No-Reload Wizard Slayer (Because I Can!)
CaeDares
Member Posts: 182
CaeDares said:You could always just roll a Wizard Slayer.
Jk. Don't ever do that.
Because of all the Likes and such that I got for this, I am going to do a No-Reload run of the Wizard Slayer, Val!
I rolled an 89 and distributed my stats mainly amongst Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma.
1 Blip in Bastard Sword
1 Blip in Long Sword
1 Blip in Crossbow
1 Blip in Two-Weapon Style
(I know this is different than what it was before. i decided to reapply the blip to Crossbow for Kiting reasons that I didn't think of before, but Flail/Morningstar will definitely be put back on when I feel the time is right)
We begin our journey by reaping our experience from Candlekeep, as well as snagging a Bastard Sword, a Longsword, a Flail, and some Studded Leather Armor for the time being. We snagged an extra health potion from the Cleric inside the Infirmary (Got in trouble for that! But I ran straight to Gorian and got away without a Rep of Coin loss. Hooray!). We follow Gorion into the Lions Way only to watch him be slain and run away like a pansy. Imoen meets with us in the morning and we snag her Potions and Oil of Speed, but we keep her to carry some luggage until we get to the Friendly Arm Inn. We get another potion from Xan, abandon them, get a diamond out of a tree (Thank you, oh magnificent tree!) and head out. We meet up with Elminster and question his Mentality (Heh. Questioning the Mentality of the most known man in all of Baldur's Gate. Smart move). We kill a Gibberling, snag a ring off a rock, and go upwards and beyond. We snag yet another ring off a rock (Seriously, who the hell is dumb enough to leave these expensive rings laying around!? Elminster!? Sarevok!? LORD FORESHADOW!?) and head into the Friendly Arm Inn. Thanks to the Guards, we slay Tarnesh, Identify our goodies at the local cleric, and dump it all at the Innkeeper for 10k+ Gold. We pick up a Full Plate and grab the quests. Val is now sitting at the gate to the Friendly Arm Inn and waiting to continue her adventure.
Current Location and Inventory
If there are any items you think I should get, let me know. What I should aim for, what I should achieve. Where I should quest first and help me decide the fate of Val! (This is going to go terribly)
Post edited by CaeDares on
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Any way, I'm interested in this run, @CaeDares , good luck!
We pick our journey back up by collecting the Flamedance ring from the Hobgoblins and slaying the rest of them like the...Hobs(?) they are? We return her ring and rummage through her chest (Bwueheh) after she leaves just for some petty gold and a gem. Were all done here. Now we've set towards Nashkel, but before we get any farther, time to take care of that Ogre with the belt fetish (Oh come on, lets not be stereotypical here just because he's an Ogre. EVERYBODY likes leather!). Val encounters her first Xvart along the way, but easily disposes of him with a shot of her Crossbow and a slash of her swords. So far this was going to be a piece of cake, but up next was the Dire Wolf...Who almost sent us running back to the Friendly Arm Inn. Val manages to get a hit off with her crossbow, but running does her no good as the Dire Wolf is at least double her speed. She whirls around with her swords at the ready and fight the hungry beast. She takes some pretty serious damage, but a gulp of a health potion fixxes that right up. The battle gets intense as the Dire wolf takes another bite out of her, but not soon after we start landing some blows. One after another, the wolf finally falls, but not before delivering one last blow to our dearest Val, enough for her to force herself to rest before encountering the Ogre. By morning, she's ready to go. She pulls out her crossbow and slowly approaches the area of which the Ogre should still be, admiring his new leather (Awh Ye). The moment she sees him she hurls a bolt straight into him, and...
It's Super Effective!! But he's closing in quickly! He didn't like that too much...
However, Val was much quicker than this Ogre. He may be big, but compared to him, she was small, and fast. She quickly turns on her heel and runs for it, running all the way towards the road, constantly turning around and slugging another bolt into the already severely bleeding Ogre. As she climbs the road towards the Friendly Arm, she turns again and drives another bolt into him, finishing him off and sending him tumbling to the cold Earth. She claims her prizes, not one, but TWO leather belts. But they're magical, so screw 'em. She stuffs them into her back and we make our way back to the Friendly Arm Inn for a quick visit. We Identify the two belts, one being Elves Bane and one being a...Well, let's not discuss that one. Either way, it got sold and the Elves Bane was returned to it's rightful owner. Val refuses to use it, anyways. But she gains just enough experience from this quest to grant herself a level up! We gain 7 extra Hit Points and her THAC0 is reduced by 1. Awesome.
