Okay, so my run actually ended about 20 minutes in when what I think was a Greater Mummy used some SCS-ified ability to quickly kill my character. Even Stoneskin couldn't stop it, and I'll have to conduct more tests later to determine the cause of death. But no matter - every no-reload challenge will involve plenty of reloads, so we're now on #4. I will start with what I did after the De'Arnise Keep, since my path this attempt is more or less identical to what I did before.
After clearing out the Keep (this time with my trusty Spell Shield), I proceed to clear out Firkraag's lair - this time going for the big lizard himself. The first room involved killing that annoying Ruhk, and his low THAC0 coupled with his layers of defensive spells means I cannot let my guard down at all. Improved Haste is a blessing, as it allows me to get 5 APR with a single weapon (I kept my Shield of Harmony on for the duration of the fight). I eventually take him down, but I suffer some scrapes myself. No matter - I pocket his Ring of Fire Resistance and proceed onward.
The vampires in the next room are a mixture of Elder Vampires and Ancient Vampires, two SCS-ified creatures that require +2 and +3 weapons to hit, respectively. Their abilities (aside from Domination) include Drink Blood (lowers CON), Cloud of Bats (functionally similar to Insect Plague, Save v. Breath to negate), summon hordes of rats, and the ability to turn into a bat when injured (or even Invisible altogether). I doubt that this is an intended function, but you can continue to attack the bats even if they are across the room from you. They have a much lower AC but otherwise can still be killed; this is a good thing as the vampires rarely die before shapeshifting.
That said, the ever-present specter of vampiric domination necessitated the use of my shield at all times - my APR dipped from 9 to 5 with Improved Haste. Fortunately, the Flail of Ages hits hard when coupled with DUHM, so the vampires were eventually exterminated. The rest of the room leading to the key were easy enough - the Shadow Fiends and Wraiths could not use their deadliest abilities on my character.
I ignored Samia's quest, but I falsely accepted as so not to introduce conflict. I can already tell that my character will get creamed fighting her party, so best to err on the side of caution. Killing the Greater Wolfweres was a cinch - they fell quickly against the full terror of my 9 APR (Belm + Improved Haste). Ditto with the golems and Tazok's pathetic party. When killing Tazok's group, I made sure not to use Sunfire, as last time I wound up hitting Garren's daughter...whoops. I was more concerned with Conster - fighting high level mages is always a concern of mine, even if I have ample protections against his debuffs and fireshields.
I cast a full range of buffs on my character before speaking to Firkraag (protip: I'm pretty sure this is an SCS-only quirk but casting Haste in the presence of enemies-to-be causes them to go hostile...so never cast that in the same room as a dragon!). Conster proves to basically be like most mages with SCS - tons of debuffs, layer after layer of Stoneskins and MMM. But he's not truly high level, so I keep up my Spell Immunity: Abjuration and Spell Shield Buffs along with Protection from Fire and Cold, and he can do little but throw MMMs at me. I throw a Breach at him and wail on him. He has so many stoneskins that the elemental damage from the Flail of ages is what actually ends up killing him. The battle is easily won, thankfully. Humorously, his Teleport Field spell actually pulls me into a locked jail cell for a round, though fortunately it ports me out right after.
Now for Firkraag himself. I put up every buff I can muster, and I swap my Ring of Earth Control for a Ring of Fire Resistance to give myself over-100% Fire Resistance. I cast Improved Invisibility on myself for the bonus AC and saves (dragons can see through invisibility). I cast DUHM and ready PfMW. Improved Haste is at the ready. I attack him, making absolutely sure that Spell Immunity: Abjuration and Spell Shields are the last spells I cast before the fight. Strangely, he does not open with PfMW as in Vanilla. This is essential to victory, as I open with a flurry of blows that start to wear him down fast. He opens with a Remove Magic, but it flounders against my Spell Immunity. I cast Breach and get several hits in before he uses another Stoneskin. After a few more rounds, he tries to cast another Remove Magic, but the spell hasn't worn off yet. He tries to cast a breath weapons...and nothing. When is nearly dead, he actually tries to run away. I found this really funny - a dragon running away from a four-foot tall gnome. He can't get away...and he falls. The entire battle lasts maybe thirty seconds at most. As strange as this may sound, I think fighting him is actually easier on SCS than without it.
