I'm starting with my imported character from BG1EE final save: Anthony, my level 9 (I had removed the XP cap) Paladin Cavalier. I chose a Paladin because it's the most resistant and reliable class for no-reload runs. I will run a full party.. as soon as I am able to gather enough people :-P
Thanks for the suggestions.. I think they're good for BG2 as they are for BG1. What scares me the most is the possibility of some unexpected death, like the kiss of death from the nereid in BG1..
I think BG2 is a lot more difficult to no-reload than BG1 because instant death effects are everywhere. So my advice would be to play very carefully in BG2, don't send your Charname first in melee if you're not sure about the encounter. Especially since you cannot count on luck. Concerning characters, I don't think a Paladin is very reliable for no-reload but totally effective and doable. What I mean by reliable is that in my opinion, only arcane casters have a way to be immune to everything the game can throw at you which makes the game a lot easier for a no-reload, other characters will maybe need some particulars items, strategies or even luck to survive some fights while a Mage could cast PfMW and Spell Immunity.
I'm starting with my imported character from BG1EE final save: Anthony, my level 9 (I had removed the XP cap) Paladin Cavalier. I chose a Paladin because it's the most resistant and reliable class for no-reload runs. I will run a full party.. as soon as I am able to gather enough people :-P
Thanks for the suggestions.. I think they're good for BG2 as they are for BG1. What scares me the most is the possibility of some unexpected death, like the kiss of death from the nereid in BG1..
I'm of the opinion that the Nereid-death from BG1 is just bad game design: if I was playing it for the first time now, I'd just say screw the developer's choice and reload with no qualms.
Thankfully there aren't many such incidents in BG2...
Ok, I'm now joining this party as I've got a character that I'm enjoying playing and is far enough in that I think I've got a good shot at succeeding.
It's solo no-reload with the usual mods, notably SCS and Item Randomiser.
My character is a Duelist (10) / Assassin. The Duelist for those unfamiliar is a Sword & Fist Fighter kit that's a pseudo-Swashbuckler. You get +1 to hit and damage every 10 levels and +1 AC every 5 levels. On the downside, you can't wear armour heavier than studded leather and you can only put 5* in one-handed bladed weapons; everything else you can only put 1* in.
[I'm not actually using the Sword & Fist mod, I'm just simulating the effects with Shadowkeeper and voluntarily respecting the armour and proficiency restrictions].
This kit has perfect synergy with the Assassin. I dualled at 10 to get the extra +1 to hit and damage (I'm ignoring the speed bonus the Duelist is technically supposed to have), so I have +2 to hit and damage and +3AC from the Duelist levels and a further +1 to hit and damage as an Assassin. So overall a nice round +3 to hit, damage and AC.
This is a BG2 (SoA and ToB) run only - I did my usual thing of assuming BG1 was completed and taking the stat and XP bonuses. Yes, I know many purists hate that approach but I don't have the desire to play BG1 anymore and I'm not claiming this is a trilogy run in any case.
I've done the early part of Chapter 2 and will post a summary below. Main findings are that the character has awesome damage output and ridiculously good backstabs but saving throws are horrible and he succumbed to a couple of fear and confusion effects early on, which thankfully weren't fatal. Potions of Invulnerability, Clarity and Freedom have helped considerably but current stock of those is 7, 1, and 0 (!) respectively.
Assassin level is currently 22, which sounds more impressive than it is (rogues level up ridiculously fast). Only 2.6m XP so not even at HLAs yet.
The character:
I'm playing without traps & locks as trap detection just annoys me and it's not like I need the XP, so all skill points focused on stealth, detect illusions and set traps. Main weapon is the katana with loads of proficiencies in other assorted weapons that that the character occasionally uses.
Stats so far:
Have only done some of Athkatla and de'Arnise Keep so far, currently in the Druid Grove slaughtering Trolls. Haven't rested so far and not yet fatigued.
Inventory:
Nothing remarkable, Randomiser means you end up with all sorts and can't do quests based on the equipment you expect. So still stuck with a katana+1 as my main weapon which I purchased from Ribald as soon as I left Irenicus' Dungeon.
@Jaheiras_Witness: I don't think there's anything wrong with starting in BG2 with BG1 bonuses. I normally don't bother, but for this run I've got BG1 stat bonuses spread out across 6 characters (that is, the eight tomes for the whole party, not eight tomes per character). However you want to play, rules or no, is fine, but giving yourself perfectly attainable bonuses isn't even breaking the rules in the first place.
Nice to see @Blash, and @Jaheiras_Witness here, as new faces in the no-reload corner of this forum (J_W is already quite well known thank to a very good SCS spell guide, for which I'm thankful).
Meanwhile, I've decided to follow a fellow no-reloader's suggestion to give Teyl, my NE Halfling Strifeleader of Cyric/Thief, another shot at no-reload fame:
He's pretty much the same Teyl as he ever was.
Teyl, unlike his megalomanic and reckless gnomish counterpart Tiax, is a cunning, conniving and calculating figure. He isn't overtly evil or violent nor does he enjoy cruelty or the suffering of others just for the sake of it. He takes good care of his appearance and image, is generally polite to strangers and even willing to do "good" if he sees personal benefits that make his benevolence worthwhile. He has no reservations about making promises or accepting commitments he won't be likely to live up to, if such behavior serves his interests. In such situations Teyl tends to avoid outright lies though, preferring to rely on ambiguity or omission of information in order to manipulate reality in his favor, without having to fear that any blame is going to be pinned on him. His subtlety and seemingly mild manners may not make him a prototypical Cyricist, but his ways might well be the more effective, or so at least he believes. The presence of such guiding figures of unquestionable moral calibre as Tethoril, Imoen, the priests of Oghma and above all Gorion have given Teyl a sense of morality he might otherwise not have had, but unlike the people that surround him Teyl believes that everyone ought to look after their own interests. Teyl appreciates nature, female beauty, and art.
Teyl isn't a physically imposing figure, even for a halfling. He makes up for this however with his wit, his knowledge of poisons, an affinity with trap setting, and the powers bestowed upon him by Cyric.
The only differences are that his traps are vanilla rather than Traps Revisions traps and that he doesn't own a nice black suit of Apprentice Shadow Armor (studded AC6, +5 HiS) because I couldn't find it in Shadowkeeper. It means he's likely to have to walk around in brown studded leather for much of the game, thanks to Item Randomisation. (Unless I try and make a custom suit of Apprentice Shadow Armor.)
The Strifeleader of Cyric kit:
STRIFELEADER OF CYRIC: Cyric (seer-ick) is a megalomaniacal deity with an immense following. One of the three greater powers of evil on Faerûn, he is petty and self-centered, and enjoys misleading individuals of all inclinations so that they perform acts that ruin their lives or so that they make fatal mistakes. He drinks the tears of disillusioned dreamers and broken-hearted lovers. He is not above an alliance with another deity as long as he thinks he can betray the other divine power and come out ahead.
Cyric's church is pledged to spread strife and work murder everywhere in order to make folk believe in and fear the Dark Sun. It supports cruel rulers and indulges in intrigue in such a way that the world won't be overrun by wars (and thus fall under the sway of Tempus). His church is often beset by internal feuds and backstabbing, but this conflict has decreased in recent years as Cyric has gained better control of himself and has consolidated the churches of the deities whose portfolios he took over.
Strifeleaders wear black and purple robes. Silver bands, the symbol of their enslavement to Cyric, are worn on their wrists. Strifeleaders of Cyric may be of Chaotic Neutral or any Evil alignment.
Abilities: - Spiritual Weapon: Long Sword - 'Razor's Edge' once per day Razor's Edge is the spiritual weapon of Strifeleaders of Cyric, and is wielded as if the caster had grand mastery in the weapon. The Razor's Edge is a regular weapon at levels 1-5, +1 at levels 6-10, +2 at 11-15, +3 at 16-20, +4 at 21-25, and +5 at levels 26 and above. The spiritual weapon lasts for one round per level of the caster, up to 20 rounds. - May coat his weapon in poison once per day per 6 levels. Attacks made in the next round with that weapon will inject the poison into the target, dealing out 1 damage per second for 24 seconds (3 damage for the first 6 seconds). A saving throw vs. poison limits damage to 12 total. - From level 7 can cast Dread Blast once per day Fires a ray of negative energy that deals 4d8 damage +1/level (max +20) and confuses target for 1 round (save vs. spell at -2 to negate confusion) - From level 9 can cast Chaos once per day, as fifth level mage spell of the same name - From level 11 can cast Death Fog once per day, as sixth level mage spell of the same name - From level 14 can cast Sphere of Chaos once per day, as seventh level mage spell of the same name
Sphere Access: - Major access to the spheres of all, astral, charm, combat, guardian, healing, necromantic, summoning, sun, time, war, weather - Minor access to the spheres of divination, elemental, numbers, protection - No access to the spheres of animal, creation, chaos, law, plant, thought, travel, wards
Teyl's starting proficiencies are Darts and Clubs.
