Amin Humbledow was pleased: his Lathander-given powers helped him accomplish more and more good deeds. For instance retrieving a ring for Joia at the FAI; or the body of a farmer's son in the nest of nasty green beasts further north. His charitable reputation was now well established this side of the Sword Coast (rep=18).
He finally reached the village of Ulgoth's Beard and puchased several interesting items at the local inn: - a greenstone amulet - a wand of the heavens - several divine magic scrolls
Broke, he travelled back to Beregost without any problem. He requested to see his superior Keldath Ormlyr and announced him that he was now ready to face Bassilus. As Amin left, Keldath called in all his priests, monks and followers and requested they unite in prayer and beg for the Morning Lord to guide the hobbit to victory.
Amin knew where the evil cleric was hiding; as he approached the site he stumbled upon a group of hobgoblins. He charmed their leader Zardral (using a Domination scroll purchased at U'sB) who proceeded to kill his own archers. This however backfired a little later; Amin was now right next to the evil ritual site, Zardral attacked a skeleton and then suddenly... the charm faded. Zardral was promptly held and killed, but the attack on the skellie led Bassilus himself to dash out, already hostile, and immediately: Incantus spiritu...
Oh dear: probably a Hold Person on its way. Was Amin's aura clear? let's hope so. Greenstone amulet->some lagging->mindshield, basically 1 second before the spell landed. Saved again, but another very close call for the hobbit. The mindshield provided a few rounds to take down the ennemy. First a fireball softened him and killed a few of his undead. Silence however, failed; Amin proceeded with a quick Doom and gave the decisive blow with the Wand of the Heavens (29 dmg). All this time, the cleric had nothing to say that could go through Amin's mindshield - he should have summoned undead or engaged in melee, rather.
a few bullets finished off Bassilus. Mr Humbledow had done it!
The news broke out in Beregost and the joy was everywhere in the little town. Keldath Ormlyr marched through the streets in a large procession in the name of the Morning Lord. Several newborns of all races were blessed. It was a miracle: the youngest of his priests, ordinated in his clergy only a few weeks ago, had done alone what the soldiers of the Fist had failed to do for the past months. There would be no more loved ones disappearing at night to join the undead army of Bassilus; Good had prevailed against Evil.
Amin rested in town, and in the morning after his prayers as he equipped his dear Armor of the Morning Praise, he noticed that it strengthened him even more than usual.
The armor now required WIS 17 to be worn, and provided a max HP bonus of +4 (vs +2 before the Bassilus subquest).
The hobbit-priest informed his superior that he would travel south for a while and help the Nashkel folks with their mine troubles. Keldath wished him well, and requested he be back soon for there would be another mission to be accomplished for Lathander... oh and before leaving, Mr Humbledow deposited an anonymous bag at the nearby vestibule, a donation for charity. Inside were 5,000 gp...
@ Ignatius - great story - did you actually stumble on Zardral & Company - or was that an intentional "stumble" - if intentional it was certainly a "bold move" as Dorn would say - what level is Amin now?
@ Ignatius - great story - did you actually stumble on Zardral & Company - or was that an intentional "stumble" - if intentional it was certainly a "bold move" as Dorn would say - what level is Amin now?
Unintentional and my mistake. I was navigating through the map under sanctuary, admiring trees and trying to figure out which was the best angle of attack on the ritual site; I moved just a little bit too much west, Zardral appeared and right there my sanctuary finished so conversation started. That's when the thought of charming him occurred to me, and my initial battle plan was hence completely changed. After he finished off his own pair of archers, I suspected the charm would soon fade but spotted a non-hostile skellie who was wandering way north of Bassilus' site; I thought Zardral might just have enough time to kill him. Error. I was soon facing Zardral + the skeleton, and suddenly after I had finished off the former, here comes Bassilus dashing out from the fog of war. Had my aura not been clear to activate the greenstone amulet, I would have had to make a save vs hold person or lose the game...
Amin is lvl.5 (25k XP). He is in Mulahey's lair, about to confront the half-orc.
I'll try to do a proper update for Alessandro, my evil Jester, soon. He's now Level 4 and has picked up Safana (at level 4), and she successfully looted the Flesh Golem cave. Some other stuff has happened too, of course.
Amin Humbledow was ambushed south of Nashkel by a large group of 7 bandits. As he was reaching for an invisibility potion, a warrior of tall stature appeared and wacked his broad sword left and right. Amin helped in with the wand of sleep, but was happy when Dorn-il-Khan left: there was something deeply evil about him.
