I feel myself entitled to prove the game can be beaten with a totemic drruid. Results in that poll by @bbear drive me forward. I've decided to try once more. Another totemic druid, another no-reload SCS run but this time I hope other result. As a penalty because of the first fail it will be a 75 roll;) I would catch up the progress of Karasu and then will post the tale of the totemic druid (c) 2.
I have to say, you are making it really hard on yourself. A 75 roll, AND SCS, AND no-reload. That is hard no matter your class. I feel almost as if you are being TOO hard on yourself. At least give yourself a good roll and max a couple stats like constitution and wisdom! I don't want to see Karasu die again
Well, after @bbear completed the whole trilogy with a level 1 character I don't see a 75 roll as a trouble. The death of Karasu had nothing to do with his stats. Moreover, if I'm here to prove a druid can be successful, the power of the evidence must be strong. And him having low stats after the creation screen but nonetheless being invincible later may add to the evidence in the end.
So, meet Yahiko, the new totemic druid. His name means "a child of sun that has the potential to grow and improve" - the name I personally like very much.
2 blue potions of Magical Blocking decided the battle with Davaeorn. Yahiko casted the Ironskins, summoned a Spirit Snake and a Spirit Wolf, and after they defeated a guard and 2 battle horrors Yahiko casted the Strengh of One spell so that STR and thus THACO and damage of both animals became decent (for some time at least). Then he gulped a potion of Magical Blocking that blocks all spells up to level 5 for 5 rounds, triggered all the traps harmlessly and faced Davaeorn. The mage teleported himself to the entrance of the location, casted Web, Stinking Cloud and Teleport Field but Yahiko was immune to the appropriate effects.
Summoned Snake and Wolf step-by-step took down Davaeorn's protections. Yahiko casted the Invisibility Purge and Dispel Magic spells at Davaeorn, followed by the Summon Insects spell. Then Yahiko gulped another potion of Magical Blocking to guarantee he continued to be immune to the magical effects that furiously flew around.
Some moments later Davaeorn was defeated and then all the guardes as well.
Here's Yahiko after this fight.
As you can see, he has already reached the 10th level and the maximum XP cap, he has 48 HP that is not low for a 9 CON character. 16 in CHA is because the Tome of CHA was consumed. Yahiko chooses what gaulents to use in every particular situation: 18 DEX helps a lot but sometimes additional damage from the gaulents of Weapon Expertise is needed (i.e. when the nymph successfully held an enemy).
I think that playing as a druid for the second time I use him more effectively. For i.e., spells like Bless, Strengh of One, Defensive Harmony helped summoned animals a lot. Doom + Poison is a good combo to finish strong enemies. Animal Summoning I can be also useful. Ironskins lasts for 12 hours, so Yahiko can cast it, rest and then be immune for the next 5 successful attacks during the next 4 hours. With a high AC from the Ankheg armor they happen only when an enemy rolls a critical hit, so Yahiko more or less protected from ordinary attacks.
And, more importantly, this time Yahiko went to the Ulgoth's Beard and bought the Greenstone Amulet that I find absolutely game-changing. It gives so much immunities that any sudden battle with bounty-hunters (with SCS the groups of enemies can make an ambush instead of staying at the standard place) and clashes with ememy clerics and mages don't pose the treat of being held, horrored, charmed and so on. With the Greenstone Amulet Yahiko can use the most precious potions of Magical Blocking only in chapter-deciding fights.
Here's an update on the Yahiko's run. As soon as the character reaches BG, the task to survive becomes much more easier. I’d say that it is based on the good timing of selling/buying wands, amulets and potions.
Yahiko successfully got 3 tomes that can be found in BG: of Wisdom, of Intelligence, of Dexterity. He also went to Durlag’s Tower to get another tome of Wisdom, so that now he’s a spell machine. After he recharged the Greenstone Amulet through a merchant it now has 50 uses – from my estimation, this is more than enough till the end of BG1. Gaulents of Ogre Strength help when Yahiko has to carry some armor and weapons after fights (more items mean more money, more money mean more recharging).
With all the money available Yahiko got several wands of Heaven, of Horror and a bunch of darts of stunning and wounding. The Helm and the Cloak of Balduran and Nymph’s Cloak were added to the mix.