A year ago I had a blast with Teyl, but now I'm a more experienced no-reloader. Nevertheless I think that Item Randomisation, difficulty increasing mods, and the Strifeleader's limited spell access compensate for Teyl's poison weapon ability and his proficiency in darts. Also let's not forget I'm not a very successful no-reloader, so it's likely that I mess up somewhere anyway
Easy enough. Only tough fight is against Mencar and co and did that straight after leaving Irenicus' Dungeon. Told Mencar not to get upset and that I was leaving...his mistake. Buffed in the vestibule and hid in shadows, backstabbed the mage and killed the familiar immediately with a Potion of Firebreath. Without spellcasters to worry about, the other 3 were dispatched very easily with Potions of Invisibility + backstabs.
Item Randomiser was kind enough to place Boots of Speed with Ribald, so bought those immediately.
Slums
Nothing to report, all easy enough. The myconids in the underground chamber accessible from the sewers managed to confuse me, but given that I was buffed with a Potion of Defence and Oil of Speed, I slew them all even while confused.
Graveyard
Did the above ground crypts straight away buffed with Invulnerability, Speed and Freedom (to protect against paralysis from shadow fiends). The Crypt King managed to get me with Horror but thanks to my AC and speed, only managed to land a couple of blows while I was running around like a headless chicken. Got the Ring of the Ram from his corpse, used it and sold it (I'm not a fan of one use per day items).
Did the lower crypts a day or so later (in game time) once I had managed to acquire Namarra +2 from somewhere (Valeria in the Bridge I think?). Used Freedom to defend against Giant Spider webs. Managed to locate 4 scrolls of Protection from Undead in Athkatla (I have the randomiser option that gives only a 10% chance per store of them being available) and used 1 against the undead lair, using the freshly acquired Namarra +2 to backstab the vampire.
Bridge
Did all the easy stuff here...skinner quest (bit of a close shave with the 2 x rune assassins + bone golem, was down to 41HPs with no aura at one stage so a single backstab could have killed me), buried alive quest, fallen paladins, Valeria's gang, the estate of Saerk what's-his-name, killed Capt Dennis and crew and retrieved the illithium from Neb (just waiting to find Azuredge or the Mace of Disruption, I don't have a way of avoiding level drain yet). Naturally haven't gone anywhere near the lich or the Rune yet.
Gates
Haven't done the lich yet.
Docks
Completed the thieves guild but didn't accept the stronghold. Stone golems were dispatched with Lilarcor + Potion of Absorption. Rayic Gethras was backstabbed while blue-circled. Mae'Var and co didn't stand a chance against a true master of the dark arts. Also did the Harper stuff and the pirate cave.
Government
Rescued Viconia, bought a magic license for 10k (had spare cash and may need when I get UAI) and completed the Sarles quest with fake illithium.
Temple
Done the Sarles and Dawn Ring quests, haven't started Unseeing Eye yet (Beholders and liches...not even going to think about them until at least UAI and Carsomyr). Cleared out the main area of the sewers, rather satisfyingly managed to dispatch each of Tarnor's crew with a backstab . The mage Gaius was the most troublesome, he twice blew away all my protections with Remove Magic...that was very costly in terms of potions (I had like 6 or 7 potion buffs running each time...giant strength, heroism, invulnerability, speed, clarity, freedom, regeneration). Got him eventually once all others were dead with 2 x Arrows of Dispelling followed swiftly with Potion of Invisibility + backstab.
Rescued Haer'Dalis from Mekrath...the yuan-ti fight was pretty epic as it always is when you get the 3 mages along with the greater and normal dudes. Had to fight in stages using Invisibility to heal up and ensuring Freedom was running at all times to guard against PW: Stun. Also didn't help that between them the 3 mages summoned up like 14 skeletons in an already very constricted space! Once the summons and fighters were cleared, got the mages one at a time with the 2 x Arrows of Dispelling + fast backstab routine. Mekrath was also backstabbed while blue (didn't even speak to him, just snuck up and see you later).
Haven't done the Planar Prison...contemplated it for a while but lack of Freedom potions and no way to back out if things get hairy persuaded me to give it a miss for now.
de'Arnise Keep
Very easy for such a powerful fighting PC, just pure melee + a few backstabs dealt with most of the keep, only toil was on healing potions (plenty were swigged). The TorGal fight wasn't as bad as it could have been...I was buffed to the max and after the conversation, swigged a Potion of Invisibility. Only TorGal can see through that so I led him away back to the prison cell corridors to try to fight one-one-one. Unfortunately his Giant Trolls followed but thankfully the Umber Hulk Elder and yuan-ti mages did not. While the Giant Trolls had a hard time hitting my buffed PC, TorGal hit regularly and very hard, so I had to use my super speed (boots of speed + oil of speed) to run around the corridor on occasion to buy time to swig healing (I also had a Potion of Regeneration running but TorGal was hitting 2 or 3 times per round for 20-30 a pop). Eventually killed TorGal and then the trolls, and then mopped up the umber hulk and yuan-ti one at a time.
I accepted the de'Arnise Keep as my strongold and from there went to Trademeet, where I'm currently in the druid grove and have slaughtered what feels like an entire army of trolls \o/.
Amazing to see some new blood on this thread ! Good luck to you aswell J_W.
@Blackraven I'm so happy that you're playing Teyl once again, this run is literally the reason I started to play no-reload, it gave me so much adrenaline. This time I don't simply wish you to succeed, I WANT you to succeed my friend
Thanks so much @Gotural! Teyl is one of my personal favorites, and I'd love to succeed with him. But... I've had a change of plan, which ironically, is thanks to you! Thanks to those epic Dark Horizons battles I've seen Anselm (and your drow, whose name I can't remember right now) engage in... I downloaded the mod and included it in my new BGEE-setup, and now I'm too curious to leave that mod rest. I don't feel sufficiently focused for Teyl at the moment, so I'm going for an EE-run first.
My question is whether Styn, my axewielding, Vhailor-voiced LN vigilante, can purge the Sword Coast of all evil.
My WEIDU-log:
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods // The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod // ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version] ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3021 // Replace many +1 magical weapons with Fine ones -> Fine weapons are immune to the iron crisis: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Re-introduce potions of extra-healing: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4110 // Allow NPC pairs to separate: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4120 // NPCs go to inns: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4130 // Move NPCs to more convenient locations: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4140 // Allow Yeslick to use axes: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Move Boo into Minsc's pack: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5050 // Stackable ankheg shells, winterwolf pelts and wyvern heads: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5060 // Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly harder carrion crawlers: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Dark Side-based kobold upgrade: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity party: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v30 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Changes to trueclass bards and thieves, and unmodded game kits (required for other components): v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #1 // Add new bardic store and thief items: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #2 // Install Acrobat bard kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #3 // Install Chorister bard kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Install Dirgesinger bard kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Install Gypsy bard kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Install Adventurer thief kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #7 // Install Burglar thief kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #8 // Install Soulknife thief kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Install Sharpshooter thief kit: v6 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #0 // Proper dual-wielding implementation for Thieves and Bards: v4.71 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #4 // Bard kit revisions: v4.71 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #6 // Proper spell progression for Bards: v4.71 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #7 // Additional equipment for Thieves and Bards: v4.71 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for RR content: v4.71 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project: Required Modifications: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #1 // The BG1 NPC Project: Banters, Quests, and Interjections: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #7 // The BG1 NPC Project: Kivan's "Kivan and Deheriana Companions" portrait: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #8 // The BG1 NPC Project: Add Non-Joinable NPC portraits to quests and dialogues: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #9 // The BG1 NPC Project: Ajantis Romance Core (teen content): v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #10 // The BG1 NPC Project: Branwen's Romance Core (teen content): v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #11 // The BG1 NPC Project: Coran's Romance Core (adult content): v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #12 // The BG1 NPC Project: Dynaheir's Romance Core (teen content): v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #13 // The BG1 NPC Project: Shar-Teel Relationship Core (adult content): v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #14 // The BG1 NPC Project: Xan's Romance Core (teen content): v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #15 // The BG1 NPC Project: Female Romance Challenges, Ajantis vs Xan vs Coran: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #16 // The BG1 NPC Project: NPCs can be sent to wait in an inn: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #18 // The BG1 NPC Project: Alora's Starting Location -> Alora Starts in Gullykin: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #20 // The BG1 NPC Project: Eldoth's Starting Location -> Eldoth Starts on the Coast Way: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #22 // The BG1 NPC Project: Quayle's Starting Location -> Quayle Starts at the Nashkel Carnival: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #24 // The BG1 NPC Project: Tiax's Starting Location -> Tiax Starts in Beregost: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #26 // BGEE Banter Timing Tweak: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #28 // The BG1 NPC Project: Bardic Reputation Adjustment: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #30 // The BG1 NPC Project: Cloakwood areas availability in Chapter One -> Open four Cloakwood areas (everything but the Mines): v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #31 // The BG1 NPC Project: Sarevok's Diary Adjustments -> SixofSpades Extended Sarevok's Diary: v21_20150210 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #200 // The BG1 NPC Project: Player-Initiated Dialogues: v21_20150210 ~SETUP-DARKHORIZONSBGEE.TP2~ #0 #0 // "Dark Horizons" Mod for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition: BG:EE v212 ~BG1NPCMUSIC/SETUP-BG1NPCMUSIC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project Music Pack -> Install All Audio: v6 ~IWDIFICATION/SETUP-IWDIFICATION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Commoners Use Drab Colors: Beta 2 ~IWDIFICATION/SETUP-IWDIFICATION.TP2~ #0 #50 // IWD Bard Song: Beta 2 ~IWDIFICATION/SETUP-IWDIFICATION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Two Handed Axe Item Pack: Beta 2 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #100 // FThief1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #110 // FThief2: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #120 // F_Barb: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #130 // F_Bard: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #140 // F_Drow: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #150 // F_Fgt01: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #160 // F_Fgt02: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #170 // F_Fgt03: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #180 // F_Fgt04: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #190 // F_Fgt05: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #200 // F_HOrc1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #210 // F_HoW1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #220 // F_HoW2: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #230 // F_HoW3: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #240 // F_Mage1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #250 // F_Mage2: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #260 // F_Mage3: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #270 // F_Mage4: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #280 // F_Mage5: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #290 // F_Monk1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #300 // F_Sorc1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #310 // MThief1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #320 // MThief2: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #330 // M_Barb: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #340 // M_Bard: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #350 // M_Drow: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #360 // M_Fgt01: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #370 // M_Fgt02: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #380 // M_Fgt03: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #390 // M_Fgt04: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #400 // M_Fgt05: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #410 // M_HOrc1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #420 // M_HoW1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #430 // M_HoW2: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #440 // M_HoW3: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #450 // M_Mage1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #460 // M_Mage2: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #470 // M_Mage3: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #480 // M_Mage4: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #490 // M_Mage5: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #500 // M_Monk1: 1.01 ~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #510 // M_Sorc1: 1.01
I'm glad that more and more people join this thread. We're on the 10th page already, so 1/50 is done:)
Good luck with Nadeem, Jaheiras_Witness!
