Solo No-Reload Archer/Thief SCS2 Run
semiticgoddess
Member Posts: 14,903
I have decided to start a new no-reload run, this time solo, for SCS2. I hope to continue into ToB with Ascension.
Our Charname this time is Rolava, a CG Human Archer who will dual-class to Thief at level 13. This is the Generic Archer custom kit from the Tactics mod, which counts as a fighter class and therefore can dual to thief.
Rolava's stats are:
18/96 STR
18 DEX
16 CON
11 INT
3 WIS
10 CHA
Two pips in Two-handed Sword; four pips in Crossbow.
This is a very late-game oriented dual-class, so we are going to have a lot of trouble early on, particularly as we are running a non-caster class that will not get UAI until Rolava collects over 4 million XP.
The game begins! Once we're out of our cage, we send Imoen away and free Jaheira and Minsc for the extra XP, before sending them off as well. We dodge a couple Lightning Bolts, slay a Mephit, deactivate a machine, and tell Aataqah we have no interest in fighting his Ogre Magi or Gibberlings.
SCS2 replaces the Goblins of Chateau Irenicus with Duergar, so this dungeon is filled with fighter-type enemies. As an Archer, Rolava cannot equip any better than Studded Leather Armor, so her AC is at 3. And since we can only rest once in Irenicus' dungeon before we get interrupted every time, we need to save our resources and pick our battles wisely.
Almost every group of Duergar has a pair of archers with crossbows. Rolava can force them to switch to unarmed combat by running right up to them.
She's still quite vulnerable, but this does help her out a lot. We get a crossbow out of the deal, but unfortunately, we won't be able to use it much before having to switch to melee weapons.
Altogether, we have to fight at minimum five clusters of Duergar, with an additional two if we want to take on Ilyich. Fortunately, with rest until fully healed enabled, we can allow Rolava to drop to single digit HP levels before we rest, and get back all our HP in one rest period. Still, we need lots of potions to stay alive, and careful rationing of our Bhaalspawn powers (two Cure Light Wounds, two Slow Poisons, and two DUHMs).
Mindful positioning was immensely helpful for the Otyugh.
It's immune to missile damage, but we can still outrange it in melee.
Here's an ideal example of positioning with a group of Duergar. I was quite pleased with this situation.
The one archer is forced into melee and all the axe users are out of reach. And with Rolava's two-handed weapon, she can take down the axe users first, so she only has to stand up to one unarmed Duergar for this battle.
Notice that Rolava suddenly has a Katana in her quick weapon slot. It's not because I went back to get it (it's worth 150 gold)--it's because I died once in this playthrough, and a few of these screenshots are from different runs of Chateau Irenicus.
Ilyich is tough. I had hoped to defeat him before he had a chance to use any of his potions, but I was not quick enough.
The Duergar mage wasn't too much trouble, though. I talk-blocked him to death. He dies in two hits from Rolava's crossbow.
I ignore the Cambion and the Air Elemental Plane. The former is just too tough, and the latter has some 6-second stun effects that could easily kill Rolava. I also avoid many of the trapped containers. I only bother to get the Helm of Balduran and the Portal Key.
The Mephit Portal room is tricky. There's a Radiant Mephit that could easily spell my doom on a failed save, so I want to clear the area to keep it safe. I didn't know at the time which portal corresponded to the Radiant Mephit, so I didn't know which one to take down first. Instead, I put Rolava at just the right angle to take out one Mephit Portal before the fight began.
The Radiant Mephit doesn't kill me! The rest of the portals fall in turn.
Beyond killing Frennedan, I have no more fights in this dungeon. They're too risky and offer too little reward, considering my limited inventory space. I talk-block the Assassin on the way out and head to the Circus, now free to rest as much as I please.
Some of the lines in this game are really special.
Kalah's response to playing dumb is absolutely golden. I sell some more loot and buy a Potion of Invisibility.
On to the Slums! Cohrvale and Bregg make an easy low-level encounter. I spend some money identifying the Ring of Human Influence so I can try and charm Cohrvale. I use Call Shot to lower his saving throws.
No such luck. But Rolava is tough enough to bring them down anyhoo.
If we're to get any farther in the game, we need to get Lilarcor. At +3 enchantment and with immunities to charm and confusion, it's a must-have for a low-level fighter. But first we have to deal with some Hobgoblins.
I approach cautiously, making sure I can take down the shaman before he throws out Hold Person.
But there are two shamans in this fight, and another Hold Person comes my way. I drink a Potion of Invisibility so the Hobgoblins can't prey on me if I fail my save.
