Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn walkthrough

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Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (PC)
& Throne of Bhaal (BG2 Expansion, PC)
FAQ/Walkthrough
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December 22, 2004
Version 8.4

Written by: Dan Simpson
Email: manymoose@hotmail.com

Use this subject: Baldur's Gate II v8.3

(emails with improper subjects MAY BE DELETED!)

Email Policy: (read before emailing me!)
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Got a question? Check the Frequently Asked Questions section
first (it's after the walkthrough) to see if your question is
already answered.

If you see any mistakes, or have anything that you want to add
please email me! I will, of course, give you full credit for
your addition, and be eternally grateful to you. Email addresses
are not posted in the FAQ, unless you specifically state that
you want it to be.

Finally if you are on AOL and want a response from me, make sure
that your email is accepting from Hotmail (webmail). I have gotten
way too many emails returned from AOL with a message that the
person wasn't accepting from Hotmail.

______________________________________Notes____________________________________
You will find the most up to date version of this FAQ at:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/
http://www.gamewinners.com/
http://www.cheatcc.com/

I also have an Item List FAQ & a Class FAQ both of which you can also find at
GameFAQs.

If you're having any sort of technical problem with the game, there are some
patches you should consider getting:

BG2: http://www.bioware.com/bgate2/bg2patch.shtml
ToB: http://www.bioware.com/bg2tob/bg2tobpatch.shtml

If you have serious BUG issues with BG2, this page will be your Bible:

http://www.baldurdash.org/

Throne of Bhaal, the Official Expansion to Baldur's Gate II is out.

Mod information has been given its own section, I.2, just after the Throne of
Bhaal introduction.

Special Thanks To: (see Final Words for a lengthier list)

Steotia, Craig Gibbens, Rabbit, Aleph, Death Crow, Jeremy Treanor, Grack,
Geoff Ulreich, Boogie, Souma, Blackhawk, Greymane, Vash, Max Chen, Taganath,
Chris Emery, ShirouKyoji, Tim Lou, Kevin Logan, Ken Baker, CJayC, Wai Chu Yu,
P.K., Willis Su, David Weldon, Ken Adams, Cyrille Artho, Hector E. Meza,
SpookyScarecrow, Mishael, Matri, Henning Roes, Travis Archer, Jonathan
Zimmerman, Redd Barren, Rick Harder, Rakhiir, David Lyons, Edward Adams,
Gabriel, Pedro R. Quaresma, ShirouKyoji, ANDY, Adar, Rolander, JP, Dominic,
Dranyth, Juky & 649 of 711, Kevin Chung, Ryan Brady, David Haire, Robert Pay,
Nick McIsaac, jayhc, Cornelius Chesterfield, Mike O, Snark, RCL,
James Prieels, Sarina, Per Jorner, Moby, Brad Beacham, Phobia, Pieter
Spronck, ROB, Harry Smith, Chris Norman, Jafar Sadeq, Jason Cha, Alexander
Ferguson, Brian Brus, alexcool, Marc Oliver, Tetrazome, Alex Malano, Khadgar,
Alan Cherry, Andrea Nicoli, Paul Dickinson, SloppyDogg, Gunslinger, John
Knudson, Brian Camley, John Winkleman, GOOD_ASH (Brian Phillips), Accord, Ard
/Eathlon, Brawny Lam, Daniel Pang, Clayton, James Victor, Vladislav Brkic,
Sergio Le Roux, Tim Marshal, Miguel, Doug Scheurich, Dave Loveland, CY Lee,
Braden, Konstantin, Jeremy Hanson, Corvus Albus, Gareth Embrey, the Maxx,
Lani Weaver, Michael Schneider, Carl Pettersson, Xander77, Alessio Ronchi,
Xar, Andrew Scarvell, K.C., John Howard

Anyone who emails me with nice things to say, you are appreciated!
And last, but not least, thanks to Bioware for making such a great game!

This FAQ looks best in a fixed-width font, such as Courier New.

I am not affiliated with Bioware, Black Isle, Interplay or anyone who had
anything to do with the creation of this game. This FAQ may be posted on any
site so long as NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling me that you are
posting it. You may not charge for, or in any way profit from this FAQ.
_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________
What's New in 8.4:
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Edited the Mod information and gave it a new section to call home.
Reorganized somewhat, edited somewhat and added some stuff here and there.
Added TOB information to the kits section.

For a complete Version History, check out the Final Words Section at the end
of the FAQ.

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Table of Contents:
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I. Introduction
II. What's New in Baldur's Gate II
III. Throne of Bhaal Information
IV. Mod Information
V. Creating a Main Character (or a Party)
VI. Companions
VII. Gameplay Strategies and Tricks
VIII. General Monster Fighting Strategies
VIII.1 Golems
VIII.2 Demons
VIII.3 Undead
VIII.4 Dragons
VIII.5 Enemy Spellcasters
VIII.6 Beholders
VIII.7 Mind Flayers
VIII.8 Werewolves

Walkthrough

1. Chapter 1: Irenicus' Dungeon
1.1 Irenicus' Dungeon Level 2
2. Chapter 2: Waukeen's Promenade
2.1 The Slums
2.2 Between Areas
2.3 De'Arnise Hold
2.4 Windspear Hills
2.5 The Planar Sphere
2.6 The Graveyard
2.7 City Gate
2.8 The Bridge
2.9 Government District
2.10 Umar Hills
2.11 Temple Ruins
2.12 Temple District
2.13 The Sewers
2.14 The Docks
2.15 Trademeet
3. Chapter 3: The Guild War
3.1 Working for the Shadow Thieves
3.2 Working for Bodhi
4. Chapter 4: Brynnlaw
4.1 Spellhold
4.2 Maze beneath Spellhold
4.3 Escape from Spellhold
4.4 Sahuagin City
5. Chapter 5: The Underdark
5.1 Ust Natha (Drow City)
5.2 Beholder City
5.3 The Illithid Lair
5.4 Exit from the Underdark
6. Chapter 6: Back to Athkatla
6.1 Three New Areas
7. Chapter 7: Suldanessellar
7.1 The Nine Hells

X1. STRONGHOLD Walkthroughs
X2. The Limited Wish Adventure

Throne of Bhaal Walkthrough

1. Watcher's Keep
2. Grove of the Ancients
3. Saradush
4. Gromnir
5. Yaga Shura
6. Amkethran
6.1 Sendai
6.2 Abazigal
7. Balthazar
8. Throne of Bhaal

Frequently Asked Questions

Appendices

A. Complete Kit Descriptions
B. Charts & Analysis
} Thieving Money Charts
} Dual Wielding Analysis
C. Cheats
D. Trainers and Editors
E. Manual Corrections & Addendums
F. Bugs
G. Strange Things

Final Words....

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I. } } } } Introduction
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Baldur's Gate, your character faced the harsh light of reality. Pushed
violently out of your home after the death of your foster father, you had to
discover the truth of his killing, and your own past. What you discovered
was that you were the offspring of the deceased Lord of Murder, the dark god
Bhaal. He had foreseen his own imminent demise and so had spread his seed
across the land. You were one of those children. So too was the evil
Sarevok, the murderer of Gorion. He sought to become the new Lord of Murder,
and sought to start a war between Baldur's Gate and Amn. It would not matter
who won this war... so long as people died by the thousands. Fortunately for
the world you were there to stop Sarevok and end his schemes.

But the world doesn't stop for one heroic deed. Soon after your adventures
around Baldur's Gate a mysterious force captures your adventuring party.
Could this be another spawn of Bhaal? Or perhaps something worse...

Baldur's Gate II: The Shadows of Amn takes place just a few months after the
events of Baldur's Gate. You have been captured and placed in a cage. All
your equipment and money is gone. Your companions have been scattered. Who
is behind this? And more importantly... why?

There are two "bonus" CD's out there, one people got with the Collector's
Edition and another for Preordering (either from EBworld or from the
Interplay Store). These add new shops and items. You can also download
these files from http://www.sorcerers.net/index.shtml (you can also check out
the Frequently Asked Questions for more information)

Collector's Disc: Aurora's Emporium in the Adventurer's Mart

Sells all manner of Torment related items, such as Dak'kon's Zerth Blade
and Vhailor's Helm. Best yet, it has the almighty Robe of Vecna. Talk
to Deidre in the back of the Adventurer's Mart.

Preorder Disc: Joluv in the Copper Coronet

Sells all manner of Icewind Dale related items, such as Hrothgar's Axe
and the Defender of Easthaven.

You can just use the cheats to create the merchants (see the Cheats section
if you don't know how to do it):

CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("wmart1")
CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("wmart2")

to make the two merchants appear in the current area. (from John Howard)

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II. } } } } What's New in Baldur's Gate II
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a list of what's new in Baldur's Gate II (as compared to BG):

- Familiars. Mages can cast the first level spell "Find Familiar" to get
themselves a little intelligent creature called a Familiar. Not only
do you get a permanent little scout/thief/monster, but you get a bonus
to your Mage's HP as well. If your Familiar has 24 HP, then you get +12
HP.

- Strongholds. Each class gets their own specific stronghold to call their
own. A fighter gets a castle, a bard gets a playhouse and a thief gets
a thieves' guild.

- New Playable Race: Half-Orc. Half-orcs get a bonus to their strength
and constitution and a penalty to their intelligence and charisma.

- New Playable Classes: Monk, Barbarian and Sorcerer.

Monk. The Monk is one of the more interesting new classes. They are
very skilled at fighting without weaponry, and as they go up in levels
their fists grow in power. At the 14th level they start gaining Magic
Resistance. They also have other special abilities, such as Lay on Hands
faster movement and some thief skills. The drawback? They can't wear
armor or use two-handed weaponry.

Barbarian. The Barbarian is a brute compared to the fighter. More
vicious but less refined. He gets more HP, can berserk and moves faster.
Drawbacks? Can't wear Full Plate or Plate Mail, and cannot gain more
than Specialized in Proficiencies.

Sorcerer. Normal mages have to first learn a spell, then memorize it,
then spend time to cast the spell. The Sorcerer does none of these.
They simply get a set number of spells per level and can cast a number
of spells. This works more like "mana" systems of other games.

- New sub-classes, called Kits. These represent different philosophies
within each discipline. For example, the Wizard Slayer (Fighter) won't
wear magic items, but gains a bonus magic resistance and can disrupt
magic spells permanently. For more information see the Kits section in
the Appendix.

- More thief skills, such as Set Trap, Detect Illusion and more.

- More spells, including Delayed Blast Fireball and Time Stop.

- Gem bags to hold gems and necklaces, Scroll cases to hold spells and
parchments and Bags of Holding to hold everything else.

- Bigger, fiercer monsters, including Dragons, Beholders and Liches.

- Better resolution. The game officially supports up to 800x600, but
unofficially it can go up much, much higher.

- Higher experience cap, set at 2.95 million experience points allowing
your character to become as gods. (not quite, but that sure sounds good
doesn't it?)

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III. } } } } Throne of Bhaal Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Throne of Bhaal is the official Expansion Pack to Baldur's Gate II: Shadows
of Amn. It has one area (Watcher's Keep) that can be reached in either game,
and many other areas that take place after the events in BG2. ToB can be
purchased in any store that sold BG2.

Once you enter the Expansion areas (with the exception of Watcher's Keep)
you cannot return to the original game areas.

What's New in Throne of Bhaal:
------------------------------

- TAB key will now highlight doors, containers and items for you. (use it
often!)

- Wild Mage kit. Just like a mage, but with one key difference, Wild Surges.
These are near unpredictable alterations of the magic. It might just make
you itchy (or your enemies itchy) or it could even change your gender. You
just never know.

- New areas.

- Completes the Baldur's Gate saga.

- Experience Cap set much higher at 8,000,000. This allows most characters
to get to level 40.

- Many new items, and more items that can be built from other items.

- More spells.

- You can now remove spells from your spellbook. This is intended to get rid
of unwanted spells when you can't learn any more.

Tip: If you have duplicate Spell Scrolls, learn the spell once, then
Erase it, then learn it again. This way you get the experience
twice!

- New super abilities for level 20+ characters. These abilities are
extremely strong and useful, such as Deathblow, Whirlwind attack and
Summon Planetar.

- Evil clerics can Turn Paladins along with Undead. (which adds an
interesting conflict when you have Viconia and Keldorn in the same party)

- Cloak of Mirroring no longer reflects spells back to their caster, merely
blocks the spells.

David Gaider (one of the senior designers of ToB) has released a few minor
additions to Throne of Bhaal, which you can find at Baldurdash:

http://www.baldurdash.org/ToB/TOBtweaksandcheats.html

They include new Bhaalspawn abilities, and tougher Demogorgon and Balthazar
battles.

