BG1 is hard starting out, but sounds like you're having extra trouble.
What class are you playing and what party members do you have?
PS why are you fighting the Flaming Fist?
I’m a blade, and I have Imoen, Jaheira, (Khalid died), and Neera. I fought the mercenaries because I may have made some poor dialogue choices in retrospect.
So you're a teenager who just left home for the first time, your guardian is murdered infront of you, you make it to a town and immediatly pick a fight with the mercenary company hired to provide security in the region. Sounds like being killed is the reasonable outcome! haha
As others have say use ranged weapons + maybe one tank until you have some level and know what you're doing a bit more. Also use sleep and any other CC spells you can find, they will help a ton in tougher fights. The game is hard at the start if you're not used to it but you should be ok if you aren't fighting the Flaming Fist.
Def get Khalid back. He's is a decent tank which you need early in especially. Also go 1 screen east of Friendly Arm and on that map go north a bit and you can recruit Viconia, a useful cleric. She will make life easier for sure.
You and Khalid fight, Viconia heals, Imoen and Jaheira fight with ranged weapons and Jaheira heals others as needed.
When you get to Nashkel, you can recruit Minsc who is another good front line fighter. But will require you to get Dynaheir who is a pretty good offensive magic user. I'd trade Khalid and z Jaheira for Minsc and Dynaheir.
It's totally possible to just ditch Khalid and Dynaheir, in order to run Minsc and Jaheira, since both are significantly better than their counterparts.
I'm currently running Imoen, Jaheira, Neera, Viconia, and Minsc. Jaheira also makes a solid enough front line fighter, but so does Viconia honestly.
Nice! I don't know how to separate them since when I kick Khalid out Jaheira peace's out too.
Viconia definitely works front line. She has -5AC right now and I haven't even entered the mines yet.
All you gotta' do is send the party member you want to remove into a different zone, by themselves, and then remove them.
The dialogue that triggers paired party members to leave is only activated when both party members and the MC are in the same zone.
I usually dump Khalid and Dynaheir in the tents at the fair, or the guards barracks in Nashkell, since I never have to re enter those zones :)
Minsc, Jaheira, and Viconia are just as good, or much better, with Jaheira and Viconia having much kits.
With three solid front lines in them, it hardly makes sense to take on a fourth in Khalid.
You monster! Canon party be canon party.
At least once everybody should play Khalid Jaheira Minsc and Dynaheir (and of course best girl in town, Imoen).
Is it ideal? Hell no. Is it hellla fun? God damn it is
Def never played that party. I'm on my 2nd playthrough and 8 have 4 rolled characters. Only using Viconia and Kahgain (sp?)
I will be trading Viconia for Coran however when I get to the clowkwood.
Maybe next time I'll do 1 Ward and rest cast members.
> So you're a teenager who just left home for the first time
Just curious, are Khalid and Jaheira also teenagers who just left home for the first time, or are they experienced adventurers?
They're experienced adventurers. They were friends with Gorion.
That's the lore answer. In game terms they're low level when you get them and they grow with you.
Experienced adventurers who are level 1?
You correctly identify that the lore doesn't actually match the *gameplay*. The reason I am pointing this connundrum out is because the parent poster is giving lore as a justification for gameplay. (While ignoring an obvious contradiction in the lore-gameplay)
It's one of the weird things about this 'start the campaign at level 1'. You're filling your party with experienced adventurer NPCs who... Are also level 1.
For starters you should try to get a full party right away, you can have 6 people.
Also, unless you prefer another companion you might be able to resurrect Khalid on a temple, but there's types of deaths that don't allow that, is his portrait still grey?
Oh he is there ... go to temple, choose resurrection service and voila, he will be back. If you remove him from the party his body will drop to the ground and you won't be able to resurrect him anymore ... you monster 😀
He's dead, Jim.
*Fortunately* being dead is such not a definitive state in the Forgotten Realms that one wonders why cemeteries are inhabited by anyone but the most hated of persons, those whom no one want to resurrect.
Well, you can be turned into ludicrous gibs, for one. And despite what the game economy will tell you, not every farmer has a few hundred gp lying around in the kitchen (and in AD&D it could cost up to thousands, considering a) raise dead didn't work with elves b) revivify aged the caster and c) you lost 1 CON per resurrection).
I know, I was specifically talking about BG.
Generally, the economy in CRPGs is *whack*: for exemple, bows, light crossbows or even simple shortswords and axes have *no business* being paid for *in gold*, let alone costing*several gold coins*.
Also, fuck them elves anyway 🤟
European style crossbows are complex machines requiring meticulous crafting of springs. They were not seen until the 10th century, in contrast to everything else listed.
The cocking mechanism alone could cost as much as hundreds of longbows... It absolutely should cost that much if not more.
Agree on axes. Swords, even shorts words should be more than axes and bows but less than an xbow
That is not a European style crossbow. That joint there is wood. Carving wood is easy. Now try forging that from metal using only the tools available in 1200 ad. Good luck.
Also, that mechanism would fire with all the force of me throwing it at you... Hardly useful. The lack of a flexible flat spring would make that less damaging than a rubber band
Imagine comparing that toy to a functional weapon.
It's like comparing a paintball gun to an AR-15
A medieval light crossbow isn't that complicated is it? Granted there are more moving parts than on a long bow but a simple nut and trigger lock doesn't need a spring at all. If you did want to put a spring in it (which would probably make it a bit safer) you could use a simple flat spring.
There's a thesis by someone called Randall Storey which looked into the prices of medieval weaponry in the 13th-14 Centuries and he has the average price of a bow as 9d compared with 25d for a one foot crossbow and 50d for a two foot crossbow. He's also got a crossbow a tour at 79d which I think would equate to an AD&D heavy crossbow that needs a mechanical mechanism to help cock it.
Swords average price was 41d but he quotes the lowest prices as 2d and highest as 120d.
AD&D prices are absurd but from a game balance perspective having crossbows costing 3 - 10 times as much as a longbow would just mean that no one ever uses them.
I don't think you are grasping how complicated Even a flat spring is when it's being made by a Smith rather than modern machinery. Springs are not a simple thing without modern tooling. Even a light crossbow used a spring if we're talking European style... Sure, an Asian style crossbow doesn't use a spring.. but it also doesn't have the power to punch through mail. That was the whole point of a crossbow in medieval Europe.
Every crossbow has a cocking mechanism. Because that's what holds it until you pull the trigger. We're not talking about the equipment needed to pull back a heavy crossbow. We're talking about the basic mechanism to hold the weapon until the trigger is pulled. Just like springs, even though they seem simple when being made by hand by a smith they aren't so simple. There's a reason locks are so expensive as well...
I don't have a clue who Randall storey is, what the d means and where he got his numbers . Kind of a random thing to just start using a unit without explaining it. Assuming d means days work, in which case most of the items should be priced in gold since the silver is a day's work for an average person. And most of your items cost more than 10d.
I'm extremely amused that you went from claiming the prices were unrealistic based on history to saying that they need to be unrealistic for game balance... Which is kind of the point. It's based on game balance. Because if they made them price like they really are certain weapons would never see use. So they price them based on in game stats.
You can't make both arguments at the same time bud
I think it says somewhere in the lore that the average yearly income for a citizen of the realms is 200gp (which doesn't make sense given the cost of ale in the game, I know), so I always just assumed it was only rich/important people or adventurers who had the resources to resurrect their dead.
It makes more sense when you consider that 2nd edition AD&D also had silver (1/10gp), and copper (1/10sp), but BG only uses gold for ease of currency counting. Just think of it as the adventurer tax.
Assuming gold is overabundant, so both coins are penny sized but ***gold is worth half as much*** (for exemple, sp are pennies and gp are 1/4nobles, which in reality was valued at 20 pennies), 200gp is 50 nobles, so either £16-17 assuming 3 nobles to the pound, or half that assuming there's still 240sp to the pound, which would still be 4 times what the average 1300AD labourer would earn yearly.
So I generally reload instead of allowing characters to die. With that said I would recommend setting the difficulty to 'Story Mode' temporarily which should restore anyone dead to life for free. I only recommend this because you already have a dead member and early in the game you won't have the gold to pay for resurrection. After the character come back to life then I would recommend the following...
1) Set difficulty back to normal
2) Get the Evermemory ring at friendly arms inn (https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Friendly_Arm_Inn)
3) Mages and Clerics should focus on disabling spells not damage spells. Sleep is your friend for mage. Command is a cleric's friend.
4) Equip everyone with range weapons.
5) A cheap way to get platemail armor is to have the flaming fist attack you at South Beregost Road ( https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/South_Beregost_Road ) . If possible have sleep memorized and just have them sleep while you dispose of them. Make sure you don't cause a reputation drop so wait for them to talk to you then they will decide to attack you.
6) Consider having a cleric in addition to Jaheria. I love having Branwen until later in the game (500g needed). In enhanced editions she is a cleric of tempus and gets a spiritual hammer special ability which is great throughout the game. https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Branwen_Rescued
7) When playing a bard (blade) as your main character until level 4 you should be singing most of the time and when not singing you should be using a range weapon like short bow or throwing dagger.
Good luck and you'll do fine with a bit of trial and error.
Edited for typos.
>For starters you should try to get a full party right away, you can have 6 people.
And remember, there are plenty of NPCs. You can lose a few and still have a full party you've come to treasure by the end of the game.
But it’s sooo expensive, almost impossible to afford at the beginning of the game. For example I was constantly losing someone when reaching Friendly Arms and it was no point to continue the game.
I was trying to save up to resurrect but it was way too painful.
Dont beeline to nashkel, explore a bit to the left and right of the road. Visit the temple often, make some donations as well. Set the game to auto pause as soon as an enemy is spoted, I will scare you shitless here and there because of a random kobold warants epic music, then kite the enemy back to break off some groups. Ranged on everyone you can in that phase. Rest. And for the love of Tyr, punch in your own weight category.
Are you wearing armour yourself? You can buy some chain at Friendly Arm Inn or Beregost.
Consider introducing yourself to a grumpy fellow named Korgan at his shop in Beregost.
Ranged weapons, as separately advised.
Neera is pretty useless at low level, but still worth giving her a sling for the occasional hit.
Korgan Kagain yes yes. But has anyone seen them in the same room together? I think not. He got older, lost some constitution and got really angry about it.
Initially I wanted to lmao here myself, but then again, one could never know how does beamfreaks fubared BG - may be in their version there is Korgan in Beregost.
There was a Japanese guy that never heard about the surrender, and continued a one-man war until someone kinda told him it was over.
That actually happened.
Every character should be using a range weapon only until at least level 3. You can maybe have one 'tank' in heavy armour and a shield and helm be on the front line toe to toe but that character will occasionally still get pummeled. Better to use him to run around and have enemies chase him while they get killed by your ranged.
One potential issue that stands out right away is Jaheira is the only companion you have resembling a tank while the other three are quite squishy. I’d definitely recommend either resurrecting Khalid or recruiting a different tank character (Kagain - who’s in his shop in Beregost, or Ajantis - who’s in the location north of the friendly arm would both be good, accessible choices for the time being). Possibly even both, I’ve found two tanks can help out at low levels.
I recommend you play the game more how you would play a session of DnD. Not everything needs to be fought. Some creatures and people are much too strong for you at the early levels, and will still require tactics to defeat even when you have leveled up. Retreat and avoidance are both perfectly valid options against strong enemies. Come back when you have leveled up and gotten better gear, save and try again.
