I finally finished my first BGEE LoB/SCS playthrough.
My setup is Legacy of Bhaal difficulty, SCS(almost all components except few item tweaks), no XP cap and some convenient tweaks from BG2tweaks. My party was Elf FMT solo. Although FMT without XP cap is very powerful, LoB/SCS from Level 1/1/1 was quite difficult.
Some thoughts below...
Early game, I kited almost every encounter, and avoided ranged enemy. Sleep is completely useless because of +12 enemy level from LoB, so use Blindness. Our Dispel/Remove magic is almost useless, but enemies always success.(I hate +12 level) Wand of Fire and Wand of Monster Summoning are OP throughout the game. Melee combat was only doable after I got Stoneskin, which is already beyond default XP cap for FMT. Backstabs do not one-shot mages even if crit. Detect Illusion is the best because SCS mages always cast Mirror Image.(Note that almost all mages creates 8 images because of +12 level) Aren't Phase Spiders too deadly? Their poison seems to bypass Stoneskin/Mirror Image and does 10 damage/sec. I think that's bit too much.
I completed all major quests. Bandit camp in LoB/SCS is just insane, by far the hardest fight for me. I think that is almost impossible for solo at chapter 3. My character was quickly surrounded by bandits who have 100+ HP each, powerful fighter, and Mage. Even though my character had pretty good AC, she continuously got hit and die. So I just used Invisibility and got whatever progress story. I cleared bandit camp just before the final battle, with double Web sequencer, Greater Malison, double Cloudkill. That was fun
As for the final battle,that was not so hard. Overall, that was quite fun. I died quite a lot, and with default XP cap, I don't know whether I can complete. I hope someone success LoB/SCS/No-Reload run.
Anyway, I'm moving towards BG2EE LoB/SCS/Ascension playthrough. My FMT already have 1M XP total, so I probably skip SoD contents. For BG2EE, I probably add FMC (and possibly sorcerer or something) to my party for more versatility.
Report on BG2EE LoB/SCS/Ascension playthrough. I finished most of Chapter2-3 quests including tough encounters like Firkraag, Kangaxx, and Twisted Rune.
My setup is as follows. - Legacy of Bhaal Difficulty - SCS (almost all components except some item tweaks (notably Robe of Vecna and Carsomyr ones) and "More Resilient Trolls") - Ascension - Tactics for EE (Few new encounters and Improved Irenicus, btw I've never tried this yet) - BG2 Tweaks (No XP cap, Triple-Class HLA Tables and some convenient tweaks)
My party is FMT(Bhaalspawn) and FMC. FMT is imported from BGEE LoB/SCS final save. FMT got a lot of HP from familiar. Apparently, familiars also got LoB HP boost. They currently have about 7M XP each. FMT's weapon proficiencies are Long Swords(**), Long Bows(**), Two Weapon Style(**), War Hammers(**) and Two-handed Swords(*). Long Swords are really good. In BG1, we can easily get +2 one and in BG2, Daystar and Dragon Slayer are especially good against tough enemies. Specialization in War Hammers is for future Crom Faeyr, and proficiency in Two-handed Swords is for Carsomyr. FMC's weapon proficiencies are Flails(**), Maces(**), Slings(**), Two Weapon Style(**), and Quarterstaffs(*). FMC usually uses Flail of Ages and Defender of Easthaven dual wield. FMC can DR tank with Armor of Faith, Defender of Easthaven, and Hardiness, so maybe FMC is better for Bhaalspawn because of extra HP from familiar. However I don't usually use FMC as DR tank, because defensive spells are so good and it only works after 3M XP.
I'm not sure about next proficiency points for FMT. I'm thinking Bastard Swords for Foebane +5. Do you have any advice?
My usual tactic in BG2 is pretty simple. Buff up, summon, haste, then kill enemy. It works well in LoB. With Stoneskin + Sprit Armor + Mirror Image + Blur, we are safe enough against usual fight. After we got Mislead and Improved Haste, I never worried about usual fight.
Considering Dispel/Remove Magic never work, dealing with mages is bit tougher than usual, but my party doesn't rely on that anyway. Detect Illusion by FMT, spell protection removal spells if needed, then Breach. However, liches who cast Spell Trap are basically unkillable before we get Ruby Ray.
Spirit Trolls are really annoying, even without SCS "More Resilient Trolls" components. They have like 300 HP in my setup, drain STR, relatively low AC, invisible, and regenerate... soooooo annoying!
I use SCS "Smarter dragons -> Dragons have a substantial hit point increase" component, so Firkraag has about 550 HP without LoB, which means, with LoB, he has over 1700 HP. However, my FMT and FMC killed him surprisingly easily. I summoned Deva and Skeltons, buff up, surround him, Breach, then attack. After first skeltons were killed, I used Mordenkainen's Sword. While summons were tanking, FMT and FMC kept attacking him under Improved Haste. FMT dealt a lot of damages with Dragon Slayer. It didn't take so long to kill Firkraag, and my FMT and FMC were completely safe.
As for Kangaxx, I lost once because of Wish Breach. I think there are no way to protect against that. But Kangaxx and liches are not particularly harder than non-LoB SCS one. However, gated demons are pretty tough, and lich's undead friends are also tough.
Twisted Rune was the most difficult fight for me. There are two powerfull mages and Elder Orb. Vampire and fighter are not a problem. SCS Beholders are insane because they can basically cast Spell Strike every round. Elder Orb in Twisted Rune cast Protection from Magic Energy previously, so Skull Trap does nothing to him, and he continuously casts Protection from Magical Weapons. Can I recruit him? My tactics here was kill mage with Staff of Magi first, while let Lich and Elder Orb deal with summons. I managed to clear Twisted Rune, but I should consider more reliable tactics.
Now, my party is in Spellhold and all my items are taken thanks to SCS. I'm quite sure my party can deal with most fights in BG2. However, I'm really worrying about Improved Irenicus from Tactics and Ascension final battle.
Another report on BG2EE LoB/SCS/Ascension playthrough. I've finished SoA part with my uncapped FMT+FMC.
In chapter 4-7, I didn't have any problem with any fight other than Tactics contents. As for Tactics Improved Irenicus, fisrt part was really hard, but later parts were easy for me. In general, dealing with one enemy is not so hard even in LoB. However, dealing with multiple enemies at once is significantly harder, which is exactly we have to do in fisrt part of Tactics Improved Irenicus and Ascension final battle.
I decided to put FMT's proficiency points into Axes for throwing axe. In Ascension final battle, Illasera and gated fallen Solar always trouble me, so I think ranged weapon and Reflection Shield would be the safest choice for this.
Outside of Tactics contents, I probably reloaded less than 10 times in SoA. So it's absolutely doable to complete BG2EE LoB/SCS/No-Reload run.
I finally reached Ascension final battle with my FMT+FMC, but sadly, I can't beat this.
I can deal with The five. Illasera is archer with -31 THAC0 and dispelling arrow, Abazigal is Kensai/Mage who can cast Time Stop and deals insane amount of damage, Yaga-Shura has a 60% physical damage resistance and 1200 HP, and Sendai is Mage/Cleric with annoying teleport ability. Fortunately, Balthazar is my side. However, they are vulnerable to backstab and Time Stop, so they are not a problem for FMT.
