Amin was pleased to find out in Beregost that humility (Marl) and charity (Firebead) actually take you places. He reached lvl.2 and Lathander continued to favour him (+8HP).
Keldath was rejoiced to see his favourite priest, alas he brought sad news with him. Gorion would be missed and several ceremonies would be conducted in his memory during the following weeks. He then tasked Amin with what seemed impossible:
The dreaded Bassilus was a terrible foe for our hobbit. Furthermore he would have to kill for the first time. Is this really what was expected of him?
Brightbows Brigade traveled north of the FAI and encountered a large infestation of ankeqs which they proceeded to carve down to a more reasonable size. They found a poor farmers dead son and left a bit of gold with him to help him carry on and befreinded a preistess of Umberlee but perhaps offended Talos in the process - time will tell if they made the right decision here.
They discovered that the Beregost smithy is pleased to purchase as many ankeq shells as they can carry down there at a fine price and are currently harvesting and moving the heavy carcasses to him a few at a time. A weeks work should bring a fine profit and there are rumors they may find some fine articles to squander those profits on at a small town called Ulgoths Beard in the north which they are considering visiting before entering the woods of Cloakwood in search of the Iron Throne.
Okay, Nefti, my female gnome illusionist/thief is making progress with her solo run.
FAI has been looted and Joi's quest done. Ogre killed and belts acquired, which I'm going to keep (currently wearing belt of piercing)
Saved Neera from the Ref Wizards (acquired gem bag and her staff abnd robe, which I'm wearing most of the time), done Marl quest (without killing him(), Firebeard quest (obtained scroll case) and have looted all of Beregost (including wand of lightning, +1 bastard sword and Stupifier mace), apart from one chest and Algernon. Other places looted: Gullykin (and traitor halfling killed) including acquriing second Magic Missile wand, Nashkel (including Ankheg armour and +1 short sword in Barracks and took Minsc's equipment), did the save the cow from the Xvarts quest and acquied the easter egg Water Opal on that map. Two Ring of Protection + 1 acquired, one sold in Nashkel.
Have also killed lots of hobgoblins on the two maps south of Beregost (and on the Temple map east of Beregost) and the Ogrillons (Sleep and Spook are great, Ryuu (my Fairy Dragon) has also been a great help, killling sleeping enemies and engaging non-sleeping ones when she has her Mirror Image up, is also great to know there is always the Invisibility 10' Radius spell as an option if everything goes pear-shaped) looted the healing potion cave, acquired the boots of stealth.
Have sold most of the goods at Nashkel Carnival, in case want to steal anything back later, as easier there, have also have been selling bows, swords and armour in large batches there, to avoid the worst of depereciation and prices offered are better there anyway.
Still need to do Perdue's Short Sword, Melicamp, Silke, Karlat and, in Nashkel Carnival, Zordral, probably in that order. Hopefully will be able to afford the Dagger of Venom then, after that the +1 Shortbow is next on my shopping list, and perhaps some +1 Acid Arrows, after that perhaps the Shield Amulet, to free up a spell slot and get better protection than Armour spell (AC4, AC2 vs. missiles - would be good to protect againest the Kobold Commandos in the mines). Should be level 3/4 by then, will pick single weapon fighting as my next proficiency (already have Daggers and Shortbows). HP on level-up hasn't been great so far - 1 HP at level 2 thief. 4 HP at level 2/3 combined, may have to acquite Con Tome soon (current Con is 15), though may do better at level 3/4. Have managed to scribe all the scrolls I've attempted so far (19 Int, 95% chance).
After this lot done, will head to Nashkel Mines, and then head in, after obtaining the Wand of Frost. Not sure whether to stay invisble for most of this, or to do as much as I can whilst still visible. Afterwards may raid the tombs using a Potection from Undead scroll, as some good loot to sell can be obtained from these. Not sure whether i'm ever going to be able to deal with Narcillicus, though, may have to leave that encounter, as with piercing damage only the Green Slimes will be tough.
In Nashkel Carnival, will wait until later to try to kill Vitiare, as want to be able to kill him quickly for his Potion of Master Thievery.
Some screenshots of Nefti to follow later...
EDIT: BTW have also obtained Cure Light Wounds as a a Bhaal Power, which should come in handy. Current reputation is 14.
Current Thief skills at level 2/3 are:
Open Locks: 70 Find Traps: 70 Pick Pockets: 25 Move Silently: 25 (45 with Boots of Stealth) Hide in Shadows: 20 (35 with Boots of Stealth) Detect Illusion: 10 Set Traps: 10
Find Traps and Open Locks were my initial priorties (started with 60 in Open Locks, so could steal the Star Sapphire in Candlekeep to buy the Katana, which I might put my 8th proficiency point into, though I might be able to get the +1 Katana by then).
Not sure how to assign my points when I get the Thief 4, Open Locks and Find Traps are *probably* enough for now, though will need more in these later (perhaps as high as 95/100, maybe 80/90). Not sure whether to invest in Move Silently (would prioritise this over Hide in Shadows) or to ignore stealth completely and just rely on Invisibilty (especially as I will be wearing robes, not the Shadow Armour most of the time later), and then put points into something else, either Pick Pockets or Set Traps - perhaps the former, as because I'm Chaotic Good, and trying to RP this, I don't want to needlessly have to murder neutral NPCs who have kit I want.
Latest update on my solo run with Nefti the illusionist/Thief
Dagger of Venom bought (for about 15,000 gold - eek!), also acquired to potion case, so with this, and the scroll case and gem bag, inventory management should be a little easier. Now saving for the +1 Shortbow...
