Nah, she's going to explore the southeastern part of the game and then take a day off at the carnival, and THEN tackle Nashkel. I have a piece of gear I want from those areas, and once she's completed Nashkel, well, I think the main quest will take precedence over most everything else. I'll be hopefully completing all the southeastern areas tonight, though, in a super long chapter. That's the plan, anyway.
Gear in the Southeast? Hmm a belt maybe? My memory of vanilla BG(EE) is a bit hazy. I think I'm going to run a 75 stat no reload character through vanilla BGEE though, just to see how long I'll last
Actually it's a pair of bracers. It might be a bit out of character for Roisin to kill the guy, but the dialogue option you choose to anger him is definitely like Roisin. Here's a hint. He calls himself the greatest swordsman on the sword coast. =p
And that sounds cool! Some classes don't even need more than 75, honestly.
Ah rights! Those are the best in game, poor Meilum. The greatest swordsman of the Sword Coast, wandering around in what amounts to rags, accepting a duel with Roisin, and then getting perforated by her arrows...
I would love to see a mod that actually makes him the best swordsman on the sword coast. Grandmastery in longswords, specialization in single weapon style, and some excellent magical studded leather. (Since I think of lightly armored when I think of swordsmen, as opposed to heavily armored warriors) A big boost in level couldn't hurt either.
Good idea! I think you can do that yourself if you look him up in the creature browser in EEKeeper, and edit him... I agree on the light armour, or maximum medium armour (chainmail). I like those characters better than the bulky heavily armoured tanks.
Having re-installed the game after it crashed a few days ago, I decided to give Grynne a second chance. Since I somehow deleted my old CHR-files, I re-rolled her using the automatic reroller while I was busy doing other things. This resulted in a more than nice 96 roll, which is a few points higher than the first Grynne. But other than that, they're one and the same: the LN axe-wielding half-orc as described in the original post of this thread. A minor difference is that I opted to grandmaster axes before putting any proficiency points elsewhere, and meanwhile carry a shield.
I'm playing with a new setup, with less mods. Among other things this means that this time unlike the last I won't be able to buy a Helm of Charm protection from Taerom nor a Ring of Free Action from Thalantyr. I did re-install the Wizard Slayer Rebalancing mod, as well as what to me are staple mods such as SCS (v28, a new version for me), Item Randomiser, Hard Times, Ascension, and ATweaks (which brings various aspects of the game closer to pnp). I enabled 'True Weapon Grandmastery' from BG2Tweaks, which ultimately, at five pips, gives +3 to hit and +5 to damage, an extra 3/2 APR, and a -3 to speed factor with the selected weapon as compared to 'proficiency' (one pip). This is important since the number of hits against determines the exent of the spell failure penalty. I'm also playing with maximum hit points for all cratures in the game. The other mods I have installed mainly offer extra kits, quests or NPCs.
This journal is going to be relatively light on the roleplay aspects and heavier on tactics/strategy aspects. If I make it through BG1, I might switch to minimal-reload in SoA/ToB to allow myself to refresh my memory of those parts of the saga.
I'm also playing solo for the most part, but I'll probably assemble a party if I make it far enough into the game. I like the solo play though, as it really forces me to make the best of this interesting but (especially at lower levels) handicapped kit. If she's going to get companions, Grynne won't allow arcane casters in her party and most probably also no NPCs of chaotic alignments.
***
Grynne, did all the quests in Candlekeep and even resorted to theft so that she could buy a helmet, a suit of studded leather armor, a large shield, three axes, and 40 throwing axes. Ironically two of her axes shattered while slaying rats for Reevor, the least lucrative of her tasks. She bought Winthrop's fourth and final axe, and then set out with Gorion. The morning after his demise, she convinced Imoen to remain at Candlekeep and to give her potions and wand to Grynne. She accepted Xzar's potion but wouldn't travel with Monty and him (even if that meant forgoing a few potions and scrolls she could sell). She travelled to the High Hedge area, and from there south, to save Melicamp. She was quite pleased with the damage she inflicted with her throwing axes (at level 1 still).
She took Melicamp to Thalantyr who treated her with little respect. He was blunt and wouldn't reward her in any way after he managed to retransform Melicamp, which impressed her more than a little by the way. As he seemed quite powerful Grynne decided not to antagonize him, though she might at a later stage. She's no friend of powerful mages. She sold him Imoen's wand and left.
In Beregost she calmed down Marl, and helped Firebead to gain another level (3). She the travelled south, slew two ogrillons for Mirianne's letter, and a couple of bandits and kobolds. She also ran into three Flaming Fist mercenaries. When their leader approached, she retreated, but he followed. They spoke and when he wouldn't believe her innocent, they fought until he fell. Grynne donned his plate mail and took down the other two mercenaries. She travelled further south, slaying more bandits on her way, till she reached Nashkel. There she bought the Stylish Boots of the Cheetah from Karaea the gnome, spoke with Berrun Ghastkill to trigger the first dream (and get herself the free healing spell), and bought a scroll of protection from petrification from a merchant at the carnival. With it she travelled back to Nashkel where she bought more throwing axes, and from there to an area she was told was beset by basilisks. Eight of the ten basilisks she had counted fell soon enough, but she relied upon Korax for the remaining two (one greater, one lesser) that were in the direct vicinity of their master, a gnomish wizard. The lesser basilisk was hostile. Korax held it, and managed to kill it. The greater baslisk was initially neutral. When the latter held the basilisk, he and Grynne, using her throwing axes, finished the creature off. Mutamin hasted toward Grynne to spak to her, but she backed away. When Mutamin ran past Korax, the latter attacked and held the gnome, allowing Grynne to kill him off.
The venture yielded her a tome of understanding and some loot she would sell. It also helped her gain almost three levels. She was nearly level 4 when she entered the area, and close to level 6 when she was done. A few wilderness encounters, including one with dread wolves and worgs (or dire wolves?) in the Beregost Temple area, got her to level 6. The fight with the wolves cost her yet another axe, leaving her with only one axe. Grynne travelled on (with her 19 CON she wouldn't tire even after days without rest). She headed northward, till she reached an area full of ankhegs. She slew a few of them and entered a cave where she slew many more without much difficulty.
After killing one of the ankhegs in the cave, her last axe shattered as well, so she decided to head back to Beregost and buy five new axes from Taerom. When he noticed she had an akheg shell with her Taerom offered to make a suit of ankheg armor for her if she would pay him 4000 gold. She had to travel to Nashkel to find and sell a pearl and a pair of magical bracers (AC 8) before she could agree to Taerom's terms. [There is no free ankheg armor in Nashkel with Hard Times installed.] In the tenday Taerom woud need to make her ankheg armor, Grynne did various quests. She travelled back north to kill many more ankhegs, slay Tenya for the fishermen (not because she wanted to, but rather becasue she kept attacking at Near Death status), and help Brun. In the south she killed Greywolf with little difficulty (they were both good fighters, but he was clad in studded leather armor and she in plate mail), and at the FAI she took on Tarnesh, while aided by three watchers. She also completed the other FAI quests (Joia, Landrin, Unshey).
At Thalantyr's she bought two potions of magic blocking, to aid her in any dangerous quests. He had one more potion of magic blocking and also a scroll of protection from magic, but she hadn't the gold to pay for those items. On the coast Grynne was told of a treasure cave guarded by sirines. She quaffed one of her potions of magic blocking and made the mistake of fighting the first three sirines rather than simply running past them. The potion's effect wore off soon, so she also had to consume the second potion in order to enter the cave, plunder it, and leave without getting charmed. In the end the plan worked, although she got severely injured by the sirines arrows of biting and in the cave by a trap and by one or two hits from the golems.
She fled the area toward the south. There she encountered Brage whom she brought to Nalin in Nashkel.
Grynne is currently a level 7 Wizard Slayer, with 20 CON thanks to a tome she found in the treasure cave, and with various enchanted weapons though none of these is an axe (a Flail +1 from the fishermen, a Bastard Sword +1from the cave, a Halberd +1 from Greywolf, and a small number of enchanted darts).
***
If I'm going to continue solo'ing, I'll have to find a way to get past Mulahey, Venkt, Genthore/Kysus, and various mages in the Cloakwood mine. If I'm lucky I could rush Grynne through the mines with a scroll of protection from magic, kill Davaeorn and get out. I'm a bit hesitant though. I haven't played SCSv28 yet, and if she gets overwhelmed by guards, she'd lose precious time (if not her life). Besides there's still the Nashkel Mines and the bandit camp... I could try and kill Dushai in Ulgoth's Beard for her Ring of Free Action, though that would be quite out of character for Grynne I think, and it could be dangerous as well, since she's another spellcaster. It would of course make Davaeorn more manageable.
