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SoA vanilla no-reload with Fighter/illusionist. Need advice

MacHurtoMacHurto Member Posts: 731
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
Hello BG gurus,

I jst recently finished a no reload run of BG1 and David the gnome will be starting his SoA no reload run soon.

BG was quite easy with web spamming and ring of free action (which I am not sure where to get in SoA). What advice in thing to do, things to avoid, tricky fights, quest order you guys have for a SoA no reload run? I plan doing the aerie romance (have never done it after all these years) and take Jan Jansen for stealing/spike trapping in ToB if I reach that far.

Are 3 characters too many people to level up quickly? Is it gonna take me ages to reach 6M PX for level 9 spells?

Comments

  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    3 multiclass characters would level up at the same rate as 6 single class characters. So I'd expect you'd get to level 9 spells (6 million xp) by late SoA.
  • MacHurtoMacHurto Member Posts: 731
    edited March 2014
    @elminster‌ so quest reward/character is not a big factor? Good to know :-)
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    Yea there are a number of quests that give you rewards for each party member but I don't think there are that many of them. At not when considered against the number of quests that just give a flat amount of XP.

    So I suppose there would be a slight difference but nothing that would be really noticeable. Three characters comes with the benefit of less characters to equip, meaning you can sell more and buy better items quicker. With various potion and scroll cases you can mimimize the impact of having less inventory space. There are tradeoffs either way.
  • mumumomomumumomo Member Posts: 635
    BEWARE : HEAVY SPOILERS


    quest order is the most important thing. Start with :
    - circus (beware of the werewolf bug)
    - copper coronet
    - slaver compound (beware of one trap in the sewers)
    - bridge district skinner (skip the basement fight)
    - harpers quest
    - trademeet quest
    - Umar village quests
    - thieves guild quest (beware of the mage)
    - the lich run (using 1 scroll of prot from undead you can kill without danger the 3 liches and kangaxx. It's cheesy though)
    - first parts of the main quest (stop at the killing bohdi point)

    Doing that + a few minor fights should give you roughly 1.5mxp with little to no difficulty.

    Then you can tackle the harder quests :
    - darnise. Not very hard. Torgal can hit hard, don't be overconfident
    - umar dungeon (don't remember the name). Easy as well
    - Fierkgraag : harder. Some fights are better avoided.
    - astral prison : the hardest of all. Not that hard if you are well prepared but 2 monsters can be extremely dangerous

    Congratulations you have now 3mxp and the game is officially over. Go grab the staff of the magi from twisted rune and have its spelltrap on all the time to be protected against a maze traps.
    Note : twisted rune can be done much earlier but that would require lots of pre trapping with skull trap (cheese)

  • mumumomomumumomo Member Posts: 635
    A small note :
    In the easy quests you will find only 1 high level mage (the one of the thief guild). All the others are unable to cast true sight. Therefore using improved invisibility will make you immune to them.
  • WolkWolk Member Posts: 279
    If you are afraid of true sight, just use spell immunity divination. Problem solved.
  • mumumomomumumomo Member Posts: 635
    SI divination works indeed wonderfully. I was just highlighting the fact that its not even needed for all the easy quests.

    Actually you will find that the only remotely hard fights are against monsters which can see through invisbility (which is why the astral prison is harder than most)

    Another important point: NEVER underestimate monsters!
    A lucky kobold shaman can kill you with a single cast of hold person (happened to me once with a level 15+ sorceror... ).
    The good thing as a FM is that you can use plenty of protective items (the best of them being the shield of harmony from trademeet)

    A few tactics for the early game :
    - use wraithform if you grabbed it from BG1. It makes you immune to nearly all early-game ennemies
    - improved invisibility (+SI if needed) takes care of mages
    - Use belm + shield of harmony. It's much safer than dual wielding and is extremely easy to get.

    Once you get at HLA levels, SOA will be extremely easy (it is not designed for HLA level characters).
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    @mumumomo, that list makes a lot of sense. You didn't mention the Planar Sphere and the Unseeing Eye quests. @MacHurto: I would categorize those two with the harder quests, somewhere between Umar Ruins and Firkraag.
  • mumumomomumumomo Member Posts: 635
    Umar ruins are actually quite easy (especially if you use a prot from undead scroll). But since i have less knowledge of that quest and prefer to avoid the prot from undead scrolls, i tend to keep it for the end.

    I did not list the planar sphere and the unseeing eye because i did not do them recently and i am unsure of their risk level.
    However, unseeing pretty much requires using the shield of balduran.
    And the planar sphere is clearly a difficult quest with 3 major mage battle :
    - the halfling mage (he's casting maze (= instant death) if i recall correctly)
    - tolgerias
    - Lavok

    Also, these 2 quests do not provide any major items and are not needed to reach 3mxp.
  • mumumomomumumomo Member Posts: 635
    To complete the list, here is the main items you should get :

    - circus -> ring of CHA
    - slaver compound (beware of one trap in the sewers) -> lilarcor
    - trademeet quest -> shield of harmony, belm, djinn bottle. with the reward money buy the belt of inertial barrier and the robe of vecna (assuming you have 19 str from the tome in BG1. Otherwise, buy the STR belt)
    - the lich run -> ring of gaxx (using the prot from undead scrol this can be done immediately after leaving chateau irenicus)
    - visit the sewers -> cloak of sewers
    - first parts of the main quest (stop at the killing bohdi point) -> amulet of power, ring +2
    - darnise -> Flail of the ages
    - fierkraag ruins -> dragon sword (whatever the name) which gives immunity to fear.
    - astral prison : boots of speed, staff of the air
    - twisted rune -> staff of the magi

    This shows that the early game can actually be made very easy :
    Before starting the harder quests you should have a level 12/12 F/M with
    Belm / shield of harmony, robe of vecna, amulet of power, ring +2, ring of gaax, belt of inertial barrier, cloak of sewers, helm of balduran.

    Finally, i cannot emphasize too much : death often comes from weak monsters, because of overconfidence :
    Don't take any chances !
  • MacHurtoMacHurto Member Posts: 731
    You guys are great!
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