Bam. I run to sell my stuff and buy the Defender of Easthaven, which is going to be my last major item purchase for some time. I make a quick detour at Watcher's Keep to kill the four (on SCS) guardians who awaken when you disrupt the holy altar. Improved Haste made it sooooo easy. Disrupting the two extra cleric's spells is very easy, and they can't cast anything of value. coupled with PfMW and the statues die very quickly. An easy 80,000 XP.
Now to clear out the vampire's lair for yet more XP. I was doing well enough, even taking out Tanova (who proved to be quite a sticky, if ineffectual foe)...and it happened again. I was attacking the vampires in the room with the Mace of Disruption, and my character randomly disappears again. Once again getting a bogus "Game Over". I disregard it as before, but I find out that I have to kill all the vampires on the top floor again, including Tanova. Dammit.
I hack my way through the vampires a second time, this time without a hitch. Clearing out the lower floor is easy enough, but Lassal proves to be annoying. Not because he himself is difficult, but because he decided to go into bat form and invisible...and stay that way. He remained that way for so long that I had to rest before he would appear again. It's annoying, but nothing I can't overcome. I head to the room with Bodhi, wary about what happened the last time I faced her. Strangely, I hit her one time and she conceded. In hindsight, I wonder if it had something to do with the fact that I spoke to her while she was still porting in (I am not patient). Whatever, she's actually quite a pushover without the Improved Bodhi mod anyways. I speak to Aran Linvail, but I'm not heading for Spellhold just yet - I still have a few more quests to do. I open to Umar Hills, and my day's adventure ends there after nearly four hours of playing today (by saving, not by dying thankfully).
And that's about it. To reiterate I'll be streaming at the same time tomorrow - I hope to see a bunch of people there! I'll be taking on (some) of Umar Hills, and I will likely attempt to do the Planar Sphere as well as the Planar Prison tomorrow. If I manage to get through both alive, I will likely head out to Spellhold. Wish me luck.
@Bynary_Fission just in case you didn't know, you actually don't need to go to caravasar to get PfMW and I Haste scrolls. There's this halfling merchant in bridge district, near Neb's house, who sell some interesting scrolls: PfMW, IH, death fog, SI, minor spell sequencer, teleport field... He only apperars at night but his stock is worth checking
@Bynary_Fission just in case you didn't know, you actually don't need to go to caravasar to get PfMW and I Haste scrolls. There's this halfling merchant in bridge district, near Neb's house, who sell some interesting scrolls: PfMW, IH, death fog, SI, minor spell sequencer, teleport field... He only apperars at night but his stock is worth checking
Oh hey, that sounds like the area where Ms. Cragmoon sells her potions during the day. I didn't know that - thanks for pointing that out.
We'll be going live in ten minutes! I'll be taking on some of the areas I have yet to see in SCS...will this be the end of Selangor? Watch and find out!
Welp, the Planar Prison wiped the floor with me. No, actually, it was a trio of Yuan-ti mages. Next time: SI: Divination and Mislead.
I'm almost to the point of killing Firkraag - I've made my progress back even faster than before. I may try the Planar Sphere before attempting the prison, as having extra levels on the mages will also help if I wind up becoming vulnerable to a dispel.
If I'm not mistaken, one of the rules of the no-reload runs at least on the Bioware forums is that you can treat each separate game as a different piece, so if you fail in SoA you can restart in SoA instead of going back to BG1. I dislike doing it myself, but it's perfectly legal to do so.