You could also put one point into two handed swords and just use the spiders bane for the same effect.
And you should also get a scroll or protection from magic from Daverons brother or the gnome in the area with the ring of fire resistance if my memory doesn't fail me. One of them should give you a potion, the other a scroll.
Davaeorn's brother gives the potion of Magic Protection. The gnome in the area with the ring of fire resistance gives the Protection from Magic Scroll.
The wizard slayer without modding can't use a Ring of Free Action as any other ring, amulet or neckless in the game, so the Free Action effect for him (solo) may come only thanks to the Spiders Bane.
The wizard slayer without modding can't use all those useful potions against magical effects as well.
He even can't use a potion of STR from the Nashkel Carnival, so no Tome of STR for him (his starting STR is 18/00, I wonder if Grynne's 19 STR + DUHM will be enough, though, as 18/00 STR + DUHM is not enough to open the appropriate container).
@bengoshi and @SionIV Thank you for th info on the respective items from the Surgeon and from the gnome. They'll come in very handy.
@bengoshi My modded (rebalanced) WS has access to to green scrolls, and to items that protect against magic or magic damage. This means indeed no Ring of Free Action unfortunately. I'd forgotten that. It's interesting to see how Grynne is not able to do quests and use things I'd normally take for granted. I think a STR of 24 is needed for forcing the locks for the tomes below Candlekeep, which would mean no way for her to get the STR tome with DUHM alone. This means that she will hire people to get certain items. My challenge is first and foremost about survival (no-reload); it doesnt have to be solo (which is another indicator that my challenge isn't as severe as yours).
@Blackraven I think that you need at least 25. Nice on getting with this playthrough again! RR adds a Ioun Stonero BG2 that gives Knock 3x day and some other things that could be good for you. I think that WS can use that one. FoA gives Free Action when you make it a +5. Also Shield of Harmony for BG2 is nice for her. You should do the pacific quests in BG2 until you have enough XP to kill harder enemies. With WSR I think that you can use Wands of Ruby Reversal, not sure still.
@CrevsDaak, thank you, yes the Ioun Stone will come in very handy, but I think the woman (at the Shaodw Thieves Guild) sells it only to other thieves. Not sure. Shield of Harmony is great! Best shield in the game imo, especially for a WS. It's the reason I chose to go all the way to grandmastery in axes. At this point I would have preferred to have two pips in 2h swords instead of one. Below you'll find out why. As to quest order in BG2, don't know yet. There aren't too many pacific quests in that game. But I probably won't be solo'ing anyway, so that should keep things from becoming too complicated.
***
Grynne travelled to the southernmost area (called Dragon's Reach, according to my map), where she spoke with Hafiz for a scroll of Protection from Magic. She also brought Samuel the deserter to Gellana Mirrorshade. From the FAI she made her way to the northen Sword Coast and took down Shoal the Nereid with her throwing axes. This was relatively safe since her beguiling aura (aTweaks) doesn't affect female characters. The Water Weird she had summoned was more difficult to deal with: it would only suffer 1 dmg per hit and it would follow her around over the entire map. Meanwhile she took on the (half-)ogres and ogrillons, often in melee without much difficulty. She reunited the Mad Arcand with his ring and she spoke with the Surgeon for his scroll of Protection from Magic.
After that, Grynne returned to the High Hedge, and for 4000 GP she had Thalantyr make the Sword of Rage for her out of Brage's cursed berserking sword, two scrolls of Remove Curse and two Scrolls of Horror. Importantly the sword gives the wielder the ability to enrage once per day.
[Having no idea what kind of rage the sword gives, I decided to simply try it out.] Grynne travelled to the Red Canyons, where she was told she would find Bassilus the mad cleric. She approached him with the Sword of Chaos equipped, and when he turned hostile, she activated the sword's rage ability. Bassilus' spells (2x Hold Person) were useless against Grynne. With her axe she slaughtered the priest, and after she was done also the three hobgoblins (Malkax etc).
[The rage ability turns out to be the same as the Berserker's rage, including its 15 dmg and its fatigue effect once the state ends. I used it to slay Neira in Nashkel as well, but I won't be using it all the time. I think I'm going to force myself to use the expendables first: potions of magic blosking/protection/shielding and scrolls of protection from magic. If I run out of expendables I may rely on the sword. Especially if I continue to solo I might have to in order for the game to advance.]
Grynne's weapon of choice remained to be the battle axe, even though her weapons kept shattering, at one point even twice in one of the Cloudpeaks areas. [Hard Times is really giving Grynne a hard time with her unenchanted axes.]
In the aforementioned areas she dispatched Sendai & Co, though not without taking a number of ranged hits from Delgod and Alexander. She also took on Zal and Vax, first the meleer whom she lured away from his companion, then the dart thrower whom she had to rush with her stylish boots of the cheetah so that he wouldn't be able to stun her with his darts of stunning. When he fell she found the Boots of Speed on him. Grynne reunited Albert with Rufie and Drienne with Pixie. She also protected the Dryad of the Cloudpeaks from Krumm and Caldo. She then travelled to the Friendly Arm Inn where she bought 5 more axes from Bentley, and for about 8000 gold various antidotes and a pair of Gnomish Boots from Gellana.
The investment she did at Gellana's would only serve one purpose: help Grynne obtain the Spiders' Bane. [In my game setup all Cloakwood areas except the Mines area are accessible before Chapter 4.] In Cloakwood one she didn't do any quests. She simply went northward along the area border, to unlock Cloakwood 2. There she was immediately greeted by four Phase Spiders that came teleporting in when she arrived. She killed them but was poisoned more once which slightly injured her. She didn't take an antidote though.
On her way toward the spiders' den, she got more serious opposition from Ettercaps that poisoned her multiple times. She managed to slay them all, but it took her an antidote and four healing potions to moe or less restore her health.
The den was tackled by entering and leaving and thus luring the creature outside in tolerably manageable groups, until only Centeol remained.
***
Without the gnomish boots (an item from Aurora's shoes and boots), Grynne would have probably never obtained the Spiders' Bane unless the green Protection from Magic scrolls protect against the web traps, in which case I would have probably sacrificed one for permanent Free Action.
@Blackraven yeah, I thought about that, but maybe if you just use a thief NPC it does give you the option too. You can buy a Battle Axe+1 from Feldelpost at his Inn, in Beregost, unless you made it a 'Exceptional Axe' with SCS's 'Make all the +1 unmagical' component or if that got changed by the item randomizer. Also, I recommend getting a Full Plate Mail, they have better modifiers to AC than the Ankheg plate but weight much more (25 to 70!!!), which I don't see that would cause problems with your 19 STR (although those 50 throwing axes don't get carried by themselves, but actually 5x50 would be 250 ibs just of axes...quite much).
@CrevsDaak, good idea. I'll try with a thief... I think Taerom hasn't got the axe, but I'll check. And I'd like to get a suit of full plate, but I haven't found one yet. I might be able to kill Taugosz for it, at the Bandit Camp but it will be difficult. Will post an update soon. Thanks for your recommendations!
@CrevsDaak, thanks for the tip. I checked both Feldepost and Thunderhammer but neither sell a battle axe +1. @Elrandir thank you too, I'm also enjoying this
***
Owning scrolls, potions and two weapons (Spiders' Bane and the Sword of Rage) that would offer her protection against mind and movement affecting magic, Grynne felt confident enough to investigate the Nashkel mines and confront any opposition if necessary. She breezed through the first two levels, slaying many kobolds and suffering little damage. On the third level, where she tripped two traps on a bridge and where the opposition increased, she did start to notice her wounds so before entering the final area toward the exit to the 4th level she restored her health with potions. This turned out to be a very wise decision. When she spotted a kobold shaman she equipped Spiders' Bane to protect herself against a possible Hold spell. The kobold priest took her by surprise however with an arcane spell: Horror. It had her run in panic in all directions, triggering three traps near the level exit and suffering poison damage from the kobold chieftain's arrows. The kobolds were too few and too weak to bring her down, even with the help of two summoned ogrillons, but they would have succeeded, had she not restored her health a moment earlier.
After she slew the shaman, the chieftain and a few remaining kobolds, she descended to the fourth and final level. There she had to kill more kobolds before she could confront their leader Mulahey in his lair. The priest looked like a possibly dangerous foe who might have more tricks up his sleeve than a few Hold spells that Spiders' Bane would protect her against. So she quaffed her only potion of magic blocking, and was later grateful for it, when the priest's Mental Domination spell failed to affect her. He summoned about ten kobolds and six skeletons, but Grynne wouldn't let that distract her. She focused her efforts on Mulahey alone and after a number of good hits (including a critical), had him beg on his knees for mercy. Grynne granted it to him in the form of a single clean stroke of her axe that beheaded her foe.
