After successfully raiding the bandit camp, Kazi moves on to the Cloakwood Forest (I love the momentum BG1 gets at this stage).
First area:
Seniyad and his crew can be suprisingly devastating with their Insect Plague/Call Lightning/Charm. In our case, the opening Dart of Stunning was sufficient to determine the outcome in our favour (although lightning resistance and Greenstone Amulet were in place).
Second area:
Unless you're invisible, the arrival to the second area is never pleasant. After using ProPoision scroll, Kazi is able to deal with the welcoming phase spider committee. Potion of Freedom then allows us to feast on XP throughout the rest of the area (including Centeol's lair).
Cloakwood Mines:
We sneak through the rest of the woods and past Drasus all the way down to Davaeorn's chamber. It's a dangerous fight but Kazi should be fine if she avoids major mistakes. It all comes down to proper buffs (and the possibility of getting dispelled).
We opt for 100 fire, electricity and cold resistance (in each case a combination of green protection scroll and the respective potion) with the addition of Potion of Magic Protection, Potion of Invulnerability, Potion of Heroism, Stone Giant Strength and Oil of Speed. Shield Amulet and Greenstone Amulet are activated on the top of the potions.
The plan: Get rid of the battle horrors and then cleave through Davaeorn's defences. Be ready to use Necklace of Missiles/Potion of Firebreath/Potion of Explosions if the guards start pilling up. Gulp regeneration potion if the going gets tough.
A promising start. The second battle horror is gone missing and we can take it up to the mage. Davaeorn blasts his allies into oblivion and Kazi's grin broadens as there seems to be no Remove Magic coming from him. Failing to disrupt our buffs, Davaeorn gets chunked in his library.
Not stoping to loot the area, Kazi gulps Potion of Absorbtion and sprints towards the mines' entrance for her appointment with Drasus. Poor Kysus could not even trigger his pre-buffs. Genthore becomes the second victim of Kazi's quick damage output. Slow from Rezdan effectively negates our Oil of Speed, but Kazi is able to draw the two remaning enemies to the perfect backstabbing position. Who needs a damage multipler anyway? We collect the boots, flood the mines and are off to Baldurs' Gate!
Hey everyone! Been a while, hope you're all doing fine! I'm back for now, with a new run. Yay It's nice to see the thread still very much alive. Best wishes to all fellow no-reloaders!
I've started a LoB (no extra XP) run this week, with a Halfling Shadowdancer Charname:
Some of you may remember this character. Teyl was a Strifeleader of Cyric/Thief I posted a no-reload journal about some three years ago. Well Teyl is back in a different capacity, that of Shadowdancer, but he's still the same old Machiavellian adventurer who revels in his dark heritage.
Mods: BG1 NPC Project, some CDTweaks, SCS, Unfinished Business, Rogue Rebalancing, Song & Silence, Divine Remix.
Teyl, Halfling Shadowdancer, 1st report LoB run
LoB is hard work at low levels. And Teyl doesn't like hard work. He pretty much talked his way to 10k XP, killing only Unshey's Ogre, Joia's Hobgoblin, and Zhurlong's Hobgoblin. He first traveled north from Candlekeep for a change. In the Ankheg cave at level 2 he had to quaff Jaheira's invisibility potion when his stealth failed, and at level 3 he barely escaped Tenya's flail by succumbing to her Command inside her home rather than out.
South of the inn Teyl completed all the quests that involved no fighting, facing only one potentially deadly encounter, and surviving it thanks to HiPS.
Teyl visited Mutamin's garden with the Carnival's green scroll of PfPetrification. He managed to slay 8 out of 10 Basilisks before his protection wore off, and finished off a 9th relying on HiPS (100% reliable at night as his MS/HiS skills were 105 and 95 respectively).
He left Mutamin, and the remaining (Greater) Basilisk for later, but went on to kill a few more creatures, such as Landrin's Spiders, and Bjornin's Half-Ogres in the area that also furnished the Halfling's main weapon for BGEE/SoD: Drizzt's scimitar Icingdeath.
At a little over 32k XP Teyl lured two packs of Gibberlings away from a tower in Larswood, triggering an encounter with Baeloth, who was promptly recruited. Baeloth had a bit of an XP headstart (40k) and he was already leveled up. Unfortunately he came with some spells that I wouldný have picked (Ray of Enfeeblement, Dispel Magic, Dire Charm), but with his abundance of spells, he's still a very good NPC. South of Beregost a second Drow joined the party: Viconia (Nightcloak of Shar). Purists will cringe at what I'm going to write but I allowed a reload when Baeloth's succesful Dire Charm of the Flaming Fist Enforcer caused Vicky to turn hostile. This made no sense to me: Baeloth: "I'll charm the rivvil so I can make him waste his Hold Person, oh, and we can also lure him toward the Hobgoblins over there." Vicky: "Do that and I'll have your head on a pike." Also, since there is some limited role-playing involved, I chose to allow myself to recruit Vicky as Teyl's prospective love interest and fellow adherent to Shar and her Shadow Weave.
The Fist Enforcer was slain with (physical and magic) missile attacks, and backstabs by Teyl.
The fourth member of the party was Kagain (Dwarven Defender in my install), whose bandits north of Beregost were dangerous still at this stage of the game. Baeloth Web-spammed them, and Kagain and Vicky with her Skeletal servants tanked them one at a time in close combat.
The bandit leader was Doomed and Held by Vicky.
Clerics seem to be quite good in LoB mode, at least at lower levels.
Near and in Nashkel, Shar-Teel and Edwin joined the party. The six first traveled to the Gnoll Stronghold where Edwin required Teyl to slay one Dynaheir before pledging his service to the Halfling. Viconia's Skeletons helped the party get two Ogrillons out of the way, and Teyl went looking for Dynaheir. At day time the fortress proved too well-guarded for Teyl to reach Dynaheir,
but at night he was luckier. There were far fewer Gnolls around and Teyl, not quite willing to slay Dynaheir just yet, used Algernon's cloak to convince the woman to try and escape with him now that the Gnolls' guard was down. However the Gnoll Chieftain discovered them. It slew Dynaheir on the spot, much to Edwin's satisfaction.
To celebrate, the wizard bought a scroll of Invisibility at the High Hedge, and quaffed intelligence boosting potions to copy it into his book.
Down south the party was triumphant against several foes, sometimes with fair play, but sometimes also with invisible walls consisting of party members
(lame I know but saves so much time).
As Shar-Teel kept bickering despite the party's successes, she was booted and made place for Dorn. (Acces to the FAI was gained by Silencing and murdering Tarnesh.)
Purists will cringe at what I'm going to write but I allowed a reload when Baeloth's succesful Dire Charm of the Flaming Fist Enforcer caused Vicky to turn hostile. This made no sense to me: Baeloth: "I'll charm the rivvil so I can make him waste his Hold Person, oh, and we can also lure him toward the Hobgoblins over there." Vicky: "Do that and I'll have your head on a pike."
The tragicomic events of the Sword Coast....
