOA, but with TOB installed they can use GWW which negates it. nothing else you said is relevant. Why in the fuck are you even mentioning cleric/mage self-buffs? How does that even apply to warrior classes?

>the real crisis of the monk is not being able to wear as many magical artifacts, which are extremely powerful and versatile in baldur's gate.
Being able to negate all magical effects outside of Imprisonment while doing 1d20+4+4+STRBONUS is pretty fucking powerful and versatile, dude.

>>3870079
Oh, so you've never actually even used a monk in the game we're talking about. Then...... why are you saying that they're good or not when you've never actually used them in the game that we're actually talking about? What - is- the -point?

>>3870081
oh, okay. Sling of Everard, and a couple GWWs. dead demon. the other one is the deck demilich who you never have to fight.

>>3870058
so belm with imp haste would give you 11 apm with mainhand and 5 attacks with belm at the sametime?

>>3870095
wtf no, the game mechanics don't work that way. 10 is the max.

>>3870098
so then there'd be no point in using belm as an offhand with imp haste, or an offhand at all really.

>>3870102
Nah dude. You really really want to use belm when using imp.haste. When you're using GWW you can use whatever the hell you want because you'll get 10 attacks per round anyway.

warrior classes get 2 max apr (attacks per round). Then add in
+0.5 from boots of haste
+0.5 from gauntlets of ext.
+1 from belm
+1 offhand from belm

Then add improved haste, and you'll getting double that.

Without belm you'll be getting 8 apr while dual-wielding. (obviously you can use kundane instead of belm)

that's pretty much the GIST of it. sometimes the 0.5 apr from the boots of haste can "glitch" depending on its interaction with other equip and you might end up with 4.5 apr for a total of 9 with imp.haste...

>>3867613
So I played Icewind Dale a lot back in the day, and I'm just getting around to Baldur's Gate (EE). However, I'm used to just making my party and going. Can I just do that, or am I really missing out on vital story stuff by not including the recruitable PCs?

>>3870171
You miss out on a lot of the flavor, to be honest.
You can use EEkeeper to edit the class of your party members, though. That way you can have the best of both worlds, which is what I usually do.
It's fairly trivial to just add a kit, but you can change the class completely with slightly more effort.

>>3870116
there doesn't seem to be 1/2 apr with boots of speed in EE .908. also, with grandmastery made great again tweak, you can reach 9/2 apr dual wielding your 5* proficiency weapon, and then with gauntlets of ext. you reach 5apr and can use some form of greater haste for 10apr.

>>3870171
you can do that, if you start a multiplayer game and then move the file to singleplayer

and in bg1 you won't be missing any vital story, because the npcs barely say or do anything (in bg2 you may as well not play, because so much of the game is npc quests and story)

however, bg1 is not a difficult game. the npc's are intentionally unoptimized, and if you go through it with a custom party, it won't be any challenge at all (I would know, I've played through it like 12 times, twice with a custom party). That said, it *is* still fun to do with a custom party, but it shouldn't be your first time.

Tbh, you don't even need great rolls for your main character. Here's why: you get so much money in this game, you'll have something like a 100k to spare by the end of it, which you can just splurge on potions and scrolls and wands with. Tons of potions in this game raise your stats or make you practically invulnerable.

>>3870239
korgan, edwina, viconia, dorn, jan

>>3870227
>and in bg1 you won't be missing any vital story, because the npcs barely say or do anything
I'd say BG1NPC project is mandatory for BG1.

>>3870248
almost; it's bg1

>>3870223
oh i see. i was talking about the original game completely vanilla.

but yeah, bioware shouldn't have taken out the +0.5 apr for grandmastery in BG2. The extra 0.5 was in BG1. It's not like grandmastery would've been game-breaking considering that (1) it's a pretty huge investment thus the payoff should be worth it, and (2) the game already has a bunch of way more game-breaking shit like SpikeTrap spamming, mislead/backstabs, RobeOfVecna+timestop+imp.alac, and so forth.

Anyone here played Icewind Dale EE?

Is it worth playing?

Also, I heard that Icewind Dale has a level cap, as opposed to an experience cap. So there's like literally no reason not to go with a multi-class.

>>3870239
kagain, edwin, viconia, imoen, dorn, tiax

>>3870307
IWD is fun when you got bored of exploring and questing and just want some dungeons to clear.

>>3870315
nope, also who would I be playing then?

>>3870329
a faggot

>>3870307
I played it, and I can only think of a couple minor things it added, though it did fix some bugs and make some quests completeable

it is definitely worth playing, i just dont know if its worth the money

I played a human cleric, a dwarf fighter (axes), a halfling fighter/thief, and an elf wizard, and I completely steamrolled the game. If I did it again, I'd probably shrink the party even further and play: elf cleric, dwarf fighter, human fighter 3(?)/wizard. Traps are few and not too dangerous, and locks can be busted with high str or knock spell (but probably not all of them; barely matters).

I find that if you just play the simple characters that D&D expects, these games are super easy

>>3867918
>I tried to give it a fair shake despite its retarded censorship / exclusion of same-sex romanceable characters
Jesus, this post is real too.

Only just set out for Dragonspear and I'm already regretting playing SoD. Headcanon/Imagination >>> Filler

How can I make this even more broken?

>>3870525
where's your gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization?

get a pot of heroism or something for that middle slot

>>3870525
>faggy elf portrait

>>3870525
roll cleric/mage instead

I'm not going to single out specific posts in this thread, but Jesus H. Christ, people arguing about which class is better based on their maximum damage output after they reach "epic" levels in solo runs really grind my gears. Good luck spamming greater whirlwinds to punch your way out of Irenicus's dungeon, or killing Kangaxx after five hours of gameplay (I've done it) with your butt-naked munchkinned monk.

Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 are party-based RPGs, most of the "gameplay" consists of squad-based tactical psuedo-RTS style combat. Which, by the way, is mostly piss-easy unless, as a player, you set some additional constraints on yourself to make the game more challenging.

Fighting ability is probably the LEAST important attribute your MC possesses. In fact, I'd argue that the weaker your MC is in combat, the more engaging and fun your game is likely to be. That encourages you to experiment with all the different avenues available for resolving situations and as a result experience much more of what the game has to offer.

In my opinion the "best" classes are Bards, and mage, thief or cleric dual-classes (NOT multi-classes). Why? Because you have to THINK how to handle situations in the game and have a varying range of options to approach them.

To each his own, I guess.

>>3867613
Wait a second! Hardiness stacks?! The fuck? How have I been playing this game for almost 20 years without knowing this!?

So, is any of the million romance mods worthwile other than Imoen's. Not gonna lie, I'm not crazy about any of the vanilla ones.

>>3870814
>(I've done it)
invalidates literally everything else about your post by destroying your character credibility

>>3871271
Kangaxx is shut down by scrolls of protection from undead.

>>3871283
I just chopped him up in vanilla SoA, it's no real achievement, pre-buffing wrecks everything.

Vanilla is so easy that I don't even bother.

With any kind of AI mod what's protection from undead gonna do when he summons dark planetars and pit fiends?

>>3871271

?

Are you saying you don't believe I've done it? With a hasted/buffed party and a few stolen +4 and +5 weapons? Or are you just saying I'm an idiot for bragging about it - because I wasn't; just using it as an example of why monks aren't as good as OP was making out?

