I'll get into topic straight and true... :D

WHO...of WHAT do YOU guys put as your racial enemy when playing as any form of Ranger?

Mine? Toss-up between Lich and Mind Flayer. Or a Vampire.

Lich...mhm...no, not really dangerous with the right tacticts...

Vampire? There is a great number of this dangerous creatures in the game...

I would take mind flayer, really really dangerous creatures, maybe the most dangerous one in the game. But in the other side, with some death clouds they are not really a problem...

open the door, throw some clouds, close the door and wait till they`re dead *evilgrin*


take the mind flayer;)

[ 07-25-2005, 06:49 AM: Message edited by: Duagloth Duskryn ]

Really? Apart from Sunray or False dawn I couldn't even do anything against them...

Liches require high level spells to even have them connect, level 7+ i believe. So that would be a decent choice, having said that, there arent huge ammounts of liches in the game.

Vampires is a solid choice, almost cant go wrong with that choice. There are many vampires in the game, all of which can cause alot of damage (read: level drain)

Mind Flayers are easily handled by summoning skeletons/mordy's swords. Although there are a fair few of them in the game, there are no where near as many as there are vampires.

My other choice is Dragons. Yes i know i have more fingers than dragons to slay, but they are such tough foes that the extra +to hit and damage is greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't wear down my braincells pondering such, the bonus isn't all THAT great.

Dragons? mhm...

You know that there are less dragons in the game than you`ve got fingers?^^
the Dragons are such heavy enemies, i dont think this little bonus will help you a lot...

There are two schools of thought when it comes to Favored Enemy: early-game and late-game. By the time you're facing vampires and liches and dragons, you're powerful enough to face them. (Or powerful enough that a +4 attack roll bonus isn't going to matter much.)

I think I pick Otyugh or something like it.

I would go vamps.

Basically you want somethings that you meet fairly frequently, are tough to kill and that the bonus will make a difference, bearing in mind your tactics. I wouldn't pick dragons because my tanks never usually get too close, I tend to kill them with magic using summons to distract him. Liches, again the bonus probably wouldn't be used to full effects given my tactics and there aren't enoughof them imho to pick it. I would want something that my ranger is frequently going to be going toe-to-toe with (or bow-to-other-side-of-the-room). With the more powerful creatures I find I rely more on magic so that the bonus wouldn't be put to best use.

So vamps, as tey come up regulalry, are a difficult enough foe to want to have a bonus against and because my ranger would play an important role in the fights with them.

Pick paladin, they kick more ass than those tree huggin' pansies called rangers.

With a paladin kit you get immunities and innate abilities that actually are useful, this in addition to being able to swing one of the better blades that side o' the planes.

[img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 07-25-2005, 12:14 PM: Message edited by: GoblinZ ]

White Lancer, liches are immune to level 1-5 spells, so level 6+ spells work on them.

Picking dragons isn't a very useful choice. I tend to usually take out dragons using spells anyway (a couple lower resistances, a pierce shield, and then a few ADHW).

Pirengle has a good point too. However, vampires are still the favorable choice. You'll manage to take them out a bit quicker than usual, which can help prevent draining if you're not protected.

I pick demonic/fell, mostly because that's in line with the sort of characters I've played in the past. The "Descendant of Myth Drannor survivor" comes to mind.

Faerie. DEFINITELY pick Faerie.

Choosing Liches is a waste: If you can hit the Lich at all, it's as good as dead, and they have lousy AC anyway. I feel the same about Vampires: As long as you're immune to Level Drain and Charm, you're pretty much invincible, since they're lousy fighters. I always pick something where that +4 to THAC0 is actually worth having: Dragons, Demonic/Fell, or Golem.

What creatures are considered Faeries???

Gotta agree with Illumina, pick demonic/fell. There are plenty of demons later in the game and especially in TOB, and a lot of them are HARD SONS OF *******!

Actually demonic/fell is what you really need when fighting liches, because most of them cast gate.

I seem to remember racial enemy also giving the specific enemy race a bonus to hit you, or am I remembering wrong? If so you definetely don't want to make it vampires or mind flayers.

So...Valygar chose the right racial enemy and Minsc didn't? Well I thought the other way....

Oh, and you joked about Faerie thing right? :D

I usually choose vampires for my natural hate of level drain

If I could I would pick em all... cause I have a natural hate of everything, living, Undead, no difference kill em all :D

I have to go with Vampires as well...

A Cleric Ranger with the Amulet of Power and Vamps as the racial enemy can allow you to send in the character alone and immune to level drain and the bonus... just a walk in the park, Kuzanski...

I always thought Valygar picked Golems because they are creations/servants of Mages, which is what he would really prefer his racial enemy to be (based on family history).

If you have the Amulet of Power, and a Harmony Shield, you won't need the benefits of having the Vampires as your Racial Enemy.

That's what I always thought as well.

If you want continuity with the first Baldur's Gate, it'd be Ogres or Hobgoblins. Demonic / Fell is a solid choice, and Sahuagin and Kuo-Toa are good from a flavor point of view.

Dragons? mhm...

