Another one gone I'm afraid - once more in the planar prison. This time Alac's attempted backstab on the bounty hunter mage looked perfect, but didn't register as a backstab. That mage is dangerous for a solo character, so I should really have moved right away immediately and thought about a new approach. However, I made the mistake of still trying to play while on the phone to my son rather than think about what I was doing and the mage made Alac pay for that by bringing him to a grinding halt with a PW:stun.
Groan. I had killed Sarevok and virtually finished BG1 - would have been about 1 hour 40 to arrive in Jon's dungeon this time - and was just picking up the last tome from Durlag's Tower. In my haste to finish I tried to disarm the trap guarding the tome - forgetting that one can't be disarmed (at least in BGT). I still think I was pretty unlucky there though - first with my find traps score of 100 setting the trap off rather than just not disarming it and then actually getting charmed with a save vs spell of 1.
It is now just about breakfast time so I'll have a little break for that and then have one final go - perhaps trying to moderate speed with a bit more caution ...
Grond0 - isn't this a dire charm trap? -2 penalty to saves right? Also wouldn't that be a great time to use the greenstone amulet?
Trap there casts a custom spell at you, save is made at no bonus or penalty. Bad luck
I've started a new game with a f/m/c, archer and a dragon disciple, but I'll leave that for later - I'm doing a fresh BGT install with only Ascension installed - gonna try @Grond0 's challenge.
Khael Runehammer - BLIND RUN - first time in Siege of Dragonspear - Insane difficulty ("no difficulty-based damage bonus")
--
First, my charname:
Human - Fighter/Invoker - 14/15/15/18/14/14 (a very nice roll; took me some 15 minutes)
I justify the "Invoker" specialization with THREE opposing schools: Enchantment, Necromancy, Summoning (with the exceptions of Spirit Armor and Find Familiar) AND a Cavalier prohibition of no missile weapons
Proficiencies: Long Sword ++ Hammers + Two Weapon Fighting +++
Successfully finished an almost-completionist run of BGEE (skipping Demon Knight) at around ~300K XP (partly soloed).
===
Some notes:
- SoD is one of the best BG stories so far (10+ hours in). Great writing and map design. Great voice acting (except Entar I-am-Fraeeeench Silvershield). I have no idea what the initial fuss was about. A solid "A" so far. @JuliusBorisov
- Encounter design is excellent. BUT I find the difficulty level (with the "no difficulty-based damage bonus") mostly irrelevant! So far, I have consistently been able to: (i) invisibly scout; (ii) carpet bomb an enemy pack; (iii) hold front line with two fire-proofed, free-actioned tanks (charname + Minsc) and bomb again till everybody is down (Web + Fireball/Cloudkill + Holy Smite). (Dynaheir has 40% of kills followed by Viconia [I changed her Neutral in my BG run].)
Oh, and, I play super-cautiously and rest after every major encounter. To make sure that this works, I rest under 'Invisibility 10' Radius'. (Would have been nice if they threw some of those naughty 'Bone bats' in to the encounter table...)
Next up, I will post my encounter with a certain Lich!
"My Lord, we have found a Lich. Shall we burn him?"
[Khael Runehammer - BLIND RUN - first time in Siege of Dragonspear - Insane difficulty ("no difficulty-based damage bonus") ]
**** The Story of the Short Lich ****
So, when I read "phylactery" in a book in the second part of that Dwarf dungeon, my charname practically soiled himself. (A BG2 Lich would wipe the floors with my party.)
I promptly walked out, revisited the camp and the shopkeep: no magic protection scrolls or potions. Great. What now? I have exactly ONE 'Protection from Magic' scroll and ONE '+50% Magic resistance' potion -- both leftovers from the BGEE campaign.
I memorized some Minute Meteors (no idea if my other weapons can hurt a regular Lich) and went back in.
Hours of slow crawling later (resting invisibly after every encounter), I really appreciate the dungeon design: you find out about the elemental fire hub and many books telling the stories, setting up an expectation.
The spawning mephits puzzle were a nuisance. It took me nearly half an hour to figure out the order finally.
Then I open a door and -- cutscene!
I was relieved that it let me run out, instead of forcing me to fight: So, I went back to the Dwarfs to get their anti-Lich thingy (and never used it, actually).
Then, Minsc gulps a Potion of Genius and reads the sole scroll of Protection from Magic -- and goes down the stairs. Alone. (I'm not putting charname in there with a Lich. Not even with the scroll.)
After almost 10 minutes of hacking at the Lich, there is still no major harm (a Skeleton Warrior causes some distress; Minsc drinks a great many health potions.)
So, I send Glint, with Improved Invisibility, to scout out a door nearby, which is locked. .... aaand, I forgot that Liches see invisible. Luckily, the first spell Glint receives is Power Word: Silence -- which won't interfere with his lockpicking.
Minsc distracts the Lich, while Glint finds... of course!... the phylactery.
The game has setup this anticipation pretty well. I salute the designers.
Glint runs out. Tosses the phylactery to charname -- who dashes to the firepit (as explained in the books) to burn up the phylactery!
Here is the final screen:
Charname, fire-proofed, is a full map away, destroying the phylactery and facilitating the killing of the Lich by Minsc, while the other 4 characters huddle in an empty room:
I'm very proud of myself on how the cautious play was rewarded. Though, not sure what I would do without a scroll of Protection from Magic (of which I have none left now).
Thus ended the over-cautious story of the Short Lich.
--
(Also, was there a mention of the antagonist of NWN in passing there? Nice touch.)
Grond0 - isn't this a dire charm trap? -2 penalty to saves right? Also wouldn't that be a great time to use the greenstone amulet?
I never acquired that, but I had plenty of options - magic blocking, invulnerability, protection from magic - I just slipped into autopilot "thieves should disarm traps" mode for a moment.
@Corey_Russell I've started a new game with a f/m/c, archer and a dragon disciple, but I'll leave that for later - I'm doing a fresh BGT install with only Ascension installed - gonna try @Grond0 's challenge.
Doctor come quickly - the contagion is spreading
Best of luck. Hope you don't have one of those unfortunate moments when you suddenly jerk awake to find a lich has snuck up on your character and is about to finish casting ...
Hahahaha...indeed. Anyhow, here be mr. Bastardo Gorky.
Pips - short bow, staff
Troubles so far - tried to kill Firebead in Beregost, failed, which led him to randomly dissapear and appear on the streets of Beregost. Hilarious. He's hostile, so care must be taken there. Other than that, I managed to get confused by sirens; the effect lasts very long but all was fine (Greenstone protection expired).
Mulahey was one-shot stabbed and am now en route to Bandit camp.
Grond0 - isn't this a dire charm trap? -2 penalty to saves right? Also wouldn't that be a great time to use the greenstone amulet?
I never acquired that, but I had plenty of options - magic blocking, invulnerability, protection from magic - I just slipped into autopilot "thieves should disarm traps" mode for a moment.
What's curious is I think that trap has taken you out quite a few times - maybe 1/2 dozen? Perhaps just several but more than 2 anyways - it's a familiar screenshot. : ) And I love the magic blocking potion, wish they had it for BG 2.
Out of curiosity, did you call this "Ascension in a day" since you play with Ascension mod or is it just "ascension to Godhood in a day" thing?
Aynhow - Bastardo finished BG1. Did bandit camp with much trouble from Taugosz (he hits like a truck!), backstabed the mage, took papers, ran, small stop to kill Cloakwood spiders, Pro Magic at mine entrance, backstab one mage, kill others in melee, run to Davaeorn (Potion of Heroism/Strenght on) before ProMW expires, kill him, run to town, kill everything worth killing, make half the town angry
Steal the documents, back to Candlekeep, kill everyone worth killing
Nearly die to this big foop...
kill Slythe, run from Krystin, set traps for Dopes (didn't do much),
GO LIIAAAAA! Pawn that creep!
Drink up potions including 2xPro Fire, 1x Absorption, run through maze, kill everyone there, avoid all till Sarevok, meet Sarevok, hit him with Dispel Arrow, notice I have Full Plate so Hide is unusable, use 3 potions of invisibility to stab (2 worked, 3rd was critical miss)
Finish at range with +2 arrows.
And here he be now. I'll use DBgone to exit dungeon.
Crap. I misuderstood you. I installed it. Ah well, Bastardo is no more. Did a lot of stuff, including killing Kangaxx with Rynn staff. What happened I blame on fatigue - I had to use 2x Pro Magic scroll to kill him, 1st one expired since I had to "unlock" the sewer entrance to guardian lich by talking to helmites, then I stopped to kill Tarnor etc. This woulnd't be horrible per se, but I've managed to kill Kangaxx with a lot of duration left on Pro Magic scroll. I tought, what is the best quest to do now? Figures, XP reward is best with Beholders. Unfortunately, Pro Magic doesn't stop melee bashing, and in my race to kill Unseeing before Pro Magic expires, Bastardo got locked in, no invis potions left (last one used to kill Rengaard, he cast Slay Living); Gaxx Ring comes with no charges, and taaa-daaa.
Btw - is there a specific challenge to fighter/thief or can I use a different class? I also have Baldurdash installed (non-weidu version); Ascension, unlimited stacks from tweaks, and DBgone (hope the install is "vanilla" enough to be valid!)
I tend to do half of it, doing everything except giving love the wine. .
This. Give wine unprepared, even prepared,and you'll likely die. I don't know about "Non-Improved Durlag's Tower" but with SCS Pride/Love battle is arguably harder than Sarevok finale.
