Ok, Imoen leveled and is now 100/100 detect traps/open locks @level 6. The rest of the party has now reached level 5 while clearing the spider area in Cloakwood. We did go back to Beregost though to buy Imoen some fancy new armor and grab some level 3 spells for Dynaheir (I have not been memorizing scrolls ahead of what she can cast in case of an untimely death).
Imoen tried to chug a perception potion and thieving potion and then pick pocket some merchants in Nashkel but she failed miserably. She was feeling them out to see if we could sell spider bane to them and then lift it in case we needed it down the road. After 3 failed attempts and managing to escape without engaging any guards, the rest of the party finally persuaded her to give it up.
The party is now ready to hunt down the Iron Throne base of operations in Cloakwood. Watch out bandit scum here we come!
Before heading to Cloakwood, we decided that Rasaad was not working out and left him behind. Cloakwood Mines took it's toll on my party. My no reload has become 1 reload due to CHARNAME's death when fighting the room full of bandits and the wizard on the second level. On my next attempt at that room, Minsc took a lightning bolt to the face a few times in a row - I really should have burned a few potions of absorption for that room . The party reeled from the loss of their main tank. We sought out Yeslick and then retreated to FAI to recover and decide our next move. With a vacancy in the party we headed North and recruited the Paladin Ajantis that we ran into before. Rearmed and recovered we headed back to the Mines for our vengeance.
The party did very well and the remaining levels, and Imoen cleared the various traps before fighting Daevorn. We had a sound plan, or at least we thought so, we opened up with a backstab from Imoen, Doom and silence from sanctuaried Yeslick and Brawnwen and a breach from an invisible Dynaheir. Daevorn resisted silence (and maybe doom, not sure) but the breach seemed to strip most of his buffs. The fight started off well with some heavy damage up front, but then he jumped around and got off a lucky fireball that leveled Imoen who was a bit hurt from a previous spell. Her death devastated us. I never expected to lose poor Imoen! With cries of anger we charged the wizard, giving no heed for strategy and he was chunked by Ajantis. We then took our fury out on his apprentice. Without our thief we couldn't get some of the chests open (so no knock scroll) and Yeslick was already threatening to leave us, so we flooded the mine and then recruited Coran.
My current party makeup is:
Lydia, the CHARNAME Archer Yeslick Brawnwen Coran Dynaheir Ajantis
Actually this is working out well, because I normally don't recruit Yeslick, Coran, Dynaheir or Ajantis. Using new NPCs was the reason I wanted to try this out. It still saddens me a lot to lose Imoen like that
This is absolutely my favorite playthrough style as well, but I do it with a certain caveat: namely, the restrictions only kick in after I've assembled both a full party and a backup team.
The reason for this is purely mechanical, as I dislike the fact that NPCs recruited at higher levels tend to have proficiencies and skills that are neither helpful nor optimal. So when I started my most recent playthrough, I ran up and down the Sword Coast, assembling my primary party while leaving backups at the front gate to the FAI. From that point, any NPCs who die are immediately removed from the party (so they can't be resurrected), and their inventory is passed on to whoever's next in line.
Finalized party: Dorn, Montaron, Shar-Teel, Viconia, The Man From Larswood Backups: Kagain, Jaheira, Safana, Imoen, Branwen, Edwin, Neera
I'm currently trying to do a no/minimal solo run as a female gnome illusionist/thief, core rules, no reloads to try to get better HP on level-up or failing to scribe scrolls. currently level 2/3 around Beregost, trying to raise enough gold to buy the Dagger of Venom...
@shawne - yeah I agree on the crappy proficiencies/skills, I do use shadowkeeper to adjust them when I pick them up, but I don't adjust xp/class/level or anything like that.
I'm currently trying to do a no/minimal solo run as a female gnome illusionist/thief, core rules, no reloads to try to get better HP on level-up or failing to scribe scrolls. currently level 2/3 around Beregost, trying to raise enough gold to buy the Dagger of Venom...
I'd suggest farming ankhegs north of the FAI, but an illusionist/thief... not sure that would work out for you...
@SirK8: All things being equal, I'd rather not use Shadowkeeper - it's enough to recruit them at level 1-2 and just drop them off at the FAI. I'll need to level them back up if any of the more advanced party members die, but at least the equipment will still be there...
Human Beserker - 18/65 \ 18 \ 18 \ 11 \ 9 \ 18 ** Scimitar ** Two weapon fighting
will dual class to Thief at level 3 or 4
Still formulating a game plan - IIRC Xzar and Monty will stay in place until you complete the Nashkel mines so I plan to leave them there (not speaking to them) for later back up and I think I will do the same for Jahs & Khalid as well (who I also think will still be in place until the mines are done if you don't speak to them).
I'm thinking grab Kivan and snipe our way to Nashkel and decide then if we need a healer right away or if we can put it off until it's time for Sam to dual class - (assuming I can keep all three alive that long) -
Playing on Core - undecided at the moment whether I will drop to Normal for level ups for max hps - am probably NOT going to drop to normal for spell scribing this time tho.
Edit: Update: Sam and Imoen picked up Kivan and cleared the two maps south of Beregost after attempting to assist Melicamp who died again on me - (this makes like 6 out of 8 times for me since BGEE was released) Imoen and Sam are both level 2 now and I decided I would drop to normal for max hps on level ups at least for the first few levels. Sam stuck to a bow mostly so far but now that he has some decent HPs he will start weilding his scimitar and ninjato unless the foe is especially dangerous in melee range.
Mostly uneventful as we sniped around some of the maps around Beregost and then went back north and took out Tarnesh and the belt ogre. Imoen grabbed the stupifier for Kivan who put a pip in mace at level 3 and then we got the bright idea to sneak up and take Bassilus from the south - silver tongued Sam got Bassilus to leave his minions out of the fight - Sam got rage up but Bassilus got a rigid thinking off on Kivan despite Imoen zapping him with magic missles every round and then Kivan fired on a couple minions and all hell broke loose as a bunch of them turned hostile and started to attack us- Imoen went down - Sam managed to get Bassilus down and retreated south with Kivan as the rigid thinking elapsed but they still needed to grab Bassilus stuff so they sniped skellies and zombies one at a time until they could grab the gear and go get their reward -
Sam hit level 3 and dualed to thief after putting a 3rd pip in scimitar - taking shortbow & longsword for his thief pips and putting all thief skills in traps bringing them to 50. I'm thinking a trip to the carnival for Branwen and then some more exploring until Sam gets his beserker back.
