Looks like it's because @kryptix is using SCS. I think he mentioned SCS increases xp gained.
It doesn't increase exp gained but it does add some random encounters and also spawns the higher level versions of most encounters so you get a bit more combat exp. Not enough for such a huge difference though I don't think.
I'm really debating who to give the deck of many things to because 1 point doesn't give anyone any additional bonuses except for Viconia getting an extra level 4 useless spell...
I guess I can give it to Charname for a point of INT, or CLUAConsole it into 1 point of STR instead (which I think makes much more sense as the default stat to increase because of the way stats are implemented in BG2). Charname is main handing Crom Freyr though so it isn't a huge deal to have more STR anyway. I guess for those times she switches to MOD...
Well I suppose Clerics can... But the undead are like Good Catholic teenage school girls. Put a good, decent kinda guy in front of them and they will run to hills.
Put a bad, rotten to the core, kinda guy in front of them. Knickers will fall and they come panting to do there bidding...
I fear they make some bad life choices...
Sorry, my bad. I fear they make some bad afterlife choices...
Hmm.. I have not played BG2EE through to the end, but in vanilla SOA+TOB, the SOA part has the XP-cap enabled, so you cannot actually get HLAs before you get to TOB. Did that change in BG2EE?
I do recall a few games where with the XP-cap removed that I would get HLAs around the underdark but that is with a huge amount of quest mods installed, so I am not counting those for general play.
In the original BG2 once you installed ToB it made the SoA and ToB xp-cap the same. Pre-expansion the cap was lower much lower (You couldn't get spells above 8th level nor levels qualifying for HLAs).
I also using the ToB XP cap makes SoA too easy. I manually instate the SoA XP-cap (there's a .2DA file somewhere). This might be less relevant if you're just speeding through the game and working with a full posse -- but if you're a completionist / use small parties / do Watchers Keep before ToB -- you'll be dropping Dragons Breaths on and Time Stops in fights that weren't designed for them.
I'm not really sure what XP-cap SCS was designed "for"? I know SCS creator is blasé about exploits and (that being the player's choice), but I'd be curious to know what xp-levels it was designed with in mind. ( @DavidW Commentary for the curious?
I think it really depends on which options you install for SCS. Most of the mages in SOA are high enough level to have HLAs, so there is an option for whether to grant HLAs to the enemies. I find that with that option enabled, it gets REALLY hard to beat them if you don't have HLAs yourself. Then again, I'm going to be close to the TOB cap by the time I get to TOB I think this time around. I just started Level 4 of WK with my 6 man party and Charname is sitting at 5372684 exp already (I did just get 1 million for the team from the deck of many things).
I'm debating removing the TOB cap as well but I'm not sure if the mod works right because some people have experienced problems with it...
@kryptix I play with that option installed and SoA level cap. It's not really that hard (it's not easier, but it's not that much worse than them just using Time Stop and Skull Trap triggers). There's a small number that qualify for HLAs in SoA and you know you're going to fight them. You can set-up and you have a team of high-level adventurers.
(It's a small number that qualify for HLAs in SoA even with the most broad setting -- it's only in ToB that most mages would qualify [though I set it such that only notable/"special" characters get HLAs; not every mage with 9th lvl spells - as that doesn't make in game sense to me])
(I absolutely used the Limited Wish Chain Contingency to strip protections from the Drow Lich though -- I was not having any of that guy!) [That's what I love about No Reloads -- Palpable Fear! :]
Re: Removing ToB cap -- I don't know what mod you're referring to, but you can just manually edit max xp in .2DA files. (I don't have BG installed right now as I'm waiting for it to get patched up more [e.g. proficiencies to be reinstated for... everyone] so I'm not sure which file it is off hand -- but it's a pretty obvious one if you go looking.) Note: if you do this (muck with the cap) you'll still accumulate experience in excess of that cap you just can't use it until you raise the cap -- so if you want you can then take a big jump at the start of ToB or remove it manually - both seem reasonable to me...
For some reason I didn't have limited wish for the drow lich, and I couldn't rest because of the timers so that fight ended up completely nuts for me this time around, but I did have a deva up which helped a lot... The key was making sure that his chain contingency 2x ADHW and a chaos followed by dragon's breath didn't take out half my party as soon as I got in the room which I only managed by invis potions and gm haste scattering on my whole team. Breach is not working right now with SCS on liches so I had to wait out his protections, maybe the deva could have taken them out?
In the original BG2 once you installed ToB it made the SoA and ToB xp-cap the same. Pre-expansion the cap was lower much lower (You couldn't get spells above 8th level nor levels qualifying for HLAs).
