History Franchise / BaldursGate

** Fortunately, high-level rogues get their revenge with the traps. The blatantly imbalanced spike trap deals 20d10 damage and its damage cannot be dodged, saved against or blocked in any way. Six of them will kill the game's toughest BonusBoss in one shot, and a high-level rogue can get another use per day for every level he or she gains. However, a timely dual-classed and equipped swashbuckler/fighter can distribute 300+ damage per round after their FIRST levelup in the expansion, or 200+ damage per round in the vanilla game, and far south of the XP cap. Ultimately, the best thief is still an ex-thief, unless it's the imbalanced Kensai/Thief dual-class, which has several of the Kensai's bonuses, can wear armor at high levels, can cast magic from scrolls, has a low enough [=THAC0=] to hit pretty much anything consistently and has all the assorted thief abilities.

** Viconia. While some gamers have actual gameplay reasons why Viconia makes the best cleric, [[http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/25838/why-does-everyone-say-viconia-is-the-best-cleric there are others that will comment on her attractiveness or how her DEX of 19 must be good for ...]][[SomethingElseAlsoRises other things]] as the reasons why she's the best. Apparently, this is based on the fact that a model was used to create her portrait and the fact that she is more willing to bed in her romance more than it's based on any actual {{Fanservice}}, since Viconia's sprites are the same as all the others. EvilIsSexy, indeed.

* AnythingThatMoves: Bhaal takes this trope to its logical extreme and for all the implications that follow. Let it be known that the Lord of Murder does not discriminate in this regard. See ShapeshiftingSquick. Well, at least they were all alive and capable of sexual reproduction, but that's about all the discretion he showed. He must have slept with every sentient creature this side of mustard jellies. Also, he must have been at this for a while, considering that he would have had to have sired Abazigal several hundred years ago for him to be the size he is (and for that matter, for his son Draconis to be the size he is. And to a lesser extent, in order for dwarf and gnome bhaalspawn to be adults as well, although Humans, Halflings, Half-Elves, and Elves all reach physical maturity at 25 or earlier. And ever since the first edition, it looks like he was going around banging Orcs as a human and Half-Orcs too now.
** May be a subversion, in that all the clues say is ''The lord of murder shall perish, but in his doom he shall spawn a score of mortal progeny.'' - He may not actually have literally slept with the mothers of all of the bhaalspawn, and instead his immortal essence traveled into the past by varying degrees (so that the bhaalspawn all 'came of age' at the same time) and caused a type of semi-mystical parthenogenesis.
*** Considering what we know of both the [[spoiler: main character and Sarevok's]] parents it seems to be that Bhaal went around knocking up his own cultists by and large. As well it seems likely that he used his position to get multi-cultural with the various non-humans he knocked up (giants and dragons notably).

* RebelliousPrincess: Skie.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Killing evil-aligned people unprovoked can be done for no penalty.
** Chances are good if you meet someone in an inn or the wilderness that acts like a {{Jerkass}} and threatens you in some way, you can fight them with no penalty and gain some experience and good armor or weapons. There are some exceptions; Borda the wandering merchant in the first game is one because he's polite, but he IS misadvertising his wares.

* AGodIsYou: [[spoiler: After defeating [[BigBad Amellysan]] you will get the choice between ascending to godhood or [[BadassNormal stay mortal]].]]

** AGodIsYou: [[spoiler: After defeating [[BigBad Amellysan]] you will get the choice between ascending to godhood or [[BadassNormal stay mortal]].]]

*** ShownTheirWork: Spectator Beholders were a sub-species of Beholder that, at the time of Baldur's Gate II, were actually not evil. They were LawfulNeutral as opposed to the LawfulEvil that was normal for their species. Makes sense for a species that has "summon us to guard your stuff" as their whole schtick.

''Baldur's Gate'' is a RolePlayingGame series set in the HighFantasy setting ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', using an adaptation of the ''Advanced TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 2nd edition ruleset. The focus is on quests, characterization and dialogue, combined with a solid combat system and a continuous plotline. The original games were developed by Creator/BioWare and published by Creator/BlackIsleStudios. More recently, other developers have taken up work on the series -- updated editions and a new expansion were produced by Beamdog, which was founded by [=BioWare=] alumni. In 2019, Creator/LarianStudios announced the third game in the main series. It entered early access on August 6, 2020, then the full release launched on August 3, 2023.

''Baldur's Gate'' is a RolePlayingGame series set in the HighFantasy setting ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', using an adaptation of the ''Advanced TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 2nd edition ruleset. The focus is on quests, characterization and dialogue, combined with a solid combat system and a continuous plotline. The original games were developed by Creator/BioWare and published by Creator/BlackIsleStudios. More recently, other developers have taken up work on the series -- updated editions and a new expansion were produced by Beamdog, which was founded by [=BioWare=] alumni, and in 2019, it was announced that a full new game would be created by Creator/LarianStudios.