We laid Imoen to rest in the woods at the NE corner of the Beregost map - Kivan found a nice slab of maple and carved "Heya it's me!" on it and we wandered on...
Scimitar Sam update (also posted in No reload thread unless/until forced to reload by Sams death)
Sam and Kivan were looking at an uncanny stone sculpture of a striking woman while wandering the Nashkel Carnival.
Sam recalled Imoen had picked up a stone to flesh scroll at the Beregost Temple and when he questioned her about it she had said "Hey-a you never know - old Puff-guts used to tell me a story about a stoned trollop he found hiding in the cellar one night" -
Sam related this to Kivan with a few embellishments and Kivan rolled his eyes and shrugged saying what the hells it's worth a shot.
Sam dug the scroll out and Kivan showed him how to turn it right side up so he could read the enchantment and with a flash-crack and a huge sucking sound which turned out to be the first drawing of a long held breath a warrior maiden of Tempus appeared in the flesh - literally - as the enchantment caused her stone clothing to crumble around her and she snapped open her eyes and jumped into Kivans arms and he quickly wrapped his cape around her and wandered off behind a tent telling Sam he would be right back.
A few hours later Kivan found him near the beer tent and introduced him to their newest team member Branwen now outfitted in some of Kivans spare armor and Kivan grinning like an idiot while Branwen went on and on about Tempus and Tranzig. The newly formed trio picked up some more essentials for themselves and wandered off to the south looking for the Nashkel mines.
As they slipped into a cleft in the rocks they were accosted by a pair of brigands with a small party of bandits and as thier negotiations with the unscrupulous pair went downhill the brigands party suddenly started falling like flies. A huge half-orc warrior appeared and after chastising the bandits leaders he attacked the brigands from the rear as Sam & company joined the fray. The half-orc was near death when Branwen cast a healing spell on him and soon after the dust settled and the brigands were lying in pieces.
The half-orc Dorn offered to join the group and Sam and Branwen agreed while Kivan was much less enthusiastic but Sam told him to get over it and they moved out after looting a few fine pieces from the fallen. The group found Prism the artist and protected him from Greywolf taking the bounty hunter down in a tough fight and gaining a wondrous new sword for Sam called Varscona - he whispers to it as he applies an edge when they sit about the campfire.
A trip to Nashkel to empty their packs and they got a clue as to where another of Dorns enemies might be hiding - Sam was in no hurry to head under ground at the mines and so off they went in search of Dorns foe. The found her east of Nashkel and took her down hard the half-orc swelling with pride and arrogance as she fell and anxious to move on to his next foe but Sam bid him wait a bit and Kivan talked the group into taking a wounded soldier they found to the FAI and so they did.
Sam is now Level 3 thief - one more level to get his beserker skills back - will decide next whether to drop Dorn for a while at FAI to level Sam faster or keep him on for now ( party has average rep so he should stay avaiable). Jahs and Kahlid are still at the Inn but I'm pretty sure I will have to speak to them before we enter and finish the mines if I wish to keep them available - will check on Xzar and Monty when we leave here too.
It must be tempting to leave some areas unexplored as long as possible so you aren't stuck recruiting level 1-2 characters the whole time. That I can think of, viconia, branwen, coran, eldoth, faldorn, shar-teel, dynaheir, khalid, dorn and jaheira can all be avoided for significant amounts of time pre-chapter 5.
It must be tempting to leave some areas unexplored as long as possible so you aren't stuck recruiting level 1-2 characters the whole time. That I can think of, viconia, branwen, coran, eldoth, faldorn, shar-teel, dynaheir, khalid, dorn and jaheira can all be avoided for significant amounts of time pre-chapter 5.
I'm not as sure about this as I once was - there is thread about this here:
It suggests that this may have changed with the last patch and that some NPCs are set as soon as you enter the map they are on whether or not you speak to them or not.
Well I just loaded up another run I had done where I had not spoken to Dyna but cleared the gnoll map - did not speak to safana but cleared most of her map (walked right next to her) and did garricks quest at level 2 or so and killed silke but did not talk to garrick afterwards -
I went to each of them in turn in normal fashion moving about the map as a party would (as opposed to using console or other methods to get there) with my now level 6 party and recruited each of them and they were all at level 6.
So I am now expecting to see no issues with recruiting levels by doing the same in any of these no raise dead runs either.
One thing I noted was Imoen did not trigger her "good-bye dialoge" when removed from the party (twice) altho Xan did when I removed him for dyna.
****************************************** ********** EDIT:UPDATE for Scimitar Sam & Co.
Scimitar Sam took the party North from FAI where they ran into some ankeg and started culling a few from the herd in spite of the obvious danger - with Dorn along they figured they could carry almost a half-dozen down to Thunderbutt in Beregost which would almost pay for a set of ankeg armor - Dorn got smacked pretty good by the first spitting beast but Branwen Nightinggale patched up right away - then we had two jump out at once and they both must have hit Dorn together becuase he dropped like a stone and Branwen was unable to stir him. We finished off the fight and managed to carry 3 shells and what was left of Dorn if we walked slow and headed off to Beregost - we sold the shells and took Dorn out to the woods and left him with Imoen - maybe he could tell her some stories about trollops and plug-tales to while away eternity.
We geared up and headed south where we ran across the infamous Drizzt after killing all but one of the gnolls he was whining about ourselves - we let him run along home to his mommy - and snuck around to find the half-ogres that we heard were hanging out here - we found them and left them dead and put down a small band of wanna be bandits before heading back to Beregost to reconnoiter and decide where to go next.
Losing Dorn didn't really break my heart - I was looking to do a more nuetral than evil group anyway - Sam leveled to thief 4 and got his beserker back and added a 4th pip to scimitars - his traps are up to 80 and MS/HIS is 65/15 without the boots - I think I will keep him in plate mostly for now weilding the Wazi +1 and Varscona and let Kivan scout and snipe.
Now that Sam has his beserker back I can go with a larger group so I'm going to think about who to bring along - I'll need to speak to both Jahs & Kahlid and Xzar and Monty before entering the mines in order to keep them available for later on if needed and I have room for either pair as it's just Sam, Kivan & Branwen right now. Minsc & Dyna might be a decent option becuase I could do their quest - then come back and get Edwin thus completing his quest also. Then I can keep or drop Minsc & Dyna (they will stay where I leave them as long as our rep is nuetral-good) and grab one of the other pairs before entering the mine.
