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Baldur's Gate WalkThru v1.0
By CyberMouse
E-mail: jlworth@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/8017

Note: This walkthru is for good aligned characters with the purpose of
finishing the game in an early manner. Some of the subquests are included
and how to finish them and more will be added depending on request.

Also, I do not do tech support but sometimes will answer some anyway.
Best place is to e-mail Bioware for questions. The only problems I had
was with my SBLIVE where there drivers where in conflict with the game
somehow. But still, the game did sound better with the EAX enable and
the crashes were quite infrequent.

"Warez sucks! They make you a dirty thief!"

My machine stats:
- PII 300 MHz
- 128 MB PC66 SDRAM
- ABIT BH6
- MATROX MILLENIUM G200 8MB AGP
- SOUND BLASTER LIVE
- WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR 6.4GB HARD DRIVE

Most comfortable Baldur's Gate config:
- Cache: 240MB (default 140)
* I find loading places less frequent since I can now hold more areas in
my BG cache allocation. However, to big a cache size tends to make
clearing of game data take much longer.
- Speed: 40 (default 30)
* The maximum speed is not recommended since it will make responsiveness
to the monsters and NPCs in battle slightly harder unless you pause
every nanosecond.
- Keys used on keyboard: I use the quick save key often and space bar. The
hotkeys for the other stuff are pretty useless unless you intend to play
the game totally real-time (good luck with harder NPCs and monsters).
Also, if do a lot of Thieving, set Pick Locks to "Z" and the Stealth and
Find Traps to suitable keys where you want to stealth and find traps at
the same time (see strategy 15).
- AI script: The best has got to be custom, since they only attack with the
weapon they have instead of doing all the other scripts which is pretty
dumb. You should be playing the game, not the computer.
- Optional: Get a good mouse rest, you'll need it if you intend to play it
for hours non-stop.


************************Strategies*********************************

1. Your party has to have a thief. In early stages of the game, you should
not remove Imoen for she will get you out of rough spots and more free
cool stuff. You need her or any thief to have at least 50% pick locks,
60% stealth, and 60% find traps before Chapter 6. Trust me on this one.
2. Group formations are important and knowing which one to use in each
situation is also as important. If you travel narrow dungeons or
subterranean levels, you should use the first formation since they don't
tend to run all about. Selecting a group and using the right click to
rotate the formation of your group should be a habit.
Also, make your warriors stand in front of the group by shifting the
character portrait up and down on the right hand side by left clicking
on a portrait and dragging it to your desired slot. My favorite
formation for this game in general is the 2nd formation since my group
is well balanced.
3. When moving about the map, have a character with high stealth to scout
the map first. Remember to off your AI because if the roll ever fails
the character will immediately attack and attract attention. Then after
you scout a region, you should move your group whichever way is safest.
Or you could plan an attack on a group of unsuspecting Xvarts.
4. A good way to attack monsters that out match you is to have a wizard
that was a web or stinking cloud spell. This spell should be quite
available to you since it is only a level 2 spell. - eg. Take off your
AI enable and have the stealthiest group member find the target. Then
check for head count.
Have your wizard ready the stinking cloud or web spell and fire just
near the closes enemy in the group. That way they can't see your
wizard but you can see them due to the person that is hiding in shadows.
You should save before doing this attempt since the NPCs or monsters
could get lucky and pass their saving throws. Then have archers and
magic users let them have it. Careful not to get to close to your own
trap.
5. Skeletons and jellies tend to be annoying. Fireballs tend to wipe them
clean, particularly skeletons. However, there are circumstances that
disallow that and you should either use blunt or crushing weapons
against them since all other types are quite ineffective. Some jellies
or skeletons can only be hit by magical weapons and the term weapon
ineffective pops up.
6. When you get too much stuff in your inventory and do not want to throw
it away (like Gorion's scroll), here is the best way to do it. Go to
Beregost, and into Jovial Inn. There a nice room at the end of the
tavern upstairs.
I feel Beregost is the best place in the game since it is quite close
to most of the other locations and you can sell virtually anything
there. Anyway, go to the two drawers in the room which are beside the
bed. You will see that it is empty. You can keep quite a lot of stuff
in those drawers which you can store to get later if you wish. I think
I've personally have stored about 50+ potions from the adventures and
used about 20+ of them in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7.
7. Regarding saving and loading games. If you are frequent in loading games
in an area high in monsters, you will probably notice that more monsters
appear on the map, even those areas where you have killed many before.
The thing is, Bioware is discouraging players from constant loading of
games and everytime you kill a bunch of monsters in a certain area,
they will respawn back after loading sometimes doubling the amount in
certain areas.
Use strategy 5 to avoid this constant loading habit and you should have
a feel of how dangerous it is in the woods or subterraneon levels.
8. How to rest in peace? Simple, try not to rest in the area where there
were monsters once or near it. A good place usually somewhere where
there are no monsters about in a large radius. Even then you may still
not be able to rest depending on the dice rolls.
9. You should not adorn yourself with jewelry and should typical sell most
items. The only jewelry you should adorn should be magical ones.
10.Use the character with the highest Charisma to buy stuff for the group,
that way you can get them cheaper.
11.To make a NPC turn red without fighting them outright is to stealth and
then send that character near them. They will talk to you as if they
can see you and after the "friendly chat" they change from neutral to
red. Then move that stealth character aside and plan an attack, this
way you get the story and journal updates and yet get a relatively
easier kill since you can attack them little at a time or use stinking
cloud or web to pacify them. Note, this usually only works with lower
level NPCs.
12.You can attack a group of monsters or NPCs one at a time if you do it
right. Get the stealth character to locate just one or two of the
opponent first, then fire an arrow and run back, only those you see
will chase, not the whole group. Then let them have it. This way you
can take large chunks of enemies bits at a time.
13.Thieves can hide in shadows, and they come particularly use in combat
if they enter it that way and have a dagger or short sword in their
hands. Turn off your AI enable to make this work smoothly. If your
thief is still invisible to the NPCs or monsters, and the rest of
your party is fighting, walk the thief up to a target and backstab
whomever you like, particularly spell casters trying to get their
spells out. Wizards might die from one stab due to their low hit
points, or from their following normal attacks.
14.Whenever you get the ability to cast Monster Summoning, use it well
because it is one of the most useful spells in the game to beat tough
NPCs or monsters. Cast them prior to attacking someone and use them
as battle fodder while the real damage comes in the form of magical
ranged attacks and offensive magic spells. That strategy makes the
last battle in BG really easy because then I used a Wand of Monster
Summoning to call about 20+ creatures to attack while magical arrows
and bullets, and magic missiles attack the NPCs.
15.To stealth and find traps at the same time, you first hide in shadows
then click on find traps. This way you get a few seconds of stealth.
Then hit the hide in shadows again and hope that you succeed.
16.You cannot heal or cast spells on characters in stealth.
17.New NPCs who can join your party will follow the main characters level
or XP points give and take a few. So, if I was level 7 and went back
and talked to Montaron and Xzar for the first time, they would be
somewhere in that level range also.

