That was indeed the policy back then - only a complete and uninterrupted run from Candlekeep to the very end would enter the Hall of Fame. I, too, was under the impression that the same rules were adopted for this thread, but I could be wrong of course.
The actual Siege of Dragonspear went rather well for my party - most of the time, it was enough to just assist the troops with ranged damage, until Ashatiel appeared. I declined the duel (would propably have been a really bad idea to accept it) and fought her party with the help of some soldiers. Only for Ashatiel herself did I have to move away from the main army. Buffed with only PfE, remove fear and haste, a quick breach spell and some elemental damage was enough to deal with her:
Nabatil entered Avernus - during the first battle down there, Voghiln got charmed and decided to fight some crusaders, so I had to force-attack them to prevent Voghil from being killed. I answered the devil's riddle and got another +3 weapon (a longsword for Voghiln) for my efforts. Then, it was time to prepare for Belhifet.
I plundered most of my potion case, which included basically every type of buffing potion available. I had also saved scrolls of chaotic command for this occasion, used fire protection potions and scrolls, PfE, haste and remove fear, plus potions of agility and fortitude, heroism and power, storm giant strength, defense and invulnerability etc. I also equipped all the +3 weapons and ammunition I had gathered during the course of the two games.
Nabatil allied with Caelar and the party tried to kill Hephernaan first - a quick breach spell, and he was dead:
Caelar tanked most of Belhifet's damage. It was hard for my party to get hits in, but Corwin delivered thanks to all the great archer equipment in SoD and the void-tipped arrows:
My buffs were never dispelled, so Belhifet's fire spells didn't do anything. Despite his efforts to at least kill Caelar, she kept drinking healing potions:
Eventually, Corwin got the last hit in:
I completed the epilogue - with my main goal for this run achieved, we shall see how Nabatil will do in BG2.
Back on Bioware boards we didn't considered a no-reloading of individual games as sufficient for the proper full Trilogy no-reload run. I believe the same is assumed here. Please correct me if I'm wrong
Yuppers. On our forum a successful Trilogy run meant a continuous narrative from the Keep to the Throne: one protagonist, no deaths.
My preference would be to play that way here, too: one character, one adventure, one life lived.
If people would like to honor near misses, mayhaps we could have a Hall of Nearos- sort of an honorable mention list appended to the Hall of Heroes?
I don't want to be picky, but since you died during the ToB final fight with Frisky Bits, and had to reload at the start of ToB, does that count as a successful run ? Doesn't the rule imply a full Trilogy/Tetralogy no-reload to be considered a success or no-reloading individual games in sufficient ? It's merely a question to clarify things I have.
Back on Bioware boards we didn't considered a no-reloading of individual games as sufficient for the proper full Trilogy no-reload run. I believe the same is assumed here. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Hmmm.... I will let the Collective decide on such matters. Let me know how you feel, if you wish me to edit things on the original post.
After all, we are all here as comrades in the same quest.
As much as I like reading about @semiticgod's run, I think the Hall of Heroes should be reserved to those who managed full no-reload runs. That's my opinion, at least. I'll abide by the decision of the majority, though.
@Alesia_BH : A Hall of Nearoes is actually a good idea ! Also, there's a a link to the old Bioware forum on the first page which contains the successful runs made there, but yeah, they should probably appear in the Hall too.
Looking for some quick progress, Bash used webs to dispose of a couple of battle horrors at Durlag's Tower.
The third one's skeleton guards meant web was not really an option, but blur and mirror image provided an adequate replacement - that combat got Bash his 6th mage level.
It was back to webs for the doom guard though to complete the clearance of the external walls.
At the bottom of the Tower I had expected Bash to be able to tackle the ghasts in 2 groups, so was taken a bit aback when they combined
- but Bash still won handily despite his lack of buffing. Upstairs he was more careful with more ghasts with web allowing him to kill a group of 5 without damage.