Choices choices... and no more play time until Fri - maybe not until Sun...
I started one yesterday! I'm going to post a similar style log in another thread, not as much detail as some of the others here. Great idea, and the first time I have actually done any sort of "challenge" for BG.
Made a human ranger, recruited Imoen, Xzar, Monty, Jaheira and Khalid. Made it to Beregost without any incidents, but had my first casualty when I was ambushed by enemies while travelling - a hobgoblin shot Xzar before I could even react. So looks like I'm going to need another mage.
EDIT: Picked up Garrick temporarily and headed south to Nashkel. Had a tense moment at the inn, since I'd forgotten about the assassin and as such was quite unprepared. She got off a hold person on my main and Khalid, but fortunately the other four group members managed to kill her before she did any serious harm. Left Garrick at the inn and picked up Edwin - which in retrospect probably wasn't the brightest idea since now I'll have to kill Dynaheir.
Nearly had another hobgoblin-related death near Nashkel, as Imoen was simultaneously shot at by five of them and lost 15 of her 16 hitpoints. Fortunately she managed to guzzle a healing potion quickly.
EDIT: However her good fortune did not last, as she was felled by a critical hit from a gnoll elite. And as troubles seldom come alone, right after killing Dynaheir for Edwin, I tabbed out of the game but forgot to pause, not realising my mistake until I heard Edwin's death cry. The gnolls that killed him were dispatched easily, but that did little to change the fact that I had lost a powerful mage and a possible replacement in the span of a few minutes.
EDIT2: Picked up Garrick again and headed to the lighthouse to recruit Safana. After a bit of a clusterfuck where I sent Montaron into the cave to pick up the treasure, he got killed by a trap, and the rest of the party got killed by sirines when they tried to retrieve his equipment, I had to reload and next time managed to complete the quest without any deaths. Now I have a full party again, but since I having Garrick as my only arcane caster might be a bit of a problem, I'm thinking of heading to the mines so I can recruit Xan.
EDIT3: Khalid died while fighting Greywolf, a damn shame since he was the one who could have made best use of Varscona.
EDIT4: Picked up Branwen and lost her almost immediately to Zordral, since in an incredible stroke of bad luck, despite the entire group pelting him with ranged attacks, nobody managed to interrupt his spells.
EDIT5: Picked up Kagain, killed Bassilus and cleared the mines without any casualties. Left behind a spoony bard and took along a mopey wizard. Later lost Safana to Nimbul. Going to need another thief since Monty can't lockpick his way out of a paper bag, but none are available until chapter five. Guess I'll have to get Shar-Teel and dual her.
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.
Update from me - recruited Shar-Teel, dualed her to thief, did a couple sidequests, cleared out the bandit camp. This group seems to be working pretty well right now (*knocks on wood*), so I'll try to get a bit more gear and experience and head over to Cloakwood soon.
UPDATE: Since the evil folks in my group were getting a bit grumbly, and I wanted to get the ability to cast Horror, I went and handed in the Girdle of Piercing to Unshey, then murdered her to get it back. This conveniently dropped my rep to 8. Unfortunately, this also meant that Aldeth Sashenstar wouldn't ask my help with the druids, so I just killed him and his buddies. Also cleaned out the spider nest in the woods.
It's starting to annoy me how nobody in the group has a lore value worth carp, so I have to identify every Arrow +1 with a spell. Wonder why this is - thought lore was based on Int and Wis, and Xan has decent scores in each, but can't ID anything.
UPDATE 2: Cleared out the Cloakwood mines without much trouble (though Drasus did whack my main once so I had to reload). Davaeorn was an absolute pushover - I sent Monty to backstab him while the rest of the group hung back, he cast Dire Charm, then when that ran out, he cast Hold Person which Monty resisted, and after that he was apparently out of spells and started whacking us with his staff. Don't know if it was bugged or something, I recall him having more spells on previous playthroughs.
Rescued Yeslick as well - took him out of the mines and dropped him from the group outside, so he wouldn't get drowned. Was considering replacing Jaheira with him, but I think Yeslick and Kagain are going to fight if they're in the party together, and I didn't want that. Still, he's available if I should need him in the future.
Also, overview of the current status: DECEASED: Xzar Imoen Dynaheir Edwin Minsc (I didn't mention this in previous updates, but Minsc was killed by Amnish soldiers shortly after I returned from the Gnoll Stronghold. I suppose he went hostile when Dyna died) Khalid Branwen Safana
CURRENT PARTY: Egle (Archer) Kagain Jaheira Montaron Shar-Teel Xan
Making separate post since the thread fell off first page, and also because I have something interesting to report, for once: Kagain fell to Larze (got morale failure so I couldn't make him drink a health potion), and then some of our party got confused by Marek and killed two commoners, dropping our reputation to 4 and causing my ranger to Fall. D'oh!
UPDATE: Donated to the church to get my rep back to 9 and picked up Yeslick. Accidentally chose the rude response in dialogue to Alora, so there's another NPC out of the game. Double d'oh!
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 coast.
I originally rolled him with high stats, but decided I wanted more of a challenge, so re-rolled taking the best of 20 rolls and got this:
15 Str (so I can bluff my way into the Bandit Camp at least, and carry stuff, can buff to 18/50 with strength spell, later to 18/00 with Tazok's Gloves, which a Bard can use. Will be 16 base Str with the tome late game)
18 Dex (19 with the tome as soon as I get to Baldur's Gate City)
15 Con (raised to 16 with the Con tome, which is easy to obtain early on)
15 Int (+5 lore, 11 spells in the spellbook/level, 65% spell learn, but can raise to 19 and 95% learn with a potion of genius, higher with the red potion, to be saved for Stoneskin and Greater Malison. Can get to 16 Int with a tome in Baldur's gate.)
7 Wis (to get to 10 by the end of BGEE with tomes, so no lore penalty for BG2 and only -10 in BGEE)
15 Cha (can still get to 21 and max 75% shop discount with Friends, can raise to 16 with a tome early on, to 18 with Algernon's Cloak - would give 18+6 = 24 Charisma with Friends!)
