What are you playing right now?

[Wrath of Dagon]

Underrail is so damn addictive I can't stop playing it.

[Tale]

I find myself playing around with X-COM more than even Witcher 3. Trying to fight off that distraction though.

[213374U]

It has been a hell of a long time since I did "D&D math". Originally I was just going to specialize my K in two handed swords because there are a few good ones. But although K's get great THAC0 bonuses they only get speed factor bonuses with specialization slots.So I got to looking. Katana's are out. Not enough good ones in the game. But short swords however...With the extra Speed Factor (best for any 1d6 weapon) plus the K's bonuses to THAC0 & damage and dual wielding it comes out like this: Level 15 2H Swords with max damage = 2(10 + 4 + 3) = 34 damage per round. Short Swords dual wielded is  3.5 (6 + 4 + 3) = 45.5 per round. But after 2 rounds the K will have attempted 4 hits with the 2H sword but 7 with the dual wield short swords. Dual wielding smaller weapons s definitely the way to go. And that is not even cheating.

 

I guess it's important to know what version are you playing, and if you are using any mods.

 

At level 7, warrior classes get 1/2 extra APR, and another 1/2 at level 13. Specialization, Mastery and High Mastery (2 to 4 pips) give you an extra half APR, so that puts you at 5/2. An off-hand weapon gives you a flat 1 extra APR with the off-hand. Problem is that in vanilla BG2 (but not BG1 or IWD), Grand Mastery only added +1 to damage. In BG2EE, the bonus was restored to what it should be, i.e. an extra attack and +1 damage. This puts a level 13 grand master fighter at 7/2 APR, 9/2 with an off-hand weapon. Not too shabby. Speed factor doesn't affect how many attacks you perform in a round, just how early in the round you get to swing.

 

If you aren't playing the EE and even if you are not a fan of mods, I would recommend you at least install the Grand Mastery restoration.

 

Now, you are right. Dual wielding is always superior for two reasons. First and most importantly, it allows you to wield two magical items rather than just one, and outside of Carsomyr, there are no two-handers that are good enough to make up for that. And second, the advantage that a bigger damage die brings to the table, large damage spikes (remember that some greatswords roll D12), is irrelevant in BG because without mods, 1dmg has the same chances of disrupting a spellcaster or causing morale failure than any other amount. It also doesn't help that vanilla two-handed style bonuses are rather laughable, and unless you are Sarevok, there is no Massive Damage.

 

Whether katanas are good enough to specialize your kensai in also depends on whether you are playing the EEs. I found warhammers and axes to be pretty good choices as well, with a good selection throughout the saga.

Edited June 7, 2016 by 213374U

[Guard Dog]

It's EE with no mods. I've never gone start to finish with one PC. I'd like to do that and do it with no resurrection. If a party member dies, sorry about that. Also no dual classing, although I seldom dual class a character.

 

I've played most of the other kits. I found the Monk to be the most frustrating because until level 13 they are utterly helpless. But I did get a QP kill on Firkraag which was very cool.

 

The one I like the best was Archer. In any pack of enemies you can half of them cleaned out in the time it takes them to close the distance to you.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Guard Dog

[213374U]

Monks suck in BG, because the class was designed with BG2-ToB in mind. They have worse AC and deal less damage than any other melee character, and even less than thieves because they can't backstab. It's an unarmed-focused class that is better off using a weapon until level 10 or so because their fists don't benefit from proficiency/style bonuses. And due to animation limitations, they can't even use quarterstaves.

 

They had a discussion (before 1.3 IIRC) regarding these problems where they talked about creating an unarmed proficiency to fix some of the issues, as well as other changes (WIS bonus to AC, etc), but ultimately nothing came of it AFAIK. I hope they get around to fixing it at some point, because the current state of the class really warrants some baseline improvements.

 

Archer dominates in BG1 and some parts of BG2, but later on some enemies were given innate resistance to missile damage because **** you, that's why. And even the best bows in BG2 are nothing to write home about, really.

Edited June 7, 2016 by 213374U

[Vaeliorin]

I have no problem with anybody playing whatever they want - I just didn't care for the "but PnP!" justification, .

That was meant to be mostly tongue-in-cheek, hence the sticking out tongue smiley.

 

Also, sadly, the base classes (including the multi-classes) are, to my understanding, hardcoded, and so there aren't additional base classes or multi-classes. I'd always wanted to trying solo-ing with a Mage/Cleric/Thief, but alas, it's not possible.

Huh...I thought I'd seen a mod to that effect at one time, though that may just have been unrestricted dualing-classing of classes.

[Bartimaeus]

Yes, there are some things like that that can be changed - atweaks and TobEx do so,

[Undecaf]

Trying to continue Witcher 3... again. Maybe I'll finally end up finishing it, but I gotta say that while the story is pretty well formed (not as interesting as Wticher 2 though), the gameplay is a real chore to slog through.

[ManifestedISO]

Mirror's Edge Catalyst. More better fun after switching to an alternate controller layout. 

[Keyrock]

I'm playing SteamWorld Heist.  It's a pretty damn good side-scrolling turn-based tactics game.

