@bengoshi, that's an interesting point you make, about using all weaponry that could be useful without worrying too much about proficiencies. I have two pips in Darts, Hammers, and Axes. Maybe I'll pick up the Dagger of Venom. I can also see myself not going for grandmastery in any weapon or at least not any time soon, and rather spread proficiencies around a bit, in spite of the APR benefits of grandmastery.
BTW Your focus on your Totemic Druid is admirable and inspiring. I will need it for my Wizard Slayer.
*** Meanwhile a brief update on Hardeth's progress. I finished yesterday's installment by stating that Hardeth was likely to explore the Southern regions and the Coastal Regions a bit more, and that's exactly what she did. South of the Nashkel Mines she gratefully accepted a green scroll of Protection from Magic from Hafiz. She did some sightseeing (and some butchering) in the Cloudpeaks areas: Sendai and her lackeys, Albert & Rufie, Dryad of the Cloudpeaks. Vax and Zal were shunned because she feared that one of them worked with Darts of Stunning, just like her. Bringing Pixie the Cat to its owner wasn't rewarded with items or XP, due to Hardeth's low CHA. She was however compensated for her good deeds; twice she ran into a Winter Wolf inbetween areas. Another interarea confrontation gave her a good scare. A pre-buffed Ogre Mage who cast a Charm Person on her before she could leave the area. Thankfully the hardy Dwarf saved vs spell.
Nevertheless this was a moment where there was nothing she could have done. It shows how vulnerable the Wizard Slayer really is, and it makes me shiver at the thought of guiding her through the Cloakwood without haste, inivisibility or free action at her disposal.
In the Gnoll Stronghold area Half-Ogres were slain and the Tome of Leadership was secured (not that it makes any difference, 6 or 7 CHA), on the South Coast Hardeth helped Charleston Nib, and in the Lighthouse Area she killed a variety of Worgs which allowed her to reach level 7, i.e. 2 APR with her trusty Ashideena, and 4 APR with her darts.
The time had arrived to investigate the Nashkel Mines, obviously the easiest of the plot quests that were waiting for her, but still one that could easily end her run... On the first two levels, she had little difficulty dealing with small groups of Kobolds without incurring any serious injuries. She makes sure to travel with an ample supply of potions, so that even if she had been hurt by the critters, she would have been able to heal herself with no problem.
On the third level she proceeded carefully over the bridge, making sure she would never be overcome by the Kobolds, and on the path that led to the final level she did the same, pulling the Kobolds toward her in small groups. SCS' better calls for help made the Kobold Chieftain and the Shaman come after her anyway. She had already slain most Kobolds (including the Chieftain after stunning him first with a dart), when the Shaman cast Horror on her. As with the Ogre Mage, she saved vs spell. (A failed save wouldn't have been as grave here because Horror doesn't end the game, because Hardeth has lots of HP, and because there weren't many enemies left.)
After having cleared the surroundings, Hardeth entered Mulahey's lair. She was immediately attacked by about six Kobolds, but Mulahey himself didn't show up yet. The Kobolds fell soon enough, and Hardeth undertook a first attempt at stunning the Half-Orc. Unfortunately she failed, so she decided to rush past Kobolds and Skeletons that had appeared out of nowhere to aid the priest, leaving the lair before she would fell victim to a Hold Person. When she peeked inside again, she saw the summons opposite her, attacking with ranged weapons. She didn't dare rush the Kobolds and Skeletons, fearing that that would certainly be noticed by Mulahey. Instead she took the critters down with her mundane darts (a bit tedious with the Skellies with their high piercing resistance).
When the coast was clear, she attacked Mulahey a second time. This time with success. Her dart stunned him, after which he was easily dealt with in melee.
Content with her accomplishment, she traveled to Nashkel where she was thanked by Berrun Ghastkill and where she sold some loot at the local store. An assassin that was waiting for her in fornt of the Inn was carefully avoided for the time being (even though she really wants his boots in order to be more difficult to hit at the bandit camp). At Feldepost's Inn in Beregost she made Tranzig waste some of his spells as she descended and ascended the stairs before killing him off (after Tarnesh only her second mage, not counting Mutamin who had been held first by Korax).
Hardeth still has two green scrolls of Protection from Magic (and will probably buy more scrolls, such as PfPoison, PfLightning, to deal with spiders, lighting traps etc). She could use one on Nimbul, though ideally the Assassin is dealt with help of the Amnish soldiers. There's also the CON tome in the treasure cave, for which the Sirines have to be dealt with, but I'm hesitant to use a PfMagic scroll on a not plot-relevant mission. Maybe I should use on in the Bandit Tent, just in case I fail to deal with Venkt fast enough, and save the other for the Cloakwood Mines. Anyhow, food for thought. I might have Hardeth farm some more XP in the meantime to get her (closer) to level 8 if only for the extra HP and the Thac0 bonus. WIth no Girdle of Piercing and possibly no Boots of Avoidance, the Bandit Tent could mean trouble.
Hardeth has made some decent progress, so I'm giving you another update.
Having decided that she wasn't prepared to forgo the Boots of Avoidance, Hardeth returned to Nashkel to confront Nimbul who was still loitering in front of the inn. She waited till the Amnish Guards had arrived and then approached the assassin. Her strategy was to try to stun her opponent with her darts, and to use the 'door trick' (entering and leaving a place, in this case the store, to escape a spell from connecting). This didn't work out. First of all, she failed to stun her foe, and secondly, the door trick didn't work on Nimbul. When she entered the Nashkel store, the assassin followed her inside. He started casting Confusion there and somehow finished casting outside, when Hardeth had fled there. Luckily (and imo deservedly) she saved vs. spell. This is something to remember though: do not rely on the door trick in SCS BGEE.
He then hurt her with a Magic Missile, but soon she had hit him enough with her darts and hammer to penalize his spellcasting. The two engaged in melee combat, and it quickly turned out that Hardeth, aided by the Amnsih soldiers, was the stronger fighter. When he fled from her in fear, she finished him off with a dart.
As it would be rather tedious to farm almost 50k XP to make it to level 8 before taking on the bandits, Hardeth traveled straight to the Wood of Sharp Teeth. She cleared the Larswood of its bandit presence, but she left the feuding Druids alone. She was waylaid by Molkar & Co but managed to leave the area just in time before Drakar's Hold Person could reach her. In the Peldvale area she killed a few more bandits and then infiltrated the bandit organization via Raiken. At the Bandit camp Hardeth avoided a fight with Tazok, filled her coffers, and cast Protection from Electricity on herself (a green scroll she had picked up at Thalantyr's). Then she entered Tazok's tent. Her first target was Venkt. She attacked him with Darts of Wounding, of which she had only five, rather than with her many Darts of Stunning. The reason for this is that DoW require a save vs death and DoS a save vs. spell to prevent the wounding/stunning effect, and Mages' saves vs death aren't as good as their saves vs spell. Of her three darts at least one inflicted poison, and two or three must have hit the Mage, for he failed to cast another spell and resorted to attacking Hardeth with Darts. She finished him off with her Hammer, just to be sure he wouldn't trick her later.
Her next step was to speak with Ender Sai, making him leave, and quickly put on her Boots of Grounding. She had the bandits come close to her and then, 100% electricity resistant, she opened Tazok's chest. The lightning bolt trap (severely) injured a number of the bandits, making the remainder of the fight relatively easy after she put on her Boots of Avoidance again. Britik the Gnoll was the most dangerous of her foes, not very tough but hard-hitting, so he was her first victim. The others fell soon after.
She fully healed herself with potions, and then left the tent. Taugosz Khosann wasn't happy to see her, nor was the rest of the camp. She landed a couple of hits on the Black Talon leader, but soon noticed herself overwhelmed by the bandits.
She ran off toward the northwest corner of the map, allowing herself a quick escape if necessary, and managed to seduce Taugosz into a continuation of their duel there. (Most of the other bandits were archers until their ammo ran out, so they didn't walk in her way initially.) A tiring battle and various potions of extra healing later, Taugosz lie dead upon the ground. Hardeth swiftly looted his corpse and left for the FAI.
She's now tentatively exploring the Cloakwood, clad in Taugosz' full plate mail and well-equipped for a Wizard Slayer, with a nice stock of antidotes and healing potions (though only one potion of extra healing remains, two scrolls of Protection from Magic and one of Protection from Poison. The Ankheg armor and some miscellaneous loot from the Bandit Camp she sold at the FAI.
Here are her character record and inventory screen:
Surviving the Cloakwood with its SCS improved spiders is a terribly challenging mission. The most important decision for Hardeth to make is whether or not to go after the Spiders' Bane. Its Free Action effect could be a live saver in ambushes, but obtaining it is likely to be very difficult.
In the Cloakwood 1 area there was little for Hardeth to fear. In the conflict between Aldeth and Seniyad, she took the easy way out, and sided sided with the Druids. She also slew ten Tasloi for the Cloak of Non-Detection. Both the Cloak and Aldeth's Bastard Sword are safely stored away in a chest in Unshey's house in Beregost, along with various other valuables, should she decide to pick up any companions at some point.
As she entered the much feared second Cloakwood area, she was immediately attacked by two Phase Spiders; this is expected SCS behavior, and Hardeth was well-prepared for them. Nevertheless the monsters distracted her from casting Protection from Poison on herself. Thus, when she triggered her first trap just west of Tiber, and got held in it, two Huge Spiders inflicted some poison damage, though nothing serious.
Once she saved she left the trap and slew the Huge Spiders. She then cast Prot. from Poison on herself and continued toward the second and final trap she would have to set off in order to reach the spiders' den and in order to leave the area. It's the trap southwest of the den. Along the way she ran into a single Giant Spider that strangely spat its web in the wrong direction, nowhere near Hardeth. And after she triggered the second trap (and saved against its effects), another Giant Spider appeared, moments after Hardeth had killed off a Phase Spider, and again it failed to properly direct its webspit.
I just checked but I did install the Improved Spiders component. Is the above common behavior in SCS v28? In SCS v21 (which I’m more used to) they’re always much more effective.
So it was that Hardeth could enter the den carefree, and lure the many spiders outside (preventing Centeol from hurting her with her Wand of Frost), and take them on one by one. She was up against three or four Sword Spiders, three or four Giant Spiders and two Ettercaps.
Resilient Hardeth might survive a meeting with a single SCS v21-type Giant Spider. But this battle against so many Spiders she couldn’t have fought in SCS v21 the way she did today I think. My original plan was to lure the Spiders out in small packs of two or three, first the faster Sword Spiders and then the slower Ettercaps and Giant Spiders, and to use the 'door trick' on the latter (as mentioned in my previous post) as dangerous as that might have been. Anyway, Centeol is dead now, and Hardeth owns Spiders' Bane so she can provide herself with Free Action.
The Dwarf spent little time in Cloakwood 3. She slew two Dread Wolves and left the Shadow Druids to their business. In Cloakwood 4 Hardeth shunned Hamadryad and had a very tough battle with the Wyverns. They had her quaff many a healing potion to keep her health at reasonable levels.
The toll that fight had taken on her stock of healing potions, prompted Hardeth to return to the FAI, to do some shopping at Gellana's Temple. She also used the opportunity to ID and sell some loot. On her way back to the Cloakwood Lamalha and friends waylaid her but, just as with Molkar & Co, Hardeth decided not to fight the assassins.
Near the entrance to the Cloakwood Mines, Hardeth slew two guards and was then pursued by Drasus, shod in the much anticipated Boots of Speed. Drasus proved a very tough nut to crack. Initially Hardeth had the upper hand, but then Drasus raged - apparently he's a Berserker - and drank a potion of Frost Giant Strength. The amount of damage he then inflicted per hit was tremendous, 25+ I think. Fortunately axe-throwing Genthore and the wizards Kysus and Rezdan hadn't caught up with Drasus at that point. Due to his speed it was impossible for Hardeth to attack him with her darts, so she had to hit and heal a lot before she finally felled her foe.
Genthore proved to be much less of a hassle because Hardeth managed to stun him before he could do any serious harm.
After having slain her foe, Hardeth used one of her two Protection from Magic scrolls on herself, and with her Boots of Speed on, she rushed past Kysus and Rezdan, into the Mine. She spoke with Rill and the River Plug operator in order to save the slaves and flood the mine, but other than that she ran straight to Davaeorn, felling only those who barred her way, ignoring all others.
Davaeorn was aided by his Battle Horrors and a few Guards that had followed Hardeth downstairs, but she wouldn't let the lackeys distract her from her mission: finishing off the wizard. The spellfailure penalty and Ashideena's electricity damage kept Davaeorn from casting many spells, although he did manage to let off a Sunfire, killing one of his own Battle Horrors and one or two nearby guards.
What arrogance: Davaeorn: Spell Failed: Casting Failure Davaeorn: Your feeble skills are no match for my magic!
Hardeth eventually cut the wizard down in his library. She picked up his loot, spoke with Stephane and let him live, then killed off a few more guards that were blocking her way out, and finally, flooded the mine.
Hardeth has already made it to Baldur's Gate and bought Arrows of Dispelling, Darts of Wounding and a Protection from Magic scroll from Halbazzar Drin, as well as a Protection from Petrification scroll at the Elfsong Tavern. She also did the the Tremain/Casson quest for the Shield of the Falling Stars +1, and the Marek/Lothander quest for the Tome of WIS and for Marek's Eagle Bow (to be used with the arrows of dispelling in spite of non-proficiency with bows). She also acquired the Helm of Balduran, the Dex Tome at the Thieves' Guild and the INT Tome from Ramazith, who was pretty harmless after she poisoned him with her Darts of Wounding.
And while she was at it, she also picked up the WIS Tome at Durlag's Tower. She's still missing the CON Tome, and I'm not sure if she'll be able to obtain it. In order to get it a Protection from Magic scroll is necessary what with all the Sirines and their charms, and I have only two of those. Bentan at the Firewine Ruins has one (would have to kill him for it), and there's another one in the Candlekeep catacombs but I'm not sure whether I'll have access to it.
In terms of XP, and desired items there is little more for Hardeth to do in BG city, so she'll probably just try to complete Scar's quests and return to Candlekeep.
Hardeth rescued Jasso from the Doppelgangers in the Seven Suns and then proceeded to take on the Iron Throne. She was surprised when Nortuary attacked her for no apparent reason (is that a low CHA thing?). He didn't live to repent his aggression.
On the top floor she succesfully lured most of Cloudwulfe's friends downstairs, one by one. First the priests, Alai and Diyab. Both were easily dealt with, in spite of their potentially lethal Hold Persons. Hardeth evaded those spells by descending the stairs behind her. Aasim also flamestruck her with his Wand of the Heavens but her lousy 8 MR protected her from harm.
