Yesterday saw Thani make some good progress. She decided to set sail to Brynnlaw rather than tying up the remaining loose ends on the mainland I mentioned in my previous post. In Brynnlaw she set Claire free and she secured Perth's wardstone that would give her access to Spellhold. Warned by Calahan that Perth wouldn't surrender the stone willingly, she entered DUHMed and GWWed in the hopes getting in a few hits (be it only elemental damage from the FoA), before he would auto-cast PfMW. Her immediate attack after he went hostile was so quick that she killed him in a few hits.
In Spellhold she relied on her Shield of Harmony when facing Yuan-Ti and Umber Hulks (Tuigan Bow for fireshielded Yuan-Ti mages), and on her Helm of Charm Protection + Mace of Disruption to take care of the local undead.
Other, non-enchantment) spells were useless thanks to Thani's steadily increasing MR and her good saves (-1/-1/3/3/0 with the Helmet of Defense or that of Balduran). I'd like those saves to be even better though, so that even spells that bypass MR and that impose a save penalty would be of no use against her. Even when she was fighting Bodhi, the 'Undead destroyed' message showed after she hit the vampire with the improved MoD (of course she wasn't really destroyed).
The fight with her brother was something I worried about, remembering fights where charname would see party members get chunked, or die himself. However, without party members, and thus without clones to annoy her except of course one of Thani herself, the battlefield was much easier to oversee. Besides Irenicus was remarkably reticent with his spells (again no Planetar), especially toward Thani as he focused more on the inmates than on Thani.
When she noticed her FoA's elemental attacks were actually hurting doubly fireshielded Irenicus, she equipped the Dragon Helm and cast 2x PfFire on herself so that she would only suffer limited fireshield damage, and she brought him to the point of surrendering (for the moment).
Despite having the Improved Irenicus in Spellhold SCS component installed, the battle had a vanilla feel to it. I was particularly surprised that he didn't do everything to kill Thani (even if focusing on Wanev, Aphril and the likes made sense because they're pesky spellcasters and Thani is a 'mere' fighter). I ought to do a new solo playthrough in my BGT install with more mods, just to see whether it is indeed significantly harder as I believe it to be. Thani killed the Murderers, returned to Brynnlaw but didn't stay long (even though I really like that place, reminds me of coastal towns in Morocco, sweet memories). With Saemon she set out for the mainland, but she stranded in the Sahuagin city, where she slew the Rebel Prince for the Sahuagin King, and left for the Underdark. She dispatched a Drow warrior party and finished off various dozens of Elementals to reach level 33. The Drow, even aided by Kuo-Toas after Thani went too far east, were easily dispatched. They can be difficult to deal with for a high level wizard due to their high MR, but much less so for epic-level Thani who relied on GWW and Hardiness and who had Drow-like MR herself.
Thani also released the trapped souls. Alchra Diagott could have harmed her with ADHW and perhaps a gated Fiend, but he never got to cast those spells, as GWW'd Thani finished the lich off in no time. Raevilin caused her some potential trouble when his Teleport Field moved her to the Myconids, but she timely equipped the Shield of Harmony to prevent her from getting confused. For the Deep Gnomes she dispatched the Balor, with difficulty, as she suffered fire damage for every hit. The fight had her use the Rod of Resurrection for the first time for a quick heal.
Thani didn't risk the Beholder lair; after the Unseeing Eye she was especially wary of the Hive Mother and of Elder Orbs. She also shunned the Illithid city because of its inhabitants' stun ability, a status effect that Thani has no immunity against. Anticipating one of the Ust Natha quests the did visit the Kuo-Toa tunnels, where she killed two Gauths and a Beholder, plenty of Kuo-Toa, including the rapidly regenerating prince with greater GWWs (she hadn't defiled the pools yet) and only after a RoR-heal. The Demon Knights weren't summoned because Thani could offer no animal sacrifice. I guess that solo Wizard Slayers cannot forge Crom Faeyr, unless I missed a weapon or item with an animal summoning ability accessible to Wizard Slayers. She slew the Drow guarding the gate, which was hard due to the presence of Glabrezus and two summoned Aerial Servants. The fight cost her two more charges of one her RoR.
Thani then went and had a chat with Adalon, after which she entered Ust Natha as a faux Drow. She bought the Earth Elemental staff for the summon. On her first mission with Phaere and Solaufein, everything went terribly awry after she had killed the Drow hating adventurers and reached the entrance to the Illithid city. All looked well as Thani was felling the Mind Flayers while Solafein was dealing with the Umber Hulks, but then Solaufein died! I've never had that happen before, and I must say I didn't even consider the possibility as I thought he wouldn't die because he was too important for the plot. Anyway, it had Phaere turn hostile on Thani, so the Dwarf in disguise saw no other option than to kill Phaere as well.
Thani went back to Ust Natha to see if people would still welcome her. It was either that or killing Adalon to make it out of the Underdark. The citizens were hostile, but thankfully not as overwhelmingly as after messing up the Ust Natha final quest. (I have the upgraded Ust Natha defenses component installed.) The city became something like a ghost town: the drow who are supposed to be outside, became hostile and were slain, but no other armed forces appeared and the buildings were either empty (fighter societies) or inaccessible (Qilue's home, the Aboleth was seemingly asleep). All the quests became unavailable. Thani did fight her way into the Temple of Lolth, past a Handmaiden of Lolth, a number of very strong berserking Matron's Guards, and Guardian Golems, toward Adalon's eggs.
Thani returned the eggs to Adalon, was escorted by her to the Underdark exit, battled many Drow, on her way to the surface, agreed to help the surface Elves and traveled back to Athkatla. Drizzt and the Shadow Thieves were called upon to aid her against Bodhi, quite unnecessarily because with the Helm of Charm Protection and the Improved Mace of Disruption the (non-SCS) vampires couldn't hurt her. Thani did get level drained after she had bashed a lock with her FoA and forgot to re-equip the MoD, but she still had a scroll of Restoration, so she restored herself, rested and finished off the vampires.
When she left the Graveyard district, Thani was waylaid by the Chosen of Cyric, but she managed to bully them into leaving her alone using her Slayer Transformation. The fight could have been interesting but there was the risk of stun. The XP cap in sigh as Thani's 4k XP removed from lvl 39, with lvl 40 coinciding with the cap. And since there isn't any gear she really needs (she bought the Helm of Brilliance just because there wasn't anything better to spend her gold on), her next destination is Suldanessalar...
Thani didn't bother with the forest areas (North Forest etc). Instead, she traveled with Bodhi's Lantern to the Elven ruins, to see Elhan. The two then entered Suldanessalar via the Forest of Tethir. She cleared pretty much the entire city of its invaders using nothing but brute force: GWWs (she has 14 at level 40), the occasional Hardiness (of which she has 3), and quaffing lots of healing potions because the Golems do hit hard. The Rakshasa on the other hand had no magics that could hurt her. The hardest fight was with Suneer, who had an Iron Golem, a Glabrezu, a Maharajah (I think) to aid him and two Dark Planetars he summoned, thankfully the second not before the first was killed. She left the building twice to heal herself (her foes didn't follow her outside).
The last to stand against her was the wizard himself. I became aware that normally this would be very unlikely, but one of the huge boons of playing a dwarven Wizard Slayer is that at higher levels their MR and saves are so good that magic becomes less dangerous than physical attacks. (At lower levels one is more item dependent. Thani used the Shield of Fyrus Khal a lot, for its spellturning ability, and once she cleared the Druid Grove the Shield of Harmony.) She inflicted the spellfailure penalty on Suneer when she though he was still PfMW, and finished him off with arrows.
Nizi the Black Dragon was confronted with the Vhailor simmy, two lesser earth elementals and two lesser fire elementals, summoned from the elemental staves. Thani would attack with GWWs (often dealing only minimal elemental damage, if any), get battered by the dragon, and retreat to heal while the summons would distract the dragon.
One time it dealt brutal damage with its Black Dragon Breath, and I think Thani survived only thanks to saving v breath to mitigate the acid damage.
Two RoR heals kept her going, while she shrugged of Acid Arrows and Insects cast her way, until a final GWW did the monster in. One of the summoned fire elementals was still alive.
At the tree of life she rushed Irenicus with GWW and must have hit him a few times, before he put up loads of protections, dropped a ADHW on her (against which she saved), then stopped time and summoned a demon, a Fallen Planetar and an Efreeti. She dealt with those first, out of her nemesis' sight, as she had to wait out some of Irenicus' protections anyway. It was satisfactory to her that meanwhile Irenicus failed at casting one of his spells, and later when the two were facing each other, again. She finished him off
In procuring Bhaal's tears in Hell Thani went with what I consider the most appealing options, alignment changes not being an issue (she's LE anyway). This meant: - Evil solution at the Wrath Trial: +2 to STR; - Good solution at the Greed Trial: +2 to saving throws; - Good solution at the Selfishness Trial: +10% to Magic Resistance (the loss of DEX might be remedied at Watcher's Keep); - Evil solution at the Trial of Fear: +2 to CON; - Good solution at the Trial of Pride: +20% to Fire, Cold and Electrical Resistance. She had a bit of a scare at the Fear Trial in spite of having the Dragonslayer sword equipped (the Nymph Cloak isn't usable by WS), when she was spotted by the Beholders, including an Elder Orb. The floating eyes followed her back to gate. Lack of focus on my part could have ended her run there. First of all, when I unequipped the Dragonslayer sword and put Ilbratha back in its quick weapon slot, I somehow missed the fact that I had Ilbratha, in which Thani had no proficiency, now equipped as my main weapon instead of the FoA, so she was fighting with less APR, worse Thac0 and lower damage output.
Secondly, the Elder Orb lowered her MR to a mere 4. She got seriously injured and was unable to heal due to an Anti-Magic Ray (an ability that she as a Wizard Slayer was jealous of), so all she could do was to flee into one the trial chambers. This she did, but not after the Elder Orb cast a PW: Kill at her. Her 4 MR blocked the spell. However when I watched in the Selfishness chamber, I noticed she still had 86 HP, so the spell wouldn't have killed her anyway.
The break she had in the Selfishness chamber allowed her to re-equip the FoA, and to heal before she would finish off the Elder Orb and a Gauth.
Thani rested before placing the final tear in the portal, so as to be well-prepared for the final showdown against Irenicus. I haven't played SCS v28 before (at least not up to this stage of the game, am much more used to SCS v21), and I hadn't played vanilla BG in years, so I was very surprised to see the battle start off with Slayer Irenicus surrounded by different types of demons.
Apparently the "Improved Irenicus in Hell" component was dropped. I didn't really remember what kind of behavior to expect from smarter (but not improved) Irenicus. Instinctively I had Thani immediately retreat to the south, and that turned out to be a good move because first of all it placed her out of Irenicus' line of sight when he cast a Time Stop which he pretty much wasted doing nothing, and secondly, only one of the demons (a Balor) followed her down there, together with Slayer Irenicus.
Thani equipped the Sword of Balduran in the off hand (no proficiency in long swords but +10% MR brought her total MR to 104). Initially she tried to battle Irenicus directly with GWW, but his high regeneration and damage output, plus the Balor's damage, taught her that that wasn't going to work. So she took on the fireshielded Balor first (even equipped the 40% Fire Reistance providing Helm of Brilliance for that purpose, and cast PfFire on herself from a green scroll for 110% Fire Resistance).
When the Balor was out of the way, she tried again to GWW Irenicus, but he kept renewing his PfMW all the time. So she chose to kite him and save her GWWs, let his PfMWs expire until he had none more, and then took him on. This worked, Irenicus fell soon when he had no more protections against her GWWs.
Thus, SoA came to a happy end for Thani. I must say that my current install isn't as hard as my BGT install, but nevertheless I feel satisfied with my effort. It's been ages that I've made it into ToB in a minimal reload game, and I never managed in a no-reload game. My best effort till now was with a solo elven Swashbuckler/Mage multi, but she got decimated against Irenicus and his minions in hell, in a much harder setup. Especially the absence of SCS Improved Vampires (due to conflicts with BG2EE) and of improved Irenicus in Hell (because it ws dropped from the latest SCS version), makes a big difference, as does the fact that I'm not playing with aTweaks' pnp demons.
Woaw congratulations ! You did it ! It's such an impressive performance, not only you beat SoA SCS no-reload, but you actually did it with a solo Wisard Slayer !