If I'm not mistaken, one of the rules of the no-reload runs at least on the Bioware forums is that you can treat each separate game as a different piece, so if you fail in SoA you can restart in SoA instead of going back to BG1. I dislike doing it myself, but it's perfectly legal to do so.
This basically. To be honest, I've never heard of anybody restarting from the start of the trilogy in a no-reload run.
@Blackraven has done that, I believe, on multiple occasions, though not with the exact same characters. @Alesia_BH once considered it when her Bounty Hunter died at the Throne of Bhaal, since she figured out how to guarantee a win in that battle and could have redone the run successfully, but I believe she reconsidered and decided to move on. But normally, you just start over from the beginning of the last game, or start a different run.
My experience with yuan-ti mages is that you absolutely must have Free Action (Potion of Freedom) running at all times.
Their basic tactic is to remove your protections and then load damage against you (lots of Flame Arrows and Magic Missiles and some horrible sequencers such as 3 x Flame Arrows or 3 x Skull Trap. If more than one launches a sequencer at you at the same time it's usually curtains). As soon as your HPs are below 90 one of them will immediately hit you with PW Stun and it's game over.
My (relatively safe) tactic against them is to engage and let them use their Remove Magics. Then drink Invisibility and buff with Invulnerability and Freedom. If ever they dispel again you have to have to replace the Freedom at least. Let their PFMW expire while you are invisible and hit one of them with an Arrow of Dispelling. Wait a couple of seconds for Contingency Stoneskin and then hit them with another Arrow of Dispelling. At this stage you probably need to go invisible again and maybe heal if you got hit with damaging spells. Then break invisibility and attack the defenceless mage in melee. You can kill in 2-3 hits (1 with backstab). Then invisible again and repeat for the other 2 mages.
This is a bit slow but relatively safe...you're not vulnerable to PW Stun and you only spend 1 round at a time out of invisibility. You also keep your aura clear to drink invisibility if you ever get into trouble.
My experience with yuan-ti mages is that you absolutely must have Free Action (Potion of Freedom) running at all times.
Their basic tactic is to remove your protections and then load damage against you (lots of Flame Arrows and Magic Missiles and some horrible sequencers such as 3 x Flame Arrows or 3 x Skull Trap. If more than one launches a sequencer at you at the same time it's usually curtains). As soon as your HPs are below 90 one of them will immediately hit you with PW Stun and it's game over.
My (relatively safe) tactic against them is to engage and let them use their Remove Magics. Then drink Invisibility and buff with Invulnerability and Freedom. If ever they dispel again you have to have to replace the Freedom at least. Let their PFMW expire while you are invisible and hit one of them with an Arrow of Dispelling. Wait a couple of seconds for Contingency Stoneskin and then hit them with another Arrow of Dispelling. At this stage you probably need to go invisible again and maybe heal if you got hit with damaging spells. Then break invisibility and attack the defenceless mage in melee. You can kill in 2-3 hits (1 with backstab). Then invisible again and repeat for the other 2 mages.
This is a bit slow but relatively safe...you're not vulnerable to PW Stun and you only spend 1 round at a time out of invisibility. You also keep your aura clear to drink invisibility if you ever get into trouble.
Interesting. My strategy is a lot different for taking them on. I start by casting Protection from Fire/Cold (so I can hit them with fireshields without being harmed). I absolutely make sure to have Spell Immunity: Abjuration and Spell Shield up, along with possibly Minor globe of Invulnerability. This is in addition to my normal buffs. I wait for them to cast Secret Word while I use True Sight to remove their invisibility. By this point, they are trying to use Spell Thrust or Remove Magic. I cast a second Spell Shield as soon as they remove the first for this very reason. Since they usually have only one Secret Word, there is little else they can do.
