Best Of
Re: The LoB + SCS Solo Challenge vs Bhaal´s Cataclysm
Hey fellow challengers! Not sure if anyone will still read this before the forums are down, but I Web Archived this thread (except for the current page). You can find it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20211108003911/https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/62202/the-lob-scs-solo-challenge-vs-bhaal-s-cataclysm/p219. This is just in case the forum migration takes unexpectedly long or something goes wrong. We were advised to save our favorite content after all.
I actually rolled a LG Dwarven Cleric of Helm this morning. She's currently trying to help Reevor with his rat problem in Candlekeep.
@XDarkStrikerX I think you're wise to look for a fighter/caster hybrid for a no-reload attempt at this challenge. These characters are simply much more versatile and powerful overall.
Honestly I'm not sure if I want to take my cleric through the saga alone or with a party. I'm somewhat intrigued by the challenge of creating an optimized party of exclusively single-class characters (in my case NPCs from the game that may or may not be customized through SCS's custimization tool). In LoB-optimized parties without this restriction, the only single classes commonly present are Archer and Skald. The others tend to be Kensai or Berserker duals, Fighter/Mage, Cleric/Ranger or Fighter/Cleric, and the like.
I wonder what an ideal party of single-classes for my Helmite cleric would look like. Candidates might include:
- Archer (Kivan/Corwin/Valygar)
- Dwarven Defender (Kagain/???/Korgan)
- Shadowdancer/Swashbuckler (Alora/Glint/Hexxat, or maybe just Imoen)
- Skald (Garrick/Voghiln/Haer'Dalis)
- Kensai (Rasaad)
- Dragon Disciple (Neera)
- Sorcerer (Dynaheir)
- Barbarian (Minsc or Shar-Teel)
I also consider including a few mods:
- Warden (Kale, one of Skitia's mods, a Halfling warrior who can temporarily boost Thac0 and damage of a comrade in arms, while nerfing his own but receiving some damage resistance in return)
- Militia Officer (a fighter kit by Raduziel which has some defensive abilities and offensive buffs that can be activated)
I have some experience playing old LoB (without the enemy boost to AC) as well the previous form with the saves bug, but almost none playing the latest and hardest version of LoB. It probably explains why I find it hard to think of the best team of single classes.
Anyhow, I might post over at https://tavernrpg.com, where some folks from the Beamdog forums have moved, including @alice_ashpool (who has been active in teh LoB challenge as well).
Yeah now I know a cleric can't beat a cavalier. But I am still very excited, can't wait to see Blackraven start a PoH, or may be I start a PoL myself. Too bad the forum is going down soon so I will have to wait.
I actually rolled a LG Dwarven Cleric of Helm this morning. She's currently trying to help Reevor with his rat problem in Candlekeep.
XDarkStrikerX wrote: »I am pretty unmotivated towards low odds approaches at the moment however especially that i tried more NR than new characters recently, i'm going to find it hard to step away from a class without any fighter or mage abilities in the end due to that for this challenge.
@XDarkStrikerX I think you're wise to look for a fighter/caster hybrid for a no-reload attempt at this challenge. These characters are simply much more versatile and powerful overall.
Honestly I'm not sure if I want to take my cleric through the saga alone or with a party. I'm somewhat intrigued by the challenge of creating an optimized party of exclusively single-class characters (in my case NPCs from the game that may or may not be customized through SCS's custimization tool). In LoB-optimized parties without this restriction, the only single classes commonly present are Archer and Skald. The others tend to be Kensai or Berserker duals, Fighter/Mage, Cleric/Ranger or Fighter/Cleric, and the like.
I wonder what an ideal party of single-classes for my Helmite cleric would look like. Candidates might include:
- Archer (Kivan/Corwin/Valygar)
- Dwarven Defender (Kagain/???/Korgan)
- Shadowdancer/Swashbuckler (Alora/Glint/Hexxat, or maybe just Imoen)
- Skald (Garrick/Voghiln/Haer'Dalis)
- Kensai (Rasaad)
- Dragon Disciple (Neera)
- Sorcerer (Dynaheir)
- Barbarian (Minsc or Shar-Teel)
I also consider including a few mods:
- Warden (Kale, one of Skitia's mods, a Halfling warrior who can temporarily boost Thac0 and damage of a comrade in arms, while nerfing his own but receiving some damage resistance in return)
- Militia Officer (a fighter kit by Raduziel which has some defensive abilities and offensive buffs that can be activated)
I have some experience playing old LoB (without the enemy boost to AC) as well the previous form with the saves bug, but almost none playing the latest and hardest version of LoB. It probably explains why I find it hard to think of the best team of single classes.