You can do the warders easily with a single character protected against magic (or just fire and lightning) - simply run them a few times through the passage with the repeating traps and watch the invisible attackers turn into crisped bodies on the floor ...
A tactic that I have used many a time. Problem is that you lose out on some experience, but not that much.
Still taking my time, I grabbed a ranger to help me kill bandits then an elf talked me into wyvern hunting for a 2500 payment which recharged the monster summoning wand for Imoen and made short work of the last mine boss... with that sorted we headed into the city to run around collecting easy magic items.
Returning to the sorcerer shop gave us the pleasure of killing some red wizards for their wands... Puk didn't really expect them to put up much of a fight.
I’m re-entering the challenge with another group; · Puk Farseer a Half Orc NE Skald · Sarah Blade a Half Elf NG Fighter Druid · Imoen is just Imoen, a human thief included for plot reasons
Mods: this run has no mods but I did edit the gamesave to allow Sarah to be NG and Puk to be Half Orc because NG makes more sense to me and the portrait matches Puk, now... I’m playing on top level with extra damage turned off.
Welp, I had a decision to make. I could either exit Durlag's after having swept through Level 4 with ease, and only missed out on some exp and minor loot. Or.
Let's do this.
The fight itself wasn't horrible. One fireball screwed over Imoen, but otherwise frequent backstabs and our two killer archers finished him with ease. The What was of far more concern was Tanari'. While I don't quite considering it cheesy, we ended up fleeing upstairs when a SCS dispel magic was beggining to be cast. Some of the guardians followed, so we killed them before the demon could get another dispel, before retreating downstairs, slaying the rest, then luring it down with a hidden Cedvar. Within seconds, we slew it. Crap that was scary.
Onwards to Candlekeep. I am excited to do Siege of Dragonspear if we make it; I haven't played it yet.
Cavan has escaped from his captor, only to have Imoen engage in an unsanctioned use of magical energy.... Now he's hanging out on the Promenade trying to figure out where to start looking for the Cowled Wizards' prison.
(I'm not sure what the Item Randomizer has done in this setup, but I was pleased to find Varscona and Sarevok's sword of chaos in Jon's dungeon. And the usual wands + potions. Now I just have to remember to stay out of hidden lich closets as I explore the city and things should be good for a while...)
Crap. I misuderstood you. I installed it. Ah well, Bastardo is no more. Did a lot of stuff, including killing Kangaxx with Rynn staff. What happened I blame on fatigue - I had to use 2x Pro Magic scroll to kill him, 1st one expired since I had to "unlock" the sewer entrance to guardian lich by talking to helmites, then I stopped to kill Tarnor etc. This woulnd't be horrible per se, but I've managed to kill Kangaxx with a lot of duration left on Pro Magic scroll. I tought, what is the best quest to do now? Figures, XP reward is best with Beholders. Unfortunately, Pro Magic doesn't stop melee bashing, and in my race to kill Unseeing before Pro Magic expires, Bastardo got locked in, no invis potions left (last one used to kill Rengaard, he cast Slay Living); Gaxx Ring comes with no charges, and taaa-daaa.
Btw - is there a specific challenge to fighter/thief or can I use a different class? I also have Baldurdash installed (non-weidu version); Ascension, unlimited stacks from tweaks, and DBgone (hope the install is "vanilla" enough to be valid!)
Hard luck Aasim - tiredness does tend to be a factor in that challenge
With Bastardo gone you can presumably uninstall Ascension without problems now ...
I had no intention of setting the challenge for a specific character. I chose the fighter/thief when thinking about it originally on the grounds that: - for many combats he could just attack in melee (saving brain strain for more difficult encounters) - stealth offers a quick way to bypass some encounters to save time - theft allows unlimited resources to be acquired more quickly than picking up all treasure from encounters - thief traps would allow some later enemies to be dealt with quickly (I particularly had Mel in mind there)
Incidentally I'm not sure that using the protection from magic scroll is safe with beholders. If they killed you in melee then probably it is, but I've definitely been killed in the past by a death ray from Vaxall (beholder in twisted rune if I've got the name wrong) bypassing the scroll. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the standard beholder rays could do the same (on the grounds that they're physical not magical abilities).
K, I understand about f/t, it's a powerhouse throught the game. I'll stick with Ascenison since BGT takes a while to install and I don't want to go through it again. One more question - is solo neccecary? I'm afraid that soloing will kind of kill the game for me due to very quick leveling. As per beholders, Death ray is coded innate so I guess it goes through PfM scroll (save is made with no penalty however). I think it was Yuan-ti or shadows that killed Bastardo (screenshot doesn't show enemies, but he was swarmed with them - otherwise I'd just ran).
I'm intending to do it solo, but that doesn't mean you need to I suspect that adding other characters would probably make the challenge harder, but that might suit you anyway ...
I think adding one or two more will likely make the challenge a bit easier actually. Anyhow, I'm experimenting with something, if it proves succesfull, I'll post it. Had one solo F/c, rushed through BG1, killed by Glacias in Nalia's keep.... I knew I should have started documenting the run, that makes me play more carefully.
The party entered Ust'Natha, accepted their first quest and fought the underdark party. Already prepared for the illithids with chaotic commands, a haste spell was added and the fight quickly won:
To rescue Phaere, I used the Skull of Death (which Helios had stolen from Vithal), since Owain is an illusionist and thus doesn't have death spell himself:
Now, the party completed all of the minor quests for Phaere and won the various pit fights. After killing the beholder, sparing the deep gnomes and allying with Solaufein, new quest opportunities opened up: The slime worshippers were defeated with the help of some undead summons:
Deirex didn't stand a chance against two sunrays:
House Jae'llat was wiped out in combat, with Owain tanking because of the massive physical damage involved:
Finally, Goibniu tricked both Phaere and her mother, fled the drow city and fought his way to the surface:
So far, so good. Time to hunt down all of the liches, dragons and mind flayers I decided to save for later.
Gate70 made the suggestion that participants could get into the habit of linking their previous post to their current one in order to make it easier to follow specific runs (right-click on date of previous post and choose copy link address from menu). That sounds like a good idea to me and I'll start doing that in future.
To better organize the posts here, please consider linking your previous posts within one run.
Also, please post your charname at the top of the post when relevant. (Such as: "Ser Arrrgh - Chaotic Evil - Dwarf - Druid/Bard - lvl 23/47 - BG2" etc.)
I took a mini-break from single player today, but Gate70 and I did manage some decent progress in multi-player.
We'd done very little last time, so this session started with returning from Shoal's area to Beregost. On the way Gate70 got a bit too up close and personal with a gnoll and was taken down to 1 HP (probably saved by level 1 protection there). In Beregost an early encounter was with Karlat - he did well to one-shot a spirit snake, but by then he was already blinded and doomed (to die).
After passing through Nashkel to pick up some quality armour for Janus, Meilum provided a nice equipment upgrade.
Moving on to the basilisk area the green scroll saved any need for Gryph to memorise protection as the basilisks were hacked and shot down
- while their spiritual leader didn't fare too well against a different sort of spirit.
Also in the area Kirian's crew were having a bad day - a combination of stinking cloud, paralysation, blind and charm giving them no chance.
After picking up Samuel the duo journeyed up the FAI to drop him off before continuing on to the ankhegs. They successfully killed one spirit animal in the nest - but Janus had produced 2 to act as humanspirit shields.
A bit more work in the south maximised reputation before we continued on to Ulgoth's Beard for a bit of shopping. The Greenstone Amulet was one thing bought and that was soon in action as the sirines were cleared at the Lighthouse.
Deciding it was time to start the main quest, Mulahey found himself outmatched in the Nashkel Mine.
I suspect that Nimbul would have fared little better, but we didn't have the opportunity to kill him - Rasaad taking the glory with his patented extendable punching arm. At the Bandit Camp a clearance programme outside required a few healing spells to repair arrow hits. There was no damage done inside though after Gryph produced a useful glitterdust and Venkt failed to complete a spell.
After passing like a cloak through the Cloudwood the duo taught a now-familiar lesson to another group guarding the mine.
They swiftly moved down to Davaeorn, where Janus used a PfM scroll for protection while Gryph survived a hit by a stray lightning bolt from the mage.
In the City Gryph learnt a few more spells before going to try and speak with Degrodel. Some officious guards were in the way and continued to remonstrate after following Janus outside to a greeting party (nearly embarrassing Gryph at one point).
Lothander was given not only a surrounding group, but also greased to ensure he didn't run away with Gryph's new boots of speed.
Marek was caught less unaware, but didn't last any longer.
Ramazith's Tower provided some gentle exercise as well as a few goodies before the duo went invisibly up through the Iron Throne building to prepare a few surprises for the party there. Our timing was slightly off there and, though there was no problem, Zhalimar did manage to survive the initial assault long enough for his nymph confusion to wear off.
At that point Gate70 remembered Durlag's had not been visited - and Janus was keen to get the wisdom tome from there. Then it was time for a return visit to Candlekeep. Despite a bit of confusion over Gryph's inability to cast minor globe (not yet quite having reached the required level) the tombs were no trouble to rob. There was though a potential problem with Prat's gang when Janus got a bit too close to the action and was confused by Sakul. Fortunately he didn't run too far (straying into a web trap would not have been good news).
Back in the City Slythe was greeted by a dispelling arrow followed by a couple of spirits. At the palace the spirits were joined by nymphs (all being deprived of domination before joining the battle to avoid any nasty accidents). There were one or two nasty moments early on, but in the end both dukes survived with a bit of health to spare.