Thanks @Gotural! It's like you said though. The hardest part was early SoA, when Thani didn't have a number of important items yet. I can imagine ToB becoming harder because the XP advantage will diminish, and Thani's AC and physical resistance aren't really good.
edit: thank you too @EA1! Have you been making any progress?
Ok, things are still going smoothly for Thani. She survived Illasera and the first challenge.
For the Illasera fight, which in SCS should not be underestimated, Thani conjured up her Vhailor's simmy and using the elemental staves, the both of them summoned air, fire and earth elementals, four in total, before Illasera and her Black Reavers appeared.
She had the summons (incl the simmy) attack Illasera and ran to the south, away from the impending squirmish as far as she could. The summons seemed to survive an ADHW, and then one of the Black Reavers cast a Time Stop. Thani was out sight at that moment. The Black Reaver gated in two Fiends.
Thani moved back to the battle scene, step by step, hoping to find and engage Illasera only, but the first enemies in sight were two Reavers: warrior types, one of them an archer type, the other a Kensai. She killed the first, and was intent on doing the same with the second, but then Illasera appeared. The Dwarf attacked but her weapons were ineffective. Meanwhile Illasera and the Kensai hit hard, requiring Thani to use a charge of one of her RoR. She then decided to take on the Kensai, and a second Reaver (a roguish type) first.
She succeeded at the task she had set herself to but once she was done she still wasn't alone with Illasera because yet another Reaver had found her, a Mage. Thani didn't let the wizard distract her, relying as always on her saves and her MR (and hoping they wouldn't be lowered). The Mage was fireshielded which made attacking her a bad idea anyway. What followed was a hard fight, in which both Thani and Illasera suffered multiple blows, and in which Thani got drained of 4 XP levels (I didn't notice Illasera cast Energy Drain, but it's the only explanation I have). It caused Thani to replace the DoE with the IMoD in the off hand. One of a various GWWs enabled Thani to fell Illasera, which prompted the Black Reaver mage to leave.
In the Pocketplane she restored herself (still had a couple of Restoration spells in her scroll case), brought Sarevok back to the world of the living only to dismiss him right after that, and then she rested. Once she was fully rested she undertook the first challenge. She had to kill lots of commoners, Elven archers (against the likes of which she protected herself with the Reflection Shield), and finally Duke Eltan, Ellesime and Aran Linvail. She nearly killed Eltan but had to heal herself; when she returned to finish the job, Eltan was uninjured again. She GWWd him down, taking lots of damage from Linvail and a summoned Aerial Servant.
She had to heal again using the RoR, before she could proceed to dispatch the AS and then Ellessime. She waited with Linvail because he was fireshielded. Even after his Fireshield expired he proved a tough nut to crack. He was hasted, backstabbed for x6 damage, and even pulled the Mislead trick on her (i.e. forcing Thani to first kill the clone before she could attack him, while he kept on stabbing her). After another charge of the RoR and after bringing the clone down, she managed to finish him off though.
Time to go and explore Saradush... though not much, because a weekend filled with an extraordinary amount of gaming is coming to an end.
This is so amazing that all I can do is just bow to your brilliance!
I've always believed in your success but to finally get a confirmation of beating Irenicus by a solo wizard slayer in a no-reload SCS run is priceless.
This would enter the list of all-time great BG playthroughs if there was any. You mentioned one day a run from the bioware site when a wizard slayer soloed BG up till beating ToB but it wasn't with the SCS. Now Thani will be a reference character and you will be a reference player for every other fellow BG no-reloaders.
Congratulations! Thank you for sharing all this with us!
@Elrandir and @bengoshi, thanks a lot for your appreciation of my efforts There haven't been too many views I think; people are probably more into IWD atm, which would be understandable.
I must repeat, the hardest part was probably BG1 with no protection against status effects such as charm, hold (until Spiders' Bane) or confusion. The same goes for the first half of BG2, when you have to work hard to get those immunity granting items. Later on it became relatively easy with Thani's huge XP advantage over her foes (HLAs etc).
There might not be any updates this week or the next, because I want to play a normal game of ToB without reload restrictions, and take some notes before I go any further with Thani. I do consider playing another WS through BGT with all kinds of mods (including aTweaks), especially if Thani doesn't make it. Or maybe I won't, we'll see. I also started a Priest of Talos run a while back, and I feel like playing with him a bit more.
Btw bengoshi thanks for your view of Thani as a reference Wizard Slayer. I'm really hoping that Yahiko will be for Totemic Druids what you consider Thani to be for Wizard Slayers. Love your run!
As commented in my previous post, I began a Priest of Talos BGT run after I started having doubts about the state of my BG2EE install when I only encountered vanilla vampires instead of SCS ones as I expected. For some reason I feel like continuing it. Maybe I just need a break from all this epic-level gameplay and from the hacking and slashing. Besides I feel I need to post this now, before my memory of this run becomes too blurry. I felt like playing a solo Cleric because I notice that not many people do it, and I like trying different things. Like Thani, Urval is an evil Dwarf (a chaotic one even, as befits a priest of Talos). This screenshot is from when he had recently reached lvl 3 (forgot to take a screenshot at lvl 1):
Very nice stats for a Cleric, and it was very my first roll(!); only changed the stats.
The most important thing to note in terms of mods that alter gameplay is that I'm playing with SCS v21, Ascension, aTweaks and, since I'm playing a Cleric, Divine Remix. The latter mod alters the existing priest kits and adds a string of new ones to the game. Each kit's access to divine spells is decided not, like in vanilla BG, by the question whehther you're a Cleric or a Druid, but rather by spell spheres that are related to the deity's portfolio in accordance with pnp. Priests of Talos have: - Major access (all spell levels) to the spheres of all, animal, astral, chaos, combat, elemental, healing, necromantic, summoning, war, weather - Minor access (up to spell level 3) to the spheres of creation, divination, protection, time - No access (no spells) to the spheres of charm, guardian, law, numbers, plant, sun, thought, travelers, wards. I don't know very well which spells belong to which spheres, and I haven't checked, so there's a surprise element each time my priest gains access to a new spell level. For example, there was no Hold Person nor Silence 15' Radius for Urval when he got access to spell level 2. Here you can see the innate abilities that Stormlords of Talos get:
Although I'm playing with weapons and weapon styles for all, I decided to respect the original restriction to blunt weapons and slings, though I might make one exception for axes, and I will permit Urval to specialize in a given weapon style. I somehow picture Urval dualwielding clubs/hammers/maces/axes. I'll probbaly not go the flails route, in order to prevent ending up with the FoA and the DoE in BG2. The item upgrade and underrepresented items mods actually offer interesting options for clubs and maces I think. *** Urval started with out with AoF, Bless, Cause LW, Command, Cure LW, Curse, Detect Evil, Detect Good, Faerie Fire, Magic Stone, PfE, PfG, Sanctuary, Shillelagh, and Strength of Stone as his first lvl spells. He didas many simple quests as possible in and around the FAI, Beregost and Nashkel. Sanctuary was used to keep him safe from harm. Generally this was a succesful strategy, though not always as it's difficult to predict when the sphere will dissipate exactly.
Thus he easily reached lvl 3, which opened the following lvl 2 spells: Aid, Beast Claw, Chant, Charm Person/Mammal, DUHM, Find Traps, Flameblade, Know Alignment, Resist Fire/Cold, Slow Poison, Spiritual Hammer. Not a great selection of spells, although probably the most important thing is that DUHM is there. Urval's first major purchase was the Helm of Charm Protection in Beregost for over 4k GP, made possible by the sale of wands. He was lvl 4 when he went Basilisk hunting. He reached lvl 5 after killing the first few Basilisks, and with it he gained access to Animate Dead. His other tier 3 spells are: Call lightning, Cause Blindness/Deafness, Cause Disease, Cause Mediukm Wounds, Cure Blindness/Deafness, Cure Disease, Cure Medium Wounds, Dispel Magic, Hold Animal, Miscast Magic, Moonblade, NPP, PfE 10' Radius, PfFire, PfG 10' Radius, Remove Curse, Remove Paralysis, Summon Insects, Unholy Blight, Zone of Sweet Air. This is actually a nice selection of spells. He would have to rest and memorize Animate Dead in order to use the skeletons against the basilisks and against Mutamin, but then he would no longer be protected from petrification. Therefore he decided to recruit Korax and have the Ghoul attack the Gnome, while the Dwarf himself was protected by Sanctuary. This worked nicely.
Urval reached lvl 6 in Mutamin's garden, and lvl 7 at 55k XP by having Skeletons fight by his side against Ankhegs and against Tenya (gotta help them good, Talos-worshipping fishermen).
With the 4th tier spells available to Urval, the fun really began. His level 4 spells are: Animal Summoning I, Call Woodland Beings, Cause Serious Wounds, Cure Serious Wounds, Death Ward, Holy Power, Lesser Restoration, Neutralize Poison, Poison, PfLightning. All in all not a bad selection. I would have liked to have Free Action and Defensive Harmony for the skellies, but the (aTweaked?) Woodland Beings are a great aid. They charmed Bassilus and set him up against Zargal and his friends. (Later the nymphs would also cause strife between the Hobgoblins).
With the Ashideena Urval now wields a Hammer that befits a Stormlord of Talos. Using Sanctuary Urval managed to bypass the very dangerous (aTweaked) Sirines to pick up the CON tome, raising his CON to 20. He bought the Claw of Kazgaroth for its missile protection and save bonuses against a negligible save v death penalty. (After all a Dwarven Cleric with 18 CON gets insane save v death bonuses.) With skeletal help, and that of the occasional Nymph, Urval slew Greywolf and Tarnesh, and cleared the Wilderness Lake area, earning him Bjornin's Medium Shield +1, and the Cloudpeaks areas. He also also acquired the CHA tome and he dealt with Charleston Nib and Captain Barge in a goodly manner. At the Thunderhammer Smithy Urval bought a suit of full plate mail, and at the Nashkel Carnival he picked up the necklace of Missiles, just in case his lack of firepower would cause him trouble in the Nashkel Mines. (In hindisght this seems like divine intervention by Talos himself, as future events would demonstrate. I never buy that necklace.) In my experience the Nashkel Mines are harder with SCSv21 than with v28: more Kobolds... Already on the second floor, he got swarmed, but thanks to good equipment (full plate, claw of kazgaroth, girdle of piercing, ring of protection +1) he survived the ambush and prevailed over the Kobolds.
Things didn't get friendlier on the third level. Urval opted for Sanctuary and tried to get to the final level as quick as possible. This was very difficult because the Kobolds may nit have been able to attack him, they followed him. Urval had to literally zigzag his way to the fourth and final level.
Down on the fourth level he hurried toward the mine exit, where he dispatched the slimes and attempted to rest. Kobolds found him, so he had to fight. As such this wasn't a problem, but a misclick had Urval leave the mines without being able to get back in via the same route.
It meant going back to the Nashkel Mines area and encountering a horde of Kobolds upon entering the fourth level. Two charges of the Necklace of Missiles were used to deal with the critters.
Urval ordered two Skeletons to wait outside Mulahey's den, and summoned a Nymph and two more Skeletons inside the lair. The Nymph failed to charm Mulahey, so Urval relied on the door trick to prevent himself from getting held. Mulahey eventually followed Urval outside, where Urval and his skeletons beat the Cyricist down. (The only spell Mulahey managed to cast was a Command, but Urval saved against it.)
This was a bit tricky because I didn't know whether Mulahey would try to turn Urval's skeletons (like Bassilus does for example). Inside the lair, the skeletons and the Nymph with her entanglements and charms were a great help against Mulahey's minions. Nimbul wasted most of his magics on Urval's summons before the Dwarf, aided by a Nashkel Guard, beat him down.
Tranzig was done in by a skeleton. Lamalha and her amazons were made harmless by two timely summoned Dryads, making that encounter a very enjoyable one, with Urval making the priestesses' spells and the thieves' darts of wounding hurt their own companions.
Urval is currently a lvl 7 Stormlord of Talos with circa 90k XP, so he needs another 20k for his final level-up in BG1. His AC is currently -5 but with a -15 modifier for missile attacks, which should help against the bandits. Unfortunately one of my mods, I suspect Hard Times, removes a number of very good items from the game. The Cloak of Displacement is for example unavailable at the Ulgoth's Beard Inn, the Half-Ogres on the bridge to the Gnoll Stronghold dropped Bracers of AC8 instead of Gauntlets of DEX, and Meilum drops a katana but no Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise. (I thought this had to do with the Item Randomization mod, but I uninstalled that one.)