Next comes a Breach spell. Contigencies will ensure that they still have more Stoneskins to cast, but I use the Flail of Ages, whose elemental damage penetrates their stoneskins and disrupts any attempts of theirs to cast a spell. At this point, they are basically toast. Even with my Shield of Harmony equipped to stop their deadlier enchantment spells, I still get 5 APR with Improved Haste cast. Your technique sounds like how you would approach it if you weren't a mage, which is a reality too horrible for me to contemplate. I imagine it would be slow, given that they have layer after layer of defensive spells up...
Quite right, that is my strategy for fighter/thieves. Yes, as a mage you have more options. Another is just to kill them without engaging, for example Stinking Cloud + Web + aoe damage (Cloudkill, Death Fog, whatever you have).
*sigh* So as it turns out, summoning the golems to kill from Limited Wish in the Thieves Guild hallway will cause Arkanis Gath to insta-kill you...even if nobody is hurt and nobody sees it.
I died a second time from a Phase Spider who poisoned me when I was at low health and my aura wasn't cleansed yet. Dang, I was getting a lot of really high-level spell scrolls that game too lol.
To be honest, I've never heard of anybody restarting from the start of the trilogy in a no-reload run.
Funny that you should say that, since as far as I know those are the only type of successes people have had over at the old forums! It's more weird for me to see a restart at the beginning of a game than not. I can definitely understand the appeal, though, since I dislike BG1 quite a bit more than BG2, but it also feels like a break in character for myself.
To be honest, I've never heard of anybody restarting from the start of the trilogy in a no-reload run.
Funny that you should say that, since as far as I know those are the only type of successes people have had over at the old forums! It's more weird for me to see a restart at the beginning of a game than not. I can definitely understand the appeal, though, since I dislike BG1 quite a bit more than BG2, but it also feels like a break in character for myself.
That's an entirely understandable mindset. But lemme tell you - SCS is a whole 'nother ball game. I've done a no-reload challenge on vanilla as well, and there is no comparison in difficulty to the two. Doing it solo and on Insane basically means that doing a straight run through the trilogy without deaths in any of the games on SCS is basically impossible, short of using massive amounts of exploits, cheese, and not installing any of the difficulty increasing components. Even with that, it will still likely not ever happen. For the sake of my own sanity (and also because I understood no-reload runs to use this practice), I'm allowing myself each new game to serve as a "checkpoint". Good thing too - Baldur's Gate 1 is very much the easiest of the three, and I still die a pretty good number of times.
EDIT: The next stream will begin at the same time as before: noon PST on May 12th. Hope to see you all there!
@Bynary_Fission: There's about to be a new Phase Spider on the "Maybe this time" no-reload thread. She doesn't have blue eyes, but she's still very cute.
Alllllmost back up to my old progress. BG2 is such a fun game but you start to go a bit stir-crazy after having to re-do everything again and again. I'll be streaming again at noon tomorrow on May 13th.
Spellhold! I have reached a new high water mark in my adventure thus far. I decided not to risk the Planar Prison or Planar Sphere just yet, rather going with the main plot and returning to do them when I am a much higher level.
When my session began, I was faced with an internal dilemma: attempt the Planar Sphere or Planar Prison again, or just ship off to Spellhold and allow it to wait? Part of my problem lies in the fact that I am not of a high enough level to really take on the wizards. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, I chose to head off for Spellhold as soon as I finished kicking Firkraag's red scaly butt (again).
Clearing out the vampires on Bodhi's lair was easy enough. Tanova presented very little of a problem when I used True Sight + Breach on her. Improved Haste made quick work of her. The other vampires presented no issue either, and Lassal couldn't hide away this time, as True Sight exposed him in his hidden rat form. Bodhi was a complete pushover - evidently she's either ridiculously easy or ridiculously hard. Better the former than the latter on a no-reload run.