Baldurdash: http://www.baldurdash.org/

The Wish Spell
--------------

The WISH Spell is much like its lesser brother, the Limited Wish, but a
whole lot more powerful. As such it is very tricky to use. The Djinn you
summon is pretty much out to get you, so having a good WISDOM is essential.
18 or more will get you the best responses, 9 or worse will get you some
pretty awful responses. However, which wishes you get is also partly random.
He then picks from a list of wishes that you can get (not all will be what
you want), and if you have really bad wisdom, you'll be picking from a list
of nothing but bad choices! Here is a list of all the wishes, sorted from
the really bad to the sorta awful to the surprisingly good:

'Improved Haste' on all enemies in the area.
Level Drain two levels from each party member.
Bring a 'Meteor Swarm' down upon the caster.
Temporarily remove half of the caster's HP.
Caster loses all memorized spells.
Party loses 10,000 gp.
Temporarily reduce the Strength of all party members to 3.
Temporarily reduce the Dexterity of all party members to 3.
Temporarily reduce the Constitution of all party members to 3.
Temporarily reduce the Wisdom of all party members to 3.
Temporarily reduce the Intelligence of all party members to 3.
Temporarily reduce the Charisma of all party members to 3.
Heal all enemies in the area.
Temporarily remove 15% of all party members' HPs.
Summon an extra hostile monster into the area.
Everyone in the area, both party members and enemies, become intoxicated.
'Breach' on everyone in the area, including the party.
Blow all people, including party members, away from the caster.
Heal everyone, party members and enemies included.
Temporarily set Strength to 18 for everyone in the area, including enemies.
'Miscast Magic' on everyone in the area, including party members.
'Magic Resistance' on everyone in the area, including enemies.
'Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting' on everyone in the area, including the party.
Incur bad luck on everyone in the area, including party members.
'Silence' on everyone in the area, including party members.
'Haste' everyone in the area, including enemies.
'Improved Haste' on all party members.
'Breach' on all enemies in the area.
'Restoration' on all party members.
Raise all party members' characteristics to 25 for 4 rounds.
'Resurrection' on all dead party members.
All party members gain the temporary ability 'Greater Deathblow'.
All party members gain the temporary ability 'Hardiness'.
Create a random wand in caster's inventory.
Create a random potion in the caster's inventory.
Make it as if the entire party has just rested a full night and
re-memorized all their spells.
Cast a double-length 'Time Stop' and 'Improved Alacrity' on the caster.

Upgraded Familiars:
-------------------

Familiars are upgraded when you complete the regular game by beating
Irenicus.

You can now "feed" the familiars to heal them. You can also ask them for
advice.

If you want to see the old BG2 familiar list, it is in the Gameplay
Strategies section below.

Alignment Familiar AC HP Abilities
--------------- ------------- -- -- ----------------------------------
Lawful Good Pseudo Dragon 0 48 35% magic resistance, renders
victims unconscious, casts Blur,
Ghost Armor, Detect Illusion, 2
attacks per round

Neutral Good Pseudo Dragon 0 48 (same as above)

Chaotic Good Fairy Dragon 0 24 45% magic res., casts Invisibility
10' Radius, Imp. Invisibility &
Mirror Image 1/day

Lawful Neutral Ferret -4 48 65% magic res., 95% Pickpocket,
60% Stealth, 60% Detect Traps

True Neutral Rabbit 1 48 85% Detect Traps, 60% Stealth,
65 magic res., 50% detect illusion
always haste

Chaotic Neutral Cat -4 48 Pickpocket, 99% Stealth,
65% magic res, 60% Find Traps.

Lawful Evil Imp -2 48 Polymorphs, 35% magic res., poison
attack, regenerates 1 HP/second

Neutral Evil Dust Mephit 3 48 Casts Glitterdust 2/day, 25% magic
res., Prismatic Spray, Stoneskin,
60% damage resistant, immune to
fire

Chaotic Evil Quasit -2 48 Casts Horror, 35% magic resist.,
immune to fire, cold and elec.,
regenerates 1 Hp/second, 3 attacks
per round, attack reduces target
DEX

Romances in Throne of Bhaal:
----------------------------

Yep, they all are continued, even if you ended them (such as Aerie saying at
the end that you should just be friends).

SPOILERS

Viconia } You can convince her to change her alignment (you simply have to
say "good" things, like killing is wrong, etc.)
Aerie } You can have a child with her
Anomen } Asks to marry you
Jaheira } n/a

Viconia's alignment switch: When she offers to sleep with you again, turn
her down because the "time isn't right", then
when she asks what you think of her, be very
very nice. When she asks you what it's like
having the blood of Bhaal in your veins, tell
her that you don't like the killing.

Between meeting her wraith-brother and the
destruction of Saradush (I told you there were
Spoilers in here), you need to have at least
ONE romance talk occur. If you skip this, you
can't get her to switch alignments.

When she sees the battle, tell her that you
don't like it. Then when she asks if you want
her to change, say yes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. } } } } Mod Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tired of always knowing how to do everything in the game? Want a new challenge?
Try a mod! All the significant Unofficial Add-On's (most of which are top-
notch) can be found here:

http://modlist.pocketplane.net

These are listed at the link above, but other good places for mods:

http://www.fwstudios.net/
http://www.gibberlings3.net/

Some of the Mods that I've tried:

Baldur's Gate Trilogy - Combines all the Baldur's Gate games into one
package. (The "third" game it refers to is Throne of Bhaal) Works really
well, although there are a few bugs. (Don't memorize any new spells
until you're sure that they work) It's really fun to play from Candlekeep
to the Throne of Bhaal in one game.

Banter Pack - Makes the NPCs more interesting.

Big Picture - combines several of the largest BG2 mods into one. Includes
The Darkest Day, Shadows Over Soubar, Never Ending Journey and Tortured
Souls. Combine this with BGT above for a really massive gaming experience.

Dark Side of the Sword Coast for BG-BGT - technically a BG1 mod, but played
in the BG2 engine through BGT.

Freedom's Reign / Reign of Virtue

Gibberlings3 Tweak Pack

Imoen Romance

One Pixel Productions - Redoes the artwork in the game to be more like BG1.
I liked going back to the original "paper doll" look from the first game.

Secret of Bone Hill (BGT)

Unfinished Business - puts several quests and things back into the game that
were dropped by Bioware.

If you need a walkthrough for the Unofficial Add-On, the Darkest Day, you can
get Suburban Jub's fine walkthrough here:

http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/index.htm

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. } } } } Creating a Main Character (or a Party)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hardest decision in the game is also the first decision, and the one that
has the farthest reaching effects as well. What you decide here will change
everything and affect how easy your game is.

What Class Do You Play??

Such a simple question, but no easy answers. A lot of which class you want
to play has to do with your individual style as a player. If you like just
rushing into the thick of battle without planning, maybe a Barbarian is the
way to go. Meticulous planner? Think mage. Finesse fighter? Kensai or
Monk.

Trick: When you are rolling the "Attributes" for your character, if you
press CTRL-8 the game will set all your stats to 18 (and 18/00 for
STR). This ONLY works if you already have the Debug Mode enabled
(see the Cheats section below).

Tip: If you're going to import from BG1, and you, like me, reloaded your
BG1 game everytime you gained a level to get maximum hit points,
you might be dismayed to learn that BG2 will AVERAGE OUT YOUR
HIT POINTS. That's right, my level 8 Fighter got nerfed from 120
hit points to 81! The only way I found to get around this is to,
when selecting a kit for your imported character, select BACK
instead of a kit. You keep your hit points but lose the ability
to take a kit.

Favorite Kits:

Fighter -- } Kensai (great fighters, and when dualled to a mage become
extremely powerful, I've also heard good things about
Kensai/Thief combinations)
Mage -- } Conjurer (you lose some spells, but you can summon with the
best of them! This is more subjective than the others)
Druid -- } Shapeshifter (If you've played Cernd then you know that he
is one of the weakest HUMANS, but when he becomes a werewolf
he is very powerful)
Priest -- } Priest of Lathander (This is subjective, I just like the
Boon of Lathander spell)
Bard -- } Skald (this has a LOT of good effects, and only one bad effect
a low pickpocket score)
Thief -- } Swashbuckler (this guy is awesome, practically a fighter!)
Ranger -- } Archer (gives this guy a bow, and 5 proficiency in it and you
have the best sniper in the game)
Paladin -- } Inquisitor (used to be Cavalier, but I changed my mind. This
guy's major plus is his Dispel Magic ability, which he casts
at twice his level, plus with immunities to Hold and Charm)

Keep in mind that only the Protagonist (main character) can have a Familiar.
So if you aren't a Mage, and can't Dual to a Mage later, no one in your game
will have a Familiar.

Trick: When you dual your main character to the Mage Class, try this. Kick
everyone out of the party, then learn as many spells as you can.
You gain experience for each spell you learn. I was able to gain
MANY levels this way!

Dual Class Note: Can't get your character to dual class? You probably
don't have sufficient STATS for it. Dualling requires
your character have 15 of his current class's prime STAT
(i.e. STR for a Fighter) and 17 of your desired class's
prime STAT (i.e. INT for a Mage). See the Frequently
Asked Questions section for more details.

Here's the character I played through when I wrote the walkthrough:

Male --} To have the romance with Viconia
Half-Orc --} For the STR and CON bonuses
Barbarian -} A very powerful class, gets 2 extra HP per level (over what a
Fighter gets), can Rage, moves faster and at level 11 gains
various weapon resistances.
Lawful --} To get that high starting reputation.
Good
Dual Wield } Then I had him dual wield Katanas (the Celestial Fury is just
awesome) and Long Swords.

My second time through the game (when I wrote the walkthrough) I used this
party: (slight SPOILER)

Me -- Barbarian, as a Half-Orc to get me 19 STR and CON, then dual
wielded long swords and katanas. Very strong.
Jaheira -- Fighter / Druid, The best Druid in the game since she is the only
one who can Raise Dead (with Harper's Call).
Viconia -- Cleric, she is an awesome cleric (much better than Anomen) plus
she has natural magic resistance.
Edwin -- Conjurer, the only true mage in the game, also gains a bonus to
the number of spells he can cast. Not only gains the +1 spell
per level as a Conjurer, but gains another +2 spells per level
from his Amulet (which can't be removed).
Mazzy -- Fighter, Her bow ability is her best feature, but she also has
a number of extra powers (such as Courage) that I found useful.
Yoshimo -- Bounty Hunter, oh sure he isn't a long term solution, but that is
exactly where Imoen returns.

Here's a straight-good aligned power-party:

Main Character -- play as a Kensai/Mage
Valygar -- Stalker dual wielding katanas, can also backstab really well.
Keldorn -- The only Paladin in the game, thus the only person who can use
the Holy Avenger
Minsc -- The strongest character in SoA, fights well with the two handed
sword, or with two weapons.
Anomen -- Once you get past his bizarre personal issues, he's not that bad.
Yoshimo -- To be replaced later with Imoen (or use Jan if you prefer)

Charisma is your friend:
------------------------

So what does Charisma really get you? Well if you have a low charisma you
may not be able to get NPC's to join you, if you pass a quest, the treasure
may not be as good as it normally would be, (or there may be no treasure at
all!) and shops WILL charge you more. So don't skimp out on the charisma.

On the other hand, you only need ONE PERSON with good charisma, and it
needn't be your main character.

SPOILER: Plus, just outside of the first dungeon you find a ring that sets
anyone's Charisma to 18. You will find this ring by finish the
circus tent quest in the Promenade area.

After maxing my reputation, I had my leader (with a charisma of 18) wear some
charisma-enhancing items (nymph cloak, sword of the roses, helm of glory) to
boost his charisma up to 23 before he talks to shop owners, and got a
significant further discount from the increased charisma above 18. Useful
for all those expensive items from the bonus CD's. (from RCL)

Creating all Six Characters:
----------------------------

It is quite beneficial to play every game as a multiplayer (although it does
create a bit of a hassle). It gives you the benefit of being able to create
all 6 players in your party rather than depending on NPC's, and you can also
Export and Import characters in and out at any time. Potentially, then,
you could have a party of as many people as you want, just import and export
as needed.

To create a Multiplayer game just click the Multi Player button. At the next
menu click "Connect". Now you have to set the type of Multi Player (the top
button), using Serial is fairly easy (although it requires that you have some
Networking installed...) Now click "Create Game" (whenever you are playing by
yourself in the Multiplayer always use "Create Game", never use "Join
Game"!). Name the session to whatever you want, and enter in your own name.
Finally click "New Game". Now you can create as many characters as you want.
Then once they are all created, click the little Check icon by each created
characters, and then click the "Done" button.