Up again and he sneakily charmed Riggilo before successfully dragging some ghasts down to paralyse him while Bash nipped out of sight and used web - killing Riggilo and another 5 ghasts without taking damage once again.
MSD then allowed him to grab the tome.
On the roof he killed the lesser basilisk without trouble and moved on to the upper roof. After arriving he deliberately stepped back a pace in order to give him a margin for error and also targeted the web slightly inside his sight range to give a separate margin. Unbelievably, not only did he move forward while casting the web, but he also somehow managed to activate the basilisk - and on this occasion he went berserk immediately, so had no opportunity to retreat and don his armor.
He got one attack in before the basilisk switched to melee and was lucky that the basilisk rolled a critical miss early on and then got stuck in the web after another attack.
He was also lucky that the nearest basilisk didn't respond to the noise of the battle (which I've seen it do before) - enabling him to web that and kill it without taking further damage.
Rather than risk resting he went straight on to attack the final basilisk in a fairish fight, but the couple of hits he took were both pretty light blows.
Protection from fire then allowed him to loot the roof container.
Back at the Nashkel Carnival, Bash's already battered reputation took a further series of knocks. He pre-cast webs close to the Great Gazib with the intention of entrapping an ogre. However, when Gazib tried to flee from Oopah he did so straight into the web - resulting in him getting trapped and becoming a target (given his profession it seems a bit unfair though that killing him costs reputation).
The Ulgoth boy then apparently froze in terror of the sword bearing down on him and pushed reputation still lower.
Still at the Carnival he buffed up and attacked Zordral. He couldn't quite finish him off though before the mage went invisible and waited for Bash's buffs to wear off. The mage then tried a charm person, but Bash had been standing in the doorway and was just able to get outside before that hit - before bouncing back in before Zordral could try anything else.
Still just short of a 7th mage level, Bash went to the Valley of the Tombs where some more ghasts helped him out.
I didn't fancy fighting two mustard jellies and a mage while berserk, so Bash just webbed Narcillicus from out of sight and chopped him down in a single blow. Inside the final tomb, he had time to cast web before the Revenant went hostile - making what would probably have been an easy fight even easier.
His final BG1 level came working through a few ankhegs on his way to pick up their treasure horde.
He also picked up a knock scroll as a nice random drop there.
As much as I like reading about @semiticgod's run, I think the Hall of Heroes should be reserved to those who managed full no-reload runs. That's my opinion, at least. I'll abide by the decision of the majority, though.
Agreed on both points: Semiticgod's run was wonderful, but the Hall of Heroes should be reserved for characters that complete the entire Trilogy in one continuous narrative: Keep to the Throne, no deaths.
@Alesia_BH : A Hall of Nearoes is actually a good idea !
It could be fun. I'm not sure it's necessary though, really. I've had a few near misses, and those runs were well remembered, despite not warranting a place in the Bioware hall (My bounty hunter, Alesia, for example!)
In the alternative, perhaps we can have two subsections on the Hall of Heroes page: one for Bioware rules Trilogy no reloads (including the runs that actually took place on the Bioware forums), and one for Beamdog rules no reloads. That might be a way of preserving the differences between our micro-cultures while evading definitional arguments. Just a thought.
Also, there's a a link to the old Bioware forum on the first page which contains the successful runs made there, but yeah, they should probably appear in the Hall too.
Yes. The link to the legacy thread is great. It should be there.
To the extent that we are integrating our communities, each on equal footing, I think it would make sense to have the Bioware Hall of Heroes in this thread, too.
As much as I like reading about @semiticgod's run, I think the Hall of Heroes should be reserved to those who managed full no-reload runs. That's my opinion, at least. I'll abide by the decision of the majority, though.
Agreed on both points: Semiticgod's run was wonderful, but the Hall of Heroes should be reserved for characters that complete the entire Trilogy in one continuous narrative: Keep to the Throne, no deaths.
I hear you all. I'll still wait to hear also the opinion @semiticgod to make sure that we are all on the same page.
