Baldur's Gate: Episode 1 - Tips & Tricks For Starting Out

In this episode, we start our journey into the wilderness, and befriend an unlikely ally in the quest for massive amounts of XP. A solid start, that will assist us in our plan to bum-rush Baldur's Gate before taking on the might of Baldur's Gate 2!

[@pattondurio]

My dude’s lighting up while playing Balder’s Gate. LEGEND

[@phylipwuleetsch5936]

i was wondering if i hear right hahaa true legend

[@NDK0]

Every other year, I make a char, start from lvl 1 and play all 4 games.. Always tried to get through bg1 fast... This time I actually try to do most quests. Holy moly, I love bg

[@bloodyiris3]

What are the 4 games? NWN and Icewind Dale?

[@licentiousdreams]

@@bloodyiris3 Leisure suit Larry is the prequel if you want to see how your group came together in canon.

[@christiano5109]

@@licentiousdreams thats a great comment. Underrated game

[@socjocinus]

Great video

[@CallumBradbury]

I did a solo monk playthrough on legacy of bhaal difficulty, you might like that! Glad you enjoyed these ones

[@TheSandGamer]

continue this series! im also playing bg ee for the first time ever and im having a blast!

[@CallumBradbury]

Thanks friend, I have been distracted lately but am meaning to get back into video making - perhaps your comment will be the prompt to do so!

[@NDK0]

Nice! I really hope you enjoy it

[@Mystra]

I'm gonna get this game soon, first time ever as well

[@CallumBradbury]

Awesome, you'll have a blast with it I'm sure! I'm just finishing up my solo monk playthrough of both games, and have had a great time

[@Mystra]

@@CallumBradbury Yeah I have no doubt about that :) Buying the first game on Monday.

[@verisimilitudeteller]

1 ranged attack could interrupt the mage long enough to kill them. :)

[@davecam4863]

Never seen a character in BG with a stat of 1 XD

[@Nurk0m0rath]

You can manually reduce the statistics down to a minimum requirement for the class in order to spend those points in more important stats. Some classes allow you to reduce one or two stats to 1.

[@nuwandalton]

I know it's a video game, but Int 1? It's just ludicrous. The guy is an amoeba. The developers should have foreseen that.

[@CallumBradbury]

An Amoeba would have int 0, 1 is at least a squirrel or a mouse, give him some credit

[@Qwufi]

But he is quite wise.

[@Kemachris]

@@CallumBradbury youre gonna be sorry when you meet a mindflayer tho ;) they drain 5 int per hit, and you hit 0 in a stat you die.. so good luck enrique ;)

[@bloodyiris3]

@@CallumBradbury That's incredibly insulting to squirrels and mice. I've seen footage of squirrels pelting dogs with acorns after being chased up into a tree and mice have demonstrated advanced problem-solving skills when cheese is on the table. That's Int 4 at least. Int 1 would be a pretty dumb goldfish. Maybe the dumbest mammal, the koala, would have around 2.

[@aquariandawn4750]

@@bloodyiris3 goldfish have a memory span of 5 months

[@laughingalex7563]

I think mindflayers would ruin your day lol.

[@boski0klusek]

Dude - you have a berserker in your team - why you not using his berserker's rage (immunity from fear, stun, hold, etc.) while fighting the mage..?

[@CallumBradbury]

A distinct lack of experience using berserkers, I think, is my reason

[@randomsleepyness]

Brilliant!

[@User-jo7jp]

mindflayers in bg2 are already licking their chops (or tentacles or whatever)

[@CallumBradbury]

The amount of times I've seen this kind of comment... if you're building your character around a single set of encounters I don't know what to tell ya. Mind flayers die easily, no need to dump int into your character just for those few encounters

[@megabyte5726]

just bought this today and i am 33 yo

[@mikewazouski7418]

How was your experience

[@aquariandawn4750]

49,word to your mutha

[@glowstikz550]

Bought it last night, 37

[@Nurk0m0rath]

Very interesting tidbit regarding Korax and the basilisks. Although in the fight with the adventurers I kept thinking ... didn't Imoen come with a wand of magic missiles and an oil of speed? Magic Missile isn't much damage but it's a great way to interrupt casting. And the Oil of Speed doubles your attack rate, so that would probably be helpful here as well. Hell, this might even be a good place for the Potion of Clarity (I believe it makes you resistant to Horror, though I'm not sure about Hold).

[@CallumBradbury]

Huh they're some excellent points, oil of speed would be really useful here, as would potions of strength etc. I didn't really prepare for my Koraxing, but with the right preparations you could totally have a much more optimal time of it.

