The Heavenly Arrow's Flight:Roisin's Journey (Solo Archer Playthrough w/RolePlay Style Storytelling)
Elrandir
Member Posts: 1,664
Here I am again, writing yet another question thread for yet another different character... (I swear I'm not ignoring my previous playthroughs. I'm just playing them at the same time as this one...)
Anyway, this time around, I'm playing through as a solo archer. She's been the most fun solo class I've tried so far, and I've been making decent progress with her. I mainly started this thread so if anyone's interested they can get updates on how the playthrough is going, but I also started it in case I had questions I needed to ask. But I'll get to that later. First off, my character:
Backstory
Roisin (pronounced Ro-sheen. It's Irish) is true to her name. A little rose. But every rose has thorns, and that's evident in her personality. She's curt, snippy, and sometimes plain rude. (As intentionally evidenced in her abilities) This is part of why she desires no assistance from others. Fortunately, to make up for this, she's also talented. Growing up, she studied well and was diligent, albeit a bit aggravated by all the books. She longed to travel the world, see the great forests, and commune with nature. She took basic training from the local guards, at the rather strange suggestion of Gorion. He had never before seemed interested in martial prowess, but Roisin merely assumed he wanted her to be well rounded. Roisin proved excellent with all manner of ranged weaponry, though she found shortbows to be her favorite tool, as their smaller size was easier for her to handle. That is not to say, however, that she was weak. Nay, despite her size, she was a mighty force to be reckoned with, and on numerous occasions bowled her sparring partners over. But she never truly excelled in melee combat. There was just something in their style that she could not quite grasp. One day, while picking a blade out the equipment chest before training, she found an old rusted katana. Even decayed and damaged as it was, it called out to her, and she plucked it from the chest and continued to use it from then on in training. At least, that is, till it inevitably shattered. She was discouraged, but the guards, feeling pity for her, purchased the closest thing they could find. (and reasonably afford) A ninja-to. It wasn't quite the same, but Roisin still enjoyed the sleek and slender design of the blade. Over time, she trained with all manner of foreign weapons, finding them more suited to her, but she still longed for another katana. As for her relations with those in town, she was quietly fond of them all, save one... Winthrop's foster child, Imoen, drove Roisin insane, and she often avoided Imoen whenever possible. It was unfortunate, as Winthrop himself was a pleasant enough chap who got along well with Roisin. But the person Roisin was most fond of was her dear foster father, Gorion. Although she hated his rules and restrictions, she truly loved him like a father.
Now then, that's about enough backstory. I'll list my progress and current questions in a comment a little later. (when I have more time) That's all for now folks!
Edit: For those of you who are just finding this thread, be forewarned that the quality improves after the first few installments. (or degrades, depending on what you're looking for.) The first few I tried doing a very "just the facts" style with some roleplaying thrown in, but I experimented with my writing a bit over the course of it, and it became much more of a roleplay\story than a challenge run-through. That said, I still hope you'll read it, and I hope you enjoy!