I remember having my share of similar ridiculous situations with charm, with most recent being the case of having the entire FAI turned hostile because of charmed Tarnesh.
Anyway, great to see you back in action. Safe travels to Teyl and his evil crew!
I remember having my share of similar ridiculous situations with charm, with most being the case of having the entire FAI turned hostile because of charmed Tarnesh.
B.
I can understand that. The FAI don't know that he's charmed, so they think that you are in league with an evil mage who goes round attacking others without due cause.
Patty the Pacifist Gnome is now in Cloakwood. She indirectly killed a number of bandits by charming them and letting the others kill them. However fighting those with high saving rolls proved more difficult and they were left for later. Outside the tent she cast invisibility. Inside from near the chest, she cast web to hold them before opening it. She also picked up the blue potion and some gold before leaving without making them hostile.
Once in Baldur's Gate, Kazi only stopped to claim Helm of Balduran, Eagle Bow from Marek and Ring of Protection +2 from Ramazith and then proceeded swiftly to the Iron Throne compound (without confronting any enemies) and thereafter to the Seven Suns.
She avoided the ogre magi ambush in Candlekeep with a Potion of Invisiblity and looted the catacombs for STR and WIS tomes. We avoided Prat as our minds were already occupied with the game's climax - the Blushing Mermaid and the Ducal Palce.
The Blushing Mermaid:
Slythe and Kerstyn can be terrifying oponents, especially with the potion-drinking SCS component installed. Although warrior classes are better suited to withstand the backstabs (dreaming of barbarians, are we?), Kazi did not underestimate her preparations.
The buffs were Violet Potion (it's getting serious after all), Potion of Agility, Potion of Fortitude, Potion of Mind Focusing, Potion of Heroism, Potion of Invulnerability, Potion of Magic Protection, Oil of Speed, Shield Amulet and Greenstone Amulet. Animal Summoning I gave Kazi a dire wolf companion that was used as a bait for the opening MMMs from Kerstyn and Slythe's backstab. A good start. Kazi uses the window of opportunity and strikes hard. At the same time, Kerstyn more or less wastes her spell round by casting Animate Dead (which is a non-issue for us). Couple of bad rolls kept delaying our final blow and therefore allowed Slythe to recover. He punishes Kazi's hestiation hard with invisibility potion and a backstab. However, by chosing the aggressive approach he also missed the opportunity to heal. One of our blows eventually lands! We collect the invitation and head straight for the palace, leaving Kerstyn to ponder upon the loss of her partner in crime. A fate well deserved.
The Ducal Palace:
Upon arriving to the palace, Kazi adds further layers of buffs on the top of those still running from the battle with Slythe, in particular Potion of Magic Shielding, Potion of Absorbtion and Potion of Regeneration. Let's do this. There's an unfortunate start when Kazi critically misses her attempt to dispel the doppelganger mage. He'll have to wait for now - better that the dukes are under Chaos than chunked by the melee attackers. We engage the approaching doppelgangers and await the appearance of the assassins. Every round is crucial. We need to hit hard and fast. Here they come! With the melee threat mostly eliminated, Kazi can focus on the mage once again. Lock and load. The dispel was a success but he still releases Chaos projectile... And then it was all over in about two rounds. Kazi didn't stand a chance. At all.
Fun poll: Can you guess what has happened? As you may see from the last shot, both dukes are still alive. Only one melee attacker remains and the mage is dispelled.
Wow, sorry about that @Borco, the Ducal Palace battle is so a tricky. As for your poll, I really have no clue what happened. Liia looks to be in bad shape there, but what about Belt? Ok one guess: Belt killed Liia, and the Flaming Fist Enforcers chunked Belt?
I agree with Blackraven that chaos is the likely suspect. If the dukes are confused that could have ended with a flamestrike for Kazi ...
In relation to your dire charm experience @Blackraven are you sure that the flaming fist didn't get charmed just as he launched an attack on Viconia (which would then quite reasonably turn her hostile)? That's a common hazard with charm, which is why I always disable domination if using nymphs at the palace.
In relation to your dire charm experience @Blackraven are you sure that the flaming fist didn't get charmed just as he launched an attack on Viconia (which would then quite reasonably turn her hostile)? That's a common hazard with charm, which is why I always disable domination if using nymphs at the palace.
Agreed, but Baeloth and Teyl had lured the Flaming Fist officer away from Viconia, afraid that he might slay her before she could be recruited. See attachment.
Glad to see everyone keeping busy . I have left Whitworth in the Pocketplane for now, while trying out Icewind Dale with Kulyok's NPCs. Have no-reloaded our way to the Vale of Shadows so far, not quite decided how much I like the game yet! A few near-misses already though...
SETUP: Vanilla BG 2 ToB Official ToB patch Core rules at all times
The party continues to make progress. Using a green scroll, we took out the gates lich and the undead in the graveyard. We also cleared the crypt in Trademeet, as well as caused the fight vs. the two families. Only reason was to get the AC 5 armor - then I forgot that pure mages can't use it. Oops.
We solved the Trademeet problem without too much difficulty - here's one battle:
We also solved the Umar Hills problems. The fighters did most of the work, and the mages usually just did ranged attacks. Corewild has SoH to be immune to hold and Joshua used Arbane to be immune to the same. We decided to pass on the shadow dragon for now. We were doing max buffs for the Shade Lord, and then we finally got the sunfire wild surge:
Fortunately no one died and we were not in combat so just used some heal potions and pressed our attacks. I was concerned because Corewild was NOT immune to FoD - so we did maximum pressure on the Shade Lord and fortunately he wasn't able to get Corewild and we were victorious.
We also killed Valygar (only because we aren't allowed 7 party members) and his cohorts.
Fun poll: Can you guess what has happened? As you may see from the last shot, both dukes are still alive. Only one melee attacker remains and the mage is dispelled.
Well, Chaos made the dukes attack Sarevok, who in turn went from neutral to hostile and chunked them both a quick succession of hits. All of this happened while at least one of the doppelgangers was still alive.
I had not considered this scenario before and the fact that it may occur gives the entire battle a new haunting perspective (as far as the priority on the mage is concerned). With the possibility of Sarevok joining the fray at any time, I'm getting more and more insecure about this place.
So, here are the tales of my Cleric, Helreginn! Hey, two days ago your Cleric was named Alia and
Alia is still alive and kicking Peasants (probably). On the other hand, Helreginn is a Neutral Good F/C Hand of Torm, so she's alive and kicking, but not innocent people. HOW did THIS happen? Well, I wanted to try out Faiths and Powers, so I created a small EE install and started a new run![spoiler=PC][/spoiler]So far, we did a couple of quests in Beregost, had Minsc challenge Shar-Teel so she would join us, and did a couple of things more without much hassle, like murdering several Hobgoblins, successfully saving Melicamp (dunno how in the seven thousand six hundred thirty second layer of the Abyss being so successful at saving Melicamp is possible. I thought, "And now, he dies." And he always lives!), besides doing probably something else that I forgot because it's 6am.