She struck down Mulahey's summons, and then looted the priest's body and a chest. She found some vaulable loot but nothing she had any use for (Golden Girdle, Varscona). With Mulahey's prisoner Xan she returned to the surface where the two parted ways. She met Narcillicus, who asked her to witness a wicked arcane trick that involved summoning and controlling slimes and jellies. She told him she would have nothing of it. He tried to get away but two of her throwing axes did him in.
In the area she also slew various undead, but not the revenant. She chose to give him the dagger he so much longed for. Reporting to Berrun Ghastkill in Nashkel helped her get to level 8, her final level in the game, and gain a second shatter magic ability (which allows her to strip a wizards' magical protections with the hits of her weapon). She decided to use that ability against stoneskinned and mirror imaged Nimbul after a succesfully cast Feeblemind on her had worn off. The assassin fell soon after to her throwing axes.
She travelled to Beregost where she slew another mage, Tranzig, at Feldepost's Inn. He tried to cast Slow, Blindness and one other spell on her, but she fled downstairs each time he was in the middle of casting. He then tried to take her on in melee combat, and fell. A more challenging encounter took place on her way to Larswood. She got waylaid by enemies: Molkar and his gang of bounty hunters. [This was the first time I actually got waylaid by them in a transition area.] The bounty hunters were aided by a ghoul, many gibberlings and at least seven skeletons.
Her first target was Halacan, a gnomish wizard. She thought she hit twice with her throwing axes or maybe thrice. Either way it was enough for her to neutralize him. All his attempts at casting spells failed, so he resorted to pursuing her.
This didn't mean that all danger was out of the way. The meleers were unable to catch up with Grynne thanks to her Boots of Speed, but Drakar cast Hold Person at her a few times, forcing her to switch from her throwing axes to Spiders' Bane every time Drakar's spells came her way. The only foes that were actually dealing damage, were the skeletons, so she took them down first, as well as the other monsters. This created the space she needed to best the bounty hunters with her throwing axes. On their bodies she didn't find any remarkable loot except for a second pair of gnomish boots and a svirfneblin pickaxe on Halacan. The good thing was that she now owned an enchanted axe that was less likely to shatter, but unfortunately it deals piercing damage rather than slashing damage, which is likely to make it less effective against well-armored foes.
In the Larswood she slew about ten bandits, ignored a druid who accused her of having killed one of his fellow druids, and pushed on for Peldvale.
In the Peldvale area Grynne spoke with Raiken and convinced him to have her join the bandits. She was brought to the bandit camp, where Tazok demanded her to show him her fighting prowess. She proceeded to surpass all his expectations, taking the half-ogre's wretched life with her throwing axes.
She looted the bandit camp as far as her lock bashing skill allowed her to, drank a potion of magic protection, put on her Boots of Avoidance (she had found those on Nimbul and considered it wise to use them, taking into account the huge number of archers in the Camp). She then entered Tazok's tent. Venkt the mage was mirror imaged, but Grynne managed to hurt him regardless and killed him in two hits. After that, she took on he other bandits, all of them archers, one by one, starting with the neared foes. However their most dangerous archer was Raemon. He poisoned her with his arrows. So after she had slain a few of the bandits she focused on him. He fell easily bacause he seemed to be stuck where he was, unable to move in any direction. The remaining foes fell soon after.
She was somewhat injured so she decided to heal herself with her innate abilities and with potions. She then spoke to Ender Sai, and looted the bodies and the chests in the tent. There was little of interest except an enchanted bow and an enchanted sling she would get identified and probably sell later on. A lighting trap injured her again (39 damage in total). She drank all her healing potions, and then stepped outside the tent. The resistance she met there was overwhelming. In her stubbornness she kept on fighting Taugosz the Black Talon leader for his Full Plate even while she was getting hit again and again by arrows (including arrows of biting and cold arrows) that came flying in from all directions. She got Taugosz at near death status, but not before she was on the brink of dying herself. Eventually she had the presence of mind to run from her many attackers, to the relative safety of the FAI, where she will rest and replenish her stock of healing potions before tackling the Cloakwoods.
Inbetween visits to the FAI, the Temple of Lathander near Beregost and the High Hedge, Grynne got waylaid by Lamalha, Maneira, Telka and Zeela (again in transition area, just as with Molkar & co). She equipped Spiders' Bane to protect herself from the two Clerics' inevitable Hold Person spells. She didn't take any other measures against possibly fatal spells and therefore had to count herself very lucky when she saved against a Rigid Thinking she didn't see coming. [This was the first time she unwillingly relied on a save. Rigid Thinking lasts one turn which might well have been enough for her foes to kill her, especially if the presence of Kobolds and Worgs is taken into account.] Grynne had the most difficulty with the thieves' missile attcks, so she killed Maneira and Telka first with her throwing axes. Lamalha and Zeela were easily dealt with once they had run out of spells. They too fell to Grynne's throwing axes.
She picked up what loot she thought would be valuable, and left the kobolds. On one of the fallen amazons she found a potion of magic blocking, which for many adventurers won't be anything special, but for Grynne it was a great prize. At Thalantyr's she got some loot identified and sold it. From the proceeds she bought lots of healing potions (up to 30) and elixers of health (15) from different vendors. At the Naskel Carnival she bought a potion of magic shielding, which would have her succesfully save against all spells cast at her during three turns.
Thus prepared for whatever was waiting for her she travelled to the Cloakwoods, in search of an Iron Throne Base. She had already unlocked the Cloakwood 3 area (on her expedition for the Spiders' Bane in Cloakwood 2), so that's where she went. She kept a low profile and spoke with no one but Laskal, a druid who gave her a potion of invulnerability (she had no use for) after she explained to him that she was a sworn enemy of the Iron Throne. Her strategy in Cloakwood 4 wasn't supposed to be any different: simply to rush through it without attracting any unwanted attention to herself. However she ran into a Hamadryad who immediately cast a Charm in Grynne's direction. Grynne didn't hesitate for one second and quaffed the potion of magic blocking before the spell would hit her. After it, slaying both the wicked Hamadryad and her aggressive animal companions was a piece of cake.
@Blackraven, Rigid Thinking is a killer, especially in a solo run.
You really, really need mind protection, as from the Greenstone Amulet, if you're going up against clerics, if you want to be safe from needing to make saving throws. My own experience is that a successful Rigid Thinking from an enemy equals death, solo or not.
Clerics are very fond of casting Rigid Thinking in the vanilla game - it's probably worse in SCS.
@Blackraven, Rigid Thinking is a killer, especially in a solo run.
You really, really need mind protection, as from the Greenstone Amulet, if you're going up against clerics, if you want to be safe from needing to make saving throws. My own experience is that a successful Rigid Thinking from an enemy equals death, solo or not.
Clerics are very fond of casting Rigid Thinking in the vanilla game - it's probably worse in SCS.
@BelgarathMTH, thanks for your advice. I agree that a failed save would have probably ended this run. I simply was too late to respond. It would have probably been better to flee the map. I'm normally quite a completist, but this solo run simply doesn't work like that. My WS has no access to the Greenstone Amulet, only to items that protect against magic and magic damage: potions of magic blocking, magic shielding and magic protection and the green scrolls. These aren't very common items, so I'll have to pick my fights....
There was also a guard who, before she slew him, told her the location of the Iron Throne base. So that's where she headed. On her way, she passed by a cave with traces of blood outside it, but wouldn't be distracted from her mission, and pushed on for the Iron Throne base. Upon arrival at the Iron Throne base, another mine just as in Nashkel, she dealt with a number of guards and then ran into two assassins, both of them warriors. One of them presented himself as Drasus, a name that didn't ring a bell to her. She retreated toward a narrow bridge she had crossed moments before, so that the two warriors would have difficulty engaging her at the same time. This turned out to be a flawed strategy as one of them was a melee fighter whereas the other attacked with throwing axes, a rare fighting style Grynne couldn't but appreciate of course. The warrior with the throwing axes, Genthore, was dealing somewhat serious damage when seemingly out of thin air two wizards appeared and came to the warriors' aid. She drank the potion of magic shielding she had bought at the Nashkel Carnival in order to succesfully save against all spells cast in her direction. This didn't help her against the wizards' Melf's Minute Meteors though, nor against Genthore's throwing axes. Besides, the mages had summoned various monsters that although not necessarily dangerous would limit her movement options. She fled back into the woods until she was sure she was by herself, and rested.
When she returned she was fortunate enough to encounter only the fighters; the mages were gone. She engaged the fighters in the area before the narrow bridge. She soon had the upper hand against Drasus and thought she wouldn't take long in taking the both of them down, but a Black Talon Elite with arrows of ice complicated things a bit. The damage he inflicted was so grave, that after slaying Drasus she decided to take the Black Talon down first. After that, Genthore did indeed not last long against Grynne.