Her next victim was a backstabber named Shennara, apparently an SCS v28 addition, never dealt with him in BGT or in SCS v21. Interestingly there were two Shennaras, with different loot if I'm not mistaken. Hardeth killed one upstairs and one downstairs.
After Shennara 1, Gardush, a hard-hitting Berserker, had Hardeth work for her money. Quaffing a couple of potions she never really got into trouble though. Alai, next in line, didn't hit as hard as Gardush, but definitely more often. It didn't help him though, as he too fell in close combat.
Naaman, in my experience the most dangerous of the pack, was poisoned with Darts of Wounding. Severely hampered in his casting, he couldn't do much against Hardeth, even though he postponed his doom by going invisible once or twice.
This left only Cloudwulfe, a Doppelganger and Shennara the 2nd. The Doppelganger was dispatched in two hits. Shennara was somewhat difficult to deal with due to his impressive collection of invisibility potions, and dangerous as he landed two nasty backstabs (for circa 35 damage each). He was finally dealt with out of Clouwulfe's sight. Cloudwulfe himself was stunned with a Dart of Stunning and subsequently vanquished.
Thaldorn was slain for his involvement, before Hardeth returned to report her findings to Duke Eltan. With his book of great value she traveled to Candlekeep. I'm used to having my Charnames actually travel to Candlekeep, and not to being teleported there. It nearly ended my run. SCS places the Ogre Mages from one of the houses in BG City to just in front of the gates of Candlekeep. Hardeth landed right in the middle of the four Ogre Mages, and had to save thrice vs spell in order to avoid being charmed before she got inside the citadel. Admittedly, Charm Person with its +3 save bonus isn't the most awe-inspiring spell for a Dwarf with a saving throw vs spells of 7 (thanks to the Helm of Balduran), but still... I'm not sure if casting Protection from Magic before speaking to Eltan will result in arriving at Candlekeep under the protection of that spell.
In Candlekeep Hardeth avoided all fighting. Rieltar et al were ignored, as were the Shapeshifters and Prat and his gang below Candlekeep. The Tomes of STR and WIS were lost to Hardeth, as she hadn't the means to open the chests (crypts?). She did manage to open the chest that contained a green Protection from Magic scroll, raising her total number of PfMagic scrolls to three.
I was surprised that Prat & co could be so easily avoided. She simple ran past them following the eastern route, cast Protection from Petrification just in time to be able to safely pass the Basilisks, and left the catacombs. Interestingly, Prat and a Sword Spider followed her outside, but she didn't wait for them to catch up. She ran staright to the area border and was lucky that the Ogre Mages werent't there (I assume they were by the gate).
Still a bit sad about having missed a STR tome and a WIS tome Hardeth decided use one of her three PfMagic scrolls to help herself to the CON tome in the treasure cave. She simply entered the cave, took the treasure and left. Again, no unnecessary bloodshed. Hardeth now enjoys a CON score of 20 and thus regeneration
In Baldur's Gate, she rescued Duke Eltan from Rashad the Doppelganger, narrowly escaping a fight with the monster and a horde of angry Flaming Fist battle priests.
In the Iron Throne building Cythandria's Golems were lured away to lower floors, with difficulty it must be said. And even Cythandria alone proved to be more than a handfull. With her Darts of Wounding Hardeth successfully interrupted the wizard's spellcasting a number of times, but the latter nevertheless managed to Horror the Dwarf. Numerous invocation spells hurt Hardeth badly, and she was lucky to outrun two out Cythandria's three Sunfires. When she regained her composure, she found herself severely injured. She healed with potions and then finally slew the wizard in melee combat.
Three fights now separate Hardeth from saving the Sword Coast: Slythe & Krystin, the coronation event, and the final battle. If she kills Bentan for his green PfMagic scroll she'll have one scroll for each fight, which looks pretty comfortable. Nevertheless I'm going to take some time to properly think these fights through.
Wow, what a progress! Only one weekend and almost whole BG1 is beaten.
I've loggined in today only to provide you with a stunning revelation I've had.
One thing, absolutely changing the whole understanding of how BG2 with SCS can be beaten by a Wizard Slayer.
You need... only two items.
1. Vhailor's Helm
The thing is not a copy of yours that can fight, no. The THING is that the copy can endlessly use quick items of yours. Every use of Simulacrum = every use of your quick items, even if you have only one charge of them. And the way to being unkillable by all BG2 SCS casters is open ->
2. Protection from Magic scroll (you can buy at the Adventure's Mart)
That's it. Put this scroll intointo one of your quick slots. Use the Vhalor's Helm. Let the copy use the PfM scroll on you. Voila. Nobody except for the mages who can cast a Spellstrike (granted the certain SCS component is installed) are useless for all the long duration of the spell.
And you can repeat it after every rest. During the whole game. Only one scroll is needed. Oh my God! The same you can do with the scroll of Protection from Undead.
This idea has simply changed my whole understanding of how to beat BG2 with a wizard slayer.
Currently with my Totemic Druid I'm having a blast with the Vhalor's Helm. I don't even need to recharge wands of heaven - the copy uses them, not CHARNAME. Protection from Petrification, Protection from Undead, Protection from Magic. All these rare items and otherwise available for only several uses per the whole game, with that Helmet can be used after each rest.
Dear @bengoshi, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights with me. That's just great of you I'm now even more curious about your next installment. Yahiko seems to fare pretty well!
As to using the Helm to have the simulacrum use consumable items without actually exhausting them, there are people who consider this unacceptable cheese. See for instance the comments by @Tisamon, @SionIV, @blackmamuth, and @fighter_mage_thief: here (first post, just below the Weidu log), here, here, and here respectively. I must admit though that these are just a few opinions. I'm not sure if there's any sort of consensus amongst no-reloaders here on here on the forums. Maybe I'll make a new topic/poll about it. I've seen the issue mentioned on other forums as well btw.
Personally I'm not sure whether to consider it cheese, as I once commented here.
Having said all this, I wonder if it will work with the green scroll of Protection from Magic anyway. In my current game it seems to be impossible to cast PfMagic on someone else. Hardeth directly casts the protection on herself. If this is also the case in my BG2EE install then I won't be able to have the simulacrum cast on Hardeth anyway.
If Hardeth makes it into Amn and she can use the scroll on herself with the helmet's simulacrum, I might accept if for a few situations where no other way of protecting exists. I'm not sure if I'm forgetting anything, but the following effects are all more or less synonymous to death: Charm, Sleep, Hold, Feeblemind, Stun, Confusion, Panic, Maze and Imprisonment. I think a Wizard Slayer and a Totemic Druid such as your Yahiko can obtain protection against many of these effects through items, though not all. (I think btw Yahiko also gets Chaotic Commands, I seem to remember my Shapshifter got that spell.) Where no protection is obtained only PfMagic scrolls or perhaps Slayer change would work.
For a Wizard Slayer the Shield of Harmony seems to be indispensable. A glance at it in NearInfinity seems to tell me that the shield protects against Charm, Hold, and Confusion effects, and possibly against Stun as well. @elminster, you're quite adept at working with NearInifinity, could you confirm to me whether the following value Type: Immunity to effect (101), Target: Self (1), Power: 0, Unused, Effect: Paralyze (109) means that the Shield protects against Stun as well?
Type: Immunity to effect (101) Target: Self (1) Power: 0 Unused: 0 Effect: Paralyze (109) Timing mode: Instant/While equipped (2) Dispel/Resistance: No dispel/bypass resistance (0) Duration: 0 Probability 1: 100 Probability 2: 0 Unused: 00 45 78 70 69 72 61 74 h # dice thrown/maximum level: 0 Dice size/minimum level: 0 Save type: ( No save ) Save bonus: 0 Special: 0
Ah, and @elminster, while you're at it could you see if I missed any other effects the Shield protects against? The item description mentions only immunity to "charm, confusion, domination, and hold", but that might not be a complete list. I would be very thankful, and your findings could call for a correction of the item description, and thus help others as well.
Hardeth has come one step closer to completing her mission. In the Undercellars she managed to engage Slythe and sprit him away from his lover, to the Blushing Mermaid.
She opened with a Dart of Wounding that slowed Slythe down. Nevertheless he was faster to follow her than Krystin was, probably because the latter was too busy buffing herself. The fight between Hardeth and Slythe involved lots of running around because the assassin seemed to have a considerable amount of invisibility potions he was inclined to use generously in order to hurt Hardeth with his vicious backstabs.
Hardeth took advantage of the fact that Slythe was slowed down a bit by her darts' poison, and hit him several times more when the distance was sufficient. Even so, Slythe too, managed to land a few nasty hits before the poison finally finished him off.
Hardeth didn't bother with seeking out Krystin and is now wondering how to tackle the coronation event. Honestly I don't see many options for her but to cast PfMagic on herself and hope for the best, unless I recruit a couple of NPCs to help out. Will do some testing with my Shapeshifter before continuing...
Thanks @bengoshi, I'll definitely keep your tip in mind
*** After various attempts to solo with another character - my Shapeshifter, without using summons - I decided to give the Ducal Palace a go with Hardeth. I needed to test-play a bit because the coronation event plays out a bit differently in SCS v28 from what I'm used to in SCS v21. First of all, the Doppelgangers aren't just 6 Greater Doppelgangers but they're divided in different types: two traditional Greater Doppelgangers, two Doppelganger Assassins, a Doppelganger Shaman, and a Doppelganger Mage. Especially the latter two proved to be dangerous. Secondly, it was impossible to go upstairs or downstairs during the fight, so luring the Doppelgangers away wasn't going to be an option. Thirdly I wanted to know if I could simply kill the noblemen before they would shapeshift into Doppelgangers. I found out that the conversation in which Charname is to present the evidence won't trigger then, so you get stuck. Fourthly my test-playing taught me that once all Doppelgangers are down and Belt is presented the evidence against Sarevok, Belt will fight Sarevok, which obviously doesn't tend to end well for Belt (and thus for Charname).
There was very little that Hardeth could do other than casting PfMagic from a green scroll and using her DUHM Bhaalpower. No summons, no traps, AoE spells, nothing... Honestly, I was quite nervous when I loaded the savegame. I considered picking up a few NPCs to help out, but I wanted this playthrough to be a strict solo run, at least for the BG portion, just to see if I could.
Anyway, Hardeth waited for all the Flaming Fists to enter the reception room, making sure they would act immediately after the Doppelgangers were to show their true colors. Then she cast the aforementioned spells, and entered herself. She was standing close to the Doppelgangers but relatively far from Belt and Liia Janneth when the speeches started.
As soon as battle broke out she drew aggro from one of the Doppelganger Assassins, but she didn't pay it much attention even though it hit her often enough. Her focus was on the Shaman and the Mage. With her Darts +1 she tried to disrupt both caster Doppelgangers as much as possible. Her Darts of Wounding and Stunning were unlikely to be of much use, since the Doppelgangers have ridiculously good saves (all in the 2-3 range), so Darts +1 with their +1 Thac0 bonus seemed the better option.
Meanwhile she had to trust in Belt, aided by two Fist officers, to keep the three other Doppelgangers (two Greater, one Assassin) under control. Liia Janneth didn't really do anything (even though she's a high level Mage), and she died early on.
Hardeth's strategy worked reasonably well. She managed to neutralize both the Shaman and the Mage. The Mage is especially dangerous: if he succesfully confuses or panics Belt and the Fist officers, then battle is surely lost. The Fist appeared to be quite hardy, and they acted intelligently, occupying almost all Doppelgangers, which made it less likely for them to all go after Belt, who by the way is good Fighter.
When the Mage started running away, and three Flaming Fist lay dead on the ground, Hardeth decided to join the fray. She kept the Assassin and the Shaman busy, while Belt was hacking away at a Greater Doppelganger. A fourth Fist officer fell but Hardeth slew an Assassin and Belt his second Greater Doppelganger, and not much later the Shaman.
This left only the second Doppelganger Assassin as a direct threat, because the Mage had fled to one of the antechambers, and it wouldn't cast any more spells anyway. Hardeth, Belt and two remaining Fist officers finished the Assassin off (not sure who dealt the killing blow). Hardeth then used the opportunity to heal Belt - who wasn't even that injured - with her two Cure Light Wounds Bhaalpowers, before she went after the Mage. The last Doppelganger ran around a lot, which had the fortunate side-effect of luring Belt out of the reception room into one the antechambers, thus removing him from Sarevok's sight. Hardeth managed to take down the Doppelganger Mage with her +1 Darts, after which she presented the incriminating evidence against Sarevok.
Belt remained in the antechamber and Hardeth played cat and mouse for a while in the reception room with Sarevok (you can all guess who played the cat and who the mouse), until Winski teleported in, and out with Sarevok.
Still protected from Magic, Hardeth let Belt teleport her to the Thieves Guild where she hastily replenished her stock of Darts, and then pushed on to pursue Sarevok. Her speedy action allowed her to make it through the maze without being hurt by the traps or by the monsters inhabiting it.
In the Undercity she took a detour, along the southerns paths, so that she wouldn't have to deal with the Iron Throne assassins. In front of the entrance to Sarevok's sanctum she met with Tamoko who despite Hardeth's best efforts to be nice, wouldn't be appeased. Overconfident thanks to her Protection from Magic, Hardeth then foolishly accepted the challenge. Tamoko is a formidable warrior-priestess with dangerous spells and plenty of healing potions and spells, all in all difficult to kill. She summoned a Skeleton Warrior and was aided by more undead (Ghasts, Skeletons and even Skeleton Warriors, all dwellers of the Undercity).
Hardeth failed to kill Tamoko, and when her Protection from Magic wore off, she even had to flee from the Kara-Turan as the latter cast a Hold Person her way.
Tamoko didn't follow Hardeth into the temple, but a number of the undead did: four Ghasts, a Skeleton and a Skeleton Warrior. Particularly wary of the Ghasts' paralyzing attacks, she ran around a lot and managed to take the monsters down one by one with her darts. The Skeletons were dealt with after that. Thankfully this could all be done without gaining the attention of Sarevok and his lackeys.
Hardeth has just healed herself with potions and is now mentally preparing for the final battle.
Excellent ! You did the hardest part, the last fight is generally fairly easy enough because you can use every items you still have at that point. With a good amount of kiting, you will leave the temple victorious !
It is done! Hardeth has prevailed I'm not sure if Hardeth deserved it. The final battle didn't really go as I would have liked and took a lot longer than necessary. Hardeth brought only one Scroll of Protection from Magic (never killed Bentan for the last one). It meant that she would have to deal with both Angelo and Semaj in relatively rapid succession or risk facing one of the two without being protected any longer.
The battle started off quite well. Angelo was the first to appear; he was debilitated with Arrows of Dispelling, and subsequently dispatched relatively easily. He did injure Hardeth, but that's something she had expected. Healing potions helped her recover.
