@Enuhal I never bother with fists - anytime I want the HoD, I just turn off AI, attack in melee, with a weak fighter like Khalid alone and sure enough soon she has had enough. This has worked EVERY time (and I get the HoD quite often with my parties).
That is fine if you have a party. If you are soloing then there isn't a weak fighter available. It is therefore wise to use fists as the danger of killing with one blow is quite high.
Ætheling the Erudite Continued.
She died. Pure carelessness. Everything was being scythed down with ease but she failed to go beserk when facing Davaeorn. That was stupid of me. I could have used skellies as well. It was dire charm that killed her. Probably shouldn't have been playing at 5 in the morning. A rather Gron0esque ending.
I think you can tweak Randomizer to your preferences;.
Yup, it's a great addition. Right now I have it set to destroy items 5% of the time, and leave them in their original locations 5% of the time. If only it randomized the pro petrification green scroll... that would really shake up the early game. Do you think it would be possible to add that to the list of things that get randomized?
@Grondo - nice work, looking strong! Does shaman casting trigger a visit from the Cowled Wizards?
No. I had bought the Ring of Air Control and was considering using that to annoy the Cowlies and see how I got on against them - but that will have to wait for another time ...
'Long-life challenge' - shaman {8} (4th and final update) Previous updates at:
Back at Watcher's Keep Farsight showed no vampiric wraiths so clearing the top level was easy enough (and DUHM now gave me the strength to loot everything important). Killing the archer statue there (which leaves the others pretty helpless) was enough to get me to level 14.
That trip provided just enough funds to pay Gaelan Bayle and I went to check in with Aran Linvail. On the way to find Mook I came across Tanova, but with chaotic commands already active and ironskins up I had time to bring out some elementals to deal with her. I also made a first use of Spiritual Lock (short-lived feeblemind), checking that did work against vampires. The same was then done to the Guild Contact (to prevent him drinking any of my potions) before I moved on to the Graveyard for the first time.
I hadn't originally thought of a shaman as being able to use Azuredge, so had created this one as evil. However, there were still no problems in clearing the tombs. There was a problem, however, after doing that when I decided I should test out another new spell - the shaman only 7th level spell called Ether Gate. Looking at the name and description of that spell I was thinking it would be similar to turning ethereal, but go one step further so that nothing could hurt you at all while under the effect - offering a potential opportunity to do some regeneration in the same way as Otilukes used to (before it was nerfed by the EE). However, the spell actually uses the maze effect and thus I only managed to add one more to my ever-expanding catalogue of ways to commit suicide .
To those people who say that the game doesn’t reward playing evil as much as it does playing good, I’d like to ask: have you ever played a truly good character? I mean Elves’ Bane, Golden Girdle, Algernon’s Cloak, Boots of Stealth, Meilum’s Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, Cloak of Balduran, the Stupefier, Helm of Balduran, Cloak of Balduran, Helm of Glory, Wisdom tome from the temple of Tymora in Baldur’s Gate, Black Lily’s wares at the Thieves’ Guild in Baldur’s Gate, Sunin’s Ring of Wizardry, many many scrolls, the list probably goes on. All these items can be obtained with ease by evil or maybe kleptomaniac or mercenary-type neutral characters. But the acquisition of all these items involves theft, provocation, and/or needless bloodshed and thus seems hard to justify by any mentally sane good-aligned character.
This is one of the reasons I love Item Randomizer mod (most of those items you mentioned are affected by it). And I also would like to avoid unnecessary bloodshed if possible so my "blue dream" of the Randomizer is to exclude those avoidable fights (Kirian, Sendai, Meilum, Jalantha Mistmyr, Jardak, Ragefast, Rieltar, Sirine Queen on Balduran's Isle...) from the randomization locations. For now, I "need" to fight them as some are the "store" even for the stats tomes which I just "can't" leave behind (RP wise or not). Dreams, dreams...
And using the moment I would like to greet all the new participants in the challenge and wish you all the best of luck/wisdom/intelligence/whatever you need to succeed. Have fun and safe travels, friends!
To chip in on the subject. A long while ago I wanted to play a "good" protagonist, namely a Cavalier. He was to travel with Imoen through BG1. It was a splendid run. Quick leveling due to only 2 people in party, both very powerful, all was perfect. Then I visit Durlag's. My protagonist had a full plate + shield, sporting a fantastic AC no ghast can penetrate apart by scoring critical hit. And had awesome saves, should that happen. Naturally, there are ghasts there, one hits a critical, save is failed, and Imoen couldn't do anything to help vs flesh-eating undead with her bow. Run over. I rarely now don't kill Dushai. Usually, even if I play a paladin, she either dies (often) or gets pickpocketed (rarely). While this "good" runthroughs have merit BG is such a hostile enviroment (sometimes it seems all you got to do to provoke a fight to the death is merely look at someone, Wild West seems like a daycare center compared to Sword Coast) that I'll gladly take all that is given.