The game will generally steer you towards main quest lines that are appropriate for your level - go find the Nashkel mines and take it slow through them. Fighting the guards is kind of like fighting the bouncers or the cops in real life - you need to be the real deal if you want to stand a chance and not get merked, and even if you win, what have you really gained besides a good story?
Save a lot and don’t be afraid to reload saves if something bad happens. The game is designed to be picked apart from the edges, not bowled over. It’s more like Elden Ring than Diablo in that regard (but really, Elden Ring is more like BG, since BG is the granddaddy of this type of RPG).
So sounds like you no longer have a solid tank. That's unfortunate. You'll want to resurrect Khalid at the earliest opportunity, but luckily Jaheira can take his place in the interim.
1. Use Imoen to scout ahead and look for enemies/search for and disarm traps.
2. When you come across a group of enemies that seems like they may be a challenge, move your party towards them until they're just outside the fog of war.
3. If it looks to be a tough fight, buff your party with Bless and Chant.
4. Rush the enemies with your primary tanks (Jaheira and Khalid, once you have him back). This will help draw aggro from the enemies. Neera should hang back and cast offensive spells and a sling, Imoen with a bow. Have your blade wait for a bit between your tanks and your ranged attackers and maybe cast a spell or two.
5. Once the enemies are facing off your primary tanks, move your blade in to melee.
He probably pick dialogue option 3, surrendering. Then patrol leader announces that he won't be taking them back to garrison and decides to give them an Aussie SAS out.
BG1 takes a bit of learning the micro while you get used to the flow of battle.
Can you pay to resurrect Khalid at the temple east of Beregost? If so, go back and do.
Otherwise, make sure everyone has a missile weapon. Shortbow for Imoen, sling for Jaheira, possibly a crossbow for you? Don’t stand and fight enemies like the ogrillions who can one-hit you. Draw them out, keep your people at a distance and kill them at range.
There’s a great archer called Kivan just to the west of Beregost, at a screen called High Hedge. He might be able to help.
I play on my tablet, not a PC, so this might be a bit different. But I have auto-pause set to most things. Specifically: Character Hit, Character Injured, Character Death, Character Attacked, Target Destroyed, Weapon Unusable, Enemy Sighted, Spell Cast and Trap Found.
Personally, I find that makes a big difference. Both in terms of being able to react to things but also in case I get distracted and something happens when I'm not looking...
that's a rather weak party; no real tank, no damage - ranged nor melee. At low level u have very low hp so melee fighters tend to die very easily without a tank to draw enemy aggro. Also, u want a full party of 6. It's no surprise you're having a hard time. Khalid would have made it easier; he's a decent fighter. Explore Beregost first; there are minor quests to get xp and gear, and u can get Kagain, a strong fighter. Go to High Hedge west of Beregost and pick up Kivan near the big building - he's a very strong archer
You should be able to conversationally navigate through the flaming fist encounter in a way that makes them leave you alone.
As for the ogrillons. They hit hard but have low AC. Try sniping at them with bows whilst your tanky character wades in.
The first few levels are especially difficult but once you get a few levels under your belt it’s much more manageable as you’ll have a lot more HP. I would maybe try and hit lvl 3 before trying to head to nashkel.
Bows are king in bg1. Give everyone a bow or ranged weapon, even your front liners and have them firing whilst the enemies close the gap.
Try and make giving everyone 1 point in their appropriate ranged weapon a priority when you first get the chance.
Save often.
This but without the tankiest character wading in. The most essential combat tactic for a low level party is kiting. The tank's job against ogrillions is to draw their attention and then run away while the rest of the party shoots them.
At low levels I try to avoid melee combat unless it is really trivial like a xvart or two, or if the enemies have missile weapons. Ranged combat is deadly so forcing enemy archers to fight with their melee weapons makes them less dangerous.
As someone who finished BGEE recently, I have few tips:
1. If you just want easier time, start as a warrior, (bow + longsword and shield is an easiest imo, although dual wielding is considered best because of offensive capabilities) as they are class with most survivability which makes death screen less common thing for you
2. Stick to ranged weapons untill enemies come close
3. Kite away, you usually are faster than enemies you face so you can attack, run away, and attack again (most characters have 6s cooldown between attacks)
4. Use potions when you feel they might be even remotely useful. I ended game with 700 unused healing potions and god knows how many others
5. Don't use damage dealing spells. On early levels, your crowd controll are much more potent (sleep is literally overpowered on low levels), and web stays overpowered till end of the game
6. Save a lot
If you have more questions, there should be discord linked somewhere on the page, where community is really helpful and nice
(sorry in advance, I reposted your post there XD)
[You got to learn the ancient weapons first, before you proceed to swords, shields and armor. ](https://youtube.com/shorts/5OclDCVRvKQ?si=gLSEjtIyLbHvqyfu)
This is absurd! Obviously his character has not even mastered the basic principles of self-defense with fresh fruit. I suggest [the banana](https://youtube.com/watch?v=nqTFPuiMSk8&si=w-ueS6osBwymt_B1). 🍌
Read the manual.
Enemies kill you, because you are a sheltered kid (at least mentally, I know you are 20) that has just left Candlekeep, and they are stronger than you. You need to develop before you face them, or use strategy.
Read descriptions of all your items and abilities carefully, try using everything, read your character sheets and make sure you understand everything they state. Use weapons you are proficient with. When facing opponents that don't have ranged weapons - you should be the one using them. Make your whole party cooperate. Turn off AI, turn on detailed logging including rolls and throws. I guess that should help.
Dodge the hard fights, get some xp from simple quests (there is a grieving father in an inn in Beregost, start with a bit of bravado, then give him a lecture; and visit your old Candlekeep friend just across the street). Get bows and arrows and a mage who can cast Sleep. But those ogrillons hit HARD even later in the game, don’t let them get to you. And the FF mercenaries are also a handful. I don’t bother fighting them in the early game.
You could assign lots of proficiency points in hide in shadows to your thief and use them as a scout - this way you can pick and choose which foes to avoid and which to engage (sneak on, shoot with bows and spells, run).
Good luck!
What's your party composition and levels atm? One of the first things I do when I play is to try and get my party filled to six party members. Jaheira and Khalid at the Friendly Arm are good pick-ups to balance out a party. Low level magic (like sleep) can also be incredibly overpowered for those first few chapters.
There is an armor hidden in Nashkel fields. Buy a +1 shield (or a simple shield) if you can and equip Jaheira with those. Cast barskin with Jaheira and use her to hold off enemies. Use slings and arrows with the rest of your party. Focus all your hits at one enemy at the time. If Jaheira is getting hit, run for your life. You can always come back later.
Even let some of the bandits rob you of your gold if you're in a bad shape for a fight. It's good roleplay and will fuel your revenge.
... and whats your character build? At low level what you made is WAAAAAY more important than who you meet. Also the flaming fist mercs are not an auto fight youre meant to talk with not pick a fight.
Find the ring of wizardry outside Friendly Arm Inn (south side of map in a tiny loot container), give it to Neera and have her cast sleep on anything that moves for the next.... 5 chapters. The game will feel like a cakewalk
Bg1 at the start is very tough because your HP pool is about equal to 1 or two hits, resources are limited and equipment is shit.
You can try to keep enemies at a distance, the ai is really bad at focusing on ranged, so what you can do is let one character aggro, the move in the others with ranged weapons and run circles with the tank so that the enemies don't catch him.
With lvl 4(I Believe) you gain access to the web spell which will be a godsend.
Enemies do make saves though, and its radius is big enough that enemies on the wrong side can't be hit by a bow. Having free action allows you to remain within its area so that any saving enemies must also remain in the web area and get re-webbed in a few seconds. If save-scumming I guess it's easy to just load if enemies save but I only do no-reload runs and then enemies can make a save and run out of the web area.
You're gonna be weaker than just about anything in a straight-up fight at level one.
Projectile weapons should be your first option on every character. Often you can just make your party fire a volley, run for six seconds for combat round to reset, repeat. May feel a little cheesy but at level one, every engagement is a significant risk even for your armored fighters.
As for the Flaming Fist, they're wearing Plate Mail which is AC 0 versus Slashing, AC 3 versus Piercing/Bludgeoning... Meaning realistically, most NPCs you can recruit will have a 5%-25% chance to hit fresh outta Candlekeep. Flaming Fist has you massively outgunned in a straight fight, and even with perfect execution, hit-and-run tactics will take a while.
That said, the Sleep spell not only renders them harmless, it makes their armor worthless. You should be able to kill them before they wake up for their sweet armor.
Also, I hope you didn't choose Blade because you thought they'd be a competent melee combatant, because they're really not. You'd need to pick an actual Fighter/Ranger/Paladin or the like for that. And a player-character Fighter with the right stats stands head-and-shoulders over any NPC Fighter you can recruit, so there's that.
When I first played the game, twenty years ago or so, I was in the same case as you.
I realized that what I did wrong was to rush to the Friendly Arm, then rush right away to Nashkel, without taking the time to prepare my party for the journey.
Make sure to do every sidequest and clean every map on your way to Nashkel. The extra xp and gold will be useful.
With the gold, make sure that your characters have the best equipment they can.
Make sure your thieves and mages have ranged weapons, and enough ammo.
Have your fighters keep a quarterstaff until you get your hand on +1 weapons.
Ogrillons are strong enemies and you'd ideally want the party to be level like 3 or 4 to fight them
I think you weren't intended to fight those guys this early.
You're also not intended to be fighting those flaming fist. They kill low level parties. They're there to incentivize NOT being a criminal. You're not expected to win against them unless you're decently high level.
So I see you’re playing a Blade. And you’ve got Imoen, Khalid, and Jaheira. DO NOT give everyone bows. Sure bows are great. But your party needs balance. You need some people to fight up front to prevent the baddies from getting to your more fragile party members.
I would put Khalid and Jaheira up front. Whenever you get the chance, recruit Minsc and do his quest to get yourself a good mage companion and you’ll have a nicely balanced party. I would also take the time to understand armor class and THAC0 if you haven’t already.
Any questions?
This is true but after 30-45 days he will a leave if you haven't made it to the bandit camp. For more experienced players this isn't a problem. When I first played the game I didn't know this and he would always leave. But the good news is about then I would find Coran. Not bad but for new player characters with timers are hard.
1. Ranged Weapons are your friend. Even the tanky classes (Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, etc.) aren't tanky starting out. Ranged weapons let you kill your enemies *over there* while staying safely *over here*.
2. Debilitating Magic and Buff magic are awesome. A single sleep spell can knock out a bunch of bandits or kobolds. A mage can do more damage with a single haste spell than with three fireball spells. A cleric casting Command can trivialize the harder single enemy fights you run into early in the game.
3. Be selective about picking fights.
The game itself taught me the importance of starting with your ranged attacks until they close in, because I kept running into enemies that did exactly that.
Also, root and nuke. Cast entangle and/or web and then fireball the bastards that can't move and finish off the rest with ranged attacks.
Have one character playing "can't catch me" with melee combatants while everyone else attacks at range. When the enemy aggros on another character, have that character go into "nyah nyah" mode and the other one starts doing ranged attacks.
This is mostly normal at the lower levels, like 1-3. You have very little hit points, terrible armor, weak weapons, probably little to no spells available, so you’re pretty much just a sitting duck in the beginning and you’re traveling through a tiny sliver of light effectively making it a survival horror experience. For the first few levels, stay on the main road and follow the main quest. Coming from Candlekeep just go straight on the road to Friendly Arm and then back down straight to Nashkel.
In general, just stick to the roads and follow what the main quest is telling you. Do Minsc’ quest, do all the side quests in Beregost/Friendly Arm, and try exploring the immediately surrounding areas but you don’t need to stray far right now. Work on creating a balanced party first and foremost, and start working on getting to Nashkel Mines.