The potion was unnecessary! I made my save.
Unfortunately, that run failed, since I got webbed by some Improved Spiders beneath the Graveyard. And the previous run, I got paralyzed by the Hobgoblins because the Ring of Air Control's invisibility effect activated too slowly.
So, I had to start over again.
Our Charname this time is Rolava, a CG Human Archer who will dual-class to Thief at level 13. This is the Generic Archer custom kit from the Tactics mod, which counts as a fighter class and therefore can dual to thief.
Rolava's stats are:
18/96 STR
18 DEX
16 CON
11 INT
3 WIS
10 CHA
Two pips in Two-handed Sword; four pips in Crossbow.
This is a very late-game oriented dual-class, so we are going to have a lot of trouble early on, particularly as we are running a non-caster class that will not get UAI until Rolava collects over 4 million XP.
The game begins! Once we're out of our cage, we send Imoen away and free Jaheira and Minsc for the extra XP, before sending them off as well. We dodge a couple Lightning Bolts, slay a Mephit, deactivate a machine, and tell Aataqah we have no interest in fighting his Ogre Magi or Gibberlings.
SCS2 replaces the Goblins of Chateau Irenicus with Duergar, so this dungeon is filled with fighter-type enemies. As an Archer, Rolava cannot equip any better than Studded Leather Armor, so her AC is at 3. And since we can only rest once in Irenicus' dungeon before we get interrupted every time, we need to save our resources and pick our battles wisely.
Almost every group of Duergar has a pair of archers with crossbows. Rolava can force them to switch to unarmed combat by running right up to them.
She's still quite vulnerable, but this does help her out a lot. We get a crossbow out of the deal, but unfortunately, we won't be able to use it much before having to switch to melee weapons.
Altogether, we have to fight at minimum five clusters of Duergar, with an additional two if we want to take on Ilyich. Fortunately, with rest until fully healed enabled, we can allow Rolava to drop to single digit HP levels before we rest, and get back all our HP in one rest period. Still, we need lots of potions to stay alive, and careful rationing of our Bhaalspawn powers (two Cure Light Wounds, two Slow Poisons, and two DUHMs).
Mindful positioning was immensely helpful for the Otyugh.
It's immune to missile damage, but we can still outrange it in melee.
Here's an ideal example of positioning with a group of Duergar. I was quite pleased with this situation.
The one archer is forced into melee and all the axe users are out of reach. And with Rolava's two-handed weapon, she can take down the axe users first, so she only has to stand up to one unarmed Duergar for this battle.
Notice that Rolava suddenly has a Katana in her quick weapon slot. It's not because I went back to get it (it's worth 150 gold)--it's because I died once in this playthrough, and a few of these screenshots are from different runs of Chateau Irenicus.
Ilyich is tough. I had hoped to defeat him before he had a chance to use any of his potions, but I was not quick enough.
The Duergar mage wasn't too much trouble, though. I talk-blocked him to death. He dies in two hits from Rolava's crossbow.
I ignore the Cambion and the Air Elemental Plane. The former is just too tough, and the latter has some 6-second stun effects that could easily kill Rolava. I also avoid many of the trapped containers. I only bother to get the Helm of Balduran and the Portal Key.
The Mephit Portal room is tricky. There's a Radiant Mephit that could easily spell my doom on a failed save, so I want to clear the area to keep it safe. I didn't know at the time which portal corresponded to the Radiant Mephit, so I didn't know which one to take down first. Instead, I put Rolava at just the right angle to take out one Mephit Portal before the fight began.
The Radiant Mephit doesn't kill me! The rest of the portals fall in turn.
Beyond killing Frennedan, I have no more fights in this dungeon. They're too risky and offer too little reward, considering my limited inventory space. I talk-block the Assassin on the way out and head to the Circus, now free to rest as much as I please.
Some of the lines in this game are really special.
Kalah's response to playing dumb is absolutely golden. I sell some more loot and buy a Potion of Invisibility.
On to the Slums! Cohrvale and Bregg make an easy low-level encounter. I spend some money identifying the Ring of Human Influence so I can try and charm Cohrvale. I use Call Shot to lower his saving throws.
No such luck. But Rolava is tough enough to bring them down anyhoo.
If we're to get any farther in the game, we need to get Lilarcor. At +3 enchantment and with immunities to charm and confusion, it's a must-have for a low-level fighter. But first we have to deal with some Hobgoblins.
I approach cautiously, making sure I can take down the shaman before he throws out Hold Person.
