Well Schwab, I have Imoen, Branwen,, Jaheira and Khalid in my party. I lost Minsc back in the mines trying to get Mulahey. I tried so many times that I thought that sacrificing Minsc wasn't so bad. The thing is I don't have a mage in my party so I have no one to cast any good spells so I have to wade in with melee combat and since I'm not so strong, I lose a lot. I was thinking of starting over because I feel that I missed a lot along the way, but then I figured what the heck I'll just stay with it and hope that I get smarter along the way. I hate to admit, but I'm using the First Aid cheat (I need those healing potions)

Fil, it sounds like you should be saving your game more often so if someone dies you can just reload. Or, if someone does, you can go to a temple and pay to have them resurrected. They don't have to stay dead.

Minsc had a quest that he would have given you when you first met with him. If you read your journal, you will find that he wanted you to rescue a mage named Dynaheir. She's great. But so far you have a good solid party - you just need a mage to round it out. There are other fighters you can pick up, too, as you walk around.

The other thing you should do is get all of your party members to be proficient in ranged weapons like slings and bow and arrows. When you are cruising around in the country, go slowly. Often you can stop your party just when you see one enemy instead of running smack into a whole nest of them. As soon as you see one enemy, hit the space bar, tell all your party members to aim at that one enemy, then inch forward and kill the next one you see, and so on.

Melee combat is far too hard on your low level party and will always be a disaster for your mages and thieves. Stay back, used ranged weapons, and then move your fighters in for the kill only if you have to.

Fil, to help you with the battles, how are you controlling your party? I found that too much frantic clicking got me into more trouble than when I let the characters finish their moves. I learned to pause then I would click on (select) my character, click on my wepaon or spell, click on enemy target. Then repeat next character, weapon, target, and then cycle through all your party members - character - weapon (spell) - target. Then release the pause and give the party a chance to carry out the planned moves. If the battles is not going as planned just pause and try a different weapon (spell) or different target. I also found it worthwhile in some cases for all or several members to target the same enemy. If you start clicking after these given commands you are actually undoing your fight commands.

Also to save potions I would only drink during a battle if I got too unhealthy. After a battle I would prefer to use a heal spell or sleep if there is an opportunity. Another strategy is to save then sleep. If your sleep gets interrupted you can always reload until you don't get attacked. Getting attacked while sleeping is random and doesn't happen each time.

Hope this helps.

To have a dead party member resurrected (Minsc in this case), you have to pick up all their armor & items, then head to a temple, like the one next to Beregost. The cost to resurrect is relative to your level, I think.

As Hagatha pointed out, Minsc joined your party on the proviso that you would help him on a quest to rescue Dynaheir from the gnoll stronghold, which is the zone to the far southwest of Nashkel. Do that first before going back to Nashkel, mainly because Minsc will leave your party if you don't do the quest in 10 days game time. Plus, you then get a mage in your party.

Or, forget Minsc and try to get Mulahey again, there is actually another mage in that very area you can pick up for your party after killing Mulahey.

Branwen is your cleric and should cast buffs like Bless and Chant, and she should be able to summon undead helpers, or at least use her Turn Undead ability to confuse the skellie army that Mulahey conjures. Jaheira can also heal, but as a Druid should also be casting Entangle and/or summoning animals or turning into one herself through her special abilities button. Khalid is your fighter so you fight up close with him and Imoen can shoot arrows from the back.

As Hagatha mentioned, ranged weapons are awesome, particularly in outdoor areas. I know that Jaheira and Branwen have missile skill, so they can hurl bullets with a sling. Imoen has her arrows, I'm not sure that Khalid has any bow skill, check his character sheet for that.

Rowan plays like I do, it's too time consuming to cast healing spells during combat, so have potions in everyone's quick item slots to drink and cast any healing spells needed after combat.

Okay, the Mulahey fight is tough, he IS the boss of Chapter 2 so don't feel bad about multiple attempts, I've been there. I suggest using Jaheira's Entangle spell on the kobolds he summons then concentrate on Mulahey, shoot arrows and/or bullets to interrupt his spellcasting while you and Khalid engage in melee combat.

Hagatha, I guess I should have read my journal a little better and I could have picked up a mage. I didn't know that you could have a party member resurrected but I'll do that in the future. I do save often but I just read Rowan's advice and I see that I've just been hacking away when I really shouldn't. I guess I'm just used to using a sword. In every RPG I've played so far I've never used a bow and arrow. I guess I'm going to have to get used to it. Rowan I'll take your advice and try to control my clicking finger. Thanks to both of you for your help (I really need it)

I was thinking of starting this game over. I can't seem to find a mage anywhere and after going through the Gnoll Stronghold (by the way I guess since I lost Minsc in the mines, Dynaheir wasn't there) no other areas or woods have opened up. I really hate to start over since all of my party members have leveled up a few times (all except my character who only leveled up once), but I don't know where to go next. Do you have to complete all the areas, I couldn't get past some dead thing in Ulcaster and I just started the Tower one?

Dynaheir should be in one of the pits on the upper level of the stronghold.

You can open up a new area by going to the edge of the map in the direction you wish to open up, then exit to the map and the new area should show.

As Rowan pointed out Dynaheir is in one of the pits. You have to find the staircases leading down into the pit - and walk as far into the pit as you can, because Dynaheir is not immediately visible. She will join you even if Minsc is dead.

There is another mage that you can pick up quickly - and he is arguably the best one in the game, even if he is evil-aligned. In Nashkel, near a bridge at the south end of the city, is a man in a red robe. He may still be willing to join your party. As long as you keep your reputation at under 18 he will stay with you. He hates Dynaheir, though, so watch out if you try to have them both in your party.

