Shadowsetzer: True, but he's asking about TotSC. Either one showing up there is pretty much a TPK. :p

Hickory: Agreed, but when I saw "I always buy the short sword of backstabbing", it occurred to me that it can't be bought in BG1 -- you can only get it from the corpse of Slythe -- so I presumed either BG2 or TuTu/BGT was being spoken of. :p

KHHill91: I am still tempted to make Khalid an archer instead of a main tank and go Master Bows, but nobody who has posted here favors that strategy.

Hickory: Khalid is simply below par for an archer. He has no racial bonus for bows, like pure elves, and his DEX is too low to take full advantage of ranged THAC0 -- you would need to waste the Bracers of Dexterity on him to get the full +2 Ranged THAC0 for 18 DEX. Not only that, but you are limited for decent NPC tanks.

KHHill91: We did walk backwards into that cave by the Xvart Village, so Minsc had to tank that Cave Bear. Jaheira cast Entangle so that we could pull back and pelt it with ranged weapons, but the Cave Bear rolled a 13 save versus spells. Minsc then rolled a critical hit for 30 points and the Cave Bear died.

He has 2 points in Large Swords, and 1 each in Spiked Weapons and Axes. If he is using Spider's Bane all the way until we get a 2 Handed Sword +3. I thought the other weapon would be a Composite Long Bow of some kind and we can put points into that.

Hickory: Missile (sling/bullet) strength bonus does not work like the melee bonus. It is totally dependent on whether the used item grants that bonus, and not all do.

KHHill91: Okay - I just got my party back to Nashkel. Everybody, including Dynaheir, got picked up at Level 1 and we got through the Bear River and Xvart Village just fine.

I was able to avoid face tanking the Ogre Berserkers just fine. The trick appears to be to load Jaheira up with Entangle spells instead of Cure Light Wounds. I went with 3 Entangle and 1 CLW. A couple of Blindness spells helped too.

For the Xvart village, I let Minsc go to town with the Longsword +1 and Ankheg Plate Mail and Gauntlets of Dexterity. Runners are a problem, since the Berserk Minsc will keep chasing him as he flees from one group to another. Eventually Dynaheir had to use a sleep scroll to take some heat off. I also did not know that a sleeping monster does not count as a target for who the Berserker chases next.

My main character has just hit Level 3. I can either go Master with Blunt Weapons, or go Master with Missile Weapons. Khalid, Jaheira, and Minsc are not that far behind. I am still tempted to make Khalid an archer instead of a main tank and go Master Bows, but nobody who has posted here favors that strategy. Minsc will go either Bows or Missile Weapons. (18/93 Strength = +5 Bonus to Sling damage?) Jaheira can either go with that dagger in Beregost or the Scimitar +2.

I will be playing tonight. Next stop is Nashkel Carnival and then Nashkel Mines. So all the decisions above will be set by this time.

Suggestions are valued. Objective is strong party - fun to watch. The other objective is to learn to use a mage better.

KHHill91: My main character did a 24 point critical with a sling bullet so it looks like for some reason it is allowing a strength bonus for slings. I do not know if that is intentional. I did not see such a bonus for a thrown axe.

KHHill91: I have a question about Imoen:

Currently she is Level 4 with skill in Missile Weapons as well as Bows. So this will open up darts and the Light Crossbow of Speed if I should choose to use it.

(EDIT: Currently in the Nashkel Mines)

So far I have split points into Open Locks and Find Traps, but I was advised to invest points in stealth. The total so far is 55 / 35 / 60 / 25 for Open Locks / Stealth / Find Traps / Pick Pockets. As it is right now, Stealth is at 65% with the Boots of Stealth. Another 35 points will make this 100% and we can achieve this in two levels. At Level 7, we can make this 70 / 70 / 70 / 25 and then dual class her into a Mage.

So the question is, how much Stealth is enough? (I am thinking 100% to avoid exposure at very bad times, or if we are using Strength Potions and slipping around corners to backstab - or 65% is good enough if we are okay with frequent stealth failure.)