After going through the maze a double dose of insect plague did much of the damage to the Undercity party.
The final fight with Sarevok saw him safely dispelled early on, but Gryph didn't manage to retreat quick enough to prevent the rest of Sarevok's allies joining the fight. That didn't look too bad when Semaj and Angelo both died early on, but Angelo had managed to confuse Gryph just before being shut down by insect bites and Gryph also got stuck in the web trap. Trying to intervene Janus moved forward and successfully got Tazok to come out of invisibility and attack him. Janus was in no danger himself as he had taken a magic shielding potion and had ironskins active, but when he saw Gryph run away he took the opportunity to withdraw himself. Unfortunately Gryph running was a sign of his confusion operating rather than ending! Janus quickly tried to come back and distract Tazok, but he was having none of it and inflicted Gryph's first death
1. Corwin is a medieval machine gun! I never had used an archer before. Before my characters can even walk to the enemies, she fells them one or two per round. (Just walked -unprepared!- into a Troll well ambush underneath a cave. I wiped the floor without any area spell [close quarters] with Corwin picking more than half the enemies!)
I can't believe I was thinking of leaving her behind as deadweight because she is not a caster: she IS area-effect-damage all by herself!
2. I really like the story telling exposition so far: e.g. just picked up a diary [same cave] that foreshadows.... coming troubles. Not sure what exactly they are yet. But the expectation building is excellent.
3. Difficulty level is really proving irrelevant: For 90% of encounters (with notable exceptions like the well ambush above) I can level the encounter before anyone raises a sword. Dynaheir [just dumped her] had 75% of kill count so far.
SoD really needs an SCS-like casters-detect-invisibility-smartly tweak. I shouldn't be able to scout and counter-ambush so easily.
... but, hey, it's my first time in a no-reload run of SoD. So, I'll not complain. Yet.
So far, I'm still grading SoD at "A". Good job Beamdog.
[tagging @JuliusBorisov who wanted to hear opinions of SoD]
I completed a run of IWD2 in Heart of Fury mode with a party of 6. Same mods as my previous install, and without the Tactics component that adds special bonuses to the party in Heart of Fury mode.
However, I waited too long to post on my progress and no longer have the interest to do a full write-up. And including Sans, Papyrus, and Undyne in the write-up would require extra RP investment in the posts. So I will just write a summary of the run instead.
Our party consisted of: Papyrus, Monk Chara, Druid Frisk, Cleric of Lathander Undyne, Barbarian (with barbarian level for weapon feats) Asriel, Sorcerer (with paladin level for save bonuses) Sans, Illusionist (with 2 thief levels for skills and evasion and a sorcerer level to allow scribing necromancy and abjuration spells)
They were only partially min-maxed. Notably, Sans had the minimum 5 Constitution, as he only has 1 HP in Undertale, and Papyrus only had 6 Wisdom.
I created the party from scratch, including Frisk, Chara, and Asriel, but imported items from our completed normal mode run. Usually you'd import everything from normal mode, so we were very underleveled for HoF mode.
Since Chara's damage resistances would not be enough to keep pace with HoF enemies' high damage per hit, Papyrus became our primary tank. Although he got no Wisdom bonus, and virtually all monk tanks have maxed-out Wisdom for the extra AC, this meant he could wear the Chain of Drakkas' Fury for +8 armor bonus and use Cliffs of Targos (or whatever it was called) for a +6 shield bonus. He had strong AC throughout the game, but it seems that Tactics gives some enemies higher attack bonuses, and that makes a huge difference when most HoF tanks are geared towards reaching the mythical 72 AC (Papyrus reached 73 by the end).
Note that wearing armor or using shields does not negate a monk's naturally high saving throws or its post-level 13 spell resistance. Nor does it negate the generic AC bonuses a monk gets every 5 levels.
Details by chapter:
Targos: We relied very little on summons, preferring to use Papyrus as our tank. Chara used Wyvern form, while Undyne struck from afar using Big Black Flying-Death, a ranged throwing axe which deals tremendous damage due to being a two-handed weapon (two-handed weapons get 1.5 times the normal Strength bonus). Both Wyvern form and Big Black Flying-Death deal triple damage on critical hits, so our luck bonuses were especially useful here.
Asriel reduced pressure on the party using Chaos. Sans, meanwhile, had very little to do. Since I imported only a few high-level scrolls and you can't get mid-level scrolls in Targos, Sans didn't have many spell picks to work with.
Normally, the Goblinsbane dagger would be instrumental here, as it slays all goblins instantly without save. But Tactics apparently nerfs it, and now it only deals 2d6 magic damage to goblins, making it nearly useless.
Shaengarne Bridge: Frisk was extremely important at Shaengarne Ford, as they could cast Heal whenever Papyrus' AC or Chara's damage resistances failed to keep them safe. It's a valuable rescue option, and Frisk was the only one who could cast it, since Chara spent so much time shapeshifted and could not cast Heal without spending a round reverting to natural form.
At the bridge itself, Sans helped weaken the incoming enemies using Acid Storm. As a mage, Sans had enough feats to afford all the Spell Focus feats, compensating for his Intelligence being lower than Asriel's Charisma.
Horde Fortress: The first area is a very high-pressure environment, but we kept most of the enemies focused on Papyrus by approaching Trugnuk while the whole party was invisible, then having Papyrus and Chara's animal summons break invisibility by attacking the War Drum while the rest of the party camped out right next to Trugnuk and the other spellcasters, breaking invisibility only after Papyrus had drawn most of the enemy's attention.
When things got tough, Frisk used Mass Heal. Frisk had terrible AC and no Mirror Image spells to protect themself, so they had to run away or have Asriel or Sans turn them invisible to ensure their casting wasn't disrupted. Mass Heal has rather wide range, so Frisk could heal people even when they were boxed in by enemies and unreachable (in IWD2's high-volume fights, there's often little room to run around).
Vipergout gets buffed both by my mods (I think Tactics) and by Heart of Fury mode. Vipergout summons one viper every round for 1 round per level, and each viper lasts 3 rounds each. The vipers are effectively an unkillable summons, as they get replaced constantly. It's an excellent way to wear down enemy mobs, and also makes a strong wall due to the vipers' wide circles. Vipergout blocks all spellcasting, but it doesn't break invisibility. Normally, only mages can cast it, but with my mods, druids can cast it as well, though it prevents Chara from shapeshifting.
We used Vipergout against the first few fights in the tunnels to the fortress, but it lasts many rounds and can wear down on your buffs. And since the player is usually more reliant on buffs than the enemy, it's best to use Vipergout at the end of the day or before buffing the party.
We suffered horribly at the top of the Horde Fortress. Undyne and Papyrus' low Wisdom scores meant their Will saves were very weak, and they constantly failed their saves against enemy Dispel Magic spells. This rendered both of them very vulnerable, as Papyrus needed Barkskin and Ghost Armor to keep his AC up, and Undyne needed Mirror Image to avoid wandering enemies. Worse yet, Undyne got charmed, and Chara's Call Lightning spells killed her.
Asriel, too, lost his buffs. Apparently the Orc Archers in this fight use Arrows of Lesser Dispelling in Tactics in Heart of Fury mode. The arrows only have a 25% chance of dispelling the target and offer a save, but Asriel rolled a critical failure against one of the arrows and lost all his defenses.
We got overwhelmed several times, but Sans was able to wreck many of them using Mass Dominate and Wail of the Banshee (we imported the scrolls from the previous game) and Frisk could bring back the party using Mass Heal if they used a fast-casting Holy Word spell to hold off the enemies for a few seconds.
Then the game crashed.
The second time around, we used Invisibility Sphere and summons to keep the enemies crowded together, making them excellent targets for Chaos, Mass Dominate, and Wail of the Banshee.
Still, Papyrus got dispelled and with his AC at 54, he couldn't hold off the enemies long enough for Frisk to rescue him. The orc spellcasters also got past his Spell Resistance using Acid Arrows and Magic Missiles. Enemy spellcasters get caster level bonuses from HoF, so they're very good at overcoming the party's SR unless we use Holy Aura and Spell Resistance to get everyone to the 50 SR cap.
When our disablers and Wail of the Banshee ran out, we cleared out the remaining enemies in the crowd with Acid Storm and Sunfire.
A few fights remained in the area, which I wanted to complete without resting. We overwhelmed the rest of the enemies with summons, while the party attacked from afar.
Ice Temple: We gated in a Gelugon to use against the Aurilite Druids and Rangers, but we made the mistake of summoning another enemy afterwards. Apparently, if anyone with a green circle (whether a party member, summoned critter, or charmed enemy) anywhere on the map is not protected from evil even for a moment, gated demons turn hostile. They'll stay that way for several rounds after the unprotected critters dies, gets protected from evil, or goes red.
We couldn't stop the enemy attacks, as the enemies used ranged weapons and summons and they were too spread out to hit with area-effect spells. Frisk, again, rescued the party with Mass Heal.
We slew the Cult of the Dragon Necromancers with Wail of the Banshee, but Sans failed a save against Beltyn's Burning Blood due to his low Constitution, and the fire damage got very severe, as Sans had very low HP to begin with. Worse, the berserk effect kept him from using potions, and casting Exaltation was only temporarily effective. The berserk effect triggered every round and Exaltation did not stop it; it only cured the berserk effect.
Papyrus couldn't handle Sherincal. Her attack bonus was 52, almost as high as Papyrus' base AC, and she did massive damage with her high STR, electrical damage bonus, and the magic damage from Winged Blight. We had to escape with Invisibility Sphere and cast Mass Heal before the battle could go on.