Anyway, this time around, I'm playing through as a solo archer. She's been the most fun solo class I've tried so far, and I've been making decent progress with her. I mainly started this thread so if anyone's interested they can get updates on how the playthrough is going, but I also started it in case I had questions I needed to ask. But I'll get to that later. First off, my character:
Backstory
Roisin (pronounced Ro-sheen. It's Irish) is true to her name. A little rose. But every rose has thorns, and that's evident in her personality. She's curt, snippy, and sometimes plain rude. (As intentionally evidenced in her abilities) This is part of why she desires no assistance from others. Fortunately, to make up for this, she's also talented. Growing up, she studied well and was diligent, albeit a bit aggravated by all the books. She longed to travel the world, see the great forests, and commune with nature. She took basic training from the local guards, at the rather strange suggestion of Gorion. He had never before seemed interested in martial prowess, but Roisin merely assumed he wanted her to be well rounded. Roisin proved excellent with all manner of ranged weaponry, though she found shortbows to be her favorite tool, as their smaller size was easier for her to handle. That is not to say, however, that she was weak. Nay, despite her size, she was a mighty force to be reckoned with, and on numerous occasions bowled her sparring partners over. But she never truly excelled in melee combat. There was just something in their style that she could not quite grasp. One day, while picking a blade out the equipment chest before training, she found an old rusted katana. Even decayed and damaged as it was, it called out to her, and she plucked it from the chest and continued to use it from then on in training. At least, that is, till it inevitably shattered. She was discouraged, but the guards, feeling pity for her, purchased the closest thing they could find. (and reasonably afford) A ninja-to. It wasn't quite the same, but Roisin still enjoyed the sleek and slender design of the blade. Over time, she trained with all manner of foreign weapons, finding them more suited to her, but she still longed for another katana. As for her relations with those in town, she was quietly fond of them all, save one... Winthrop's foster child, Imoen, drove Roisin insane, and she often avoided Imoen whenever possible. It was unfortunate, as Winthrop himself was a pleasant enough chap who got along well with Roisin. But the person Roisin was most fond of was her dear foster father, Gorion. Although she hated his rules and restrictions, she truly loved him like a father.
Now then, that's about enough backstory. I'll list my progress and current questions in a comment a little later. (when I have more time) That's all for now folks!
Edit: For those of you who are just finding this thread, be forewarned that the quality improves after the first few installments. (or degrades, depending on what you're looking for.) The first few I tried doing a very "just the facts" style with some roleplaying thrown in, but I experimented with my writing a bit over the course of it, and it became much more of a roleplay\story than a challenge run-through. That said, I still hope you'll read it, and I hope you enjoy!
Post edited by Elrandir on
5
Comments
Edit: [spoiler] I figured it out.
Sorry for the wall of text. I didn't originally plan to make a thread about this, so I had some catching up to do.
I have one question. How to deal with Basilisks? I know about the potions of mirrored eyes, but I hear they're pretty shoddy. I know I can get some... assistance, with the main area they're in, but what about later in the game?
Potions of Mirrored Eyes are fine for dealing with the Basilisks later in the game. They're really easy to hit and you'll be doing a ton of damage once you get Grand Mastery, Called Shots, and Acid Arrows. They're also scripted to keep trying to petrify things at range, so you can get away with Arrows of Detonation to clear them out in groups.
If I was you, I'd pick up the Constitution Tome as soon as possible. Those extra few HP are most important early in the game, and you want to cancel out your Elf racial disability right away.
Day 9 was quite an event for Roisin. Having heard of a large group of basilisks to the far east of Beregost, she went to explore, having quite forgotten about the mines of Nashkel. After an uneventful travel, (because 4 kobolds ambushing you equates to no damage and only 4 spent arrows) she arrived at the area. Knowing she had brought no protection from petrification, Roisin took off her armor and snuck around the area, mapping out the locations of what she counted to be 10 basilisks in total. Returning to her starting point she began trying to think up a strategy for dealing with them, when to her surprise, a ghoul appeared, speaking to her, asking to be her friend. The ghoul called itself Korax, and though Roisin's knowledge of ghouls was limited, she could tell there was some magic involved. At first she was going to kill the beast, but, realizing the opportunity, allowed the ghoul to join her. Together they wiped out all ten of the basilisks, along with a rather mad gnome who was controlling one of the beasts. Afterwards, they happened upon a group of braggart adventurers, who, despite Roisin's desire not to fight, (or at least to be left alone) egged her on till it ended in a battle. Korax fell in battle, but not before paralyzing two of the fighters and sending them to their doom via arrow. The mage was slaughtered in seconds by Roisin's arrows, and the archer (who had brought Korax down) was unable to see Roisin until after she had riddled the rest with arrows. Stepping into his view, he tried his best, but the poor fool couldn't even hit Roisin. She proved herself to be a much better shot... She felt a little pity for Korax. Using him and then sending him to his death, as she did. But she realized that when whatever magic gripped him lost hold she would likely have been forced to put him down regardless. Burdened with loot, she returned to Beregost, less than 2000 xp away from level 6. Though she nearly didn't make it, as on her travel back she was ambushed by a basilisk, which she narrowly escaped from. All in all, a VERY interesting day.