I know I said the previous run would be the last with the shaman for now, but it didn't seem appropriate to leave the character after a suicide mission, so I've started another 'final' run . I also hadn't tried using spirits at all in BG2 and would like to do so. I think all the encounters in SoA would be simple enough without spirits and my expectation is that they won't be powerful enough to help in ToB - but as I haven't actually tried out the higher level spirits yet I could be pleasantly surprised ...
I've been playing pretty quickly this run and missing out many encounters I normally do (only getting to the XP cap with the death of Slythe). That contributed to two close escapes: - first when Venkt starting casting horror inside the tent at the Bandit Camp and finished it outside (not unexpected, but my timing on movement was a bit wrong there). I was lucky that running took me away from the attacks of Venkt, Raemon and Britik before they could finish me off. - second at the Lighthouse when I took on the sirines without yet having any summons available. I was protected against charm, but hadn't got around to buying a scroll of PfP. With not even a potion of regeneration to help keep HPs up a bit I was again lucky when an arrow stopped biting just in time.
One point of interest is that I've wondered for a long time what happens if you use all the charges from the ring of invisibility in EE. In vanilla it just converts to a one use per day ring. I was suspicious that wouldn't happen in EE, but have never actually tested it until now - when I've found I was right to be suspicious.
At the palace I realised why one of the nymphs went hostile before - after being dominated by another nymph they go hostile when the spell runs out (another change from BGT). I wasn't already committed to the fight, so left again and went to do some further testing on the spell. That confirmed that the nymphs would go hostile even if casting on themselves, so on return to the palace I started their spells, but then interrupted them all to waste them.
The fight itself was then reasonably straight-forward.
After going through the maze invisibly Semaj this time failed to survive an initial spell onslaught from the nymphs, leaving Sarevok helpless against run and shoot tactics.
Shaman 9, 75 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 202 kills
Edit: one of my old troubles caught up with me in BG2. Still playing quickly rather than safely I zoomed through the dungeon and the Copper Coronet before heading for the Docks. The pirate den was all clear except the mage and he was near death, but I hadn't used summons on him and he brought out a pet phase spider to help him. Unfortunately I wasn't watching the action closely and, though I saw (and ignored) an acid arrow, I didn't realise quite quickly enough that I'd been poisoned. When I did realise I used a potion of invisibility to break off and tried to get to the innkeeper to rest (and cure the poison), but the combination of the quick damage done by the poison and the stuttering movement the damage causes left me dead a fraction before I got there ...
To those people who say that the game doesn’t reward playing evil as much as it does playing good, I’d like to ask: have you ever played a truly good character? I mean Elves’ Bane, Golden Girdle, Algernon’s Cloak, Boots of Stealth, Meilum’s Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, Cloak of Balduran, the Stupefier, Helm of Balduran, Cloak of Balduran, Helm of Glory, Wisdom tome from the temple of Tymora in Baldur’s Gate, Black Lily’s wares at the Thieves’ Guild in Baldur’s Gate, Sunin’s Ring of Wizardry, many many scrolls, the list probably goes on. All these items can be obtained with ease by evil or maybe kleptomaniac or mercenary-type neutral characters. But the acquisition of all these items involves theft, provocation, and/or needless bloodshed and thus seems hard to justify by any mentally sane good-aligned character. I wonder how well I’m capable of keeping this up. Forgoing nice items and finding mostly empty slots in characters’ inventory screens ain’t pretty, and avoiding certain quests or battles because there is no RP justification also makes me feel like I’m missing out on some nice action. I’m cool with giving up the girdle of piercing, but I was a bit disappointed when I couldn’t fight Kirian and her friends, not just for her belt but also for the fun of the battle. I may take a more liberal approach from now on. Interpret dialogue in the most favorable way possible, invent reasons to enter buildings, and give other characters’ personalities more weight.
I'm doing a Paladin run right now, all the lawful good characters, plus Imoen. So, no Stupifier, no fighting Kirin or Sendai, no entering houses except for quest purposes. I'm not even looking in rain barrels. It's still pretty early, I've just killed Tranzig and started my exploration/level up phase before taking on the bandit camp, so I'm not sure how this is going to affect the power curve yet.
I have done a RP run and was a good character - I didn't enter any house unless I had reason to do so, returned people's items (such as Unshleys' belt, stealth boots to the owner, etc.). I also did not provoke any fight needlessly (e.g., if not actually my enemy (Iron Throne) or bandits, I didn't fight them, unless they attacked me first of course). We had very bad equipment but we made it to BG 2. So to answer your question, Blackraven, a truly good character gets to fight Sarevok with bad equipment.
