SixOfSpades, you have made a truly awesome and unique BG guide - I really wish I had been able to read this before I started playing as a noob many years ago. Now as a veteran, I can appreciate and understand how you are thinking, especially with the whole 'non-spolier' thing. Very well done overall.
The armor images with the graphical represenation on how much AC they provide against different damage types are excellent, but it sure took me a little while to understand them (even though I know how the armors are working!). But thatīs probably just me being a little slow and dense...
There is one thing I do not agree with you on, though, and that his how low you value the Beast Master. Used as a scout + archer in BG 2, this kit is better than a plain Ranger in that role, imo. If you want to hide in shadows a lot, you donīt use heavy armor anyway, and if you rarely enter melee combat, the 'no metal melee weapons' drawback isnīt significant. And in a pinch, there are some decent clubs and staves in the game that you can use. All magical items, other than heavy armors and metal weapons, that a normal Ranger can use are still available, so I think grouping the kit together with Wizard Slayer as 'really bad' is a major insult to the Beast Master.
And if you consider BG1 played using BGTutu, I think the Beast Master is a
great character for the early game (= nearly all of BG1). You get a Familiar while youīre still in Candlekeep! This early HP boost moves you out of 1-2 hit kills territory, which means you are at a lot less risk for an early death due to sheer bad luck. Thatīs not a bad thing for a newbie player.
While not important at all in BG2 (because you have such high level and good gear), the extra stealth boost is really handy for scouting in the early game.
If you choose Chaotic Good alignment, that Invisibility 10' Radius spell the Fairy Dragon has is immensely useful in the early game, as you can (once per day, and at no cost) turn the whole party invisible! This is available
far earlier in the game than any other similar method becomes available. In a no-reloads game I played, the little bugger saved my party several times when I got waylaid by Wyverns and we were probably too weak to fight them.
(The Animal Summonings are pretty redundant unless you play solo, as Druids/Clerics/Mages are far better at summoning, and they also level up faster.)
Last but not least, a Human Beast Master with high enough stats can dual-class to a Cleric. Once the you get the old abilities back, you have the same powerful spell pool as any Cleric/Ranger, plus you have better stealth and a Familiar. However, the weapon selection becomes
very limited, as you can only use slings, staves and clubs. You are probably not a good tank either because of the armor restriction, but you will probably be able to hold off something dangerous a couple of rounds, due to Iron Skins.
I still have a succesful no-reloads game going with this class (a Beast Master 7 -> Cleric), having taken her from Candlekeep to early ToB. Itīs not a "munchkin" character, but she has been quite useful and versatile along the journey, and many times very interesting and fun to play.
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