I do wonder how many people don't know better and assume the barbarian/berserker enrage/rage ability is similar to minsc's berserk ability where you lose control of him, or the cursed berserking weapons where you also lose control of the character. Probably happened to at least a decent number of people, and it made them miss out on some of the best martial classes in the game
I have two, Humans and Halflings. Humans have accessibility to all classes and can dual-class (which is a little bit more fun than multi-classing) Halflings are the best thieves in the game and make great fighters or clerics due to the fact that they can get both the shorty-saves based on Constitution and the bonus AC with a higher Dex. Lots of great things can be said about the other races, Elves are awesome against many low-level Enchantment spells, Half-Orcs get big bonuses in scores they really need, and Dwarves get those shorty-saves and the Dwarven Defender class (and higher Con). But when I think about my most fun playthroughs, the most versatile are Humans and Halflings.
@@futurewario9591 Yeah but dwarfs get +1 con and awesome saving throws. Dwarfs can easily get a +5 to saving throws, which is massive. I recently played a Dwarven Defender and with just a spirit armor I had -3 save vs spell at lvl 10!. This means that even with the +2/4 penalty of high level spells (symbols, finger of death, etc) I only lost saves on a 1. I also think that the +1 strength is overrated because the game has a lot of belts that set your strength.
@@futurewario9591 The leap from 18 to 19 is far greater than 19 to 21 in Strength. This is why my newest fave class is the Dwarven Priest of Lathander with the Strength tome to bump to 19 to save the belt slot, and of course plenty of castings of DuHM. Pop a couple Boons of Lathander and you are a one man, or lady, killing machine! 😂
I have to disagree that Inquisitor should be below Undead Hunter. There is equipment that can be obtained to get level drain for free. Casting dispel magic at double your level completely shuts down the hardest battles in the game by stripping mages of their protections. I quit playing as them because it took all the challenge out of BG2 🤣. The Archer is S tier in BG1 but slides down a level or two as the health pools of enemies get higher and their damage doesn't scale compared to other classes. Kensai built into a thrown weapon build can do some of the most damage in the game, though they can be a bit squishy until more equipment (rings and cloaks) can be obtained.
Well, we'll have a good chance to show me up on Inquisitors coming soon... I do wish that Kensai (as well as Monks) had some sort of "Evasion" damage resistance that gave them a bit of protection since they're specifically trained to fight without armor.
@@Redjoy123 Kensai and Monks do suffer from missing out on equipment that gives damage resistance. You can't beat a Dwarven Defender with DoE that activates Defensive Stance for example. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on Inquisitors, but in the end I believe the Cavalier is top tier with all their protections and fear removal.
I disagree about inquisitor. it's a great class. paladin clerical spells are not necessary. they're weak. dispel magic is awesome. enemy spellcasters are thoughest enemy in this game
I admit that, if I were to make the list again, I would put Inquisitors a bit higher (I did a hardcore playthrough with an Inquisitor that failed only due to user error, not the class) but I still believe that they are a one trick pony compared to other characters. Losing Divine casting means losing good combat protections that can be very nice for Cavaliers and Undead Hunters to have at high level play. Yes, it was great to lock down enemy spell casters but they can't really go up to the front line as well as other paladins or warriors can due to losing out on the damage potential of Fighters or good low-level protection spells (that scale nicely). As mentioned, my view has changed on Inquisitors but I like playing other Paladin kits much more.
Neither 2x dispel nor cleric spells 1-4 are "weak". DUHM makes paladins hit very hard, and armor of faith at max scaling works well with hardiness to not die...inquisitors get neither of these. The dispel *is* really strong though.
Completely agree, though I do stand by that the further you progress in the game, the fewer options an Inquisitor has for fighting against non-magic users. True Vision and double powered Dispel Magic are great but that’s the big benefit they get for losing Armor of Faith (which can be pretty good, even on a Paladin at high levels), Remove Fear, various healing spells, etc.
