Next steps are Gnoll fortress, Brague and then the Nashkell Mines. I welcome advices for a solo assassin :-)
Since you are soloing. There is no point in going to collect Dynaheir. Just go to the cave for the goodies there. For the ogres approach them until one comes towards you and then retreat until you are out of sight of the other, perhaps a bit more. You can then hopefully hide and backstab it and hopefully poison it before the other gets involved. If that isn't sufficient get far enough away to use ranged weapons safely.
I don't know how many uses of poison you have, but if you only have one, after getting the loot move to another area to sleep. Sleep almost invariably gets interrupted at the fortress. Upon returning use a poison backstab on the other ogre and then run back over the bridge using ranged weapons, hiding if possible in order to have another chance of backstabbing.
Don't get involved with the gnolls, sneak past to the north to get towards Brage.
For the Nashkel mines I would mainly use stealth to avoid conflict. You will have to retreat after disabling traps in order to hide again.
Further down I would backstab the kobold commando before killing the others. You want to have somewhere safe to run to if you have difficulty with Mulahey. That way you can have two or more bites at the cherry.
Some might use necklace of missiles to kill him from out of sight. That is up to you. "There are more ways to kill a cat than choking it with cream."
I would have raided Durlag's Tower by now if you haven't already. Get in by stealth having already bought potions of perception and perhaps some of master thievery. If you go upstairs there is a potion of oil of speed. Take that, a potion of perception and a potion of master thievery. That way you can disarm all the traps in the upper areas and perhaps down to the dwarven warders as well before the potions wear off. Do not try to kill anything. You are a thief. Only start killing when the traps are dealt with.
Using these tactics I have gone from level one to five with a solo thief. I haven't tried it with an assassin so it may be a bit harder due to not having sufficient ability in disarming traps.
I didn't check your strength. You may have to take a strength potion before picking up the loot. If you sell the stuff that you can't use at the tower, you will probably have enough to buy the thieves' armour. That would be a great boon. After buying the armour, buy the venomous dagger ASAP. Poison is your best weapon against mages. ( Poisonous arrows are also good against mages. Approach using stealth, fire, retire until out of sight and hide again is a useful tactic)
Aldain, Human Conjurer, Update 9 Previous update found here Next update found here
We've been gallivanting about Baldur's Gate proper, solving any and every quest we can find, looting stuff, stealing other stuff, and picking fights. We found out what happened to Jenkal though: Apparently there's more than one Ogre Mage that appreciates the irony of having a Halfling henchman.
Most of the encounters pass without noticeable complications. I did have a few uncomfortable moments though. It looked like Ramazith would Dominate Khalid (which would've prompted a quick retreat, given that Khalid can kill any other party member in 3-4 solid hits), but... it just didn't take? Maybe his Half-Elf immunity botched it, but should it say he got dominated then? Eh, regardless, Ramazith died a few seconds later.
We fare even worse against Drelik, butler of the Helm of Glory-holding (what I assume to be a) Paladin. He gets several spells off thanks to his Magic Resistance blocking our own magic, including a Chaos which confuses half the party. He got close, but didn't quite manage to kill anyone, given that Khalid is just a wrecking ball now with the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength.
Otherwise, we blast through the quests at very rapid pace. Soon, we've literally done everything, apart from the Throne. Ah, the Throne. It was nasty enough in vanilla, but SCS adds 2 thieves with invisibility potions (both are named Shennara, for some odd reason...), so your squishies need to be very careful.
We'll cheese this a bit. We load up on as many summoning spells as possible, filling all our slots (apart from a single Haste on Xan) with Summon Monster I/II, Animate Dead, Animal Summoning I. The rest of our spells we spend on Invisibility, and what's left towards basic buffs/damage spells.
The plan is to sneak the entire party past Zhalimar and friends, stash them in the back room, block the door with 2 invisible characters (each wearing a Cloak of Non-detection), then let our poor summons eat as many spells, Enrage uses and Wand charges as possible before we finally charge in with our ever-present 3x Skeleton Warriors as support.
We successfully sneak past, and set up in the back room. This particular brand of cheese requires a bit of care. A few of the mages have Detect Invisibility and will cast it, hence the need for Non-detection on our "blockers". Also, said mages have many area-of-effect Enchantments, so we need to move our bait summons away from the doorway rather quickly, so that our "blockers" won't get caught in the effect range of something nasty.
We summon an unfortunate Kobold and War Dog. Branwen is handed a Potion of Invisibility, and sent into Zhalimar's view to initiate conversation. We talk, we threaten, the fight begins! Every mage targets Branwen with something Enchantment-y, but she goes invisible while our Kobold and War Dog move in. And the latter two just die within seconds, poor things. Cue more fodder.
This goes on for a few rounds. We summon various hopelessly outmatched critters, send them through the doorway, they get targetted with way more powerful spells than are necessary, die horribly, etc. We get a reminder why we're doing this, when Diyab demonstrates that yes... he has L5 cleric spells, and he'll use them too. Also pictured: Aasim using up his Wand of the Heavens.
This also has the side-effect of Gardush and Zhalimar using up their way too many charges of Enrage, meaning they won't be immune to every status effect when we engage them. Having sent something like 15 critters at the enemy group, we decide they are sufficiently weakened (their mages having resorted to L1 spells), apply our basic buffs along with Haste (and a fair few very expensive potions.. just in case, mind you), and charge!
The battle is over rather quickly. The enemy has very few resources left, and Khalid is just demolishing anyone he targets. Even Stoneskin doesn't last long against our concentrated attacks. Gardush fails his save against Spook and goes running, eventually being pelted down by a bundle of Bullets of Fire and Arrows of Fire. Alai and one of the Shennara's succumb to a Hold Person from Branwen. The other Shennara fails her save against Charm Person. Zhalimar is Blinded. It's a massacre. When Zhalimar himself falls, there's no fight left, and we have victory!
In hindsight, yeah, I over-prepared a bit. But I figured our luck for this run must be nearing its end, so.. better safe than sorry.
We gather up all the loot, extort Thaldorn into telling us where Rieltar went, and promptly head back to the Elfsong tavern. Our next course of action will probably be a string of thefts that will make the Beregost Raid seem like child's play (there's a surprising amount of nice stuff to steal in the Gate, mainly potions but also some magical ammunition). It's entirely pointless, of course, as we have 80k+ and almost nothing to buy. But it's kind of fun to explore all the little nooks and crannies.
Aldain is now a Level 8 Human Conjurer, and rolled a 6 (hooray!) for hitpoints at level up.
@Grond0: I don't know about blindness, but dragons are immune to Hold Monster and nearly all other disablers for some reason. The only disablers I know will work against dragons are Feeblemind and Maze.
Thanks @semiticgod. Have immunities been standardised in BG2EE? In vanilla, Firkraag and Thaxy lacked a number of the immunities given to the ToB dragons, though I can't remember the exact details.
We got a new run underway this morning and would probably have broken the back of BG1 today if my internet connection had not gone down for most of the day .
The time we did have was enough to get us a few levels - particular thanks due there to Shoal, the basilisks and the sirines as usual.
Prit put his improving clerical spells to use by silencing Mutamin (as well as Gorn - rather fittingly as he sneaked up behind the mage for a backstab)
and later did the same to Kirian's mob. Silence was used again to ensure Bassilus wouldn't cast any spells, although that nearly backfired when his skeletons put up a good defense with their crossbows.