>>3871263

Save yourself the bother by reading some random harry potter slash fiction on tumblr. I guarantee you it will be better written than any BG romance mod you can find.

>>3870814
If you actually get bothered by that then you're an autistic faggot.

>>3871329
>bitching about people arguing over classes
>btw I don't even need to min/max for optional bosses
>goes on to talk about his superior playstyle as if he is any less if not more autistic than the autists he was criticizing
>roleplaying ideals in a videogame that is unbalanced by nature of being a videogame with a pen and paper system
you're just a fucking idiot man. there's no integrity for you, it's just you whining and bitching about something else instead of what everyone else was talking about.

>>3870814
>"My style of playing is superior to yours. Why can't more people be like me?"

Goddamn you are an insufferable autistic twit.

>Trying to download The Picture Standard
>Literally every time all the images are corrupted

Could some kind anon go check for a moment if the download works? The Spellhold "Followers" one does, but not the rest, and I'm wondering if the problem are the downloads or if it's on my end.

>>3870814
You remind me a lot of Anomen. Before his redemption, of course.

>>3871335
The new Imoen romance mod is actually really good though, but it was finished in 2016, whereas all the others mods are ancient and aren't actively maintained anymore. Besides Saerileth, whose been adding any romance variables from other mods to this day, to prevent any other romance but Saerileth.

>>3870239
Viconia, Montaron, edgy EE half-orc, Kagain, Imoen, Charname.

>>3871524
there you go

>>3871591
he already said it wasn't imoen you mong
its clearly edwina

So I know Rasaad, Neera and Dorn are mostly not worth it. But what about Winston? I never see anyone talk about him.

You still need to use Mod Merge even if you're going to use Big World Setup, right? It's not included?

>>3871656
It's been years but I didn't had to use Mod Merge and don't even know what that is.

>>3871519
>adding any romance variables from other mods to this day, to prevent any other romance but Saerileth
That's some real dedication.

>>3871652
He's literally a meme.

>>3871660
Sorry, I should have mentioned that I was referring to EE.

>>3871652
wilson
he's just not worth it
he can't wear enough items to raise his ac and can only drink health potions
if there was a mod to let him wear rings, bracers, and necklaces, and drink all potions, then sure, he'd be good

>>3871656
Yep, it's because of how SoD is packaged in the Steam and GoG releases.

>>3871519
Wait, Saerileth? Someone give me a quick Bogdano- I mean rundown.

>>3871652
There is a mod called "Neera expansion" which adds a ton of banter and little stories to her. It makes it completely worth it to take her at least in BG1, the content is BG1NPC quality and far better than Beamdog shit. It makes her very likeable.

What's your favorite weapon type?

>>3871861
Scimitar simply because they have cool sprites. Too bad the weapon selection is crap.

>>3871861
Warhammers; gotta love Crom Faer

>Let's talk about Baldur's Gate
There's virtually nothing to talk about outside of a debatable point that, forming a series as a whole, it has the quality of plot that maybe is comparable to a proper Forgotten Realms novel of the period.You could also just say that Bioware stole the Star Wars story and rewrote it for a fantasy game.

It's not a real RPG by any standards (obviously), the choices you make are completely superficial, you effectively have only a few key choices throughout the game, the rest are basically acceptance/refusal/I'm a cunt tripartite choices with virtually no consequences.

Even if we want to talk about it as a dungeon crawler (which is not what an RPG is, but it's what most early "rpgs" were designed as), it's horrifically tedious. Every battle boils down to the same couple of tactics concerning tanking, buffs/debuffs and spells. It's somehow more tedious than MMORPG combat, and it's nowhere near as tactical as later turn-based games like TOEE. I particularly feel bad for anyone idiotic enough to play a fighter class, that's gonna be a long game of feeling impotent for them. Still better combat than Fallout, I guess!

Pretty much the only points you can credit it with was the inclusion of party NPC romances, which was a nice little addition to the plot that fleshed out some of your party members, and the cool little quests about player strongholds.

NWN was a tactical improvement but had none of the campaign setting charm that BG2 had.

>>3871902
it's honestly better to think of it as a survival game.

>>3871861
Axes. Really wish there were two handed axes though.

>>3871902
>>3871912
With a party of 6 it really devolves into buff+zerg, and maybe chaos and breech spam from your mages once they casted haste.

But if you're soloing, it can become surprisingly tactical. You no longer have the damage output to just mow down enemies fully buffed. Playing a mage of any kind, you will often need to come up with unique tactics.
Of course web+ice storm/cloudkill works often. But other than that, you will need to do hit and run attacks with invisibility, killing enemies one by one and so on.

>>3871292
Protection from undead means they don't even know you're there and won't react. They won't do shit. They would have to change the way pro undead works.

>>3871861
Two-handed sword.
Plenty of solid options throughout the entire game even if you ignore Carsomyr.

>>3871893
>>3871939
Would your choice be the same if the weapon selection was worse?

Evil Party playthrough:
CHARNAME
Imoen
Dorn (plz no h8, I know EE blah blah)
Viconia
Edwin

Running this setup because all these chars (sans Imoen for SoD and parts of SoA) can stay in the party from BG1 through ToB

Gotten to Shandalars Ice-Island now, trying to get Imoen up to Thief7/Mage7 after dual-classing her so she can do her dickass thief things again. SCS has gotten me fed up with mages so I'm just cheesing them in the fog of war with Edwin spamming fireballs at this point.

>>3871946
>SCS has gotten me fed up with mages
Instant buffs?

>>3871946
I cleared that annoying ice island almost exclusively with arrows of biting and a thief. Poison them, hide behind corner, Hide in Shadows, repeat.

>>3871939
Only good ones in so a that I remember are soul reaver+4 and the vorpal silver sword and you don't get those until late unless you rush to underdark and chapter 6. Warblade +4 is 1d12 instead of the usual 1d10 but has no special abilities at all

>>3871954
I like Joril's dagger +3 with confusion effect.

Is it worth using Viconia in a good aligned party or do I just use Aerie for healing? No way I'm taking Anomen.

>>3871954
There's Lilarcor +3 which is pretty easy to get at the start of the game, and later Carsomyr if you go with pally.

>>3871950
I don't really mind, but places like this before I got mass dispels and breach tire me out. Every single mage has some combination of:
>Stoneskin (Cast previously)
>Globe of Invulnrability
>Mirror Image (SL4+)
>Contingency (Stoneskin and/or Mirror Image) x2 or x3

And at that point it's just a slog to bring them down, because they get to safely toss off a million fireballs while I can only impotently try to slap away all their defences..

One of these fuckers is bad enough, this island has 6. 3 of them in one room.

>>3871970
Use Aerie for the far superior personality anyway. Viconia is a feminist bitch.

>>3871972
I hated mages at the middle of BG1, but by the end of it I hated Thieves far, far, more.
They have more invis potions than mages have sequencers/contingencies, and are literally impossible to kill before they run out. Detect invis spells do nothing since they are scripted to drink the potion instantly again. I raged at fucking assassins far more than enemy mages.

>>3871976
I am not ashamed to admit that with SCS installed the Ogre Mage by Firewine Bridge rekt my shit, so I had to cheat to bring him down.