As she continued her way toward the mine entrance she was confronted by the mages again, but this time rather than using a potion she used one of her two scrolls of protection from magic. She rushed past the wizards, and entered the mine. She didn't want to waste her precious scroll on the two despicable but inconsequential assassin mages. At the first level of the mine she got immediately attacked by various guards. Again, rather than taking them on she rushed on in search of the operation's leader. A slave told her this leader was to be found on the fourth level. He gave her directions and asked her to bring a key to unlock a giant mine plug with which the mine could be flooded. As Grynne said goodbye to the slave many of the guards had caught up with her, but she literally zigzagged her way through the mass and pushed on for the next level. There some fighting was inevitable, as a group of guards managed to surround her in one of the corridors, leaving her no escape route. This was more annoying than frightening to her. She had little to fear from the guards, but simply felt that fighting them was a waste of time.
Once she had taken them all down she bashed the lock of a prison where she found (and freed) Rill, another slave. He asked her for 100 gold so that he could bribe a few guards and thus ensure the slaves' safety once the mine was to be flooded. [There was no time to speak with Yeslick, as yet another group of guards came running toward the cells, but to Grynne Yeslick was simply one the slaves/prisoners that Rill was going to save.] She descended yet another level, and ran past a huge hole in the ground, toward the area exit. There were many Hobgoblins she hoped would follow her down the next and final level. [Hobgoblins were relatively weak and could actually get in the way of the more resilient human guards that would no doubt come for her below.]
On the fourth level she rushed toward the leader, Davaeorn, triggering various traps that wouldn't affect her (protected as she was against magic) but only her pursuers. She found him with two Battle Horrors by his side, but before she could attack he dimension doored to the second chamber on the right (seen from the entrance to the area). Grynne followed and wanted to slay the mage as quickly as possible, while her pursuers would be stuck in the Stinking Cloud/Web mess the triggered traps had caused. But Davaeron had various protections on, including a Mirror Image, a Minor Globe of Invulnerability and Stoneskin, and he also used Contingencies and Spell Triggers to renew any expired protections.All in all she had difficulty hitting him. Her foe did her a favour by casting Sunfire, which severly injured the Batlle Horrors and killed one or two guards. Grynne then killed the Battle Horrors but much to her displeasure, a horde of guards then came to Davaeorn's aid.
Some of the guards followed her. They found their deaths when they fought her.
Most guards however stayed right by Davaeorn's side, effectively forming a human wall around him. She tried to lure some of the guards toward her, but with every approach she was first greeted with with a rain of arrows (that dealt some various damage). Then some would come up to her to fight her in melee, but as soon as she retreated further to prevent the archers from hitting her, the meleers would return to Davaeorn. The advantage of this was that she could restore her health without anyone bothering her. The drawback was that it was impossible to reach Davaeorn without taking on the minions first.
I think that the guards who did follow Grynne had been following her before, on the third level. The guards that remained by Davaeorn's side seem to have been triggered by the game after I killed the Battle Horrors. This was new to me, on my first SCS v28 playthrough.
Unable to lure the guards (or at least some of them) toward her, she decided to try and take on Davaeorn from a distance. For that purpose she activated her Shatter Magic ability (which has the Wizard Slayer remove one combat protection and one specific protection from the targeted mage with each successful hit). She thus managed to strip the cowardly wizard of his protections and kill him in a few hits with her throwing axes.
The guards were apparently very upset by this turn of events. They all fled the scene, allowing Grynne to loot Davaeorn's body, slay Stephane, and take some more loot from Davaeorn's chests. A suit of of what turned out to be full plate mail +1 was her biggest reward. [Thank you Item Randomiser!]
Grynne returned to the first level with Davaeorn's key, flooded the mine and left together with the slaves to the surface. When she wanted to leave the area she ran into the two mages again, Kysus and Rezdan. Unwilling to take any risks with the miscreants, she quaffed a potion of magic blocking to see how they'd fare against her without their tricks (her green scroll-based protection from magic had expired). She took on Rezdan first. He was stoneskinned which prevented her from injuring him. However her 'hits' did inflict the cumulative spellcasting penalty, so that he wouldn't cast any more spells before Grynne would inevitably slay him.
Kyus managed to create a teleport field, which complicated a melee fight, but Grynne finished him off with her throwing axes.
After this successful operation Grynne moved to Baldur's Gate where she's currently hunting evil wizards, with relative success. For a priest she met at the Sorcerous Sundries, Ordulinian, she slew two feuding mages: Arkion and Nemphre. (Strictly speaking, Ordulinian asked Grynne not to kill them but to retrieve two items from the wizards, a ring and a necklace they had stolen from eachother. However both were less than cooperative, and Grynne needed little excuse to fell the perfidious humans.) In the Low Lantern she took on Desreta (a Fighter/Thief and Vay-Ya (a FIghter/Mage), but the latter succesfully eluded Grynne with a Shadow Door. She fared better against Yago, also in the Low Lantern, whom she slew with a critical hit for a woman named Brielbara.
When she heard rumours of a nobleman who collected eerily realistic looking statues, she decided to go over and take a look at this nobleman's manor. What she found weren't statues but petrified people. From her last gold she bough scrolls of Stone to Flesh at the Lady's Temple, and used them on the "statues". One the people mentioned two wizards who might have been responsible for his plight. Grynne will have to seek out these sorcerers. When she turned the last statue to flesh she asked the man in question whether he had any payment for her. After all she had just saved their lives and it had cost her hundreds of gold in scrolls. [Grynne was very low on gold this run, I think because she's done everything solo and has skipped many encounters. Besides sometimes she would "burn" rather than sell particularly dangerous items usable by mages. And shes spent a lot of gold on potions.] The man put up a fight but was no match for Grynne. On his remains she found a cryptical letter mentioning a helm and a cloak, and a woman named Quenash. Her next plan is to seek out Degrodel and Ramazith and check if they're indeed the treacherous sorcerers the man she saved seemed to suggest they are, and to find this Quenash for more information. The letter speaks of a fallen angel, whatever that might mean.
No use for a potion of Invulnerability? Those are godsends and almost as good as potions of magic blocking. With ring of protection +2, balduran´s helm (or gift of peace), Balduran´s Cloak, and a potion of invulnerability, you can get your saves down very low. Also the Claw of Kazgerath is great for this. I got Aurorus to 1 on save vs. spell with this set up. The Claw click only lasts 3 rounds, but you can activate it again if you need it. This adds an additional +2 to all saves, +4 to missile AC, and immunity to all 1st and 2nd level spells- really an essential item for your playthrough. I do not know if it is available, however, or where with your mod setup.
@Aurorus, unfortunately my 'rebalanced' Wizard Slayer can use only items whose most important aspect is to increase magic resistance or to protect against magic damage. This means no potions of invulnerability, no Horn/Claw of Kazgaroth, no Ring of Gaxx (in SoA), etc. I had hoped to use the Claw (thought it was available in my setup). So only potions of Magic Shielding/Blocking/Protection, healing potions and antidotes. She can use the Cloak of Balduran though, as well as (BG") amulets of magic resistance. Not sure if there are any rings she might use.
@Aurorus, unfortunately my 'rebalanced' Wizard Slayer can use only items whose most important aspect is to increase magic resistance or to protect against magic damage. This means no potions of invulnerability, no Horn/Claw of Kazgaroth, no Ring of Gaxx (in SoA), etc. I had hoped to use the Claw (thought it was available in my setup). So only potions of Magic Shielding/Blocking/Protection, healing potions and antidotes. She can use the Cloak of Balduran though, as well as (BG") amulets of magic resistance. Not sure if there are any rings she might use.
@Aurorus haha, no but honestly it's not that bad...
Rebalanced Wizard Slayer:
Advantages:
- Starts with 10% base magic resistance (Vanilla doesn't) - Gains an additional +2% bonus to magic resistance for every level of experience (vanilla WS only 1%) - Gains the Disrupt Magic passive ability at first level: Whenever a Wizard Slayer lands a successful hit on an arcane spellcaster the target is afflicted with a cumulative spell failure penalty. During the next 3 rounds, the victim has a 10% base chance to miscast any arcane spell plus 1% for every experience level the Wizard Slayer attains. (Vanilla WS gets a fixed 10% chance with no increase at levelling up) - Gains the Shatter Magic ability at first level and every 8 levels thereafter: During the round when this ability is activated, each successful hit removes one combat and one specific protection from his target. However, this temporarily nullifies the Wizard Slayer's innate magic resistance making him vulnerable to magic during the next 2 rounds. Until his magic resistance recovers, the Wizard Slayer cannot use any special abilities that rely on it. (It doesn't breach PfMW or Mantle though, but Vanilla WS doesn't have this or anything like it.)