Hard Times is the one that hideously removes the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise. I always install it after the Randomiser so it removes the huge amount of +1 weapons while the Randomiser takes care of the other stuff.
(I thought this had to do with the Item Randomization mod, but I uninstalled that one.)
i think it randomizes @ installation so unstalling won't help
u need to reinstall the game
i think item randomizer is the best mod for making the game harder it nulifies all of the metaknowledge so u can not just go and take the best weapons/gear @ the beginning of the game
i always knew that wizard slayers are hardcore : )
@CrevsDaak and @zur312, I uninstalled Item Randomization for a playthrough I wanted (and still want) to novelize, more convenient because I didn't want to have to explore each and every area for desired items. Hopefully I don't have to reinstall the game. I always used the randomization option where items are randomized at the start of each new game not for a single game install (not sure if that matters). Urval did find the CHA tome in one of the caves near the Gnoll Stronghold, the Honorary Ring of Sune and Talos' Gift boots on Mulahey and the Boots of Avoidance on Nimbul, so that all sounds pretty vanilla. Will keep an eye out for any seemingly misplaced items.
Yeah Wizard Slayers are more badass than I thought Solo or in a small party (2-3) they seem pretty viable, though I'm worried about my WS' crappy AC and limited damage resistance.
thanks @bengoshi, never used to play Dwarves but I've come to like them a lot @zur312, I always play on core rules. I think with many classes/kits core or insane shouldn't make too much of a difference, but for my current WS it would. She already takes a lot of physical damage simply because 60% physical resistance (Hardiness + DoE) and AC -5 to -7 doesn't really cut it.
@zur312, it's true that if you play on insane you have a bigger responsibility in avoiding damage rather than simply taking it and hoping for the best. But to most classes and kits, the game does offer several items and spells that make your characters become highly or fully resistant for a time or even permanently immune to all kinds of effects (such as status effects, elemental damage, magic, physical damage). Thus, insane or core difficulty stops making much of a difference: enemies simply take longer to kill.
Because of the above I have a soft spot for the 'challenged' kits, particularly Beastmaster, Wizard Slayer, Monk, Kensai, and Shapeshifter, for their rather severe kit restrictions. The thing with these gimped classes and kits is that you can't simply pick up the good items/spells with them and deal with your foes. No, you really have to be creative, to improvise and try out new strategies. There are other classes/kits that may be considered weaker for other reasons: plain Thief, maybe Assassin for lack of skill points, Transmuter (for lack o Abjuration spells), plain Druid, and maybe the Totemic Druid as well, although @bengoshi has shown us in his run with Yahiko that the Totemic Druid can be more than viable and that those spirit animals have long been underestimated: Yahiko doesn't even tend to buff them if I'm not mistaken.
In your example of the dragon, making a full party 100% fire resistant might be impossible (or more likely not worth it because you don't want to sacrifice precious spell slots to PfFire spells). So good positioning, meleeing only with well-protected, resilient party members, use of summons as decoys, are important aspects as well of course on insane.
on insane enemies dont take longer to kill but kill u faster
Not if you're a wizard with multiple casts of Stoneskins, PfMW, Spell Immunities, ADHWs, Mantles etc, especially with Vecna, Amulet of Power, Improved Alacrity, Time Stop. Or to a lesser extent a Barbarian or Paladin with AoF (Paladin only), Hardiness & DoE for 80+% physical resistance, and with equipped or innate immunities to all kinds of status effects and the right potions at hand. I think, and it sounds logical to me, that insane difficulty hits the already gimped classes and kits I mentioned in my previous post the hardest. I might consider a solo playthrough with SCS and other difficulty enhancing mods on insane difficulty, but with a powerful class/kit combo, not with a Wizard Slayer who can't use potions, rings, etc that make him deadlier and/or more resilient in battle. And the same goes for a Kensai who can't equip any armor, a Beastmaster without access to weapons and armor that give important protections, or an unmodded Shapeshifter who can't wear any armor and whose (Greater) Werewolf form simply can't hurt many of the stronger opponents.
also for your runs i think it would be cool if u could record some parts at least boss fights
that would indeed be cool though I wonder how many actually have the time to check out those vids. (I also haven't the equipment needed for recording btw).
i5 processor is enough to record baldur's gate and i think some i3 could do it too
as for the stoneskin/pfmw yes but those are spell and spell can be dispelled/u can run out of time and so on than hits matter also if u are a fighter with no spell protections hits matter double
Urval went on with the plot quests: first the Bandits. The Dwarf wasted an oil of speed and many a sling bullet on Tazok, in the hopes of taking the bandit leader down for the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise. However, Urval failed to kill Tazok before the latter could congratulate him with his fighting skills and walk off. Unfortunately I have no screen shots of the battle inside the tent. I'm using FRAPS and apparently I stopped the taking of screenshots rather than starting it. Anyhow, as this is quite an experimental run, I decided to not try my usual cleric tactic of entering while invisible, positioning charname in a corner where Raemon can't see them and summoning Skellies. Instead, I had Urval buff up with spells (PfE, Holy Power, DUHM) and potions (Magic Shielding and Oil of Speed). Urval's AC was -5 but with a -15 modifier for missiles (thanks to full plate, Medium Shield +1, Boots of Avoidance, and Claw of Kazgaroth), so he was very difficult to hit. He also had his Storm Shield up so that he could use the lightning trap on the chest to weaken his foes. The buffs helped him hit his enemies with more ease; unbuffed Urval tends to have difficulty killing things. The strategy worked well enough. He made sure to first take down Venkt and then Britik. When the majority of his foes were down, he cast Animate Dead to speed things up. He fled the camp, concluded some business at the FAI and in Beregost (selling loot, buying healing potions). Cloakwood was next. Urval helped Seniyad and found Gurke's Cloak. He timely cast PfPoison on himself, slew the incoming Phase Spiders and, after having quaffed a Potion of Freedom, two Huge Spiders to reach level 8 (at 110k XP his final level in BG1). This took away the incentive to help Tiber, so Urval simply pushed toward the Mine, ignoring the Druids and the Wyverns. Since, as said before, I've been experimenting during this run, and minimizing "cheese", I had Urval take some risks with Drasus & Co. First of all, he scouted the entrance while under Sanctuary.
When he spotted four not so friendly looking men, he retreated and summoned allies: two Dryads, a Hamadryad, and two Skeletons. Urval then showed himself to all four men (rather than using the fog of war to lure only Drasus and/or Genthore to the bridge). He retreated when they went hostile. Attempts at charming Drasus with the Woodland Beings failed, and shortly after that some of them were confused and/or petrified through Chromatic Orbs by Kysus. Thus Urval arrived at a point where things didn't look too well for him, and he had to consider retreating. But then one of the Woodland Being charmed Genthore. Urval had him and the Skeletons attack and kill Drasus, allowing Urval to put on the Boots of Speed.
Genthore, Urval (protected by potions of Magic Blocking and kept alive with healing potions), and new summons then managed to slay the wizards in melee before Genthore was thanked for his service with a deadly assault.
Inside the Mine Sanctuary was used again, to scout and to safely find the way to Davaeorn. But the guards weren't very cooperative: they surrounded Urval. (This would have been a typical reload moment in my pre no-reload days.) While still sanctuaried, Urval cast a second Sanctuary and buffed himself with an oil of speed, PfE, Holy Power and DUHM as well as a potion of fire resistance.
Those buffs were neatly dispelled right after that by Hareishan's Dispel Magic much to Urval's annoyance. (This is going to a major issue for Urval in SoA if he manages to make it there.) Grudgingly he took his two Potions of Explosions out of his pack, and used them soften up the mob considerably.
Urval then battled his 15-20 foes, including a few Black Talons and Hareishan who would cast mind control spells at him (against which he protected himself with potions of Magic Blocking). He prevailed.
The remainder of the way down to Davaeorn was relatively safe. Urval slew a couple of Guards and Hobgoblins to prevent them from following him into Davaeorn's lair.
A potion of Magic Shielding helped Urval survive Daveorn's traps, and potions of healing kept him going as the the wizard assaulted him with Lightning Bolts, Sunfires, Fireballs and Magic Missiles, and as the Battle Horrors kept attacking him. (I should have made Urval preventively cast Storm Shield.) Interestingly the Fireballs/Sunfires didn't affect the Battle Horrors, which is either a difference with SCSv28 (which somehow feels easier than SCSv21) or a difference between vanilla BG and BGEE. Anyway, Urval survived the onslaught, managed to summon Skeletons and had them focus, just like himself, on Davaeorn until the wizard fell.
Urval looted most of Daveorn's treasure, flooded the mine and is now in Baldur's Gate, mainly for business purposes.
This is the Run (notice the capital R) that made me make an account and start playing a noreload myself today.
I hope everything will keep going properly for you, Blackraven.
@Scourge, it is your Comment (note the capital C) that inspires me to continue this run! Seriously, I contemplated abandoning it after more nasty mage fights a few days ago, and to be honest I'm still not completely sure if I want to go on with it. Issues with the Cleric are: long casting times (and hence many interruptions), the impossibility to protect against dispelling magic, and having only one APR which makes the fighting tedious. I even started a new run with yet another Dwarf (my new favorite race!), a Bounty Hunter this time, whose progress I'll post about as well if she gets any further than the promising start she has made so far. Anyway, thank you for your words. I'm pleased that my no-reload struggles made you go no-reload as well, and also that you made an account here. I would love to read about your no-reload adventure(s). What class/kit are you playing? Would you mind sharing your progress with us on the forums? There are many people who are interested in this kind of thing (albeit generally more lurkers than likers lol).
So here's an update. In Baldur's Gate Urval occupied himself mainly with obtaining useful items, first and foremost the stat increasing tomes. The Dex tome was easy of course, but the same could not be said of the Wis Tome or the Int tome. Since this is a strict solo run, Urval couldn't recruit a Thief to pickpocket the Wis tome at the Lady's house; he had to trigger the Marek/Lothander quest and kill Jalantha Mistmyr at the Temple of Umberlee. First of all Jalantha and her girls and a summoned Skeleton surrounded Urval so that he couldn't leave the Temple. His Helmet of Charm Protection and his supply of protective potions kept him safe from Charm and Hold spells cast at him. Urval's own attempts at casting were frustrated by Jalantha or the Skellie hitting him, while his hits with the Ashideena did not interrupt Jalantha's casting.
Having better AC and Thac0 than his foes, he managed to eventually deal with Jalantha, pick up her loot and leave the premises without bothering with the other priestesse. Casson's body was brought to Tremain for the Shield of the Stars, and the Gauntlets of Weapon Skill were picked up and equipped (as there will be no Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise for Urval). The fight with Marek started off well as Urval used the stairs to get away from debilitating spells such as Confusion and Horror that his opponent would cast at him. On the other hand Marek easily intterrupted Urval's spell-casting attempts.
It meant that in the end things were going to be settled with fisticuffs. Another long fight in which Urval's staying power eventually proved decisive.
(I'm aware that I could have prepared for this battle with the summoning of Skellies or Woodland Beings out Marek's sight, but that's not what my more 'realistic' approach to this playthrough is about). Another long, hard fight yielded Urval the Int tome and a Ring of Protection +2. Ramazith was of course well-protected, with a Globe of Invulnerability, Prot. from Normal Missiles and Stoneskin, and he proved to be a passionate summoner. His first two skellies he got rid of himself by casting two triggered Skull Traps.
But the two Phase Spiders and two more Skellies that Ramazith summoned then were harder to deal with. The spiders poisoned him twice, prompting Urval to leave the tower on both occasions to cure himself. The Dwarf was happy to see the arachnids unsummoned. He proceeded to do what he has done a number of times before: getting stuck (this time between the couch, Ramazith and the Skellies). It didn't matter though: Urval cast Sanctuary on himself, buffed, and made short work of Ramazith.
He picked up the Helm of Balduran, and via Degrodel/Vail, the Cloak as well. (Urval was low on gold, and there were still important items for him to purchase such as potions, ammo and a few scrolls, so murdering Quenash would have been unwise.) Reaching Degrodel and leaving the wizard's home was difficult as Urval got stuck (again!) between Degrodel's Helmed Horrors, Doom Guards and Invisible Stalkers. DUHM, healing potions and an oil of speed for the extra APR enabled the Dwarf to kill a Doomguard and an Invisible Stalker and escape.