But there are two shamans in this fight, and another Hold Person comes my way. I drink a Potion of Invisibility so the Hobgoblins can't prey on me if I fail my save.
The potion was unnecessary! I made my save.
Unfortunately, that run failed, since I got webbed by some Improved Spiders beneath the Graveyard. And the previous run, I got paralyzed by the Hobgoblins because the Ring of Air Control's invisibility effect activated too slowly.
So, I had to start over again.
6
Comments
I rolled a new character, and got, unbelievably enough, nearly identical rolls.
The first time, I only gave Rolava 16 CON, as I was thinking of her as a thief. I bumped it up to 18 in the second try and now the third.
For some reason, she has a different set of innate abilities. I thought alignment determined them in BG2, but she's been CG for every run.
This is actually a better set, however, as Horror is a marvelous disabler at this level, particularly considering its fast casting time.
Rolava finds a Radiant Mephit in the room with the first Potion of Extra Healing. It doesn't go well.
But, since she's a warrior with 18 CON, she can weather the mephit's attacks, and chop it up in two strikes.
More mephit trouble, this time with the Smoke Mephit and its annoying blindness attack. I failed my save three times in a row, and spent many rounds running away to avoid its pitiful melee attacks.
With so much HP drained by those two mephits, I was running pretty low when I tackled the library Duergar and Ilyich, who rushes to their aid soon after the fight begins. This is the perfect time to use Horror.
I dispatch the group and follow Ilyich into the next room, but fail to talk-block the mage, who manages to Slow me. I run away, my Oil of Speed now negated for the next ten rounds, and struggle to heal myself as I run off to safety.
The mage follows after me. It doesn't cast any more spells, so I take the time to attack one of the melee Duergar following me. It wasn't a good idea.
Charm Person. I was quite furious about this.
Starting over again.
I finally let INT dip below 11 on realizing that Potions of Genius could protect me from the Mind Flayers I don't plan on ever fighting.
I get a horrible set of Bhaalspawn abilities: two copies of Larloch's Minor Drain, Slow Poison, and DUHM, the worst set you can get, in my opinion. LMD stacks, but it's still not as much HP as CLW. Slow Poison is nifty, but Horror has more uses. DUHM is tough, but it's not stackable and has a terrible duration, and Vampiric Touch gives more HP.
By now I've got the pattern for Chateau Irenicus down pat: rush up to the archers to make them resort to unarmed combat; use DUHM for the Lesser Clay Golems and Ilyich; kill the mage early, with talk-blocking if possible, and time Slow Poison so the poison traps don't interrupt it. When our HP gets perilously low, we rest.
Without healing spells, it's basically a vacation.
From there, we pick off the first Mephit Portal (I believe the third or fourth corresponds to the Radiant Mephit) and save against the Radiant Mephit's Color Spray. A Salt Mephit causes us some grief, precisely why I avoided doing the Air Elemental Plane quest.
But the mephit can't do much. I go through the rest of the dungeon and the Circus just like I did before. On to the Slums, once again.
This time, Cohrvale isn't so lucky.
Bregg doesn't stand a chance.
Now for the Hobgoblins. I've finally got a plan worked out. Instead of banking on the Ring of Air Control (a pricy but necessary expense) to save me right before Hold Person hits, I'll activate it at the start of battle and see if it keeps the shaman from targeting me.
I inch forward, until the shaman is within sight. I pop him with a bolt.
Success! The shaman attacks me but does not cast a spell. He cannot target me while I'm invisible. The other shaman also fails. The Hobgoblins are toast.
The last Chapter 1 dream triggers, finally. I've seen these so many times in just one day.
If only real Mind Flayers, Liches, and Vampires went down like that.
We go nab LIlarcor, our favorite arguably intelligent item.
I wish that last line would appear in Lilarcor's everyday chatter.
I really need Arbane's Sword to fill out my resistances (it apparently gives immunity to stun as well as hold and web, but this may depend on the install), but Suna Seni is too tough for me at the moment. Luckily, Blackraven has told me how to avoid her: going from the Promenade to the Slums to the Government District to the Gate District to the Umar Hills will let us postpone Suna Seni's ambush.
On the way, I speak with Delon and rescue Viconia. The Ring of Air Control also protects me from the Beshaban fanatic's spells, but he can still sic his undead buddies on me.
The other two fanatics wait around until I get to them. For some reason they never attacked me or Viconia, even though Viconia was nailing one of them with a Flame Blade.