Disadvantages:
- Cannot use any magic items except for weapons, armor and healing potions, and (unlike vanilla WS): items which provide protection from magic in some form, such as the Amulet of 5% Magic Resistance, Kaligun's Amulet of Magic Resistance, the Cloak of Balduran, Potion of Magic Protection, Cloak of Mirroring, Belt of Inertial Barrier, Amulet of Spell Warding, Ring of Spell Turning, Potion of Magic Shielding and Potion of Magic Blocking. - Cannot dual-class (Vanilla can actually dual)
Special HLAs:
Reflect Magic (replaces Resist Magic) An experienced Wizard Slayer eventually learns to channel his innate magic resistance in a manner which allows him to reflect magic back to its source. For 3 rounds after this ability is activated, all spells targeted directly against the Wizard Slayer are redirected back to the original caster. However, this temporarily nullifies the Wizard Slayer's innate magic resistance making him vulnerable to any spells that are not directly targeted at him. This vulnerability takes effect when the ability is activated and persists for 3 rounds after it expires. Until his magic resistance recovers, the Wizard Slayer cannot use any special abilities that rely on it.
Arcane Bane (replaces War Cry) An experienced Wizard Slayer can apply a special technique to his attacks making them extremely effective against wielders of arcane magic. For 2 rounds after this ability is activated he gains a +5 bonus to damage against all arcane spellcasters. Furthermore, the Wizard Slayer's attacks become so forceful that his opponents must save vs. death with a -4 penalty or lose one of their memorized spells on each hit.
It´s still pretty bad. However, do the abilities work with ranged attacks, i.e. from a bow or darts? Seems to me that WS, both this version and vanilla version, actually are not completely horrible if they can add their anti-magic attack to bow or dart attacks. This would allow them to select an elemental damage type, or poison, or stun (as with darts), or even use arrows of dispelling (with shatter magic picking up any buffs that are not dispelled), and get extra attacks every round.
@Blackraven, sorry, I forgot about your WS restrictions when I suggested the Greenstone Amulet. Those magic item restrictions seem to be quite a handicap, especially for a solo SCS run.
Gratz on beating SCS Daveaorn! That was a very exciting read. It looks like all those extra guards might be a (new?) part of the "better calls for help" component of SCS.
I've documented runs with screenshots and partially in-character journal entries before, and I know how much work that is, so good job!
If I'm not mistaken, a vanilla WS wouldn't have been able to beat Daveaorn the way you did, because of not having spell failure ability on ranged weapons (like your throwing axes), and not having the special protection stripping ability.
There was a thing that came up in some of the WS discussion threads about whether spell failure penalty would proc through a hit on a Stoneskin, and you just proved that it does with the mod. Do you know if it also procs through Stoneskin hits in the vanilla version? That makes a big difference in how effective the class can be.
(Some people in the threads were very confident that spell failure doesn't proc until all Stoneskins are removed, and some other people would insist that it does, but nobody ever seemed to want to take the time to test it.)
Comments
And that sounds cool! Some classes don't even need more than 75, honestly.
I'm playing with a new setup, with less mods. Among other things this means that this time unlike the last I won't be able to buy a Helm of Charm protection from Taerom nor a Ring of Free Action from Thalantyr. I did re-install the Wizard Slayer Rebalancing mod, as well as what to me are staple mods such as SCS (v28, a new version for me), Item Randomiser, Hard Times, Ascension, and ATweaks (which brings various aspects of the game closer to pnp). I enabled 'True Weapon Grandmastery' from BG2Tweaks, which ultimately, at five pips, gives +3 to hit and +5 to damage, an extra 3/2 APR, and a -3 to speed factor with the selected weapon as compared to 'proficiency' (one pip). This is important since the number of hits against determines the exent of the spell failure penalty. I'm also playing with maximum hit points for all cratures in the game. The other mods I have installed mainly offer extra kits, quests or NPCs.
This journal is going to be relatively light on the roleplay aspects and heavier on tactics/strategy aspects. If I make it through BG1, I might switch to minimal-reload in SoA/ToB to allow myself to refresh my memory of those parts of the saga.
I'm also playing solo for the most part, but I'll probably assemble a party if I make it far enough into the game. I like the solo play though, as it really forces me to make the best of this interesting but (especially at lower levels) handicapped kit. If she's going to get companions, Grynne won't allow arcane casters in her party and most probably also no NPCs of chaotic alignments.
***
Grynne, did all the quests in Candlekeep and even resorted to theft so that she could buy a helmet, a suit of studded leather armor, a large shield, three axes, and 40 throwing axes. Ironically two of her axes shattered while slaying rats for Reevor, the least lucrative of her tasks. She bought Winthrop's fourth and final axe, and then set out with Gorion. The morning after his demise, she convinced Imoen to remain at Candlekeep and to give her potions and wand to Grynne. She accepted Xzar's potion but wouldn't travel with Monty and him (even if that meant forgoing a few potions and scrolls she could sell).
She travelled to the High Hedge area, and from there south, to save Melicamp. She was quite pleased with the damage she inflicted with her throwing axes (at level 1 still).
She took Melicamp to Thalantyr who treated her with little respect. He was blunt and wouldn't reward her in any way after he managed to retransform Melicamp, which impressed her more than a little by the way. As he seemed quite powerful Grynne decided not to antagonize him, though she might at a later stage. She's no friend of powerful mages. She sold him Imoen's wand and left.
In Beregost she calmed down Marl, and helped Firebead to gain another level (3). She the travelled south, slew two ogrillons for Mirianne's letter, and a couple of bandits and kobolds. She also ran into three Flaming Fist mercenaries. When their leader approached, she retreated, but he followed. They spoke and when he wouldn't believe her innocent, they fought until he fell. Grynne donned his plate mail and took down the other two mercenaries. She travelled further south, slaying more bandits on her way, till she reached Nashkel. There she bought the Stylish Boots of the Cheetah from Karaea the gnome, spoke with Berrun Ghastkill to trigger the first dream (and get herself the free healing spell), and bought a scroll of protection from petrification from a merchant at the carnival. With it she travelled back to Nashkel where she bought more throwing axes, and from there to an area she was told was beset by basilisks.
Eight of the ten basilisks she had counted fell soon enough, but she relied upon Korax for the remaining two (one greater, one lesser) that were in the direct vicinity of their master, a gnomish wizard. The lesser basilisk was hostile. Korax held it, and managed to kill it. The greater baslisk was initially neutral. When the latter held the basilisk, he and Grynne, using her throwing axes, finished the creature off. Mutamin hasted toward Grynne to spak to her, but she backed away. When Mutamin ran past Korax, the latter attacked and held the gnome, allowing Grynne to kill him off.
The venture yielded her a tome of understanding and some loot she would sell. It also helped her gain almost three levels. She was nearly level 4 when she entered the area, and close to level 6 when she was done. A few wilderness encounters, including one with dread wolves and worgs (or dire wolves?) in the Beregost Temple area, got her to level 6. The fight with the wolves cost her yet another axe, leaving her with only one axe. Grynne travelled on (with her 19 CON she wouldn't tire even after days without rest). She headed northward, till she reached an area full of ankhegs. She slew a few of them and entered a cave where she slew many more without much difficulty.
After killing one of the ankhegs in the cave, her last axe shattered as well, so she decided to head back to Beregost and buy five new axes from Taerom. When he noticed she had an akheg shell with her Taerom offered to make a suit of ankheg armor for her if she would pay him 4000 gold. She had to travel to Nashkel to find and sell a pearl and a pair of magical bracers (AC 8) before she could agree to Taerom's terms. [There is no free ankheg armor in Nashkel with Hard Times installed.]
In the tenday Taerom woud need to make her ankheg armor, Grynne did various quests. She travelled back north to kill many more ankhegs, slay Tenya for the fishermen (not because she wanted to, but rather becasue she kept attacking at Near Death status), and help Brun. In the south she killed Greywolf with little difficulty (they were both good fighters, but he was clad in studded leather armor and she in plate mail), and at the FAI she took on Tarnesh, while aided by three watchers. She also completed the other FAI quests (Joia, Landrin, Unshey).
At Thalantyr's she bought two potions of magic blocking, to aid her in any dangerous quests. He had one more potion of magic blocking and also a scroll of protection from magic, but she hadn't the gold to pay for those items. On the coast Grynne was told of a treasure cave guarded by sirines. She quaffed one of her potions of magic blocking and made the mistake of fighting the first three sirines rather than simply running past them. The potion's effect wore off soon, so she also had to consume the second potion in order to enter the cave, plunder it, and leave without getting charmed. In the end the plan worked, although she got severely injured by the sirines arrows of biting and in the cave by a trap and by one or two hits from the golems.