I can't wait to meet your friends though, sounds like a bitch to deal with

>>3871980
I got annoyed at that guy and ended up cheesing him too.
I bought an arrow of slaying and oneshot him.

Ironically the supposedly hardest fight in the game was a cakewalk. Aec'Letec or whatever is that demon called at the end of ToSC just died to a buffed/hasted mow down.

>>3871970
Aerie gets the job done more than well if that's what you know. Everything else is personal taste though Viconia is a pretty awesome Cleric with nice bonuses.

Also, I don't know why everyone dislikes Anomen so much. I mean yeah, he is an arrogant asshole but I don't think he's a bad character. He's the most realistic depiction of a knight in the game and at least not boring like Cernd or Valygar. He gets worse after he passes his trial though.

Have mods gone too far, /vr/?

>>3871992
Ah, that Thalantyr upgrade mod.
Pretty overpowered for BG1, it would be good even for BG2.

>>3871992
Have to promote your item somehow or no one will use it in a game with plenty of op items.

>>3871989
Anomen is not really arrogant desu, and I have no idea why do people hate him.

>>3871997
BG1 doesn't have plenty of OP items, though.
Hell you don't even have *any* magical items to fill every character's amulet, belt and boots slots.

>>3871943
Big swords are cool no matter how you look at it. Having a paladin without one just looks naked. The only things that come close aesthetically are halberds (who would probably actually win out as far as powerful weapons from late SOA onwards for a non paladin with the Wave, Dragons Breath and Ravager)

>>3871954
There's the Sword of Chaos pretty early on in Irenicus' Dungeon which ends up being your first +2 weapon in the game and the first with an extra magical effect. Lilacor is a solid +3 weapon that makes umber hulks and other enemies with charm or confusion much easier to fight if you put whoever is wielding it right up the front.

>>3871997
>>3872004
Considering that you sort of "lose" three potential belt-slot items for your party, I don't think it's that OP.. I mean, by itself it is, but it's also a tradeoff

>>3871861
I don't have a favorite. I do favor longswords, daggers, longbows, warhammers, & axes. 2nd tier is crossbows, shortbows, shortswords, halberds, slings, darts, & katanas. Everything else comes last. I judged based on their looks and use in-game, without any preference for what kinds of enchanted versions you find.

>>3871902
>I particularly feel bad for anyone idiotic enough to play a fighter class, that's gonna be a long game of feeling impotent for them
I'll take your bait. I've solo'd the game as a half-elf fighter focused on daggers. You actually steamroll most encounters, and the tricky ones just require a little protective scroll and/or potion use.

>>3871992
>>3872010
if it didn't grant the regular AC bonus it would be the best belt in the game, which is acceptable for bg2 (though the inertial barrier belt is still better against magic)

Here's a question for players of the Trilogy-variants.

I am playing through EET, and I am wondering if I should dump all tomes on CHARNAME or if it carries over properly on other NPCs like Minsc?

>>3872004
>BG1

Well, fuck me. Not that easy to distinguish nowadays.


Also, I like it when modders introduce some drawbacks in their Marry Sue items though this special case is still too powerful, especially if you run with a sorc.

>>3872035
I don't know, but you could always just compare their BG2 stats and edit it with EEkeeper if it doesn't carry over.

>>3872039
That is true, just would be a shame to waste those delicious tomes, y'know

>>3872040
It's not a waste if you fix it.

>>3872035
>if I should dump all tomes on CHARNAME
Always. Party leader gets first dibs.

>>3872048
Except that my party leader is an archer and kinda sorta don't need +1int and +3wis

>>3872053
He's a smart archer.

>>3872057
Are you saying he's a..
>Smarcher

>>3871902
>NWN was a tactical improvement
Yeah, throwing CoDzillas at all of your problems from level 1's a massive tactical improvement over games where Fighters can actually earn their keep across the whole game.

Get off of 3rd edition's cock for five fucking seconds and think.

>>3872059
I always give my tomes of wisdom to my assassin so he can be a wiseass too.

>>3872048
>>3872053
charname gets *dibs*, not necessarily everything

im finally doing an evil run, and my blade gets the str/dex/int/cha increases, but the con and wis go to kagain and viconia

>>3872053
>wanting him to be a retard

in my most recent game I rolled a cleric/mage and a kensai so I could be sure of always having one frontliner and one caster who weren't shit at anything (fuck Keldorn's dex, fuck Minsc's weakness to squids)

it actually turned out really well, the kensai gets all the str/dex/con boosts, the cleric/mage gets all that epic int and wis, and I don't have to deal with characters getting their stats overwritten between BG1 and BG2

Why is it called "Memorization" if you don't actually forget how to cast the spell?

>>3872126
They are all written in your spellbook, but only the spells that you memorized are kept in your head.

>>3871946
And as I enter the Cloakwood Mine Imoen reaches 7/7, but that's when I realize she doesn't regain thief abilities before 7/8..

>>3872123
>not giving Keldorn the dex gloves

About to play IWD. Not my first time, but I never finished my first playthrough.
/v/ told me earlier that I should have a Paladin, Barbarian, Druid and Bard for unique dialogue choices. How much extra does this give to the game? It greatly limits the party makeup, I pretty much must have a thief and a mage for the last spots, so I'm wondering if I really need this or not.

Is that Kivan mod for BG2 any good?

Wow, when you guys said the AI scripts are retarded you weren't kidding..

My archer interprets "get out of mellee" as "run away"
Imoen refuses to use spells
Dorn chugs potions if he has taken more than 0 damage
Viconia and Edwin starts with their highest spells in any situation, often leading to 5th level spells being cast on Tasloi

>>3872225
>How much extra does this give to the game?
Not much at all. The dialogue options do not accomplish anything you couldn't otherwise, they just give you a bit more exp. I don't know of any barbarian-only dialogue options as they weren't in the original, that said, it wouldn't surprise me if they did, because surely they aren't THAT lazy.

>It greatly limits the party makeup, I pretty much must have a thief and a mage for the last spots, so I'm wondering if I really need this or not.
>need
Absolutely not.

You never really need a thief, ever. Either do a multi thief/fighter or a dual, doing thief first.

I used to try to get that perfect party that can do/get/use everything in the game, and it just brings frustration and sadness. You miss out on very little, and gain nothing you actually need. A straight fighter, cleric, wizard, fighter/thief is a party perfectly capable of steamrolling the game, I would know, I just did it last year.

I can think of three bard-only items, one paladin item (best sword, but the 2nd best is nearly as good), one druid item (a staff) plus some armor they can wear (but so can warriors and other priests), don't know any barbarian only items. I can think of a handful of bard convo uniques, a couple paladin ones, at least one druid one (that you can do anyway right after by talking to an npc druid and going back), a minor cleric one, a minor dwarf one, a minor elf one that doesnt actually do anything but is kinda cool....you could look up a guide that lists this stuff if you really wanted.

>>3870239
viconia, edwina (using belt), montaron, charname (female elf or half-elf, bard or thief), kagain, dorn, nashkel guard

>>3872306
>having the computer play the game for you

>>3872315
Pure cleric and fighter can also be omitted. In a good aligned party I usually take a paladin and a dwarf fighter/cleric for the melee department. A gnome illusionist/thief is also a good option as support caster and your thieving needs.