@@Redjoy123 True sight has some value even in late game in that you can double-reveal invis pot chuggers in one round (they can't quaff again for a bit). It's true that vs SI: abjuration, they'll need help from a friendly mage using a spell protection remover first. To be fair though, I wouldn't put inquisitors at the top, I just think they're too low, probably because some GWW firetooth or other bow guy who's mostly just a dispel/reveal bot soundly fits "boring but effective". IMO beast master should be above all 3 monks too, because unlike them, beast master can benefit from improved haste. Spirit armor or barkskin + armor of faith + hardiness can cover most of their defense issues, what really hurts them badly is the weapon selection, and the fact that their summoning is basically 0 compensation. No APR weapons, clubs are among worst melee options possible if not the worst, and many of the best staves are so because they let you use them as items. BM is a crappy archer, crappy tank, or crappy GWW quarterstaff guy. No matter how you use him, multiple other classes do it better. But it's still better than monks :D. I've said this elsewhere, but it would have been cool if they could "capture" animal spirits to summon and use that instead of their crappy monster summoning. Then either have the spirits gain power with level, or expand what counts as an "animal" a bit. Something like a D&D take on the "blue mage" trope, with different mechanics.
My Baldur's Gate 1 & Baldur's Gate 2 character is Alac The Half-Orc Berserker who uses a Bastard Sword 🗡️, Large Shield 🛡️, & Full Plate Armor is neutral good, & has 20 Strength, 19 Dexterity, 20 Constitution, 11 Intelligence, 13 Wisdom, 15 Charisma.
A roll of an 89-92 is awesome (assuming you picked up one tome for each stat)! I like that set-up and with that you can probably ID a few of the items you get along the way with Int and Wis being slightly higher. That and Alac is one charming Half-Orc! I love the stat rolls in Baldur's Gate EE!
@@Redjoy123Yes Alac is a charming guy & I did get get all of the Tomes in Baldur's Gate 1. Without spoilers can you tell me if there are there any Tomes or ways to permanently increase my stats in Baldur's Gate 2?
@@futurewario9591Not tomes but there are story points that boost stats permanently as well as items that give big (though not permanent) boosts. Careful though, there is at least one point in the story when you lose a point in something...
29:15 or so. Immune to Sleep while enraged. I was having a conversation with a buddy. What about Color Spray? You save v spell or are rendered Unconscious. The rulebook says nothing about being immune to Unconscious. I think in the game, you are immune to Color Spray, but what about tabletop 2e AD&D?
@@kenhill5214 I feel like Color Spray would fall under this but I’m not 100% how exact the folks at Black Isle were with the spells or with the immunities along with the 2e AD&D rules. I believe that a character who is Enraged is still immune to the effects of Color Spray (especially since it’s only a level one spell). It could be that the original rules had a different component for Color Spray to put it into a different category that was simplified with BG1, but I’m not entirely sure. If I were a GM and I didn’t see anything otherwise, then I would say yes. Enraged characters should be immune to the effects of Color Spray.
I might be wrong, but aren't monks in the protest category? Not that they need to be knocked down further, but I'm fairly certain their THAC0 progression is 2/3 (priest), not 1/1 (warrior).
I hold that Monks are closer to being warriors than priests, just because Monks don't cast spells. They do get the leveling scale of Clerics as well as the THAC0 progression but they're function is to do physical damage.
@Redjoy123 I was talking by the book. I'm going to check out your response to my other comment before saying more, to avoid repeating myself. Edit: It was my ranger/cleric comment. You might be reading it right now, but I posted a comment on the rogue kit ranking video (btw, I am enjoying the videos, I just wish I had found them sooner) explaining the actual groupings out of the AD&D phb. That's why I said I'm sure they're priests. I get that they're martial characters, and you'll have an easier time playing as a fighter with a dagger, but someone at TSR decided that monks shouldn't get good THAC0 so here we are...
Thank you so much! Sadly, I think the only system that has done the Monk in a way that is fair (or at least "not terrible") is BG3, who had to tweak it from the 5th edition rules, who also have a hard time making them useful. In taking the classical definition of a Monk, they should absolutely be a priest style class (whether talking about a Taoist Monk, a Benedictine Monk, or other sorts of religious orders) and TSR may have been right to make them a type of priest. I would just want them to have some sort of divine or more potent ki casting with their priest-like style. And you're right, a Fighter with a dagger can be WAY deadlier than a Monk, especially with those pesky helmets protecting the Fighters' grey matter!
Really confused by the inquisitor rating. They’re widely recognized as the most powerful single class warrior build because they completely neuter wizards. It’s better than a Berzerker or Barbarian in that while you don’t have the immunities you’ve made sure the enemy wizard doesn’t have any. Round 1 dispel magic then have the whole party geek the mage. Often other warriors with immunities will survive while the rest of the party dies. Then when the immunity wears off the warrior dies.
My logic is this: If your Inquisitor is fighting against four Fire Giants, what are they gonna do? What makes them amazing against four Fire Giants? Against Wizards, great! Awesome. Against a ton of other opponents, magic or not, dispel magic or not, other characters do better because of protections from divine spells and more weapon proficiencies. Inquisitors dispel magic and shoot missile weapons until the Fighter, Berserker, or Cavalier is engaged with the enemy then they can go in and hope that they don't get targeted.
@@Redjoy123 Fire Giants aren’t a problem for any warrior though. The biggest way to rate warriors is how they compare against wizards as those are the only things that will cause a warrior problems.
@@mightymickey8879 Wizards are not the only things that cause problems for warriors. Plenty of things can kill warriors, dragons (even after casting spells), mind flayers, undead monstrosities; and that’s just at high level. What special power does a Level 3 Inquisitor have against a group of bandits at their camp in BG1 that other warriors may have? Other kits have defenses against all sorts of those things. While the Inquisitors are very good against Wizards, but put that same Inquisitor against a pack of four Trolls and two Spirit Trolls and ask him to hold the front line, I’d rather rely on someone who hits harder or lasts longer.
@@mightymickey8879 On baby difficulty the Inquisitor is good, but so are all the other classes. Try doing a no-save no-reload run on the highest difficulty setting (double damage enabled) using SCS. This is why the Inquisitor is limited: - the CC immunity is not bad, but can be easily replicated with Chaotic Commands - True Sight is a great spell in the base game, but much weaker in SCS, where mages are smarter and have better defenses than the usual mislead or improved invisibility. Some even cast Spell Immunity - Divination :( The other issue is backstabbers. In SCS every competent rogue has at least 3-4 invisibility potions, which they immediately pop once revealed and since True Sight procs once every round they can still backstab you. Using the Detect Illusion skill is far superior! - the class has no way to mitigate damage, which forces them to the back row. Ranged characters are quite weak in BG2 - except the Archer kit - so being forced into this role sucks. You could try and weave in and out from combat, but the Inquisitor is poorly equipped for that tactic. A Kensai with it's built in speed factor reduction - that can reduce it's weapons SF to 0 -, enables them to close to the enemy, instantly attack twice (while dual wielding and improve hasted) and get out of range before the mob retaliates. When you accidently engage a group of SCS Fire Giants in melee with the poor Inquisitor this is what happens - the Fire Giants pop Greater Whirlwind and pulverize poor Inquisitor in 2 seconds (40% damage mitigation from Hardiness is not enough on double damage + highest difficulty). - the class has no way to heal on its own, which will burn resources - Dispel Magic - good if you can engage enemies at your terms, but SCS enemies come with a plan :) and they are also pre-buffed. Some even have Spell Immunity Abjuration - which renders this spell useless. But the biggest problem is that this is not a party friendly spell and if you accidently remove protections from your party during the fight someone could get perma'd. SCS randomizes each enemy wizard's spell-list every install - which means, you will have no idea what to expect when you run into a mage. SCS mages can sometimes cast spell immunity Abjuration, which renders Dispel Magic ineffective. Mages will use spells more effectively and they will cast spells and spell combos that were not available to them in the base game. For example an invoker enemy could have a spell trigger with 3 lightning bolts prepared - that will most likely perma at least one of your companions if not protected from lightning. This is a spell attack that is instant and cannot be dispelled. A normal paladin can cast Prot from Lightning or even Armor of Faith to mitigate the damage (if he drank a potion of insulation before the added +25% could be enough to survive the 2*3*10d6). If you want to play as a dispeller - play a Bard kit and cast Remove Magic instead! With the Bard you can even enter melee and tank if you want.
@@kenawyn very confused by your statements. Inquisitors are THE class to bring on a no save no reload run. Again mages are the #1 enemy of warriors and your party in general. The inquisitor is the most reliable class to take them out of the fight. Damage mitigation and other factors are easily controllable via high level abilities, kiting, defender of easthavent, etc. Under that logic no warrior sans the dwarven defender or Barbarian are worth it single class. The 5-15 % more extra damage reduction other paladins get is laughable compared to the inquisitor dropping all the wizards protections and the party nuking them. Also, your point about immunity abjuration doesn’t make sense. You’re right that it blocks dispel magic which means you have your mages have the ability to remove the immunity. But that’s it. They have their spell slots for all sorts of other fun stuff. Without the inquisitor your mages need extra slots reserved for other protection removal and even then it might take multiple rounds to remove them all. No other class can compete with the inquisitors dispel everything. Bards don’t come close and aren’t reliable enough with remove magic. They are maybe 6-8 levels higher than you but you’re still considered 10-15 higher spell level casting than them until the very end of the saga.
These videos are really useful (sorry to necro some of them) but I will champion the DMM as it is a fun play especially solo. I like the elemental damage on their fists as it ignores mageling protections to disrupt spellcasting - combine with higher dispel illusion and mages are in a tough spot. Still has the glorious QP but you are right I miss the stun ability. As with every other character class BG1 is a trip to the dentist compared to BG2 + ToB (don't have SoD and no real interest to play an obvious money grab.)
Pure Dwarven Kensai is a menace. They can wield throwing axes and daggers, which you failed to mention.. and the dwarven throwing hammer +3 which only dwarves may wield. Pure Kensai is a disaster, but I take shorty races to be resistant, cause theyre an even bigger disaster if they get confused.😂
"They can wield throwing axes and daggers, which you failed to mention" Yup! I didn't mention it here because I mentioned it in the Fighter Kit Review video and, more importantly, I will mention it in the new 2025 Fighter Guide that drops next week. That being said, thank you. I appreciate you keeping me honest. Yes, this is a great strategy! You should use it!
Understood, thanks for the feedback! We'll be doing updated versions of these guides and rankings soon... minus the eardrum shattering background music!
@@StephenChristopher07 Yeah! I HATE Level Drain! I will always keep my eyes open for “Level Drain Protection” or Negative Plane Protection” to make Vampires the jokes that they are.
Thanks!
Thank you!
I do wonder how many people don't know better and assume the barbarian/berserker enrage/rage ability is similar to minsc's berserk ability where you lose control of him, or the cursed berserking weapons where you also lose control of the character. Probably happened to at least a decent number of people, and it made them miss out on some of the best martial classes in the game
REDJOY: What is your favorite Baldur's Gate race & why?
I have two, Humans and Halflings.
Humans have accessibility to all classes and can dual-class (which is a little bit more fun than multi-classing)
Halflings are the best thieves in the game and make great fighters or clerics due to the fact that they can get both the shorty-saves based on Constitution and the bonus AC with a higher Dex.
Lots of great things can be said about the other races, Elves are awesome against many low-level Enchantment spells, Half-Orcs get big bonuses in scores they really need, and Dwarves get those shorty-saves and the Dwarven Defender class (and higher Con). But when I think about my most fun playthroughs, the most versatile are Humans and Halflings.
@@Redjoy123 My favorite race are Half-Orcs because they got +1 Strength 💪 +1 Constitution 🛡️ make the best warriors & are big green 💚 strong & fun.
@@futurewario9591 Yeah but dwarfs get +1 con and awesome saving throws. Dwarfs can easily get a +5 to saving throws, which is massive. I recently played a Dwarven Defender and with just a spirit armor I had -3 save vs spell at lvl 10!. This means that even with the +2/4 penalty of high level spells (symbols, finger of death, etc) I only lost saves on a 1. I also think that the +1 strength is overrated because the game has a lot of belts that set your strength.
@@Mavarok284 But why have a belt of 19 Strength when you can have 20 Strength or 21 Strength?
@@futurewario9591 The leap from 18 to 19 is far greater than 19 to 21 in Strength. This is why my newest fave class is the Dwarven Priest of Lathander with the Strength tome to bump to 19 to save the belt slot, and of course plenty of castings of DuHM. Pop a couple Boons of Lathander and you are a one man, or lady, killing machine! 😂
First video I’ve seen of yours. Good info and good personality, subscribe from me
Wonderful! Thank you so much!
I have to disagree that Inquisitor should be below Undead Hunter. There is equipment that can be obtained to get level drain for free. Casting dispel magic at double your level completely shuts down the hardest battles in the game by stripping mages of their protections. I quit playing as them because it took all the challenge out of BG2 🤣. The Archer is S tier in BG1 but slides down a level or two as the health pools of enemies get higher and their damage doesn't scale compared to other classes. Kensai built into a thrown weapon build can do some of the most damage in the game, though they can be a bit squishy until more equipment (rings and cloaks) can be obtained.
Well, we'll have a good chance to show me up on Inquisitors coming soon...
I do wish that Kensai (as well as Monks) had some sort of "Evasion" damage resistance that gave them a bit of protection since they're specifically trained to fight without armor.
@@Redjoy123 Kensai and Monks do suffer from missing out on equipment that gives damage resistance. You can't beat a Dwarven Defender with DoE that activates Defensive Stance for example. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on Inquisitors, but in the end I believe the Cavalier is top tier with all their protections and fear removal.
I disagree about inquisitor. it's a great class. paladin clerical spells are not necessary. they're weak. dispel magic is awesome. enemy spellcasters are thoughest enemy in this game
I admit that, if I were to make the list again, I would put Inquisitors a bit higher (I did a hardcore playthrough with an Inquisitor that failed only due to user error, not the class) but I still believe that they are a one trick pony compared to other characters. Losing Divine casting means losing good combat protections that can be very nice for Cavaliers and Undead Hunters to have at high level play. Yes, it was great to lock down enemy spell casters but they can't really go up to the front line as well as other paladins or warriors can due to losing out on the damage potential of Fighters or good low-level protection spells (that scale nicely).
As mentioned, my view has changed on Inquisitors but I like playing other Paladin kits much more.
Neither 2x dispel nor cleric spells 1-4 are "weak". DUHM makes paladins hit very hard, and armor of faith at max scaling works well with hardiness to not die...inquisitors get neither of these. The dispel *is* really strong though.
Completely agree, though I do stand by that the further you progress in the game, the fewer options an Inquisitor has for fighting against non-magic users. True Vision and double powered Dispel Magic are great but that’s the big benefit they get for losing Armor of Faith (which can be pretty good, even on a Paladin at high levels), Remove Fear, various healing spells, etc.
@@Redjoy123 True sight has some value even in late game in that you can double-reveal invis pot chuggers in one round (they can't quaff again for a bit). It's true that vs SI: abjuration, they'll need help from a friendly mage using a spell protection remover first.
To be fair though, I wouldn't put inquisitors at the top, I just think they're too low, probably because some GWW firetooth or other bow guy who's mostly just a dispel/reveal bot soundly fits "boring but effective".
IMO beast master should be above all 3 monks too, because unlike them, beast master can benefit from improved haste. Spirit armor or barkskin + armor of faith + hardiness can cover most of their defense issues, what really hurts them badly is the weapon selection, and the fact that their summoning is basically 0 compensation. No APR weapons, clubs are among worst melee options possible if not the worst, and many of the best staves are so because they let you use them as items. BM is a crappy archer, crappy tank, or crappy GWW quarterstaff guy. No matter how you use him, multiple other classes do it better. But it's still better than monks :D.
I've said this elsewhere, but it would have been cool if they could "capture" animal spirits to summon and use that instead of their crappy monster summoning. Then either have the spirits gain power with level, or expand what counts as an "animal" a bit. Something like a D&D take on the "blue mage" trope, with different mechanics.
My Baldur's Gate 1 & Baldur's Gate 2 character is Alac The Half-Orc Berserker who uses a Bastard Sword 🗡️, Large Shield 🛡️, & Full Plate Armor is neutral good, & has 20 Strength, 19 Dexterity, 20 Constitution, 11 Intelligence, 13 Wisdom, 15 Charisma.
A roll of an 89-92 is awesome (assuming you picked up one tome for each stat)! I like that set-up and with that you can probably ID a few of the items you get along the way with Int and Wis being slightly higher. That and Alac is one charming Half-Orc!
I love the stat rolls in Baldur's Gate EE!
@@Redjoy123Yes Alac is a charming guy & I did get get all of the Tomes in Baldur's Gate 1. Without spoilers can you tell me if there are there any Tomes or ways to permanently increase my stats in Baldur's Gate 2?
@@futurewario9591Not tomes but there are story points that boost stats permanently as well as items that give big (though not permanent) boosts. Careful though, there is at least one point in the story when you lose a point in something...
29:15 or so. Immune to Sleep while enraged. I was having a conversation with a buddy. What about Color Spray? You save v spell or are rendered Unconscious. The rulebook says nothing about being immune to Unconscious. I think in the game, you are immune to Color Spray, but what about tabletop 2e AD&D?
@@kenhill5214 I feel like Color Spray would fall under this but I’m not 100% how exact the folks at Black Isle were with the spells or with the immunities along with the 2e AD&D rules. I believe that a character who is Enraged is still immune to the effects of Color Spray (especially since it’s only a level one spell). It could be that the original rules had a different component for Color Spray to put it into a different category that was simplified with BG1, but I’m not entirely sure.
If I were a GM and I didn’t see anything otherwise, then I would say yes. Enraged characters should be immune to the effects of Color Spray.
I might be wrong, but aren't monks in the protest category? Not that they need to be knocked down further, but I'm fairly certain their THAC0 progression is 2/3 (priest), not 1/1 (warrior).
I hold that Monks are closer to being warriors than priests, just because Monks don't cast spells. They do get the leveling scale of Clerics as well as the THAC0 progression but they're function is to do physical damage.
@Redjoy123 I was talking by the book. I'm going to check out your response to my other comment before saying more, to avoid repeating myself.
Edit: It was my ranger/cleric comment. You might be reading it right now, but I posted a comment on the rogue kit ranking video (btw, I am enjoying the videos, I just wish I had found them sooner) explaining the actual groupings out of the AD&D phb. That's why I said I'm sure they're priests. I get that they're martial characters, and you'll have an easier time playing as a fighter with a dagger, but someone at TSR decided that monks shouldn't get good THAC0 so here we are...
Thank you so much!
Sadly, I think the only system that has done the Monk in a way that is fair (or at least "not terrible") is BG3, who had to tweak it from the 5th edition rules, who also have a hard time making them useful.
In taking the classical definition of a Monk, they should absolutely be a priest style class (whether talking about a Taoist Monk, a Benedictine Monk, or other sorts of religious orders) and TSR may have been right to make them a type of priest. I would just want them to have some sort of divine or more potent ki casting with their priest-like style.
And you're right, a Fighter with a dagger can be WAY deadlier than a Monk, especially with those pesky helmets protecting the Fighters' grey matter!
Really confused by the inquisitor rating. They’re widely recognized as the most powerful single class warrior build because they completely neuter wizards. It’s better than a Berzerker or Barbarian in that while you don’t have the immunities you’ve made sure the enemy wizard doesn’t have any.
Round 1 dispel magic then have the whole party geek the mage. Often other warriors with immunities will survive while the rest of the party dies. Then when the immunity wears off the warrior dies.
My logic is this: If your Inquisitor is fighting against four Fire Giants, what are they gonna do? What makes them amazing against four Fire Giants?
Against Wizards, great! Awesome. Against a ton of other opponents, magic or not, dispel magic or not, other characters do better because of protections from divine spells and more weapon proficiencies. Inquisitors dispel magic and shoot missile weapons until the Fighter, Berserker, or Cavalier is engaged with the enemy then they can go in and hope that they don't get targeted.
@@Redjoy123 Fire Giants aren’t a problem for any warrior though. The biggest way to rate warriors is how they compare against wizards as those are the only things that will cause a warrior problems.
@@mightymickey8879 Wizards are not the only things that cause problems for warriors. Plenty of things can kill warriors, dragons (even after casting spells), mind flayers, undead monstrosities; and that’s just at high level. What special power does a Level 3 Inquisitor have against a group of bandits at their camp in BG1 that other warriors may have? Other kits have defenses against all sorts of those things. While the Inquisitors are very good against Wizards, but put that same Inquisitor against a pack of four Trolls and two Spirit Trolls and ask him to hold the front line, I’d rather rely on someone who hits harder or lasts longer.
@@mightymickey8879 On baby difficulty the Inquisitor is good, but so are all the other classes.
Try doing a no-save no-reload run on the highest difficulty setting (double damage enabled) using SCS.
This is why the Inquisitor is limited:
- the CC immunity is not bad, but can be easily replicated with Chaotic Commands
- True Sight is a great spell in the base game, but much weaker in SCS, where mages are smarter and have better defenses than the usual mislead or improved invisibility. Some even cast Spell Immunity - Divination :(
The other issue is backstabbers. In SCS every competent rogue has at least 3-4 invisibility potions, which they immediately pop once revealed and since True Sight procs once every round they can still backstab you.
Using the Detect Illusion skill is far superior!
- the class has no way to mitigate damage, which forces them to the back row. Ranged characters are quite weak in BG2 - except the Archer kit - so being forced into this role sucks.
You could try and weave in and out from combat, but the Inquisitor is poorly equipped for that tactic. A Kensai with it's built in speed factor reduction - that can reduce it's weapons SF to 0 -, enables them to close to the enemy, instantly attack twice (while dual wielding and improve hasted) and get out of range before the mob retaliates.
When you accidently engage a group of SCS Fire Giants in melee with the poor Inquisitor this is what happens - the Fire Giants pop Greater Whirlwind and pulverize poor Inquisitor in 2 seconds (40% damage mitigation from Hardiness is not enough on double damage + highest difficulty).
- the class has no way to heal on its own, which will burn resources
- Dispel Magic - good if you can engage enemies at your terms, but SCS enemies come with a plan :) and they are also pre-buffed. Some even have Spell Immunity Abjuration - which renders this spell useless.
But the biggest problem is that this is not a party friendly spell and if you accidently remove protections from your party during the fight someone could get perma'd.
SCS randomizes each enemy wizard's spell-list every install - which means, you will have no idea what to expect when you run into a mage.
SCS mages can sometimes cast spell immunity Abjuration, which renders Dispel Magic ineffective.
Mages will use spells more effectively and they will cast spells and spell combos that were not available to them in the base game.
For example an invoker enemy could have a spell trigger with 3 lightning bolts prepared - that will most likely perma at least one of your companions if not protected from lightning. This is a spell attack that is instant and cannot be dispelled. A normal paladin can cast Prot from Lightning or even Armor of Faith to mitigate the damage (if he drank a potion of insulation before the added +25% could be enough to survive the 2*3*10d6).
If you want to play as a dispeller - play a Bard kit and cast Remove Magic instead!
With the Bard you can even enter melee and tank if you want.
@@kenawyn very confused by your statements. Inquisitors are THE class to bring on a no save no reload run. Again mages are the #1 enemy of warriors and your party in general. The inquisitor is the most reliable class to take them out of the fight. Damage mitigation and other factors are easily controllable via high level abilities, kiting, defender of easthavent, etc. Under that logic no warrior sans the dwarven defender or Barbarian are worth it single class. The 5-15 % more extra damage reduction other paladins get is laughable compared to the inquisitor dropping all the wizards protections and the party nuking them.
Also, your point about immunity abjuration doesn’t make sense. You’re right that it blocks dispel magic which means you have your mages have the ability to remove the immunity. But that’s it. They have their spell slots for all sorts of other fun stuff. Without the inquisitor your mages need extra slots reserved for other protection removal and even then it might take multiple rounds to remove them all. No other class can compete with the inquisitors dispel everything. Bards don’t come close and aren’t reliable enough with remove magic. They are maybe 6-8 levels higher than you but you’re still considered 10-15 higher spell level casting than them until the very end of the saga.
These videos are really useful (sorry to necro some of them) but I will champion the DMM as it is a fun play especially solo. I like the elemental damage on their fists as it ignores mageling protections to disrupt spellcasting - combine with higher dispel illusion and mages are in a tough spot. Still has the glorious QP but you are right I miss the stun ability. As with every other character class BG1 is a trip to the dentist compared to BG2 + ToB (don't have SoD and no real interest to play an obvious money grab.)
I don't get why the Dark Moon Monk doesn't get Stunning Palm. Maybe to "balance" them? Just doesn't make much sense...
@Redjoy123 I'm a little saltier about the monk losing the ability to use wands and the amulet of power.
Pure Dwarven Kensai is a menace. They can wield throwing axes and daggers, which you failed to mention.. and the dwarven throwing hammer +3 which only dwarves may wield. Pure Kensai is a disaster, but I take shorty races to be resistant, cause theyre an even bigger disaster if they get confused.😂
"They can wield throwing axes and daggers, which you failed to mention" Yup! I didn't mention it here because I mentioned it in the Fighter Kit Review video and, more importantly, I will mention it in the new 2025 Fighter Guide that drops next week. That being said, thank you. I appreciate you keeping me honest.
Yes, this is a great strategy! You should use it!
Background music way too loud
Understood, thanks for the feedback! We'll be doing updated versions of these guides and rankings soon... minus the eardrum shattering background music!
Man my last dude was a beserker and i was like this is amazing all the most annoying effects im just nope taste my steal. Especially the vampires in 2
@@StephenChristopher07 Yeah! I HATE Level Drain! I will always keep my eyes open for “Level Drain Protection” or Negative Plane Protection” to make Vampires the jokes that they are.
I like your vids but turn the music down lol
Thank you, sorry for that! Yes, when I redo these videos, I will balance the music better.