There's a trick called the basilisk XP loop that lets you get large amounts of safe XP in BG1: if you charm a Lesser Basilisk with Algernon's Cloak, cast Protection from Petrification on your pet basilisk, and then repeatedly petrify and un-petrify a Greater Basilisk using your pet basilisk and Stone to Flesh scrolls, you can get 7,000 XP for every time you re-kill the Greater Basilisk. You can buy 19 scrolls of Stone to Flesh at the Friendly Arm Inn temple and the temple east of Beregost (and maybe also Nashkel; testing found otherwise), which amounts to over 250,000 XP for the party. You can hit the XP cap within a few minutes, and you can get even more Stone to Flesh scrolls once you reach Baldur's Gate and re-visit Candlekeep, both of which will open up more temples that sell the scrolls.
But, if you save them for Siege of Dragonspear and have a mage in the party, you can do the same thing with the Neothelid, which grants 20,000 XP instead of 7,000. The Neothelid is much more dangerous, however, and since you can't bring a basilisk into SoD (without the Seducer mod, anyway), the only way to petrify the Neothelid is to use a level 10 Chromatic Orb, which offers a generous +6 save bonus. But if you also have a level 8 Archer in the party, repeatedly petrifying the Neothelid would be very quick, because you can stack saving throw penalties using Called Shot.
With about 100 Stone to Flesh scrolls in BG1, you could earn about 700,000 XP in BG1 and 1 million XP in SoD by using the basilisk/Neothelid XP loop.
Okay, so with a half-orc, a barbarian, or an elf/halfling thief, you can get that star sapphire from WInthrop's inn at the start, and with some other odds and ends buy up five scrolls from the Temple of Oghma at the start of the game, for an additional 35,000 XP. I'm...not sure I'm going to Balduran's Island for XP ever again.
The only warrior kit that can get the Star Sapphire at level 1 is Barbarian, by using rage. None else can get enough strength.
This means that aside from Barbarians and thieves specializing in picking locks, no other classes can legally get the Star Sapphire at level 1 (Knock and DUHM are both level 2 spells, and I don't know that non-CHARNAME druids/shamans ever get a way to increase strength past 19)
With a high Charisma you can get even more money by convincing the nobles couple at the first floor to lock up their jewelry before going for the star sapphire.
This plus the diamond close to Xzar/Montaron can make your life way easier at the earlier game.
Did you know in BGEE, bard song has unlimited range? I just tested it out. Garrick starts singing near Charname. She gets the bard song. He stays on one side of the map, singing, she walks to the other side of the map. The bard song is still there.
He stops singing, bard song goes away for everyone. He starts singing again, and the bard song comes up for everyone.
I don't know if 2.0 fixes this. But a skald could be really useful with this. Park him across the map in a safe space and just sing away, giving bonuses without ever being in danger.
2.0 reduces the range of the bard song to about a fireball sized area around the bard. Very tiny and it often makes it quite difficult for the song to affect people. However I made a mod that gives the bard song about a True Seeing sized AoE. Works much better. Check it out here.
2.0 reduces the range of the bard song to about a fireball sized area around the bard. Very tiny and it often makes it quite difficult for the song to affect people. However I made a mod that gives the bard song about a True Seeing sized AoE. Works much better. Check it out here.
Thank you! I complained to the high heavens about the nerfed bard song when it was implemented, and nobody even knew what I was talking about. I had people going into Near Infinity, insisting that nothing had changed, and basically telling me I was crazy.
It's so very nice to finally be vindicated on this issue.
@BelgarathMTH Wut? Really? Who the heck were you asking?! It should be obvious to any modder worth their salt that the bard songs were changed drastically in 2.0. I would say that the people who called you crazy are the real crazy ones.
Vanulf Wulfson Jun 23, 2010, 03:07 pm | FLAG | LIST | REPLY + Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber, Campaign Setting, Companion, Roleplaying Game Subscriber Villamar Koth Phil is a friend of mine and has benn since we were in high school together. I talked to him last night after hearing the news from his wife. He is ready to move on and I wish him the best. In regards to D&D and WotC he told me that 4th Edition is a complete bust, a victim of the bad economy, but that M:TG has had it's best year EVER. Go figure. Good luck, Phil, ubb. dubb, dubb.
P.S. regarding his Baldur's gate novels. We talked about that many years ago and he simply said that he was given an outline of how the video game was SUPPOSED to play and that he was to provide the noveliazation based on that outline. Well lo and behold between the original outline and the premiere of the game the play of the game changed and Phil was screwed over.
