This is a bit of a noob question. Despite having both games for a few years now, I still haven't played BG2 ... I just started my 4th or 5th play of 1, never finishing it, so it has become a bit of a chore now instead of fun but I want to import a strong character into 2 - not just start 2 naked so to speak.

I want to have a great character to import, but I'm not sure which kind would be best for 2. So I have a few questions to help best prepare me for BG2:

1) What is the best weapon type to go for? I'd like to specialize in a type where 2 has a great weapon for it.

2) What items from 1 will transfer to 2?

3) I almost always choose a fighter and it's gotten stale. This time I started two games simultaneously - a fighter and a druid (druids can use scimitars, and I'm unfamiliar with their spells). Is it better to be a fighter in 2 or a spellcaster?

Thanks.

Oh also, I'm playing the EE versions.

(I've heard of the kensai/mage build but that seems over my head - not certain how to play it - and it seems geared towards a solo run. Maybe I am mistaken?)

1) Depends on character class and the weapon style you prefer. The best weapon type at the end of BG2 can quite be quite weak for 90% of the game.

2)None except a hidden easter-egg item (golden pantaloons) which isn't worth the inventory space and time.

3)Most flexible, most powerful and most fun are sorcerers. Multiclasses are also powerful, getting high level abilities from both classes. Another option for a powerful character in BG2 is playing a fighter in BG1 and switching to another class after 9 fighter levels early in BG2.

1) Lots of excellent weapons of each type. Hard to go wrong, and adds to replay value to try a different one next time. That said, 2-hand sword, longsword, quarterstaff, flail, and katana are my faves.

2) You lose all your items unless you use a slick little exploit to keep them (non EE only). Some items will be found scattered throughout the game, however. In fact, the Helm of Balduran is stashed in the first dungeon. Sadly, the Cloak of Balduran doesn't come back for BG2, unless you cheat it in.

3) Both. There is so much experience to be had, I always multiclass. Some like to dual class, but either way, you can get to a really high level in 2 or even 3 classes. Plus, I think it's more fun to have a versatile PC.

F/M: Stoneskin on your tank = awesome
F/T: powerful backstabs
Ranger/Cleric: two slots in dual wield for free, and great buffing spells

Have fun!

If you want to simulate a BG1 play through, then do this:
1) Roll up a BG2 character.
2) Cheat to add +3 to Wisdom, and +1 to each other stat.
3) Cheat to give XP to your character until you have a total of 161000 XP (the XP cap in ToSC).

Or you could just roll up a BG2 character and play. I've done this for both of my times through BG2.

Q1)
There are a number of weapon types with strong weapons. I can think of specific weapons for the Axe, Long Sword, Mace, Halberd, Scimitar (typically as part of a dual wielding build), Katana, Flail, and Quarterstaff just off hand.

Long Sword might not have the most devastating end game weapons, but you don't have to wait until end game to get some good ones either.
There is a good flail you can pick up relatively early in SoA, and you'll be able to use it all the way through ToB if you like.

Q2)

You start BG2 naked, regardless. There are a few items that will transfer; I refer you to this post for the lists, how the items are chosen, and what you get as default. Off hand, I don't think any of it will be used by late SoA.

Q3)
There are enough NPCs that you are pretty open to play what you want to play. I enjoyed a Swashbuckler (basically a Fighter/Thief, but with the emphasis more on the Thief than the Fighter). A good thief is perhaps the scarcest role among the NPCs; if you don't cover that yourself, then you'll either face either some restriction in character choices if you want a good one or you'll need to find another way to work around the thief functions.

If you have played as a Fighter in all your BG1 attempts, then I can understand why get a bit bored. It's a fine class for beginners, hard to kill, but pretty simple too, so you can't really do all that much with them. I find it much more fun to play as a caster, like a straight wizard, or a sorcerer. They're squishy though, so can die easily, especially early on. By BG2 they'll be strong, and have quite a few tricks up their sleeves. By the end of the game they're almost a 1-man army, able to stop time and throw celestial objects at enemies.

Ultimately it depends on what you prefer, but it doesn't sound like fighters is your thing, so it could make sense to try something with more tools at their disposal. Casters have that, or various multiclasses. For instance, I had fun playing as a Mage/Thief. Means you can sneak around, and then toss fireballs and whatnot at enemies without them seeing you. Fun way to start combat :)

Not if you make good use of spells like Mirror Image/Stoneskin/Protection From Magical Weapons. Mirror Image makes you invincible in BG1 (non-EE) until the images are destroyed (in BG2 and BG:EE, there's a chance that attacks will hit the real image and hurt you anyway, but it's only 1/(# of images remaining + 1)), while Stoneskin causes a certain number of physical attacks to not hurt you, allowing you to tank better than a Fighter. Sorcerers are especially nice for this because you don't need to predict how many copies of those particular spells you'll need before the next rest.

I think I finished BG1 with most common class types. I am currently playing as

Orc Fighter/Cleric, Starting abilities (stats)

19 STR
18 DEX
17 CON
9 INT
18 WIS
10 CHA
TOTAL: 91

I have 2 points in Warhammer and sling. This is by far the most powerful build, so much that it feels like cheating.