The battles in BG were a cakewalk. The most important thing is to watch closely so that immunities from the amulets (the Greenstone and the Shield ones) don’t stop prematurely, to swap a ring of fire protection and a ring of saving throws/AC-2 when needed, use potions and the amulet of fireballs when the battle cannot be won by only summoned animals and use the wand of heaven on the most difficult enemies.
I just can’t hail the Greenstone amulet enough. The whole battle on the last level of the Iron Throne building was won solely due to this amazing green thing. It simply kept Yahiko immune to any nasty effect enemies threw on him. Ironskins and Protection from Fire helped to minimize the harm.
The ambush by Ogre Mages at the start of the Candlekeep (an element of the SCS) didn’t pose any threat as well because of this amulet. Now Yahiko has just reached the inner grounds of the Keep.
The following screenshot can show the usual immunities that Yahiko gains to succeed any fight, his low AC, solid THACO and improved stats.
Despite such a good progress I'm on my toes so that complacency doesn't end this run.
Taking into account the SCS mod, it was an epic battle indeed. Yahiko used literally everything he had: the neckless and potions of fireballs, the ring and potions of invisibility, wands of fear and heaven. Kiting, kiting a lot. It was important to take them one by one. Yahiko had to defeat all Sarevok mercenaries in order to be able to hit him. The screenshots below show different stages of this battle. It was the battle where 190 (!) darts of acing, 120 darts (!) of fire, 80 darts of stunning and 20 darts of wounding were used.
Only 2 summon animals couldn't help much in this battle, the tactics is the reason Yahiko succeeded. At first, Yahiko managed to gather enemies in the corner next to the main throne (retreat - invisibility - voila).
The person who couldn't walk out of there was Tazok - his friends stayed so that he couldn't move while the friends themselves didn't see Yahiko and he used darts to finish the half-orc.
Then several uses of the Wand of Fear and Diarmid came out of that corner so that Yahiko had a chance to stun him and then wound him to death.
The next one was Angelo. He followed Yahiko (only Angelo had seen the druid) only to meet a Spirit Bear. Angelo's weapon was ineffective.
In order to face Semaj Yahiko used scrolls of fire, cold and electrical protection followed by a potion of Magical Shielding, the Shield Amulet and the Greenstone Amulet. So Semaj's magic was completely useless.
Being still unseen to Sarevok Yahiko used his neckless of fireballs 20+ times, then he casted Ironskins and Animal Summoning 1 and while a wolf distracted Sarevok Yahiko casted Summon Insects and then started wands of heaven. It wasn't easy when there were no skins left but some kiting in order to use a wand BEFORE Sarevok hits Yahiko and ... YES, that's it!
BG:EE solo is completed with a totemic druid without any reloads.
Bravo! Bravo!! Well played my friend, very clever A fine, hard-earned victory. I'm wishing Yahiko the best of luck in Amn (provided that he's going there).
Those poor bats... sure you won, but at what cost? AT WHAT COST?!?!
From the sounds of things it would mean no chance for making some bat soup or shish kabob (though I suppose that would all depend on how crispy they are ).
By the way, travelers in parts of China, Thailand, Guam and even Australia might run across bats in food markets and restaurants. Varieties of fruit bats, including the sizable flying fox bat, are the most popular to eat.
In "Extreme Cuisine," famed chef Anthony Bourdain cautions traveling gastronomes of a particularly pungent smell that wafts from simmering bat. But the actual flavor should be far more benign. As with many mystery meats, bat reportedly tastes a lot like chicken. To rustle up one's own batty entrée, Bourdain says to season it with some peppers, onions or garlic (not unlike a roasted chicken recipe) to mitigate that strong scent.
So, Yahiko had a good dinner after he had finished with his enemies, yah!
On a more on-topic subject, I have just installed SCS components on BG2:EE. And having read the description of this mod in details, I'm becoming quite frightened because of some of its tweaks. I wonder if a single druid is able to tackle Improved D'Arnise Keep, Smarter Dragons, Smarter Beholders and so on. Even the first dungeon with only one rest available seems to be not so easy. Yahiko will try to overcome every difficulty he will face but it seems SCS components for BG2 are much more challenging than their BG1 counterparts, taking into account it's a one-man party without arcane magic.