Hmm... so how does xpcap.2da work then? Is the 2950000 the base starting XP for when you start a TOB game or is that the max for the SOA part? Either way, I am a completionist and with the vanilla game I cannot recall any game where I had HLAs before the tree of life. (:puzzled)
I voted tentacles because they always killed my 3i=INT Cavalier in one shot. Iwas Terrified of them and never finished the mind flayer lair in the sewers. Other monsters worthy of note: Golems: those things are scarry at low levels for an 11 years old (back in the days) In De'Arnise keep, I stole from the Iron Golem and ran away to kill Torgal before he could catch me. In Windspear dunjeon, I got saved by a mighty door. Umber Hulks: they killed me almost everytime I went through their rooms in the keep. First time i saw umber hulks and mind flayer together, I was more afraid of the umber hulks than of the mind flayers, my opinion changed when CHARNAME was one shotted.
I hated mind flayer so much. One of my most rewarding computer D&D experiences was in NWN Hordes of the Underdark, where my sorcerer shape changed into an iron golem in the mind flayer dungeon. She got some revenge for my BG parties.
Vampires, and mists I suppose, anything with level drain. Make me have to go and re-select spells to memorize you #%@*ers. Such a pain, especially since I have to go and check the other mage/priest in the party to cross reference to make sure I've got all the right spells I need. Depends on what mods I'm using but if I'm rocking the vanilla and feeling particularly lazy, level drain = reload.
Vampires, and mists I suppose, anything with level drain. Make me have to go and re-select spells to memorize you #%@*ers. Such a pain, especially since I have to go and check the other mage/priest in the party to cross reference to make sure I've got all the right spells I need. Depends on what mods I'm using but if I'm rocking the vanilla and feeling particularly lazy, level drain = reload.
^ This. All of this.
But at least I can kill vampires. Illithids on the other hand...
And if only Durlag's Tower was just some HUGE FREAKIN TITAN'S STOMACH, that could be considered a beast, many of us would vote for it as well, I guess.
The above statement was an unrelated off-topic paranoid expression of my worst fears made in an exaggerated manner.
Thankfully there's no Durlag's Tower in SoA though
Durlag's Tower would also be a walk in the park for SoA.
"A Demon Knight is the boss of this place eh?... No worries, I killed 5 of those at the same time in the Underdark! I even killed their boss in Watcher's Keep!"
There should have been an option for the dread wolf in Lions Way for level 1 mages.
Actually - wolves and dagger throwing skeletons are up there as scariest characters for me at the start of BG1 (Imoen has been killed by wolves so many times...). [That said I never go straight to the Friendly Arm Inn -- I mean there's a note right saying that on the body of the guy the people hunting me just killed -- how brain dead would I have to be? No -- I wander the wilderness seeking compatriots that are less likely to be confederates...]
Usually I have a negative plane protection character of some form (spell/amulet/UH or BG) in front to soak up Vampires. Beholders are managed with a certain shield, or sometimes I just have good saves and manage to whack them before they whack me. Illithids seem to not care about my amazing saving throws and just stun me and eat my brain.
Don't kill em. Control em. There is nothing more satisfying than walking in with Viccy chanting and hey, presto. All of the lesser vamps now work for me.
But blowing up vampires is so satisfying. Vampire bits everywhere! Just picture it - Bodhi and her friends are chillin out in their lair, sipping on blood and talking about vampire things, when half of them spontaneously explode. Ahahaha... Though I suppose it's also pretty hilarious when half of them randomly spring up and attack the other half. I guess what I'm trying to say is that invisible turn undead is awesome.
But blowing up vampires is so satisfying. Vampire bits everywhere! Just picture it - Bodhi and her friends are chillin out in their lair, sipping on blood and talking about vampire things, when half of them spontaneously explode. Ahahaha... Though I suppose it's also pretty hilarious when half of them randomly spring up and attack the other half. I guess what I'm trying to say is that invisible turn undead is awesome.
Omg I'd never even think about invisible undead turning. Sneaky bastards!
The vampires do tend to cast True Sight a lot, but you can just make them waste that on a Wizard Eye or invisible summon then have a quick sammich while their buff expires.
Dragon`s --- I`am now sssooooo disapointet from Lichs,...
The Lich at the Inn in the City Gates section, i send my cousin and my brother ther to see a fine sloughter. :-D "Nice items there, BELIEVE ME ! Danger? no no no no no,.." *It`s some times a wonder that the not kill them self and the other time they do,..* They are hoples REALY!
They lost 2 Mages from >Missile Reflection<, Jaheira runned in panik with haste like a squirrel, one Fighter got no attack order,... and so on and on,...
And the win the battel,.. incredible luck of the stupid hits critical for arround 5min,.. + 18.000 XP for a stunned Beast to top the Story.
Comments
I'm really debating who to give the deck of many things to because 1 point doesn't give anyone any additional bonuses except for Viconia getting an extra level 4 useless spell...
I guess I can give it to Charname for a point of INT, or CLUAConsole it into 1 point of STR instead (which I think makes much more sense as the default stat to increase because of the way stats are implemented in BG2). Charname is main handing Crom Freyr though so it isn't a huge deal to have more STR anyway. I guess for those times she switches to MOD...