Also, it's nice you try the Dark Horizons mod, Blackraven: I like what I see in it so far and try to focus my "updates" on the details from this mod.
Hachiman Jin, Dwarf Wizard Slayer (3rd update)
Upon reaching the Bandit Camp, Hachiman decided to attack it from the North so that he could retreat by the road through all the map if needed.
I have to admit that playing as a solo wizard slayer brings a lot of excitement to me and gives me emotion I haven't recieved before. This character cannot rely on wands and potions as my solo characters usually do. Hachiman just cannot let himself face a mage with the Potion of Clarity ready.
Instead, Hachiman has to focus on combining different arrows/bolts and then finish enemies quicly with throwing daggers.
The Bandit camp was the first place where Hachiman tried expensive arrows of detonation. And they were worth it.
While running through the forest Hachiman met a new group of mercenaries but due to having the Boots of Speed he managed not to start a dialogue with them.
When Hachiman fell under the Blindness spell from the enemy mage, he had to travel back to the Ankheg area in order to reenter the Bandit Camp from the better place.
Arrow of detonation did their work and soon the most dangerous inhabitant of the camp (the mage) was gone.
Soon after that Hachiman reached the 8th level - the last available official level for a BG1 fighter - and got another -1 to THACO. I'm still unsure if Hachiman will "level up" when reaching the approprite amount of XP for the next level or two till BG2 - the XP cap is removed but I don't know if I find actually getting bonuses in BG1 the nest levels will provide to be fair.
The Ogre Hachiman killed was probably from the band of mercenaries that somehow turned hostile before their leader talked to the wizard slayer. It was time to deal with him. Hachiman decided to put on a shiny new armour he found in the Bandit camp.
Before opening the trapped chest Hachiman used the Scroll of Electricity Protection
As soon as Hachiman returned to the FAI location and detected a line : "Vallius: Protected from Evil", he knew he would meet new assassins. It turned out to be true but Hachiman actually found them a little bit later.
For now, Hachiman bought some supplies and travelled to the Cloakwood forest, skipped the first location there and decided to get the Spider's Bane.
Hachiman had to be VERY cautios to move through the forest: he killed spiders and ettercaps one-by-one when he saw them and only after it he triggered the traps.
There he met another adventurer but she turned out not be an assassin. Instead, she asked to kill... A DRAGON. Thinking it's too much for now, Hachiman decided not to participate in this risky quest.
The first second Hachiman entered the spider's den, he went out to lure the enemy who detected him.
This procedure, repeated with each spider in the den, let Hachiman to gather the Spider's Bane and thus get an immunity to Hold effects when it's needed.
Almost all his daggers were spent in this area, so Hachiman went back to the FAI. This is when he actually found a group of assassins he hadn't managed to find before. Again he retreated, rested, bought new daggers and then kited their leader to the fortress.
As you can see, she had a very good AC and Hachiman could only hit her with a high roll. In the end, she fell.
There was a cleric among other mercenaries, and this is when the Spider's Bane was first used.
Back to the Cloakwood... An ambush. This time Morvin and his group. The Protection from Magic scroll was used "just in case": there was a mage in the group, thus Charm/Dire Charm spells were possible.
At the next Cloakwood area Hachiman met a strange guy but managed to solve a problem without any bloodshed.
Well, so far so good.. In terms of difficulty seems just like the prosecution of BG1. Current setup is me (Cavalier), Minsc, Anomen, Jaheira, Yoshimo and Nalia.
So I decided in addition to my roleplay party run that I am doing on the challenges forum I would do a solo run for fun as well.
Allow me to introduce Ulgin, Dwarven Cleric(painbearer of Illmater)/Ranger
Ulgin has a kind heart but absolutely no people skills, as such he has always avoided social interaction whenever possible. Still he has an earnest desire to do good and help people, though ideally without having to speak to them so he doesn't inadvertently offend them.
@bengoshi Sorry I missed your previous question somehow. HiPS is also in my top 3 for sure, but I don't know about the last spot, I still need to think about it and I'm not sure Mislead can take this place. Najara indeed has a very good AC, hopefully she isn't very dangerous by herself. You are making some good progress here !
@Blackraven I'm really flattered ! The Cleric/Thief is on my list of future playthroughs for sure. I like your new character aswell, a LN Barbarian looks very interesting. Good luck !
@Arnaeus Good to see you on this thread and best of luck to Ulgin ! May I ask you to post a summary of the Painbearer of Illmater kit ?
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Anselm the Blackguard, 9th BG:EE update :
After their escape from the Candlekeep library, Anselm and his party decided they were ready to conquer the entire Sword Coast. And by conquer I mean destroy.
They came back to Nashkel, killing everyone on their sight, then did the same thing in Beregost.
They continued to walk toward the North, their goal was clear : Baldur's Gate.
During the travel, they crossed the path of Kahrk, the powerful Ogre Magi. The fight was surprisingly easy because the Arrows of Dispelling are considered non-magical, went through his Protection from Magical Weapons spell, dispelled it, and poisoned him !
They also met a group of mercenaries from the Section organisation. On their bodies they found some clues about their HQ in Beregost and decided they would come back later for this.
They headed for Ulgoth's Beard, Shandalar was furious to see them and teleported them on a frozen island to punish them. Angry, the death squad slaughtered every live forms they encountered here.
They found a magical cloak which seemed to block the magic that prevented them to teleport themselves back to Ulgoth's Beard. Using their powerful spells, Edwin and Baeloth transported the party back to Shandalar who wasn't very happy to see them again.
But the powerful Mage was not the only one to be angry and a fight soon occured. Shandalar has a permanent Improved Alacrity and is casting a lot of Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone and damaging spells at an alarming speed. He also has 100% Magic Resistance, 75% Physical Resistance, an AC so low we can't hit hit him except for critical hits, and cannot be interrupted while he cast. Plus if you don't kill him in about 30 seconds, he goes away with a Dimension Door spell.
But he isn't immune to poison, so the fight was pretty easy. I positioned Kagain close enough to him to tank him but far enough to not get blasted by the poisoned Arrows of Detonation, and it was over very quickly.
Afterward, the party headed back to Beregost to deal with Section. I forgot to take a lot of screenshots but I have this one.