EDIT (several hours later):
The vendetta has started. I can confirm that in this particular case the XP that exceeded 161k did NOT transfer to BG2:EE. Here's Yahiko right after the awakening in the cage:
It was so unusual not to have DEX and STR gaulents by hand as well as being short of one spell per level (at levels 1-4) but I hope it won't take long to get the fine stuff in BG2 too;)
Spirit Animals were just what Yahiko needed to complete the starting dungeon, even only 4 of them were enough. Yahiko just summoned them one by one (when the previous one was unsummoned), so only one rest during the Chateau Irenicus was ok. Yahiko did't went to Djinn location and didn't face 2 mages at the 2nd level of the dungeon - no risks were needed. Other enemies couldn't defeat Spirit Animals:
The number of healing potions in the starting dungeon is so high that Yahiko could constantly keep himself healthy even taking into account poison from several traps.
The fact that additional XP was not imported is not so serious because even before facing the Otyugh Yahiko hit 200k and reached the level 11 (fire elementals, hooray). Having come to the surface, he now has 275k of XP, so after getting another 25k he'll get the level 12;)
As the conclusion I'd like to say that quite surprisingly I seem to be 100% interested in this character even while I have a restartitis syndrome. The challenge and the @bbear poll's results seem to be the reasons for me to actually wish reaching the very end of this game.
Baldur's Gate fox presents: The continuation of Yahiko's tale.
Ladies and gentlemen, ferrets and hamsters, pandas and wolves, sorcerers and brave warriors, the Totemic Druid is on his path to find Irenicus.
The experience gained after the famous Imoen farewell gave Yahiko the 12th level and thus granting he'll be able to summon 2 fire elementals to support his 3 spirit animals. Not a weak support group, don't you think?
The very first "to do" thing for Yahiko was to investigate the Circus Tent. With the help of several summoned creatures all the illusions were dispelled and the illusionist himself was sent into the abyss.
It's interesting to note that although Yahiko now sits on 375k XP he hasn't killed anyone yet - his summoned animals have done everything right.
As an important addition to this story I will post all the traps Yahiko had to trigger so far in order to successfully advance in his adventure. It will be not every trap in the game but only those that simply ought to be touched to get a quest item/a very useful item.
These screenshots, I hope, will be useful to other players who run a no-reload no-thief run:
The first trap in your spoiler (poison hold trap) is avoidable. There are 3 traps at the entrance of the room, but if you walk at the eastern edge (the right side facing the entrance), you wont trigger any trap. Many traps in the game have leeway where you can avoid them by walking at the edge of the traps.
There are some deadly traps in the game (flesh to stone, finger of death, powerword kill, etc). I highly recommend getting the Book of Infinite Spells. You have about 10 chances to get Spell Turning. Couple with Ironskin, your character becomes impervious to most traps in the game.
Yahiko has begun to gradually improve in terms of items.
At the start of BG2 your party often gets waylaid by enemies so Yahiko had to buy essential stuff as soon as possible:
- the only potion of Invisibilty sold at the Adventurer's Mart - in order to successfully manage a "waylaid by enemies" encounter; - the glasses of Identification from Arledrians (Slums) - in order to make money from selling magical treasure; - the Sling of Seeking - one of the few magical weapons for a druid at the very start of BG2; - the helmet of Charm Protection (the Temples District, the Lathander's Temple) - a must-have for a solo run.
Mencar Pebblecrusher and his band became a good source of money:
Slavers in the Copper Coronet also couldn't do much to the summoned animals, so Hendak became a free citizen of Amn:
I also decided that a spider figurine to summon Kittix can be useful for a solo run, so Yahiko went to the Graveyard district .
The spiders at the main level of catacombs didn't pose much threat to the spirit lions while the drow and her horde of small spiders in the chamber were dealt by "running in circles" stratagy (Yahiko evaded any fighting not to be poisoned and his brave lion ate spiders one by one):
Upon leaving the Graveyard district the meeting with Suna Seni happened. It would have been a definite death without a potion of Invisibilty - the ememies appear too close to retreat and not to become a subject of the Hold Person spell. But after Yahiko became invisible he could safely went away from enemies and summon his helpers:
Upon leaving the next location (it was the Temples District) Yahiko was again waylaid by enemies - this time by those connected with the Harpers. It was good this particular group doesn't appear close to the main character, so no potions were needed:
Finally Yahiko reached the shop at the Maevar's Guild and bought the Nymph's Cloak, so his CHA became 20. Yahiko now can get the best prices from all the shops.