I don't know if this is real. But it is something I came across. It does explain how the novels have next to nothing to do with the games and how they still managed to get published. It confirms that he wrote the 'novels' without ever playing the game. It doesn't excuse the horrible writing, but it does offer an explanation beyond the author being a troll.
It confirms that he wrote the 'novels' without ever playing the game.
For the second novel at least it shouldn't be much of a surprise since both the game and the novel were released in september 2000. I'm guessing that Wizards did not expect much from Baldur's gate, being a game released right before the turn to 3.0 (and as such still using the TSR company name and logo) by a studio with only shattered steel to their name and when they saw its success they tried to get a novel done as quickly as possible.
If you want lower reputation, but don't want Dorn/Baeloth/Viconia, invite one into your party. Your rep drops by 2. Murder the unwanted one, and remove the corpse from your party. The rep loss will remain even though they are gone.
Confronting Tranzig or joining a bandit group is not the only way to learn the location of the bandit camp. During chapter 3 a group of bandits will appear next to the ruined caravan in the area between Beregost and the Friendly Arm Inn. If you kill all of the bandits except for their leader, Deke, he will surrender. You can then persuade him to reveal the location of the camp if your reaction or strength is high enough. Deke will also reveal the location if you charm him and talk to him.
In EET, you can re-visit most BG1 eras (excluding Baldur's Gate and Candlekeep) even after entering Shadows of Amn. This means you can have BG1 items in BG2 as long as you don't collect them during BG1.
In EET, you can re-visit most BG1 eras (excluding Baldur's Gate and Candlekeep) even after entering Shadows of Amn. This means you can have BG1 items in BG2 as long as you don't collect them during BG1.
In EET, you can re-visit most BG1 eras (excluding Baldur's Gate and Candlekeep) even after entering Shadows of Amn. This means you can have BG1 items in BG2 as long as you don't collect them during BG1.
I wonder if some modder will release high quality mod that will take place in BG1 locations after the death of Sarevok or even after SoD events. That would be epic.
@Arctodus: Should work. I've noticed that petrified critters in Mutamin's garden are still there when I go back, so the areas should all be static. All the game files are in the same location.
It is possible to maintain the Slayer change indefinitely even in EE by using Potions of Power to boost your HP above 1500.
The HP bonuses from Potions of Power stack, but since your HP gets set to 100 during Slayer Change, you only have so many rounds to drink Potions of Power before the 1500 magic damage hits you. But you can get around this by using the quick-save trick:
1. Drink a potion, clouding your aura. 2. Save the game. 3. Load the game, refreshing your aura. 4. Drink another potion. 5. Repeat.
In EE, it should not be possible to save during Slayer Change. However, you can force the game to save by using a party-required area transition to force an auto-save. This allows you to drink potentially dozens of potions before Slayer Change hits you with the 1500 magic damage that normally kills the main character.
This requires 20 or more Potions of Power even if you're using the Wand of Lightning trick to multiply the effects, however, and you can't find or purchase that many Potions of Power normally. But you can use the item duplication trick or the import/export trick, described here, to create as many Potions of Power as you like.
Unfortunately, testing in EET, with the Ascension-edited Slayer Change spell, found that Slayer form causes inventory lag, both during its normal duration and when its duration is extended. The unmodded Slayer form might not cause inventory lag, however.
Semiticgod wrote: "In EE, it should not be possible to save during Slayer Change. However, you can force the game to save by using a party-required area transition to force an auto-save. This allows you to drink potentially dozens of potions before Slayer Change hits you with the 1500 magic damage that normally kills the main character.
This requires 20 or more Potions of Power even if you're using the Wand of Lightning trick to multiply the effects, however, and you can't find or purchase that many Potions of Power normally."
I believe both mrs Cragmoom and Adratha both have 10 each to buy. But thet dont come cheap.
Ps: sorry about the quation being messes up and all. Something went wrong... obviously
One thing to add about that Basilisk experience loop is that it's extremely flexible. Not only can you get it started very early in the game - I'm doing it now with about 40 Flesh to Stone scrolls I bought up from Friendly Arm and Beregost, using money from the Bassilus Quest, selling off a Ring of Protection, Dorn's sword (I killed him), and a couple other baubles, and I've gained levels like crazy in the process. I was worried for a bit that my Protection from Petrification spells would be a limiting factor, but then I realized that I can just walk away from my charmed Basilisk, rest, and charm it all over again to keep at things. And once I run out of scrolls, I'll just wander through the area and petrify any remaining Basilisks, buy more scrolls in Nashkel or Baldur's Gate or wherever, and repeat the process with the ones at Durlag's Tower. This isn't as weird as Wand of Lightning or this Permanent Slayer stuff, but goddamn, it's a lot simpler to understand.
