.Dont pick sorcerer as new class, his spell selection is too strict and you need previous knowledge of what spells to pick.
.If you like thieves, dont pick a pure thief, it is too underpowered, but you still can finish the game with one, the game it is not hard.
.When you distribute your atributes points, try to roll at least a total of 88 points for your character.
.Martial classes like paladins, black guards,fighters and rangers get benefits from 17 or more constituition points, even if you are multiclass or dual class, if you are not of these classes you should limit your constitution to 16 points.
.Spears are the worst type of weapons on the entire series by far.

Originally posted by The Call of CTulio:

.Dont pick sorcerer as new class, his spell selection is too strict and you need previous knowledge of what spells to pick.
.If you like thieves, dont pick a pure thief, it is too underpowered, but you still can finish the game with one, the game it is not hard.
.When you distribute your atributes points, try to roll at least a total of 88 points for your character.
.Martial classes like paladins, black guards,fighters and rangers get benefits from 17 or more constituition points, even if you are multiclass or dual class, if you are not of these classes you should limit your constitution to 16 points.
.Spears are the worst type of weapons on the entire series by far.

What are some good

Originally posted by The Call of CTulio:

.Dont pick sorcerer as new class, his spell selection is too strict and you need previous knowledge of what spells to pick.
.If you like thieves, dont pick a pure thief, it is too underpowered, but you still can finish the game with one, the game it is not hard.
.When you distribute your atributes points, try to roll at least a total of 88 points for your character.
.Martial classes like paladins, black guards,fighters and rangers get benefits from 17 or more constituition points, even if you are multiclass or dual class, if you are not of these classes you should limit your constitution to 16 points.
.Spears are the worst type of weapons on the entire series by far.

What are some good classes to start with?

Originally posted by DanTheStar:

I thought this was going to be a turn based rpg like the third game.

I hear you, that must be annoying as hell. Good on you for giving it a go, for real.

Go into game options and make it pause at the end of every turn. There's your turn-based game!

---------------------------------------------------------

Why this works:

It actually is turn-based, it's just realtime turn-based. Some games call this 'active battling'.

What I mean is there's a hidden 6 second cooldown on most stuff, even basic attacks. This is because '1 turn = 6 seconds'.

This is why your character doesn't attack when you click, compared to say Diablo or Grim Dawn. It's PREPARED the attack.

You can watch this happen yourself on your character portrait, it'll tell you what 'move' (attack/spell/whatever) is going to happen next on the next turn ('within the next 6 seconds').

------------------------------------------------------

Good classes to start depend on your playstyle:

You like Lord of the Rings? You Like Aragorn? The Ranger class is LITERALLY based on his character from the books.

Maybe you like the idea of being a holy knight who can fight against zombies and heal wounds. You want to be a Paladin.

Would you like to play it as an adventure/strategy/puzzle hybrid? Choose Pure Mage and take it slow, treat every battle like a puzzle.

If you just want to get through the game with the minimum of fuss: Fighter/Thief, spec into a bladed weapon and use positioning for stealth hits.

Best of luck with it all!

Originally posted by Mothvibe:

Originally posted by DanTheStar:

I thought this was going to be a turn based rpg like the third game.

I hear you, that must be annoying as hell. Good on you for giving it a go, for real.

Go into game options and make it pause at the end of every turn. There's your turn-based game!

---------------------------------------------------------

Why this works:

It actually is turn-based, it's just realtime turn-based. Some games call this 'active battling'.

What I mean is there's a hidden 6 second cooldown on most stuff, even basic attacks. This is because '1 turn = 6 seconds'.

This is why your character doesn't attack when you click, compared to say Diablo or Grim Dawn. It's PREPARED the attack.

You can watch this happen yourself on your character portrait, it'll tell you what 'move' (attack/spell/whatever) is going to happen next on the next turn ('within the next 6 seconds').

------------------------------------------------------

Good classes to start depend on your playstyle:

You like Lord of the Rings? You Like Aragorn? The Ranger class is LITERALLY based on his character from the books.

Maybe you like the idea of being a holy knight who can fight against zombies and heal wounds. You want to be a Paladin.

Would you like to play it as an adventure/strategy/puzzle hybrid? Choose Pure Mage and take it slow, treat every battle like a puzzle.

If you just want to get through the game with the minimum of fuss: Fighter/Thief, spec into a bladed weapon and use positioning for stealth hits.

Best of luck with it all!

Th

Originally posted by Mothvibe:

Originally posted by DanTheStar:

I thought this was going to be a turn based rpg like the third game.

I hear you, that must be annoying as hell. Good on you for giving it a go, for real.

Go into game options and make it pause at the end of every turn. There's your turn-based game!

---------------------------------------------------------

Why this works:

It actually is turn-based, it's just realtime turn-based. Some games call this 'active battling'.

What I mean is there's a hidden 6 second cooldown on most stuff, even basic attacks. This is because '1 turn = 6 seconds'.