In case it isn't obvious I'm on holiday this week . So, leaving the shaman for the moment, I saw someone asking on the Forum about the possibility of a solo just using the cursed berserking sword. I've done that in the past, but can't remember how far I got - so thought I would have a go to check how viable it is as a no-reload (it's certainly possible without, though the palace is likely to be a challenge as usual).
Raver is only allowed to kill anything using the sword, so he sneaked out of Candlekeep peacefully and went to find Brage. Having acquired the sword he traded in some ankheg armour for a shield amulet and PfP scroll at the Carnival. In Beregost he got a scroll case from Firebead before heading for the basilisks. He applied the shield amulet before going in to combat against the southern basilisks. Note that you often get a short window of opportunity before the sword overcomes your will, so it's normally possible to drag the basilisks out of position in order to fight one at a time. Doing that got him to level 3 before attacking the greater one. I think the chances were very high he would win that combat, but on this occasion the basilisk switched to melee almost immediately, got lucky with its attacks and also successfully poisoned him ...
Starting again Raver followed generally the same course, although went early on to pick up a ring of protection +1. He was almost killed by skeleton archers on the way to find Brage, but survived and made his way back to the basilisks. He'd also rested prior to that (about 14 times!) in order to get LMD and that was used as an opening attack on the greater basilisk - but this time it didn't switch to melee anyway and was cut down in a couple of rounds to get Raver up to level 4. None of the northern basilisks scratched him and a vicious critical got him up to level 5. I decided not to attack the lesser basilisk (or greater one) near Mutamin for fear of activating the mage early. Instead, I recruited Korax to take Mutamin out of play and let him kill the basilisks as well. I decided Kirian's party was best left alone for now though.
Looking for some more quick experience I went to Durlag's Tower. Two fireballs from out of sight badly wounded the battle horrors and when Raver successfully pulled one of them away I expected him to chop it down quickly. However, he missed 4 times in a row (with a THAC0 of 4 that was a surprise) - and the battle horror didn't miss at all (which wasn't).
Just to check I hadn't been making too much of a stretch taking that fight on I loaded the autosave and watched as Raver successfully killed an undamaged battle horror.
Making a third start I added a bit extra to the initial journeying to go and get the Ring of Wizardry and swap that for some potions at High Hedge. At the basilisk area the southern greater basilisk once more moved into melee, but this time was less lucky and still comfortably lost the contest. I had bought the potions of regeneration at High Hedge, but decided those should be saved and Raver finished off the remaining basilisks and Mutamin without fuss.
Back at Durlag's Tower I tried the battle horrors again - this time successfully against the first one, getting up to level 6 there.
Rather than waste the 2 fireballs already used I took a potion of regeneration in order to cut down the second as well - though that one required two hits to finish it off, rather than just one, and was touch and go.
Getting tired of the huge amount of resting required to restore his HPs, Raver went next to the Nashkel Mine. Two charges of the shield amulet were used getting down to Mulahey's Cave and another when facing Mulahey. Raver also took the precaution of using a potion of freedom there, although Mulahey didn't survive long enough to cast hold person anyway.
After resting to get CLW I bypassed Nimbul and went to find Tranzig. A single kai hit on him had him running and a second meant the room would require considerable redecoration.
I think Raver should get at least up to level 7 before going to the Bandit Camp, so he'll be continuing to search for some more XP for a while yet.
@Enuhal I never bother with fists - anytime I want the HoD, I just turn off AI, attack in melee, with a weak fighter like Khalid alone and sure enough soon she has had enough. This has worked EVERY time (and I get the HoD quite often with my parties).
That is fine if you have a party. If you are soloing then there isn't a weak fighter available. It is therefore wise to use fists as the danger of killing with one blow is quite high.
Ætheling the Erudite Continued.
She died. Pure carelessness. Everything was being scythed down with ease but she failed to go beserk when facing Davaeorn. That was stupid of me. I could have used skellies as well. It was dire charm that killed her. Probably shouldn't have been playing at 5 in the morning. A rather Gron0esque ending.
@Wise_Grimwald This whole discussion happened because Blackraven didn't get the Helm of Defense - you CAN'T get the Helm of Defense solo (well, guess you could sacrifice your familiar maybe...)- you just have to kill her if you provoke her, or she kisses you dead. You only get the HoD if you let her kill someone first, then beat her into submission without killing her.
@Grond0 I have used the sword the entire run (Corerage)- you fail at the Duchal Palace if you try to use the sword. So what I did (in the next incarnation) was remove curse, use Argain's sword for Duchal Palace, then put it back on for rest of encounters. In essence, I used the cursed sword in all encounters except Duchal Palace and made it.
