[Olorin]

I just restarted BG2, this time on a Mac. I've noticed that ToB is now out for the Mac, anyone know if I get it now, if it will affect a game in progress, or would I have to restart?


To make is fun and interesting, I decided to try a party of 6 characters...all of whom are elven sorcerers. I gave two of them higher strength, since I'll need a couple of people for melee blockers. I also gave one of them high wisdom...that will be my wisher. I'm expecting that most of the battles will be rather quick, I have a LOT of firepower. To keep some challenge to the game, I am going to try to play with a minimum of rests. I've never been a fan of resting in the middle of a dungeon, so I'll try to finish all the dungeons without resting. The Keep and Windspear Hills will probably be challenging to conserve enough spells.

I made it out of the Dungeon on only one initial rest (since I started with zero spells--I did wait to free Minsc and Jaheira first to get everyone a level up). There's a marked lack of staffs and daggers in the various weapon caches btw. To handle traps, I used one of my melee sorcs with stoneskin and mirror image. My four artillery mages mostly used MMMs as weapons, as slings and ammo were scarce. I did end up resting just before I left the dungeon...I was short two knocks (I should have had two of my sorcs take knock...fortunately I was able to fix that upon leveling).

I leveled again upon dungeon exit and proceeded to take out the circus tent (unfortunately, newly acquired spells aren't available until rest, so I only had one sorc with dispel magic, and none with remove magic for the tent). I took out some of my own stoneskins and MMMs dispelling the illusions, but the circus is a rather short quest. I had enough firepower left to deal with that rude dwarf and his friends that insulted our elven heritage when we went to the Inn.

This party also is pretty good for getting gold. My protagonist with 18 charisma and the friends spell can get good prices, and we can't use most of the loot we find. After the fight at the Inn, we had enough to buy the bracers AC 3 already, and we've still got a pile of unidentified loot to sell. My next purchase will be a magic license, since we're rather dependent on using spells.

There are a few spell choices I wish I could change. I only took identify with two of my sorcs...and I wish I had more. With six sorcs, you can take a lot of the less common spells by spreading out your choices. Some spells are essential for everyone to have though (stoneskin, mirror image, etc). An essential spell for my "front liners" is Vampiric Touch. It's the only real healing spell I'll have be able to use (I figured Larloch's drain wasn't worth for only 1-4 hp). My protagonist also has a Vampiric Touch and Minor Heal for his abilities (and a very handy slow poison). I debated on whether to make one of the front liners the protagonist (extra hp from familiar vs more chance of dying). I decided to put my protagonist in the middle of the party instead. Being True Neutral, he gets a rabbit that is my sole means of detecting traps. I really only need to worry about disintegration traps, since one of my sorcs with eventually pick up the stone to flesh spell to reverse petrify traps.

If anyone knows of any other mage spells that have a healing effect, please let me know. Or anything that will help against mindflayers (other than some animated dead, and trying to kill them really fast). Beholders are also a worry, although perhaps coordinated area damage will be enough for them (I'd rather not resort to creating an army of projected images or simulcrums).