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"Maybe this time" [NO-RELOAD THREAD]: "The Tale of TEN THOUSAND Trials"

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  • recklessheartrecklessheart Member Posts: 692
    I have began my own run inspired by all of your's. It is RP-heavy, and without modding, so I can't promise it will provide the same kind of drama, or level of drama, as all of your's, but due to the distinction, I put it in a separate thread.

    I'll add to it overtime, of course. For now, feel free to check out my Bhaalspawn's character sheet. I often find that the most interesting part..! https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/44302/maliel-the-bhaalspawn-recklessheart#latest
    MirageJuliusBorisovlolien
  • YgramulYgramul Member Posts: 1,059

    I have began my own run inspired by all of your's. It is RP-heavy, and without modding, so I can't promise it will provide the same kind of drama, or level of drama, as all of your's, but due to the distinction, I put it in a separate thread.

    Great to hear.

    Know that an RP-heavy run is actually very welcome here.

    Nothing beats a good narrative, not even the best modding setup.
    JuliusBorisovlolienrecklessheart
  • BillyYankBillyYank Member Posts: 2,768
    @Ygramul Watch out, those headcannons can give you a migraine, and if you're not well braced, the recoil can cause whiplash.
    lolienYgramul
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Lately I've been fighting my way through the Druid Grove, instead of sneaking past all the monsters. But I don't have a fire or acid weapon and don't feel like getting one, so we're just going to walk past everything. Hey, trolls have feelings, too! It wouldn't be right for our Lawful Evil protagonist to murder the trolls who would gladly kill her and eat her if they ever got the chance.

    We do still have to turn visible once to get a group of trolls to move out of the way.
    image

    Imber's stealth skills are still pretty weak, so she often goes visible against her will. Thankfully, there's a spot just south of Kyland Lind where you can hide.
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    But Imber accidentally attracted an Ettercap on the way--this otherwise would have been an okay hiding space, as it keeps you out of range of all nearby enemies--and some other critters join the chase. The Ring of Air Control once again keeps us safe.
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    Imber's invisibility will only last 10 rounds, so she needs to find a spot where there are no enemies, or else she won't be able to hide or rest. This is the spot.
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    I never noticed these spots before. I also didn't know you could walk around Adratha's little tower and walk right past the Shambling Mounds who are blocking the bridge.
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    Cernd kills Faldorn, and we take all the credit. Lord Logan Coinpurse is impressed with our masterful delegating abilities and gives us a big cash money wad. But we still need to kill some wealthy Calishite djinns to save the town's economy (I don't know how an extraplanar critter like a djinni would be from Calimshan, but whatever).

    We get ambushed by Suna Seni and her gang. A Horror spell from afar disperses all of them but Suna Seni herself and the mage. I lead the former over to the southwest so I won't get mobbed as quickly when the others recover.
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    Emotion: Hopelessness is a great spell, but even SCS enemies don't know how to optimize the EE version, which lets . The smartest thing they could have done--which would have absolutely destroyed me--would be for them to leave Imber alone, let the rest of their group recover from Horror, then throw disablers at me, conjure summons, throw on some buffs, and surround me before they actually hit me. This would ensure that I was trapped as well as disabled several times over, and also ensure that they were at full strength and could concentrate all their power on me at once.

    Instead, Suna Seni just hits me once, and that amazing spell accomplishes nothing other than letting Suna Seni land a single hit. SCS AI is excellent, but they're not very good at capitalizing on disablers... maybe because that requires setting a complex list of priorities.

    Anyway... Suna Seni crumpled to pure damage, and Imber turned her attention to disabling the remaining enemies.
    image

    Clammy Hands kept the mage in check. It's a great way of disrupting spells, as it offers no save and bypasses MR. It doesn't hurt that monks get unusually high APR.

    Right after this fight, we run into the Renfeld ambush. It's an easier fight, but we're low on resources. Even so, the enemy doesn't do much. Remove Magic isn't that devastating of a spell when it wakes you up from Command. After bringing down the mage and cleric, neither of whom had any buffs besides Mirror Image, Imber takes control of the remaining thief and gets him to set a trap for himself.
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    That was fun.