We wandered the wilderness until we met Shar-tel, a fighter who challenged Thunnir to a duel, easily won by Thunnir. Shar-tel accompanies the party as we head west, were we stumble upon a party of 3 bandits, accidentely. They tried to rob us but Thunnir wouldn't let that happened. He told his party to draw steel and kill them. First thing that happened was Thunnir getting hit by a poisened arrow, forcing to stand down. Shar-tel engaged the hogoblin with Tiax's ghast. They stunned the Hogoblin but they were both killed by the leader of the bandit gang. Imoen was taken out by the mage. Thunnir now gets a little bit worked up, but makes an attempt at killing the leader, which resulted in his death.
I didn't attack this party on purpose, but you know, shit happens. Kind of fun though. I am looking forward for another attempt!
Regarding future no-reload runs, they can be seen live here (twitch). If you miss a live stream, they are available for viewing 14 days after the broadcast.
@Grond0 I have used the sword the entire run (Corerage)- you fail at the Duchal Palace if you try to use the sword. So what I did (in the next incarnation) was remove curse, use Argain's sword for Duchal Palace, then put it back on for rest of encounters. In essence, I used the cursed sword in all encounters except Duchal Palace and made it.
That was certainly a good run Corey. As I put in my initial post though I would like to complete the game without killing anything other than by using the cursed sword. I'm sure that's possible, including at the Palace, but many things are possible that never actually happen ...
We are using the exact same mods, and I still will not allow myself to resurrect party members!
My first run didn't end happily and Thunnir is now more or less scattered in pieces. A real shame, though I am not giving up.
This time I will be playing the Half-orc evil Cleric/fighter. Gorth and Imoen quickly gathers some coin by selling a certain ring for 9000 gold. (chessy, I know. I need it) Then they march through Beregost all the way down to Naskhel Village. On the way we pick up Tiax. Arriving in Nashkhel we run into our first bounty hunter. The bounty hunter was killed but we lost Imoen, such a shame to lose such a good friend so early on, I was planning on keeping her.
We scout the woods along the mountains and run into the fastest dart thrower on the entire Sword Coast, or so they say. Without breaking a sweat we arranged their funeral.
We also meet up with a nymph who requires our help. Even if we are Evil, we decide to help her. We'd rather make friends and a good reputation than enemies and a bounty on our head.
We head back north towards Beregost and picks up Shar-tel on our way there, At Beregost, we run into Neera who we decides to protect, but Gorth can't stand her personality. He finds her weak.
End of update one, it really got late now so I thought it would be a good time to stop here. A rather short update but more content will be produced. As I just said, check out the stream to see this story live action!
Before going out to bust some hobgoblin heads, Magastar used the local temple services to get a couple items (obtained from their hard-fought battles) identified. It turned out the half-gloves had a powerful enchantment on them, greatly improving the reaction and dexterity of their wearer. Magastar decided they should go to Jaheira. “It’s only cause she’s the slowest.” Imoen whispers to Minsc, chuckling.
With the party’s provisions and ammo topped off, the group set out to hunt down the hobgoblin scourge plaguing the Friendly Arm Inn. Jaheira’s new gloves and recent experience showed great promise. She was more than capable of standing beside Minsc on the front line. Magastar’s battle blessings and axe throwing, and Imoen’s sharp shooting also proved invaluable. The party looped the Inn’s immediate grounds, retrieved Joia's stolen ring, and killed off every hobgoblin in sight, without so much as a scratch.
After returning the ring to a very thankful Joia, Magastar and troupe settled down for the evening at the Friendly Arm Inn. Through mingling and conversation they found more individuals who needed their assistance. There was Unshey who gave an interesting recount about a ‘fashionable’ thieving ogre, Landrin, who couldn’t deal with a little spider’s nest in her home in Beregost, and a pompous noble who thought Imoen was part of the help. Imoen decided to keep the pantaloons tossed in her face, along with several other trinkets she ‘found’ while snooping about. Magastar swore she heard Imoen whispering about a ‘dragon’s treasure’.
According to Unshey’s directions, the ogre diva was hanging out in some woods just down the road. The group set out to correct that ‘faux pas’ first. They entered the woods but, instead of an ogre, were immediately set upon by a pair of ravenous wolves. All at once the team leapt into action. Magastar finished a bless spell and Dynaheir a magic missile just as the battle engaged. Then, while Minsc and Jaheira fought the beasts in melee, Khalid, Imoen, Magastar, and Dynaheir rained down on them with arrow, axe, and stone. The result – another flawless victory.
