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Solo Sun Soul Monk run.... **** me, right?

GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
edited November 2014 in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Whelp, I've gone and lost my mind and after seeing a couple people talking solo runs, I was like "that's cool... but how about a monk?"

So instead of rolling a Darkmoon monk, which would probably have an easier time, I plan on doing a Sun Soul monk solo :D *thumbs up*

Simple rules: Playing until level 8/161000 XP; after that and after I kill Sarevok, I'm considering loading up the game and recruiting a party for Durlag's, and later Aec'letec and Karoug. No way in hell I'd survive trap-filled areas later on without the ability to actually disarm traps, and Karoug? Probably impossible solo.

Also I'm playing on Core Rules.

Well it helps I got a nice roll

image


List of events thus far:

-Got about 240 darts at Candlekeep, killed both assassins, though one took a while. Due to my 18 Charisma though, I got the best rewards possible out of the starting quests (Hull gave me more gold and complimented me, Fuller gave me his Dagger +1... not bad).

-After the big ambush, I took the Wand of Missles and all 3 potions of healing from Imoen and told her to beat it.

-Got the loot from Gorion's corpse, and happy I haven't gotten ambushed yet.

-right after getting the diamond in a tree, a wolf attacks me; I used 3 potions to survive the encounter, and 3 minutes later I win... Gonna be a LOOOOONG playthrough.

-Talked with Elminster, then Killed a Xvart pretty easily before getting the Ring of Protection +1; every bit counts I suppose. Made it to Friendly Arm Inn with no problems.

-Killed Tarnesh with the help of the guards and two charges from the Wand of Missles; what a scrub. Found the ring of evermemory, identified it, then sold it for an easy 9k gold, heh. Later decided help Joia or whats-her-face get her Flamedance Ring back... hooboy, this'll be fun.

-Got the evil idea to abuse the 3 APR per round darts have to run away and chuck darts at the hobgoblins around the FAI while running before they could catch up and take a swing. Hehehe... took me 3 minutes for both encounters roughly, but it was pretty freaking easy, and with the group of 3 I just lured them over to the guards, and STILL got the kill XP. By the time the second group was killed, the leader died conveniently right before the draw-bridge; I simply plucked the ring and made the rather short walk over to Joia's house and gave her the ring back. Just *BARELY* under 1.5k XP, for level 2.

-Bought the Fateful Coin book for a quest later, and talked to Landrin on the 3rd floor to accept her quest, and get a free 6 antidotes (thanks charisma). Not really inclined to take on a bunch of poisonous spiders immediately, but antidotes are definitely welcome.

-In the area north of Beregost a bandit attacked me and got a couple lucky shots, and I die... sigh...... Marched back through the area and got ambushed by a pack of dogs. I couldn't #Nope harder, I swear. Ran off that screen faster than I could blink.

-Made it to Beregost... yaaaaaaaaaay. Got to level 2 after turning the book into Firebead. YAAAAAAAAAAY. Also talked down Marl at Feldepost Inn into feeling bad for being a jerk.

More to come soon~

EDIT: AAAAAND the image isn't linking right. Freaking steam screenshots. Until I get that sorted I'll just leave the link to it.

EDIT2: Forgot to mention difficulty I'm playing on.
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Comments

  • LillyhimeLillyhime Member Posts: 36
    Good luck! I'd never have the stomach for a monk solo run.
  • dreamriderdreamrider Member Posts: 417
    You do know that you can 'borrow' the Unicorn Run book, with no danger of the Fist being called, from the house right next to Firebead's? You know that, right?

    Good luck with the monk run. I think a monk run is the only solo that would ever tempt me, between the difficult accomodations and my delight at the group dynamics. At least doing a solo run with the monk, you will have him up to where his monk powers are having some effect for a goodly portion of the game. Beware traps, however.
  • dreamriderdreamrider Member Posts: 417
    Go back to Beregost and get the 300 GP for just chatting with Firebead enough. You could use it.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Dag of Ven is very, very nice when you've got some Stealth to rely on. Or are just crazy-patient until you can hide. Nice way to great Devaeron, poison knife to the gut. ;)
  • QueenQuinzelQueenQuinzel Member Posts: 44
    Interesting. Just don't forget to clean out the tents at the Carnival. That's pretty much the only non-beginner tip I can share, thanks to my being new-ish to the game.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,725
    Glad to see another challenge going. The monks are rare on the Foerum! So following this playthrough is entertaining. Good luck to Abdel!