Melissan herself has 1600 HP and 75% resistance against physical damage after killing all The five. That sounds insane, but it is actually doable, IF she is alone. The real problem is her Gate and Time Stop immunity. She gates in 10 demons at once and each demon has at least 600 HP. Fallen Solar's dispelling arrows and Creeping Doom are instant death for my character. So I have to keep up PfMW and Spell Immunity, but they doesn't last long enough to kill Melissan even if I use all my scrolls. Without PfMW, if my characters are surrounded, my character die literally within 1 second. I thought I could kite them, but kiting 10+ demons at once was actually impossible.
I spent few hours, but I didn't find any way to deal with them. If you have any advice, please let me know.
This is why I very much prefer larger parties in LoB. The extra damage + extra targets for monsters to chase work wonders. If you're going with a 2-person party only, you're effectively reducing your damage output by 2/3rds compared to a 6-person party, since none of the enemy stats actually scale with party size.
The XP penalty is fairly negligible at endgame ToB.
This is why I very much prefer larger parties in LoB. The extra damage + extra targets for monsters to chase work wonders. If you're going with a 2-person party only, you're effectively reducing your damage output by 2/3rds compared to a 6-person party, since none of the enemy stats actually scale with party size.
The XP penalty is fairly negligible at endgame ToB.
I agree that large party is batter at endgame. FMT+FMC 2 person party has more than enough damage output for non-LoB game (and enough for most of encounter in LoB). However, in LoB Ascension final battle, small party is easily overwhelmed.
LoB definitely comes with parameters that change some of the established paradigms. I'd really love more time to test out some of my ideas. Maybe some aliens reading this would like to abduct my husband for a bit? I'm sure he's got lots to teach you, and then I'd finally get to play again... (LOVE YOU, HUN).
@Enchanter255 Have you tried to use the JimFix mod? It has, among others, a component
--- Remove Entourage from Ascension Fallen Solars ---
In the original Ascension version of the first fight at the Throne of the Bhaal, you must fight two Fallen Solars. As of SCS v25, the Smarter Celesitals Component causes both of these Fallen Solars to additionally spawn with two Mariliths, a Succubus, and an Alu-fiend. While it has not been officially confirmed, there is significant evidence to suggest that these extra demons are unintentional. This component removes them.
LoB definitely comes with parameters that change some of the established paradigms. I'd really love more time to test out some of my ideas. Maybe some aliens reading this would like to abduct my husband for a bit? I'm sure he's got lots to teach you, and then I'd finally get to play again... (LOVE YOU, HUN).
Wait, @Lord_Tansheron is a woman (or a gay)? What a revelation.
@Enchanter255 Have you tried to use the JimFix mod? It has, among others, a component
--- Remove Entourage from Ascension Fallen Solars ---
In the original Ascension version of the first fight at the Throne of the Bhaal, you must fight two Fallen Solars. As of SCS v25, the Smarter Celesitals Component causes both of these Fallen Solars to additionally spawn with two Mariliths, a Succubus, and an Alu-fiend. While it has not been officially confirmed, there is significant evidence to suggest that these extra demons are unintentional. This component removes them.
How is their resistance to magic damage? With that many demons spawned, you could try wishing for horrid wilting (which is a low wisdom option). Melissan herself has something like 95% initially, but that should be reduced once you kill the five, which you've already done. Considering wish spawns a horrid wilting for each creature/npc present, and they all stand close to each other...
(disclaimer:I have actually no idea if this can work)
Unfortunately, Melissan has over 100 magic damage resistance even if you kill all The five. So ADHW does no damage to Melissan. Powerful demons like Fallen Solar, Marilith, Balor etc have very high Magic Resistance, so ADHW is not effective against them without Lower Resistance. But it might be good way to slay Alu-Fiend (still have 30 MR). Thank you for your suggestion.
On LoB, Horrid Wilting is barely going to make a dent in their HP I'm afraid. Probably need something like 5+ Horrid Wiltings or something.
While I can't speak from experience as I haven't gotten to Ascension yet on LoB, my guess is that priority single-target damage combined with some form of crowd control is likely the best bet. Doesn't have to be hard CC, things like kiting etc. should also work. Damage output at that point in the game should be quite high, so thinning the herd should not be too difficult.
IIRC don't you get a Control Demon ability? Sounds like something useful for the Mariliths or so.
I've finally done it! I won LoB/SCS/Ascension final battle with Jimfix mod. Jimfix mod makes that battle totally reasonable, and still challenging.
As soon as The five arrived, 6 Time Traps triggered, and FMT made all of them "near death" with Mislead.(I used scroll to extend Time Stop) I decided to kill Illasera first, then Sendai, Abazigal. At the moment when Melissan gate in demons, my FMT and FMC cast Improved Alacrity, re-buff, activate Focus (Ascension-added ability to grant Time Stop immunity for Bhaalspawn), then FMC casts Time Stop. In this way, I can control both of my characters under Time Stop. While Time Stop, FMT destroyed both Fallen Solars with Ravager+6 Vorpal hit! Then I cleaned up all The five and demons one by one. My characters kept PfMW and Spell Immunity, and finally beat Melissan.
On LoB, Horrid Wilting is barely going to make a dent in their HP I'm afraid. Probably need something like 5+ Horrid Wiltings or something.
While I can't speak from experience as I haven't gotten to Ascension yet on LoB, my guess is that priority single-target damage combined with some form of crowd control is likely the best bet. Doesn't have to be hard CC, things like kiting etc. should also work. Damage output at that point in the game should be quite high, so thinning the herd should not be too difficult.
IIRC don't you get a Control Demon ability? Sounds like something useful for the Mariliths or so.
I have Control Demon ability and it's very useful. The downside of Control Demon is main character can't do anything while attempting to control demon.
There are about 20 enemies in the cluster in that screenshot, which means a mass Horrid Wilting Wish spell option would do 20d8*20 magic damage with a save for half. If a target has 90% MR and makes its save, it will suffer 100 damage on average. That might not seem much per enemy in LoB mode, but it is over 2000 damage overall.
The best option, however, would be the intoxication Wish option, which imposes 100 intoxication on everyone on the map. This effect bypasses magic resistance, but it can be dispelled, cured by Slow Poison or Heal, and blocked bySI: Enchantment and possibly MGOI. Having 100 intoxication will impose -12 luck, which amounts to a -12 THAC0 penalty, huge penalties to attack damage, and extra damage from incoming spells--namely, 78% more damage from Horrid Wilting.
And it lasts 200 rounds. If you have strong AC, the enemies would all need natural 20s to land a hit on you.
My bad, didn't see the Wish part. Certainly an option, possibly even going for the full Bunny Bomb.
I reported in an other topic how limited wish is actually bugged. The rabbits should bypass the 5 summoned creatures limit but they don't. I have still to report it in redmine, but now we get 5 bunnies if no other ally summon is present. If someone want to test the thing and report it is welcome as in this period I am not at home so I have no access to the EE game and I don't know when it will be possible for me to do it.
The best option, however, would be the intoxication Wish option, which imposes 100 intoxication on everyone on the map. This effect bypasses magic resistance, but it can be dispelled, cured by Slow Poison or Heal, and blocked SI: Enchantment and possibly MGOI. Having 100 intoxication will impose -12 luck, which amounts to a -12 THAC0 penalty, huge penalties to attack damage, and extra damage from incoming spells--namely, 78% more damage from Horrid Wilting.