This install is very easy compared to my BGT install, in which enemies have several extra levels (to illustrate this, imagine Bandits immune to Sleep... Yeah, not your everyday BG1) and HardTimes is installed (albeit I reckon I've cut some parts of it, but because the Item Randomiser/SCS took care of those things). The only mod I have here but not on my Trilogy install is NPC-Bodies. I'm trying it out, but didn't make use of it, as I haven't gotten anyone killed so far (if I installed this on my BGT, I wouldn't be able to play with a party at all).[spoiler=WeiDU.log]
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods // The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod // ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version] ~NEERA/NEERA.TP2~ #0 #0 // Neera Expansion: v1.1 ~NEERA/NEERA.TP2~ #0 #1 // How much time would you like between talks (approximately)? -> 7.5 minutes: v1.1 ~NEERA/NEERA.TP2~ #0 #7 // Make Neera romanceable by women?: v1.1 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #0 // Proper dual-wielding implementation for Thieves and Bards: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #1 // Thief kit revisions: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #3 // Proper racial adjustments for thieving skills: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #4 // Bard kit revisions: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #6 // Proper spell progression for Bards: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #7 // Additional equipment for Thieves and Bards: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #9 // Revised Thievery -> Use PnP thievery potions and prevent their effects from stacking: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for RR content: v4.80 ~FAITHS_AND_POWERS/FAITHS_AND_POWERS.TP2~ #0 #101 // Select an installation method below: -> ALL the new kits, the kit selection dialogue, and the sphere system: 0.61 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1910 // Protection from Normal Missiles also blocks Arrows of Fire/Cold/Acid and similar projectiles without pluses: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2111 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at their level (not twice their level): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3000 // Replace BG1-style elemental arrows with BG2 versions: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3010 // Replace +1 arrows with nonmagical "fine" ones: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3021 // Replace many +1 magical weapons with Fine ones -> Fine weapons are immune to the iron crisis: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Re-introduce potions of extra-healing: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3041 // Reduce the number of Arrows of Dispelling in stores -> Stores sell a maximum of 5 Arrows of Dispelling: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4051 // Decrease the rate at which reputation improves -> Reputation increases at about 1/2 the normal rate: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4110 // Allow NPC pairs to separate: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4120 // NPCs go to inns: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4130 // Move NPCs to more convenient locations: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4145 // Skip the Candlekeep tutorial sections -> Remove the tutorial NPCs from Candlekeep: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Move Boo into Minsc's pack: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5050 // Stackable ankheg shells, winterwolf pelts and wyvern heads: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5060 // Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly harder carrion crawlers: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Dark Side-based kobold upgrade: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity party: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v30 ~WANDCASE/WANDCASE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Wand Case item: v1.2 ~ERG_SILVER_STAFF/ERG_SILVER_STAFF.TP2~ #0 #0 // Erg's Silver Staff: v8 ~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Nythrun's Level 1 NPCs: List party-joinable NPCs (required to install any NPC components): v2.0 ~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #3 // Joinable NPCs more closely match the player character's experience -> On initial joining only: v2.0 ~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #100 // Update game references to NPC classes/kits: v2.0 ~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1220 // Branwen: v2.0 ~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #7702 // Neera: v2.0 ~LEVEL1NPCS/LEVEL1NPCS.TP2~ #0 #1215 // Viconia De'Vir: v2.0 ~NPC-BODIES.TP2~ #0 #0 // NPC Bodies for BG:EE - BETA ! ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #100 // Check for and fix incorrect spell animations: v2.1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #400 // Prevent silent prebuffs: v2.1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #201 // Add spell school notifications to the combat log -> All spells with a casting time greater than 1: v2.1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #300 // Add expiration notifications for buffs: v2.1
[/spoiler]I originally planned to do a Clerics-only, no Arcane magic run, but then I encountered Neera, and, well, I changed my mind. I turned her into a Cleric/Wild Mage with Level1NPCs (which I'll push another beta as soon as I fix a couple of bugs with Viconia and other BG1+BG2 NPCs). I initially recruited Tiax, and used his Ghast to beat the Red Wizards, as well as disposing Landarin house's of the Spider Invasion. I had kicked Imoen right at the start, because until I met Neera I was thinking of going with a party of Clerics only, but I already have Tiax around on my other round, and I almost never play with Neera, so yeah, things changed.[spoiler=NPCs] [/spoiler]The party's most important achievement so far was causing the premature death of Greywolf. R.I.P. Greywolf, 1998-2017, rest assured, your sword won't be sold any time soon.Our next targets are the Half-Ogres and Cpt. Barge.
@CrevsDaak Due to your post above, I have just downloaded Faiths_and_Powers. It looks interesting. Being a purist in some respects, not all, I'm not keen on Clerics being able to use swords, axes etc. but since I don't have to use them, that's fine. Being in the middle of a game, I won't install it yet. I need a fresh installation anyway due to bugs.
Having just seen off the Iron Throne last time, this pair started the session with a trip to Candlekeep. After collecting the tomes they fought through some dopplegangers before taking on Prat's gang - a quick skull trap setting the scene for Gnoria to lay waste to them.
Back in Baldur's Gate Slythe's attempts to get close to the duo were hampered by a dispelling arrow and he failed to get past some summons.
Krystin disposed of those with a cloudkill, but lingered too long in that and killed herself as well - that could have been costly as her death meant a skull trap fired at her didn't trigger, but a quick run out of the area ensured that Sodof wouldn't be blamed for any future accidents.
At the palace Belt was given some improved invisibility to help his survival chances. Sodof took a critical hit after casting that, but then retreated out of danger and watched as the dopplegangers fell one by one.
There was an oddity in the maze when Gnoria used a PfU scroll to tank the skeleton warriors. Despite the icon appearing on her character record though the skeletons were not to be distracted and came perilously close to killing her (there was also a slightly dangerous moment there for Sodof who hastened through the traps rather quicker than she would have chosen in order to help out with some MMMs).
Some webs meant the Undercity party offered little fight
and it was a similar story in the temple where Sarevok and Tazok both struggled to free themselves after Semaj was dispelled and dispatched.
That allowed Gnoria some free attacks with Spider's Bane and she still had a bit of a HP cushion left when Sarevok fell.
@Grond0 - that the skeletal warriors aren't fazed by the protection from undead in the maze is a vanilla bug (presumably a creature type mistake, such as Tonova not being flagged as undead in vanilla BG 2). Probably fixed by Fixpack. Don't know if EE fixes this vanilla bug.
@Corey_Russell I think the skeleton warriors was a multi-player problem - it's not that unusual to have the client able to do things they shouldn't (or not able to do things they should). We've used PfU against those skeleton warriors plenty of times in the past without problems.
@Corey_Russell I think the skeleton warriors was a multi-player problem - it's not that unusual to have the client able to do things they shouldn't (or not able to do things they should). We've used PfU against those skeleton warriors plenty of times in the past without problems.
I see. Well in vanilla (e.g., TRUE vanilla, no BG 2 engine but BG 1 engine) with no mods (just official patch) PfU doesn't work (I've tried) for the skeletal warriors in the maze or the skeletal warriors in the UnderCity. But if you are saying your install usually works, then your theory is probably on target.