Both Alessandro and Safana are now at level 5 and have the following proficiencies:
Proficiencies:
Level 1: Staff * (bought the +3 staff as soon as I could afford it, does blunt damage, so better THAC0 against armoured opponents than a slashing or even piercing weapon and less monsters resistant to it. Also can stand in the second row and still attack reasonably safely, if with a party)
Shortbow * (quicker than longbows, for interupting casters and song twisting, can get the +1 shortbow early on, and a +2 one later, wide range of ammo options and in vanilla BG2 the available magic shortbows are better than longbows)
Level 4: Dagger * (for +2 Dagger of Venom, to use vs. casters, and later for Werebane)
Level 8:
Not sure yet, either single-weapon fighing, two-handed weapon style or possibly katanas to prepare for BG2
Have gone Neutral Evil alignment (partly for he Dust Mephit Familair, which gets Glitterdust x1/day and Glass Dust x 2/day - the former works great with Jester song, as reduces subsequent saves by -4 for enemies that fail their +0 save vs. Glitterdust - they're effectively blinded, also makes any enemies who fail their save visible, if invisble before). Even though I'm level 5, though, I haven't actually got my familiar yet, as I haven't actually done Nashkel Mines yet (Nimbul drops the scroll in Nashkel after this)!
Alessandro has the followed equipment (not including potions, scrolls etc.):
+3 Staff, +1 shortbow (plus lots of +1 Acid Arrows), +1 Protection Ring, Belt of Piercing (for missile protection), Shield Amulet, Greenstone Amulet, Algernon's Cloak (pick-pocketed) and the following Wands: Sleep, Paralyzation, Frost, Lightning and all the containers (scroll, gem, potion). He will buy the Dagger of Venom and Greagan's Harp next, and will no doubt acquire the Wand of Fire and Wand of Monster Summoning soon too. He has no magic chainmail yet, but the Shield Amulet is doing just fine.
NB: I'm taking whatever HP rolls I'm given on level-ups. HP will be 12 more after I get by Familiar (when I get he scroll from Nimbul).
Safana has the following proficiencies at level 5:
Level 1 Scimitars * Darts *
Level 4 (when I picked her up): Single Weapon Fighting *
Level 8 (if she makes it): Will likely pick crossbows for the Light Crossbow of Speed
Safana has:
Drizzt's +3 Icing Death Scimitar (which Alessandro pickpocketed, with 80 base pickpockets, the Luck spell and twp potions of Master Thievery) and a bunch of magic darts (mainly +1 Darts of Fire). She is wearing the +3 Shadow Armour and Boots of Stealth and also has the second Wand of Magic Missiles I found in Gullykin (Imoen's Wand is down to one charge, not sure whether to recharge this at some point, maybe). She also has Reclair's Mistake Cloak - gives her 18 Str and fixes Dex at 17, but that's fine for her - also increases movement speed, this is great for running away when thieving, if you get caught, and for carrying loot.
I'm now about to head of to Nashkel Mines (yes I still haven't done them yet, even though I'm level 5) to try and redeem a little reputation and to get some loot (and to progress the story...)
Scimitar Sam got weary of the sniping and dropped Jahs & Khalid and Xan off at the Adventurers Picnic outside the Inn at Nashkel and convinced Xzar and Monty to join him - I thought I was going to lose Xzar almost immediately when we were ambushed by a troop of bandit archers on the way to FAI but between Xzar and Edwin they got off two horror spells and then chased the bandits around with Rasaad kicking them in the head until they were dead while the others used more conventional means to send them to their maker.
We picked up Branwen at the FAI and gathered up the two mage items from Dorns battle we had left at Joias and then headed to Beregost where we took down Tranzig and Monty failed to pickpocket a cloak from Algernon and backstabbed him instead. Our rep dropped 7 pleasing Xzar, Monty and Edwin altho Branwen was a bit miffed with the action but apparently got over it and Rasaad didn't say anything at all. That leaves us with a nice mellow 9 rep that should keep everyone happy for a while.
We cleared the rest of High hedge gathering throwing daggers for Xzar who actually has enough strength to carry quite a few (unlike Xan) and then went south and cleared the rest of Bassilus map we had left for later taking out the hobgoblin tribe and a nice +2 short sword for Monty.
Not sure where we head next - maybe the coast or maybe a short trip to Gullykin - it's too bad the wis tomes don't surface before BG City or I'd dual Xzar to cleric now and by the time we got there he would have his mage spells back (assuming I could keep him alive with his 8 hps at level 4 mage).
So to recap - no reloads yet and only Imoen and Dorn have died so the rest of the NPCs are still available with Minsc, Dyna, Jahs, Khalid, Xan, Xzar, Monty, Edwin, Branwen, and Rasaad already picked up. Most everyone is level 4ish - Sam is beserker 4>thief 5 and I'm sort of undecided whether to put the team I want together and move along with them just taking the others if someone dies or whether I want to swap them in and out a bit to keep them closer in level.
Might get some playtime tomorrrow then no more until Sunday.
@ Erinne - yeah I'm probably not going to venture into DT until later either or at least not until I've already had to reload once LOL
Scimitar Sam & Co had a rough morning a dead shot group of skellys popped up caught Edwin unaware on the map south of Nashkel (fastest dart tosser map) and he was down before I knew it then later on the map just North of Gnoll fort Rasaad died to a critical from one of the local ogres. They are both resting peacefully next to the Nashkel graveyard.
We picked up Xan again when Edwin went down but I'm not sure how I am going to restructure the group now. Monty has the archery gloves bringing his thac0 down to 10 with the sling +1 and with boots of stealth he is excellent at hide & backstab -
Wow it just occured to me that he is using a short sword +1 - which means we must have missed the short sword +2 from the hobgoblin near Bassilus - we had used horror on them and they were running around all over the map so maybe the loot pile was hidden in the trees someplace - doubt it's gonna still be there now - probably a week of game days have passed.
Anyway I'm happy with monty but doubt Xzar is going to survive with only 8 hps at level 4 so I hate to put too much effort into him (altho taken early I like him as a mage)- I'm not all that excited about Neera as my main mage either altho I would consider her more favorably if we have to reload once and wild surges become less of a game killer.
For now I'm tempted to keep the party as is (Monty, Xzar, Branwen, Xan) and maybe grab Kivan again to go along - I'll just consider Xzar and Monty as expendable and if they go down maybe we will go back to Jahs & Khalid or Minsc and Dyna.
Well, the upper levels are pretty safe, though I suppose the two battle horrors on the way there might cause some trouble for a low level party.
As for me, had another total party kill in the Candlekeep catacombs with Prat's group (damn lightning bolts in a crowded corridor!). At first lost Monty, Xan, Shar-Teel and Yeslick, then my main got feared by that other mage and wandered into some spiders, got whacked despite Jaheira trying to heal her. Reloaded, remembered to cast Haste on my group so I could dodge the lightning, and killed them without any casualties.
