Thanks for the guide.
There are some things I want to add.

-Your stats will be something from 8 to 18 (+/- 1 for race adjustment) in the beginning. Everything else is cheating.

-When your main character dies its game over, so give him 18 con if he is a warrior, else 16 con.
Make sure you save before lv up and get max hit points per level.
The main stat of your class should be maxed out (str for fighter, int for mage, . . .)
Strenght is not useless. Even if your cleric never wants to use a melee weapon he should be able to wear a full plate, a weapon, a shield and some potions without being encumbered. He wants to have a good ac in case someone shoots arrows at him.

note: I like the character creation of DnD3 (like in the never winter nights series) better than DnD2 (baldurs gate). Unless you cheat you only have a fixed number of points to spend and you cannot max out everything by rerolling long enough.

question: How are the max hit points calculated for class combinations, especially when you have odd numbers. Like you have a fighter/thief with 17 con.

IIRC, with a multiclass, you'll get the normal number of hp you should get at each level up divided by the number of classes, rounded down.

So a fighter/thief with 17 con would get 1d6 + 2 divided by 2 (1 to 4 hp) when he gets a thief level and 1d10 + 3 divided by 2 (2 to 6 hp) when he gets a fighter level.

I just want to point out two things:

First, while this is certainly very true, it does not hold out long term. Over the course of the game, the value of ranged weapons will decrease dramatically, and melee weapons will easily become your primary mode of dealing damage. I would say that in late BG1, melee weapons are generally preferable, and by Baldur's Gate 2 they have a massive edge, unless you're an Archer.

I don't say this to undermine BlueMooner's point, because it is definitely sage advice. I say this to warn new players that you might not necessarily want to build your character around ranged weapons. If you're any sort of warrior (that is to say Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian or multi-class), then definitely do not dump all your proficiency points into Bows and Missile Weapons. You're going to want to be able to dish out some damage up-close and personal, because that's where the real damage and great THAC0 really come into play.

Axes can be a good choice, as it covers both battleaxes and throwing-axes, though the latter are both expensive and excruciatingly heavy - but then again, if you're a Warrior, Strength shouldn't be an issue for you ;)


Second, I want to point out that it isn't all that difficult to make it through the early game using a party that mainly uses melee. It might mean a couple more reloads/new NPCs, depending on how you play the game, but it's certainly doable. It is NOT easier than using ranged weapons as suggested, and if you're struggling with the game, then go that route. However, if you're conceptually bothered by the notion of a party of adventurers armed with only bows, then never fear. You've got plenty of other options.

I want to say that using ranged weapons is a good idea.
In bg1 half of my inventory was filled with ammo and at the middle of bg2
each char had a ranged weapon that needs no ammo.
Of course, every char had a melee weapon too.

My standard tactic was:
-Give ranged weapons to everyone
-have someone scout the area and send him back to the group
-send your tank char to to the enemy and retreat as soon as you are spotted.
-when the enemy is away from his friends everyone attacs him with ranged weapons
and the tank changes to a melee weapon when the enemy reaches him.

This workes good except for some powerful enemies:
-enemy adventurer groups that cannot be separated
-really powerful monsters such as demons and dragons
-the most powerful thing in this game: high level mages

For most mages the following tactic was effective:
-somebody cast dispel magic (mostly keldorn) and somebody else breach
-everyone attacs him with ranged weapons to prevent him from casting
-use weapons that cause additional elemental damage (fail of ages!)
very few enemies are immun to magic weapons and all elements at the same time
and one point of damage ist enough to interrupt magic.

This leaves only very few hard enemies, mostly liches and a fight in a tree (no spoilers^^)
If you have a good advice how to beat these, please tell.

I'm pretty new to the game and I'm thinking about what my team will be.....right now I have:

PC (Wild Mage)
Imoen (Thief)
Jaheira (Fighter/Druid)
Khalid (Fighter)
Garrick (Bard)
Minsc (Ranger)

I care about both ability and storyline when it comes to my team members. Being honest I don't really care much (character wise) for any of them aside from Imoen right now. Is there any negative effects from kicking characters out often? I would rather not just get stuck with whatever the early game gives me.

I was wondering if it might be a good idea to replace Garrick with Kivan?

(I figured this might be the best thread current on the first page to post on)

Kivan makes an excellent early party sniper -- he gets bonus ranged THAC0 from Ranger and being an Elf. One thing to keep an eye on is his HP, because his CON isn't ideal. Garrick is only good for one thing: Bard Song. In every other sphere he is utterly, totally useless -- his INT is so low that he hardly ever learns spells. Do it.

The only negative about kicking party members out is Jaheira/Khalid if you haven't reached Nashkel and spoken to the mayor, and kicking members out who are unhappy with your reputation (they complain a lot). Otherwise, if you keep them happy, you can remove and ask them to rejoin at will. Oh, and don't forget the members who come as a team: kick one out, and they both go.

Thanks I'll go for Kivan.

I'm considering kicking out Jaheira and Khalid once I've gotten a bit stronger. (and have other npcs to replace them) I don't really like Jaheira.