The sirines at the lighthouse gave Prit the opportunity to cast 3rd level clerical spells and that allowed skeletons to run the golems round while Gorn shot them.
I've recently bought and installed the EE games. Just having completed the The Black Pits I and II, I'm now starting a no-reload run to explore some of the new aspects to the games. Since I'm also doing a non-EE full SCS run (not a no-reload, I'm testing several options and encounters) and an IWD:EE run (also not planned as a no-reload, though so far it is one) at the same time, I'll propably only update this character sporadically.
This is actually my second attempt with this character - the first time, I encountered Neera, and when I helped her fight the red wizard and his allies, she cast a spell, resulting in a wild surge fireball killing my entire party and ending my run - seems like I've already found a new way to die (the chance of that happening must be exceptionally low, so I hope this won't happen again).
I'm playing on insane without extra damage - after playing The Black Pits II I though this would result in a SCS-like AI, but so far, it seems like that isn't true for the main games.
As I'm new to this version of the game, I'm testing one of the new kits and combining it with a challenge I played and enjoyed (though not completed) a couple of years ago: A sorcerer (in this case, a dragon disciple) with an entirely randomized spellbook. During the mentioned first attempt ended by Neera, I got chromatic orb and burning hands - a decent selection. For the run I'm starting to document here, the choices were far worse: Chill touch and shocking grasp. So far, I've only ever managed to hit one time with shocking grasp and performed 3 successful attacks with chill touch, and I'm actively trying to make use of these spells.
I'm heavily rotating my party members, with Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid being mostly staples.
This is the character:
Lirilis, lawful good female elven dragon disciple with a randomized spellbook Strength: 18 Dexterity: 19 Constitution: 17 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 3 Charisma: 18
Proficiencies: *Darts
Spellpicks: First level: Chill touch, shocking grasp
After completing the Candlekeep subquests, I recruited Imoen, Montaron and Xzar, travelled south to High Hedge and east to Beregost. I wanted to complete the Neera encounter asap, just in case it forced me to restart again - no wild surges this time, success:
I took Neera's items and dismissed her, because I don't want to take the risk of having a wild mage in my party. Instead, I recruited Kagain and killed Silke - she seems to have kept her unchanged vanilla script, so her spells were easily disrupted. Garrick was added to the party, and together, the group travelled to the north, killed some kobolds and bandits and finally reached FAI. Together, they killed Tarnesh (with a backstab by Montaron), and Kagain and Garrick were kicked in favor of Jaheira and Khalid.
The new party travelled south once again, obtaining Mirianne's letter and killing some hobgoblins in the process (and I noticed that the bloodstone amulet "quest" in Beregost seems to have been fixed). In Nashkell, the party killed Neira (who managed to hold Lirilis, but didn't follow up with any attacks) and talked to the mayor. I kicked out Montaron and Xzar and added Rasaad, but after checking out his stats, I dismissed him again (I've heard he has a personal quest, maybe I'll take him along later to complete it).
Instead, Branwen was chosen to travel with Lirilis for a while. When going to the Mines (to get the wand of frost) I encountered Dorn. With Branwen's command spells, the fight was easy, though it took me a long time to actually kill the final opponent (the one with the magical shield and plate armor). Dorn joined the party, and his offensive capabilites seem impressive, though I won't be able to keep him for long because my reputation will soon increase.
After hearing Dorn's story I suspected that the new noblewoman npc next to the Nashkell Inn might be involved with it, and true enough, I obtained a new quest. I was curious, so I travelled to the area east of the mines right away, first obtaining the ring of fire protection and promising to help Samuel. I stumbled upon the necromancer after fighting a horde of gibberlings. While I didn't know the encounter, I expected some kind of fear spell (what else would a necromancer do?) and had Branwen cast remove fear, but before the spell was completed, a cutscene triggered, during which the spell fizzled - and sure enough, right as the cutscene ended, a horror spell hit my party, affecting both Branwen and Jaheira.... Not a fan of how this went.
Well, since Kryll didn't cast any defensive spells, instead using vampiric touch on Dorn (who survived), the remaining party members hit her with ranged weapons until she was dead, and her summons disappeared. Branwen, however, ran into a gibberling group and got stuck there:
She survived, barely, because the horror effect ended in time. I travelled back to the FAI to help Samuel, and I kicked out Dorn and Branwen for now (might pick up Dorn again later, especially since his quest seems to continue in Baldur's Gate).
With only the core team of Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid, I quickly obtained the flamedance ring, killed the belt ogre, got the book for Firebead, calmed Marl, returned Mirianne's letter, killed Landrin's spiders and returned to the FAI to turn in this quest as well. All this brought Lirilis to level 2 - here are her current stats:
@Grond0: I don't know if SoA dragons get ToB immunities in unmodded EE. But SCS gives SoA dragons immunity to vorpal strikes and I think imprisonment, which I believe are the only two immunities ToB dragons had over SoA dragons.
@Grond0, my belated condolences on your namesake Monk. An outstanding run! @RelSundan, glad you're keeping at it. I know the feeling of failure after failure, but you will get better and better. @MacHurto, very nice write-up! Glad to see you in action again. @Enuhal, I love randomized sorcery Good luck!
The wizard in the Nashkell Carnival killed Morrigan. Thought that by having three people shooting arrows at him it would be enough to disrupt him but we missed him enough times for him to cast horror. The rest is history.
A cautionary tale against playing wothout focusing. Oh, well, will continue posting when I get to this point again with Morrigan2
After leaving the mines, we went to the Carnival to recuperate. We dropped Xan off there as we only needed him as a porter. (Don't tell him that. He might get annoyed). We returned the ring to Joseph's wife and charmed Oublek for the fight against Nimbul. He panicked and ran which saved his life and meant that when we attacked Nimbul we had no fear of that spell being used against us. We then proceeded to the bandit camp where we fought Tazok. (Normally I buff before arriving there, but IMO the spells should really have worn off before fighting Tazok so this time there was no pre-buffing.
The result of not pre-buffing was that i was quite badly injured. However resting at the camp I was able to fully recover. I then decided that destroying the camp was the best option for whilst I could have used stealth alone, I would not have acquired the useful loot. We then killed Deke and the other bandits before returning to Beregost to kill Branwen's nemesis, Tranzig. Returning to the bandit camp, I webbed Taugosz Khosann, cast two fireball spells and then used the wand of frost once. That was sufficient.
We cleared the outside area before entering Tazok's tent where a combination of silence and web enabled us to kill all the enemy without a scratch. We then rested to remember the spells again. We went to Cloakwood where we acquired a cloak and fought Seniyad.
We also killed a lot of spiders further into Cloakwood and returned the body of Chelak's brother.
In transit Ajantis was quite badly injured when we killed a couple of wyvern.
We then entered a cave where there were a lot of wyverns. We killed them easily but didn't realise that Ajantis was poisoned. We gave him a potion as soon as we noticed. By the time he recovered he had only 2 health points left.
He, Branwin and I cast healing spells which brought him back from the brink. We rested outside and he fully recovered. We then went to the mines where we killed one of the "Welcoming Committee." However we were all "Confused" and so nobody was even able to cast dispell magic. Fortunately none of us approached the enemy with the result that our only injuries were self-inflicted.
We left the area so that we could rest without interuption. Upon returning, web and silence were quite effective, but not totally so as Drasus saved and caused some injuries.