Have now killed Silke (with just one spell, I got Ryuu (my trusty Fairy Dragon) to talk to her whilst I stayed invisible, then backstabbed her with the Dagger of Venom, followed up with Spook, so she ran around getting poisoned, whilst I peppered her with arrows, though she shot a lightning bolt at Ryuu before Spook hit her, which thankfully Ryuu is immune to, it killed Garrick though, LOL! ) and also Karlat (similar story...). I then did Perdue's quest after killing some Gnolls (and a bear, which blundered it's way into the fight) at High Hedge after Sleeping most of them and making the Veteran one run away with Spook, followed by usual hail of arrows.
Next up was Landrin's spiders, I prepped for this by drinking a Potion of Stone Form (AC 0, +3 to Saves, -3 Dex), to reduce risk of poisoning (I had one Antidote Potion as a backup), both because of the -3 AC it gave me, but also because of the save bonus. Nefti then opened the door to the house, Ryuu cast Invisibilty 10' Radius and we entered the room. Ryuu stayed invisible whilst I crept behind the nearest Huge Spider and backstabbed it, poisoning it (I find it amusing that you can poison spiders, a taste of their own medicine!), then I cast Sleep and slept all but one, so cast it again and slept the remaining one, Ryuu then came out of invisibilty and joined me in finishing of the sleeping spiders. I then headed up to the FAI to collect my reward from Landrin and to finish looting the place (I missed a couple of chests the first time around as couldn't open them at level 1).
I now have enough XP to level up to 3/4, I'll take single weapon fighting as my proficiency (double crit chance, especially good for backstabs, -1AC bonus useful for melee and when spell casting, will also makes swithching back and forth from bow to dagger easier, no need to swap out a buckler), but am unsure where best to allocate my thief points next, as I'm multiclass I need to do this carefully - does anyone have any advice?
Open Locks and Find Traps currently at 70, the rest of my current allocation can be seen in my previous post above. Next stop will likely be the Nashkel Mines*, though might do Melicamp's little quest first, and hope I get lucky on the antichickenator.
BTW does anyone have any advice how best to deal with slimes and oozes as an illusionist/Thief? They seem pretty resistant to both missile/piercing and magic from my previous experience, but I only have proficiciency in piercing/missile weapons...
I think your best bet for slime is going to be a wand of fire
Okay, that could work for slimes, according to the BGII Monster Encyclopedia here (http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/919881-baldurs-gate-ii-the-collection/faqs/27144 )* as although a Green Slime has 100% Electrical Resistance, it doesn't seem to have any fire resistance. I assume throwing an Oil of Fiery Burning at it would also work?
What are more problematic are Gray Oozes, which have 100% resistance to Fire, Magical Fire, Magic, Magical Cold, though not it seems to electricity, non-magical cold and acid. Would the Wand of Frost count as cold or magical cold? If the former, that might be a good choice to use against them. Would the Wand of Lightning also affect them? I guess the acid damage from acid arrows could also have an effect.
* though according to this, green slimes are immune to missile damage, but not piercing,and grey oozes are not listed as being resistant to piercing *or* missile, which I don't think is correct...
@ Oxford_Guy - the grey oozes seem easier in BGEE than vanilla - I seem to recall having to use some sort of magical melee weapon on them when exiting the Nashkel mines (and only having one or two team members thus equipped) and it seemed like they were more dangerous damage wise as well -while they have fallen rather quickly in combat in BGEE for me and as a result my teams exiting the mines were not as beat up and could move right on to the bounty hunters without sneaking in a rest period. (Playing on core)
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Excerpt from Brightbows journal: After taking down the bandit camp with ease and then spending a week culling ankegs and carting their shells to Thunderhammer we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. We made a trip North to Ulgoths Beard and spent much of our ankeg earnings on some fine equipment and then entered Cloakwood feeling powerful and brave.
We found that silly mans cloak on a talsoi and took out a group of over-zealous druids that refused to negotiate a settlement with a Baldurs Gate merchant and then the streak of hard luck began. We were ambushed by ettercaps which would not have been too bad except for the web trap that took several of us out of the fight for a time. Xan fell early on and we hiked back to the FAI to restore him.
As we approached Cloakwood again another group of ettercaps ambushed us in the same fashion and once again the elf perished and we began to wish we had negotiated a long term contract with FAIs healer.
Once again we entered the wood and made it across the ground we had cleared earlier and then encountered yet another ettercap ambush as we entered a new trail and disaster struck as 4 of our six members were frozen in place and the ettercaps took them down.
Only Jaheira and I survived the encounter and we had to leave some of our members gear behind as we made our way back to the FAI with all the two of us could carry. Once our partners were raised it took a full 24 hours of rest to bring them back to some semblance of vitality and we ventured back to Beregost where our new suit of ankeg armor was ready.
I told them we would not decide our next move until morning and bid them all to rest easy tonight and we will discuss things at length in the morning light. Helm grant us strength...
Nefti took a bit of a detour after returning Landrin's items to him at the FAI and headed off to Peldvale for a look, where she bumped into a desperate-looking drow elf cleric. Nefti is not normally too keen on drow, but took offence to the Flaming Fist enforcer who wanted to kill the drow, and not being one to have great respect for "authority" (she's chaotic good) decided to defend the drow. A tough battle ensued, but the Flaming Fist enforcer went down. After the battle, though, Nefti told the drow to make herself scarce. Now heading off to the Carnival to sell the armour...
