Personally, I would avoid Peldvale at lower levels. The enemies there use anchanted arrows and are deadly.

Nashkel is the place to go. That is the quest that has been 'strongly suggested' by your new companions, Jaheira and Khalid.

While there are dangerous enemies around the Nashkel mine area, the mine itself is not too difficult, except at the very end, and if you have a number of fighters and Jaheira, with her entangle spell, you should be able to do it. And there are some little quests in and around Nashkel.

Everybody should always travel with ranged weapons at the ready.

Also, your companions start moaning if you don't go to Nashkel soon enough. I've never known them to actually leave the party, but...

Well I have my group now at Nashkell and everyone is still alive. I reloaded the game so that my pc and Imoen are at level 2. I didn't know til now that there is a level cap at 7 or 8. Should I add anyone to my group as I lost Monty at Bergost in a fight with Silke. He just disappeared with no death portrait. I will equip Jaheira with a sling to see if she lasts longer. Should I go ahead and dual class Imoen to a Mage even at her low level? How about adding Edwin at this point or will he get mad if I don't go to the area where Dynaheir is and kill her? I am at a loss for my 6th character at this point.

When someone dies and there is NO death portrait it means that they are so badly hurt they can't get resurrected.

And do you mean he fled the scene or that his portrait wasn't on screen anymore ? If the latte is the case, this means that Montaron has died in such a manner that he cannot be resurrected.
Then you need to reload. [Please note that you quicksave the game at any time by pressing the letter Q on your keyboard].

Also, here is a good way to deal with Silke:
http://www.dudleyville.com/bg1/ar3300.htm
(I hope you have a save before you fought Silke).

I would advice you to load an earlier save, and fight Silke again. And since Montaron is a wizard, you can have him a great deal away from Silke. You then maybe need a figther, maybe Kivan, to protect Montaron.

I think giving a sling to Jaheira is a good idea.
Just use her spells as well.

As for dual classing Imoen, I haven't any experience with dual classing Imoen. However, I would think that dual classing her now would be good idea, since this means that she can't use her thieving skills before she is a level 3 wizard. (if I have remembered this correctly).

Alternatively, you could pick up Edwin.
And then discharge him again, when you decide
to pick up Dynaheir. (You need to discharge Kivan then, too I think). You need to do this,
since you need to pick up Minsc before you pick up Dynaheir.

I also think that if you discharges Minsc, then Dynaheir will also leave ??

Maybe Drizzt knows ??

Monty's portrait wasn't on the screen anymore after killing Silke. I will reload an earlier save. This is what I did. I loaded a save that has the following group:
Me/fighter
Imoen/thief
Montaron/fighter, thief
Xzar/necromancer.
I am at Bergost and all of us are at level 1. Should I travel to FAI to pickup Khalid and Jaheira or forget them and travel to Nashkel instead?

Yes, if you discharge Minsc, Dynaheir will leave with him/her.

If you wish to only discharge Minsc, but not Dynaheir the easiest way is to just let him die. If you're not feeling that evil, just find a room with a door, close the door around him and then discharge him. This way he won't be able to approach you. Just be sure it's not a room you're likely to enter again.

My advice would be to travel to the Friendly Arm Inn as pick up Khalid and Jaheira. And then go to Nashkell. Along, the way you could dump
Xzar and keep Montaron. (as he really is very
apt and resourceful wizard).

This means you can have Kivan in your party to.
This would mean that you travel with 5 people in your party, and this is OK. There is no rule Baldur's Gate 1 saying that you must travel with 6 people.

You could keep both Xzar and Montaron and
pick up Khalid and Jaheria at the Friendly Arm Inn. And then go to Nashkell.

After this, you can dismiss both Xzar and Montaron and travel with Minsc to pick up Dynaheir. Then you could get Minsc killed.
(or do what Drizzt suggests). And then you
could pick up Kivan.