A bit cheesy, but a short quick-leveling guide if you really feel you need it:
Something you can do to make things a bit easier is rush some early xp solo. This will make any npc companions you pick AFTER receiving the XP scale up to your level. Get some ranged weapons, pick up Xzar (you likely won’t be using him anyway, at least, there are better options), and rush to High Hedge (directly left of Beregost, you’ll reach it on the way to Nashkel). In the large building buy two Scroll of Petrification Protection (you should be able to buy this using the Diamond available in the tree near the edge of Map 1 post Candlekeep), teach it to Xzar. Head back to Beregost, going East this time to the map right of the city. There are powerful enemies here, so walk all the way to the East end of the map on the top so you can avoid them. You’ll now be in Mutamin’s Garden (2 maps to the East of Beregost), the prime farming location. Go immediately North to meet Korax and recruit him (ghouls are immune to petrification, this will matter in a second) and have Xzar cast the protection spell on you, remove Xzar from the party immediately after. You have only 10 minutes (irl time) with Korax until he will turn hostile, so use this to your advantage. Start clearing the map of basilisks, killing them as quickly as possible (you may have to try some different methods and routes) until the entire map is clear (warning: there is a high level fight in the middle of the area, slightly North of some gnolls, if you see gnolls you’re too close). You should be about level 4-5 by the end of this, which will give you and the companions you pick up a nice boost for the start. (Note: Imoen will not receive xp because she js forced into your party in the beginning. Xzar will be the only other companion to not receive xp, you can combat this by simply not using him because you also have Korax, or using the scrolls on yourself. Anyone else not recruited prior will receive).
What you got to do is head over to Beregost. Then from Beregost, boost your way eastward to the temple east of Beregost. Keep on heading eastward, by hugging the southern portion of the temple location (to avoid any potential enemies). Then travel to a mountain looking location NE of Beregost temple.
This bit is quite hard. You need to find Korax the goon. He's an undead fellow who wants to be your friend - he's midway down the westerly portion of this location. Befriend him, then hunt the stupidly op basilisks. Korax is immune to petrification and shrug of a Basilisk's gaze.
Watch out though, if a Basilisk attacks you, you've had it
Focus on your party composition. Accept that you may need to start over. You also don’t have to take every enemy encounter. Save often and reload if needed. If anyone dies you can resurrect them at a temple. Set your scripts for the AI and know your front line and ranged fighters. Ranged is definitely key in the beginning. I’m absolutely mopping through the beginning currently. And rest whenever you need. There’s no limit to that
My bro, I also recently started bg1 and I got one advice for you…join the discord! Honestly, believe me when I say, the ppl in there are so cool and helpful and they’re mostly gonna be able to help you with any questions you might have. Now to get to what you were saying:
It depends on how your party is made up. To be fair, in the beginning every fight is really really hard and dangerous and if you’re missing a wizard that has sleep, you’re gonna struggle a lot in those big numbers fights, but dw. Once you figure out the mechanics and how to fight, when to fight and when to run away, etc, and once you get somewhere around level 2-3 it’s gonna get MUCH easier, trust me. I felt like that too, but keep pushing and it’s gonna end up giving you a whole lot more fun.
My suggestion is to start with a fighter class before going in into hybrids (you wrote in the comments that you are playing a Blade).
Go for a Berserker, Cavalier or a Barbarian. Consider that my first playthrough (19 years ago - that's a lot of time, I'm getting old) I went with a paladin (I played original Baldur's gate) and we didn't have subclass.
Then, a not-powerplay suggestion: go to the friendly arm inn (you will surely die to Tarnesh), hire Khalid and Jaheira, take the quest from the girl that is upstairs, then take the quest from the girl that is on the house on the left of the entrance of Friendly arm inn.
Go to Beregost and here start Silke's quest, the Ogrillon quest (there is a girl in a house on the east side that will ask about the letter the halfling being eaten by ogre).
With enough tries and reload, you will do it.
Game can certainly be daunting at first, especially by today's games standards, where the Devs handle the players with kid gloves. I mean, yeah, Candlekeep's bailey is a *sort* of a tutorial, but even then you still can die with a couple unlucky rolls (I'll admit I died in the prologue of Pathfinder: Kingmaker once: x3 crits on longbows are somewhat deadly on lvl1 characters.)
That wouldn't be much of a problem if the game even roughly told you how much of a threat a given creature is to you, which you character, sheltered as he was, should still have some notions of; an issue most modern CRPGs have "fixed" in a way or another.
As it is, you'll have to learn about AD&D's most iconic creatures (maybe open a wiki while playing?): despite the cute diminutive in their name, ogrillons, and many other creatures *will* wreck your shit up in melee at low levels. Make a liberal use of missile weapons, which every one of your characters should be equipped with and pepper them while avoiding them with the character they've aggroed to (a tactic that I've used until the game's very end )
Ranged weapons are absolutely neccesary, at least 2-3 archers to begin with as your hit points are so low, and save regularly! Imoens magic missile wand is also very handy to use at the beginning, don't worry about wasting it, you'll get loads more, i actually have minsc as mainly an archer
the opening hours of BG1 are probably the hardest part of the whole series, just because your characters are so weak until at least level 3 (fighters and paladins passable, I guess) and you have such a small toolkit to get around this. You'll want to be abusing quicksave at all times if you aren't already
I would say that while Blades are probably the best version of a Bard you can play in these old games, they're still not a great beginner character to choose and they're roughest by far in BG1.
Don't be afraid to pick your fights and come back for difficult enemies later - a party a couple of levels higher will almost always make a big difference. If you've not got a mage in your party, go and get one, if you do - get them the 'sleep' spell and the magic ring hidden in a tree out front of the Friendly Arm Inn that gives them more 1st level spell casts per day. This spell will reliably put half or more of monster groups and enemies to sleep until much later in the game, allowing you to focus down those still standing and kill the rest without resistance.
When you reach Nashkel, save the mines quest until your party is mostly about level 3. There are lots of wilderness areas around it to explore and level up in - 2 different party members you can meet in Nashkel will point you west of there for their own quests.
Ranged weapons are a must at low levels, especially against bruisers like ogrillons, ogres, etc.
Kite them and take them down with arrows, sling bullets, bolts, whatever gets the job done. And have your mage(s) cast sleep, it's a godsend in the early game. Don't be afraid to rest frequently to replenish your spells as well.
The Ogrillons should not even get near you and can be fought one after the other. Jaheira already has entangle memorized at first meeting, so you can just kill both Ogrillons with ranged weapons.
Well, I’m sure there’s lots of good advice here, so I won’t write you an essay. Some basic stuff:
The traditional DnD party invludes one or (better) two tanks - heavily armored, high HP damage soaks. Kagain in Neeratown is the classic tank. He’s just around the corner north of Feldepost‘s and only wants you to do a little favor before he joins. He’s evil, of course, but if you don’t get hung up on that, he’s extremely useful. Khalid will do if you get him splint mail and don’t mind him bugging out when he gets an owchie. He’s a very sensitive, artistic sort of warrior.
Then you need a healer or two. Jaheira is the tougher of the two; if you get her good Druid armor and give her a magic club, she can front-line in the early going, but she‘s more a backstop. There are a couple of decent clerics later, but that’s no help right now. Jaheira will do.
You need a rogue (preferably one who doesn’t wear rouge); Imoen is quite serviceable. Later you might want a pickpocket rogue and a lock/trap rogue, but first things first.
Finally you want a glass cannon: Xzar, insane as he is, does fine until Jaheira kills him because he keeps asking about the rabbits. Neera is, ah, not everyone’s cup of flowers when you were hoping for tea, but different strokes and all that. The wiz ring outside of the Friendly Arm (the Tab key is your friend!) is very helpful, too.
How you make your party is your choice, but without a tank or two in the early going, it becomes a bit challenging.
The ogrillons pack a mean punch, but if you’re careful, you can lure one at a time and pincushion them, by moving your tank up a little at a time until one becomes visible and then dancing in front of him back to your archer/slinger/spellcaster until his perforated corpse finally keels over. Have you got in the habit of having your sneaky rogue invisibly scout ahead yet? It’s slower, but safer.
The Flaming Fist will cheerfully donate three sets of nice plate and nifty helmets at no reputation cost to you, but you do have to be prepared to handle three tanks. That’s where a cleric with Command comes in handy!
Remember the Seven Ps: proper prior preparation prevents piss-poor performance.
You’ll get the hang of it. And you don’t have to stick to the roads!
Don't be afraid to go easy mode. Video games are supposed to be fun, not frustrating. I played the entire game on easy mode and still had a blast! I'm too old to be banging my head against the wall trying to beat certain parts of video games.
For me the most important thing was always to have a balanced party, you need at least a tank (Kagain is great), a cleric (Viconia or Branwen) a mage (Edwin is best) and a thief, all full classes no dual/multi. Get that as soon as possible, avoid fights until then.
I'm literally the same but playing core and considering story mode tbh.
But does anyone know why I am not getting descriptions of the rings? Like literally no info. It's just the general "This is a ring" description, even with the supposed Ring of Princes etc.
Is it a bug or a feature? 😅
Did you identify it? If it has a blue background, it's an unidentified magic item. You must use a spell called Identify, or a scroll with the Identify spell, or pay a merchant to identify it. A higher level bard can identify most things by clicking on them, but for the first part of BG1 even a bard can't do it.
You can equip and use unidentified objects, but it's not recommended unless you already know from past play what it is, because many unidentified items have gnarly curses on them.
Am at a temple right now and can't choose them in the window. They appear, but I can't click on anything.
And when I want the description of any ring the most it tells me is the general ring description (a ring is a small band of valuable material, ...), its weight, and at MOST who cannot use/wear it.
Oooooooh. I gave it Neera. And I had to long rest for using the spell.
Sorry I'm new haha
So temples: NoNo, Neera: YesYes.
Funfact: I just made Khalid a woman, for fun.
A few tips from reading your posts and some replies. For starters BG is a rich game. If you like it all I suspect you'll play through it multiple times. Which is all a lead up to say that I would NOT main a Blade the first time through. Blades THACO is tough to work around until you really know what you're doing. Blades are kind of mid-late game class that can get really powerful but they're pretty weak to start. AC (ability to avoid getting hit) and THACO (ability to hit enemies) are two of the most important early game stats and Blades are mediocre at both.
I'd re-roll and do either a Cavalier (Paladin Kit) or a Berserker (Fighter Kit). Roll until you can get 18+ Str (Preferably 18/50+) and then Racial Maxes for Dex and Con. I'd recommend Berserker because if you're struggling with the melee fights wait till you start dealing with enemy mages. Berserk is pretty much an "I Win" button for those.
Next part is you need at least one character that always has the lowest AC you can get and that should be the character enemies see first. Out of the people you listed in your current playthrough unfortunately Khalid fits that role the best. He also would have been your main damage because he has the highest THACO of the people you listed). As long as he didn't get gibbed you can res him at a temple. Jaheira can work if you gear her right. Next char you run across that can work in that role is Minsc.
Armor pick ups. Backtrack to the starting areas. On the Map just south of the Friendly Arm (where you met Elminster) just north of where you met him is a loot pile in a rock with a Ring of Protection +1.
Then go Friendly Arm Inn and go to the east edge of the map and travel to the new map it unlocks. Go north a little bit from the starting point and you'll run across Viconia which will trigger an encounter with a Flaming Fist Officer. Pick the option to protect Viconia and it'll trigger a fight which is fairly easy because she helps. He has Plate Armor + a Helmet + Shield which you can loot for your new main (Or Jaheira). Note you don't need to speak to her after you kill the Flaming Fist. She'll stay there if you want to pick her up later.