Chara used Tremor to knock out the clerics and undead in the fight with High Priestess Cathin, but the unconsciousness effect, though it has a high save DC and doesn't end when the victim gets hurt, only lasts 3 rounds. Plus, the enemy clerics' Divine Shells blocked Undyne's best ranged weapon, Big Black Flying-Death. Asriel and Sans pitched in with Mordenkainen's Sword, which does 3d6+4 damage, strikes from afar, and gets an attack bonus equal to the caster's level plus 4 (effectively, guaranteed hits).
Papyrus got dispelled repeatedly throughout the temple. The enemy clerics had massive immunities due to pre-buffing with Death Ward and Chaotic Commands, so it was extremely difficult to bring them down before they overwhelmed us with undead summons. Somehow they were even immune to Disintegrate, which Death Ward does not block.
We accidentally damaged the surrendering clerics near Ondabo with a Fiery Cloud Chara was using to kill Ice Trolls. Ondabo scolded us for killing them, and I ended up starting a fight with Ondabo himself. I felt bad about that.
Sans tried to tank with Iron Body, which effectively grants infinite damage reduction against +2 weapons and less. Anywhere else, it would have worked, but I forgot that the clerics here throw Bullets of Wounding and Bullets of Sure Striking. Sans got killed by one of the latter, which strike as +5 weapons.
The Talisman mercenaries were no threat to us, though they nearly ended our normal mode run. Wail of the Banshee took out almost all of them in the first round.
Chara just barely completed the Battle Square challenge using half-dragon form, and Asriel used Holy Word and Symbol of Hopelessness to help us survive against the band of clerics that flanks you in the fight with Lysara.
The Wandering Village: Limha destroyed Chara with Mordenkainen's Force Missiles, as Chara's shapeshifts have low DEX and therefore low Reflex saves. They took 80 damage from each hit, and Chara died after a single casting. I decided that I would have Chara take some levels as a wizard in the future so they could cast Shield before fights with mages, since Shield blocks both Magic Missile and Mordenkainen's Force Missiles.
The Underdark passage: The only way to kill the Ochre Jellies, as far as I know, is casting Disintegrate spells over and over or using fire damage. Sans wiped them out almost single-handedly with Meteor Swarm, while Chara tanked the jellies in half-dragon form (Meteor Swarm bypasses spell resistance, but the red and elemental half-dragon forms have 100- resistance to fire).
We took control of 80% of the slave soldiers with Mass Dominate. The duergar were no threat at all.
The Beastlord Harshom failed some saves against Pudu's Fiery Blight, while the other mages died to Wail of the Banshee.
The Black Raven Monastery: Chara tried using Vipergout to handle the monk golems in the trials, but found that using half-dragon form worked just fine. Like in normal mode, half-dragon form got us through every trial.
The Underdark: The driders were a problem. Since they keep coming, wave after wave, over a long period of time, they wore out our buffs and our summons. This also meant that our area-effect spells were less useful, because we were only fighting a portion of the whole enemy army at a time. Plus, the enemy spellcasters kept charming and dispelling Undyne and Papyrus. They even dispelled Sans once, when he rolled a 4 against Dispel Magic. But the driders didn't strike particularly hard, so we were not in great danger. It just made the fight drag on long after it stopped being interesting.
The Elder Brain was a nightmare. Although the brain itself was easy to kill, we had to take down four golems, and they struck so hard and so fast (4 attacks per round!) that Frisk could barely keep Chara afloat. Iron Golems in IWD2 take ages to kill, since they're immune to practically everything else besides weapons, and have massive resistances to physical damage. Chara lost over a thousand HP over the course of a few rounds.
In the fight with Majrash and Mirabel, we wiped out most of the Earth Elementals and Harpies using Mass Dominate and Wail of the Banshee. The two mages crumpled under Pudu's Fiery Blight.
Kuldahar: The fight in the temple of Sseth was surprisingly safe. Though the fight lasted a long time, we held off many of the enemies using the doorway to Ojaiha's chamber as a choke point. Aside from a 101-damage sneak attack from Ashra that nearly killed Papyrus, and two sneak attacks that nearly killed Frisk, we were never in much danger.
We fought the Guardian this time. Sans buffed the whole party with Protection from Acid and he and Asriel struck with Mordenkainen's Sword while Chara used half-dragon form. With an attack bonus of 82, the Guardian had no trouble hitting Papyrus even on its 4th and 5th attacks per round--and it struck for upwards of 70 damage per hit. Papyrus had to fall back, but we kept up the attack and Undyne dealt the final blow.
In the assault on Kuldahar, Undyne rolled a critical failure against Cedra's Disintegrate, getting chunked, and Papyrus nearly died to Cedra's Mordenkainen's Sword. Enemy casters with Mordenkainen's Sword get attack bonuses over 80, so there's really no way to escape them with AC alone, and a critical hit dealt 100 damage to Chara, more than enough to overwhelm their 21- damage reduction.
The Neo-Orog Scouts proved immune to Mass Dominate for some reason, but Asriel disabled them easily with Symbol of Hopelessness. Like in normal mode, we protected Iselore with Tortoise Shell and healed him now and then. The Yuan-ti Sorceresses were the biggest threat, but Asriel and Sans managed to kill them reliably with Disintegrate and Finger of Death.
Importing Undyne wouldn't be much benefit since HoF party members start out at level 11 in my install, so I create a new Undyne from scratch.
Dragon's Eye: Mass Dominate and Wail of the Banshee won every fight on the first level. On the second, we also used Finger of Death against individual sorceresses and disabled undead summons with Symbol of Hopelessness.
Sans disarmed the trap that nearly chunked Chara in our previous run.
Papyrus tanked the Olive Slimes while Asriel bombarded them with Delayed Blast Fireballs. The Olive Slimes have attack bonuses of 89, but they deal so little damage per hit that they couldn't get past Papyrus' 20/+1 damage reduction as a level 20 monk, though he still got energy drained.
The Efreeti were devastating, particularly as we failed to properly buff before the fight, but finally I got Wail of the Banshee off the ground and wiped out most of them.
We still suffered against Thorasskus, who summoned clerics that chain-casted Blasphemy, nearly destroying us. Papyrus and Sans got crushed, but Asriel survived just long enough to drink a Potion of Invisibility and let Frisk rescue him with Mass Heal. A Gelugon kept the enemy occupied for the rest of the fight.
Lord Pyros' Domain: We tried using a Gelugon against Zil-t'yor, but one of our summons wasn't protected by evil and the Gelugon went wild and we had to put it down. We also discovered that 50 spell resistance won't hold off the Beholder's rays! All of its instant death rays bypass spell resistance entirely. Chara ended up clubbing Zil-t'yor to death with a Phantom Staff while in half-dragon form, since the area's dispel magic trap removed the half-dragon greatsword.
Izbelah lost all of her Mirror Images to Chara's Elemental Half-Dragon sword, as each of its four elemental damage types removes a Mirror Image. She didn't last long after that.
The Fields of Slaughter: Many enemies here were undead, but for everything else, we have Mass Dominate and Wail of the Banshee. The enemies struck very hard--the Slayer Knights of Xvim had +60 AB--but Frisk kept the party afloat with Mass Heal while Asriel and Sans protected them with invisibility during the casting time. The Fallen Bladesingers took forever to kill, as they come buffed with Improved Invisibility and can cast Mirror Image.
Blagh'mah dealt the second-biggest critical hit I've ever seen, at 156 damage. This is probably why damage alone can't chunk party members in IWD2.
M'darfein was easier than I expected. Sans took control of some nearby undead with Control Undead and they helped us cut down the lich, though M'darfein eventually crushed them with his damage spells.
M'darfein was still quite tough, launching a Wail of the Banshee with a save DC over 37, slaying Papyrus. And the lich apparently had Improved Alacrity active! He could have killed Chara with a Mordenkainen's Force Missiles spell, but they made their Reflex save. Eventually, Chara destroyed and our undead friends broke through the last of M'darfein's defenses.
Since Saablic Tan nearly ended our previous run, I though we used one of our precious Protection from Magic scrolls on him, but my screenshots show him casting spells. When the enemy proved immune to Mass Dominate, we used Wail of the Banshee instead, though the strongest enemies survived. Saablic Tan nearly killed Frisk with a Mordenkainen's Sword.
We focused our attention on the Red Wizards, knowing they could also cast Disintegrate and chunk us, while Frisk periodically cast Holy Word to disrupt them. They got two Disintegrate spells off the ground, but our spell resistance blocked one and Asriel made his save against the other. Asriel kept up the pressure with Wail of the Banshee, but when the enemies proved resilient, I had Chara switch back to natural form and knock them out with Tremor.
Chara followed up with Elemental Legion to keep the enemies busy while Undyne or Asriel hid the party with Invisibility Sphere. While the enemies focused on the elementals, we singled out a Half-dragon and then moved on to Saablic Tan, who tried to Disintegrate Asriel.
Asriel made a Fortitude save, indicating that Heart of Fury enemies can break through 50 spell resistance. I don't think it was the Spell Penetration feat that let Saablic Tan do that; I think he just got a level boost.
Unable to bring down Saablic Tan quickly, we killed the other enemies first. Without them to distract us, we only had to deal with one enemy with strong attacks but low APR.