I will still be continuing this in just a few minutes after this comment is posted, I just thought I should get something out for you to read and hopefully enjoy in the meantime.
Might continue on later, but I'm not sure quite yet. Hope it was enjoyable enough.
EDIT: OP updated with new images.
Given that a Wizard Slayer can't use protection rings and so forth, she's often going to be lagging behind other warrior classes in AC, and therefore I reckon that a Wizard Slayer is likely to be better off avoiding both two-weapon style and two-handed weapons, in order to keep a big shield in her off-hand.
Obviously there's a lot of ways of doing it, but personally I'd probably have started with 2 pips each in Xbow and Bswd, with the plan of putting a third pip in each as she progresses, and not have bothered with @CaeDares's choice of Lswd and 2WS. Perhaps with a Wizard Slayer, there may even be some justification for putting a pip into SnS style (delaying the third pip in Xbow to early BG2ee) to reduce her vulnerability to ranged attacks, even though SnS style is a wasted pip for most other classes. My weapon objectives would be to acquire the Light Crossbow of Speed for range and Albruin +1 for melee, both of which I'd probably use to the end of BG1ee. (Albruin +1 is obviously only +1 for THAC0, but it's +3 for damage, a point which is often overlooked and actually makes it a very good melee weapon for BG1ee, and it has useful bonus effects.)
I'm honestly not 100% sure why I put a pip in both LS and BS, I just like the idea of it in general, because I don't really like Short Swords all that much, wielding a sword bigger and slower than the LS but does more damage for a 1h, and then the quicker LS but less damaging in the other hand. It just makes sense to me. While I used to be a huge fan of SnS type characters, and I do understand that it's a good idea for a solo fighter that is weak early on, but when I think of a Wizard Slayer I think of him/her wielding either a big, 2h sword to cut down wizards with or a weapon in each hand for dicing through them.
Yes, this XBow is turning out to be a greater decision than I thought it would be, and apparently XBow is decent in BG2 so I hope I make it that far.
The time has come, friends. It is time to slay a house full of spiders! Huge...Nasty...er...Spiders...Yeah. (Val: Cant we start with a different quest...Please?)
No! This one is the closest, as well as one of the easiest! Piece of cake!
Good thing we brought 4 Antidote potions.
Anyways
Standing outside the Inn, the day as fresh as recently cut grass, Val complains about her current spider hunt over and over again, I'm not a Spider-Slayer, she says, I'm a Wizard Slayer, she says! Well what if they're magic casting spiders, Val!? Ever think of that!? (You actually don't get those till a bit later, but the thought that they have the ability to cast magic is more than enough!)
Fine. We make our way to the house most southern in Beregost, looting a Barrel next to the house for a few coins. Taking in a deep breath, Val prepares herself for the upcoming battle. Antidotes? Check. Bolts? Check. Swords? Check. Confidence? Left that crap at home! Lets go!.
Kicking the door open, she staggers into the room with her Crossbow in hands. Immediately in front of her, 32 eyes turn their gaze to her, fangs widening apart as they let out a horrifying hiss. Sweat already on her brow, she lets out a battle cry and lets loose a bolt into the closest spider, nailing the shot and angering it by ten fold. It's the first to attack, being right next to her, it immediately begins jabbing at our hero. The other three close in quickly, surrounding her and backing her against the door. Val is starting to panic, one of them bites into her arm and leaves with a green substance trailing from the wound. The battle has just begun and she's already been poisoned! Her mind is going blank, she needs out of here before they overwhelm her. Unsheathing her swords, she slashes at them to hold them back as she backs out the doorway. Mind foggy, she takes the best chance she can get and makes a run for it, the spiders hot on her trail, hissing and eager to consume their prey. Val stumbles with her pouches, already forgetting where her antidotes were. She pulls one out of her quick pouch and throws it back. It doesn't take too long before the effects of the poison start to fade. The poison is gone, her mind is clear and she no longer feels weak. Seething with rage at her close-to-death experience, she spins on her heel, Crossbow in hand and slugs a bolt into the nearest spider, which is luckily the same spider she nailed on the way into the home. The spider goes down in an ear aching screech, collapsing to cobblestone ground. Commoners are running about at the realization that there is a woman being chased by huge spiders! With no guards around to help her out, Val has to fight this battle on her own. Using the fountain nearby, she makes a mad sprint around it, the spiders hot on her heels. Always spinning and firing off a bolt with every turn and twist, she finally manages to take another one out. They finally get smart, they're tired of this game of chase-around-the-fountain. The spider holding up the rear turns and dashes around to the other side of the fountain, cutting Val off, but it underestimates her, not realizing what she drank to diminish the poison they inflicted. She leaps into the air and drives a foot into at least 3 of its 8 eyes, kicking off of the fiendish spider and slugging a bolt into the back of it's head, instantly ending it's life. There's only one left and it's eager for food, it's time for our heroes blades to taste blood. With a quick flash of weapon change, her swords glimmer in the morning sunlight as she whirls her swords in patterns in front of the spider, cutting off it's advance and dismembering one of its legs. Val already has the advantage and she makes sure to take advantage...of...well...her advantage! Of course! She charges the Spider, swords whirlings and dismembering another two legs before the spider falls onto it's face, screeching and hissing at our hero in hatred. Val finally realizes why she hates the things to begin with, staring at it's cold, hating 8 eyes. She drives her sword into it's face, ending it's life, and the battle.