    I grab the Nymph's Cloak again and use it against Sanasha. But this time, her Fireball fails to kill Prebek, and Prebek retaliates. Sanasha gets knocked out.
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    I don't know what he was trying to accomplish with that Invisibility spell. Sanasha was no threat to him, and he didn't know Imber was there; she was invisible. Imber fails to reveal him with her paltry 20 Detect Illusions skill, but she doesn't have to. He breaks his own invisibility, and fails a save against the Ring of Human Influence.
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    Sanasha is out of spells and therefore cannot help me hurt Prebek. After we kill Sanasha, we turn Prebek's spells against him. This guy just has no luck with saving throws.
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    I thought I had assigned him to throw his last Minute Meteor at Sanasha during the charm effect, but when he turns hostile, he can still throw another one.
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    It matters little. He's out of spells and allies, and his HP is quick to follow.

    We get inside the Harper Hold. I always liked that you can grab the bird from outside its cage.
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    On the way out, I notice there's a huge black spot in the Docks District map.
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    Most Valuable Item: Ring of Air Control, for keeping us from getting swarmed by critters in the Druid Grove.
    JuliusBorisovlolienYgramulBillyYank
  • MirageMirage Member Posts: 81
    My sympathies for the "Pablo's II" death @lolien!

    My attempts also usually end in the Sword Coast and Pablo's journeys reminded me of them.

    Excellent name & portrait pick by the way!!!
    lolienJuliusBorisov
  • YgramulYgramul Member Posts: 1,059
    edited October 2015
    lolien said:

    Meet my next cleric/thief.
    Pablo, the the half-orc.......
    ....
    I will correct this mistake with Pablo, the third!

    Excellent character.

    Can't wait for Pablo the Third to reach his Blue Period.
    JuliusBorisovlolienjohntyl
  • johntyljohntyl Member Posts: 397
    @lolien please pardon my minute ignorance but does that portrait of Pablo belong to the real artist himself? And what is the name of it? Merci beaucoup
    lolienJuliusBorisovMirage
  • lolienlolien Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 3,108
    edited October 2015
    johntyl said:

    @lolien please pardon my minute ignorance but does that portrait of Pablo belong to the real artist himself? And what is the name of it? Merci beaucoup

    It's a mistake from my part not to credit the artist, who made this inspirational masterpiece. He is Pablo Picasso, the art is "The King of the Minotaurs", 1958, if my source is true.

    Edit: source: http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.net/theme-minotavr.php
    JuliusBorisovjohntylMirageYgramul
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    This is the true way of a Bhaalspawn. Imagine to witness the Slayer Charname... It's creepy indeed!
    loliensemiticgoddess
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    edited October 2015
    @Arunsun: Ah, so there's no change to the XP cap. I was just under the impression that DEX above 18 only stopped improving your AC if your AC was already sufficiently negative (i.e., that 25 DEX was better than 18 at 0 AC, but not at -20 AC), and that Single Weapon Style didn't bypass the cap.

    I did some math and found that you could get a party of three Bards and three Fighter/Clerics to roughly the AC cap by stacking the Improved Bard Song and using DUHM to bump DEX up to 25. Plus, they'd have access to Armor of Faith, Hardiness, Mirror Image, and Stoneskin.

    Also, I forgot to mention: Irenicus in Spellhold took too long to appear when I was with the other inmates, so I punched Tiax to speed up Jon-bon's arrival.
    Post edited by semiticgoddess on
    lolien
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    edited October 2015
    I was surprised by seeing Brimstone in the second level of the Fire Giant lair, whom I thought was a Tactics enemy. Imber nearly died to Brimstone's fire breath, as I failed to notice her fire resistance was being lowered. Had she not equipped the Ring of Fire Resistance right before the breath weapon hit, she might not have survived. She retreated and came back when her fire resistance was back to normal, and slew the dragon with Greater Whirlwind Attacks.