Our hobbit is starting to mature nicely. He waltzed through the Nashkel mines and stunned Mulahey in his lair with fireball->Doom->Hold Person. Check mate.
Back in town there was once again, someone waiting for him. To get his scalp. Amin immediately cast prot. vs fear, summoned a skeleton and when Nimbul was silenced the fight was over.
Mr Humbledow is now a proud lvl.6 priest who got himself a nice little reputation north and south of the Sword Coast.
I'll try to do a proper update for Alessandro, my evil Jester, soon. He's now Level 4 and has picked up Safana (at level 4), and she successfully looted the Flesh Golem cave. Some other stuff has happened too, of course.
NB: I ended up doing the cave with Safana, using a Potion of Perception (raised Find Traps to 65%) and my Jester casting Invisbility on her (no Potion of Speed used), she managed to find and disable both traps on the left-hand route, grab the loot, then drink a potion of invisibilty and leave safely, though she kept on pausing after collecting the Con tome, as wants to initiate conversation with CHARNAME, who ins't there, so took ages to get back to him.
BTW after doing this, as an experiment I tried doing the same, but without the Potion of Perception (so 45% Find Traps) - she missed the first trap on the left, which cast Hold on her, but when this ran out she was still invisible and managed to find and disabled the second trap. I think it's probably safest on this sort of run to use the potion, though.
You are making me a huge Amin fanboy, @Ignatius! I love to play gnomes/halflings/dwarves too and I like what you are doing with it and how you tell it here. Reminds me of some great Civilization V-topics (playthroughs).
You are making me a huge Amin fanboy, @Ignatius! I love to play gnomes/halflings/dwarves too and I like what you are doing with it and how you tell it here. Reminds me of some great Civilization V-topics (playthroughs).
That's very kind of you to say @LukevanV, thank you. And btw, I am also a long time civ fan (although due to old age I got stuck on civ3...).
The continued adventures of Amin Humbledow (3), the solo LG Halfling Priest of Lathander.
Tranzig had to be confronted for his participation in the evil organization that threatens the region. But when Amin engaged him, with the help of a summoned skeleton, the mage would not go down easily. He saved once vs silence and twice vs hold person (!), and it was the skeleton, the hobbit's sling and the Wand of Heavens that brought him down.
Here is a snapshot of Amin Humbledow's backpack before another trip south (and don't tell him I showed you, he takes his intimacy very seriously, like most halflings).
And so our priest wandered in the wilderness, having heard of a formidable fortress in the deep south. "Nice village you got there lads but I think I'll take the tour another day if ya don't mind..."
Now Mr Humbledow is a courageous fellow. That's right. But there is one creature that freaks him out and which he refuses to get anywhere too close: Amin is scared of Ogres. This is him picking up the pieces of hobgoblin archers who fell due a Glyph of Warding, but there is no way he would even think of engaging those huge berserkers with his small mace.
Amin has now reached the stronghold and admires an impressive view from the other bank of the river. As long as it is not inhabited by ogres...
The continued adventures of Amin Humbledow (3), the solo LG Halfling Priest of Lathander.
Tranzig had to be confronted for his participation in the evil organization that threatens the region. But when Amin engaged him, with the help of a summoned skeleton, the mage would not go down easily. He saved once vs silence and twice vs hold person (!), and it was the skeleton, the hobbit's sling and the Wand of Heavens that brought him down.
Here is a snapshot of Amin Humbledow's backpack before another trip south (and don't tell him I showed you, he takes his intimacy very seriously, like most halflings).
And so our priest wandered in the wilderness, having heard of a formidable fortress in the deep south. "Nice village you got there lads but I think I'll take the tour another day if ya don't mind..."
Did you create the Ioun Stone for your character? I don't remember there being any in BG1, but I've not read every single post on this thread...
@Oxford_Guy: yes I did. If you scroll back to p.8 of this thread, I have shown both of Amin's personal items. The armor and the ioun stone. The latter so far, only provides protection vs critical hits like a regular helmet - but it will be upgraded at some point, based on a quest completion.
Now I said Amin had a deep fear of ogres, but he will happily fight toe-to-toe with a bunch of ogrillons...
The priest visited a few caves, but when at the entrance of what was obviously a gnoll-inhabited fortress, he thought there were better ways to serve Lathander and turned back to Nashkel.
Back in town he read the tome he had just found, which increased his CHA to 13.