Anyhow, I might post over at https://tavernrpg.com, where some folks from the Beamdog forums have moved, including @alice_ashpool (who has been active in teh LoB challenge as well).
Re: Contest: Gotta Scalp 'Em All
I just hit 128. And that's on my current unmodded run; my usual collection of mods adds scalps to a bunch of enemies that act as bandits but don't drop them normally.
That does include a ten-bandit ambush in chapter 7, as I was traveling around getting the best prices on selling things after Durlag's Tower.
That does include a ten-bandit ambush in chapter 7, as I was traveling around getting the best prices on selling things after Durlag's Tower.
jmerry
2
Re: The LoB + SCS Solo Challenge vs Bhaal´s Cataclysm
I can confirm the the 15% hp reduction doesn't work on main hand weapons if MMS is used in the offhand, so it is limited to setting a level drained character HP to 1. Also Bel tend to focus on summons rather than the main character, as i tried a few things on my F/I using Myconids, Stone ally and Water elementals which gives me hope for a backstabbing cleric thief one day... The window of opportunity is ridiculously small still as the summons get crushed pretty fast, enough for 2 backstabs at the most if you're lucky. Still if mixed with the regular buff & smash tactic, it could even the odds i think after a few hours of tries, it's not like i never did that before I am pretty unmotivated towards low odds approaches at the moment however especially that i tried more NR than new characters recently, i'm going to find it hard to step away from a class without any fighter or mage abilities in the end due to that for this challenge.
An approach that clerics can take is to attempt the level drain approach for the camp ambush. However i don't think that surviving that last level drain hit would be that simple as i used Stoneskin on my first failed sorcerer run to avoid the damage. This makes any Bard a very good choice in the end, probably better than any thief in the long run with a cheese method available at pretty much any moment during the run and ridiculously long lasting buff spells.
Other great classes that i would like to try for it eventually (probably during the next year) would be Druids. I always liked Fighter/Druids but i'm sure that many dual classed Druid or Fighter kits would be awesome choices in the end. I've had the OG Ranger/Cleric in sight for a while.
See you in a few weeks!
I am pretty unmotivated towards low odds approaches at the moment however especially that i tried more NR than new characters recently, i'm going to find it hard to step away from a class without any fighter or mage abilities in the end due to that for this challenge.An approach that clerics can take is to attempt the level drain approach for the camp ambush. However i don't think that surviving that last level drain hit would be that simple as i used Stoneskin on my first failed sorcerer run to avoid the damage. This makes any Bard a very good choice in the end, probably better than any thief in the long run with a cheese method available at pretty much any moment during the run and ridiculously long lasting buff spells.
Other great classes that i would like to try for it eventually (probably during the next year) would be Druids. I always liked Fighter/Druids but i'm sure that many dual classed Druid or Fighter kits would be awesome choices in the end. I've had the OG Ranger/Cleric in sight for a while.
See you in a few weeks!
Re: "Maybe this time" [NO-RELOAD THREAD]: "The Tale of ONE MILLION visions"
...but v2.6 seems to have changed the behavior of grease considerably and Lothander was able to nip to the stairs before we could target him.
Grease was changed in 2.6 - but it appears to work essentially the same as it did before anyway. Which isn't particularly close to what's in the description.
How it actually works: as long as the overlay exists, everyone in it saves once per round. If a save succeeds, nothing happens. If a save fails, that creature is slowed to speed 1 for the full N+3 rounds. Saving in a future round does not remove the effect, and the slow effect will often persist well after the active spell on the ground expires.
If you're trying to slow down Lothander so you can kill him, you need to wait until he fails a save before talking. Without that failed save, he's at full speed and will get away.
There were two changes made in 2.6. First, the sound effect that played every round for everyone in the area (whether they saved or not) was removed. Second, a "remove effects by resource" effect was added. If you save, it's supposed to clear up any existing Grease effects now and let you move normally. In my testing, this does not appear to work.
jmerry
4
Re: "Maybe this time" [NO-RELOAD THREAD]: "The Tale of ONE MILLION visions"
Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 226, Core rules + unmodded (update 2)
Sonja (female gnome thief, Grond0); Trindus (male human skald, Gate70)
Previous updates
Today's session saw us pushing our luck - but it held out, making it an enjoyable session
.
The first action saw us in the Nashkel Mines, where Mulahey was wounded by skull trap before Sonja sneaked in for a backstab - finding a critical which would have one-shotted Mulahey anyway ...