She then carefully approached the platform and encountered Semaj and Diarmid. Hardeth dispelled Diarmid's Haste and tried to provoke Semaj in wasting his most dangerous spells and his MMMs. Then Tazok appeared from invisibility, causing her to retreat and try to take the Half-Ogre down with mundane darts. Her best darts she wanted to save for Sarevok and Diarmid. This was quite parsimonious of her, as befits a Dwarf perhaps; she had hundreds of special darts in her pack.
For some reason Tazok got fed up with pursuing Hardeth. He returned to the platform. Hardeth approached a second time. This time Semaj, seeing how his spells weren't any good, came to Hardeth. She dispelled his protections with another Arrow of Dispelling, and poisoned him with Darts of Wounding before she hammered him down.
With both Mages (and their animated skeletons) dead, Hardeth approached the platform a third time. Unintentionally she entered into Sarevok's line of sight. He came rushing toward her, with Tazok and Diarmid in his wake. What happened next was, I think, crucial for the outcome of the fight. Hardeth shot an Arrow of Dispelling at Sarevok, and she didn't miss. His Haste was dispelled, making her confrontation with her three remaining foes infinitely more bearable. (I can't begin to imagine how she would have dealt with perma-hasted Sarevok right behind her and unable to distance herself from him whilst also under attack from Diarmid, a formidable archer, and Tazok.)
Hardeth knew she had to kill Diarmid and Tazok before she would be able to hurt Sarevok. Initially Diarmid was the more annoying one, hurting her with his ranged attacks, but he soon ran out of arrows, so Tazok, already badly injured, became Hardeth's first target. When he fell to her darts, she had to melee-attack the Skeleton Warrior that rose from the Half-Ogre's body, because her darts wouldn't do much good against the highly resistant skeleton. Surprisingly she managed without getting hit much herself. Diarmid proved to be remarkably resilient and well-supplied with healing potions. Hardeth spent about 60 Darts of Wounding on him before he fell.
I didn't even count the amount of darts that were needed to bring Sarevok down. Sometimes Hardeth would lend two or three hits in a row, but there were also occasions that she wouldn't score a single hit in five attempts.
Here Hardeth's character record and inventory screen right after she slew Sarevok.
Without considering myself an authority on Wizard Slayers all of a sudden, I'd like to humbly share with you a few afterthoughts on the Wizard Slayer, in particular in the context of solo SCS no-reload runs. Obviously the following applies first and foremost to BGEE (rather than SoA or ToB since I haven't ventured there yet with Hardeth).
(1) Dwarf and Halfling seem to be the best races thanks to their great saving throws. Saves should be relied upon as little as possible of course, but it seems unfeasible to rule out all risk. Mid-level Hardeth was waylaid by an Ogre Mage whilst transitioning between areas. Before she could leave the area, the Ogre Mage cast Charm Person at her. She saved vs spell; a Half-Orc might not have survived that encounter. Between the races I mentioned I prefer Dwarf because imo 18/xx STR > 19 DEX for a warrior even though missile attacks are great in this game (see point 3). Besides, 20 CON gives regeneration, which is nice for a solo warrior. At higher levels (in the course of BG2) saving throws should become so low that you'll never have to make any.
(2) Rolling for 18/00 STR might well be worth it because Wizard Slayers are barred from using such STR increasing items as the Gauntlets of Ogre Power or STR belts, and they are the only characters that cannot acquire the STR tome below Candlekeep. (All other classes and kits can use the red potion sold at the Nashkel Carnival.) A Half-Orc WS should go for 19 STR.
(3) Ranged attacks are very appealing in BGEE, where the spellfailure penalty now applies to both ranged and melee attacks. Darts might be the best choice in this respect. There are plenty of Darts of Wounding and Darts of Stunning in the game as well as other enchanted darts, and 3 APR -- 4 with specialization and the level 7 extra 1/2 attack -- really helps with inflicting the spellfailure penalty and it also increases the odds of causing poison/stun effects. Another advantage is that darts can be launched while a shield is equipped. That being said, I'm not discarding bows and crossbows: arrows of Dispelling have been a lifesaver for my WS in the final battle, as you can read above, and taking into account the excellent short bows that BG2 has to offer one could consider investing proficiency pips in it.
(4) In terms of melee weapons, there are various equally interesting options imo. I went with the Ashideena for its electricity damage, which is nice to interrupt stoneskinned casters, but Varscona with its cold damage has that benefit as well. Other good melee weapons include the Stupefier and the Dagger of Venom but that's nothing new: they are nice for all classes that can wield them. Spiders' Bane is great if only to provide your Wizard Slayer with Free Action (the only way to get Free Action!). Before beginning my playthrough I read that dualwielding is recommended to get as much leverage out of the spellfailure penalty in melee. Having relied more on ranged weapons, and preferring the extra protection from (enchanted) large shields, I haven't missed the ability the dualwield, though I can imagine investing pips in Two Weapon Style in BG2.
(5) It's important to know which battles to fight and which battles to shun, more so for a Wizard Slayer than for any other class or kit I think because Wizard Slayers have no 'escape button' when things are going south: no rage ability, no invisibility potions or spells, no potions of clarity, no oils of speed to get yourself out of trouble. Due to item restrictions the Wizard Slayer is slightly less resilient and slightly less deadly than most warriors, but they should still do well enough in 'physical' fights. Such fights needn't be avoided; on the contrary, they're generally good sources of XP. It's the fights with casters that require the utmost care. I only fought casters when I had too (plot battles), when I had little to fear from them (Tarnesh while my WS was level 6) or, on three occasions, when the loot was too good to pass up: Bassilus for the Ashideena, Nimbul for his Boots of Avoidance to survive the Bandit Camp, Ramazith for his tome that rose Hardeth's INT to 16.
(6) Green protection scrolls are your friends. Note that they require 9 INT, something to keep in mind at character creation. Protection from Electricity and (to a lesser extent) Fire can be very useful for deal with traps, and the Protection from Magic Scrolls are simply invaluable. Afaik there are five in the game: Thalantyr sells one, Hafiz south of the Nashkel Mine area gives you one, Bentan in the Firewine Ruins area can be killed for one, Halbazzar Drin sells one, and one of the chests below Candlekeep can be bashed with DUHM for one. Six isn't enough for all the neccessary and/or lucrative Mage fights, so it's important to decide when to use them. The various Cloakwood Mine wizards, Cythandria, Krystin, the Ducal Palace Doppelgangers, and the final showdown wizards Angelo and Semaj are all extremely dangerous and justify the use of a scroll. The same goes for the Sirines, if you want to pick up the CON tome.
(7) Since you can't do all Mage fights protected against magic, it's important to use your surroundings when you aren't protected. I did the fight with Zalimar Cloudwulfe and his friends (including various casters) by alternating around a lot between the different floors.
(8) It's recommendable to play a bit with your reputation in order to get the most convenient Bhaalpowers. This is something I failed to do. Believe me, I would much rather have two Horrors than two Slow Poisons, and I wouldn't mind trading a Cure Light Wounds for a Larloch's Minor Drain, which is a nice spell interrupter.
"There does not appear to be a magical way to prevent Stun in vanilla BG. The Gibberlings3 fixpack, however, makes the target of a Free Action spell immune to stun. Normally, Mazzy's short sword, Barbarian/Berserker rage, and Chaotic Commands (with respect to the stun caused by Psionic Blast) prevent it. If you're getting slaughtered by Power Word: Stun or Symbol: Stun, however, you may want to try Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, or Spell Immunity: Conjuration for Symbol: Stun and general Power Word immunity."
So, no, the Shield of harmony doesn't protect agains stun. Although, the Protection from Magic spell will do the trick for you
BTW, I don't consider using the Vhailor's Helm in - a no-reload - solo run - with SCS - with a wizard slayer to be a cheat and/or cheese. This is the ultimately difficult challenge and you should use every item available to beat it. @bbear , for e.g. , used the Helm in his run with a level-1 party.
Hey @bengoshi, thanks so much for this! It's good to know, yet a bit worrying, that until ToB there will be no Free Action / protection against Stun for Hardeth. It makes the use of the PfMagic scroll through Vhailor's Helm all the more tempting...
im eagerly awaiting your next adventure Blackraven!
More will definitely be coming. I've had a few setbacks, but no matter, they will only prove a slight delay I'll have more this weekend I think. Glad you're interested in this playthrough, and thanks for letting me know!
Hardeth met a very anti-climactic and untimely end, getting charmed by a Duergar Mage she could have easily avoided at the end of Irenicus’ dungeon. It was as disappointing as it was inspiring. No-reload for me really is no re-load when I play it. I don’t even restart a game in BG2 if a Charname dies there; a new no-reload adventure has to start in Candlekeep. With Hardeth’s experience still fresh in my memory, I had high hopes for my next Wizard Slayer, but he “died” at the hands of Naaman (Dire Charm), and so did his successor! Ouch... Not Wizard Slayer number three though. Here is Kilbin Steelgut, at your service:
Kilbin is similar to Hardeth, but not the same. I decided to go with Lawful Evil which would allow him to use the Human Flesh Armor in BG2 (should he succeed in acquiring it), and Lawful Evil is fitting because Kilbin is ruthlessly selfish. Another difference with Hardeth is that Kilbin is a more cautious character, especially as the game progresses. This manifests itself for example in his decision to focus on Long Swords rather than War Hammers. After all, getting Ashideena is a riskier undertaking than getting Varscona. I’m going to make this a bit shorter than my report of Hardeth’s run, simply because Kilbin’s approach to many situations/battles has been similar to Hardeth’s. The emphasis shall lie on the things that Kilbin consciously did differently and the things that panned out differently than wanted/expected. I hope it’s not too repetitive after Hardeth. :P
Kilbin’s first steps in the wide open world were all more or less predictable for a non-reloadable solo warrior Charname: - killing Shoal (Kilbin reached level 3), - helping Melicamp (Thalantyr didn’t let Kilbin down, helping the Dwarf reach level 4), - mini-questing in Beregost, - traveling from the Melicamp/Bassilus area to the South Coast to bring Brage in, - picking up Ankheg Armor in Nashkel and buying a PfPetrification scroll at the Carnival, - killing Baslisks; dealing with Mutamin is always a tricky proposition, but Korax proved himself reliable in holding the Gnome (Kilbin reached level 6), - completing the FAI quests (picked up the Golden pants this time), - buying Full Plate Mail at the Thunderhammer Smithy and a Shield +1 in Nashkel (after two Rings of the Princes, the Ring of Wizardry and the Ankheg Armor had been sold), - stunning and slaying Greywolf (Kilbin chose to leave the area and return when he saw Greywolf quaff potions of freedom and speed), - hunting Ankhegs, - helping Tenyaget her bowl back (Kilbin reached level 7).
At level 7 Kilbin felt himself ready for the Nashkel Mines, but before venturing there, he paid Bentan a visit by the Firewine Ruins. The Dwarf spoke with the Ilmater worshiper, lying that he was an adherent of the God of suffering as well. When Bentan walked off, Kilbin froze him with his third Dart of Stunning, just before the man would have disappeared; then killed him and looted his corpse for a Scroll of PfMagic.
Two more Scrolls of PfMagic were acquired from Thalantyr and Hafiz, and Kilbin used one of his three scrolls to acquire the CON tome in the Lighthouse Area. Conveniently the assault on Bentan lowered his reputation to 9. It would earn him a Larloch’s Minor Drain (a potentially useful spell interrupter) and two Horrors as Bhaalpowers later on. Kilbin carefully made his way through the mines, stunning with his darts the most dangerous Kobold (a Shaman) and, after various misses, Mulahey.
Back in Nashkel Kilbin had the soldiers slay Nimbul for him whilst keeping a safe distance himself, and Darts of Wounding helped the warrior finish off Tranzig in Beregost.
He then went bandit hunting. In Tazok’s tent he relied again on his Darts of Wounding to dispatch the wizard Venkt; the remaining bandits offered little resistance of consequence in melee combat.
In the Cloakwood Kilbin ran from Molkar’s and Lamalha’s ambushes. When he spoke with Aldeth Sashenstar in Cloakwood 1, Seniyad didn’t appear. Kilbin decided to kill him anyway. In the second Cloakwood area the Giant Spiders aimed better with their web spits than they had done when faced Hardeth. He had to save vs spell once when one of the beasts tried to web him. Kilbin stunned the beast with his darts. This encounter had him contemplate the thought of simply fleeing the area at the earliest convenient moment. But it coccured to him that if he did, he might die regretting the abandonment of Spiders’ Bane. So he entered and left Centeol’s Den repeatedly, drawing her beasts out. (This would prove to be the right decision when he was ambushed later on by Giant Spiders while transitioning, and also in the caves below Candlekeep.) The good thing is that the Giant Spiders didn’t web-spit in melee range, so when Kilbin awaited them outside Centeol’s den he could easily dispatch them.
The killing of Wyverns made Kilbin reach level 8 (his last level up) right before reaching the Cloakwood Mine. By the mine entrance Kilbin drew out Drasus alone, and battled him for the Boots of Speed. It took him a good number of healing potions, but in the end he prevailed. He then cast PfMagic on himself and rushed past Genthore, Kysus and Rezdan, and past the many mercenaries in the mine, never bothering with such trivialities as saving the miners or flooding the mine, till he found Davaeorn. The fight with the wizard didn’t cause the Dwarf any problems, because with his Webs, Stinking Clouds and Sunfires Davaeorn neutralized pretty much all his lackeys but his two Battle Horrors.
Kilbin then traveled to Baldur’s Gate, where all he did was “shopping” for the Shield of the Fallen Stars +1, Eagle Bow, Tomes of Dex, Wis, and Int, Helm of Balduran, and lots of potions and darts. He also made a side trip to Durlag’s Tower where he acquired a second Wis tome. Interestingly Ragefast went hostile on Kilbin, in spite of the latter’s attempts to convince the mage that keeping a Nymph was a mistake. Must have a been low CHA thing. The wizard paid for his aggression with his life.
Clearing out the Seven Suns for Scar was easy as always. Alas the same could not be said of the Iron Throne clique. Kilbin’s solution was to trick Naaman (as said above, the bane of my previous two Wizard Slayers) a few floors down, out of harm's way. The wizard wouldn’t cross Kilbin again, which enabled the latter to finish off the rest of the gang without having to worry much for his safety. Staying close to the stairs, Kilbin managed to elude spells cast at him by the priests and by Alai without needing a scroll of PfM. One by one he took the members of Cloudwulfe’s gang down.