Mini update on Alessandro - invisible Jester + Bardsong in Landrin's house = confused spiders poisoning each other, just had to finish the last one off myself. :-)
Tried one of these today. Did a 6-PC party by creating a game in multiplayer and moving the save to single player. Spent a few hours clearing out the western side of the map. Decided "Why not go clear out the Basilisk map east of the Temple? I can use Mirrored-eyes potions to stay alive." Well, turns out I have terrible timing as to how long a turn lasts and got my Bhaalspawn petrified. Would have used a Protection from Petrification spell, but the group was a Cavalier, an Archer, 2 Berserkers, and 2 Kensais, the fighters to be dualed to a Cleric, Druid, Thief, and Mage later.
Decided to keep playing after that because I just dropped a few hours in to the group. Skipped the Basilisks and made it to Baldur's Gate, where I subsequently got myself a death by Lothander's poison because I ate the Book of Wisdom and thought I could kill Lothander for his half and then down Marek for his.
Alessandro's(my Jester) has just done some shopping at the Inn in Ulgoth's Beard - how safe (though no big spoilers please, I've forgetten much about the "later" areas in BG, and see this as a good thing!) is the rest of that map to explore or is it best to head back South asap? I'm level 4 currently.
My first and so far only no-reload attempt ended in the Bandit Camp. That was a few years ago, and not in the EE version though. If I recall correctly, I had a bit of trouble and ended up losing a bunch of gear in either Peldvale or Larswood when trying to get to the guys that allow you to "join" the bandits. In the end I ended up having to just enter the camp directly, and failed.
I really should try again at some point solo, or at least using only part-thief characters.
My first and so far only no-reload attempt ended in the Bandit Camp. That was a few years ago, and not in the EE version though. If I recall correctly, I had a bit of trouble and ended up losing a bunch of gear in either Peldvale or Larswood when trying to get to the guys that allow you to "join" the bandits. In the end I ended up having to just enter the camp directly, and failed.
I really should try again at some point solo, or at least using only part-thief characters.
Tip for Larswood and "joining" the bandits:
All you have to do in Larswood is have someone with 15+ Str talk to Teven and say "It's a bloodthirst job...", then after impressing Tazok you're given freedom to investigate the camp
My first and so far only no-reload attempt ended in the Bandit Camp. That was a few years ago, and not in the EE version though. If I recall correctly, I had a bit of trouble and ended up losing a bunch of gear in either Peldvale or Larswood when trying to get to the guys that allow you to "join" the bandits. In the end I ended up having to just enter the camp directly, and failed.
I really should try again at some point solo, or at least using only part-thief characters.
I'm doing an almost solo duo run with a Jester CHARNAME and just Safana (Thief), which is working out okay so far, but the lack of strong melee capabilities may be problematic later.
Brief update on Scimitar Sam & Co. from the Minimal reload No Rez thread - (still no reloads and only two NPC deaths - Imoen & Dorn) :
Did Garricks quest but didn't speak to him afterwards so he should continue to level until I pick him up -picked up MInsc and found his witch for him - rescued a cat - grabbed a couple magical Halbreds - wiped out an entire Xvart village and bear den - Sam used the charisma tome (now 19) - didn't enter the map north of Gnoll fort yet - went right back to Nashkel after clearing fort. Everyone is level 4 atm. (Kivan, Branwen, Minsc, Dyna, & Sam)
Next session will have to decide whether to grab Edwin now or adventure with Minsc & Dyna for a while and let him level some more - probably time to do the mines soon but will have to pick up Jahs/Khalid and Monty/Xzar first and either take them along or stash them someplace or they will disappear and be unavailable if I need them later.
BTW am thinking of using Shadowkeep to change my Jester's weapon proficiencies from dagger / SWF to staff / THF, would this "disqualify" Alessandro from the no reload challenge? Piercing-only damage is not ideal for a near solo run, it was okay on Nefti, my illusionist/thief, who gets a ton of spells (and backstab), but is hard for a Jester... So instead of Alessandro going for the Dagger of Venom (which he's not bought yet) would go for the +3 Quarter Staff from Ulgoth's Beard
The only "disqualifing" condition is the death of your character. I don't think that using the Shadowkeeper that way - to change his proficiencies - is illegal. You don't add anything OP, you just change your own mind. By the way, it's a great idea. I've always been fond of staves in BG, expecially in BG2. It's so cool to see your character dealing with Sarevok - the mighty Sarevok - with a stick.
The only "disqualifing" condition is the death of your character. I don't think that using the Shadowkeeper that way - to change his proficiencies - is illegal. You don't add anything OP, you just change your own mind. By the way, it's a great idea. I've always been fond of staves in BG, expecially in BG2. It's so cool to see your character dealing with Sarevok - the mighty Sarevok - with a stick.
