Here's something I've been wondering about: if you're soloing with a non-Thief charname, how do you avoid stepping on traps? Especially in BG1 at the early levels. It would seem like you have no chance of not dying due to traps in, for example, the Nashkel mines. Unless you remember where each trap is and you avoid them just from memory, but that's kinda meta-gaming IMO. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with meta-gaming, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
Great question! Atm, I know all the traps and their effects. That said, I recently came off a 6 years break from the game, and upon my return I had forgotten most of them. I still didn't lose any characters to traps.
Focusing on the main quest line, the damage traps in BG1 only come in a few flavors.There are arrow traps, magic missile traps, lightning bolt traps and fireball traps. The arrow traps don't do much damage. What damage they do can be countered with a healing potion. The magic missile traps do limited damage, too. If you'd like to protect yourself from that damage, you can use the Shield Amulet, the Shield spell, or spell protections, such as MSD or MGOI. The lightning bolt traps and the fireball traps are the scary ones. You can protect yourself from them with 100% electricity or 100% fire resistance, achievable in a variety of ways. Spell protections can work here, too, although this approach comes with caveats. I can delve into those details on request.
In addition to the damage traps there are disabler traps. On the main quest line, Web is all you'll encounter. There are, however, other disabler traps in frequently visited areas, like the Black Alaric Cave and Durlag's Tower. For the purpose of this discussion, I'll just stick to the quest line.
Let's move through the main quest line. At each stage I'll provide advice that is sufficient, and could be said to fall into the category of reasonable precaution, rather than metagame knowledge. I could provide more detailed advice, if you wish, but I'll refrain from doing so, atm, in light of your desire to stay meta-light. I'm going to assume a solo non-thief, since otherwise the problem disappears.
Nashkel Mines: Be sure to have a few levels under your belt before you enter the mines. 3 or so should suffice, at least with respect to the traps. Have potions at the ready to counter damage if and when it occurs. Move slowly so you don't get hit with multiple traps sequentially, and try to avoid covering too much ground in a forward direction while engaging enemies, in the interest of separating trap damage from enemy attacks. Consider moving through the mines invisible so you can fully separate trap damage and enemy attacks.
Bandit Camp: The game often gives you clues about the threats you will face going forward. This is meta, in a sense, but it's meta built into the game world and as such we can call it foreshadowing or providence. Take note of the boots you acquire in Mulahey's abode, and remember that people protect their valuables.
Cloakwood: The Cloakwood is famously full of spiders. Spiders use webs. A Free Action item or Potion of Freedom would be a reasonable precaution, especially when there are spiders or ettercaps around.
Cloakwood Mines: The master of the mines, Davaeorn, is a powerful spell caster. You can learn this within the game world before you meet him. It would be reasonable to have magic defenses in place before proceeding into his lair.
Candlekeep Catacombs: This place is sketch. You know it, everyone knows it. It would behoove you to protect yourself from the full complement of questline magical trap types: web, fire, electricity, and magic missile.
Undercity Maze: You're warned about traps as soon as you enter. It would make sense to run a full complement of trap protections again: web, fire, electricity, and magic missile. One of these may not be necessary, but overkill is better than underkill.
And there you have a low meta trap strategy from the BG1 main questline. I could cover other areas too, if you like, but perhaps it's best if you use your ingenuity there, taking what precautions make sense to you. Maybe you'll lose a character, maybe you won't. It's all part of the learning process in any case.
Cheers,
A.