“Quick, grab his belt!” Minsc shouted. “Minsc, no,” Jaheira intervened, “The ogre has the belt. Wolves have a pelt.” “Oh, well, if you want to ‘throw’ stuff at the wolf that’s fine.” Minsc replied. “Minsc and Boo prefer the sword! Sword first!” Minsc looked to Magastar and smiled. Magastar returned his smile and tried to clear up the confusion. “Minsc, a wolf’s fur is also called its ‘pelt’. But you are right. Throwing at something is also called pel…” Magastar stopped mid-sentence to watch Minsc take out a small piece of string and measure Boo’s waistline. Wanting to maximize her limited spell ability, Magastar pushed the party forward before her blessing expired. Sure enough not far away they came upon an ogre. Everyone knew the power of these creatures up close so the party started with ranged weapons. This proved to be the right decision as another powerful throw from Magastar created the ogres last fashion statement.
A few tasks around Beregost provided a bit of XP. I felt compelled to attack Silke as part of that, but a basic kai attack would only do 28 damage and she has 29 HPs, which could lead to unfortunate consequences for anyone nearby - a potion of stone giant strength enabled a one-shot finish there.
Landrin's spiders were also exterminated so next Raver took some items back to Landrin - pulling Tarnesh out of sight of the guards to allow him to be killed.
Incidentally that contest also illustrates one of the benefits of a fast weapon speed. A 2-handed sword normally has a speed factor of 10, but the cursed sword is +3 so that should reduce it to 7. Raver then gets bonuses of -4 from 2 pips in 2-handed weapons and -1 for High Mastery and gets a further bonus of -1 from his kensai levels. That all meant that Tarnesh didn't see the attack coming in time to take any action ...
Raver wanted horror as a Bhaal ability - which was bad news for Bentan. He also chopped Meilum down to size before leaving the area (though unfortunately can't use his bracers).
Back at the Nashkel Mine I expected Raver to deal with Greywolf easily enough - which he did. I thought he might also follow-through by taking Prism for dessert, but he recovered in time to avoid that.
The main encounters in the Cloudpeaks were all done before dealing with the Valley of the Tombs. A potion of freedom was used on ghasts and ghouls
while a scroll of PfM was used prior to the encounter with Narcillicus. I had intended to turn him hostile with a wand magic missile, but Raver berserked the instant that Narcillicus came into sight and, rather than face 2 mustard jellies without shield up, Raver settled for some green slimes instead while Narcillicus ran off. The scroll did come in handy though, with shield added on top, for the amazons. That encounter looked like it might end badly anyway when Telka hit him with 2 criticals in a row as he came in to battle. Maneira also hit him to take him from 80 down to 29 HPs, but once into melee range Raver took no more damage - and also got up to level 7 there.
The next area for the chop was the Lighthouse, where a potion of clarity protected against the sirines.
The golems were attacked unprotected: - a rest was taken after the first one as a result of a critical miss slowing down it's demise. - the second one was nearly fatal, when I forgot the possibility of losing control immediately it came in sight and being dragged through a hold person trap.
Luckily Raver saved. - Raver avoided the charm trap and went round the other way in order to kill the third one.
Using the constitution tome gives Raver regeneration, which is particularly handy for me given my no healing potion rule (meaning that trying to rest after a fight can lead to more fights ...).
Now seemed like a good time to go ankheg hunting, which Raver did using 2 PfA scrolls and the shield amulet. He was only hit a couple of times while clearing the nest and decided to invest a potion of regeneration in order to clear the rest of the area - though that probably wasn't worth it for the 5 beasties which showed themselves.
Now with just enough money to buy the invisibility ring Raver shopped at Ulgoth's Beard before adding a bonus ring courtesy of Dushai - a kai critical making quite sure he wasn't going to survive!
Comments
Ætheling the Erudite Continued.
She died. Pure carelessness. Everything was being scythed down with ease but she failed to go beserk when facing Davaeorn. That was stupid of me. I could have used skellies as well.Probably shouldn't have been playing at 5 in the morning.
I think you can tweak Randomizer to your preferences; check the mod info.
'Long-life challenge' - shaman {8} (4th and final update)
Previous updates at:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821349/#Comment_821349
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821359/#Comment_821359
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821386/#Comment_821386
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821409/#Comment_821409
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821520/#Comment_821520
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821595/#Comment_821595
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821701/#Comment_821701
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821771/#Comment_821771
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821906/#Comment_821906
Back at Watcher's Keep Farsight showed no vampiric wraiths so clearing the top level was easy enough (and DUHM now gave me the strength to loot everything important). Killing the archer statue there (which leaves the others pretty helpless) was enough to get me to level 14.