*************************WalkThru**********************************

Prologue:

You start out in front of Winthrop's Inn. There you will have a little bit
of cash and a quarterstaff. Go into the tavern and talk to Winthrop and
he'll show you stuff you can buy. All you need is the weapon that you are
proficient and a cheap armor like leather armor because later you will get
better stuff in Chapter one from killing stuff. Then talk to Firebead
Elvenhair, he will ask you to get the scroll from Tethoril. Tethoril is in
the compound of the walls of the library. If you have a thief with pick
lock greater than 30% go ahead and try the locked chests in the Inn.

If you talk to Phlydia, she seems to have misplaced her book, go talk to
Dreppin. He will tell you that she left her book in the haystack. It's
the hay on the left where the cow Nessa is at. Talk to Dreppin again and
he will tell you that Nessie is sick and that he be needing an antidote.
If that's the case go talk to Hull somewhere to the east of the map and
he will say he needs his sword from the barracks, which is somewhere
westward from Hull. There you will get the sword and the antidote.

Inside the barracks you talk to Fuller who will ask you to get him crossbow
bolts for him where you can buy from Winthrop. You will get a dagger +1
from him, your first magical weapon.

There is also some money lying about some crates and barrels, you should
check them out.

In Candlekeep, there are two places (Priest Quarters & Bunkhouse) where
someone has send assasins to kill you. You should have no problem if you
are not a wizard. If you are, try running around the room a little and
cast magic missile or any offensive spell you have once you get your
desired distance. Remember, spells have casting time and most level 1
spells only have a casting time of 1 which means it is executed quite
early in the round.

To exit the Prologue, talk to Gorion and say you are ready for the
adventure of your life.


Chapter One:

After Gorions death, you should meet with Imoen. You should take her into
your group use her thieving skills to the max. If you decide to keep
another thief later, make sure they both specialize in different thieving
abilities as to maximize the groups effectiveness. If you watch the
battle scene properly, Gorion left a couple of stuff on the floor upon
death, along with the other dead baddies. You should do well to head
there and collect the stuff.

You should meet Xar and Montaron (evil aligned characters) if you follow
the cobbled road. They want to go to Nashkel and need your assistance.
However, you should head to the Friendly Arm Inn first and get Khalid and
Jaheira were they will be your best allies yet. Have them tag along and
you can remove them in Nashkel because if your reputation goes up, they
will start whinning.

In the next area you will meet an old man with a red robe and hat and a
staff. He is actually Elminster. Here, towards the east side of the map,
there is an ogre with some stuff on him. Killing him should be tough but
helps complete a subquests without going there a second time.

Once you reach the Friendly Arm Inn, there will be a bounty hunter waiting
at the stairs of the Inn. He is a wizard that usually cast Horror to make
you flee like chickens and then assault you using magic. The best way is
to use Imoen's magic missile staff to disrupt his spell casting.

Enter the Inn and Jaheira and Khalid should be near Bentley, the bartender.
Bentley and Gelana owns the Friendly Arm Inn and Gelana can be found in
the shrine. Inside, you might want to buy the Stone to Flesh scroll if
you want a priest before heading to the Nashkel Mines.

In one of the houses near the big entrance of the outdoor compound of the
Friendly Arm Inn, there is Joia who had her Flamedance ring stolen by a
couple of Hobgoblins to the north of the map. You can retrieve it when you
encounter a hobgoblin with a different color armor than the rest.

Inside the Inn, there is 2 subquests. One is about the stolen girdle and
if you follow the prior advise, you just have to talk to the person twice.
The second one is about a spider infestation in Beregost. She will hand
you 6 antidotes incase you get bitten by them.

The best way to exit the Friendly Arm area is to go north and exit that
way. This way you don't need to go through Friendly Arm Inn again if you
want to go straight to the area above later on in the game.

Once you reach Beregest, you can kill the infestation of spiders in one
of the houses in the southern part of the map. Put the antidotes into the
quick item slot for those who you will use as front line men. After
killing them take whatever is in the house and the body of the spider.

Another freebie subquests is when you find Elven Firebead in one of the
southern cluster of houses where he will ask to get the Book of the
Fateful Coin. You can get it from the bartender at the Feldpost Inn
for 2 gp.

You will also find Kaigan here, a lawful evil fighter.