Once again they traveled to the north in direction of Baldur's Gate. They briefly stopped in the Friendly Arm Inn to kill everyone. The true challenge here was Saradas from the Saradas Magic mod (Great mod @Saradas !). He is an amical Mage who sells you some custom spells, but if you attack him, he turned out to be an epic level spellcaster. He has alot of HP, 50% Physical Resistance, good AC, casts every spells instantly, has some custom spells, a very good AI and starts the fight with a Chain Contingency.
But the most important thing is that he is immune ... to poison. This alone makes him the most powerful opponent I fought in my playthrough.
He summoned two powerful Magical Swords which were slowly but surely killed by Baeloth and Edwin Magic Missiles spells. Like Mordenkainen's Swords, they are immune to every type of damage except Energy based attacks. Then he casted a few Lower Resistance spells to negate some of our Potions of Magic Protection and a True Sight spell to dissipate our Improved Invisibility spells. He also casted some Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting spells but we were protected by either potions, or good positionnement.
At some point he instakilled Kagain with a Disintegrate spell, the Dwarf had a save vs spells of 0. Anselm raised him with a Raise Dead scroll and Gellaria healed him to full.
After a long and exhausting fight, Saradas was dead.
@Gotural, excellent work man! You're doing great. Saradas hm? Interesting, I had never heard of that mod. @bengoshi, nice progress, very cool to see @Arnaeus, good seeing you here! Best of luck with your Cleric/Ranger.
Meanwhile I've got bad news and bad news. The bad news is that my EE install seems to have a number of glitches: some mod items have banter excerpts instead of item descriptions, and Styn doesn't seem to get his first Bhaalpower. he's already rested various times (once even 13 days!) but nothing... This doesn't bode well for the remainder of my EE playthrough with him. And the bad news is that Teyl just fell. He was going really well. He had just killed Drizzt with traps and oils of speed + backstabs, but then the game seemed to screw him. He was hidden, witnessed Jemby (who had already been provoked) cast Monster Summoning I, which Teyl took as a sign to cast Hold Person on her, but immediately after she had cast MS I and before Teyl was finished casting, Jemby successfully cast Charm Person at Teyl. Looked like Jemby is an epic level mage with Improved Alacrity. I'm truly pissed off atm. The game is hard enough for me as it is, I really don't need this kind of crap to make it harder. Maybe Jemby cast MS I at the end of her round, and Charm Person right at the beginning of a new round, if that's even possible. (I've never seen this before.) Either way very dubious, and still sufficiently annoying to make me hesitate whether I want to continue playing or take a break.
@Blackraven: It's not possible to cast two spells within 6 seconds without aura cleansing. The timer before your next spell resets at the beginning of each spell. The only way to cast a spell immediately after another is either to have Improved Alacrity or to cast a spell with a casting time of 9 (or 10, whichever is one round).
If Jemby cast MS I, then he can't cast Charm Person until 6 seconds after he began casting MS I.
@Jaheiras_Witness, it's theoretically possible that she cast it via a Sequencer, but I'm sure I would have noticed that in the battle log. I also think Jemby doesn't have Minor Sequencers. If I'm not mistaken it would not have maken a difference to alacrity. Quaffing a potion, using a special ability (such as a Sequencer) and casting a spell should all muddy one's aura.
Anyway, rather than throwing my laptop out of the window or taking a break, I decided to continue my run with Alba,
who left Candlekeep two days ago but looked destined to be abandoned because I wasn't "feeling" her.
Well, she has just garnered some goodwill by avenging Teyl.
She did this btw after wasting an oil of speed in the Red Canyons, due to a misclick of mine, which made her decide to make the most out of the stuation by dealing with Bassilus and Zargal & Co.
and also after murdering Drizzt, who had severely injured her when she had demanded pay for helping him with his Gnoll-slaying business.
Seven traps plus two more, set when the first seven had been triggered, were followed by a lucky critical poisoned backstab.
It hadn't been her first time to be lucky by the way. There was the Ghast that had ambushed her. It had spawned right where she was standing, out of nowhere, and it hit her, but she had resisted its paralyzing touch despite having recently equipped the Claw of Kazgaroth.
There was the useful Ring of Energy in Nashkel (where one would normally find Ankheg armor). And there was Mutamin, who had somehow spotted her sneaking amidst his pet Basilisks. He could have removed her PfPetrification, but she had successfully interrupted the Mirror Imaged wizard, and later poisoned him.
Apart from realizing she was a lucky girl, Alba also felt very sad about the whole incident with Drizzt. Not only had she just slain the legendary (if avaricious) Drow Ranger, she couldn't even use his light, roguish armor that had looked tailor-made for her... She ended up selling the armor and two enchanted scimitars. The girl had around 40 grand (thanks to IFull Plate Mail +1 and Robe of Neutral Archmagi, amongst other finds, as Item Randomised drops), but she had almost nothing to spend it on. The Assassin would have liked a nice suit of Shadow Armor for example, but nowhere on the Sword Coast had she found one. She had to make do with a suit of enchanted Studded Leather armor (+2) she had taken off the corpse of a mouthy Amnish huntress she had slain in the Cloudpeaks. Thankfully at least she had been able to acquire some nice (mod-added) weaponry: Sound Defense (Short Sword +2, +1 bonus to AC and to Saves vs Death), and a returning Frost Dart +1 (+1 cold damage) that she liked to coat in poison to repeatedly poison foes such as Greywolf.
Alba hasn't pursued the plot yet, but that may soon change.
Technically your point is correct, using a special ability would not be possible until aura is cleared, but SCS mages do not cast sequencers via a special ability, they do it via script. So they have all possible sequencer options available to them (depending on their level) and then choose which spells to cast via the sequencer. So if you have Shield active for instance, they might choose 2 x Charm Person; if you don't have Shield but are immune to charm, they might choose 2 x Magic Missile. It's blatant cheating!
Anyway, we don't know what caused it unless you want to replay the battle in a similar way and see what happens.
Nadeem completed the druid grove. Highlight was the Rakshasa fight...boy were they tough!
Buffed with Speed, Invulnerability and a charge from the Shield amulet (to avoid Magic Missiles).
Lesson number one was that Ihtafeer is immune to +1 weapons. Since when?! I thought Rakshasa were only immune to normal weapons. Had to switch to Flail of Ages in main hand and Namarra in off hand, which reduced APR from 5 to 3. I was having a tough time hitting as well, even after I dispelled the mirror images and improved invisibility through a round of detecting illusions.
Anyway within a few seconds the room was full of cloudkills and a teleport field, so had to swig invisibility and pause to heal for a while.
After that I tried meleeing again but Ihtafeer was proving very hard to hit. Got hit by more spells and then someone launched a minor sequencer of web and stinking cloud. Time to pause again.
My save vs death was 1 and save vs spell was -1, so I think I was technically safe from being disabled by these spells, but didn't want to risk anything in case there were other modifiers at work.
After that more unsuccessful melee followed by a holy trinity of Sunfire, Skull Trap and Fireball
I decided I'd had enough of going invisible to heal, so decided to swig regeneration and just suck up the damage. A couple more spells and then they all engaged in melee.
Finally Ihtafeer fell.
The other 2 fell much quicker than Ihtafeer, I guess she's the toughest of the lot.
After being reminded that Shambling Mounds are also immune to +1 weapons, I cleared out the rest of the area without too much difficulty.
Meet Cernd, Rod of Resurrection at the ready
Found out the hard way in a previous runthrough that this SCS version of Cernd is not immortal . I can't interfere in the battle in any other way but I can heal Cernd thanks to the infinite range of the Rod.
As it turned out I didn't need to bother, Cernd defeated Faldorn fairly easily.
So Druid Grove completed, wrapped up the other Trademeet quests when I got back and was briefly rich before spunking around 30k on various potions and scrolls - you can never have too many Misleads . Even if you can't use them yet.
Still about 250k XP away from UAI so need to decide where to go next, Umar or Windspear? I'm thinking Windspear though I'm probably not ready to take on Firkraag himself. Umar won't be fun, there will be liches everywhere and I have no idea how I can deal with the Shade Lord yet (though I do have a foolproof way of dealing with the Shadow Dragon in mind).
Hmm decisions, what do people think? I suppose there's a 3rd option as well...go to Umar, kill Valygar and return to Athkatla for the Planar Sphere?
Scrolls of PfUndead are pretty foolproof against the Shade Lord & Co. If you don't like using green scrolls, I'd postpone dealing with them for now. Planar Sphere could then be an option...
Really? I thought the Shade Lord wasn't fooled by those?
I have 1 scroll at the moment with 2 more available in Athkatla so that might be feasible (but only if it will definitely work against the Shade Lord, or at least long enough to let me backstab him before he buffs. Otherwise I'll be dead).
Green scrolls work wonders against the Shade Lord. Make sure to use it in the Dragon's lair, before seeing the Shade Lord so the latter won't trigger its auto-buffs.
