Baldur's gate reloaded: team builds

[Mr White]

I'm going to restart playing Baldur's gate reloaded (the NWN2 mod). I'm still quite the novice in DnD. Last time I got bogged down when my sub-optimal (N)PC builds (combined with my lacking DnD skills on the tactical level) struggled to overcome the challenges.

Can anybody give me some help please.
- I want to play a mostly good party so Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid, Minsc (and Boo), Dynaheir?
- How would you make Imoen into a rogue/wizard?
- Should I focus Khalid on archery or go melee?

Lastly, I planned to play a cleric. Can you recommend a good progression?

Thanks in advance.

[GloatingSwine]

Can anybody give me some help please.
- I want to play a mostly good party so Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid, Minsc (and Boo), Dynaheir?


That tends to be the default because they're all easy to recruit early, getting you up to full strength quickly (and in the original letting you roll high HP for them rather than middling rolls you get if you get people later).

For the other stuff I can't really be definite because I presume it being an NWN2 mod means it's using 3rd edition rules not 2nd like the original. Multiclassing Imoen is going to depend how many skill ranks you want for the DCs they've used. In the original you just needed a decent amount of Find Traps (you could replicate Open Locks with Knock, after all) so you could get away with dual classing pretty early.

Khalid is a good archer in the original if you want him to be, and I presume he wouldn't be bad under 3rd rules because he's got decent Dex and as a fighter you'll be able to pick feats to support it.

[Mr White]

For example I used this build (http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Beginner's_Cleric_-_Ro(2),F(2),Clr(16),SL(10)) for my character. I begin to suspect that this build only comes into it's strength later on (and as far as I can tel BG only goes to level 10).

[GloatingSwine]

Well the original was an XP cap of 161000 (with ToSC), which meant different classes had different max levels, and multi/dual classing worked totally differently in 2nd Edition, so no build would really translate between the two.

[danzibr]

Huh. I've never played the mod, but it sure looks interesting. Also never played NWN or NWN2 though.

[Cespenar]

For a moment I honestly thought this was a NWN2 mod for BG, and I was like "Wow, I guess I can finally play it if it's on a proper engine".

[T.G. Oskar]

I'm going to restart playing Baldur's gate reloaded (the NWN2 mod). I'm still quite the novice in DnD. Last time I got bogged down when my sub-optimal (N)PC builds (combined with my lacking DnD skills on the tactical level) struggled to overcome the challenges.

Can anybody give me some help please.
- I want to play a mostly good party so Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid, Minsc (and Boo), Dynaheir?
- How would you make Imoen into a rogue/wizard?
- Should I focus Khalid on archery or go melee?

Lastly, I planned to play a cleric. Can you recommend a good progression?

Thanks in advance.

I'm not exactly an expert in either of the games (played BG1 quite a bit, NWN a little less, NWN2 absolutely nothing), but for the most part - as others have mentioned, you're playing the NWN2 mod, so the rules will be a bit different. They use 3.5 (modified) rules, so you'll have to think in terms of Prestige Classes and proper multiclassing.

Now, I'm not sure if you can modify your party members (NWN1 didn't), but you're having a Rogue, a Fighter/Druid, another Fighter, a Ranger (maybe with 1 level of Barbarian to represent him going berserk) and an Evoker Wizard. I also recall that "theurge" based PrCs (those that advance two classes) are absent, so no Rogue/Wizard for Imoen, because it's not that practical (you really want the 9th level spells). There is an Arcane Trickster, so that should do for Imoen's multiclassing, but it requires her to do little Rogue stuff and more Wizardry stuff to get the maximum buck for your spellcasting. Going by 3.5 recommendations, Jaheira shouldn't have more than 2 levels of Fighter, mostly to get the armor and stuff, and because she'll be a Druid, nothing with metal armor or she can't cast spells at all (however, she should get more weapons and armor to use). You also get a pretty bare-bones party, with Minsc as melee, Khalid (most likely) as ranged, Jaheira as a minor healer and support blaster, Imoen as your skillmonkey, and Dynaheir as your primary blaster.

Also as mentioned, Khalid should do fine with archery - you just need to get the right feats: Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Improved Rapid Shot, Manyshot. In-between, even if it seems impractical, get Weapon Focus (bows), because the loss of accuracy can hurt, particularly since you might not be able to stack that many points of attack bonus and the feats impose a pretty hurtful penalty to your attacks (-6). The reason I'd say it's "impractical" is because the feat isn't that great (+1 to attack bonus with a specific weapon, which can increase to +2 with Greater Weapon Focus, but as a Fighter you'll get a lot of feats and little else to use it on anyways. Again, that depends if you can modify your party members anyways.

As for your actual character...I'd say to stay full Cleric. The build is designed for the original campaign, and might not work as effectively on the BG Mod, since it relies on spending points on the conversation skills - how useful that will be depends on the campaign, which might not be the case. The rest of the skills you'll focus are caster skills, Use Magic Device (to use non-cleric scrolls, plus race-restricted equipment), and Tumble to avoid attacks of opportunity from enemies while moving. It also depends on having really, really good scores all over, particularly on Intelligence (which is an odd stat for Clerics), just to specialize in 5 skills. That's odd and unusual - and it also locks you to a specific feat, which could be used somewhere else (Able Learner, to have all your skills cost 1 point). Going solo Cleric lets you shift those points somewhere else (maybe Wisdom? Or Dexterity?), save that feat for something else, and let you do Cleric stuff early - like healing and going Clericzilla. No fancy weapons or whatnot, but who cares if you're buffing your way to victory earlier than the suggested build? Look for a FAQ on Clerics, which should tell you the most important thing to do with Clerics, and give you sample builds that are full Cleric but not weak at all.

[Mr White]

Thanks for the replies.

I think I'll stay within the class as much as possible for all party members.

I'm still debating Khalid's role. Either Stone wall or ranged. I've read neither really comes into it's element in NWN 2 but with his stats, what can you do.

[Triaxx]

If slings work with shields in 3e, Khalid can dual purpose, slinging until they close range, and then go stabby.

[Mr White]

If slings work with shields in 3e, Khalid can dual purpose, slinging until they close range, and then go stabby.

Thanks for suggesting this. I didn't think about that :smallredface:

I'll have to test how fast the game handles switching weapons and gear.

[Powermonger]

Khalid is the best tank in baldurs gate reloaded, dont make him an archer, there are many better archers to pick up

[Spore]

Can anybody give me some help please.
- I want to play a mostly good party so Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid, Minsc (and Boo), Dynaheir?
- How would you make Imoen into a rogue/wizard?
- Should I focus Khalid on archery or go melee?


I like Neera and her quests are a nice addition to the game. I ran Khalid, Jaheira, Kivan, MC Berserker, Imoen as pure Rogue and Neera. Her surges are quite annoying though if you cannot roll with it. Low level Wild Mages have a tendency to get the 'colorful explosion of blood' end of the stick more often than not.

As mentioned I don't need Imoen as a Mage in BG 1. A single Mage per party for controlling big groups is sufficient.

I let him pull double duty. Shoot until the enemy is close then switch up. Jaheira uses the good sling so he gets second fiddle at the longbows (best one to Kivan obv.).

[JBPuffin]

For a moment I honestly thought this was a NWN2 mod for BG, and I was like "Wow, I guess I can finally play it if it's on a proper engine".

I just want to say, this is a sick burn. :smallsmile: