A good start

Howdy fellas,
Whats a good character to start the game with?? I currently have a half elf fighter with a proficiency of 2 in bows and 2 in great swords. Anything I should change??

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It was not me...it was the yam yam

[Xanthul]

Its a good character . Just build a character that you feel comfortable with, one that suits your style. Everyone has his/her own preferences (for example i LOVE mages), but if you like fighters better, play that guy ! Every character is good if you like it, there is no class with which the game is impossible.

Enjoy it !

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"It feels good" -Ertai, Captive of the Blinding Angel

[Debaser]

cvrankov--

welcome to the board, man!
i am extremely fond of mages as well...but in BG I it can be hard to play a low-level mage through the game. fighters are a good solid unit for BG I.

[Haladar]

if you are a total newbie you should play as a fighter, it is by far the easiest in BG1, Also, longsword probably is the best proficiency

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Haladar

Haladar, im Ertai_OHF. Sorry to edit you, but that spoiler was completely unnecessary here, he has just started the game so dont need to spoil somthing that is so 'far' for him, even if you mark it properly. This is a thread for a person who is starting to play, so better dont give spoilers, even if they are properly marked ok ? This goes for you all , not only Haladar. Sorry again, and thanks

[This message has been edited by Ertai_OHF (edited 09-23-2001).]

[Lioness]

That sounds like a pretty good character. Welcome to the board! Definitely have a proficiency in Long Swords, they are the most varied and magical of weapons.

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Lil' Angel
Sword Saint and Enchantress of the HADB Clan
Waitress at Cloudy's Cafe
Bestest Mate of the Cyan Knight
Lady of Jerome, The Fallen Paladin
Honored Friend of the Warrior SSJ4Sephiroth, and the Arch-Mage Jafin
PeaceKeeping Force, Intelligence Division

[Kaz]

I also think fighter is a good character to start with (I finished the game with an elven fighter, proficiency bows and longswords). Mage is difficult at the beginning and not really a good first character (I speak from experience here)

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Kazara

Sapphire Dragoness of ALSB
Waitress at Cloudy's Cafe

[SixOfSpades]

Chalk me up for a "Me too" on this one. Bow and Large Sword rule, especially since practically all the best magical weapons in BGI are either Bows, Large Swords, or Small Swords. The only thing I can think of that I would change is your race. Half-Elves are basically Humans who can multiclass, so if you're not Multiclassed, you don't need to be playing a Half-Elf. I would choose either a Human, who can Dual-Class to a Cleric, Thief or Mage at any point down the line, or an Elf, who can get up to 19 Dexterity, and who has a better chance to hit the enemy when using a Bow or Long Sword.

Also, it's good to have your main character have strong Constitution & a lot of hit points, as it's a real pain when you die. And Charisma is NOT worthless! You should always have at least 1 character with high Charisma (at least 16) in your party: Stores will lower their prices for you, and some quests will turn out better for you if you let someone with good Charisma do the talking.

[Gil-Galad]

Also, it's good to have your main character have strong Constitution & a lot of hit points, as it's a real pain when you die. And Charisma is NOT worthless! You should always have at least 1 character with high Charisma (at least 16) in your party: Stores will lower their prices for you, and some quests will turn out better for you if you let someone with good Charisma do the talking.

In other words: A Paladin.

BG (and BGII to some extend) is DESIGNED for a do-good-Paladin. IMHO being evil is not really a true game-play option, since reputation and sidequests is almost always designed for a Good character. The paladin comes with several bonuses: A high charisma and probably strength and constitution as well, wich makes a perfect front man, especially since you can't fall back in line in your party without letting someone else lead your party (in BG, anyway). Do I need to mention holy powers such as Lay On Hands, Turn Undead, Cleric Spells etc.?
And don't woory about the Bow skill, as you will meet at least a couple of NPC's who are quiet capable of that in the course of the game SPOILER
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Kivan and Coran are both VERY skilled in bows.
Otherwise, I agree with SixOfSpades in that half-elves are just a human who can multiclass. If you want to play Mage or Thief, elves is a far better choice (because of the extra dexpoint), but the game is also full of god NPC's in those classes. The only Paladin in the game is Ajantis, and he is by all means not too good a Paladin compared to your own who would probably have 18.something in str, and 16+ in dex, con and cha, not to mention your own abilities as the Main Character.............

And BTW welcome to the board!




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Love´s in need of love today

[SixOfSpades]

Cvrankov,

You should probably stop reading at about this point....we're haggling over the nitty gritty now. Just build a strong character, ANY strong character is enough, and beat the game. Given a decent amount of brains and skill, you'll do fine. Some of the really experienced players build a character and beat the game BY THEMSELVES, without having a single NPC join their party. Go West, young man, and kick some ass.

Gil-Galad,

Yeah, a Paladin's good, especially as a tank or just a general front-man. BUT: Paladins can only get 2 Weapon points, blocking out that crucial 3rd point that lowers your THAC0, and I just loooooooove THAC0. BG1's Exp. cap keeps you from learning any Cleric spells, you can only Lay On Hands once per day, and I find Turning Undead to be worthless. I got more use out of Detect Evil, which allowed me to see who I could kill without losing Rep.
What I do for my main character is build a Fighter who's essentially a Paladin. The guy I just rolled is 185)/18/18/8/10/18, and eventually I'll turn him into a Thief, allowing him to detect traps while tromping around in Full Plate. This character works GREAT for BG1. In BG2, Paladins may come out on top; They can finally use Cleric spells (provided they can level up at a decent rate), and they can do the Cavalier kit (which gives a them a few bonuses and doesn't allow them to use ranged weapons.....which Tanks never use anyway). But even so, they can never get that 3rd weapon point to lower their THAC0. We could bicker about this for weeks.

[Lemernis]

Sounds fine. A pure fighter is a good choice. Ranged attacks are vital to success so if you choose to concentrate on proficiency with the long sword make sure you pick up a good archer or two (eg, Kivan, Coran--actually, the two of them make a deadly duo with the bow).

For the first time through you might also enjoy playing an elven fighter-thief. (I like the multiclasses.) It's fun playing a thief.