All the adventures brought abouth 21 000 gp, so Yahiko bought (besides the Cloak) 2 potions of Invisibilty, 3 potions of Free Action, the girdle of 19 STR and the Ring of Air Control (Improved Invisibility once per day).
P.S. The Traps of Amn, part 2. Only one trap so far, on the way to the Kittix figurine (not dangerous):
Very good my friend! You already tackled a couple of what I would expect to be difficult encounters... I would have probably fled from the waylayers You left us with a huge cliffhanger though! Enfeeblement plus spiders and ettercaps would mean death in BG1. I see no Ironskins icon. Not sure how long the trap-variant of Enfeeblement lasts. I'll pray for Yahiko's life.
Comments
Thus ends my utterly lame Druid joke.
I'll see myself out.
(Seriously, I'm thrilled that you're giving it another go!)
So, meet Yahiko, the new totemic druid. His name means "a child of sun that has the potential to grow and improve" - the name I personally like very much.
2 blue potions of Magical Blocking decided the battle with Davaeorn. Yahiko casted the Ironskins, summoned a Spirit Snake and a Spirit Wolf, and after they defeated a guard and 2 battle horrors Yahiko casted the Strengh of One spell so that STR and thus THACO and damage of both animals became decent (for some time at least). Then he gulped a potion of Magical Blocking that blocks all spells up to level 5 for 5 rounds, triggered all the traps harmlessly and faced Davaeorn. The mage teleported himself to the entrance of the location, casted Web, Stinking Cloud and Teleport Field but Yahiko was immune to the appropriate effects.
Summoned Snake and Wolf step-by-step took down Davaeorn's protections. Yahiko casted the Invisibility Purge and Dispel Magic spells at Davaeorn, followed by the Summon Insects spell. Then Yahiko gulped another potion of Magical Blocking to guarantee he continued to be immune to the magical effects that furiously flew around.
Some moments later Davaeorn was defeated and then all the guardes as well.
Here's Yahiko after this fight.
As you can see, he has already reached the 10th level and the maximum XP cap, he has 48 HP that is not low for a 9 CON character. 16 in CHA is because the Tome of CHA was consumed. Yahiko chooses what gaulents to use in every particular situation: 18 DEX helps a lot but sometimes additional damage from the gaulents of Weapon Expertise is needed (i.e. when the nymph successfully held an enemy).
I think that playing as a druid for the second time I use him more effectively. For i.e., spells like Bless, Strengh of One, Defensive Harmony helped summoned animals a lot. Doom + Poison is a good combo to finish strong enemies. Animal Summoning I can be also useful. Ironskins lasts for 12 hours, so Yahiko can cast it, rest and then be immune for the next 5 successful attacks during the next 4 hours. With a high AC from the Ankheg armor they happen only when an enemy rolls a critical hit, so Yahiko more or less protected from ordinary attacks.
And, more importantly, this time Yahiko went to the Ulgoth's Beard and bought the Greenstone Amulet that I find absolutely game-changing. It gives so much immunities that any sudden battle with bounty-hunters (with SCS the groups of enemies can make an ambush instead of staying at the standard place) and clashes with ememy clerics and mages don't pose the treat of being held, horrored, charmed and so on. With the Greenstone Amulet Yahiko can use the most precious potions of Magical Blocking only in chapter-deciding fights.
Yahiko successfully got 3 tomes that can be found in BG: of Wisdom, of Intelligence, of Dexterity. He also went to Durlag’s Tower to get another tome of Wisdom, so that now he’s a spell machine.
After he recharged the Greenstone Amulet through a merchant it now has 50 uses – from my estimation, this is more than enough till the end of BG1. Gaulents of Ogre Strength help when Yahiko has to carry some armor and weapons after fights (more items mean more money, more money mean more recharging).
With all the money available Yahiko got several wands of Heaven, of Horror and a bunch of darts of stunning and wounding. The Helm and the Cloak of Balduran and Nymph’s Cloak were added to the mix.