That trip provided just enough funds to pay Gaelan Bayle and I went to check in with Aran Linvail. On the way to find Mook I came across Tanova, but with chaotic commands already active and ironskins up I had time to bring out some elementals to deal with her. I also made a first use of Spiritual Lock (short-lived feeblemind), checking that did work against vampires. The same was then done to the Guild Contact (to prevent him drinking any of my potions) before I moved on to the Graveyard for the first time.
I hadn't originally thought of a shaman as being able to use Azuredge, so had created this one as evil. However, there were still no problems in clearing the tombs. There was a problem, however, after doing that when I decided I should test out another new spell - the shaman only 7th level spell called Ether Gate. Looking at the name and description of that spell I was thinking it would be similar to turning ethereal, but go one step further so that nothing could hurt you at all while under the effect - offering a potential opportunity to do some regeneration in the same way as Otilukes used to (before it was nerfed by the EE). However, the spell actually uses the maze effect and thus I only managed to add one more to my ever-expanding catalogue of ways to commit suicide
@Blind Visionary
Probably yes. I haven't played much with Randomizer but it should be easy to do.
Dreams, dreams...
And using the moment I would like to greet all the new participants in the challenge and wish you all the best of luck/wisdom/intelligence/whatever you need to succeed. Have fun and safe travels, friends!
I rarely now don't kill Dushai. Usually, even if I play a paladin, she either dies (often) or gets pickpocketed (rarely).
While this "good" runthroughs have merit BG is such a hostile enviroment (sometimes it seems all you got to do to provoke a fight to the death is merely look at someone, Wild West seems like a daycare center compared to Sword Coast) that I'll gladly take all that is given.
Previous updates at:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821349/#Comment_821349
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821359/#Comment_821359
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821386/#Comment_821386
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821409/#Comment_821409
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821520/#Comment_821520
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821595/#Comment_821595
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821701/#Comment_821701
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821771/#Comment_821771
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821906/#Comment_821906
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/821928/#Comment_821928
I know I said the previous run would be the last with the shaman for now, but it didn't seem appropriate to leave the character after a suicide mission, so I've started another 'final' run
I've been playing pretty quickly this run and missing out many encounters I normally do (only getting to the XP cap with the death of Slythe). That contributed to two close escapes:
- first when Venkt starting casting horror inside the tent at the Bandit Camp and finished it outside (not unexpected, but my timing on movement was a bit wrong there). I was lucky that running took me away from the attacks of Venkt, Raemon and Britik before they could finish me off.
- second at the Lighthouse when I took on the sirines without yet having any summons available. I was protected against charm, but hadn't got around to buying a scroll of PfP. With not even a potion of regeneration to help keep HPs up a bit I was again lucky when an arrow stopped biting just in time.
One point of interest is that I've wondered for a long time what happens if you use all the charges from the ring of invisibility in EE. In vanilla it just converts to a one use per day ring. I was suspicious that wouldn't happen in EE, but have never actually tested it until now - when I've found I was right to be suspicious.
At the palace I realised why one of the nymphs went hostile before - after being dominated by another nymph they go hostile when the spell runs out (another change from BGT). I wasn't already committed to the fight, so left again and went to do some further testing on the spell. That confirmed that the nymphs would go hostile even if casting on themselves, so on return to the palace I started their spells, but then interrupted them all to waste them.
After going through the maze invisibly Semaj this time failed to survive an initial spell onslaught from the nymphs, leaving Sarevok helpless against run and shoot tactics.
Shaman 9, 75 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 202 kills
Edit: one of my old troubles caught up with me in BG2. Still playing quickly rather than safely I zoomed through the dungeon and the Copper Coronet before heading for the Docks. The pirate den was all clear except the mage and he was near death, but I hadn't used summons on him and he brought out a pet phase spider to help him. Unfortunately I wasn't watching the action closely and, though I saw (and ignored) an acid arrow, I didn't realise quite quickly enough that I'd been poisoned. When I did realise I used a potion of invisibility to break off and tried to get to the innkeeper to rest (and cure the poison), but the combination of the quick damage done by the poison and the stuttering movement the damage causes left me dead a fraction before I got there ...
In case it isn't obvious I'm on holiday this week
Raver is only allowed to kill anything using the sword, so he sneaked out of Candlekeep peacefully and went to find Brage. Having acquired the sword he traded in some ankheg armour for a shield amulet and PfP scroll at the Carnival. In Beregost he got a scroll case from Firebead before heading for the basilisks. He applied the shield amulet before going in to combat against the southern basilisks. Note that you often get a short window of opportunity before the sword overcomes your will, so it's normally possible to drag the basilisks out of position in order to fight one at a time. Doing that got him to level 3 before attacking the greater one. I think the chances were very high he would win that combat, but on this occasion the basilisk switched to melee almost immediately, got lucky with its attacks and also successfully poisoned him ...