That's all i've done so far, fight the spiders, but only because I currently don't have a lot of time. I'll do more later!
Were finally setting off for Nashkel. We can return the Wine, Boots and Spider Body the next time we stop by. Our Hero, Val, encounters a couple Ogrillon's, but they were no match for her kiting skills with the crossbow. We snag a Scroll of Identify from one and pocket it inside our nifty new scroll case. Further down the road our Hero is interrupted by the Flaming Fist. They question our Hero and pose her as a Bandit. Bandit's these days walk around with +1 weapons and Plate Armor? This upsets our Hero. She makes the attempt to persuade them that she is not a Bandit, things turn rough and the Flaming Fist end up colliding with our Hero. Three versus one is very bad odds, forcing Val to turn and run with her trusty Crossbow in hand. Running through the grass, always sticking with her strategy of turning and firing a bolt at her chasers, she eventually comes to realization that these guards arn't common monsters with lesser combat abilities. These are trained soldiers from the city of Baldur's Gate. The first Flaming Fist Swordsman took a couple bolts, but nothing his armor couldn't withstand. Without any other hope, she unsheathes her weapons and prepares for their attack. The first, with a bolt sticking out of his armor, charges at her first. He's already weak, making him easy prey, especially when he charged in without signalling his other 2 comrades. Already far ahead of him, Val makes a gentle sidestep and slashes her swords across the weak point of his armor, the side. To the ground he falls, leaving his comrades to themselves, evening the odds a little. Taking a stance, she waits for her next opponent to come forth, but this time, she doesn't get just a single man, but both. They let out a cry and charge at her, ready to slaughter her the moment they get an opening. Wearing Plate Armor, our hero is nowhere near as fast as she could be in Leather, so trying to dodge them both coming from 2 sides isn't an option unless she were to run, and she was tired of doing that. She holds her ground, swords at the ready, the first swing coming from the man on her right. She parries and knocks his blade aside in time to deflect the other swordsmans weapon and bash the hilt of her sword against his helmet. He stumbles to the ground, giving Val enough time to turn back to her other opponent and deliver a blow to his side with both weapons. He goes down, leaving one worry left. She turns in time to block a blade coming down upon her, crossing her swords just in time, leaving his blade merely an inch from her face. With grace and, obviously, a good Dexterity, she swings her body to the right, dragging her weapons behind her. The man falls forward, unsuspecting this turn of events as a pair of swords cut through the nape of his neck, beheading him on the cobblestone path.