Very short update on Alia's gang. They've cleared the safe parts of the Lighthouse/Shipwreck (which means no Sirines except for Shoal, whom we used Tiax's Ghast to deal with, since aTweaks makes fighting Sirines with a full party a complete nightmare), got an Oil of Fiery Burning from the Mad Arcand, as well as finally turning for the reward of Joia's ring and Landarin's spider infestation (!), besides clearing the first area of the Cloakwood, which included killing Aldeth AND the druids by abusing of Algernon's to make the fight against the latter a mere joke (I made them waste their spells against each other and made them summon Nymphs so that they were constantly under my control. I had fun!). Also, we robbed the FAI of all of it's possessions and got ourselves the Golden Pantaloons. I think only Tiax (who now has 95 in Open Locks, which means I'm gonna get all teh stuf), Garrick and Kagain levelled up.
Party's currently waiting at Beregost for their next mission. Might go and kill some Ankhegs and Zombies up North.
Well, another update on Alia! The Giant Humanoids area was cleared, the Cow was saved from the savage Xvarts, our only deaths were vs. the Gibberlings and an Ogre Berserker in the area with the two Bridges near the Gnoll Fortress (Garrick suffered from a 24 damage critical from a... Gibberling? Yup!). Everyone got another level. The wolves in the Temple area were dealt with, Meilum was killed and so was Dushai (who got charmed and brutally murdered by a Flaming Fist). We killed a couple of Ankhegs and I managed to get somebody killed, although I'm not sure if it was Edwin or Shar-Teel. The zombies in the farm were disposed of as well. We got a lot of gold but with so much Raise Dead spells we're about the same balance.
Later, I moved on to the Cloupeaks, but sadly (or luckily for Edwin and Shar-Teel!), the game crashed. I loaded the auto-save, saved and I'll continue playing tomorrow. I found a Studded Leather Armour +2 in the Cloudpeaks, so it'll be Shar-Teel's next armour (although it doesn't do much—she still got killed with it) when I re-do everything.
I also played Helrigenn a bit (basically, I travelled to the Cloudpeaks, almost got Helrigenn killed by Sendai's archers and retreated. I might have done something else but I don't remember now), whom I noticed I misspelled her name, it should have been Helreginn (it's a nod to something from the Norse mythology but I don't remember what. I'm pretty sure it's tied to Hel tho, so it was kind of ironic for a good character to be named like that).
The most successful CHARNAME I've had to date was a Cavalier, that made it all the way to the Hell trials before forgetting that Elder Orbs or whatever other improved Beholder has Imprisonment. Not even into ToB. But I'm electing to trying a Cavalier again anyhow...
Zerubabel, Human Cavalier, first update: Stats are 18/88 /18/18/11/13/17 to start. Two points in Daggers, a point in Bastard Swords, and a point in Axes.
Zeru starts off pretty normally, kiting Shoal away with throwing knives. From there, he restored Melicamp, and slaughtered the spiders before heading north to the FAI. Neera is killed by her initial encounter, for what it's worth. I've always found it a bit weird that she doesn't have the immunity that Dorn has in his "cutscene," since she has all of four health at level 1, and the Red Mage has Flame Arrow. Anyways, Zeru kills an ogre on the way to the FAI. Joia's ring is recovered, and a couple excess Bastard Swords are collected: Zeru's constantly breaking them, and I had put a second point into them at level 3. Tarnesh is slain by guards: I can't quite remember if I interrupted the sleep spell or not, but it didn't put Zeru to sleep regardless.
South to Nashkel, and Zeru's luck with the EE NPCs continue. After fleeing outside from Neira, Neira casts an Unholy Blight... catching Rasaad, and killing him outright. She dies, though, and after a great many healing potions so does Greywolf. Wanting more levels before the mines, Zeru cleared the Ankhegs, taking even MORE healing potions, and finally the Basilisks. Korax paralyzed Mutamin again, ensuring victory there. Against Peter's party there, Korax dueled the archer and won before being killed himself, and Zeru fought against the warriors of the party and prevailed. At level 6, I felt fairly secure going into the mines...
The mines took more health potions than anything to this point, simply because I couldn't roll higher than a 6 for 10 rounds or something ridiculous, and the kobolds with their shortbows kept rolling 20s. And there's no critical hit prevention given to helmets in Item Revisions, so... Issues. Mulahey falls fairly easily, but the skeletons and kobold commandos still pack a brutal punch with their arrows. In the end, Zeru flees after collecting the holy symbol, having used upwards of 12 potions during the mines.
Nimbul is easy, comparatively, landing only Magic Missiles before Zeru and the Nashkel guard disposes of the mage/thief. Zeru purchases the Greenstone Amulet and the Dagger of Venom and heads to the Sirenes. But a bad entry point means that Zeru had to fight against 15 Hobgoblins or something silly, and there's simply too many longbow shots and too many critical hits, and Zeru has to flee again. The second return is more successful, and Zeru finishes both them and the Sirenes and finally the Flesh Golems for his level 7. 2 attacks over 3/2 is a world of difference, it always seems to me.
Zeru agrees to "join" the bandits, and attempts to assassinate the mage instantly with a Dagger of Venom strike. He's forced invisible, though, as more bow critical hits come in and Venkt lives at Near Death. A potion of Regeneration is quaffed, and Zeru tries again, this time with more success. Many potions later AGAIN, all the archers join the mage eventually.
Zeru purchased the Sandthief's ring, which is changed in IR to give 3 charges of invisibility per day, incredibly helpful for infiltrating the Cloakwood base. He takes out the Spiders first, using the final Potion of Freedom he owns and is available for purchase at the High Hedge. At the Cloakwood base, Drasus is dueled for his boots, and Zeru wins before turning invisible. A second charge was used after talking to the slaves on the second floor, and the third and final charge used when Hareishan casts Detect Invisibility. Onto Daveaorn.
The Battle Horrors are fought under Pro. Magic, a potion of Storm Giant Strength, and Invulnerability. This however allows a large group of bandits around Daveaorn: two potions of Explosion thin their ranks, and drastically slows my computer as well. Daveaorn must feel claustrophobic, since he casts a Sunfire that wipes out the rest of his own men! The Dagger of Venom ensures he doesn't have a chance.
Still under the Pro. Magic, Zeru takes out the rest of the ambush, gaining his last level in the process. On the way back he's met by Molkar and his men, and I know Mail of the Dead is one of two or three items that can provide critical hit immunity... So Zeru fights rather than runs, slaughtering all four of them with relative ease, though potions had to be used of course. Imagine my frustration when I find the Mail of the Dead is something that only Fighters can use.
Zeru's currently in Baldur's Gate, having just gone on a buying spree and stabbed an Ogre Mage in the face a couple times with a poisoned dagger.