If I created six characters, this would be that party:

Human Monk -- These guys are just awesome at the higher levels.
Human Kensai -- To be dualled to a Mage at level 9 or 12, can be very
powerful
Human Skald -- Bards are fun, but this one is great. Useful for the
great Bard Song. At high levels gives everyone +4 to
hit, damage and AC!
Elf Archer -- The best ranged weapons expert in existence! This guy is
ridiculously powerful. Alternatively start with a Human
Archer and dual at level 9 to a Cleric. That would mean
you would want to start out with 2 proficiency in Slings.
This way you get both Druid and Cleric spells at once.
Human Swashbuckler -- A thief with great offensive abilities.
Human Sorcerer -- Great magical abilities, don't have to memorize or
learn spells.

Or I might replace the Monk with a Half-Orc Barbarian (or Kensai) -- A
hit point powerhouse.

But naturally in Baldur's Gate II, I prefer to have most of my party consist
of the pre-made NPC's that you find in the game. They're just more
interesting to me.

Warning: I don't recommend creating all SIX characters in the game. You
will miss out on character specific quests (and there are a lot of
these early in the game) as well as the fun interactions these
characters have with each other. At most I would create 5
characters, then bring in an NPC, do their quests, then go on to
the next NPC.

Trick: To play with your own characters, but avoid the hassles of
Multiplayer, simply copy the saved game out of the \MPSAVE\ directory
and into the \SAVE\ directory. You can then play with your own
party in the normal single player mode. (Grack)

Thoughts on Kensai/Mages and other Combinations: (from RCL)
------------------------------------------------

While I can imagine how high level Kensais can be killing machines, I do not
believe they are worth it if you dual them out at level 9. At that time,
compared to normal fighters they only have +3 to hit and +3 damage (plus 3
uses of the Kai ability and -2 speed factors) - which is, in other words,
about an additional 15%-20% bonus depending on your stats, skills and
weapons. However, this is at the expense of not being able to use missile
weapons and more importantly, not being able to use bracers, gauntlets,
helmets, shields and armors.

Even if you, for example, use the shield amulet to make up for the horrible
AC, you won't be able to utilize other abilities offered by the equipment
(such as super fire protection by wearing the whole set of dragon
helm/shield/armor; increased charisma with the Helm of Glory;
missile/beholder ray protection from the reflection/fortress/Balduran's
shields, etc.). After you dual the Kensai to a mage, the inability to use
bracers and missile weapons can make him a liability to the group for a long
while until he regains his Kensai abilities.

A Berserker warrior will be better mage-dualling material. First of all, he
is almost equivalent with a level-9 Kensai in melee abilities with his +2
Thac0/ +2 damage during his rage. In addition, during his rage he will gain
15 hp and have very important immunities (which alone IMO makes up for the
Kai ability); he can use ranged weapons if you want, and he has zero
limitation to his equipment - even if you don't feel like enabling/disabling
your magic casting abilities with heavy armors all the time, Bracers AC3 can
help a lot. Personally, I will take all these advantages and additional
flexibility over the Kai ability and -2 speed factors any day.

Currently I have my Berserker/mage dual wield the Celestial Fury and
Dak'kon's Zerth Blade, wearing the Bracer AC3. I used the editor just to
change his appearance to a mage, and wear the traveler's robe just for the
looks. Looks great (especially when he attacks), and is probably the best
member in my team.

Editor: http://www.mud-master.com/shadowkeeper/

Other People's Party Strategies:
--------------------------------

If Geoff Ulreich created all 6 characters, this is how it would look:

Paladin - Inquisitor (can't dual or would start as fighter for max weapon
prof.) Definitely the only worthwhile paladin kit, immunity to
hold and charm are PRICELESS, as is true seeing, and paladins are
typically worthless as spellcasters, healers and undead turners
next to clerics anyway (hence his disadvantages aren't really).
Spec. in two handed sword, style, and longbow or crossbow (or
both). He's a madman with the Avenger (a DMs worst nightmare).

Fighter - to be dualled to a Priest at 9th level. Grand Mastery in
Warhammer for the Crom Faeyr, the rest in sling (Priests can use
it). Invaluable for healing, turning, summoning fodder, and
dispelling.

Monk - (can't dual, wouldn't anyway) This class is even more unbalanced
than in the first edition AD&D rules, truly heinous by 15th
level, a dervish of destruction at 20th.

Thief - Bounty Hunter to be dualled to Mage (can't dual to specialist or
I would do Conjurer - Divination (their opp. sphere) spells suck)
at 11th, when his special traps have the Hold ability) - also
allows him to hit max level in mage. Give him longswords, two
wpn style (or one if you're gonna use a bow a lot), short bow
(and/or crossbow for the light crossbow of speed). This will
allow you to use most of the good long swords in the game. Get
set snares, F/R traps, and open locks to 100, 100, & 95
respectively, ignore the rest).

Bard - Skald (can't dual or would start as a fighter) Basically for his
kick-ass song, but makes a nice 3rd mage as well. Give him
longsword, 2 handed sword, 2 weapon style, 2 handed sword (for
the vorpal). Nice for Lore skill (saves hassle), cast Friends
before shopping.

Sorcerer - (can't dual or would start as a fighter) A VERY powerful mage.

All the characters should have 18/00 (fighters) or 18 strengths, 18 dexs,
16 cons (18 for the fighter and paladin). Mages get 18 intelligence (incl
bard and bounty), and one of them needs an 18 (or close) wis for limited
wishes. Priest needs 18 wis as well, and paladin and bard should be 18
charisma (save that ring slot for something better). Only took me 2 hrs to
get 6 characters with the above stats. I made them all Lawful or Neutral
Good to allow 20 rep. Have the Sorc. as your main character for the find
familiar spell (use a scroll), this will net a psuedodragon (the best
familiar). This party is a bit slow until the fighter duals to cleric
(lack of healing), but this doesn't take long at all, and soon after it is
unstoppable. Also, Archers are WAY overrated.

By the by, my first character (single player) was a kensai as well, but
used two longswords. Foregoing a second sword for a measly AC bonus is
silly, he was AC -6 by the end (using the shield amulet, which has more
than enough charges to carry you through the end of the game. Also, not
much lived long enough to swing more than once at him; he splattered
creatures faster than Keldorn and Jahiera combined. That's 9 (NINE)
attacks per round if improved hasted and using the dancing sword, 8 if you
think the sword doesn't count :), 4 normally (still obscene). The best
defense is, well, you get the picture...I was going to dual him to mage,
but was having far too much fun with him as it was, and already had 3 mages
by that point.

My sorcerer spell picks:

I have seen many people on the BBSs asking what spells their sorcerers
should learn, especially at the higher levels, and I have also seen some
truly awful replies. That said, here are my picks.

1st: -magic missile*
-identify (even with a bard, no other great picks)
-shield
2 others ( I did protection from petrification and charm person)

Editor's Note: I would take Chromatic Orb here. It has some awesome
powers and grows in strength as your sorcerer levels
up.

2nd: -melf's acid arrow
-mirror image
-knock(*)
-resist fear* (actually an area effect, contrary to what it says in the
manual)
-horror/web/stinking cloud (pick one - I chose horror since it allows you
to take enemies out of action without affecting your party)

3rd: -fireball* __
-dispel magic ]__*
-remove magic__]
-haste

4th: -ice storm
-minor sequencer*
-stone skin*
-minor globe of invulnerability

5th: -breach**********
-chaos*
-cloudkill*
-lower resistance

The above are not set in stone, but really are the best picks for a well
rounded sorcerer, to be used for heavy artillery, fighting enhancement,
and dispelling (with some defense set aside, mainly for the contingency
spells). The offense is balanced for single target and area attack
spells; the area attacks are balanced between damage-dealing and
disabling (the latter of which won't hurt your party, good for in-close
fighting. For the last three levels, I will list a small group of
possibilities, with the first 3 (6th), 3 (7th), and 2 (8th) spells listed
being the ones I chose. I found summoning spells to be fairly useless
later in the game, especially against mages (death fog and death spell),
with the possible exceptions of the nishruu and hakeashar.

6th: -contingency*
-improved haste
-pierce magic*
-(chain lightning)
-(death fog)
-(summon nishruu)

7th: -delayed blast fireball
-mass invisibility*
-spell sequencer*
-(limited wish (depending on your Wis))
-(ruby ray of reversal)
-(summon hakeashar)
-(khelben's warding whip)(great spell, but...no room:))

8th: -incendiary cloud
-spell trigger (I actually chose pierce shield, now regretting it)
-(pierce shield)
-(simulacrum)

Again, these are not set in stone; they are just the spells I found my
mages using over and over again the first time I played). The 2nd level
knock is essential, by the way, if you use the party I suggested (monk or
cleric detects traps, sorc knocks to unlock, paladin triggers traps until
your dualled thief/mage hits 750,000 exp and gets his thief skills back).
I marked with an * the spells I thought absolutely necessary.

Brian Camley has a spell recommendation:

I'd also like to add a suggestion for Sorcerer spell picks - I used
"protection from magical energy" - with this spell, I gave 100% protection
from magic energy to all my characters, making the first battle with
Irenicus a breeze... yes, it isn't as good as the scrolls of protection
from magic, but you can cast spells, while being protected from a lot of
damage that's coming your way.

Max Chen has some spell picks of his own:

1. Identify is a waste to learn cause you can use a scroll, pay a shop
or get identify glasses to do it for you and if your lore is high
enough than you won't need any of those.

I just stick with magic missile and chromatic orb(At lvl 10 it has
possibility turn victim into stone and at lvl 12 instantly kill victim)

2. Lvl 2 Blur and Vocalize (Must have cause once silence your mage is
useless)

3 Lvl 3 Lighting Bolt, bounce it off walls a couple time or reflect
lighting protection and you will see dead body every where. Good for
close combat. There is also another reason, coming up.

4. Greater Malison, no save throw and cause opponents under the influence
of this spell make all saving throws at a penalty of -4. Combine this
with lvl 5 lower resistance.

Otiluke's Resilient Sphere can be use both as offensive and defensive.
Offensive is to take 1 enemy out and Defensive protect your weak or
near death party member from getting kill.(Not that major but somewhat
useful)

Wizard eye is a very good spell for lvl 4. Heck it's better than all
other summon spell. Wizard eye can tank like no other, as long you get
the monster to attack it. As far I can tell wizard eye is unkillable.
Tried killing it myself and send it after lich and dragon, even with
cheat instant kill. Plus it is immune to most spell and unsummon
spells, I think only dispel works. Also it is good to explore with
wizard eye. HEH oh yeah demilich tried to imprison wizard eye many
times but fail miserably.

Editor's Note: ToB eliminates most of the Wizard Eye strategies
listed above. Now they die quite easily.

5. Oracle. 60' instead of 20'(book misprint?) Get rid of those invis
monster.

6. Death fog instantly kill all summoned creature, regardless of hit dice
or immunities(Haven't seen much computer summon monster) but hey they
sure use it on my summon creatures.

If P.K. created 6 characters, this is how he would do it:

Cleric/Ranger Half/Elf (I love those too)
Fighter Human (Dualled to Cleric at level 9)
Fighter Human (Dualled to Druid at level 9)
Fighter Human (Dualled to mage at level 10)
Fighter Human (Dualled to mage at level 9)
Thief Human (Dualled to mage at level 12)

This team is really cool, plenty of hit points for everybody, weapon
grandmastery for most of the characters and everyone of the team is a
spellcaster! (This is especially useful in BG2, since there are A LOT of
spells and one gains XP when learning them)

The (minor) drawbacks of this team is its (relative) weakness in the
transition period but if you look closer you will see that you will always
have at least 3 strong melee fighters in the team, and you can always live
without a trap disarming thief (especially in BG2) since you can do the
quests that do not imply dungeon crawling meanwhile.

If jayhc created all 6, he would do this:

I see that you have other people's full-party strategies on your FAQ, so I
thought - hey, I may as well send in my own. It may not have as much
damage-causing potential at the end of the game as, say, a bunch of
fighters dualled to mages and clerics, but I would bet that it can hold its
own just the same – and would be more easily pulled off, to boot.

1) Dwarfish Berserker with grand mastery in axes. He should have a
seventeen dexterity and a nineteen constitution; a high strength is
preferable, too, but not necessary for the sheer tanking power. Give
him a fortress shield, dexterity gauntlets, some variant of full plate,
a spell-bouncing cloak, a ring of regeneration … he could well have –11
or –12 ac by a fairly reasonable level, and have amazing saving throws
and hit points to go along (at level nineteen, his median amount of hp –
with a nineteen constitution – would near 125; and most people would
take steps to be certain that it's at least somewhat more than that).
Heh. He'll just sit there and soak up blows. For extra fun, let him
don that shape-changing cloak found in the sewers – and turn into a
troll for a moment or two when he seems near the brink of death.