Ahh, the pirate's cove. The familiar salty smell of the sea awakens old memories of this place. Yes, this is among my favorite chapters of the game. I go about my usual method of reaching Spellhold itself: kill Perth. Only he's far more deadly in SCS. I got fortunate in that he cast Time Stop while I was off-screen in his house, he instead focused the majority of his spells on my summoned Flesh Golem. I lure him outside while I whittle away his spells, and he actually gets in a Remove Magic on me! I quickly cast Improved Invisibility and SI: Divination while I re-apply some buffs and wait for his to run out. Once his fire shield dissipated, the FoA took care of him quickly. While in the dream, I nearly had a big issue: Bhaal wasn't following me into the temple. It took a good 5 minutes of walking back and forth to get him to comply, something I haven't had happen before. I mean, it's the one time enemies don't follow me through doors...
I'm not dumb enough to install the "Remove Items at Spellhold" component, especially when it's filled with enemies that require magical weapons to hit. Therefore, getting through it is a cinch. I didn't bother with the Ring of Regeneration, as I don't use it and it doesn't sell for much. I do complete the quest involving the three gems, the Pit Fiend was scary but my SI: Abjuration was still active, so his attempt to remove my buffs failed. The lich in the room adjacent to Dace Sontan fell relatively easily, it was a matter of waiting for his SI: Abjuration to wear off, then I Breach him and use Improved Haste to quickly kill him. In reality, I was more concerned about the Greater Mummies, who in SCS are given a super-nausea that kills you in a matter of seconds. Thankfully, that didn't happen.
Now the lower floor. Nothing was really any more difficult as it was before, and the trolls still fall easily to my FoA, even the blasted Spirit Trolls. Collecting all the paintings and the tokens is a no-brainer - after all, they have the BOOTS OF SPEED. In lieu of the Planar Prison, you can get a pair here for the measly sum of 15 metal tokens. I had enough left over to get the Boots of Frost, which will sell for a nice bit of cash. I clear out the area and gladly copy down all the spell scrolls I find, including the massively useful Project Image and Simulacrum; the latter is like getting a second teammate. Bodhi is, naturally, a pathetic joke trying to take me on in the Slayer form. She crumbles as quickly as an iron sword in BG1, fleeing once again. I finish my session by completing the insanity tasks and saving right before the battle with Jon Irenicus. I'm a bit nervous as to how it will play out, since I haven't done it on SCS before. I have other saved games that I'll use as practice beforehand, hopefully it isn't too difficult. I now have level 8 spells at my disposal, so we'll see if I make it to the Underdark!
I will be streaming tomorrow at noon PST (May 14th).
I find the concept of no-reload fascinating. It's a very different level of gaming. With the self imposed impossibility of reloads things get more real. One tiny mistake or just one unavoidably unlucky roll and the effort of several days is wasted. Exactly how it works in real life too. A game is a game precisely because it allows for multiple tries. Otherwise it couldn't function as a tool of escapism. It's no fun for me, when something reminds me of the unpredictably lethal nature of our Universe.
If I'm not mistaken, one of the rules of the no-reload runs at least on the Bioware forums is that you can treat each separate game as a different piece, so if you fail in SoA you can restart in SoA instead of going back to BG1. I dislike doing it myself, but it's perfectly legal to do so.
This basically. To be honest, I've never heard of anybody restarting from the start of the trilogy in a no-reload run.
Actually, on the Bioware forums we always restart in the Candlekeep if we are on the Trilogy no-reload run and our chars dies in SoA/ToB. It might sound silly but it doesn't give full satisfaction otherwise. The whole thing of Trilogy no-reload is to do it in -one- go, so we don't treat each separate game as different piece (some of us run it in BGT setup, which *is* the one single game).
I made it far...really far. But my adventure came to an end against the Elder Brain, who used Remove Magic and some kind of highly damaging psionic ability, neither of which it had in vanilla BG. I was level 17 as a mage, but I was still effortlessly dispelled. What upset me is that it killed me even after it died, lol.
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Okay, so my run actually ended about 20 minutes in when what I think was a Greater Mummy used some SCS-ified ability to quickly kill my character. Even Stoneskin couldn't stop it, and I'll have to conduct more tests later to determine the cause of death. But no matter - every no-reload challenge will involve plenty of reloads, so we're now on #4. I will start with what I did after the De'Arnise Keep, since my path this attempt is more or less identical to what I did before.
