This is sorta BG1 and BG2 together so listen up...

I've been talking to my friend who also plays BG2 as much as I do. He recently created a character (fighter) with 19 to just about every statistic except for like wisdom and intelligence. I told him that this was cheating, because normal characters aren't able to get 19 in any stat (unless they're elves, for example). He said that since BG1 had magical books that upped their stats by 1, it was legit. I still say it's cheating (I'm a purist, btw) What do you guys call it?

I would call it cheating. Unless he imported the character from BGI it is cheating in my book. But ultimately it is not important what i think. If he likes to play that way that is his business.

JR

Damned i lost cousin Jan's techno gloves

Well, in BG1 there arn't any tomes that increase your strength or dexterity (as far as I know). The only attributes that there are tomes for are charisma, wisdom and constitution. So if he put up his str and dexterity then yeah, he is cheating. But Jesus, if he paid the outrageous amount of money that software retails for these days he's entitled to play however he wants.

Wrong. Those tomes are there, at least the book of strength, still fresh in my memory. Can't recall the tome to raise your dexterity, but I think it's in the game as well...

Theres a tome for every stat, and two for intelligence and wisdom (i think)

------------------
http://www.animfactory.com/animation...s/j_md_clr.gif

In bg1 there were a book for every statistic:
The book of strength under candlekeep;
The book of dexterity in the thieves guild in baldurs gate city;
the book of con, in a cave near sirines´ beach;
the book of int, in a wizard´s toewer in bg city;
two books of wis, one in the temple of tymora in bg city, the other under candlekeep;
the book of car in the gnoll stronghold.

If you have TotSC there is another Book of Wisdom, great if you play a cleric as you can end up with 21 Wis!

When I first started BG (and later TotSc) I decided to roleplay rather than powerplay. I rolled once and only once (to give the idea of being born with a unique set of stats. The role I got sucked. I still played. It was painful at first, but as I progressed, I got fairly powerful. I never achieved the godlike status of others, nor will I ever, with the character I created. I didn't do this in BG2, as I wanted to powerplay, to see how the game went. Powerplay is great fun and watching your characters deal out serious damage is neat. Yet, if I went to play the whole saga through (which I might yet), I am determined to play as I did that first time. Powerplay is fun, but roleplay is somehow a more fulfilling experience. You feel less removed from your character (as in, how many people on this board have godlike stats if you follow my logic) and when they die its way more frustrating and upsetting, as you could almost place yourself in a similar mould and see yourself dying too. Powerplaying is not that much fun, if it was then the developers would have given all the Npc's godlike stats...

i prefer BG1 for roleplaying and BG2 for power gaming. The story of Bg1 is better for me, starting as a child trying to avoid a war while discovering all the truth about yourself.

Bg2 is funny for the power you can achieve, but the story has fewer surprises. I´m waiting for ToB.

i prefered the bg1 story myself, its more mysterieus.

------------------
http://www.ranchoweb.com/images/bg2guy/drow2.gif

Those who watch their backs meet death from the front- Dreamer128 Demonslayer of the OHF.