2) Half-orc Kensai. I would either give him grand mastery in two-handed
sword, and specialization in two-handed weapon style; or grand mastery
in long sword, and mastery in two-weapon style. He would get an extra
attack per round with the latter, but the former would give him extra
damage and double the chance of scoring a critical hit – and a half-orc
with a nineteen strength and grand mastery in two-handed sword who
scores a critical hit with, say, Lilarcor – ouch.

The Berserker could soak up damage and lead enemies away, while the Kensai
demolished everything in sight.

3) An elven Stalker with specialization in long bow and long sword, and
mastery in two-weapon fighting. If possible, give him a nineteen
dexterity: this increases his ability to hide in the shadows by a
considerable amount; and that is crucial to any strategy involving him.
At level twelve he gains the ability to haste himself – so he can haste
up, hide in the shadows, and backstab any annoyingly difficult enemies
who don't have too many friends around. With a girdle of strength and a
successful backstab at level nine or ten, he does at least forty-five or
so damage - keep him perpetually hidden for extra backstabbing fun. His
main drawback – for which he is constantly being knocked - is a lack of
metallic armor, but plenty of magical leather-class protection is
available during the course of the game. His nineteen dexterity makes
him quite an arrow slinger, too.

4) A half-elven Ranger/Cleric, whose physical attributes I shall leave
open to suggestion. My choice of this no doubt explains itself: he has
access to both ranger and cleric spells; he offers a decent fighting
ability, in a pinch; he can hide in the shadows to avoid any unnecessary
conflict until he wants to reveal himself (so as to heal team-members
and not be killed himself beforehand). Add to this holy power, iron
skin, negative plane protection, draw upon holy might, and a disruptor
mace – you've got yourself an undead-killing machine.

A human ranger could dual to cleric if you don't want to end the game at
13/14. A Ranger dualled at nine, could still reach twenty in Cleric.

5) A gnome Illusionist/Thief. There is never any need, in BG2, to have a
straight thief: this alternative gives you hefty magical power in
addition to more than enough ability to perform necessary thieving tasks
(finding and disarming traps, and unlocking doors and chests). A thief
hidden in the shadows can't actively detect traps; but an invisible
thief can, and this power makes him ever so much more valuable than a
meandering normal thief.

6) A human Sorcerer, who can launch chromatic orb and magic missile all day
long. Give him breach and greater malison - and enemies are yours to
try practically any magical strategy you'd like.

You could replace the stalker with an inquisitor, to make mage-killing even
easier; or a cavalier, to have effective leadership and ridiculous
immunities. You could also try an archer, here – I've not tested the kit
myself; but I'm told it's ridiculously powerful, at any given level.

A monk would be nice, but is a veritable liability until level fifteen or
so.

Throne of Bhaal Notes: (from Duncan Clay)
----------------------

The High-Level Class Abilities added in Throne of Bhaal gives many new
possibilities to character creation.

For example the Rogue High-Level Class Ability "Use Any Item" allows them
to use any weapon and shield, wear any armor and helmet, use wands and
cast spells from scrolls. But it goes beyond that, a dual class
Kensai/Thief can now wear Full Plate Armor, have a familiar and wield the
Paladin sword "Carsomyr".

Since THAC0 progression stops at level 22, there isn't much difference
between a Level 22 Fighter with THAC0 0 and a Level 40 Fighter with THAC0
0. A Level 40 Thief would have a THAC0 of 10 the same as a Level 22
Thief. This suggests Dual and Multiclass characters are the way to go.

Here are some outstanding high-level character abilities
Level 39 Kensai - THAC0 & Damage Bonus = 13 (Melee Weapons)
Level 33 Archer - THAC0 & Damage Bonus = 10 (Missile Weapons)
Level 40 Wizard Slayer - Magic Resistance = 84
Level 40 Monk - Base Armor Class = -6 (-19 vs. Missiles)
Level 40 Monk - Lay Hands heals 80 hit points
Level 40 Swashbuckler - Armor Class Bonus = 9
Level 40 Swashbuckler - THAC0 & Damage Bonus = 8
Level 21 Assassin - Backstab Multiplier = x7
Level 25 Bard - base Lore ability = 250

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI. } } } } Companions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some companions don't like each other. For example, Minsc and Edwin will
eventually come to blows. Anomen (if he fails his test) will try to hurt
Aerie.

Proficiencies Note: When I list the proficiencies the character has, that
is not a recommendation as to what I think they should
have, those are the profs the character starts with.
These are listed by the level you get the character at.

If you want to decide on your own proficiencies, it is
always better to get that character as soon as possible.

Irenicus' Dungeon Characters:

S D C I W Ch Race Class Alignment
- Imoen 9 18 16 17 11 16 Human Thief/Mage Neutral Good

Imoen is your old childhood friend from Candlekeep. In the first game
she was a Thief, and now she has dual classed to become a Mage.

SPOILER: Don't let Imoen memorize any spells as she won't be with your
party for much longer.

Profs: [*] Dagger, Dart, Quarterstaff, Shortbow

Grade: B+ She is the third best thief you can get in the game and the
second best mage. This averages out well, especially since
this game doesn't require that much out of a thief. I list
her as "third best thief" because she can't level up in it
anymore.

- Minsc 18/93 16 16 8 6 9 Human Ranger Chaotic Good

Minsc is a little loopier than last you saw him. This may be due to the
death of Dynaheir -- whom he was sworn to protect -- but he seems to
rely far too much on Boo, his pet hamster. Minsc will adopt Aerie as
his witch if they are in the party at the same time. Then when she is
injured or killed, Minsc has some... reactions.

If kicked out: You can find Minsc again in the Copper Coronet

Profs: Lvl 7 - [**] Long Bow, Mace, Two Handed Sword, Two Handed Style
Lvl 9 - [*] Axe
[**] Long Bow, Mace, Two Handed Sword, Two Handed Style
Lvl 12 - [**] Axe, Long Bow, Mace, Two Handed Sword, 2 Hand Style

Grade: A- Minsc is one of the best investments you can have in the
game. He is the strongest of the NPC's and has decent
abilities as well. Plus he soon begins learning Priest
spells which further his power.

- Jaheira 15 17 17 10 14 15 Half-Elf Fighter/Druid True Neutral

Jaheira has some problems with authority, which in this case would be
you. She believes that she should be leader. She is also a member of
the Harper's, a "do-gooder" organization that also claims Elminster as a
member.

If kicked out: You can find Jaheira in the southwest of the Docks
district, near the Harper's secret base.

Profs: [*] Quarterstaff, Scimitar, Sling, Sword & Shield Style
[**] Club

Grade: B A good solid performer, but nothing to write home about.
There are better Priests out there, and better Fighters out
there as well. The best reason to keep her is her Druid
abilities as she is the best druid for some time. At the
moment you really have no choice but to take her.

- Yoshimo 17 18 16 13 10 14 Human Bounty Hunter True Neutral

Yoshimo, feared by all, somehow managed to get himself captured and
thrown into this dungeon with the rest of you. Why Irenicus would be
interested in him is beyond me.

If kicked out: You can find Yoshimo in the Copper Coronet.

Profs: Lvl 7 - [*] Dagger, Katana, Shortbow, Single Weapon Style
Lvl 12 - [*] Dagger, Dart, Katana, Shortbow, Single Weapon Style

Grade: B+ There are several reasons to like Yoshimo: First he is the
best thief in the game (he is the ONLY pure thief class and
has a good Dex score as well) and second he can Dual Class
to a Fighter later. If only he could dual to a mage as
well...

Athkatla Characters:
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
- Aerie 10 17 9 16 16 14 Elf Cleric/Mage Lawful Good

Aerie is a winged elf. Well former winged elf as her wings were removed
some time ago. She had been a slave before meeting up with Quayle and
joining the circus.

Found at: Waukeen Promenade Circus

Profs: Lvl 6 - [*] Mace, Quarterstaff, Sling
Lvl 7 - [*] Club, Mace, Quarterstaff, Sling

Grade: C+ A cleric/mage combines all magics into one (not Druid spells,
but nobody's perfect), which is an incredible bonus. Except
that she has rather weak stats. She doesn't excel anywhere,
no single one stat stands out. As such she isn't worth
keeping around for very long.

- Anomen 18/52 10 16 10 12 13 Human Fighter/Cleric Lawful Neutral

Anomen may not be a Paladin but he is deeply involved with the Order of
the Radiant Heart. He believes in Law over all other concerns, making
him neither good nor evil.

Found at: Copper Coronet (Slums)

Profs: Lvl 6 - [*] Warhammer, Sword & Shield Style
[**] Mace, Sling
Lvl 10 - [*] Quarterstaff, Warhammer, Sword & Shield Style
[**] Mace, Sling

Grade: C+ At the point in the game when you run across this guy is just
won't fit into your party. As you can see by his wisdom
score he doesn't make for a good Cleric, and with his DEX
score, he doesn't make that great a Fighter either.

Anomen later gets a chance to "upgrade", when he can either
join the Knights or fail. If he joins he gains a +4 to his
Wisdom score, which improves him as a Cleric. If he fails,
he becomes emotionally unstable and may attack other party
members. (after a conversation, of course)

Upgrade: B-

- Edwin 10 10 16 18 10 10 Human Mage Lawful Evil

Edwin was with you on your last adventures, and he and Minsc don't like
each other in the least. Edwin had wanted to kill Minsc's witch,
Dynaheir, and now that she is dead, Edwin won't leave Minsc alone about
it.

Edwin gets the most spells of any mage, +3 for every level (1 from his
Conjurer bonus, and 2 from his non-removable amulet).

Found at: Shadow Thieves Guild (Docks, talk to Renal Bloodscalp)

Profs: Lvl 7 - [*] Dagger, Quarterstaff
Lvl 12 - [*] Dagger, Quarterstaff, Sling

Grade: B+ What his stats don't tell you is that Edwin gets bonus spells
making him the best mage in the game. The downside is that
he is weak as a kitten and has so very little HP.

- Haer'Dalis 17 17 9 15 13 16 Tiefling Blade Chaotic Neutral

Haer'Dalis is not from around here. In fact he isn't even from this
plane of existence! He is a Tiefling, born with part demon blood. It
gives him an odd appearance and an even stranger attitude about life.

Found at: Sewers (follow the Raelis Quest from the Five Flagons)
If kicked out: Haer'Dalis will go to the main floor of the Five Flagons.

Profs: Lvl 10 - [*] Dagger, Dart
[**] Short Sword, Two Weapon Style
Lvl 13 - [*] Dagger, Dart, Longsword
[**] Short Sword, Two Weapon Style
Lvl 15 - [*] Dagger, Dart
[**] Longsword, Short Sword, Two Weapon Style

Grade: D+ The ONLY Bard in the game, and he happens to be lacking the
one thing that makes Bards extra special, their Lore ability.
That said, he makes a great warrior, for a Bard. But if I
wanted a warrior, I'd take a warrior

- Jan 9 17 15 16 14 10 Gnome Thief/Mage Chaotic Neutral

Jan loves turnips. Almost literally! And like most gnomes he is very
eccentric, and loves to ramble on with stories that never get to the
points. He wants to steal Boo from Minsc, and if he ever succeeded, one
would imagine he wouldn't live long after that.

Found at: Government District (near the Government offices)

Profs: [*] Crossbow, Dagger, Quarterstaff, Shortsword

Grade: B+ My favorite Thief/Illusionist in the game! The only Thief/
Illusionist in the game! Unlike the other thief/mages he is
a multi-class rather than a dual class, which is both a good
and a bad thing. He keeps improving his thief skills, but
gains levels slower. Plus he can make his own ammunition for
his crossbow. These "flashers" work like Skull Traps and
will stun enemies, but not party members.

- Keldorn 17 9 17 12 16 18 Human Paladin Lawful Good

Keldorn is a dedicated man. So dedicated that he goes months without
seeing his family. This will lead to conflict, and may cause Keldorn to
leave your party forever.

Found at: Temple District Sewers (MUST start the Unseeing Eye quest
first)

Profs: Lvl 8 - [**] Crossbow, Longsword, Two Handed Sword
Lvl 9 - [*] Bastard Sword
[**] Crossbow, Longsword, Two Handed Sword
Lvl 12 - [**] Bastard Sword, Crossbow, Longsword, Two Handed
Sword

Grade: B+ The only Paladin in the game. If you want a Paladin this is
the way to go. He starts out with decent armor and an
interesting sword (if he is hit, it deals 5 damage to what
hit him). As an Inquisitor gets immunity to Charm and Hold,
which is very useful, and his Dispel Magic is very powerful.