    You can tell about your run here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/33353/advertise-your-written-play-through-s#latest so that more people can enjoy your tale :)
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    Oh and for the record I didn't bother taking on the rest of the Bandit Camp. With a solo monk? **** THAT. At least not at my level.
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,264
    Don't forget that Relair's Mistake will give you a magical attack without cutting your APR! It is the best item available for BG1:EE monks IMO.
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    edited November 2014
    EDIT: Somehow this posted twice, oops
  • dreamriderdreamrider Member Posts: 417
    For Bandit Camp: IMHO, no one should ever take on the main tent crew INSIDE the tent. That is playing to their strengths.

    On your initial 'preparing the ground' run, sneak around & approach the camp from the east. Take the time to pick off one-by-one any bandit that can see the main tent forecourt area. Heal up. Sneak inside and fireball (One Gift, right?) centered on the mage, or use Oil of Firey Burning, Potion of Explosions. Dash outside, and take on whoever follows you, running out through the forest as necessary. Rinse & repeat.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Are you using Potions of Strength? Even 19 str is a huge buff, vastly improving your damage per round. They aren't freely available until ch 5 iirc, but you can find them here and there.

    Those and Positions of Defense/Invulnerability are huge on a monk in BG1. Good so far, DUHM will be one heck of a buff! Hope you have the Red Potion to open certain chests in a certain basement... 25 will do it, but remember some are guarded, and piddly dex and cons would be bad for fighting phase spiders!
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    dreamrider said:

    For Bandit Camp: IMHO, no one should ever take on the main tent crew INSIDE the tent. That is playing to their strengths.

    On your initial 'preparing the ground' run, sneak around & approach the camp from the east. Take the time to pick off one-by-one any bandit that can see the main tent forecourt area. Heal up. Sneak inside and fireball (One Gift, right?) centered on the mage, or use Oil of Firey Burning, Potion of Explosions. Dash outside, and take on whoever follows you, running out through the forest as necessary. Rinse & repeat.

    Pretty much unnecessary now. The group is dead after all, and I found my own clear strategy to do it.
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    edited November 2014
    Fun times in Baldur's Gate~

    -First thing I do when I reach Baldur's Gate is talk to Scar, who hires me, and Elminster, who says I can trust Scar and his boss, Duke Eltan. Okay.

    -I make a bee-line to Sorcerous Sundries and buy some really awesome potions and a wand of heavens. I also recharge my One Gift Lost amulet via the repurchase trick.

    -I talk to the thief out on the street who's looking to recruit for his guild, and after stating the password I go downstairs, immediately head straight for the barrel that has the dexterity tome, then leave. I go back to Sorcerous Sundries to have it identified and use it to get 19 dex.

    -I then make my way to the Low Lantern in south Baldur's Gate, and pick a fight with Desreta and her mage friend. She's a tough customer but with a little kiting cheese with the boots of speed she becomes fairly simple to kill. I loot her Gauntlets of Ogre Power and equip them in a heart-beat. Then use my new-found strength (literally) to beat the face in of her mage friend.

    -After this I make my way to Western Baldur's Gate and listen to the plea of the child to get the dead body of a Tymoran's son (I forget the names, honestly) from the Umberlee Temple because they killed him over a prank (I guess Umberlee's called the "Bitch Queen" for a reason, huh?). I go to the temple and resolve the peaceful way by paying 2,000 gold (I totally got cheated but I bide my time) for the boy's body. I take the boy back so he can be resurrected, and get reimbursed with 2,000 gold, more XP, and Reputation (though I really don't need Rep at this point).

    -I make my way to Northeastern Baldur's Gate and run into the tough guy Marek and his cohort Lothander, and they threaten me. (woooo so scared)... So I trigger the quest in Central Baldur's Gate where Lothander notifies me I've been poisoned by Marek and I need to do his dumb 'remove geas' quest to get Markek's location and Lothander's half of the antidote. So I go to the diviner, then to the Umberlee temple to talk to the leader, and naturally she made another outlandish price for this scroll: the Tome of Understanding from Tymora's temple.