Going down the mines, Hareishan was killed without too much difficulty. I t was her minions that did the damage. Nearby the cook who described herself as a fubsy offered me oh so eloquently a shag. Not wanting a dose of the pox, I politely declined. I presume that it was her occupation that led to her becoming a fubsy.
Against Natasha, Branwen sent in a skeleton who took the brunt of Natasha's spells which were: "Confusion, Lightning bolt, and Fireball. I cast web and after that the rest was easy.
The battle against Davaeorn was almost a carbon Copy of that one.
I killed the ogre/mage and did some looting on the way out and upon leaving the mines was thanked by a representative of the miners that I sved.
Upon killing Davaeorn I became a level 6 fighter/level 6 illusionist.
Multi-player No-reload Tcos the gnomish fighter/thief (protagonist, controlled by Dogdancing) Zaxxon the gnomish fighter/illusinionist (controlled by Corey_Russell)
Because Dogdancing has a bit more time (plus I do too, week off), as well as a recent medication she is taking is helping with the pain in her hands, we were able to make progress on this run today. This run started August 5th, 2014!!!
Trilogy run Core rules all times No mods, official patches Original Shadows of Amn
Here's where we battling Captain Haegan and buddies:
Things we got done: 1) Lots of misc. things were done to upgrade armor/shields/weapons, so that we were prepared for quests (being able to kill trolls with weapons, for D'Arnise Keep, Trademeet, Slaver quest. etc.), as well so we wouldn't have to gulp so many heal potions.
2) Graveyard cleared of enemies, though not the lower level. We didn't attempt this until we had hold defense (Shield of Harmony, Arbane)
3) Hendak freed - the poor beastmaster got backstabbed dead by a one shot by Tcos, which meant he never got a chance to call for help - was easy to pick off the beasts.
4) Lilacor quest done and sword sold - while Tcos did the actual trapping, Corey_Russell gave her precise instructions as to what traps to clear, when to scout, change weapons/armor, etc.
By the way, should be noted we usually melee unless an enemy requires a more subtle approach.
5) Genies defeated in Trademeet - properly protected, the team did well - our slow didn't do them any favors either. As always, if not a full party, always need to remember to put PfP on the main character and be aware the enemies are hasted, which means either defense/offense is required.
6) MANY ambushes weathered, but the team fought them off.
7) Circus problem solved - problem was Zaxxon had no magical weapons. We found a +1 axe in a crate in the docks, plus looted a +2 from the graveyard - this allowed clearing the circus of its problem. Eventually Zaxxon upgraded to Stonefire as his main weapon, with Tcos using Namuraa.
We need to talk to the ogre in Umar Hills to get our Shield of the Lost - Dogdancing needed to pick up our son in real life. So the shield will be picked up next session.
EDIT: Woops, forgot our battle in the Mimic cave - we easily defeated the mimic. But the umber hulks were a different story - Zaxon got confused and very quickly Tcos was badly hurt! She ran way and healed up - there was nothing she could do as the 2 umber hulks killed Zaxxon. She was able to fend them off herself. (she has better AC to blunt, -10). We did then did the LONG process of putting all of Zaxxon's stuff in the container in the cave, go to Trademeet Temple, resurrect, come back and re-equip. This ate up a lot of time, so needed to save here.
Icewind Gate 2: Frisk, Asriel, and Chara in BG2 (first post here)
These days I never play the De'Arnise Hold without having the Death Spell on hand. Spirit Trolls are one of the most annoying enemies in SCS, and the Death Spell renders them powerless.
So much XP for so little effort, and saving so much time and frustration, just by getting the Death Spell.
All that's left are golems and Yuan-ti Mages. Asriel's powerful melee attacks can tackle the former; Chara's Will o' Wisp form can deal with the latter.
We rescue Lady Delcia, who knows to steer clear of Frisk's grabbers.
Chara helps Frisk keep their hands to themselves. Notice the white glow on the party; that's the lingering effects of CTRL-J, which has probably added years to my lifespan.
With the Death Spell in hand, the only real challenge in the SCS De'Arnise Hold is TorGal, who comes bolstered by Spirit Trolls, Yuan-ti Mages, and an Umber Hulk Elder. We stack on our massive buffs and throw out Webs and summons. Kitty gets thrashed in the first round of combat.
Worse yet, the Yuan-ti Mages ignore our summons and throw out Remove Magic when Asriel and Frisk get too close.
The player's Remove Magic spells can only target a specific point on the map, but enemy Remove Magic spells are different. They can only target individual critters, which means the projectile can chase down the target. This isn't an SCS invention; this is an engine limitation. Frisk minimizes the damage by running away from Asriel, ensuring that our cleric does not risk losing his buffs.
It's a partial success. Moments later, one of the mages launches a Breach spell at Asriel, and he loses most of his buffs, if not all of them.
That Chant spell is actually Recitation: +2 to hit and saving throws for allies and -2 to hit and saving throws for enemies. The IWD2 Chant spell blocks spellcasting and slows your movement rate by half; it does far more harm than good. We also can cast Prayer (+1 to hit, damage, and saves for allies; -1 to hit, damage, and saves for enemies), but we used that as a pre-buff because it can't bypass the enemies' MGOI spells.
IWD2's Champion's Strength spell apparently is not a combat protection or specific protection spell, which means Breach doesn't affect it. Asriel still has a massive +7 to STR, putting him at 25 STR combined with the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, so he's still quite dangerous. But without his Stoneskins, he's very much a glass cannon. I still haven't given him his full 1d8 HP per level.
Lucky for us, IWD2 Painbearers of Ilmater get Stoneskin as a level 6 domain spell. And the Improved Initiative feat means it casts instantly.
Chara is hacking away at TorGal in White Half-Dragon form, saving the more powerful Red Half-Dragon form for later. Chara also got Breached and has no Stoneskins, and therefore has to rely on the half-dragon form's damage resistances.
Chara is not doing well; being slowed by TorGal's natural weapon means they can only drink one potion every 2 rounds, making them much easier to kill.
It gets worse. With his Free Action pre-buff Breached, Asriel's only defense against Frisk's Web spells are his saving throws. And without his many IWD2-style buffs, his saves are not that reliable.
Frisk needs to rescue Asriel. But with no immunities of their own, it would be foolish to rush in to restore his Stoneskins. Instead, Frisk buffs with Improved Invisibility, mostly for the save bonuses to help them shrug off disablers.
Asriel manages to escape the webs, just in time to down a potion. With such low HP, a Potion of Extra Healing is little different from the Rod of Resurrection.
Chara zaps TorGal with Static Charge, and the head honcho collapses.
Asriel throws a lemon at TorGal. He resists the crushing damage, but has no defense against the citric acid.
Chara has recovered from TorGal's slow effect and is on the rampage. The White Half-Dragon form's greatsword deals 3d6 cold damage through Stoneskin, and Static Charge tracks down invisible targets.
Asriel struggles with Frisk's Web spells. Frisk pulls out Firetooth to make sure none of the Trolls recover while Asriel is webbed, then blasts the survivors with Cone of Cold.
Chara shatters a Yuan-ti Mage with cold damage, but Goat Bro isn't doing so well. He fails another save against Web, and Spirit Trolls rush him.
Asriel finally breaks free and drinks a potion. Chara slays the last Yuan-ti Mage and the enemy falls apart.