Feel a bit sad that I had to reload to be honest, would've been quite a challenge to rebuild my group pretty much completely from scratch. Though I'm not sure I could've got past those basilisks at the exit without anybody to cast protection from petrification (since my main is fallen, she can't stealth anymore).
Out of the catacombs now, and not sure what to do. Kind of tempted to tackle some ToSC content and get a few NPCs killed before proceeding to endgame.
Update on Scimitar Sam and his merry band... (no reloads yet)
The party did some exploring in the south - a trip to Gullykin and a brief visit to the deep end of Firewine through the hobbit hole while there to take out the Ogre Mage and his close buddies - (thats all of firewine I really want to do with a full party LOL)
Visited High hedge and had Xan cast freinds and check the price of the nuetral robes but 26K was too much to spend when we only had 28K - so we just collected some more throwing daggers for Xan and Xzar from the local skellies and headed to the coast.
Answered the first riddle wrong and killed Brage was going to collect bounty from Oublek but couldn't resist taking Greywolfs gold so he wouldn't pay us so we took Brage to the temple. Went back to clear Brage map and lost Monty to Baruk and his kobold commanders fire arrows when he tried backstabbing Baruk while scouting.
Dropped him off with Imoen and Dorn in Beregost and now have to decide who to replace him with.
Current group is Sam (beserk 3/thief 6), Branwen, Kivan, Xzar & Xan.
I could pick up either Jahs/Khalid or Minsc/Dyna from Nashkel and drop Xzar (only evil member currently) or I could pick up either Garrick or Neera and keep the current group (they have not been picked up yet so will continue to level if I leave them be) Safana and Viconia are also still available.
Comments
Imoen tried to chug a perception potion and thieving potion and then pick pocket some merchants in Nashkel but she failed miserably. She was feeling them out to see if we could sell spider bane to them and then lift it in case we needed it down the road. After 3 failed attempts and managing to escape without engaging any guards, the rest of the party finally persuaded her to give it up.
The party is now ready to hunt down the Iron Throne base of operations in Cloakwood. Watch out bandit scum here we come!
The party did very well and the remaining levels, and Imoen cleared the various traps before fighting Daevorn. We had a sound plan, or at least we thought so, we opened up with a backstab from Imoen, Doom and silence from sanctuaried Yeslick and Brawnwen and a breach from an invisible Dynaheir. Daevorn resisted silence (and maybe doom, not sure) but the breach seemed to strip most of his buffs. The fight started off well with some heavy damage up front, but then he jumped around and got off a lucky fireball that leveled Imoen who was a bit hurt from a previous spell. Her death devastated us. I never expected to lose poor Imoen! With cries of anger we charged the wizard, giving no heed for strategy and he was chunked by Ajantis. We then took our fury out on his apprentice. Without our thief we couldn't get some of the chests open (so no knock scroll) and Yeslick was already threatening to leave us, so we flooded the mine and then recruited Coran.
My current party makeup is:
Lydia, the CHARNAME Archer
Yeslick
Brawnwen
Coran
Dynaheir
Ajantis
Actually this is working out well, because I normally don't recruit Yeslick, Coran, Dynaheir or Ajantis. Using new NPCs was the reason I wanted to try this out. It still saddens me a lot to lose Imoen like that
The reason for this is purely mechanical, as I dislike the fact that NPCs recruited at higher levels tend to have proficiencies and skills that are neither helpful nor optimal. So when I started my most recent playthrough, I ran up and down the Sword Coast, assembling my primary party while leaving backups at the front gate to the FAI. From that point, any NPCs who die are immediately removed from the party (so they can't be resurrected), and their inventory is passed on to whoever's next in line.
Finalized party: Dorn, Montaron, Shar-Teel, Viconia, The Man From Larswood
Backups: Kagain, Jaheira, Safana, Imoen, Branwen, Edwin, Neera
@SirK8: All things being equal, I'd rather not use Shadowkeeper - it's enough to recruit them at level 1-2 and just drop them off at the FAI. I'll need to level them back up if any of the more advanced party members die, but at least the equipment will still be there...
Human Beserker - 18/65 \ 18 \ 18 \ 11 \ 9 \ 18
** Scimitar ** Two weapon fighting
will dual class to Thief at level 3 or 4
Still formulating a game plan - IIRC Xzar and Monty will stay in place until you complete the Nashkel mines so I plan to leave them there (not speaking to them) for later back up and I think I will do the same for Jahs & Khalid as well (who I also think will still be in place until the mines are done if you don't speak to them).
I'm thinking grab Kivan and snipe our way to Nashkel and decide then if we need a healer right away or if we can put it off until it's time for Sam to dual class - (assuming I can keep all three alive that long) -
Playing on Core - undecided at the moment whether I will drop to Normal for level ups for max hps - am probably NOT going to drop to normal for spell scribing this time tho.
Edit: Update: Sam and Imoen picked up Kivan and cleared the two maps south of Beregost after attempting to assist Melicamp who died again on me - (this makes like 6 out of 8 times for me since BGEE was released) Imoen and Sam are both level 2 now and I decided I would drop to normal for max hps on level ups at least for the first few levels. Sam stuck to a bow mostly so far but now that he has some decent HPs he will start weilding his scimitar and ninjato unless the foe is especially dangerous in melee range.
Mostly uneventful as we sniped around some of the maps around Beregost and then went back north and took out Tarnesh and the belt ogre. Imoen grabbed the stupifier for Kivan who put a pip in mace at level 3 and then we got the bright idea to sneak up and take Bassilus from the south - silver tongued Sam got Bassilus to leave his minions out of the fight - Sam got rage up but Bassilus got a rigid thinking off on Kivan despite Imoen zapping him with magic missles every round and then Kivan fired on a couple minions and all hell broke loose as a bunch of them turned hostile and started to attack us- Imoen went down - Sam managed to get Bassilus down and retreated south with Kivan as the rigid thinking elapsed but they still needed to grab Bassilus stuff so they sniped skellies and zombies one at a time until they could grab the gear and go get their reward -
Sam hit level 3 and dualed to thief after putting a 3rd pip in scimitar - taking shortbow & longsword for his thief pips and putting all thief skills in traps bringing them to 50. I'm thinking a trip to the carnival for Branwen and then some more exploring until Sam gets his beserker back.