@ Oxford_Guy - the grey oozes seem easier in BGEE than vanilla - I seem to recall having to use some sort of magical melee weapon on them when exiting the Nashkel mines (and only having one or two team members thus equipped) and it seemed like they were more dangerous damage wise as well -while they have fallen rather quickly in combat in BGEE for me and as a result my teams exiting the mines were not as beat up and could move right on to the bounty hunters without sneaking in a rest period. (Playing on core)
The grey ooze exiting Nashkel Mines are usually pretty easy, the real tricky ones are the Mustard Jellies that Narcillus creates on the Valley of the Tombs map:
Well, I was quite busy at the weekend and didn't come to the forum. But better late than never)))
About Ryuu))) The pronunciation is a little hard to explain. There are two key points to remember. The 'R' in Japanese is closer to an 'L' than and 'R'. The reason there are two U's is that vowel is meant to be held for longer.
Don't forget it is not pronouced 'loo' and is not 'ree-yuu'. It is closest to 'lyou'.
And now about Ori.
Step by step, a kobold by a kobold, he came down the dark passages of the Mines. Ori finds it’s unfair to use his familiar at the Sword Coast, before reaching the Amn region. So, he shoots from the dark, runs away, hides in the shadows and tries to repeat. If a monster is alone, Ori tries to attack him with the poisonous dagger, and if the attempt is not lucky, he tries to run and shoot when he turns around.
By the way, this strategy is efficient enough for any creature with normal speed.
With his high Intellect, Ori counted all the kobolds in the Mines he took down. There’re 86 of them there (!) At last, he rested before entering the main cave.
Well, at the beginning, he chose the following spells: Blindness, Find Familiar and Reflected Image. The latter spell has saved his life at least 2 times.
Before going to Nashkel, when he was gathering the money for the dagger, he found only one level-2 scroll: Strength. By the way, it was amusing to find out this spell is quite useful: the additional THACO helps a lot when Ori attacks from the dark with his dagger or when he throws daggers at the enemies that are affected by the Grease spell.
So, no Invisibility, no Mirror Image, no Spook, no Sleep, no Charm, no Glitterdust, no Shield, no Web spells when Ori entered the cave.
The kobolds were killed in the normal manner. Then he used his thief skill and became invisible, backstabbed Mulahey, blinded him and killed with the throwing daggers. The skeletons one by one were killed with daggers too, they had been slowed with the Grease spell.
The Grey Oozes were killed by backstabbing (they are not immune to piercing damage), retreating, hiding, backstabbing etc.
By the way, Ori found out that the Wand of Frost doesn't count as cold or magical cold, they are immune to it.
With all the money gathered from this quest, Ori went to the High Hedge and at last bought the essential spells. Then the spells were bought from the inn-keeper in Beregost. Ori has been lucky with memorizing them the very first time.
Mirror Image, Shield, Spook and Invisibility all were first tested when confronting Tranzig. And it was amusingly simple.
The fights in Peldvale were SOOO light compared to all the battles before. The soldier was killed while sleeping and seeing dreams, after that I wished Vicky all the best.
Then Ori went to Ulcaster: a copy of the Zhurlong boots is there, so he could complete this quest without loosing the bonus and find some interesting stuff (including the Wand of Fire) in the ruins. It was a success.
The strongest enemy killed has changed from Silke to Vampiric Wolf.
And now a few remarks about thiving skills of Ori. At level 5 he has minimal stats in pickpocketing, set traps, move silently and define illusions. 40 in hide-in-shadows (55 with the boots), 90 in lockpickting, 80 in find traps.
I find it a must to have 100 in find traps to survive no-reload dungeon runs (especially Durlag's tower). 90 in lockpickting helped him to open THAT chest in Beregost (a shining brilliant was a really nice reward). Ori used it like a check for lockpickting skills and now thinks it's enough. The higher figures can be achieved with the help of potions. Ori relies heavily on hiding, so at level 6 I'll give him 20 in find traps, 5 in move silently, at level 7 and 8 I'll share 50 points evenly between move silently and hide-in-shadows.
I told them we would not decide our next move until morning and bid them all to rest easy tonight and we will discuss things at length in the morning light. Helm grant us strength...
3 ettercaps ambushes in a row... have you tried running away towards the top of the ambush map? that usually works fine. Unless you want to confront them for RP reasons... in which case a potion of freedom to your tank will help, but these are in limited numbers so watch out on the next ambush!
@bengoshi: impressive progress here, Ori is starting to mature nicely. We now have a gnomish T/I solo competition going on here between Ori and Nefti !
@bengoshi: impressive progress here, Ori is starting to mature nicely. We now have a gnomish T/I solo competition going on here between Ori and Nefti !
I see it less as a competition and more as an opportunity to learn from each other! Will provide another update again soon, now at level 3/4 and managed to raise enough gold to get the +1 short bow (hello Mr, Winter Wolf, what nice fur you have ZZzzap!), just about to enter Nashkel Mines. Have the level 2 spells Invisibilty and Mirror Image memorised.
Icharid (a warrior with a flail +1) is a powerful enemy. He saved vs Blindness, Glitterdust, Spook and Sleep. The Wand of Frost and 2 Magic Missiles hurt him till near death and a lucky hide in shadows when Ori turned one of the corners of Ulcaster School and one hit in the back has made Icharid a mountain of bones.
A doubt has gloomed my mind after that. Up until then the run has been rather hard and I liked that. It has become clear this is changing. But the aim of Ori’s solo run was a challenge. Now it’s slowly turning out that a solo run has it’s great advantage if compared to the party run: Ori’s getting very much amount of XP at a fast rate. As a consequence he gets access to powerful (for the enemies in front of him) spells and abilities (very fast getting high thieving stats) that can decide every contest.
Moving between areas in Invisibility saves from dangerous ambushes – the enemies don’t see Ori, he goes to the dark area and attack from there. Casting Invisibility before leaving the location has become a rule.
