Looking Deeper

A Deeper Look

The new character class and race options are straight from a version of AD&D 3rd Edition that BioWare is working with. The new classes are the Monk, Barbarian and Sorcerer, and the new race is the Half-Orc.

Imoen winds up!

Ack! Golem!

Monks are a melee-oriented fighter class with devastating attacks and bonuses. As they go up in levels, their fists strike more often and do more damage, as well as gaining the ability to hit magical creatures. They can also use any weapons allowed thieves.

Barbarians are fighters too, but of little skill and much natural ability. They can specialize but do not gain mastery in weapons and cannot wear plate mail or better armor. To compensate, they move faster and gain more hitpoints per level than a fighter, and can enter a rage at will.

Finally, sorcerers are the wizard's versions of a barbarian. While normal magicians must study long and hard, bending and stretching their minds to be able to wield magic, a sorcerer has natural magical abilities. They do not memorize spells and they do not need spellbooks. Their spells come naturally to them as they gain levels, and they can cast them repeatedly without needing to memorize. However, since they don't learn from scrolls, the spell selection is quite low.

The Half-Orcs are much like you remember them. They're big, bad, ugly, tough as rock and almost as smart. Naturally, they make for good brawlers and fighters if not spellcasters.

Billy's Hired Help

Arcane battle

Wait! There's More!

Character kits for the base classes included with the game have been included too. So if you don't want to have just a fighter, you can be a kensai, berserker or wizard slayer. All the classes have 3 kits each (not including the base class option), except for the 3 new classes which don't have any. Kits offer all sorts of advantages to the player, though balanced with disadvantages that they introduce into his character choice.

Poof!

MINSC!

So with my Half-Orcish Barbarian, Gallagher, all dressed in stylish black ready and set to go, we enter the game yet again. While there was a strange feeling when playing the first part of the game earlier, I just ascribed it to my experiences with Diablo II and Icewind Dale. I thought that was why BG2 felt different. However, the second leap into the game cleared up all doubts. This is not just More Baldur's Gate. BG2 is looking to be a more polished, refined game.