The battles in BG were a cakewalk. The most important thing is to watch closely so that immunities from the amulets (the Greenstone and the Shield ones) don’t stop prematurely, to swap a ring of fire protection and a ring of saving throws/AC-2 when needed, use potions and the amulet of fireballs when the battle cannot be won by only summoned animals and use the wand of heaven on the most difficult enemies.
I just can’t hail the Greenstone amulet enough. The whole battle on the last level of the Iron Throne building was won solely due to this amazing green thing. It simply kept Yahiko immune to any nasty effect enemies threw on him. Ironskins and Protection from Fire helped to minimize the harm.
The ambush by Ogre Mages at the start of the Candlekeep (an element of the SCS) didn’t pose any threat as well because of this amulet. Now Yahiko has just reached the inner grounds of the Keep.
The following screenshot can show the usual immunities that Yahiko gains to succeed any fight, his low AC, solid THACO and improved stats.
Despite such a good progress I'm on my toes so that complacency doesn't end this run.
Taking into account the SCS mod, it was an epic battle indeed. Yahiko used literally everything he had: the neckless and potions of fireballs, the ring and potions of invisibility, wands of fear and heaven. Kiting, kiting a lot. It was important to take them one by one. Yahiko had to defeat all Sarevok mercenaries in order to be able to hit him. The screenshots below show different stages of this battle. It was the battle where 190 (!) darts of acing, 120 darts (!) of fire, 80 darts of stunning and 20 darts of wounding were used.
Only 2 summon animals couldn't help much in this battle, the tactics is the reason Yahiko succeeded. At first, Yahiko managed to gather enemies in the corner next to the main throne (retreat - invisibility - voila).
The person who couldn't walk out of there was Tazok - his friends stayed so that he couldn't move while the friends themselves didn't see Yahiko and he used darts to finish the half-orc.
Then several uses of the Wand of Fear and Diarmid came out of that corner so that Yahiko had a chance to stun him and then wound him to death.
The next one was Angelo. He followed Yahiko (only Angelo had seen the druid) only to meet a Spirit Bear. Angelo's weapon was ineffective.
In order to face Semaj Yahiko used scrolls of fire, cold and electrical protection followed by a potion of Magical Shielding, the Shield Amulet and the Greenstone Amulet. So Semaj's magic was completely useless.
Being still unseen to Sarevok Yahiko used his neckless of fireballs 20+ times, then he casted Ironskins and Animal Summoning 1 and while a wolf distracted Sarevok Yahiko casted Summon Insects and then started wands of heaven. It wasn't easy when there were no skins left but some kiting in order to use a wand BEFORE Sarevok hits Yahiko and ... YES, that's it!
BG:EE solo is completed with a totemic druid without any reloads.
Well played my friend, very clever
The insane number of traps and locks will make SoA solo so tedious for a druid. I got discouraged and conscripted jan
In "Extreme Cuisine," famed chef Anthony Bourdain cautions traveling gastronomes of a particularly pungent smell that wafts from simmering bat. But the actual flavor should be far more benign. As with many mystery meats, bat reportedly tastes a lot like chicken. To rustle up one's own batty entrée, Bourdain says to season it with some peppers, onions or garlic (not unlike a roasted chicken recipe) to mitigate that strong scent.
So, Yahiko had a good dinner after he had finished with his enemies, yah!
On a more on-topic subject, I have just installed SCS components on BG2:EE. And having read the description of this mod in details, I'm becoming quite frightened because of some of its tweaks. I wonder if a single druid is able to tackle Improved D'Arnise Keep, Smarter Dragons, Smarter Beholders and so on. Even the first dungeon with only one rest available seems to be not so easy. Yahiko will try to overcome every difficulty he will face but it seems SCS components for BG2 are much more challenging than their BG1 counterparts, taking into account it's a one-man party without arcane magic.
EDIT (several hours later):
The vendetta has started. I can confirm that in this particular case the XP that exceeded 161k did NOT transfer to BG2:EE. Here's Yahiko right after the awakening in the cage:
It was so unusual not to have DEX and STR gaulents by hand as well as being short of one spell per level (at levels 1-4) but I hope it won't take long to get the fine stuff in BG2 too;)
Spirit Animals were just what Yahiko needed to complete the starting dungeon, even only 4 of them were enough. Yahiko just summoned them one by one (when the previous one was unsummoned), so only one rest during the Chateau Irenicus was ok. Yahiko did't went to Djinn location and didn't face 2 mages at the 2nd level of the dungeon - no risks were needed. Other enemies couldn't defeat Spirit Animals:
The number of healing potions in the starting dungeon is so high that Yahiko could constantly keep himself healthy even taking into account poison from several traps.