Starting again Raver followed generally the same course, although went early on to pick up a ring of protection +1. He was almost killed by skeleton archers on the way to find Brage, but survived and made his way back to the basilisks. He'd also rested prior to that (about 14 times!) in order to get LMD and that was used as an opening attack on the greater basilisk - but this time it didn't switch to melee anyway and was cut down in a couple of rounds to get Raver up to level 4. None of the northern basilisks scratched him and a vicious critical got him up to level 5. I decided not to attack the lesser basilisk (or greater one) near Mutamin for fear of activating the mage early. Instead, I recruited Korax to take Mutamin out of play and let him kill the basilisks as well. I decided Kirian's party was best left alone for now though.
Looking for some more quick experience I went to Durlag's Tower. Two fireballs from out of sight badly wounded the battle horrors and when Raver successfully pulled one of them away I expected him to chop it down quickly. However, he missed 4 times in a row (with a THAC0 of 4 that was a surprise) - and the battle horror didn't miss at all (which wasn't).
Making a third start I added a bit extra to the initial journeying to go and get the Ring of Wizardry and swap that for some potions at High Hedge. At the basilisk area the southern greater basilisk once more moved into melee, but this time was less lucky and still comfortably lost the contest. I had bought the potions of regeneration at High Hedge, but decided those should be saved and Raver finished off the remaining basilisks and Mutamin without fuss.
Back at Durlag's Tower I tried the battle horrors again - this time successfully against the first one, getting up to level 6 there.
Getting tired of the huge amount of resting required to restore his HPs, Raver went next to the Nashkel Mine. Two charges of the shield amulet were used getting down to Mulahey's Cave and another when facing Mulahey. Raver also took the precaution of using a potion of freedom there, although Mulahey didn't survive long enough to cast hold person anyway.
After resting to get CLW I bypassed Nimbul and went to find Tranzig. A single kai hit on him had him running and a second meant the room would require considerable redecoration.
I think Raver should get at least up to level 7 before going to the Bandit Camp, so he'll be continuing to search for some more XP for a while yet.
Kensai L6, 80 HPs, 95 kills
EDIT: His run starts here if interested.
EDIT2: Ha! Guess I mis-remembered - I didn't QUITE make it, but came close, see Corerage III's run instead.
EDIT3: Doh! BioWare Forums just went down - RIP. Try this page instead (look down for Corerage III): Serg's backup of the BG threads.
My first no-reload run. Update 3.
We wandered the wilderness until we met Shar-tel, a fighter who challenged Thunnir to a duel, easily won by Thunnir. Shar-tel accompanies the party as we head west, were we stumble upon a party of 3 bandits, accidentely. They tried to rob us but Thunnir wouldn't let that happened. He told his party to draw steel and kill them. First thing that happened was Thunnir getting hit by a poisened arrow, forcing to stand down. Shar-tel engaged the hogoblin with Tiax's ghast. They stunned the Hogoblin but they were both killed by the leader of the bandit gang. Imoen was taken out by the mage. Thunnir now gets a little bit worked up, but makes an attempt at killing the leader, which resulted in his death.I didn't attack this party on purpose, but you know, shit happens. Kind of fun though. I am looking forward for another attempt!
Regarding future no-reload runs, they can be seen live here (twitch). If you miss a live stream, they are available for viewing 14 days after the broadcast.
Gorth - The Half-orc evil Cleric/Fighter. Part 1
We are using the exact same mods, and I still will not allow myself to resurrect party members!My first run didn't end happily and Thunnir is now more or less scattered in pieces. A real shame, though I am not giving up.
This time I will be playing the Half-orc evil Cleric/fighter. Gorth and Imoen quickly gathers some coin by selling a certain ring for 9000 gold. (chessy, I know. I need it) Then they march through Beregost all the way down to Naskhel Village. On the way we pick up Tiax. Arriving in Nashkhel we run into our first bounty hunter. The bounty hunter was killed but we lost Imoen, such a shame to lose such a good friend so early on, I was planning on keeping her.
We scout the woods along the mountains and run into the fastest dart thrower on the entire Sword Coast, or so they say. Without breaking a sweat we arranged their funeral.
We also meet up with a nymph who requires our help. Even if we are Evil, we decide to help her. We'd rather make friends and a good reputation than enemies and a bounty on our head.
We head back north towards Beregost and picks up Shar-tel on our way there, At Beregost, we run into Neera who we decides to protect, but Gorth can't stand her personality. He finds her weak.
End of update one, it really got late now so I thought it would be a good time to stop here. A rather short update but more content will be produced. As I just said, check out the stream to see this story live action!