In the Umar Hills, I grab as much XP as I can. Valygar's friends are too dangerous, as are the Umber Hulks in the Killer Mimic cave, but I judge Imnesvale's chickens to be a tolerable challenge.
The Killer Mimic itself is a bigger problem. I unwisely attempt to take it on despite my lack of Arbane's Sword. I'm perfectly vulnerable to its Mimic Glue attack.
But sometimes stupid mistakes don't get you killed.
As long as we're in the Imnesvale quest line (I love the name Imnesvale), I decide to do a tiny amount of adventuring around the Temple Ruins. Mostly I just meet Anath, whose name I keep confusing with Adratha, and go activate the mirror just outside the entrance to the Temple Ruins.
The Ring of Air Control gives me a reliable escape option once per day. It might not last as long or activate as fast as Potions of Invisibility, but I will always have it with me, allowing me to use it as more than just an escape option.
I also kill a Shade Wolf inside, but stop short of the encounter in the room with Amuana's Bones, since it contains more enemies than I feel comfortable taking on. Incidentally, do you guys pronounce Amuana as Ah-mwa-na or A-mu-wa-na?
I return to the Promenade and then head to the Temple to buy potions from Roger. I already have a Potion of Invisibility and a Potion of Freedom from Ribald, but I need more than one source of Freedom of Movement. After Roger, I enter the Graveyard, and thankfully I do not get ambushed on the way. I need Kitthix if I'm going to get much use out of my crossbow. What good are ranged weapons if all the enemies are in your face?
First, though, I have a lot of spiders to take down. After triggering some traps beneath the Graveyard and resting to get back the HP, I drink a Potion of Freedom and take on the first group of spiders, who can no longer hit me with their web tangle spells they get from SCS.
I get poisoned once and have to drink an Elixir of Health, which I had to buy for just this reason.
I take a lot of damage, but I need this Potion of Freedom to last for another two battles, so I have to drink healing potions instead of resting. I have to deal with another pair of Sword Spiders accompanied by Ettercaps, and then a trio of spiders: Sword, Phase, and Wraith.
All the spiders succumbed to Lilarcor.
Now we have to deal with Pai'na. I don't know what spells she has exactly, but I assume she has a web spell of some sort, so I have brought along two extremely expensive Potions of Invulnerability to buff. More than 2000 gold went into this one single fight.
With both potions, the Helm of Balduran, and the Ring of Protection +1, Rolava has a -1 save vs. spell, giving her effective immunity to disablers. Whatever Pai'na throws at us, we can handle.
But since I don't know for sure if she's going to throw disablers at us, I only drink one potion. If she casts a disabler, I can drink the other potion just in time.
Most of the time, Pai'na just attacks me in spider form. No poison, thankfully.
Eventually, she starts casting a spell right in front of me. I drink the second potion, but the spell was just Defensive Harmony for her little spider friends. Soon I break through her Ironskins (she's a druid, despite being a drow in a den of spiders, which just screams cleric of Lolth) and cut down her fairly minimal HP. The spiders take ages to stomp.
Finally, Kitthix is ours! And because we have Item Upgrade installed, we can get the Improved Kitthix by bringing a scroll of Spider Spawn (found in Pai'na's lair already) and five poisoned throwing daggers to Cromwell. The upgrade costs 5,000 gold, but it'll be worth it to get a durable summons before we finish the Trademeet quest and can buy Ras.
But on the way, we get ambushed.
Suna Seni has appeared. But I have anticipated this and arrive at the battle already under the effects of the Ring of Air Control's Improved Invisibility spell. Ten rounds until it expires.
There's only thing I really want from this battle: Arbane's Sword. That little thing carries a bunch of immunities that I will need if I'm going to save any potions for the late game. Suna Seni carries it, and she has about 70 HP. However, we also have to deal with Eldarin, who has excellent AC by virtue of his armor and lots of attacks by virtue of his bow, plus a prebuffed mage, a prebuffed cleric, and a thief with Potions of Invisibility and the ability to backstab. I need to bring down Suna Seni and get out of there, but I might have to kill some of her friends to keep myself from being eaten alive in the process.
I run to the northeast, drink an Oil of Speed, summon Kitthix, cast Draw Upon Holy Might, activate Mirror Image via Ilbratha, and enter the battle, my spider at the front. Kitthix tries Web Tangle on an enemy I mistake for the cleric. The victim fails, but the cleric remains. The enemy focuses on Kitthix, giving me some time to act without interference.