With this doubt Ori came to Larswood and cleared all the area without problems (he didn’t come close to the Tower, though).
Now to the bandits at the camp!
They didn’t even know who or what took them down one by one in the night. Maybe too much ale or beer? Maybe it’s a wind? In 30 minutes or so all bandits, hobgoblins and gnolls (including those in the tents and the cave) were dead. Only their leader, a warrior in a full plate, was standing in front of the darkness and was listening to the quietness of the night.
Ori has reached level 5 as a mage (access to the3rd level spells) and 6 as a thief (having the 3x backstab). There was a Fire arrow spell in one of the containers. It was memorized successfully (well, right before this moment Ori failed to subscribe some level 2 spells).Two of them with 4 magic missiles took a brave captain down.
In another tent Ori found a Fireball spell. And luckily it was memorized too. Now a strategy came to his mind – a strategy about how to defeat the group in the main tent. A little sleep before this fight was needed.
Invisible, Armored, Shielded, Mirrored, Protected from Evil, he went into the tent, then straight to the mage, attacked. The poison didn’t act. But faster then everyone hit Ori, he became Invisible again. The enemies came to where he just stood - very silly of them because right now all of them were close to each other. Web, Fireball, the Wand of Fire, 3 arrows from the bow… It didn’t take more than 2 minutes.
And now the previous doubt gloomed my mind again. If Ori continues his adventure at the Sword Coast, at the Gates he’ll be very powerful, much stronger than his enemies. It wouldn’t be a challenge any more, it’ll be a massacre. At the beginning I tried to take everything into account, but it didn’t come into my mind that a solo run can be easier, not harder…
But how can it be changed? Does it need to be changed?
One way is to follow only the main quest line. But it contradicts my presumptions. The joy for me is to explore every piece of land and to find every treasure available.
The other way is … to have a party. But it contradicts a solo run. It contradicts the perfect statistics of 100 %.
Well, it’s a painful decision.
Up until then Ori got 100 % of the XP. If there’re other members of the party, the progress in XP won’t be so fast.
And Ori has made his decision.
He’ll take the others with him (Ori doesn’t know how many) BUT they won’t fight. Of course, no one would believe it, but it’s true. NPCs would just come to a location with Ori and rest while he’s clearing the map - they’ll have a lunch and some tea. There can be no substantiation but it’s his will. The percentage of kills by the other party members will be minimal (but it won’t be 0 – just because there’re some sudden monster spawns on the already cleared area). It’s the only choice, I’m afraid….
@bengoshi: I understand what you are saying, and I do agree that in many ways, soloing is easier than carrying a party (and this is not only because you get all XP, but also for tactical reasons), BUT:
1/ it is a no-relaod run. One mistake and Ori is out. An unlucky save, a critical hit at the worst time, an undetected trap and you will likely not have a second chance. Whereas if you have a party and you find yourself in a tight spot, the others can always rush to your help and save the day.
2/ there will still be some tough fights, and some of them will actually be more difficult alone than in a group. There is also TotSC contents which should provide Ori with a real challenge once he gets bored after Cloakwood.
3/ don't forget you have chosen a very versatile and powerful class (if you know how to play them, and you obviously do), with a character who had very powerful abilities to being with (min/max).
Well, shoot. Got bored playing a less awesome Coran clone.
Rerolled another(nonrandom stats) and decided to go berzerker->druid and recruit Safana as thief->mage after getting to BG city. Plowed through the sword coast and got ruined in front of the cloakwood mines. Cocky, I guess
I still have some hankering to do a Jester solo run, but the lack of trap disabling ability and lack of lock picking (you can't cast Knock on *everything*) makes this look less appealing. I've though of doing a duo run with Imoen along to provide thieving duties, but there is something quite special about doing a solo run.
Rerolled another(nonrandom stats) and decided to go berzerker->druid and recruit Safana as thief->mage after getting to BG city. Plowed through the sword coast and got ruined in front of the cloakwood mines. Cocky, I guess
Sorry about your loss. That battle can go horribly wrong sometimes. What hapenned exactly?
Rerolled another(nonrandom stats) and decided to go berzerker->druid and recruit Safana as thief->mage after getting to BG city. Plowed through the sword coast and got ruined in front of the cloakwood mines. Cocky, I guess
Sorry about your loss. That battle can go horribly wrong sometimes. What hapenned exactly?
Outmelee'd by the guy with the boots of speed. It seemed no matter my protections, potions, necklace of missiles, etc, he would connect regularly and with force.
I should have done the run with Imoen instead of Safana so I could have her zap him with the wand of paralyzation.
@Zutti: Drasus. He is a pain, but there is an easy way to "self-buff him" out of the fight: potion of absorption. He wields a blunt weapon, the potion will give you -10 AC vs blunt and that gives you time to take care of the mages before turning back your attention to him. Of course there are tons of disabling spells that you can use as well, but that is an easy way for a non-caster class to deal with him.
I told them we would not decide our next move until morning and bid them all to rest easy tonight and we will discuss things at length in the morning light. Helm grant us strength...
3 ettercaps ambushes in a row... have you tried running away towards the top of the ambush map? that usually works fine. Unless you want to confront them for RP reasons... in which case a potion of freedom to your tank will help, but these are in limited numbers so watch out on the next ambush!
There has been a web trap that shoots out from the south but covers probably 1/3 of the map in the center including the area the party spawns in and each time at least one or two of the party have been caught in it before we could engage a tactical retreat - I'm not sure who is triggering the trap as I am always too busy trying to issue orders to consider turning the AI off and having Imoen find traps while the others either buff or attack LOL.
