Contents
Game mechanics
The mechanics is largely based on the desktop version of Dungeons & Dragons game and uses Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules 2nd edition. It is actually an interesting combination of real-time, but round-based combat system which can be paused at any time. So the basic chunk of time is one turn which should equal one minute (but that may vary depending on time speed or number of frames per second). A turn consists of ten rounds. In each round a character may attack, cast a spell, drink a potion, use an item or do other things, for the maximum number of times depending on its actual statistics. The great addition to playability is the possibility to pause the game any time you want, give your characters their commands and then continue.
Every action success or failure is decided upon a throw of a die. Take for example attacking with weapon, say long sword. Amongst other characteristics (combat type, speed, damage type, handing etc.) it has its damage figure, for basic sword it is 1d8. That means one throw of an octahedral dice. Depending on the number you throw plus or minus attacker bonuses/recourses and defender bonuses/recourses the final damage is calculated. But first you actually have to throw on hit or miss. For that, a THAC0 (To Hit Armor Class 0) figure is used. You throw with icosahedral dice and together with all the modifiers, you have to throw lower number than what is the defenders AC number. If you get 20, that is critical hit (with special modifiers it may also be 19 or with special ability it may be any number for a short period of time). The AC may be lower than zero, also the THAC0 may be lower than zero (which is later in the game).
There are many modifiers for most statistics, including strength, weapon or armor modifiers (which may difer according to damage type), potions, spells, special items modifiers etc. Also characters skills play a role. Similar statistics work for other actions than attacks, for example spell casting (which are than modified by tolerances and saving throws), the effect of elements (like fire or cold), setting or removing a trap, lock picking etc. It is actually quite complicated: I play the Baldur’s Gate games for a decade and still do not how everything works. It is not neccessary but it is good to know at least some basics so you could recognize which weapon or armor is better than the other.
Weapons, items and invertory
Weapons themselves were previously divided into simpler categories in Baldur’s Gate, only in the BG II they have been expanded. Now they have been expanded even in BGEE so it is all unified. The complete list of proficiencies is: clubs; maces; war hammers; quarterstaffs; flails; spears; halberds; daggers; short swords; bastard swords; long swords; two-handed swords; katanas; scimitars, wakizashis & ninjatos; shortbows; longbows; light, heavy crossbows; slings; and darts. If your character has no points (called slots) attached for the proficiency of the selected weapon, it gets penalties for it, so it is always good to use weapons for which you have at least one slot, which removes basic penalties. The more slots, the better you are with selected weapon type (later you gain some extra modificators and number of attacks). Many characters (or character classes) can only have one point for each proficiency.
There is similar situation with armors which are divided into several types (plate, mail, leather, separate are robes for wizards). Many characters cannot wear many types of armors. Then there are shields (buckler, small, medium, large), rings, necklaces etc. When we look in the inventory, you can see that each character can wear two rings, one necklace, one helmet, one pair of boots, one cloak, one belt, one pair of bracers and a single shield or second weapon. Otherwise you have usually at least two quick slots for primary weapons, three slots for potions or other action items and three-slot quiver. Then you can carry up to 16 ordinary items in your inventory, you are also limited by their weight. This can be expanded using pouches (for gems and rings/necklaces), potion case, scroll case and the bag of holding. These items were fairly limited in the original game, in the Enhanced Edition all of them but bags of holding can be bought almost everywhere.
There is one new function in this Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition I would like to mention. It is this looting button which opens new row-type window with which you can easily do group-looting. Previously you had to manually go through each pile of loot left on the dead bodies, now you can just be several meters away and this function shows you everything you can pick up around you. It not only makes things much faster but thanks to this you won’t leave anything behind. The only flaw (hopefully getting fixed in future) is that if you pick up things somewhere in the middle of the row, it always jumps to the end (last window) automatically. So you have to roll like a roller all the time.
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