We got the mage stronghold. We asked the students to do safe stuff. Nara is so cute. She's so excited about the dagger.
Larz is a bit of a tool, though. Luckily for us, the IR version of the Dagger of Charname gives +1 to INT, which means Ivinhale has an extra 10% spell scribing success rate.
It takes ages to forge these items, so we spend the next few weeks resting. Mae-mae and Horun need some time off together, anyhoo. When we get back, we get a Mislead scroll, though Ivinhale and Varen already know the spell. We'll keep it as a reserve in case we need one of our thieves to backstab somebody really fast.
Now is the last and most dangerous item: the Robe of the Apprenti, Ring of Wizardry, or Staff of Power. They don't seem too eager to try the last one.
I pick the robe, since it gives the best bonuses in IR and SR: the robe gives the exact same bonuses as IR Ring of Wizardry, +1 to level 1-4 spell slots, plus an INT bonus (@Demivrgvs, is the robe supposed to be better than the ring? It costs less and has less risk in the creation process). The robe also has the lowest chance of failure.
Unfortunately, the experiment doesn't go according to plan.
The robe didn't get made. I never liked Larz, but the robe would have been nice. I make up for the loss by pilfering his corpse.
Mostly I feel bad for upsetting Nara, though. At the graduation ceremony, Bill Billy Bullaballoo gives a very uninspiring talk.
Morul isn't too pleased with the outcome.
One of my headcanons is that Charname raises any dead apprentices, but in this case I'll let Larz stay dead. That way I'll get to keep that gold coin. But I wish Nara wasn't so traumatized. Varen has been there before, and it's no fun at all.
But we don't have time to dwell on the negative. We gotta go murder some big flying eyeballs for the Vigilant One.
Anselm the Blackguard, 10th and last BG:EE update :
After the Friendly Arm Inn's destruction and Saradas's death, Anselm and his party finally headed for Baldur's Gate where they laid waste in the city.
They also destroyed the Oversight organisation. (The final Dark Horizons fight)
Note that at this stage of the game, all fights are resolved by Poison Weapon + Arrows of Detonation which deals on average 23 damage on everyone if both saves are made, and much more (about 57) if the saves aren't made. And Anselm has 4 APR with Oil of Speed.
Afterward they went for the few last plot critical fights. I forgot to take some screenshots of the coronation fight, but it went very fast and both dukes were saved.
In the Undercity :
The final fight :
Now that Sarevok was dead and the entire city was burning, the party traveled to Durlag's Tower to retrieve the last Tome they were missing which was a Tome of Constitution (thanks to the Item Randomizer mod).
Finally the different members parted away, they were all very powerful adventurers now and each of them was insanely wealthy.
Anselm decided to travel a bit by boat and ended on an island infested by Werewolves. He slew hords of them and their master.
I actually farmed some XP to reach level 10 here (600,000 XP). I'm totally fine with this, especially roleplay wise. Anselm just conquered the entire Sword Coast, killed Drizzt, Shandalar, Saradas, Sarevok twice, slew the finest mercenaries of the region and feasted on the souls of thousand of innocents. He is the most evil character I ever played and I wanted to represent this somehow.
Anselm was last seen traveling South, beyond the ruins of Nashkel ...
Comments
I'm starting with my imported character from BG1EE final save: Anthony, my level 9 (I had removed the XP cap) Paladin Cavalier. I chose a Paladin because it's the most resistant and reliable class for no-reload runs.
I will run a full party.. as soon as I am able to gather enough people :-P
Thanks for the suggestions.. I think they're good for BG2 as they are for BG1. What scares me the most is the possibility of some unexpected death, like the kiss of death from the nereid in BG1..
So my advice would be to play very carefully in BG2, don't send your Charname first in melee if you're not sure about the encounter. Especially since you cannot count on luck.
Concerning characters, I don't think a Paladin is very reliable for no-reload but totally effective and doable.
What I mean by reliable is that in my opinion, only arcane casters have a way to be immune to everything the game can throw at you which makes the game a lot easier for a no-reload, other characters will maybe need some particulars items, strategies or even luck to survive some fights while a Mage could cast PfMW and Spell Immunity.
Good luck @Blash !
Thankfully there aren't many such incidents in BG2...
It's solo no-reload with the usual mods, notably SCS and Item Randomiser.
My character is a Duelist (10) / Assassin. The Duelist for those unfamiliar is a Sword & Fist Fighter kit that's a pseudo-Swashbuckler. You get +1 to hit and damage every 10 levels and +1 AC every 5 levels. On the downside, you can't wear armour heavier than studded leather and you can only put 5* in one-handed bladed weapons; everything else you can only put 1* in.
[I'm not actually using the Sword & Fist mod, I'm just simulating the effects with Shadowkeeper and voluntarily respecting the armour and proficiency restrictions].
This kit has perfect synergy with the Assassin. I dualled at 10 to get the extra +1 to hit and damage (I'm ignoring the speed bonus the Duelist is technically supposed to have), so I have +2 to hit and damage and +3AC from the Duelist levels and a further +1 to hit and damage as an Assassin. So overall a nice round +3 to hit, damage and AC.
This is a BG2 (SoA and ToB) run only - I did my usual thing of assuming BG1 was completed and taking the stat and XP bonuses. Yes, I know many purists hate that approach but I don't have the desire to play BG1 anymore and I'm not claiming this is a trilogy run in any case.
I've done the early part of Chapter 2 and will post a summary below. Main findings are that the character has awesome damage output and ridiculously good backstabs but saving throws are horrible and he succumbed to a couple of fear and confusion effects early on, which thankfully weren't fatal. Potions of Invulnerability, Clarity and Freedom have helped considerably but current stock of those is 7, 1, and 0 (!) respectively.
Assassin level is currently 22, which sounds more impressive than it is (rogues level up ridiculously fast). Only 2.6m XP so not even at HLAs yet.
The character:
I'm playing without traps & locks as trap detection just annoys me and it's not like I need the XP, so all skill points focused on stealth, detect illusions and set traps. Main weapon is the katana with loads of proficiencies in other assorted weapons that that the character occasionally uses.
Stats so far:
Have only done some of Athkatla and de'Arnise Keep so far, currently in the Druid Grove slaughtering Trolls. Haven't rested so far and not yet fatigued.
Inventory:
Nothing remarkable, Randomiser means you end up with all sorts and can't do quests based on the equipment you expect. So still stuck with a katana+1 as my main weapon which I purchased from Ribald as soon as I left Irenicus' Dungeon.
Best backstab so far:
Nice
Summary of activity so far to follow later.
(J_W is already quite well known thank to a very good SCS spell guide, for which I'm thankful).
Meanwhile, I've decided to follow a fellow no-reloader's suggestion to give Teyl, my NE Halfling Strifeleader of Cyric/Thief, another shot at no-reload fame:
The presence of such guiding figures of unquestionable moral calibre as Tethoril, Imoen, the priests of Oghma and above all Gorion have given Teyl a sense of morality he might otherwise not have had, but unlike the people that surround him Teyl believes that everyone ought to look after their own interests. Teyl appreciates nature, female beauty, and art.
Teyl isn't a physically imposing figure, even for a halfling. He makes up for this however with his wit, his knowledge of poisons, an affinity with trap setting, and the powers bestowed upon him by Cyric.
The Strifeleader of Cyric kit:
Cyric's church is pledged to spread strife and work murder everywhere in order to make folk believe in and fear the Dark Sun. It supports cruel rulers and indulges in intrigue in such a way that the world won't be overrun by wars (and thus fall under the sway of Tempus). His church is often beset by internal feuds and backstabbing, but this conflict has decreased in recent years as Cyric has gained better control of himself and has consolidated the churches of the deities whose portfolios he took over.
Strifeleaders wear black and purple robes. Silver bands, the symbol of their enslavement to Cyric, are worn on their wrists. Strifeleaders of Cyric may be of Chaotic Neutral or any Evil alignment.
Abilities:
- Spiritual Weapon: Long Sword - 'Razor's Edge' once per day
Razor's Edge is the spiritual weapon of Strifeleaders of Cyric, and is wielded as if the caster had grand mastery in the weapon. The Razor's Edge is a regular weapon at levels 1-5, +1 at levels 6-10, +2 at 11-15, +3 at 16-20, +4 at 21-25, and +5 at levels 26 and above. The spiritual weapon lasts for one round per level of the caster, up to 20 rounds.
- May coat his weapon in poison once per day per 6 levels. Attacks made in the next round with that weapon will inject the poison into the target, dealing out 1 damage per second for 24 seconds (3 damage for the first 6 seconds). A saving throw vs. poison limits damage to 12 total.