And it lasts 200 rounds. If you have strong AC, the enemies would all need natural 20s to land a hit on you.
Imagine the look on Mel's face when she realizes her army of demons is completely plastered! "What in the Nine Hells guys!? Are you all drunk?"
I finished my first SoD LoB/SCS playthrough. I imported FMT from previous BGEE LoB/SCS game and soloed almost all encounters. That was actually very tough for me. Late-SoD encounters are probably more difficult than most early-BG2EE encounters.
In SoD, we have to deal with a lot of enemy at once. Most encounters contain 10 to 20 enemies. My main cause of death is being surrounded by enemies and physically blocked the way. When you are surrounded, even if you have -20 AC, Stoneskin and Mirror Images, that will be the end of life. Double Web sequencer + Greater Malison combo makes some encounters very easy. Remove Magic is still No.1 threat for F/M kinds. As far as I know, Spell Immunity scroll can be obtained at very late. Cloudkill is not as good as non-LoB game. No one can't be insta-killed, and even Goblins stands two Cloudkill. Poison is still deadly. Spider cave was just nightmare. Poison immunity items are definitely needed.
As for SoD final battle... (contain SoD spoiler below)
Belhifet has 1100+ HP, very low THAC0&AC (I don't remember exactly), 50 Missile DR, 25 DR against other physical damage, and he is only vulnerable against +3 or higher weapons. Without Improved Haste and PfMW, which are not available in SoD, FMT doesn't stand a chance in melee combat. With his stats, ranged combat took forever. To make matters worse, he seems to have infinite amount of Gate ability. Fortunately, no one tried to dispel my buff. There are not enough +3 arrow to kill him, so I used new Enchanted Weapon spell. In the end, I managed to beat him. Screenshot is below.
Caelar did her job, took Dispel Magic from Belhifet at the start of fight. Unfortunately, she was killed by Belhifet within 1 or 2 rounds. (actually not so unfortunate )
I have another thing to report. I beat LoB/SCS/Ascension Melissan without JimFix mod. I used same tactics before, use Focus, Time Stop, and Ravager+6 to kill demons. It depends on how many demons can be killed during Time Stop. I realized how effective Ravager +6 is in LoB. You need so many attacks to kill LoB enemies anyway, Ravager +6 statistically kill enemies significantly faster.
So I finally completed full BGEE&SoD and BG2EE SoA&ToB with Lob/SCS/Ascension. For me, SoD is the most difficult for now. It is partly because I don't have much experience with SoD, but at that point of the game, characters are simply not strong enough to deal with so many enemies. For me, SoA is the easiest. Characters become strong quickly, and so many good weapons and spells are available.
My current goal is full EET(BGEE->SoD->BG2EE SoA->ToB) with Lob/SCS/Ascension/No-Reload!
Can't speak to SoD as I've never played it, but if it's anything like IWD in terms of massive amounts of enemies then my guess would be it's all about having a proper tank, and getting it into the right position. Collision is true for enemies as well, which means that choke points etc. can be of tremendous use. Provided, of course, that the terrain allows for it. IWD is rife with narrow spots, I have no clue about SoD's layout. Party composition may also play a role, low level BG1/SoD probably works quite differently in that respect.
I finally found some time to play, and used that for a new LoB run. Cleared most of pre-Underdark now, and it's working quite well. As always, the setup is LoB with IR, SR, and of course SCS cranked to 11. The main idea was to do proper tanking as much as possible, to see how well it fares. To that end, I chose to go with a ranged-heavy setup and a single tank, using a secondary optional off-tank on occasion.
#1 Tank: Fighter/Illusionist (Gnome) Even at -20 AC you get pummeled on LoB and enemies like golems or dragons hit so incredibly hard they will pulp you without protection. Mage is the obvious solution, using a combo of Mirror Image and Stoneskin to take everything physical, forever. Using IR's Dispelling Screen also makes sure that your defenses don't drop to the next best Remove Magic (which is quite common in my setup). Other buffs are icing on the cake, but of course always welcome. Weapon choices are varied since you have pips to spare, I chose Bastard Sword for Lawgiver (later Foebane), Katana for Yamato (counterattack works nice with tanking), and Flail for Flail of Ages (because it's still amazing at early game even though the +5 is significantly weakened in IR); together with a shield, of course, chosen depending on the fight (various immunity/resistance shields available). Note that you can use a mage robe (Robe of the Battlemage is my favorite) and simply unequip shield/equip Amulet of Metaspell Influence in combat to get instant-cast Stoneskin when it drops; it's virtually impossible to interrupt (might be actually impossible, can't remember how the mods change it).
#2 Off-Tank: Inquisitor I've set Inquisitor dispel at x1.5 for now, and it's fairly reliable even on LoB (though far from guaranteed). I wanted to test how well Inquisitor does, and so far it's doing okay but not amazing. The dispel and True Sight are a huge draw, the rest are decent perks; Carsomyr is much fairer as a +4 with save allowed for the on-hit, but still very good, as is Purifier. Weapons to use are Long Sword/Bastard Sword for tanking (depending on how quickly you plan to rush to Purifier. Ranged has various options, I went with darts to try out Crimson Dart+3 (very easy to get early) but any number of others will work I'm sure. Note that 2h sword can act as pseudo-ranged due to its attack range, which is often longer than enemy reach.
#3 Support: Skald I was skeptical at first about Bards without summons around (I don't use summons on LoB because their HP is too high for my taste) but I must say that I am more and more convinced its very good. This character is a pure support, pumping out various buffs/debuffs as needed but for the most time just singing The Song. The value of defense is much higher in LoB than it is in offense>all vanilla mode, and the immunities are incredibly helpful.
#4 Ranged I: Archer No questions here. Archer is still a powerhouse, and after playing to about 2mio XP each clearing all of pre-Underdark (minus most of WK) she is head and shoulders above everyone else, with over 30% of party kills (about twice as much as any other member). Nothing that makes me like it less, quite the opposite. Amazing in basically every way; even supplies Barkskin for the tank! Weapons are bows, Longbows first (Strong Arm is very good) then grabbing Short Bows alongside for options (Tuigan, Gesen, the usual).
#5 Ranged II: Assassin 9 -> Fighter This one seemed the most interesting choice for ranged Thief, but it's definitely a question mark still. Poison Weapon has, of course, been recently curbed in power a bit, but still seems fine if not amazing. Thief is mostly there for convenience, really, and the fairly early dual means it's basically a Fighter with benefits. So far it has the second highest number of party kills, but I am definitely very much open to exploring alternatives in this slot. Weapons are crossbows, Firetooth, Light Crossbow of Speed. Possibly transition to Short Bows later.
#6 Ranged III: Wizard Slayer 9 -> Druid NOTE: Fire Seeds applying spell failure at AoE hitting random things does NOT work on my setup, so that's not what I picked this. It was mostly because the other fighter kits suck with ranged, and because I wanted to test Druid more. I try and try to find merit in this class, but the more I play the less I like it. It just does not seem to offer me anything particularly useful, and the more I play the more I wish I had made it a Cleric instead and just stuck to Slings. Weapons are Spears (Talos' Fury is available very early) and Slings (Everard's/Sling of Force). IR's throwing spears are fine and slings not all that impressive (they don't universally gain STR bonuses in IR). Maybe once I get the "vorpal" Erinne Sling at the bottom of WK? I'd sure like me some pew pew pellets.