I've found that a party with Jaheria+Khalid,
Dynaheir+Minsc, and Imoen and myself works well for a first run through of the game.

Don't you mean the other way around Karsten? Xzar is the wizard, and Montaron the thief.

I've never played with Kivan, but I have heard he is quite a decent NPC to have along. He can be found at High Hedge.

Yes, of course

It has been a while since I've played Baldur's Gate 1.

Kivan is a very good NPC, plus he sounds like Clint Eastwood.

Montaron is very handy once he levels up a couple of times and has some health points, because he is a fighter/thief. You can dispense with him when you run into Coran or Safana, because he will start to grumble and then make threats against you as your Reputation goes up. If you need more fighting backup, Coran is an ace archer.

Alright everyone, I will go to FAI and pickup Jaheira and Khalid to make a group of 6. Then I want to go to the fishermen and get the quest with the priestess because at the end I get a bunch of exp when her quest is finished. Then I will head for Nashkel. At what level should I make Imoen a mage? This way I can get rid of Xzar and Montaron and have room for Minsc and Dynaheir.

That sounds like a good idea...

Maybe Drizzt would when to dual class
Imoen ??

I'm not sure I would recommend dual-classing at all in Baldur's Gate 1. I always felt there was no real reason too, since the game is likely to be over as soon as (maybe even before) the original class has reached a decent level. Dual-classing means restarting again from level 1 with the new class, and not being able to use any of the abilities one learned before. (You have to reach the same level as the previous class before being able to use it's abilities).

It works a lot better in BG2. If you wish though, I guess having Imoen at level five or six would make her a decent enough thief before dual-classing her as a mage.

If you dual-class Immy at level 6 and you have the TOTSC expansion, and you do all of the quests, Imoen will reach the experience cap as a mage.

That having been said, you can leave Imoen as your thief and use Dynaheir as your mage. Imoen will become a very good thief by the end of the game, and Dynaheir is a decent mage, who can easily cover the party's needs. Imoen as a thief, Jaheira, Khalid, Dynaheir and Garrick were the party I used in my first BG game, and it went just fine. Minsc went a bit squirrely and had to be 'retired.'

Ok Drizzt- I will not dual class anyone from what you have told me. Hagatha- I do not have the expansion for BG1 and have finally gotten my group to Nashkel. With everyone still have level 1, the monsters are still mean to me, especially at night when I want to take a rest or go to a different location.
I guess that I will head for the Nashkel mine area and when I return I will get rid of Zxar and Montaron and pickup Minsc for his quest. Are there any quests I could attempt in the area around Nashkel for some additional xp? I am still having a lot of problems with my combat strategy, even tho I have a sling for Jaheira and Zxar to use. Imoen is using her bow but I can't seem to get Jaheira or Zxar to use their magic and could use some help on this subject.

grandpa68, Please answer catbelly's mail and inquiries in the Trading Post. You haven't answered your mail nor checked on your thread.

(Sorry to interrupt the thread, did not know how else to do this)

Ana

There is one that you can get by asking the guard who "greets" you there; it includes finding a captain gone mad. Can't remember his exact whereabouts though... There is also a small side-quest in one of the houses that includes searching the Nashkel mines for a missing husband (but you may take this when you enter the mines).

Also go visit Volo in the tavern. He's a celebrity.

If I recall correctly, you can press the rest button or go rest in a bed in the Inns in Baldur's Gate.

This I think will also heal you...

So you might not want to travel at night,
but rather travel by first daylight...

It may take you a little longer to get there,
but there is no timer as to when you have finished the main quest in Baldur's Gate.

Yes, the inns are much safer...as you will never get attacked in them. However, healing goes slowly. Be sure to cast all healing spells before resting, as this is not done automatically (it is in BG2, though).

You spellcasters have to memorise spells every night before your party sleeps. If you click on the spell book at the left of the screen for the character, you will see a book with squares on the left page and spells on the right. Select the spells you want to use by clicking on them, and they will appear on the left side of the page.