@Scourge, my Wizard Slayer run is SCS with AI components installed, and yet Thani beat Tolgerias. What I'm trying to say is not that I'm a great player (because really I'm not: I make plenty of mistakes every playthrough), but that Tolgerias with a high level Wizard Slayer is doable. It was one of Thani's last quests before she sailed to Spellhold, and she was already in HLA territory.
The hardest parts are BG1 and early BG2, because you can't use potions etc and you lack the weapons and armor that provide protection against deadly spells. (Honestly I'm not sure if I would replay BG1 without keepering in a Helmet of Charm Protection.) However in the course of BG2 it's possible with careful planning to collect the different weapons/armor that should allow you to survive. And once you're well into your ToB levels, which is feasible mid-SoA, MR really begins to add up.
@Blackraven I admit I made a post in my topic because I felt like I was hijacking yours and I didn't want to. So you are welcome to comment on the noreload topic I made
Then I realized that you seem not to be using Item revision and ninja-edited my post, but it seems I wasn't too fast. I even added other doubts in my no reload topic, that I would like you taking a look at.
Tolgerias's summons murdered me once. The problem I was talking about is clear on the post you linked me: to avoid all those summons, you just fled and waited in real life a bit, to let Tolgerias waste those summons. Then you used your main character, with the combined power of your simulacrum to best him.
I would agree that it was a good tactic, but (allow me to say that) was it fair?
You subbed the bad AI Tolgerias with the good SCS AI, but used an exploit - actually it's not an exploit, but I should use another word that now is on the tip of the tongue, that means that the developers just didn't think about that 'way' you played that fight - (not that I wouldn't do it as well, given the fact that I do this kind of stuff as well on noreloads), but it was 'unfair' :P
Those summons should stalk you, don't you think ? :P
Nonetheless, it doesn't subtract the fact that you beat Tolgerias, given the fact that he still has other weapons in his arsenal. Good job.
@Scourge, oh I was expecting the summons to follow, or at least some of them. I wasn't aware that Thani's departure was going to be an area transition. I'm not sure what would have happened if she had stayed put. Obviously she would have used her own summons (Ras, Simulacrum). It's a very narrow pathway, which is clearly in her advantage as it would have allowed her to fight her foes one at a time. Either way, I concur in that leaving and waiting for the summons to expire cheapened Thani's victory a bit.
Comments
In Brynnlaw she set Claire free and she secured Perth's wardstone that would give her access to Spellhold. Warned by Calahan that Perth wouldn't surrender the stone willingly, she entered DUHMed and GWWed in the hopes getting in a few hits (be it only elemental damage from the FoA), before he would auto-cast PfMW. Her immediate attack after he went hostile was so quick that she killed him in a few hits.
In Spellhold she relied on her Shield of Harmony when facing Yuan-Ti and Umber Hulks (Tuigan Bow for fireshielded Yuan-Ti mages), and on her Helm of Charm Protection + Mace of Disruption to take care of the local undead.
Other, non-enchantment) spells were useless thanks to Thani's steadily increasing MR and her good saves (-1/-1/3/3/0 with the Helmet of Defense or that of Balduran). I'd like those saves to be even better though, so that even spells that bypass MR and that impose a save penalty would be of no use against her.
Even when she was fighting Bodhi, the 'Undead destroyed' message showed after she hit the vampire with the improved MoD (of course she wasn't really destroyed).
The fight with her brother was something I worried about, remembering fights where charname would see party members get chunked, or die himself. However, without party members, and thus without clones to annoy her except of course one of Thani herself, the battlefield was much easier to oversee. Besides Irenicus was remarkably reticent with his spells (again no Planetar), especially toward Thani as he focused more on the inmates than on Thani.
When she noticed her FoA's elemental attacks were actually hurting doubly fireshielded Irenicus, she equipped the Dragon Helm and cast 2x PfFire on herself so that she would only suffer limited fireshield damage, and she brought him to the point of surrendering (for the moment).
Despite having the Improved Irenicus in Spellhold SCS component installed, the battle had a vanilla feel to it. I was particularly surprised that he didn't do everything to kill Thani (even if focusing on Wanev, Aphril and the likes made sense because they're pesky spellcasters and Thani is a 'mere' fighter). I ought to do a new solo playthrough in my BGT install with more mods, just to see whether it is indeed significantly harder as I believe it to be.
Thani killed the Murderers, returned to Brynnlaw but didn't stay long (even though I really like that place, reminds me of coastal towns in Morocco, sweet memories). With Saemon she set out for the mainland, but she stranded in the Sahuagin city, where she slew the Rebel Prince for the Sahuagin King, and left for the Underdark.
She dispatched a Drow warrior party and finished off various dozens of Elementals to reach level 33. The Drow, even aided by Kuo-Toas after Thani went too far east, were easily dispatched. They can be difficult to deal with for a high level wizard due to their high MR, but much less so for epic-level Thani who relied on GWW and Hardiness and who had Drow-like MR herself.
Thani also released the trapped souls. Alchra Diagott could have harmed her with ADHW and perhaps a gated Fiend, but he never got to cast those spells, as GWW'd Thani finished the lich off in no time. Raevilin caused her some potential trouble when his Teleport Field moved her to the Myconids, but she timely equipped the Shield of Harmony to prevent her from getting confused.
For the Deep Gnomes she dispatched the Balor, with difficulty, as she suffered fire damage for every hit. The fight had her use the Rod of Resurrection for the first time for a quick heal.
Thani didn't risk the Beholder lair; after the Unseeing Eye she was especially wary of the Hive Mother and of Elder Orbs. She also shunned the Illithid city because of its inhabitants' stun ability, a status effect that Thani has no immunity against. Anticipating one of the Ust Natha quests the did visit the Kuo-Toa tunnels, where she killed two Gauths and a Beholder, plenty of Kuo-Toa, including the rapidly regenerating prince with greater GWWs (she hadn't defiled the pools yet) and only after a RoR-heal.
The Demon Knights weren't summoned because Thani could offer no animal sacrifice. I guess that solo Wizard Slayers cannot forge Crom Faeyr, unless I missed a weapon or item with an animal summoning ability accessible to Wizard Slayers.
She slew the Drow guarding the gate, which was hard due to the presence of Glabrezus and two summoned Aerial Servants. The fight cost her two more charges of one her RoR.
Thani then went and had a chat with Adalon, after which she entered Ust Natha as a faux Drow. She bought the Earth Elemental staff for the summon. On her first mission with Phaere and Solaufein, everything went terribly awry after she had killed the Drow hating adventurers and reached the entrance to the Illithid city. All looked well as Thani was felling the Mind Flayers while Solafein was dealing with the Umber Hulks, but then Solaufein died! I've never had that happen before, and I must say I didn't even consider the possibility as I thought he wouldn't die because he was too important for the plot. Anyway, it had Phaere turn hostile on Thani, so the Dwarf in disguise saw no other option than to kill Phaere as well.
Thani went back to Ust Natha to see if people would still welcome her. It was either that or killing Adalon to make it out of the Underdark. The citizens were hostile, but thankfully not as overwhelmingly as after messing up the Ust Natha final quest. (I have the upgraded Ust Natha defenses component installed.) The city became something like a ghost town: the drow who are supposed to be outside, became hostile and were slain, but no other armed forces appeared and the buildings were either empty (fighter societies) or inaccessible (Qilue's home, the Aboleth was seemingly asleep). All the quests became unavailable. Thani did fight her way into the Temple of Lolth, past a Handmaiden of Lolth, a number of very strong berserking Matron's Guards, and Guardian Golems, toward Adalon's eggs.
Thani returned the eggs to Adalon, was escorted by her to the Underdark exit, battled many Drow, on her way to the surface, agreed to help the surface Elves and traveled back to Athkatla. Drizzt and the Shadow Thieves were called upon to aid her against Bodhi, quite unnecessarily because with the Helm of Charm Protection and the Improved Mace of Disruption the (non-SCS) vampires couldn't hurt her. Thani did get level drained after she had bashed a lock with her FoA and forgot to re-equip the MoD, but she still had a scroll of Restoration, so she restored herself, rested and finished off the vampires.
When she left the Graveyard district, Thani was waylaid by the Chosen of Cyric, but she managed to bully them into leaving her alone using her Slayer Transformation. The fight could have been interesting but there was the risk of stun.
The XP cap in sigh as Thani's 4k XP removed from lvl 39, with lvl 40 coinciding with the cap. And since there isn't any gear she really needs (she bought the Helm of Brilliance just because there wasn't anything better to spend her gold on), her next destination is Suldanessalar...
Thani didn't bother with the forest areas (North Forest etc). Instead, she traveled with Bodhi's Lantern to the Elven ruins, to see Elhan. The two then entered Suldanessalar via the Forest of Tethir. She cleared pretty much the entire city of its invaders using nothing but brute force: GWWs (she has 14 at level 40), the occasional Hardiness (of which she has 3), and quaffing lots of healing potions because the Golems do hit hard. The Rakshasa on the other hand had no magics that could hurt her.
The hardest fight was with Suneer, who had an Iron Golem, a Glabrezu, a Maharajah (I think) to aid him and two Dark Planetars he summoned, thankfully the second not before the first was killed. She left the building twice to heal herself (her foes didn't follow her outside).
The last to stand against her was the wizard himself. I became aware that normally this would be very unlikely, but one of the huge boons of playing a dwarven Wizard Slayer is that at higher levels their MR and saves are so good that magic becomes less dangerous than physical attacks. (At lower levels one is more item dependent. Thani used the Shield of Fyrus Khal a lot, for its spellturning ability, and once she cleared the Druid Grove the Shield of Harmony.) She inflicted the spellfailure penalty on Suneer when she though he was still PfMW, and finished him off with arrows.
Nizi the Black Dragon was confronted with the Vhailor simmy, two lesser earth elementals and two lesser fire elementals, summoned from the elemental staves. Thani would attack with GWWs (often dealing only minimal elemental damage, if any), get battered by the dragon, and retreat to heal while the summons would distract the dragon.
One time it dealt brutal damage with its Black Dragon Breath, and I think Thani survived only thanks to saving v breath to mitigate the acid damage.
Two RoR heals kept her going, while she shrugged of Acid Arrows and Insects cast her way, until a final GWW did the monster in. One of the summoned fire elementals was still alive.
At the tree of life she rushed Irenicus with GWW and must have hit him a few times, before he put up loads of protections, dropped a ADHW on her (against which she saved), then stopped time and summoned a demon, a Fallen Planetar and an Efreeti. She dealt with those first, out of her nemesis' sight, as she had to wait out some of Irenicus' protections anyway. It was satisfactory to her that meanwhile Irenicus failed at casting one of his spells, and later when the two were facing each other, again. She finished him off
In procuring Bhaal's tears in Hell Thani went with what I consider the most appealing options, alignment changes not being an issue (she's LE anyway).
This meant:
- Evil solution at the Wrath Trial: +2 to STR;
- Good solution at the Greed Trial: +2 to saving throws;
- Good solution at the Selfishness Trial: +10% to Magic Resistance (the loss of DEX might be remedied at Watcher's Keep);
- Evil solution at the Trial of Fear: +2 to CON;
- Good solution at the Trial of Pride: +20% to Fire, Cold and Electrical Resistance.
She had a bit of a scare at the Fear Trial in spite of having the Dragonslayer sword equipped (the Nymph Cloak isn't usable by WS), when she was spotted by the Beholders, including an Elder Orb. The floating eyes followed her back to gate. Lack of focus on my part could have ended her run there. First of all, when I unequipped the Dragonslayer sword and put Ilbratha back in its quick weapon slot, I somehow missed the fact that I had Ilbratha, in which Thani had no proficiency, now equipped as my main weapon instead of the FoA, so she was fighting with less APR, worse Thac0 and lower damage output.
Secondly, the Elder Orb lowered her MR to a mere 4. She got seriously injured and was unable to heal due to an Anti-Magic Ray (an ability that she as a Wizard Slayer was jealous of), so all she could do was to flee into one the trial chambers. This she did, but not after the Elder Orb cast a PW: Kill at her. Her 4 MR blocked the spell. However when I watched in the Selfishness chamber, I noticed she still had 86 HP, so the spell wouldn't have killed her anyway.
The break she had in the Selfishness chamber allowed her to re-equip the FoA, and to heal before she would finish off the Elder Orb and a Gauth.