Still with all lives intact this duo have made a rapid start in BG2. The dungeon, circus and Copper Coronet were all sorted out without trouble before moving on to the Docks area. There, while Sodof went to chat to Mae'Var Gnoria raged to break open the door to Kangaxx's tomb and just had enough oomph to deal with the minotaurs inside.
After resting up in the inn to heal, some pirates felt the weight of Gnoria's weapon.
Travelling to the Temple to pick up a necklace from Talos' temple the duo saw off an ambush by Suna Seni.
While in the area they visited the sewers and picked up a cloak from the Rakshasa.
Some skeleton warriors helped ensure that Tarnor's gang wouldn't be demanding any more money with menaces - even though Gnoria's attempt to recast rage was just beaten to the gun by a hold person.
Mekrath failed to cast a spell and the fact he only had a couple of salamanders guarding his treasure is indicative of our relatively low levels at this stage.
Back at the Docks Rayic Gethras went down with more of a whimper than a bang.
Soon after that Mae'Var got a bang or two - with Gnoria gamely taking the friendly fire damage in his stride as usual.
After paying Gaelan Bayle inventory problems were aided by a trip to Watcher's Keep. The top floor was cleared there with the exception of the second lot of statues - who had nothing we want. Renfeld was saved on the way back from there and Gnoria was soon raging again in order to break open the Harpers' treasure chests.
Gnoria suggested Sodof might like the Robe of Vecna, but that looked far too expensive with only 50k gold in the kitty - so a trip to Trademeet was planned to raise reputation. Prior to that the skinner murders were solved in order to open up Tiris' quest - the Rune Assassins failing to make much of an impression on Gnoria after she was buffed with spirit armor.
Trademeet all went according to plan. There was a single rest at the Troll Mound, but not after that which meant Sodof was out of spells by the end of the area and made a rare use of wands before watching Cernd snack on Faldorn.
Back in Athkatla the Fallen Paladins offered a bit more reputation. However, they also offered the only serious challenge to the BG2 run to date. With no license to use magic Sodof had intended to use wands again, but she had over-estimated the ability of Gnoria to tank the paladins - they were hitting easily despite spirit armor and improved invisibility and soon sent her running. As a result Sodof got hit several times and was down to single figure HPs before getting on her bike to run the last couple of paladins round.
The slavers soon provided a couple more reputation points
- and Gnoria made use of troll form from her cloak to be able to take the short-cut out of the slaver ship across the poison trap. That meant only 1 more reputation point was needed to get up to the maximum and Neb's head seemed like a good target for that. First though it was necessary to talk to the ore vendor and there was an amusing moment there when Gnoria used the Ring of Air Control to try and rest invisibly while an alloy was being made up - prompting a stern warning from the Cowled Wizards (we quite often play a little game within a game to see how long I can last before accidentally casting a forbidden spell: it was nice to actually win one of those contests for a change ).
Neb's head was then duly detached from his body
and the session ended after buying a few things - Vecna, Shield of Balduran, belt and cloak from Trademeet, Sling of Everard come to mind.
Sodof, dragon disciple 12, 79 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar), 204 kills (+124 in BG1) Gnoria, barbarian 12, 130 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 207 kills (+255 in BG1), 0 deaths
Zeru, Human Cavalier, update 2: Zeru's successfully made it through BG1, my first one out of the Sword Coast in months!
We used the Sandthief ring to investigate the Iron Throne: not much I wanted there anyways, besides possibly the Ring of Free Actions. After that, another charge gets Zeru away from the Ogre mage ambush, and a Potion of Storm Giant Strength is used to brute force the locks to both the Strength and Wisdom tome chambers open. The rest is walked through invisibly, besides the two Greater Basilisks at the end: I had two Potions of Mirrored Eyes in my potion case.
Finally had the Amazon ambush, and between the poison dagger and Tranzig's Wand of Magic Missile, they couldn't cast a spell. I found that the Protector of the Second is another item that protects against Critical hits, and I considered using it, but the 5 AC difference was too much.
IR makes Slythe much more manageable for non-mages without invisibility detection, since the potion of stone form is modified to give 5 Stoneskins to the drinker, negating his ridiculously high backstabs.
Ducal palace was always my worry, but some A.I. weirdness gets Zeru through easily. Zeru focused on disrupting the mage and shaman, pretty successfully, but Belt falls. The remaining Doppelgangers just stand around after that, though, not targeting Liia. I'm not complaining.
The final fight was long, drawn out, and painful since without critical hit immunity, Zeru could be killed in two strikes by Sarevok, and his acolytes refused to part ways with him besides Tazok. I first fought Angelo, but he turned invisible Near Death while the Pro. from Magic was still up. Tazok took his shot, but straight-up melee with potions of regeneration and strength enhancers means Tazok and his skeleton are the first to die.
As I learned from the Mines, Pro. from Magic doesn't protect against potions of explosion, so a couple of those injure Diarmid pretty drastically. Firebreath works as well. A few more attacks from invisibility, burning a ton of potions in the process, and Diarmid falls too.
Had to wait for my own Pro. from Magic before the other mages would show themselves, drinking a potion of Magic Shielding every time they started casting. Between oils of Burning and Poisoned daggers, both of the mages eventually fall without landing any spell worse that Melf's Acid Arrow. Oh, and Breach, which stripped away one of the two Stone Form potions I had left.
The final fight against Sarevok used a potion of power, invulnerability, defense, storm giant strength, stone form, and an oil of speed, and Zeru manages to defeat Sarevok before the Stone Form potion is broken. The battle took around an hour or so, all in all. Now to make my BG2 install...
Final stats: Zeru, Human Paladin 8, 98 HP. 19/19/19/12/14/18 The HP are... more or less exactly average, actually. Average is 98.5, so I can't quite hit that anyways.
Final stats: Zeru, Human Paladin 8, 98 HP. 19/19/19/12/14/18 The HP are... more or less exactly average, actually. Average is 98.5, so I can't quite hit that anyways.
Well done @Neverused. Good luck in BG2 - be careful in the dungeon as the lack of items available there can be a bit of a shock to the system after the end of BG1!
In relation to HPs the basic average for those stats would be 88.5 (7 levels at 5.5, plus the original 10 with 8 levels of 5 constitution bonus). Did you have some mod item which was providing another 10 HPs?
... No, I just can't multiply at 2 AM in the morning. I did 7 x 5.5 and ended up with 48.5 rather than the correct 38.5. Thanks for the check, and the furtherance of the knowledge that math majors STILL can't do basic math.
... No, I just can't multiply at 2 AM in the morning. I did 7 x 5.5 and ended up with 48.5 rather than the correct 38.5. Thanks for the check, and the furtherance of the knowledge that math majors STILL can't do basic math.
In the 70s I used to pride myself on that fact that I could do survey calculations faster in my head than others did with their electronic calculators, and with fewer mistakes. Then they installed computer programs in the equipment and suddenly, they became faster than me. There were still errors due to programming errors, but when they came up, the errors were tens , hundreds or thousands of metres, so we knew it was a programming error. When it was done with the human brain we had errors of 0.1m or less, much harder to spot! However, if we used a certain calculator for more than half an hour it started spewing out garbage and we had to give it a rest. They didn't give ME half an hour's rest when MY brain overheated!
