Solo no-reload pitfalls

bbear

I'm sure many people have tackled this challenge before. I have made many attempts and still have yet to succeed. What are so fatal encounters you have experienced in a solo no-reload game? What are the times when you get lucky and miss near-deaths?

In the current game, I always try to play it "safe". My solo FMT always equip the Shield of Harmony (protect against Charm, Hold, Confusion) and occasionally Arbane+2 Shortsword (provides Free Action minus Slow in vanilla BG2) and Dragonslayer (protect against Fear).

My PC just returned from Underdark and there a few many near-death cases. In the encounter with the human party while my PC was a drow, he got blinded by the Imp. The mage then sneaked up toward my PC and cast Maze! Luckily, his 15% MR activated and save his butt! When my PC returned to Athakla, one of the Githyankis from the ambush cast Maze on my PC! Grasp! Unpause and my PC has saved against the spell. I was surprised that the Githyanki Maze allowed a saving throw.

Blackraven

In BG and early BG2 mind affecting and movement hampering spells are pitfalls for me. The Greenstone amulet takes some time to activate, so has to used preventively, and its effect doesn't last very long so that sometimes you need another charge. An occasional save vs spell/death/breath/etc is what I consider being lucky (I try never to even have to save, but haven't yet reached perfection).
Another pitfall in my case: overconfidence, both when faced with 'lesser foes' I don't want to waste potions/charges/etc on, and when deciding to take on strong foes that have gear I'm interested in. In SoA unnecessarily taking on a dragon for its loot is something I'd consider reckless, at least until you're very experienced.
Lack of metagame knowledge knowledge is likely to be fatal as well. I haven't gone through SCS SoA/ToB enough to anticipate what lies ahead all the time. My most succesful no-reload run, with a multiclassed Swashmage ended against Irenicus in the final phase in hell where Irenicus with his Balors and Glabrezus and Cambions and what not SHREDDED my party and finally my charname.

MacHurto

Tbh, in a solo no reload game, I would allow reloads if I am mazed. It is not a permanent status after all

mumumomo

The most dangerous foe is yourself : don't get overconfident or you will be killed, often by lesser foes on which you will fail a saving throw.
Actually, you will almost never die on a major foe because you will know it in advance and will be prepared for it.

I find that the safest way to play is to use summons : they will shield you from spells and will be able to kill the foes in case you get stunned/paralyzed...
A planetar will slaughter anything with ease in SOA but will require some help in TOB. However, to do that you need to be able to cast level 9 spells. If you cannot summon the planetar (like for a FMT), other summons can do the job (skellies, mordy swords).

Regarding maze, the best protection against it is the staff of the magi. It's why i always get it before the end of chapter 2 (i also find it silly that it ends the run but heh, it's the rules,...)

With a FMT, another way is to abuse carsomyr MR and equipment order to reach 100% MR but that is both cheesy and painful (having to reequip all the time)

Finally, in vanilla, metagame knowledge is mandatory for the beginning of the game, while your character is not a god walking on earth.
Once you reach HLA levels however, it is not really required since you will slaughter everything with ease : I completed easily a TOB no reload run with a solo sorc and i had not played TOB for 10 years or so.

If you use less powerful classes (like anything with no arcane casting), more metagaming knowledge maybe required.