We report back to Nalia and inform her that her father is dead. Since nobody seems to consider casting Raise Dead, the De'Arnise Hold has no rightful ruler. Frisk tries to cheer Nalia up with a surprise proposal, but Nalia is not in the mood.
My install makes all strongholds open, which means I have to accept or decline the offer to rule the De'Arnise Hold. Since Frisk is a sorcerer and should stick with the Planar Sphere stronghold per my normal rules, we have to say no. Nalia doesn't take it very well.
@semiticgod I think that you have mis-typed this sentence, it might make your post easier to understand if you correct it One of the formers should have been latter, probably the latter one. "All that's left are golems and Yuan-ti Mages. Asriel's powerful melee attacks can tackle the former; Chara's Will o' Wisp form can deal with the former."
Nice update @Wise_Grimwald, well done keeping everyone alive and what a brilliant line by the Nashkel Mines cook. Had never read it!
I had to google fubsy to find out what it means, and I couldn't find out what Greenhead means even after googling. Google is NOT AN OMNISCIENT AUTHORITY FIGURE.
Does anyone know what a greenhead is? I know what a greenhorn is?
Lirilis travelled to Nashkell and added Minsc. With their new friend, a way to the gnoll stronghold was quickly found, resulting in gauntlets of dexterity for Khalid. The party, though fatigued, fought their way through the gnolls and rescued Dynaheir, leaving the charisma tome for later. Back in Nashkell, I added Edwin to the party instead of Minsc and Dynaheir, but he was also quickly removed.
Lirilis also completed the quests around Beregost - Perdue's sword, Zhurlong's boots, Bjornin's half-ogres. While planning to improved her reputation to 20, she helped the dryad of the cloud peaks (discovering a very useful new club +1 for Jaheira) and returned Brage to Nashkell.
All this brought the dragon disciple to level 3, which resulted in a new randomized spellpick. My luck improved this time, she got chromatic orb! At last, a spell that's actually worth using.
With 20 reputation, Lirilis bought a shortbow +1 and a sling +1 for Imoen and Jaheira. She also decided to obtain more magical weapons for the other party members, which resulted in the death of Zargal - and Bassilus, who was disrupted with chromatic orbs. His final spell was an uninterruptable one, but he died before completing it. I'm keeping the war hammer for now, and Imoen is using the short sword. Lirilis also killed Greywulf for Khalid and obtained the charisma tome for herself. With the newfound money (mostly thanks to the Bassilus quest) and charisma 19, she was able to afford the Shadow Armor for Imoen.
I also turned in the quests for Prism, the winter wolf pelt and Melicamp - he didn't make it:
Current level: 3 Current randomized spellbook: First level spells: Chill touch, shocking grasp, chromatic orb
This is just a quick update. No great triumphs or tragedies, but we have been able to make some progress in the TotSC content. We were first teleported to an Ice Island by Shandalar. Before battle was done, Dynaheir cast Invisibility on Imoen, and the thief then disarmed all the traps (save one she triggered). The only trouble we had was my mouse magic not working the way it should. I should have stopped playing when I noticed that mouse clicks wouldn't always register, but I lazily chose the comfort of my warm, new home over shopping for a new mouse. It cost Imoen her life (she failed to move away from Andris's Fireball or Sunfire). It gave us some inventory problems and a slight XP lag for Imoen but other than that we steamrolled through the dungeon. As I've said before, I'm trying to play fair this run, meaning among other things no pre-buffing for either friend or foe. I've played this way before and found it satisfying, but I realize now that this was probably because I was soloing. With a full party housing three pretty competent archers - Minsc, Khalid and Imoen - with arrows of biting and elemental arrows, and with Jaheira and Sigrid liberally Flamestriking the opposition with their wands, we destroyed all the wizards that inhabited the place. Dezkiel managed to Confuse Khalid, but wearing the boots of speed, he rushed to a quiet corner while Jaheira and Sigrid toasted the mage.
The party's biggest reward was a Stoneskin scroll for Dynaheir, which she considered such an important spell that she quaffed a potion of genius and one of mind focusing in order to scribe that single spell into her book.
We also wanted to retrieve Balduran's artifacts for Mendas so we traveled to Baldur's Gate to acquire Captain Tollar Kieres' sea charts at the Merchants League counting house, and to see if our old friend Aldeth Sashenstar was willing to reward us with Kondar for killing some Doppelgangers at his estate. Alas, the latter was nowhere to be found, so no Kondar, though we did procure the saea charts. I considered skipping the Island of Balduran, for lack of cold iron weaponry and bastard sword proficiency, but we decided to see this quest through anyway. (Completionist run and all that.) Long story short, Khalid and Minsc had free action from ring and blade respectively, and battled Wolfweres along with Vampiric Wolves. Jaheira and Sigrid helped out when no Vampiric Wolves were around. Khalid extensively buffed for the Loup Garou and its wizard cronie: PfMagic (scroll), potions of heroism, storm giant strength, stone form, agility, mind focusing, regeneration, speed, regen, power. Stabbing the beast with the silver dagger that Imoen had just found, he soon had the upper hand. There was a brief moment of doubt when Loup Garou panicked and ran away, regenerating in the process, but it only delayed the inevitable as Khalid soon had the creature cornered with the help of other Wolfweres that were attacking him.
We left the island, ignoring most hostile Werewolves, and found passage to Ulgoth's Beard with Kaishas' help after some members of her pack spoke highly of Sigrid and the others. In the Beard Minsc and Khalid buffed again (we had too many potions to carry anyway) and slew Mendas and an adherent without difficulty.
So far everything has gone extremely well for Sigrid and her companions, with the Wolf of Ulcaster being the only messy affair. Playing a single class Cleric still feels somewhat less heroic. It reminds me a bit of my Skald, whose playthrough I eventually aborted in the Underdark. I think I just prefer Charname to be the one to give that Loup Garou a good whooping, and to be more of a presence in the heat of combat generally. Perhaps it's because I'm used to soloing and doing all the work myself. I might try and play Sigrid more offensively, but it feels a bit forced to me and probably less effective than having my warriors and (in BG2) mages take care of business. Part of me wants to retire Sigrid (also because the canon NPCs aren't my faves), but another part of me wonders whether I can turn Sigrid into a more compelling presence (maybe in BG2 with Turn Undead, Harm, Aerial Servant, Holy Triumvirate + dual-wield + improved haste?), and whether I can be bothered with another completionist party run. (I'd probably end up soloing again. I already rolled a Kensai and a Blade...) What do you think readers and fellow no-reloaders? Any advice on how to make a Cleric shine in a party in addition to my expectations for BG2?
I did a run with a cleric once, when the EE came out, so I could have all new NPCs in the same group. Found it very underwhelming for the same reasons. I didn't feel Charname was as powerful as the rest, except at epic levels when facing undead. Maybe Fighter/ranger dualled to cleric could be an answer? Anomen is quite a competent character, for example.
Ahh yes, while I may be a little rusty, I see my ability to bring the chaotic DOGDANCING-MOD to the game hasn't faded with age. Go Tcos! Tanking Torgal in leather.... yeah, that burst of adrenaline probably shorted dear husbands life a bit, heh.
Multi-player Trilogy No-Reload Tcos the gnomish fighter/thief (protagonist, controlled by Dogdancing) Zaxxon the gnomish fighter/illusionist (controlled by Corey_Russell) Current game: vanilla BG 2
So the run continues, albeit just barely. Some things accomplished:
1) Entering and fleeing Watcher's Keep. We nearly died against the vampiric wraiths - decided to come back another day. We wanted the ammo belt but have to do without it seems.