The Severed Hand: There are a lot of nasty fights in this area, but high-level gameplay in IWD2 tends to devolve into intensive buffing and a few high-impact spells. We used Holy Word to buy us time; Mass Dominate, Wail of the Banshee, Symbol of Hopelessness, and Chaos to weaken and disable the enemy; Heal and Mass Heal to keep the party afloat; and we buffed the party with Bless, Remove Fear, Aid, Bull's Strength or Champion's Strength, Cat's Grace, Magic Circle Against Evil, Death Ward, Spell Resistance, Holy Aura (+4 to saves and +25 to spell resistance), Protection from Petrification (for mage-heavy fights), Mirror Image, Blur, Stoneskin, Emotion: Hope, Mass Haste, and Executioner's Eyes. We didn't use Improved Invisibility much, as it prevented us from casting Heal on each other, and we didn't need Free Action because we already got Free Action from numerous items.
Combat was very sluggish and very simple. Rarely did we need to adjust our tactics. The only exception was resorting to Otiluke's Resilient Sphere to disable some enemies using Brilliant Flails of Wounding in the fight before Tyrannar Brutai Mar.
The Final Battle: Isair and Madae were very simple. I saved multiple scrolls of Protection from Magic and used two on Isair and Madae right off the bat. Without their defenses, they were easy to hurt, and quickly fled. We still had many high-level enemies to deal, including four liches, but even suffering 100-damage Horrid Wilting spells was easy to correct with a single Mass Heal. Despite having Improved Invisibility and many Mirror Images, the liches were not very hard to kill, and despite having Improved Alacrity active (maybe constant effect?), they were never able to deal enough damage to get past our saves, our spell resistance, and bring anyone's HP down to zero, though Undyne came very close.
We proceeded to the second stage of combat and used another two scrolls of Protection from Magic on Isair and Madae just in case the last two wore off somehow, and the twins died in moments.
Chara got badly wounded and died on the way out, but I decided to escape the area rather than reviving them, since you don't need to be in the same area to resurrect someone in IWD2, and I thought using one of our Resurrection scrolls might take too long (I think you get a game over if you don't leave the area soon enough).
I didn't find the run particularly interesting near the end, as combat tends to get dominated by a handful of strong spells, and everything else gets neglected. Plus, the fights required lots of buffing, and the process took a long time even with a custom aura cleansing item to speed things up. It really slowed things down.
But that's one no-reload Icewind Dale 2 Tactics+Heart of Fury run complete.
Comments
Trap there casts a custom spell at you, save is made at no bonus or penalty. Bad luck
I've started a new game with a f/m/c, archer and a dragon disciple, but I'll leave that for later - I'm doing a fresh BGT install with only Ascension installed - gonna try @Grond0 's challenge.
--
First, my charname:
Human - Fighter/Invoker - 14/15/15/18/14/14 (a very nice roll; took me some 15 minutes)
I justify the "Invoker" specialization with THREE opposing schools: Enchantment, Necromancy, Summoning (with the exceptions of Spirit Armor and Find Familiar) AND a Cavalier prohibition of no missile weapons
Proficiencies:
Long Sword ++
Hammers +
Two Weapon Fighting +++
Successfully finished an almost-completionist run of BGEE (skipping Demon Knight) at around ~300K XP (partly soloed).
===
Some notes:
- SoD is one of the best BG stories so far (10+ hours in). Great writing and map design. Great voice acting (except Entar I-am-Fraeeeench Silvershield). I have no idea what the initial fuss was about. A solid "A" so far. @JuliusBorisov
- Encounter design is excellent.
BUT I find the difficulty level (with the "no difficulty-based damage bonus") mostly irrelevant! So far, I have consistently been able to: (i) invisibly scout; (ii) carpet bomb an enemy pack; (iii) hold front line with two fire-proofed, free-actioned tanks (charname + Minsc) and bomb again till everybody is down (Web + Fireball/Cloudkill + Holy Smite). (Dynaheir has 40% of kills followed by Viconia [I changed her Neutral in my BG run].)
Oh, and, I play super-cautiously and rest after every major encounter. To make sure that this works, I rest under 'Invisibility 10' Radius'. (Would have been nice if they threw some of those naughty 'Bone bats' in to the encounter table...)
Next up, I will post my encounter with a certain Lich!
[Khael Runehammer - BLIND RUN - first time in Siege of Dragonspear - Insane difficulty ("no difficulty-based damage bonus") ]
**** The Story of the Short Lich ****
So, when I read "phylactery" in a book in the second part of that Dwarf dungeon, my charname practically soiled himself. (A BG2 Lich would wipe the floors with my party.)
I promptly walked out, revisited the camp and the shopkeep: no magic protection scrolls or potions. Great. What now? I have exactly ONE 'Protection from Magic' scroll and ONE '+50% Magic resistance' potion -- both leftovers from the BGEE campaign.
I memorized some Minute Meteors (no idea if my other weapons can hurt a regular Lich) and went back in.
Hours of slow crawling later (resting invisibly after every encounter), I really appreciate the dungeon design: you find out about the elemental fire hub and many books telling the stories, setting up an expectation.
The spawning mephits puzzle were a nuisance. It took me nearly half an hour to figure out the order finally.
Then I open a door and -- cutscene!
I was relieved that it let me run out, instead of forcing me to fight:
So, I went back to the Dwarfs to get their anti-Lich thingy (and never used it, actually).
Then, Minsc gulps a Potion of Genius and reads the sole scroll of Protection from Magic -- and goes down the stairs. Alone. (I'm not putting charname in there with a Lich. Not even with the scroll.)
After almost 10 minutes of hacking at the Lich, there is still no major harm (a Skeleton Warrior causes some distress; Minsc drinks a great many health potions.)
So, I send Glint, with Improved Invisibility, to scout out a door nearby, which is locked.
.... aaand, I forgot that Liches see invisible. Luckily, the first spell Glint receives is Power Word: Silence -- which won't interfere with his lockpicking.
Minsc distracts the Lich, while Glint finds... of course!... the phylactery.
The game has setup this anticipation pretty well. I salute the designers.
Glint runs out. Tosses the phylactery to charname -- who dashes to the firepit (as explained in the books) to burn up the phylactery!
Here is the final screen:
Charname, fire-proofed, is a full map away, destroying the phylactery and facilitating the killing of the Lich by Minsc, while the other 4 characters huddle in an empty room:
I'm very proud of myself on how the cautious play was rewarded.
Though, not sure what I would do without a scroll of Protection from Magic (of which I have none left now).
Thus ended the over-cautious story of the Short Lich.
--
(Also, was there a mention of the antagonist of NWN in passing there? Nice touch.)
Best of luck. Hope you don't have one of those unfortunate moments when you suddenly jerk awake to find a lich has snuck up on your character and is about to finish casting ...
Pips - short bow, staff
Troubles so far - tried to kill Firebead in Beregost, failed, which led him to randomly dissapear and appear on the streets of Beregost. Hilarious. He's hostile, so care must be taken there.
Other than that, I managed to get confused by sirens; the effect lasts very long but all was fine (Greenstone protection expired).
Mulahey was one-shot stabbed and am now en route to Bandit camp.
Levels 6/7, 66 HP
Out of curiosity, did you call this "Ascension in a day" since you play with Ascension mod or is it just "ascension to Godhood in a day" thing?
Aynhow - Bastardo finished BG1. Did bandit camp with much trouble from Taugosz (he hits like a truck!), backstabed the mage, took papers, ran, small stop to kill Cloakwood spiders, Pro Magic at mine entrance, backstab one mage, kill others in melee, run to Davaeorn (Potion of Heroism/Strenght on) before ProMW expires, kill him, run to town, kill everything worth killing, make half the town angry
Steal the documents, back to Candlekeep, kill everyone worth killing
Nearly die to this big foop...
kill Slythe, run from Krystin, set traps for Dopes (didn't do much),
GO LIIAAAAA! Pawn that creep!
Drink up potions including 2xPro Fire, 1x Absorption, run through maze, kill everyone there, avoid all till Sarevok, meet Sarevok, hit him with Dispel Arrow, notice I have Full Plate so Hide is unusable, use 3 potions of invisibility to stab (2 worked, 3rd was critical miss)
Finish at range with +2 arrows.
And here he be now. I'll use DBgone to exit dungeon.
Run-time of BG1 was from 18:00 - 22:00, with few breaks, so give or take 2,30 hours.
Crap. I misuderstood you.
This woulnd't be horrible per se, but I've managed to kill Kangaxx with a lot of duration left on Pro Magic scroll.
I tought, what is the best quest to do now? Figures, XP reward is best with Beholders. Unfortunately, Pro Magic doesn't stop melee bashing, and in my race to kill Unseeing before Pro Magic expires, Bastardo got locked in, no invis potions left (last one used to kill Rengaard, he cast Slay Living); Gaxx Ring comes with no charges, and taaa-daaa.
Btw - is there a specific challenge to fighter/thief or can I use a different class? I also have Baldurdash installed (non-weidu version); Ascension, unlimited stacks from tweaks, and DBgone (hope the install is "vanilla" enough to be valid!)
Scared to death,
Hear text as mp3,
Still taking my time, I grabbed a ranger to help me kill bandits then an elf talked me into wyvern hunting for a 2500 payment which recharged the monster summoning wand for Imoen and made short work of the last mine boss... with that sorted we headed into the city to run around collecting easy magic items.
Returning to the sorcerer shop gave us the pleasure of killing some red wizards for their wands... Puk didn't really expect them to put up much of a fight.
A new look,
I’m re-entering the challenge with another group;
· Puk Farseer a Half Orc NE Skald
· Sarah Blade a Half Elf NG Fighter Druid
· Imoen is just Imoen, a human thief included for plot reasons
Mods: this run has no mods but I did edit the gamesave to allow Sarah to be NG and Puk to be Half Orc because NG makes more sense to me and the portrait matches Puk, now... I’m playing on top level with extra damage turned off.