One thing that did surprise me was getting the ambush when exiting the FAI to Cloakwood 1 - I don't recall that occuring before but then my memory is about as reliable as an off color potion...
@Zutti: Drasus. He is a pain, but there is an easy way to "self-buff him" out of the fight: potion of absorption. He wields a blunt weapon, the potion will give you -10 AC vs blunt and that gives you time to take care of the mages before turning back your attention to him. Of course there are tons of disabling spells that you can use as well, but that is an easy way for a non-caster class to deal with him.
From Xans journal - Alas it was as I always suspected our party was doomed from the start - as we entered a new area of Cloakwood our leader and Imoen teamed up and snuck out ahead Ms Brightbow stealthy as a cat and Imoen on her heels searching for those nasty ettercap traps - Brilini would spot an ettercap in the distance and fire - drawing it to us with her arrows often killing it before it even got into range of the rest of us and so it went - carefully onward - find the trap - disarm it - one, two three spiders, find the trap - disarm it - one two three ettercaps then as she stepped forward to take aim on the next ettercap the air was shattered with that almost silent "click" as Imoen had fallen several feet behind her and had not yet spotted the trap.
I did what I could - two ettercaps had appeared and focused in on our webbed leader and I sent one scurrying away shreiking with a spook spell before it reached her and then I caught the other with a spook spell too and thought all was well but he already had sent his poison boiling through Brilini's veins - I watched in horror as she looked back at us - both Branwen and Jahiera ran toward her only to be caught in the web unable to reach her with thier healing magics - she gazed skyward then her eyes caught mine and almost imperceptively she moved her head from side to side - then smiled and left us.
We carried her to the Temple at FAI where the healer shook her head - she was buried with her bow on a rocky point overlooking the sea just outside Candlekeep and the group went their seperate ways - we could overhear a strange chanting coming from the keep during the burial - I could just catch the words "murder" and "perish" - how completely appropriate as we lay the dead to rest -
I suppose I shall return to the FAI where a bright young wild mage has promised to show me some new tricks - pointless no doubt but what else can I do...
after all we are all doomed...
Great fun while it lasted - I'm off to look at another run altho I may take a shot at the minimal reload no raise dead challenge next - I used to do something similar in IWD2 -
@Wanderon, sorry for your loss. Maybe potions of freedom next time?
I almost never buy potions except healing and antidotes and even when I find them they typically go in the potion case to be "saved for when I really need them" which of course turns out to be never - in this case I would probably never use up a potion of freedom as a way to cover my butt in case I miss a trap - not unless they were good for hours or at least long enough to cover an entire map. - and of course when I DO miss a trap there is no way to take one... oops
Of course I am also a certified packrat stashing stuff in Beregost and FAI prior to cloakwood and then spending a week of game time shuttling them up to BG City where they are deposited in one of the barrels in front of the Elfsong - by games end most of them are still there... LOL
I'm good with that tho - they are there if I WANT to use them and if I don't use them I get that nice warm fuzzy feeling from giving my enemies a break - not exactly tying one hand behind my back but sort of like letting them take the first shot before beating them into submission... or at least I rationalize it that way - ;-)
I am sorry for Brilini Brightbow, she had potential. Regarding the use (or non-use) of potions... it is incredible how this game can be played in so many different ways.
Comments
Keldath was rejoiced to see his favourite priest, alas he brought sad news with him. Gorion would be missed and several ceremonies would be conducted in his memory during the following weeks. He then tasked Amin with what seemed impossible:
The dreaded Bassilus was a terrible foe for our hobbit. Furthermore he would have to kill for the first time. Is this really what was expected of him?
They discovered that the Beregost smithy is pleased to purchase as many ankeq shells as they can carry down there at a fine price and are currently harvesting and moving the heavy carcasses to him a few at a time. A weeks work should bring a fine profit and there are rumors they may find some fine articles to squander those profits on at a small town called Ulgoths Beard in the north which they are considering visiting before entering the woods of Cloakwood in search of the Iron Throne.
FAI has been looted and Joi's quest done. Ogre killed and belts acquired, which I'm going to keep (currently wearing belt of piercing)
Saved Neera from the Ref Wizards (acquired gem bag and her staff abnd robe, which I'm wearing most of the time), done Marl quest (without killing him(), Firebeard quest (obtained scroll case) and have looted all of Beregost (including wand of lightning, +1 bastard sword and Stupifier mace), apart from one chest and Algernon. Other places looted: Gullykin (and traitor halfling killed) including acquriing second Magic Missile wand, Nashkel (including Ankheg armour and +1 short sword in Barracks and took Minsc's equipment), did the save the cow from the Xvarts quest and acquied the easter egg Water Opal on that map. Two Ring of Protection + 1 acquired, one sold in Nashkel.
Have also killed lots of hobgoblins on the two maps south of Beregost (and on the Temple map east of Beregost) and the Ogrillons (Sleep and Spook are great, Ryuu (my Fairy Dragon) has also been a great help, killling sleeping enemies and engaging non-sleeping ones when she has her Mirror Image up, is also great to know there is always the Invisibility 10' Radius spell as an option if everything goes pear-shaped) looted the healing potion cave, acquired the boots of stealth.
Have sold most of the goods at Nashkel Carnival, in case want to steal anything back later, as easier there, have also have been selling bows, swords and armour in large batches there, to avoid the worst of depereciation and prices offered are better there anyway.
