I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The AD&D 2nd edition rules are very rough on low-level characters and parties with low-level characters. You're going to experience lots of deaths until you figure out how to micro-manage your party.

Geography

First off, a bit of early geography is needed. Herein lie very minor spoilers.



Note: The links in the following section link to a site with a lot of spoilers. Be wary if you want to keep as much of the suspense intact as possible.

Candlekeep is your starting point where you grew up. You spend the prologue of the game here, but once you enter Chapter One, you cannot go back. The unmarked area with the stone circle of Gorion's last stand is called "AR2700" (or Lion's Way). East of that is "AR2800" which is also colloquially named "crossroads" by most players.

From the crossroads, Friendly Arms Inn is north, Beregost is south, and High Hedge is to the southwest.

Early Party Issues

If you are like most, you will have picked up Xzar and Montaron in the eastern half of Lion's Way. That's fine, but if you don't get down to Nashkel within 14 game days or thereabouts, Xzar and Montaron are going to get very cross with you and will leave. They'll start grumbling 7 days after joining, but won't leave until day 14 if you haven't at least visited Nashkel by then. So you are under a small time limit, but it's not very strict.

The problem will come when you start dealing with Xzar/Montaron in the same party as Khalid/Jaheira. They will bicker constantly because Xzar/Montaron are evil while Khalid/Jaheira are neutral/good. One pair or the other will have go to eventually.

So, keeping those two thoughts in mind. After picking up Xzar/Montaron, make a run up to Friendly Arms Inn to pickup Khalid/Jaheira, then head straight south to Nashkel (skipping past Beregost). At this point Xzar/Montaron should stop whining. After which, I suggest turning around and going back north to Friendly Arms Inn.

You should leave yourself 4 days to get to Nashkel from Beregost. You have to pass through (2) in-between zones, plus spend about 24 hours of travel time. Plus rest time. Plus any combat. So once Xzar/Montaron start complaining, you need to start making immediate plans to head south.

Leveling Up

Early on, I suggest making a circuit between Lion's Way, the crossroads, Friendly Arms Inn and Beregost. Possibly with a run south to Nashkel and back periodically until all of your party members are at least level 2 or 3. If you still have Xzar/Montaron, they can help you out with damage, but you can probably get by without them.

You'll eventually need to get rid of either X&M or J&K when you hit Nashkel and go looking for Minsc (a ranger). Otherwise there won't be room for Minsc (and later Dynaheir). You might even have to get rid of one of the pairs as early as Beregost if you decide to pickup Garrik (a bard).

Inventory Management

Whenever you return to a town, sell off the valuables, dump anything (books, extra scrolls) that you want to keep into a container somewhere, then purchase new supplies and head back out. The suggested list of supplies are:

Player: (5) stacks of ranged ammo, (1) spare ranged weapon, (1) spare melee weapon, (1-2) healing potions

Xzar: (5) stacks of bullets, (1) spare sling

Montaron: (5) stacks of arrows, (1) spare short bow

Imoen: (5) stacks of arrows, (1) spare short bow, (2) healing potions

Jaheira: (5) stacks of bullets, (1) spare sling, (1) spare club, (2) healing potions

Khalid: (2) extra bastard swords, (2) healing potions

Ammo quantities include the (3) stacks of ammo that are placed in the character's quiver. That's enough for a *short* jaunt into the wastelands. Later on (level 3 or 4), you'll want to carry a stack of (5) healing potions in your fighter's quick slots along with 2-3 antidote potions (to cure poisons), with the rest of the characters all carrying 2-3 healing potions and 1 antidote potion as well. You'll be boosting your ammo piles greatly, with your ranged characters all leaving town with at least 5 spare stacks of ammo and as many as 8 stacks (in addition to the 3 stacks in their quiver).

A good place to stash extra stuff like mage scrolls is the 3rd floor of the Friendly Arms Inn. At the top of the inn's 3rd floor is a room on the right-side with (2) unlocked storage containers. I generally toss the golden pantaloons along with anything that I don't want to take south to Beregost/Nashkel here (letters, bounties, mage scrolls).

Identification

Early on, with only a few exceptions (the ogre's belt), very few magic items are going to be cursed. So if you find a ring/weapon before you get a mage with Identify and before you get to a store with Identify, save the game and try the item on. If you can take it back off, then it's not cursed. If it doesn't change any stats (look carefully), then it's probably vendor loot. The other way to tell is that all magic items have a blue background.

