Solo Sorc Help, Insane SCS

Greenman019

Hi,
Played and completed BG1 & 2 lots of times, once with EE. Played Conjurer in most (Magic is just too fun) and always on Core rules.
Anyways, first game as Sorcerer, on Insane with SCS mod, I assume it's doable?
Just need some tips really, at Nashkel carnival right now, kinda struggling.
3 spells so far, Orb, M Missile and Shield. I'm trying to avoid spells that'll become useless later on (Sleep, Armour, but really needed shield)

Thanks

meagloth

If you look around, we have a lot of sorcerer spell pick threads:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/30971/sorcerer-spell-picks-again-no-reload-scs

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/22516/sorcerer-spells-what-to-pick

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/4735/sorcerer-spell-repertoire

And more if you search. I don't know anything about scs, but if you can make it without sleep, kudos to you, but I think it's worth the slot.

Blackraven

Have you played SCS before? If not, I woud recommend you to simply play SCS on core rules first, you can always change the difficulty setting to insane.

Between SCS and Insane, I'd say SCS is the more interesting challenge. I don't think Insane diificulty is that interesting, the only thing it does is make enemies do more damage, they don't act more intelligently.

Your first level spell picks are fine. You might want Protection from Evil, and perhaps Spook as well. Blindness is useful throughout entire BG1 and part of BG2, so you consider that one too.

What kind of advice are you interested in?
- Spell picks? Have a look here to get some inspiration if you wish:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/30971/sorcerer-spell-picks-again-no-reload-scs#latest
- If you're wondering about the order of doing things, there are certain quests as you probably know as a seasoned player, that give lots of XP without requiring a great effort. The Basilisk area, east of the Temple of Lathander is very easy if you protect yourself against petrification (you needn't pick the spell, you can use scrolls and potions just as well. One of the merchants at the Carnival where you are right now actually sells a green scroll of Prot. from Petr. There are other rewarding quests (Commander Brage, Sirines in the Lighthouse Area if you can protect yourself against their charms etc.)

Hope this helps a bit.

EDIT: @meagloth, you beat me

the_spyder

There does seem to be a preponderance of 'Armor' scrolls lying around. And there are several Sleep wands for the asking. You may not want them as 'spells' to cast, but I'd imagine that having them castable items would be of significant benefit.

it might also behoove you to find/buy a pro-from-pet scroll or two and go find out what is causing Branwen to just stand around gathering moss. That is the usual way to boost your level and 'Almost' is justifiable based on where you are. If you don't have more spells after that, I'm at a loss.

Greenman019

Ye, checked other threads on spell picks (you crop up a lot, Maegloth)
General help really, and is sleep worth it? Hoping to find more scrolls (Used both from high hedge)

Will drop difficulty if I really fail, or maybe cheat swap-in sleep to my spell book.

Thanks for those tips raven, I plan on doing some of those before main Quest line.

Blackraven

Sleep is great @Greenman019, for about 1/2 or even 2/3 of BG1, but as @the_spyder rightly pointed out, you could use wands for that. As a sorcerer you'd do well to pcik your spells real carefully and (as you seem to be doing) look ahead as well.

Greenman019

Ah yes, wands. Almost forgot.

Seems like its Basilisk time in the meantime.

Is SCS still a good challenge on Core rules by the way?

Keep the tips coming please

mumumomo

Avoiding spells that become useless is a mistake IMO since you will end up anyway using mostly high level spells. (i mean, once you can cast timestop, who cares of you can cast melf acid arrow)

Also, spell picks at level 1 are anyway very poor. Therefore i would take sleep. That being said it is unnecessary, especially if you start with the basilisks or use the wand of sleep.

Last, don't really use the picks from http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/30971/sorcerer-spell-picks-again-no-reload-scs#latest.
The OP in the thread had some pretty stiff limitations and deliberately avoided some of the strongest spells in the game (animate dead, project image) Furthermore he was not playing solo.