The aftermath of the battle with the adventurers:
All in all, I gained a ton of experience, gained some nice gold, dropped my THAC0 down to 7, and learned a nice new tactic. Scout out an area for enemies I know will require more tactics than simple kiting.
Edit: I'm thinking GGoU, in consideration of the final battle, but if you have a compelling argument otherwise, please say it!
As an archer I suppose you avoid melee situations, so the only threats are ranged attacks (aparte from magic of course). EB will protect you fromt hose ranged attacks.
In the final battle you'll still try to use your bow I suppose - along with boots AND potions of speed to keep your enemies at a distance, and using stealth and invis potions to recover and for surprise attacks. If you're really good at avoiding (melee) hits by the big boss you could also wear EB in the final battle, so as to prevent one of his sidekicks from doing too much harm with ranged attacks. If you can't avoid melee at all times, use GGoU, because the high chief hits hard...
After selling all the items from the adventurers, Roisin inquired as to Landrin's house, having accepted her quest when last at the Friendly Arm Inn. Traveling there, she found and dealt with the spiders. Despite standing there, allowing them to swing at her as she fired at them, they failed to touch her. Gathering the things Landrin mentioned, Roisin traveled to the FAI and returned them to Landrin. Upon giving her the last item, Roisin hit level six! This is the final big level for her in BG1, as she gains her final proficiency point (which allowed for high mastery of shortbows) and more accuracy\damage with missile weapons. She'll gain another small bonus at level 8, but this is the last big bonus to her skills.
After dealing with Landrin's task, she decided to explore north of the FAI, and found a small farm. Having never seen a full farm before, and loving animals, Roisin went and found the owner, hoping for a tour. To her surprise, the old man begged for assistance, saying his son had gone missing. He mentioned something to the west, so Roisin explored. Finding a large pit in the earth, Roisin (somewhat unwillingly) traveled inside. Immediately she was attacked by a large insect that she had only ever read about in books on nature's dangerous creatures. An ankheg! Despite the purported threat, the beast fell quickly. Wearing a suit of ankheg armor herself, Roisin knew the value. Even more so, considering the smith of Beregost had commented on her armor when she was last there. Heavy as it was, she stored the shell away and carefully traveled around the cave, sticking to the walls whenever possible. Fortunately, she found the son after only two more encounters with ankhegs. Unfortunately, the son was quite dead. But at least Roisin had managed to deal with the bugs without taking a hit! Despite moving quite slowly, she dragged the corpse along with two shells back to the surface and returned to the farmer. He said he was too old to farm himself, and too poor to hire anyone, so he lost his son, and his farm. In a somewhat uncommon show of compassion, Roisin gave the man 100 gold, and gave him her condolences. Afterwards she traveled back to Beregost. However she arrived at night, and so stayed at the inn closest to the smithy, the Jovial Juggler. Inside she heard about a cloak and some half-ogres, two unrelated things. In the morning, she went to the smithy and sold her shells and other various assorted loot, and in the end, left the smithy with nearly 20000 gold total. And that's where my last session ended.
Next time I think I'll be tackling the gnoll stronghold, but I have a question, can I go there if I haven't accepted Minsc's quest? I can't see Roisin being willing to help if it means he'll join her, but there'll be (more) continuity errors if I refuse him, since he'll attack me.
It wasn't hard to deal with the brute, merely running away and then filling him full of arrows was all I needed to do.
This one wasn't even threatening, but hey! Gloves! (Which equate to money...)
My first tome! Hoorah!
Just a little update for those of you who're interested to see the growth of the character. Hey! 10 CHA!
I could relate to the "she is easily distracted, especially when she does not overly care about her task" bit... happens a lot with many charnames i think
Keep up the good work!
edit: I would use Elves Bane almost always, switching to the Blunt and Slashing belts when necessary, which is any time I may potentially take even the slightest point of damage. Gorion's Belt is also stupidly useful for getting around traps. They're all powerful enough to dedicate 4 inventory slots for.