Comments
1st part
2nd part
After successfully raiding the bandit camp, Kazi moves on to the Cloakwood Forest (I love the momentum BG1 gets at this stage).
First area:
Second area:
After using ProPoision scroll, Kazi is able to deal with the welcoming phase spider committee.
Potion of Freedom then allows us to feast on XP throughout the rest of the area (including Centeol's lair).
Cloakwood Mines:
We opt for 100 fire, electricity and cold resistance (in each case a combination of green protection scroll and the respective potion) with the addition of Potion of Magic Protection, Potion of Invulnerability, Potion of Heroism, Stone Giant Strength and Oil of Speed. Shield Amulet and Greenstone Amulet are activated on the top of the potions.
The plan: Get rid of the battle horrors and then cleave through Davaeorn's defences. Be ready to use Necklace of Missiles/Potion of Firebreath/Potion of Explosions if the guards start pilling up. Gulp regeneration potion if the going gets tough.
A promising start.
The second battle horror is gone missing and we can take it up to the mage. Davaeorn blasts his allies into oblivion and Kazi's grin broadens as there seems to be no Remove Magic coming from him.
Failing to disrupt our buffs, Davaeorn gets chunked in his library.
Not stoping to loot the area, Kazi gulps Potion of Absorbtion and sprints towards the mines' entrance for her appointment with Drasus. Poor Kysus could not even trigger his pre-buffs.
Genthore becomes the second victim of Kazi's quick damage output.
Slow from Rezdan effectively negates our Oil of Speed, but Kazi is able to draw the two remaning enemies to the perfect backstabbing position. Who needs a damage multipler anyway?
We collect the boots, flood the mines and are off to Baldurs' Gate!
Regards,
B.
I've started a LoB (no extra XP) run this week, with a Halfling Shadowdancer Charname:
Mods: BG1 NPC Project, some CDTweaks, SCS, Unfinished Business, Rogue Rebalancing, Song & Silence, Divine Remix.
Teyl, Halfling Shadowdancer, 1st report LoB run
LoB is hard work at low levels. And Teyl doesn't like hard work. He pretty much talked his way to 10k XP, killing only Unshey's Ogre, Joia's Hobgoblin, and Zhurlong's Hobgoblin.
He first traveled north from Candlekeep for a change. In the Ankheg cave at level 2 he had to quaff Jaheira's invisibility potion when his stealth failed, and at level 3 he barely escaped Tenya's flail by succumbing to her Command inside her home rather than out.
Teyl visited Mutamin's garden with the Carnival's green scroll of PfPetrification. He managed to slay 8 out of 10 Basilisks before his protection wore off, and finished off a 9th relying on HiPS (100% reliable at night as his MS/HiS skills were 105 and 95 respectively).
At a little over 32k XP Teyl lured two packs of Gibberlings away from a tower in Larswood, triggering an encounter with Baeloth, who was promptly recruited. Baeloth had a bit of an XP headstart (40k) and he was already leveled up. Unfortunately he came with some spells that I wouldný have picked (Ray of Enfeeblement, Dispel Magic, Dire Charm), but with his abundance of spells, he's still a very good NPC.
South of Beregost a second Drow joined the party: Viconia (Nightcloak of Shar). Purists will cringe at what I'm going to write but I allowed a reload when Baeloth's succesful Dire Charm of the Flaming Fist Enforcer caused Vicky to turn hostile. This made no sense to me:
Baeloth: "I'll charm the rivvil so I can make him waste his Hold Person, oh, and we can also lure him toward the Hobgoblins over there."
Vicky: "Do that and I'll have your head on a pike."
Also, since there is some limited role-playing involved, I chose to allow myself to recruit Vicky as Teyl's prospective love interest and fellow adherent to Shar and her Shadow Weave.
The Fist Enforcer was slain with (physical and magic) missile attacks, and backstabs by Teyl.
The fourth member of the party was Kagain (Dwarven Defender in my install), whose bandits north of Beregost were dangerous still at this stage of the game. Baeloth Web-spammed them, and Kagain and Vicky with her Skeletal servants tanked them one at a time in close combat.
Near and in Nashkel, Shar-Teel and Edwin joined the party. The six first traveled to the Gnoll Stronghold where Edwin required Teyl to slay one Dynaheir before pledging his service to the Halfling. Viconia's Skeletons helped the party get two Ogrillons out of the way, and Teyl went looking for Dynaheir. At day time the fortress proved too well-guarded for Teyl to reach Dynaheir,
Down south the party was triumphant against several foes, sometimes with fair play, but sometimes also with invisible walls consisting of party members
To be continued...
I remember having my share of similar ridiculous situations with charm, with most recent being the case of having the entire FAI turned hostile because of charmed Tarnesh.
Anyway, great to see you back in action. Safe travels to Teyl and his evil crew!
B.
1st part
2nd part
3rd part
Once in Baldur's Gate, Kazi only stopped to claim Helm of Balduran, Eagle Bow from Marek and Ring of Protection +2 from Ramazith and then proceeded swiftly to the Iron Throne compound (without confronting any enemies) and thereafter to the Seven Suns.
She avoided the ogre magi ambush in Candlekeep with a Potion of Invisiblity and looted the catacombs for STR and WIS tomes. We avoided Prat as our minds were already occupied with the game's climax - the Blushing Mermaid and the Ducal Palce.
The Blushing Mermaid:
The buffs were Violet Potion (it's getting serious after all), Potion of Agility, Potion of Fortitude, Potion of Mind Focusing, Potion of Heroism, Potion of Invulnerability, Potion of Magic Protection, Oil of Speed, Shield Amulet and Greenstone Amulet. Animal Summoning I gave Kazi a dire wolf companion that was used as a bait for the opening MMMs from Kerstyn and Slythe's backstab.
A good start. Kazi uses the window of opportunity and strikes hard. At the same time, Kerstyn more or less wastes her spell round by casting Animate Dead (which is a non-issue for us).
Couple of bad rolls kept delaying our final blow and therefore allowed Slythe to recover. He punishes Kazi's hestiation hard with invisibility potion and a backstab.
However, by chosing the aggressive approach he also missed the opportunity to heal. One of our blows eventually lands!
We collect the invitation and head straight for the palace, leaving Kerstyn to ponder upon the loss of her partner in crime. A fate well deserved.
The Ducal Palace:
There's an unfortunate start when Kazi critically misses her attempt to dispel the doppelganger mage. He'll have to wait for now - better that the dukes are under Chaos than chunked by the melee attackers.
We engage the approaching doppelgangers and await the appearance of the assassins. Every round is crucial. We need to hit hard and fast. Here they come!
With the melee threat mostly eliminated, Kazi can focus on the mage once again. Lock and load.
The dispel was a success but he still releases Chaos projectile...
And then it was all over in about two rounds. Kazi didn't stand a chance. At all.
Fun poll: Can you guess what has happened? As you may see from the last shot, both dukes are still alive. Only one melee attacker remains and the mage is dispelled.