Still need to do Perdue's Short Sword, Melicamp, Silke, Karlat and, in Nashkel Carnival, Zordral, probably in that order. Hopefully will be able to afford the Dagger of Venom then, after that the +1 Shortbow is next on my shopping list, and perhaps some +1 Acid Arrows, after that perhaps the Shield Amulet, to free up a spell slot and get better protection than Armour spell (AC4, AC2 vs. missiles - would be good to protect againest the Kobold Commandos in the mines). Should be level 3/4 by then, will pick single weapon fighting as my next proficiency (already have Daggers and Shortbows). HP on level-up hasn't been great so far - 1 HP at level 2 thief. 4 HP at level 2/3 combined, may have to acquite Con Tome soon (current Con is 15), though may do better at level 3/4. Have managed to scribe all the scrolls I've attempted so far (19 Int, 95% chance).
After this lot done, will head to Nashkel Mines, and then head in, after obtaining the Wand of Frost. Not sure whether to stay invisble for most of this, or to do as much as I can whilst still visible. Afterwards may raid the tombs using a Potection from Undead scroll, as some good loot to sell can be obtained from these. Not sure whether i'm ever going to be able to deal with Narcillicus, though, may have to leave that encounter, as with piercing damage only the Green Slimes will be tough.
In Nashkel Carnival, will wait until later to try to kill Vitiare, as want to be able to kill him quickly for his Potion of Master Thievery.
Some screenshots of Nefti to follow later...
EDIT: BTW have also obtained Cure Light Wounds as a a Bhaal Power, which should come in handy. Current reputation is 14.
Current Thief skills at level 2/3 are:
Open Locks: 70
Find Traps: 70
Pick Pockets: 25
Move Silently: 25 (45 with Boots of Stealth)
Hide in Shadows: 20 (35 with Boots of Stealth)
Detect Illusion: 10
Set Traps: 10
Find Traps and Open Locks were my initial priorties (started with 60 in Open Locks, so could steal the Star Sapphire in Candlekeep to buy the Katana, which I might put my 8th proficiency point into, though I might be able to get the +1 Katana by then).
Not sure how to assign my points when I get the Thief 4, Open Locks and Find Traps are *probably* enough for now, though will need more in these later (perhaps as high as 95/100, maybe 80/90). Not sure whether to invest in Move Silently (would prioritise this over Hide in Shadows) or to ignore stealth completely and just rely on Invisibilty (especially as I will be wearing robes, not the Shadow Armour most of the time later), and then put points into something else, either Pick Pockets or Set Traps - perhaps the former, as because I'm Chaotic Good, and trying to RP this, I don't want to needlessly have to murder neutral NPCs who have kit I want.
Latest update on my solo run with Nefti the illusionist/Thief
Dagger of Venom bought (for about 15,000 gold - eek!), also acquired to potion case, so with this, and the scroll case and gem bag, inventory management should be a little easier. Now saving for the +1 Shortbow...
Have now killed Silke (with just one spell, I got Ryuu (my trusty Fairy Dragon) to talk to her whilst I stayed invisible, then backstabbed her with the Dagger of Venom, followed up with Spook, so she ran around getting poisoned, whilst I peppered her with arrows, though she shot a lightning bolt at Ryuu before Spook hit her, which thankfully Ryuu is immune to, it killed Garrick though, LOL! ) and also Karlat (similar story...). I then did Perdue's quest after killing some Gnolls (and a bear, which blundered it's way into the fight) at High Hedge after Sleeping most of them and making the Veteran one run away with Spook, followed by usual hail of arrows.
Next up was Landrin's spiders, I prepped for this by drinking a Potion of Stone Form (AC 0, +3 to Saves, -3 Dex), to reduce risk of poisoning (I had one Antidote Potion as a backup), both because of the -3 AC it gave me, but also because of the save bonus. Nefti then opened the door to the house, Ryuu cast Invisibilty 10' Radius and we entered the room. Ryuu stayed invisible whilst I crept behind the nearest Huge Spider and backstabbed it, poisoning it (I find it amusing that you can poison spiders, a taste of their own medicine!), then I cast Sleep and slept all but one, so cast it again and slept the remaining one, Ryuu then came out of invisibilty and joined me in finishing of the sleeping spiders. I then headed up to the FAI to collect my reward from Landrin and to finish looting the place (I missed a couple of chests the first time around as couldn't open them at level 1).
I now have enough XP to level up to 3/4, I'll take single weapon fighting as my proficiency (double crit chance, especially good for backstabs, -1AC bonus useful for melee and when spell casting, will also makes swithching back and forth from bow to dagger easier, no need to swap out a buckler), but am unsure where best to allocate my thief points next, as I'm multiclass I need to do this carefully - does anyone have any advice?
Open Locks and Find Traps currently at 70, the rest of my current allocation can be seen in my previous post above. Next stop will likely be the Nashkel Mines*, though might do Melicamp's little quest first, and hope I get lucky on the antichickenator.
BTW does anyone have any advice how best to deal with slimes and oozes as an illusionist/Thief? They seem pretty resistant to both missile/piercing and magic from my previous experience, but I only have proficiciency in piercing/missile weapons...
Character Record:
Inventory (fairly empty, before venturing forth again after selling stuff at the stores), love the curly slippers the 1pp female gnome avatar has!:
Current Spellbook and fairly typical set of spells memorised:
Statistics:
Nefti and Ryuu on the main game screen:
What are more problematic are Gray Oozes, which have 100% resistance to Fire, Magical Fire, Magic, Magical Cold, though not it seems to electricity, non-magical cold and acid. Would the Wand of Frost count as cold or magical cold? If the former, that might be a good choice to use against them. Would the Wand of Lightning also affect them? I guess the acid damage from acid arrows could also have an effect.
* though according to this, green slimes are immune to missile damage, but not piercing,and grey oozes are not listed as being resistant to piercing *or* missile, which I don't think is correct...