[teknoman2]

Trying to continue Witcher 3... again. Maybe I'll finally end up finishing it, but I gotta say that while the story is pretty well formed (not as interesting as Wticher 2 though), the gameplay is a real chore to slog through.

i'll get back to playing witcher 3 some time next month when i will have gotten me a RX480

[Chilloutman]

Isn't there limit of max 5 attacks per round in BG? so you can get 5 with 2 weapons and 4 with two handed one?

[Guard Dog]

What does it tell you about the state of gaming when we always end up back at Baldur's Gate every few years? It's like that old girlfriend you just can't get out of your system and every so often you find yourself back at her place.

[Malcador]

Nothing, just says things about you people, really.

 

Starting up Blood and Wine, forgot how crap my gear is.

[Tale]

Nothing, just says things about you people, really.

And how awesome we all are.

 

My usual "ooh, I should install and play it again" is FEAR, though.

[the_dog_days]

Nothing, just says things about you people, really.

It has all the same meaning as my Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines addiction: it's just me.

[majestic]

Isn't there limit of max 5 attacks per round in BG? so you can get 5 with 2 weapons and 4 with two handed one?

 

Yes and no. With dual wielding one can reach 5 attacks per round with the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization with the appropriate class and proficiency level but that limit can be overriden with Improved Haste or (Greater) Whirlwind Attack. As a fun excercise imagine what sort of enemies can stand against a Fighter/Mage with Mirror Image and Stoneskin while dual wielding Foebane under Improved Haste.

 

Kind of bad for the employment rates of clerics.

[Hurlshort]

 

Nothing, just says things about you people, really.

And how awesome we all are.

 

My usual "ooh, I should install and play it again" is FEAR, though.

 

 

Used to be the original XCOM and JA2 for me.  The new XCOM has scratched the itch pretty well, and I'm buried in turn based tactical games (although still no JA2.)  

[213374U]

 

Isn't there limit of max 5 attacks per round in BG? so you can get 5 with 2 weapons and 4 with two handed one?

 

Yes and no. With dual wielding one can reach 5 attacks per round with the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization with the appropriate class and proficiency level but that limit can be overriden with Improved Haste or (Greater) Whirlwind Attack. As a fun excercise imagine what sort of enemies can stand against a Fighter/Mage with Mirror Image and Stoneskin while dual wielding Foebane under Improved Haste.

 

Kind of bad for the employment rates of clerics.

 

Outside of (Greater) Whirlwind attack, the most I've seen is 6 APR, which seems to be *another* cap. Neither the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization, nor Belm or (Improved) Haste seem to override the 5 APR cap, but Oil of Speed does, oddly enough. This means that a level 13 Greatsword Grand Master fighter under both Improved Haste and Oil of Speed, with the Gauntlets is capped at 6 APR... just the same as if he were dual-wielding, Belm or otherwise.

 

I play with Spell Revisions, so it's possible that this version of the spell does no longer overcome the 5 APR cap.

 

The sort of enemies that can stand up to the F/M in your example are obviously those of mod encounters... such as aVENGER's Chosen of Cyric (ouch). A pity that BD went the stat inflation route with their LoB mode rather than including Stratagems AI or RR encounters. 83hp rats in Candlekeep? Count me out.

[majestic]

I play with Spell Revisions, so it's possible that this version of the spell does no longer overcome the 5 APR cap.

 

The SR readme lists no changes to Improved Haste (only to Haste) but it might come from somewhere else. With only the base game and ToB installed IH doubles the attack rate in the same way the oil does.

 

I just noticed that the classic BG versions no longer appear in the GOG shop. Urgh. There go some of the funniest "reviews" ever.

[Raithe]

Hm. I started playing GTA V last year but got interrupted by something and never got back into it..  Pondering on whether to load up the old game and see if I remember everything or just restart it completely....

[GhostofAnakin]

Some of these new armor pieces in Destiny are dumb.  I deconstruct a helmet and get ... a yellow chroma?  What?  Give me my legendary marks, damn it.

[Bartimaeus]

 

The sort of enemies that can stand up to the F/M in your example are obviously those of mod encounters... such as aVENGER's Chosen of Cyric (ouch). A pity that BD went the stat inflation route with their LoB mode rather than including Stratagems AI or RR encounters. 83hp rats in Candlekeep? Count me out.

 

What are those insane HP numbers? Enemies in BG1 with over 500 HP? ...So what, dragons in that mode probably have literally thousands of HP in BG2?

Edited June 8, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

The sort of enemies that can stand up to the F/M in your example are obviously those of mod encounters... such as aVENGER's Chosen of Cyric (ouch). A pity that BD went the stat inflation route with their LoB mode rather than including Stratagems AI or RR encounters. 83hp rats in Candlekeep? Count me out.

 

 

What are those insane HP numbers? Enemies in BG1 with over 500 HP? ...So what, dragons in that mode probably have literally thousands of HP in BG2?

Yeah, it seems to add tedium rather than challenge. And if I wanted tedium I'd just play PoE.

 

Anyways I'm planning on jumping into Underrail when I have time.

[GhostofAnakin]

What does it tell you about the state of gaming when we always end up back at Baldur's Gate every few years? It's like that old girlfriend you just can't get out of your system and every so often you find yourself back at her place.

 

I don't know how y'all do it.  The story doesn't exactly change noticeably if you make different choices.  I can never actually get through new play throughs because no matter what type of different character I make, it results in pretty much the same path to the end.