Welp, I had a decision to make. I could either exit Durlag's after having swept through Level 4 with ease, and only missed out on some exp and minor loot. Or.
Let's do this.
The fight itself wasn't horrible. One fireball screwed over Imoen, but otherwise frequent backstabs and our two killer archers finished him with ease. The What was of far more concern was Tanari'. While I don't quite considering it cheesy, we ended up fleeing upstairs when a SCS dispel magic was beggining to be cast. Some of the guardians followed, so we killed them before the demon could get another dispel, before retreating downstairs, slaying the rest, then luring it down with a hidden Cedvar. Within seconds, we slew it. Crap that was scary.
Onwards to Candlekeep. I am excited to do Siege of Dragonspear if we make it; I haven't played it yet.
Cedvar: Level 10 Thief
Imoen: Level 7 Thief/ Level 9 Mage
Khalid: Level 8 Fighter
Jahiera: Level 7 Fighter/Level 9 Druid
Coran: Level 7 Fighter/ Level 8 Thief
Kivan: Lever 8 Ranger
Another slow start,
I let the guards do all the work at FAi then we asked Imoen to step out as Sarah kited the first Battle horror... I could do with a cleric or Mage?
(I'm not sure what the Item Randomizer has done in this setup, but I was pleased to find Varscona and Sarevok's sword of chaos in Jon's dungeon. And the usual wands + potions. Now I just have to remember to stay out of hidden lich closets as I explore the city and things should be good for a while...)
With Bastardo gone you can presumably uninstall Ascension without problems now ...
I had no intention of setting the challenge for a specific character. I chose the fighter/thief when thinking about it originally on the grounds that:
- for many combats he could just attack in melee (saving brain strain for more difficult encounters)
- stealth offers a quick way to bypass some encounters to save time
- theft allows unlimited resources to be acquired more quickly than picking up all treasure from encounters
- thief traps would allow some later enemies to be dealt with quickly (I particularly had Mel in mind there)
Incidentally I'm not sure that using the protection from magic scroll is safe with beholders. If they killed you in melee then probably it is, but I've definitely been killed in the past by a death ray from Vaxall (beholder in twisted rune if I've got the name wrong) bypassing the scroll. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the standard beholder rays could do the same (on the grounds that they're physical not magical abilities).
I'll stick with Ascenison since BGT takes a while to install and I don't want to go through it again.
One more question - is solo neccecary? I'm afraid that soloing will kind of kill the game for me due to very quick leveling.
As per beholders, Death ray is coded innate so I guess it goes through PfM scroll (save is made with no penalty however). I think it was Yuan-ti or shadows that killed Bastardo (screenshot doesn't show enemies, but he was swarmed with them - otherwise I'd just ran).
The party entered Ust'Natha, accepted their first quest and fought the underdark party. Already prepared for the illithids with chaotic commands, a haste spell was added and the fight quickly won:
To rescue Phaere, I used the Skull of Death (which Helios had stolen from Vithal), since Owain is an illusionist and thus doesn't have death spell himself:
Now, the party completed all of the minor quests for Phaere and won the various pit fights. After killing the beholder, sparing the deep gnomes and allying with Solaufein, new quest opportunities opened up: The slime worshippers were defeated with the help of some undead summons:
Deirex didn't stand a chance against two sunrays:
House Jae'llat was wiped out in combat, with Owain tanking because of the massive physical damage involved:
Finally, Goibniu tricked both Phaere and her mother, fled the drow city and fought his way to the surface:
So far, so good. Time to hunt down all of the liches, dragons and mind flayers I decided to save for later.
Enuhal
Also, please post your charname at the top of the post when relevant.
(Such as: "Ser Arrrgh - Chaotic Evil - Dwarf - Druid/Bard - lvl 23/47 - BG2" etc.)
Janus, human totemic druid (Grond0) & Gryph, elf fighter/mage (Gate70)
Previous update at https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/817508/#Comment_817508
I took a mini-break from single player today, but Gate70 and I did manage some decent progress in multi-player.
We'd done very little last time, so this session started with returning from Shoal's area to Beregost. On the way Gate70 got a bit too up close and personal with a gnoll and was taken down to 1 HP (probably saved by level 1 protection there). In Beregost an early encounter was with Karlat - he did well to one-shot a spirit snake, but by then he was already blinded and doomed (to die).
After passing through Nashkel to pick up some quality armour for Janus, Meilum provided a nice equipment upgrade.
Moving on to the basilisk area the green scroll saved any need for Gryph to memorise protection as the basilisks were hacked and shot down
- while their spiritual leader didn't fare too well against a different sort of spirit.
After picking up Samuel the duo journeyed up the FAI to drop him off before continuing on to the ankhegs. They successfully killed one spirit animal in the nest - but Janus had produced 2 to act as
humanspirit shields.A bit more work in the south maximised reputation before we continued on to Ulgoth's Beard for a bit of shopping. The Greenstone Amulet was one thing bought and that was soon in action as the sirines were cleared at the Lighthouse.
Deciding it was time to start the main quest, Mulahey found himself outmatched in the Nashkel Mine.
I suspect that Nimbul would have fared little better, but we didn't have the opportunity to kill him - Rasaad taking the glory with his patented extendable punching arm.
At the Bandit Camp a clearance programme outside required a few healing spells to repair arrow hits. There was no damage done inside though after Gryph produced a useful glitterdust and Venkt failed to complete a spell.
After passing like a cloak through the Cloudwood the duo taught a now-familiar lesson to another group guarding the mine.
They swiftly moved down to Davaeorn, where Janus used a PfM scroll for protection while Gryph survived a hit by a stray lightning bolt from the mage.
In the City Gryph learnt a few more spells before going to try and speak with Degrodel. Some officious guards were in the way and continued to remonstrate after following Janus outside to a greeting party (nearly embarrassing Gryph at one point).
Lothander was given not only a surrounding group, but also greased to ensure he didn't run away with Gryph's new boots of speed.
Marek was caught less unaware, but didn't last any longer.
Ramazith's Tower provided some gentle exercise as well as a few goodies before the duo went invisibly up through the Iron Throne building to prepare a few surprises for the party there. Our timing was slightly off there and, though there was no problem, Zhalimar did manage to survive the initial assault long enough for his nymph confusion to wear off.
At that point Gate70 remembered Durlag's had not been visited - and Janus was keen to get the wisdom tome from there. Then it was time for a return visit to Candlekeep. Despite a bit of confusion over Gryph's inability to cast minor globe (not yet quite having reached the required level) the tombs were no trouble to rob. There was though a potential problem with Prat's gang when Janus got a bit too close to the action and was confused by Sakul. Fortunately he didn't run too far (straying into a web trap would not have been good news).
Back in the City Slythe was greeted by a dispelling arrow followed by a couple of spirits. At the palace the spirits were joined by nymphs (all being deprived of domination before joining the battle to avoid any nasty accidents). There were one or two nasty moments early on, but in the end both dukes survived with a bit of health to spare.
After going through the maze a double dose of insect plague did much of the damage to the Undercity party.
The final fight with Sarevok saw him safely dispelled early on, but Gryph didn't manage to retreat quick enough to prevent the rest of Sarevok's allies joining the fight. That didn't look too bad when Semaj and Angelo both died early on, but Angelo had managed to confuse Gryph just before being shut down by insect bites and Gryph also got stuck in the web trap. Trying to intervene Janus moved forward and successfully got Tazok to come out of invisibility and attack him. Janus was in no danger himself as he had taken a magic shielding potion and had ironskins active, but when he saw Gryph run away he took the opportunity to withdraw himself. Unfortunately Gryph running was a sign of his confusion operating rather than ending! Janus quickly tried to come back and distract Tazok, but he was having none of it and inflicted Gryph's first death
Janus, totemic druid 10, 74 HPs (incl 5 from Helm), 96 kills
Gryph, fighter 7 / mage 7, 68 HPs, 214 kills, 1 death
[BLIND RUN - first time in Siege of Dragonspear - Insane difficulty ("no difficulty-based damage bonus")]
cont'd from:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/817688/#Comment_817688
[spoiler-free]
1. Corwin is a medieval machine gun!
I never had used an archer before. Before my characters can even walk to the enemies, she fells them one or two per round. (Just walked -unprepared!- into a Troll well ambush underneath a cave. I wiped the floor without any area spell [close quarters] with Corwin picking more than half the enemies!)
I can't believe I was thinking of leaving her behind as deadweight because she is not a caster: she IS area-effect-damage all by herself!
2. I really like the story telling exposition so far:
e.g. just picked up a diary [same cave] that foreshadows.... coming troubles.
Not sure what exactly they are yet. But the expectation building is excellent.
3. Difficulty level is really proving irrelevant:
For 90% of encounters (with notable exceptions like the well ambush above) I can level the encounter before anyone raises a sword. Dynaheir [just dumped her] had 75% of kill count so far.
SoD really needs an SCS-like casters-detect-invisibility-smartly tweak. I shouldn't be able to scout and counter-ambush so easily.
... but, hey, it's my first time in a no-reload run of SoD. So, I'll not complain. Yet.
So far, I'm still grading SoD at "A". Good job Beamdog.
[tagging @JuliusBorisov who wanted to hear opinions of SoD]
However, I waited too long to post on my progress and no longer have the interest to do a full write-up. And including Sans, Papyrus, and Undyne in the write-up would require extra RP investment in the posts. So I will just write a summary of the run instead.