We laid Imoen to rest in the woods at the NE corner of the Beregost map - Kivan found a nice slab of maple and carved "Heya it's me!" on it and we wandered on...
Sam and Kivan were looking at an uncanny stone sculpture of a striking woman while wandering the Nashkel Carnival.
Sam recalled Imoen had picked up a stone to flesh scroll at the Beregost Temple and when he questioned her about it she had said "Hey-a you never know - old Puff-guts used to tell me a story about a stoned trollop he found hiding in the cellar one night" -
Sam related this to Kivan with a few embellishments and Kivan rolled his eyes and shrugged saying what the hells it's worth a shot.
Sam dug the scroll out and Kivan showed him how to turn it right side up so he could read the enchantment and with a flash-crack and a huge sucking sound which turned out to be the first drawing of a long held breath a warrior maiden of Tempus appeared in the flesh - literally - as the enchantment caused her stone clothing to crumble around her and she snapped open her eyes and jumped into Kivans arms and he quickly wrapped his cape around her and wandered off behind a tent telling Sam he would be right back.
A few hours later Kivan found him near the beer tent and introduced him to their newest team member Branwen now outfitted in some of Kivans spare armor and Kivan grinning like an idiot while Branwen went on and on about Tempus and Tranzig. The newly formed trio picked up some more essentials for themselves and wandered off to the south looking for the Nashkel mines.
As they slipped into a cleft in the rocks they were accosted by a pair of brigands with a small party of bandits and as thier negotiations with the unscrupulous pair went downhill the brigands party suddenly started falling like flies. A huge half-orc warrior appeared and after chastising the bandits leaders he attacked the brigands from the rear as Sam & company joined the fray. The half-orc was near death when Branwen cast a healing spell on him and soon after the dust settled and the brigands were lying in pieces.
The half-orc Dorn offered to join the group and Sam and Branwen agreed while Kivan was much less enthusiastic but Sam told him to get over it and they moved out after looting a few fine pieces from the fallen. The group found Prism the artist and protected him from Greywolf taking the bounty hunter down in a tough fight and gaining a wondrous new sword for Sam called Varscona - he whispers to it as he applies an edge when they sit about the campfire.
A trip to Nashkel to empty their packs and they got a clue as to where another of Dorns enemies might be hiding - Sam was in no hurry to head under ground at the mines and so off they went in search of Dorns foe. The found her east of Nashkel and took her down hard the half-orc swelling with pride and arrogance as she fell and anxious to move on to his next foe but Sam bid him wait a bit and Kivan talked the group into taking a wounded soldier they found to the FAI and so they did.
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Sam is now Level 3 thief - one more level to get his beserker skills back - will decide next whether to drop Dorn for a while at FAI to level Sam faster or keep him on for now ( party has average rep so he should stay avaiable). Jahs and Kahlid are still at the Inn but I'm pretty sure I will have to speak to them before we enter and finish the mines if I wish to keep them available - will check on Xzar and Monty when we leave here too.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/14952/what-level-will-my-recruited-npcs-be-and-who-should-i-recruit#latest
It suggests that this may have changed with the last patch and that some NPCs are set as soon as you enter the map they are on whether or not you speak to them or not.
I went to each of them in turn in normal fashion moving about the map as a party would (as opposed to using console or other methods to get there) with my now level 6 party and recruited each of them and they were all at level 6.
So I am now expecting to see no issues with recruiting levels by doing the same in any of these no raise dead runs either.
One thing I noted was Imoen did not trigger her "good-bye dialoge" when removed from the party (twice) altho Xan did when I removed him for dyna.
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EDIT:UPDATE for Scimitar Sam & Co.
Scimitar Sam took the party North from FAI where they ran into some ankeg and started culling a few from the herd in spite of the obvious danger - with Dorn along they figured they could carry almost a half-dozen down to Thunderbutt in Beregost which would almost pay for a set of ankeg armor - Dorn got smacked pretty good by the first spitting beast but Branwen Nightinggale patched up right away - then we had two jump out at once and they both must have hit Dorn together becuase he dropped like a stone and Branwen was unable to stir him. We finished off the fight and managed to carry 3 shells and what was left of Dorn if we walked slow and headed off to Beregost - we sold the shells and took Dorn out to the woods and left him with Imoen - maybe he could tell her some stories about trollops and plug-tales to while away eternity.
We geared up and headed south where we ran across the infamous Drizzt after killing all but one of the gnolls he was whining about ourselves - we let him run along home to his mommy - and snuck around to find the half-ogres that we heard were hanging out here - we found them and left them dead and put down a small band of wanna be bandits before heading back to Beregost to reconnoiter and decide where to go next.
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Losing Dorn didn't really break my heart - I was looking to do a more nuetral than evil group anyway - Sam leveled to thief 4 and got his beserker back and added a 4th pip to scimitars - his traps are up to 80 and MS/HIS is 65/15 without the boots - I think I will keep him in plate mostly for now weilding the Wazi +1 and Varscona and let Kivan scout and snipe.
Now that Sam has his beserker back I can go with a larger group so I'm going to think about who to bring along - I'll need to speak to both Jahs & Kahlid and Xzar and Monty before entering the mines in order to keep them available for later on if needed and I have room for either pair as it's just Sam, Kivan & Branwen right now. Minsc & Dyna might be a decent option becuase I could do their quest - then come back and get Edwin thus completing his quest also. Then I can keep or drop Minsc & Dyna (they will stay where I leave them as long as our rep is nuetral-good) and grab one of the other pairs before entering the mine.
Choices choices... and no more play time until Fri - maybe not until Sun...
Made a human ranger, recruited Imoen, Xzar, Monty, Jaheira and Khalid. Made it to Beregost without any incidents, but had my first casualty when I was ambushed by enemies while travelling - a hobgoblin shot Xzar before I could even react. So looks like I'm going to need another mage.
EDIT: Picked up Garrick temporarily and headed south to Nashkel. Had a tense moment at the inn, since I'd forgotten about the assassin and as such was quite unprepared. She got off a hold person on my main and Khalid, but fortunately the other four group members managed to kill her before she did any serious harm. Left Garrick at the inn and picked up Edwin - which in retrospect probably wasn't the brightest idea since now I'll have to kill Dynaheir.