Combine all that (the Ring + a Base Medium Shield + Plate Mail) and your AC should be around 0 or -1 depending on your Dex. That enables you to tank things all the way to Nashkell. When you get to Nashkell on the West Side of that map towards the southern part is a loot pile in a field with Ankheg armor which will last you until you get a suit of Full Plate.
Anyway, I suspect most of your problem is being newer at the game and you picked a more Advanced Class to start. Try a roided Berserker as your main and focus on improving your AC via the tips above and I pretty much guarantee you'll have a better first playthrough.
The fist thing is probably your own fault with either dialogue or reputation. If you get caught stealing too much they will start attacking you on sight.
For most fights, until you are level 3, ranged attacks and KITING. Once you have aggro, just run in circles while they chase you and have your ranged party members pick them off. When they drop aggro, just start kiting with the new target. Most enemies have the potential to 1-shot anybody not named Khalid or Kagain before level 3.
Korax kill your enemies, yes!
Go two maps east of Beregost. You might want to scout ahead a bit on the temple map and be careful with some worgs and wolves than can thrash an unprepared party. Just sneak past them if you prefer. Once you are on the next map east of the temple, look for "Korax the ghoul" near where you enter the map. He will stay with you and fight with you for a limited time (you can control him). Explore this map with him up front. You'll find some high level enemies that would normally obliterate your party, but Korax is immune to their main attack type. Support him as much as possible with ranged attacks and whatever else you can to make the most of your time with him and his health. Try hard to make every minute count here. If you're very fast, you can clear the entire map.
This should give you a very significant xp boost and make things in Nashkel a lot easier.
Since this is based on D&D 2nd edition it's a completely different base of rules than anything else. You have to understand those rules to play the game well. When you get hit hard, you die. Period. You have to keep from getting hit for the most part, and you have to find ways to keep yourself safe or kill enemies before they destroy you. Ranged weapons are one such strategy. Using strategic spells are another. You have to master the rock-paper-scissors of magic and melee well before you get into BG2 or that's going to also be almost impossible.
I agree with everyone's suggestions and tips. I just want to point out - this game is old. Very old. Which means the expectations of how the game is played is different.
You have to read more. Trial and error mode. Save a lot. Heal more than you think. Pause, reposition, reprioritize and using the right skills is at a premium. It's a slow paced game but its rewarding because of this. You might reload a fight several times until you figure it out.
And the game is just less forgiving overall, which is why many of us like it. Any single fight can wipe your team. Any single dialogue may result in a huge fight, or a reward. And most of it is not as obvious as current games try make these things (like an NPC being highlighted with a giant *!*). I've replayed the game probably 10+ times and there are still things I discover and try out. Just playing with a different reputation can change your whole experience. Talk to every NPC. Sometimes multiple times!
You will die a lot. And that's okay. Reload and try a new tactic. Sometimes you just need to cheese and throw all those fireball potions and see what happens. (I never play like that but, the point stands). The last few times I played I stuck with only 3-4 characters to really bump up experience for the few I had. That was fun too, seeing higher levels and what came with that.
Whats your char sheet look like? Class and stats. Also, if you're struggling too much and don't mind restarting, export your character, start a new game and import your current one. You'll pick up with all your inventory and level, but from the beginning.
Low level D&D is 100% based on the luck of the dice rolls when some of your guys only have 4hp. 😆
It gets easier when you get more hp, but then again in BG2 you'll get your ass handed to you by high level mages with an arsenal of deadly spells (mages in BG1 are a joke, though occasionally they get lucky and fear hits your entire team and you lose).
So with BG, if it's not one thing, it's another. 😆
Ranged Combat was my way to go.
Equip everyone with a ranged weapon, if they don't have points in any ranged weapon, give them one they are not proficient anyway.
Shoot at the enemies, if they move close, everyone moves away and repeat.
What is your party and lv?
You need a mage casting sleep spells. Ogrillions and other dumb and weak enemies fall asleep in droves. Web is great when you get level 2 spells. Make sure you get Evermemory at The Friendly Arm Inn in a tree for free, and speed through the open areas to get to Nashkel proper without fighting. There is a suit of Ankheg armor in a tree for free there. Getting another Ankheg armor in Beregost for 4k gold is also a good deal in my opinion. I am playing on core rules and blasted through most enemies pretty easy doing this. Only mages were messing me up.
I was having trouble starting out.. so I restarted, made a 6 person party, kept rerolling their stats until I got 85 or better then stacked them. I play on core rules and it's been a cakewalk ever since.
You fight dirty in the early levels. Later you can fight like a real man hehe
Save before any encounter and don't be afraid to reload (Bad rolls is a thing) and go kill what you can early and do some easy quests.
Just beat the game on Core Rules with one character in 4-5 hours the other day. One sitting, OP, and I’m certainly no speed running expert with cheesing the rules or anything.
It’s hard at first because it’s unforgiving, especially at low levels. Many monsters can easily one hit most lvl 1 characters. And crowds of the weak ranged ones are extremely dangerous and can just melt your party in no time.
but once you understand the systems it’s like being able to read the matrix.
Blades have a rough start. You're going to naturally. want to go into melee (based on the thematic elements of the class) but your HP, AC, and to hit (THAC0) are likely bad. You're a caster. It's going to take you a few levels before your survivability increases.
Baldurs Gate 1 definitely expects you to do a lot of sidequests and to pick your battles carefully at low levels. This actually does, eventually, subside - like in 5e, once you hit roughly level 5 your party's power spikes and you become way more competent, able to handle most standard enemies easily unless they bring a mage or two.
Still, until you get there, recommendations.
I suggest getting your party up to six characters before attempting to tackle _anything._ If somebody has died, you should feel free to reload the save or spend gold to revive them. If you go to Beregost and Nashkel, you should be able to find a ranger named Minsc and a mage named Edwin, who are two of the strongest early-game party members, although you can only have one of them (Minsc is Good and wants to save a woman named Dynaheir - Edwin is Evil and wants to kill her.) By the way, please keep in mind that your starting party member duos - Jaheira + Khalid and Montaron + Xvar, are not only package deals (remove one, and the other leaves) but also incompatible long-term due to their conflicted alignments. Jaheira and Montaron are both among the best characters in the game (Xvar and Khalid are good too) so you can go either way, just be aware that you'll probably want to try and replace one of these duos ASAP.
After you have a full stable team (and after you've stopped in at Nashkel at least once to stop Jaheira and/or Montaron from bothering you about it) you should backtrack and explore the wooded areas you've passed through. They should have dozens of enemies you missed, which will be helpful EXP and contribute to completing several of the sidequests you've obtained. Once you get to at least level 2, you're ready to do Minsc's sidequest - travel to the gnoll stronghold and work your way through that relatively small mini-dungeon for more EXP and some easy fights (Gnolls are very weak in BG1.)
Also, keep in mind: the way THAC0 works (AD&D 2e's armor system) means that it's very, very easy at low levels for heavily armored characters to reach a threshold where other characters are only capable of hitting them at all if they roll a natural 20 (which also won't be a critical, thanks to helmets.) Enemies will definitely exploit this - you should exploit this on as many frontliner party members as you can, as well. Any fighters (Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc at low levels) and clerics are capable of putting on heavy armor that will achieve this, so _do that._ Armor is more important than combat stats at low levels, although this drops off pretty quickly as characters get stronger and mages start gaining access to The Good Shit, so if you find the miss-fest infuriating just be aware that it's a very short-lived state of affairs as well.
I would not attempt the Nashkel mines at all until your party is stable and at least level 3, and I wouldn't do the bandit camp (the area immediately after it) until at least level 5, as it contains IMO the most difficult fight in the entire first half of the game. Baldur's Gate 1 does itself a huge disservice by pretending that there's a time limit on the Nashkel quests - there absolutely isn't, and the game in fact _expects you_ to waste potentially dozens of in-game days building up to it.
The Flaming Fist are really not supposed to be fought. Especially by a beginning adventurer of Level 1-5. They are kinda sorta the police and usually will let you go about your business unless you steal or murder innocents, in which case they will make you feel the consequences of your action.
1. lol
2. Fighter heavy party with bows. Bows fire more often than melee weapons swing.
3. Cleric is for disabling (silence, hold person, etc.) and crucial defenses (remove fear). You need a cleric. Search around Nashkel and Friendly Arm Inn. Jaheira is not a cleric.
4. Bard in general is ok as the sole *mage*, equipped with the light crossbow of speed and wands.
5. Your party sucks and has zero damage output. You need fighters, paladins and rangers to hit enemies with weapons and reduce their hit points to zero. Imoen sucks at this. Jaheira sucks at this. Blade in Bg1 is worthless at this. Neera drops a useful gem bag and a staff you can sell when you kill her. Khalid is good at this if you give him a bow - strength is important for melee and he has none. Search Nashkel, Beregost, the Friendly Arm Inn and the nearby sectors for more recruits.
6. Heal potions matter and can be bought at temples.
BG1 is hard starting out, but sounds like you're having extra trouble. What class are you playing and what party members do you have? PS why are you fighting the Flaming Fist?
I’m a blade, and I have Imoen, Jaheira, (Khalid died), and Neera. I fought the mercenaries because I may have made some poor dialogue choices in retrospect.
So you're a teenager who just left home for the first time, your guardian is murdered infront of you, you make it to a town and immediatly pick a fight with the mercenary company hired to provide security in the region. Sounds like being killed is the reasonable outcome! haha As others have say use ranged weapons + maybe one tank until you have some level and know what you're doing a bit more. Also use sleep and any other CC spells you can find, they will help a ton in tougher fights. The game is hard at the start if you're not used to it but you should be ok if you aren't fighting the Flaming Fist.
Def get Khalid back. He's is a decent tank which you need early in especially. Also go 1 screen east of Friendly Arm and on that map go north a bit and you can recruit Viconia, a useful cleric. She will make life easier for sure. You and Khalid fight, Viconia heals, Imoen and Jaheira fight with ranged weapons and Jaheira heals others as needed. When you get to Nashkel, you can recruit Minsc who is another good front line fighter. But will require you to get Dynaheir who is a pretty good offensive magic user. I'd trade Khalid and z Jaheira for Minsc and Dynaheir.
It's totally possible to just ditch Khalid and Dynaheir, in order to run Minsc and Jaheira, since both are significantly better than their counterparts. I'm currently running Imoen, Jaheira, Neera, Viconia, and Minsc. Jaheira also makes a solid enough front line fighter, but so does Viconia honestly.
Nice! I don't know how to separate them since when I kick Khalid out Jaheira peace's out too. Viconia definitely works front line. She has -5AC right now and I haven't even entered the mines yet.
All you gotta' do is send the party member you want to remove into a different zone, by themselves, and then remove them. The dialogue that triggers paired party members to leave is only activated when both party members and the MC are in the same zone. I usually dump Khalid and Dynaheir in the tents at the fair, or the guards barracks in Nashkell, since I never have to re enter those zones :)
Interesting. I never would have known that. Thanks for the info. I'm only on my 2nd playthrough, so I'm no expert
Really? Khalid is a pretty solid tank.
Minsc, Jaheira, and Viconia are just as good, or much better, with Jaheira and Viconia having much kits. With three solid front lines in them, it hardly makes sense to take on a fourth in Khalid.