- From level 7 can cast Dread Blast once per day
Fires a ray of negative energy that deals 4d8 damage +1/level (max +20) and confuses target for 1 round (save vs. spell at -2 to negate confusion)
- From level 9 can cast Chaos once per day, as fifth level mage spell of the same name
- From level 11 can cast Death Fog once per day, as sixth level mage spell of the same name
- From level 14 can cast Sphere of Chaos once per day, as seventh level mage spell of the same name
Sphere Access:
- Major access to the spheres of all, astral, charm, combat, guardian, healing, necromantic, summoning, sun, time, war, weather
- Minor access to the spheres of divination, elemental, numbers, protection
- No access to the spheres of animal, creation, chaos, law, plant, thought, travel, wards
A year ago I had a blast with Teyl, but now I'm a more experienced no-reloader. Nevertheless I think that Item Randomisation, difficulty increasing mods, and the Strifeleader's limited spell access compensate for Teyl's poison weapon ability and his proficiency in darts. Also let's not forget I'm not a very successful no-reloader, so it's likely that I mess up somewhere anyway
Athkatla
Promenade
Easy enough. Only tough fight is against Mencar and co and did that straight after leaving Irenicus' Dungeon. Told Mencar not to get upset and that I was leaving...his mistake. Buffed in the vestibule and hid in shadows, backstabbed the mage and killed the familiar immediately with a Potion of Firebreath. Without spellcasters to worry about, the other 3 were dispatched very easily with Potions of Invisibility + backstabs.
Item Randomiser was kind enough to place Boots of Speed with Ribald, so bought those immediately.
Slums
Nothing to report, all easy enough. The myconids in the underground chamber accessible from the sewers managed to confuse me, but given that I was buffed with a Potion of Defence and Oil of Speed, I slew them all even while confused.
Graveyard
Did the above ground crypts straight away buffed with Invulnerability, Speed and Freedom (to protect against paralysis from shadow fiends). The Crypt King managed to get me with Horror but thanks to my AC and speed, only managed to land a couple of blows while I was running around like a headless chicken. Got the Ring of the Ram from his corpse, used it and sold it (I'm not a fan of one use per day items).
Did the lower crypts a day or so later (in game time) once I had managed to acquire Namarra +2 from somewhere (Valeria in the Bridge I think?). Used Freedom to defend against Giant Spider webs. Managed to locate 4 scrolls of Protection from Undead in Athkatla (I have the randomiser option that gives only a 10% chance per store of them being available) and used 1 against the undead lair, using the freshly acquired Namarra +2 to backstab the vampire.
Bridge
Did all the easy stuff here...skinner quest (bit of a close shave with the 2 x rune assassins + bone golem, was down to 41HPs with no aura at one stage so a single backstab could have killed me), buried alive quest, fallen paladins, Valeria's gang, the estate of Saerk what's-his-name, killed Capt Dennis and crew and retrieved the illithium from Neb (just waiting to find Azuredge or the Mace of Disruption, I don't have a way of avoiding level drain yet). Naturally haven't gone anywhere near the lich or the Rune yet.
Gates
Haven't done the lich yet.
Docks
Completed the thieves guild but didn't accept the stronghold. Stone golems were dispatched with Lilarcor + Potion of Absorption. Rayic Gethras was backstabbed while blue-circled. Mae'Var and co didn't stand a chance against a true master of the dark arts. Also did the Harper stuff and the pirate cave.
Government
Rescued Viconia, bought a magic license for 10k (had spare cash and may need when I get UAI) and completed the Sarles quest with fake illithium.
Temple
Done the Sarles and Dawn Ring quests, haven't started Unseeing Eye yet (Beholders and liches...not even going to think about them until at least UAI and Carsomyr). Cleared out the main area of the sewers, rather satisfyingly managed to dispatch each of Tarnor's crew with a backstab
Rescued Haer'Dalis from Mekrath...the yuan-ti fight was pretty epic as it always is when you get the 3 mages along with the greater and normal dudes. Had to fight in stages using Invisibility to heal up and ensuring Freedom was running at all times to guard against PW: Stun. Also didn't help that between them the 3 mages summoned up like 14 skeletons in an already very constricted space! Once the summons and fighters were cleared, got the mages one at a time with the 2 x Arrows of Dispelling + fast backstab routine. Mekrath was also backstabbed while blue (didn't even speak to him, just snuck up and see you later).
Haven't done the Planar Prison...contemplated it for a while but lack of Freedom potions and no way to back out if things get hairy persuaded me to give it a miss for now.
de'Arnise Keep
Very easy for such a powerful fighting PC, just pure melee + a few backstabs dealt with most of the keep, only toil was on healing potions (plenty were swigged). The TorGal fight wasn't as bad as it could have been...I was buffed to the max and after the conversation, swigged a Potion of Invisibility. Only TorGal can see through that so I led him away back to the prison cell corridors to try to fight one-one-one. Unfortunately his Giant Trolls followed but thankfully the Umber Hulk Elder and yuan-ti mages did not. While the Giant Trolls had a hard time hitting my buffed PC, TorGal hit regularly and very hard, so I had to use my super speed (boots of speed + oil of speed) to run around the corridor on occasion to buy time to swig healing (I also had a Potion of Regeneration running but TorGal was hitting 2 or 3 times per round for 20-30 a pop). Eventually killed TorGal and then the trolls, and then mopped up the umber hulk and yuan-ti one at a time.
I accepted the de'Arnise Keep as my strongold and from there went to Trademeet, where I'm currently in the druid grove and have slaughtered what feels like an entire army of trolls \o/.
@Blackraven I'm so happy that you're playing Teyl once again, this run is literally the reason I started to play no-reload, it gave me so much adrenaline.
This time I don't simply wish you to succeed, I WANT you to succeed my friend
My question is whether Styn, my axewielding, Vhailor-voiced LN vigilante, can purge the Sword Coast of all evil.
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3021 // Replace many +1 magical weapons with Fine ones -> Fine weapons are immune to the iron crisis: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Re-introduce potions of extra-healing: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4110 // Allow NPC pairs to separate: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4120 // NPCs go to inns: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4130 // Move NPCs to more convenient locations: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4140 // Allow Yeslick to use axes: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Move Boo into Minsc's pack: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5050 // Stackable ankheg shells, winterwolf pelts and wyvern heads: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5060 // Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly harder carrion crawlers: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Dark Side-based kobold upgrade: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity party: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v30
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Changes to trueclass bards and thieves, and unmodded game kits (required for other components): v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #1 // Add new bardic store and thief items: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #2 // Install Acrobat bard kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #3 // Install Chorister bard kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Install Dirgesinger bard kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Install Gypsy bard kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Install Adventurer thief kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #7 // Install Burglar thief kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #8 // Install Soulknife thief kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Install Sharpshooter thief kit: v6
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #0 // Proper dual-wielding implementation for Thieves and Bards: v4.71
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #4 // Bard kit revisions: v4.71
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #6 // Proper spell progression for Bards: v4.71
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #7 // Additional equipment for Thieves and Bards: v4.71
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for RR content: v4.71
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project: Required Modifications: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #1 // The BG1 NPC Project: Banters, Quests, and Interjections: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #7 // The BG1 NPC Project: Kivan's "Kivan and Deheriana Companions" portrait: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #8 // The BG1 NPC Project: Add Non-Joinable NPC portraits to quests and dialogues: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #9 // The BG1 NPC Project: Ajantis Romance Core (teen content): v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #10 // The BG1 NPC Project: Branwen's Romance Core (teen content): v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #11 // The BG1 NPC Project: Coran's Romance Core (adult content): v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #12 // The BG1 NPC Project: Dynaheir's Romance Core (teen content): v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #13 // The BG1 NPC Project: Shar-Teel Relationship Core (adult content): v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #14 // The BG1 NPC Project: Xan's Romance Core (teen content): v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #15 // The BG1 NPC Project: Female Romance Challenges, Ajantis vs Xan vs Coran: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #16 // The BG1 NPC Project: NPCs can be sent to wait in an inn: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #18 // The BG1 NPC Project: Alora's Starting Location -> Alora Starts in Gullykin: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #20 // The BG1 NPC Project: Eldoth's Starting Location -> Eldoth Starts on the Coast Way: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #22 // The BG1 NPC Project: Quayle's Starting Location -> Quayle Starts at the Nashkel Carnival: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #24 // The BG1 NPC Project: Tiax's Starting Location -> Tiax Starts in Beregost: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #26 // BGEE Banter Timing Tweak: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #28 // The BG1 NPC Project: Bardic Reputation Adjustment: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #30 // The BG1 NPC Project: Cloakwood areas availability in Chapter One -> Open four Cloakwood areas (everything but the Mines): v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #31 // The BG1 NPC Project: Sarevok's Diary Adjustments -> SixofSpades Extended Sarevok's Diary: v21_20150210
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #200 // The BG1 NPC Project: Player-Initiated Dialogues: v21_20150210
~SETUP-DARKHORIZONSBGEE.TP2~ #0 #0 // "Dark Horizons" Mod for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition: BG:EE v212
~BG1NPCMUSIC/SETUP-BG1NPCMUSIC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project Music Pack -> Install All Audio: v6
~IWDIFICATION/SETUP-IWDIFICATION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Commoners Use Drab Colors: Beta 2
~IWDIFICATION/SETUP-IWDIFICATION.TP2~ #0 #50 // IWD Bard Song: Beta 2
~IWDIFICATION/SETUP-IWDIFICATION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Two Handed Axe Item Pack: Beta 2
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #100 // FThief1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #110 // FThief2: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #120 // F_Barb: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #130 // F_Bard: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #140 // F_Drow: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #150 // F_Fgt01: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #160 // F_Fgt02: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #170 // F_Fgt03: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #180 // F_Fgt04: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #190 // F_Fgt05: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #200 // F_HOrc1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #210 // F_HoW1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #220 // F_HoW2: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #230 // F_HoW3: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #240 // F_Mage1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #250 // F_Mage2: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #260 // F_Mage3: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #270 // F_Mage4: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #280 // F_Mage5: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #290 // F_Monk1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #300 // F_Sorc1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #310 // MThief1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #320 // MThief2: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #330 // M_Barb: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #340 // M_Bard: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #350 // M_Drow: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #360 // M_Fgt01: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #370 // M_Fgt02: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #380 // M_Fgt03: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #390 // M_Fgt04: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #400 // M_Fgt05: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #410 // M_HOrc1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #420 // M_HoW1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #430 // M_HoW2: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #440 // M_HoW3: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #450 // M_Mage1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #460 // M_Mage2: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #470 // M_Mage3: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #480 // M_Mage4: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #490 // M_Mage5: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #500 // M_Monk1: 1.01
~S9SOUNDSETSVOL2/SETUP-S9SOUNDSETSVOL2.TP2~ #0 #510 // M_Sorc1: 1.01
I'm sure a big guy like that will have no trouble.