I equip a half-quiver of Bolts of Lightning I found in Merella's Cabin and take down the cleric in short order. Kitthix brings down the webbed enemy. I order Kitty to web Suna Seni, but she makes her save.
With an Oil of Speed and Grand Mastery in crossbows, Rolava has 4 APR, and with Bolts of Lightning, that's 12.5 damage per hit, or 17.5 on a failed save. Suna Seni croaks. I nab her loot, but then realize that the battle has turned in my favor.
Why not take down the others while I'm at it?
First, I focus on Eldarin, who has no Mirror Image and has the best THAC0.
He has some magic resistance, suggesting a potion. The mage casts Chromatic Orb on Rolava, but she equips Arbane's Sword to avoid getting stunned.
With her high APR and the monstrous damage bonus of Bolts of Lightning, she brings down Eldarin, followed by the thief. The mage's Minor Globe of Invulnerability runs out, but her Mirror Image remains. Worse, she has a Protection from Normal Missiles spell active.
I grab the rest of the enemy's loot and leave the mage in peace. She has nothing I need.
We enter the Docks safely and pay Cromwell for the Kitthix upgrade.
I'm not sure I approve of the tone of the description, and Kitty's new stats are more than I need, but I now have a durable summons that will let me rely more heavily on Rolava's archery. As long as we're in the Docks, I decide to test out the new Kitty on the mad Cleric of Cyric.
Yeah, Rolava is going to be living in Kitty's shadow for a bit. But it'll be worth it.
Edit: How soon will you go visit Watcher's Keep? The Manual and the Case would be worth zipping in and out to nab, even if you aren't ready for any fights really. Probably nab those right after Firetooth I suppose.
I always liked Kitthix, though it was never a big part of my strategy (its Web Tangle did prove extremely helpful in Sil's run, though). Mostly it was just there because I would usually have one warrior who had no spell to cast and therefore was better off summoning Kitthix.
I am actually terrified of spiders in real life.
Watcher's Keep will likely be the next one up. Good idea. But it might depend on where the monsters are, and if I can sneak past them with the Ring of Air Control. What good is invisibility if it gets dispelled as you're opening a container next to a gaggle of trolls?
Called Shot synergizes marvelously with Kitty's new attack. Called Shot drops the target's save vs. spell by 1 per hit, and the effect lasts for 15 seconds. Kitty webs the target on a failed save vs. spell with a -2 penalty. With multiple APR and the effects of Called Shot, we can net almost any target that's not immune. Unfortunately, this won't work well with spellcasters, who will have weapon immunities. Kitty has no recourse against PFMW, Mantle, Improved Mantle, or Absolute Immunity. We'll have to play things carefully around enemy mages.
I returned to the Copper Coronet to get some easy XP from the slavers. Amalas bad-mouthed me on the way. Kitty changed his tone.
I'm starting to like this spider.
With the Ring of Air Control, I intended to enter the slaver compound while invisible and seek out an advantageous position. In reality, the positioning made no difference.
Rolava still got targeted after breaking invisibility, since Kitty likes to teleport to her targets and doesn't stick around to draw enemy fire. But Rolava is still safe from the cleric, since his divination spell failed to reach her (she ran out of its range).
I'm terrified of the Prismatic Spray trap, so I had Kitty fight the next battle solo.
She slaughters everybody.
I have to go outside and enter the slaver compound from the exterior of the Slums if I want to bypass that Prismatic Spray trap, and I have to down a Potion of Frost Giant Strength and cast DUHM in order to bash open the door. I still had to deal with a poison trap, but Rolava has a couple of Slow Poisons available. I cleaned up the whole place, avoiding the remaining traps, but failed to open the door to the Trolls. I don't have a fire weapon to use against them just yet.
I don't have enough money for Firetooth, but if I go to the de'Arnise Hold, I can get some free Fire Arrows, and buy a shortbow to use against the Trolls once I get back. But I get ambushed along the way.
For some reason, Rolava couldn't activate the RoAC right away, so she got pummeled a little and hit with Greater Malison. But I have great confidence in Kitty, so I summon her and see how she does.
The battle has just become unwinnable. I am forced to flee the area.
Since I have no Potions of Invisibility left, I decide to check out Watcher's Keep instead of going right to the de'Arnise Hold, in the hopes that Garlena sells some of them. She does not.
I return to Athkatla and search for Potions of Invisibility, but I cannot buy them from Ribald, Roger, the thief in the Slums, or the thief in the Shadow Thief hideout. I give up and decide to leave again, but since I checked Garlena's inventory and Firetooth is only just over 12,000 gold, and I have about 9,000, I decide to wait to finish the Trolls in the slaver compound until after I can afford Firetooth. So, no de'Arnise Hold yet.