- Korgan 18/77 15 19 12 9 7 Dwarf Battlerager Chaotic Evil

Although his alignment is listed as Chaotic Evil, Korgan is more Neutral
Evil than anything (mercenary type that he is). Korgan is always on the
lookout to make a buck, no matter the cost (of lives).

Found at: Copper Coronet (Slums)
If kicked out: Will be at the Copper Coronet, but requires a Bribe to
rejoin you.

Profs: Lvl 8 - [*] Warhammer
[*****] Axe
Lvl 9 - [**] Warhammer
[*****] Axe
Lvl 12 - [***] Warhammer
[*****] Axe

Grade: A- The best fighter-type in the game. Good Strength, good
Constitution and adequate Dexterity. And unlike Minsc (the
other "strong" character), Korgan can be a Grand Master in
a weapon making him very lethal indeed. Would be an "A"
except that he is Evil, which makes it hard to keep him in a
Good aligned party.

- Nalia 14 18 16 17 9 13 Human Thief/Mage Chaotic Good

Raised as a Noble, Nalia fancies herself as a "compassionate" noble, out
there working for the good of the common man. She is incredibly naive
about the world to the point of almost being stupid. (not quite, though)

Found at: Copper Coronet (Slums)
If she leaves: If you accept her quest, but don't do it right away, she
will leave on her own. You will then find her near the
De'Arnise Hold in a wooden palisade (SW of the Hold).

Profs: Lvl 8 - [*] Dagger, Quarterstaff, Shortbow, Shortsword
Lvl 13 - [*] Dagger, Dart, Quarterstaff, Shortbow, Shortsword

Grade: C+ Nalia has very puny thief skills (she dualled over to Mage at
level 4), making her primarily a Mage with SOME thief skills
thrown in for good measure. However, as a Mage she doesn't
have 18 INT (which helps) and doesn't gain Edwin's spell
bonuses.

- Viconia 10 19 8 16 18 14 Drow Elf Cleric Neutral Evil

Viconia DeVir was forced out of the Underdark and has been living as an
exile on the surface ever since. She journeyed with you in your earlier
adventures.

Fount at: Government District (near the prison)
If kicked out: Viconia goes to the Graveyard

Profs: [*] Mace, Sling, Warhammer

Grade: B+ Personally I think she is the best Cleric in the game. Start
with a great Dexterity and Wisdom and you have a great
character. Give her the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength (or a
similar Strength enhancing item) and she moves up to an A
grade. Also, the Girdle of Fortitude can be used to improve
her lowly constitution for 8 hours a day. (The Gauntlets are
part of the Planar Sphere quest, and the Girdle can be found
in the Unseeing Eye quest)

Elsewhere:

Cernd 13 9 13 12 18 13 Human Shapeshifter True Neutral

Cernd was investigating the strange occurrences around Trademeet when he
was brought in by the locals.

Found at: Trademeet (talk to the Mayor)

Profs: Lvl 10 - [*] Dagger, Quarterstaff, Scimitar, Sling
Lvl 13 - [*] Dagger, Quarterstaff, Scimitar, Sling, Single Weapon

Grade: C+ At first glance you might think Cernd is the worst character
in existence. Though not entirely true, it does have some
merit. He is a good Druid due to his high Wisdom. The
rest of his stats are abysmal, HOWEVER when he turns into a
Werewolf, his stats LEAP upwards to the point of superhuman
strength, dexterity and constitution.

Mazzy 15 18 16 10 13 14 Halfling Fighter Lawful Good

Mazzy is not your typical halfling. For starters, she's not a thief of
any sort. Plus she's lawful good, heroic and no-nonsense. Very atypical
for halflings.

Found at: Temple Ruins (follow the Umar Hills quest from Delon at the
Government District)
If kicked out: Mazzy will return home to Trademeet

Profs: Lvl 8 - [*] Shortsword
[*****] Shortbow
Lvl 9 - [***] Shortsword
[*****] Shortbow
Lvl 12 - [****] Shortsword
[*****] Shortbow

Grade: B- A good Halfling fighter, but... in all actuality she is
closer to a Halfling Paladin. She has several special
abilities such as Lay on Hands and Haste.

Valygar 17 18 16 10 14 10 Human Stalker Neutral Good

Valygar's family has long lived in the shadow of magic. His own mother
went mad with the power of it and was destroyed. Valygar escaped this
fate by becoming a Ranger, albeit the only Ranger with mage spells
(Stalker).

Found at: Valygar's Cabin (Umar Hills, NE of the town)

Profs: Lvl 8 - [**] Katana, Longbow, Spear, Two Weapon Style
Lvl 9 - [*] Dagger
[**] Katana, Longbow, Spear, Two Weapon Style
Lvl 12 - [**] Dagger, Katana, Longbow, Spear, Two Weapon Style

Grade: A- I would have preferred that Valygar had been an Elven Archer,
but this is almost as good. Valygar comes with several
magical items, such as his family Armor, that makes up for
his being a mere Stalker. Don't get me wrong, Stalkers are
neat, but to get the most out of them, you need to really
hide in shadows and backstab a lot.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII. } } } } General Gameplay Strategies
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Increase the Brightness Setting:
--------------------------------

The "normal" brightness setting is so dark that at times you can't see things
that should be quite obvious. So go into the Graphics options and move up
the Brightness and Contrast settings!

Save a Lot:
-----------

The most important strategy in the game: Save often!

There are 3 times when you should definitely save the game. When you win a
battle, before you go to sleep, and everywhere else. You never know when you
will go to a new area, have your best warrior charmed, and have half your
party killed. So save often. Also don't just save over the same slot over
and over, use at least 10 slots. This also means you should probably avoid
the Quick Save. Well... not avoid, just don't use it exclusively.

What I would do is to create an "Archive Save" whenever you enter a new major
area. So when you get to the beginning of a new area save it as "Starting
out in..." and so forth.

Start with All your Old Items: (from Dranyth)
------------------------------

When importing a character from BG, or even re-importing a character from BG2
to go through again, you can retain your character's equipment in the
beginning of the game (I imagine this would work in multiplayer as well as
single player, but I've only tried it in single player). First, give your
character all the great stuff you want to start with and then Export him to a
character file, then start BG2 and start a single player game, importing your
freshly exported character with all his goodies as your new character. Then
when you finish your character creation it begins loading the first area, as
soon as the loading screen completes but before it actually starts the game,
hit the Spacebar once, now when the game starts you should be on a black
screen and paused.

If the game isn't paused, you'll have to start over after the whole in-game
sequence is over, but if the game is paused you should have your sidebars up
and everything (if it's a completely black screen you'll need to hit H to
reveal the hidden sidebars), and you can go into your character's inventory.

Immediately put all of your character's stuff on the ground, then exit his
inventory and unpause the game, that first cry you give is where you lose
everything that is on your character. Now, after the sequence is over and
you're finished talking with Imoen (when you first have control over
yourself), go back into your inventory and you'll see that all of your stuff
is on the ground right where you left it, actually sitting on the floor of
your cage. Take your advanced equipment and go forth to kick evil butt!
(hey, if Minsc can hide Boo...)

Editor's Note: Another way to do this would be to start a new Multiplayer
Game with a new character. As soon as the game starts, then
delete this character and import your old one.

Magic Items and the Monsters who Require that you Have One to even Hit Them
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moderate SPOILERS

At some point in the game, you'll get the "weapon ineffective" message.
This usually means that you need a MORE magical weapon than the one you are
using in order to hit that monster. For example, Iron Golems require that
you hit them with a +3 weapon or better. Kangaxx the Lich requires +3
weapons or better, but his Demi-Lich form takes a +4 or better to hit.

Generally you can tell what "enchantment" a weapon is by looking at its
bonus to damage or THAC0. If a sword grants +5 to THAC0, it is probably
considered a +5 weapon.

Some weapons, however, have an "enchantment" far beyond their bonuses. Here
is a small list of weapons that do more than advertised:

Staff of the Magi, +1 THAC0, hits as a +5
Melf's Minute Meteors, hit as a +5 (and ignore magic resistance)
Mace of Disruption +1, hit as a +4
Mace of Disruption +2, hit as a +5
Daystar +2/+4 vs. Undead, hits as a +2 (boo!)
Flametongue +1, hits as a +4
Hammer +1/+4 vs. Giants, hits as a +4

Familiars:
----------

Alignment Familiar AC HP Abilities
--------------- ------------- -- -- ----------------------------------
Lawful Good Pseudo Dragon -2 24 50% magic resistance, renders
victims unconscious, casts Blur

Neutral Good Pseudo Dragon -2 24 (same as above)

Chaotic Good Fairy Dragon 4 24 32% magic res., casts Invisibility
10' Radius & Mirror Image 1/day

Lawful Neutral Ferret 0 24 50% magic res., 75% Pickpocket,
40% Stealth, 20% Detect Traps

True Neutral Rabbit -4 16 50% Detect Traps, 30% Stealth,
75% resistance to fire, cold, elec

Chaotic Neutral Cat 0 24 20% Pickpocket, 99% Stealth,
50% magic res.

Lawful Evil Imp 2 18 Polymorphs, 25% magic res.

Neutral Evil Dust Mephit 6 24 Casts Glitterdust 2/day, 10% magic
res.

Chaotic Evil Quasit 2 24 Casts Horror, 25% magic resist.

Note: To get items that were pickpocketed by a Familiar, talk to the
Familiar and ask for any items they have.

Also, familiars get upgraded in Throne of Bhaal, see that section
above for more information.

Familiars are great. Sure, only the Main Character can have a familiar
(which means that if your Main Character can't cast Magic, you won't get one)
and sure if they die then you permanently lose one point of Constitution.
But Familiars make the best spies. They move faster than anyone else. Cast
invisibility on a Familiar and you can scout out an entire area. (too bad
they can't check for traps)

The best feature of Familiars? They add HP to their mages! Say you summon
a 24 HP Pseudodragon (size-wise think of that little dragon Eddie Murphy
played in "Mulan"). Then your mage gets a bonus of half that dragon's HP
added to himself, or a bonus of +12 HP.

Familiars are NOT fighters. Never use them as such. At best they have
special attacks that can render opponents helpless. In fact, unless you have
a specific task you should keep your familiar in your Backpack. To put them
there, talk to the Familiar (you have to click the Talk icon) and ask them
to go in your pack. They are completely safe in the pack. To get them back
out again, simply right-click the Familiar.

Note: If you are a Sorcerer, DO NOT LEARN THE SPELL FIND FAMILIAR!! You
can only learn a maximum of 5 spells per level and you don't want
to waste it on a spell that you cast ONCE. Buy a scroll and cast it
from the Scroll. (Put it in the Quick Item slot, then at the main
screen click that scroll) You will also find this scroll in the
De'Arnise Hold if you are having trouble finding it.

Warning: Familiars can be LOST during transitions to and from various
areas. Some that I know of are the Planar Prison and Jarlaxle's
pocket dimension. What happens is your party is automatically
teleported to a new area, but the Familiar is left behind. That
familiar is then lost for good.

Trick: The easiest way for a non-mage character to gain a Familiar is to
use Alex Malano's "Anyone can cast Mage Scrolls" strategy. Just
pause the game, go to your inventory, right-click a potion in the
backpack to drink it, then swap slots with the Find Familiar scroll
and the potion. Leave the inventory and unpause. You will cast
the spell and get a Familiar.

Trick: Using familiars as a bag of holding: Certain familiars can
pickpocket people, including party members. There seems to be no
limit to the amount of stuff they can keep on them. Drop all the
stuff except what you want to get store in your familiar. Have him
pickpocket you until he gets all of it. Interesting way for a solo
mage to get all the loot in a dungeon out in one go. (Xander77)

Trick: You can, of course, export a character after they got the HP from
the familiar. Then when you start a new game, you'll still have
the extra HP and can then summon a new familiar. Repeat as
desired. However, at that point, you're better off just getting
ShadowKeeper (http://www.mud-master.com/shadowkeeper/) and setting
your HP as high as you want.

Keeping Summoned Monsters (from Xander77)
-------------------------

The take away monster: The trick for taking a group of summoned creatures
through a doorway and into another area is fairly simple. Concentrate your
party near the doorway. Concentrate the monster group farther away from the
doorway. Pause your game. Have the monster group attack a character in the
party. Select the entire party (NOT including the summoned monsters). Click
on the doorway to enter it. Violin! You are now in the new area and your
summoned monsters have followed you there. At this point, they are colored
green, but are not under your command - the talk icon is shown when you click
on them (they have nothing to say, if you wonder). They will attack any
enemies they see, though. But this is not quite over. Save your game. Load
it. The summoned creatures are now under your command.