His runs are greatly enjoyed by many and have been an essential component of this thread. I wouldn't want to make him think his efforts underappreciated.
I wanted to leave the decision up to you guys, and the consensus is pretty clear: Hall of Heroes is for continuous narratives. I was hoping otherwise, but I'm not going to ask for a change of the rules when it's so clear the group wants the Bioware standards to be our standards. I'd have to start up Frisky Bits in BG1 again and work my way back up to get them in the Hall of Heroes.
But it would just be too much. I'm not up for re-doing all the old stuff just to get Frisky Bits on that list. At least not now.
I'm not sure I like the phrase "Hall of Nearos," but a separate section for minimal reload or non-continuous runs would be nice.
I'm willing to compile the memorable runs that did not quite fulfill the Trilogy/Tetralogy requirement in a single post. I can also copy the old Bioware successes in a separate post. I'm a bit busy, so I could do it by the end of this week.
On top of my head, these are the memorable runs I can think of :
@Alesia_BH's Bounty Hunter, like you suggested (care to share a link, please ?). Maybe also your Sorcerer run that failed at the Throne in ToB, because of the lack of Jimfix mod ? Could be interesting for those who want to know what you're up against without it. (I'm a longtime lurker who created an account only recently, that's why I know about these runs even though you don't really know me .)
@Blackraven's Bounty Hunter and Wizard Slayer that went into ToB.
@JuliusBorisov's solo Totemic Druid that got up to the final ToB battle.
@semiticgod's Spider mage (melee mage), Phase Spider solo kit, your LoB/SCS Ust Natha conquest, Mollyboo/Frisky Bits. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other BG2 success you had before, so feel free to remind me of those I forgot.
After coughing up several thousand for indulgences at a temple Bash had raised his reputation back up to 15. Normally I buy little or nothing with reputation of less than 20, but on this occasion Bash splashed out for the 4th level scrolls on sale at Ulgoth's Beard. Normally I'm particularly interested in improved invisibility as that is not sold in Baldur's Gate, but in this case I was keener to learn remove curse to increase tactical options - but failed to manage that (I normally abide by chance with scrolls rather than using potions to make sure).
Bash could have paid a temple for remove curse, but decided to work through the Nashkel Mine the berserk way. He had a close shave when approaching the first set of traps, where a kobold saved against sleep and moved towards him - instantly activating berserk before Bash could put his armor back on. He raged around, killing about a dozen of them, including several kobold commandos, before being left long enough to come back to his senses.
There was a potential danger from the poison arrows of the kobold chieftain, but I suspect he will have needed a critical to hit Bash and he failed to get any of those before running away from the carnage to the next area - only to find the carnage following him. Inside the cave Xan was in an unfortunate location close to the kobolds - at least there was no reputation loss for him though. Mulahey was also in an unfortunate location - at least by the time 3 webs were occupying it with him.
Back in Nashkel there could have been a bloodbath if Nimbul had gone hostile, but I didn't think there was much chance of that inside webs - and this time I was right. Neira also never knew what hit her - though Bash had taken the precaution there of positioning himself where he couldm't see anyone else anyway.
Tranzig has decent saving throws and briefly freed himself from the webs - not that it did him any good to know he was about to die. While in Beregost Bash also summoned up a pet quasit.
Not fancying taking on the entire Bandit Camp at once, Bash considered how he might get an invitation there. On the way to look for a guide though he was ambushed by Molkar's group. While still in control of himself he quickly swallowed an invulnerability potion, but things didn't look good when he was reduced to down from 71 HPs to 33 even before killing the first opponent.
He was hit again to go down to 23 while taking down a second
and reduced further to 8 HPs to prompt Halacan to use PW:sleep on him.
I was a bit surprised that worked through berserk, but Bash somehow dragged himself up off the floor after being hit only once more to leave him with a single HP.
Unfortunately he was attacking Halacan, not the far more dangerous Drakar, but with the contest going mano a mano I dared to hope for an amazing escape - only for Drakar to be the first to find a telling blow.
