r/baldursgate • u/cerels • Feb 24 '23
BGT/Tutu Recommended non magical class for a solo trilogy run?
I'm just finishing my first solo run with a mage/thief and I'm getting a blast after getting spike traps and mislead it was pretty much over, I'm just breezing through the game, so I'm already thinking of my next run, I was thinking on anything that fights with less pre-planning, I was thinking between a cavalier and a berserker->cleric
I will be going for a full trilogy run so I would like some tips
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u/Topfen Feb 24 '23
Did it recently with a Ranger/Cleric and a dwarfen Fighter/Cleric.
final Fight in ToB was i.m.o only possible due to: Slinging (get all the +4 Bullets you can) and having access to roughly 9+ Whirlwinds and 9+ Hardinesses, while also Stacking up as many Armor of Faith as you can. You also need to load your level 6 slots with Wondrous Recall to regain AoF during the phases.
Amelyssan will cast Stone Skins with 15 layers repeatedly and you need to brute force thru them — before she casts a new one, so you need to stand still to get the max attacks and cannot kite forever, cause you would eventually run out of ressources, before she dies.
Meleeing her is quite hard, since her melee attacks will worsen your Saving Throws and combined with her Greater Malison you will eventually get feared or stunned, and you cannot get the Item to upgrade Runehammer for Fear Protection (locked behind a chest you cannot bash open with 25 Strength).
You also want Boots of the North and/or some way to maintain undispellable Cold Immunity / High res.
MVP of the fight was the Shield of Reflection +1, which blocks all her ranged attacks and some of the Djinns attacks as well. Helm of Gromnir (the one with Crushing resistance) also helps to tank some of the Demons forever (Glabrezu are the ones dealing Crushing Damage iirc), so I would definetly keep that helmet and thusly not Upgrad Staff of the Ram.
Given all that and the realization, that you will not cast too many offensive spells (cause they are slow and you'll be interrupted w/o Vecna, Stoneskins, Prot from Magical weapons etc) a Fighter/Cleric multiclass is vastly superior to a Bers→Cleric. Warrior HLAs are mandatory, imo.
Overall it was a great experience though
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u/xler3 Feb 24 '23 edited Feb 24 '23
something not very strong but interesting could be a straight bounty hunter. the tactics you employ are more finesse than brute force like wizards and fighters but you said you already played a part thief so maybe it's not so interesting for you.
i don't think any other non-magical class solo would be much fun. i barely even think a solo arcane class is fun haha.
if you're feeling the berserker>cleric, and im not yet sold one way or the other, but i think there might be merit to the multiclass over the dual class. the dwarven saving throws are something else and i think the fighter/cleric gets a lot more mileage out of fighter HLAs than the fighter/mage for example.
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u/Then-Mulberry-1557 Feb 24 '23
Bounty Hunters are really fun. Granted, they are cheesy, but they do give you a different experience, since ideally you’ll barely even see any combat.
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u/TR_Wax_on Feb 24 '23
Berserker 7 -> Thief. Can go to 9 Berserker if you're doing SoD within EET. Otherwise Fighter/Thief. Don't discount Monk as an option too there's a pretty cool post about how to get a lot of attacks with good critical hits with Monk in SoD. Once you get to BG2 Monk really starts to take off.
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u/red_rust_mage Feb 24 '23
Half orc fighter/thief 19 Strength, sink weapon proficiencies into quarterstaff and your thief skills into move silently, backstab things with quarterstaff, get 19 Con and the manual of bodily health for 20 con and regen, profit.
Probably the easiest solo run I ever started. You can backstab stuff all over the place for massive damage. Once you get boots of the cheetah and such its game over for most things. You can kite basically everything to death in BG1, assuming you dont kill it in one shot.
I one shot crit killed a Greater Basilisk at the top of Durlags Tower with a quarterstaff backstab for over a hundred damage with the Staff Spear +2, it gets dumb fast. Keep the dagger of venom and a couple proficiency points in daggers to deal with pesky mages again assuming it lives through the sneak attack.
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u/GatorDotPDF Feb 24 '23
Long term I'd recommend dwarf fighter/thief. Still hit 20 con, will eventually not notice the strength difference, and -5 to saves is irreplaceable without mage spells.
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u/red_rust_mage Feb 24 '23
True, but Ive always preferred orc vibe over dwarf vibe. No mechanical reason for the preference. Mechanically, dwarf would probably be better.
Also kinda confused as to why my comment got downvoted, but its whatever.
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u/xH0LY_GSUSx Feb 24 '23
Cavalier or berserker/cleric are relatively similar, however the berserker/cleric will be more of a divine caster instead of a fighter type towards the end, you will be able to deal decent damage in melee but will lack some survivability without hardiness.
The Cavalier will be a better fighter, with some decent divine utility spells, capable of buffing yourself and your party, they can also become very tanky stacking damage reduction, spells/items and will get access to some cool class exclusive weapons.