The party worked very well, for the most part. Tanking is in fact very viable so far, and combined with ranged makes me want to explore this option more as a base strategy. I did not have trouble finding advantageous terrain to create choke points, allowing me to tank even vast amounts of enemies (e.g. TorGal room) safely. Not relying on defensive abilities outside of the tank also means you are very resilient to dispels, as you can easily screen the tank against it and don't care if the ranged drop their Stoneskins all that much. That being said, in areas where you CAN'T choke, you are considerably more fragile and your ranged characters fall like flies. Yikes. Still, that seems to be a minority of situations. Overall I find the tanking quite satisfying. You need good micro control and keep an eye on buffs and positioning a lot. But when it plays out as planned, you feel so smart :P The most beautiful execution was Firkraag, who just dropped on the first try, slotting perfectly into the planned strategy (crescent formation with tank on the far end, tank protected from dispels and everyone at 50-100% fire resistance; pelt with ranged, dispel defenses, hope you don't run out of Stoneskin before he dies), even though I went there reasonably early (after Trademeet and de'Arnise).
I'm definitely still exploring what ranged to take, though. I would like to go back to a second Archer, but perhaps I'd be better off using a Fighter/Cleric of some kind instead of the Druid and keeping the Thief for QoL. Or I could ditch the Thief and just be careful about traps, I suppose? Weapon selection also plays a role, of course, as most powerful ranged weapons appear to be bows/xbows still. Slings are hard to evaluate, partly because their ammo seems quite limited (man I wish I had infinite Bullets of Smiting), while thrown weapons seem fairly narrow and very reliant on high STR for throughput - while at the same time most of them are forbidden to the class that most easily buffs their STR...
Anyone got any interesting suggestions maybe? I think I might get more playtime in this week until RL returns with a vengeance on Saturday evening.
@Lord_Tansheron Nice to see you getting back to LOB/SCS custom party runs
Myself I'm in middle of SOD right now playing through entire trilogy. So far, I've tried couple of classes.
Let me say what I run at this moment
#1 DD
New thing I'm trying... simply said shorty saves with 93% undispellable damage reduction. I just want to see how it works. I usually don't spend potions too much so with pots this guy might be almost unkillable. Time will tell.
New silver dragon armor with HP regen in TOB will be nice addition. I wonder if equipped with foebane could offset any damage that anyone could possibly deliver by healing from it + armor.
I'm also surprised by him dual wielding with -11AC in BGEE he scored 22% of all kills. In general, my kill distribution is quite equal among the members.
#2 F/Illusionist Protagonist
This character is something new to me. I've spent weeks closely analyzing Kensai->Mage vs F/M Multi. No conclusions yet but it might be stronger later game but will report as we go. I do know my combat capabilities will not match to those of kensai in bgee but because of access to spells it might be more damage from entire party. For instance, blindness which is Illusion spell (-2 saving throw for specialist) is landing very often and -4AC and -4Thac0 debuff is very very very nice, it's permanent so makes some things easy once it lands. As you know how thac0 work then it's basically 20% miss chance for enemy and 20% more hit chance for my characters. It is also having nice side effect because mages/archers will have to come close to attack your back line. Indeed, blindness is very strong spell for bgee. Of course, this will be offset by true sight in bgee.
Going for dual & scimmis in bgee then katanas and finishing at bastard swords for smooth power curve from drizzt swords through celestial fury into all mighty foebane (8APR foebane will be a sight).
FM multi is interesting combo and I choose it over F->M dual because 1. late game better thac0, 2. I get 9APR with IH can I can use critical strikes HLA for insane damage or simply 100% hit chance. 3. I get shorty saving throws, so far in BG1 those are insanely good. 4. No downtime for kensai which to get any decent thac0 would have to be dualed at 13. Yes, I also know I can get 10APR with gauntlets but I'm not sure if I will use those on FMT or FM yet. FMT with assassination HLA under 10APR is something I wonder how will work
#3 F/M/T
Thief is something I usually never liked before but in bgee I find it invaluable to have, some locks are hard to force and can contain some decent treasures but most of all because of pickpocketing. In beregost you can get Algernon's Cloak (cloak with charm person once a day) which comes very very handy with those super strong SCS/LOB buffed enemies, it works quite often too. I was also surprised by the INSANE number of potions you can pickpocket in the game. I barely reached FAI and already got 2 invis pots, 2 oils of speed and many more good ones. FMT will in future be able to wear some nice items with UAI as well.
Long swords are very nice because you get one more extra +1hit and +1dmg from being an elf which combined with 18/00 strength is highly effective combo. Varscona is achievable quite early too.
Going for dual & long swords and later to two handed swords. Planning on using mainly varscona in bgee and daystar/blackrazor later. When thief gets UAI I will get few GWW uses for some sweet sweet combos with Carsomyr or Unholy Reaver (against mage vs melee respectively)
#4 Skald
All-time favorite second arcane caster. Although in this party I don't really miss out on arcane having two multiclass mages and a sorc but it is still nice. Less resting . +2Thac0 and +2AC (+10% hit chance, +10% chance for enemy to miss your) early game for 5 party members + affecting summons is simply too good. At 15 it will be interesting with +4/+4.
Just got bard hat from SOD and must say I think this item is borderline OP. You can summon monsters, rebuff haste, detect illusion while still providing the aura. It is also good in case someone runs out of range he will still be under the effect for 2 more rounds.
#5 Wizard Slayer -> Druid
So far, this character completely blew most of BGEE and SOD mage encounters, 3 APR with daggers now using 2APR +3 sling (comparable damage, better with pots and haste).
Kind of torn here though, other options were dual to thief for UAI and dual wield/ranged combos or dual to cleric. Not sure yet if I made right choice.
I don't plan on using fire feeds so I might revert to old save and change it to cleric.
What comes to mind when taking druid are Iron Skins so that smart AI will not rush your ranged WS and natures beauty ... never had that spell before but permanent blindness with no save seems interesting. This spell is something I thought could allow me to win SCS LOB improved ust natha since it has huge range and good saving throw penalty (-4 base, -8 with GM). I wonder if natures beauty is subject of MR since drows are quite stacked on it. It this won't work next time dualing to cleric or thief.
#6 Sorcerer
From my very first playthrough which feels like it was 20 years ago (or maybe it was?) until now I feel like this was always my favorite character. There is no doubt that it's one of top choices for powergamers although some people avoid pure spellcasters because of their subpar fighting capabilities (DPR in non-aoe situation).
Nonetheless I love having pure spellcaster because early access to spells and ability to shot quite few of them per day. Web pretty much wins most of bgee encounters but having grease, spell thrust, haste etc early on provides more damage for entire party that one additional member would probably do. 2 APR with daggers and 18 str is decent throwing dps in bgee even for a caster.
Few things I noticed so far is that most of BGEE my sorcs job was debuffing (and still is in SOD). I usually cast greater malison then slow/glitter dust for some sweet APR reduction and -8thac0/-8AC this is amazing. Blindness also is nice to gather ranged although they often run randomly around when blinded.