Actually, decided to go daggers / shortbows / staff and then maybe SWF / 2HWF at level 8. Or Katanas (to prepare for BG2) :-)
Now, I have a choice of using either the +3 staff or the +2 dagger of venom (when I can afford it) in melee, depending on the enemies encountered (e.g. the latter vs. spellcasters, the former vs. most else), just missing out on the extra crit chance etc. Also means I have dagger proficiency for Werebane.
Better this way from the game persective too, as I could've take staff at level 4, which I've not been at for long.
Safana has Scimitars / Darts / SWF, will then likely go crossbows at level 8, for the Light Crossbow of Speed. My Jester will steal one of Drizzt's +3 Scimitars for her soon, probably at level 5 + a potion (or two?) of mastery thievery...
I will in future, but I thought that the forum saved a draft of your text, but in this case I did something that meant it saved an accidental edit instead :-(
Argh! I just wrote an epic update for Alessandro and Safana, then accidently deleted it - Noooo! :-(
I did that the other day - this forum gives you the option to save a draft but doesn't save them automatically - the PE forums auto-saves it every few minutes I think.
Here's an update on Sam from the minimal reload no rez thread.
Scimitar Sam conducted a job fair today -picked up Edwin and then dropped Minsc & Dyna in front of the Nashkel Inn to watch Rasaad perform. Sam, Branwen, Kivan, and Edwin then headed up towards FAI picking up Xzar and Monty along the way. At FAI they dropped Kivan and Branwen who decided to get a room together and picked Jahs & Khalid and headed back to Nashkel where they dropped off Xzar and Monty to entertain the crowd that was forming and took Rasaad to the Nashkel mines with them.
Cleared the mines recruited Xan and took out the adventurers waiting for them at the back exit and returned to Nashkel to exchange loot and draw straws to see who goes on the next safari and where it might take them. Sam spent some time working on his back-stab in the mines and it is shaping up nicely.
No reloads and no more NPC deaths yet.
Khalid and Edwin are sniping at one another and I suspect they may come to blows if I keep them together - the party rep is at 15 so I might lose Edwin if I drop him right now so perhaps I'll drop off the more goody two shoes types and take some of low-lifes along for a while and go terrorize the coastline.
Comments
He finally reached the village of Ulgoth's Beard and puchased several interesting items at the local inn:
- a greenstone amulet
- a wand of the heavens
- several divine magic scrolls
Broke, he travelled back to Beregost without any problem. He requested to see his superior Keldath Ormlyr and announced him that he was now ready to face Bassilus. As Amin left, Keldath called in all his priests, monks and followers and requested they unite in prayer and beg for the Morning Lord to guide the hobbit to victory.
Oh dear: probably a Hold Person on its way. Was Amin's aura clear? let's hope so. Greenstone amulet->some lagging->mindshield, basically 1 second before the spell landed. Saved again, but another very close call for the hobbit. The mindshield provided a few rounds to take down the ennemy. First a fireball softened him and killed a few of his undead. Silence however, failed; Amin proceeded with a quick Doom and gave the decisive blow with the Wand of the Heavens (29 dmg). All this time, the cleric had nothing to say that could go through Amin's mindshield - he should have summoned undead or engaged in melee, rather.
a few bullets finished off Bassilus. Mr Humbledow had done it!
Amin rested in town, and in the morning after his prayers as he equipped his dear Armor of the Morning Praise, he noticed that it strengthened him even more than usual.
The armor now required WIS 17 to be worn, and provided a max HP bonus of +4 (vs +2 before the Bassilus subquest).
The hobbit-priest informed his superior that he would travel south for a while and help the Nashkel folks with their mine troubles. Keldath wished him well, and requested he be back soon for there would be another mission to be accomplished for Lathander... oh and before leaving, Mr Humbledow deposited an anonymous bag at the nearby vestibule, a donation for charity. Inside were 5,000 gp...
Amin is lvl.5 (25k XP). He is in Mulahey's lair, about to confront the half-orc.
Our hobbit is starting to mature nicely. He waltzed through the Nashkel mines and stunned Mulahey in his lair with fireball->Doom->Hold Person. Check mate.
Back in town there was once again, someone waiting for him. To get his scalp. Amin immediately cast prot. vs fear, summoned a skeleton and when Nimbul was silenced the fight was over.
Mr Humbledow is now a proud lvl.6 priest who got himself a nice little reputation north and south of the Sword Coast.