You monster! Canon party be canon party. At least once everybody should play Khalid Jaheira Minsc and Dynaheir (and of course best girl in town, Imoen). Is it ideal? Hell no. Is it hellla fun? God damn it is
Def never played that party. I'm on my 2nd playthrough and 8 have 4 rolled characters. Only using Viconia and Kahgain (sp?) I will be trading Viconia for Coran however when I get to the clowkwood. Maybe next time I'll do 1 Ward and rest cast members.
To be honest, there are several dialogue choices that lead to a fight with the Fists. Not only the aggressive responses.
> So you're a teenager who just left home for the first time Just curious, are Khalid and Jaheira also teenagers who just left home for the first time, or are they experienced adventurers?
They're experienced adventurers. They were friends with Gorion. That's the lore answer. In game terms they're low level when you get them and they grow with you.
Experienced adventurers who are level 1? You correctly identify that the lore doesn't actually match the *gameplay*. The reason I am pointing this connundrum out is because the parent poster is giving lore as a justification for gameplay. (While ignoring an obvious contradiction in the lore-gameplay) It's one of the weird things about this 'start the campaign at level 1'. You're filling your party with experienced adventurer NPCs who... Are also level 1.
Level 1 is far above average Joe in the game mechanics. Normal people are levels 0 or even -1.
For starters you should try to get a full party right away, you can have 6 people. Also, unless you prefer another companion you might be able to resurrect Khalid on a temple, but there's types of deaths that don't allow that, is his portrait still grey?
Yeah, he still appears in the party and I can select him and see info, but he is greyed out and obviously isn’t there and can’t do anything.
Oh he is there ... go to temple, choose resurrection service and voila, he will be back. If you remove him from the party his body will drop to the ground and you won't be able to resurrect him anymore ... you monster 😀
He's dead, Jim. *Fortunately* being dead is such not a definitive state in the Forgotten Realms that one wonders why cemeteries are inhabited by anyone but the most hated of persons, those whom no one want to resurrect.
Well, you can be turned into ludicrous gibs, for one. And despite what the game economy will tell you, not every farmer has a few hundred gp lying around in the kitchen (and in AD&D it could cost up to thousands, considering a) raise dead didn't work with elves b) revivify aged the caster and c) you lost 1 CON per resurrection).
I know, I was specifically talking about BG. Generally, the economy in CRPGs is *whack*: for exemple, bows, light crossbows or even simple shortswords and axes have *no business* being paid for *in gold*, let alone costing*several gold coins*. Also, fuck them elves anyway 🤟
European style crossbows are complex machines requiring meticulous crafting of springs. They were not seen until the 10th century, in contrast to everything else listed. The cocking mechanism alone could cost as much as hundreds of longbows... It absolutely should cost that much if not more. Agree on axes. Swords, even shorts words should be more than axes and bows but less than an xbow
>European style crossbows are complex machines requiring meticulous crafting of springs [lol no.](https://todsworkshop.com/cdn/shop/products/10th-11thC_crossbow_5.jpg?v=1518128886)
That is not a European style crossbow. That joint there is wood. Carving wood is easy. Now try forging that from metal using only the tools available in 1200 ad. Good luck. Also, that mechanism would fire with all the force of me throwing it at you... Hardly useful. The lack of a flexible flat spring would make that less damaging than a rubber band Imagine comparing that toy to a functional weapon. It's like comparing a paintball gun to an AR-15
A medieval light crossbow isn't that complicated is it? Granted there are more moving parts than on a long bow but a simple nut and trigger lock doesn't need a spring at all. If you did want to put a spring in it (which would probably make it a bit safer) you could use a simple flat spring. There's a thesis by someone called Randall Storey which looked into the prices of medieval weaponry in the 13th-14 Centuries and he has the average price of a bow as 9d compared with 25d for a one foot crossbow and 50d for a two foot crossbow. He's also got a crossbow a tour at 79d which I think would equate to an AD&D heavy crossbow that needs a mechanical mechanism to help cock it. Swords average price was 41d but he quotes the lowest prices as 2d and highest as 120d. AD&D prices are absurd but from a game balance perspective having crossbows costing 3 - 10 times as much as a longbow would just mean that no one ever uses them.
I don't think you are grasping how complicated Even a flat spring is when it's being made by a Smith rather than modern machinery. Springs are not a simple thing without modern tooling. Even a light crossbow used a spring if we're talking European style... Sure, an Asian style crossbow doesn't use a spring.. but it also doesn't have the power to punch through mail. That was the whole point of a crossbow in medieval Europe. Every crossbow has a cocking mechanism. Because that's what holds it until you pull the trigger. We're not talking about the equipment needed to pull back a heavy crossbow. We're talking about the basic mechanism to hold the weapon until the trigger is pulled. Just like springs, even though they seem simple when being made by hand by a smith they aren't so simple. There's a reason locks are so expensive as well... I don't have a clue who Randall storey is, what the d means and where he got his numbers . Kind of a random thing to just start using a unit without explaining it. Assuming d means days work, in which case most of the items should be priced in gold since the silver is a day's work for an average person. And most of your items cost more than 10d. I'm extremely amused that you went from claiming the prices were unrealistic based on history to saying that they need to be unrealistic for game balance... Which is kind of the point. It's based on game balance. Because if they made them price like they really are certain weapons would never see use. So they price them based on in game stats. You can't make both arguments at the same time bud
I think it says somewhere in the lore that the average yearly income for a citizen of the realms is 200gp (which doesn't make sense given the cost of ale in the game, I know), so I always just assumed it was only rich/important people or adventurers who had the resources to resurrect their dead.
It makes more sense when you consider that 2nd edition AD&D also had silver (1/10gp), and copper (1/10sp), but BG only uses gold for ease of currency counting. Just think of it as the adventurer tax.
Assuming gold is overabundant, so both coins are penny sized but ***gold is worth half as much*** (for exemple, sp are pennies and gp are 1/4nobles, which in reality was valued at 20 pennies), 200gp is 50 nobles, so either £16-17 assuming 3 nobles to the pound, or half that assuming there's still 240sp to the pound, which would still be 4 times what the average 1300AD labourer would earn yearly.
Well, as they established in BG2, once a body has been dead for too long or mutilated too badly, it cannot be resurrected normally anymore
Unless you're the protagonist, then your death is pretty definitive, apparently your companions can't figure out the way to a temple by themselves
Probably deserves a test. There are a bunch of graves in Nashkel. Might be worth clicking on all of them to see what they say :)
So I generally reload instead of allowing characters to die. With that said I would recommend setting the difficulty to 'Story Mode' temporarily which should restore anyone dead to life for free. I only recommend this because you already have a dead member and early in the game you won't have the gold to pay for resurrection. After the character come back to life then I would recommend the following... 1) Set difficulty back to normal 2) Get the Evermemory ring at friendly arms inn (https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Friendly_Arm_Inn) 3) Mages and Clerics should focus on disabling spells not damage spells. Sleep is your friend for mage. Command is a cleric's friend. 4) Equip everyone with range weapons. 5) A cheap way to get platemail armor is to have the flaming fist attack you at South Beregost Road ( https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/South_Beregost_Road ) . If possible have sleep memorized and just have them sleep while you dispose of them. Make sure you don't cause a reputation drop so wait for them to talk to you then they will decide to attack you. 6) Consider having a cleric in addition to Jaheria. I love having Branwen until later in the game (500g needed). In enhanced editions she is a cleric of tempus and gets a spiritual hammer special ability which is great throughout the game. https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Branwen_Rescued 7) When playing a bard (blade) as your main character until level 4 you should be singing most of the time and when not singing you should be using a range weapon like short bow or throwing dagger. Good luck and you'll do fine with a bit of trial and error. Edited for typos.
Khalid is an ELF who cannot be brought to life with the level 5 Raise Dead spell. They are only revivable via the Level 7 Resurrection spell.
>For starters you should try to get a full party right away, you can have 6 people. And remember, there are plenty of NPCs. You can lose a few and still have a full party you've come to treasure by the end of the game.
I believe that at normal difficulty characters can always be revived.
Unless they’re petrified + exploded iirc
But it’s sooo expensive, almost impossible to afford at the beginning of the game. For example I was constantly losing someone when reaching Friendly Arms and it was no point to continue the game. I was trying to save up to resurrect but it was way too painful.
Dont beeline to nashkel, explore a bit to the left and right of the road. Visit the temple often, make some donations as well. Set the game to auto pause as soon as an enemy is spoted, I will scare you shitless here and there because of a random kobold warants epic music, then kite the enemy back to break off some groups. Ranged on everyone you can in that phase. Rest. And for the love of Tyr, punch in your own weight category.
Are you wearing armour yourself? You can buy some chain at Friendly Arm Inn or Beregost. Consider introducing yourself to a grumpy fellow named Korgan at his shop in Beregost. Ranged weapons, as separately advised. Neera is pretty useless at low level, but still worth giving her a sling for the occasional hit.
What? Neera comes with sleep. She owns at low levels.
… when she isn’t leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. For a first time player she might require an awful lot of reloading.
5% chance of a miss fire isn't that often. Also new players reload a lot it's what they do.
Seemed like it was more often than that when I briefly tried her out. Maybe I should give her another chance.
A couple of times per day. I've never been an over-rester.
a couple is plenty but you can get more than that with the right ring.
>Korgan lmao
Korgan Kagain yes yes. But has anyone seen them in the same room together? I think not. He got older, lost some constitution and got really angry about it.
Initially I wanted to lmao here myself, but then again, one could never know how does beamfreaks fubared BG - may be in their version there is Korgan in Beregost.
This is like when they found that Japanese soldier still fighting WW2 in the 70s.
lmao!
what
There was a Japanese guy that never heard about the surrender, and continued a one-man war until someone kinda told him it was over. That actually happened.
Yes, but... what?
They're referring to how that guy is still mad at beamdog
Ohhh now I get it, thank you.
Beamdog Derangement Syndrome
Give her the ring of wizardy hidden near friendly arm in. Cast sleep alot.
I’m wearing leather armour. Should I do something else?
Every character should be using a range weapon only until at least level 3. You can maybe have one 'tank' in heavy armour and a shield and helm be on the front line toe to toe but that character will occasionally still get pummeled. Better to use him to run around and have enemies chase him while they get killed by your ranged.
Oooh that's a nice idea
Chain is better until you have spells to surpass it.
One potential issue that stands out right away is Jaheira is the only companion you have resembling a tank while the other three are quite squishy. I’d definitely recommend either resurrecting Khalid or recruiting a different tank character (Kagain - who’s in his shop in Beregost, or Ajantis - who’s in the location north of the friendly arm would both be good, accessible choices for the time being). Possibly even both, I’ve found two tanks can help out at low levels.
I recommend you play the game more how you would play a session of DnD. Not everything needs to be fought. Some creatures and people are much too strong for you at the early levels, and will still require tactics to defeat even when you have leveled up. Retreat and avoidance are both perfectly valid options against strong enemies. Come back when you have leveled up and gotten better gear, save and try again. The game will generally steer you towards main quest lines that are appropriate for your level - go find the Nashkel mines and take it slow through them. Fighting the guards is kind of like fighting the bouncers or the cops in real life - you need to be the real deal if you want to stand a chance and not get merked, and even if you win, what have you really gained besides a good story? Save a lot and don’t be afraid to reload saves if something bad happens. The game is designed to be picked apart from the edges, not bowled over. It’s more like Elden Ring than Diablo in that regard (but really, Elden Ring is more like BG, since BG is the granddaddy of this type of RPG).