Thank the Beamgods that Gem, Potion, and Scroll cases were added to BG:EE. It makes Soloing MUCH easier. I still edit myself a Bag of Holding, but that's for my own problems with obsessive loot hoarding...
PS Don't worry about Gorion's belt. It's not all that.
She found herself in a very rocky landscape, which she felt would prove interesting. True to her thoughts, she soon found a wolf attacking a chicken. While Roisin felt no real need to protect an animal from another, the wolf attacked her upon sight, so she dealt with it. To her surprise, the chicken came up and thanked her! It said it was a mage who had been transformed. It said it's master had been Thalantyr and it requested assistance. Seeing no harm in help a poor chicke- er… mage, Roisin put the animal in her pack and traveled back to High hedge. There, it turned out Melicamp was not quite so innocent, and had become a chicken by the magic of some ancient bracers he had stolen from Thalantyr when he left his old master. To fix this, Thalantyr needed a skull. Fortunately, Roisin had seen some skeletons near Thalantyr’s abode, which she quickly found again. After obtaining a skull, Roisin returned. After one failed attempt, (in which Melicamp may or may not have exploded…) Thalantyr successfully cured Melicamp, and Melicamp stayed with Thalantyr to truly learn the art of magic. Roisin was given no tangible rewards, but considered the event to have ended satisfactorily.
Returning to the south of high hedge, Roisin encountered some hobgoblin bandits. After dispatching them quickly, though not entirely without injury, she returned once again to high hedge. She needed to sell the items she had found, as her inventory was quite full. When Thalantyr identified the magical short sword one hobgoblin had dropped, Roisin cursed that she had never spent more time training with short swords, as the blade was artfully crafted. Sighing, she returned to the area at which her hobgoblin “friend” Zargal had attacked.
By this point, night had fallen, and she noticed disturbing lights coming from a cluster of trees nearby. Coming closer she saw an undead throng surrounding one man. At first she was going to unleash her arrows to defend the man, but then she realized he was controlling them. The things he said proved him to be insane, so she nocked an arrow and prepared, ready to fight, but before she could loose one at his head he noticed her. He began threatening her, saying if she hurt his “family” he’d kill her. That is, he threatened her before he mistook Roisin for his own mother! Sensing she might take advantage of the mistake, she played along, trying to draw more information from him, till he realized she was not, in fact, his mother. Fortunately, a few well placed words caused him to fly into a rage, which caused him to seemingly lose control of the undead and they crumbled to the ground. After that, it was a matter of five arrows and one damage-induced spell failure and Bassilus lay dead on the ground. Twas not Roisin's hardest fight, it was sure. After such a generally hair raising incident, however, Roisin decided to travel back to Beregost, taking with her Bassilus’ holy symbol, as she had heard of a bounty for his head, though she'd not paid enough attention to know the details. She had to deal with some skeletons on the way, however, and arrived at Beregost early in the morning.
After a few hours rest she made a stop at the smithy, where this time she cursed her lack of training in warhammers, due to Bassilus’ hammer being exquisite. Fortunately though, the value of the hammer offset the wasted money of identifying Bassilus’ gloves, which were cursed. (I don't know why I bothered to identify them *shakes head*) Afterwards she traveled to the temple to redeem the bounty for Bassilus’ head. To her surprise, the reward for Bassilus’ death was a whopping 5000 gold, which Roisin happily pocketed. Afterwards, she headed out to the red canyons again, set on discovering the secrets of the sword coast. But that will have to wait. (For an hour or two, at least. ;p)
Picture time!
One heck of a lotta dead ogre-kin.
Sounds tasty.
Master and student reunited.
Success!
Bassilus' Death. Guess he can join his family now.