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Excerpt from Brightbows journal: After taking down the bandit camp with ease and then spending a week culling ankegs and carting their shells to Thunderhammer we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. We made a trip North to Ulgoths Beard and spent much of our ankeg earnings on some fine equipment and then entered Cloakwood feeling powerful and brave.
We found that silly mans cloak on a talsoi and took out a group of over-zealous druids that refused to negotiate a settlement with a Baldurs Gate merchant and then the streak of hard luck began. We were ambushed by ettercaps which would not have been too bad except for the web trap that took several of us out of the fight for a time. Xan fell early on and we hiked back to the FAI to restore him.
As we approached Cloakwood again another group of ettercaps ambushed us in the same fashion and once again the elf perished and we began to wish we had negotiated a long term contract with FAIs healer.
Once again we entered the wood and made it across the ground we had cleared earlier and then encountered yet another ettercap ambush as we entered a new trail and disaster struck as 4 of our six members were frozen in place and the ettercaps took them down.
Only Jaheira and I survived the encounter and we had to leave some of our members gear behind as we made our way back to the FAI with all the two of us could carry. Once our partners were raised it took a full 24 hours of rest to bring them back to some semblance of vitality and we ventured back to Beregost where our new suit of ankeg armor was ready.
I told them we would not decide our next move until morning and bid them all to rest easy tonight and we will discuss things at length in the morning light. Helm grant us strength...
Resistances
Fire 0% Cold 50%
Electricity 100% Acid 0%
Magic 100%
Magical fire 0% Magical cold 50%
Slashing 30% Piercing 100%
Crushing 60% Missile 85%
I guess fire or acid is the best bet for them...
About Ryuu)))
The pronunciation is a little hard to explain. There are two key points to remember. The 'R' in Japanese is closer to an 'L' than and 'R'. The reason there are two U's is that vowel is meant to be held for longer.
Don't forget it is not pronouced 'loo' and is not 'ree-yuu'. It is closest to 'lyou'.
And now about Ori.
Step by step, a kobold by a kobold, he came down the dark passages of the Mines. Ori finds it’s unfair to use his familiar at the Sword Coast, before reaching the Amn region. So, he shoots from the dark, runs away, hides in the shadows and tries to repeat. If a monster is alone, Ori tries to attack him with the poisonous dagger, and if the attempt is not lucky, he tries to run and shoot when he turns around.
By the way, this strategy is efficient enough for any creature with normal speed.
With his high Intellect, Ori counted all the kobolds in the Mines he took down. There’re 86 of them there (!)
At last, he rested before entering the main cave.
Well, at the beginning, he chose the following spells: Blindness, Find Familiar and Reflected Image. The latter spell has saved his life at least 2 times.
Before going to Nashkel, when he was gathering the money for the dagger, he found only one level-2 scroll: Strength. By the way, it was amusing to find out this spell is quite useful: the additional THACO helps a lot when Ori attacks from the dark with his dagger or when he throws daggers at the enemies that are affected by the Grease spell.
So, no Invisibility, no Mirror Image, no Spook, no Sleep, no Charm, no Glitterdust, no Shield, no Web spells when Ori entered the cave.
The kobolds were killed in the normal manner. Then he used his thief skill and became invisible, backstabbed Mulahey, blinded him and killed with the throwing daggers. The skeletons one by one were killed with daggers too, they had been slowed with the Grease spell.
The Grey Oozes were killed by backstabbing (they are not immune to piercing damage), retreating, hiding, backstabbing etc.
By the way, Ori found out that the Wand of Frost doesn't count as cold or magical cold, they are immune to it.
With all the money gathered from this quest, Ori went to the High Hedge and at last bought the essential spells. Then the spells were bought from the inn-keeper in Beregost. Ori has been lucky with memorizing them the very first time.
Mirror Image, Shield, Spook and Invisibility all were first tested when confronting Tranzig. And it was amusingly simple.
The fights in Peldvale were SOOO light compared to all the battles before. The soldier was killed while sleeping and seeing dreams, after that I wished Vicky all the best.
Then Ori went to Ulcaster: a copy of the Zhurlong boots is there, so he could complete this quest without loosing the bonus and find some interesting stuff (including the Wand of Fire) in the ruins. It was a success.
The strongest enemy killed has changed from Silke to Vampiric Wolf.
And now a few remarks about thiving skills of Ori. At level 5 he has minimal stats in pickpocketing, set traps, move silently and define illusions. 40 in hide-in-shadows (55 with the boots), 90 in lockpickting, 80 in find traps.
I find it a must to have 100 in find traps to survive no-reload dungeon runs (especially Durlag's tower). 90 in lockpickting helped him to open THAT chest in Beregost (a shining brilliant was a really nice reward). Ori used it like a check for lockpickting skills and now thinks it's enough. The higher figures can be achieved with the help of potions. Ori relies heavily on hiding, so at level 6 I'll give him 20 in find traps, 5 in move silently, at level 7 and 8 I'll share 50 points evenly between move silently and hide-in-shadows.
Icharid (a warrior with a flail +1) is a powerful enemy. He saved vs Blindness, Glitterdust, Spook and Sleep. The Wand of Frost and 2 Magic Missiles hurt him till near death and a lucky hide in shadows when Ori turned one of the corners of Ulcaster School and one hit in the back has made Icharid a mountain of bones.
A doubt has gloomed my mind after that. Up until then the run has been rather hard and I liked that. It has become clear this is changing. But the aim of Ori’s solo run was a challenge. Now it’s slowly turning out that a solo run has it’s great advantage if compared to the party run: Ori’s getting very much amount of XP at a fast rate. As a consequence he gets access to powerful (for the enemies in front of him) spells and abilities (very fast getting high thieving stats) that can decide every contest.