Instead, I head to the Umar Hills, which I understand will not trigger another one of those nasty Orog-heavy ambushes. From there, I go to the Windspear Hills, since I figure I can make some nice money off of the first encounter of the area. Plus, I'll be able to get rid of the Acorns.
When I reach the first ambush, I talk-block the monsters to give myself enough time to summon Kitty.
From there, I cast DUHM, turn invisible, and fire at the monsters while they're busy attacking Kitty. They drop a lot of nice loot besides their plate mail.
At Garren's house, I manage to summon Kitty again before Plath Rededge attacks us. Rolava is also able to activate the RoAC at the beginning of battle, protecting us from any nasty spells Plath might use. I keep Rolava a good distance away from Plath anyway, just in case she tries anything funny (she approached Rolava early on, possibly because she had Slay Living, which I've seen her use before). Rolava still got hit by the orcs a couple times, but the battle went well. Once we've brought the acorns to Vaelasa and gathered up the fallen knights' loot, we return to Garlena. But we don't quite have enough gold.
So, we head to Trademeet. Rolava drinks a Potion of Insight and speaks to Wilfred the Red in the blue tent to the southwest.
We see through Wilfred's elaborate facade, and receive 1000 gold in hush money to maintain his reputation for studly heroism.
Finally, we return to Garlena and buy Firetooth. We now have an end-game weapon, which will help us take down everything from Golems to Trolls. We finish the slaver quest with Firetooth in hand and gain a level.
Rolava is finally gaining some power. But it won't be long before we'll be back at level 1.
expects lots of insightful tactics
Anyway, nice work so far.
I see you're soon off to d'Arnise. Hopefully you are prepared for the Spirit Trolls who cast Flamestrike, Unholy Blight (which may affect you since you're Chaotic Good), and Greater Command and whose invisibility you cannot dispel.
Very powerful.
She also doesn't have it as an innate. Oh well, she's powerful anyway.
In my original BG2 installation it wears the MAGE03 item (mirror image).
The mod is not installed on my BG2EE game at the moment but I will check.
Rolava is at level 11 and has a base 10 save vs. spells. With the Cloak of Protection, Helm of Balduran, and Ring of Earth Control, it'll be 7, so I would need to down two Potions of Stone Form or two Potions of Invulnerability to achieve immunity, and that's a very expensive prospect considering there are multiple Spirit Trolls in the keep.
I might just have Kitty fight the Spirit Trolls alone, and have Rolava remain invisible the whole time. But I don't want to rely on Kitty, considering how overpowered she is.
They could see through my invisibility and had a very high movement rate, so I had to drink an Oil of Speed to escape their level drain attack.
Kitty was able to kill them, but she could not chase them down, and they were much more interested in attacking Rolava than Kitty. A fair amount of time was spent fleeing.
I lost a thousand gold to buying Greater Restoration from Garlena, since I got level drained once by a trap and again by a Vampiric Wraith.
I moved on to the next section, where there is a pack of spiders. I knew Kitty could handle it. Since I didn't want to have to deal with poison myself, I had Rolava turn invisible.
It wasn't enough.
Guys, I need to know exactly where all of the petrification, Finger of Death, Disintegrate, and Maze traps are in BG2, because I obviously don't know. I do not want to get killed over and over by traps I cannot yet detect.
Maybe it would be good to make a list... Apart from the trap that ended Rolava's run, I can only think of the following traps:
- petrification in sewers below Copper Coronet (on door that functions as bridge);
- prismatic spray in Slaver Compound;
- finger of death in Planar Sphere;
- petrification on door that leads to Lich's house in Bridge District.
I created Rovala once again (18/96 STR again), and this time used her original name. I changed it to Rolava at some point, but the original was Rovala, which I think sounds a little better. This time, I get a casting of Horror, which will be of great use in the early game.
Anyway, I went through Irenicus' dungeon once more and used much the same tactics. I learned two things, though.
First, if an enemy dies directly over a container, its loot will be placed inside the container.
Second, there's a nice way to avoid dealing with the four Mephits in the Mephit Portal room entirely. You lure them into the previous room and lock them inside.
You can then attack the Mephit Portals undisturbed. You need an Oil of Speed to outrun them, however.
1: Buying Our Escape Options
We proceed as normal out of Irenicus' dungeon, completing the Circus quest, buying the Ring of Air Control, a Potion of Freedom, a Potion of Invisibility, and a scroll of Web. We then head to the Slums.