After clearing out the Keep (this time with my trusty Spell Shield), I proceed to clear out Firkraag's lair - this time going for the big lizard himself. The first room involved killing that annoying Ruhk, and his low THAC0 coupled with his layers of defensive spells means I cannot let my guard down at all. Improved Haste is a blessing, as it allows me to get 5 APR with a single weapon (I kept my Shield of Harmony on for the duration of the fight). I eventually take him down, but I suffer some scrapes myself. No matter - I pocket his Ring of Fire Resistance and proceed onward.
The vampires in the next room are a mixture of Elder Vampires and Ancient Vampires, two SCS-ified creatures that require +2 and +3 weapons to hit, respectively. Their abilities (aside from Domination) include Drink Blood (lowers CON), Cloud of Bats (functionally similar to Insect Plague, Save v. Breath to negate), summon hordes of rats, and the ability to turn into a bat when injured (or even Invisible altogether). I doubt that this is an intended function, but you can continue to attack the bats even if they are across the room from you. They have a much lower AC but otherwise can still be killed; this is a good thing as the vampires rarely die before shapeshifting.
That said, the ever-present specter of vampiric domination necessitated the use of my shield at all times - my APR dipped from 9 to 5 with Improved Haste. Fortunately, the Flail of Ages hits hard when coupled with DUHM, so the vampires were eventually exterminated. The rest of the room leading to the key were easy enough - the Shadow Fiends and Wraiths could not use their deadliest abilities on my character.
I ignored Samia's quest, but I falsely accepted as so not to introduce conflict. I can already tell that my character will get creamed fighting her party, so best to err on the side of caution. Killing the Greater Wolfweres was a cinch - they fell quickly against the full terror of my 9 APR (Belm + Improved Haste). Ditto with the golems and Tazok's pathetic party. When killing Tazok's group, I made sure not to use Sunfire, as last time I wound up hitting Garren's daughter...whoops. I was more concerned with Conster - fighting high level mages is always a concern of mine, even if I have ample protections against his debuffs and fireshields.
I cast a full range of buffs on my character before speaking to Firkraag (protip: I'm pretty sure this is an SCS-only quirk but casting Haste in the presence of enemies-to-be causes them to go hostile...so never cast that in the same room as a dragon!). Conster proves to basically be like most mages with SCS - tons of debuffs, layer after layer of Stoneskins and MMM. But he's not truly high level, so I keep up my Spell Immunity: Abjuration and Spell Shield Buffs along with Protection from Fire and Cold, and he can do little but throw MMMs at me. I throw a Breach at him and wail on him. He has so many stoneskins that the elemental damage from the Flail of ages is what actually ends up killing him. The battle is easily won, thankfully. Humorously, his Teleport Field spell actually pulls me into a locked jail cell for a round, though fortunately it ports me out right after.
Now for Firkraag himself. I put up every buff I can muster, and I swap my Ring of Earth Control for a Ring of Fire Resistance to give myself over-100% Fire Resistance. I cast Improved Invisibility on myself for the bonus AC and saves (dragons can see through invisibility). I cast DUHM and ready PfMW. Improved Haste is at the ready. I attack him, making absolutely sure that Spell Immunity: Abjuration and Spell Shields are the last spells I cast before the fight. Strangely, he does not open with PfMW as in Vanilla. This is essential to victory, as I open with a flurry of blows that start to wear him down fast. He opens with a Remove Magic, but it flounders against my Spell Immunity. I cast Breach and get several hits in before he uses another Stoneskin. After a few more rounds, he tries to cast another Remove Magic, but the spell hasn't worn off yet. He tries to cast a breath weapons...and nothing. When is nearly dead, he actually tries to run away. I found this really funny - a dragon running away from a four-foot tall gnome. He can't get away...and he falls. The entire battle lasts maybe thirty seconds at most. As strange as this may sound, I think fighting him is actually easier on SCS than without it.