Good luck with Nadeem, Jaheiras_Witness!
Also, it's nice you try the Dark Horizons mod, Blackraven: I like what I see in it so far and try to focus my "updates" on the details from this mod.
Hachiman Jin, Dwarf Wizard Slayer (3rd update)
Upon reaching the Bandit Camp, Hachiman decided to attack it from the North so that he could retreat by the road through all the map if needed.
I have to admit that playing as a solo wizard slayer brings a lot of excitement to me and gives me emotion I haven't recieved before. This character cannot rely on wands and potions as my solo characters usually do. Hachiman just cannot let himself face a mage with the Potion of Clarity ready.
Instead, Hachiman has to focus on combining different arrows/bolts and then finish enemies quicly with throwing daggers.
The Bandit camp was the first place where Hachiman tried expensive arrows of detonation. And they were worth it.
While running through the forest Hachiman met a new group of mercenaries but due to having the Boots of Speed he managed not to start a dialogue with them.
When Hachiman fell under the Blindness spell from the enemy mage, he had to travel back to the Ankheg area in order to reenter the Bandit Camp from the better place.
Arrow of detonation did their work and soon the most dangerous inhabitant of the camp (the mage) was gone.
Soon after that Hachiman reached the 8th level - the last available official level for a BG1 fighter - and got another -1 to THACO. I'm still unsure if Hachiman will "level up" when reaching the approprite amount of XP for the next level or two till BG2 - the XP cap is removed but I don't know if I find actually getting bonuses in BG1 the nest levels will provide to be fair.
The Ogre Hachiman killed was probably from the band of mercenaries that somehow turned hostile before their leader talked to the wizard slayer. It was time to deal with him. Hachiman decided to put on a shiny new armour he found in the Bandit camp.
Before opening the trapped chest Hachiman used the Scroll of Electricity Protection
As soon as Hachiman returned to the FAI location and detected a line : "Vallius: Protected from Evil", he knew he would meet new assassins. It turned out to be true but Hachiman actually found them a little bit later.
For now, Hachiman bought some supplies and travelled to the Cloakwood forest, skipped the first location there and decided to get the Spider's Bane.
Hachiman had to be VERY cautios to move through the forest: he killed spiders and ettercaps one-by-one when he saw them and only after it he triggered the traps.
There he met another adventurer but she turned out not be an assassin. Instead, she asked to kill... A DRAGON. Thinking it's too much for now, Hachiman decided not to participate in this risky quest.
The first second Hachiman entered the spider's den, he went out to lure the enemy who detected him.
This procedure, repeated with each spider in the den, let Hachiman to gather the Spider's Bane and thus get an immunity to Hold effects when it's needed.
Almost all his daggers were spent in this area, so Hachiman went back to the FAI. This is when he actually found a group of assassins he hadn't managed to find before. Again he retreated, rested, bought new daggers and then kited their leader to the fortress.
As you can see, she had a very good AC and Hachiman could only hit her with a high roll. In the end, she fell.
There was a cleric among other mercenaries, and this is when the Spider's Bane was first used.
Back to the Cloakwood... An ambush. This time Morvin and his group. The Protection from Magic scroll was used "just in case": there was a mage in the group, thus Charm/Dire Charm spells were possible.
At the next Cloakwood area Hachiman met a strange guy but managed to solve a problem without any bloodshed.
Hachiman was ready to face the Drasus party.
Current setup is me (Cavalier), Minsc, Anomen, Jaheira, Yoshimo and Nalia.
Allow me to introduce Ulgin, Dwarven Cleric(painbearer of Illmater)/Ranger
Ulgin has a kind heart but absolutely no people skills, as such he has always avoided social interaction whenever possible. Still he has an earnest desire to do good and help people, though ideally without having to speak to them so he doesn't inadvertently offend them.
Najara indeed has a very good AC, hopefully she isn't very dangerous by herself. You are making some good progress here !
@Blackraven I'm really flattered ! The Cleric/Thief is on my list of future playthroughs for sure. I like your new character aswell, a LN Barbarian looks very interesting. Good luck !
@Arnaeus Good to see you on this thread and best of luck to Ulgin ! May I ask you to post a summary of the Painbearer of Illmater kit ?
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Anselm the Blackguard, 9th BG:EE update :
After their escape from the Candlekeep library, Anselm and his party decided they were ready to conquer the entire Sword Coast. And by conquer I mean destroy.
They came back to Nashkel, killing everyone on their sight, then did the same thing in Beregost.
They continued to walk toward the North, their goal was clear : Baldur's Gate.
During the travel, they crossed the path of Kahrk, the powerful Ogre Magi. The fight was surprisingly easy because the Arrows of Dispelling are considered non-magical, went through his Protection from Magical Weapons spell, dispelled it, and poisoned him !
They also met a group of mercenaries from the Section organisation. On their bodies they found some clues about their HQ in Beregost and decided they would come back later for this.
They headed for Ulgoth's Beard, Shandalar was furious to see them and teleported them on a frozen island to punish them.
Angry, the death squad slaughtered every live forms they encountered here.
They found a magical cloak which seemed to block the magic that prevented them to teleport themselves back to Ulgoth's Beard. Using their powerful spells, Edwin and Baeloth transported the party back to Shandalar who wasn't very happy to see them again.
But the powerful Mage was not the only one to be angry and a fight soon occured. Shandalar has a permanent Improved Alacrity and is casting a lot of Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone and damaging spells at an alarming speed. He also has 100% Magic Resistance, 75% Physical Resistance, an AC so low we can't hit hit him except for critical hits, and cannot be interrupted while he cast. Plus if you don't kill him in about 30 seconds, he goes away with a Dimension Door spell.
But he isn't immune to poison, so the fight was pretty easy. I positioned Kagain close enough to him to tank him but far enough to not get blasted by the poisoned Arrows of Detonation, and it was over very quickly.
Afterward, the party headed back to Beregost to deal with Section. I forgot to take a lot of screenshots but I have this one.
Once again they traveled to the north in direction of Baldur's Gate. They briefly stopped in the Friendly Arm Inn to kill everyone. The true challenge here was Saradas from the Saradas Magic mod (Great mod @Saradas !). He is an amical Mage who sells you some custom spells, but if you attack him, he turned out to be an epic level spellcaster. He has alot of HP, 50% Physical Resistance, good AC, casts every spells instantly, has some custom spells, a very good AI and starts the fight with a Chain Contingency.
But the most important thing is that he is immune ... to poison. This alone makes him the most powerful opponent I fought in my playthrough.
He summoned two powerful Magical Swords which were slowly but surely killed by Baeloth and Edwin Magic Missiles spells. Like Mordenkainen's Swords, they are immune to every type of damage except Energy based attacks. Then he casted a few Lower Resistance spells to negate some of our Potions of Magic Protection and a True Sight spell to dissipate our Improved Invisibility spells. He also casted some Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting spells but we were protected by either potions, or good positionnement.