[@Nurk0m0rath]

@@CallumBradbury Yeah, true. I haven't memorized where to find those yet but that would help. Also the wand of fireballs from the ankheg cave, as long as you can survive it and have a mage to use it. Aside from making one yourself, Imoen can dual class into mage, or you can pick up the wild mage chick in Beregost.

[@dontworry7571]

This game is really kicking my ass. I can't seem to break level two on any character..

[@135Fenrir]

OK, so I know I am late. But why does no one hit up the healers hut in the bottom rt corner of candlekeep? (You have to mouse over the building to reveal the doors) You can score a free potion by talking to the healer and another free one in the desk. Also you missed the diamond in the tree next to Xarl and Monty. Dunno if that was intentional or not. Lots of hidden items and caches around the world.

[@yoshikagekira1719]

I'm also late, but thanks for the advice. I'm new to the game and I'll check that out, it's my first playthrough

[@Malouco]

I just got the game in Hanst for the PlayStation 4 and I'm starting out with a half fighter half priest any tips

[@CallumBradbury]

Ooh that's a tough one, I've never tried Fighter/Cleric. As always, I'd say go to Durlag's Tower as soon as possible, as you can cheese the first few floors for some really nice loot. Also my vid contains a few easy sources of XP early on, so make sure you get those for some early level ups

[@aquariandawn4750]

Talk to Firebead 30x,he gives you 300 gold.

[@aquariandawn4750]

The guy in the Inn by the chest upstairs punch him til he's down. Loot his chest, no guards come, no reputation loss.

[@aquariandawn4750]

The rich couple in the kitchen, if yoyr charisma is 18,can be convinced to leave two ADDITIONAL pieces of jewelry in their upstairs chest in the Inn.

[@peoples2296]

For BG 1 only, archer is easily the most powerful class. Quickest to attack, most accurate, most attacks per round, interrupts mages. He was doing half my party damage for half the game and like a 3rd for the second half. If you put boots of speed on him he could solo the game by kiting. I haven't started BG 2 yet but I hear there are more enemies immune to ranged and very few magic arrows :(

[@CallumBradbury]

BG2 has infinite magic arrows if you find the quivers, I do love archers but for my full playthrough I went with solo monk. I love unarmed stunlocks too much!

[@sumerbc7409]

Enemy wizards will have a field day mind disabling him with 1 INT, dazed and confused.... Don't do it... How about cheat with 6 characters with all 18 ability scores and play on Legacy of Bhaal difficulty?

[@CallumBradbury]

I did legacy of bhaal as a solo monk, it was cool!

[@sumerbc7409]

@@CallumBradbury When my 6 man party has to continually hit a RAT in bg 1 and wait a long time to kill it... i figured Legacy was not for me ha

[@HighlanderFrag4Life]

anybody else farmed gold and rep in starting location? Selling guards gear raises rep more than IT takes by killing IT. Summon the guard by stealing something at the Inn, sell, donate and repeat

[@CallumBradbury]

I haven't done this, but that is pretty smart! Does it not aggro everyone? Or is it because the guards are spawned in, that they're not allied with everyone else?

[@HighlanderFrag4Life]

@@CallumBradbury i know its late af, they dont aggro if you dont have super bad rep

[@stevzor]

I'm looking at picking up Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition but I'm looking at this and thinking, how the hell do you know where to go, is there some sort of quest guide to help keep you on the right path or are you just wondering about the map without a clue?

[@CallumBradbury]

Wandering about without a clue, that was always the intent. I mean the main storyline has a sort of guide, if you follow the suggestions of party members and people you meet, but for everything else it's pure exploration. A different era, for sure, but if it gets too overwhelming I'm sure there's guides online that will assist without being too spoiler filled. I played back in the day, and embraced the exploration, so these days I just sort of know what to do, for the most part.

[@stevzor]

@@CallumBradbury I bought it and going for human fighter/berserker. Just trying to now roll 90+ on the stats before starting the game lol. Going to go for 2handed swords for maximum damage, you think that's a good choice? I know half orc is insane for starting but I like human :)

[@CallumBradbury]

@@stevzor My first ever playthrough back in the day was a fighter with a 2 handed sword, and I really enjoyed it, so yeah! Glad to see you're addicted to the 90+ stats already, hah. Worthwhile though, for sure.

[@stevzor]

@@CallumBradbury I rolled an 86 and my strength hits 18/97 so I have that stored as I hit a 90 now but the strength is only 18/24, I've been told to aim for strength 18/50+

[@CallumBradbury]

@@stevzor You know, if you go half orc, you can skip the worrying about 18/?? and go straight to 19 ;)

[@vakalkas]

im an absolute noob at dnd and just picked up bg. i keep getting pummeled and my main guy is a rogue with a measly 6 hp. he keeps getting one shot and i have to start over. any tips beyond what looks to be abusing the lizards to get exp. just tough it out or is there some things you can do to well, get a bit more aid. i have a full sized party even, is that a mistake too by any chance?