This works with 80% of the doors that only have a "Loading" screen when you
enter them, and 40% of the doors that have both "Saving" and "Loading" screen
when you enter them.

Duplicating items via Simulacrum (from Xander77)
--------------------------------

Have the book of many spells in your quick item slot. Summon a Simulacrum.
Make him turn the page in the book. The book should disappear from his quick
item slot. Kill the Simulacrum. The book is amongst his remains. This works
ONLY with the book of many spells and ONLY in SoA.

Full strength Simulacrum (from Xander77)
------------------------

The mechanic which the game uses for creating a Simulacrum is fairly
simple -- create a duplicate of the caster and afflict him with level drain.
If you cast a Simulacrum then cast restoration on him, you will get a full
strength duplicate of the caster. This obviously works best with a fighter
using Vhailor's helm. Make sure the Simulacrum has a couple of healing
potions in his quick item slot.

Weapon Effects While Shapeshifted: (from K.C.)
----------------------------------

When a character shapeshifts the effects and equipped abilities from whatever
weapons were equipped will still be in effect. I found this out when my main
character turned into the Slayer and his claws still had the stunning effect
of the Celestial Fury. Later I gave Cernd the Staff of the Ram and sure
enough when he turned into a werewolf he was still able to knock opponents
back.

Cromwell the Smithy:
--------------------

Throughout the game you will get spiffy little pieces of great items. These
pieces can then be put together by Cromwell the Smithy. His average price
is 5,000 gold and it takes a day or two to make. Oh, and you have to stay
and help him (so, I hope you weren't already late for something).

Here is a list of things he can make:

Item Needs (where it is)

The Equalizer Sword -- Pommel Jewel of the Equalizer (Irenicus' Dungeon)
Hilt of the Equalizer (Mind Flayer City, Underdark)
Blade of the Equalizer (Beholder City, Underdark)
The Wave Halberd -- Wave Blade (Sahuagin City)
Wave Shaft (Planar Prison)
Gesen Short Bow -- Gesen Shaft (Tanner's House, Bridge)
Gesen String (Spellhold)
The Crom Faeyr -- Scroll of Crom Faeyr (Shadow Dragon)
Hammer of Thunderbolts (Illithid Lair, Sewers)
Gauntlets of Ogre Power (Planar Sphere)
Girdle of Frost Giant Strength (Underdark)
Mace of Disruption +2 - Mace of Disruption +1 (Bodhi's Lair)
Illithium Ore (Athkatla, Bridge District)
Vorpal Sword -- Silver Hilt (On a Githyanki, Slums, Chapter 6)
Silver Blade (Saemon Havarian, Spellhold)
Ankheg Plate Mail -- Ankheg Shell (Windspear Hills)
Shadow Dragon Leat. -- Shadow Dragon Scales (Abandoned Temple)
Red Dragon Plate -- Red Dragon Scales (Windspear Hills)

These are without a doubt the most powerful artifacts in the game. The Crom
Faeyr is probably the best of these, since it sets one's strength to 25.
(it's a War Hammer with +5 to hit)

Cromwell Trick, Don't Lose your Ingredients! (from Alessio Ronchi)
--------------------------------------------
After beating Firkraag, I took his scales to Cromwell to forge the armor but
when I arrived at the docks a group of smugglers attacked me. I thought, who
cares? I don't want to waste my time fighting those boring guys, let's just
ignore them! I entered Cromwell's home and asked him to forge the armor. What
did those stupid rogues do? They followed me in! So, while Cromwell was
smashing his freaky hammer on the air, the smugglers were smashing Edwin
(grrr...) and I could do nothing because I didn't have any control of the
game (double grr...). Of course they killed Edwin and I was just about
to restart the game when I thought: {{Let's avenge Edwin and then resurrect
him with Jaheira's Harper's call}}. That's what I did, when Cromwell
finished, after killing them, I made my new Edwin re-collect his stuffs...
But what is it? Red scales were still there (Edwin carried them before the
ambush) so I had a red scales armor and red scales! So I told Cromwell to
make another!

Cromwell takes your scales away only after he finishes his work and not when
he begins.

Of course this method works with EVERY artifacts Cromwell can forge. So if
you are disappointed because you have to give up the girdle of frost giants
to make the Crom Fayer, just kill and resurrect your player who carries the
artifacts and that's it! (I used Harper's call because it costs nothing and
doesn't make you lose 1 point of CNS). Oh, you should attack someone who has
few HP, otherwise you just risk to injure him and nothing else... and your
stuff is are gone.

So this is my procedure:

1 - make someone attack your "carrier" before talking to Cromwell

2 - talk to Cromwell and have him forge your artifact

3 - watch...

4 - resurrect and recollect!

Other Assembled Items:
----------------------

These have nothing to do with Cromwell, but are assembled nonetheless.

SPOILERS

Flail of the Ages -- Flail Head (Cold) (De'Arnise Hold)
Flail Head (Fire)
Flail Head (Acid)
Bronze Horn of Valhalla -- Silver Horn of Valhalla ("Fish" House, Bridge)
Diamond (anywhere)
Iron Horn of Valhalla -- Bronze Horn of Valhalla (Maheer, Promenade)
Beljuril (In a Chicken, Umar's Hills)
Human Flesh Armor -- Human Flesh (Tanner's House, Bridge)
Silver Dragon Blood (Underdark)

The Horns of Valhalla are made by Maheer in the Waukeen's Promenade. See
that section for more details.

Mordenkainen's Sword has a Greenstone Amulet: (from Dranyth)
---------------------------------------------

I was in Firkraag's Temple in the area just past the Orcish-Archers-behind-
the-walls ambush, in the hall where you get attacked by the various golems.
I happened to get attacked by an adamantite golem and two stone golems and
backed off to let the stone golems into the room to take them out first, then
went back up to see what I could do about the adamantite golem. I cast
Mordenkainen's Sword and sent the sword after it while I sat back and
watched. The golem had just coughed up one of his mini-Cloudkills and after
a round or two my sword somehow got poisoned by it and began taking 1 damage
a second. After it took 36 damage, the sword died. On the sword's body was
a Greenstone Amulet!

While I was writing this it occurred to me that if it had it when it died,
perhaps you could pick pocket it... so I just summoned a Mordenkainen's
Sword, had Yoshimo quaff a potion of Master Thievery to ensure success, and
sure enough, when I pick pocketed the sword it gave me a Greenstone Amulet!
I believe this is a very regular occurrence then, I hope it will be useful.
As I haven't fought Illithids yet, I'm not sure if these Amulets are that
useful against them or not, but from their description I'd imagine so...

ToB Note: This was removed for Throne of Bhaal.

Healing Flame Trick: (from Mike O)
--------------------

Slight SPOILER

It turns out that raising a character's resistance to something above 100 not
only blocks all damage by that kind of element, but actually heals the
character by a small amount relative to the amount of damage that should have
been done. The place I discovered this is also probably the best place to
take advantage of it - in the Temple Ruins. If you stand on the incorrect
letter of the room where you are supposed to spell out Amaunator's name you
will get nailed repeatedly by a Flame Strike spell. But when I used the Red
Dragon Scale in conjunction with a Fire Resistance ring and one other item I
can't remember to raise different character's resistances to fire above 100,
I could just sit them there and watch their health bars quickly raise. If you
are evil in alignment you also get to enjoy their screaming in pain as they
roast :) Any trap that causes damage of a certain type repeatedly will work,
though fire traps are probably the most useful since items that provide fire
resistance are more common than any other kind.

Editor's Note: There are also Fire resistant spells. Further, this works
with any Resistance over 100%, including weapon resistances!

Reputation:
-----------

You really want a high reputation. The higher the better. Even if you have
an evil party you want a high reputation. If you have a good or neutral
party, try for a reputation of 20, if you have an evil party, you still want
a reputation of 18 (the highest you can go before all the evil people start
leaving). Because of these various things, I would not recommend having a
mixed alignment party. By mixed I mean good and evil combined. The best
part about a good reputation is that everything is given the "hero discount",
up to 50% off of items in stores!

Note: If you get an Evil person to join and your reputation is ALREADY
above 18, then they will stay. Unless your reputation changes
again. If you start at 20, get someone to join, then go down to 19
they might leave anyway. (from Moby)

Trick: You know how if your reputation hits 19, evil people will leave the
party? You can prevent this if you have Viconia. Whenever Viconia
joins you, you lose 2 Rep. Whenever you dump her, you gain 2 Rep.
So, whenever I found a quest where I would get a reputation point
reward (after my reputation had reached 18), I would just load the
game to a saved game before getting the reward, dismiss Viconia
(and ask her to wait right there). My reputation would become 20.
Then getting the reward would not change the reputation (since max
rep is 20). Then get back Viconia, and rep falls to 18 again. This
means that rep will always be 18 (you can always dump her to buy
and sell stuff, then get her back). I don't know if you need to
remove Edwin and Korgan too, but I believe they should be removed
before your rep hits 20 when Viconia is removed. They may not gain
some of the quest xp. Still, Viconia's level was good enough for
turn undead (from Jafar Sadeq, sharktooth@hotmail.com).

Level/Ability Drain:
--------------------

One of the more annoying abilities of Undead creatures (Shadows, Wraiths,
Vampires) is their ability to drain your characters stats or levels. First,
it should be noted that Stat drains are TEMPORARY and given some time your
stats will return to normal. No special action need be taken.

However, LEVEL drains are NOT temporary. They must be reversed with a
Restoration spell. Priests get the spell "Lesser Restoration" with their
4th level spells (A Priest must be on level 7 to cast 4th level spells).
There are also Restoration scrolls and temples offer that service as well.
Until they are restored, your people will be operating as though they were on
a lower level, however they still accrue experience as normal; so once
restored they will be fine.

Romances:
---------

The main character can have a bit of a romantic subplot with certain
companions who join you.

Male Character -- Viconia, Jaheira or Aerie
Female Character -- Anomen

Romances can only start in the city, or outside, NOT in a dank dungeon.
(usually, there are exceptions) I'm not entirely sure how these work and
assume that they just "happen". There is a slight consequence to having a
romance with someone, but it doesn't come up until Chapter 6.

Romances are essentially just the NPC and your character chatting.
Relationships develop depending on your reactions to what they say. For
example, Viconia respects strength, Jaheira honesty and Aerie niceness.

Also, Romances have various subplots related to them:

SPOILERS

Viconia: attacked by a Drow and a Yochlol
Jaheira: attacked by Bandits*
Aerie: no subplot
Anomen: Seeks revenge for the death of his father

* I'd recommend downloading the Jaheira Improved Romance file, which you
can find here:

http://www.baldurdash.org/

BIG SPOILER

The Viconia romance has a "bad" ending no matter what you do. That is, you
sleep with her, and she then decides to break up with you. Nothing you can
do about it, really. It should also be noted that Viconia sleeps with you
really fast, then treats you bad before giving in to you once more.

In order to get a positive ending with Aerie, you must choose to NOT sleep
with her. This still ends the romance (completes it, you could say), but
on a more positive note.

Haer'Dalis and Aerie can even have a little "fling." (I've heard on the
official boards that Haer'Dalis was originally meant to be the second male
romance, but that it was taken out due to time constraints. That is, in fact
why he has a fling with Aerie, it was meant to be a Love Triangle, where he
eventually chooses your character)

Some things to keep in mind about romances:

The gender of the main character for romance purposes is fixed at the
very beginning of the game. This means that the girdle of gender bender
will not have any effect on romances, and that you can start a multiplayer
game with a male character, then switch to a female character and pursue a
lesbian romance with Jaheira, Aerie or Viconia (or vice versa with
Anomen - perish the thought). (Per Jorner)

Dropping a love interest from the party will terminate the romance, so
don't start one with someone you aren't willing to keep around permanently.
This means that you won't be able to juggle Viconia for the reputation
shifts if you're seeing her. (Alan Cherry)

Also, a bug in Jaheira's script will break the romance off if she gets
petrified after you're been summoned to the Harper Hold. After you de-stone
her, Jaheira immediately takes off for the Harper Hold when you try to have
her rejoin the party, even if you've already gone there. You can pick her
up at the Docks, but the romance is still over. (I didn't know this had
happened until Aerie started flirting again). You'll have to reactivate the
romance from the console to proceed with it. (Alan Cherry)

Editor's Note: You could reactivate it with the console:

CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("JaheiraRomanceActive","GLOBALS",2)

CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("JaheiraRomanceActive","GLOBALS",1)

or you could just download the program Shadowkeeper.

http://www.mud-master.com/shadowkeeper/

The romance talks work on real time not game time, for instance if your
having a romance with Aerie and she talks to you on day 10 you couldn't
rest in an inn for 10 days and then she'd speak to you. Rather it seems
you have to wait about 30 min to 1 hour of your time before she speaks to
you again. Unfortunately this doesn't mean your romantic NPC is going to
speak to you every time sometimes you have to do something else before they
talk to you again e.g. Jaheira won't talk to you after a while if you
haven't done the bandit quest. (Miguel)

Jaheira Note: Firstly if you buy Jaheira a necklace from a merchant in the
docks area (next to the temple) and then tell her you have
feelings for her this will start a romance with her, however
you will not get summoned to the Harper hold (after the Xzar
quest) until you have done the bandit Quest. Then After
being summoned to the hold and completing that section the
entire Harper quest is then tied up with Jaheira's romance
talks, after 2 or 3 chats the next part of the Harper quest
continues. (Miguel)

Romances will be continued in Throne of Bhaal.