Thani rested before placing the final tear in the portal, so as to be well-prepared for the final showdown against Irenicus. I haven't played SCS v28 before (at least not up to this stage of the game, am much more used to SCS v21), and I hadn't played vanilla BG in years, so I was very surprised to see the battle start off with Slayer Irenicus surrounded by different types of demons.
Apparently the "Improved Irenicus in Hell" component was dropped. I didn't really remember what kind of behavior to expect from smarter (but not improved) Irenicus.
Instinctively I had Thani immediately retreat to the south, and that turned out to be a good move because first of all it placed her out of Irenicus' line of sight when he cast a Time Stop which he pretty much wasted doing nothing, and secondly, only one of the demons (a Balor) followed her down there, together with Slayer Irenicus.
Thani equipped the Sword of Balduran in the off hand (no proficiency in long swords but +10% MR brought her total MR to 104). Initially she tried to battle Irenicus directly with GWW, but his high regeneration and damage output, plus the Balor's damage, taught her that that wasn't going to work. So she took on the fireshielded Balor first (even equipped the 40% Fire Reistance providing Helm of Brilliance for that purpose, and cast PfFire on herself from a green scroll for 110% Fire Resistance).
When the Balor was out of the way, she tried again to GWW Irenicus, but he kept renewing his PfMW all the time. So she chose to kite him and save her GWWs, let his PfMWs expire until he had none more, and then took him on. This worked, Irenicus fell soon when he had no more protections against her GWWs.
Thus, SoA came to a happy end for Thani. I must say that my current install isn't as hard as my BGT install, but nevertheless I feel satisfied with my effort. It's been ages that I've made it into ToB in a minimal reload game, and I never managed in a no-reload game. My best effort till now was with a solo elven Swashbuckler/Mage multi, but she got decimated against Irenicus and his minions in hell, in a much harder setup. Especially the absence of SCS Improved Vampires (due to conflicts with BG2EE) and of improved Irenicus in Hell (because it ws dropped from the latest SCS version), makes a big difference, as does the fact that I'm not playing with aTweaks' pnp demons.
It's such an impressive performance, not only you beat SoA SCS no-reload, but you actually did it with a solo Wisard Slayer !
edit: thank you too @EA1!
For the Illasera fight, which in SCS should not be underestimated, Thani conjured up her Vhailor's simmy and using the elemental staves, the both of them summoned air, fire and earth elementals, four in total, before Illasera and her Black Reavers appeared.
She had the summons (incl the simmy) attack Illasera and ran to the south, away from the impending squirmish as far as she could. The summons seemed to survive an ADHW, and then one of the Black Reavers cast a Time Stop. Thani was out sight at that moment. The Black Reaver gated in two Fiends.
Thani moved back to the battle scene, step by step, hoping to find and engage Illasera only, but the first enemies in sight were two Reavers: warrior types, one of them an archer type, the other a Kensai. She killed the first, and was intent on doing the same with the second, but then Illasera appeared. The Dwarf attacked but her weapons were ineffective. Meanwhile Illasera and the Kensai hit hard, requiring Thani to use a charge of one of her RoR. She then decided to take on the Kensai, and a second Reaver (a roguish type) first.
She succeeded at the task she had set herself to but once she was done she still wasn't alone with Illasera because yet another Reaver had found her, a Mage. Thani didn't let the wizard distract her, relying as always on her saves and her MR (and hoping they wouldn't be lowered). The Mage was fireshielded which made attacking her a bad idea anyway. What followed was a hard fight, in which both Thani and Illasera suffered multiple blows, and in which Thani got drained of 4 XP levels (I didn't notice Illasera cast Energy Drain, but it's the only explanation I have). It caused Thani to replace the DoE with the IMoD in the off hand. One of a various GWWs enabled Thani to fell Illasera, which prompted the Black Reaver mage to leave.
In the Pocketplane she restored herself (still had a couple of Restoration spells in her scroll case), brought Sarevok back to the world of the living only to dismiss him right after that, and then she rested.
Once she was fully rested she undertook the first challenge. She had to kill lots of commoners, Elven archers (against the likes of which she protected herself with the Reflection Shield), and finally Duke Eltan, Ellesime and Aran Linvail. She nearly killed Eltan but had to heal herself; when she returned to finish the job, Eltan was uninjured again. She GWWd him down, taking lots of damage from Linvail and a summoned Aerial Servant.
She had to heal again using the RoR, before she could proceed to dispatch the AS and then Ellessime. She waited with Linvail because he was fireshielded. Even after his Fireshield expired he proved a tough nut to crack. He was hasted, backstabbed for x6 damage, and even pulled the Mislead trick on her (i.e. forcing Thani to first kill the clone before she could attack him, while he kept on stabbing her). After another charge of the RoR and after bringing the clone down, she managed to finish him off though.
Time to go and explore Saradush... though not much, because a weekend filled with an extraordinary amount of gaming is coming to an end.
I've always believed in your success but to finally get a confirmation of beating Irenicus by a solo wizard slayer in a no-reload SCS run is priceless.
This would enter the list of all-time great BG playthroughs if there was any. You mentioned one day a run from the bioware site when a wizard slayer soloed BG up till beating ToB but it wasn't with the SCS. Now Thani will be a reference character and you will be a reference player for every other fellow BG no-reloaders.
Congratulations! Thank you for sharing all this with us!
I must repeat, the hardest part was probably BG1 with no protection against status effects such as charm, hold (until Spiders' Bane) or confusion. The same goes for the first half of BG2, when you have to work hard to get those immunity granting items. Later on it became relatively easy with Thani's huge XP advantage over her foes (HLAs etc).
There might not be any updates this week or the next, because I want to play a normal game of ToB without reload restrictions, and take some notes before I go any further with Thani. I do consider playing another WS through BGT with all kinds of mods (including aTweaks), especially if Thani doesn't make it. Or maybe I won't, we'll see. I also started a Priest of Talos run a while back, and I feel like playing with him a bit more.
Btw bengoshi thanks for your view of Thani as a reference Wizard Slayer. I'm really hoping that Yahiko will be for Totemic Druids what you consider Thani to be for Wizard Slayers. Love your run!
I felt like playing a solo Cleric because I notice that not many people do it, and I like trying different things. Like Thani, Urval is an evil Dwarf (a chaotic one even, as befits a priest of Talos). This screenshot is from when he had recently reached lvl 3 (forgot to take a screenshot at lvl 1):
Very nice stats for a Cleric, and it was very my first roll(!); only changed the stats.
The most important thing to note in terms of mods that alter gameplay is that I'm playing with SCS v21, Ascension, aTweaks and, since I'm playing a Cleric, Divine Remix. The latter mod alters the existing priest kits and adds a string of new ones to the game. Each kit's access to divine spells is decided not, like in vanilla BG, by the question whehther you're a Cleric or a Druid, but rather by spell spheres that are related to the deity's portfolio in accordance with pnp. Priests of Talos have:
- Major access (all spell levels) to the spheres of all, animal, astral, chaos, combat, elemental, healing, necromantic, summoning, war, weather
- Minor access (up to spell level 3) to the spheres of creation, divination, protection, time
- No access (no spells) to the spheres of charm, guardian, law, numbers, plant, sun, thought, travelers, wards.
I don't know very well which spells belong to which spheres, and I haven't checked, so there's a surprise element each time my priest gains access to a new spell level. For example, there was no Hold Person nor Silence 15' Radius for Urval when he got access to spell level 2.
Here you can see the innate abilities that Stormlords of Talos get:
Although I'm playing with weapons and weapon styles for all, I decided to respect the original restriction to blunt weapons and slings, though I might make one exception for axes, and I will permit Urval to specialize in a given weapon style. I somehow picture Urval dualwielding clubs/hammers/maces/axes. I'll probbaly not go the flails route, in order to prevent ending up with the FoA and the DoE in BG2. The item upgrade and underrepresented items mods actually offer interesting options for clubs and maces I think.
***
Urval started with out with AoF, Bless, Cause LW, Command, Cure LW, Curse, Detect Evil, Detect Good, Faerie Fire, Magic Stone, PfE, PfG, Sanctuary, Shillelagh, and Strength of Stone as his first lvl spells. He didas many simple quests as possible in and around the FAI, Beregost and Nashkel. Sanctuary was used to keep him safe from harm. Generally this was a succesful strategy, though not always as it's difficult to predict when the sphere will dissipate exactly.
Thus he easily reached lvl 3, which opened the following lvl 2 spells: Aid, Beast Claw, Chant, Charm Person/Mammal, DUHM, Find Traps, Flameblade, Know Alignment, Resist Fire/Cold, Slow Poison, Spiritual Hammer. Not a great selection of spells, although probably the most important thing is that DUHM is there.
Urval's first major purchase was the Helm of Charm Protection in Beregost for over 4k GP, made possible by the sale of wands. He was lvl 4 when he went Basilisk hunting. He reached lvl 5 after killing the first few Basilisks, and with it he gained access to Animate Dead. His other tier 3 spells are: Call lightning, Cause Blindness/Deafness, Cause Disease, Cause Mediukm Wounds, Cure Blindness/Deafness, Cure Disease, Cure Medium Wounds, Dispel Magic, Hold Animal, Miscast Magic, Moonblade, NPP, PfE 10' Radius, PfFire, PfG 10' Radius, Remove Curse, Remove Paralysis, Summon Insects, Unholy Blight, Zone of Sweet Air. This is actually a nice selection of spells.
He would have to rest and memorize Animate Dead in order to use the skeletons against the basilisks and against Mutamin, but then he would no longer be protected from petrification. Therefore he decided to recruit Korax and have the Ghoul attack the Gnome, while the Dwarf himself was protected by Sanctuary. This worked nicely.
Urval reached lvl 6 in Mutamin's garden, and lvl 7 at 55k XP by having Skeletons fight by his side against Ankhegs and against Tenya (gotta help them good, Talos-worshipping fishermen).
With the 4th tier spells available to Urval, the fun really began. His level 4 spells are: Animal Summoning I, Call Woodland Beings, Cause Serious Wounds, Cure Serious Wounds, Death Ward, Holy Power, Lesser Restoration, Neutralize Poison, Poison, PfLightning. All in all not a bad selection. I would have liked to have Free Action and Defensive Harmony for the skellies, but the (aTweaked?) Woodland Beings are a great aid.
They charmed Bassilus and set him up against Zargal and his friends. (Later the nymphs would also cause strife between the Hobgoblins).
With the Ashideena Urval now wields a Hammer that befits a Stormlord of Talos.
Using Sanctuary Urval managed to bypass the very dangerous (aTweaked) Sirines to pick up the CON tome, raising his CON to 20. He bought the Claw of Kazgaroth for its missile protection and save bonuses against a negligible save v death penalty. (After all a Dwarven Cleric with 18 CON gets insane save v death bonuses.) With skeletal help, and that of the occasional Nymph, Urval slew Greywolf and Tarnesh, and cleared the Wilderness Lake area, earning him Bjornin's Medium Shield +1, and the Cloudpeaks areas. He also also acquired the CHA tome and he dealt with Charleston Nib and Captain Barge in a goodly manner. At the Thunderhammer Smithy Urval bought a suit of full plate mail, and at the Nashkel Carnival he picked up the necklace of Missiles, just in case his lack of firepower would cause him trouble in the Nashkel Mines. (In hindisght this seems like divine intervention by Talos himself, as future events would demonstrate. I never buy that necklace.)
In my experience the Nashkel Mines are harder with SCSv21 than with v28: more Kobolds... Already on the second floor, he got swarmed, but thanks to good equipment (full plate, claw of kazgaroth, girdle of piercing, ring of protection +1) he survived the ambush and prevailed over the Kobolds.
Things didn't get friendlier on the third level. Urval opted for Sanctuary and tried to get to the final level as quick as possible. This was very difficult because the Kobolds may nit have been able to attack him, they followed him. Urval had to literally zigzag his way to the fourth and final level.
Down on the fourth level he hurried toward the mine exit, where he dispatched the slimes and attempted to rest. Kobolds found him, so he had to fight. As such this wasn't a problem, but a misclick had Urval leave the mines without being able to get back in via the same route.
It meant going back to the Nashkel Mines area and encountering a horde of Kobolds upon entering the fourth level. Two charges of the Necklace of Missiles were used to deal with the critters.
Urval ordered two Skeletons to wait outside Mulahey's den, and summoned a Nymph and two more Skeletons inside the lair. The Nymph failed to charm Mulahey, so Urval relied on the door trick to prevent himself from getting held. Mulahey eventually followed Urval outside, where Urval and his skeletons beat the Cyricist down. (The only spell Mulahey managed to cast was a Command, but Urval saved against it.)