This is why your character doesn't attack when you click, compared to say Diablo or Grim Dawn. It's PREPARED the attack.

You can watch this happen yourself on your character portrait, it'll tell you what 'move' (attack/spell/whatever) is going to happen next on the next turn ('within the next 6 seconds').

------------------------------------------------------

Good classes to start depend on your playstyle:

You like Lord of the Rings? You Like Aragorn? The Ranger class is LITERALLY based on his character from the books.

Maybe you like the idea of being a holy knight who can fight against zombies and heal wounds. You want to be a Paladin.

Would you like to play it as an adventure/strategy/puzzle hybrid? Choose Pure Mage and take it slow, treat every battle like a puzzle.

If you just want to get through the game with the minimum of fuss: Fighter/Thief, spec into a bladed weapon and use positioning for stealth hits.

Best of luck with it all!

Update I tried the tutorial and a bit of the intro and I felt confuse so I returned the game. I would be holding off for this game for right now.

If the game is too intimidating, don't discount Story Mode. In it, your characters can't get killed. It will relieve some of the stress while you try to figure out what's going on, and what class you'd like to play. You can always start a new game at a harder difficulty later.

Incidentally, I wish the game was truly turn-based as well. It's pretty much the only flaw in the series, in my opinion.

There's a new player sub-forum that has a lot of tips for new players. Just poke around it a bit and I'm sure you'll get the gist of things.

The Wiki[baldursgate.fandom.com] is also a good place to look for specific information.

If you're just planning to play through BG, playing as a Berserker or Archer will give you pretty easy run. Just max your STR, DEX and CON. If you're planning on playing through BG2 as well, you might want to play as a multiclassed Fighter/Mage or Fighter/Cleric.

The game divides your XP gains based on the number of party members you have. You might want to wander around with just your MC and Imoen, to gain a few levels, before you recruit your other party members (they'll scale to your level when they first join up to 32000 XP). The game is only really hard until you reach level 3, and it takes a punishingly long time to get there with a full party.

Originally posted by DanTheStar:

Originally posted by The Call of CTulio:

.Dont pick sorcerer as new class, his spell selection is too strict and you need previous knowledge of what spells to pick.
.If you like thieves, dont pick a pure thief, it is too underpowered, but you still can finish the game with one, the game it is not hard.
.When you distribute your atributes points, try to roll at least a total of 88 points for your character.
.Martial classes like paladins, black guards,fighters and rangers get benefits from 17 or more constituition points, even if you are multiclass or dual class, if you are not of these classes you should limit your constitution to 16 points.
.Spears are the worst type of weapons on the entire series by far.

What are some good

Originally posted by The Call of CTulio:

.Dont pick sorcerer as new class, his spell selection is too strict and you need previous knowledge of what spells to pick.
.If you like thieves, dont pick a pure thief, it is too underpowered, but you still can finish the game with one, the game it is not hard.
.When you distribute your atributes points, try to roll at least a total of 88 points for your character.
.Martial classes like paladins, black guards,fighters and rangers get benefits from 17 or more constituition points, even if you are multiclass or dual class, if you are not of these classes you should limit your constitution to 16 points.
.Spears are the worst type of weapons on the entire series by far.

What are some good classes to start with?

Play a Cleric or Druid to start, they are hands down the best classes for a new player.

Start as a Cleric or Druid, they are easy to learn, have healing, can be tanky, can do good damage, this will be your best bet for starting fresh.

Aim for roughly
12-15 STR
MAX Dex
15 Con
8 Int (8 int in case you play BG2, if not, lowest int possible, doesn't matter)
MAX Wis
W/E you can fit into Cha (Its useful for main character, and Clerics Turn Undead is based on it).

Early on Sling is your best friend, eventually you will find Ankheg Armor which is cheap/light full plate, between this, shield, and spells you can be pretty tanky, heal your party, and do solid damage with spells.

Originally posted by Sstavix:

If the game is too intimidating, don't discount Story Mode. In it, your characters can't get killed. It will relieve some of the stress while you try to figure out what's going on, and what class you'd like to play. You can always start a new game at a harder difficulty later.

Incidentally, I wish the game was truly turn-based as well. It's pretty much the only flaw in the series, in my opinion.

I'm the opposite, I hate turn based since Final Fantasy. Maybe it works in other games, not sure. But FF is horrible especially with that stupid xylophone music...jeez I hate Final Fantasy. Did I already mention I hate it? Because I HATE FINAL FANTASY. Let's not even talk about the stupid character names and swords as big as buildings. My God I hate Final Fantasy.

Originally posted by itsu:

Originally posted by Sstavix:

If the game is too intimidating, don't discount Story Mode. In it, your characters can't get killed. It will relieve some of the stress while you try to figure out what's going on, and what class you'd like to play. You can always start a new game at a harder difficulty later.

Incidentally, I wish the game was truly turn-based as well. It's pretty much the only flaw in the series, in my opinion.