Val's weapons are bloody, but they haven't gotten their last taste of blood for the day. The first man had only been wounded, and this was obvious by the way he struggled to stand. With a calm pace, she makes her way to the iron willed Flaming Fist Swordsman, trying his best to hold his weapon with his sword arm, where his wounds were also present under. With a care free grace, she slashes at his arm, blood instantly spewing from his veins as he drops his sword, his other hand desperately covering his new wound. There was no remorse in the eyes of our Hero. It was scary, but nobody who crossed her would live unless she was defeated. With the tips of her swords angled at the man, she thrust with all her might into his body, her swords crossing as they exit through his back. Hoisting him off his feet, his limp body dangled barely above her. His eyes were wide as he coughed up blood, splattering against her Plate Armor. "What...are you?" he questions with what breath he had left in his body, but it was wasted as our Hero gave him no answer, no remorse, and no mercy. She lowers him to the ground and pulls back slowly, enough to get her leg between him and her, putting her foot to his stomach, and shoving him off of her blades. His body falls to the Earth, staining Mother Nature with his blood. Satisfied and sure that each of them were lifeless, she sheathes her blades and returns to the Cobblestone path. Our hero knew that what she had just done was not what a normal human would do, not what a normal HERO would do. A Hero would have avoided confrontation with those men, yet she matched her weapons with theirs and came out as the victor. It felt good being the victor, but at the same time, she knew it was the wrong thing to do. She tried to clear her mind as Nashkel came into view. Hopefully nobody had seen her battle with the Flaming Fist and reported it to Nashkel. Either way, she had to go through Nashkel. Her body and mind needed rest, if not to recuperate, but to try and forget what she had just put those men through.
Hope this is good enough for today. I figure since I don't get much done at all, due to work, I might as well make a good story out of what I DO get done. Hope you enjoyed it.
Upon arrival in Nashkel, our Hero is exhausted. There's a man giving a fighting display outside the inn next to the stream, yelling "I will show you justice!". The crowd doesn't seem pleased and a man is itching the displayer for a fight. Ignoring this, caring not if a fight were to occur, Val heads straight for the welcoming door of the Inn. The door creaks open and laughter is heard, followed by the thick smell of Alcohol. Shutting the door behind her, she begins towards the Barkeep, wanting nothing more than a nights rest. However, our Hero stops dead in her tracks as the sound of chanting begins, coming from the woman in a suit of armor down the hallway. A spell comes flying through the air towards Val, but quick wits and being prepared, although tired, she steps to the side and watches as the spell continues past her. A normal, physical object or hostile arcane spell would have slammed against the door, but being otherwise, it disappeared into thin air. Her attacker wasn't trying to kill her with a spell, she was trying to control her through confusion or holding. Turning back to her attacker, she unsheathes her weapons and stares into her eyes, exhaustion being an obvious feature on her light, Elven face. Another spell comes flying at her, but she refuses to move. Clearing her mind, she allows the spell to ht her, not scared of it harming her in any way. Sheer willpower allows her to resist the spell, but upon opening her eyes, the woman was close, a large mace in her hands and preparing to swing with her arm outstretched. Val pulls her blades up in time, but her defense was not well formed. The mace struck her left blade, but broke through and slammed into her side, sending her into a nearby table with a cry. Upon opening her eyes once more, the view of the mace coming down upon her was not a sight she was expecting so soon. She quickly rolled to the side and off the table, the mace bashing through and tearing it to pieces. With a quick leap, Val hops to her feet and makes as much distance as she could so she could prepare better. Upon turning, the woman had made no attempt to chase her. Instead, she was already forming another spell, chanting as magic swirled through her fingers and what visible hair she had was waving around from the power emitted from the spell. In a few mere seconds, she flings the spell directly at our hero. With a dodge, the spell hits a sitting bystander, who topples from his chair, climbs to his feet and starts walking around in confusion. The woman is quick, lifting her mace, holding her shield up and charging.
Rasaad, as calm as the Sun Soul Monk has always been, flexes and turns, punching and kicking through the air as if he was battling an invisible enemy. One of the three bystanders calls out to him, calling him names and beckoning him for a fight, but he ignores the man and carrys on. The sound of splintering wood comes from his left, the door to the Inn shattering into pieces as the Elven woman from before comes crashing through it, and a woman with a mace standing inside the in with her mace held to her side, panting as if she had been swinging it for a while, which of course, she has. It doesn't take long for Rasaad to figure out what's going on, and bides his time to figure out who the true enemy is here.