EDIT: However her good fortune did not last, as she was felled by a critical hit from a gnoll elite. And as troubles seldom come alone, right after killing Dynaheir for Edwin, I tabbed out of the game but forgot to pause, not realising my mistake until I heard Edwin's death cry. The gnolls that killed him were dispatched easily, but that did little to change the fact that I had lost a powerful mage and a possible replacement in the span of a few minutes.
EDIT2: Picked up Garrick again and headed to the lighthouse to recruit Safana. After a bit of a clusterfuck where I sent Montaron into the cave to pick up the treasure, he got killed by a trap, and the rest of the party got killed by sirines when they tried to retrieve his equipment, I had to reload and next time managed to complete the quest without any deaths. Now I have a full party again, but since I having Garrick as my only arcane caster might be a bit of a problem, I'm thinking of heading to the mines so I can recruit Xan.
EDIT3: Khalid died while fighting Greywolf, a damn shame since he was the one who could have made best use of Varscona.
EDIT4: Picked up Branwen and lost her almost immediately to Zordral, since in an incredible stroke of bad luck, despite the entire group pelting him with ranged attacks, nobody managed to interrupt his spells.
EDIT5: Picked up Kagain, killed Bassilus and cleared the mines without any casualties. Left behind a spoony bard and took along a mopey wizard. Later lost Safana to Nimbul. Going to need another thief since Monty can't lockpick his way out of a paper bag, but none are available until chapter five. Guess I'll have to get Shar-Teel and dual her.
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.
UPDATE: Since the evil folks in my group were getting a bit grumbly, and I wanted to get the ability to cast Horror, I went and handed in the Girdle of Piercing to Unshey, then murdered her to get it back. This conveniently dropped my rep to 8. Unfortunately, this also meant that Aldeth Sashenstar wouldn't ask my help with the druids, so I just killed him and his buddies. Also cleaned out the spider nest in the woods.
It's starting to annoy me how nobody in the group has a lore value worth carp, so I have to identify every Arrow +1 with a spell. Wonder why this is - thought lore was based on Int and Wis, and Xan has decent scores in each, but can't ID anything.
UPDATE 2: Cleared out the Cloakwood mines without much trouble (though Drasus did whack my main once so I had to reload). Davaeorn was an absolute pushover - I sent Monty to backstab him while the rest of the group hung back, he cast Dire Charm, then when that ran out, he cast Hold Person which Monty resisted, and after that he was apparently out of spells and started whacking us with his staff. Don't know if it was bugged or something, I recall him having more spells on previous playthroughs.
Rescued Yeslick as well - took him out of the mines and dropped him from the group outside, so he wouldn't get drowned. Was considering replacing Jaheira with him, but I think Yeslick and Kagain are going to fight if they're in the party together, and I didn't want that. Still, he's available if I should need him in the future.
Also, overview of the current status:
DECEASED:
Xzar
Imoen
Dynaheir
Edwin
Minsc (I didn't mention this in previous updates, but Minsc was killed by Amnish soldiers shortly after I returned from the Gnoll Stronghold. I suppose he went hostile when Dyna died)
Khalid
Branwen
Safana
CURRENT PARTY:
Egle (Archer)
Kagain
Jaheira
Montaron
Shar-Teel
Xan
UPDATE: Donated to the church to get my rep back to 9 and picked up Yeslick. Accidentally chose the rude response in dialogue to Alora, so there's another NPC out of the game. Double d'oh!
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 coast.
Reputation: 6 (after just killing Firebeard in Beregost)
CHARNAME Level: 5
Okay,introducing Alessandro, my neutral evil Jester, who's doing a duo run with just Safana (you can read about their exploits so far here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/12581/the-no-reload-challenge-spoiler-warning/p10), I was doing a no reload run but got killed by Firebeard when I tried to assasinate him in Beregost (after doing his quest, of course). I succeeded on my second attempt though (you can read how here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/12581/the-no-reload-challenge-spoiler-warning/p13 ). So, I'm no continuing this as a miminal reload, no ressurection run (so Safana may not last long...).
I originally rolled him with high stats, but decided I wanted more of a challenge, so re-rolled taking the best of 20 rolls and got this:
15 Str (so I can bluff my way into the Bandit Camp at least, and carry stuff, can buff to 18/50 with strength spell, later to 18/00 with Tazok's Gloves, which a Bard can use. Will be 16 base Str with the tome late game)
18 Dex (19 with the tome as soon as I get to Baldur's Gate City)
15 Con (raised to 16 with the Con tome, which is easy to obtain early on)
15 Int (+5 lore, 11 spells in the spellbook/level, 65% spell learn, but can raise to 19 and 95% learn with a potion of genius, higher with the red potion, to be saved for Stoneskin and Greater Malison. Can get to 16 Int with a tome in Baldur's gate.)
7 Wis (to get to 10 by the end of BGEE with tomes, so no lore penalty for BG2 and only -10 in BGEE)
15 Cha (can still get to 21 and max 75% shop discount with Friends, can raise to 16 with a tome early on, to 18 with Algernon's Cloak - would give 18+6 = 24 Charisma with Friends!)
Both Alessandro and Safana are now at level 5 and have the following proficiencies:
Proficiencies:
Level 1:
Staff * (bought the +3 staff as soon as I could afford it, does blunt damage, so better THAC0 against armoured opponents than a slashing or even piercing weapon and less monsters resistant to it. Also can stand in the second row and still attack reasonably safely, if with a party)
Shortbow * (quicker than longbows, for interupting casters and song twisting, can get the +1 shortbow early on, and a +2 one later, wide range of ammo options and in vanilla BG2 the available magic shortbows are better than longbows)
Level 4:
Dagger * (for +2 Dagger of Venom, to use vs. casters, and later for Werebane)
Level 8:
Not sure yet, either single-weapon fighing, two-handed weapon style or possibly katanas to prepare for BG2
Have gone Neutral Evil alignment (partly for he Dust Mephit Familair, which gets Glitterdust x1/day and Glass Dust x 2/day - the former works great with Jester song, as reduces subsequent saves by -4 for enemies that fail their +0 save vs. Glitterdust - they're effectively blinded, also makes any enemies who fail their save visible, if invisble before). Even though I'm level 5, though, I haven't actually got my familiar yet, as I haven't actually done Nashkel Mines yet (Nimbul drops the scroll in Nashkel after this)!