I want to replay BG2. Only ever played original game before without mods.

What are some mods you would recommend?

I see BG2 is available on android. Can that version be modded, and how annoying it is playing BG2 with touch controls?

And then this thing ignores Stoneskin, gg no re

(archer now has a THAC0 of 0)

>>3872337
noob mistake

pure cleric gets the good spells when you need them, and has gobs of room for healing spells, of which you will use all. Also, your turn undead will eventually just kill all the undead you come across.

pure fighter is just unfuckingstoppable, you'll get tons of attacks that do tons of damage, and if you're smart and pick axes, these attacks can be ranged until your enemies get to you

everything thinks straight fighters are boring and not so great, and that there's really no reason to use one past level 9 or so, but if you actually try it, you'll see they're worth their weight in gold. I'm still surprised at how well they can just steamroll encounters, even against wizards and weird monsters and shit

Apparently EE fixed the Cleric/Ranger spells bug, but there is an option in the .ini file to disable the bugfix. Except it's simply not working.
Anyone managed to restore the old behavior in IWD:EE?

>>3871992
http://weidu.org/c2/README-ItemUpgrades.txt
this one is better :^)

>>3872404
This is the only item mod I regularly use. Stuff is not too powerful but still useful and the prices are appropriately.

What's your mod list for BG1 and BG2?

>BG1
BG1 Fix Pack
BG2 Tweak Pack
Baldur's Gate Romantic Encounters
BG1 NPC Project
BG1 Unfinished Business

>BG2
BG2 Fix Pack
BG2 Tweak Pack
Romantic Encounters
Imoen Romance mod
Weimar Item Upgrade
BG2 Banter Packs
BG2 Unfinished business

>>3872432
Add Mini quests and encounters and Ascalon's quest pack to BG1, some decent small content.

Any big mods or original companion mods worth installing?

Why are basic undead (skeletons, zombies) considered evil?
Those mindless creatures just either serve their masters who raised them, or wander aimlessly. By definition they are neutral.

>>3872468
the spell used to make them was an [evil] spell

>dragonspear gui is utter shit
>literally unplayable
>there is no way to revert it to 1.3 look
no wonder no one likes it

>>3872489
>literally unplayable
Woah, you have to be pretty shit at video games if this is "unplayable" to you. It's not as good, no, but it's hardly "literally unplayable"

>>3872516
t. tabletfaggot

>>3872517
Keep telling yourself whatever you need to make yourself sleep at night, man. Most of us are normal functioning adaptive human beings.

>>3872523
>i am a beamdog shill and/or employee of beamdog
no one is convinced that the gui changes were warranted or necessary past 1.3.

>>3872489
>there is no way to revert it to 1.3 look

>>3872526
I didn't say they were, I was just pointing out that you have to be a flipper-handed freak retarded child to classify them as "literally unplayable".

Maybe you would not get into so many arguments online if you stopped reading shit into statements that isn't there.

>>3872536
>backpedaling this hard
at least you tried, friend.

>>3872540
Congratulations, you are the reason I started a "bait" folder..

>>3872534
the simple solution is to never update any EE game past 1.3, otherwise you get tablet shit.

>>3872489
I did't mind the UI.
Does it trigger you so much that it's edgy black, and the layout of the fields is slightly different from vanilla?

Is Imoen Romance compatible with Flirt Pack?

>>3872591
Didn't you hear the man? It's literally unplayable. He was soloing the entire game as a half-orc mage with lowest possible stat-rolls in 1.3, and then 2.0 hit and he couldn't get out of Candlekeep.

>>3871986
>Aec'Letec
I had Viconia knock him out with Greater Command after dropping greater malison and doom on him.
>>3871972
>>3871976
Greater Malison+Cleric's Poison goes through minor globe and poison ticks will prevent casting, invisibility purge is unblockable except by non-detection (no one in BG1 has this), you can get breach at ulgoth's beard, you can cloudkill (get from firewine), from off screen if you prefer, then unleash a minor sequencer with web and stink cloud on the same spot. All 3 of those are AoE spells that will hit invisible creatures. If you want you can even soften the enemy up with greater malison or doom while this is happening.

Once they're glued you can stand out of range and drop skull traps on them (even Garrick can do this part).

As for that ogre mage, I'm not ashamed to say I just used an oil of speed on my kensai to trigger his first wave of buffs, then scooted away and waited 2 minutes so the fucker would lose his mirror image and whatnot.

Post some parties guys
r8, h8 and db8

About halfway through Durlags Tower on these guys, everyone close to level 9 (Except Imoen, who is dualed 7Thief/9mage)

>>3872065
Have you actually played NWN1?

The girth of prestige classes goes to martial types. PrCs received by casters don't advance their spellcasting ability.

A simple Fighter / Weapon Master with a mix of your favourite other class (Champion of Torm for buffs, Rogue for utility/backstab damage, even a Barbarian just for the simple Rage) will be a crit monster of doom on par with the CoDzillas.

You can't even abuse spellcasters all that much in NWN1. You can't fly, scry, dominate/charm spells only have a strictly combat use, most broken spell combos are absent.

It's true that Clerics and Druids are still very strong, but it's nowhere near as pronounced as in the tabletop game.

About the only imbalance is that pure Rogues are shit. In no D&D game is that not the case, but NWN original campaign compounds that issue further by facing you off against Sneak Attack immune constructs and undeads all the time. You can still beat the game and have epic traps as a cheesy utility to one-shot all bosses, but it's a long road ahead.

Compared to the BG games, where mages and clerics have immortality buttons and someone like Aerie can be turned into a melee powerhouse, it's really not so bad.

>>3872315
If you're doing a dual from Thief first, do so only for a Mage, Imoen-style (or rather, Nalia-style, because you don't need many Thief levels at all). This is solely so that your mage can get some more HP under his belt, if nothing else. Otherwise, though, a Halfling Fighter/Thief will be a sweet bet.

As for racial things in IWD, a halfling/gnome party member will be able to use Helm of Trusted Defender, which is one of the best in the game.

>>3872359
>ignores Stoneskin
Doesn't Gesen and Firetooth do so as well?

>>3872792
>Gesen and Firetooth
I guess? I never played anything ranged focused before since I'm a dumbass, so it's new to me anyway.

>>3872795
Firetooth is pretty ridiculous because you can buy it immediately after leaving Chateau Irenicus and it's a top tier weapon.

Notable builds in the ranged niche are the 25 STR Sling of Seeking build, which basically amounts to having a cleric hit people for 30 damage from range, having a dwarf around solely for Dwarven Thrower, the dart-throwing Assassin to apply Stoneskin-piercing poison at 3 APR, and a thrower Kensai to loophole around the no ranged weapons restriction while enjoying Kensai's martial bonuses.

>>3872802
My party is the >>3872735 post, but apparently I am but a child at minmaxing this game

>>3872807
Nah, bullshit. Archer is a perfectly servicable class and you have a solid core of party members.

Very ranged/spellcaster heavy, which lends itself to a fun, unique playstyle. Still very versatile because of the abundance of spellcasters. Spells like Teleport Field become more useful, but I'm not sure if BGEE allows it or will you have to wait until BG2.

