I have a question that might seem silly to some. I notice in the Baldur's Gate series characters are more squishy than in other RPGs. Is this really so? How can I ensure survivability of my characters?

- equip best items that decrease armor class (AC) on one character to get minimum possible and use this character to draw all enemies on him
- use spells like entangle to hold strong hitting enemies at a distance and kill them with arrows, missiles or spells
- use crows control spells like sleep on low level enemies that comes in pack
- if you encounter spellcasters kill them first, they are the most dangerous enemies in BG series
- in tough fights you use potions on your front character to increase survivability : potion of invulnerability, potion of speed, potion of heroism, potion of fortitude etc
- if you can't beat an enemy at your level run away, unlike other RPGs in Baldur's Gate you can escape most of the fights by changing maps
- sometimes it is inevitable that some characters in the party die. You can revive them at any temple at a small price if you are low level (the cost of resurrection increases with your characters level)

Probably as in DnD low level characters are mostly weak, fragile.

You should take in your party one or two good melee characters and try to get them low AC armors, like Splint mails and Plate mails, aswell as trinkets with AC bonus, like the Ring of protection +1. These items are accessible early (you should try searching the Nashkel area for a great armor buried in the ground, if you haven't already...) Equip the rest of your party with ranged weapons, bows and arrows are abundant and fairly efficient in the early game, and make your caster(s) memorize crowd control spells, like Sleep and Entangle (druid spell). The illusionist spell Spook can also disable high-treat targets for some time, and comes handy when fighting tough enemies like Greywolf, or Mulahey.

That is because in Baldur's Gate you start off as a sheltered nobody, living in veritable seclusion with a bunch of monks. You are ripped from that world, and flung to the wolves (quite literally) on you own, with little to no equipment. The game doesn't coddle you; this is not a JRPG. Of course your characters are squishy. It's part of what puts Baldur's Gate (the first, anyway) out there on it's own.

Survivability in Baldur's Gate begins with... ranged weapons. Don't go toe-to-toe with foes you know have already beaten the crap out of you, or any that look like they could. Find allies (party members); build around those two facts, and you'll do fine... eventually.

[Typo]

D&D rules are very unbalanced. Low level characters are extremely fragile. Ranged weapons overpowered (especially bows and darts). BG1 exacerbates this last problem with slow movement speed.

So BG1 you have to be careful not get hit and take out ranged enemies. Or use ranged weapons to your own advantage. 18+ dex is a must for front-line. Ranged weapons are a must. It's not like BG2 where you can play Kensai without armour and no ranged weapons.

I think in BG1 you should not explore wilderness until Chapter 3. Stay on the beaten track until then.

Another thing: don't reload. When you reload before clearing a map, the enemies respawn. Or they spawn double or triple! Only save and reload after you clear a map and preparing to leave or you will be in a world of pain.

Pause the game often to make sure no time passes while you're thinking about tactics and giving orders to your characters during combat.

What Hickory said

Ranged weapons are god in BG1, never leave home without em. For the first few levels, you will be relying on ranged weapons and kiting after after a few levels under your belt, you will be able to start going into melee. When you first leave Candlekeep, going into melee combat is like like punching Darth Vader in the face and ends about as well as you would expect too. You just don't do it. Actually, it is safe to explore if you use one character to explore and if enemies attack them, use the same character to kite while all your other characters unload all the arrows, bullets, bolts, daggers, axes, darts, leftover pizza etc that they are carrying into anything that moves and isn't a party member. This is cheesy but I personally feel it's best to grab all the experience you can safely get in the early game.

I never used kiting, so it's not a necessity. It's still a good idea to hit enemies with ranged weapons as they approach you and then switch to melee weapons when they get close.

In most RPGs, even ones with much simpler combat systems like Morrowind, you have to leave the toughest enemies alone for awhile and come back with better equipment and experience. BG is no exception. However, the range of mage spells you get can be really helpful in softening up the hardest enemies -- lots of the spells seem strange at first because RPGs usually just give you a ton of powerful attack spells, but in BG it's more about altering the odds in your favor first and attacking second.

Never understood why players would use 'kiting' either... (whatever that means)


Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a game of probability, a bit of reading comprehension and strategy. They are not action games.

Not when you're a squishy mage -- with only one spell per rest -- fresh out of Candlekeep, with only Imoen (and her 9 Strength) as backup, or possibly even without her. You WILL die, without metagaming. Close with a wolf at level 1? Not going to survive.

Sure, it's *possible* to not use kiting, but only with meta-gaming, and anybody who say's otherwise is almost certainly a power player, with a very robust character. For somebody completely new to BG, it's simply a recipe for game over...

I would recommend that any character, regardless of class, go to the Friendly Arm Inn and get Jaheira and Khalid before trying to fight a wolf. Since the game tells you to do this, it's not even metagaming in the sense of having prior knowledge of what to do. Even then, you might want to level up before fighting any type of wolf. I wouldn't personally recommend kiting as the solution to these battles, but it always comes down to whatever play style is the most fun for a particular player.

Also, if your one spell is Sleep, then you've probably got a good chance of beating that first wolf with a mage and Imoen. You can beat even tougher opponents like Ankhegs that way. There's always a way. Or three ways. Or eight. That's why people like this series.

Everything you have just said implies meta-gaming. Just try to go back to the very first time you ever played BG -- it's very hard, believe it or not -- and also try to imagine you had never read a walkthrough, or watched a Let's Play. Are you seriously telling me you're going to take the advice of the narrator literally, and head, along the roads, directly to the Friendly Arm Inn, which, by the way, you actually don't know where it is?

Also, wolves have a very decent save vs. Sleep, so it's touch and go whether that strategy (that a beginner would not know) would help you in the slightest.

Let me be clear: I do not like kiting. I avoid it wherever possible, but it's a valid strategy, especially for beginners.

If I remember correctly, the first time I played, Imoen and I went to where Gorion fell right away. I literally followed the roads and signs to go straight to the Friendly Arm Inn afterward, because I had just done everything the green monks in Candlekeep had told me to do, so why not do what the starting order was. Granted I had played about half of Baldur's Gate 2 before I started BG1, so I knew a little bit what I was doing from that. I eventually had to go look for help online then, because Imoen and I couldn't beat the mage at the Inn. After I read, I went back to an old save and picked up Xzar and Montaron to help beat the mage.

I tell you this, because I think what Not Jabba suggested is a perfectly reasonable thing to do your first play-through. On my first play-through, I did not look at a walkthrough right away because at the time I still had dial-up internet and did not have a working printer. Sometimes, I think you're just contrary for the sake of it.

First, and foremost, I never said what NotJabba said was not reasonable. I said that closing with an enemy when you're a squishy mage is a recipe for game over. I was making a distinction: he/she advised closing with the enemy. That is a sweeping statement, and in most cases will get you killed. Game over.

Secondly, to claim I am contrary just shows you either don't read correctly, or you have a reading comprehension problem. We (NotJabba and I) have two perfectly valid opinions. Just because I state mine does not mean I am contrary. All opinions count. Yes, even yours.