Regards,
B.
In relation to your dire charm experience @Blackraven are you sure that the flaming fist didn't get charmed just as he launched an attack on Viconia (which would then quite reasonably turn her hostile)? That's a common hazard with charm, which is why I always disable domination if using nymphs at the palace.
Joshua the gnomish level 10 berserker
Corewild the gnomish level 9 fighter/level 11 thief
Hanna, Misty, Paja, Forrest - level 11 wild mages
SETUP:
Vanilla BG 2
ToB
Official ToB patch
Core rules at all times
The party continues to make progress. Using a green scroll, we took out the gates lich and the undead in the graveyard. We also cleared the crypt in Trademeet, as well as caused the fight vs. the two families. Only reason was to get the AC 5 armor - then I forgot that pure mages can't use it. Oops.
We solved the Trademeet problem without too much difficulty - here's one battle:
We also solved the Umar Hills problems. The fighters did most of the work, and the mages usually just did ranged attacks. Corewild has SoH to be immune to hold and Joshua used Arbane to be immune to the same. We decided to pass on the shadow dragon for now. We were doing max buffs for the Shade Lord, and then we finally got the sunfire wild surge:
Fortunately no one died and we were not in combat so just used some heal potions and pressed our attacks. I was concerned because Corewild was NOT immune to FoD - so we did maximum pressure on the Shade Lord and fortunately he wasn't able to get Corewild and we were victorious.
We also killed Valygar (only because we aren't allowed 7 party members) and his cohorts.
We will press on...
I had not considered this scenario before and the fact that it may occur gives the entire battle a new haunting perspective (as far as the priority on the mage is concerned). With the possibility of Sarevok joining the fray at any time, I'm getting more and more insecure about this place.
Regards,
B.
Alia is still alive and kicking Peasants (probably). On the other hand, Helreginn is a Neutral Good F/C Hand of Torm, so she's alive and kicking, but not innocent people. HOW did THIS happen? Well, I wanted to try out Faiths and Powers, so I created a small EE install and started a new run![spoiler=PC]
This install is very easy compared to my BGT install, in which enemies have several extra levels (to illustrate this, imagine Bandits immune to Sleep... Yeah, not your everyday BG1) and HardTimes is installed (albeit I reckon I've cut some parts of it, but because the Item Randomiser/SCS took care of those things). The only mod I have here but not on my Trilogy install is NPC-Bodies. I'm trying it out, but didn't make use of it, as I haven't gotten anyone killed so far (if I installed this on my BGT, I wouldn't be able to play with a party at all).[spoiler=WeiDU.log][/spoiler]I originally planned to do a Clerics-only, no Arcane magic run, but then I encountered Neera, and, well, I changed my mind. I turned her into a Cleric/Wild Mage with Level1NPCs (which I'll push another beta as soon as I fix a couple of bugs with Viconia and other BG1+BG2 NPCs). I initially recruited Tiax, and used his Ghast to beat the Red Wizards, as well as disposing Landarin house's of the Spider Invasion. I had kicked Imoen right at the start, because until I met Neera I was thinking of going with a party of Clerics only, but I already have Tiax around on my other round, and I almost never play with Neera, so yeah, things changed.[spoiler=NPCs]
[/spoiler]The party's most important achievement so far was causing the premature death of Greywolf. R.I.P. Greywolf, 1998-2017, rest assured, your sword won't be sold any time soon.
Sodof, elf dragon disciple (Grond0) & Gnoria, half-orc barbarian (Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/853571/#Comment_853571
Having just seen off the Iron Throne last time, this pair started the session with a trip to Candlekeep. After collecting the tomes they fought through some dopplegangers before taking on Prat's gang - a quick skull trap setting the scene for Gnoria to lay waste to them.
Back in Baldur's Gate Slythe's attempts to get close to the duo were hampered by a dispelling arrow and he failed to get past some summons.
At the palace Belt was given some improved invisibility to help his survival chances. Sodof took a critical hit after casting that, but then retreated out of danger and watched as the dopplegangers fell one by one.
There was an oddity in the maze when Gnoria used a PfU scroll to tank the skeleton warriors. Despite the icon appearing on her character record though the skeletons were not to be distracted and came perilously close to killing her (there was also a slightly dangerous moment there for Sodof who hastened through the traps rather quicker than she would have chosen in order to help out with some MMMs).
Some webs meant the Undercity party offered little fight
Sodof, dragon disciple 9, 69 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar), 124 kills
Gnoria, barbarian 8, 105 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 255 kills, 0 deaths
Party's currently waiting at Beregost for their next mission. Might go and kill some Ankhegs and Zombies up North.
Later, I moved on to the Cloupeaks, but sadly (or luckily for Edwin and Shar-Teel!), the game crashed. I loaded the auto-save, saved and I'll continue playing tomorrow. I found a Studded Leather Armour +2 in the Cloudpeaks, so it'll be Shar-Teel's next armour (although it doesn't do much—she still got killed with it) when I re-do everything.
Edit: oh wait I ended up double-posting
Zerubabel, Human Cavalier, first update:
Stats are 18/88 /18/18/11/13/17 to start. Two points in Daggers, a point in Bastard Swords, and a point in Axes.
Zeru starts off pretty normally, kiting Shoal away with throwing knives. From there, he restored Melicamp, and slaughtered the spiders before heading north to the FAI. Neera is killed by her initial encounter, for what it's worth. I've always found it a bit weird that she doesn't have the immunity that Dorn has in his "cutscene," since she has all of four health at level 1, and the Red Mage has Flame Arrow. Anyways, Zeru kills an ogre on the way to the FAI. Joia's ring is recovered, and a couple excess Bastard Swords are collected: Zeru's constantly breaking them, and I had put a second point into them at level 3. Tarnesh is slain by guards: I can't quite remember if I interrupted the sleep spell or not, but it didn't put Zeru to sleep regardless.
South to Nashkel, and Zeru's luck with the EE NPCs continue. After fleeing outside from Neira, Neira casts an Unholy Blight... catching Rasaad, and killing him outright. She dies, though, and after a great many healing potions so does Greywolf. Wanting more levels before the mines, Zeru cleared the Ankhegs, taking even MORE healing potions, and finally the Basilisks. Korax paralyzed Mutamin again, ensuring victory there. Against Peter's party there, Korax dueled the archer and won before being killed himself, and Zeru fought against the warriors of the party and prevailed. At level 6, I felt fairly secure going into the mines...
The mines took more health potions than anything to this point, simply because I couldn't roll higher than a 6 for 10 rounds or something ridiculous, and the kobolds with their shortbows kept rolling 20s. And there's no critical hit prevention given to helmets in Item Revisions, so... Issues. Mulahey falls fairly easily, but the skeletons and kobold commandos still pack a brutal punch with their arrows. In the end, Zeru flees after collecting the holy symbol, having used upwards of 12 potions during the mines.