    -I go to Tymora's temple and literally beg for the tome and get it for free, then go back to the Temple of Umberlee, then after making her hand over the scroll first, I cheat her, which pisses her off (hey you shouldn't have charged 2k for the boy from earlier) and she and her followers attack. She keeps trying to cast spells but every she gets close I punch her in the face and she gets a spell failure. This goes on until she dies. I then annihilate the rest of her followers and loot the 2k I payed her earlier, as well as some other crap she had (Serves you right Bitch...Queen's... bitches... ha). After this I identify the Tome of Understanding and use it to gain 1 Wisdom.

    -After this I go to the Blade and Stars Inn to give Lothander his stupid scroll, and get his half of the antidote. I then go to the Blushing Mermaid, and confront Marek... and then get hit with a confusion spell (Chaos, I believe) and get confused...

    -So after reloading I use a potion of magic blocking and then proceed to beat his ass as he keeps trying to cast spells (dude you have a sword and a bow, use them, Einstein). Sadly in the process he got off a few lightning bolts and killed some innocent commoners as they ran around screaming. Very tragic. In the end I punch Marek hard enough that he splatters into chunks. Marek had the half of the antidote I needed, too bad he didn't have an antidote for what he should have feared most: Me (I took this straight from the Journal Entry). I drink the cure automatically and get enough XP to hit level 8! (my final Monk level in fact). I loot Marek's shortbow as well to sell for later.

    -With enough dallying out of the way, I head to the Seven Suns to fulfill my contract to Scar. After making them reveal themselves, well... @Southpaw my friend, I know you must understand, that sometimes when a monk goes on adventuring, he eventually must make a realization. The realization being, that sometimes... he has to Punch a Doppelganger. So yeah, bunch of doppelgangers, but these aren't the spell-slinging doppelgangers that you run into later, so I beat them all down with my bare hands, sometimes throwing in Sun Soulray to fry them when I'm bored. These guys are CHUMPS. I free Jhasso (come to think of it, where's Jhasso's doppelganger? HMMMMMMM...) and leave the Seven Suns.

    -Scar was super happy that I freed Jhasso and the Seven Suns can get back to business as usual, and now tasked me with the second job: The missing persons case and the rather strange happenings in the sewers...

    Current Level: 8 (Max Monk level)
    Current XP: 114,114 (kind of funny how that worked out)
    Post edited by GamingFreak on
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    edited November 2014
    I'm on a roll! The journey continues: The Sewers and the Iron Throne.

    -First and foremost, I head to Sorcerous Sundries to see what they have, only to find their stock expanded. Like a kid in a candy store I buy all kinds of potions, including the strength potions, the potions of defense and invulnerability, a potion of clarity, potions of freedom, you name it I bought it.

    -With that done,I journey to the sewers and quickly remember after fighting a carrion crawler that these puppies can inflict Hold on you. Whelp...

    -So after I pop a charge off my Shield Amulet and ready a potion of freedom and magic shielding each, I make my way through the sewers, killing a phase spider on the way, and meet a vicious ogre mage and his group of carrion crawlers. After his monologue I pop both potions while backing away, then nuke the crawlers with The One Gift Lost, and after most of them are dead, I use the Wand of the Heavens to blast the ogre mage until he dies. After mopping up the rest of the crawlers, and killing a random wild dog that was down there for some reason, I make my way back to Scar (fun fact: apparently potions of freedom nullify the monk's speed boost AND the boots of speed).

    -Scar is happy that I solved the problem and rewards me with 3k more gold, and then introduces me to Duke Eltan after a talk outside the barracks. Duke Eltan is blunt and tells me that he suspects the Iron Throne of treachery (duh) and asks me to infiltrate their headquarters. Okay, no problem.