In SOD LOB the sheer amount of DPS made sorc skull trapping as opener nice. You can manage to cast two of those babies on 15-20 enemies before they reach you in melee making effective damage of one skull trap like 450... so 900 damages delivered before they reach you in melee... not bad at all
Other checked characters
#7 Shaman
For this awkward playstyle, I've chosen shaman to be my infinite tanking fodder generator. LOB buffs his summons but it's not OP, they have 2*hp+20 formula so they still fall quickly under few mobs but sometimes for some super hard-hitting mobs provide good distractions. I wonder how will it perform later because early it's annoying sometimes as you might not get summon even for long periods of time. Summons get benefit from skald song so the synergy is nice.
So far throughout mid of the game I was NOT impressed. They can't even stand against single horror. Even after level 6 improved ones seems good but still lack there and there. Overall I think losing entire party member for unreliable quickly dying and close to no dps summons is far from what you want for powergaming playthrough.
Net net shaman without improved shamanistic dance mod is quite painful to play with on this mode.
#8 Archer
Not much to be said here. In entire trilogy, a powerhouse. Sadly, after more and more playthroughs I seem to be able to achieve better kill percentages with FM/FMT/DD than with archer. This is probably due to fact that they reach about same APR as archer but arrows hit for much smaller numbers. After bandit camp, I had 30% on FMT and 36% on FM with only 23% on archer.
This class is strong especially later on because of called shot but I tested fully buffed characters and I usually get better DPR with F/M multis than archer especially since beamdog added STR to all slings then WS->Cleric will shot sling bullet for 25-30 damage each at 3APR (nice nice I would say especially since it gives party buffs/chant/bless for even nicer numbers).
I will miss -Thac0 but this is why i have 2h sword style for FMT unholy reaver so with GWW I will get -20 thac0 on enemies in one round.
Must say that I always wondered if 10APR archer doing -10 cumulative penalty to save vs spell and cleric casting room with sorc casting GM wouldn't allow you to polymorph/feblemind pretty much any enemy in the game. Maybe someday I will test this.
Ps. I won't use this with vahlior helmet as stat drain from archer kills even dragons in <2 rounds.
@Lord_Tansheron: Have you considered introducing a sorcerer? Putting aside Wish-resting, Wish can also impose mass intoxication which you can cure on party members. Giving all enemies a -12 luck penalty should force even dragons to roll a 20 to hit your tank.
@Lord_Tansheron: Have you considered introducing a sorcerer? Putting aside Wish-resting, Wish can also impose mass intoxication which you can cure on party members. Giving all enemies a -12 luck penalty should force even dragons to roll a 20 to hit your tank.
Is it luck or thac0 penatly? Wouldn't luck mean they also get minimum dice rolls for damage as well? i.e. 10d6 fireball doing 10 damage (10d1)?
Comments
My setup is Legacy of Bhaal difficulty, SCS(almost all components except few item tweaks), no XP cap and some convenient tweaks from BG2tweaks.
My party was Elf FMT solo.
Although FMT without XP cap is very powerful, LoB/SCS from Level 1/1/1 was quite difficult.
Some thoughts below...
Early game, I kited almost every encounter, and avoided ranged enemy.
Sleep is completely useless because of +12 enemy level from LoB, so use Blindness.
Our Dispel/Remove magic is almost useless, but enemies always success.(I hate +12 level)
Wand of Fire and Wand of Monster Summoning are OP throughout the game.
Melee combat was only doable after I got Stoneskin, which is already beyond default XP cap for FMT.
Backstabs do not one-shot mages even if crit.
Detect Illusion is the best because SCS mages always cast Mirror Image.(Note that almost all mages creates 8 images because of +12 level)
Aren't Phase Spiders too deadly? Their poison seems to bypass Stoneskin/Mirror Image and does 10 damage/sec. I think that's bit too much.
I completed all major quests.
Bandit camp in LoB/SCS is just insane, by far the hardest fight for me.
I think that is almost impossible for solo at chapter 3.
My character was quickly surrounded by bandits who have 100+ HP each, powerful fighter, and Mage.
Even though my character had pretty good AC, she continuously got hit and die.
So I just used Invisibility and got whatever progress story.
I cleared bandit camp just before the final battle, with double Web sequencer, Greater Malison, double Cloudkill. That was fun
As for the final battle,that was not so hard.
Overall, that was quite fun.
I died quite a lot, and with default XP cap, I don't know whether I can complete.
I hope someone success LoB/SCS/No-Reload run.
Anyway, I'm moving towards BG2EE LoB/SCS/Ascension playthrough.
My FMT already have 1M XP total, so I probably skip SoD contents.
For BG2EE, I probably add FMC (and possibly sorcerer or something) to my party for more versatility.
I finished most of Chapter2-3 quests including tough encounters like Firkraag, Kangaxx, and Twisted Rune.
My setup is as follows.
- Legacy of Bhaal Difficulty
- SCS (almost all components except some item tweaks (notably Robe of Vecna and Carsomyr ones) and "More Resilient Trolls")
- Ascension
- Tactics for EE (Few new encounters and Improved Irenicus, btw I've never tried this yet)
- BG2 Tweaks (No XP cap, Triple-Class HLA Tables and some convenient tweaks)
My party is FMT(Bhaalspawn) and FMC.
FMT is imported from BGEE LoB/SCS final save.
FMT got a lot of HP from familiar. Apparently, familiars also got LoB HP boost.
They currently have about 7M XP each.
FMT's weapon proficiencies are Long Swords(**), Long Bows(**), Two Weapon Style(**), War Hammers(**) and Two-handed Swords(*).
Long Swords are really good. In BG1, we can easily get +2 one and in BG2, Daystar and Dragon Slayer are especially good against tough enemies.
Specialization in War Hammers is for future Crom Faeyr, and proficiency in Two-handed Swords is for Carsomyr.
FMC's weapon proficiencies are Flails(**), Maces(**), Slings(**), Two Weapon Style(**), and Quarterstaffs(*).
FMC usually uses Flail of Ages and Defender of Easthaven dual wield.
FMC can DR tank with Armor of Faith, Defender of Easthaven, and Hardiness, so maybe FMC is better for Bhaalspawn because of extra HP from familiar.
However I don't usually use FMC as DR tank, because defensive spells are so good and it only works after 3M XP.
I'm not sure about next proficiency points for FMT.
I'm thinking Bastard Swords for Foebane +5.
Do you have any advice?
My usual tactic in BG2 is pretty simple. Buff up, summon, haste, then kill enemy.
It works well in LoB.
With Stoneskin + Sprit Armor + Mirror Image + Blur, we are safe enough against usual fight.
After we got Mislead and Improved Haste, I never worried about usual fight.
Considering Dispel/Remove Magic never work, dealing with mages is bit tougher than usual, but my party doesn't rely on that anyway. Detect Illusion by FMT, spell protection removal spells if needed, then Breach.
However, liches who cast Spell Trap are basically unkillable before we get Ruby Ray.
Spirit Trolls are really annoying, even without SCS "More Resilient Trolls" components.
They have like 300 HP in my setup, drain STR, relatively low AC, invisible, and regenerate... soooooo annoying!
I use SCS "Smarter dragons -> Dragons have a substantial hit point increase" component, so Firkraag has about 550 HP without LoB, which means, with LoB, he has over 1700 HP.
However, my FMT and FMC killed him surprisingly easily.