On June 6th, 2019, it was publicly revealed that Creator/LarianStudios, creators of the famous ''[[VideoGame/DivineDivinity Divinity]]'' series, will be taking up the mantle and creating [[VideoGame/BaldursGateIII the official third installment in the series]]. The launch trailer suggests the setting of ''Baldur's Gate'' will transition to current 5th Edition. The game will revolve around a mind flayer invasion of the eponymous city, from [[https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ceremorphosis within]] and without.

* BladeOnAStick: Spears are one of the less popular weapons in the game, no doubt thanks to the fact that there are not too many [=NPCs=] who are trained in them. Halberds, however, are considered more effective, and the weapon known as [[InfinityPlusOneSword the Ravager +6]] is considered one of the best weapons in the second game (although there still aren't too many [=NPCs=] who can wield it).

** In ''Throne of Bhaal'' almost every weapon class gets its own [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus One]] variant, but the [[BladeOnAStick Ravager +6 halberd]] takes the cake.

** Many of the games' antagonists feel that this is [[VillainousLineage hereditary]]for the Bhaalspawn, but [[spoiler:the main character]] can act any way the player likes, to the point of becoming one of the world's most renowned heroes.

* ProtagonistPowerUpPrivileges: It's the Bhaalspawn who gets all the nifty Bhaal-induced powers, whereas NPC party members (including other children of Bhaal) are stuck with the standard abilities. Though the NPC party member Bhaalspawn [[spoiler:that still has the essence of Bhaal in her at the time]] actually ''was'' intended to get Bhaalspawn powers in ''Throne of Bhaal''. Blame coding errors for that not happening.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' (~2023)

* FiveManBand:
** The people with whom you end up escaping from Irenicus' dungeon count.
*** TheHero: Charname, who is the player character after all.
*** TheLancer: Jaheira. She's your most vocal companion, and her experienced, lightly cynical attitude can cause friendly snark and sometimes BelligerentSexualTension with Charname (for males, of course).
*** TheBigGuy: Minsc. He's the hammiest, most physical member of your party; there is no competition for this role.
*** TheSmartGuy: Yoshimo. For all intents and purposes Yoshimo is the most experienced in the criminal underworld the party finds themselves drawn into, and spends the most time advising the player on the course they should take, rather than simply throwing in his two cents as most do.
*** TheChick: Imoen. She has shades of TheLancer, but is grabbed by Irenicus as soon as you leave, and throughout the initial dungeon she is the most emotional among the party.
*** [[TeamPet The Team Pet]]: Boo, naturally.
** You could make a similar case for the "default good party" the second game assumes you had in the first, although there is obvious overlap since there are six of them.
*** TheHero: Charname, again.
*** TheLancer: Jaheira.
*** TheBigGuy: Minsc.
*** TheSmartGuy: Dynaheir. (She certainly thinks she is and her stats say so, and with so little dialogue for the playable characters in the first game that's about as good as you're going to get)
*** TheChick: Khalid.
*** TagalongKid: Imoen.
** A good aligned party in ''Shadows of Amn'' may qualify:
*** TheHero: PlayerCharacter.
*** TheLancer: Keldorn and/or Mazzy.
*** TheBigGuy: [[RuleOfThree Who else?]].
*** TheSmartGuy: Imoen. (She has the highest intelligence stat)
*** TheChick: Nalia and especially Aerie.
** In the Enhanced Edition, an evil party can become the opposite trope.
*** [[BigBad The Big Bad]]: Charname.
*** TheDragon: Dorn.
*** TheBrute: Korgan.
*** [[EvilGenius The Evil Genius]]: Edwin.
*** [[DarkChick The Dark Chick]]: Viconia.
*** [[SixthRanger The Sixth Ranger]]: Hexxat. In ''Throne of Bhaal'', [[spoiler:Sarevok]] can fill this spot as well.

* BalefulPolymorph: It happens to a few characters throughout the series, and if you've got a mage in your party you can do it to enemies.

