Something I wanted to try after hearing that it was a possibility was a Barbarian multi-class. The Baldur’s Gate series handles Barbarians in a bizarre manner where they’re technically a class Kit but somehow they’re also treated almost like a separate class. Because of this dichotomy, I never thought about the possibility of trying a Barbarian as a multi-class. I’m not really a fan of dual classes in Baldur’s Gate because of how long it takes to reach a similar level as ones previous class if you want to get some serious min/max mileage out of a character. Thus, I am in more favor of the multi-class route. Of course though, you need to do these things via EEKeeper.
As I haven’t played Baldur’s Gate 2 in sometime and ended up getting burned out from Masters of Orion II, I figured it was the perfect time to experiment. I didn’t get very far in my last play through which ended up having me take a half-elf Ranger/Cleric as my main character. While I may eventually revisit that saved game, I’m too far behind in terms of what I remember to make that effort at this time. Also, I wanted a fresh party to try the Barbarian/Druid concept out.
Before delving into some discoveries of this combination, let me talk about EEKeeper with the latest version of Baldur’s Gate 2: Extended Edition. While I had installed the game a while back, it appears that I didn’t do anything else with the game as I could not find my EEKeeper anywhere. More telling was that the Debug Mode flag wasn’t set so I had to get some of the basics configured. On this version, the baldur.ini file didn’t exist. Instead, you need to modify the Baldur.lua file located in the “Documents\Baldur’s Gate II – Enhanced Edition” folder. Also, before you can access that file, I believe you need to start a game. A bit annoying but I got that aspect working again.
Now, for EEKeeper, I tried installing this file in the root directory of the game installation itself. This caused some odd problems where it didn’t seem to recognize the installation directory whenever I used the browse option. So I put the game one level higher in “Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games” directory along with the supporting files. I think without this setup, it will cause the installation directory to be “\” which may cause issues. Also, for the save path, I needed to specify that “Documents\Baldur’s Gate II – Enhanced Edition” directory (which had my previous Cloud Saves already downloaded). From there, I think you just need to reload the configuration (there’s a button) for it to take effect and recognize where your saved games are.
Another major issue I encountered is how quitting would freeze the game. After conducting some research, the issue seems to be a particular Windows 11 update (which I could not uninstall) and that this problem persist only for Windows 11 systems. I’m guessing this might be exclusive to the Baldur’s Gate series as I have not seen the issue mentioned elsewhere (plus, I had been playing Masters of Orion which also saves to their cloud without issue). The solution to the issue people had come up with is turning off the GOG overall and cloud save. Disabling these allows one to quit the game without issue again.
Now, just one final comment before I move back to the game itself. I read that Beamdog is in a lot of financial trouble which means that support for the game is going to be limited. While the toggles solve these issues, because it is a Beamdog game, I’m guessing we may never see a proper fix for this issue. So I’m simply going to continue leaving these options off for the foreseeable future.
Returning to Jaheira as a Barbarian/Druid, I’m debating whether or not this is a good combination. On the surface, a Barbarian seems like a Berserker with more hit points, slightly more movement speed, increased damage resistance, a little less armor and less weapon specialization slots. As a Berserker/Druid vs Barbarian/Druid, the weapon specialization aspect equalizes so what you’re really looking at is more natural resistance vs relying on gear. The best gear for fighters is plate/full plate, although there are a few instances of competitive armor like the White Dragon armor. But those occur at the end game. Also, damage resistance won’t occur for a while especially for a multi-class variant.
Now, one of the more frustrating things I discovered was that the Barbarian part of the multi-class overrides the Druid ability to use an Amulet of Power. This is one of the few magical items that I could not use (beyond weapons and basic armor). While Barbarians can use their shout to become temporarily immune to level drain effects, I prefer a permanent aura or ability. In the case of Jaheira as a Barbarian/Druid, the way you can get around this issue is using the Spectral Brand +5, which, of course, is a near end game item.
Another item I read that might not work is the Boots of Speed. I read that the Barbarian’s increased movement does not work with the Boots of Speed. Because I didn’t have extras (at the moment) to compare, the one relief here is that they still get a movement boost. My worry was that in later stages, Jaheira would no longer be able to keep up with the rest of the party.
After playing this character for a bit, my evaluation is that I think Jaheira is better off as a Berserker/Druid. I like using Jaheira as my main tank type of character where she’s using the heaviest armor and wields a shield. There’s not a lot of great weapons for Jaheira to use unless you prefer spears or staves. I tend to use Scimitars for her and my setup really couldn’t make great use of the Barbarian side where I felt the sacrifice in armor and Amulet of Power was worth it.
The only other character that possibly could make this work is Aerie. Barbarian/Mage/Cleric sounds really bizarre. Considering that you can add a Kit using EEKeeper for one class, you could do so here. Most of the time, I have Aerie as a Berserker so I can give her weapon specialization, extra hit points and the Berserker shout. With that setup, I can alternate by using Aerie as a tank or a spellcaster. With a Barbarian kit, I’m not sure if certain items would work any longer like Bracers. Quite honestly, I don’t really see much of an upside in this situation with Aerie if you want to focus her more on magic.
I know hardcore gamers like the idea of half-orc Barbarians to solo the game. And I suppose if you want a “fair” environment, that setup sounds great because of the bonuses to Str/Con it gives along with a half-orc’s own racial advantages. But I’m trying to come up with alternate methods for modifying the game to make it a little more interesting. Right now, the Barbarian feels pretty meh. I don’t know if I really want to continue on with this current saved game as I simply don’t feel the appeal for the Barbarian at the moment. I think if I had an extra character slot, maybe I could make it work (Anomen?) but I’m not too impressed right now.
I might end up looking at that Ranger/Cleric saved game I have though. I think I had a few interesting things going on there but can’t recall where I left off.
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