Now you sleep.

In the morning, the spells have been memorized and can be used.

To use them click on the character. At the botton of the screen are a number of gold icons. One looks sort of like a half moon -- that is where the speels are. If you click on it, all the available spells will appear, ready for casting. Most spells need to have a target selected in order to be cast.

Clerics and Druids have a different spell book from mages.

Well I got to te nashkel mines area and have a couple of questions. How do I kill Greywolf after I have talked to Prism? I have tried everything I know and still get dead. I also get dead when I talk to Mulahey. How do I kill him??

He's a tough opponent. If you are still level 1, save him for later; when you are done with the mines. You should level up in there. If you really wish to kill him (and get that nice sword he has; Varscona)....use any potions you may have come across. Make sure to buff your fighters as much as you can and attack him from afar with the NPCs not as skilled in close combat...A good idea here could be to run away from him, use Jaheira's Entangle-spell and then shoot arrows at him.

I guess that the above reply is for Greywolf. What do I do about Mulahey? Can I get to the treaure chest to get the scrolls and start chapter 3 and then use a cheat for the holy symbol that I need?

Aha, Mulahey. He's also pretty tough. As before, buff your party members with everything. If you need to, backtrack up to the surface (there's an "emergency exit" in the cavern just outside Mulahey's lair you can use that will get you to the surface instantly) and buy potions and other things you might need. Using magic items and potions is essential sometimes...I know I usually hoard them because "what if"-situations arise.

I'm not really sure what tips I could give; buff your party. Make SURE that you use Jaheira's buffing-spells. A "Bless" before this battle is essential. It's a low-level spell which will remarkable increase your fighting ability. You may also try using her entanglement-spell on Mulahey to keep him from charging you.

I don't know how many npcs you are playing with, but as I usually play with six, when I encounter Mulahey I let two strong characters face Mulahey and another two guard the party's back when I enter the cavern. Mulahey is a cleric and will summon many undead skeletons behind you. Between these two pairs I keep a thief with a bow and a mage. Try to make attacks on Mulahey with magic missiles or acid arrows (or any ranged attack actually). For magic attacks, try to him him when he is casting a spell as this will (hopefully) make him lose concentration.

Yes, you can cheat your way to it. There are console commands for a lot of things in the game, but I don't remember...I STRONGLY advise against it, though. Baldur's Gate uses Infinity, a game engine which is very fragile. Tampering with it may result in a broken main quest and many other bugs. Besides, I think that Journal entries also play a part in the quests, and I do not know how to add those.

If the fight is far too hard for you, there is another cheat that you may use.

Quoted from CheatCC:

"Note: This procedure involves editing a game file; create a backup copy of the file before proceeding. Using a text editor, edit the "Baldur.ini" file in the game directory. Add the line "Cheats=1" under the "[Game Options]" heading. Then, begin a game and press [Ctrl] + [Tab] to display the console window. Type one of the following case-sensitive codes, press [Enter], then press [Ctrl] + [Tab] to close the console window and activate the corresponding cheat function:"

Then use this command:

Cheats:DrizztDefends();

This will "summon" (spawn) the game's most powerful fighter to fight at your side. Not as a party-npc, but he will defend you and attack your enemies. You may also summon more than one, and I don't THINK it will cause any problems with the game.

Anyway, try with the tactics I suggested first. Lower the difficuly level, perhaps? It's a very rewarding feeling, having beat a powerful enemy in Baldur's Gate.

An entangle spell cast where the skeletons appear will help a lot. Once they are entangled, you can have one or two party members take care of any that don't get entangled, and have the rest of the party concentrate on Mulahey.

As Drizzt noted, buff your party as much as you can.

Early in the game potions of Speed are valuable assets in a tough battle. If I have one, I give it to my strongest fighter.

It probably took me ten tries or so before I won this battle on my firt run through the game. Part of it is planning your strategy. What works well in one battle will not work in another.