Alessandro has the followed equipment (not including potions, scrolls etc.):
+3 Staff, +1 shortbow (plus lots of +1 Acid Arrows), +1 Protection Ring, Belt of Piercing (for missile protection), Shield Amulet, Greenstone Amulet, Algernon's Cloak (pick-pocketed) and the following Wands: Sleep, Paralyzation, Frost, Lightning and all the containers (scroll, gem, potion). He will buy the Dagger of Venom and Greagan's Harp next, and will no doubt acquire the Wand of Fire and Wand of Monster Summoning soon too. He has no magic chainmail yet, but the Shield Amulet is doing just fine.
NB: I'm taking whatever HP rolls I'm given on level-ups. HP will be 12 more after I get by Familiar (when I get he scroll from Nimbul).
Safana has the following proficiencies at level 5:
Level 1
Scimitars *
Darts *
Level 4 (when I picked her up):
Single Weapon Fighting *
Level 8 (if she makes it):
Will likely pick crossbows for the Light Crossbow of Speed
Safana has:
Drizzt's +3 Icing Death Scimitar (which Alessandro pickpocketed, with 80 base pickpockets, the Luck spell and twp potions of Master Thievery) and a bunch of magic darts (mainly +1 Darts of Fire). She is wearing the +3 Shadow Armour and Boots of Stealth and also has the second Wand of Magic Missiles I found in Gullykin (Imoen's Wand is down to one charge, not sure whether to recharge this at some point, maybe). She also has Reclair's Mistake Cloak - gives her 18 Str and fixes Dex at 17, but that's fine for her - also increases movement speed, this is great for running away when thieving, if you get caught, and for carrying loot.
I'm now about to head of to Nashkel Mines (yes I still haven't done them yet, even though I'm level 5) to try and redeem a little reputation and to get some loot (and to progress the story...)
We picked up Branwen at the FAI and gathered up the two mage items from Dorns battle we had left at Joias and then headed to Beregost where we took down Tranzig and Monty failed to pickpocket a cloak from Algernon and backstabbed him instead. Our rep dropped 7 pleasing Xzar, Monty and Edwin altho Branwen was a bit miffed with the action but apparently got over it and Rasaad didn't say anything at all. That leaves us with a nice mellow 9 rep that should keep everyone happy for a while.
We cleared the rest of High hedge gathering throwing daggers for Xzar who actually has enough strength to carry quite a few (unlike Xan) and then went south and cleared the rest of Bassilus map we had left for later taking out the hobgoblin tribe and a nice +2 short sword for Monty.
Not sure where we head next - maybe the coast or maybe a short trip to Gullykin - it's too bad the wis tomes don't surface before BG City or I'd dual Xzar to cleric now and by the time we got there he would have his mage spells back (assuming I could keep him alive with his 8 hps at level 4 mage).
So to recap - no reloads yet and only Imoen and Dorn have died so the rest of the NPCs are still available with Minsc, Dyna, Jahs, Khalid, Xan, Xzar, Monty, Edwin, Branwen, and Rasaad already picked up. Most everyone is level 4ish - Sam is beserker 4>thief 5 and I'm sort of undecided whether to put the team I want together and move along with them just taking the others if someone dies or whether I want to swap them in and out a bit to keep them closer in level.
Might get some playtime tomorrrow then no more until Sunday.
Nothing significant to report from me, been doing some sidequests in Baldur's Gate, nobody else has died.
Scimitar Sam & Co had a rough morning a dead shot group of skellys popped up caught Edwin unaware on the map south of Nashkel (fastest dart tosser map) and he was down before I knew it then later on the map just North of Gnoll fort Rasaad died to a critical from one of the local ogres. They are both resting peacefully next to the Nashkel graveyard.
We picked up Xan again when Edwin went down but I'm not sure how I am going to restructure the group now. Monty has the archery gloves bringing his thac0 down to 10 with the sling +1 and with boots of stealth he is excellent at hide & backstab -
Wow it just occured to me that he is using a short sword +1 - which means we must have missed the short sword +2 from the hobgoblin near Bassilus - we had used horror on them and they were running around all over the map so maybe the loot pile was hidden in the trees someplace - doubt it's gonna still be there now - probably a week of game days have passed.
Anyway I'm happy with monty but doubt Xzar is going to survive with only 8 hps at level 4 so I hate to put too much effort into him (altho taken early I like him as a mage)- I'm not all that excited about Neera as my main mage either altho I would consider her more favorably if we have to reload once and wild surges become less of a game killer.
For now I'm tempted to keep the party as is (Monty, Xzar, Branwen, Xan) and maybe grab Kivan again to go along - I'll just consider Xzar and Monty as expendable and if they go down maybe we will go back to Jahs & Khalid or Minsc and Dyna.
As for me, had another total party kill in the Candlekeep catacombs with Prat's group (damn lightning bolts in a crowded corridor!). At first lost Monty, Xan, Shar-Teel and Yeslick, then my main got feared by that other mage and wandered into some spiders, got whacked despite Jaheira trying to heal her. Reloaded, remembered to cast Haste on my group so I could dodge the lightning, and killed them without any casualties.
Feel a bit sad that I had to reload to be honest, would've been quite a challenge to rebuild my group pretty much completely from scratch. Though I'm not sure I could've got past those basilisks at the exit without anybody to cast protection from petrification (since my main is fallen, she can't stealth anymore).
Out of the catacombs now, and not sure what to do. Kind of tempted to tackle some ToSC content and get a few NPCs killed before proceeding to endgame.
The party did some exploring in the south - a trip to Gullykin and a brief visit to the deep end of Firewine through the hobbit hole while there to take out the Ogre Mage and his close buddies - (thats all of firewine I really want to do with a full party LOL)
Visited High hedge and had Xan cast freinds and check the price of the nuetral robes but 26K was too much to spend when we only had 28K - so we just collected some more throwing daggers for Xan and Xzar from the local skellies and headed to the coast.
Answered the first riddle wrong and killed Brage was going to collect bounty from Oublek but couldn't resist taking Greywolfs gold so he wouldn't pay us so we took Brage to the temple. Went back to clear Brage map and lost Monty to Baruk and his kobold commanders fire arrows when he tried backstabbing Baruk while scouting.
Dropped him off with Imoen and Dorn in Beregost and now have to decide who to replace him with.
Current group is Sam (beserk 3/thief 6), Branwen, Kivan, Xzar & Xan.
I could pick up either Jahs/Khalid or Minsc/Dyna from Nashkel and drop Xzar (only evil member currently) or I could pick up either Garrick or Neera and keep the current group (they have not been picked up yet so will continue to level if I leave them be) Safana and Viconia are also still available.
Suggestions welcome... ;-)