Also, you might want to visit the BG2 page at:

http://www.sorcerers.net/

To find some interesting utilities dealing with romances.

Limited Wish:
-------------

The limited Wish spell can be very powerful... however it can also have some
pretty dire consequences. When cast it summons a Genie who will grant two
types of wishes: repeatable and one-time wishes. By repeatable it means that
you can wish for that again (such as healing your party), a one-time wish
disappears after it is cast once. Whether you can wish for something at ALL
is determined by how much WISDOM the caster has. Then whether the wish
is successful is also based on WISDOM.

Andrea Nicoli has this tip:

I experimented them with Nalia (little dumb girl with only WIS 9) and
lost all my spells. Then I discovered that, if you do not wait
for the Dao to speak with you, but talk to him yourself quick with
another character (I used Aerie who has WIS 17) you can get the whole
list! (I think that in this way you can get your big fighter to receive
the shapechanging ability, but I could not try because I had already used
the one time wish). In this way you do not need a high WIS mage to cast
this spell.

Repeatable Wishes: Wisdom Result
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wish for my entire party to be healed. (WIS 10+) -- Heals the party

I wish that none of my party would die (WIS 9-) -- poisons the party
of their wounds.

I wish that spells I have cast would be (WIS 16+) -- get Spells back
restored, that I might cast them again!

I wish for my spells to be restored! (WIS 15-) -- lose Spells already
memorized

I wish to make my party invulnerable. (WIS 12+) -- casts Globes of
Invulnerability for
the party

I wish that magic would fail to affect (WIS 11-) -- Party can't cast
me or my party. spells

I wish to summon a horde to overrun my enemies. -- Summons a rabbit

I wish to be protected from the undead. (WIS 10+) -- Negative Plane
Protection, Party

I wish to be protected from undead (WIS 9-) -- Summons Vampires
right now.

One Time Wishes:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wish to be rich. (WIS 10+) -- gives 2000 gold and
several gems

I wish for a powerful magical item. (WIS 11+) -- Full Plate +2

I wish to be more experienced. (WIS 3+) -- summons several
Golems to fight

I wish to see all as it really is. (WIS 12+) -- Glasses of
Identification

I wish for an adventure like none (WIS 10+) -- starts the "gong"
I've ever experienced before. quest, and gives
you a scroll

I wish for control over time. (WIS 14+) -- casts Time Stop

I wish to be anything I desire. (WIS 6+) -- Allows you limited
Polymorphs

I wish to be prepared for anything. (WIS 10+) -- casts Chain
Contingency

I wish that all my enemies will die. (WIS 11+) -- casts Wail of the
Banshee

Dual Wield Meteors: (from Lani Weaver)
-------------------

Here's a great tip for those dual or multi-classed fighter-mages: Put all
the slots you can into dual-wield, dual wield your best weapon in your off
hand, then cast Melf's Minute Meteors. You will throw the meteor, then
attack with the weapon in your off hand, from any distance!

Lockpicking for fun and Profit:
-------------------------------

Since your party gains experience for doing simple things, such as detrapping
and unlocking, there are naturally a few tricks to maximize this.

If you want to behave yourself and not steal from the shopkeepers, you
can still gain the experience from lockpicking their chests. There are no
consequences (rep. decrease, guards summoned, etc.) as long as you don't
actually open the chest. (George Adam III)

Pickpocketing Strategies: (from Henning Roes)
-------------------------

I spent some hours and pick-pocketed nearly everybody in the game who was not
hostile. It's easy even in the beginning with Jan and a potion.

Commoners and Peasants: Nothing, 1-10 gold and minor spells
Amnish Soldiers: 20-40 gold and a 30% to get a scroll (up to level 8)
Nobleman/Noblewoman: jewels and gold

It's worthy to take several trials on the last two categories if you need
money and spells in the beginning.

Special items:
Ribald in the Adventurer's Mart, Waukeen's Promenade: Ring of Regeneration
Guardian Telwyn in the Temple of Helm, Temple District: Helm of Glory (quest
reward, if you want to have it before completing the quest)
Tolgerias in the Council of Six Building, Government District: Ring of Ram
(He will drop another one after defeating him in the Planar Sphere)
Taquee the Djinn in Trademeet: Bottle of Efreeti
Lord Feveron, in the Bridge district, can be pickpocketed for a scroll of
Simulacrum.
The Lady of the Keep, in the de'Arnise hold, can be pickpocketed for a scroll
of Protection from Normal Weapons.

Regardless of how high the thieving skills are, there's always a 1% of
failure. Quicksave is a must. It's possible to steal from everybody who has
a cyan circlet. So you can steal the Ring of Gaxx and get another one by
killing him (but this seems to be cheating). Charming the creature increases
the chances of pick-pocketing (don't do this to important NPC's).

A Stealing Trick: (from David Weldon)
-----------------

Here is a strategy that I used to great effect once I got the thieves
guild stronghold. It actually only requires that you find a merchant
who will buy stolen goods.

First, save up 20K or so to buy the most expensive item you can find in
Athkatla. Buy that item, then go sell it to the merchant who will buy stolen
goods. (for example, Jayes in the right part of Waukeen's Promenade)

Have a thief drink 5 or 6 potions of master thievery (you won't need any
more after this, so use all of them that you can buy from local
merchants if you want. I generally stopped at around 250 or so Pick
Pockets).

Proceed to steal and sell back the same item over and over to the
merchant. You can rack up any amount of gold that you would want, and
then never have to worry about stealing anything again.

I actually bought and sold 4 items at a time, because that's what you
can click on the interface screen without moving the slider. I netted
about 30000 from the four items each time, and in less than 5 minutes I
had more gold than I will ever need.

It's a lot more rewarding to rip off the thieves' guild and laugh at how
stupid their merchants are than it is to just edit your gold amount with
a cheat or editor. At least, I felt so!

"Shopthrifting" from Clayton a.k.a. Lord Nazgul, Monk Savant
---------------

What you need:
- some gold (the more the merrier)
- a store selling high quantities of the items you want (i.e., selling 5
fireball spells as opposed to selling 5 single different spells)
- something to sell (that short sword the goblin had works well)
- a buyer with lots of room for the purchase

What you do:
- Select the items you wish to purchase (taking multiple copies where
available). The cost will go up as normal, but don't worry about the cost
yet. Notice the cost though.
- BEFORE purchasing, sell the short sword (or whatever else). Upon
completing the sale, you'll notice the cost will drop to the price as if you
only selected a single copy of each item.
- Complete the purchase. You will be allowed to make the purchase as long
as you have enough money to cover the "cost" that is displayed. The game
however still tries to charge you what it should cost. However, it will not
leave you with a negative gold value.

I've tried this in a number of stores now, and it has worked well. Works
especially well with the merchant at the city gate. He had some nice
scrolls, but I didn't have enough to purchase for all my mages. I figure
he's owes me one after I stopped him from getting killed.

Leveling up a Dual-Classed Mage Quickly:
-----------------------------------------

If your main character was one class, and is now being dual classed to a
mage, you will be at quite the disadvantage until your old class abilities
resurface. (which happens when your current level, exceeds your old class'
level) To speed things up, we take advantage of the Experience for Spells
Memorized.

First, save it. Then kick everyone out of the party. Now buy every spell
you can, and learn every possible spell. Not only are you gaining
experience, but you will be quickly gaining whole levels. This probably
won't get you above your Dual Class requirement, but it will help a lot.

Learning more Mage Spells than Normal:
--------------------------------------

Normally mages are limited by their Intelligence as to how many spells they
can learn per level. For example, someone with 17 INT can learn only 14
spells per level. To get around this, simply drink a Potion of Genius (or
other INT raising potion) and learn all the spells you want. This also works
to increase the ODDS that you successfully learn the spell.

Although an easier way to increase the odds that you learn a spell is to
temporarily drop the difficulty of the game to 'normal' where all spells are
memorized.

Anyone can cast Mage Scrolls: (from Alex Malano)
-----------------------------

First, go into the inventory screen and drink, use a potion (may work with
other use items, however I have not tested this). If you're playing in
multiplayer you'll need to pause first.

Then, replace the location of the "drunken" potion with any scroll of your
choice, and exit the inventory screen.

If done correctly, the character should start to cast the spell, and the
potion is not used up.

Editor's Note: Also an interesting way to get a non-mage main character a
Familiar.

Gem Replication Trick (from K.C.)
---------------------

Remember that bug cheat in BGI that let you replicate gems? You would place
a potion in your quick item slot, replace it with a gem, and then "use" the
gem twice to change the number amount. It still works in BGII. Just R-click
on a potion in your inventory to drink it and swap it for a rogue stone, for
example. The number will disappear. Now do it again and the number changes
to 65535, which is FFFF in hexadecimal notation. This is more than enough
gold to finance your entire game all the way through ToB.

Editor's Note: If you're in multiplayer, make sure that game is PAUSED
before doing this trick.

"Fake Talk" as Applied to Stealing from Shopkeepers: (from Aleph)
----------------------------------------------------

Kudos to your "talk-fight" strategy. I have expanded on this a bit, and
would like to give you another way to use it beyond dragonslaying...
it's called the "Absent-Minded Shopkeeper".

Steps.
1) Enter store.
2) Save game.
3) Ask to see goods and start stealing away from the Steal screen.
4) The second you are caught and the steal screen disappears, hit space
bar. Don't even wait for the normal screen to come back.
5) While paused, click on the storekeeper again (talk function) and
unpause. If timed right, you will be able to talk to them again, and
thus continue stealing. You can also quicksave while paused if you
doubt your reflexes.
6) At the end, talk to the shopkeeper without getting caught and you
should be able to walk away without their turning red, rep loss, etc.

Great places to steal are the armorer in Waukeen's Promenade, the mage at
the back of Ribald's, the scroll guy in the Promenade, Gareth's contact
(for glasses of ID), Trademeet (for acid club, inertia belt, others),
and Underdark. Also note that while you can't steal from Ribald's
goods, you can pickpocket him for a ring of regeneration.

Note: There are times when this strategy will fail, causing the people to
go hostile anyway.

Stolen items can then be sold at any shopkeep whose goods are "stolen".
(Roger the Fence, the Thieves Guild, etc.)

Manipulating Things, without anyone Noticing: (from Rolander)
---------------------------------------------

For some reason, if you are stealthed or invisible and you manipulate those
objects, you do NOT come out of stealth/invisible mode and enemies (if
present) will remain ignorant of your presence. Dunno if it's a bug, but
it can avoid some unnecessary battle if you use a stealthed/invisible
character to go in, activate and get out. (e.g. in the Shade Lord quest, I
used a stealthed character to grab the 1st sun gem and snuck him past the
gathered shadows without a fight)

Monks can wear Keldorn's Armor: (from ROB)
-------------------------------

If you read the description for Keldorn's Armor it mentions that "few others
than" he can wear it. Interesting. Turns out that Monks can wear it, if
they have these stats:

15 STR
17 CON
12 INT
18 CHA

You can, of course, improve your stats via items. Say you have only 14 STR
and 3 CHA. So, if you put on the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength and the Ring
of Human Influence, you will raise your stats and could then wear the armor.

This is the ONLY armor that Monks can wear! It has an AC of 0, +1 to Saving
Throws and Free Action on its wearer. Of course, when your Monk hits level
18 his natural AC is just as good as the armor, making it almost pointless.
(You still get the Free Action and Saving Throw bonus, of course)

So, if you have a Monk, go find Keldorn and swipe his armor. If you want
Keldorn in your party and feel bad about this, just remember that he can wear
any armor he wants, while your Monk can only wear Keldorn's.

Fighter/Mages and the Corthala Family Armor: (from Henning Roes)
--------------------------------------------

The Corthala Family Armor can be equipped by your main char if you can wear
leather. But you cannot wear it if your WIS is too low. Drink a potion of
insight, equip the armor. Then try a dispel magic on him and the additional
WIS is gone but the armor is still equipped. Good armor for a fighter/mage
early in the game since you can cast spells while wearing it and doesn't
evaporate in the sun like Drow armor.