    -Before doing that I head over to sorcerous sundries to sell the scimitar I got off the ogre mage in the sewers, and decide now's a good time to pay a visit upstairs. First I take a potion of magic blocking out of my potion case and prep it for fun times. A group of necromancers get annoyed that I'm infiltrating their space, so after a little verbal annoyance on my part, they attack me, to which I pop the Magic Blocking potion. Funny thing about groups of mages in BG1; if you pop a potion of magic blocking and you have a decent thac0 and AC... they're screwed. After punching and kicking them all to death, I take their stuff (I kind of feel like a high-school bully for beating up a bunch of nerds) and sell it downstairs. Easy money.

    -The guards inside the Iron Throne building are sure stupid. Tell them you're there on business and they just let you pass on by. After some various interesting dialogue I make my way to the staircase leading to the 6th floor. By now however, I'm dreading this; this is another tough fight I wasn't looking forward to. I reflect carefully on how I can achieve victory in this fight. Should I use a potion of Magic Blocking and nullify all magic, but remove potentials for buffs? Maybe use one of the more valuable Potions of Magic Shielding as my best bet?

    -Thinking this over, I decide to do the neutral lone potion that would more than likely satisfy all my needs: The Potion of Invulnerabilty. After gulping the potion and listening to Sarevok's supposed Elite monologue my ear off, I cackle like a mad-man as I nuke them repeatedly with fireballs while all their spells whiff, until only two men are left. Now these guys actually do get close in and they do some hefty damage, but eventually I pulled through and caved in their faces with my fists.

    -I grab all their loot (they got some really nice stuff, like the +2 halberd, a ton of scrolls, and the awesome Ring of Free Action! Which is even more awesome on a monk who can't be hasted anyway), and head downstairs, wounded but with a big smile on my face as I haul my load over to Sorcerous Sundries before meeting up with Duke Eltan and relaying what's been going on with the Iron Throne, and how they're stationed at Candlekeep currently. The Grand Duke hands me a book to use as passage and tells me to go to Candlekeep to spy on their activities. With that, I make my way (rather forcibly due to the warp) to Candlekeep.

    Current XP: 139,924
    Post edited by GamingFreak on
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    edited November 2014
    The not-so-pleasant return home:

    -Returned to candlekeep, talked to quite a few NPCs for good ol' times, and went upstairs after hearing about the strange happenings and the mysterious Koveras. Koveras intercepted me and tried to convince me to avenge Gorion by killing the Iron Throne leaders while they're vulnerable... but am I a murderer?

    -I met with Stilas (sp?) who supposedly hasn't been the same. Well he's obviously a doppelganger, and a Greater one at that. I kill him dead, and find out these guys have way better Thac0 and AC then the ones at the Seven Suns. Great.

    -Met up with the Iron Throne and declare that I've been their massive pain in the ass, and Rieltar gets pretty angry with me and threatens me... I have the option to kill them, but I refrain. I'm not a murderer.

    -Went upstairs and talked to Piato, who told me of Gorion's letter. Read the letter and let my Charname discover he's a child of Bhaal. Whelp, plot thickens a bit.

    -Tried to go up and meet Tethoril, but get stopped by the Gatewarden, accusing me of killing the Iron Throne leaders. I tell him he's nuts but I'll accept trial anyway.

    -After Ulraunt verbally reprimands me like the old codger he is, Tethoril does the teleportation spell after stating he knows I'm innocent... so begins my journey through candlekeep's catacombs... hoo-boy.

    -First is the fight with a doppelganger of Phyldia. Great. Then I head south and drink a magic blocking potion to deal with the traps... only to find the chest I need to open is locked and I can't bash it. So I wait until the potion wears off and use a Cloud Giant Strength potion to bash it open for the Strength tome... kind of ironic, needing greater strength to increase one's strength.

    -I go about the catacombs in search of loot, beating up ghasts and spiders alike while trying to survive the traps. Ghasts are ten times easier with the Ring of Action since they can't hope to hold me, much less hit me while I'm using the Shield Amulet. Getting another tome and a cloak of magical protection +2 (unidentified, but I figured out what it was by trying to equip it). Afterwards I head to the second area.

    -Doppelganger central I tell you. So many doppelgangers of old friends. And some skeletons that die in one hit. The most troublesome ones were the ones pretending to be Elminster and Gorion and... that third person who I now can't remember. Anyway, Greater Sun was a life-saver here, as was the One Gift Lost for early damage. Eventually I cleared out the area and made my way to the caves in the third area. Should mention I rested here and got the dream that gave me Draw Upon Holy Might. Very big game changer, I tell you.