>>3872792
>Otherwise, though, a Halfling Fighter/Thief will be a sweet bet.
>As for racial things in IWD, a halfling/gnome party member will be able to use Helm of Trusted Defender, which is one of the best in the game.
yup, my fighter/thief was a halfling with longbows and longswords

>>3869074
>ableist
only tumblr people use this word
fuck off

What value of MRLoveTalk(Imoen mod) supposed to be - even or odd?

>>3872792
>someone like Aerie can be turned into a melee powerhouse
I've always used cleric/mages as pure casters, but wondered about this possibility. How would you go about it?
I assume that it's hopeless before you get level 4 spells, and then it begins with Holy Power / Draw Upon Holy Might and then maybe Tenser later.
But what weapons would you use?
Fighter/Mage is straightforward since you can use any weapon, but Cleric/Mage has so many restrictions.

dwarf fighter/cleric for BG1EE and gonna use him in BG2EE, what pips do I choose? I know flail and warhammer is good but should I just ignore weapons styles and go **flail, **warhammer as starters or invest in styles here?

>>3873279
Go with cleric/ranger for free two weapon fighting pips.

>>3873209
Flail of the Ages, but Aerie is much better left casting and throwing melf minute meteors.

>>3873283
i don't think i wanna reroll because I got a total roll of 94 and str 18/00 so i don't want to reroll for hours to get the same results

Does anyone know any good places to find portraits?

>>3867918
Fallout4 general is that way ->

>>3873279
If you want to dual wield, put points on two weapon style, if not, don't bother.

>>3867613
can solo monks beat the ravager tho

>>3872432
>What's your mod list for BG2?

Banter Pack
IEP Extended Banters
Dungeon Be Gone
Rogue Rebalancing
Stratagems
Tweaks Anthology
NPCs

>>3873287
Google. And then crop it by yourself.

Why doesn't anon post some of his fav portraits on an image board?

>>3873350

>>3869074
Kujo Jotaro

>>3870307

IWD doesn't have HLAs, which is the reason multi class is useless.

Basically start with human fighters, dual into other classes at lvl 3, 6, 9. If you're playing on higher difficulty dual on lvl 3. More fighter levels aren't worth it then.

>>3873279
id put two in sling

if you really want to dual wield, just go ahead with those pips
flail if you want to do it with the flail of ages alongside crom faeyr

but there's some juicy shields in bg2 man

>>3873350

What is the relative THAC0 of various classes, normalized for XP rather than level?
For example Bards get pretty shitty THAC0 compared to a Fighter of the same level, but they level up almost twice as fast.
Does this make Bards better than unbuffed Clerics, or are they still worse?

>>3873436
>Rogue classes (Thief, Bard) have a THAC0 progression of 1:2 (to a max of base 10 at level 21), giving them the mathematical oddity of having a better THAC0 than a priest at level 3. Rogues remain roughly on-par with priests (albeit slightly in the Priest's favor) until level 9, and are thereafter surpassed by priest classes at an increasing pace.
Bards are shit.

>>3873473

Bards use Tensers.

>>3873473
It's funny that swashbuckler makes the best tank. The a.c. bonus combined with use any item and evasion means you'll have more a.c. than any other class. 20+ base a.c. is doable with no cheating.

>>3867918
>even more faithful to the D&D ruleset.
Back to 3e with you

>>3873607
I think f/t dual or multi would be still useful.

>>3873304
I'm not OP but yes they can. Ravager goes down easily. Draconis and Abazigal were probably the only challenging bosses from my experience. Ring of Free Action is a huge help against Throne of Bhaal bosses and Demogorgon because the unavoidable knockdown from Implosion can really fuck you up. I've done all kinds of solo runs since I started playing this game 15+ years ago. Monk solos are one of the easiest. That is unless you have an aversion to using stuff like amulet of power or wand of cloudkill because "monks shouldn't be able to use them REEEE!" The HLAs basically negate two of the monk's biggest weaknesses: low health and inability to be hasted. Stacked hardiness takes care of the first, and greater whirlwinds take care of the second. And going solo means much faster level gains and much sooner HLAs.

I'm going to take Minsc, Mazzy, Aerie,and Yoshimo/Imoen, and me as pure berserker, but I'm indecisive about the last spot. Who could I take that fits a good party, has fun content and complements the rest well?

>>3873803
Haer'Dalis

>>3873808
what a great idea, pick him.

>>3873803
Haer'Dalis, so that you can cuck him.

Or you can choose to be cucked by him, if that's your thing. Just make sure to swap his portrait with Valygar's or Sarevok's.

>>3873803
I like this image, do you mind if I save it?

Joking aside, why does Minsc look slavic?

>>3873819
Minsk is the capital of Belarus.
>>3873803
Jaheira.

>>3873808
>>3873818
I don't like Haer'dalis. Not even enough to keep him around to cuck him.

>>3873819
Sure, go ahead. But use it sparingly, it's important.

>>3873836
Jaheira does sound a bit better.

>>3873353
This friendly orc should be more serious.

>>3873819
Rashamen is pretty much supposed to be !not medieval Russia.

>>3873803
>>3873808
I'd say Keldorn actually. He actually has a lot of dialogue with other party members basically acting as a sort of Obi-wan

Haer'Dalis is not as cool a guy and he will try to bang Aerie

he's totally cool if you don't like Aerie that way though

>>3873837
Jaheira, Viconia, Edwin, and Neera are solid choices. Keldorn is a cuck.

>>3871980
>the Ogre Mage by Firewine Bridge rekt my shit, so I had to cheat to bring him down
You didn't have to. You could have came back later or gotten gud.

>>3873852
Really the only reason not to use Keldorn is Viconia, who is pretty much better than him* anyway.

*unless you have no one else who can use Carsomyr...

>>3873859
I played twice without paladins in my party.

>>3873853
>Keldorn is a cuck.
Everyone in this game who has any romantic involvement with anyone is a cuck, or a slut, or a chad, or a moody bitch

>>3873859
change Viconia to a Cleric/Ranger and suddenly she's the best companion in the game

>>3873859
>using Carsomyr

>>3873863
In what way is that better than a pure cleric
>>3873869
I'll be using Carsomyr on my True Neutral Kensai/Thief this game actually

>>3873881
>In what way is that better than a pure cleric

Free dual wielding.
Can use cleric and druid spells.

>>3873894
>Free dual wielding.
why even want this
>Can use cleric and druid spells.
how is this better than cleric and mage spells

>>3873894
Don't forget better THAC0 and HP.

>>3873903
viconia is now a viable front liner since no longer locked to 1 apr, so she doesn't have to use a sling anymore, in addition to all the other boons

>>38739030
Last time I checked Viccy doesn't have access to mage spells.
You want free dual wielding so you can use the crom faeyr + flail of ages combo or similar. Pure cleric has shitty melee damage output because of their attack per round, so dual wielding greatly improves it.

>>3873909
>she doesn't have to use a sling anymore
Is she really better with sling than with a some melee weapon? They even put "prefer ranged weapons" in her AI script by default in EE.

>>3873903
>why even want this

Because dual wielding wrecks everything in this game. A ranger/cleric is the best damage dealer/tank you can get. Put iron skin on that beast and he's unstoppable.