You know that there are less dragons in the game than you`ve got fingers?^^
the Dragons are such heavy enemies, i dont think this little bonus will help you a lot... </font>[/QUOTE]Yes, i realise there are very few dragons, and was stating such in my first message... but my opinion remains the same. Dragons would make good use of the bonus, if you've ever tried to shoot a dragon with anything other than your spells, you'd know that they are difficult to hit. The +4 bonus is going to help you with them alot more than it would with Liches/vampires. As Six said, if you can hit the liches, they're pretty much dead, and as long as you are immune to level drain vampires are pathetic.

I tend to chos Mind Flayer, they can get extremely dangerous in groups.

I tend to slice and dice my not-so-smart mind flayer opponents with my chaotically commanded, heavily armored warriors with a few skeleton warriors taking point... O_o
All you need is a good AC...

If you have the Amulet of Power, and a Harmony Shield, you won't need the benefits of having the Vampires as your Racial Enemy.</font>[/QUOTE]And with an Undead hunter kitted paladin you´ll need none of those... O_O

I´m telling ya people, paladins > rangers.

Well, that would be fine, if the question was "what's the best class?" Since the question was "what do you guys pick as a favored enemy?", well...

C'mon, i'm a member of the UPRE (United Paladin Recruitment Effort), it's my job to advertise. :D

As far as I can tell, just Nymphs, Dryads, and that lot. There was a Hamadryad and four Sirines (more if you had ToSC) in BG1 that you could fight, and in BG2 there's....the Dryads in Irenicus's dungeon, and the Faerie Queen (and the Sirines she summons), and maybe a Nymph or two in ToB. So we're talkin' serious combat gains, here. :rolleyes:

The creatures that you choose as your Racial Enemy do not recieve any bonuses against you, you simply take a Reaction penalty in your conversations with them (which I doubt is even implemented in the game). For example, if you chose Dragons, you would recieve a -4 THAC0 bonus to hit the Dragon, but also a -4 penalty to your ability to be polite and nice to the Dragon.

For Valygar, either Golem or Lich would make sense as his Racial Enemy. Perhaps he chose Golem before he found out that he would need Lich.

For Minsc, having him choose Vampire (and have proficiency in Mace) is an obvious nod from the powergamers at BioWare to keep Minsc in your team as you side against Bodhi. Sad, really. I've Shadowkeepered him back to his BG1 version, with Racial Enemy: Gnoll and points in 2-Handed Sword, Long Bow, and Axe.

I know in 3rd edition rules you choose more racial enemies at certain levels... What about 2nd edition rules? If they're the same way, it's justifiable to do that to Minsc (whose racial enemy has historically related to the plot). If it's only 3rd edition, well... They lifted the Sorcerer from 3rd edition, so what's one more borrowed rule?

Nope, favored enemy doesnt work like in 3ed. besides, this isnt 2ed we're playing, its 2.5ed [img]tongue.gif[/img]

In second edition, the ranger has a +4 to hit a racial enemy. This enemy must be chosen by second level.

[ 07-27-2005, 05:15 PM: Message edited by: krunchyfrogg ]

What happens if its not chosen by second level?

Well, there's absolutely no reason not to. What happens if you don't pick a weapon proficiency when you reach a certain level?

You cannot level-up without chosing those thnigs. Without your racial enemy, your ranger wont ever reach level 2. Without chosing your proficiencies/thief skills/sorcerer spells you wont level up.

[quote]Originally posted by D*Ranged:

Quote:

Really? Apart from Sunray or False dawn I couldn't even do anything against them...

If you are immun to magic the lichs aren`t really a problem...Its the same trick you can use in the fight against Kangaxxx(how many x`s does he has?^^). Cast magic immunity on your fighters and wait till the lich`s protections spells are away. Give the fighter(s) a good weapon an kill the lich...
And there arent so many lichs in the game...

[quote]Originally posted by SixOfSpades:

Quote:

I've Shadowkeepered him back to his BG1 version, with Racial Enemy: Gnoll and points in 2-Handed Sword, Long Bow, and Axe.

Why didnt I came up with this Idea, thx SixOfSpades, I was always searching for a solution for that problem when i played BG2^^

Did you lower his DEX and CON as well? You can do the same to Jaheira while you're at it, if you'd like. ;)

My point is that there are inconsistencies between the two games, because they're two different games.

No--I was going to make both his BG1 and BG2 versions use the average of his two sets of stats, but since there's only 1 point of difference between them, and I would have to round up, I just left them alone.

As for Jaheira, I actually increased her BG1 DEX to match her BG2 DEX, because she needs that boost if she's really going to contribute....Druids really get the shaft in BG1, no good spells at all.

No--I was going to make both his BG1 and BG2 versions use the average of his two sets of stats, but since there's only 1 point of difference between them, and I would have to round up, I just left them alone.

As for Jaheira, I actually increased her BG1 DEX to match her BG2 DEX, because she needs that boost if she's really going to contribute....Druids really get the shaft in BG1, no good spells at all. </font>[/QUOTE]Your party gets the shaft if it's Reputation gets too high and she's around. :ugh: