BG - Character Actions

index

Character Actions

　The basic actions you can perform in the Realms are simple. You can wander the landscape, speak with the denizens, and occasionally swing a sword or two. The basic actions you can perform are described below, along with a few effects that may modify these basic actions.

Movement

　There is one constant movement rate in Baldur’s Gate – this is approximately equivalent to 60’ in AD&D game terms. Your characters can move more quickly if you cast a Haste spell on them. You can group select characters and easily move them into various formations (this is discussed in more detail in the other manual under the interface descriptions. See pages 11-18 in the Game Guide)

Dialogue

　Killing everything you meet eventually leads to problems. First, you’ll never finish the quests in the game if you kill everything – no one will be left to talk to in order to find out what you need to do. Second, at some point your reputation will fall to the level that you will be attacked on sight by every guard in the game. You won’t survive this. Sometimes the best thing to do is talk, whether it’s casual conversation, hardball negotiation, jovial rumor-swapping, or intimidating threats. Not everything you meet, human or otherwise, is out to kill your character. Help often appears in the most surprising forms. Thus it often pays to take the time to talk to people (or creatures...).

Fighting

　There are times when you don’t want to or can’t run away; (Running all the time is not that heroic), and there are times when you know talking is not a good idea. Sooner or later, your character(s) will have to fight. The real trick is knowing when to fight and when to talk or run.

Effects of Fatigue

　Your characters have to rest every so often, both to memorize spells as well as to gain back their strength. If your characters start complaining that they are tired, it would be prudent to stop and make camp for the night. Go to all characters’ priest or mage spell pages, and after configuring any spells that you want to memorize, click on the “rest” icon. You will rest for eight hours, unless your sleep is interrupted, and awaken refreshed. If your party was injured, party members will gain a few hit points every time they rest. A character can continue to operate at peak efficiency for 24 hours game time (2 hours real time). After this time, the characters will start to complain of fatigue, and for every 4 hours beyond this 24 hour mark the player will receive a -1 luck penalty (-1 to all of their rolls). As soon as the characters rest, all of their penalties will be removed.
　Note: Characters resting in rented rooms while visiting an Inn will heal more or less based on the quality of the room.

Effects of Encumbrance

　Each character has a certain number of slots free, along with a number of slots associated with a paper doll representation of the character. One item may be placed in each slot. In addition, how much weight a character may carry is based on the Strength of that particular character. The weight allowances for your characters are listed in the tables at the end of this manual (see pg 134).

Effects of Intoxication

　All the better inns serve a variety of intoxicants, and drinking to excess will, of course, impair your character’s ability to function in combat. Sufficient drink bolsters the morale, but the tradeoff in effectiveness hardly makes it worth it. The number of drinks you can have before suffering penalties is closely related to your constitution, though recovery is uniform. A character with a Constitution of 3 will find himself quite tipsy after one drink, though regardless of the amount, a good night’s sleep will negate all effects.

Effects of Poison

　Poison is an all-too-frequent hazard faced by characters. Bites, stings, deadly potions, drugged wines, and bad food all await characters at the hands of malevolent wizards, evil assassins, hideous monsters, and incompetent innkeepers. Fortunately, there are many ways a character can be treated for poison. Several spells exist that either slow the onset time, enabling the character the chance to get further treatment, or negate the poison entirely. Note that Cure spells do not negate the progress of a poison.

Effects of Reputation and Alignment

Reputation

　The party has a reputation, which influences the manner in which Non-Player Characters (NPC's) associate with the party. The player begins with a reputation based on the alignment of the lead character. The reputation chart consists of 20 levels. Each level changes how NPC's interact with the party. See the table on page 143 for actions that change reputation, either positively, or negatively, based on the current reputation of the party. Be warned, evil-doing parties are likely to become the targets of bounty hunters and guards.

Alignment

　Alignment has less effect on actual game play than reputation does. A character's starting alignment determines a starting reputation. Alignment is the backbone of who your character is and what he or she represents, and reputation is the practical application of those beliefs. If your reputation does not match with your alignment, your character may suffer consequences. Characters who join your party may or may not agree with the current reputation of the party based on their alignment or may decide they are unhappy with the party reputation while you are playing.

Alignment	Starting Reputation
Lawful Good	12
Neutral Good	11
Chaotic Good	11
Lawful Neutral	10
Neutral	10
Chaotic Neutral	10
Lawful Evil	9
Neutral Evil	9
Chaotic Evil	8

　A player who starts with a paladin or a ranger has to watch his reputation very carefully. If at any time the party's reputation falls below 6, the character will lose his status as a paladin; or in the case of a ranger, the loss of abilities will occur at a reputation of 4. In either case, if the reputation of the party falls below the acceptable level, that character will become a fighter. A paladin or ranger who loses that status cannot regain it.

Encounter Adjustments

　Whenever the party encounters a NPC, a reaction roll will be made. This will be a simulated roll of two 10-sided dice. Modifiers will be applied according to the party leader’s Charisma, and the reputation of the party. The specific NPC may also have a modifier to the encounter adjustment. Encounter adjustments affect how people that you are talking to perceive you. It will affect whether they are willing to give you much information, and it will also improve prices of items in stores, if you purchase them when you have a good encounter adjustment. See the reaction adjustment table on pg 144.

Note to the unwary:

　Some spells improve the Charisma of your party relative to others – for example, the Charm spells. However, these spells so alter the perception of the recipient that they may forget dealings they have had with you. They will also be hostile towards you when the spell wears off, so be careful whom you target. You could potentially close off quests you could have otherwise completed.

Reputation Effects on Party Members

　Each party member has five different states determined by their alignment. These states are happy, neutral, unhappy, angry, and breaking point. Each of these states correspond to the four different verbal dialogue cues that a character has (that is, a character won't complain if he or she is happy, but if the character is in any other state, complaints will be heard). A table shows how the party's reputation will alter their state (based on the character's alignment) on pg 145.