She fled the area toward the south. There she encountered Brage whom she brought to Nalin in Nashkel.
Grynne is currently a level 7 Wizard Slayer, with 20 CON thanks to a tome she found in the treasure cave, and with various enchanted weapons though none of these is an axe (a Flail +1 from the fishermen, a Bastard Sword +1from the cave, a Halberd +1 from Greywolf, and a small number of enchanted darts).
***
If I'm going to continue solo'ing, I'll have to find a way to get past Mulahey, Venkt, Genthore/Kysus, and various mages in the Cloakwood mine.
If I'm lucky I could rush Grynne through the mines with a scroll of protection from magic, kill Davaeorn and get out. I'm a bit hesitant though. I haven't played SCSv28 yet, and if she gets overwhelmed by guards, she'd lose precious time (if not her life). Besides there's still the Nashkel Mines and the bandit camp...
I could try and kill Dushai in Ulgoth's Beard for her Ring of Free Action, though that would be quite out of character for Grynne I think, and it could be dangerous as well, since she's another spellcaster. It would of course make Davaeorn more manageable.
And you should also get a scroll or protection from magic from Daverons brother or the gnome in the area with the ring of fire resistance if my memory doesn't fail me. One of them should give you a potion, the other a scroll.
Davaeorn's brother gives the potion of Magic Protection. The gnome in the area with the ring of fire resistance gives the Protection from Magic Scroll.
The wizard slayer without modding can't use a Ring of Free Action as any other ring, amulet or neckless in the game, so the Free Action effect for him (solo) may come only thanks to the Spiders Bane.
The wizard slayer without modding can't use all those useful potions against magical effects as well.
He even can't use a potion of STR from the Nashkel Carnival, so no Tome of STR for him (his starting STR is 18/00, I wonder if Grynne's 19 STR + DUHM will be enough, though, as 18/00 STR + DUHM is not enough to open the appropriate container).
Thank you for th info on the respective items from the Surgeon and from the gnome. They'll come in very handy.
@bengoshi
My modded (rebalanced) WS has access to to green scrolls, and to items that protect against magic or magic damage. This means indeed no Ring of Free Action unfortunately. I'd forgotten that. It's interesting to see how Grynne is not able to do quests and use things I'd normally take for granted.
I think a STR of 24 is needed for forcing the locks for the tomes below Candlekeep, which would mean no way for her to get the STR tome with DUHM alone. This means that she will hire people to get certain items. My challenge is first and foremost about survival (no-reload); it doesnt have to be solo (which is another indicator that my challenge isn't as severe as yours).
Nice on getting with this playthrough again!
RR adds a Ioun Stonero BG2 that gives Knock 3x day and some other things that could be good for you. I think that WS can use that one.
FoA gives Free Action when you make it a +5. Also Shield of Harmony for BG2 is nice for her. You should do the pacific quests in BG2 until you have enough XP to kill harder enemies.
With WSR I think that you can use Wands of Ruby Reversal, not sure still.
Shield of Harmony is great! Best shield in the game imo, especially for a WS. It's the reason I chose to go all the way to grandmastery in axes. At this point I would have preferred to have two pips in 2h swords instead of one. Below you'll find out why.
As to quest order in BG2, don't know yet. There aren't too many pacific quests in that game. But I probably won't be solo'ing anyway, so that should keep things from becoming too complicated.
***
Grynne travelled to the southernmost area (called Dragon's Reach, according to my map), where she spoke with Hafiz for a scroll of Protection from Magic. She also brought Samuel the deserter to Gellana Mirrorshade. From the FAI she made her way to the northen Sword Coast and took down Shoal the Nereid with her throwing axes. This was relatively safe since her beguiling aura (aTweaks) doesn't affect female characters. The Water Weird she had summoned was more difficult to deal with: it would only suffer 1 dmg per hit and it would follow her around over the entire map. Meanwhile she took on the (half-)ogres and ogrillons, often in melee without much difficulty. She reunited the Mad Arcand with his ring and she spoke with the Surgeon for his scroll of Protection from Magic.
After that, Grynne returned to the High Hedge, and for 4000 GP she had Thalantyr make the Sword of Rage for her out of Brage's cursed berserking sword, two scrolls of Remove Curse and two Scrolls of Horror. Importantly the sword gives the wielder the ability to enrage once per day.
[Having no idea what kind of rage the sword gives, I decided to simply try it out.] Grynne travelled to the Red Canyons, where she was told she would find Bassilus the mad cleric. She approached him with the Sword of Chaos equipped, and when he turned hostile, she activated the sword's rage ability. Bassilus' spells (2x Hold Person) were useless against Grynne. With her axe she slaughtered the priest, and after she was done also the three hobgoblins (Malkax etc).
[The rage ability turns out to be the same as the Berserker's rage, including its 15 dmg and its fatigue effect once the state ends. I used it to slay Neira in Nashkel as well, but I won't be using it all the time. I think I'm going to force myself to use the expendables first: potions of magic blosking/protection/shielding and scrolls of protection from magic. If I run out of expendables I may rely on the sword. Especially if I continue to solo I might have to in order for the game to advance.]
Grynne's weapon of choice remained to be the battle axe, even though her weapons kept shattering, at one point even twice in one of the Cloudpeaks areas. [Hard Times is really giving Grynne a hard time with her unenchanted axes.]
In the aforementioned areas she dispatched Sendai & Co, though not without taking a number of ranged hits from Delgod and Alexander. She also took on Zal and Vax, first the meleer whom she lured away from his companion, then the dart thrower whom she had to rush with her stylish boots of the cheetah so that he wouldn't be able to stun her with his darts of stunning. When he fell she found the Boots of Speed on him. Grynne reunited Albert with Rufie and Drienne with Pixie. She also protected the Dryad of the Cloudpeaks from Krumm and Caldo. She then travelled to the Friendly Arm Inn where she bought 5 more axes from Bentley, and for about 8000 gold various antidotes and a pair of Gnomish Boots from Gellana.
The investment she did at Gellana's would only serve one purpose: help Grynne obtain the Spiders' Bane. [In my game setup all Cloakwood areas except the Mines area are accessible before Chapter 4.] In Cloakwood one she didn't do any quests. She simply went northward along the area border, to unlock Cloakwood 2. There she was immediately greeted by four Phase Spiders that came teleporting in when she arrived. She killed them but was poisoned more once which slightly injured her. She didn't take an antidote though.
On her way toward the spiders' den, she got more serious opposition from Ettercaps that poisoned her multiple times. She managed to slay them all, but it took her an antidote and four healing potions to moe or less restore her health.
The den was tackled by entering and leaving and thus luring the creature outside in tolerably manageable groups, until only Centeol remained.
***
Without the gnomish boots (an item from Aurora's shoes and boots), Grynne would have probably never obtained the Spiders' Bane unless the green Protection from Magic scrolls protect against the web traps, in which case I would have probably sacrificed one for permanent Free Action.
You can buy a Battle Axe+1 from Feldelpost at his Inn, in Beregost, unless you made it a 'Exceptional Axe' with SCS's 'Make all the +1 unmagical' component or if that got changed by the item randomizer.
Also, I recommend getting a Full Plate Mail, they have better modifiers to AC than the Ankheg plate but weight much more (25 to 70!!!), which I don't see that would cause problems with your 19 STR (although those 50 throwing axes don't get carried by themselves, but actually 5x50 would be 250 ibs just of axes...quite much).
I think Taerom hasn't got the axe, but I'll check. And I'd like to get a suit of full plate, but I haven't found one yet. I might be able to kill Taugosz for it, at the Bandit Camp but it will be difficult.
Will post an update soon. Thanks for your recommendations!
@Elrandir thank you too, I'm also enjoying this
***
Owning scrolls, potions and two weapons (Spiders' Bane and the Sword of Rage) that would offer her protection against mind and movement affecting magic, Grynne felt confident enough to investigate the Nashkel mines and confront any opposition if necessary. She breezed through the first two levels, slaying many kobolds and suffering little damage. On the third level, where she tripped two traps on a bridge and where the opposition increased, she did start to notice her wounds so before entering the final area toward the exit to the 4th level she restored her health with potions.
This turned out to be a very wise decision. When she spotted a kobold shaman she equipped Spiders' Bane to protect herself against a possible Hold spell. The kobold priest took her by surprise however with an arcane spell: Horror. It had her run in panic in all directions, triggering three traps near the level exit and suffering poison damage from the kobold chieftain's arrows. The kobolds were too few and too weak to bring her down, even with the help of two summoned ogrillons, but they would have succeeded, had she not restored her health a moment earlier.