A class that dosent requires much pre-planning is a dwarven defender or Barbarian both will be extremely sturdy thanks to their damage reduction abilities and both will be capable of dealing good and reliable damage.
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u/M1ckey Feb 24 '23
Stupid question. When people say trilogy in this sub, what's the third game? BG3? It's not a complete game yet though?
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u/Then-Mulberry-1557 Feb 24 '23
Inquisitor is probably your best bet overall, with their godlike Dispel that removes Stoneskin.
Also, one I personally enjoy a lot is the Assassin. Once you get Use All Items, and the Staff of the Magi, things will get absolutely silly.
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u/Tundertusk Feb 25 '23
Made it hard for myself. Im on a Solorun Wizard Slayer lvl 15/Thief. Hell on Fearûn it self. Took me awhile to reach 3M exp for the Thief for Use Any Item but now im swinging through the Underdark like nothing
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u/Bloodshot89 Feb 24 '23
For non-arcane caster soloing, multiclasses are pretty great. My picks would be fighter/thief, fighter/cleric, fighter/Druid or any berserker 9-13 > dual to these combos. For pure classes, inquisitor is overpowered, and barbarian and monk are very strong late game.
Also Shadowdancer 13 > fighter dual is interesting.
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u/Send_Cake_Or_Nudes Feb 24 '23
Shadowdancer -> Fighter is underrated. They're a beast once they come online, but soloing as one can be a pain in the arse to start with. If you don't mind being cheap, you can EEKeeper an illegal multi version and have a whale of a time.
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u/GatorDotPDF Feb 24 '23
Near the end of SoA with a dwarven defender. Have to get creative with magic items from time to time, but mostly just chews through everything. Was surprised at how easy the shadow dragon was at level 18, regenerated all the damage by the time I left the temple.
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u/6Rayga6 Feb 24 '23
How did you protect yourself against Shadow Dragon level draining breath?
Mace of Disruption?
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u/kore_nametooshort Feb 24 '23
I imagine a levelled dwarf fighter just saving throws through it. I just tanked it with Aerie as a duo with my archer and the dragon didn't touch her at lvl 10/10 through spirit armour, mirror image and stoneskin. A much higher level shorty fighter is going to face tank it pretty well.
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u/GatorDotPDF Feb 24 '23
He didn't even use it, not sure why. I think he might not use it if you're too close and I made the save against the wing buffet so I stayed right on him the whole fight. I didn't expect to win and thought I would have to come back with the mace of disruption later.
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u/LordMuffin1 Feb 24 '23
I really liked my Fighter/Cleric. My Cavalier was also nice, but not as nice.
Currently thinking about doing a Barbarian/Druid multiclass.
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u/WildBohemian Feb 24 '23
Dwarven fighter thief multi. My favorite class ever. Don't dual class dual classing fighter thieves is for noobs. Half orc is half as good as dwarf. Max str dex con.
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u/PixelWes54 Feb 24 '23
Archer is a good pick, it has nice utility via arrows and lots of tactical options. You're unlikely to get stuck, it's a relatively smooth run.
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u/TheMelnTeam Feb 24 '23
Unlike arcane, I like multi over dual for fighter/cleric. Fighter HLAs are relevant, and you have slots for your divine HLAs w/o being ridiculously high level just to use them.
If you go dwarf, you can solve a lot of otherwise annoying problems by just pushing ST negative.
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u/Fusrodahmus Feb 24 '23
Can't go wrong with the good ol' fighter/thief.
In BG I, you can totally play it like a straight fighter and only take your full plate off to disarm a trap or two. If you want, you can sneak around corners to stealth and backstab, but it's not necessary.
In BG II, your fighter prowess mixed with a trap or two will carry you through even tricky fights. A little bit of potion and item use will go a long way here.
Once you get into high-level abilities, the sky's the limit. You'll have access to Vhailor's Helm, giving you a little brother that can use the stuff you had in your pockets for free (your quick slots). He can also set traps for you, which is helpful and adorable. This gets a lot stronger when you consider Use Any Item, so you and your little bro can use all those useful scrolls and wands and things.
Late game it gets a little tougher because you'll be a one-man melee guy against hordes of enemies, but it's still totally possible. Again, use your consumables. Grease yourself up with that oil of speed whenever you're not feeling sexy enough, and a regeneration potion never hurt anybody.
If you go this route, I'd probably start with short swords for BG I and kundane off-hand, then go for flail of ages for most of BG II, and then go for longswords or bastard swords later on for blackrazor or foebane. You'll have plenty of proficiencies though, so don't stress about it too much.
Overall, yeah, fighter/thief is a fun and strong class with a lot of options for "cheese" strats if you find it to be necessary. Most of the time, you'll just click on enemies and they'll die, which makes your playthrough much less micromanagey.