The easiest merchant, who can identify items, to get to is the smithy at the east end of Beregost. The second easiest is getting to the vendor in High Hedge. Third easiest is the merchant at the store in Nashkel.

Gems, at least early on, are almost always vendor loot.

The Early Patrol Route

So what is the early patrol route? First off, a few anti-spoilers:

- Never go north from Lion's Way or west from Friendly Arms Inn until level 3/4.

- Going north out of FAI can be very dangerous, but also lucrative. (If you have a spell of Sleep, go for it.)

- Anything west of Nashkel and south of Candlekeep is pretty much fair game in Chapter 2. Along with the temple east of Beregost and the carnival east of Nashkel.

- High Hedge (south of Lion's Way) can be a bit rough on a level 1 or level 2 party.

So for a level 1 or 2 party, with not much money or supplies. I suggest going south out of FAI into Coast Way (AR2800). Do a big circuit around the entire zone and uncover everything. Then go west into Lion's Way and clear the entire zone. (Note: Bears are *not* your friend. Use Jaheira's special druid abilities.) After that, you'll probably need to sell, so head back to FAI.

After going back to FAI, I suggest again heading south. If you're using EasyTutu - never enter Beregost if it can be avoided, unless you absolutely have to. So Travel directly to the zone south of Beregost (or the temple zone east of Beregost). Do the two zones between Beregost and Nashkel. You should be able to clear both zones entirely.

Nashkel & Gnoll Stronghold

At this point, you should be level 2-3 for most party members and have a solid handle on basic combat. If so, then stock up on ammo and prepare to go tackle Nashkel. I usually stuff Xzar and Montaron into a building in Beregost, go look for Garrick, and then head back to Nashkel to pick up Minsc. Make a permanent save point prior to talking to Minsc.

To get to the Gnoll Stronghold, I suggest going West out of Nashkel. If you can't handle this zone, then you probably can't take on the gnolls en masse. In which case, if you already picked up Minsc, you'll need to load a save prior to recruiting Minsc. (There's a time limit on accomplishing something for the two NPCs that you can possibly recruit in Nashkel.)

After the Xzart Village, head south to Dryad Falls. The entrance to the Gnoll Stronghold is along the west edge, about 2/3 towards the bottom, and is very difficult to find. Almost the entire left edge of this zone is cliffs, except for the section that leads to the stronghold.

Level 3 or 4 Patrol

Good zones to patrol at levels 3 and 4 are (in addition to the zones you already uncovered like Lion's Way, Coastal Way, and the two zones between Beregost and Nashkel):

- Xzart Village (W of Nashkel)
- Dryad Falls (SW of Nashkel)
- Gnoll Stronghold (go back, look for spots that you missed)
- Fire Leaf Forest (S of Nashkel), but only if you're strong and good
- Bear River (W of Xzart Village)
- High Hedge (W of Beregost)

I would suggest avoiding the (3) coastal zones south of Candlekeep until level 4 or 5. You might be able to tackle the Nashkel Mines at level 3 or 4. And the Cloakwood zones west/northwest of FAI are possible if you have a reliable way of curing poisons.

Leveling with extra cheese

If you're close to a level cap *and* you can take down ankhegs without using spells. Go to the ankheg pit, enter, and start resting. This will cause you to be ambushed while you sleep by ankhegs (975 xp for each). The loot is only so-so, but it's not a bad place to grind out a few thousand XP. You can also try this location at lower levels, if you have a Sleep Spell. But you'll have to duck outside to actually get some rest. Definitely a good place to go at levels 3-5.

There are also places where you can get Gibberlings or Xvarts to spawn when you sleep. A pack of Gibberlings (sometimes as many as a dozen) are cannon fodder to a level 2-4 group and while each individual mob isn't worth much experience, in a pack of 10-12 it adds up.

Early tactics

Take whichever (2) characters have the lowest AC and put them out front. Give everyone else ranged weapons. In my current game, that means my main character (AC 3) and Khalid (AC 1). Imoen and Montaron can use short bows, Xzar and Jaheira can use slings. If you have to, have Khalid merely kite the mob around the group while the characters with ranged weapons take target practice.

Selling, Buying and Depreciation

One of the annoying, but realistic, parts in the game is that if a merchant already has a few of an item, they will offer less and less for additional items. Unless you sell them all at once.

To maximize your profits - do not sell your gems. Let your gems pile up in your inventory until you have full stacks, then sell them off as a stack. The same could be done with spell scrolls, but those are harder to keep track of as there are a lot more types of scrolls then there are gems.