Bam. I run to sell my stuff and buy the Defender of Easthaven, which is going to be my last major item purchase for some time. I make a quick detour at Watcher's Keep to kill the four (on SCS) guardians who awaken when you disrupt the holy altar. Improved Haste made it sooooo easy. Disrupting the two extra cleric's spells is very easy, and they can't cast anything of value. coupled with PfMW and the statues die very quickly. An easy 80,000 XP.
Now to clear out the vampire's lair for yet more XP. I was doing well enough, even taking out Tanova (who proved to be quite a sticky, if ineffectual foe)...and it happened again. I was attacking the vampires in the room with the Mace of Disruption, and my character randomly disappears again. Once again getting a bogus "Game Over". I disregard it as before, but I find out that I have to kill all the vampires on the top floor again, including Tanova. Dammit.
I hack my way through the vampires a second time, this time without a hitch. Clearing out the lower floor is easy enough, but Lassal proves to be annoying. Not because he himself is difficult, but because he decided to go into bat form and invisible...and stay that way. He remained that way for so long that I had to rest before he would appear again. It's annoying, but nothing I can't overcome. I head to the room with Bodhi, wary about what happened the last time I faced her. Strangely, I hit her one time and she conceded. In hindsight, I wonder if it had something to do with the fact that I spoke to her while she was still porting in (I am not patient). Whatever, she's actually quite a pushover without the Improved Bodhi mod anyways. I speak to Aran Linvail, but I'm not heading for Spellhold just yet - I still have a few more quests to do. I open to Umar Hills, and my day's adventure ends there after nearly four hours of playing today (by saving, not by dying thankfully).
And that's about it. To reiterate I'll be streaming at the same time tomorrow - I hope to see a bunch of people there! I'll be taking on (some) of Umar Hills, and I will likely attempt to do the Planar Sphere as well as the Planar Prison tomorrow. If I manage to get through both alive, I will likely head out to Spellhold. Wish me luck.
I'm almost to the point of killing Firkraag - I've made my progress back even faster than before. I may try the Planar Sphere before attempting the prison, as having extra levels on the mages will also help if I wind up becoming vulnerable to a dispel.
How many times have you had to start over, @Bynary_Fission?
EDIT: Seventh if you include the two restarts in BG1.
I'll be streaming live tomorrow at noon PST (May 11th).
Their basic tactic is to remove your protections and then load damage against you (lots of Flame Arrows and Magic Missiles and some horrible sequencers such as 3 x Flame Arrows or 3 x Skull Trap. If more than one launches a sequencer at you at the same time it's usually curtains). As soon as your HPs are below 90 one of them will immediately hit you with PW Stun and it's game over.
My (relatively safe) tactic against them is to engage and let them use their Remove Magics. Then drink Invisibility and buff with Invulnerability and Freedom. If ever they dispel again you have to have to replace the Freedom at least. Let their PFMW expire while you are invisible and hit one of them with an Arrow of Dispelling. Wait a couple of seconds for Contingency Stoneskin and then hit them with another Arrow of Dispelling. At this stage you probably need to go invisible again and maybe heal if you got hit with damaging spells. Then break invisibility and attack the defenceless mage in melee. You can kill in 2-3 hits (1 with backstab). Then invisible again and repeat for the other 2 mages.
This is a bit slow but relatively safe...you're not vulnerable to PW Stun and you only spend 1 round at a time out of invisibility. You also keep your aura clear to drink invisibility if you ever get into trouble.
Next comes a Breach spell. Contigencies will ensure that they still have more Stoneskins to cast, but I use the Flail of Ages, whose elemental damage penetrates their stoneskins and disrupts any attempts of theirs to cast a spell. At this point, they are basically toast. Even with my Shield of Harmony equipped to stop their deadlier enchantment spells, I still get 5 APR with Improved Haste cast. Your technique sounds like how you would approach it if you weren't a mage, which is a reality too horrible for me to contemplate. I imagine it would be slow, given that they have layer after layer of defensive spells up...
