Pack Rat Syndrome

FrdNwsm

I have developed a new disease; "Pack Rat Syndrome". This is characterized by an inability to use any item that has a one-shot use. I'll save it for an "emergency", and think of an alternate solution to the problem instead. Thank Helm for the gem bag, scroll case and potion case of Holding!

I have 500+ normal arrows, close to 1000 normal sling bullets, several hundred magical arrows of various sorts, 200 or so magical sling bullets, a dozen assorted wands, 54 scrolls, 43 potions (NOT counting the dozens of healing potions and antidotes carried in ready item slots) and some miscellaneous junk.

And that's just what I'm carrying around! In barrels in Beregost I have stashed the books Ulcaster wanted (he never did show up to get them), the Sword of Balduran (which has exactly one use in the game as far as I can see, but ... hey, you never know), the silver dagger (also from Balduran), the +3 chain mail, extra wands of assorted types, extra gauntlets, some items Imoen will want when she gets her thief abilities back, the cloak of the evil archmage (from Baeloth's body) and a few other oddities which may or may not be useful someday.

P.S. Adoy's belt actually does have a use! Needless to say, when the need arose, it was in that barrel. Now that I carry it around with me, the need, of course, will probably never again arise.

I've tried having Cure Disease cast on MyChar, but it seems the affliction runs deeper than such a simple remedy can cure. Help!

Fiendish_Warrior

Sounds like only one of two things will help:

(1) Drop everything, embrace suffering, and devote yourself wholly to Ilmater.

(2) More cowbell.

Your choice.

Skatan

@FrdNwsm: I do much of the same thing, except that I sell items I don't need ("only usable by" which I can't use etc). You can always by them back if you need them. If you make a habit of selling most stuff to one vendor it's easy enough to find it should you need it.
But I too walk around with every potion I have ever found, never using a single one. And if one of my NPC's gulps down one of their own, I can't help to feel robbed by it. Like "what if" THAT EXACT POTION would have came in handy in a future encounter!?!? It's so stupid, but I can't help myself.

@Fiendish_Warrior: No.2 made me laugh out loud*

*No, not doing the dirty deeds, I am referring to the comment about cowbell.

FrdNwsm

Oh no!
Nononononononononononononononononono!
My scroll container of holding is .... full!

Fiendish_Warrior

I have to admit, when I first saw this thread title, I accidentally read "Rat Pack Syndrome" and became giddy looking forward to a story about how you decided that "Ol' Blue Eyes" and the band needed to get back together for some Ocean's 11-style heisting in BG. A little disappointed.

Gallowglass

Pah, a mere amateur. I stash far more than that, @FrdNwsm. For example, I collect every book in the whole game ... although I'll then sell off the entire library just before the final battle. Every quest item, every note and letter, every named weapon and armour (although I do sell off duplicates and generic junk). I stash every wand (and fully recharge them when I can afford it). I do sell off extra copies of Mage spells which I've already memorised, however ... but not the green protection scrolls which anyone can use, I stash those. And all the ammo, so thousands of arrows etc.

Tresset

I have been doing this since day one.

kcwise

I too am afflicted with this syndrome. I'm told by stalwarts of the most vicious battles that the SCS mod will cure you of much of it simply because you'll be desperately using everything at your disposal to survive. Meanwhile, I have a barrel to fill with potions...

JuliusBorisov

Tresset said:

I have been doing this since day one.

I have stopped doing this the first day I installed the SCS mod. Since then, I need every single wand/scroll/item to advance in the quests.

BTW, the first time I saw the thread title, I thought about spambots, something like this thread would offer some medicine to cure the syndrome... Glad that I was mistaken.

lolien

I gather magical items even in my notuseanyitem run.

Son_of_Imoen

I'm not a heavy pack rat, just a medium sized one. I sell off scrolls of spells that aren't very powerful when my scroll case get full, I only gather the books needed for Finch's library in Nashkel, I sell of +1 items I don't use if I have +2 versions (keeping the best versions of weapons, even if I have no-one that's proficient in them).