Our party consisted of:
Papyrus, Monk
Chara, Druid
Frisk, Cleric of Lathander
Undyne, Barbarian (with barbarian level for weapon feats)
Asriel, Sorcerer (with paladin level for save bonuses)
Sans, Illusionist (with 2 thief levels for skills and evasion and a sorcerer level to allow scribing necromancy and abjuration spells)
They were only partially min-maxed. Notably, Sans had the minimum 5 Constitution, as he only has 1 HP in Undertale, and Papyrus only had 6 Wisdom.
I created the party from scratch, including Frisk, Chara, and Asriel, but imported items from our completed normal mode run. Usually you'd import everything from normal mode, so we were very underleveled for HoF mode.
Since Chara's damage resistances would not be enough to keep pace with HoF enemies' high damage per hit, Papyrus became our primary tank. Although he got no Wisdom bonus, and virtually all monk tanks have maxed-out Wisdom for the extra AC, this meant he could wear the Chain of Drakkas' Fury for +8 armor bonus and use Cliffs of Targos (or whatever it was called) for a +6 shield bonus. He had strong AC throughout the game, but it seems that Tactics gives some enemies higher attack bonuses, and that makes a huge difference when most HoF tanks are geared towards reaching the mythical 72 AC (Papyrus reached 73 by the end).
Note that wearing armor or using shields does not negate a monk's naturally high saving throws or its post-level 13 spell resistance. Nor does it negate the generic AC bonuses a monk gets every 5 levels.
Details by chapter:
Targos:
We relied very little on summons, preferring to use Papyrus as our tank. Chara used Wyvern form, while Undyne struck from afar using Big Black Flying-Death, a ranged throwing axe which deals tremendous damage due to being a two-handed weapon (two-handed weapons get 1.5 times the normal Strength bonus). Both Wyvern form and Big Black Flying-Death deal triple damage on critical hits, so our luck bonuses were especially useful here.
Asriel reduced pressure on the party using Chaos. Sans, meanwhile, had very little to do. Since I imported only a few high-level scrolls and you can't get mid-level scrolls in Targos, Sans didn't have many spell picks to work with.
Normally, the Goblinsbane dagger would be instrumental here, as it slays all goblins instantly without save. But Tactics apparently nerfs it, and now it only deals 2d6 magic damage to goblins, making it nearly useless.
Shaengarne Bridge:
Frisk was extremely important at Shaengarne Ford, as they could cast Heal whenever Papyrus' AC or Chara's damage resistances failed to keep them safe. It's a valuable rescue option, and Frisk was the only one who could cast it, since Chara spent so much time shapeshifted and could not cast Heal without spending a round reverting to natural form.
At the bridge itself, Sans helped weaken the incoming enemies using Acid Storm. As a mage, Sans had enough feats to afford all the Spell Focus feats, compensating for his Intelligence being lower than Asriel's Charisma.
Horde Fortress:
The first area is a very high-pressure environment, but we kept most of the enemies focused on Papyrus by approaching Trugnuk while the whole party was invisible, then having Papyrus and Chara's animal summons break invisibility by attacking the War Drum while the rest of the party camped out right next to Trugnuk and the other spellcasters, breaking invisibility only after Papyrus had drawn most of the enemy's attention.
When things got tough, Frisk used Mass Heal. Frisk had terrible AC and no Mirror Image spells to protect themself, so they had to run away or have Asriel or Sans turn them invisible to ensure their casting wasn't disrupted. Mass Heal has rather wide range, so Frisk could heal people even when they were boxed in by enemies and unreachable (in IWD2's high-volume fights, there's often little room to run around).
Vipergout gets buffed both by my mods (I think Tactics) and by Heart of Fury mode. Vipergout summons one viper every round for 1 round per level, and each viper lasts 3 rounds each. The vipers are effectively an unkillable summons, as they get replaced constantly. It's an excellent way to wear down enemy mobs, and also makes a strong wall due to the vipers' wide circles. Vipergout blocks all spellcasting, but it doesn't break invisibility. Normally, only mages can cast it, but with my mods, druids can cast it as well, though it prevents Chara from shapeshifting.
We used Vipergout against the first few fights in the tunnels to the fortress, but it lasts many rounds and can wear down on your buffs. And since the player is usually more reliant on buffs than the enemy, it's best to use Vipergout at the end of the day or before buffing the party.
We suffered horribly at the top of the Horde Fortress. Undyne and Papyrus' low Wisdom scores meant their Will saves were very weak, and they constantly failed their saves against enemy Dispel Magic spells. This rendered both of them very vulnerable, as Papyrus needed Barkskin and Ghost Armor to keep his AC up, and Undyne needed Mirror Image to avoid wandering enemies. Worse yet, Undyne got charmed, and Chara's Call Lightning spells killed her.
Asriel, too, lost his buffs. Apparently the Orc Archers in this fight use Arrows of Lesser Dispelling in Tactics in Heart of Fury mode. The arrows only have a 25% chance of dispelling the target and offer a save, but Asriel rolled a critical failure against one of the arrows and lost all his defenses.
We got overwhelmed several times, but Sans was able to wreck many of them using Mass Dominate and Wail of the Banshee (we imported the scrolls from the previous game) and Frisk could bring back the party using Mass Heal if they used a fast-casting Holy Word spell to hold off the enemies for a few seconds.
Then the game crashed.
The second time around, we used Invisibility Sphere and summons to keep the enemies crowded together, making them excellent targets for Chaos, Mass Dominate, and Wail of the Banshee.
Still, Papyrus got dispelled and with his AC at 54, he couldn't hold off the enemies long enough for Frisk to rescue him. The orc spellcasters also got past his Spell Resistance using Acid Arrows and Magic Missiles. Enemy spellcasters get caster level bonuses from HoF, so they're very good at overcoming the party's SR unless we use Holy Aura and Spell Resistance to get everyone to the 50 SR cap.
When our disablers and Wail of the Banshee ran out, we cleared out the remaining enemies in the crowd with Acid Storm and Sunfire.
A few fights remained in the area, which I wanted to complete without resting. We overwhelmed the rest of the enemies with summons, while the party attacked from afar.
Ice Temple:
We gated in a Gelugon to use against the Aurilite Druids and Rangers, but we made the mistake of summoning another enemy afterwards. Apparently, if anyone with a green circle (whether a party member, summoned critter, or charmed enemy) anywhere on the map is not protected from evil even for a moment, gated demons turn hostile. They'll stay that way for several rounds after the unprotected critters dies, gets protected from evil, or goes red.
We couldn't stop the enemy attacks, as the enemies used ranged weapons and summons and they were too spread out to hit with area-effect spells. Frisk, again, rescued the party with Mass Heal.
We slew the Cult of the Dragon Necromancers with Wail of the Banshee, but Sans failed a save against Beltyn's Burning Blood due to his low Constitution, and the fire damage got very severe, as Sans had very low HP to begin with. Worse, the berserk effect kept him from using potions, and casting Exaltation was only temporarily effective. The berserk effect triggered every round and Exaltation did not stop it; it only cured the berserk effect.
Papyrus couldn't handle Sherincal. Her attack bonus was 52, almost as high as Papyrus' base AC, and she did massive damage with her high STR, electrical damage bonus, and the magic damage from Winged Blight. We had to escape with Invisibility Sphere and cast Mass Heal before the battle could go on.
Chara used Tremor to knock out the clerics and undead in the fight with High Priestess Cathin, but the unconsciousness effect, though it has a high save DC and doesn't end when the victim gets hurt, only lasts 3 rounds. Plus, the enemy clerics' Divine Shells blocked Undyne's best ranged weapon, Big Black Flying-Death. Asriel and Sans pitched in with Mordenkainen's Sword, which does 3d6+4 damage, strikes from afar, and gets an attack bonus equal to the caster's level plus 4 (effectively, guaranteed hits).
Papyrus got dispelled repeatedly throughout the temple. The enemy clerics had massive immunities due to pre-buffing with Death Ward and Chaotic Commands, so it was extremely difficult to bring them down before they overwhelmed us with undead summons. Somehow they were even immune to Disintegrate, which Death Ward does not block.
We accidentally damaged the surrendering clerics near Ondabo with a Fiery Cloud Chara was using to kill Ice Trolls. Ondabo scolded us for killing them, and I ended up starting a fight with Ondabo himself. I felt bad about that.
Sans tried to tank with Iron Body, which effectively grants infinite damage reduction against +2 weapons and less. Anywhere else, it would have worked, but I forgot that the clerics here throw Bullets of Wounding and Bullets of Sure Striking. Sans got killed by one of the latter, which strike as +5 weapons.
The Talisman mercenaries were no threat to us, though they nearly ended our normal mode run. Wail of the Banshee took out almost all of them in the first round.
Chara just barely completed the Battle Square challenge using half-dragon form, and Asriel used Holy Word and Symbol of Hopelessness to help us survive against the band of clerics that flanks you in the fight with Lysara.
The Wandering Village:
Limha destroyed Chara with Mordenkainen's Force Missiles, as Chara's shapeshifts have low DEX and therefore low Reflex saves. They took 80 damage from each hit, and Chara died after a single casting. I decided that I would have Chara take some levels as a wizard in the future so they could cast Shield before fights with mages, since Shield blocks both Magic Missile and Mordenkainen's Force Missiles.