BTW after doing this, as an experiment I tried doing the same, but without the Potion of Perception (so 45% Find Traps) - she missed the first trap on the left, which cast Hold on her, but when this ran out she was still invisible and managed to find and disabled the second trap. I think it's probably safest on this sort of run to use the potion, though.
Tranzig had to be confronted for his participation in the evil organization that threatens the region. But when Amin engaged him, with the help of a summoned skeleton, the mage would not go down easily. He saved once vs silence and twice vs hold person (!), and it was the skeleton, the hobbit's sling and the Wand of Heavens that brought him down.
Here is a snapshot of Amin Humbledow's backpack before another trip south (and don't tell him I showed you, he takes his intimacy very seriously, like most halflings).
And so our priest wandered in the wilderness, having heard of a formidable fortress in the deep south. "Nice village you got there lads but I think I'll take the tour another day if ya don't mind..."
Now Mr Humbledow is a courageous fellow. That's right. But there is one creature that freaks him out and which he refuses to get anywhere too close: Amin is scared of Ogres. This is him picking up the pieces of hobgoblin archers who fell due a Glyph of Warding, but there is no way he would even think of engaging those huge berserkers with his small mace.
Amin has now reached the stronghold and admires an impressive view from the other bank of the river. As long as it is not inhabited by ogres...
The priest visited a few caves, but when at the entrance of what was obviously a gnoll-inhabited fortress, he thought there were better ways to serve Lathander and turned back to Nashkel.
Back in town he read the tome he had just found, which increased his CHA to 13.
Decided to keep playing after that because I just dropped a few hours in to the group. Skipped the Basilisks and made it to Baldur's Gate, where I subsequently got myself a death by Lothander's poison because I ate the Book of Wisdom and thought I could kill Lothander for his half and then down Marek for his.
Nope.
I really should try again at some point solo, or at least using only part-thief characters.
All you have to do in Larswood is have someone with 15+ Str talk to Teven and say "It's a bloodthirst job...", then after impressing Tazok you're given freedom to investigate the camp
Did Garricks quest but didn't speak to him afterwards so he should continue to level until I pick him up -picked up MInsc and found his witch for him - rescued a cat - grabbed a couple magical Halbreds - wiped out an entire Xvart village and bear den - Sam used the charisma tome (now 19) - didn't enter the map north of Gnoll fort yet - went right back to Nashkel after clearing fort. Everyone is level 4 atm. (Kivan, Branwen, Minsc, Dyna, & Sam)
Next session will have to decide whether to grab Edwin now or adventure with Minsc & Dyna for a while and let him level some more - probably time to do the mines soon but will have to pick up Jahs/Khalid and Monty/Xzar first and either take them along or stash them someplace or they will disappear and be unavailable if I need them later.
Now, I have a choice of using either the +3 staff or the +2 dagger of venom (when I can afford it) in melee, depending on the enemies encountered (e.g. the latter vs. spellcasters, the former vs. most else), just missing out on the extra crit chance etc. Also means I have dagger proficiency for Werebane.
Better this way from the game persective too, as I could've take staff at level 4, which I've not been at for long.
Safana has Scimitars / Darts / SWF, will then likely go crossbows at level 8, for the Light Crossbow of Speed. My Jester will steal one of Drizzt's +3 Scimitars for her soon, probably at level 5 + a potion (or two?) of mastery thievery...
Here's an update on Sam from the minimal reload no rez thread.
Scimitar Sam conducted a job fair today -picked up Edwin and then dropped Minsc & Dyna in front of the Nashkel Inn to watch Rasaad perform. Sam, Branwen, Kivan, and Edwin then headed up towards FAI picking up Xzar and Monty along the way. At FAI they dropped Kivan and Branwen who decided to get a room together and picked Jahs & Khalid and headed back to Nashkel where they dropped off Xzar and Monty to entertain the crowd that was forming and took Rasaad to the Nashkel mines with them.
Cleared the mines recruited Xan and took out the adventurers waiting for them at the back exit and returned to Nashkel to exchange loot and draw straws to see who goes on the next safari and where it might take them. Sam spent some time working on his back-stab in the mines and it is shaping up nicely.
No reloads and no more NPC deaths yet.
Khalid and Edwin are sniping at one another and I suspect they may come to blows if I keep them together - the party rep is at 15 so I might lose Edwin if I drop him right now so perhaps I'll drop off the more goody two shoes types and take some of low-lifes along for a while and go terrorize the coastline.