The fact that additional XP was not imported is not so serious because even before facing the Otyugh Yahiko hit 200k and reached the level 11 (fire elementals, hooray). Having come to the surface, he now has 275k of XP, so after getting another 25k he'll get the level 12;)
As the conclusion I'd like to say that quite surprisingly I seem to be 100% interested in this character even while I have a restartitis syndrome. The challenge and the @bbear poll's results seem to be the reasons for me to actually wish reaching the very end of this game.
Well played so far, not taking unnessecary risks. Looking forward to your next update.
Ladies and gentlemen, ferrets and hamsters, pandas and wolves, sorcerers and brave warriors, the Totemic Druid is on his path to find Irenicus.
The experience gained after the famous Imoen farewell gave Yahiko the 12th level and thus granting he'll be able to summon 2 fire elementals to support his 3 spirit animals. Not a weak support group, don't you think?
The very first "to do" thing for Yahiko was to investigate the Circus Tent. With the help of several summoned creatures all the illusions were dispelled and the illusionist himself was sent into the abyss.
It's interesting to note that although Yahiko now sits on 375k XP he hasn't killed anyone yet - his summoned animals have done everything right.
As an important addition to this story I will post all the traps Yahiko had to trigger so far in order to successfully advance in his adventure. It will be not every trap in the game but only those that simply ought to be touched to get a quest item/a very useful item.
These screenshots, I hope, will be useful to other players who run a no-reload no-thief run:
Part 1: Total 4 traps in the Chateau Irenicus:
So far so good, though those traps hurt...
There are some deadly traps in the game (flesh to stone, finger of death, powerword kill, etc). I highly recommend getting the Book of Infinite Spells. You have about 10 chances to get Spell Turning. Couple with Ironskin, your character becomes impervious to most traps in the game.
At the start of BG2 your party often gets waylaid by enemies so Yahiko had to buy essential stuff as soon as possible:
- the only potion of Invisibilty sold at the Adventurer's Mart - in order to successfully manage a "waylaid by enemies" encounter;
- the glasses of Identification from Arledrians (Slums) - in order to make money from selling magical treasure;
- the Sling of Seeking - one of the few magical weapons for a druid at the very start of BG2;
- the helmet of Charm Protection (the Temples District, the Lathander's Temple) - a must-have for a solo run.
Mencar Pebblecrusher and his band became a good source of money:
Slavers in the Copper Coronet also couldn't do much to the summoned animals, so Hendak became a free citizen of Amn:
I also decided that a spider figurine to summon Kittix can be useful for a solo run, so Yahiko went to the Graveyard district .
The spiders at the main level of catacombs didn't pose much threat to the spirit lions while the drow and her horde of small spiders in the chamber were dealt by "running in circles" stratagy (Yahiko evaded any fighting not to be poisoned and his brave lion ate spiders one by one):
Upon leaving the Graveyard district the meeting with Suna Seni happened. It would have been a definite death without a potion of Invisibilty - the ememies appear too close to retreat and not to become a subject of the Hold Person spell. But after Yahiko became invisible he could safely went away from enemies and summon his helpers:
Upon leaving the next location (it was the Temples District) Yahiko was again waylaid by enemies - this time by those connected with the Harpers. It was good this particular group doesn't appear close to the main character, so no potions were needed:
Finally Yahiko reached the shop at the Maevar's Guild and bought the Nymph's Cloak, so his CHA became 20. Yahiko now can get the best prices from all the shops.
All the adventures brought abouth 21 000 gp, so Yahiko bought (besides the Cloak) 2 potions of Invisibilty, 3 potions of Free Action, the girdle of 19 STR and the Ring of Air Control (Improved Invisibility once per day).
P.S. The Traps of Amn, part 2. Only one trap so far, on the way to the Kittix figurine (not dangerous):
You left us with a huge cliffhanger though! Enfeeblement plus spiders and ettercaps would mean death in BG1. I see no Ironskins icon. Not sure how long the trap-variant of Enfeeblement lasts. I'll pray for Yahiko's life.