Recently, I started my second campaign in Baldurs Gate in addition to the campaign I play with my wife in co-op. My wife and I opted for the easiest difficulty in our playthrough since neither if us ever played similar game.
This time I felt like it would be such a breeze since I already know a bit more about the game and DnD in general. I opted for the balanced mode with my new character and started going through Act I and boy oh boy do I get wrecked almost everywhere. Multiple of my characters already died and I had to revive them.
Characters
Including Gale, which in turn triggered cool mini-quest to revive him, but the magic aura around his dead body killed Astarion multiple times.
I feel very scared going into each combat and trying to plan as much in advance as possible (keep in mind I mostly know what awaits me there, because I’ve gone through Act I already).
Where I got wrecked
I got wrecked at the church before you get to Whithers, I got wrecked by the hyenas and gnolls by the caravan road, I got absolutly wrecked by the Paladins of Tar and
I just don’t know what am I doing wrong.
My party
I play as high elf paladin and most of my encounters so far I’ve had Astarion, Gale, and Shadow in my party. I feel like the only actually useful member is Astarion. I probably don’t know how to utilize Gale well enough and my Tav paladin just feels like a paper-thin wall between the enemy and the rest of the party.
Are these early encounters in Act I intentionally challenging so that the game “force-teaches” you to utilize everything at your disposal and will it get easier later on or am I just on the wrong path with my character and my party? Honestly, I can’t imagine going through the goblin camp in this state.
The game starts out hard and then gets easier as you get more tools, but there’s a low-level build that helps you even the odds until your other characters catch up…
Bring Karlach and have her throw things. She gets two attacks a turn at level 3 with the Berserker subclass and Enraged Throw (most other classes have to wait until at least level 5 for a second attack), an enormous boost to her damage and accuracy from Tavern Brawler at level 4, and then a third attack at level 5. Potions of Haste or Elixirs of Bloodlust give her even more attacks, and certain magic items boost throw damage significantly. You can buy a reusable throwing spear for her in the goblin camp, but even before that you will have lots of javelins, axes, and daggers to throw. You just need to pick them all back up after the fight.
(Some people say that throw barbarians make the game boring, but Karlach can pick up and throw small characters like goblins. This never gets old. Imagine that Karlach is about to win the NBA championship for you with a three-pointer, the basketball is a goblin, and the basket is another goblin.)
I’m in Act III of my second Karlach playthrough (first playthrough as main, second playthrough as romance). I still don’t know how to throw anything. I should really learn which button does that