My most hoarded and least used items are wands, even though I use SCS. In RPG's I always try to make do with what's reusable, i.e. my memorized spells. I keep the wands for 'if things get really difficult', but they hardly ever do, even with SCS. I do skip some components of SCS though, like my enemy mages don't fully pre-buff (I found fight against mages unwinnable with that component in the past), but maybe I should try to up the difficulty with my SCS component selections.

SmilingSword

I have a scroll case just for notes.

st_live418

I was a major pack-rat with just about everything you could imagine in game for a long time. Scrolls, potions, weapons, armors, etc. It was from a comment someone made on these forums that finally broke me of the affliction some months ago. They mentioned that on their playthroughs they try to view things in a more realistic sense about what could reasonably carried by a single person. Tends to lower the different weapons/armor that I used to keep around for different situations.

I struggle with it a lot still, haha. Most of the time I still find myself ditching things randomly on the road to try and stick to the self-imposed rule. When I can stick to it, it makes the game a bit harder/interesting. Tends to make gold harder to come by for longer, which makes the earlier levels even more perilous.

Buttercheese

I know the feeling too well :'I

Sjerrie

*Sheepishly raises hand*

I also sort my stuff...

Gem bag no. 1 contains my surplus of magical rings.
Gem bag no. 2 contains exactly one copy of every mundane ring/necklace and gem I find. I also stuff any surviving wardstones in here (after changing their type to 'gem' in an editor).

Scroll case no. 1 contains at least one copy of every usable scroll I can find.
Scroll case no. 2 contains exactly one copy of every mundane book I find. Also all diary entries (i.e. Irenicus').

Bag of Holding no. 1 holds all equipment (armor, weapons, boots, etc.) that might one day be useful for one of my characters. Like non-magical weapons for those magic golems.
Bag of Holding no. 2 holds all useless junk that doesn't fit into another category. Also all NPC-specific equipment after I've killed them.

My main 'healer' carries a potion bag with at least one potion saved of every potion found.

Every Charname or NPC that uses a ranged weapon has their own seperate ammo belt where I store the appropriate ammo. Ammo for weapons that are not used by an NPC are stored in another seperate ammo belt carried by a random NPC that has space left in their inventoy.

My characters' inventory space is way more organized than my desk...

Anduin

Must admit. I used to suffer. I used to suffer a lot.
...

I had completed BG and I noticed... Just as I was going into the temple... That Imoen was still carrying a wand of missiles, hardly used, from when I first met her, outside of candlekeep anyway, on the lions way...

...

From that day forth, I made a sacred vow. To drink, blast, fire, launch every consumable I gathered (actually made the whole game a load easier to complete... Plus burning things is fun!

I would sell my rings at one shop. Gems at another. Magic weapons at another still. One storekeep would become a librarian... BUT I WOULD CARRY NO MORE ! ! !

...

But I understand the road to liberation can be hard... Sometimes I miss that ache caused by an over burdened rucksack...

CaptRory

Playing the original Icewind Dale, I was going into the Very Definitely Final Battle. And I had barely used anything except healing potions the entire game and I was sparing with them. Mid-Battle I was thinking about using a wand and said to myself "No, I might need it later." Then I stopped and thought about what I had just thought. I knew this was the final battle. I knew this stuff wouldn't be good, there wasn't importing it into another game. I realized at that point I had a serious problem and it is something I've been actively struggling with since then, but at least I'm not a hoarder and every pass through BG I horde a little less.

Noon

I'm almost cured. I only keep healing potions, and ammunitions, and a few other exceptions. I sell or i don't take any object i know i will not use.
"Oh Jaheira, what a nice invisibility potion you have. It will help buying you a plate mail."
"a wand of paralyzation? Better let it in this chest, I will not encumbered myself with it."

epicrakshasas

I always carry random stuff around. Once, Dorn carried some kid's body throughout the entire second half of the game because I was always too busy to finish that quest. Not to mention the bolt of polymorphing I carried for the entire game.

Buttercheese

I don't thik I ever used that arrow even *once*.
And I did over a dozen playthroughs :I