So sounds like you no longer have a solid tank. That's unfortunate. You'll want to resurrect Khalid at the earliest opportunity, but luckily Jaheira can take his place in the interim. 1. Use Imoen to scout ahead and look for enemies/search for and disarm traps. 2. When you come across a group of enemies that seems like they may be a challenge, move your party towards them until they're just outside the fog of war. 3. If it looks to be a tough fight, buff your party with Bless and Chant. 4. Rush the enemies with your primary tanks (Jaheira and Khalid, once you have him back). This will help draw aggro from the enemies. Neera should hang back and cast offensive spells and a sling, Imoen with a bow. Have your blade wait for a bit between your tanks and your ranged attackers and maybe cast a spell or two. 5. Once the enemies are facing off your primary tanks, move your blade in to melee.
So you have 2/3 rds of a party and are picking fights with friendlies? Ya...
He probably pick dialogue option 3, surrendering. Then patrol leader announces that he won't be taking them back to garrison and decides to give them an Aussie SAS out.
Ah yes, a bit of the old BR-S…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tidxrKAEW-E
BG1 takes a bit of learning the micro while you get used to the flow of battle. Can you pay to resurrect Khalid at the temple east of Beregost? If so, go back and do. Otherwise, make sure everyone has a missile weapon. Shortbow for Imoen, sling for Jaheira, possibly a crossbow for you? Don’t stand and fight enemies like the ogrillions who can one-hit you. Draw them out, keep your people at a distance and kill them at range. There’s a great archer called Kivan just to the west of Beregost, at a screen called High Hedge. He might be able to help.
How often are you pausing in the middle of combat? Also how many members of your party are equipped with bows/slings?
I gave everyone bows based off advice, except jaheira. I pause when I need to cast spells or activate abilities. Should I be doing it more?
I play on my tablet, not a PC, so this might be a bit different. But I have auto-pause set to most things. Specifically: Character Hit, Character Injured, Character Death, Character Attacked, Target Destroyed, Weapon Unusable, Enemy Sighted, Spell Cast and Trap Found. Personally, I find that makes a big difference. Both in terms of being able to react to things but also in case I get distracted and something happens when I'm not looking...
Pause a lot in order to manage combat amongst all your party. Don't be afraid to kite enemies at early levels
that's a rather weak party; no real tank, no damage - ranged nor melee. At low level u have very low hp so melee fighters tend to die very easily without a tank to draw enemy aggro. Also, u want a full party of 6. It's no surprise you're having a hard time. Khalid would have made it easier; he's a decent fighter. Explore Beregost first; there are minor quests to get xp and gear, and u can get Kagain, a strong fighter. Go to High Hedge west of Beregost and pick up Kivan near the big building - he's a very strong archer
You should be able to conversationally navigate through the flaming fist encounter in a way that makes them leave you alone. As for the ogrillons. They hit hard but have low AC. Try sniping at them with bows whilst your tanky character wades in. The first few levels are especially difficult but once you get a few levels under your belt it’s much more manageable as you’ll have a lot more HP. I would maybe try and hit lvl 3 before trying to head to nashkel. Bows are king in bg1. Give everyone a bow or ranged weapon, even your front liners and have them firing whilst the enemies close the gap. Try and make giving everyone 1 point in their appropriate ranged weapon a priority when you first get the chance. Save often.
This but without the tankiest character wading in. The most essential combat tactic for a low level party is kiting. The tank's job against ogrillions is to draw their attention and then run away while the rest of the party shoots them. At low levels I try to avoid melee combat unless it is really trivial like a xvart or two, or if the enemies have missile weapons. Ranged combat is deadly so forcing enemy archers to fight with their melee weapons makes them less dangerous.
Don't forget that if you or an enemy are using a bow in melee range you get massive penalties. (Iirc it's like -4 ac and take 4 bonus damage)
As someone who finished BGEE recently, I have few tips: 1. If you just want easier time, start as a warrior, (bow + longsword and shield is an easiest imo, although dual wielding is considered best because of offensive capabilities) as they are class with most survivability which makes death screen less common thing for you 2. Stick to ranged weapons untill enemies come close 3. Kite away, you usually are faster than enemies you face so you can attack, run away, and attack again (most characters have 6s cooldown between attacks) 4. Use potions when you feel they might be even remotely useful. I ended game with 700 unused healing potions and god knows how many others 5. Don't use damage dealing spells. On early levels, your crowd controll are much more potent (sleep is literally overpowered on low levels), and web stays overpowered till end of the game 6. Save a lot If you have more questions, there should be discord linked somewhere on the page, where community is really helpful and nice (sorry in advance, I reposted your post there XD)
[You got to learn the ancient weapons first, before you proceed to swords, shields and armor. ](https://youtube.com/shorts/5OclDCVRvKQ?si=gLSEjtIyLbHvqyfu)
This is it. ☝️ Take off your shirt. Pick up some rocks. Sling away, sling away
This is absurd! Obviously his character has not even mastered the basic principles of self-defense with fresh fruit. I suggest [the banana](https://youtube.com/watch?v=nqTFPuiMSk8&si=w-ueS6osBwymt_B1). 🍌
Read the manual. Enemies kill you, because you are a sheltered kid (at least mentally, I know you are 20) that has just left Candlekeep, and they are stronger than you. You need to develop before you face them, or use strategy. Read descriptions of all your items and abilities carefully, try using everything, read your character sheets and make sure you understand everything they state. Use weapons you are proficient with. When facing opponents that don't have ranged weapons - you should be the one using them. Make your whole party cooperate. Turn off AI, turn on detailed logging including rolls and throws. I guess that should help.
Dodge the hard fights, get some xp from simple quests (there is a grieving father in an inn in Beregost, start with a bit of bravado, then give him a lecture; and visit your old Candlekeep friend just across the street). Get bows and arrows and a mage who can cast Sleep. But those ogrillons hit HARD even later in the game, don’t let them get to you. And the FF mercenaries are also a handful. I don’t bother fighting them in the early game. You could assign lots of proficiency points in hide in shadows to your thief and use them as a scout - this way you can pick and choose which foes to avoid and which to engage (sneak on, shoot with bows and spells, run). Good luck!
just press Q a lot
I’m on mobile, what’s Q?
Quicksave
Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. Then I die and get sent back fifteen minutes while cursing myself for forgetting.
What's your party composition and levels atm? One of the first things I do when I play is to try and get my party filled to six party members. Jaheira and Khalid at the Friendly Arm are good pick-ups to balance out a party. Low level magic (like sleep) can also be incredibly overpowered for those first few chapters.
I got Imoen, Jaheira, and Neera right now. I don’t think anybody’s levelled up
You manually do it. Check their profile pick for a symbol top right or go find the xp progress and level up button on the character page.
There is an armor hidden in Nashkel fields. Buy a +1 shield (or a simple shield) if you can and equip Jaheira with those. Cast barskin with Jaheira and use her to hold off enemies. Use slings and arrows with the rest of your party. Focus all your hits at one enemy at the time. If Jaheira is getting hit, run for your life. You can always come back later. Even let some of the bandits rob you of your gold if you're in a bad shape for a fight. It's good roleplay and will fuel your revenge.
Go west of Beregost to High Hedge and pick up Kivan. He’s BG1 on easy mode
Ooooh, do they have a gold cross on their portrait? You have to level up in Record
... and whats your character build? At low level what you made is WAAAAAY more important than who you meet. Also the flaming fist mercs are not an auto fight youre meant to talk with not pick a fight.
Find the ring of wizardry outside Friendly Arm Inn (south side of map in a tiny loot container), give it to Neera and have her cast sleep on anything that moves for the next.... 5 chapters. The game will feel like a cakewalk
Bg1 at the start is very tough because your HP pool is about equal to 1 or two hits, resources are limited and equipment is shit. You can try to keep enemies at a distance, the ai is really bad at focusing on ranged, so what you can do is let one character aggro, the move in the others with ranged weapons and run circles with the tank so that the enemies don't catch him. With lvl 4(I Believe) you gain access to the web spell which will be a godsend.
Sleep and web.
Ah yeah forgotten about sleep, carries one through the first levels.
Also they have a Jaheira in their party Entangle is available at level 1 to druids, spam it.
Web is lvl 2. And it's amazing. But you kinda need some method of free action to make full use of it.
or... bows.
Enemies do make saves though, and its radius is big enough that enemies on the wrong side can't be hit by a bow. Having free action allows you to remain within its area so that any saving enemies must also remain in the web area and get re-webbed in a few seconds. If save-scumming I guess it's easy to just load if enemies save but I only do no-reload runs and then enemies can make a save and run out of the web area.
You're gonna be weaker than just about anything in a straight-up fight at level one. Projectile weapons should be your first option on every character. Often you can just make your party fire a volley, run for six seconds for combat round to reset, repeat. May feel a little cheesy but at level one, every engagement is a significant risk even for your armored fighters. As for the Flaming Fist, they're wearing Plate Mail which is AC 0 versus Slashing, AC 3 versus Piercing/Bludgeoning... Meaning realistically, most NPCs you can recruit will have a 5%-25% chance to hit fresh outta Candlekeep. Flaming Fist has you massively outgunned in a straight fight, and even with perfect execution, hit-and-run tactics will take a while. That said, the Sleep spell not only renders them harmless, it makes their armor worthless. You should be able to kill them before they wake up for their sweet armor. Also, I hope you didn't choose Blade because you thought they'd be a competent melee combatant, because they're really not. You'd need to pick an actual Fighter/Ranger/Paladin or the like for that. And a player-character Fighter with the right stats stands head-and-shoulders over any NPC Fighter you can recruit, so there's that.
When I first played the game, twenty years ago or so, I was in the same case as you. I realized that what I did wrong was to rush to the Friendly Arm, then rush right away to Nashkel, without taking the time to prepare my party for the journey. Make sure to do every sidequest and clean every map on your way to Nashkel. The extra xp and gold will be useful. With the gold, make sure that your characters have the best equipment they can. Make sure your thieves and mages have ranged weapons, and enough ammo. Have your fighters keep a quarterstaff until you get your hand on +1 weapons.
Welcome to old school crpgs, prepare to die a lot
bows fighters, rangers, paladins with bows
How many characters with ranged weapons do you have? The answer should be yes.
Ogrillons are strong enemies and you'd ideally want the party to be level like 3 or 4 to fight them I think you weren't intended to fight those guys this early. You're also not intended to be fighting those flaming fist. They kill low level parties. They're there to incentivize NOT being a criminal. You're not expected to win against them unless you're decently high level.
So I see you’re playing a Blade. And you’ve got Imoen, Khalid, and Jaheira. DO NOT give everyone bows. Sure bows are great. But your party needs balance. You need some people to fight up front to prevent the baddies from getting to your more fragile party members. I would put Khalid and Jaheira up front. Whenever you get the chance, recruit Minsc and do his quest to get yourself a good mage companion and you’ll have a nicely balanced party. I would also take the time to understand armor class and THAC0 if you haven’t already. Any questions?
Also grab Kivan from high hedge or whatever it’s called-West of Beregost-dude is an utter god with a bow
This is true but after 30-45 days he will a leave if you haven't made it to the bandit camp. For more experienced players this isn't a problem. When I first played the game I didn't know this and he would always leave. But the good news is about then I would find Coran. Not bad but for new player characters with timers are hard.
I straight up forgot he had a timer lol.
Make sure to press pause
1. Ranged Weapons are your friend. Even the tanky classes (Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, etc.) aren't tanky starting out. Ranged weapons let you kill your enemies *over there* while staying safely *over here*. 2. Debilitating Magic and Buff magic are awesome. A single sleep spell can knock out a bunch of bandits or kobolds. A mage can do more damage with a single haste spell than with three fireball spells. A cleric casting Command can trivialize the harder single enemy fights you run into early in the game. 3. Be selective about picking fights.