At some point he instakilled Kagain with a Disintegrate spell, the Dwarf had a save vs spells of 0. Anselm raised him with a Raise Dead scroll and Gellaria healed him to full.
After a long and exhausting fight, Saradas was dead.
@bengoshi, nice progress, very cool to see
@Arnaeus, good seeing you here! Best of luck with your Cleric/Ranger.
Meanwhile I've got bad news and bad news.
The bad news is that my EE install seems to have a number of glitches: some mod items have banter excerpts instead of item descriptions, and Styn doesn't seem to get his first Bhaalpower. he's already rested various times (once even 13 days!) but nothing... This doesn't bode well for the remainder of my EE playthrough with him.
And the bad news is that Teyl just fell. He was going really well. He had just killed Drizzt with traps and oils of speed + backstabs, but then the game seemed to screw him. He was hidden, witnessed Jemby (who had already been provoked) cast Monster Summoning I, which Teyl took as a sign to cast Hold Person on her, but immediately after she had cast MS I and before Teyl was finished casting, Jemby successfully cast Charm Person at Teyl. Looked like Jemby is an epic level mage with Improved Alacrity. I'm truly pissed off atm. The game is hard enough for me as it is, I really don't need this kind of crap to make it harder. Maybe Jemby cast MS I at the end of her round, and Charm Person right at the beginning of a new round, if that's even possible. (I've never seen this before.) Either way very dubious, and still sufficiently annoying to make me hesitate whether I want to continue playing or take a break.
If Jemby cast MS I, then he can't cast Charm Person until 6 seconds after he began casting MS I.
@Araneus, yep I think so. But what about the lack of Bhaalpowers though? Is that common?
If I'm not mistaken it would not have maken a difference to alacrity. Quaffing a potion, using a special ability (such as a Sequencer) and casting a spell should all muddy one's aura.
Anyway, rather than throwing my laptop out of the window or taking a break, I decided to continue my run with Alba,
Well, she has just garnered some goodwill by avenging Teyl.
Apart from realizing she was a lucky girl, Alba also felt very sad about the whole incident with Drizzt. Not only had she just slain the legendary (if avaricious) Drow Ranger, she couldn't even use his light, roguish armor that had looked tailor-made for her... She ended up selling the armor and two enchanted scimitars. The girl had around 40 grand (thanks to IFull Plate Mail +1 and Robe of Neutral Archmagi, amongst other finds, as Item Randomised drops), but she had almost nothing to spend it on. The Assassin would have liked a nice suit of Shadow Armor for example, but nowhere on the Sword Coast had she found one. She had to make do with a suit of enchanted Studded Leather armor (+2) she had taken off the corpse of a mouthy Amnish huntress she had slain in the Cloudpeaks. Thankfully at least she had been able to acquire some nice (mod-added) weaponry: Sound Defense (Short Sword +2, +1 bonus to AC and to Saves vs Death), and a returning Frost Dart +1 (+1 cold damage) that she liked to coat in poison to repeatedly poison foes such as Greywolf.
Alba hasn't pursued the plot yet, but that may soon change.
Anyway, we don't know what caused it unless you want to replay the battle in a similar way and see what happens.
Good luck with Alba!
Buffed with Speed, Invulnerability and a charge from the Shield amulet (to avoid Magic Missiles).
Lesson number one was that Ihtafeer is immune to +1 weapons. Since when?! I thought Rakshasa were only immune to normal weapons. Had to switch to Flail of Ages in main hand and Namarra in off hand, which reduced APR from 5 to 3. I was having a tough time hitting as well, even after I dispelled the mirror images and improved invisibility through a round of detecting illusions.
Anyway within a few seconds the room was full of cloudkills and a teleport field, so had to swig invisibility and pause to heal for a while.
After that I tried meleeing again but Ihtafeer was proving very hard to hit. Got hit by more spells and then someone launched a minor sequencer of web and stinking cloud. Time to pause again.
My save vs death was 1 and save vs spell was -1, so I think I was technically safe from being disabled by these spells, but didn't want to risk anything in case there were other modifiers at work.
After that more unsuccessful melee followed by a holy trinity of Sunfire, Skull Trap and Fireball
I decided I'd had enough of going invisible to heal, so decided to swig regeneration and just suck up the damage. A couple more spells and then they all engaged in melee.
Finally Ihtafeer fell.
The other 2 fell much quicker than Ihtafeer, I guess she's the toughest of the lot.
After being reminded that Shambling Mounds are also immune to +1 weapons, I cleared out the rest of the area without too much difficulty.
Meet Cernd, Rod of Resurrection at the ready
Found out the hard way in a previous runthrough that this SCS version of Cernd is not immortal
As it turned out I didn't need to bother, Cernd defeated Faldorn fairly easily.
So Druid Grove completed, wrapped up the other Trademeet quests when I got back and was briefly rich before spunking around 30k on various potions and scrolls - you can never have too many Misleads
Hey, that doesn't look like me!
[figured how to use spoiler eventually]
Still about 250k XP away from UAI so need to decide where to go next, Umar or Windspear? I'm thinking Windspear though I'm probably not ready to take on Firkraag himself. Umar won't be fun, there will be liches everywhere and I have no idea how I can deal with the Shade Lord yet (though I do have a foolproof way of dealing with the Shadow Dragon in mind).
Hmm decisions, what do people think? I suppose there's a 3rd option as well...go to Umar, kill Valygar and return to Athkatla for the Planar Sphere?
I have 1 scroll at the moment with 2 more available in Athkatla so that might be feasible (but only if it will definitely work against the Shade Lord, or at least long enough to let me backstab him before he buffs. Otherwise I'll be dead).
We got the mage stronghold. We asked the students to do safe stuff. Nara is so cute. She's so excited about the dagger.
Larz is a bit of a tool, though. Luckily for us, the IR version of the Dagger of Charname gives +1 to INT, which means Ivinhale has an extra 10% spell scribing success rate.
It takes ages to forge these items, so we spend the next few weeks resting. Mae-mae and Horun need some time off together, anyhoo. When we get back, we get a Mislead scroll, though Ivinhale and Varen already know the spell. We'll keep it as a reserve in case we need one of our thieves to backstab somebody really fast.
Now is the last and most dangerous item: the Robe of the Apprenti, Ring of Wizardry, or Staff of Power. They don't seem too eager to try the last one.
I pick the robe, since it gives the best bonuses in IR and SR: the robe gives the exact same bonuses as IR Ring of Wizardry, +1 to level 1-4 spell slots, plus an INT bonus (@Demivrgvs, is the robe supposed to be better than the ring? It costs less and has less risk in the creation process). The robe also has the lowest chance of failure.
Unfortunately, the experiment doesn't go according to plan.
The robe didn't get made. I never liked Larz, but the robe would have been nice. I make up for the loss by pilfering his corpse.
Mostly I feel bad for upsetting Nara, though. At the graduation ceremony, Bill Billy Bullaballoo gives a very uninspiring talk.
Morul isn't too pleased with the outcome.
One of my headcanons is that Charname raises any dead apprentices, but in this case I'll let Larz stay dead. That way I'll get to keep that gold coin. But I wish Nara wasn't so traumatized. Varen has been there before, and it's no fun at all.
But we don't have time to dwell on the negative. We gotta go murder some big flying eyeballs for the Vigilant One.
After the Friendly Arm Inn's destruction and Saradas's death, Anselm and his party finally headed for Baldur's Gate where they laid waste in the city.
They also destroyed the Oversight organisation. (The final Dark Horizons fight)
Note that at this stage of the game, all fights are resolved by Poison Weapon + Arrows of Detonation which deals on average 23 damage on everyone if both saves are made, and much more (about 57) if the saves aren't made. And Anselm has 4 APR with Oil of Speed.
Afterward they went for the few last plot critical fights. I forgot to take some screenshots of the coronation fight, but it went very fast and both dukes were saved.
In the Undercity :
The final fight :
Now that Sarevok was dead and the entire city was burning, the party traveled to Durlag's Tower to retrieve the last Tome they were missing which was a Tome of Constitution (thanks to the Item Randomizer mod).
Finally the different members parted away, they were all very powerful adventurers now and each of them was insanely wealthy.
Anselm decided to travel a bit by boat and ended on an island infested by Werewolves. He slew hords of them and their master.
I actually farmed some XP to reach level 10 here (600,000 XP). I'm totally fine with this, especially roleplay wise. Anselm just conquered the entire Sword Coast, killed Drizzt, Shandalar, Saradas, Sarevok twice, slew the finest mercenaries of the region and feasted on the souls of thousand of innocents. He is the most evil character I ever played and I wanted to represent this somehow.
Anselm was last seen traveling South, beyond the ruins of Nashkel ...