    -Freaking Prat's party is rather annoying. Tried nuking first, got wrecked by spells. Okay, so now I try magical blocking... get missiled to death since the shield amulet's effects get dispelled. Finally I use the Magic Shielding Potion of "Screw you" so I can maintain the Shield effect and just nuke them until only two are left standing, Prat and the archer. I punch prat to death, taking some light damage in the process, and kill the bowman.

    -Near the exit of the cave I remember fully what to expect next and take out a couple Mirroring Eyes potions and ingest one of them, then take on the two greater basilisks in the next room. After killing the first one and midway through attacking the second I use a second potion just in case, but the second Greater Basilisk is dead by then.

    -As I'm about to exit the one guy who's supposed to meet Prat blabs Sarevok's plans, but I let him off easy as he runs away. Whelp, guess it's back to Baldur's Gate.

    Current XP: 161,000+ (MAX)
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    Yeah, to cut things short, I'm gonna call this run damn near impossible, because Sarevok is damn near impossible. Even with all the buffs imaginable, even with the cheese that leads him outside the cathedral, even with setting the game to the easiest setting to see if this could be done, this is pretty much not gonna happen unless it's just pure bonified luck... which sucks.
  • GoturalGotural Member Posts: 1,229
    Kite him with some missiles / fireballs it should do the trick
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Yeah, you can definately sling him to death. I did it with a solo cleric. I also dealt with his party. :@ tedius but ultimately enjoyable!

    Ps when slinging, buff for high str and combine a magic sling with the best bullets you can find. Hits HARD.
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    edited November 2014
    I could try kiting but when I did it before he just used his hasted self to catch up and whack me. Then again that was with healing/melee strategies. The only thing I *DIDN'T* try was a potion or regeneration, so I might grab one of those for use.

    And Fireballs will be a no go. I did literally 2 damage to him with fireballs.

    EDIT: Could have also helped to have Blur... Why didn't I go with a Darkmoon Monk? D:
  • dementeddemented Member Posts: 388
    GamingFreak said:

    It took countless tries, and all the cheese imaginable, but I did it. I beat that bastard on Core. Solo. With a Sun Soul Monk.



    Next up, a core, solo, no reload, poverty Monk run.
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    demented said:

    GamingFreak said:

    It took countless tries, and all the cheese imaginable, but I did it. I beat that bastard on Core. Solo. With a Sun Soul Monk.



    Next up, a core, solo, no reload, poverty Monk run.
    I don't even need to try that. Dead before I hit FAI in most cases where a wolf spawns. And I'm not quite sure I understand what a poverty run is... *looks it up*... AHAHAHAHA! NOPE. **** THAT!
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Poverty no reload monk is undoable essentially. Your THAC0 and AC are too low to fight Sarevok and friends especially, but getting past any of the hard fights would require absurdly good roles. And non-magic fists.

    I'd be more interested a borderline poverty no-reload, exact restrictions could include no stealing or pillaging corpses of unnamed enemies.
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    By the way, since I couldn't record it on video, I got a dramatization clip that best sums up what happened at the end with Sarevok:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3swylpHp8gs
  • dreamriderdreamrider Member Posts: 417
    Re Boots of Speed - does this fall under the class restriction that monks cannot be Hasted?
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    Boots of Speed *can* be used with monks since the effects are literally just a walking speed boost; not the various other beneficial effects Haste have, like the boosted APR. However Free Action *apparently* nullifies this, which I disagree with strongly, because if monks, who are supposedly immune to haste, can use the boots of speed without a problem, you should be able to have free action without it nullifying the boots as well.

    Monks also move INSANELY fast with the boots of speed. To the point where using them was preferable to the missile defensive boots due to how fast I moved and how I could kite even hasted opponents with them. My main strategy with sarevok after luring him out of the cathedral was to literally beat on him and run away from his hasted ass and quaff potions at the start of each round when I got at least 1-character worth of distance between us. Doing this, I was able to beat him... of course I also needed lucky rolls, because on Core especially, he can crit you for about 50 damage, and as a monk that's well over half your health.
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