>>3873916
the 1 apr is just completely crippling, even when using crom faeyr or flail of the ages, her damage output is just terrible compared to a sling, not to mention the utility of crom faeyr and other items can't even be properly used with 1 apr

>even the dumbest wolves have tactical cybernetic eye implants that identify the person in your melee with the worst AC and always gang up on him

>>3873365
>multi class is useless

What? Even without HLAs, the ability to get level 30 fighter, level 30 thief, level 30 mage is a massive advantage.

>>3873365
solo in IWD is almost always a F/x/x multiclass, which is significantly easier than party play.

>>3873919
honestly I'm playing with strategems right now and minsc for some reason joined in BG2 with 250k more exp than everyone else, and he's dual wielding Frostreaver and Stonefire, and my Kensai using Lilarcor still just shits all over his damage.
>>3873926
this is exactly what wolves do irl idiot
>>3873920
I'll actually be giving Crom Faeyr to my Cleric/Mage main. Viconia has the FoA but it's more of an afterthought than anything else, both are using sword and board and having more than 2 or 3 frontliners seems really unnecessary when ranged attackers and casters can do so much more.

>>3873948
kensai outdamages everything doe

>>3873926
>He comes from a county where they haven't selectively bred wolves for generations to be a challenge in daily lives
I lost three of my kids to wolves, the four that remain are badasses. Natural selection in action.

>>3873948
>this is exactly what wolves do irl idiot
Oh, they can see that one guy only has +2 dex bonus instead of +4 and his armor has an enchantment of 1 less?

>>3873948
front liners built and equipped for damage end entire encounters in one round.

>>3873954
The way things are going I'll probably use shadowkeeper to alter starting proficiency so that I end up with:
Main: Cleric/Mage with Warhammer/Sling and Shield
Sidekick: Kensai and maybe(?) dual-class to thief at ? level with prof in 2HS and QS. Obviously if she goes thief I'll give her a crossbow.
Mazzy: switch her to Halberd and Longbow
Jaheira: Spears and Slings
Viconia: Flail/Sling/Mace and shield
Imoen: QS/Katana/SS and Shortbow

>>3873962
they can specifically identify from your movements and smell, the sound of your breathing and footfalls how able-bodied you are and whether or not you're weakened or injured so that you can be targeted and isolated from the group as an easy kill

this is how they hunt deer in the wild

>>3873954
And now imagine a kensai who dualwields 2 weebswords

>>3873980
but then you won't have +6

why do people have such a hardon for aotu and foebane +5?

Do I make Mazzy a dedicated archer or do I make her dual wield? I remember people saying archers are god tier in BG1 but fall off in 2.

>>3874010
two-hand with ranged swap

This is from the BG guide book.
Doesn't this make the protagonist and Imoen 10 years old max?

Charname
Imoen
Jaheira
Khalid
Viconia

Now, Kivan or Xan? I've heard that Xan is shit, but I'm not taking efficiency/powergaming into consideration.

>>3874020
you're gonna want a pure mage

>>3874016
aren't they canonically 20 by the time BG1 starts

>>3874020
assumming you're playing the original bg1, you minus well dual-class imoen into a mage and pick up kivan. the best spells in bg1 are stuff like sleep/etc and wands are better in many cases for stuff like summoning. basically, mages serve an important role but not really a point in having more than one. kivan is a great archer, and you can't have enough archers in bg1. you do need a better tank though, and his name is kagain who has a 20 in constitution meaning that he will regenerate hp. you can have kagain soak all the damage while everyone else uses ranged attacks and spells. pick up the hidden ankeg plate in beregost and give it to kagain. grats, u have the best possible tank for the rest of the game, even better than anything the charname can be. only way to be better is to have charname be a dwarf himself and give him the CON tome.

otoh, if you're playing ee or bgt or whatever, then i'd go with xan the mage. archers aren't nearly as good.

>>3874016
Bhaal "foresaw" the Time of Troubles and "prepared for it", stands to reason that in the years leading up to it he went around siring children. Some might be as young as 10, but some might be as old as 100, you don't know.

And considering the PC can be an elf, who don't mature until their, what, 60s? Yeah..

>>3874053
>anything the charname can be. only way to be better is to have charname be a dwarf himself and give him the CON tome.

Wasn't it also possibly with a half orc?

>>3874053
>the best spells in bg1 are stuff like sleep/etc
Yeah, in chapter 1. Once you start getting to the end of the game, you'll be glad that you have mages around who can web+ice storm/cloudkill/fireball the more annoying enemy groups. Having 2 mages to pelt the enemy with damaging spells to soften them up is always viable in 2E.

>archers aren't nearly as good.
hahahahaha

>>3874061
Bhaal foresaw his death, and prepared for it, more like.

>>3874061
Thought they were only allowed to walk on Toril during the Time of Troubles. How did he impregnate women?
Or he just telepathically banged people like Mary in the Bible?

>>3874062
no half orcs get a str bonus

>>3874068
They get both. +1 str, +1 con, -2 int

>>3874025
>>3874053
>I'm not taking efficiency/powergaming into consideration

>>3874074
it's more about convenience anon

>>3874020
I believe Kivan will attack Viccy at some point. So I'd pick Xan.

what's the point of playing bgt or eet when you lose everything going to bg2 content, and both bg1 and bg2 can be modded to be the same?

>>3874086
Continuity of story, continuity of stats and skillups, costumization, ease of access, flow.

Hell, if you exploit a few bugs you get to keep your shit, if you feel like it. If memory serves.

>>3874098
In non-EE you simply pause the game once it starts and all your items are still in your inventory. Gotta be fast though.

>>3874062
No half orcs in vanilla

Why do people hate Beamdog's EE content again? Playing BG2EE now and this autist is a qt. Can you romance her?

>>3874118
She will die in a minute. Have you seen the real Hexxat yet?

>>3874118
>Why do people hate Beamdog's EE content again?

Because they're universally shit and the one you posted is the fucking worst. Play a bit and you'll see why.

>Can you romance her?

Yes. As a female

>>3874123
What the fuck?

>>3874128
I'm sorry.

>>3874118
Clara is the only enjoyable EE npc, with Neera being distantly enjoyable with a mod.
Shame she gets murdered in cold blood by Hexxat, and your only option after the fact is to welcome her into your party, as if that was perfectly normal, even if you are a good alignment.
Unfortunately there still isn't a mod to keep her in the game. And, beamdog has no plans to expand her character, since they are far too busy ruining the game with "balance patches" and unnecessary and ugly graphic overhauls.

>>3874128
She's a strong and beautiful black womyn who doesn't need no stinkin' man. Also she's a vampire and kill the entire universe because she has the mystical amulet of ulumulu and is way cooler than your cis white mom.

>>3874134
What the hell. Please tell me at least they managed to narrate this in a way that makes sense and not makes you just murder Hexxat instantly.

>>3874147
Jokes on you, Hexxat is invulnerable when you first encounter her.
The writer for Hexxat legitimately thought no one would disagree with the murder of Clara, and Hexxat just jumping into the party with two mary sue items.

>>3874147
>have people in your party that dont care/are aggressive towards vampires
>no one makes a comment
down with the patriarchy, support black lesbian empowered vampire mary sues now

>>3874128
She then gets replaced with an OC donut steel black lesbian vampire with nice balanced stats

The only good thing about EE is Dorn's quest in BG2. Too bad you can't go fifteen minutes with him in your party without him starting to lust after your bussy.