Casting PfMagic on himself before having Duke Eltan teleport him to Candlekeep would be of no avail to him when facing the Ogre Mages ambush, because the protection would expire upon reaching the gates of Candlekeep. This is something I had already tested before. Likewise, immediately casting PfMagic in front of the Mages takes too long to prevent them from casting their Charm spells (tested this as well). So this ambush is the only unavoidable confrontation in SCS BGEE where a Wizard Slayer can’t do anything at all about his predicament except hope for the best. I decided that if Kilbin were to fall here, I would give up my attempt at SCS no-reloading a solo Wizard Slayer through the Trilogy, at least for now. Tymora smiled upon the Dwarf as he saved against two Charm Persons, and his Magic Resistance countered two more.
Below Candlekeep, Kilbin acquired the game’s last PfMagic scroll but he had to forgo the Str Tome and the third and last Wis Tome. Further down the road to freedom he avoided having to deal with the Elminster, Gorion et al. Doppelgangers by telling them he believed they were real, and then rushing past them.
In the caves, Prat and co. never saw Kilbin passing by (the dialogue didn’t even trigger). The spiders and their webs were dealt with using Spiders’ Bane, and the Basilisks couldn’t hurt Kilbin as he had protected himself from Petrification. Outside he grudgingly cast PfMagic on himself to prevent the lingering Ogre Mages from taking their chances with him, waste of such a precious scroll really.
Back in BG city, Kilbin didn’t bother with saving Duke Eltan from Rashad; Cythandria and Slythe were his quarry. Does anyone know whether Cythandria must be confronted (for Sarevok’s diary)? Or do Slythe’s letters suffice as evidence against Sarevok? Either way, an arrow of dispelling followed by many darts made it impossible for Cythandria to cast any spells, making it relatively easy for Kilbin to finish her off.
In the Undercellars Kilbin failed to lure Slythe alone to the Blushing Mermaid; Krystin came with him. What is more, back in the Blushing Mermaid, it was eventually Krystin who appeared, not Slythe. This was something the Dwarf didn’t want because he wasn’t protected against her magic. It prompted Kilbin to leave the inn, and to his horror he saw Krystin even following him outside.
Kilbin left the area and entered the Undercellars via the sewers. He hoped to find only Slythe in the Undercellars, not Krystin. However, in the middle of the Undercellars, he encountered both. (Even the conversation triggered again, which tells me this was a bug.) Kilbin successfully lured Slythe into the sewers where he slew the assassin, two pesky Phase Spiders notwithstanding.
Still in the sewers, the Dwarf ran past the Ogre Mage and Carrion Crawlers he never killed for Scar, climbed to the surface and went straight to the Ducal Palace, healing himself with potions on the way. Inside the Palace he cast PfMagic on himself, and spoiled Sarevok’s party, dispatching the Doppelgangers with Duke Belt and the Flaming Fist officers, and presenting the incriminating evidence against Sarevok to Belt. Kilbin’s role in the battle had been primarily to pelt the Doppelganger Shaman and Mage with darts so that they couldn’t cast their AoE magic on Belt and the Fist. Belt was lured to one of the antechambers before he would attack Sarevok. (Attempts with predecessor Wizard Slayers to Horror the Doppelgangers hadn't proved to be a very reliable strategy.)
In the Undercity, for some reason there was no sign of Tamoko, thankfully, but three Skeleton Warriors followed Kilbin inside Sarevok's lair. He finished those off first. After that, he engaged Angelo in melee and laughed when the Fighter/Mage’s weapon broke. Angelo retreated and Tazok took his place. Kilbin was satisfied to see himself capable of standing his ground in melee combat against the powerful Half-Ogre (healing himself with potions while he was at it), and eventually besting the brute.
Angelo showed himself again when Kilbin’s protective sphere against magic, which had been up still from the Doppelganger fight, expired. Kilbin instantly cast his last PfMagic, renewing his protection just before Angelo could Slow him. The Dwarf then slew Angelo in close combat.
Kilbin’s next step was to try and draw either Diarmid or Semaj toward him, but he came too close to the platform, got noticed by Sarevok, and was instantly attacked by all three remaining foes. The Wizard Slayer (who by the way had chosen to become proficient in Short Bows) easily dispelled Sarevok’s and Diarmid’s Haste with Arrows of Dispelling. And of his first target, the wizard Semaj of course, whom he wanted to finish off before his PfMagic would expire, he dispelled various Stoneskins, a Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Mirror Images and a Fireshield before felling the wizard with Arrows of Biting. None of the arrows inflicted any poison damage except one.
Diarmid on the other hand, while more resilient than Semaj, proved to be much more vulnerable to the arrows’ poison than Semaj, so he didn’t last long either. Not caring to bother with the Skeleton Warriors that rose from from Semaj’s and Diarmid’s corpses, Kilbin went straight for Sarevok. The latter didn’t fail a single save against Kilbin’s Arrows of Biting (even though I had read somewhere that he might), but Kilbin didn’t need him to. He had plenty of arrows to secure victory for himself.
I know that the Duergar think they'd be rewarded for killing the player. It makes me wonder what Irenicus would do if they killed his ticket back home before he could take what he needed.
The wizard slayer is dead. Long live the wizard slayer!
BG2 mages are very dangerous. This was probably one of the very first mages in the second game for Hardeth and she already didn't survive. Just shows that this run is one of the most difficult. The starting dungeon in BG2 with SCS is very tricky. Without all the gear a character is usually much weaker than when he faced Sarevok. Too few healing potions, no lovely darts, no good armour and weapons... RIP Hardeth!
@Nimran, true those Duergar aren't too well-informed @bengoshi, what you say is true. It's superdifficult without mind and movement protections. Nevertheless going after that mage to get the Girdle of Bluntness she wasn't even going to use, was a bit stupid. Thankfully Kilbin is a bit more careful... I'm already worried that in Athkatla, two or three area transitions will already trigger the ambushes, before he has any protective gear.
Hey Blackraven. Thanks for posting so soon, I reload this page every other day now . Was sad to hear about Hardeth. Very happy about Kilbin and hope he'll be careful enough to survive the shadows of Amn... Please don't play tired or angry, he's got to be a true survivor! This really is the ultimate challenge for a veteran BG player. Btw it wouldnt be crazy to recruit the odd npc once and a while before letting them go again, right? It would make the run more fun and more bearable for the lone dwarf (not to mention for you), even if he is not much of a people person. Think about the fun times Kilbin and Korgan could have before their evilness would get Korgan killed or thrown out, haha. Or how about having the lovely Mazzy, or the daring Yoshimo with you even just for a while? Looking forward! Erik
@EA1 or Erik I'm so glad to see people interested in this! I'm having good fun with it myself. Like you said, a solo Wizard Slayer is probably the ultimate challenge, especially in an SCS run. To be honest I lack the required metaknowledge of BG2, except for the earlier parts, so soon I'm going to have to test a couple of quests with another charname before l can continue with Kilbin. As to your suggestion of temporarily recruiting NPCs, I do like the idea, especially for their specific quests. And if I recruited them for other quests as well it would indeed make the run more bearable. For now Kilbin is on his own though, as I like having to think really well every step one takes. Should I really feel stuck then maybe this run could turn into an anti-arcane run. (I've always wanted to run a wizard wreckin' crew through the game, with Keldorn, Valygar, Korgan, a Wizard Slayer charname, and maybe one or two other NPCs). @Sergio, haha, blame it on @bengoshi! It's his recent, impressive progress with his Totemic Druid that made me try my hand again at a no re-load challenge.
Meanwhile I've got some (limited) progress to report on Kilbin's behalf:
This is his character record, with proficiencies and saves, at the start of the game.
Kilbin was released by his old childhood friend Imoen, but the Wizard Slayer sent her off right after she set him free from his cell. He wasn't pleased to see that the lass had become a Mage herself. He released Minsc and Jaheira and dismissed them. Being in a rush to get out of his prison, he told Ataqah the Genie that he didn't have time for him and his riddles.
The Dungeon is full of nasty traps and hostile Duergar. Individually the Grey Dawrves do not pose much of a threat but in groups they showed they can really hurt a lone, ill-equipped Dwarf such as Kilbin. He tried to separate them as a much as possible in order to fight one or two at a time. One of the Duergar was a Mage, but he didn't cause Kilbin any trouble. One hit sent the wizard panicking.
With the help of the Dryads, Ataqah was released in return for the Sword of Chaos, promoting Kilbin to level 9. He placed his first pip in Axes, and intends to specialize in that weapon upon reaching level 12. The many Mephits were generally dealt with a few at a time.
All the violence caused Kilbin to rest twice and to drink most of the healing potions he found. On the second level Kilbin recruited Yoshimo for his Short Bow and sent him packing right after that. He released and killed Frennedan but shunned the Ulvaryl the vampire as well as the forge with more Duergar including a Mage with Charm spells. He battled his way past a trio of Assassins and then found his way out of the dreadful place.
In the Promenade area Kilbin investigated the Circus and exposed Kalah without any difficulty before making his way to the Slums. There he was accosted by Brus, offered help in finding Imoen/Irenicus by Gaelan Bayle, and then led to the Copper Coronet by Brus again. He beat fight Amalas in the fighting pit, and freed Hendak. This was no small feat for the Dwarf. He had to kill various Copper Coronet Guards, including a Mage that failed to charm him. And the Beastmaster and his pets gave Kilbin a hard time.
BTW there seems to be a bug with the 'rest until healed option'. It took Kilbin five full days to recover in spite of one CLW Bhaalpower and of his 20 CON. I disabled the option.
Kilbin proceeded to explore the Sewers below the tavern. Dealing with Hobgoblins, Jellies, an Otyugh, two Carrion Crawlers and a group of Kobolds allowed him to acquire Lilarcor, and thus protection from Charm and Confusion. The sword is to be replaced at one point by the Shield of Harmony, not sure when though.
A second bug surfaced when upon returning to the Copper Coronet Kilbin found Bernard hostile for no reason whatsoever. He killed the innkeeper and I CLUA'd a new Bernard into the game.
With Lilarocor at hand, Kilbin felt safe enough to start transitioning between different city areas, and survive the many ambushes prepared for him. He ran from all these ambushes (including the Suna Seni / Arbane's Sword one), because immunity to Charm and Confusion is nice, but there are more unwanted status effects than those two.
In the Temple District Kilbin accepted to try and procure Sarles' services for the Temple of Helm. He provided the sculptor with an illithium alloy. (The real illithium isn't available to Kilbin, at least not yet, since he failed to force Neb's door, even with DUHM.) Sarles wasn't satisfied with the alloy but the Helmites were. They even tipped him a job for the Temple of Lathander: retrieving a holy ring, stolen by thieves working for the Temple of Talos, in the Slums area. Kilbin did this job as well. I think that Kilbin leveled up to level 10 somwhere around this point though I don't remember exactly when.
In the Bridge District the Dwarf 'solved' the Skinner Murders, i.e. triggered the dialogue with Vellin Dahn, fled from the Ghasts and above all the Rune Assassins, and reported to Lieutenant Aegisfield.
Also in the Bridge District, Kilbin found the men who had buried Tirdir, a poor sod he had encountered in a grave in the Graveyard District (where he reunited Wellyn with his stuffed bear and found a new ward for a mourning Paladin). Tirdir's buriers were tough and would have beaten Kilbin or caused him to flee if it weren't for his Horror Bhaalpowers.
Kilbin found a pair of Boots of Avoidance on one his foes, and procured the Silver Pantaloons via Lady Elgea and Welther. (The Golden and the Silver pantaloons are stored in a chest in the Copper Coronet for now, along with a suit of human leather armor, and Dryads' acorns.)
With the aforementioned boots Kilbin reckoned his chances against the Slavers would improve, so he paid their stronghold a visit. What followed was a messy fight against loads of strong, hardy Slaver Guards led by Captain Haegan. The Dwarf first slew their Priest of Cyric, and then Horrored various guards, including the captain, but more guards just kept coming, and even two Kuo-Toa warriors joined the fray.
Kilbin saw no other option than to retreat, back to the sewers, and into the inn. Most of the guards followed him, and are likely to linger there until the Dwarf returns, better equipped, to deal with them. He made it back into the sewers without being followed by the many guards, and found only the captain and one guard. He dispatched both with (mostly) his darts.
Inside the Slaver Compund the Wizard Slayer dealt relatively easily with the Trolls and with two Mages who were ill-prepared for battle.
Kilbin is now a level 11 Wizard Slayer who still isn't really prepared for battling Mages, and who lacks the proper attire to deal with fighters and fighter mobs. He's got about 22k GP, which is 7k short of Vhailor's Helm (which I consider using for having the simulacrum cast PfMagic on Kilbin), and his weapons and armor could do with an upgrade as well. Time to think carefully what the Dwarf's next move will be.... I feel he isn't ready to fight with Tarnor the Hatchetman & co in the sewers below the Temple District, and Mencar & co seem a bit much to ask as well. Kilbin could really use a suit of full plate though, and perhaps a better weapon than his Long Sword +1. Buying full plate from Ribald would mean being another 10k GP away from Vhailor's Helm (in addition to the current 7k).
Well well well, here I'm pondering over how to acquire a suit of full plate mail, when Mr Steelgut decides to visit the Den of the Seven Dales. He goes upstairs, sees Smaeluv the Barbarian (his companions are out of sight), and provokes him with a few darts. He descends the stairs, and guess who's right behind him? Mencar Pebblecrusher! Kilbin knows he won't stand a chance against his fellow Dwarf who is better equipped and uses potions (incl. Fire Giant Strength). So Kilbin runs outside, still pursued by Mencar, toward the southwest exit. There two Amnian Guards come to Kilbin's aid.
A tiresome dance around the fountain is carried out, in which Kilbin hurls his darts at his fellow Dwarf, the Amnian Guards (SCS improved I think) hit Mencar with their Halberds, and Mencar has eyes only for Kilbin who remains out of reach.
This could only end with Mencar's death, and it did. The killing blow was for one of the guards, and I think that's just, as they had been dealing more damage.
I understand that a second suit of Full Plate can be acquired by killing Officer Dirth in the Docks District (at no rep. loss). This shall be Kilbin's next mission. Selling the armor would bring him very close to Vhailor's Helm.
Nice Wizard Slayer runs! Loved reading through both of them! I don't like playing with pure fighters through BG1 because it's too easy (even with SCS, yes) and I don't find it as fun as playing with a Cleric, Mage or a Thief (right now I'm playing with a half-orc Cleric/Thief, and next I'll play with another F/M/T but with different tactics).
The confusion around those two is caused by a bug in vanilla BG2 in which Arbane's Sword actually gave you Stun immunity, eliminating the need to get Mazzy's sword to fight against MInd Flayers (an now in the EE it's even harder, because you can't even use Mazzy's sword with UAI since it uses opcode 319 to restrict the item to Mazzy).