I always thought that encounter had the potential to turn nasty and had originally considered buying some full plate, rather than waiting to get the suit from Taurgosz - but changed my mind due to the reputation loss Bash suffered. If he had had the improved armor there's every chance he would have survived that fight, but as the saying goes "being a skinflint costs lives" . Of course there are other things that could have saved him as well: - if he had successfully learned remove curse he would almost certainly not have had the sword equipped and I had considered paying the temple to do that, but decided to test out at least one of the potential guides before resorting to that (one possibility I wanted to try was to see whether the quasit could open a conversation with Teven). - if he had been travelling invisibly he could have avoided the fight or buffed up before engaging.
I'm willing to compile the memorable runs that did not quite fulfill the Trilogy/Tetralogy requirement in a single post. I can also copy the old Bioware successes in a separate post.
There are so many! Tallying up the near misses from the Bioware thread would be a monumental task. We'd end up with a monstrous list.
We could anoint a subset of the near misses "memorable" and then include those only, but I, personally, don't want to get into the business of calling one run subjectively memorable and another not.
Perhaps we should have a rotating list, non-permanent? We could post, say, the last 5 runs that ended at the Throne, and then rotate the oldest one out as new ones occur? Something like that.
Best,
A.
Btw. @Semiticgod. I'm unfond of the phrase Hall of Nearos, too. It was a joke- a placeholder label
Btw II. I hope this discussion hasn't, in anyway, distracted from Mollyboo/Frisky Bit's accomplishment. It was an outstanding run- unquestionably unique. Congrats!
Remember my bard, Aaliyah- the one that I had dramatically unveiled with an epic portrait and catchy theme song?
Well, forget her- at least for now.
Aaliyah thrived on the Sword Coast, for as long as I could play her, but I've decided to set her aside. I'm just not feeling her. Evil is tough for me; I'm too nice. And, honestly -really truly- she does feel a bit done- seeing as how I've already completed the Trilogy with a bard, my jester, Alisa.
The good news is that I have a new character, and I'm excited about this one. Her name is Aestica. She's a halfling pure fighter and I, at least, think she's pretty cool. Hopefully you'll agree. You'll get to meet her soon. For now, here's a sneak peak at what she's been up to this weekend
We could anoint a subset of the near misses "memorable" and then include those only, but I, personally, don't want to get into the business of calling one run subjectively memorable and another not.
That's probably the best happy medium.
Of the dozens of attempts I had, a few memorable ones stick out in memory only.
(After all, I have yet to have a single entry myself on that "Hall of Heroes" list that I maintain on the first page.)
Maybe we can have a list of "Honorable Mentions" -- spectacular failures & near misses.
@Alesia_BH Vanilla halfling fighters unite! Wishing Aestica more success than Oranfal (taking a revenge upon the Planar Prison's bounty hunters will undoubtedly be appreciated).
Ok. It’s time for everyone to meet Aestica, my neutral good halfling fighter. Here she is as seen on the steps of Candlekeep.
Proficiencies: Slings x2, Short Swords x 2
Mods: BG1- EE v1.3, SCS v30 (all tactical challenges, full pre-buffs); BG2- EEv 1.3, BG Fixpack v10 (Free Action Protects Against stun only), BG Tweakpack (additional Bags of Holding, no un-nerfs, no rule changes), SCS v30 (full prebuffs, nearly all tactical challenges, nearly all nerfs), Ascension
Character Description: As some of you may recall, my final run prior to my two year break featured a spunky, punky, halfling barbarian named Arkona. As a player who rarely runs warriors, Arkona surprised me: She was fun, capable- balanced and yet challenging. She was everything a player hopes for when they pop open a laptop and start rolling rolls. She hit the sweet spot. Readers enjoyed her, too, I think.
Aestica is Arkona’s spiritual successor. Her build is about simplicity, concision. I’m loving her so far. I put her odds of completing the Trilogy at about 1 in I-have-no-idea-a-very-big-number, but that hasn’t -and will not- detract from the joy of playing her. A run needn’t end in the Hall to be a success. Not all winners win.