>>3874152
My archer has Racial Enemy: Vampire. Every vampire you meet in SoA wants you dead. And yet you're telling me we're _forced_ to accept her? No dialogue option tells her to at least fuck off?

>>3874140
>>3874134
>>3874152
>>3874154
What the FUCK

>>3874152
This is why women developers ruin everything.

>>3874161
B-but anon, she's not one of those other vampires that follow Bodhi that want to kill you, nor is she one of those other vampires in the Winspear hills dungeon that also want to kill you, nor is she one of those vampires in the Saradush prison that also want to kill you, nor is she a member of any other vampire encounter that I may have forgotten about that also attacks you on sight.
Hexxat is a good vampire (as in she doesn't attack you on sight, she is still very much evil) and she wants to help you for some reason so of course you want her in your party and you definitely don't want to kill her.

>>3874161
i don't have a save file before the hexxat encounter, or i'd post a screenshot of the dialogue choices

>>3874183
Is she actually evil or just neutral masquerading as evil (like Edwin and Viccy)?

>>3874185
>>3874183
Followup question not related to Mary Hexxat, is there any way for me to quickly and simply disable all romance options in my game. I don't care and I don't want it. If the NPCs wanna fuck each other that isn't my bag, but my CHARNAME doesn't fuck anything.

>>3874190
"Chaotic Asshole" is still an alignment, I think.

>>3874183
I wish she was a cute vampire like the girl she killed.
I'd love to RP her giving me the dark gift, editing my protagonist to vampire and living the Athkatla city life with my vampire waifu, like in World of Darkness Vampire or Interview with the Vampire settings.

>>3874192
Generally you can forever break a romance with each character just by simply friendzoning them when they tell you that they might be interested in you.

>>3874190
it is rather strange that Hexxat is the only evil party member to actually do evil things in the game iirc. the rest are selfish assholes, and if you take them to their breaking points, they'll do things, but they don't seem to be evil naturally.
>>3874192
you could open shadowkeeper and change all the romance variables to 3 or whatever is the failed romance variable.

>>3874202
Ok cool, working my way through the SoD portion of my EET playthrough atm.
>>3874204
Thanks, I will keep that in mind as well

>>3874163
Welcome to Beamdog.

Maybe there will be a mod once who turns her into the qt retard who just happens to kill people who trigger her autism too much. Probably not, though.

>>3874192
IIRC for the original romances, they all won't start if you are a Dwarf, Half-orc or Halfling (Aerie will romance a Gnome the others won't, Vircona won't romance a pure elf, the others will). I'm not sure if the EE characters kept to those rules though.

>>3874214
Fucked if I know, I'm gonna assume all the EE characters are pan-romantic demi-helicopters until proven otherwise.

>>3874214
>Aerie will romance a Gnome
Damn, she must be addicted to that Quayle dick.

>>3874218
That's probably the best course of action.

>>3874214
pretty sure the EE npcs will romance anyone. they hunger for the PC's privates, and practically throw themselves on you. they're nothing like the older romances.

>>3874190
>like Edwin and Viccy
Are you joking?

>>3874247
if you look into viconia's backstory, her alignment isn't evil.
edwin is a red wizard, but what he is wanted for is never explained

>>3874253
Edwin wants power.

>>3874192
>is there any way for me to quickly and simply disable all romance options in my game

It's way more natural to just tell them that they can fuck off.

>>3874152
>Hexxat is invulnerable when you first encounter her
I remember killing her.
Unless they patched it, there were dialogue options for it too.

>>3874261
edwin may be power hungry, but he never supersedes the pc to acquire that power. he doesn't battle for ascendancy. he doesn't abandon the party in times of need. his actions don't denote someone evil.
viconia is a drow. she was rejected by drow society, and caused the downfall of her own house and family, because she chose not to do an evil act.
hexxat is the only party npc that outright murders someone in front of you, just for their convenience, because they're hungry.

>>3874253
Not wanting to pointlessly kill a baby doesn't mean you aren't evil.

>>3874268
There is generally a fiat rule in beginning D&D groups that say that "Party loyalty supercedes alignment", otherwise you'd have a bunch of murderhobos constantly working against each other. I just assume that this is the concession Bioware made back in the day.

>>3874269
what do evil people do in D&D in a party setting they:
try to kill you
abandon you when things look tough
betray you for their personal gain
steal from, kill, or torture [defenceless] people on a whim, without party agreement
>>3874271
maybe if you don't roleplay at all, but good and evil alignments will always clash. otherwise they should change their alignments on their character sheets to reflect reality.

>>3874268
When you first meet Edwin in BG1 he asks you to help him murder Dynaheir. The first thing he asks you to do in BG2 is to murder a cowled wizard.
That doesn't sound very neutral to me.

>>3874281
Dynaheir is a bitch and deserved to die. in BG2 he was just following orders.

>>3873940
Multi-class takes too long to level. Dual-class is much better.

>>3873942
No one is talking about solo here.

>>3874284
Nope, the gist of the conversation as I recall it was "this mage is bothering me, get rid of him for me"

>>3874284
This. Fuck Rashemen apologists. Szass Tam did nothing wrong.

>>3874294
are the cowled wizards a good alignment organization?

>>3873919

R/C only gets up to level 3 druid spells.

>>3874301
If you play EE maybe.

>learning about all this Forgotten Realms lore from various games, reading all the history and lore books
>it's all wasted as there will never be another game set in this setting since Wizards blew up Toril to promote their shitty new D&D edition

>>3874306

You realize getting all druid spells is a bug (= cheating)?

>>3874307
I still don't know what they were thinking when they made the Spellplague. Might as well trash the whole setting and create something new from the ground.

>>3874297
I'd consider them lawful neutral. They may imprison people for using magic but they don't murder them.

>>3874314
Yeah, I do and I don't give a fuck. One OP build more among many doesn't really change that much.

>>3874314
It has always been that way in these games.
Not getting proper Grandmastery in BG2 is also a change from PnP.
There are many, many differences from actual D&D. Just accept them and play by the rules that the game presents you.

>>3874314
if you go by the vanilla game then there's no point in taking anyone but casters, since all front liners are completely gimped for party play.

>>3874335
In my experience good front line is more important.

>>3874340
and all they end up doing is soaking damage for the more important casters

>>3874314
>(=cheating)
Do you also consider exploiting oversights in the AI cheating? What about using walkthroughs so you know where to find the best loot? Do you consider using the made of disruption on undead enemies cheating seeing as though it can kill them instantly? What about the cloak of mirroring and the shield of balduran trivialising beholder fights? Is quicksave/quickload cheating?
It's a single player game. It's up to the individual playing where they want to draw the line and only them because in the end it will only affect them anyway.

>>3874335
u wot m8?

rogue classes can kill bosses as soon as they spawn with a couple spike traps.

warrior classes are juggernauts with hardiness and gww. flail of ages is gotten super early and turns the game into ez mode.

>spend hundreds if not thousands of years to become immune to spell levels 1-5
>faggots still breach the shit out of you day and night
;_;

>>3874356
But breach is lvl5.