I summoned Deva and Skeltons, buff up, surround him, Breach, then attack.
After first skeltons were killed, I used Mordenkainen's Sword.
While summons were tanking, FMT and FMC kept attacking him under Improved Haste. FMT dealt a lot of damages with Dragon Slayer.
It didn't take so long to kill Firkraag, and my FMT and FMC were completely safe.
As for Kangaxx, I lost once because of Wish Breach.
I think there are no way to protect against that.
But Kangaxx and liches are not particularly harder than non-LoB SCS one.
However, gated demons are pretty tough, and lich's undead friends are also tough.
Twisted Rune was the most difficult fight for me.
There are two powerfull mages and Elder Orb.
Vampire and fighter are not a problem.
SCS Beholders are insane because they can basically cast Spell Strike every round.
Elder Orb in Twisted Rune cast Protection from Magic Energy previously, so Skull Trap does nothing to him, and he continuously casts Protection from Magical Weapons. Can I recruit him?
My tactics here was kill mage with Staff of Magi first, while let Lich and Elder Orb deal with summons.
I managed to clear Twisted Rune, but I should consider more reliable tactics.
Now, my party is in Spellhold and all my items are taken thanks to SCS.
I'm quite sure my party can deal with most fights in BG2.
However, I'm really worrying about Improved Irenicus from Tactics and Ascension final battle.
I've finished SoA part with my uncapped FMT+FMC.
In chapter 4-7, I didn't have any problem with any fight other than Tactics contents.
As for Tactics Improved Irenicus, fisrt part was really hard, but later parts were easy for me.
In general, dealing with one enemy is not so hard even in LoB.
However, dealing with multiple enemies at once is significantly harder, which is exactly we have to do in fisrt part of Tactics Improved Irenicus and Ascension final battle.
I decided to put FMT's proficiency points into Axes for throwing axe.
In Ascension final battle, Illasera and gated fallen Solar always trouble me, so I think ranged weapon and Reflection Shield would be the safest choice for this.
Outside of Tactics contents, I probably reloaded less than 10 times in SoA.
So it's absolutely doable to complete BG2EE LoB/SCS/No-Reload run.
I can deal with The five.
Illasera is archer with -31 THAC0 and dispelling arrow, Abazigal is Kensai/Mage who can cast Time Stop and deals insane amount of damage, Yaga-Shura has a 60% physical damage resistance and 1200 HP, and Sendai is Mage/Cleric with annoying teleport ability.
Fortunately, Balthazar is my side.
However, they are vulnerable to backstab and Time Stop, so they are not a problem for FMT.
Melissan herself has 1600 HP and 75% resistance against physical damage after killing all The five.
That sounds insane, but it is actually doable, IF she is alone.
The real problem is her Gate and Time Stop immunity.
She gates in 10 demons at once and each demon has at least 600 HP.
Fallen Solar's dispelling arrows and Creeping Doom are instant death for my character.
So I have to keep up PfMW and Spell Immunity, but they doesn't last long enough to kill Melissan even if I use all my scrolls.
Without PfMW, if my characters are surrounded, my character die literally within 1 second.
I thought I could kite them, but kiting 10+ demons at once was actually impossible.
I spent few hours, but I didn't find any way to deal with them.
If you have any advice, please let me know.
The XP penalty is fairly negligible at endgame ToB.
FMT+FMC 2 person party has more than enough damage output for non-LoB game (and enough for most of encounter in LoB).
However, in LoB Ascension final battle, small party is easily overwhelmed.
Melissan actually gates in 20 demons at once.
For your reference, that battle looks like this.
--- Remove Entourage from Ascension Fallen Solars ---
In the original Ascension version of the first fight at the Throne of the Bhaal, you must fight two Fallen Solars. As of SCS v25, the Smarter Celesitals Component causes both of these Fallen Solars to additionally spawn with two
Mariliths, a Succubus, and an Alu-fiend. While it has not been officially confirmed, there is significant evidence to suggest that these extra demons are unintentional. This component removes them.
The mod can be found here - https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/817394#Comment_817394
That mod will make that battle more reasonable. I'll definitely try that.
Thank you for your information!
So ADHW does no damage to Melissan.
Powerful demons like Fallen Solar, Marilith, Balor etc have very high Magic Resistance, so ADHW is not effective against them without Lower Resistance.
But it might be good way to slay Alu-Fiend (still have 30 MR).
Thank you for your suggestion.
While I can't speak from experience as I haven't gotten to Ascension yet on LoB, my guess is that priority single-target damage combined with some form of crowd control is likely the best bet. Doesn't have to be hard CC, things like kiting etc. should also work. Damage output at that point in the game should be quite high, so thinning the herd should not be too difficult.
IIRC don't you get a Control Demon ability? Sounds like something useful for the Mariliths or so.
I won LoB/SCS/Ascension final battle with Jimfix mod.
Jimfix mod makes that battle totally reasonable, and still challenging.
As soon as The five arrived, 6 Time Traps triggered, and FMT made all of them "near death" with Mislead.(I used scroll to extend Time Stop)
I decided to kill Illasera first, then Sendai, Abazigal.
At the moment when Melissan gate in demons, my FMT and FMC cast Improved Alacrity, re-buff, activate Focus (Ascension-added ability to grant Time Stop immunity for Bhaalspawn), then FMC casts Time Stop.
In this way, I can control both of my characters under Time Stop.
While Time Stop, FMT destroyed both Fallen Solars with Ravager+6 Vorpal hit!
Then I cleaned up all The five and demons one by one.
My characters kept PfMW and Spell Immunity, and finally beat Melissan.
I really appreciate people here.
Thank you.
I have Control Demon ability and it's very useful.
The downside of Control Demon is main character can't do anything while attempting to control demon.
The best option, however, would be the intoxication Wish option, which imposes 100 intoxication on everyone on the map. This effect bypasses magic resistance, but it can be dispelled, cured by Slow Poison or Heal, and blocked bySI: Enchantment and possibly MGOI. Having 100 intoxication will impose -12 luck, which amounts to a -12 THAC0 penalty, huge penalties to attack damage, and extra damage from incoming spells--namely, 78% more damage from Horrid Wilting.
And it lasts 200 rounds. If you have strong AC, the enemies would all need natural 20s to land a hit on you.
I imported FMT from previous BGEE LoB/SCS game and soloed almost all encounters.
That was actually very tough for me.
Late-SoD encounters are probably more difficult than most early-BG2EE encounters.
In SoD, we have to deal with a lot of enemy at once. Most encounters contain 10 to 20 enemies.
My main cause of death is being surrounded by enemies and physically blocked the way. When you are surrounded, even if you have -20 AC, Stoneskin and Mirror Images, that will be the end of life.
Double Web sequencer + Greater Malison combo makes some encounters very easy.
Remove Magic is still No.1 threat for F/M kinds. As far as I know, Spell Immunity scroll can be obtained at very late.
Cloudkill is not as good as non-LoB game. No one can't be insta-killed, and even Goblins stands two Cloudkill.
Poison is still deadly. Spider cave was just nightmare. Poison immunity items are definitely needed.
As for SoD final battle... (contain SoD spoiler below)
Belhifet has 1100+ HP, very low THAC0&AC (I don't remember exactly), 50 Missile DR, 25 DR against other physical damage, and he is only vulnerable against +3 or higher weapons.