This was a bit tricky because I didn't know whether Mulahey would try to turn Urval's skeletons (like Bassilus does for example).
Inside the lair, the skeletons and the Nymph with her entanglements and charms were a great help against Mulahey's minions.
Nimbul wasted most of his magics on Urval's summons before the Dwarf, aided by a Nashkel Guard, beat him down.
Tranzig was done in by a skeleton. Lamalha and her amazons were made harmless by two timely summoned Dryads, making that encounter a very enjoyable one, with Urval making the priestesses' spells and the thieves' darts of wounding hurt their own companions.
Urval is currently a lvl 7 Stormlord of Talos with circa 90k XP, so he needs another 20k for his final level-up in BG1. His AC is currently -5 but with a -15 modifier for missile attacks, which should help against the bandits. Unfortunately one of my mods, I suspect Hard Times, removes a number of very good items from the game. The Cloak of Displacement is for example unavailable at the Ulgoth's Beard Inn, the Half-Ogres on the bridge to the Gnoll Stronghold dropped Bracers of AC8 instead of Gauntlets of DEX, and Meilum drops a katana but no Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise. (I thought this had to do with the Item Randomization mod, but I uninstalled that one.)
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Ascension v1.41 (requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1 // Tougher Abazigal (optional, requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2 // Original Tougher Demogorgon (optional, requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #3 // Tougher Gromnir (optional, requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #4 // Tougher Illasera (optional, requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #5 // Tougher Yaga-Shura (optional, requires ToB)
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #0 // BG2 Fixpack - Core Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #1000 // BG2 Fixpack - Game Text Update -> GTU Light (by Wisp): v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #100 // Party Gets XP for Sending Keldorn to Reconcile With Maria: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #104 // Ghreyfain's Holy Symbol Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #106 // Giants Receive Penalties When Attacking Halflings, Dwarves, and Gnomes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #107 // Remove Dual-Classing Restriction from Archers and Stalkers: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #109 // Corrected Summoned Demon Behavior: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #110 // Additional Script Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #111 // Bard Song Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #112 // Wizard Slayers Cause Miscast Magic on Ranged Attacks: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #113 // Additional Alignment Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #114 // Change Free Action to Protect Against Stun: v10
~SETUP-BGT.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldur's Gate Trilogy - Core: 1.18 (28 Apr 13)
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #0 // Ice Island Level Two Restoration: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #1 // The Mysterious Vial: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #2 // Additional Elminster Encounter: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #3 // Angelo Notices Shar-teel: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #4 // Finishable Kagain Caravan Quest: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #5 // Coran and the Wyverns: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #6 // Kivan and Tazok: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #7 // Branwen and Tranzig: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #8 // Safana the Flirt: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #9 // Appropriate Albert and Rufie Reward: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #10 // Place Entar Silvershield in His Home: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #11 // Scar and the Sashenstar's Daughter: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #12 // Quoningar, the Cleric: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #13 // Shilo Chen and the Ogre-Magi: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #14 // Edie, the Merchant League Applicant: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #15 // Flaming Fist Mercenary Reinforcements: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #16 // Creature Corrections: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #17 // Creature Restorations: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #18 // Creature Name Restorations: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #19 // Minor Dialogue Restorations: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #20 // Audio Restorations: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #21 // Store, Tavern and Inn Fixes and Restorations: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #22 // Item Corrections and Restorations: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #23 // Area Corrections and Restorations: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #24 // Permanent Corpses: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #26 // The Original Saga Music Playlist Corrections: v13_120121
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #27 // Sarevok's Diary Corrections: v13_120121
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #0 // The Kidnapping of Boo by Cliffette: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #1 // The Suna Seni/Valygar Relationship: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #2 // Kalah and What He Was Promised: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #3 // "Cat and Mouse" (Bodhi hunts you in Spellhold) by Ghreyfain: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #4 // Gorje Hilldark and the Extended Illithium Quest: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #5 // The Pai'Na/Spider's Bane Quest: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #6 // Restored Crooked Crane Inn: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #7 // Restored Encounters: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #8 // Artemis Entreri in Bodhi's Lair: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #9 // Corrected "Xzar's Creations": v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #10 // Restored Hell Minions, by SimDing0: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #12 // Item Restorations: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #13 // Yoshimo's Original Portrait: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #14 // Anomen's Original Portrait: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #15 // NPC Portrait Restorations: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #16 // Corrected BAMs and Scripts: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #17 // Corrected Character Names and Biographies: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #18 // Restored Minor Dialogs: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #19 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers, by David Gaider: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #20 // Extended ToB Item Descriptions: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #21 // Throne of Bhaal Minor Restorations: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #22 // Justifier Kit: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #23 // Feralan Kit: v19
~SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #24 // Sarevok's Remorse: v19
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project: Required Modifications: v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #1 // The BG1 NPC Project: Banters, Quests, and Interjections: v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #6 // The BG1 NPC Project: Give Viconia her BG2 portrait: v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #7 // The BG1 NPC Project: Kivan's "Kivan and Deheriana Companions" portrait: v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #8 // The BG1 NPC Project: Add Non-Joinable NPC portraits to quests and dialogues: v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #9 // The BG1 NPC Project: Ajantis Romance Core (teen content): v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #10 // The BG1 NPC Project: Branwen's Romance Core (teen content): v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #11 // The BG1 NPC Project: Coran's Romance Core (adult content): v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #12 // The BG1 NPC Project: Dynaheir's Romance Core (teen content): v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #13 // The BG1 NPC Project: Shar-Teel Relationship Core (adult content): v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #14 // The BG1 NPC Project: Xan's Romance Core (teen content): v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #15 // The BG1 NPC Project: Female Romance Challenges, Ajantis vs Xan vs Coran: v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #18 // The BG1 NPC Project: Alora's Starting Location -> Alora Starts in Gullykin: v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #27 // The BG1 NPC Project: Bardic Reputation Adjustment: v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #29 // The BG1 NPC Project: Cloakwood areas availability in Chapter One -> Open four Cloakwood areas (everything but the Mines): v20
~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #30 // The BG1 NPC Project: Sarevok's Diary Adjustments -> SixofSpades Extended Sarevok's Diary: v20
~BGQE/SETUP-BGQE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldur's Gate Mini-Quests and Encounters Mod: 8.1
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #0 // General AI Improvements
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #1 // Creature & Area Improvements -> All Creature & Area Improvements
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #2 // Creature & Area Improvements -> All Creature Improvements
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #3 // Creature & Area Improvements -> Boss Improvements Only
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #4 // Alternative Harper/Xzar Plot
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #5 // Extended Reynald Sequence
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #6 // Intrigue In The Copper Coronet
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #7 // Rahul Kanakia's Potion Quest
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #8 // Revised Hell Trials
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #9 // Improved Oasis II -> IO2 Dialogue & Combat Enhancement
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #11 // Saving Sanik In Brynnlaw
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #12 // Burglary Of The Bookkeeper
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #13 // New Fate For The Dryads' Acorns
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #14 // The Tragedy Of Besamen
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #15 // Further Slaver Involvement
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #16 // Sending The Solamnic Knights Home
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #17 // Nazariel The Lich
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #18 // Reward Negotiation
~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #19 // Infernal Thievery
~ASSASSINATIONS/SETUP-ASSASSINATIONS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Assassinations mod for Baldur's Gate II, v9
~SETUP-HARDTIMES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Hard Times v2 (BGT): 2.4 (BGT)
~SETUP-HARDTIMES.TP2~ #0 #1 // Hard Times: Ulcaster School Encounter: 2.4 (BGT)
~SETUP-THALAN.TP2~ #0 #0 // Thalantyr - Item Upgrade: 3.7
~SETUP-UNDERREP.TP2~ #0 #0 // Underrepresented Items From Icewind Dale 2
~SETUP-ITEMUPGRADE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Shadows Of Amn Item Upgrades -> Original list version: v40
~SETUP-ITEMUPGRADE.TP2~ #0 #1 // Throne Of Bhaal Item Upgrades -> Original list version: v40
~SETUP-SPSTUFF.TP2~ #0 #0 // Sylvan Mystic Kit, by Polar Bear: v10
~SETUP-SPSTUFF.TP2~ #0 #1 // Blade Master Kit, by Drizzt1180: v10
~SETUP-SPSTUFF.TP2~ #0 #2 // Death Knight Kit, by Drizzt1180: v10
~SETUP-SPSTUFF.TP2~ #0 #3 // Wushi Ninja Kit, by Drizzt1180: v10
~SETUP-SPSTUFF.TP2~ #0 #4 // Creslyn's BG2 Item Pack: v10
~SETUP-SPSTUFF.TP2~ #0 #5 // Archer of Sylvanus, by Drizzt1180: v10
~SETUP-SPSTUFF.TP2~ #0 #6 // Arcane Fist, by Drizzt1180: v10
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Changes to trueclass bards and thieves, and unmodded game kits (required for other components): v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #1 // Add new bardic store and thief items: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #2 // Install Acrobat bard kit: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #3 // Install Chorister bard kit: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Install Dirgesinger bard kit: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Install Gypsy bard kit: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Install Adventurer thief kit: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #7 // Install Burglar thief kit: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #8 // Install Soulknife thief kit: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Install Sharpshooter thief kit: v5
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #10 // Install Shadowdancer thief kit: v5
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // Divine Remix Core Components (Required for Everything): v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #100 // Cleric Remix: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #103 // Install Silverstar of Selune Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #106 // Install Nightcloak of Shar Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #107 // Install Holy Strategist of the Red Knight Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #109 // Install Battleguard of Tempus Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #112 // Install Painbearer of Ilmater Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #115 // Install Firewalker of Kossuth Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #118 // Install Authlim of Iyachtu Xvim Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #121 // Install Lorekeeper of Oghma Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #124 // Install Heartwarder of Sune Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #127 // Install Feywarden of Corellon Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #130 // Install Strifeleader of Cyric Cleric Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #200 // Druid Remix: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #203 // Install Oozemaster Druid kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #403 // Install Bowslinger Ranger Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #409 // Install Forest Runner Ranger Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #415 // Install Wilderness Runner Ranger Kit: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #600 // Install Battleguard of Tempus Kit for Branwen: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #605 // Change Jaheira to Neutral Good: v7
~DIVINE_REMIX/SETUP-DIVINE_REMIX.TP2~ #0 #610 // Install Nightcloak of Shar Kit for Viconia: v7
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #10 // Initialise (required by almost all other mod components): v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Re-introduce potions of extra-healing: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #3001 // Standardise spells: BG1 vs BG2 -> Introduce BG2 spell scrolls into BG1: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #3010 // Faster Bears: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Better NPC management: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #3070 // Move NPCs to more convenient locations: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Improved shapeshifting: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Skip Candlekeep: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Remove blur effect from displacer cloak: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // Stackable ankheg shells, winterwolf pelts and wyvern heads: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Move Boo out of quick access and into Minsc's pack: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Ease-of-use player AI: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Smarter general AI: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Better calls for help: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5015 // More sensible choices of weapon proficiencies and kits for fighters (also fixes some errors in fighter stats): v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Potions for NPCs -> All of the potions dropped by slain enemies are recoverable: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5033 // Smarter mages -> Mages use spells from BG1 and BG2; mages pre-buff: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5043 // Smarter priests -> Priests use spells from BG1 and BG2; priests pre-buff: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5050 // Smarter deployment: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5070 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5080 // Slightly harder carrion crawlers: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #5090 // Smarter basilisks: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Improved doppelgangers: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6005 // Harder giant and phase spiders: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Dark Side-based kobold upgrade: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6050 // Improved Ulcaster: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Improved Bassilus: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6110 // Improved Drasus party: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6120 // Improved Red Wizards: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6130 // Improved Undercity party: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6140 // Improved minor encounters: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6150 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6160 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6170 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6180 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6190 // Tougher chapter-six end battle: v21