So: Why are Aestica’s odds so slim? That’s more on me than her, really. She has what it takes: I don’t. And to those of you who doubt this: Do you want to know how bad my play was with Aaliyah? It was Shank and Carbos bad; Biff the Understudy bad; Blind date with Irenicus bad. I couldn’t remember anything; I couldn’t think through anything. It was so bad that I found myself Googling “early onset dementia.” I’m not joking. I didn’t get her killed -I took solace in that. Nonetheless, it was terrifying.
But here’s the thing about relearning something: It’s a lot easier than learning something for the first time. Instead of encoding new knowledge, you just have to get your brain to decode what’s already there. It can take awhile -and it can be agonizing- but it happens. For me, in BG1, it seemed like an exponential process. After setting Aaliyah aide in the Cloakwood, I completed two runs through BG1: one with an F/T named Ariel, the other with our current heroine, Aestica. By the time I finished Aestica’s run I was very-nearly back to my old self. If the same thing happens in BG II -if my memory kicks on and my attention kicks in- well, then, look out: Aestica might make it to the Throne.
BG1 coverage next.
Best,
A.
NW: Aestica doesn't have a theme song yet. I'll let you know when I think of something.
@Alesia_BH (taking a revenge upon the Planar Prison's bounty hunters will undoubtedly be appreciated).
Noted. I'll try, Borco. Hopefully Aestica will get there. Amn seems awfully big and scary right now, but if Aestica makes it to the Planar Prison, she'll definitely put the spank down on those bounty-seeking-sleeze-muffins.
Aestica, Neutral Good, Halfling Fighter: Candlekeep to the Nashkel Mines
Despite facing a daunting re-learning curve, Aestica enjoyed a smooth run through the Sword Coast. She had exactly one close call. Anyone care to guess who the culprit was? Lowlight of the run.
(Yeah.That's always fun...)
Anyhoo, Aestica's early game was pretty standard. She went Lion's Way->Coast Way->Friendly Arm, collecting all the shiny-shiny along the way. She then went to Beregost via High Hedge. At High Hedge, she identified and sold her Friendly Arm baubble. Next, she paid a visit to Marl before laying some gold on Kelddath. Swinging over to Firebeard's place brought her reputation to 19. Let's do some shoppin': Wand of Sleep, Potion of Freedom, Potion of Mirror Eyes, Potion of Magic Blocking (a-just-in-case pick for the Mutamin encounter; great emergency item), Sling + 1
First fight, first quest, first win for the sling:
Aestica's first level up came soon after. Now with a hit point cushion, the Wand of Sleep, and an early defensive potion collection, she was ready to head south to Nashkel for a some more "geocaching" and shopping: Ankheg Plate, Necklace of Missles, Shield Amulet, Protection from Petrification. Inventory at the carnival:
Time to punk some basilisks. Korax paralyzed, Aestica pulverized: Simple plan. Note that Aestica is dual-wielding here, despite having zero pips in Two Weapon Style. When your enemy is stunned, why not?
Mutamin was taken down by Korax. Aestica's Potion of Magic Blocking went undeployed, happily.
Aestica's first pip went to darts. Her early game strategy was now coming into focus: Wand of Sleep for groups of week enemies, Darts of Stunning for single powerful enemies.