Comments
But, if you save them for Siege of Dragonspear and have a mage in the party, you can do the same thing with the Neothelid, which grants 20,000 XP instead of 7,000. The Neothelid is much more dangerous, however, and since you can't bring a basilisk into SoD (without the Seducer mod, anyway), the only way to petrify the Neothelid is to use a level 10 Chromatic Orb, which offers a generous +6 save bonus. But if you also have a level 8 Archer in the party, repeatedly petrifying the Neothelid would be very quick, because you can stack saving throw penalties using Called Shot.
With about 100 Stone to Flesh scrolls in BG1, you could earn about 700,000 XP in BG1 and 1 million XP in SoD by using the basilisk/Neothelid XP loop.
This means that aside from Barbarians and thieves specializing in picking locks, no other classes can legally get the Star Sapphire at level 1 (Knock and DUHM are both level 2 spells, and I don't know that non-CHARNAME druids/shamans ever get a way to increase strength past 19)
This plus the diamond close to Xzar/Montaron can make your life way easier at the earlier game.
Did you know Greater Basilisk have a melee attack that can poison? The poison does 1 damage/second for 10 seconds (save at +4 to avoid).
He stops singing, bard song goes away for everyone. He starts singing again, and the bard song comes up for everyone.
I don't know if 2.0 fixes this. But a skald could be really useful with this. Park him across the map in a safe space and just sing away, giving bonuses without ever being in danger.
It's so very nice to finally be vindicated on this issue.
Vanulf Wulfson Jun 23, 2010, 03:07 pm | FLAG |
LIST
| REPLY
+
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber, Campaign Setting, Companion, Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Villamar Koth
Phil is a friend of mine and has benn since we were in high school together. I talked to him last night after hearing the news from his wife. He is ready to move on and I wish him the best. In regards to D&D and WotC he told me that 4th Edition is a complete bust, a victim of the bad economy, but that M:TG has had it's best year EVER. Go figure.
Good luck, Phil, ubb. dubb, dubb.
P.S. regarding his Baldur's gate novels. We talked about that many years ago and he simply said that he was given an outline of how the video game was SUPPOSED to play and that he was to provide the noveliazation based on that outline. Well lo and behold between the original outline and the premiere of the game the play of the game changed and Phil was screwed over.
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2kyc9?Phil-Athans-leaves-WotC
I don't know if this is real. But it is something I came across. It does explain how the novels have next to nothing to do with the games and how they still managed to get published. It confirms that he wrote the 'novels' without ever playing the game. It doesn't excuse the horrible writing, but it does offer an explanation beyond the author being a troll.
I'm guessing that Wizards did not expect much from Baldur's gate, being a game released right before the turn to 3.0 (and as such still using the TSR company name and logo) by a studio with only shattered steel to their name and when they saw its success they tried to get a novel done as quickly as possible.
Good for keeping Kargain, Edwin, etc happy.
The HP bonuses from Potions of Power stack, but since your HP gets set to 100 during Slayer Change, you only have so many rounds to drink Potions of Power before the 1500 magic damage hits you. But you can get around this by using the quick-save trick:
1. Drink a potion, clouding your aura.
2. Save the game.
3. Load the game, refreshing your aura.
4. Drink another potion.
5. Repeat.
In EE, it should not be possible to save during Slayer Change. However, you can force the game to save by using a party-required area transition to force an auto-save. This allows you to drink potentially dozens of potions before Slayer Change hits you with the 1500 magic damage that normally kills the main character.
This requires 20 or more Potions of Power even if you're using the Wand of Lightning trick to multiply the effects, however, and you can't find or purchase that many Potions of Power normally. But you can use the item duplication trick or the import/export trick, described here, to create as many Potions of Power as you like.
Unfortunately, testing in EET, with the Ascension-edited Slayer Change spell, found that Slayer form causes inventory lag, both during its normal duration and when its duration is extended. The unmodded Slayer form might not cause inventory lag, however.
"Rest in Pieces, Kevin."
"In EE, it should not be possible to save during Slayer Change. However, you can force the game to save by using a party-required area transition to force an auto-save. This allows you to drink potentially dozens of potions before Slayer Change hits you with the 1500 magic damage that normally kills the main character.
This requires 20 or more Potions of Power even if you're using the Wand of Lightning trick to multiply the effects, however, and you can't find or purchase that many Potions of Power normally."
I believe both mrs Cragmoom and Adratha both have 10 each to buy. But thet dont come cheap.
Ps: sorry about the quation being messes up and all. Something went wrong... obviously