I don't like killing my kin.
Why can't they be charmed?
Well I suppose Clerics can... But the undead are like Good Catholic teenage school girls. Put a good, decent kinda guy in front of them and they will run to hills.
Put a bad, rotten to the core, kinda guy in front of them. Knickers will fall and they come panting to do there bidding...
I fear they make some bad life choices...
Sorry, my bad. I fear they make some bad afterlife choices...
Pre-expansion the cap was lower much lower (You couldn't get spells above 8th level nor levels qualifying for HLAs).
I also using the ToB XP cap makes SoA too easy.
I manually instate the SoA XP-cap (there's a .2DA file somewhere).
This might be less relevant if you're just speeding through the game and working with a full posse -- but if you're a completionist / use small parties / do Watchers Keep before ToB -- you'll be dropping Dragons Breaths on and Time Stops in fights that weren't designed for them.
I'm not really sure what XP-cap SCS was designed "for"? I know SCS creator is blasé about exploits and (that being the player's choice), but I'd be curious to know what xp-levels it was designed with in mind.
( @DavidW Commentary for the curious?
I think it really depends on which options you install for SCS. Most of the mages in SOA are high enough level to have HLAs, so there is an option for whether to grant HLAs to the enemies. I find that with that option enabled, it gets REALLY hard to beat them if you don't have HLAs yourself. Then again, I'm going to be close to the TOB cap by the time I get to TOB I think this time around. I just started Level 4 of WK with my 6 man party and Charname is sitting at 5372684 exp already (I did just get 1 million for the team from the deck of many things).
I'm debating removing the TOB cap as well but I'm not sure if the mod works right because some people have experienced problems with it...
I play with that option installed and SoA level cap. It's not really that hard (it's not easier, but it's not that much worse than them just using Time Stop and Skull Trap triggers).
There's a small number that qualify for HLAs in SoA and you know you're going to fight them. You can set-up and you have a team of high-level adventurers.
(It's a small number that qualify for HLAs in SoA even with the most broad setting -- it's only in ToB that most mages would qualify [though I set it such that only notable/"special" characters get HLAs; not every mage with 9th lvl spells - as that doesn't make in game sense to me])
(I absolutely used the Limited Wish Chain Contingency to strip protections from the Drow Lich though -- I was not having any of that guy!) [That's what I love about No Reloads -- Palpable Fear! :]
Re: Removing ToB cap -- I don't know what mod you're referring to, but you can just manually edit max xp in .2DA files. (I don't have BG installed right now as I'm waiting for it to get patched up more [e.g. proficiencies to be reinstated for... everyone] so I'm not sure which file it is off hand -- but it's a pretty obvious one if you go looking.)
Note: if you do this (muck with the cap) you'll still accumulate experience in excess of that cap you just can't use it until you raise the cap -- so if you want you can then take a big jump at the start of ToB or remove it manually - both seem reasonable to me...
Either way, I am a completionist and with the vanilla game I cannot recall any game where I had HLAs before the tree of life. (:puzzled)
The benefits of sun tan lotion cannot be overestimated.
Other monsters worthy of note:
Golems: those things are scarry at low levels for an 11 years old (back in the days) In De'Arnise keep, I stole from the Iron Golem and ran away to kill Torgal before he could catch me. In Windspear dunjeon, I got saved by a mighty door.
Umber Hulks: they killed me almost everytime I went through their rooms in the keep. First time i saw umber hulks and mind flayer together, I was more afraid of the umber hulks than of the mind flayers, my opinion changed when CHARNAME was one shotted.
(I read breasts instead of beasts in the title)
Try sucking on IRON brainz, jerks!
But at least I can kill vampires. Illithids on the other hand...
The above statement was an unrelated off-topic paranoid expression of my worst fears made in an exaggerated manner.
"A Demon Knight is the boss of this place eh?... No worries, I killed 5 of those at the same time in the Underdark! I even killed their boss in Watcher's Keep!"
[That said I never go straight to the Friendly Arm Inn -- I mean there's a note right saying that on the body of the guy the people hunting me just killed -- how brain dead would I have to be? No -- I wander the wilderness seeking compatriots that are less likely to be confederates...]
Illithids seem to not care about my amazing saving throws and just stun me and eat my brain.
Turn em to your side, and then explode em!
---
I`am now sssooooo disapointet from Lichs,...
The Lich at the Inn in the City Gates section, i send my cousin and my brother ther to see a fine sloughter. :-D "Nice items there, BELIEVE ME ! Danger? no no no no no,.."
*It`s some times a wonder that the not kill them self and the other time they do,..*
They are hoples REALY!
They lost 2 Mages from >Missile Reflection<, Jaheira runned in panik with haste like a squirrel, one Fighter got no attack order,... and so on and on,...
And the win the battel,.. incredible luck of the stupid hits critical for arround 5min,..
+ 18.000 XP for a stunned Beast to top the Story.