Moving between areas in Invisibility saves from dangerous ambushes – the enemies don’t see Ori, he goes to the dark area and attack from there. Casting Invisibility before leaving the location has become a rule.
With this doubt Ori came to Larswood and cleared all the area without problems (he didn’t come close to the Tower, though).
Now to the bandits at the camp!
They didn’t even know who or what took them down one by one in the night. Maybe too much ale or beer? Maybe it’s a wind? In 30 minutes or so all bandits, hobgoblins and gnolls (including those in the tents and the cave) were dead. Only their leader, a warrior in a full plate, was standing in front of the darkness and was listening to the quietness of the night.
Ori has reached level 5 as a mage (access to the3rd level spells) and 6 as a thief (having the 3x backstab). There was a Fire arrow spell in one of the containers. It was memorized successfully (well, right before this moment Ori failed to subscribe some level 2 spells).Two of them with 4 magic missiles took a brave captain down.
In another tent Ori found a Fireball spell. And luckily it was memorized too. Now a strategy came to his mind – a strategy about how to defeat the group in the main tent. A little sleep before this fight was needed.
Invisible, Armored, Shielded, Mirrored, Protected from Evil, he went into the tent, then straight to the mage, attacked. The poison didn’t act. But faster then everyone hit Ori, he became Invisible again. The enemies came to where he just stood - very silly of them because right now all of them were close to each other. Web, Fireball, the Wand of Fire, 3 arrows from the bow… It didn’t take more than 2 minutes.
And now the previous doubt gloomed my mind again. If Ori continues his adventure at the Sword Coast, at the Gates he’ll be very powerful, much stronger than his enemies. It wouldn’t be a challenge any more, it’ll be a massacre. At the beginning I tried to take everything into account, but it didn’t come into my mind that a solo run can be easier, not harder…
But how can it be changed? Does it need to be changed?
One way is to follow only the main quest line. But it contradicts my presumptions. The joy for me is to explore every piece of land and to find every treasure available.
The other way is … to have a party. But it contradicts a solo run. It contradicts the perfect statistics of 100 %.
Well, it’s a painful decision.
Up until then Ori got 100 % of the XP. If there’re other members of the party, the progress in XP won’t be so fast.
And Ori has made his decision.
He’ll take the others with him (Ori doesn’t know how many) BUT they won’t fight. Of course, no one would believe it, but it’s true. NPCs would just come to a location with Ori and rest while he’s clearing the map - they’ll have a lunch and some tea. There can be no substantiation but it’s his will. The percentage of kills by the other party members will be minimal (but it won’t be 0 – just because there’re some sudden monster spawns on the already cleared area). It’s the only choice, I’m afraid….
Is this decision right?
1/ it is a no-relaod run. One mistake and Ori is out. An unlucky save, a critical hit at the worst time, an undetected trap and you will likely not have a second chance. Whereas if you have a party and you find yourself in a tight spot, the others can always rush to your help and save the day.
2/ there will still be some tough fights, and some of them will actually be more difficult alone than in a group. There is also TotSC contents which should provide Ori with a real challenge once he gets bored after Cloakwood.
3/ don't forget you have chosen a very versatile and powerful class (if you know how to play them, and you obviously do), with a character who had very powerful abilities to being with (min/max).
Rerolled another(nonrandom stats) and decided to go berzerker->druid and recruit Safana as thief->mage after getting to BG city. Plowed through the sword coast and got ruined in front of the cloakwood mines. Cocky, I guess
I still have some hankering to do a Jester solo run, but the lack of trap disabling ability and lack of lock picking (you can't cast Knock on *everything*) makes this look less appealing. I've though of doing a duo run with Imoen along to provide thieving duties, but there is something quite special about doing a solo run.
I should have done the run with Imoen instead of Safana so I could have her zap him with the wand of paralyzation.
One thing that did surprise me was getting the ambush when exiting the FAI to Cloakwood 1 - I don't recall that occuring before but then my memory is about as reliable as an off color potion...
I did what I could - two ettercaps had appeared and focused in on our webbed leader and I sent one scurrying away shreiking with a spook spell before it reached her and then I caught the other with a spook spell too and thought all was well but he already had sent his poison boiling through Brilini's veins - I watched in horror as she looked back at us - both Branwen and Jahiera ran toward her only to be caught in the web unable to reach her with thier healing magics - she gazed skyward then her eyes caught mine and almost imperceptively she moved her head from side to side - then smiled and left us.
We carried her to the Temple at FAI where the healer shook her head - she was buried with her bow on a rocky point overlooking the sea just outside Candlekeep and the group went their seperate ways - we could overhear a strange chanting coming from the keep during the burial - I could just catch the words "murder" and "perish" - how completely appropriate as we lay the dead to rest -
I suppose I shall return to the FAI where a bright young wild mage has promised to show me some new tricks - pointless no doubt but what else can I do...
after all we are all doomed...
Great fun while it lasted - I'm off to look at another run altho I may take a shot at the minimal reload no raise dead challenge next - I used to do something similar in IWD2 -
Of course I am also a certified packrat stashing stuff in Beregost and FAI prior to cloakwood and then spending a week of game time shuttling them up to BG City where they are deposited in one of the barrels in front of the Elfsong - by games end most of them are still there... LOL
I'm good with that tho - they are there if I WANT to use them and if I don't use them I get that nice warm fuzzy feeling from giving my enemies a break - not exactly tying one hand behind my back but sort of like letting them take the first shot before beating them into submission... or at least I rationalize it that way - ;-)
Getting the ring of free action from ulgoths beard is one of the first things I do in a no reload