Continuing on, disturbed and confused, Roisin traveled down a little dirt path, thinking it might lead her to the tower. Near the end of the path, what appeared to be a peasant woman approached, asking for help. She said her child was playing in the abandoned lighthouse when a pack of worgs surrounded it. Roisin knew she needed to get over her feelings of guilt from a few minutes before and hurry to save the child. Rushing to the enclosed area. which housed a couple of buildings besides the lighthouse, all ruined, Roisin saw the worgs and laid into them, putting them down quickly and easily. The boy seemed to be hiding, but the threat was gone, so Roisin came back to the mother. The mother was understandably pleased, and gave Roisin what little gold she had. Roisin wanted to refuse it, seeing as the mother appeared to be poor, but the woman insisted, so Roisin walked away, feeling a bit better about the events today had held for her.
Traveling northward, following the path, she saw a small beach and a path leading from it. She also saw a woman wearing leather armor. Hesitantly, Roisin came up to the woman, fearing she might be another assassin, though the likelihood of one being out in the wilderness did not seem high. When Roisin spoke to the woman, she seemed utterly uninterested, saying if Roisin found any fighting ready men on her travels, to send them Safana’s way. She mentioned a treasure hunt, but gave no hints as to the meaning. This sparked Roisin’s interest, and she began to look more carefully around the area, thinking there might be a great source of treasure.
Approaching the small beach front, Roisin encountered two sirines. These creatures were dangerous for many reasons, not the least of which being their powerful charm ability. Roisin was thrice hit by this power, but miraculously (I have no idea how) resisted the spell each time. Continuing up the beach front, she found another one and dealt with it similarly, once again resisting the charm. On the corpses of the three she found a pearl each, and several magical arrows, which she greedily pocketed.
Continuing up the small path, she wove her way around the edge of the small cliff and saw another sirine. Though Roisin did not want to kill a non-hostile, the other sirines had proven themselves to be violent, so Roisin took the first shot. Another sirine, standing behind the first cast two dire charms at Roisin, but the trees were in the way, and the spell did not connect. (I’m serious. No save vs. spell made, yet no charm effect. *shrugs*) It seemed that striking first was the right choice, because another sirine called Sil said she would punish Roisin for trespassing on her land. Retreating back behind the trees that had protected her from the other’s spells, Roisin quickly shot Sil down and advanced cautiously. It seemed that was the last of them, and Roisin quickly took their items, but not before noticing the gaping maw of a cave’s entrance. Thoughts of the treasure Safana had mentioned popped into Roisin’s head, and she cautiously entered.
When she entered, she found that the cave was inhabited by dangerous flesh golems, creatures which would not be harmed by Roisin’s normal arrows. Quickly pulling her quiver of enchanted arrows from her pack she assailed the beast, who had begun lumbering towards her. luring him outside, where she had more room to maneuver, Roisin dealt with the brute, and then returned to the cave, even more cautiously than before. Not cautiously enough, however, for Roisin triggered a holding trap as she traveled in. Fortunately there were no creatures around, though as she stood frozen, she was terrified one of the brutes might find her. She had already taken a painful blow from just one when she was able to move to decrease the effect it's blow had had, and she shuddered to think what one could do with a still target. Being unable to avoid traps, Roisin had no choice but to boldly continue onwards. Fortunately, the next trap she triggered had no effect on her, but she was still terrified it would be the death of her. Moving forward, she met another flesh golem. This one, however, had no chance of reaching her before her arrows brought it down. Upon killing it, she reached level 7, and though there were no huge bonuses, the small ones were handy. +1 to all saves, a THAC0 of 4, and some more hit points and stealth abilities.
Near the corpse of the golem was a small island, surrounded by a pool of water. On this little bit of land lay a pile of fine treasure, not the least of which was a tome which Roisin spied, buried under a glittering fur cloak. After grabbing all the items, she began to explore the rest of the cave, wary of traps or golems which might be desiring of a nice elf for dinner. Not wary enough, however, to avoid a magic missile trap which singed her slightly. Roisin was hearty enough now, however, for the missiles to do little to her, but she was still not fond of a few magical burns. She was, thankfully, wary enough to get the jump on a golem, which she put down without any trouble. After that, rather than risk tripping yet another trap, she returned the way she’d come, despite the extra time spent doing so.