~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved final battle: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2050 // Make individual versions of Spell Immunity available, so that players can use them in Contingencies etc.: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2070 // Blade Barrier and Globe of Blades only affect hostile creatures: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Retrieve Dropped Items from Hell: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Remove animation from the Cloak of Mirroring (leave it for other spells and effects that use the same graphic): v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #5030 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Displacer Cloak: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6020 // Potions for NPCs -> All of the potions dropped by slain enemies are recoverable: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6035 // Improved golems: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Give fiends more staying power by increasing their hit points (this component has no effect unless Improved Fiends is installed): v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6051 // Improved fiends -> Fiends cast spells like normal wizards: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6061 // Smarter genies -> Genies cast spells like normal wizards: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6070 // Give Celestials slightly more staying power: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6081 // Smarter celestials -> Celestials cast spells like normal wizards: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6095 // Standardise dragon immunities: dragons in Shadows of Amn get the same immunities to vorpal attacks (etc) as their Throne of Bhaal cousins: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6101 // Smarter dragons -> Dragons cast spells like normal wizards: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6110 // Smarter beholders -> Give beholder rays some chance to "burn through" spell protections; beholder antimagic blocks all spells, including harmful ones, for a round (simulates D&D rules): v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6122 // Smarter mind flayers -> Illithids have enhanced damage resistance; Illithids cannot see invisible enemies: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6130 // Improved Vampires: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6135 // Smarter githyanki: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6137 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to ToB mages -> All ToB mages who can cast 9th-level spells get HLAs: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6139 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to SoA mages -> All SoA mages who can cast 9th-level spells get HLAs: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6151 // Smarter Mages -> Mages only cast short-duration spells instantly at start of combat if they are created in sight of the PC: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6161 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to ToB priests -> All ToB priests who can cast 7th-level spells get HLAs: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6171 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to SoA priests -> All SoA priests who can cast 7th-level spells get HLAs: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6181 // Smarter Priests -> Priests only cast short-duration spells instantly at start of combat if they are created in sight of the PC: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6210 // Smarter Illasera: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6220 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6230 // Smarter Abazigal: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6240 // Smarter Gromnir: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6250 // Smarter Melissan: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6260 // Give Ascension demons SCSII scripts and abilities: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6270 // Give Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai SCSII scripts and abilities: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6900 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved Shade Lord: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7020 // More resilient trolls: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Increase difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings -> Mildly increased difficulty: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Improved Random Encounters: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix") -> Spirit trolls have the same powers as in the original game: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Slightly improved Faldorn: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7065 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Bodhi (Tactics Remix) -> "Toned-down" version of the original Tactics Improved Bodhi, with SCSII scripting: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7078 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Sahuagin: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Beholder hive (adapted from Quest Pack): v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Prevent resting in the Illithid city: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Slightly Improved Drow -> Upgrade Ust Natha's defences: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7120 // Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7126 // Improved Irenicus in Hell (Tactics remix) -> Tactics-SCSII hybrid: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Enhanced Sendai's Enclave: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7150 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v21
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7160 // Improved Minor Encounters: v21
~SETUP-OVERSIGHT.TP2~ #0 #0 // Tougher Sendai (ToB Required): 13
~SETUP-OVERSIGHT.TP2~ #0 #1 // Alignment Correction: 13
~SETUP-OVERSIGHT.TP2~ #0 #2 // Class Tweaks/Fixes: 13
~SETUP-OVERSIGHT.TP2~ #0 #3 // Altered Spells: 13
~SETUP-OVERSIGHT.TP2~ #0 #4 // Improved Continuity: 13
~SETUP-OVERSIGHT.TP2~ #0 #6 // Monk High Level Abilities: 13
~SETUP-OVERSIGHT.TP2~ #0 #7 // Holy Liberator: 13
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #3 // Proper racial adjustments for thieving skills: v4.62
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #4 // Bard kit revisions: v4.62
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #6 // Proper spell progression for Bards: v4.62
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #7 // Additional equipment for Thieves and Bards: v4.62
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #8 // Upgradeable Equipment: v4.62
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #11 // Chosen of Cyric encounter: v4.62
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #12 // Shadow Thief Improvements: v4.62
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for RR content: v4.62
~NPCKIT/NPCKIT.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Specialist Mage Descriptions: v3
~NPCKIT/NPCKIT.TP2~ #0 #31 // Replace Berserker Kit with Battlerager for Dwarves: v3
~NPCKIT/NPCKIT.TP2~ #0 #900 // Add Red Wizard to Edwin's Kit Description: v3
~NPCKIT/NPCKIT.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Change Korgan's Kit to Battlerager: v3
~NPCKIT/NPCKIT.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Give Mazzy a Proper Truesword of Arvoreen Kit: v3
~NPCKIT/NPCKIT.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Change Minsc's Title to Rashemaar Ranger: v3
~NPCKIT/NPCKIT.TP2~ #0 #2800 // Give Sarevok a Proper Deathbringer Kit: v3
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #500 // Randomly replace the WIS tome normally found in TotSC with one of the 6 available types: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #530 // Randomise scrolls: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #540 // Randomise the heads of the Flail of Ages: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #560 // More Spell Shield scrolls: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #570 // Randomise the appearance of cursed items: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #9000 // Cespenar can forge SoA items: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #10210 // Duergar merchants: v6.8
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Nythrun's Level 1 NPCs: List party-joinable NPCs (required to install any NPC components): v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1 // Tweak weapon proficiencies for some classes (a la Ashes of Embers and aVENGER's Rogue Rebalancing): v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #4 // Joinable NPCs more closely match the player character's experience -> On initial joining and rejoining: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #55 // Dudleyfix for BG1 NPCs: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #60 // Fix BG1 NPC spells and innate abilities: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #100 // Update game references to NPC classes/kits: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #210 // Change Anomen's knighthood reward/penalty -> Wisdom +1 on passing; Constitution +1 on failing: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1201 // Aerie: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1218 // Ajantis Ilvastarr: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1219 // Alora: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1220 // Branwen: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1221 // Coran: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1222 // Dynaheir: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1223 // Eldoth Kron: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1224 // Faldorn: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1225 // Garrick: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1206 // Imoen: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1207 // Jaheira: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1226 // Kagain: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1227 // Khalid: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1228 // Kivan: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1210 // Korgan Bloodaxe: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1229 // Montaron: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1213 // Nalia De'Arnise: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1231 // Safana: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1232 // Shar-Teel Dosan: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1233 // Skie Silvershield: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1234 // Tiax: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1215 // Viconia De'Vir: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1235 // Xan: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1237 // Yeslick Orothiar: v1.9
~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1216 // Yoshimo: v1.9
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #100 // Eldoth reminds of Skie's ransom: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #400 // Add Semaj's Cloak and Upgraded Koveras' Ring of Protection: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #500 // Major locations explored upon visit: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #702 // Happy patch -> Only good and evil NPCs leave the party: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #800 // Import more items into Shadows of Amn (WARNING: This can be considered a cheat): 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #902 // Random activated traps in the pirate cave -> Game-time randomisation: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Bags of the Sword Coast: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #1101 // Altered spawns -> TuTu-style levelled spawns: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Arkion reacts to player's reputation: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #1400 // More bandit scalps: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #2002 // Protagonist's biography modifications -> Set BG2 biography upon Shadows of Amn transition: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Exotic Weapons For Taerom: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Item BG1-ification: Price changes: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #2202 // Item BG1-ification: Lore changes: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Disable hostile reaction after charm: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Enemy items shatter: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~SETUP-BGTTWEAK.TP2~ #0 #2700 // Put Sword of Chaos +2 in Sarevok's inventory: 11 (5 Feb 12)
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #10 // Remove Helmet Animations: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #40 // Change Viconia's Skin Color to Dark Blue: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Change Avatar When Wearing Robes or Armor (Galactygon): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1020 // Alter HP Triggers for NPC Wounded Dialogues: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1030 // Reveal Wilderness Areas Before Chapter Six: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1040 // Improved Athkatlan City Guard: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1090 // Exotic Item Pack: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1120 // Stores Sell Higher Stacks of Items: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1161 // Multiple Strongholds (Baldurdash) -> Keep Class Restrictions: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1170 // Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1180 // Female Edwina: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1220 // Allow Cromwell to Upgrade Watcher's Keep Items: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2060 // Weapon Styles for All: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2140 // Expanded Dual-Class Options: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2151 // Wear Multiple Protection Items -> No Restrictions: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Alter Weapon Proficiency System -> Rebalanced Weapon Proficiencies: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2192 // Limit Ability of Storekeepers to Identify Items -> Hybrid of Both Methods: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Multi-Class Grandmastery (Weimer): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2210 // True Grandmastery (Baldurdash): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2240 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2250 // Un-Nerfed Sorcerer Spell Progression Table: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2261 // Alter Mage Spell Progression Table -> PnP Table: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2271 // Alter Bard Spell Progression Table -> PnP Table: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2281 // Alter Cleric Spell Progression Table -> PnP Table: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2291 // Alter Druid Spell and Level Progression Tables -> No Level Progression Changes, PnP Druid/Cleric Spell Table Only: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2320 // Trap Cap Removal (Ardanis/GeN1e): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2330 // Remove Delay for Magical Traps (Ardanis/GeN1e): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2340 // Remove Summoning Cap for Celestials (Ardanis/GeN1e): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3000 // Higher HP on Level Up -> Maximum: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3010 // Maximum HP for NPCs (the bigg) -> For All Creatures in Game: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Unlimited Potion Stacking: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3125 // Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3150 // Turn Off The Hideous Cloak-of-Mirroring, Spell-Trap, and Physical Mirror Animations: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3183 // Romance Cheats: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3190 // Rest Anywhere (Japheth): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3200 // Sellable Items (Icelus): v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3220 // Sensible Entrance Points: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Adjust Evil joinable NPC reaction rolls: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Improved Fate Spirit Summoning: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4031 // Consistent Stats: Edwin -> Use BG2 Values: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4041 // Consistent Stats: Jaheira -> Use BG2 Values: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4061 // Consistent Stats: Minsc -> Use BG2 Values: v12
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4071 // Consistent Stats: Viconia -> Use BG2 Values: v12
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #100 // Restore innate infravision to Half-Orc characters: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #101 // Prevent skeletal and incorporeal undead from being affected by Illithids' Devour Brain attack: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #103 // Allow Dispel/Remove Magic to take down Globes of Invulnerability: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #104 // PnP Color Spray: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #105 // PnP Dimension Door: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Magical arrows and bolts deal bonus damage equal to their enchantment level: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #115 // Allow Mages to scribe memorized spells onto scrolls -> Scrolls can be scribed everywhere: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Restore innate disease immunity to Paladins: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Additional racial traits for Dwarves: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Additional racial traits for Gnomes: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #150 // PnP Fiends -> Mod-added fiends are not affected: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #155 // Further Revised Fiend Summoning: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // PnP Undead: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #180 // PnP Mephits: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #185 // PnP Fey creatures: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #186 // Revised Call Woodland Beings spell: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // PnP Elementals: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #191 // Increase the Hit Dice of Elemental Princes: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #201 // Instant casting for warrior innates: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #202 // Revised Bhaalpowers -> Enhance the Bhaalpowers and standardize their casting time: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #218 // Regain Bhaalpowers in ToB: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #203 // Make druidic shapeshifting uninterruptable: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #211 // Make Death Ward protect against Vorpal Hits: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #210 // Restore the Dispel Magic vulnerability to Nishruu and Hakeashars: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #212 // Make alignment detection spells more accurate: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #213 // Expanded saving throw bonus tables for Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #270 // Unbiased quest rewards: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #220 // Simple Thief script: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #230 // Simple Bard script: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #239 // Simple Cleric/Paladin script: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #301 // Change the appearance of Valygar's armor: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #302 // Change the appearance of the Robe of Vecna: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #310 // Distinctive creature coloring: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #315 // Distinctive creature soundsets: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #510 // Expanded temple services: v4.03
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for aTweaks content: v4.03
~SETUP-BP-BGT-WORLDMAP.TP2~ #0 #0 // Worldmap for Baldur's Gate - including colored Baldur's Gate map icons: v9.0.2
~SETUP-BP-BGT-WORLDMAP.TP2~ #0 #1 // Worldmap for Throne of Bhaal -> Use new Worldmap for Throne of Bhaal as well: v9.0.2
~1PP/1PP.TP2~ #0 #101 // 1ppv4: Core paperdolls
~1PP/1PP.TP2~ #0 #103 // 1ppv4: Extended palette entries -> Full install (recommended)
~1PP/1PP.TP2~ #0 #105 // 1ppv4: Avatar fixes
~1PP/1PP.TP2~ #0 #106 // 1ppv4: Female Dwarves -> Separate Avatars for Female Dwarves - Baldur's Gate II
~1PP/1PP.TP2~ #0 #200 // 1ppv4: Core content patches
~1PP/1PP.TP2~ #0 #203 // 1ppv4: Restored flame sword animations
~1PP/1PP.TP2~ #0 #205 // 1ppv4: Legacy Shields
~SETUP-BGTMUSIC.TP2~ #0 #1 // Baldur's Gate Trilogy - Music -> Hybrid Baldur's Gate/Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal Music
~WIDESCREEN/WIDESCREEN.TP2~ #0 #0 // Widescreen Mod -> for the original Infinity Engine (CHOOSE THIS!): Widescreen Mod v3.02
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #0 // Proper dual-wielding implementation for Thieves and Bards: v4.62
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #5 // Bard High Level Ability revisions: v4.62
~GENERALIZED_BIFFING/GENERALIZED_BIFFING.TP2~ #0 #0 // Generalized Biffing: v2.2
u need to reinstall the game
i think item randomizer is the best mod for making the game harder it nulifies all of the metaknowledge so u can not just go and take the best weapons/gear @ the beginning of the game
i always knew that wizard slayers are hardcore : )
Hopefully I don't have to reinstall the game. I always used the randomization option where items are randomized at the start of each new game not for a single game install (not sure if that matters). Urval did find the CHA tome in one of the caves near the Gnoll Stronghold, the Honorary Ring of Sune and Talos' Gift boots on Mulahey and the Boots of Avoidance on Nimbul, so that all sounds pretty vanilla. Will keep an eye out for any seemingly misplaced items.