Editor's Note: The minimum requirements for wearing the armor are:

6 STR, 18 DEX and 11 WIS

Also, this only seems to work on dual classed Fighter/mages.
(Multi-Classed Elves and Half-Elves can't wear it)
Fighter/Clerics with the above stats can also weaer the
armor.

Special Abilities:
------------------

Your main character (Protagonist) starts the game with the special abilities
that he/she had in Baldur's Gate. THESE ARE NOT SET IN STONE. If you
created a new character from scratch these will be: (based on main
character's Alignment)

Lawful Good: Neutral Good: Chaotic Good:
----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------
Cure Light Wounds 2 Cure Light Wounds 2 Cure Light Wounds 2
Slow Poison 2 Slow Poison 2 Slow Poison 2
Draw Upon Holy Might 2 Draw Upon Holy Might 2 Draw Upon Holy Might 1
Vampiric Touch 1

Lawful Neutral: (True) Neutral: Chaotic Neutral:
------------------------ ---------------------- -----------------------
Larloch's Minor Drain 2 Cure Light Wounds 2 Cure Light Wounds 2
Horror 1 Horror 1 Horror 2
Slow Poison 1 Slow Poison 1 Draw Upon Holy Might 1
Draw Upon Holy Might 1 Draw Upon Holy Might 2 Vampiric Touch 1
Vampiric Touch 1

Lawful Evil: Neutral Evil: Chaotic Evil:
------------------------ ------------------------ ---------------------
Cure Light Wounds 1 Larloch's Minor Drain 2 Larloch's Minor... 2
Larloch's Minor Drain 1 Horror 1 Horror 2
Horror 1 Slow Poison 1 Vampiric Touch 2
Slow Poison 1 Draw Upon Holy Might 1
Draw Upon Holy Might 1 Vampiric Touch 1
Vampiric Touch 1 (new charts from Death Crow)

Souma has an interesting Evil Abilities strategy:

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how useful some of those evil
powers are. Well, it is when you use the Call Woodland Beings spell (with
Jaheira natch). Not only do you get to cast Mass Cure as a Level 4 spell
instead of a Level 5 (sort of), but if you don't need the Nymph getting in
your way afterwards, you can use those evil Larloch's Minor Drain and
Vampiric Touches on it and gain big hit points temporarily.

BIG SPOILER:

Eventually you will lose these special abilities when Irenicus finishes
what he began at the beginning of the game. Soon after you will gain a
new ability, to become the Avatar of Bhaal, the Slayer. The Slayer is
immensely powerful, and immune to just about everything. However...

There are a couple things to keep in mind about the Slayer. First, you
lose 2 reputation points every time you become the Slayer. Not much, but
it can add up if you use it too often. Second, if you stay the Slayer for
too long at one time, you will die and the game will end.

END SPOILER

Larloch's Minor Drain Trick
---------------------------

Casting Larloch's Minor Drain on yourself has some wonderful effects. You'd
think that you would lose Hit points, but you gain it back from the spell...
and more! You can actually heal yourself with an offensive spell.

Gain More Hit Points at Level Up
--------------------------------

Casting Draw Upon Holy Might before going up a level (until level 10, after
which this becomes pointless). This increases your CON, which for most
characters, will give them bonus Hit points. Because your CON is higher
when you gain a level, you will actually gain more hit points than normal.
These hit points even stay with you when the Holy Might goes away. Very
useful way to use the main character's special abilities. This is especially
useful for fighter type main characters as they gain the full bonus from
having a high CON.

Dual Classing Restores Traps (with generous assistance from the Lord of Fire)
----------------------------

One way to get Yoshimo's (or anyone's) Set Traps ability back (after having
set a trap) is to dual class, then cancel that dual. When that is done your
old abilities are restored to you, including your set traps.

Note: Kicking a thief out of the party will reset their traps as well,
however, any monster killed with the trap will NOT give you
Experience.

"Sandman's Ring" and the Solo Thief (from Xander77)
-----------------------------------

Most people I know, sort of disregard the "Sandman's rings" (the ones that
allow you to become invisible once per day). I found the invaluable for a
soloing thief char. You can hide in the shadows, walk into a battle, backstab
someone, turn the ring on, and then either walk out of the screen (if
somebody starts casting a True Sight spell or some such, or if you want to
let their defenses drop) then walk into the battle and backstab again. There
are 6+ such rings throughout the game, so you can make 6+ backstabs per
battle. And you don't have to use up potions or spells. (I really love
once-per-day use items, because I don't feel that I "wasted" something when I
use them)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIII. } } } } Monster Fighting Strategies
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic monster fighting strategies (ones that tend to work well against all
monsters) are in this section. The following sections have specific advice
for dealing with the tougher monsters.

Basic strategies (from Xander77)
----------------

Backstab from someone powerful is always good.

Melf's Minute Meteors/Bolt of Glory/Ram's ring ignore magic resistance.

The Inquisitor's Dispel makes every mage battle a lot easier.

Greater Malison + Doom + Instant death spell (Finger of Death, Polymorph
other, heck - even Chromatic Orb) = (usually) instant death.

Slayer kills everything.

The Invisible Door Blocker Strategy: (from Phobia)
------------------------------------

What you do is make a guy invisible with a ring, potion, stealth, etc. and
have him stand in a doorway (if the doorway is too big, you can have two
people standing there side by side, this only works in doorways that you
can stand in, the HUGE ones don't count). Then you send someone into the
room, the invisi-guys will move to let him through, then go back into
place, when the enemies see you, run back through the doorway. The enemies
will run into your invisible characters and not attack them because they
can't see them, then you can take the enemies out with spells and ranged
weapons.

Editor's Note: I would turn the Party AI off for this strategy. You need
to prevent your invisi-guys from attacking and becoming
visible.

A Defensive Spin Trick: (from Tim Marshal)
-----------------------

Blades can move while in defensive spin. All that is needed is to have the
free action effect on the Blade before or during the spin (i.e. potion,
spell, ring). Haer'Dalis has become one of my best lure characters. Equip
him with Stoneskin, several items that grant magical resistance, and the
ring of free action. Have him go into defensive spin and you are nearly
untouchable.

The "Fake Talk to the Enemy" Strategy: (Dragonslaying)
--------------------------------------

This is one of the bigger exploits in the game, and it is incredibly
simple to pull off. Many enemies start out with the Light Blue circles
around them indicating that they are neutral, which means you talk to them
and they become hostile later. (Or sometimes they talk to you)

What you do is this. First make any normal battle preparations (cast
protective spells, haste and whatnot), then PAUSE the game. Now click on
every enemy as though you were going to TALK to them. Then switch over to
attack mode and Force-Attack your enemies. When you unpause the game they
won't attack you. And if there are more than one enemy, the others will
wait a while before attacking, watching you take out their comrades! This
can be repeated as often as desired, and if you want to keep doing it, be
sure to pause about every 5 seconds and continue it. (they will become
hostile after 6 seconds -- one round -- and attack you)

Where is this strategy MOST useful? Dragonslaying, of course! The three
dragons in the game all start out with Light Blue circles around them. So,
do the fake-talk to them, and start attacking. You will get quite a lot of
time before they raise their defenses, time that you can use to do some
damage.

Note: There are times when you absolutely should NOT use this strategy.
Some monsters don't die, instead they start talking when they
get close to death. With the Fake Talk, you won't reach this
point and the monsters will never die. Don't use it on Lassal,
Kangaxx, Lavok, Irenicus and anyone who is particularly crucial to
the plot.

Tough Battle Tips:
------------------

Some basic strategies that I have heard of to kill tough monsters:

- Back away from the monster so that you can't see it anymore, then cast
Cloudkill. If you're a sorcerer or have the wand, drop as many
Cloudkills as you can. Their effects stack.
- Use a Monk's "Quivering Palm" attack to kill it.
- Have a Kensai/Thief backstab it.
- Have a Cleric cast Thac0 modifying spells on self, then cast Slay
Living on target. (Adar)
- Summon forth a Pit Fiend, then keep the party out of the battle. (Adar)

Project Image and Cloudkill: (from Jafar Sadeq, sharktooth@hotmail.com)
----------------------------

I rested once before killing the black dragon. I used the cloudkill
strategy, had Nalia memorize 3 project images and 6 cloudkills (using a
ring of wizardry). Then just project image, hit 6 cloudkills in general
direction of dragon, quickly kill the image with the best fighter (my
beastmaster dual-wielding the bone club and gnasher) so I could get another
image and set off more cloudkills as soon as possible. It took all three
images' cloudkills, otherwise the damage would be so slow that it would
cast heal before it could be killed. (I once managed to get an image to
project another image, but wasn't been able to repeat it.) I did not rest
once after this and finished the game without using any spell other than
one Protection from Evil 10'.

Editor's Note: Project Image is probably the most useful spell in the game,
and the easiest one to abuse as well. Using Project Image
you can have the image cast every spell you have, and when
the Image disappears, you will still have all those spells.

Also, the Image has no summon limit, it can summon as many
monsters as it wants. Very useful to summon up a dozen
Skeletal Warriors (or in ToB, a half dozen Planetars).

Infinite Lightning Bolts: (From Brawny Lam)
-------------------------

I was fighting Kuo-Toa in the underdark exit: In the heat of battle, I
accidentally got Imoen to cast lightning bolt on my ranger PC. Luckily
enough my ranger was wearing the Cloak of Mirroring, so the lightning bolt
got reflected back to Imoen, who was wearing the Cloak of Reflection, so
the lightning bolt kept being reflected back and forth from my ranger to
Imoen and vice-versa.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Every time a lightning bolt got
reflected, the original lightning bolt would continue to bounce around the
room. So after a couple of reflections, I had about 4 to 5 lightning bolts
bouncing all over the place vaporizing everything in their path. I was
quite happy that the Kuo-Toa were being turned into ash before my eyes, but
not quite so happy when it killed my entire party as well, except for my
ranger and Imoen, who were still reflecting lightning bolts back and forth.

Not sure how useful this trick is, but I thought I'd mention it since its
cool looking at all those lightning bolts flying all over the place. It'll
probably be more useful if the party was protected from electricity.

Chromatic Doom: (from the Maxx)
---------------

You remember that first-level mage spell "chromatic orb", and the first
level priest spell "doom"? The ones that just seemed really crappy at the
start? Well, if your mage is level 12 or higher, any enemy hit by it must
save vs. death, or be instantly killed. Now, granted, dragons have a good
save vs. spells, but not after you hit them with doom. If you have Aerie
in your party, have her throw the two spells into a sequencer, or minor
sequencer. I was able to kill the shadow dragon in Suldanesselar, the red
dragon in Watcher's keep, and one or two others, only using these spells,
nothing else.

Note: Make sure to place doom in the sequencer before you put chromatic
orb in first, or else you just wasted a spell.

Set Snare Tricks:
------------------

Strategy tip for dragons and other tough battles: I went to the
Windspear Hills right after doing Nalia's Keep on my first run-through,
and when I reached the Red Dragon. I was still quite low level, as I hadn't
done any of the town quests except Aerie's circus and the slaving ring in
the Copper Coronet. I figured, oh what the hell, I'll give it a go anyway,
and proceeded to prep for battle. By chance, I remembered Yoshimo's set
snares ability, and strung snares all around the big lizard before
attacking. They must have accounted for at least half the damage I did to
it, and I managed to kill it without any severe injuries to my party. And
there I was with a +5 Holy Avenger and no freaking paladin to wield it!
Anyway, I thought I should mention this as it seems many people have
overlooked this ability on the BBs I've looked at, and it can prove
invaluable in any number of combats (especially those you can prep for).
IMHO it makes the bounty hunter far superior to the other thief kits.
(Geoff Ulreich)

To expand on that tip, lets consider this: with not only Bounty Hunter
kit's Set Special Snare ability, even a regular snare cannot be stopped by
any creature's resistance stats or saving throws. What that means is
thieves' snares are, in actuality, the best weapons in the game for
defeating just about every boss and mini-boss. What I usually do is to set
traps around dragons (they never initiate attack), rest, set some more,
rest, and set more.... Since snares do not 'expire' when you rest, you can
essentially blanket an entire area with snares. Not only can you do this
around tough enemies such as the dragons (Yoshimo killed the first two
dragons for me without a single member of my party having to go on attack),
but also such as the Mind Flayers, Beholders, and other tough(er) enemies
in this game, some of which you can not even go near without layers and
layers of protective spells. Just lure them to an area FILLED with traps
and Voila! (Willis Su)

As you can see, this is so unfair it runs into g