Marvelous darling, simply marvelous!
Magastar, ½-Orc Shaman, update 6
Before going out to bust some hobgoblin heads, Magastar used the local temple services to get a couple items (obtained from their hard-fought battles) identified. It turned out the half-gloves had a powerful enchantment on them, greatly improving the reaction and dexterity of their wearer. Magastar decided they should go to Jaheira. “It’s only cause she’s the slowest.” Imoen whispers to Minsc, chuckling.
With the party’s provisions and ammo topped off, the group set out to hunt down the hobgoblin scourge plaguing the Friendly Arm Inn. Jaheira’s new gloves and recent experience showed great promise. She was more than capable of standing beside Minsc on the front line. Magastar’s battle blessings and axe throwing, and Imoen’s sharp shooting also proved invaluable. The party looped the Inn’s immediate grounds, retrieved Joia's stolen ring, and killed off every hobgoblin in sight, without so much as a scratch.
After returning the ring to a very thankful Joia, Magastar and troupe settled down for the evening at the Friendly Arm Inn. Through mingling and conversation they found more individuals who needed their assistance. There was Unshey who gave an interesting recount about a ‘fashionable’ thieving ogre, Landrin, who couldn’t deal with a little spider’s nest in her home in Beregost, and a pompous noble who thought Imoen was part of the help. Imoen decided to keep the pantaloons tossed in her face, along with several other trinkets she ‘found’ while snooping about. Magastar swore she heard Imoen whispering about a ‘dragon’s treasure’.
According to Unshey’s directions, the ogre diva was hanging out in some woods just down the road. The group set out to correct that ‘faux pas’ first. They entered the woods but, instead of an ogre, were immediately set upon by a pair of ravenous wolves. All at once the team leapt into action. Magastar finished a bless spell and Dynaheir a magic missile just as the battle engaged. Then, while Minsc and Jaheira fought the beasts in melee, Khalid, Imoen, Magastar, and Dynaheir rained down on them with arrow, axe, and stone. The result – another flawless victory.
“Quick, grab his belt!” Minsc shouted. “Minsc, no,” Jaheira intervened, “The ogre has the belt. Wolves have a pelt.”
“Oh, well, if you want to ‘throw’ stuff at the wolf that’s fine.” Minsc replied. “Minsc and Boo prefer the sword! Sword first!” Minsc looked to Magastar and smiled. Magastar returned his smile and tried to clear up the confusion. “Minsc, a wolf’s fur is also called its ‘pelt’. But you are right. Throwing at something is also called pel…” Magastar stopped mid-sentence to watch Minsc take out a small piece of string and measure Boo’s waistline.
Wanting to maximize her limited spell ability, Magastar pushed the party forward before her blessing expired. Sure enough not far away they came upon an ogre. Everyone knew the power of these creatures up close so the party started with ranged weapons. This proved to be the right decision as another powerful throw from Magastar created the ogres last fashion statement.
Previous updates for this character:
A few tasks around Beregost provided a bit of XP. I felt compelled to attack Silke as part of that, but a basic kai attack would only do 28 damage and she has 29 HPs, which could lead to unfortunate consequences for anyone nearby - a potion of stone giant strength enabled a one-shot finish there.
Raver wanted horror as a Bhaal ability - which was bad news for Bentan. He also chopped Meilum down to size before leaving the area (though unfortunately can't use his bracers).
Back at the Nashkel Mine I expected Raver to deal with Greywolf easily enough - which he did. I thought he might also follow-through by taking Prism for dessert, but he recovered in time to avoid that.
The main encounters in the Cloudpeaks were all done before dealing with the Valley of the Tombs. A potion of freedom was used on ghasts and ghouls
The next area for the chop was the Lighthouse, where a potion of clarity protected against the sirines.
- a rest was taken after the first one as a result of a critical miss slowing down it's demise.
- the second one was nearly fatal, when I forgot the possibility of losing control immediately it came in sight and being dragged through a hold person trap.
- Raver avoided the charm trap and went round the other way in order to kill the third one.
Using the constitution tome gives Raver regeneration, which is particularly handy for me given my no healing potion rule (meaning that trying to rest after a fight can lead to more fights ...).
Now seemed like a good time to go ankheg hunting, which Raver did using 2 PfA scrolls and the shield amulet. He was only hit a couple of times while clearing the nest and decided to invest a potion of regeneration in order to clear the rest of the area - though that probably wasn't worth it for the 5 beasties which showed themselves.
Now with just enough money to buy the invisibility ring Raver shopped at Ulgoth's Beard before adding a bonus ring courtesy of Dushai - a kai critical making quite sure he wasn't going to survive!
Kensai L7, 94 HPs, 241 kills