Her item goals at this stage were the Whistiling Sword, Girdle of Piercing, Girdle of Bluntness, and Melium's bracers for use, Varscona and the Gauntlets of Dexterity for sale. The Girdle of Piercing was collected before the Whistling Sword; the Girdle of Bluntness before the Gauntlets of Dexterity. Well equipped, and with the funds for a Ulgoth's Beard trip, Aestica headed north. Wand of Sleep for the en route Ankheg's
After purchasing the Greenstone Amulet and the Cloak of Displacement, Aestica was very nearly ready for Mulahey. All she needed was a little more experience and cash. Clearing the Ankheg Lair, equiped with the Cloak of Displacement and the Girdle of Bluntness, provided the experience: Punking Vax and Zal, the last bit of coin. The Cloak of Displacement and the Girdle of Piercing were in place to frustrate the fastest dart-thrower-in-the-west, but an opening Dart of Stunning nullified the threat immediately
Onto the mines. Same game plan here
Finally, Mulahey. The buffs here were Greenstone Amulet, Shield Amulet (for the colors, yay!), and Potion of Hill Giant Strength. An opening Necklace of Missles blast neutralized the minions; the Girdle of Bluntness + Ankheg Plate took care of Mulahey. The Whistling Sword finished him. Hooray!
I'll cover the Bandit Camp through the Cloakwood Mines next.
CorEE II has made good progress. Specifically, all of the Cloakwood has been cleared. Cloakwood Mines are always lot easier when you have berserkers in the party. Drassus was pretty straightforward as Drassus' mages got silenced.
Inside the mines themselves, all mages therein were defeated by a single berserker, buffed with enrage or some potions (such as one of my favorite potions, potion of magic blocking) or both. Heirashan was defeated by a well buffed berserker repeatedly throwing potions of explosions at her until she went down.
We are now about to enter the great city of Baldur's Gate.
At the Cloakwood Mines entrance Xan charmed both guards on the bridge and sent them to engage Drasus while Imoen observed from the shadows:
Rezdan Dire Charmed one guard back to their service but with no visible enemies nearby to fight with they continued to smack on each other. We took our time to apply some buffs while their are running low:
With one of our 'bait' dead they went on search of other targets. Kysus, as the most persistent, had to die first. Wands of Cold and Lightning makes wonders vs him.
With him dead Drasus appeared on the horizon accompanied with Rezdan. He had solid buffs (potion of magic shielding, frost giant strength, rage) but with our wands at the ready and skellies as a bait he had no chance. Rezdan dominated Jaheira but Viconia cleared her mind with Break Enchantment. He also tried to charm Khalid but the quick and stern look of the wife stop it. Stayed alone Drasus doesn't last long.
He dropped another rare piece of armor Viconia longing for for so long already. With it she finally became our best frontliner, in both physical and magical terms:
Genthore, always being the weakest of the four, doesn't even deserve mentioning.
Deep in the mines Hareishan doesn't heard the calls for help from the entrance (as I'm used to) and stayed in her chamber with most of bodyguards. That means we could divide-and-conquer here being pretty safe.
We've sent Yeslick to Joviar Juggler Inn and descend deeper into the Mines. And there, to my deepest shame, Natasha outsmarted me causing our first, non-plot related death. At first Viconia shrugged off most of her magical attacks but when Jaheira and Khalid joined the fray they were hurt badly and had to retreat. Jaheira made some bad rolls and took most of the damage.
We hide them in the back rooms and Viconia fought Natasha alone again. And for quite a long time Natasha doesn't cast a single offensive spell (only reapplying Stoneskins and Mirror Images), chasing Viconia all over the place trying to fight her in melee. Round after round after round she only spit curses so I've thought she had spent all her spells already and sent Khalid and Jaheira (who just barely recovered from the injures) onward to help Viconia. And then Natasha suddenly and unexpectedly cast another evocation spell. Jaheira had another bad saves roll and...:
Natasha even had a Minor Sequencer with double Charm Person in her sleeve though Break Enchantment could fix this easily. She died soon after but now we have to take it all the way to the FAI to revive Jaheira and then back again. With two ambushes in a row and then one more on the way back this could be quite annoying...
Ogre Mage is far less troublesome.
Davaeorn's lair: Imoen disarmed traps but was somehow spotted even being hidden so had to run to the side room and hide there again to scout further from the back.
