Items, items, items galore

Chapter 8: Items, items, items galore

You start off BG1 with a few gold pieces, and your foster father Gorion's instructions to use the money to buy some basic equipment, as you and he are to depart that very evening. So, with a bag of gold burning a hole in your pocket, you go into the Candlekeep Inn (which is right behind you) and talk to Winthrop, the innkeeper. Winthrop will be happy to sell you some basic weapons, including swords, axes, warhammers, and the like. THESE WILL BREAK. It's not Winthrop's fault, it's just that there's something of an iron crisis gripping the Sword Coast right now (ask people walking around, they'll tell you): There has been a sharp drop in the amount of ore being produced by the local iron mines, and what little metal does get made is frail and brittle. So you never know when your nice, shiny Bastard Sword is going to snap, so you'd better carry at least 1 spare.

This flaw only applies to melee weapons that are made of metal; Clubs, Staves, Bows, Crossbows and Slings will last forever. I'm not sure about Spears. This only occurs in BG1, as well: By the time you enter BG2, the iron crisis is over, and normal weapons are once again reliable.

Now, in the course of your game, you will also come across a vast abundance of magical weapons, which will not break. (They were forged prior to the iron problem, and thus of good, strong steel.) Perhaps the most common enchantment on a weapon is the +1 enchantment, which does three things: 1) It grants a -1 bonus to your THAC0. 2) It adds 1 hp of damage to each hit. 3) It will land an effective hit on creatures immune to normal weapons. That's right! There are some enemies, such as Vampiric

Wolves, upon which regular weapons have no effect at all. Hit one with a normal Arrow or normal Morning Star, and your attack will do nothing at all, except cause the words "Weapon Ineffective" to pop up in the dialogue window. Creatures with this natural immunity (Or under the spell Protection from Normal Weapons) can only be harmed by weapons of +1 enchantment or better. (In ToSC, there's a place filled with monsters that are only vulnerable to +2 weapons or better.) The enchantment on a weapon will determine its THAC0 bonus, Damage bonus, and what it can hit. Note that there are a huge number of secondary enchantments that can be placed on weapons, as well (Do I want to use the +3 sword, or the +2 sword that grants Free Action?), so to avoid over-use of the word "enchantment," I'll refer to a weapon with a +2 enchantment simply as a "+2 weapon." Note that a weapon's THAC0 bonus, Damage bonus, and "what it can hit" are not always the same: In BG2, you can buy a Mace that grants a THAC0 bonus of +2, and +5 when used against demons. Now, suppose you run into a demon that requires +3 weapons to hit it: The Mace will make you more likely to land a successful blow, and be utterly useless at damaging the creature: Even though the Mace's THAC0 is +5 against demons, it's still only a +2 weapon. Weapon Ineffective. And there's another Mace that grants either a +1 or +2 THAC0 bonus, yet always strikes as a +5 weapon. Go figure. You'll just have to experiment. Also, missile weapons strike as per the enchantment on the missile, not the launcher�If you fire Bolts+1 from a Crossbow+5, you will get +6 bonuses to your THAC0 and damage, but it's the Bolts that actually hit the enemy, and Bolts+1 will always strike as a +1 weapon, no matter what they were fired from.

There are also weapon immunities based on the type of weapon you're using: Members of the Slime/Ooze/Jelly family are

completely immune to piercing weapons�Stab one, and the gelatinous flesh simply flops back together when you withdraw your weapon. You'll have to use Slashing or Clubbing weapons to get the job done. Also, in BG2 there are Clay Golems, which cannot be harmed by sharp weapons, for the same reasons as the Jellies. Only blunt weapons (of +1 or better, I believe) will cause enough of a SPLAT to harm a Clay Golem. (Lesser Clay Golems, though, do not have this immunity.)

Of course, you're going to be picking up a lot more than just magical weapons in your travels. You can wear Helmets, Necklaces/Amulets, Cloaks, Armor, Girdles, Gloves/Gauntlets/Bracers, Rings, Shields, Boots, and an assortment of miscellaneous Quick Items, all of which can carry all sorts of enchantments. When you start out, magic items will be rare and precious, but soon enough the challenge will not be finding enough gear to keep everyone alive, but trying to choose which stuff to use. There are Potions that render you immune to certain types of spells and damage, Wands that bolster your spellcasting power, Weapons that add Elemental damage to each hit, items that grant you extra spell-memorization slots, items that summon valuable allies to your aid, items that increase your Elemental Resistances.....the list goes on and on. Just about

any kind of spell or effect can be put on any kind of item, including curses. If you put on a Cursed item, you will be unable to remove it (or free yourself from its effects) until somebody casts Remove Curse on you. (Temples can remove curses, and the spell can also be cast by Clerics, and with ToSC, by Wizards as well.) This will only free you from the curse's effects and cause you to drop the item�it does NOT remove the curse from the item; if you're dumb enough to put it back on, you'll be Cursed again. This is why you should always Identify every unfamiliar item before trying to use it. Merchants will only pay 1 gp for an Unidentified item.

A few items will negate the effects of certain other items, and some items simply cannot be combined at

all. The most important example of this: A Ring of Protection+1 will give you a -1 bonus to your Armor Class and all of your Saving Throws. (This enchantment can also be found on Amulets and Cloaks.) No two of these items can be worn at the same time, nor can you combine any of them with any type of magical armor (Mage Robes excepted). AD&D rules also prohibit wearing more than one Ring on each hand, allegedly because the enchantments will cancel each other out when they're in such proximity�even though you can wear magical Gloves and magical Rings simultaneously without any problems.