The Underdark passage:
The only way to kill the Ochre Jellies, as far as I know, is casting Disintegrate spells over and over or using fire damage. Sans wiped them out almost single-handedly with Meteor Swarm, while Chara tanked the jellies in half-dragon form (Meteor Swarm bypasses spell resistance, but the red and elemental half-dragon forms have 100- resistance to fire).
We took control of 80% of the slave soldiers with Mass Dominate. The duergar were no threat at all.
The Beastlord Harshom failed some saves against Pudu's Fiery Blight, while the other mages died to Wail of the Banshee.
The Black Raven Monastery:
Chara tried using Vipergout to handle the monk golems in the trials, but found that using half-dragon form worked just fine. Like in normal mode, half-dragon form got us through every trial.
The Underdark:
The driders were a problem. Since they keep coming, wave after wave, over a long period of time, they wore out our buffs and our summons. This also meant that our area-effect spells were less useful, because we were only fighting a portion of the whole enemy army at a time. Plus, the enemy spellcasters kept charming and dispelling Undyne and Papyrus. They even dispelled Sans once, when he rolled a 4 against Dispel Magic. But the driders didn't strike particularly hard, so we were not in great danger. It just made the fight drag on long after it stopped being interesting.
The Elder Brain was a nightmare. Although the brain itself was easy to kill, we had to take down four golems, and they struck so hard and so fast (4 attacks per round!) that Frisk could barely keep Chara afloat. Iron Golems in IWD2 take ages to kill, since they're immune to practically everything else besides weapons, and have massive resistances to physical damage. Chara lost over a thousand HP over the course of a few rounds.
In the fight with Majrash and Mirabel, we wiped out most of the Earth Elementals and Harpies using Mass Dominate and Wail of the Banshee. The two mages crumpled under Pudu's Fiery Blight.
Kuldahar:
The fight in the temple of Sseth was surprisingly safe. Though the fight lasted a long time, we held off many of the enemies using the doorway to Ojaiha's chamber as a choke point. Aside from a 101-damage sneak attack from Ashra that nearly killed Papyrus, and two sneak attacks that nearly killed Frisk, we were never in much danger.
We fought the Guardian this time. Sans buffed the whole party with Protection from Acid and he and Asriel struck with Mordenkainen's Sword while Chara used half-dragon form. With an attack bonus of 82, the Guardian had no trouble hitting Papyrus even on its 4th and 5th attacks per round--and it struck for upwards of 70 damage per hit. Papyrus had to fall back, but we kept up the attack and Undyne dealt the final blow.
In the assault on Kuldahar, Undyne rolled a critical failure against Cedra's Disintegrate, getting chunked, and Papyrus nearly died to Cedra's Mordenkainen's Sword. Enemy casters with Mordenkainen's Sword get attack bonuses over 80, so there's really no way to escape them with AC alone, and a critical hit dealt 100 damage to Chara, more than enough to overwhelm their 21- damage reduction.
The Neo-Orog Scouts proved immune to Mass Dominate for some reason, but Asriel disabled them easily with Symbol of Hopelessness. Like in normal mode, we protected Iselore with Tortoise Shell and healed him now and then. The Yuan-ti Sorceresses were the biggest threat, but Asriel and Sans managed to kill them reliably with Disintegrate and Finger of Death.
Importing Undyne wouldn't be much benefit since HoF party members start out at level 11 in my install, so I create a new Undyne from scratch.
Dragon's Eye:
Mass Dominate and Wail of the Banshee won every fight on the first level. On the second, we also used Finger of Death against individual sorceresses and disabled undead summons with Symbol of Hopelessness.
Sans disarmed the trap that nearly chunked Chara in our previous run.
Papyrus tanked the Olive Slimes while Asriel bombarded them with Delayed Blast Fireballs. The Olive Slimes have attack bonuses of 89, but they deal so little damage per hit that they couldn't get past Papyrus' 20/+1 damage reduction as a level 20 monk, though he still got energy drained.
The Efreeti were devastating, particularly as we failed to properly buff before the fight, but finally I got Wail of the Banshee off the ground and wiped out most of them.
We still suffered against Thorasskus, who summoned clerics that chain-casted Blasphemy, nearly destroying us. Papyrus and Sans got crushed, but Asriel survived just long enough to drink a Potion of Invisibility and let Frisk rescue him with Mass Heal. A Gelugon kept the enemy occupied for the rest of the fight.
Lord Pyros' Domain:
We tried using a Gelugon against Zil-t'yor, but one of our summons wasn't protected by evil and the Gelugon went wild and we had to put it down. We also discovered that 50 spell resistance won't hold off the Beholder's rays! All of its instant death rays bypass spell resistance entirely. Chara ended up clubbing Zil-t'yor to death with a Phantom Staff while in half-dragon form, since the area's dispel magic trap removed the half-dragon greatsword.
Izbelah lost all of her Mirror Images to Chara's Elemental Half-Dragon sword, as each of its four elemental damage types removes a Mirror Image. She didn't last long after that.
The Fields of Slaughter:
Many enemies here were undead, but for everything else, we have Mass Dominate and Wail of the Banshee. The enemies struck very hard--the Slayer Knights of Xvim had +60 AB--but Frisk kept the party afloat with Mass Heal while Asriel and Sans protected them with invisibility during the casting time. The Fallen Bladesingers took forever to kill, as they come buffed with Improved Invisibility and can cast Mirror Image.
Blagh'mah dealt the second-biggest critical hit I've ever seen, at 156 damage. This is probably why damage alone can't chunk party members in IWD2.
M'darfein was easier than I expected. Sans took control of some nearby undead with Control Undead and they helped us cut down the lich, though M'darfein eventually crushed them with his damage spells.
M'darfein was still quite tough, launching a Wail of the Banshee with a save DC over 37, slaying Papyrus. And the lich apparently had Improved Alacrity active! He could have killed Chara with a Mordenkainen's Force Missiles spell, but they made their Reflex save. Eventually, Chara destroyed and our undead friends broke through the last of M'darfein's defenses.
Since Saablic Tan nearly ended our previous run, I though we used one of our precious Protection from Magic scrolls on him, but my screenshots show him casting spells. When the enemy proved immune to Mass Dominate, we used Wail of the Banshee instead, though the strongest enemies survived. Saablic Tan nearly killed Frisk with a Mordenkainen's Sword.
We focused our attention on the Red Wizards, knowing they could also cast Disintegrate and chunk us, while Frisk periodically cast Holy Word to disrupt them. They got two Disintegrate spells off the ground, but our spell resistance blocked one and Asriel made his save against the other. Asriel kept up the pressure with Wail of the Banshee, but when the enemies proved resilient, I had Chara switch back to natural form and knock them out with Tremor.
Chara followed up with Elemental Legion to keep the enemies busy while Undyne or Asriel hid the party with Invisibility Sphere. While the enemies focused on the elementals, we singled out a Half-dragon and then moved on to Saablic Tan, who tried to Disintegrate Asriel.
Asriel made a Fortitude save, indicating that Heart of Fury enemies can break through 50 spell resistance. I don't think it was the Spell Penetration feat that let Saablic Tan do that; I think he just got a level boost.
Unable to bring down Saablic Tan quickly, we killed the other enemies first. Without them to distract us, we only had to deal with one enemy with strong attacks but low APR.
The Severed Hand:
There are a lot of nasty fights in this area, but high-level gameplay in IWD2 tends to devolve into intensive buffing and a few high-impact spells. We used Holy Word to buy us time; Mass Dominate, Wail of the Banshee, Symbol of Hopelessness, and Chaos to weaken and disable the enemy; Heal and Mass Heal to keep the party afloat; and we buffed the party with Bless, Remove Fear, Aid, Bull's Strength or Champion's Strength, Cat's Grace, Magic Circle Against Evil, Death Ward, Spell Resistance, Holy Aura (+4 to saves and +25 to spell resistance), Protection from Petrification (for mage-heavy fights), Mirror Image, Blur, Stoneskin, Emotion: Hope, Mass Haste, and Executioner's Eyes. We didn't use Improved Invisibility much, as it prevented us from casting Heal on each other, and we didn't need Free Action because we already got Free Action from numerous items.
Combat was very sluggish and very simple. Rarely did we need to adjust our tactics. The only exception was resorting to Otiluke's Resilient Sphere to disable some enemies using Brilliant Flails of Wounding in the fight before Tyrannar Brutai Mar.
The Final Battle:
Isair and Madae were very simple. I saved multiple scrolls of Protection from Magic and used two on Isair and Madae right off the bat. Without their defenses, they were easy to hurt, and quickly fled. We still had many high-level enemies to deal, including four liches, but even suffering 100-damage Horrid Wilting spells was easy to correct with a single Mass Heal. Despite having Improved Invisibility and many Mirror Images, the liches were not very hard to kill, and despite having Improved Alacrity active (maybe constant effect?), they were never able to deal enough damage to get past our saves, our spell resistance, and bring anyone's HP down to zero, though Undyne came very close.
We proceeded to the second stage of combat and used another two scrolls of Protection from Magic on Isair and Madae just in case the last two wore off somehow, and the twins died in moments.
Chara got badly wounded and died on the way out, but I decided to escape the area rather than reviving them, since you don't need to be in the same area to resurrect someone in IWD2, and I thought using one of our Resurrection scrolls might take too long (I think you get a game over if you don't leave the area soon enough).
I didn't find the run particularly interesting near the end, as combat tends to get dominated by a handful of strong spells, and everything else gets neglected. Plus, the fights required lots of buffing, and the process took a long time even with a custom aura cleansing item to speed things up. It really slowed things down.
But that's one no-reload Icewind Dale 2 Tactics+Heart of Fury run complete.