Baulder's Gate Stat and Ability Question

[snow]

alright well I keep rolling to see if I can get higher then /39.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. The game is still quite playable with or without maxed stats. They are just a small factor in the game.

My character was an archer based ranger that didn't have an 18 in any of the stats and he played just fine.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I am currently making my Human Fighter Character and I got his Strength to 17 by rolling and put the stats into it and now I am choosing my abilites, now I dont know what to decide between 2h Sword and 2h style, what is the difference?

Paging Dr Tea, your patient needs a diagnosis.

 

[Altorin]

well if its pretty open choice then ill go for it.

in almost every RPG I have ever played I am always a Human Warrior (or what ever variation their is) and Two-Handed Swords man.

No 2h Style, I mean Two-Handed Weapon Style, the one you said is Two Weapon Style.

In that case, I misunderstood your shorthand writeups. My apologies. I still say go with the huge ass sword. You can't go wrong there. I still recommend getting your Strength above 17, though, if you really want to be mopping the floor with your enemies, conan-style.

yeah thats what I like to do.

I got 18/39 but whats the /39?

In early D&D editions, it was found that fighters required a little more variance in their strength stats.. So for Fighters, Paladins, and I think Rangers, if they rolled an 18 for strength, they rolled an additional percentile dice (01-100).. Strength 18/01 was a weak fighter relative to a mighty goliath that is Strength 18/00. 18/00 was THE STRONGEST you could be in character creation.

Fighters were too boring in old D&D versions, before Feats and Powers.

And don't worry about getting max strength. There are several +strength items in the game, and any of them will raise any 18 strength score to 19 or higher.

 

[Korten12]

yeah thats what I like to do.

I got 18/39 but whats the /39?

Okay, here's a short explanation of one of the most unnecessary and annoying "features" of the AD&D system, which Baldur's Gate relies on. What the /39 refers to is what we call Exceptional Strength. Basically, if you have an 18 Strength, and you're a Fighter, that means the computer rolls a d100 (random number between 1-100) and improves upon that strength. Now, here's what it means, in crunchy numbers. Do keep in mind that I don't have my AD&D books available right now, so this is from memory and might not be 100% exact.

18/01-18/50: +1 to hit, +2 to damage
18/51-18/75: +1 to hit, +3 to damage
18/76-18/90: +2 to hit, +4 to damage
18/91-18/99: +2 to hit, +5 to damage
18/00*: +3 to hit, +6 to damage

As you can see, the differences are pretty big. If you could decide the stat (you can't), you'd obviously want it to 18/00. But the odds of rolling that are very low, so I suggest you settle for anything over 18/76. Or possibly over 18/91, but even that is slim.

*18/00, in this context, means 18/100.

alright well I keep rolling to see if I can get higher then /39.

well I rolled and got a /75, should I keep trying or just go now?

I say keep trying, get it over 76 at least. Good luck.

[small]Ah... AD&D.. Those were the times.[/small]

18/79 woooh!

now I got 18/98.

 

[P.Tsunami]

18/79 woooh!

Keep it, unless you want to spend an hour getting something higher. The odds are pretty low getting anything over 91, and getting 00 would take you ages. Congratulations, enjoy your awesome fighter.

 

[xdgt]

I wouldn't fret too much over it, from what I remember you can get some magical items that get your str above 18 so rolling again and again is a bit futile in the long run.

Are we talking BG? BG2? Or BG2:Throne of Bhaal?

 

[The Madman]

I'm amazed a topic about stats for Baldur's Gate of all games has reached this many replies!

And as others have said, don't worry about it too much, just try to get an 18 in the three stats that matter for a fighter and even then it's not strictly necessary. Throughout the series you'll have chances to improve your stats anyway!

Good gear and enough potions will compensate for any initial stat flaws, plus you'll have your companions to back you up, some of whom, like Minsc, have insane stats.

 

[Korten12]

18/79 woooh!

Keep it, unless you want to spend an hour getting something higher. The odds are pretty low getting anything over 91, and getting 00 would take you ages. Congratulations, enjoy your awesome fighter.

well I got a 98. I just keep going until I got a 17, then I would take a stat out of int and put it into str and then see or keep rolling till I got a natural 18.

 

[P.Tsunami]

well I got a 98. I just keep going until I got a 17, then I would take a stat out of int and put it into str and then see or keep rolling till I got a natural 18.

Oh, right. I didn't remember it worked like that. That level of customization means that after a hundred 17's, you should statistically have gotten your /00. Statistically. I can't guarantee it won't take a thousand tries, though.

 

[Altorin]

18/79 woooh!

Keep it, unless you want to spend an hour getting something higher. The odds are pretty low getting anything over 91, and getting 00 would take you ages. Congratulations, enjoy your awesome fighter.

the only time I ever grinded out 18/00, I did it on 2 characters, and managed to do it in about an hour of complete horridness.. THe really shitty thing is when you get 18/00 and really shitty stats.