2) Massive # of trash ambushes - Dogdancing is getting tired of all the same loot.
3) Trademeet issue easily solved. The Druid Grove presented no problems, with Cernd once again wiping out Faldhorn.
4) Reijek outed out. Only rune assassins and ghasts were our opponents, but with our good AC and improved invisibility on each of us, we easily came out on top.
5) Slavers wiped out once for all (moored ship).
6) D'Arnise Keep Most enemies here were defeated with Stonefire and the flame blade, with little trouble. When convenient, we had Tcos backstab. She of course did all the lock-picking and de-trapping, with Zaxxon doing massive number of identifying. We were forced to leave to sell and return, mostly because of the magical ammo, but we need money for various things so worth it in the end. Umber hulks mostly killed by cloudkill.
Tried to do the same vs. Torgal but he saved. This meant both he and his two buddies came. However, in no time at all, Zaxxon was at critical (because MMM equipped, perhaps?) - he was forced to flee since invisibility doesn't work as Torgal sees through. So Zaxxon ran to the far room by the entrance to the level. He tried to go invisible, however, however Tcos is NOT tanking well and is slowed!! (we found out she was wearing leather instead of her full plate).
In fact, she is just about to die!
So now Corey_Russell tells Dogdancing to potion (which works!) and then run to Zaxxon. Zaxxon meanwhile is trying his RoR on Tcos - and it works! And shortly thereafter Torgal (who was near death anyways) dies to MMM - almost in the clear and the RoR hits and Tcos is safe!!
Zaxxon was near death himself, but extra healing potion and RoR fixed him too - party lives to tell the tale! We sell, rest at Watcher's Keep, and consider the Fates which smiled on Tcos this day...
These days I never play the De'Arnise Hold without having the Death Spell on hand. Spirit Trolls are one of the most annoying enemies in SCS, and the Death Spell renders them powerless.
WHAT!? You're telling me I fought those stupid trolls all this time for nothing? One Death Spell and *poof*? Well, you learn new things about this game every day. Now I'm going to start clearing the Keep before the Underdark...
Comments
I don't know how many uses of poison you have, but if you only have one, after getting the loot move to another area to sleep. Sleep almost invariably gets interrupted at the fortress. Upon returning use a poison backstab on the other ogre and then run back over the bridge using ranged weapons, hiding if possible in order to have another chance of backstabbing.
Don't get involved with the gnolls, sneak past to the north to get towards Brage.
For the Nashkel mines I would mainly use stealth to avoid conflict. You will have to retreat after disabling traps in order to hide again.
Further down I would backstab the kobold commando before killing the others. You want to have somewhere safe to run to if you have difficulty with Mulahey. That way you can have two or more bites at the cherry.
Some might use necklace of missiles to kill him from out of sight. That is up to you. "There are more ways to kill a cat than choking it with cream."
I would have raided Durlag's Tower by now if you haven't already. Get in by stealth having already bought potions of perception and perhaps some of master thievery. If you go upstairs there is a potion of oil of speed.
Take that, a potion of perception and a potion of master thievery. That way you can disarm all the traps in the upper areas and perhaps down to the dwarven warders as well before the potions wear off. Do not try to kill anything. You are a thief. Only start killing when the traps are dealt with.
Using these tactics I have gone from level one to five with a solo thief. I haven't tried it with an assassin so it may be a bit harder due to not having sufficient ability in disarming traps.
I didn't check your strength. You may have to take a strength potion before picking up the loot. If you sell the stuff that you can't use at the tower, you will probably have enough to buy the thieves' armour. That would be a great boon. After buying the armour, buy the venomous dagger ASAP. Poison is your best weapon against mages. ( Poisonous arrows are also good against mages. Approach using stealth, fire, retire until out of sight and hide again is a useful tactic)
Previous update found here
Next update found here
We've been gallivanting about Baldur's Gate proper, solving any and every quest we can find, looting stuff, stealing other stuff, and picking fights. We found out what happened to Jenkal though: Apparently there's more than one Ogre Mage that appreciates the irony of having a Halfling henchman.
Most of the encounters pass without noticeable complications. I did have a few uncomfortable moments though. It looked like Ramazith would Dominate Khalid (which would've prompted a quick retreat, given that Khalid can kill any other party member in 3-4 solid hits), but... it just didn't take? Maybe his Half-Elf immunity botched it, but should it say he got dominated then? Eh, regardless, Ramazith died a few seconds later.
We fare even worse against Drelik, butler of the Helm of Glory-holding (what I assume to be a) Paladin. He gets several spells off thanks to his Magic Resistance blocking our own magic, including a Chaos which confuses half the party. He got close, but didn't quite manage to kill anyone, given that Khalid is just a wrecking ball now with the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength.
Otherwise, we blast through the quests at very rapid pace. Soon, we've literally done everything, apart from the Throne. Ah, the Throne. It was nasty enough in vanilla, but SCS adds 2 thieves with invisibility potions (both are named Shennara, for some odd reason...), so your squishies need to be very careful.
We'll cheese this a bit. We load up on as many summoning spells as possible, filling all our slots (apart from a single Haste on Xan) with Summon Monster I/II, Animate Dead, Animal Summoning I. The rest of our spells we spend on Invisibility, and what's left towards basic buffs/damage spells.
The plan is to sneak the entire party past Zhalimar and friends, stash them in the back room, block the door with 2 invisible characters (each wearing a Cloak of Non-detection), then let our poor summons eat as many spells, Enrage uses and Wand charges as possible before we finally charge in with our ever-present 3x Skeleton Warriors as support.
We successfully sneak past, and set up in the back room. This particular brand of cheese requires a bit of care. A few of the mages have Detect Invisibility and will cast it, hence the need for Non-detection on our "blockers". Also, said mages have many area-of-effect Enchantments, so we need to move our bait summons away from the doorway rather quickly, so that our "blockers" won't get caught in the effect range of something nasty.
We summon an unfortunate Kobold and War Dog. Branwen is handed a Potion of Invisibility, and sent into Zhalimar's view to initiate conversation. We talk, we threaten, the fight begins! Every mage targets Branwen with something Enchantment-y, but she goes invisible while our Kobold and War Dog move in. And the latter two just die within seconds, poor things. Cue more fodder.
This goes on for a few rounds. We summon various hopelessly outmatched critters, send them through the doorway, they get targetted with way more powerful spells than are necessary, die horribly, etc.
We get a reminder why we're doing this, when Diyab demonstrates that yes... he has L5 cleric spells, and he'll use them too. Also pictured: Aasim using up his Wand of the Heavens.
This also has the side-effect of Gardush and Zhalimar using up their way too many charges of Enrage, meaning they won't be immune to every status effect when we engage them. Having sent something like 15 critters at the enemy group, we decide they are sufficiently weakened (their mages having resorted to L1 spells), apply our basic buffs along with Haste (and a fair few very expensive potions.. just in case, mind you), and charge!
The battle is over rather quickly. The enemy has very few resources left, and Khalid is just demolishing anyone he targets. Even Stoneskin doesn't last long against our concentrated attacks. Gardush fails his save against Spook and goes running, eventually being pelted down by a bundle of Bullets of Fire and Arrows of Fire. Alai and one of the Shennara's succumb to a Hold Person from Branwen. The other Shennara fails her save against Charm Person. Zhalimar is Blinded. It's a massacre. When Zhalimar himself falls, there's no fight left, and we have victory!