Blackraven

IMO SCS on core rules is a good challenge, especially if you've never played it before. The mod developers put a great effort in making enemies (especially spellcasters) smarter.

Greenman019

http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/ds_skane/BG2_Webpages/SSSL/Main_Page.html

Using that one as a rough guide, more geared towards BG2.
Agree about selection, limited. I know it won't matter too much in BG2, but I'd like to create the best Sorcerer possible with my first insane SCS solo run. Need every advantage.

Raven, will keep that in mind.

Blackraven

That's a good list. Now all you need to do is plan the order in which you pick your spells.

meagloth

Greenman019 said:

Ye, checked other threads on spell picks (you crop up a lot, Maegloth)

Oh, look who think he can spell my name in the actual quena? Well, guess what punk, I spelled it that way...uhh... ON PURPOSE! Yeah, that's what I did... intentional.....
:P

My name is a quena (high elvish, Tolkien) word that I made up that means rose/thorn tree (the word for pointy, and flower/tree, as in lothlorien) for a bg playthrough, but I put it down wrong. The word for pointy is maeg, but I misread or somthing and made it meag. But now I've got a buttload of bhaalspawn and a few internet profiles called meagloth, so it's hear to stay.

MacHurto

@meagloth‌
Isn't the language called Quenya?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenya

Maegloth in any case would be in Sindarin :-)

http://www.rialian.com/quenya-english.htm

Back home, so lets see if I have time to continue David's adventures!

Pibaro

A simple tip.
Invisibility!!!! Spell or potion or wathever you choose, but you'll definitely need a lot of invisibility!!!!

With a sorcerer core rules or insane it's not very different.
You simply must not be damaged.

Use protection spell.

Level up quickly. Encounters like basilisks or Ankheg are your friend. They are easier then any ambush if you are prepared.
Ankhegs are very easy if you use shield and sleep.
Basilisks are easy with protection from petrification (but with SCS they are tough anyway, so be very careful)
Once you cleared that two areas, you'll be of the right level to survive the whole game.

But be very careful, with SCS there're no easy fights if you aren't well prepared.

CrevsDaak

@meagloth plus, it means sharp(meag = sharp) flower (loth = flower) in Sindarin, which translates as Maikalotë (Maika = sharp, lotë = flower) to Quenya.

Greenman019

meagloth said:

Greenman019 said:

Ye, checked other threads on spell picks (you crop up a lot, Maegloth)

Oh, look who think he can spell my name in the actual quena? Well, guess what punk, I spelled it that way...uhh... ON PURPOSE! Yeah, that's what I did... intentional.....
:P

My name is a quena (high elvish, Tolkien) word that I made up that means rose/thorn tree (the word for pointy, and flower/tree, as in lothlorien) for a bg playthrough, but I put it down wrong. The word for pointy is maeg, but I misread or somthing and made it meag. But now I've got a buttload of bhaalspawn and a few internet profiles called meagloth, so it's hear to stay.

Was on my phone, didn't quite see it was meag instead of maeg. ^^

Grabbed a few invis scrolls already, very useful.

One last question, when should I use Chromatic orb and when should I use magic missiles? I must confess I've never paid attention to the former in previous playthroughs.

Blackraven

@Greenman019, I would see both spells as damage dealing spells. It's true that Chromatic Orbs can also have a nice secondary effect depending on your levels, but you can't rely on that due to the huge +6 save v spell bonus your enemies get. If you want to debilitate your opponents, I would use specific spells for that, rather than placing your bets on Chromatic Orb.
So as a sorcerer I would first use up all my Magic Missiles, which are normally more damaging, and then if you still need to do damage start casting Chromatic Orbs.

Note that from level 10 onward the Chomatic Orb deals acid damage, making this a useful spell for the purpose of troll killing.

Greenman019

Can't I only cast orb or missile as they are level 1 spells?
As in I can't use up missiles then go into orbs.