I never finished BG2 so i am not sure how that build would fair there. But from what i experienced, you cant go wrong. BG2 is easier than BG1 if you know how to counter spells. That means, always have one arcane caster (wizard or sorcerer) in your party. Cleric/Mages are like a walking spell book and i love them.

I didnt enjoy playing as a Druid in Baldur's Gate series. I personally love the Druid concept but in D&D2 rules it wasnt satisfying. They rock in Neverwinter Nights series tho.

Just chiming in but we're complete opposites in this regard. I find fighters more fun and useful than mages. BG2 has tones of spells but I never find a use for a lot of them. I find summons somewhat useful in the beginning of BG2 but when my characters get strong enough, I tend not to use summons anymore. Direct damage spells I usually don't like either because by the time I fire one off, I just don't find the damage worth the wait.

Also considering that BG game play revolves around dice rolls, I prefer to keep things as predicable as possible (hence my utter disgust of wild mages but I digress). Some spells have no effect if the enemy makes their saving throw which simply means the spell gets wasted. A critical miss with a melee weapon isn't a big deal. Casting spells that lowers saving throws takes time but with some enemies, it just simply isn't worth the wait. For most enemies, as long as I bring down some of their spell protections, rushing in and beating the living shit out of them is just faster and more reliable than magic. Cos of this, magic only plays a support role in my playthroughs. I usually stick to buffing spells and spells that bring down spell protections and not much else.

That's not to say I shun magic, a few days ago, I just beat Firkraag. Nalia fired of a spell sequencer filled with malaison and Jan fired one off of his own. While my PC, Keldorn, Minsc and Jahiera went melee. Firkraag went from barely injured to dead thanks to Keldorn's silver sword. It was kinda funny but it did feel a bit cheap >:D

Dwarven fighter/clerics are nice. The +1 bonuses to all stats really benefit fighters (STR,DEX,CON) and the +3 to WIS obviously really benefits clerics.

Fighter/clerics are obviously a pretty good class by itself and dwarves get a CON based bonus to some important saving throws.

Having a main character that's really hard to kill means you can delegate the fun to other party members, rather than risk the fun ending with a game over because your main character is too easy to kill. This also being why you should opt for sword and shield style.

As a bonus it's available in the original game, so it's not "cheating" like playing Baldur's Gate 1 with half-orcs, kensais, sorcerers, wild mages etc.

It is not unusual for AD&D games to have a "best" class or build, but that depends on the game.

In Baldur's Gate 1, archers are best thanks to the slow movement speed, the fact that magic use is rather limited at low levels, and the fact that the game gives you things like Arrows of Detonation.

In Baldur's Gate 2, arcane spellcasters are best because the game takes place at higher levels and the game gives arcane casters lots of options, including many spells (like Contingency) that I haven't seen implemented elsewhere. (Incidentally, I have seen something similar to BG2 Project Image; Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song has a spell called Phantom Warrior that lets you similarly cheat on resource uses.)

In Icewind Dale, Clerics are best because of the sheer number of undead, plus the fact that that particular game is stingy with arcane scrolls and doesn't let you pick spells at level up. A single class Cleric might, especially in smaller parties or if you are playing on Easy or Insane, might even reach the point of being able to destroy undead with her turn undead ability.

In Dungeon Hack, Clerics are best, though for an entirely different reason (though it has similar issues of scroll scarcity and lack of spell picking as IWD): Clerics get plenty of spells that eliminate many of the game's dangers and RNG factors. There's even a spell that eliminates the need to worry about finding rations, and Spiritual Hammer is *really* good in that game.

No it doesn't. Not counting the AoD that can be looted after beating Sarevok (absolutely pointless), there are only 12 arrows of Detonation in an unmodded game, and they have to be bought from Sorcerous Sundries.

Thanks for the tip! I just started BG2 and rolled a 90 then adjusted the stats as you said, not sure why I didn't think of that before. I made a Kensai who I plan on dual classing to a mage eventually. I gave him 3 points in dual-wielding, and 1 each in long sword, flail, and katana. Hopefully I didnt spread the weapon selection too thin.

Not sure when to dual though, I was thinking level 13 from what I remember reading, but still unsure. I also picked an evil alignment - all my BG1 plays I went with canon party and want to try evil npcs instead (keeping imoen though).

So is waiting 5 more levels of Kensai (to 13) a good idea - I know that would make my new mage class really hard to get all the way to lvl 14 - but I think I remember reading something about making it to 13 before dualling important.

Thoughts?

I recommend cheating again and readjusting your weapon profiencies. Put 5 stars into flails, the rest into dualwielding, do some easy stuff in town like the circus tent, pick up some NPCs then do Nalia's quest where you should be able to get a good flail +3. Weapon specialization does make a big difference.

Important note:
In BGII:EE, ranger/clerics no longer get the full druid spell list added. You only get the spells a ranger could have gotten. (so no more iron skins)



F/T/M is very nice but even in ToB you'll never learn lvl9 spells