-New Items: Potion of Invisibility (1); Potion of Freedom (1), scroll of Web (1); RoAC
2: Our First Two Immunities
The Hobgoblins can be killed safely if we use the Ring of Air Control to prevent the shamans from casting Hold Person. We also use the RoAC to get the Hand of Vallah without getting attacked by the Otyugh and the oozes. With Lilarcor, we can block enemy charm and confusion spells. Finally, we buy five poisoned daggers from the fence to the east of the Copper Coronet.
-New Items: Lilarcor; poisoned daggers (5)
3: Avoiding an Ambush
We go to the Government District to talk to Delon, head to the Gate District, talk to Flydian, and leave Athkatla for the Umar Hills. This route will prevent us from being ambushed by Suna Seni, whom we are not ready to face.
-Optional: We free Viconia and fight the Fanatics. The RoAC will keep off enemy spells once again.
4: Our First Power Boost
We cast DUHM and go up to fight the Killer Mimic. If we get paralyzed, then we'll get hit 5 times by the mimic's acid attack, but we will survive this (97.5 damage in total, on average). We then run away, heal ourselves, and attack from afar, fading in and out of the mimic's sight. This way, we might be able to get out of sight before the Mimic Glue hits again, letting us avoid another five acid attacks. Rovala killed the mimic before it could try Mimic Glue a second time, but if she couldn't handle another volley of acid attacks, she could leave, rest, and return. Or, we could drink a Potion of Freedom to avoid getting glued.
We bring Jermien the mimic's blood, kill the golem, and get Ilbratha. We now can cast Mirror Image once per day. We also get 20 Bolts of Lightning from Merella's house.
-New Items: Ilbratha; Bolts of Lightning (20)
5: New Escape Options
We go back to Athkatla, to the Temple District, which apparently does not trigger an ambush. We go to Roger and buy a Potion of Clarity. If we have no Potion of Invisibility, we must buy a second Potion of Clarity. If we have already drank our Potion of Freedom, then we must buy a new one. We also buy a single Oil of Fiery Burning.
Optional: Buy a Potion of Absorption and/or Antidote.
New Items: Oil of Fiery Burning (1); Potion of Clarity (1 if we have Potion of Invisibility; 2 if not); Potion of Freedom (we need at least one)
6: Spiders and Web Tangle
We enter the Graveyard and go to the lower crypts. We fighter each group of spiders by casting Horror. If it does not disable the enemy, we may need to use the RoAC. If a Giant Spider if unaffected by the Horror spell, we must retreat to avoid a Web Tangle, or else use a Potion of Freedom. We must face three groups of enemies, one of which has a Giant Spider (Web Tangle) and two of which have a Phase Spider (good THAC0 and poison attack).
7: Our First Summons
We buff with DUHM, Mirror Image, and finally the RoAC. We enter Pai'na lair, run to the east to draw the many spiders into one spot, and kill the whole group with an Oil of Fiery Burning. The spiders have terrible THAC0, but their poison is quite potent (5 damage per second), hence the need for an Oil of Fiery Burning. We then have several rounds to break through Pai'na's Ironskins before she starts casting Chain Lightning, but Potions of Extra Healing should be enough to keep us in good shape. We must pick up both the Spider Figurine and a scroll of Spider Spawn.
8: Suna Seni
We turn invisible with the RoAC, head to the Docks District, and get ambushed by Suna Seni and her cronies on the way. We find a safe spot in the northeast, summon Kitthix, and cast Mirror Image. We begin the battle by sending Kitthix out first to draw the enemy's attention.
We equip the Bolts of Lightning and attack Suna Seni. Kitthix targets Suna Seni with Web Tangle, but webbing her is not absolutely necessary for our success. The enemy cannot cast spells on us, and our Mirror Image will keep the thief and its backstabs at bay.
Suna Seni will fall soon to the Bolts of Lightning. We pick up Arbane's Sword and work on killing the remaining enemies with normal bolts or Lilarcor.
Finally, the wizard is left. Whenever the wizard begins casting a spell, we switch to Arbane's Sword to protect us from Chromatic Orb's disabling effect. We also run away a short distance so we have enough time to switch to Lilarcor if the mage happens to be casting a Charm Person spell.
The mage can't do much besides hit us with damage spells, and Potions of Extra Healing should be sufficient to keep us alive. If we are worried about her Chain Lightning spells, we can drink a Potion of Absorption to block the damage. Eventually we will break through her Ironskins and she will fall, though multiple Potions of Superior Healing will drag out the battle.