Great read, great progress! I'm happy you've got lilarcor now against charm and confusion. Don't forget to equip it when nescessary. I wonder how you got past the flesh to stone trap in the sewers? I've played a lot of SCS BG2, so here's some tips/warnings if you want them:
-Planar prison has boots of haste but is incredibly hard with SCS without cheese. I needed a whole party and barely made it out alive (with only 2 party members alive) without resting - for roleplay purposes: resting 8 hours there is just silly. Reason is the cambion demon who is actually a HLA using fighter/mage beast in SCS. -Be afraid of Torgal SCS, he's OP. Best is to avoid him and just forge FOA, say 'sorry Nalia' and go. -Same for Faldorn, OP as well. Don't risk Kilbin in that fight, risk Cernd/Jaheira and make them cast insect swarm. -Same for the shade lord... But I'm sure there's an easy tactic to beat him somewhere, look it up before you attempt to take him on. -Be afraid of post-underdark Bodhi fight, SCS Bodhi is hard.
If you consider the temporary recruit NPC's plan: >Korgan for his quest and any evil quests >Yoshimo for any thief related quests >Keldorn/Anomen for Unseeing Eye/ Windspear hills >Nalia for her quest >Aerie for Haer Dalis quest >Valygar for his quest >Mazzy for shade lord quest >Edwin for any mage-related quest >Viconia for the underdark >Cernd and Jaheira for the druid quest >Imoen for the maze and Bodhi quest >Minsc for any fight against vampires for his preferred enemy: vampires and specialization in the disruptor mace >BGEE new npc's for their quests: they are fun and relatively easy
And I'd probably go for a small party of four for the endgame but that depends on your goal of actually doing a full solo.
Last point... I know you want a solo WS run, but in my personal opinion, SCS no reload SOLO is just absolutely bonkers. Ultimate challenge indeed. You could consider dualling to thief to make things a bit less frustrating and more fun (UAI is just so much fun and interesting). Just a suggestion.
Good luck! I'll keep watching you with great interest, you crazy, lovely man!
Comments
BTW Your focus on your Totemic Druid is admirable and inspiring. I will need it for my Wizard Slayer.
***
Meanwhile a brief update on Hardeth's progress. I finished yesterday's installment by stating that Hardeth was likely to explore the Southern regions and the Coastal Regions a bit more, and that's exactly what she did. South of the Nashkel Mines she gratefully accepted a green scroll of Protection from Magic from Hafiz. She did some sightseeing (and some butchering) in the Cloudpeaks areas: Sendai and her lackeys, Albert & Rufie, Dryad of the Cloudpeaks. Vax and Zal were shunned because she feared that one of them worked with Darts of Stunning, just like her. Bringing Pixie the Cat to its owner wasn't rewarded with items or XP, due to Hardeth's low CHA. She was however compensated for her good deeds; twice she ran into a Winter Wolf inbetween areas. Another interarea confrontation gave her a good scare. A pre-buffed Ogre Mage who cast a Charm Person on her before she could leave the area. Thankfully the hardy Dwarf saved vs spell.
Nevertheless this was a moment where there was nothing she could have done. It shows how vulnerable the Wizard Slayer really is, and it makes me shiver at the thought of guiding her through the Cloakwood without haste, inivisibility or free action at her disposal.
In the Gnoll Stronghold area Half-Ogres were slain and the Tome of Leadership was secured (not that it makes any difference, 6 or 7 CHA), on the South Coast Hardeth helped Charleston Nib, and in the Lighthouse Area she killed a variety of Worgs which allowed her to reach level 7, i.e. 2 APR with her trusty Ashideena, and 4 APR with her darts.
The time had arrived to investigate the Nashkel Mines, obviously the easiest of the plot quests that were waiting for her, but still one that could easily end her run... On the first two levels, she had little difficulty dealing with small groups of Kobolds without incurring any serious injuries. She makes sure to travel with an ample supply of potions, so that even if she had been hurt by the critters, she would have been able to heal herself with no problem.
On the third level she proceeded carefully over the bridge, making sure she would never be overcome by the Kobolds, and on the path that led to the final level she did the same, pulling the Kobolds toward her in small groups. SCS' better calls for help made the Kobold Chieftain and the Shaman come after her anyway. She had already slain most Kobolds (including the Chieftain after stunning him first with a dart), when the Shaman cast Horror on her. As with the Ogre Mage, she saved vs spell. (A failed save wouldn't have been as grave here because Horror doesn't end the game, because Hardeth has lots of HP, and because there weren't many enemies left.)
After having cleared the surroundings, Hardeth entered Mulahey's lair. She was immediately attacked by about six Kobolds, but Mulahey himself didn't show up yet. The Kobolds fell soon enough, and Hardeth undertook a first attempt at stunning the Half-Orc.
Unfortunately she failed, so she decided to rush past Kobolds and Skeletons that had appeared out of nowhere to aid the priest, leaving the lair before she would fell victim to a Hold Person. When she peeked inside again, she saw the summons opposite her, attacking with ranged weapons. She didn't dare rush the Kobolds and Skeletons, fearing that that would certainly be noticed by Mulahey. Instead she took the critters down with her mundane darts (a bit tedious with the Skellies with their high piercing resistance).
When the coast was clear, she attacked Mulahey a second time. This time with success. Her dart stunned him, after which he was easily dealt with in melee.
Content with her accomplishment, she traveled to Nashkel where she was thanked by Berrun Ghastkill and where she sold some loot at the local store. An assassin that was waiting for her in fornt of the Inn was carefully avoided for the time being (even though she really wants his boots in order to be more difficult to hit at the bandit camp).
At Feldepost's Inn in Beregost she made Tranzig waste some of his spells as she descended and ascended the stairs before killing him off (after Tarnesh only her second mage, not counting Mutamin who had been held first by Korax).
Hardeth still has two green scrolls of Protection from Magic (and will probably buy more scrolls, such as PfPoison, PfLightning, to deal with spiders, lighting traps etc). She could use one on Nimbul, though ideally the Assassin is dealt with help of the Amnish soldiers. There's also the CON tome in the treasure cave, for which the Sirines have to be dealt with, but I'm hesitant to use a PfMagic scroll on a not plot-relevant mission. Maybe I should use on in the Bandit Tent, just in case I fail to deal with Venkt fast enough, and save the other for the Cloakwood Mines.
Anyhow, food for thought. I might have Hardeth farm some more XP in the meantime to get her (closer) to level 8 if only for the extra HP and the Thac0 bonus. WIth no Girdle of Piercing and possibly no Boots of Avoidance, the Bandit Tent could mean trouble.
Having decided that she wasn't prepared to forgo the Boots of Avoidance, Hardeth returned to Nashkel to confront Nimbul who was still loitering in front of the inn. She waited till the Amnish Guards had arrived and then approached the assassin. Her strategy was to try to stun her opponent with her darts, and to use the 'door trick' (entering and leaving a place, in this case the store, to escape a spell from connecting).
This didn't work out. First of all, she failed to stun her foe, and secondly, the door trick didn't work on Nimbul. When she entered the Nashkel store, the assassin followed her inside. He started casting Confusion there and somehow finished casting outside, when Hardeth had fled there. Luckily (and imo deservedly) she saved vs. spell. This is something to remember though: do not rely on the door trick in SCS BGEE.
He then hurt her with a Magic Missile, but soon she had hit him enough with her darts and hammer to penalize his spellcasting. The two engaged in melee combat, and it quickly turned out that Hardeth, aided by the Amnsih soldiers, was the stronger fighter. When he fled from her in fear, she finished him off with a dart.
As it would be rather tedious to farm almost 50k XP to make it to level 8 before taking on the bandits, Hardeth traveled straight to the Wood of Sharp Teeth. She cleared the Larswood of its bandit presence, but she left the feuding Druids alone. She was waylaid by Molkar & Co but managed to leave the area just in time before Drakar's Hold Person could reach her.
In the Peldvale area she killed a few more bandits and then infiltrated the bandit organization via Raiken. At the Bandit camp Hardeth avoided a fight with Tazok, filled her coffers, and cast Protection from Electricity on herself (a green scroll she had picked up at Thalantyr's). Then she entered Tazok's tent. Her first target was Venkt. She attacked him with Darts of Wounding, of which she had only five, rather than with her many Darts of Stunning. The reason for this is that DoW require a save vs death and DoS a save vs. spell to prevent the wounding/stunning effect, and Mages' saves vs death aren't as good as their saves vs spell. Of her three darts at least one inflicted poison, and two or three must have hit the Mage, for he failed to cast another spell and resorted to attacking Hardeth with Darts. She finished him off with her Hammer, just to be sure he wouldn't trick her later.
Her next step was to speak with Ender Sai, making him leave, and quickly put on her Boots of Grounding. She had the bandits come close to her and then, 100% electricity resistant, she opened Tazok's chest. The lightning bolt trap (severely) injured a number of the bandits, making the remainder of the fight relatively easy after she put on her Boots of Avoidance again. Britik the Gnoll was the most dangerous of her foes, not very tough but hard-hitting, so he was her first victim. The others fell soon after.
She fully healed herself with potions, and then left the tent. Taugosz Khosann wasn't happy to see her, nor was the rest of the camp. She landed a couple of hits on the Black Talon leader, but soon noticed herself overwhelmed by the bandits.
She ran off toward the northwest corner of the map, allowing herself a quick escape if necessary, and managed to seduce Taugosz into a continuation of their duel there. (Most of the other bandits were archers until their ammo ran out, so they didn't walk in her way initially.) A tiring battle and various potions of extra healing later, Taugosz lie dead upon the ground. Hardeth swiftly looted his corpse and left for the FAI.
She's now tentatively exploring the Cloakwood, clad in Taugosz' full plate mail and well-equipped for a Wizard Slayer, with a nice stock of antidotes and healing potions (though only one potion of extra healing remains, two scrolls of Protection from Magic and one of Protection from Poison. The Ankheg armor and some miscellaneous loot from the Bandit Camp she sold at the FAI.
Here are her character record and inventory screen:
Surviving the Cloakwood with its SCS improved spiders is a terribly challenging mission. The most important decision for Hardeth to make is whether or not to go after the Spiders' Bane. Its Free Action effect could be a live saver in ambushes, but obtaining it is likely to be very difficult.
As she entered the much feared second Cloakwood area, she was immediately attacked by two Phase Spiders; this is expected SCS behavior, and Hardeth was well-prepared for them. Nevertheless the monsters distracted her from casting Protection from Poison on herself. Thus, when she triggered her first trap just west of Tiber, and got held in it, two Huge Spiders inflicted some poison damage, though nothing serious.
Once she saved she left the trap and slew the Huge Spiders. She then cast Prot. from Poison on herself and continued toward the second and final trap she would have to set off in order to reach the spiders' den and in order to leave the area. It's the trap southwest of the den. Along the way she ran into a single Giant Spider that strangely spat its web in the wrong direction, nowhere near Hardeth. And after she triggered the second trap (and saved against its effects), another Giant Spider appeared, moments after Hardeth had killed off a Phase Spider, and again it failed to properly direct its webspit.
I just checked but I did install the Improved Spiders component. Is the above common behavior in SCS v28? In SCS v21 (which I’m more used to) they’re always much more effective.
So it was that Hardeth could enter the den carefree, and lure the many spiders outside (preventing Centeol from hurting her with her Wand of Frost), and take them on one by one. She was up against three or four Sword Spiders, three or four Giant Spiders and two Ettercaps.
Resilient Hardeth might survive a meeting with a single SCS v21-type Giant Spider. But this battle against so many Spiders she couldn’t have fought in SCS v21 the way she did today I think.
My original plan was to lure the Spiders out in small packs of two or three, first the faster Sword Spiders and then the slower Ettercaps and Giant Spiders, and to use the 'door trick' on the latter (as mentioned in my previous post) as dangerous as that might have been. Anyway, Centeol is dead now, and Hardeth owns Spiders' Bane so she can provide herself with Free Action.
The Dwarf spent little time in Cloakwood 3. She slew two Dread Wolves and left the Shadow Druids to their business. In Cloakwood 4 Hardeth shunned Hamadryad and had a very tough battle with the Wyverns. They had her quaff many a healing potion to keep her health at reasonable levels.
The toll that fight had taken on her stock of healing potions, prompted Hardeth to return to the FAI, to do some shopping at Gellana's Temple. She also used the opportunity to ID and sell some loot. On her way back to the Cloakwood Lamalha and friends waylaid her but, just as with Molkar & Co, Hardeth decided not to fight the assassins.
Near the entrance to the Cloakwood Mines, Hardeth slew two guards and was then pursued by Drasus, shod in the much anticipated Boots of Speed. Drasus proved a very tough nut to crack. Initially Hardeth had the upper hand, but then Drasus raged - apparently he's a Berserker - and drank a potion of Frost Giant Strength. The amount of damage he then inflicted per hit was tremendous, 25+ I think. Fortunately axe-throwing Genthore and the wizards Kysus and Rezdan hadn't caught up with Drasus at that point. Due to his speed it was impossible for Hardeth to attack him with her darts, so she had to hit and heal a lot before she finally felled her foe.
Genthore proved to be much less of a hassle because Hardeth managed to stun him before he could do any serious harm.
After having slain her foe, Hardeth used one of her two Protection from Magic scrolls on herself, and with her Boots of Speed on, she rushed past Kysus and Rezdan, into the Mine. She spoke with Rill and the River Plug operator in order to save the slaves and flood the mine, but other than that she ran straight to Davaeorn, felling only those who barred her way, ignoring all others.
Davaeorn was aided by his Battle Horrors and a few Guards that had followed Hardeth downstairs, but she wouldn't let the lackeys distract her from her mission: finishing off the wizard. The spellfailure penalty and Ashideena's electricity damage kept Davaeorn from casting many spells, although he did manage to let off a Sunfire, killing one of his own Battle Horrors and one or two nearby guards.
What arrogance:
Davaeorn: Spell Failed: Casting Failure
Davaeorn: Your feeble skills are no match for my magic!
Hardeth eventually cut the wizard down in his library. She picked up his loot, spoke with Stephane and let him live, then killed off a few more guards that were blocking her way out, and finally, flooded the mine.
Hardeth has already made it to Baldur's Gate and bought Arrows of Dispelling, Darts of Wounding and a Protection from Magic scroll from Halbazzar Drin, as well as a Protection from Petrification scroll at the Elfsong Tavern. She also did the the Tremain/Casson quest for the Shield of the Falling Stars +1, and the Marek/Lothander quest for the Tome of WIS and for Marek's Eagle Bow (to be used with the arrows of dispelling in spite of non-proficiency with bows).