>>3874281
>>3874294
>>3874297
Ha, I like to "accidentally" cast magic in the city, then tell the wizards to go fuck themselves when they try to give me a warning the first time. They agro and I slaughter them in "self defense" of course. No repercussions. It works in a role-playing context even if you're good alignment because they took imoen from you.

>>3874363
I wish there was a way to tell the wizards to go fuck themselves when they show up in YOUR planar sphere telling you how they are "allowing" you to keep it if you serve them. Wtf. At that point I could walk into their hq and massacre every single one of them without resting once and their making demands of me in my house?

>decide to continue my SoA savegame in ToB for once
>go to Watcher's Keep
>+4 weapons fucking everywhere
>get class specific abilities after a while
>kill the dragon with korgan who single handedly beats him with gww in a matter of seconds without taking any damage
>quit and decide to erase this shit from my memory

Fuck ToB

>>3874356
Could have just bought a potion of magic blocking for a few hundred gold.

>>3874381
I think by default SCS delays access to watcher's keep until you start ToB

>>3874381
Try fighting the ToB bosses, you'll need that gear.

>>3874278
>evil characters can't function in a party
>if you're evil, you're erratic and/or insane
Some of my favorite memes.

>>3874356
actually once they use spell immunity: abjuration only ruby ray of reversal will work and you'll probably need 2 shots before you can get a breach through

>>3874405
Spellstrike? Yeah I know, it's a level 9 spell.

>>3874381
>decide to stick with SoA with ToB not installed
>get the Cloak of Mirroring
>walk into a room full of beholders and high-level casters
>go to the bathroom with the game running
>come back and all the enemies are dead


>decide to stick with SoA with ToB not installed
>get the Flail of Ages +3
>nothing is immune to the slow
>proceed to solo all the dragons with muh level 12 berserker

>>3874415
right, by the time you get that spell your mage is already the same as a lich if not a lot better

So what was Viconia lying about and what was she not?

>>3874463
Everything is a lie.

>trusting a drow

>>3874463
If you can't understand it without an explanation, you can't understand with an explanation either.

>>3874460
The greatest weakness of a lich is that they can't into doors. Just walk out the nearest door and rest. Come back and all his protections are gone.

>>3874469
Might as well just Ctrl+Y him then.

>>3874469
i'm pretty sure that doesn't work in scs

and why would you not use scs

Which ones should I install?

>>3874486
>no fun allowed: the mod
None.

>>3874469
First thing I do when coming out of irenicus dungeon is to go to the city gates to the inn. Run into the hidden room, grab daystar then run away. Later on in chapter 6 I come back and he's still standing there waiting with no protections.

>>3874490
git gud

>>3874495
Modding the game and changing the balance is literally cheating. I'm merely trying to get him play fair.

>>3874486
I don't like removing items. Re-balancing is a better choice. Staff of Magi should keep the invisibility but change it to a per day ability though.

Likewise it would be enough to tune Vecna's robe a bit and keep it just where it is.

>>3874498
who is it unfair to? you? because you had to play the horribly unbalanced and buggy version of the game when you were an ugly teenager?

>>3874501
Vecna's robe isn't in vanilla SoA is it? why not just lock it until ToB

>>3874504
Cheating on behalf on the computer is still cheating.
You should be ashamed of yourself, cheater.

>>3874507
It wasn't from the start (pre-order bonus merchant item) but eventually got patched in for anyone.

>why not just lock it until ToB

Because there aren't many interesting robes to begin with. Just cut down on the initiative bonus and give it spell immunity for level 1 and 2 spells or some shit like that.

>>3874510
I like the fact that you're genuinely upset about how other people spend time by themselves playing a videogame. It's sickeningly pathetic and hints at a host of embarrassing issues.

>using wands

>>3874525
My favorite character is a mage dual classed into Fighter on level 1 so I can spam wands between melee attacks.

>>3874539
>being a mage college dropout

>>3874541
kek
Is it possible to change the model of character if you dual class? So Imoen would be in mage robe rather than thief attire.

>>3874541
It's significantly worse given that you grew up in fucking Candlekeep. I'd probably off myself if I was his character.

>>3874550
>Dear Journal, I keep hearing Gorion mumbling in himself "I should'of picked the other one". I wonder what is he talking about.

>>3874548
shadowkeeper

>>3873803
you could use another divine caster
i'd say a druid because you already have a cleric
i'd say a full druid because you already have two full fighters and a third almost full fighter

so....cernd? seems like nobody ever uses him

>install SCS with precasting

holy shit why

>>3867918
Why do you want a faggot simulator when that's your real life?

>>3874786
because if you do your own pre-casting in vanilla baldur's gate, or really use any kind of adaptive tactics at all, you will shit all over every encounter without feeling any real sense of danger

>>3874832
not if you install Tactics alongside SCS.
you'll meet a level 12+ party in the chateau. ready to kill you.

>>3874837
that sounds really buggy and problematic, I'm sure those mods are not designed to be used at the same time and it will break the AI or something

>>3874837
>>3874842
Installing tactics only will already give you that party with the level 20 cleric, it's a "joke" encounter.
I never heard of anyone using Tactics and SCS at the same time. Did you do an actual playthrough with that? I'd say they would just overwrite each other and whatever mod you installed last would mainly work.

So is there actually any mod which just defuses the cheese instead of going full retarded? Never played SCS or Tactics and don't mind difficulty, but from what I hear they're ridiculously hard.

>>3874847
is the joke part of tactics soloable?

>>3874862
Maybe with a Thief if you completely abuse traps and resting. This is what you face in Irenicus dungeon:

Ilyich - 12th level dwarven Barbarian. Watch out for his rages! He would
dual-wield a hammer and a sickle, but the sickle is not available in BG2.

Zhivago - 22nd level dwarven Cleric of Talos. Beware of his high-level
Cleric spells: Fallen Deva, Fear, Unholy Word, etc.

Karamazov - 12th level dwarven Wizard Slayer. The ranged support of the
group, Karamazov's spell disrupting abilities afflict anyone struck by
his crossbow bolts.

Rasputin - 12th level human Monk. Since he hasn't yet reached the
critical Monk magic resistance threshold, he can be considered the weak
link of the group.

Neophyte Glabrezu - 10 hit dice Demon. Has weakened Demonic Immunities:
notably, mundane weapons won't work.

Jailkeep Golem - 9 hit dice Construct. Just like the Jailkeep golem at the
beginning of the game ... but hostile!

You can sneak around them and loot the rest of the dungeon first, so you have Yoshimo, a bunch of potions, wands and scrolls to help you.

>>3874873
>Fallen Deva

Are you shitting me

>>3874875
You're supposed to interrupt him.
And pretty much fight them one by one with some creative pulling.

Speaking of tactics mods, anyone tried Improved Anvil?
Supposedly it does something similar to SCS and Tactics, but never heard of it before. I only saw it praised on some forums accidentally.

http://www.blackwyrmlair.net/Mods/Readme/ia/index.html

>>3874878
I really don't understand why people install these kinds of mods. That doesn't sound fun, it just sounds tedious.

>>3874887
Hence it's a joke encounter. It's actually recommended that you don't install that part of the mod, it's all modular installer.

>>3874873
Those are some dumb ass names.

>>3874896
Ilyich is actually in the vanilla game, the rest of the names are modder creation.
Normally it's just him and a bunch of dwarves.