9: Improved Kitthix
We go to Cromwell and pay 5,000 gold to upgrade Kitthix. With sufficient looting, we should have about twice that much money. We will also lose our scrolls of Web and Spider Spawn, as well as five poisoned daggers.
10: The Next Ambush
We use the RoAC before leaving the Docks. On the way next to our next destination, we get ambushed by the thugs who have Renfeld. We flee to the northeast again, summon Kitthix, and buff with Mirror Image.
Most of the enemies will fall quickly to crossbow bolts. If the enemy mage casts Horror, we must either drink a Potion of Clarity to avoid the effect or a Potion of Invisibility to prevent the enemy from targeting us while we are under the effects of Horror. When the Horror spell runs out, the mage should be vulnerable.
We now have the ability to resist all disablers except for unconsciousness and fear, the latter of which we can block with a Potion of Clarity. We also have a durable summons that will clear up early encounters and allow us to rely more heavily on ranged attacks. Finally, at level 10 and with Ilbratha's Mirror Image effect, we can survive fights with early game fighter types.
As for the petrification/sudden death traps, I find @Blackraven 's list quite solid.
I can add a trap on the container with the Horn of Valhalla.
Also, there's a petrification trap in the Maevar's guild, on the 2nd floor.
Another petrification trap in on the alter in the Mekrath's lair.
This kind of traps is the reason why it's hard to believe it's possible to solo the game in a blind mode if you're not a thief : ) The constant "Protection from Magic" from the Simulacrum helmet can help.
I should mention that in the sewers below Copper Coronet there's another bridge to the south that you can cross without any problems.
@bengoshi: You can also avoid the petrification trap beneath the Copper Coronet by walking on the wooden plank instead of the door. I actually didn't know about the south bridge until somebody mentioned; I always just used the plank.
I have a special policy for simulacra and magic items in this run. If I use the trick freely, then Rovala can be immune to all spells all the time, which would render all mage battles rather uninteresting. Or, she could use the scroll on the enemy, and prevent the mage from summoning spells as well. Complete immunity to magic or Protection from Undead is a little game-breaking.
But, if I restrict myself from the trick entirely, then my simulacra will be terribly weak. So, I'll let my simulacra use magic items, but they'll only be able to use them on themselves. This will make Vhailor's Helm useful without making Rovala nearly unkillable.
Super Simulacrum man is GO!
@bengoshi I think it is safe to say it would be impossible to blindly solo the game without reloads, even if you are a thief. The game has some nasty surprises for PCs that did not metagame to prepare for certain situations. Though you could get mileage out of Protection From Magic + Simulacrum from the Helm, a first time player will not think of this usually.
That said... now that I've worked out a formula for the early game, I might use that as a checkpoint, much as trilogy no-reload runs use the end of BG1 and SoA as checkpoints. So, if I die again, I can start over at this current stage (upgrading Kitty) instead of running through all the same steps again. But I would probably have to go through it one more time to make sure it's really a foolproof formula.
So, next time I die, I start over at the beginning. But if I then use the formula and pull it off without a hitch (that is, if bad luck could not have ended the run), I'll consider that point to be the new starting point, which will save me a couple hours of monotony if and when I should die yet again.
For me, no-reload is more about tactics than masochism. Alesia did a trilogy no-reload run with a Bounty Hunter a while back, and though her Charname died in the final battle with Melissan, I consider her run to have been a success, since she later worked out a foolproof formula for winning the final battle. Even if her Bounty Hunter did die once, I still consider Alesia to have finished the first no-reload SCS+Ascension trilogy run, since she came up with a formula that solved the luck problem.
I don't know if she retried the run with another Bounty Hunter, but if she didn't, I don't think it matters. She still won the challenge.
I don't see why it matters, or why you brought it up. The reason I wanted to try this run was to see if an Archer/Thief could beat the game without relying on luck. It's a measure of the strength of the character and the tactics it uses. I want to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the Archer/Thief, how to maximize the former and minimize the latter.
What is the alternative to restarting? I could reload when stuff goes wrong, but that would just let me rely on luck to win the game, instead of finding ways to compensate for the Archer/Thief's weak points. I could also not restart at all, and just give up when Charname dies, but that doesn't help me learn anything, either. Is there something I should be doing different?
@semiticgod, instead of rerolling you can also roll a character once and export it. If the character dies you can import the exported CHAR-file at character creation to save some time.