Rowan and hagatha, my profound thanks. I went back to that stronghold for the 3rd time and finally found her. I can't believe I missed her twice!! Rowan, I've been using your method of attacking and found it to be just the thing. I was always clicking away like crazy and kept getting killed. I'm going to continue now that I've gotten a mage and I'm sorry that this game is so big because I've made a lot of mistakes so far and maybe one day (if I finish it for the first time) I'll go back and see if I can do it right.

I'm not sure if the red robed mage from Nashkel will like to be with a paladin led party.

I'm glad the fighting has improved for you, Fil. It took me quite a while to figure it out myself.

I should have realized the fighting technique because I just finished playing Planescape Torment by Black Isles and it's basically the same. I just figured out how to memorize spells too after I've been playing this game for a week, , but then again I never figured out how to cast spells in PT. Thanks for all the help. I'm sure that I'm not finished asking questions yet.

I knew I'd be back asking questions. Do you have to go to every area on the map? I'm getting my head handed to me in the tunnels under Gullykin because the area is so small, I keep running into the other members of the party. I tried to skip this part but I can't seem to access Cloakwood Forest. I'm going to try going back to the Friendly Arms Inn or some other area and see if I can get it to light up then.

Well, you don't have to go to every area of the world, but some places (such as Cloakwood) is crucial. You have to go there from an adjacent area though; you can't go straight from Cloakwood from e.g. Firewine Ruins (unless you have been there before).

About Gullykin, you don't have to, as it's only a side quest, but it gives you rewards, as well as valuable XP points. Same as every side quest.

Thanks Drizzt, I might have to skip some side quests. I'm playing the game on "easy" so I'm not getting as many experience points. By the way, did you get your name from this game? I'm using his sword right now.

Hey Drizzt good to see you back..

Ingie

I'm back with another question. How do I get Imoen to disarm traps? I let her take the lead and she can find them but I have no button that lets her disarm them. Does she just have to trigger the trap or go past it to disarm? On her character page there is no disarm ability, just pickpocketing, stealth and backstabbing (which I don't know how to do either). Thanks.

It's the same button on the bottom of your interface as the one to pick locks, it has the symbol of a mask on it. Click that and then mouse over the red trap area, you will see a beartrap kind of symbol indicating you can disarm the trap.

Thanks Schwab, I'm finding this game hard going because of all the spellcasters you meet along the way. Guess I too used to just wading in with my sword. Now I have to replay many a battle and use some strategy (forward planning is not my forte ), and it's so hard to level up and you don't seem to get any stat points at all. I'm really going to try to finish, but I've left a lot of side quests out so that I can.

fil,

Once you get use to the game and the way things work you'll think it's just ordinary playing
I don't think starting over is a bad thing. You learn, or at least I do; by the mistakes that are made. I think you're more able to make good decisions based on your past experience. Save where and what you are on one save and begin again. Start another character if you so chose. A good party of 6 for me are a thief and ranger, melee; wizard, clerec and whoever I chose to be; a fighter or perhaps a mage..it's fun to try the different characters.
If you like combat, then try a paladin. Iomen is a good thief and give her a weapon she'll fight..bow or dagger...now choose the other's as you like the skills they bring..some come together as a set.
You'll be able to do this, and I think you'll really enjoy the game once the tension and stress
leave you.


Ingie

You know Ingie, I'm just so far into the game that I hate to start over. I'm across the bridge in Baldur's Gate. I realize that the experience points I get are lower because I'm playing on the easiest level, but I've never played an RPG that didn't give you stat points when you level up. When I think of the battles that I've had to fight over and over again I just can't face having to do them all over again. (Just think of how hard they'd be if I played on a harder level) Maybe one day if I ever finish I'll start over , but then again I have two expansions left to play.

Fil, when I first played (some years ago) my first character was a mage, but since I didn't quite understand the D&D rules he was a little underpowered. I didn't really realize this until Chapter 6 because the other characters in the party were pretty much carrying him, but I wanted a better character so I started over with a fighter and played ALL the way through again to the bitter end.

What I'm saying is, it actually helped to start over because I knew more and rolled a better character and it went a lot faster since I already knew the lay of the land and whatnot. I did the same exact thing in BG2, stopped my first character in the second to last chapter and started over. What's great about these games is you can play a little differently each time, so it's not like you are doing the exact same things or using the same party members.

Schwab, I think you're right. I'm going to start all over. What I really miss in this game is the ability to carry a lot of stuff in my inventory. There are no magic bags, none of the people in my party can carry any more weight than they did at the start and I'm always having to juggle around inventory to carry things. I'm leaving the game right after I had to carry four bodies out of the sewer and had to keep switching inventory items so I could carry it all. Maybe in the next run through, I'll manage everything better.

Fil, perhaps you can catch up on points by doing some of those side quests you are avoiding. Every encounter gives you points. To get more points I would go to options and increase the difficulty slider to normal. That way you get more points for everything. If you do run into an "impossible" fight, then lower the slider for that only then raise it again. You can catch up on the points you have missed also by not reloading when you get random attacks, such as when you sleep in the outside.

Thanks Rowan, I didn't know that you could adjust the slider back and forth. I'm back in Beregost again after picking up Khalid and Jaheira again. I don't know if I'll use Branwen this time though. I'm going to try to get the mage a little earlier this time. I'm not crazy about her spells but I love the wands.

I think Iomen can use the wands..put one in her quick spot and check.

I do think, as Schwab has said; starting over is just to your advantage. Doing all the side quest are to your advantage and actually most are doable at your level as you take them. Which means more xps.
If you're over the level, then usually so are the mosters or whatever greets you and the xps are so low..you'll never level up.

Practice does help..look how fast you got to the Village this time

Don't be afraid to venture outside and take a look at what's out there, you could be missing something good!

Ingie