[@vakalkas]

i left straight for nashkel and looks to be about half way there, but any encounter pretty much wreck me.

[@CallumBradbury]

Hmm, does your rogue have a melee weapon or a ranged one? Make him use ranged until he is a higher level and can take the hits, and have your fighters tank the damage. Also rest after every encounter if you can get away with it.

[@wolfgangschreurs5332]

Some tips: - Use ranged weapons mostly early on. Kite monsters (keep distance and attack with ranged attacks). You might want to team up with at least another NPC because some monsters are hard to kite (e.g. wolves) and if you have 2 people in the party, 1 party member can kite while the other one shoots. - Make sure to have decent primary stats for your character. If you're a rogue, you want high dexterity. Dexterity also increases armour, making you harder to hit and increases your rogue skills and chance to hit with bows and possibly other ranged weapons. Increasing your constitution above 14 will give you a hit point bonus, but for rogues I believe the maximum bonus you can get is +2 per level at 16 constitution. If you have only 15 CON, know that a book can be found pretty early in game to give you a permanent +1 CON bonus, so you can then still reach the maximum for your class. - High strength benefits melee attacks. So if you want to be more of a melee rogue later on (e.g. backstab a lot), make sure to have strength of level 15 or higher to get damage and hit bonuses. - Make sure to have appropriate weapon skills. If you don't have skill points in bows, you will be very ineffective with bows, missile attacks will miss very often. - Early on focus on getting some levels quickly by doing a few easy quests. After you've reached level 3 you can do harder quests. Some easy quests that can be solo'd or duo'd are the belt ogre north of Beregost (kite him around the broken wagon); the guy in Feldepost in (900 xp just for talking), the letter south of Beregost from the 2 half-ogres, the Wizard in the house opposite Feldepost in (give a book can be found in the house directly south of the wizard's house); the short sword in High Hedge from the Gnolls and the chicken quest south of High Hedge. If you deliver the chicken to High Hedge and give the wizard a skull, then if you're lucky (probably 50% chance) the curse is removed and you get 2000 xp. Ideally I suggest you try to do these quests only with yourself and Imoen. After reaching level 3 you can go back to the start area to get Xzar and Montaron and their levels will be boosted. You should then get Khalid and Jaheira from Friendly Arm Inn and can start the main quest. Alternatively, if you want too boost you levels higher before joining with Xzar and Montaron, you could first kill some Basilisks as shown in this movie. It's easy enough with some practice to let the ghoul take the gazes while you kill the Basilisks with ranged attacks. Don't melee with the ghoul or he'll die quickly. After he becomes aggressive, don't bother killing remaining Basilisks, until you have some protection (Protection From Petrification spell or some scroll that makes you immune to gazes for 12 hours which can be bought in the Carnival next to Nashkel). - Finally: it might be a better idea to roll a multi class fighter/rogue instead of a pure rogue, especially if you plan to play BG2 later on. Rogue skill caps can be reached pretty easily and at that point the extra rogue levels don't provide much benefit. If you multi class you will level slower (since you're levelling in 2 classes at the same time), but the 2nd class (mage, fighter or cleric) will give you some additional benefits. Fighter/rogue will have better survivability in the early levels compared to a pure rogue. Benefits of a multi class fighter/rogue over a pure rogue are: 2 available weapon skills per weapon instead of 1, on average more hit points, ability to wear heavy armour (but rogue skills won't work while wearing heavy armour) & more weapon choices, increased attack speed (attacks per round) and better hit chances as your fighter level increases. - TIP: If you're not interested in adding rogue NPCs to your party, make sure to increase Find Traps and Pick Locks to at least 80. Don't bother with Stealth much, because you'll find equipment to boost stealth level. You can add points to Pick Pocket if you like stealing, otherwise don't bother.

[@marcinbiaecki3623]

Why u have 2 weapon scimitar proficiency 2000 Gold and thief fights with a "stick"?;)

[@TsukadaHina]

Anything less than 10 in INT triggers me. XD

[@CallumBradbury]

haha but int is the most useless stat!

[@stevenxu4992]

Too low with intelligence, too high with wisdom

[@agateplanet]

A typical human perspective with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. If only the Elves returned to our woods like the old days.

[@peoples2296]

@@agateplanet wisdom is worthless for any non cleric classes unfortunately.