    Imber got boxed in during the fight with Yaga-Shura, and had to resort to the Rod of Resurrection to heal herself. To my surprise, the fastest way out was not to try and cut through the surrounding enemies--it was to just kill Yaga-shura himself, who had surprisingly little defense against Greater Whirlwind Attack.

    We returned to Watcher's Keep and brought down the Statues. I double-checked my install and confirmed the Improved Watcher's Keep component of SCS was there, but the two epic-level mage statues were not. The Statues were therefore pretty easy.

    Thanks to Imber's immunities, the 2nd level of WK was easy. The only sticking point was the Chromatic Demon. Basically, I just used Power Attack and Whirlwind Attack on his fire form to sneak in extra cold damage, but the Efreeti also helped by using its fire spells when the demon was in ice form. I also had the Book of Daily Spell on hand for his ice form, but the demon died before it became necessary.

    None of the demons in the Watcher's Keep maze posed a serious threat. The various fear effects, charm effects, Lightning Bolts, and poison effects failed to harm Imber, and the enemy's melee attacks seldom made contact. Aesgareth might have been a problem had I not stunned him with Smite (which stuns without a save, unlike Power Attack) and followed up with Greater Whirlwind Attack.

    Just for the hell of it, I fought the demilich. Which is to say, I killed its Planetar with Power Attack and then left the room while Imber fought the demilich itself. When I came back, he was dead.

    I left Saladrex alone. He's an okay guy.

    Imber died once against the Mind Flayers. She was at 11 INT and then suddenly died, so the enemy must have landed three simultaneous critical hits. I reloaded (reload count: 2) and used Greater Whirlwind Attack to get rid of the Mind Flayers early on. Level 5 opened up.

    The Spirit Warrior challenged followed the common formula, grabbing the scroll, wand, and potion before hurrying off to face the mummy. The green dragon was a non-issue, as its breath weapon dealt poison damage--normally a huge problem, but not for a monk. The orc horde used nonmagical weapons and posed no threat. Finally, for the monster summoning room with the four-colored pillars, I just summoned the first group of each color and deposited the first orbs I got. You don't have to summon all of the monsters; just the first group of each color.

    Azamantes did nothing. The Rilmanis did nothing. Then came the fight with Xei Win Toh et al.

    The Huntress can see through invisibility and has -14 THAC0 with her Arrows of Piercing. Since a monk's AC bonus vs. missile attacks is erased by Slayer form, Imber had some trouble. She had to don the Belt of Inertial Barrier for the missile damage resistance. It was a mistake in retrospect to let the two guys who buried Tirdir run away; the Boots of Avoidance could have helped here.

    Twice, Imber had to use the Rod of Resurrection to heal herself. Then, midway through the battle, I noticed that the rod had dropped down to 1 charge, from 8. I only used it twice. Later, I checked my inventory and saw that both of our Rods of Resurrection had vanished.

    The Hive Mother's Anti-Magic Ray apparently drains item charges.

    I deem this unacceptable. Preventing me from using a magic item is one thing, but permanently destroying two of the most useful items in the entire game, without a saving throw, bypassing magic resistance, without any defense against it, even invisibility, is not okay. Beholders in SCS take away the Shield of Balduran, but they don't break it half.

    I find the spell file and reduce the probability of the item drain effect from 100 to 0. Tweaking the rods so they don't vanish when drained, or dropping the rods on the ground before the fight, also would have worked.

    The fight is pretty simple after that. I run around, fading in and out of sight, draining HLAs from the enemy fighters, and Arrows of Piercing and Called Shot castings from the Huntress. I lose many potions in the process, but eventually the enemy is out of their best options. Xei Win Toh, unlike the Huntress, cannot see through invisibility, and though the Hive Mother can as well, she doesn't follow Imber when we run away, so we use stealth to lure the Huntress to a secluded place, stun her with Power Attack, and kill her with Whirlwind Attack. We do the same for Xei Win Toh, Ameralis Zauvirr, the Hive Mother, and finally Nalmissra.

    ToB reloads: 1, or 2 if you count the Anti-Magic Ray tweak.
    Post edited by semiticgoddess on
    Serg_BlackStriderBillyYankJuliusBorisovthar_thaazdhen
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