Outside the mine the first comedy of errors moment occurred against the Amazons. Trindus threw in a blind and web combination before shouting to Sonja "all yours". That was intended to signal she could start shooting, but instead the fearless foolish leader moved forward - getting stuck in the web just as Trindus launched a skull trap
. Fortunately halfling saves trumped human ones and Sonja was the first to recover movement.
Nimbul was backstabbed and Tranzig treated to a couple of traps to open up the route to the Bandit Camp. Early progress there was pretty good, with Taurgosz getting stuck in a web and most of the bandits cut down. However, that bred a bit of over-confidence in Sonja and she attacked a group of 4 bandits near the tent - successfully backstabbing one of them, but having to hastily resort to an invisibility potion as the retaliation poured in.
Tazok's tent was straightforward though, with web doing the heavy lifting there.
The Cloakwood passed relatively uneventfully, with Sonja able to disarm the web traps in the spider area. Trindus did get poisoned by an ettercap there, but explained that was simply to allow Sonja to try out her newly acquired Bhaal slow poison. At the Cloakwood Mine Genthore was blinded before a web and traps quickly sorted out the mages. Drasus though survived the web and there was a potentially nasty period when he was chasing hot on the heels of Sonja. She managed to avoid any attacks though until Trindus offered an alternative target to give Sonja a chance at a backstab.
In the mine the comedy of errors spawned a new chapter when we attacked a ghast. Sonja edged to the side of it to allow her to get a backstab as it chased after a retreating skald - or so she thought. Meanwhile, the aforesaid skald had decided to stand firm in order to allow Sonja the time to get behind th ghast for a backstab. The net result of that was that Sonja's attack hit - but was not a backstab - leaving Trindus paralyzed. Fortunately Sonja managed a quick killing shot with her bow before the ghast could do further damage.
Downstairs, we spent a bit of time activating the battle horrors and dealing with them using backstabs and the odd frost wand blast. Then it was time for Davaeorn. He'd already taken a bit of skull trap damage and seemed likely to expire in a couple of traps set on his landing zone - but a backstab meant he failed to get even that far.
We did most of our normal encounters in Baldur's Gate, mainly without too much incident. One exception was the ogre mage in the sewers, which looked likely to cause trouble when it followed a carrion crawler in chase of Trindus and grinned happily as Trindus once more froze in place. Sonja managed to turn the tables on the crawler with the help of one of the 5 darts of stunning she'd been carrying, but the ogre mage saved against the same fate and Sonja didn't fancy the odds as a summoned ogrillon joined the foes. That caused her to dive into her backpack and fish around for a particularly spicy curry powder she's been saving for just this sort of occasion.
The final action was doing the poison quest, with the aim of getting Sonja a decent bow at last. She had hoped to get some boots of speed from Lothander as well, but v2.6 seems to have changed the behavior of grease considerably and Lothander was able to nip to the stairs before we could target him. There was no escape for Marek though, who failed to register the danger as Trindus crooned "she's behind you".
Thief 8, 46 HPs, 181 kills
Skald 8, 57 HPs, 124 kills, 0 deaths
Sonja (female gnome thief, Grond0); Trindus (male human skald, Gate70)
Previous updates
Today's session saw us pushing our luck - but it held out, making it an enjoyable session
.The first action saw us in the Nashkel Mines, where Mulahey was wounded by skull trap before Sonja sneaked in for a backstab - finding a critical which would have one-shotted Mulahey anyway ...
Outside the mine the first comedy of errors moment occurred against the Amazons. Trindus threw in a blind and web combination before shouting to Sonja "all yours". That was intended to signal she could start shooting, but instead the fearless foolish leader moved forward - getting stuck in the web just as Trindus launched a skull trap
. Fortunately halfling saves trumped human ones and Sonja was the first to recover movement.
Nimbul was backstabbed and Tranzig treated to a couple of traps to open up the route to the Bandit Camp. Early progress there was pretty good, with Taurgosz getting stuck in a web and most of the bandits cut down. However, that bred a bit of over-confidence in Sonja and she attacked a group of 4 bandits near the tent - successfully backstabbing one of them, but having to hastily resort to an invisibility potion as the retaliation poured in.
The Cloakwood passed relatively uneventfully, with Sonja able to disarm the web traps in the spider area. Trindus did get poisoned by an ettercap there, but explained that was simply to allow Sonja to try out her newly acquired Bhaal slow poison. At the Cloakwood Mine Genthore was blinded before a web and traps quickly sorted out the mages. Drasus though survived the web and there was a potentially nasty period when he was chasing hot on the heels of Sonja. She managed to avoid any attacks though until Trindus offered an alternative target to give Sonja a chance at a backstab.