Read each item's description very carefully. Let's say you're trying to be very resistant to Acid, so you put on a Shield that grants you 30% Acid Resistance, and now you have to choose between a Helm that grants 25% Acid Resistance, and a Ring with +15% Acid Resistance. Which is better? Take the Ring. (Did you see the plus sign?)
There are 2 kinds of enchantments in this area: Those that affect your base, and those that add on top of your base. To continue the example, the Shield and Helmet both affect your base Acid Resistance, so the game compares the AR from each

item, and ignores the weaker one. Total Acid Resistance: 30%. But, if you took the Ring instead, the Ring's AR is added to your base AR. Total Acid Resistance: 45%. Know the enchantments on your equipment, and carry spares around, so you're prepared to swap in whatever gear is best suited for your current situation.

Sometimes, however, carefully reading the descriptions on your items is not enough. There are a few items whose descriptions do not fully list their potential, and even some that are outright wrong, although these latter ones are only wrong in very minor cases, such as saying they grant you a base Magic Resistance when they really add to that base, or vice versa. So test each Resistance item to see which

type it is, and there are also a few hidden benefits out there, such as an item whose description doesn't tell you it also grants +1 bonuses to your Saving Throws, or a set of armor that can be worn despite this character's armor restrictions. You don't have to experiment like this to have a fun game, of course, but finding these little goodies for yourself is quite satisfying.

One very important note: Wands and a few other items are limited by charges. Let's say you have a Wand of Magic Missiles with 1 charge left. You can use that charge if you want, and the Wand will fire a Magic Missile just like always, but then *Poof!* gone. Of course, you might not mind, because MM isn't a very good Wand, and besides, you may have 3 more in your backpack. But if you wanted to keep that Wand, a better way to go would be to sell it�and then buy it back, completely recharged. (In BG1, most Wands have a maximum of 20 charges, and 50 in BG2). How do you know how many charges remain? If you're in BG2, you can just pop the Wand in your Quick Slot and take a look at it from the main game screen�if it has a little 1 in the corner, or no number at all, 1 more use will destroy it. BG1 doesn't provide this handy counter, but at least you can see how much a store is willing to pay for it and get an idea of how many charges are left. If you want to be precise, offer the Wand, use 1 charge, then offer it again, and compare the 2 offers. Note that some shops will offer varying prices for your goods: If what you're selling is rare, they'll pay more for it. If they already have whole crates full in the back, they'll pay less. So depending on whether or not that particular shop sells magic items, you might be confused by the varying prices. If so, know that Temples will offer consistent prices (although they won't actually buy the Wand from you).

Beware of destroying potentially great items: There are some spells that, if they are used to perform the killing blow to an opponent, have a chance to destroy items that he was carrying, whether they're scrolls, gems, weapons, armor, etc. ("Quest-related" items, which you need to progress further in the game, are supposed to be immune to this.) You risk destroying items if you: Kill enemies with a Wand of Frost, kill them with Cone of Cold, or use the spells Disintegrate , Prismatic Spray, Flesh to Stone, or Black Blade of Disaster.

Another important note (I'm just full of these Important Notes, aren't I?): There are a variety of items that will affect your stats (whether to set them to a base level or to adjust that base) while you're wearing them. In BG1, there is also an item called the Manual of Gainful Exercise, which, when you put it into your Quick Item slot and use it, will add 1 point to your Strength statistic permanently. Understandably, it can only be used once, but is still extremely valuable, especially since it has the potential to make you stronger than humanly possible (or at least Halflingly possible).

"Where can I stash my stuff?" Items left lying on the ground will vanish in about a day or so�don't imagine that you're the only person roaming around and gathering up stuff to sell. Items put into a container (even better, a container that's inside a building), though, will last forever�so you want to find yourself a nice, abandoned house, and move in. If an angry landlord shows up, heck, you've got gold�pay the man his rent. Each container (be it a bookshelf, crate, barrel, bag, chest, table, or whatever) will store an infinite amount of items, but I still like to have several different containers in the same building, so I can have 1 for armor, 1 for potions, 1 for scrolls, 1 for ammo, etc. I also like to keep the more rare and expensive jewels�everything from Diamond and up. It's kinda cool having your own private Treasury. (What's the point of being the powerful leader of a mighty adventuring band if you can't run barefoot through the wealth of nations?) Speaking of treasure, you're

almost certainly going to be poor during Chapters 1-3 of BG1. Gold is in relatively short supply, and you've seen a few really great items while you were window-shopping that you just HAVE to have, even though they cost the moon. Then, at the end of Chapter 4, chances are you've probably already bought all the gear you're going to need to buy for the whole rest of the game, and now that you don't need gold anymore, the game showers it on you. Beating BG1 with over 200,000 gp in the bank is not uncommon.

Important: In BG2, there are some areas where, depending on what class your PC is, you shouldn't store your gear, because after completing that area's quest, the map changes, and everything stored in the containers (or left on the floor) in that area will vanish. For specifics, go to Chapter 13 of this Guide and read the section on Baldur's Gate II:SoA, Chapter 2.

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