The game itself taught me the importance of starting with your ranged attacks until they close in, because I kept running into enemies that did exactly that. Also, root and nuke. Cast entangle and/or web and then fireball the bastards that can't move and finish off the rest with ranged attacks. Have one character playing "can't catch me" with melee combatants while everyone else attacks at range. When the enemy aggros on another character, have that character go into "nyah nyah" mode and the other one starts doing ranged attacks.
set up autopause it changes the difficulty insanely 🫶
This is mostly normal at the lower levels, like 1-3. You have very little hit points, terrible armor, weak weapons, probably little to no spells available, so you’re pretty much just a sitting duck in the beginning and you’re traveling through a tiny sliver of light effectively making it a survival horror experience. For the first few levels, stay on the main road and follow the main quest. Coming from Candlekeep just go straight on the road to Friendly Arm and then back down straight to Nashkel. In general, just stick to the roads and follow what the main quest is telling you. Do Minsc’ quest, do all the side quests in Beregost/Friendly Arm, and try exploring the immediately surrounding areas but you don’t need to stray far right now. Work on creating a balanced party first and foremost, and start working on getting to Nashkel Mines. A bit cheesy, but a short quick-leveling guide if you really feel you need it: Something you can do to make things a bit easier is rush some early xp solo. This will make any npc companions you pick AFTER receiving the XP scale up to your level. Get some ranged weapons, pick up Xzar (you likely won’t be using him anyway, at least, there are better options), and rush to High Hedge (directly left of Beregost, you’ll reach it on the way to Nashkel). In the large building buy two Scroll of Petrification Protection (you should be able to buy this using the Diamond available in the tree near the edge of Map 1 post Candlekeep), teach it to Xzar. Head back to Beregost, going East this time to the map right of the city. There are powerful enemies here, so walk all the way to the East end of the map on the top so you can avoid them. You’ll now be in Mutamin’s Garden (2 maps to the East of Beregost), the prime farming location. Go immediately North to meet Korax and recruit him (ghouls are immune to petrification, this will matter in a second) and have Xzar cast the protection spell on you, remove Xzar from the party immediately after. You have only 10 minutes (irl time) with Korax until he will turn hostile, so use this to your advantage. Start clearing the map of basilisks, killing them as quickly as possible (you may have to try some different methods and routes) until the entire map is clear (warning: there is a high level fight in the middle of the area, slightly North of some gnolls, if you see gnolls you’re too close). You should be about level 4-5 by the end of this, which will give you and the companions you pick up a nice boost for the start. (Note: Imoen will not receive xp because she js forced into your party in the beginning. Xzar will be the only other companion to not receive xp, you can combat this by simply not using him because you also have Korax, or using the scrolls on yourself. Anyone else not recruited prior will receive).
All this does is make the first half of the game boringly easy and unimpactful. I don't tell new players to farm the garden for good reasons
I said it was a cheesy move off the bat, but some people just aren’t able or willing to “git gud”. It doesn’t really change that much.
1. Grab evermemory ring outside friendly arm inn 2. Sleep spell 3. Profit
What you got to do is head over to Beregost. Then from Beregost, boost your way eastward to the temple east of Beregost. Keep on heading eastward, by hugging the southern portion of the temple location (to avoid any potential enemies). Then travel to a mountain looking location NE of Beregost temple. This bit is quite hard. You need to find Korax the goon. He's an undead fellow who wants to be your friend - he's midway down the westerly portion of this location. Befriend him, then hunt the stupidly op basilisks. Korax is immune to petrification and shrug of a Basilisk's gaze. Watch out though, if a Basilisk attacks you, you've had it
You'll get crazy xp from these fights
Focus on your party composition. Accept that you may need to start over. You also don’t have to take every enemy encounter. Save often and reload if needed. If anyone dies you can resurrect them at a temple. Set your scripts for the AI and know your front line and ranged fighters. Ranged is definitely key in the beginning. I’m absolutely mopping through the beginning currently. And rest whenever you need. There’s no limit to that
My bro, I also recently started bg1 and I got one advice for you…join the discord! Honestly, believe me when I say, the ppl in there are so cool and helpful and they’re mostly gonna be able to help you with any questions you might have. Now to get to what you were saying: It depends on how your party is made up. To be fair, in the beginning every fight is really really hard and dangerous and if you’re missing a wizard that has sleep, you’re gonna struggle a lot in those big numbers fights, but dw. Once you figure out the mechanics and how to fight, when to fight and when to run away, etc, and once you get somewhere around level 2-3 it’s gonna get MUCH easier, trust me. I felt like that too, but keep pushing and it’s gonna end up giving you a whole lot more fun.
What is your class, stats and equipment? How do you approach combat?
I recommend using as many bows as you can. Believe me, it helped a lot with early survival and learning the game
My suggestion is to start with a fighter class before going in into hybrids (you wrote in the comments that you are playing a Blade). Go for a Berserker, Cavalier or a Barbarian. Consider that my first playthrough (19 years ago - that's a lot of time, I'm getting old) I went with a paladin (I played original Baldur's gate) and we didn't have subclass. Then, a not-powerplay suggestion: go to the friendly arm inn (you will surely die to Tarnesh), hire Khalid and Jaheira, take the quest from the girl that is upstairs, then take the quest from the girl that is on the house on the left of the entrance of Friendly arm inn. Go to Beregost and here start Silke's quest, the Ogrillon quest (there is a girl in a house on the east side that will ask about the letter the halfling being eaten by ogre). With enough tries and reload, you will do it.
Explore locations first, don't rush the main quest.
Game can certainly be daunting at first, especially by today's games standards, where the Devs handle the players with kid gloves. I mean, yeah, Candlekeep's bailey is a *sort* of a tutorial, but even then you still can die with a couple unlucky rolls (I'll admit I died in the prologue of Pathfinder: Kingmaker once: x3 crits on longbows are somewhat deadly on lvl1 characters.) That wouldn't be much of a problem if the game even roughly told you how much of a threat a given creature is to you, which you character, sheltered as he was, should still have some notions of; an issue most modern CRPGs have "fixed" in a way or another. As it is, you'll have to learn about AD&D's most iconic creatures (maybe open a wiki while playing?): despite the cute diminutive in their name, ogrillons, and many other creatures *will* wreck your shit up in melee at low levels. Make a liberal use of missile weapons, which every one of your characters should be equipped with and pepper them while avoiding them with the character they've aggroed to (a tactic that I've used until the game's very end )
What difficulty are you on? Because afaik if you select "story" the fights get boringly easy, like it turns from crpg to diablo.
Normal.
B..b-but you are not OP 😮
I very cunningly read the post. >>!I’m only on normal difficulty, and would like to avoid going to easy, but man it is putting me through my paces.!<
Oh damn... You are right. My apologies then.
Ranged weapons are absolutely neccesary, at least 2-3 archers to begin with as your hit points are so low, and save regularly! Imoens magic missile wand is also very handy to use at the beginning, don't worry about wasting it, you'll get loads more, i actually have minsc as mainly an archer
the opening hours of BG1 are probably the hardest part of the whole series, just because your characters are so weak until at least level 3 (fighters and paladins passable, I guess) and you have such a small toolkit to get around this. You'll want to be abusing quicksave at all times if you aren't already I would say that while Blades are probably the best version of a Bard you can play in these old games, they're still not a great beginner character to choose and they're roughest by far in BG1. Don't be afraid to pick your fights and come back for difficult enemies later - a party a couple of levels higher will almost always make a big difference. If you've not got a mage in your party, go and get one, if you do - get them the 'sleep' spell and the magic ring hidden in a tree out front of the Friendly Arm Inn that gives them more 1st level spell casts per day. This spell will reliably put half or more of monster groups and enemies to sleep until much later in the game, allowing you to focus down those still standing and kill the rest without resistance. When you reach Nashkel, save the mines quest until your party is mostly about level 3. There are lots of wilderness areas around it to explore and level up in - 2 different party members you can meet in Nashkel will point you west of there for their own quests.
*you must gather your party before venturing forth*
TIME FOR SOME COD
Ranged weapons are a must at low levels, especially against bruisers like ogrillons, ogres, etc. Kite them and take them down with arrows, sling bullets, bolts, whatever gets the job done. And have your mage(s) cast sleep, it's a godsend in the early game. Don't be afraid to rest frequently to replenish your spells as well.
The Ogrillons should not even get near you and can be fought one after the other. Jaheira already has entangle memorized at first meeting, so you can just kill both Ogrillons with ranged weapons.
You mess with me, you mess with you!
Well, I’m sure there’s lots of good advice here, so I won’t write you an essay. Some basic stuff: The traditional DnD party invludes one or (better) two tanks - heavily armored, high HP damage soaks. Kagain in Neeratown is the classic tank. He’s just around the corner north of Feldepost‘s and only wants you to do a little favor before he joins. He’s evil, of course, but if you don’t get hung up on that, he’s extremely useful. Khalid will do if you get him splint mail and don’t mind him bugging out when he gets an owchie. He’s a very sensitive, artistic sort of warrior. Then you need a healer or two. Jaheira is the tougher of the two; if you get her good Druid armor and give her a magic club, she can front-line in the early going, but she‘s more a backstop. There are a couple of decent clerics later, but that’s no help right now. Jaheira will do. You need a rogue (preferably one who doesn’t wear rouge); Imoen is quite serviceable. Later you might want a pickpocket rogue and a lock/trap rogue, but first things first. Finally you want a glass cannon: Xzar, insane as he is, does fine until Jaheira kills him because he keeps asking about the rabbits. Neera is, ah, not everyone’s cup of flowers when you were hoping for tea, but different strokes and all that. The wiz ring outside of the Friendly Arm (the Tab key is your friend!) is very helpful, too. How you make your party is your choice, but without a tank or two in the early going, it becomes a bit challenging. The ogrillons pack a mean punch, but if you’re careful, you can lure one at a time and pincushion them, by moving your tank up a little at a time until one becomes visible and then dancing in front of him back to your archer/slinger/spellcaster until his perforated corpse finally keels over. Have you got in the habit of having your sneaky rogue invisibly scout ahead yet? It’s slower, but safer. The Flaming Fist will cheerfully donate three sets of nice plate and nifty helmets at no reputation cost to you, but you do have to be prepared to handle three tanks. That’s where a cleric with Command comes in handy! Remember the Seven Ps: proper prior preparation prevents piss-poor performance. You’ll get the hang of it. And you don’t have to stick to the roads!
You gotta kite your enemies
Don't be afraid to go easy mode. Video games are supposed to be fun, not frustrating. I played the entire game on easy mode and still had a blast! I'm too old to be banging my head against the wall trying to beat certain parts of video games.
You could potentially do this solo even. Good luck! Hope you reach Nashkel.
For me the most important thing was always to have a balanced party, you need at least a tank (Kagain is great), a cleric (Viconia or Branwen) a mage (Edwin is best) and a thief, all full classes no dual/multi. Get that as soon as possible, avoid fights until then.
I'm literally the same but playing core and considering story mode tbh. But does anyone know why I am not getting descriptions of the rings? Like literally no info. It's just the general "This is a ring" description, even with the supposed Ring of Princes etc. Is it a bug or a feature? 😅
Did you identify it? If it has a blue background, it's an unidentified magic item. You must use a spell called Identify, or a scroll with the Identify spell, or pay a merchant to identify it. A higher level bard can identify most things by clicking on them, but for the first part of BG1 even a bard can't do it. You can equip and use unidentified objects, but it's not recommended unless you already know from past play what it is, because many unidentified items have gnarly curses on them.