I'm the opposite, I hate turn based since Final Fantasy. Maybe it works in other games, not sure. But FF is horrible especially with that stupid xylophone music...jeez I hate Final Fantasy. Did I already mention I hate it? Because I HATE FINAL FANTASY. Let's not even talk about the stupid character names and swords as big as buildings. My God I hate Final Fantasy.

While those are turn-based, JRPGs like Final Fantasy are a different kettle of fish. I am talking about those that try to replicate the table top experience, where the players move their pawns over the field based on initiative order and whatnot. Similar to the original "Gold Box" D&D games, the older Ultima games or, in more recent times, the games made by Spiderweb Software. I have heard that the Pathfinder games are like this, but I haven't tried those yet. I really need to, though, given how much I love the campaign setting....

You can turn on various pause triggers, i always have pause when enemy or trap sighted, you can auto pause each round, on enemy death, on spell cast...you can make it as turn based as you want it to be.
All the options are in the gameplay tab under the auto-pause button.

1) The 'Canon Party' (Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc and Dynaheir) is fairly balanced (though is meant for a Good-aligned character) but may be slightly lacking in healing. I'd suggest playing as (like Amardarial suggested) a Cleric or Druid, though you could also make a Paladin (preferably a Cavalier or Inquisitor) work very well with such. That may tip the gameplay a little more in your favor. If you're feeling more confident, you could play as other classes. A vanilla Bard, for instance, can cover Pick Pockets so Imoen can focus on traps & locks instead.
2) Whoever you take as your Thief in this game needs to have 100 points in Detect Traps/Illusions, Disarm Traps and Open Lock by the time you enter Durlag's Tower. Otherwise, you'll be a sitting duck for all the traps in that dungeon (which are deadly) and you'll have too much difficulty opening any locks in there that don't require a specific key.
3) Utilize items like potions, wands, scrolls, etc. where you need it. Don't get too stingy because by the time you reach Siege of Dragonspear, you might find yourself overloaded.

Originally posted by The Call of CTulio:

.Dont pick sorcerer as new class, his spell selection is too strict and you need previous knowledge of what spells to pick.
.Spears are the worst type of weapons on the entire series by far.

I wouldn't recommend a mage for a newbie at all. It didn't go well for me back in the days of the disc based version. I had no experience with tabletop D&D, and wasn't used to a scribing and memorization based casting system. Also didn't pick the right spells, not knowing how useful Sleep would be for a good portion of the game. Took some getting used to, but I still prefer a hybrid like a Cleric/Mage or Fighter/Mage to a straight up Mage.

In part 2, you can find the Impaler spear in chapter 4. Ixil's Spike is in Watcher's Keep, but that would take a while.

I'm not a big fan of clubs or bastard swords, but there are a few of them. The splinters from Gnasher stack, but it's only +2. Blackblood is +3 with extra acid damage. Club of Detonation might explode on you. Blade of Searing, there's several other weapons with fire damage. Jhor the Bleeder stacks, but only if the target is vulnerable to poison, and it's only +2. Purifier is good, but Paladin only and not as good as Carsomyr, unless you want to dual wield/use a shield. Foebane has extra damage to undead and fell creatures, and can be upgraded with the Scabbard to cast Minor Drain with every hit, although you'd need a mod to let Cromwell make it or wait until ToB for that. I did give it to my Archer with Fell as racial enemy.

Katanas are another trap weapon. Yeah, Celestial Fury is great, but the ToB Katana (Hindo's Doom) is one of the weaker ToB weapons. They also weren't originally in BG and Beamdog only added one magical +1 in the game that you don't get until the Cloakwood Mines. At least the normal ones don't break.

Halberds are another weapon with only one great variant (Ravager) in the entire series.

BTW, what's with all the love for single classed Clerics and Druids? 3.x players? They aren't great in 2e or BG. The designers from Wotc who redesigned the Cleric for 3.x stated plainly that they were the class no one wanted to play in earlier editions. Cleric is okay, good HP, can wear armor, but lacking on offense (only 1 APR, Hold Person and Holy Smite/Unholy Blight are the only offensive spells they get in BG1) and capped at a low level in BG (only level 4 spells). Druid is definitely not new player friendly since they can't wear most armors (unless multiclassed) and Barkskin takes a while to level up. Although, Druids do have more offensive spells than Clerics in BG1. Cleric is probably easier for a new player than playing a Mage in BG1, but I don't think I'd say the same about a Druid.

Your companions depending on who you pick are often very overpowered. Edwin and Viconia for example will transform the game into a much more manageable enterprise. Its also recommended to go simple at first: A strong main character; like fighter berserker with high str-dex-con with sword and shield will take you trough most of any encounters. Mixed with edwin and Viconia the rest of your party can be anything you like. Learn the main spells for protection: protection from fear and confusion are the main ones they will be on a mage and a cleric. If you are protectec vs fear and confusion, 99% of the fights are won already.