Nimbul is easy, comparatively, landing only Magic Missiles before Zeru and the Nashkel guard disposes of the mage/thief. Zeru purchases the Greenstone Amulet and the Dagger of Venom and heads to the Sirenes. But a bad entry point means that Zeru had to fight against 15 Hobgoblins or something silly, and there's simply too many longbow shots and too many critical hits, and Zeru has to flee again. The second return is more successful, and Zeru finishes both them and the Sirenes and finally the Flesh Golems for his level 7. 2 attacks over 3/2 is a world of difference, it always seems to me.
Zeru agrees to "join" the bandits, and attempts to assassinate the mage instantly with a Dagger of Venom strike. He's forced invisible, though, as more bow critical hits come in and Venkt lives at Near Death. A potion of Regeneration is quaffed, and Zeru tries again, this time with more success. Many potions later AGAIN, all the archers join the mage eventually.
Zeru purchased the Sandthief's ring, which is changed in IR to give 3 charges of invisibility per day, incredibly helpful for infiltrating the Cloakwood base. He takes out the Spiders first, using the final Potion of Freedom he owns and is available for purchase at the High Hedge. At the Cloakwood base, Drasus is dueled for his boots, and Zeru wins before turning invisible. A second charge was used after talking to the slaves on the second floor, and the third and final charge used when Hareishan casts Detect Invisibility. Onto Daveaorn.
The Battle Horrors are fought under Pro. Magic, a potion of Storm Giant Strength, and Invulnerability. This however allows a large group of bandits around Daveaorn: two potions of Explosion thin their ranks, and drastically slows my computer as well. Daveaorn must feel claustrophobic, since he casts a Sunfire that wipes out the rest of his own men! The Dagger of Venom ensures he doesn't have a chance.
Still under the Pro. Magic, Zeru takes out the rest of the ambush, gaining his last level in the process. On the way back he's met by Molkar and his men, and I know Mail of the Dead is one of two or three items that can provide critical hit immunity... So Zeru fights rather than runs, slaughtering all four of them with relative ease, though potions had to be used of course. Imagine my frustration when I find the Mail of the Dead is something that only Fighters can use.
Zeru's currently in Baldur's Gate, having just gone on a buying spree and stabbed an Ogre Mage in the face a couple times with a poisoned dagger.
Sodof, elf dragon disciple (Grond0) & Gnoria, half-orc barbarian (Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/853571/#Comment_853571
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/854501/#Comment_854501
Still with all lives intact this duo have made a rapid start in BG2. The dungeon, circus and Copper Coronet were all sorted out without trouble before moving on to the Docks area. There, while Sodof went to chat to Mae'Var Gnoria raged to break open the door to Kangaxx's tomb and just had enough oomph to deal with the minotaurs inside.
Travelling to the Temple to pick up a necklace from Talos' temple the duo saw off an ambush by Suna Seni.
Back at the Docks Rayic Gethras went down with more of a whimper than a bang.
After paying Gaelan Bayle inventory problems were aided by a trip to Watcher's Keep. The top floor was cleared there with the exception of the second lot of statues - who had nothing we want. Renfeld was saved on the way back from there and Gnoria was soon raging again in order to break open the Harpers' treasure chests.
Gnoria suggested Sodof might like the Robe of Vecna, but that looked far too expensive with only 50k gold in the kitty - so a trip to Trademeet was planned to raise reputation. Prior to that the skinner murders were solved in order to open up Tiris' quest - the Rune Assassins failing to make much of an impression on Gnoria after she was buffed with spirit armor.
Trademeet all went according to plan. There was a single rest at the Troll Mound, but not after that which meant Sodof was out of spells by the end of the area and made a rare use of wands before watching Cernd snack on Faldorn.
Back in Athkatla the Fallen Paladins offered a bit more reputation. However, they also offered the only serious challenge to the BG2 run to date. With no license to use magic Sodof had intended to use wands again, but she had over-estimated the ability of Gnoria to tank the paladins - they were hitting easily despite spirit armor and improved invisibility and soon sent her running. As a result Sodof got hit several times and was down to single figure HPs before getting on her bike to run the last couple of paladins round.
The slavers soon provided a couple more reputation points
Sodof, dragon disciple 12, 79 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar), 204 kills (+124 in BG1)
Gnoria, barbarian 12, 130 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 207 kills (+255 in BG1), 0 deaths
Zeru's successfully made it through BG1, my first one out of the Sword Coast in months!
We used the Sandthief ring to investigate the Iron Throne: not much I wanted there anyways, besides possibly the Ring of Free Actions. After that, another charge gets Zeru away from the Ogre mage ambush, and a Potion of Storm Giant Strength is used to brute force the locks to both the Strength and Wisdom tome chambers open. The rest is walked through invisibly, besides the two Greater Basilisks at the end: I had two Potions of Mirrored Eyes in my potion case.
Finally had the Amazon ambush, and between the poison dagger and Tranzig's Wand of Magic Missile, they couldn't cast a spell. I found that the Protector of the Second is another item that protects against Critical hits, and I considered using it, but the 5 AC difference was too much.
IR makes Slythe much more manageable for non-mages without invisibility detection, since the potion of stone form is modified to give 5 Stoneskins to the drinker, negating his ridiculously high backstabs.
Ducal palace was always my worry, but some A.I. weirdness gets Zeru through easily. Zeru focused on disrupting the mage and shaman, pretty successfully, but Belt falls. The remaining Doppelgangers just stand around after that, though, not targeting Liia. I'm not complaining.
The final fight was long, drawn out, and painful since without critical hit immunity, Zeru could be killed in two strikes by Sarevok, and his acolytes refused to part ways with him besides Tazok. I first fought Angelo, but he turned invisible Near Death while the Pro. from Magic was still up. Tazok took his shot, but straight-up melee with potions of regeneration and strength enhancers means Tazok and his skeleton are the first to die.
As I learned from the Mines, Pro. from Magic doesn't protect against potions of explosion, so a couple of those injure Diarmid pretty drastically. Firebreath works as well. A few more attacks from invisibility, burning a ton of potions in the process, and Diarmid falls too.
Had to wait for my own Pro. from Magic before the other mages would show themselves, drinking a potion of Magic Shielding every time they started casting. Between oils of Burning and Poisoned daggers, both of the mages eventually fall without landing any spell worse that Melf's Acid Arrow. Oh, and Breach, which stripped away one of the two Stone Form potions I had left.
The final fight against Sarevok used a potion of power, invulnerability, defense, storm giant strength, stone form, and an oil of speed, and Zeru manages to defeat Sarevok before the Stone Form potion is broken. The battle took around an hour or so, all in all. Now to make my BG2 install...
Final stats: Zeru, Human Paladin 8, 98 HP. 19/19/19/12/14/18
The HP are... more or less exactly average, actually. Average is 98.5, so I can't quite hit that anyways.
In relation to HPs the basic average for those stats would be 88.5 (7 levels at 5.5, plus the original 10 with 8 levels of 5 constitution bonus). Did you have some mod item which was providing another 10 HPs?
rest. They didn't give ME half an hour's rest when MY brain overheated!