Although she was still ready for travel and still had bagspace, Roisin was far too excited over the tome of magic to continue exploring. She traveled back to High Hedge, practically bouncing with excitement. Though Roisin was not overfond of book learning, she loved magical trinkets, and her limited experience with magical tomes from her years in Candlekeep had made her all the more excited about the two she had found outside of it’s walls. No one knows for sure, but some of the monks in Candlekeep believe that Roisin found a magical tome of strength within it’s libraries that she used to give herself such incredible strength. It would certainly explain how such a thin young elf could be such a bruiser as well as an acrobat.
Once she reached Thalantyr, she had him identify all the baubles and treasures she had found. To her joy, the tome was that of constitution. In the book, it lay out a wealth of information regarding preventative medicine, basic first aid, and proper muscle toning. Unfortunately, even with such steps, there are limits to what an elf’s body can become. Fortunately, as with all such tomes, it was enchanted to provide a magical increase to one’s constitution, thereby allowing Roisin to go beyond the abilities of a normal elf. As she used the tome, she felt her body gaining in power rapidly, and she felt noticeably hardier than she did before. Also among the loot was a magical fur cloak, which would allow Roisin to transform into the form of a wolf. Roisin did not know when such an ability would come in handy, but she kept it, as it was, at worst, a warm cloak that would help keep her toasty on cold nights. She also restocked on enchanted arrows, having expended a few in her fight against the flesh golems. Deciding that it had been a couple of days since she last felt the comfort of a bed, and feeling that she deserved a good nights rest after such an adventure, Roisin traveled back to Beregost for a nice long nap.
Here's an update on Roisin's character page, complete with a very nice 18 CON. I decided to put the (only) other picture from this session in with the main entry. I've seen others doing the same thing, and wondered if it might flow better. Let me know if you like it this way, or how I've been doing it. It doesn't matter to me, and if it's pleasing to you guys, then great. This one, however, had no real connection to the log, so I thought I'd put it in it's own section.
a few comments:
- maybe you resisted the sirines' charm attacks because you're an elf? (elves are lucky enough to have a 90% resistance to charm spells) But even then I would have expected a 'save vs spell' message...
- have you tried out your charm animal ability? it's not like you'll be needing it very often, but I can imagine it being useful at times plus it can be cool from a roleplaying perspective........ ouch, I just checked, arechers can't charm animals
- I saw you rested till daylight broke, you do not use stealth a lot?
- the cloak of the wolf (in absence of any more useful cloak) can be useful in a pinch because once transformed into a wolf your movement rate is higher
- as to your previous comment, while it's true that playing on SCS is more difficult, I can still see the archer shine in situations in an SCS setup where my cleric/thief simply flees. The horde of ogres and half-ogres in the North Sword Coast you dispatched is one example. It would have been very tedious (and possible dangerous) for me to take those on during the day (at night with backstabs it would be different)
The elf resistance would make sense, but I remember reading somewhere that it wasn't actually implemented, though that may have been only in vanilla.
I don't generally stealth much, due to it not being especially high right now, and I have to remove my armor every time. (ankheg plate) I know BG1 pretty well, so between that and Dudleyville's maps, I generally have no need for stealth. But it can occasionally be exceptionally handy. (For instance, back when I scouted out the basilisk area, mentally marking where they all were so I wouldn't waste my time with Korax.) Once I'm in BG2 I'll probably be using it more. There's better leather in BG2, and I won't know the areas since I haven't actually played more than five minutes of it as a test. I probably will have some experience with it before I get to it with Roisin though, since I have my "canon" party that I'm playing on the side, and they're almost done with BG1.
Thanks for the tip! That is handy info, and in a pinch I'll be sure to use that. I can already think of a couple places where it'll be very useful, if I still have it with me by then.
Yes, being able to kite enemies around is very handy indeed, but I fear for when I have to deal with enemies in much smaller spaces. Fortunately enemies will follow you out of areas in the enhanced edition, so I can pull people out into much more open spaces.