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I don't understand why killing Khalid just so you can get Jaheira is a popular choice even among people who have played the game a couple times (assuming you play without character sounds every time you select/move). 15 str, 16 natural dex, and 17 constitution on a fighter is significantly better than a shitty fighter/druid with 14 dex. It's very safe to say that Khalid is a great tank with or without the gauntlets of Dexterity.

I like Ajantis too, but he needs the gauntlets of dexterity to be viable as a tank, whereas you can stick the Gauntlets of 18/00 strength on Khalid and watch him go to town with just two worse AC.

The only better tank in the game is Kagain with gauntlets of dexterity, and he's evil so the two can't really be compared unless the PC is neutral.

If you're prepared to wait until you reach Baldur's Gate.

I don't disagree with your assement, otherwise. I think Khalid makes an admirable tank. I think too many people expect multiple-dice-roll (you know, high 80s-90s) type stats on NPCs, when in fact they are more 'realistic'... in most cases: Shar-Teel's ridiculous CON for instance, or both Bards in the game having only 13 INT.

Khalid sucks as a tank not so much because of his stats, but because he's the NPC with the lowest morale by far (worse than Xan!), and it's fairly frequent to see him panic after taking a few hits, or if someone else gets badly injured or dies.

For someone who's supposed to be taking hits, having him panic as soon as he hits 50% hp is VERY annoying.

I've not had Khalid go panicky all that often, to be honest. I still find Khalid (when I do take him) to be more of an asset than, say Minsc. Maybe it's just my play style. <shrug>

Ok I got to this fight fine, and pretty much trolled through it with just my party right clicking, and none of them took damage. I'm a bit confused, did I do something to make the game too easy?! I mean, hearing that this fight is "THE" hardest in the game I was worried but it was nothing at all. What have I done! D:

That depends: are you playing vanilla BG1 with no mods? If you have mods, then that could be the cause; if you have TuTu/BGT that could be the cause. The fight is difficult in vanilla, but not the hardest in the game -- that's nonsense.

I LOVE Khalid's panicking, which is due to his low morale and is intentional. It's yet another example of the top notch sense of humour in this game and of how well each NPC has been defined : they each have a PERSONALITY as well as certain strengths and weaknesses attribute-wise and this is part of what makes the whole series so memorable - and can even make a grown man CRY at the end of the saga, because you feel that you are saying farewell to REAL people. Xan's utter hopelessness always has me in stitches too, but both Khalid and Xan are very useful party members in spite of their weaknesses.

Being able to wander off the beaten track to venture into potentially dangerous areas is one of the great things about BG1 imo : every step you take in the early part of the game - and even later on - is a potentially fatal step and I like this. Tread carefully or take risks, the choice is yours. This game was SO well thought out.

It is possible I'm thinking of a different fight, yet I can't be sure without spoiling something!!

I am playing BG but with the conservative mod additions, which I thought were designed not to change anything in the gameplay?

Is it also possible that my PC is too powerful since I know you can have an array of power considering the roll system...

Hey it's me again.

I posted above that I was a bit unsure whether I had somehow borked the game into being too easy, so I have linked here quickly an image of the fight that I guess Bluemooner was referring to (as I can't see any other), which is supposed to be quite difficult. Does the combat log (or whatever it is called) look peculiar? My party just killed the guy instantaneously, he didn't even cast anything...

I have attached the image since GOG wont let me add a link

With regards to the mods I'm using, it's just the Widescreen/Gui mod. The Unfinished Business mod, the Baldurdash bugfixes and text update, and the BG1 tweak pack with only cosmetic things chosen.

Edit: Ok upon looking up some random forums on other websites, people saying that Baldur's gate is really hard, being one-shotted etc. I've barely taken a scratch since I started. Either I'm the king of RNG or i've borked the game somehow :/

That is not vanilla BG in that image. Vanilla FAI guards wear leather armour and no shields, and they are almost useless. The guard in that image killed Tarnesh, not your party, and in pretty quick time, too. It's a mod you have that's doing it.

I'd say you've been lucky.

*I* think that vanilla Tarnesh is very hard, but that's my opinion. Others share it, but opinions will always differ. One of the reasons I say T is so hard is because in vanilla he has multiple magic missile spells that cause 6-15 dmg per casting. That's enough to kill any of your companions, and most any PC, in one shot. He also has several area affect spells that can disable much of your party. Imagine watching your whole party being incapacitated with a spell, and then watching helplessly as he picks everybody off one by one with MM.

Tarnesh has been modified several times in different mods, so I don't know offhand what he's like in your setup. He may be easier, or he may be difficult and you got lucky. Luck happens. Keep playing and get better acquainted with the game and the RNG. You've barely scratched the surface of game content and you have a LOT more combats to go. I hope you continue to find your victories so easy. : )

@ Hickory
You're misreading the image. Xzar is standing over the remains and the man next to him is the PC, not a guard. Green circle. Two guards are down to the southeast. I don't see any guard remains near the party, so I don't think they helped.

Yeah, you're right. I saw: "Guard attacks Tarnesh... etc. Tarnesh Death", and of course 2+2 made 5. My bad.

: )

I think in just about all the mods, the guards are always useless. In many they never even help you, standing there while T beats you up. I remember in one play moving aside just to see how the guards fared. Because we were offscreen (I think one person stayed behind invisibly), T couldn't attack us, and since he wouldn't attack the guards, he just stood there. All three guards were graduates of the Stormtrooper Academy and after about five minutes (!) the guards had only landed one hit on him.

Clearly cousins of Shank and Carbos.

Thanks for the reply. So you would guess that I haven't 'broken' the game in some way? I mean, I have reloaded that fight and tried starting the fight but letting him attack me, and he does hit very hard. However, if I keep reloading it and trying, most of the time he dies before he can even get a hit off on me.

I would like to quickly add one thing (My PC stats) just to make sure that I'm not playing the game as some overpowered monster hero. I really want to experience the game, and I'd hate to put in 50 hours and then realise that I've been playing the game on 'super easy' mode.

my PC:
Strength: 18/27
Dexterity: 18
Constitution: 17
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 3

All I've bought are some normal armour items from the inn, and a long sword, so nothing peculiar there!

EDIT: Tried once more for posterity, the guard got a critical hit and he died almost instantaneously again. Apparently my guards graduated from a different academy yours BlueMooner!! I'm wondering if I have inadvertently installed a mod that changes the guards....

I apologise for spamming this thread a bit!!