** As seen above, CHA is pretty popular as a DumpStat, unsurprisingly (since this is ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' that we're talking about here, after all). Most roleplayers (and in particular those who have a bit of pride and self-esteem will refuse to set it too low, but {{Munchkin}}s in particular have a tendency to dump it as low as possible (unless it is a class that requires high Charisma, such as a Paladin, a Bard or a Druid). The reason for that is the fact that the only charisma stat that is ever measured by the game engine is that of the party leader. The first NPC recruited in both games, [[BreakoutCharacter Imoen]], also happens to have very good charisma. Go figure.
*** It's because, in the first game at least, you could make Imoen party leader and have her do the talking, and the game would calculate based on ''her'' charisma instead of yours -- the game actually calculated based on which [=NPC=] was doing the talking, not just Charname's. As of the Enhanced Edition versions, having an [=NPC=] be your "spokesperson" no longer works-- Charname's charisma is the only value calculated.
*** There is a good reason to have charisma as high as you can get it in the first game, though. In the beginning at Candlekeep, if your charisma is 17, Fuller won't give you the +1 Dagger as a reward and talking to Firebead multiple times won't yield the 300 gold you'd get if your charisma was 18. The dagger can be identified and sold, and the player can buy better armor and even a spare weapon with the 450 gold from the dagger and Firebead. A bit of a helpful cheat for new players and those that wear armor, not so much for mages. [=NPC=]s met early in the game when reputation is still low may not join if charisma is also low because every significant [=NPC=] is programmed with an [=NPC=] Reaction value. [[http://www.forgottenwars.com/bg1/miscellany.htm The NPC Reaction]] section linked does a good job of explaining how the reaction is calculated. The walkthrough on that same site will give the reaction value needed for each quest and the rewards that can be given for them. [[http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/7591/charisma-reaction-adjustment-actually-do-anything This page]] gives the Charisma reaction values.
*** Charisma is also the leadership stat, and doesn't really have anything to do with your character's appearance (although it's easy to assume that good-looking people have an easier time persuading people to do what they want). As a result, having a high charisma can delay MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers from fighting with each other to some extent, although it won't delay their fighting permanently.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: And plenty of them can join your party. Each one has a different, interesting personality -- the number of possible banters which can take place between your various buddies in ''Baldur's Gate II'' is astounding (though, to achieve this, there are significantly fewer [=PCs=] to choose from).

* AbusiveParents: Bhaal, who's basically an ArchnemesisDad to all the Bhaalspawn, [[HatesEveryoneEqually heroes and villains alike]]. He originally ordered his cultists to [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice them]] to release the portions of his essence hidden inside them so he could come BackFromTheDead; when that didn't work and some Bhaalspawn survived to become children and later adults, he tried different tactics. These include [[TheCorrupter tempting his children down the path of darkness]], [[LetsYouAndHimFight driving them to kill each other]] and commanding his high priest[[spoiler:ess]] to [[KillEmAll mop up the stragglers]].

* RandomEncounters: Some random encounters provide you with very respectable quantities of gold and valuable VendorTrash, and others occur randomly but tie directly into plotline events or subquests and as such aren't pointless.

* TheSixStats

* VendorTrash: TONS of it. Though some things that seem to be vendor trash [[GuideDangIt will actually be useful later]]. In addition to the obvious junk like gems and common jewelry, pretty much any item that was in the first game will be underpowered enough to be glorified vendor trash in the second.

* EverythingsBetterWithCows: Summon Cow, a DummiedOut spell in both games, [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim causes a cow to fall on its target]].

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' (~2022)

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' (2022)

* ColorCodedTimestop

* [[TalkingIsAFreeAction Talking About Important Plot Points Is a Free Action]]: TimeStandsStill when dialogues happen.
** Tweak pack mods for both games can be installed that make sure [[TimeStandsStill time will always stand still]] whenever conversation happens. Previously, battles could still take place while characters were talking.

* TimeStandsStill: The "Time Stop" spell. Also happens during most dialogs. (Tweak pack mods will make it so it ''always'' happens during dialogues.)

* WalkingShirtlessScene: All human male warrior and cleric sprites, whenever they don't wear armor. Male human wizard, on the other hand have a BadassBeard to make up for this.

* UnwinnableByMistake: There are a few scripting errors that can cause this, though they are fixed by unofficial patches.

* InsaneEqualsViolent: Yup. Doesn't mean though that they're all ''[[CrazyAwesome evil]]'' (or even [[TalkingWeapon human]]), but they sure all are violent.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' (2021)

* InfantImmortality

''Baldur's Gate'' is a RolePlayingGame series set in the HighFantasy setting ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', using an adaptation of the ''Advanced TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 2nd edition ruleset. The focus is on quests, characterization and dialogue, combined with a solid combat system and a continuous plotline. The original games were developed by Creator/BioWare and published by Creator/BlackIsleStudios. More recently, other developers have taken up work on the series -- updated editions and a new expansion were produced by Creator/{{Beamdog}}, which was founded by [=BioWare=] alumni, and in 2019, it was announced that a full new game would be created by Creator/LarianStudios.

* FinalDeath: Except on low difficulties, party members who are gibbed or killed in certain magical ways cannot be resurrected.