I died a second time from a Phase Spider who poisoned me when I was at low health and my aura wasn't cleansed yet. Dang, I was getting a lot of really high-level spell scrolls that game too lol.
EDIT: The next stream will begin at the same time as before: noon PST on May 12th. Hope to see you all there!
And have pretty blue eyes.
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When my session began, I was faced with an internal dilemma: attempt the Planar Sphere or Planar Prison again, or just ship off to Spellhold and allow it to wait? Part of my problem lies in the fact that I am not of a high enough level to really take on the wizards. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, I chose to head off for Spellhold as soon as I finished kicking Firkraag's red scaly butt (again).
Clearing out the vampires on Bodhi's lair was easy enough. Tanova presented very little of a problem when I used True Sight + Breach on her. Improved Haste made quick work of her. The other vampires presented no issue either, and Lassal couldn't hide away this time, as True Sight exposed him in his hidden rat form. Bodhi was a complete pushover - evidently she's either ridiculously easy or ridiculously hard. Better the former than the latter on a no-reload run.
Ahh, the pirate's cove. The familiar salty smell of the sea awakens old memories of this place. Yes, this is among my favorite chapters of the game. I go about my usual method of reaching Spellhold itself: kill Perth. Only he's far more deadly in SCS. I got fortunate in that he cast Time Stop while I was off-screen in his house, he instead focused the majority of his spells on my summoned Flesh Golem. I lure him outside while I whittle away his spells, and he actually gets in a Remove Magic on me! I quickly cast Improved Invisibility and SI: Divination while I re-apply some buffs and wait for his to run out. Once his fire shield dissipated, the FoA took care of him quickly. While in the dream, I nearly had a big issue: Bhaal wasn't following me into the temple. It took a good 5 minutes of walking back and forth to get him to comply, something I haven't had happen before. I mean, it's the one time enemies don't follow me through doors...
I'm not dumb enough to install the "Remove Items at Spellhold" component, especially when it's filled with enemies that require magical weapons to hit. Therefore, getting through it is a cinch. I didn't bother with the Ring of Regeneration, as I don't use it and it doesn't sell for much. I do complete the quest involving the three gems, the Pit Fiend was scary but my SI: Abjuration was still active, so his attempt to remove my buffs failed. The lich in the room adjacent to Dace Sontan fell relatively easily, it was a matter of waiting for his SI: Abjuration to wear off, then I Breach him and use Improved Haste to quickly kill him. In reality, I was more concerned about the Greater Mummies, who in SCS are given a super-nausea that kills you in a matter of seconds. Thankfully, that didn't happen.
Now the lower floor. Nothing was really any more difficult as it was before, and the trolls still fall easily to my FoA, even the blasted Spirit Trolls. Collecting all the paintings and the tokens is a no-brainer - after all, they have the BOOTS OF SPEED. In lieu of the Planar Prison, you can get a pair here for the measly sum of 15 metal tokens. I had enough left over to get the Boots of Frost, which will sell for a nice bit of cash. I clear out the area and gladly copy down all the spell scrolls I find, including the massively useful Project Image and Simulacrum; the latter is like getting a second teammate. Bodhi is, naturally, a pathetic joke trying to take me on in the Slayer form. She crumbles as quickly as an iron sword in BG1, fleeing once again. I finish my session by completing the insanity tasks and saving right before the battle with Jon Irenicus. I'm a bit nervous as to how it will play out, since I haven't done it on SCS before. I have other saved games that I'll use as practice beforehand, hopefully it isn't too difficult. I now have level 8 spells at my disposal, so we'll see if I make it to the Underdark!
I will be streaming tomorrow at noon PST (May 14th).
Oh well. Back to square one, I guess.