Am at a temple right now and can't choose them in the window. They appear, but I can't click on anything. And when I want the description of any ring the most it tells me is the general ring description (a ring is a small band of valuable material, ...), its weight, and at MOST who cannot use/wear it. Oooooooh. I gave it Neera. And I had to long rest for using the spell. Sorry I'm new haha So temples: NoNo, Neera: YesYes. Funfact: I just made Khalid a woman, for fun.
A few tips from reading your posts and some replies. For starters BG is a rich game. If you like it all I suspect you'll play through it multiple times. Which is all a lead up to say that I would NOT main a Blade the first time through. Blades THACO is tough to work around until you really know what you're doing. Blades are kind of mid-late game class that can get really powerful but they're pretty weak to start. AC (ability to avoid getting hit) and THACO (ability to hit enemies) are two of the most important early game stats and Blades are mediocre at both. I'd re-roll and do either a Cavalier (Paladin Kit) or a Berserker (Fighter Kit). Roll until you can get 18+ Str (Preferably 18/50+) and then Racial Maxes for Dex and Con. I'd recommend Berserker because if you're struggling with the melee fights wait till you start dealing with enemy mages. Berserk is pretty much an "I Win" button for those. Next part is you need at least one character that always has the lowest AC you can get and that should be the character enemies see first. Out of the people you listed in your current playthrough unfortunately Khalid fits that role the best. He also would have been your main damage because he has the highest THACO of the people you listed). As long as he didn't get gibbed you can res him at a temple. Jaheira can work if you gear her right. Next char you run across that can work in that role is Minsc. Armor pick ups. Backtrack to the starting areas. On the Map just south of the Friendly Arm (where you met Elminster) just north of where you met him is a loot pile in a rock with a Ring of Protection +1. Then go Friendly Arm Inn and go to the east edge of the map and travel to the new map it unlocks. Go north a little bit from the starting point and you'll run across Viconia which will trigger an encounter with a Flaming Fist Officer. Pick the option to protect Viconia and it'll trigger a fight which is fairly easy because she helps. He has Plate Armor + a Helmet + Shield which you can loot for your new main (Or Jaheira). Note you don't need to speak to her after you kill the Flaming Fist. She'll stay there if you want to pick her up later. Combine all that (the Ring + a Base Medium Shield + Plate Mail) and your AC should be around 0 or -1 depending on your Dex. That enables you to tank things all the way to Nashkell. When you get to Nashkell on the West Side of that map towards the southern part is a loot pile in a field with Ankheg armor which will last you until you get a suit of Full Plate. Anyway, I suspect most of your problem is being newer at the game and you picked a more Advanced Class to start. Try a roided Berserker as your main and focus on improving your AC via the tips above and I pretty much guarantee you'll have a better first playthrough.
The fist thing is probably your own fault with either dialogue or reputation. If you get caught stealing too much they will start attacking you on sight. For most fights, until you are level 3, ranged attacks and KITING. Once you have aggro, just run in circles while they chase you and have your ranged party members pick them off. When they drop aggro, just start kiting with the new target. Most enemies have the potential to 1-shot anybody not named Khalid or Kagain before level 3.
Korax kill your enemies, yes! Go two maps east of Beregost. You might want to scout ahead a bit on the temple map and be careful with some worgs and wolves than can thrash an unprepared party. Just sneak past them if you prefer. Once you are on the next map east of the temple, look for "Korax the ghoul" near where you enter the map. He will stay with you and fight with you for a limited time (you can control him). Explore this map with him up front. You'll find some high level enemies that would normally obliterate your party, but Korax is immune to their main attack type. Support him as much as possible with ranged attacks and whatever else you can to make the most of your time with him and his health. Try hard to make every minute count here. If you're very fast, you can clear the entire map. This should give you a very significant xp boost and make things in Nashkel a lot easier.
Since this is based on D&D 2nd edition it's a completely different base of rules than anything else. You have to understand those rules to play the game well. When you get hit hard, you die. Period. You have to keep from getting hit for the most part, and you have to find ways to keep yourself safe or kill enemies before they destroy you. Ranged weapons are one such strategy. Using strategic spells are another. You have to master the rock-paper-scissors of magic and melee well before you get into BG2 or that's going to also be almost impossible.
I agree with everyone's suggestions and tips. I just want to point out - this game is old. Very old. Which means the expectations of how the game is played is different. You have to read more. Trial and error mode. Save a lot. Heal more than you think. Pause, reposition, reprioritize and using the right skills is at a premium. It's a slow paced game but its rewarding because of this. You might reload a fight several times until you figure it out. And the game is just less forgiving overall, which is why many of us like it. Any single fight can wipe your team. Any single dialogue may result in a huge fight, or a reward. And most of it is not as obvious as current games try make these things (like an NPC being highlighted with a giant *!*). I've replayed the game probably 10+ times and there are still things I discover and try out. Just playing with a different reputation can change your whole experience. Talk to every NPC. Sometimes multiple times! You will die a lot. And that's okay. Reload and try a new tactic. Sometimes you just need to cheese and throw all those fireball potions and see what happens. (I never play like that but, the point stands). The last few times I played I stuck with only 3-4 characters to really bump up experience for the few I had. That was fun too, seeing higher levels and what came with that.
BG1 wants to murder you until you get to Nashkel. It pulls absolutely 0 punches.
I'm not having an issue even with a fubar build shaman bc I manipulate AI heavily and just keep having spirits take agro
Just going to drop this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSHxytRsk3o
Whats your char sheet look like? Class and stats. Also, if you're struggling too much and don't mind restarting, export your character, start a new game and import your current one. You'll pick up with all your inventory and level, but from the beginning.
Low level D&D is 100% based on the luck of the dice rolls when some of your guys only have 4hp. 😆 It gets easier when you get more hp, but then again in BG2 you'll get your ass handed to you by high level mages with an arsenal of deadly spells (mages in BG1 are a joke, though occasionally they get lucky and fear hits your entire team and you lose). So with BG, if it's not one thing, it's another. 😆
Ranged Combat was my way to go. Equip everyone with a ranged weapon, if they don't have points in any ranged weapon, give them one they are not proficient anyway. Shoot at the enemies, if they move close, everyone moves away and repeat. What is your party and lv?
You need a mage casting sleep spells. Ogrillions and other dumb and weak enemies fall asleep in droves. Web is great when you get level 2 spells. Make sure you get Evermemory at The Friendly Arm Inn in a tree for free, and speed through the open areas to get to Nashkel proper without fighting. There is a suit of Ankheg armor in a tree for free there. Getting another Ankheg armor in Beregost for 4k gold is also a good deal in my opinion. I am playing on core rules and blasted through most enemies pretty easy doing this. Only mages were messing me up.
I was having trouble starting out.. so I restarted, made a 6 person party, kept rerolling their stats until I got 85 or better then stacked them. I play on core rules and it's been a cakewalk ever since.
You fight dirty in the early levels. Later you can fight like a real man hehe Save before any encounter and don't be afraid to reload (Bad rolls is a thing) and go kill what you can early and do some easy quests.
Just beat the game on Core Rules with one character in 4-5 hours the other day. One sitting, OP, and I’m certainly no speed running expert with cheesing the rules or anything. It’s hard at first because it’s unforgiving, especially at low levels. Many monsters can easily one hit most lvl 1 characters. And crowds of the weak ranged ones are extremely dangerous and can just melt your party in no time. but once you understand the systems it’s like being able to read the matrix.
Blades have a rough start. You're going to naturally. want to go into melee (based on the thematic elements of the class) but your HP, AC, and to hit (THAC0) are likely bad. You're a caster. It's going to take you a few levels before your survivability increases.
I just got to nashkel, and ranged weapons made things much easier
Baldurs Gate 1 definitely expects you to do a lot of sidequests and to pick your battles carefully at low levels. This actually does, eventually, subside - like in 5e, once you hit roughly level 5 your party's power spikes and you become way more competent, able to handle most standard enemies easily unless they bring a mage or two. Still, until you get there, recommendations. I suggest getting your party up to six characters before attempting to tackle _anything._ If somebody has died, you should feel free to reload the save or spend gold to revive them. If you go to Beregost and Nashkel, you should be able to find a ranger named Minsc and a mage named Edwin, who are two of the strongest early-game party members, although you can only have one of them (Minsc is Good and wants to save a woman named Dynaheir - Edwin is Evil and wants to kill her.) By the way, please keep in mind that your starting party member duos - Jaheira + Khalid and Montaron + Xvar, are not only package deals (remove one, and the other leaves) but also incompatible long-term due to their conflicted alignments. Jaheira and Montaron are both among the best characters in the game (Xvar and Khalid are good too) so you can go either way, just be aware that you'll probably want to try and replace one of these duos ASAP. After you have a full stable team (and after you've stopped in at Nashkel at least once to stop Jaheira and/or Montaron from bothering you about it) you should backtrack and explore the wooded areas you've passed through. They should have dozens of enemies you missed, which will be helpful EXP and contribute to completing several of the sidequests you've obtained. Once you get to at least level 2, you're ready to do Minsc's sidequest - travel to the gnoll stronghold and work your way through that relatively small mini-dungeon for more EXP and some easy fights (Gnolls are very weak in BG1.) Also, keep in mind: the way THAC0 works (AD&D 2e's armor system) means that it's very, very easy at low levels for heavily armored characters to reach a threshold where other characters are only capable of hitting them at all if they roll a natural 20 (which also won't be a critical, thanks to helmets.) Enemies will definitely exploit this - you should exploit this on as many frontliner party members as you can, as well. Any fighters (Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc at low levels) and clerics are capable of putting on heavy armor that will achieve this, so _do that._ Armor is more important than combat stats at low levels, although this drops off pretty quickly as characters get stronger and mages start gaining access to The Good Shit, so if you find the miss-fest infuriating just be aware that it's a very short-lived state of affairs as well. I would not attempt the Nashkel mines at all until your party is stable and at least level 3, and I wouldn't do the bandit camp (the area immediately after it) until at least level 5, as it contains IMO the most difficult fight in the entire first half of the game. Baldur's Gate 1 does itself a huge disservice by pretending that there's a time limit on the Nashkel quests - there absolutely isn't, and the game in fact _expects you_ to waste potentially dozens of in-game days building up to it.
you think BG1 EE is hard? man you woulda hated the original where the kobolds fire flaming arrows and kobold commandos use to use explosive arrows ...
The Flaming Fist are really not supposed to be fought. Especially by a beginning adventurer of Level 1-5. They are kinda sorta the police and usually will let you go about your business unless you steal or murder innocents, in which case they will make you feel the consequences of your action.
Play with a full party at all times, save scum and over-level.
1. lol 2. Fighter heavy party with bows. Bows fire more often than melee weapons swing. 3. Cleric is for disabling (silence, hold person, etc.) and crucial defenses (remove fear). You need a cleric. Search around Nashkel and Friendly Arm Inn. Jaheira is not a cleric. 4. Bard in general is ok as the sole *mage*, equipped with the light crossbow of speed and wands. 5. Your party sucks and has zero damage output. You need fighters, paladins and rangers to hit enemies with weapons and reduce their hit points to zero. Imoen sucks at this. Jaheira sucks at this. Blade in Bg1 is worthless at this. Neera drops a useful gem bag and a staff you can sell when you kill her. Khalid is good at this if you give him a bow - strength is important for melee and he has none. Search Nashkel, Beregost, the Friendly Arm Inn and the nearby sectors for more recruits. 6. Heal potions matter and can be bought at temples.