Yeah Wizard Slayers are more badass than I thought
@zur312, I always play on core rules. I think with many classes/kits core or insane shouldn't make too much of a difference, but for my current WS it would. She already takes a lot of physical damage simply because 60% physical resistance (Hardiness + DoE) and AC -5 to -7 doesn't really cut it.
for example moded dragons do 320 aoe damage so even with 50% fire resistance all non fighters will die with just 1 hit
Because of the above I have a soft spot for the 'challenged' kits, particularly Beastmaster, Wizard Slayer, Monk, Kensai, and Shapeshifter, for their rather severe kit restrictions. The thing with these gimped classes and kits is that you can't simply pick up the good items/spells with them and deal with your foes. No, you really have to be creative, to improvise and try out new strategies.
There are other classes/kits that may be considered weaker for other reasons: plain Thief, maybe Assassin for lack of skill points, Transmuter (for lack o Abjuration spells), plain Druid, and maybe the Totemic Druid as well, although @bengoshi has shown us in his run with Yahiko that the Totemic Druid can be more than viable and that those spirit animals have long been underestimated: Yahiko doesn't even tend to buff them if I'm not mistaken.
In your example of the dragon, making a full party 100% fire resistant might be impossible (or more likely not worth it because you don't want to sacrifice precious spell slots to PfFire spells). So good positioning, meleeing only with well-protected, resilient party members, use of summons as decoys, are important aspects as well of course on insane.
on insane enemies dont take longer to kill but kill u faster
also for your runs i think it would be cool if u could record some parts at least boss fights
I think, and it sounds logical to me, that insane difficulty hits the already gimped classes and kits I mentioned in my previous post the hardest. I might consider a solo playthrough with SCS and other difficulty enhancing mods on insane difficulty, but with a powerful class/kit combo, not with a Wizard Slayer who can't use potions, rings, etc that make him deadlier and/or more resilient in battle. And the same goes for a Kensai who can't equip any armor, a Beastmaster without access to weapons and armor that give important protections, or an unmodded Shapeshifter who can't wear any armor and whose (Greater) Werewolf form simply can't hurt many of the stronger opponents. that would indeed be cool
as for the stoneskin/pfmw yes but those are spell and spell can be dispelled/u can run out of time and so on than hits matter also if u are a fighter with no spell protections hits matter double
Unfortunately I have no screen shots of the battle inside the tent. I'm using FRAPS and apparently I stopped the taking of screenshots rather than starting it. Anyhow, as this is quite an experimental run, I decided to not try my usual cleric tactic of entering while invisible, positioning charname in a corner where Raemon can't see them and summoning Skellies. Instead, I had Urval buff up with spells (PfE, Holy Power, DUHM) and potions (Magic Shielding and Oil of Speed). Urval's AC was -5 but with a -15 modifier for missiles (thanks to full plate, Medium Shield +1, Boots of Avoidance, and Claw of Kazgaroth), so he was very difficult to hit. He also had his Storm Shield up so that he could use the lightning trap on the chest to weaken his foes. The buffs helped him hit his enemies with more ease; unbuffed Urval tends to have difficulty killing things. The strategy worked well enough. He made sure to first take down Venkt and then Britik. When the majority of his foes were down, he cast Animate Dead to speed things up.
He fled the camp, concluded some business at the FAI and in Beregost (selling loot, buying healing potions). Cloakwood was next. Urval helped Seniyad and found Gurke's Cloak. He timely cast PfPoison on himself, slew the incoming Phase Spiders and, after having quaffed a Potion of Freedom, two Huge Spiders to reach level 8 (at 110k XP his final level in BG1). This took away the incentive to help Tiber, so Urval simply pushed toward the Mine, ignoring the Druids and the Wyverns.
Since, as said before, I've been experimenting during this run, and minimizing "cheese", I had Urval take some risks with Drasus & Co. First of all, he scouted the entrance while under Sanctuary.
When he spotted four not so friendly looking men, he retreated and summoned allies: two Dryads, a Hamadryad, and two Skeletons. Urval then showed himself to all four men (rather than using the fog of war to lure only Drasus and/or Genthore to the bridge). He retreated when they went hostile. Attempts at charming Drasus with the Woodland Beings failed, and shortly after that some of them were confused and/or petrified through Chromatic Orbs by Kysus. Thus Urval arrived at a point where things didn't look too well for him, and he had to consider retreating. But then one of the Woodland Being charmed Genthore. Urval had him and the Skeletons attack and kill Drasus, allowing Urval to put on the Boots of Speed.
Genthore, Urval (protected by potions of Magic Blocking and kept alive with healing potions), and new summons then managed to slay the wizards in melee before Genthore was thanked for his service with a deadly assault.
Inside the Mine Sanctuary was used again, to scout and to safely find the way to Davaeorn. But the guards weren't very cooperative: they surrounded Urval. (This would have been a typical reload moment in my pre no-reload days.) While still sanctuaried, Urval cast a second Sanctuary and buffed himself with an oil of speed, PfE, Holy Power and DUHM as well as a potion of fire resistance.
Those buffs were neatly dispelled right after that by Hareishan's Dispel Magic much to Urval's annoyance. (This is going to a major issue for Urval in SoA if he manages to make it there.) Grudgingly he took his two Potions of Explosions out of his pack, and used them soften up the mob considerably.
Urval then battled his 15-20 foes, including a few Black Talons and Hareishan who would cast mind control spells at him (against which he protected himself with potions of Magic Blocking). He prevailed.
The remainder of the way down to Davaeorn was relatively safe. Urval slew a couple of Guards and Hobgoblins to prevent them from following him into Davaeorn's lair.
A potion of Magic Shielding helped Urval survive Daveorn's traps, and potions of healing kept him going as the the wizard assaulted him with Lightning Bolts, Sunfires, Fireballs and Magic Missiles, and as the Battle Horrors kept attacking him. (I should have made Urval preventively cast Storm Shield.) Interestingly the Fireballs/Sunfires didn't affect the Battle Horrors, which is either a difference with SCSv28 (which somehow feels easier than SCSv21) or a difference between vanilla BG and BGEE. Anyway, Urval survived the onslaught, managed to summon Skeletons and had them focus, just like himself, on Davaeorn until the wizard fell.
Urval looted most of Daveorn's treasure, flooded the mine and is now in Baldur's Gate, mainly for business purposes.
I hope everything will keep going properly for you, Blackraven.
I even started a new run with yet another Dwarf (my new favorite race!), a Bounty Hunter this time, whose progress I'll post about as well if she gets any further than the promising start she has made so far.
Anyway, thank you for your words. I'm pleased that my no-reload struggles made you go no-reload as well, and also that you made an account here. I would love to read about your no-reload adventure(s). What class/kit are you playing? Would you mind sharing your progress with us on the forums? There are many people who are interested in this kind of thing (albeit generally more lurkers than likers lol).
So here's an update. In Baldur's Gate Urval occupied himself mainly with obtaining useful items, first and foremost the stat increasing tomes. The Dex tome was easy of course, but the same could not be said of the Wis Tome or the Int tome. Since this is a strict solo run, Urval couldn't recruit a Thief to pickpocket the Wis tome at the Lady's house; he had to trigger the Marek/Lothander quest and kill Jalantha Mistmyr at the Temple of Umberlee. First of all Jalantha and her girls and a summoned Skeleton surrounded Urval so that he couldn't leave the Temple. His Helmet of Charm Protection and his supply of protective potions kept him safe from Charm and Hold spells cast at him. Urval's own attempts at casting were frustrated by Jalantha or the Skellie hitting him, while his hits with the Ashideena did not interrupt Jalantha's casting.
Having better AC and Thac0 than his foes, he managed to eventually deal with Jalantha, pick up her loot and leave the premises without bothering with the other priestesse. Casson's body was brought to Tremain for the Shield of the Stars, and the Gauntlets of Weapon Skill were picked up and equipped (as there will be no Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise for Urval).
The fight with Marek started off well as Urval used the stairs to get away from debilitating spells such as Confusion and Horror that his opponent would cast at him. On the other hand Marek easily intterrupted Urval's spell-casting attempts.
It meant that in the end things were going to be settled with fisticuffs. Another long fight in which Urval's staying power eventually proved decisive.
(I'm aware that I could have prepared for this battle with the summoning of Skellies or Woodland Beings out Marek's sight, but that's not what my more 'realistic' approach to this playthrough is about).
Another long, hard fight yielded Urval the Int tome and a Ring of Protection +2. Ramazith was of course well-protected, with a Globe of Invulnerability, Prot. from Normal Missiles and Stoneskin, and he proved to be a passionate summoner. His first two skellies he got rid of himself by casting two triggered Skull Traps.
But the two Phase Spiders and two more Skellies that Ramazith summoned then were harder to deal with. The spiders poisoned him twice, prompting Urval to leave the tower on both occasions to cure himself. The Dwarf was happy to see the arachnids unsummoned. He proceeded to do what he has done a number of times before: getting stuck (this time between the couch, Ramazith and the Skellies). It didn't matter though: Urval cast Sanctuary on himself, buffed, and made short work of Ramazith.
He picked up the Helm of Balduran, and via Degrodel/Vail, the Cloak as well. (Urval was low on gold, and there were still important items for him to purchase such as potions, ammo and a few scrolls, so murdering Quenash would have been unwise.) Reaching Degrodel and leaving the wizard's home was difficult as Urval got stuck (again!) between Degrodel's Helmed Horrors, Doom Guards and Invisible Stalkers. DUHM, healing potions and an oil of speed for the extra APR enabled the Dwarf to kill a Doomguard and an Invisible Stalker and escape.
The hardest parts are BG1 and early BG2, because you can't use potions etc and you lack the weapons and armor that provide protection against deadly spells. (Honestly I'm not sure if I would replay BG1 without keepering in a Helmet of Charm Protection.)
However in the course of BG2 it's possible with careful planning to collect the different weapons/armor that should allow you to survive. And once you're well into your ToB levels, which is feasible mid-SoA, MR really begins to add up.
So you are welcome to comment on the noreload topic I made
Then I realized that you seem not to be using Item revision and ninja-edited my post, but it seems I wasn't too fast. I even added other doubts in my no reload topic, that I would like you taking a look at.
Tolgerias's summons murdered me once. The problem I was talking about is clear on the post you linked me: to avoid all those summons, you just fled and waited in real life a bit, to let Tolgerias waste those summons. Then you used your main character, with the combined power of your simulacrum to best him.
I would agree that it was a good tactic, but (allow me to say that) was it fair?
You subbed the bad AI Tolgerias with the good SCS AI, but used an exploit - actually it's not an exploit, but I should use another word that now is on the tip of the tongue, that means that the developers just didn't think about that 'way' you played that fight - (not that I wouldn't do it as well, given the fact that I do this kind of stuff as well on noreloads), but it was 'unfair' :P
Those summons should stalk you, don't you think ? :P
Nonetheless, it doesn't subtract the fact that you beat Tolgerias, given the fact that he still has other weapons in his arsenal. Good job.
Either way, I concur in that leaving and waiting for the summons to expire cheapened Thani's victory a bit.