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Been playing baldurs gate thoughts

Posted: 7th November 2017 10:11

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So i am near the end i think, and i have been through most of the game.The game is very hard and very unforgiving.The icons from status effects are tiny, and unless you actually go into the status of each character, good luck finding out what everything is.You literally need a wiki to find out that stuff.

Next:You got the standard the more negative AC(Armor Class) you have, the harder it is to hit you.Positive=Bad Negative= Good)

THACO:
in:
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THAC0
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THAC0 is an acronym for To Hit Armor Class 0 (Zero), it represents how likely a creature's physical attacks may hit the target. The lower the number the better.
How it works Edit

A 20-sided icosahedral die is rolled every time by the creature who's attempting a physical attack, and if the roll number is equal or higher than the subtraction of attacker's THAC0 from target's effective Armor Class value, the hit succeeds; if lower, the attack misses.

By twisting the above equation, we can also get the minimum roll number required to hit:

Minimum roll required to hit = (attacker's THAC0) - (target's base AC + target's AC modifier)

For example, a THAC0 of 17 means to hit a target with an effective AC of -1, the die roll must be at least 17-(-1)=18, a 3/20 or 15% chance of success; while a much lower THAC0 of 3 means that to hit the same target, the die roll must be at least 3-(-1)=4, a 17/20 or 85% chance of success.

After enabling the related FEEDBACK settings in GAMEPLAY option menu, the in-game feedback messages will show as:

(Attacker's roll) + [(target's AC modifier) - (attacker's THAC0)] = result

With the result number plus target' AC, which is not shown, greater than or equal to zero will be a hit.

THAC0 can be modified by many permanent or situational variables, such as the creature's class(es) advancement, weapon proficiency, strength or dexterity adjustments based on the wielding weapon class, and the changes from items and spells.

There're four different THAC0 progression rate by class level:

Warrior group (Fighter, Ranger, Paladin) and Monk have the best THAC0 progression, with a THAC0 that decreases at a rate of 1:1, to a max of base 0 at level 21.
Priest group (Cleric, Druid, Shaman) except Monk have the second best rate of 2:3, to a max of base 6 at level 22.
Rogue group (Thief, Bard) have a rate of 1:2, to a max of base 10 at level 21. In addition to the mathematical oddity of having a better THAC0 than a priest at level 3, rogues remain roughly on-par with priests (albeit slightly in the priest's favor) until level 9, and are thereafter surpassed by priest classes at an increasing pace.
Wizard group (Mage, Sorcerer) have the worst THAC0 progression, at a rate of 1:3, to a max of 13 at level 22.

Regardless of a creature's THAC0, in Second Edition Dungeons & Dragons, a roll of 20 is always a critical (guaranteed) hit while a 1 is always a critical miss, both are 5% chances. There're some items, a HLA, and the proficiency points spent on certain fighting styles that boost the critical hit rate.

In Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition and later, the to-hit system has been reworked to always trend upward by using attack roll + attack bonus - enemy AC ≥ 0 to land hits, where better scores don't go into the negative numbers but rather continue growing in the positive integers.

I'm not 100% clear on this because i get loads and LOADS of crits with 1h weapons, and enemies explode, which comes to the first thing i really like:Exploding enemies.It reminds me a lot of fallout series, with how a critical hit hitting your head can completely rip your head off,or explode you into little bits.

My other part i kind of like is once you start progressing a little and getting stronger, the game becomes more interesting because you get new spells.The spell charges work exactly like they did in FF1:you got so many spell charges based on your level while still performing as a class, but you can sub class, which is amazing actually, and makes the game full of ideas.You can even have a level 7 player turn into another job(Like Imoen) and turn her from a thief into a conjurer, or a illusionist, and you get to use your thief abilities when you reach the same level on your mage specialist, as you were on your thief.

Now i have a few criticisms about the game:

For starters:The lack of a quiver really sucks, as you are always strapped for inventory space, and you are always forced to sell stuff you don't know if you will need it, and that becomes trial and error.See:I like to horde stuff in games in case of a upcoming event where you have enemies who use fire, so you can resist, or poison, and You could save so much room from having quiver or a bag to hold your bullets that you use in your slingshot.

You can get a quiver in BG2 which has infinite +1 arrows and in EE(Enhanced Edition) but not the original first game.

There is also nothing to carry potions arround either, and you get more potions than you can even imagine carrying.

Next baldurs gate 1 issue,That if you don't grind a bit, you will get ripped to shreds.You might actually want 1 character or 2 to level up to higher levels so you can deal with the threats.Dealing with mage type enemies and arrow flinging guys is not easy without magic, and trust me mage types and arrow wielding guys are overpowered.You can totally wreck a enemies day with the right spell.

Now for the story:You are(Insert race and gender and if you are neutral evil neutral evil chaotic evil chaotic good etc, you are the child of gorion, and this gorion guy adopted you and took care of you, but some evil bad guys came to kill you and he helped you escape.You both escape and gorion died trying to save you, and now you are alone in the wilderness at last, and must find some friends to help you in your adventures.You find out as you explore and go through the chapters, that bandits are going around and stealing iron, and kobolds are working with them, and poisoning the iron, and that a group called the iron throne is behind it.

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Post #213627
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Posted: 8th November 2017 00:07

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Black Waltz
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Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 7th November 2017 05:11)
A 20-sided icosahedral die

Those two things ("20-sided" and "icosahedral") mean the same thing, it's redundant.

Whenever I hear the words "Armor Class" I think of the first place I heard it and 'AC' used as its abbreviation, Swords and Serpents on the NES. biggrin.gif Long time ago.

I only played D&D once, but I rolled a 20 on my only attack and won the battle, because I killed the leader of the bad guys and his cronies all backed off after that. My Hobbit Thief saved the day biggrin.gif

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Posted: 10th November 2017 01:16

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I've actually been going through Baldur's Gate for the first time in a meaningful way myself, too.
I do not miss THACO, at all. I appreciate my experience playing 3.5 these days, and that BGII upgraded to that system. Just seems more clear.
I'm a fair way in too, but haven't yet been allowed into Baldur's Gate. It is hecka unforgiving, as you say.
A note on the dual-classing, however, is it can definitely hamper spellcasters as losing caster levels is a definite no no. That being said, I'm playing a dual-class cleric/warrior and don't care what no one says! But I do wish I had bigger spells at my current level sad.gif

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Posted: 10th November 2017 04:23

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Quote (Perigryn @ 9th November 2017 20:16)
[...] and that BGII upgraded to that system.

No, it didn't. You're probably thinking of Icewind Dale II, which did switch to 3rd Ed. rules.

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Posted: 13th November 2017 05:04

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Quote (Galsic @ 9th November 2017 23:23)
Quote (Perigryn @ 9th November 2017 20:16)
[...] and that BGII upgraded to that system.

No, it didn't. You're probably thinking of Icewind Dale II, which did switch to 3rd Ed. rules.

Oh shoot! Did it not? Or did it go 3.5?
It had the new classes, I thought the system was altered too...
If only there was some sort of information hub where I could go to research this...

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Posted: 13th November 2017 11:28

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Nope, both BG (1998) and BG2 (2000) used ADnD 2nd Ed. rules. 3.5 wasn't even released until 2003.

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Posted: 14th November 2017 22:43

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Oh dang! I stand rightfully corrected! Thanks for clarifying.
I'm not sure why I thought it'd been updated to 3.0 or 3.5 for that matter. Possibly rumour churning from my friend's older brother who is largely the reason I was exposed to this series in the first place!

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Baldur's Gate

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