Without Improved Haste and PfMW, which are not available in SoD, FMT doesn't stand a chance in melee combat.
With his stats, ranged combat took forever.
To make matters worse, he seems to have infinite amount of Gate ability.
Fortunately, no one tried to dispel my buff.
There are not enough +3 arrow to kill him, so I used new Enchanted Weapon spell.
In the end, I managed to beat him.
Screenshot is below.
Caelar did her job, took Dispel Magic from Belhifet at the start of fight.
Unfortunately, she was killed by Belhifet within 1 or 2 rounds. (actually not so unfortunate
I have another thing to report.
I beat LoB/SCS/Ascension Melissan without JimFix mod.
I used same tactics before, use Focus, Time Stop, and Ravager+6 to kill demons.
It depends on how many demons can be killed during Time Stop.
I realized how effective Ravager +6 is in LoB.
You need so many attacks to kill LoB enemies anyway, Ravager +6 statistically kill enemies significantly faster.
So I finally completed full BGEE&SoD and BG2EE SoA&ToB with Lob/SCS/Ascension.
For me, SoD is the most difficult for now.
It is partly because I don't have much experience with SoD, but at that point of the game, characters are simply not strong enough to deal with so many enemies.
For me, SoA is the easiest.
Characters become strong quickly, and so many good weapons and spells are available.
My current goal is full EET(BGEE->SoD->BG2EE SoA->ToB) with Lob/SCS/Ascension/No-Reload!
I finally found some time to play, and used that for a new LoB run. Cleared most of pre-Underdark now, and it's working quite well. As always, the setup is LoB with IR, SR, and of course SCS cranked to 11. The main idea was to do proper tanking as much as possible, to see how well it fares. To that end, I chose to go with a ranged-heavy setup and a single tank, using a secondary optional off-tank on occasion.
#1 Tank: Fighter/Illusionist (Gnome)
Even at -20 AC you get pummeled on LoB and enemies like golems or dragons hit so incredibly hard they will pulp you without protection. Mage is the obvious solution, using a combo of Mirror Image and Stoneskin to take everything physical, forever. Using IR's Dispelling Screen also makes sure that your defenses don't drop to the next best Remove Magic (which is quite common in my setup). Other buffs are icing on the cake, but of course always welcome.
Weapon choices are varied since you have pips to spare, I chose Bastard Sword for Lawgiver (later Foebane), Katana for Yamato (counterattack works nice with tanking), and Flail for Flail of Ages (because it's still amazing at early game even though the +5 is significantly weakened in IR); together with a shield, of course, chosen depending on the fight (various immunity/resistance shields available). Note that you can use a mage robe (Robe of the Battlemage is my favorite) and simply unequip shield/equip Amulet of Metaspell Influence in combat to get instant-cast Stoneskin when it drops; it's virtually impossible to interrupt (might be actually impossible, can't remember how the mods change it).
#2 Off-Tank: Inquisitor
I've set Inquisitor dispel at x1.5 for now, and it's fairly reliable even on LoB (though far from guaranteed). I wanted to test how well Inquisitor does, and so far it's doing okay but not amazing. The dispel and True Sight are a huge draw, the rest are decent perks; Carsomyr is much fairer as a +4 with save allowed for the on-hit, but still very good, as is Purifier.
Weapons to use are Long Sword/Bastard Sword for tanking (depending on how quickly you plan to rush to Purifier. Ranged has various options, I went with darts to try out Crimson Dart+3 (very easy to get early) but any number of others will work I'm sure. Note that 2h sword can act as pseudo-ranged due to its attack range, which is often longer than enemy reach.
#3 Support: Skald
I was skeptical at first about Bards without summons around (I don't use summons on LoB because their HP is too high for my taste) but I must say that I am more and more convinced its very good. This character is a pure support, pumping out various buffs/debuffs as needed but for the most time just singing The Song. The value of defense is much higher in LoB than it is in offense>all vanilla mode, and the immunities are incredibly helpful.
#4 Ranged I: Archer
No questions here. Archer is still a powerhouse, and after playing to about 2mio XP each clearing all of pre-Underdark (minus most of WK) she is head and shoulders above everyone else, with over 30% of party kills (about twice as much as any other member). Nothing that makes me like it less, quite the opposite. Amazing in basically every way; even supplies Barkskin for the tank!
Weapons are bows, Longbows first (Strong Arm is very good) then grabbing Short Bows alongside for options (Tuigan, Gesen, the usual).
#5 Ranged II: Assassin 9 -> Fighter
This one seemed the most interesting choice for ranged Thief, but it's definitely a question mark still. Poison Weapon has, of course, been recently curbed in power a bit, but still seems fine if not amazing. Thief is mostly there for convenience, really, and the fairly early dual means it's basically a Fighter with benefits. So far it has the second highest number of party kills, but I am definitely very much open to exploring alternatives in this slot.
Weapons are crossbows, Firetooth, Light Crossbow of Speed. Possibly transition to Short Bows later.
#6 Ranged III: Wizard Slayer 9 -> Druid
NOTE: Fire Seeds applying spell failure at AoE hitting random things does NOT work on my setup, so that's not what I picked this. It was mostly because the other fighter kits suck with ranged, and because I wanted to test Druid more. I try and try to find merit in this class, but the more I play the less I like it. It just does not seem to offer me anything particularly useful, and the more I play the more I wish I had made it a Cleric instead and just stuck to Slings.
Weapons are Spears (Talos' Fury is available very early) and Slings (Everard's/Sling of Force). IR's throwing spears are fine and slings not all that impressive (they don't universally gain STR bonuses in IR). Maybe once I get the "vorpal" Erinne Sling at the bottom of WK? I'd sure like me some pew pew pellets.
The party worked very well, for the most part. Tanking is in fact very viable so far, and combined with ranged makes me want to explore this option more as a base strategy. I did not have trouble finding advantageous terrain to create choke points, allowing me to tank even vast amounts of enemies (e.g. TorGal room) safely. Not relying on defensive abilities outside of the tank also means you are very resilient to dispels, as you can easily screen the tank against it and don't care if the ranged drop their Stoneskins all that much. That being said, in areas where you CAN'T choke, you are considerably more fragile and your ranged characters fall like flies. Yikes. Still, that seems to be a minority of situations.
Overall I find the tanking quite satisfying. You need good micro control and keep an eye on buffs and positioning a lot. But when it plays out as planned, you feel so smart :P The most beautiful execution was Firkraag, who just dropped on the first try, slotting perfectly into the planned strategy (crescent formation with tank on the far end, tank protected from dispels and everyone at 50-100% fire resistance; pelt with ranged, dispel defenses, hope you don't run out of Stoneskin before he dies), even though I went there reasonably early (after Trademeet and de'Arnise).
I'm definitely still exploring what ranged to take, though. I would like to go back to a second Archer, but perhaps I'd be better off using a Fighter/Cleric of some kind instead of the Druid and keeping the Thief for QoL. Or I could ditch the Thief and just be careful about traps, I suppose? Weapon selection also plays a role, of course, as most powerful ranged weapons appear to be bows/xbows still. Slings are hard to evaluate, partly because their ammo seems quite limited (man I wish I had infinite Bullets of Smiting), while thrown weapons seem fairly narrow and very reliant on high STR for throughput - while at the same time most of them are forbidden to the class that most easily buffs their STR...