But I needed 18/00 for my IWD playthrough, because I did it with 3 characters... IRC a human Ranger/Cleric, a human FIghter/Mage, and a halfling Fighter/Thief.. luckily he could only have 17 strength

 

[Korten12]

well I got a 98. I just keep going until I got a 17, then I would take a stat out of int and put it into str and then see or keep rolling till I got a natural 18.

Oh, right. I didn't remember it worked like that. That level of customization means that after a hundred 17's, you should statistically have gotten your /00. Statistically. I can't guarantee it won't take a thousand tries, though.

yeah I think im going to stick with /98 becuase it does seem like 00 is hard to get.

 

[P.Tsunami]

the only time I ever grinded out 18/00, I did it on 2 characters, and managed to do it in about an hour of complete horridness.. THe really shitty thing is when you get 18/00 and really shitty stats.

But the wonder of AD&D is, if you have 18/00, you can make it walking around with 3 in all other stats, if you ask me. Just smash anything to pieces before it gets around to killing you! Exceptional strength is that unbalanced.

 

[Korten12]

and with 18/98 I have all my stats 10 and plus.

and now to put all 4 into Two-handed sword.

well I got a 98. I just keep going until I got a 17, then I would take a stat out of int and put it into str and then see or keep rolling till I got a natural 18.

Oh, right. I didn't remember it worked like that. That level of customization means that after a hundred 17's, you should statistically have gotten your /00. Statistically. I can't guarantee it won't take a thousand tries, though.

alright now is it okay do u think to but all my ability points into Two-handed sword?

 

[xdgt]

Unless you plan on multi-classing, you don't really need Int/Cha/Wis with a fighter.

 

[DazZ.]

Gahh! Now I have to go and install this game again as I've talked about it so much recently.

@Korten: Did you get BG1tutu working? I'm downloading now.

 

[Korten12]

Gahh! Now I have to go and install this game again as I've talked about it so much recently.

@Korten: Did you get BG1tutu working? I'm downloading now.

I ended up using EasyTutu, becuase BG1tutu was pretty confusing. (I believe from what I read both do the same thing but EasyTutu is just an installer instead of all the files and such.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

well if its pretty open choice then ill go for it.

in almost every RPG I have ever played I am always a Human Warrior (or what ever variation their is) and Two-Handed Swords man.

No 2h Style, I mean Two-Handed Weapon Style, the one you said is Two Weapon Style.

In that case, I misunderstood your shorthand writeups. My apologies. I still say go with the huge ass sword. You can't go wrong there. I still recommend getting your Strength above 17, though, if you really want to be mopping the floor with your enemies, conan-style.

yeah thats what I like to do.

I got 18/39 but whats the /39?

It's what 2nd edition called "Exceptional Strength" and it ranges from 01-100 (100). It mostly determines how much extra damage you do per hit. An 18/00 (100) gets +3 to hit and +6 to damage.

 

[Brotherofwill]

D&D

Just a little question, I have no idea about the system and it'll probably seem pretty stupid of me. What do you mean by Roll? If you create a character do you have a random chance? I don't understand that, or is it every level you have a different chance of improving?

 

[adragonofgold]

Since all questions have been answered, I'll just have to say I now have the sudden urge to start up a new character myself.

 

[Altorin]

D&D

Just a little question, I have no idea about the system and it'll probably seem pretty stupid of me. What do you mean by Roll? If you create a character do you have a random chance? I don't understand that, or is it every level you have a different chance of improving?

Baldur's gate (and all of hte infinity engine games except Fallout) are based on Dungeons and Dragons.

It involves a lot of random numbers generated by rolling digital dice (most of the dice are in the background, and only the results are seen), added to modifiers.

When you kill monsters (using these random numbers added to modifiers), you get experience. When you get enough experience, you gain a level.. and you get certain modifier increases, such as chance to hit, or chance to avoid some calamity (such as poison or death magic). You also get weapon proficiencies, which increase your modifiers with specific weapons and weapon styles.

Most of the dice produce randomly determined numbers between 1 and 20, 1 being an automatic failure, 20 being an automatic success, and the difficulty of the roll is determined by the action. Attack rolls, such as those used by a fighter swinging a sword or a mage casting a ray spell, attempt to circumvent an attacker's Armor Class.. In the older games, this was determined by a very difficult to explain concept called Thac0 which I won't explain here.. Basically, Higher Numbers are good.

In older games, thief abilities, such as hiding, and picking locks and disarming traps are determined by a percentile chance.. a random number is generated between 1 and 100, with the players aptitude in those skills determining success.

Other rolls, such as damage rolls, are produced by a variety of random number arrays, from 1-4, 1-6, 1-8, 1-10 and 1-12 arrays. These are usually modified by a players attributes, but not always.