Blackraven

Sorry, you're right of course. (I'm used to playing mages rather than sorcerers.)
My advice would be to just focus on Magic Missile for damage dealing purposes, except when you need to kill off trolls or enemy spellcasters that use Shield (which not only offers an AC boost at lower levels, but also grants immunity to Magic Missiles). You might even pass up on Chromatic Orb, and pick Shield yourself if you consider Chromatic Orb's usefulness too situational.

Greenman019

Already got shield. First Mage encounter at FAI was amusing ;D

Anyways, just cleared Nashkel mines. Had all the kobolds chase me, nuked them with wand of fire (can't remember where I got it, glad I did), lack AoE atm.

Had done Basilisks beforehand. Great boost.

Blackraven

Good job!

meagloth

@CrevsDaak‌ @MacHurto‌ yes, you are correct. I misspelled quenya and once again misread the Silmarilion. It says the word, the it says the definition, but the it say quenya after, and if you don't keep reading, than it looks like the word is quenya, when if fact the following word is quenya.
In quenya my name is maikalótë which is cool to. Well, despite feeling pretty dumb, (don't worry, not that dumb, I can make all of you go away with a button, bless the internet) I'm glad I have that cleared up.

@Greenman019‌, good job!
Did you clear out the amazons after you get out? They have some nasty tricks but with the scroll of web from the chest and just a tiny little bit of metagaming the are defeatable.

Greenman019

Not yet, got sidetracked by Captain Brage and Silke (Can finally deal with her)
How do you suggest dealing with traps by the way? Thinking of skipping Durlag's all together.

CrevsDaak

Greenman019 said:

Not yet, got sidetracked by Captain Brage and Silke (Can finally deal with her)
How do you suggest dealing with traps by the way? Thinking of skipping Durlag's all together.

Minor Globe of Invunerability might not work for some, the Scroll of Protection from Magic is good, but very expensive. If not, use elemental immunities like resistances over 100.
Edit: you can get one from a dwarf/gnome in the Glibberings Wilderness area (at the very south), he'll initiate dialog and offer the scroll, accept it and identify it before using it, I'm not very sure.

the_spyder

Not 100% sure if this will work, but I've seen people post that they use summonables (not familiars) on traps. So long as they aren't persistent, that could be one way. Another idea is, depending on alignment, doesn't one of the familiars have a chance to remove traps?

And although it isn't strictly by the rules of 'Solo', could you 'hire' on some help just for that quest?

Greenman019

Both good ideas. Hired help nice plan to fall back on.

Anyways, level 5 and I'm at Tazoks tent. So bad at this, no good AoE to burst them down in time. Need more XP methinks.

the_spyder

Web is your friend. AOE enemy suppression. And if you can summon spiders to go with that, all the better.

Also as a side note. there's a trap in Spellhold that, when triggered by a summonable, WILL kill the summoner. I'm not sure why they do this and i'm pretty sure it is only in that one location, but just watch out. You can get around the trap though.

CrevsDaak

the_spyder said:

Also as a side note. there's a trap in Spellhold that, when triggered by a summonable, WILL kill the summoner. I'm not sure why they do this and i'm pretty sure it is only in that one location, but just watch out. You can get around the trap though.

You SHOULD get around, there is no single way to disable it nor to survive it.

the_spyder

Heh, what I meant was that you don't have to go that way. At least I don't think so. Isn't it just an elbow corridor that comes out somewhere else? or am I miss-remembering?

In any event, any no-reloads that attempt to use a summonable in that situation will end rather poorly in my estimation.

mumumomo

Greenman, for AEO use the wand of fire. The one in the ankheg nest has 12 charges which is plenty

lunar

mumumomo said:

Greenman, for AEO use the wand of fire. The one in the ankheg nest has 12 charges which is plenty

Not to forget you can sell it and buy it back with fully charged. (or have a bard or thief npc on master thieving potions steal it, if it won't stray from the spirit of the solo challenge too much)