In the mine the comedy of errors spawned a new chapter when we attacked a ghast. Sonja edged to the side of it to allow her to get a backstab as it chased after a retreating skald - or so she thought. Meanwhile, the aforesaid skald had decided to stand firm in order to allow Sonja the time to get behind th ghast for a backstab. The net result of that was that Sonja's attack hit - but was not a backstab - leaving Trindus paralyzed. Fortunately Sonja managed a quick killing shot with her bow before the ghast could do further damage.
Downstairs, we spent a bit of time activating the battle horrors and dealing with them using backstabs and the odd frost wand blast. Then it was time for Davaeorn. He'd already taken a bit of skull trap damage and seemed likely to expire in a couple of traps set on his landing zone - but a backstab meant he failed to get even that far.
We did most of our normal encounters in Baldur's Gate, mainly without too much incident. One exception was the ogre mage in the sewers, which looked likely to cause trouble when it followed a carrion crawler in chase of Trindus and grinned happily as Trindus once more froze in place. Sonja managed to turn the tables on the crawler with the help of one of the 5 darts of stunning she'd been carrying, but the ogre mage saved against the same fate and Sonja didn't fancy the odds as a summoned ogrillon joined the foes. That caused her to dive into her backpack and fish around for a particularly spicy curry powder she's been saving for just this sort of occasion.
The final action was doing the poison quest, with the aim of getting Sonja a decent bow at last. She had hoped to get some boots of speed from Lothander as well, but v2.6 seems to have changed the behavior of grease considerably and Lothander was able to nip to the stairs before we could target him. There was no escape for Marek though, who failed to register the danger as Trindus crooned "she's behind you".
Thief 8, 46 HPs, 181 kills
Skald 8, 57 HPs, 124 kills, 0 deaths
Grond0
5
Re: "Maybe this time" [NO-RELOAD THREAD]: "The Tale of ONE MILLION visions"
After the death of my half orc shaman in SoD (Volghin thought singing near a sleeping green dragon was a good idea), I decided to continue with him on a minimal reload run. He's now in ToB.
Meanwhile, I just began a new run with an half elf avenger named Deirdre, from BG1 to hopefully ToB.
Strenght : 9
Dexterity : 18
Constitution : 15
Intelligence : 8
Wisdom : 18
Charisma : 18 (now 19)
So : unmodded game, insane difficulty (no additional damage).
The party was initially Imoen, Ajantis, Branwen, Minsc and Dynaheir, but I swapped Imoen for Coran, and Branwen for Yeslick.
Minsc died three times already, and at level 1 my avenger nearly died from a Xvart hit...
A random encounter with 4 ettercaps was difficult, as was the hamadryad who charmed Branwen and held Ajantis and Minsc. Luckily, a web was successful to prevent Branwen killing them.
Deirdre is now level 6, in the Cloackwood mine.
I play her like a mage, and so far she's better than Dynaheir : no need to scribe scrolls, twice the hit points, better AC, better Thac0...
The usual web, silence, hold person and horror is perfect against any party, at least until now.
Davaeorn will be the first true challenge.
Next update I will post some screenshots.
Meanwhile, I just began a new run with an half elf avenger named Deirdre, from BG1 to hopefully ToB.
Strenght : 9
Dexterity : 18
Constitution : 15
Intelligence : 8
Wisdom : 18
Charisma : 18 (now 19)
So : unmodded game, insane difficulty (no additional damage).
The party was initially Imoen, Ajantis, Branwen, Minsc and Dynaheir, but I swapped Imoen for Coran, and Branwen for Yeslick.
Minsc died three times already, and at level 1 my avenger nearly died from a Xvart hit...
A random encounter with 4 ettercaps was difficult, as was the hamadryad who charmed Branwen and held Ajantis and Minsc. Luckily, a web was successful to prevent Branwen killing them.
Deirdre is now level 6, in the Cloackwood mine.
I play her like a mage, and so far she's better than Dynaheir : no need to scribe scrolls, twice the hit points, better AC, better Thac0...
The usual web, silence, hold person and horror is perfect against any party, at least until now.
Davaeorn will be the first true challenge.
Next update I will post some screenshots.
Trouveur
4
Re: Question on NPCs I used in BGEE but did not import
It will be the same Dorn. At the same level you left him, with all the same proficiencies and such.
Re: [mod] Eilistraee's Song
IIRC, that part of the mod is well... not really well made. I am planning on taking a look at old bugs in my old mods, so yeah, that process will include this mod. Thanks for letting me know, it makes me think someone remembers about the fact this mod adds a kit :P However, I would advice to avoid taking it until the matter if fixed. It is on my list, so... just give me a moment so I could deal with some other updates and releases first. Not too many, though, I kinda hope to take a look at it this year
