Character Advice Wanted for a New Player

[Chatrapati]

Hello, I've just started playing the game and I love it so far! I haven't played D&D or Baldur's Gate or anything like that, so this style of gameplay is quite new to me.

 

I recently played up until the first town, doing some quests along the way, but I'm dissatisfied with my current druid character.

 

I would like to play a character with ranged attacks, but has access to interesting abilities which may not necessarily harm opponents, but have interesting effects on the battlefield. There are so many different classes and ways of evolving these classes, and I don't have any knowledge of the mid or late game, so the initial character creation is a little overwhelming.

 

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

 

Edit: I would also like to know how important choosing skills such as Stealth and Lore are to the game, I've seen that I can use them during cutscenes, but since I don't know what's coming up, should I just roleplay these skills? Should I spread out my points, or just focus on one or two?

 

Choosing spells is also quite tricky, since I won't know their effects until I've used them. Is it possible to retrain learned spells if I end up not liking a spell I've chosen?

Edited June 16, 2017 by Chatrapati

[draego]

but has access to interesting abilities which may not necessarily harm opponents'

 

This could be interpreted as buffs, crowd control, defuffs i suppose.

 

Priest are probably the best party buffs. They have lot of variety of them for single or group. They also get some enemy debuffs and combine them with buffs for party

 

Druids actually have a combination of all 3. The have a couple of the best CC in the game with spells like  Returning Storm and Relentless Storm. A lot of their spells combine CC or debuffs with damage though.

 

Wizards - They have lots of great CC spells to choose from. They have some debuffs as well. They have probably the most versatile spells setups to play different roles in your party. Their buffs are all self buffs i think

 

Paladins - they have nice supports abilities to buff or heal or remove debuffs

 

Chanters - They have some debuffs and CC with their invocations and chants if you dont want them to be a AOE damager.

 

Ciphers - They have some great single target debuffs and buffs and great CCs 

 

There are lots of options for you from many classes. They mechanically play differently but they are all useful

 

Is it possible to retrain learned spells if I end up not liking a spell I've chosen?

 

You can retrain at any inn all your characters build and your companions.

Edited June 16, 2017 by draego

[Chatrapati]

Thank you, this is exactly the sort of advice I wanted.

 

I'm guessing CC means crowd control? It seemed to me like with the druid, after casting their spell, I could do nothing except turn into a beast and run into the enemy. If they could cast more spells they might be more interesting, but I don't want to wait until late game!

 

That is an awful lot of choices! I think I will try the cipher. I read somewhere that they have more optional text to choose from in the game, which sounds fun. I'll come back to this list though, if it's not exactly what I want.

[draego]

Thank you, this is exactly the sort of advice I wanted.

 

I'm guessing CC means crowd control? It seemed to me like with the druid, after casting their spell, I could do nothing except turn into a beast and run into the enemy. If they could cast more spells they might be more interesting, but I don't want to wait until late game!

 

That is an awful lot of choices! I think I will try the cipher. I read somewhere that they have more optional text to choose from in the game, which sounds fun. I'll come back to this list though, if it's not exactly what I want.

 

Well there is no one that has to many more spells then druids. With equipment priest and wizards can have more. Later in the game the caster classes get so many spells its fine. The cipher has an interesting mechanic. You have unlimited spell cast but are limited by the amount of focus you can build. So as you attack enemies you gain focus and that focus is used to cast spells. I am not saying you can cast more with cipher its just different. Chanters also have a different mechanic. they have chants that build up without having to cast anything then when x number of chants build up they can cast invocations. If you want a more active character stay away but they have some interesting chants/invocations. 

 

If you go with ciphers hint: first spell - whispers of treason

Edited June 16, 2017 by draego

[draego]

Also since you are new. Try keeping a priest in your party. You dont have to have one but they have a lot of get you out of jail abilities. Almost every spell level they get 'prayer against x' ability which makes you or your party immune to some affects.

 

I also like to focus on roleplaying skills but there are better ones and worse ones. Like lore lets you cast spells from scrolls and gives you more dialogue options. Survival can be good for resting bonuses. You will need at least one mechanics monkey in your party for traps and locks. some stealth is nice for front line characters so they have more time to react to enemies. if you dont know the layout one stealthy/mechanics guys can be nice (if one of your characters is going to be the mechanics then really specialize)  and then Athletics is not that great to have on lots of people. For scripted interactions and conversations there are some uses for each but i generally specialize with what feels right to role play my character. So do not spread out your skill to each one. i think i would do two on one character and maybe a third with just a few points in the third. 

Edited June 16, 2017 by draego

[Chatrapati]

Thank you for the tips everyone. I'm having much more fun with a cipher. I also increased the difficulty to Normal, so that might have something to do with it too.

 

Whispers of reason has already saved my life once!

 

Also since you are new. Try keeping a priest in your party. You dont have to have one but they have a lot of get you out of jail abilities. Almost every spell level they get 'prayer against x' ability which makes you or your party immune to some affects.

 

I also like to focus on roleplaying skills but there are better ones and worse ones. Like lore lets you cast spells from scrolls and gives you more dialogue options. Survival can be good for resting bonuses. You will need at least one mechanics monkey in your party for traps and locks. some stealth is nice for front line characters so they have more time to react to enemies. if you dont know the layout one stealthy/mechanics guys can be nice (if one of your characters is going to be the mechanics then really specialize)  and then Athletics is not that great to have on lots of people. For scripted interactions and conversations there are some uses for each but i generally specialize with what feels right to role play my character. So do not spread out your skill to each one. i think i would do two on one character and maybe a third with just a few points in the third. 

 

This is very helpful advice too! My cipher is a death godlike, trying to prove that death godlikes can be good and trusted, so I'll put points into lore so that she can argue her stance.

[draego]

 

 

Whispers of reason has already saved my life once!

 

heh, just wait until is starts to happen to your party that some fun times.