She also acquired the Helm of Balduran, the Dex Tome at the Thieves' Guild and the INT Tome from Ramazith, who was pretty harmless after she poisoned him with her Darts of Wounding.
And while she was at it, she also picked up the WIS Tome at Durlag's Tower. She's still missing the CON Tome, and I'm not sure if she'll be able to obtain it. In order to get it a Protection from Magic scroll is necessary what with all the Sirines and their charms, and I have only two of those. Bentan at the Firewine Ruins has one (would have to kill him for it), and there's another one in the Candlekeep catacombs but I'm not sure whether I'll have access to it.
In terms of XP, and desired items there is little more for Hardeth to do in BG city, so she'll probably just try to complete Scar's quests and return to Candlekeep.
On the top floor she succesfully lured most of Cloudwulfe's friends downstairs, one by one. First the priests, Alai and Diyab. Both were easily dealt with, in spite of their potentially lethal Hold Persons. Hardeth evaded those spells by descending the stairs behind her. Aasim also flamestruck her with his Wand of the Heavens but her lousy 8 MR protected her from harm.
Her next victim was a backstabber named Shennara, apparently an SCS v28 addition, never dealt with him in BGT or in SCS v21. Interestingly there were two Shennaras, with different loot if I'm not mistaken. Hardeth killed one upstairs and one downstairs.
After Shennara 1, Gardush, a hard-hitting Berserker, had Hardeth work for her money. Quaffing a couple of potions she never really got into trouble though. Alai, next in line, didn't hit as hard as Gardush, but definitely more often. It didn't help him though, as he too fell in close combat.
Naaman, in my experience the most dangerous of the pack, was poisoned with Darts of Wounding. Severely hampered in his casting, he couldn't do much against Hardeth, even though he postponed his doom by going invisible once or twice.
This left only Cloudwulfe, a Doppelganger and Shennara the 2nd. The Doppelganger was dispatched in two hits. Shennara was somewhat difficult to deal with due to his impressive collection of invisibility potions, and dangerous as he landed two nasty backstabs (for circa 35 damage each). He was finally dealt with out of Clouwulfe's sight. Cloudwulfe himself was stunned with a Dart of Stunning and subsequently vanquished.
Thaldorn was slain for his involvement, before Hardeth returned to report her findings to Duke Eltan. With his book of great value she traveled to Candlekeep. I'm used to having my Charnames actually travel to Candlekeep, and not to being teleported there. It nearly ended my run. SCS places the Ogre Mages from one of the houses in BG City to just in front of the gates of Candlekeep. Hardeth landed right in the middle of the four Ogre Mages, and had to save thrice vs spell in order to avoid being charmed before she got inside the citadel. Admittedly, Charm Person with its +3 save bonus isn't the most awe-inspiring spell for a Dwarf with a saving throw vs spells of 7 (thanks to the Helm of Balduran), but still...
I'm not sure if casting Protection from Magic before speaking to Eltan will result in arriving at Candlekeep under the protection of that spell.
In Candlekeep Hardeth avoided all fighting. Rieltar et al were ignored, as were the Shapeshifters and Prat and his gang below Candlekeep.
The Tomes of STR and WIS were lost to Hardeth, as she hadn't the means to open the chests (crypts?). She did manage to open the chest that contained a green Protection from Magic scroll, raising her total number of PfMagic scrolls to three.
I was surprised that Prat & co could be so easily avoided. She simple ran past them following the eastern route, cast Protection from Petrification just in time to be able to safely pass the Basilisks, and left the catacombs. Interestingly, Prat and a Sword Spider followed her outside, but she didn't wait for them to catch up. She ran staright to the area border and was lucky that the Ogre Mages werent't there (I assume they were by the gate).
Still a bit sad about having missed a STR tome and a WIS tome Hardeth decided use one of her three PfMagic scrolls to help herself to the CON tome in the treasure cave. She simply entered the cave, took the treasure and left. Again, no unnecessary bloodshed. Hardeth now enjoys a CON score of 20 and thus regeneration
In Baldur's Gate, she rescued Duke Eltan from Rashad the Doppelganger, narrowly escaping a fight with the monster and a horde of angry Flaming Fist battle priests.
In the Iron Throne building Cythandria's Golems were lured away to lower floors, with difficulty it must be said. And even Cythandria alone proved to be more than a handfull. With her Darts of Wounding Hardeth successfully interrupted the wizard's spellcasting a number of times, but the latter nevertheless managed to Horror the Dwarf. Numerous invocation spells hurt Hardeth badly, and she was lucky to outrun two out Cythandria's three Sunfires. When she regained her composure, she found herself severely injured. She healed with potions and then finally slew the wizard in melee combat.
Three fights now separate Hardeth from saving the Sword Coast: Slythe & Krystin, the coronation event, and the final battle. If she kills Bentan for his green PfMagic scroll she'll have one scroll for each fight, which looks pretty comfortable. Nevertheless I'm going to take some time to properly think these fights through.
To be continued...
I've loggined in today only to provide you with a stunning revelation I've had.
One thing, absolutely changing the whole understanding of how BG2 with SCS can be beaten by a Wizard Slayer.
You need... only two items.
1. Vhailor's Helm
The thing is not a copy of yours that can fight, no. The THING is that the copy can endlessly use quick items of yours. Every use of Simulacrum = every use of your quick items, even if you have only one charge of them. And the way to being unkillable by all BG2 SCS casters is open ->
2. Protection from Magic scroll (you can buy at the Adventure's Mart)
That's it. Put this scroll intointo one of your quick slots. Use the Vhalor's Helm. Let the copy use the PfM scroll on you. Voila. Nobody except for the mages who can cast a Spellstrike (granted the certain SCS component is installed) are useless for all the long duration of the spell.
And you can repeat it after every rest. During the whole game. Only one scroll is needed. Oh my God! The same you can do with the scroll of Protection from Undead.
This idea has simply changed my whole understanding of how to beat BG2 with a wizard slayer.
Currently with my Totemic Druid I'm having a blast with the Vhalor's Helm. I don't even need to recharge wands of heaven - the copy uses them, not CHARNAME. Protection from Petrification, Protection from Undead, Protection from Magic. All these rare items and otherwise available for only several uses per the whole game, with that Helmet can be used after each rest.
For a wizard slayer, this is priceless.
Good luck, my friend. You can do it! I believe.
I'm now even more curious about your next installment. Yahiko seems to fare pretty well!
As to using the Helm to have the simulacrum use consumable items without actually exhausting them, there are people who consider this unacceptable cheese. See for instance the comments by @Tisamon, @SionIV, @blackmamuth, and @fighter_mage_thief: here (first post, just below the Weidu log), here, here, and here respectively. I must admit though that these are just a few opinions. I'm not sure if there's any sort of consensus amongst no-reloaders here on here on the forums. Maybe I'll make a new topic/poll about it.
I've seen the issue mentioned on other forums as well btw.
Personally I'm not sure whether to consider it cheese, as I once commented here.
Having said all this, I wonder if it will work with the green scroll of Protection from Magic anyway. In my current game it seems to be impossible to cast PfMagic on someone else. Hardeth directly casts the protection on herself. If this is also the case in my BG2EE install then I won't be able to have the simulacrum cast on Hardeth anyway.
If Hardeth makes it into Amn and she can use the scroll on herself with the helmet's simulacrum, I might accept if for a few situations where no other way of protecting exists.
I'm not sure if I'm forgetting anything, but the following effects are all more or less synonymous to death: Charm, Sleep, Hold, Feeblemind, Stun, Confusion, Panic, Maze and Imprisonment. I think a Wizard Slayer and a Totemic Druid such as your Yahiko can obtain protection against many of these effects through items, though not all. (I think btw Yahiko also gets Chaotic Commands, I seem to remember my Shapshifter got that spell.) Where no protection is obtained only PfMagic scrolls or perhaps Slayer change would work.
For a Wizard Slayer the Shield of Harmony seems to be indispensable. A glance at it in NearInfinity seems to tell me that the shield protects against Charm, Hold, and Confusion effects, and possibly against Stun as well.
@elminster, you're quite adept at working with NearInifinity, could you confirm to me whether the following value Type: Immunity to effect (101), Target: Self (1), Power: 0, Unused, Effect: Paralyze (109) means that the Shield protects against Stun as well?
Type: Immunity to effect (101)
Target: Self (1)
Power: 0
Unused: 0
Effect: Paralyze (109)
Timing mode: Instant/While equipped (2)
Dispel/Resistance: No dispel/bypass resistance (0)
Duration: 0
Probability 1: 100
Probability 2: 0
Unused: 00 45 78 70 69 72 61 74 h
# dice thrown/maximum level: 0
Dice size/minimum level: 0
Save type: ( No save )
Save bonus: 0
Special: 0
Ah, and @elminster, while you're at it could you see if I missed any other effects the Shield protects against? The item description mentions only immunity to "charm, confusion, domination, and hold", but that might not be a complete list. I would be very thankful, and your findings could call for a correction of the item description, and thus help others as well.
She opened with a Dart of Wounding that slowed Slythe down. Nevertheless he was faster to follow her than Krystin was, probably because the latter was too busy buffing herself. The fight between Hardeth and Slythe involved lots of running around because the assassin seemed to have a considerable amount of invisibility potions he was inclined to use generously in order to hurt Hardeth with his vicious backstabs.
Hardeth took advantage of the fact that Slythe was slowed down a bit by her darts' poison, and hit him several times more when the distance was sufficient. Even so, Slythe too, managed to land a few nasty hits before the poison finally finished him off.
Hardeth didn't bother with seeking out Krystin and is now wondering how to tackle the coronation event. Honestly I don't see many options for her but to cast PfMagic on herself and hope for the best, unless I recruit a couple of NPCs to help out. Will do some testing with my Shapeshifter before continuing...
***
After various attempts to solo with another character - my Shapeshifter, without using summons - I decided to give the Ducal Palace a go with Hardeth. I needed to test-play a bit because the coronation event plays out a bit differently in SCS v28 from what I'm used to in SCS v21. First of all, the Doppelgangers aren't just 6 Greater Doppelgangers but they're divided in different types: two traditional Greater Doppelgangers, two Doppelganger Assassins, a Doppelganger Shaman, and a Doppelganger Mage. Especially the latter two proved to be dangerous. Secondly, it was impossible to go upstairs or downstairs during the fight, so luring the Doppelgangers away wasn't going to be an option. Thirdly I wanted to know if I could simply kill the noblemen before they would shapeshift into Doppelgangers. I found out that the conversation in which Charname is to present the evidence won't trigger then, so you get stuck. Fourthly my test-playing taught me that once all Doppelgangers are down and Belt is presented the evidence against Sarevok, Belt will fight Sarevok, which obviously doesn't tend to end well for Belt (and thus for Charname).
There was very little that Hardeth could do other than casting PfMagic from a green scroll and using her DUHM Bhaalpower. No summons, no traps, AoE spells, nothing... Honestly, I was quite nervous when I loaded the savegame. I considered picking up a few NPCs to help out, but I wanted this playthrough to be a strict solo run, at least for the BG portion, just to see if I could.
Anyway, Hardeth waited for all the Flaming Fists to enter the reception room, making sure they would act immediately after the Doppelgangers were to show their true colors. Then she cast the aforementioned spells, and entered herself. She was standing close to the Doppelgangers but relatively far from Belt and Liia Janneth when the speeches started.
As soon as battle broke out she drew aggro from one of the Doppelganger Assassins, but she didn't pay it much attention even though it hit her often enough. Her focus was on the Shaman and the Mage. With her Darts +1 she tried to disrupt both caster Doppelgangers as much as possible. Her Darts of Wounding and Stunning were unlikely to be of much use, since the Doppelgangers have ridiculously good saves (all in the 2-3 range), so Darts +1 with their +1 Thac0 bonus seemed the better option.
Meanwhile she had to trust in Belt, aided by two Fist officers, to keep the three other Doppelgangers (two Greater, one Assassin) under control. Liia Janneth didn't really do anything (even though she's a high level Mage), and she died early on.
Hardeth's strategy worked reasonably well. She managed to neutralize both the Shaman and the Mage. The Mage is especially dangerous: if he succesfully confuses or panics Belt and the Fist officers, then battle is surely lost. The Fist appeared to be quite hardy, and they acted intelligently, occupying almost all Doppelgangers, which made it less likely for them to all go after Belt, who by the way is good Fighter.
When the Mage started running away, and three Flaming Fist lay dead on the ground, Hardeth decided to join the fray. She kept the Assassin and the Shaman busy, while Belt was hacking away at a Greater Doppelganger. A fourth Fist officer fell but Hardeth slew an Assassin and Belt his second Greater Doppelganger, and not much later the Shaman.
This left only the second Doppelganger Assassin as a direct threat, because the Mage had fled to one of the antechambers, and it wouldn't cast any more spells anyway. Hardeth, Belt and two remaining Fist officers finished the Assassin off (not sure who dealt the killing blow). Hardeth then used the opportunity to heal Belt - who wasn't even that injured - with her two Cure Light Wounds Bhaalpowers, before she went after the Mage. The last Doppelganger ran around a lot, which had the fortunate side-effect of luring Belt out of the reception room into one the antechambers, thus removing him from Sarevok's sight. Hardeth managed to take down the Doppelganger Mage with her +1 Darts, after which she presented the incriminating evidence against Sarevok.
Belt remained in the antechamber and Hardeth played cat and mouse for a while in the reception room with Sarevok (you can all guess who played the cat and who the mouse), until Winski teleported in, and out with Sarevok.
Still protected from Magic, Hardeth let Belt teleport her to the Thieves Guild where she hastily replenished her stock of Darts, and then pushed on to pursue Sarevok. Her speedy action allowed her to make it through the maze without being hurt by the traps or by the monsters inhabiting it.
In the Undercity she took a detour, along the southerns paths, so that she wouldn't have to deal with the Iron Throne assassins. In front of the entrance to Sarevok's sanctum she met with Tamoko who despite Hardeth's best efforts to be nice, wouldn't be appeased.
Overconfident thanks to her Protection from Magic, Hardeth then foolishly accepted the challenge. Tamoko is a formidable warrior-priestess with dangerous spells and plenty of healing potions and spells, all in all difficult to kill. She summoned a Skeleton Warrior and was aided by more undead (Ghasts, Skeletons and even Skeleton Warriors, all dwellers of the Undercity).
Hardeth failed to kill Tamoko, and when her Protection from Magic wore off, she even had to flee from the Kara-Turan as the latter cast a Hold Person her way.
Tamoko didn't follow Hardeth into the temple, but a number of the undead did: four Ghasts, a Skeleton and a Skeleton Warrior. Particularly wary of the Ghasts' paralyzing attacks, she ran around a lot and managed to take the monsters down one by one with her darts. The Skeletons were dealt with after that. Thankfully this could all be done without gaining the attention of Sarevok and his lackeys.