In hindsight, yeah, I over-prepared a bit. But I figured our luck for this run must be nearing its end, so.. better safe than sorry.
We gather up all the loot, extort Thaldorn into telling us where Rieltar went, and promptly head back to the Elfsong tavern. Our next course of action will probably be a string of thefts that will make the Beregost Raid seem like child's play (there's a surprising amount of nice stuff to steal in the Gate, mainly potions but also some magical ammunition). It's entirely pointless, of course, as we have 80k+ and almost nothing to buy. But it's kind of fun to explore all the little nooks and crannies.
Aldain is now a Level 8 Human Conjurer, and rolled a 6 (hooray!) for hitpoints at level up.
Prit, half-elf cleric/ranger (Grond0) & Gorn, elf stalker (Gate70)
We got a new run underway this morning and would probably have broken the back of BG1 today if my internet connection had not gone down for most of the day
The time we did have was enough to get us a few levels - particular thanks due there to Shoal, the basilisks and the sirines as usual.
Prit put his improving clerical spells to use by silencing Mutamin (as well as Gorn - rather fittingly as he sneaked up behind the mage for a backstab)
The sirines at the lighthouse gave Prit the opportunity to cast 3rd level clerical spells and that allowed skeletons to run the golems round while Gorn shot them.
Prit, cleric 5 / ranger 4, 49 HPs, 51 kills
Gorn, stalker 5, 57 HPs, 43 kills, 0 deaths
I've recently bought and installed the EE games. Just having completed the The Black Pits I and II, I'm now starting a no-reload run to explore some of the new aspects to the games. Since I'm also doing a non-EE full SCS run (not a no-reload, I'm testing several options and encounters) and an IWD:EE run (also not planned as a no-reload, though so far it is one) at the same time, I'll propably only update this character sporadically.
This is actually my second attempt with this character - the first time, I encountered Neera, and when I helped her fight the red wizard and his allies, she cast a spell, resulting in a wild surge fireball killing my entire party and ending my run - seems like I've already found a new way to die (the chance of that happening must be exceptionally low, so I hope this won't happen again).
I'm playing on insane without extra damage - after playing The Black Pits II I though this would result in a SCS-like AI, but so far, it seems like that isn't true for the main games.
As I'm new to this version of the game, I'm testing one of the new kits and combining it with a challenge I played and enjoyed (though not completed) a couple of years ago: A sorcerer (in this case, a dragon disciple) with an entirely randomized spellbook. During the mentioned first attempt ended by Neera, I got chromatic orb and burning hands - a decent selection. For the run I'm starting to document here, the choices were far worse: Chill touch and shocking grasp. So far, I've only ever managed to hit one time with shocking grasp and performed 3 successful attacks with chill touch, and I'm actively trying to make use of these spells.
I'm heavily rotating my party members, with Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid being mostly staples.
This is the character:
Lirilis, lawful good female elven dragon disciple with a randomized spellbook
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 19
Constitution: 17
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 3
Charisma: 18
Proficiencies:
*Darts
Spellpicks:
First level: Chill touch, shocking grasp
After completing the Candlekeep subquests, I recruited Imoen, Montaron and Xzar, travelled south to High Hedge and east to Beregost. I wanted to complete the Neera encounter asap, just in case it forced me to restart again - no wild surges this time, success:
I took Neera's items and dismissed her, because I don't want to take the risk of having a wild mage in my party. Instead, I recruited Kagain and killed Silke - she seems to have kept her unchanged vanilla script, so her spells were easily disrupted. Garrick was added to the party, and together, the group travelled to the north, killed some kobolds and bandits and finally reached FAI. Together, they killed Tarnesh (with a backstab by Montaron), and Kagain and Garrick were kicked in favor of Jaheira and Khalid.
The new party travelled south once again, obtaining Mirianne's letter and killing some hobgoblins in the process (and I noticed that the bloodstone amulet "quest" in Beregost seems to have been fixed). In Nashkell, the party killed Neira (who managed to hold Lirilis, but didn't follow up with any attacks) and talked to the mayor. I kicked out Montaron and Xzar and added Rasaad, but after checking out his stats, I dismissed him again (I've heard he has a personal quest, maybe I'll take him along later to complete it).
Instead, Branwen was chosen to travel with Lirilis for a while. When going to the Mines (to get the wand of frost) I encountered Dorn. With Branwen's command spells, the fight was easy, though it took me a long time to actually kill the final opponent (the one with the magical shield and plate armor). Dorn joined the party, and his offensive capabilites seem impressive, though I won't be able to keep him for long because my reputation will soon increase.
After hearing Dorn's story I suspected that the new noblewoman npc next to the Nashkell Inn might be involved with it, and true enough, I obtained a new quest. I was curious, so I travelled to the area east of the mines right away, first obtaining the ring of fire protection and promising to help Samuel. I stumbled upon the necromancer after fighting a horde of gibberlings. While I didn't know the encounter, I expected some kind of fear spell (what else would a necromancer do?) and had Branwen cast remove fear, but before the spell was completed, a cutscene triggered, during which the spell fizzled - and sure enough, right as the cutscene ended, a horror spell hit my party, affecting both Branwen and Jaheira.... Not a fan of how this went.
Well, since Kryll didn't cast any defensive spells, instead using vampiric touch on Dorn (who survived), the remaining party members hit her with ranged weapons until she was dead, and her summons disappeared. Branwen, however, ran into a gibberling group and got stuck there:
She survived, barely, because the horror effect ended in time. I travelled back to the FAI to help Samuel, and I kicked out Dorn and Branwen for now (might pick up Dorn again later, especially since his quest seems to continue in Baldur's Gate).
With only the core team of Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid, I quickly obtained the flamedance ring, killed the belt ogre, got the book for Firebead, calmed Marl, returned Mirianne's letter, killed Landrin's spiders and returned to the FAI to turn in this quest as well. All this brought Lirilis to level 2 - here are her current stats:
That's it for now.
Enuhal
@RelSundan, glad you're keeping at it. I know the feeling of failure after failure, but you will get better and better.
@MacHurto, very nice write-up! Glad to see you in action again.
@Enuhal, I love randomized sorcery
A cautionary tale against playing wothout focusing. Oh, well, will continue posting when I get to this point again with Morrigan2
Journal of Spugnor
After leaving the mines, we went to the Carnival to recuperate. We dropped Xan off there as we only needed him as a porter. (Don't tell him that. He might get annoyed). We returned the ring to Joseph's wife and charmed Oublek for the fight against Nimbul. He panicked and ran which saved his life and meant that when we attacked Nimbul we had no fear of that spell being used against us.We then proceeded to the bandit camp where we fought Tazok.
(Normally I buff before arriving there, but IMO the spells should really have worn off before fighting Tazok so this time there was no pre-buffing.
The result of not pre-buffing was that i was quite badly injured. However resting at the camp I was able to fully recover. I then decided that destroying the camp was the best option for whilst I could have used stealth alone, I would not have acquired the useful loot.
We then killed Deke and the other bandits before returning to Beregost to kill Branwen's nemesis, Tranzig.
Returning to the bandit camp, I webbed Taugosz Khosann, cast two fireball spells and then used the wand of frost once. That was sufficient.