After she slew the shaman, the chieftain and a few remaining kobolds, she descended to the fourth and final level. There she had to kill more kobolds before she could confront their leader Mulahey in his lair. The priest looked like a possibly dangerous foe who might have more tricks up his sleeve than a few Hold spells that Spiders' Bane would protect her against. So she quaffed her only potion of magic blocking, and was later grateful for it, when the priest's Mental Domination spell failed to affect her. He summoned about ten kobolds and six skeletons, but Grynne wouldn't let that distract her. She focused her efforts on Mulahey alone and after a number of good hits (including a critical), had him beg on his knees for mercy. Grynne granted it to him in the form of a single clean stroke of her axe that beheaded her foe.
She struck down Mulahey's summons, and then looted the priest's body and a chest. She found some vaulable loot but nothing she had any use for (Golden Girdle, Varscona). With Mulahey's prisoner Xan she returned to the surface where the two parted ways. She met Narcillicus, who asked her to witness a wicked arcane trick that involved summoning and controlling slimes and jellies. She told him she would have nothing of it. He tried to get away but two of her throwing axes did him in.
In the area she also slew various undead, but not the revenant. She chose to give him the dagger he so much longed for. Reporting to Berrun Ghastkill in Nashkel helped her get to level 8, her final level in the game, and gain a second shatter magic ability (which allows her to strip a wizards' magical protections with the hits of her weapon). She decided to use that ability against stoneskinned and mirror imaged Nimbul after a succesfully cast Feeblemind on her had worn off. The assassin fell soon after to her throwing axes.
She travelled to Beregost where she slew another mage, Tranzig, at Feldepost's Inn. He tried to cast Slow, Blindness and one other spell on her, but she fled downstairs each time he was in the middle of casting. He then tried to take her on in melee combat, and fell.
A more challenging encounter took place on her way to Larswood. She got waylaid by enemies: Molkar and his gang of bounty hunters. [This was the first time I actually got waylaid by them in a transition area.] The bounty hunters were aided by a ghoul, many gibberlings and at least seven skeletons.
Her first target was Halacan, a gnomish wizard. She thought she hit twice with her throwing axes or maybe thrice. Either way it was enough for her to neutralize him. All his attempts at casting spells failed, so he resorted to pursuing her.
This didn't mean that all danger was out of the way. The meleers were unable to catch up with Grynne thanks to her Boots of Speed, but Drakar cast Hold Person at her a few times, forcing her to switch from her throwing axes to Spiders' Bane every time Drakar's spells came her way. The only foes that were actually dealing damage, were the skeletons, so she took them down first, as well as the other monsters. This created the space she needed to best the bounty hunters with her throwing axes. On their bodies she didn't find any remarkable loot except for a second pair of gnomish boots and a svirfneblin pickaxe on Halacan. The good thing was that she now owned an enchanted axe that was less likely to shatter, but unfortunately it deals piercing damage rather than slashing damage, which is likely to make it less effective against well-armored foes.
In the Larswood she slew about ten bandits, ignored a druid who accused her of having killed one of his fellow druids, and pushed on for Peldvale.
She looted the bandit camp as far as her lock bashing skill allowed her to, drank a potion of magic protection, put on her Boots of Avoidance (she had found those on Nimbul and considered it wise to use them, taking into account the huge number of archers in the Camp). She then entered Tazok's tent. Venkt the mage was mirror imaged, but Grynne managed to hurt him regardless and killed him in two hits. After that, she took on he other bandits, all of them archers, one by one, starting with the neared foes. However their most dangerous archer was Raemon. He poisoned her with his arrows. So after she had slain a few of the bandits she focused on him. He fell easily bacause he seemed to be stuck where he was, unable to move in any direction. The remaining foes fell soon after.
She was somewhat injured so she decided to heal herself with her innate abilities and with potions. She then spoke to Ender Sai, and looted the bodies and the chests in the tent. There was little of interest except an enchanted bow and an enchanted sling she would get identified and probably sell later on. A lighting trap injured her again (39 damage in total). She drank all her healing potions, and then stepped outside the tent. The resistance she met there was overwhelming. In her stubbornness she kept on fighting Taugosz the Black Talon leader for his Full Plate even while she was getting hit again and again by arrows (including arrows of biting and cold arrows) that came flying in from all directions. She got Taugosz at near death status, but not before she was on the brink of dying herself. Eventually she had the presence of mind to run from her many attackers, to the relative safety of the FAI, where she will rest and replenish her stock of healing potions before tackling the Cloakwoods.
Grynne had the most difficulty with the thieves' missile attcks, so she killed Maneira and Telka first with her throwing axes. Lamalha and Zeela were easily dealt with once they had run out of spells. They too fell to Grynne's throwing axes.
She picked up what loot she thought would be valuable, and left the kobolds. On one of the fallen amazons she found a potion of magic blocking, which for many adventurers won't be anything special, but for Grynne it was a great prize. At Thalantyr's she got some loot identified and sold it. From the proceeds she bought lots of healing potions (up to 30) and elixers of health (15) from different vendors. At the Naskel Carnival she bought a potion of magic shielding, which would have her succesfully save against all spells cast at her during three turns.
Thus prepared for whatever was waiting for her she travelled to the Cloakwoods, in search of an Iron Throne Base. She had already unlocked the Cloakwood 3 area (on her expedition for the Spiders' Bane in Cloakwood 2), so that's where she went. She kept a low profile and spoke with no one but Laskal, a druid who gave her a potion of invulnerability (she had no use for) after she explained to him that she was a sworn enemy of the Iron Throne. Her strategy in Cloakwood 4 wasn't supposed to be any different: simply to rush through it without attracting any unwanted attention to herself. However she ran into a Hamadryad who immediately cast a Charm in Grynne's direction. Grynne didn't hesitate for one second and quaffed the potion of magic blocking before the spell would hit her. After it, slaying both the wicked Hamadryad and her aggressive animal companions was a piece of cake.
You really, really need mind protection, as from the Greenstone Amulet, if you're going up against clerics, if you want to be safe from needing to make saving throws. My own experience is that a successful Rigid Thinking from an enemy equals death, solo or not.
Clerics are very fond of casting Rigid Thinking in the vanilla game - it's probably worse in SCS.
My WS has no access to the Greenstone Amulet, only to items that protect against magic and magic damage: potions of magic blocking, magic shielding and magic protection and the green scrolls. These aren't very common items, so I'll have to pick my fights....
Upon arrival at the Iron Throne base, another mine just as in Nashkel, she dealt with a number of guards and then ran into two assassins, both of them warriors. One of them presented himself as Drasus, a name that didn't ring a bell to her. She retreated toward a narrow bridge she had crossed moments before, so that the two warriors would have difficulty engaging her at the same time. This turned out to be a flawed strategy as one of them was a melee fighter whereas the other attacked with throwing axes, a rare fighting style Grynne couldn't but appreciate of course. The warrior with the throwing axes, Genthore, was dealing somewhat serious damage when seemingly out of thin air two wizards appeared and came to the warriors' aid. She drank the potion of magic shielding she had bought at the Nashkel Carnival in order to succesfully save against all spells cast in her direction. This didn't help her against the wizards' Melf's Minute Meteors though, nor against Genthore's throwing axes. Besides, the mages had summoned various monsters that although not necessarily dangerous would limit her movement options. She fled back into the woods until she was sure she was by herself, and rested.
When she returned she was fortunate enough to encounter only the fighters; the mages were gone. She engaged the fighters in the area before the narrow bridge. She soon had the upper hand against Drasus and thought she wouldn't take long in taking the both of them down, but a Black Talon Elite with arrows of ice complicated things a bit. The damage he inflicted was so grave, that after slaying Drasus she decided to take the Black Talon down first. After that, Genthore did indeed not last long against Grynne.
As she continued her way toward the mine entrance she was confronted by the mages again, but this time rather than using a potion she used one of her two scrolls of protection from magic. She rushed past the wizards, and entered the mine. She didn't want to waste her precious scroll on the two despicable but inconsequential assassin mages. At the first level of the mine she got immediately attacked by various guards. Again, rather than taking them on she rushed on in search of the operation's leader. A slave told her this leader was to be found on the fourth level. He gave her directions and asked her to bring a key to unlock a giant mine plug with which the mine could be flooded. As Grynne said goodbye to the slave many of the guards had caught up with her, but she literally zigzagged her way through the mass and pushed on for the next level. There some fighting was inevitable, as a group of guards managed to surround her in one of the corridors, leaving her no escape route. This was more annoying than frightening to her. She had little to fear from the guards, but simply felt that fighting them was a waste of time.