Val lays on the cold ground, blood drooling from her mouth. She coughs and even more comes out, having recently taken a another blow from her mace, but this time she had not properly defend herself in any way and could not block the attack. She finally finds a foe that wields magic against her and she's too exhausted to fight properly. The odds were not on her side and things were looking grim. Was this going to be the end? The sound of plated footsteps were chiming closer and closer, picking up as she woman got into a charging sprint, her mace high and ready to strike. With a roll to the side, Val barely escapes the downward swing, a grunt in the womans voice signalling that she was getting annoyed. Val only had her crossbow with her, her swords having fallen from her hands as she was tossed out of the Inn. The people inside the Inn were all staring through the broken door and the windows, watching the fight as it continued and some of them seemed to be making bets. Having her life being bet upon like she was a dog in a fighting pit was disgraceful, she hated the men exchanging coin and words over how they figured she was going to lose more than she did the woman currently trying to take her life. The mace swung again, and Val was not so sure if she could dodge it again. Was this it? No, something was wrong. Something happened and she's not sure what, but the man who seemed to be displaying his physique now stood between the two women, his arm underneath the mace, the mace having slammed into his arm before it could even get close to Val with a grunt, he shoves the mace to the side ,throwing the woman off and before she could even grasp what was going on, his fist slammed into her chest. There was a change in something just then, Val wasn't sure what, but this man was definitely not ordinary, was he a monk? This speed was insane, the force of that blow was something that could shatter the scales of a Wyvern. The woman was sent reeling backwards, tumbling onto her back, her legs flying into the air, and landing finally on her stomach. She stopped moving, but even from a well trained monk, that wouldn't have killed her. A hand was lent to our Hero once the woman had stopped moving. She accepted his hand and he brought her to her feet. With a new ally beside her, she was more than certain she could win this fight, exhausted or not. She pulled out her Crossbow and prepared herself. The woman rose, bringing her mace and shield with her. Her gaze fell back and forth between Val and Rasaad, contemplating what to do. She couldn't run, this was her assignment. She was going to be rolling in riches for the head of that woman and she couldn't walk away from it. With what strength she had, she began chanting, another Confusion spell forming in her hands. Val wasn't going to let her get halfway through it, a bolt whizzing through the air and implanting itself into her shoulder. With a cry, she's sent reeling back once more. Angrily, she lifts her mace up high and screams out a battle cry, charging forth with bloodlust in her eyes. She hardly makes it a foot before Rasaads fist makes contact with her stomach, blood spewing out of her mouth as she stumbles backwards. Another bolt comes flying through the air, this one with the intent to end the battle as it implants itself in her forehead. Her eyes roll upwards as she falls backwards, landing in the soft grass as her mace and shield fall beside her.
Our hero offers Rasaad a drink from the Inn for the help he had given her, or at least some coin in thanks, but he denies and goes back to his "training". With a shrug, Val stumbles into the Inn, making sure to grab her swords before she went inside. Onlookers stared at her in a wide-mouthed gaze, some not even taking a sip of their drinks after witnessing the fight, having already lost their money thinking she would be dead soon. She approaches the Bartender, as wide-mouthed as the rest of them and shaking, digging into her coin purse and pulling out 8 gold coins. She dumps them in front of the man and works her way to her newly paid-for bedroom for a well deserved rest.
Wow. That took longer to type than I thought it would.
As to any comments/suggestions, I must say I would have made different choices re: race, and weapon profs. @bengoshi already referred to my relatively succesful solo Wizard Slayer Thani, who made it into ToB. In addition to that, I'm going to quote my findings after my first successful solo no-reload run with a (different) Wizard Slayer:
(1) Start out doing plenty of sidequests, as you already seem to be doing. It will earn you the gold and rep boosts to buy any items you want. (There aren't that many because Wizard Slayers are barred from using a lot of items.) This way you won't be spending a lot of gold on items during your low rep period.
(3) Kill Bentan for his green scroll of protection from magic before you rest, to bring your rep down to 9. If your rep doesn't decreases to 9 or lower, you may have to get caught stealing once or twice to further lower your rep.
(4) Now rest to trigger the second Bhaaldream. You'll wake up the next morning with a Larloch's.
(5) Clear the Bandit Camp and the Cloakwood Mines (without flooding the mine and saving the miners), to get two Horrors as Bhaalpowers.
(6) Raise your rep again through temple donations and quests that give xp rewards.
(7) Continue with the main plot to get two DUHMs as your last Bhaalpowers.
You may think that these kind of details aren't very important. For most classes they indeed aren't. But successfully Horroring one or two Doppelgangers will drastically improve your chances of keeping the Dukes safe during the coronation event at the Ducal Palace. And in early to mid-SoA you'll still find Horror useful.
In my setup, neither informing the woman of her husband Joseph's death nor giving her the ring increases rep. (I only get some xp for giving her the ring.)
Note that reporting to Berrun Ghastkill about the mines will give you a +1 rep.
R.I.P. Val