Anyone got any interesting suggestions maybe? I think I might get more playtime in this week until RL returns with a vengeance on Saturday evening.
Myself I'm in middle of SOD right now playing through entire trilogy. So far, I've tried couple of classes.
Let me say what I run at this moment
#1 DD
New thing I'm trying... simply said shorty saves with 93% undispellable damage reduction. I just want to see how it works. I usually don't spend potions too much so with pots this guy might be almost unkillable. Time will tell.
New silver dragon armor with HP regen in TOB will be nice addition. I wonder if equipped with foebane could offset any damage that anyone could possibly deliver by healing from it + armor.
I'm also surprised by him dual wielding with -11AC in BGEE he scored 22% of all kills. In general, my kill distribution is quite equal among the members.
#2 F/Illusionist Protagonist
This character is something new to me. I've spent weeks closely analyzing Kensai->Mage vs F/M Multi. No conclusions yet but it might be stronger later game but will report as we go. I do know my combat capabilities will not match to those of kensai in bgee but because of access to spells it might be more damage from entire party. For instance, blindness which is Illusion spell (-2 saving throw for specialist) is landing very often and -4AC and -4Thac0 debuff is very very very nice, it's permanent so makes some things easy once it lands. As you know how thac0 work then it's basically 20% miss chance for enemy and 20% more hit chance for my characters. It is also having nice side effect because mages/archers will have to come close to attack your back line. Indeed, blindness is very strong spell for bgee. Of course, this will be offset by true sight in bgee.
Going for dual & scimmis in bgee then katanas and finishing at bastard swords for smooth power curve from drizzt swords through celestial fury into all mighty foebane (8APR foebane will be a sight).
FM multi is interesting combo and I choose it over F->M dual because 1. late game better thac0, 2. I get 9APR with IH can I can use critical strikes HLA for insane damage or simply 100% hit chance. 3. I get shorty saving throws, so far in BG1 those are insanely good. 4. No downtime for kensai which to get any decent thac0 would have to be dualed at 13. Yes, I also know I can get 10APR with gauntlets but I'm not sure if I will use those on FMT or FM yet. FMT with assassination HLA under 10APR is something I wonder how will work
#3 F/M/T
Thief is something I usually never liked before but in bgee I find it invaluable to have, some locks are hard to force and can contain some decent treasures but most of all because of pickpocketing. In beregost you can get Algernon's Cloak (cloak with charm person once a day) which comes very very handy with those super strong SCS/LOB buffed enemies, it works quite often too. I was also surprised by the INSANE number of potions you can pickpocket in the game. I barely reached FAI and already got 2 invis pots, 2 oils of speed and many more good ones. FMT will in future be able to wear some nice items with UAI as well.
Long swords are very nice because you get one more extra +1hit and +1dmg from being an elf which combined with 18/00 strength is highly effective combo. Varscona is achievable quite early too.
Going for dual & long swords and later to two handed swords. Planning on using mainly varscona in bgee and daystar/blackrazor later. When thief gets UAI I will get few GWW uses for some sweet sweet combos with Carsomyr or Unholy Reaver (against mage vs melee respectively)
#4 Skald
All-time favorite second arcane caster. Although in this party I don't really miss out on arcane having two multiclass mages and a sorc but it is still nice. Less resting
Just got bard hat from SOD and must say I think this item is borderline OP. You can summon monsters, rebuff haste, detect illusion while still providing the aura. It is also good in case someone runs out of range he will still be under the effect for 2 more rounds.
#5 Wizard Slayer -> Druid
So far, this character completely blew most of BGEE and SOD mage encounters, 3 APR with daggers now using 2APR +3 sling (comparable damage, better with pots and haste).
Kind of torn here though, other options were dual to thief for UAI and dual wield/ranged combos or dual to cleric. Not sure yet if I made right choice.
I don't plan on using fire feeds so I might revert to old save and change it to cleric.
What comes to mind when taking druid are Iron Skins so that smart AI will not rush your ranged WS and natures beauty ... never had that spell before but permanent blindness with no save seems interesting. This spell is something I thought could allow me to win SCS LOB improved ust natha since it has huge range and good saving throw penalty (-4 base, -8 with GM). I wonder if natures beauty is subject of MR since drows are quite stacked on it. It this won't work next time dualing to cleric or thief.
#6 Sorcerer
From my very first playthrough which feels like it was 20 years ago (or maybe it was?) until now I feel like this was always my favorite character. There is no doubt that it's one of top choices for powergamers although some people avoid pure spellcasters because of their subpar fighting capabilities (DPR in non-aoe situation).
Nonetheless I love having pure spellcaster because early access to spells and ability to shot quite few of them per day. Web pretty much wins most of bgee encounters but having grease, spell thrust, haste etc early on provides more damage for entire party that one additional member would probably do. 2 APR with daggers and 18 str is decent throwing dps in bgee even for a caster.
Few things I noticed so far is that most of BGEE my sorcs job was debuffing (and still is in SOD). I usually cast greater malison then slow/glitter dust for some sweet APR reduction and -8thac0/-8AC this is amazing. Blindness also is nice to gather ranged although they often run randomly around when blinded.
In SOD LOB the sheer amount of DPS made sorc skull trapping as opener nice. You can manage to cast two of those babies on 15-20 enemies before they reach you in melee making effective damage of one skull trap like 450... so 900 damages delivered before they reach you in melee... not bad at all
Other checked characters
#7 Shaman
For this awkward playstyle, I've chosen shaman to be my infinite tanking fodder generator. LOB buffs his summons but it's not OP, they have 2*hp+20 formula so they still fall quickly under few mobs but sometimes for some super hard-hitting mobs provide good distractions. I wonder how will it perform later because early it's annoying sometimes as you might not get summon even for long periods of time. Summons get benefit from skald song so the synergy is nice.
So far throughout mid of the game I was NOT impressed. They can't even stand against single horror. Even after level 6 improved ones seems good but still lack there and there. Overall I think losing entire party member for unreliable quickly dying and close to no dps summons is far from what you want for powergaming playthrough.
Net net shaman without improved shamanistic dance mod is quite painful to play with on this mode.
#8 Archer
Not much to be said here. In entire trilogy, a powerhouse. Sadly, after more and more playthroughs I seem to be able to achieve better kill percentages with FM/FMT/DD than with archer. This is probably due to fact that they reach about same APR as archer but arrows hit for much smaller numbers. After bandit camp, I had 30% on FMT and 36% on FM with only 23% on archer.
This class is strong especially later on because of called shot but I tested fully buffed characters and I usually get better DPR with F/M multis than archer especially since beamdog added STR to all slings then WS->Cleric will shot sling bullet for 25-30 damage each at 3APR (nice nice I would say especially since it gives party buffs/chant/bless for even nicer numbers).
I will miss -Thac0 but this is why i have 2h sword style for FMT unholy reaver so with GWW I will get -20 thac0 on enemies in one round.
Must say that I always wondered if 10APR archer doing -10 cumulative penalty to save vs spell and cleric casting room with sorc casting GM wouldn't allow you to polymorph/feblemind pretty much any enemy in the game. Maybe someday I will test this.
Ps. I won't use this with vahlior helmet as stat drain from archer kills even dragons in <2 rounds.