We cleared the outside area before entering Tazok's tent where a combination of silence and web enabled us to kill all the enemy without a scratch.
We went to Cloakwood where we acquired a cloak and fought Seniyad.
In transit Ajantis was quite badly injured when we killed a couple of wyvern.
We then entered a cave where there were a lot of wyverns. We killed them easily but didn't realise that Ajantis was poisoned. We gave him a potion as soon as we noticed. By the time he recovered he had only 2 health points left.
We then went to the mines where we killed one of the "Welcoming Committee."
However we were all "Confused" and so nobody was even able to cast dispell magic. Fortunately none of us approached the enemy with the result that our only injuries were self-inflicted.
We left the area so that we could rest without interuption.
Upon returning, web and silence were quite effective, but not totally so as Drasus saved and caused some injuries.
Against Natasha, Branwen sent in a skeleton who took the brunt of Natasha's spells which were: "Confusion, Lightning bolt, and Fireball. I cast web and after that the rest was easy.
I killed the ogre/mage and did some looting on the way out and upon leaving the mines was thanked by a representative of the miners that I sved.
Upon killing Davaeorn I became a level 6 fighter/level 6 illusionist.
Tcos the gnomish fighter/thief (protagonist, controlled by Dogdancing)
Zaxxon the gnomish fighter/illusinionist (controlled by Corey_Russell)
Because Dogdancing has a bit more time (plus I do too, week off), as well as a recent medication she is taking is helping with the pain in her hands, we were able to make progress on this run today. This run started August 5th, 2014!!!
Trilogy run
Core rules all times
No mods, official patches
Original Shadows of Amn
Starting post (look for post by Corey_Russell about Tcos/Zaxxon)
Last Post (look for Tcos/Zaxxon)
Tcos
Zaxxon
Here's where we battling Captain Haegan and buddies:
Things we got done:
1) Lots of misc. things were done to upgrade armor/shields/weapons, so that we were prepared for quests (being able to kill trolls with weapons, for D'Arnise Keep, Trademeet, Slaver quest. etc.), as well so we wouldn't have to gulp so many heal potions.
2) Graveyard cleared of enemies, though not the lower level. We didn't attempt this until we had hold defense (Shield of Harmony, Arbane)
3) Hendak freed - the poor beastmaster got backstabbed dead by a one shot by Tcos, which meant he never got a chance to call for help - was easy to pick off the beasts.
4) Lilacor quest done and sword sold - while Tcos did the actual trapping, Corey_Russell gave her precise instructions as to what traps to clear, when to scout, change weapons/armor, etc.
By the way, should be noted we usually melee unless an enemy requires a more subtle approach.
5) Genies defeated in Trademeet - properly protected, the team did well - our slow didn't do them any favors either. As always, if not a full party, always need to remember to put PfP on the main character and be aware the enemies are hasted, which means either defense/offense is required.
6) MANY ambushes weathered, but the team fought them off.
7) Circus problem solved - problem was Zaxxon had no magical weapons. We found a +1 axe in a crate in the docks, plus looted a +2 from the graveyard - this allowed clearing the circus of its problem. Eventually Zaxxon upgraded to Stonefire as his main weapon, with Tcos using Namuraa.
We need to talk to the ogre in Umar Hills to get our Shield of the Lost - Dogdancing needed to pick up our son in real life. So the shield will be picked up next session.
EDIT: Woops, forgot our battle in the Mimic cave - we easily defeated the mimic. But the umber hulks were a different story - Zaxon got confused and very quickly Tcos was badly hurt! She ran way and healed up - there was nothing she could do as the 2 umber hulks killed Zaxxon. She was able to fend them off herself. (she has better AC to blunt, -10). We did then did the LONG process of putting all of Zaxxon's stuff in the container in the cave, go to Trademeet Temple, resurrect, come back and re-equip. This ate up a lot of time, so needed to save here.
(first post here)
These days I never play the De'Arnise Hold without having the Death Spell on hand. Spirit Trolls are one of the most annoying enemies in SCS, and the Death Spell renders them powerless.
So much XP for so little effort, and saving so much time and frustration, just by getting the Death Spell.
All that's left are golems and Yuan-ti Mages. Asriel's powerful melee attacks can tackle the former; Chara's Will o' Wisp form can deal with the latter.
We rescue Lady Delcia, who knows to steer clear of Frisk's grabbers.
Chara helps Frisk keep their hands to themselves. Notice the white glow on the party; that's the lingering effects of CTRL-J, which has probably added years to my lifespan.
With the Death Spell in hand, the only real challenge in the SCS De'Arnise Hold is TorGal, who comes bolstered by Spirit Trolls, Yuan-ti Mages, and an Umber Hulk Elder. We stack on our massive buffs and throw out Webs and summons. Kitty gets thrashed in the first round of combat.
Worse yet, the Yuan-ti Mages ignore our summons and throw out Remove Magic when Asriel and Frisk get too close.
The player's Remove Magic spells can only target a specific point on the map, but enemy Remove Magic spells are different. They can only target individual critters, which means the projectile can chase down the target. This isn't an SCS invention; this is an engine limitation. Frisk minimizes the damage by running away from Asriel, ensuring that our cleric does not risk losing his buffs.
It's a partial success. Moments later, one of the mages launches a Breach spell at Asriel, and he loses most of his buffs, if not all of them.
That Chant spell is actually Recitation: +2 to hit and saving throws for allies and -2 to hit and saving throws for enemies. The IWD2 Chant spell blocks spellcasting and slows your movement rate by half; it does far more harm than good. We also can cast Prayer (+1 to hit, damage, and saves for allies; -1 to hit, damage, and saves for enemies), but we used that as a pre-buff because it can't bypass the enemies' MGOI spells.
IWD2's Champion's Strength spell apparently is not a combat protection or specific protection spell, which means Breach doesn't affect it. Asriel still has a massive +7 to STR, putting him at 25 STR combined with the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, so he's still quite dangerous. But without his Stoneskins, he's very much a glass cannon. I still haven't given him his full 1d8 HP per level.
Lucky for us, IWD2 Painbearers of Ilmater get Stoneskin as a level 6 domain spell. And the Improved Initiative feat means it casts instantly.
Chara is hacking away at TorGal in White Half-Dragon form, saving the more powerful Red Half-Dragon form for later. Chara also got Breached and has no Stoneskins, and therefore has to rely on the half-dragon form's damage resistances.
Chara is not doing well; being slowed by TorGal's natural weapon means they can only drink one potion every 2 rounds, making them much easier to kill.
It gets worse. With his Free Action pre-buff Breached, Asriel's only defense against Frisk's Web spells are his saving throws. And without his many IWD2-style buffs, his saves are not that reliable.
Frisk needs to rescue Asriel. But with no immunities of their own, it would be foolish to rush in to restore his Stoneskins. Instead, Frisk buffs with Improved Invisibility, mostly for the save bonuses to help them shrug off disablers.
Asriel manages to escape the webs, just in time to down a potion. With such low HP, a Potion of Extra Healing is little different from the Rod of Resurrection.
Chara zaps TorGal with Static Charge, and the head honcho collapses.
Asriel throws a lemon at TorGal. He resists the crushing damage, but has no defense against the citric acid.
Chara has recovered from TorGal's slow effect and is on the rampage. The White Half-Dragon form's greatsword deals 3d6 cold damage through Stoneskin, and Static Charge tracks down invisible targets.