Spell Revisions' Stinking Cloud doesn't make you unconscious anymore but instead makes you unable to fight or cast spell on failed saves while you are in the Cloud. All this makes Davaeorn's opening sequencer less troublesome if you have Free Action active and thus might run through it and take a position at the back rooms:
Next we called for some Dire Wolves while Davaeorn cast Telepot Field. Which actually were a real boon for us as it instantly teleported our 'doggies' out of the range of his most vicious spells so he could hurt his own guards freely:
More guards pour in to be fried out. Soon Davaeorn is all alone and as they say, there is always safety in numbers..
The loot is spectacular: Gauntlets of Dexterity (to improve Jaheira's AC), Dagger +2, Longtooth, Robe of the Battlemage (ex. Neutral Archmagi) for Xan, Stoneskin scroll:
Back to the civilisation a sidetrip to the Lighthouse area were taken and we've experienced a new Sirines abilities: Fog Cloud, which blinds even skellies, Charming Song (an AoE Charm), Polymorph Self: Mustard Jelly, Toxic Vapors.
Being Elves, both Viconia and Xan are highly resistant to their charms so most danger was from our other charmed comrades.
Inside the pirates cave Viconia was glad she has this shiny armor with Critical Hit protection as those Flesh Golems are quite accurate. The treasure consist of Tome of Clear Thought, a nice Shield of the Falling Stars +2 and Cloak of the Wolf, which within IR is quite interesting:
Time to tie up some loose ends and hunt down more greeny beasts. With Viconia baiting and Jaheira with Khalid shooting this was an easy task:
Tenya got her mommy's bowl back and after clearing the nearby farm of zombies and visiting the Ulgoth's Beard to take some new tasks there we are finally at the gates of great city but more on that tomorrow as an hour in the morning is worth two in the evening (as they say)...
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Nabatil, halfling shadowdancer, update 6
Previous post:
The actual Siege of Dragonspear went rather well for my party - most of the time, it was enough to just assist the troops with ranged damage, until Ashatiel appeared. I declined the duel (would propably have been a really bad idea to accept it) and fought her party with the help of some soldiers. Only for Ashatiel herself did I have to move away from the main army. Buffed with only PfE, remove fear and haste, a quick breach spell and some elemental damage was enough to deal with her:
Nabatil entered Avernus - during the first battle down there, Voghiln got charmed and decided to fight some crusaders, so I had to force-attack them to prevent Voghil from being killed. I answered the devil's riddle and got another +3 weapon (a longsword for Voghiln) for my efforts. Then, it was time to prepare for Belhifet.
I plundered most of my potion case, which included basically every type of buffing potion available. I had also saved scrolls of chaotic command for this occasion, used fire protection potions and scrolls, PfE, haste and remove fear, plus potions of agility and fortitude, heroism and power, storm giant strength, defense and invulnerability etc. I also equipped all the +3 weapons and ammunition I had gathered during the course of the two games.
Nabatil allied with Caelar and the party tried to kill Hephernaan first - a quick breach spell, and he was dead:
Caelar tanked most of Belhifet's damage. It was hard for my party to get hits in, but Corwin delivered thanks to all the great archer equipment in SoD and the void-tipped arrows:
My buffs were never dispelled, so Belhifet's fire spells didn't do anything. Despite his efforts to at least kill Caelar, she kept drinking healing potions:
Eventually, Corwin got the last hit in:
I completed the epilogue - with my main goal for this run achieved, we shall see how Nabatil will do in BG2.
Enuhal
My preference would be to play that way here, too: one character, one adventure, one life lived.
If people would like to honor near misses, mayhaps we could have a Hall of Nearos- sort of an honorable mention list appended to the Hall of Heroes?
Best,
A.
Congratulations again on a successful run .... and using chickens!
After all, we are all here as comrades in the same quest.
@Alesia_BH : A Hall of Nearoes is actually a good idea ! Also, there's a a link to the old Bioware forum on the first page which contains the successful runs made there, but yeah, they should probably appear in the Hall too.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901509/#Comment_901509
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901650/#Comment_901650
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901678/#Comment_901678
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901702/#Comment_901702
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901708/#Comment_901708
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901810/#Comment_901810
Looking for some quick progress, Bash used webs to dispose of a couple of battle horrors at Durlag's Tower.