I'm not really fond on the idea of couples, it sounds a lot like unneeded baggage when you're on a quest for revenge.

Jaheira's definitely not ideal for new players because she gets summon animals instead of Animate Dead; which in my opinion is a deal breaker near the end of the game

Khalid isn't bad if you give him the Gauntlets of dexterity, where he's then capable of doing ranged support or cleaving enemies with swords.

Jaheira isn't that bad. She gets a lot of healing spells which will be useful. btw. summon animals is pretty cool imo.

Yeah but she doesn't get any more healing spells than Clerics (aside from Goodberry, which is actually decent early on but really not worth the spell slot) while missing out on many Cleric spells. Summon Animals is okay but hugely inferior to Animate Dead - and besides, Clerics get Summon Animals as well, so if you prefer it, you're golden.

Call Woodland Creatures is the Druid-specific summon spell, and I don't think it's even available until BG2

Jaheira fills a specific role, and she does it well:

Druids == Superior Debuff/Debilitate, Offensive, Summon spells.
Clerics == Superor Buff/Heal, Turn/Summon Undead

Jaheira is a multiclass Fighter/Druid. You do the math!

If this were BG2, you'd have a point. But it isn't. Druids have actually got inferior summon spells, the only debuff/debilitate they get that Clerics don't is Hold Animal (whooo), while in fact Druids miss out on spells like Hold Person.

Really the only notable spell Druids get that Clerics don't is Call Lightning, and that's only usable outdoors - and how many difficult outdoor fights are there once you're level 5? Aside from that it's crap like Goodberry.

In fact, here's something worth noting:

There are NO Druid-specific spells after level 3.

The entire list of Druid-specific spells in TotSC is:

Level 1:
None

Level 2:
Charm Person or Mammal
Goodberry

Level 3:
Call Lightning
Hold Animal

Level 4:
None

Level 5:
None

That's a grand total of FOUR spells, two of which I never use (Hold Animal and Goodberry, though the latter CAN be useful), one of which is decent but more or less the same as a Mage level 1 spell (Charm), and Call Lightning. Meanwhile, they're giving up nearly HALF the spells available, which are Cleric-only. Many of them are among the better spells, too (Command, DUHM, Animate Dead, Defensive Harmony, Flame Strike, etc).

If this were BG2 or Tutu, then it'd be a whole different story. But vanilla TotSC? Druids are complete crap compared to Clerics.

Jaheira's fighter levels are nice, but are they good enough to be worth slowing down her spell progression? Probably, actually. If you use her as a Fighter with healing capabilities, she's not bad at all. But especially for a newbie (as per OP)? You've got better options. If you want a divine caster, Branwen and Viconia are far better bets. The other clerics come too late.

The best cleric is probably slapping a tome of WIS on Xzar and dual-classing him, but again, that might not be a great route for a newbie to go.

So you don't class 'Entangle' as a level 1 Druid spell, then? And you don't see it as important? And let's not forget that with the level cap of TotSC, a Cleric (level 8) gets NO level 5 spells (ZERO), which puts the Druid ahead with Animal Summoning 2 and Cure Critical Wounds at that point.

But putting that aside, you have missed my point entirely. This is about Jaheira, NOT about Druids vs Clerics. Jaheira is a Fighter/Druid. She fills a front line roll, and her choice of weapons, armour AND spell list is far superior to a Cleric in BG1 in that roll, without question.

Besides that this is ..wow... long quote. I think she is an asset to the team. Sadly i felt that Kalid on the other hand was not. Even with good armor he still suffers from hits easily.

The only point i want to make is, that Druid being Druid have or should only have spells that fits their believes and profession. So a 'Hold Person' would not make sense really.

I too, think that Jaheira - as much as I like her as a character -is a bit of a wasted party slot in BG1.

In unmodded BG1, Clerics also get Entangle as a first level spell, but since there aren't many people these days who would play BG1 without TuTu at least, I suppose it can be counted as a Druid only spell. However, the conversion to BG2 rules will also affect the nature of the spell; BG1 entangle only affects enemies, therefore it is a very good debilitating spell, but BG2 Entangle can become a bit of an annoyance sometimes, since your party members can get caught up in it as well, but even like that it can be a useful spell from early to mid game. Even though you won't get Hold Person (which is a lot better than BG2 Entangle) with your cleric until level 5, I still think that a single class Cleric (like Branwen) will be superior to Jaheira. Levelling is quite slow at the early stages of BG1, and it's even slower for Jaheira since she's multiclass. The only advantage she would have over a Cleric is Entangle, but that spell will become less useful as you progress in the game, and Jaheira won't really have anything else to make up for it. She will always be worse than a single class fighter in melee, because of slower level progression therefore less HP and worse THAC0, and less DEX (BG1 stats) therefore less AC, and won't have useful buff spells either, like in BG2 where she has a lot more potential due to a wider selection of Druid specific spells, and can also become a front line fighter thanks to better buffs like Iron skin.