Once she had taken them all down she bashed the lock of a prison where she found (and freed) Rill, another slave. He asked her for 100 gold so that he could bribe a few guards and thus ensure the slaves' safety once the mine was to be flooded. [There was no time to speak with Yeslick, as yet another group of guards came running toward the cells, but to Grynne Yeslick was simply one the slaves/prisoners that Rill was going to save.] She descended yet another level, and ran past a huge hole in the ground, toward the area exit. There were many Hobgoblins she hoped would follow her down the next and final level. [Hobgoblins were relatively weak and could actually get in the way of the more resilient human guards that would no doubt come for her below.]
On the fourth level she rushed toward the leader, Davaeorn, triggering various traps that wouldn't affect her (protected as she was against magic) but only her pursuers. She found him with two Battle Horrors by his side, but before she could attack he dimension doored to the second chamber on the right (seen from the entrance to the area). Grynne followed and wanted to slay the mage as quickly as possible, while her pursuers would be stuck in the Stinking Cloud/Web mess the triggered traps had caused. But Davaeron had various protections on, including a Mirror Image, a Minor Globe of Invulnerability and Stoneskin, and he also used Contingencies and Spell Triggers to renew any expired protections.All in all she had difficulty hitting him. Her foe did her a favour by casting Sunfire, which severly injured the Batlle Horrors and killed one or two guards. Grynne then killed the Battle Horrors but much to her displeasure, a horde of guards then came to Davaeorn's aid.
Some of the guards followed her. They found their deaths when they fought her.
Most guards however stayed right by Davaeorn's side, effectively forming a human wall around him. She tried to lure some of the guards toward her, but with every approach she was first greeted with with a rain of arrows (that dealt some various damage). Then some would come up to her to fight her in melee, but as soon as she retreated further to prevent the archers from hitting her, the meleers would return to Davaeorn. The advantage of this was that she could restore her health without anyone bothering her. The drawback was that it was impossible to reach Davaeorn without taking on the minions first.
I think that the guards who did follow Grynne had been following her before, on the third level. The guards that remained by Davaeorn's side seem to have been triggered by the game after I killed the Battle Horrors. This was new to me, on my first SCS v28 playthrough.
Unable to lure the guards (or at least some of them) toward her, she decided to try and take on Davaeorn from a distance. For that purpose she activated her Shatter Magic ability (which has the Wizard Slayer remove one combat protection and one specific protection from the targeted mage with each successful hit). She thus managed to strip the cowardly wizard of his protections and kill him in a few hits with her throwing axes.
The guards were apparently very upset by this turn of events. They all fled the scene, allowing Grynne to loot Davaeorn's body, slay Stephane, and take some more loot from Davaeorn's chests. A suit of of what turned out to be full plate mail +1 was her biggest reward. [Thank you Item Randomiser!]
Grynne returned to the first level with Davaeorn's key, flooded the mine and left together with the slaves to the surface. When she wanted to leave the area she ran into the two mages again, Kysus and Rezdan. Unwilling to take any risks with the miscreants, she quaffed a potion of magic blocking to see how they'd fare against her without their tricks (her green scroll-based protection from magic had expired). She took on Rezdan first. He was stoneskinned which prevented her from injuring him. However her 'hits' did inflict the cumulative spellcasting penalty, so that he wouldn't cast any more spells before Grynne would inevitably slay him.
Kyus managed to create a teleport field, which complicated a melee fight, but Grynne finished him off with her throwing axes.
After this successful operation Grynne moved to Baldur's Gate where she's currently hunting evil wizards, with relative success. For a priest she met at the Sorcerous Sundries, Ordulinian, she slew two feuding mages: Arkion and Nemphre. (Strictly speaking, Ordulinian asked Grynne not to kill them but to retrieve two items from the wizards, a ring and a necklace they had stolen from eachother. However both were less than cooperative, and Grynne needed little excuse to fell the perfidious humans.) In the Low Lantern she took on Desreta (a Fighter/Thief and Vay-Ya (a FIghter/Mage), but the latter succesfully eluded Grynne with a Shadow Door. She fared better against Yago, also in the Low Lantern, whom she slew with a critical hit for a woman named Brielbara.
When she heard rumours of a nobleman who collected eerily realistic looking statues, she decided to go over and take a look at this nobleman's manor. What she found weren't statues but petrified people. From her last gold she bough scrolls of Stone to Flesh at the Lady's Temple, and used them on the "statues". One the people mentioned two wizards who might have been responsible for his plight. Grynne will have to seek out these sorcerers. When she turned the last statue to flesh she asked the man in question whether he had any payment for her. After all she had just saved their lives and it had cost her hundreds of gold in scrolls. [Grynne was very low on gold this run, I think because she's done everything solo and has skipped many encounters. Besides sometimes she would "burn" rather than sell particularly dangerous items usable by mages. And shes spent a lot of gold on potions.] The man put up a fight but was no match for Grynne. On his remains she found a cryptical letter mentioning a helm and a cloak, and a woman named Quenash. Her next plan is to seek out Degrodel and Ramazith and check if they're indeed the treacherous sorcerers the man she saved seemed to suggest they are, and to find this Quenash for more information. The letter speaks of a fallen angel, whatever that might mean.
So only potions of Magic Shielding/Blocking/Protection, healing potions and antidotes. She can use the Cloak of Balduran though, as well as (BG") amulets of magic resistance. Not sure if there are any rings she might use.
Not sure if "rebalanced" is the right word for your mod... lol. How about "Equally-gimped-but-in-a-different-way" mod as a better title.
Rebalanced Wizard Slayer:
Advantages:
- Starts with 10% base magic resistance (Vanilla doesn't)
- Gains an additional +2% bonus to magic resistance for every level of experience (vanilla WS only 1%)
- Gains the Disrupt Magic passive ability at first level: Whenever a Wizard Slayer lands a successful hit on an arcane spellcaster the target is afflicted with a cumulative spell failure penalty. During the next 3 rounds, the victim has a 10% base chance to miscast any arcane spell plus 1% for every experience level the Wizard Slayer attains. (Vanilla WS gets a fixed 10% chance with no increase at levelling up)
- Gains the Shatter Magic ability at first level and every 8 levels thereafter: During the round when this ability is activated, each successful hit removes one combat and one specific protection from his target. However, this temporarily nullifies the Wizard Slayer's innate magic resistance making him vulnerable to magic during the next 2 rounds. Until his magic resistance recovers, the Wizard Slayer cannot use any special abilities that rely on it. (It doesn't breach PfMW or Mantle though, but Vanilla WS doesn't have this or anything like it.)
Disadvantages:
- Cannot use any magic items except for weapons, armor and healing potions, and (unlike vanilla WS): items which provide protection from magic in some form, such as the Amulet of 5% Magic Resistance, Kaligun's Amulet of Magic Resistance, the Cloak of Balduran, Potion of Magic Protection, Cloak of Mirroring, Belt of Inertial Barrier, Amulet of Spell Warding, Ring of Spell Turning, Potion of Magic Shielding and Potion of Magic Blocking.
- Cannot dual-class (Vanilla can actually dual)
Special HLAs:
Reflect Magic (replaces Resist Magic)
An experienced Wizard Slayer eventually learns to channel his innate magic resistance in a manner which allows him to reflect magic back to its source. For 3 rounds after this ability is activated, all spells targeted directly against the Wizard Slayer are redirected back to the original caster. However, this temporarily nullifies the Wizard Slayer's innate magic resistance making him vulnerable to any spells that are not directly targeted at him. This vulnerability takes effect when the ability is activated and persists for 3 rounds after it expires. Until his magic resistance recovers, the Wizard Slayer cannot use any special abilities that rely on it.
Arcane Bane (replaces War Cry)
An experienced Wizard Slayer can apply a special technique to his attacks making them extremely effective against wielders of arcane magic. For 2 rounds after this ability is activated he gains a +5 bonus to damage against all arcane spellcasters. Furthermore, the Wizard Slayer's attacks become so forceful that his opponents must save vs. death with a -4 penalty or lose one of their memorized spells on each hit.
Gratz on beating SCS Daveaorn! That was a very exciting read. It looks like all those extra guards might be a (new?) part of the "better calls for help" component of SCS.
I've documented runs with screenshots and partially in-character journal entries before, and I know how much work that is, so good job!
If I'm not mistaken, a vanilla WS wouldn't have been able to beat Daveaorn the way you did, because of not having spell failure ability on ranged weapons (like your throwing axes), and not having the special protection stripping ability.
There was a thing that came up in some of the WS discussion threads about whether spell failure penalty would proc through a hit on a Stoneskin, and you just proved that it does with the mod. Do you know if it also procs through Stoneskin hits in the vanilla version? That makes a big difference in how effective the class can be.
(Some people in the threads were very confident that spell failure doesn't proc until all Stoneskins are removed, and some other people would insist that it does, but nobody ever seemed to want to take the time to test it.)