Hardeth has just healed herself with potions and is now mentally preparing for the final battle.
I'm not sure if Hardeth deserved it. The final battle didn't really go as I would have liked and took a lot longer than necessary. Hardeth brought only one Scroll of Protection from Magic (never killed Bentan for the last one). It meant that she would have to deal with both Angelo and Semaj in relatively rapid succession or risk facing one of the two without being protected any longer.
The battle started off quite well. Angelo was the first to appear; he was debilitated with Arrows of Dispelling, and subsequently dispatched relatively easily. He did injure Hardeth, but that's something she had expected. Healing potions helped her recover.
She then carefully approached the platform and encountered Semaj and Diarmid. Hardeth dispelled Diarmid's Haste and tried to provoke Semaj in wasting his most dangerous spells and his MMMs. Then Tazok appeared from invisibility, causing her to retreat and try to take the Half-Ogre down with mundane darts. Her best darts she wanted to save for Sarevok and Diarmid. This was quite parsimonious of her, as befits a Dwarf perhaps; she had hundreds of special darts in her pack.
For some reason Tazok got fed up with pursuing Hardeth. He returned to the platform. Hardeth approached a second time. This time Semaj, seeing how his spells weren't any good, came to Hardeth. She dispelled his protections with another Arrow of Dispelling, and poisoned him with Darts of Wounding before she hammered him down.
With both Mages (and their animated skeletons) dead, Hardeth approached the platform a third time. Unintentionally she entered into Sarevok's line of sight. He came rushing toward her, with Tazok and Diarmid in his wake. What happened next was, I think, crucial for the outcome of the fight. Hardeth shot an Arrow of Dispelling at Sarevok, and she didn't miss. His Haste was dispelled, making her confrontation with her three remaining foes infinitely more bearable. (I can't begin to imagine how she would have dealt with perma-hasted Sarevok right behind her and unable to distance herself from him whilst also under attack from Diarmid, a formidable archer, and Tazok.)
Hardeth knew she had to kill Diarmid and Tazok before she would be able to hurt Sarevok. Initially Diarmid was the more annoying one, hurting her with his ranged attacks, but he soon ran out of arrows, so Tazok, already badly injured, became Hardeth's first target. When he fell to her darts, she had to melee-attack the Skeleton Warrior that rose from the Half-Ogre's body, because her darts wouldn't do much good against the highly resistant skeleton. Surprisingly she managed without getting hit much herself.
Diarmid proved to be remarkably resilient and well-supplied with healing potions. Hardeth spent about 60 Darts of Wounding on him before he fell.
I didn't even count the amount of darts that were needed to bring Sarevok down. Sometimes Hardeth would lend two or three hits in a row, but there were also occasions that she wouldn't score a single hit in five attempts.
Here Hardeth's character record and inventory screen right after she slew Sarevok.
@Gotural, thanks for your support
(1) Dwarf and Halfling seem to be the best races thanks to their great saving throws. Saves should be relied upon as little as possible of course, but it seems unfeasible to rule out all risk. Mid-level Hardeth was waylaid by an Ogre Mage whilst transitioning between areas. Before she could leave the area, the Ogre Mage cast Charm Person at her. She saved vs spell; a Half-Orc might not have survived that encounter.
Between the races I mentioned I prefer Dwarf because imo 18/xx STR > 19 DEX for a warrior even though missile attacks are great in this game (see point 3). Besides, 20 CON gives regeneration, which is nice for a solo warrior.
At higher levels (in the course of BG2) saving throws should become so low that you'll never have to make any.
(2) Rolling for 18/00 STR might well be worth it because Wizard Slayers are barred from using such STR increasing items as the Gauntlets of Ogre Power or STR belts, and they are the only characters that cannot acquire the STR tome below Candlekeep. (All other classes and kits can use the red potion sold at the Nashkel Carnival.) A Half-Orc WS should go for 19 STR.
(3) Ranged attacks are very appealing in BGEE, where the spellfailure penalty now applies to both ranged and melee attacks. Darts might be the best choice in this respect. There are plenty of Darts of Wounding and Darts of Stunning in the game as well as other enchanted darts, and 3 APR -- 4 with specialization and the level 7 extra 1/2 attack -- really helps with inflicting the spellfailure penalty and it also increases the odds of causing poison/stun effects. Another advantage is that darts can be launched while a shield is equipped. That being said, I'm not discarding bows and crossbows: arrows of Dispelling have been a lifesaver for my WS in the final battle, as you can read above, and taking into account the excellent short bows that BG2 has to offer one could consider investing proficiency pips in it.
(4) In terms of melee weapons, there are various equally interesting options imo. I went with the Ashideena for its electricity damage, which is nice to interrupt stoneskinned casters, but Varscona with its cold damage has that benefit as well. Other good melee weapons include the Stupefier and the Dagger of Venom but that's nothing new: they are nice for all classes that can wield them. Spiders' Bane is great if only to provide your Wizard Slayer with Free Action (the only way to get Free Action!).
Before beginning my playthrough I read that dualwielding is recommended to get as much leverage out of the spellfailure penalty in melee. Having relied more on ranged weapons, and preferring the extra protection from (enchanted) large shields, I haven't missed the ability the dualwield, though I can imagine investing pips in Two Weapon Style in BG2.
(5) It's important to know which battles to fight and which battles to shun, more so for a Wizard Slayer than for any other class or kit I think because Wizard Slayers have no 'escape button' when things are going south: no rage ability, no invisibility potions or spells, no potions of clarity, no oils of speed to get yourself out of trouble. Due to item restrictions the Wizard Slayer is slightly less resilient and slightly less deadly than most warriors, but they should still do well enough in 'physical' fights. Such fights needn't be avoided; on the contrary, they're generally good sources of XP.
It's the fights with casters that require the utmost care. I only fought casters when I had too (plot battles), when I had little to fear from them (Tarnesh while my WS was level 6) or, on three occasions, when the loot was too good to pass up: Bassilus for the Ashideena, Nimbul for his Boots of Avoidance to survive the Bandit Camp, Ramazith for his tome that rose Hardeth's INT to 16.
(6) Green protection scrolls are your friends. Note that they require 9 INT, something to keep in mind at character creation. Protection from Electricity and (to a lesser extent) Fire can be very useful for deal with traps, and the Protection from Magic Scrolls are simply invaluable. Afaik there are five in the game: Thalantyr sells one, Hafiz south of the Nashkel Mine area gives you one, Bentan in the Firewine Ruins area can be killed for one, Halbazzar Drin sells one, and one of the chests below Candlekeep can be bashed with DUHM for one. Six isn't enough for all the neccessary and/or lucrative Mage fights, so it's important to decide when to use them. The various Cloakwood Mine wizards, Cythandria, Krystin, the Ducal Palace Doppelgangers, and the final showdown wizards Angelo and Semaj are all extremely dangerous and justify the use of a scroll. The same goes for the Sirines, if you want to pick up the CON tome.
(7) Since you can't do all Mage fights protected against magic, it's important to use your surroundings when you aren't protected. I did the fight with Zalimar Cloudwulfe and his friends (including various casters) by alternating around a lot between the different floors.
(8) It's recommendable to play a bit with your reputation in order to get the most convenient Bhaalpowers. This is something I failed to do. Believe me, I would much rather have two Horrors than two Slow Poisons, and I wouldn't mind trading a Cure Light Wounds for a Larloch's Minor Drain, which is a nice spell interrupter.
Just to give you smiles after a hard fight:
Also, I agree with every word of your Wizard Slayer's tips and tricks.
This is confirmed here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/43896380:
"There does not appear to be a magical way to prevent Stun in vanilla BG. The Gibberlings3 fixpack, however, makes the target of a Free Action spell immune to stun. Normally, Mazzy's short sword, Barbarian/Berserker rage, and Chaotic Commands (with respect to the stun caused by Psionic Blast) prevent it. If you're getting slaughtered by Power Word: Stun or Symbol: Stun, however, you may want to try Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, or Spell Immunity: Conjuration for Symbol: Stun and general Power Word immunity."
http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Status_Effects says that the protection to Stun in BGEE can come from the Free Action, and the Shield of harmony doesn't give Free Action.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/27083/#Comment_27083 - @Avenger_teambg said that the immunity to Stun remained in BGEE as a part of the Free Action
@Corvino here http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/234151/#Comment_234151 says basically the same thing - protections from stun and hold are different:
Stun (Mazzy's sword)
Hold (Arbane's sword)
So, no, the Shield of harmony doesn't protect agains stun. Although, the Protection from Magic spell will do the trick for you
BTW, I don't consider using the Vhailor's Helm in
- a no-reload
- solo run
- with SCS
- with a wizard slayer
to be a cheat and/or cheese. This is the ultimately difficult challenge and you should use every item available to beat it. @bbear , for e.g. , used the Helm in his run with a level-1 party.
I'll have more this weekend I think. Glad you're interested in this playthrough, and thanks for letting me know!
With Hardeth’s experience still fresh in my memory, I had high hopes for my next Wizard Slayer, but he “died” at the hands of Naaman (Dire Charm), and so did his successor! Ouch...
Kilbin is similar to Hardeth, but not the same. I decided to go with Lawful Evil which would allow him to use the Human Flesh Armor in BG2 (should he succeed in acquiring it), and Lawful Evil is fitting because Kilbin is ruthlessly selfish. Another difference with Hardeth is that Kilbin is a more cautious character, especially as the game progresses. This manifests itself for example in his decision to focus on Long Swords rather than War Hammers. After all, getting Ashideena is a riskier undertaking than getting Varscona. I’m going to make this a bit shorter than my report of Hardeth’s run, simply because Kilbin’s approach to many situations/battles has been similar to Hardeth’s. The emphasis shall lie on the things that Kilbin consciously did differently and the things that panned out differently than wanted/expected. I hope it’s not too repetitive after Hardeth. :P
Kilbin’s first steps in the wide open world were all more or less predictable for a non-reloadable solo warrior Charname:
- killing Shoal (Kilbin reached level 3),
- helping Melicamp (Thalantyr didn’t let Kilbin down, helping the Dwarf reach level 4),
- mini-questing in Beregost,
- traveling from the Melicamp/Bassilus area to the South Coast to bring Brage in,
- picking up Ankheg Armor in Nashkel and buying a PfPetrification scroll at the Carnival,
- killing Baslisks; dealing with Mutamin is always a tricky proposition, but Korax proved himself reliable in holding the Gnome (Kilbin reached level 6),
- completing the FAI quests (picked up the Golden pants this time),
- buying Full Plate Mail at the Thunderhammer Smithy and a Shield +1 in Nashkel (after two Rings of the Princes, the Ring of Wizardry and the Ankheg Armor had been sold),
- stunning and slaying Greywolf (Kilbin chose to leave the area and return when he saw Greywolf quaff potions of freedom and speed),
- hunting Ankhegs,
- helping Tenyaget her bowl back (Kilbin reached level 7).
At level 7 Kilbin felt himself ready for the Nashkel Mines, but before venturing there, he paid Bentan a visit by the Firewine Ruins. The Dwarf spoke with the Ilmater worshiper, lying that he was an adherent of the God of suffering as well. When Bentan walked off, Kilbin froze him with his third Dart of Stunning, just before the man would have disappeared; then killed him and looted his corpse for a Scroll of PfMagic.
Two more Scrolls of PfMagic were acquired from Thalantyr and Hafiz, and Kilbin used one of his three scrolls to acquire the CON tome in the Lighthouse Area. Conveniently the assault on Bentan lowered his reputation to 9. It would earn him a Larloch’s Minor Drain (a potentially useful spell interrupter) and two Horrors as Bhaalpowers later on. Kilbin carefully made his way through the mines, stunning with his darts the most dangerous Kobold (a Shaman) and, after various misses, Mulahey.
Back in Nashkel Kilbin had the soldiers slay Nimbul for him whilst keeping a safe distance himself, and Darts of Wounding helped the warrior finish off Tranzig in Beregost.
He then went bandit hunting. In Tazok’s tent he relied again on his Darts of Wounding to dispatch the wizard Venkt; the remaining bandits offered little resistance of consequence in melee combat.
In the Cloakwood Kilbin ran from Molkar’s and Lamalha’s ambushes. When he spoke with Aldeth Sashenstar in Cloakwood 1, Seniyad didn’t appear. Kilbin decided to kill him anyway. In the second Cloakwood area the Giant Spiders aimed better with their web spits than they had done when faced Hardeth. He had to save vs spell once when one of the beasts tried to web him. Kilbin stunned the beast with his darts. This encounter had him contemplate the thought of simply fleeing the area at the earliest convenient moment. But it coccured to him that if he did, he might die regretting the abandonment of Spiders’ Bane. So he entered and left Centeol’s Den repeatedly, drawing her beasts out. (This would prove to be the right decision when he was ambushed later on by Giant Spiders while transitioning, and also in the caves below Candlekeep.) The good thing is that the Giant Spiders didn’t web-spit in melee range, so when Kilbin awaited them outside Centeol’s den he could easily dispatch them.
The killing of Wyverns made Kilbin reach level 8 (his last level up) right before reaching the Cloakwood Mine. By the mine entrance Kilbin drew out Drasus alone, and battled him for the Boots of Speed. It took him a good number of healing potions, but in the end he prevailed. He then cast PfMagic on himself and rushed past Genthore, Kysus and Rezdan, and past the many mercenaries in the mine, never bothering with such trivialities as saving the miners or flooding the mine, till he found Davaeorn. The fight with the wizard didn’t cause the Dwarf any problems, because with his Webs, Stinking Clouds and Sunfires Davaeorn neutralized pretty much all his lackeys but his two Battle Horrors.
Kilbin then traveled to Baldur’s Gate, where all he did was “shopping” for the Shield of the Fallen Stars +1, Eagle Bow, Tomes of Dex, Wis, and Int, Helm of Balduran, and lots of potions and darts. He also made a side trip to Durlag’s Tower where he acquired a second Wis tome. Interestingly Ragefast went hostile on Kilbin, in spite of the latter’s attempts to convince the mage that keeping a Nymph was a mistake. Must have a been low CHA thing. The wizard paid for his aggression with his life.
Clearing out the Seven Suns for Scar was easy as always. Alas the same could not be said of the Iron Throne clique. Kilbin’s solution was to trick Naaman (as said above, the bane of my previous two Wizard Slayers) a few floors down, out of harm's way. The wizard wouldn’t cross Kilbin again, which enabled the latter to finish off the rest of the gang without having to worry much for his safety. Staying close to the stairs, Kilbin managed to elude spells cast at him by the priests and by Alai without needing a scroll of PfM. One by one he took the members of Cloudwulfe’s gang down.