Asriel struggles with Frisk's Web spells. Frisk pulls out Firetooth to make sure none of the Trolls recover while Asriel is webbed, then blasts the survivors with Cone of Cold.
Chara shatters a Yuan-ti Mage with cold damage, but Goat Bro isn't doing so well. He fails another save against Web, and Spirit Trolls rush him.
Asriel finally breaks free and drinks a potion. Chara slays the last Yuan-ti Mage and the enemy falls apart.
We report back to Nalia and inform her that her father is dead. Since nobody seems to consider casting Raise Dead, the De'Arnise Hold has no rightful ruler. Frisk tries to cheer Nalia up with a surprise proposal, but Nalia is not in the mood.
My install makes all strongholds open, which means I have to accept or decline the offer to rule the De'Arnise Hold. Since Frisk is a sorcerer and should stick with the Planar Sphere stronghold per my normal rules, we have to say no. Nalia doesn't take it very well.
I feel bad. We'll fix that in the next reset.
Does anyone know what a greenhead is? I know what a greenhorn is?
Continued from https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/824611/#Comment_824611
Lirilis travelled to Nashkell and added Minsc. With their new friend, a way to the gnoll stronghold was quickly found, resulting in gauntlets of dexterity for Khalid. The party, though fatigued, fought their way through the gnolls and rescued Dynaheir, leaving the charisma tome for later. Back in Nashkell, I added Edwin to the party instead of Minsc and Dynaheir, but he was also quickly removed.
Lirilis also completed the quests around Beregost - Perdue's sword, Zhurlong's boots, Bjornin's half-ogres. While planning to improved her reputation to 20, she helped the dryad of the cloud peaks (discovering a very useful new club +1 for Jaheira) and returned Brage to Nashkell.
All this brought the dragon disciple to level 3, which resulted in a new randomized spellpick. My luck improved this time, she got chromatic orb! At last, a spell that's actually worth using.
With 20 reputation, Lirilis bought a shortbow +1 and a sling +1 for Imoen and Jaheira. She also decided to obtain more magical weapons for the other party members, which resulted in the death of Zargal - and Bassilus, who was disrupted with chromatic orbs. His final spell was an uninterruptable one, but he died before completing it. I'm keeping the war hammer for now, and Imoen is using the short sword. Lirilis also killed Greywulf for Khalid and obtained the charisma tome for herself. With the newfound money (mostly thanks to the Bassilus quest) and charisma 19, she was able to afford the Shadow Armor for Imoen.
I also turned in the quests for Prism, the winter wolf pelt and Melicamp - he didn't make it:
Current level: 3
Current randomized spellbook:
First level spells: Chill touch, shocking grasp, chromatic orb
Enuhal
Sigrid, Priestess of Lathander, 6th BG1 update
- 1st update
- 2nd update
- 3rd update
- 4th update
- 5th update
This is just a quick update. No great triumphs or tragedies, but we have been able to make some progress in the TotSC content. We were first teleported to an Ice Island by Shandalar. Before battle was done, Dynaheir cast Invisibility on Imoen, and the thief then disarmed all the traps (save one she triggered). The only trouble we had was my mouse magic not working the way it should. I should have stopped playing when I noticed that mouse clicks wouldn't always register, but I lazily chose the comfort of my warm, new home over shopping for a new mouse. It cost Imoen her life (she failed to move away from Andris's Fireball or Sunfire). It gave us some inventory problems and a slight XP lag for Imoen but other than that we steamrolled through the dungeon. As I've said before, I'm trying to play fair this run, meaning among other things no pre-buffing for either friend or foe. I've played this way before and found it satisfying, but I realize now that this was probably because I was soloing. With a full party housing three pretty competent archers - Minsc, Khalid and Imoen - with arrows of biting and elemental arrows, and with Jaheira and Sigrid liberally Flamestriking the opposition with their wands, we destroyed all the wizards that inhabited the place. Dezkiel managed to Confuse Khalid, but wearing the boots of speed, he rushed to a quiet corner while Jaheira and Sigrid toasted the mage.
We also wanted to retrieve Balduran's artifacts for Mendas so we traveled to Baldur's Gate to acquire Captain Tollar Kieres' sea charts at the Merchants League counting house, and to see if our old friend Aldeth Sashenstar was willing to reward us with Kondar for killing some Doppelgangers at his estate. Alas, the latter was nowhere to be found, so no Kondar, though we did procure the saea charts. I considered skipping the Island of Balduran, for lack of cold iron weaponry and bastard sword proficiency, but we decided to see this quest through anyway. (Completionist run and all that.) Long story short, Khalid and Minsc had free action from ring and blade respectively, and battled Wolfweres along with Vampiric Wolves. Jaheira and Sigrid helped out when no Vampiric Wolves were around. Khalid extensively buffed for the Loup Garou and its wizard cronie: PfMagic (scroll), potions of heroism, storm giant strength, stone form, agility, mind focusing, regeneration, speed, regen, power. Stabbing the beast with the silver dagger that Imoen had just found, he soon had the upper hand. There was a brief moment of doubt when Loup Garou panicked and ran away, regenerating in the process, but it only delayed the inevitable as Khalid soon had the creature cornered with the help of other Wolfweres that were attacking him.
What do you think readers and fellow no-reloaders? Any advice on how to make a Cleric shine in a party in addition to my expectations for BG2?
Tcos the gnomish fighter/thief (protagonist, controlled by Dogdancing)
Zaxxon the gnomish fighter/illusionist (controlled by Corey_Russell)
Current game: vanilla BG 2
So the run continues, albeit just barely. Some things accomplished:
1) Entering and fleeing Watcher's Keep. We nearly died against the vampiric wraiths - decided to come back another day. We wanted the ammo belt but have to do without it seems.
2) Massive # of trash ambushes - Dogdancing is getting tired of all the same loot.
3) Trademeet issue easily solved. The Druid Grove presented no problems, with Cernd once again wiping out Faldhorn.
4) Reijek outed out. Only rune assassins and ghasts were our opponents, but with our good AC and improved invisibility on each of us, we easily came out on top.
5) Slavers wiped out once for all (moored ship).
6) D'Arnise Keep
Most enemies here were defeated with Stonefire and the flame blade, with little trouble. When convenient, we had Tcos backstab. She of course did all the lock-picking and de-trapping, with Zaxxon doing massive number of identifying. We were forced to leave to sell and return, mostly because of the magical ammo, but we need money for various things so worth it in the end. Umber hulks mostly killed by cloudkill.
Tried to do the same vs. Torgal but he saved. This meant both he and his two buddies came. However, in no time at all, Zaxxon was at critical (because MMM equipped, perhaps?) - he was forced to flee since invisibility doesn't work as Torgal sees through. So Zaxxon ran to the far room by the entrance to the level. He tried to go invisible, however, however Tcos is NOT tanking well and is slowed!! (we found out she was wearing leather instead of her full plate).
In fact, she is just about to die!
So now Corey_Russell tells Dogdancing to potion (which works!) and then run to Zaxxon. Zaxxon meanwhile is trying his RoR on Tcos - and it works! And shortly thereafter Torgal (who was near death anyways) dies to MMM - almost in the clear and the RoR hits and Tcos is safe!!
Zaxxon was near death himself, but extra healing potion and RoR fixed him too - party lives to tell the tale!
We sell, rest at Watcher's Keep, and consider the Fates which smiled on Tcos this day...