Casting PfMagic on himself before having Duke Eltan teleport him to Candlekeep would be of no avail to him when facing the Ogre Mages ambush, because the protection would expire upon reaching the gates of Candlekeep. This is something I had already tested before. Likewise, immediately casting PfMagic in front of the Mages takes too long to prevent them from casting their Charm spells (tested this as well). So this ambush is the only unavoidable confrontation in SCS BGEE where a Wizard Slayer can’t do anything at all about his predicament except hope for the best. I decided that if Kilbin were to fall here, I would give up my attempt at SCS no-reloading a solo Wizard Slayer through the Trilogy, at least for now. Tymora smiled upon the Dwarf as he saved against two Charm Persons, and his Magic Resistance countered two more.
Below Candlekeep, Kilbin acquired the game’s last PfMagic scroll but he had to forgo the Str Tome and the third and last Wis Tome. Further down the road to freedom he avoided having to deal with the Elminster, Gorion et al. Doppelgangers by telling them he believed they were real, and then rushing past them.
In the caves, Prat and co. never saw Kilbin passing by (the dialogue didn’t even trigger). The spiders and their webs were dealt with using Spiders’ Bane, and the Basilisks couldn’t hurt Kilbin as he had protected himself from Petrification. Outside he grudgingly cast PfMagic on himself to prevent the lingering Ogre Mages from taking their chances with him, waste of such a precious scroll really.
Either way, an arrow of dispelling followed by many darts made it impossible for Cythandria to cast any spells, making it relatively easy for Kilbin to finish her off.
In the Undercellars Kilbin failed to lure Slythe alone to the Blushing Mermaid; Krystin came with him. What is more, back in the Blushing Mermaid, it was eventually Krystin who appeared, not Slythe. This was something the Dwarf didn’t want because he wasn’t protected against her magic. It prompted Kilbin to leave the inn, and to his horror he saw Krystin even following him outside.
Kilbin left the area and entered the Undercellars via the sewers. He hoped to find only Slythe in the Undercellars, not Krystin. However, in the middle of the Undercellars, he encountered both. (Even the conversation triggered again, which tells me this was a bug.) Kilbin successfully lured Slythe into the sewers where he slew the assassin, two pesky Phase Spiders notwithstanding.
Still in the sewers, the Dwarf ran past the Ogre Mage and Carrion Crawlers he never killed for Scar, climbed to the surface and went straight to the Ducal Palace, healing himself with potions on the way.
Inside the Palace he cast PfMagic on himself, and spoiled Sarevok’s party, dispatching the Doppelgangers with Duke Belt and the Flaming Fist officers, and presenting the incriminating evidence against Sarevok to Belt. Kilbin’s role in the battle had been primarily to pelt the Doppelganger Shaman and Mage with darts so that they couldn’t cast their AoE magic on Belt and the Fist. Belt was lured to one of the antechambers before he would attack Sarevok. (Attempts with predecessor Wizard Slayers to Horror the Doppelgangers hadn't proved to be a very reliable strategy.)
In the Undercity, for some reason there was no sign of Tamoko, thankfully, but three Skeleton Warriors followed Kilbin inside Sarevok's lair. He finished those off first. After that, he engaged Angelo in melee and laughed when the Fighter/Mage’s weapon broke. Angelo retreated and Tazok took his place. Kilbin was satisfied to see himself capable of standing his ground in melee combat against the powerful Half-Ogre (healing himself with potions while he was at it), and eventually besting the brute.
Angelo showed himself again when Kilbin’s protective sphere against magic, which had been up still from the Doppelganger fight, expired. Kilbin instantly cast his last PfMagic, renewing his protection just before Angelo could Slow him. The Dwarf then slew Angelo in close combat.
Kilbin’s next step was to try and draw either Diarmid or Semaj toward him, but he came too close to the platform, got noticed by Sarevok, and was instantly attacked by all three remaining foes. The Wizard Slayer (who by the way had chosen to become proficient in Short Bows) easily dispelled Sarevok’s and Diarmid’s Haste with Arrows of Dispelling. And of his first target, the wizard Semaj of course, whom he wanted to finish off before his PfMagic would expire, he dispelled various Stoneskins, a Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Mirror Images and a Fireshield before felling the wizard with Arrows of Biting. None of the arrows inflicted any poison damage except one.
Diarmid on the other hand, while more resilient than Semaj, proved to be much more vulnerable to the arrows’ poison than Semaj, so he didn’t last long either.
Not caring to bother with the Skeleton Warriors that rose from from Semaj’s and Diarmid’s corpses, Kilbin went straight for Sarevok. The latter didn’t fail a single save against Kilbin’s Arrows of Biting (even though I had read somewhere that he might), but Kilbin didn’t need him to. He had plenty of arrows to secure victory for himself.
BG2 mages are very dangerous. This was probably one of the very first mages in the second game for Hardeth and she already didn't survive. Just shows that this run is one of the most difficult. The starting dungeon in BG2 with SCS is very tricky. Without all the gear a character is usually much weaker than when he faced Sarevok. Too few healing potions, no lovely darts, no good armour and weapons... RIP Hardeth!
@bengoshi, what you say is true. It's superdifficult without mind and movement protections. Nevertheless going after that mage to get the Girdle of Bluntness she wasn't even going to use, was a bit stupid. Thankfully Kilbin is a bit more careful... I'm already worried that in Athkatla, two or three area transitions will already trigger the ambushes, before he has any protective gear.
Was sad to hear about Hardeth. Very happy about Kilbin and hope he'll be careful enough to survive the shadows of Amn... Please don't play tired or angry, he's got to be a true survivor! This really is the ultimate challenge for a veteran BG player. Btw it wouldnt be crazy to recruit the odd npc once and a while before letting them go again, right? It would make the run more fun and more bearable for the lone dwarf (not to mention for you), even if he is not much of a people person. Think about the fun times Kilbin and Korgan could have before their evilness would get Korgan killed or thrown out, haha. Or how about having the lovely Mazzy, or the daring Yoshimo with you even just for a while?
Looking forward!
Erik
As to your suggestion of temporarily recruiting NPCs, I do like the idea, especially for their specific quests. And if I recruited them for other quests as well it would indeed make the run more bearable. For now Kilbin is on his own though, as I like having to think really well every step one takes. Should I really feel stuck then maybe this run could turn into an anti-arcane run. (I've always wanted to run a wizard wreckin' crew through the game, with Keldorn, Valygar, Korgan, a Wizard Slayer charname, and maybe one or two other NPCs).
@Sergio, haha, blame it on @bengoshi! It's his recent, impressive progress with his Totemic Druid that made me try my hand again at a no re-load challenge.
Meanwhile I've got some (limited) progress to report on Kilbin's behalf:
This is his character record, with proficiencies and saves, at the start of the game.
Kilbin was released by his old childhood friend Imoen, but the Wizard Slayer sent her off right after she set him free from his cell. He wasn't pleased to see that the lass had become a Mage herself. He released Minsc and Jaheira and dismissed them. Being in a rush to get out of his prison, he told Ataqah the Genie that he didn't have time for him and his riddles.
The Dungeon is full of nasty traps and hostile Duergar. Individually the Grey Dawrves do not pose much of a threat but in groups they showed they can really hurt a lone, ill-equipped Dwarf such as Kilbin. He tried to separate them as a much as possible in order to fight one or two at a time. One of the Duergar was a Mage, but he didn't cause Kilbin any trouble. One hit sent the wizard panicking.
With the help of the Dryads, Ataqah was released in return for the Sword of Chaos, promoting Kilbin to level 9. He placed his first pip in Axes, and intends to specialize in that weapon upon reaching level 12. The many Mephits were generally dealt with a few at a time.
All the violence caused Kilbin to rest twice and to drink most of the healing potions he found.
On the second level Kilbin recruited Yoshimo for his Short Bow and sent him packing right after that. He released and killed Frennedan but shunned the Ulvaryl the vampire as well as the forge with more Duergar including a Mage with Charm spells. He battled his way past a trio of Assassins and then found his way out of the dreadful place.
In the Promenade area Kilbin investigated the Circus and exposed Kalah without any difficulty before making his way to the Slums. There he was accosted by Brus, offered help in finding Imoen/Irenicus by Gaelan Bayle, and then led to the Copper Coronet by Brus again. He beat fight Amalas in the fighting pit, and freed Hendak. This was no small feat for the Dwarf. He had to kill various Copper Coronet Guards, including a Mage that failed to charm him. And the Beastmaster and his pets gave Kilbin a hard time.
BTW there seems to be a bug with the 'rest until healed option'. It took Kilbin five full days to recover in spite of one CLW Bhaalpower and of his 20 CON. I disabled the option.
Kilbin proceeded to explore the Sewers below the tavern. Dealing with Hobgoblins, Jellies, an Otyugh, two Carrion Crawlers and a group of Kobolds allowed him to acquire Lilarcor, and thus protection from Charm and Confusion. The sword is to be replaced at one point by the Shield of Harmony, not sure when though.
A second bug surfaced when upon returning to the Copper Coronet Kilbin found Bernard hostile for no reason whatsoever. He killed the innkeeper and I CLUA'd a new Bernard into the game.
With Lilarocor at hand, Kilbin felt safe enough to start transitioning between different city areas, and survive the many ambushes prepared for him. He ran from all these ambushes (including the Suna Seni / Arbane's Sword one), because immunity to Charm and Confusion is nice, but there are more unwanted status effects than those two.
In the Temple District Kilbin accepted to try and procure Sarles' services for the Temple of Helm. He provided the sculptor with an illithium alloy. (The real illithium isn't available to Kilbin, at least not yet, since he failed to force Neb's door, even with DUHM.) Sarles wasn't satisfied with the alloy but the Helmites were. They even tipped him a job for the Temple of Lathander: retrieving a holy ring, stolen by thieves working for the Temple of Talos, in the Slums area. Kilbin did this job as well.
I think that Kilbin leveled up to level 10 somwhere around this point though I don't remember exactly when.
In the Bridge District the Dwarf 'solved' the Skinner Murders, i.e. triggered the dialogue with Vellin Dahn, fled from the Ghasts and above all the Rune Assassins, and reported to Lieutenant Aegisfield.
Also in the Bridge District, Kilbin found the men who had buried Tirdir, a poor sod he had encountered in a grave in the Graveyard District (where he reunited Wellyn with his stuffed bear and found a new ward for a mourning Paladin). Tirdir's buriers were tough and would have beaten Kilbin or caused him to flee if it weren't for his Horror Bhaalpowers.
Kilbin found a pair of Boots of Avoidance on one his foes, and procured the Silver Pantaloons via Lady Elgea and Welther. (The Golden and the Silver pantaloons are stored in a chest in the Copper Coronet for now, along with a suit of human leather armor, and Dryads' acorns.)
With the aforementioned boots Kilbin reckoned his chances against the Slavers would improve, so he paid their stronghold a visit. What followed was a messy fight against loads of strong, hardy Slaver Guards led by Captain Haegan. The Dwarf first slew their Priest of Cyric, and then Horrored various guards, including the captain, but more guards just kept coming, and even two Kuo-Toa warriors joined the fray.
Kilbin saw no other option than to retreat, back to the sewers, and into the inn. Most of the guards followed him, and are likely to linger there until the Dwarf returns, better equipped, to deal with them. He made it back into the sewers without being followed by the many guards, and found only the captain and one guard. He dispatched both with (mostly) his darts.
Inside the Slaver Compund the Wizard Slayer dealt relatively easily with the Trolls and with two Mages who were ill-prepared for battle.
Kilbin is now a level 11 Wizard Slayer who still isn't really prepared for battling Mages, and who lacks the proper attire to deal with fighters and fighter mobs. He's got about 22k GP, which is 7k short of Vhailor's Helm (which I consider using for having the simulacrum cast PfMagic on Kilbin), and his weapons and armor could do with an upgrade as well. Time to think carefully what the Dwarf's next move will be....
I feel he isn't ready to fight with Tarnor the Hatchetman & co in the sewers below the Temple District, and Mencar & co seem a bit much to ask as well. Kilbin could really use a suit of full plate though, and perhaps a better weapon than his Long Sword +1. Buying full plate from Ribald would mean being another 10k GP away from Vhailor's Helm (in addition to the current 7k).
A tiresome dance around the fountain is carried out, in which Kilbin hurls his darts at his fellow Dwarf, the Amnian Guards (SCS improved I think) hit Mencar with their Halberds, and Mencar has eyes only for Kilbin who remains out of reach.
This could only end with Mencar's death, and it did. The killing blow was for one of the guards, and I think that's just, as they had been dealing more damage.
I understand that a second suit of Full Plate can be acquired by killing Officer Dirth in the Docks District (at no rep. loss). This shall be Kilbin's next mission. Selling the armor would bring him very close to Vhailor's Helm.
I've played a lot of SCS BG2, so here's some tips/warnings if you want them:
-Planar prison has boots of haste but is incredibly hard with SCS without cheese. I needed a whole party and barely made it out alive (with only 2 party members alive) without resting - for roleplay purposes: resting 8 hours there is just silly. Reason is the cambion demon who is actually a HLA using fighter/mage beast in SCS.
-Be afraid of Torgal SCS, he's OP. Best is to avoid him and just forge FOA, say 'sorry Nalia' and go.
-Same for Faldorn, OP as well. Don't risk Kilbin in that fight, risk Cernd/Jaheira and make them cast insect swarm.
-Same for the shade lord... But I'm sure there's an easy tactic to beat him somewhere, look it up before you attempt to take him on.
-Be afraid of post-underdark Bodhi fight, SCS Bodhi is hard.
If you consider the temporary recruit NPC's plan:
>Korgan for his quest and any evil quests
>Yoshimo for any thief related quests
>Keldorn/Anomen for Unseeing Eye/ Windspear hills
>Nalia for her quest
>Aerie for Haer Dalis quest
>Valygar for his quest
>Mazzy for shade lord quest
>Edwin for any mage-related quest
>Viconia for the underdark
>Cernd and Jaheira for the druid quest
>Imoen for the maze and Bodhi quest
>Minsc for any fight against vampires for his preferred enemy: vampires and specialization in the disruptor mace
>BGEE new npc's for their quests: they are fun and relatively easy
And I'd probably go for a small party of four for the endgame but that depends on your goal of actually doing a full solo.
Last point... I know you want a solo WS run, but in my personal opinion, SCS no reload SOLO is just absolutely bonkers. Ultimate challenge indeed. You could consider dualling to thief to make things a bit less frustrating and more fun (UAI is just so much fun and interesting). Just a suggestion.
Good luck! I'll keep watching you with great interest, you crazy, lovely man!