At the bottom of the Tower I had expected Bash to be able to tackle the ghasts in 2 groups, so was taken a bit aback when they combined
On the roof he killed the lesser basilisk without trouble and moved on to the upper roof. After arriving he deliberately stepped back a pace in order to give him a margin for error and also targeted the web slightly inside his sight range to give a separate margin. Unbelievably, not only did he move forward while casting the web, but he also somehow managed to activate the basilisk - and on this occasion he went berserk immediately, so had no opportunity to retreat and don his armor.
Back at the Nashkel Carnival, Bash's already battered reputation took a further series of knocks. He pre-cast webs close to the Great Gazib with the intention of entrapping an ogre. However, when Gazib tried to flee from Oopah he did so straight into the web - resulting in him getting trapped and becoming a target (given his profession it seems a bit unfair though that killing him costs reputation).
Still just short of a 7th mage level, Bash went to the Valley of the Tombs where some more ghasts helped him out.
His final BG1 level came working through a few ankhegs on his way to pick up their treasure horde.
Fighter 7 / Mage 7, 65 HPs, 295 kills
In the alternative, perhaps we can have two subsections on the Hall of Heroes page: one for Bioware rules Trilogy no reloads (including the runs that actually took place on the Bioware forums), and one for Beamdog rules no reloads. That might be a way of preserving the differences between our micro-cultures while evading definitional arguments. Just a thought. Yes. The link to the legacy thread is great. It should be there.
To the extent that we are integrating our communities, each on equal footing, I think it would make sense to have the Bioware Hall of Heroes in this thread, too.
Best,
A.
His runs are greatly enjoyed by many and have been an essential component of this thread. I wouldn't want to make him think his efforts underappreciated.
But it would just be too much. I'm not up for re-doing all the old stuff just to get Frisky Bits on that list. At least not now.
I'm not sure I like the phrase "Hall of Nearos," but a separate section for minimal reload or non-continuous runs would be nice.
If someone wants to collate a list of non-continunous runs I am happy to add it to the original post.
(Space is no issue, as it will be sitting under a separate spoiler tag.)
On top of my head, these are the memorable runs I can think of :
@Alesia_BH's Bounty Hunter, like you suggested (care to share a link, please ?). Maybe also your Sorcerer run that failed at the Throne in ToB, because of the lack of Jimfix mod ? Could be interesting for those who want to know what you're up against without it. (I'm a longtime lurker who created an account only recently, that's why I know about these runs even though you don't really know me
@Blackraven's Bounty Hunter and Wizard Slayer that went into ToB.
@JuliusBorisov's solo Totemic Druid that got up to the final ToB battle.
@semiticgod's Spider mage (melee mage), Phase Spider solo kit, your LoB/SCS Ust Natha conquest, Mollyboo/Frisky Bits. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other BG2 success you had before, so feel free to remind me of those I forgot.
Anyboby can think of something else ?
Previous updates with this character:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901509/#Comment_901509
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901650/#Comment_901650
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901678/#Comment_901678
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901702/#Comment_901702
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901708/#Comment_901708
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901810/#Comment_901810
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/901876/#Comment_901876
After coughing up several thousand for indulgences at a temple Bash had raised his reputation back up to 15. Normally I buy little or nothing with reputation of less than 20, but on this occasion Bash splashed out for the 4th level scrolls on sale at Ulgoth's Beard. Normally I'm particularly interested in improved invisibility as that is not sold in Baldur's Gate, but in this case I was keener to learn remove curse to increase tactical options - but failed to manage that (I normally abide by chance with scrolls rather than using potions to make sure).
Bash could have paid a temple for remove curse, but decided to work through the Nashkel Mine the berserk way. He had a close shave when approaching the first set of traps, where a kobold saved against sleep and moved towards him - instantly activating berserk before Bash could put his armor back on. He raged around, killing about a dozen of them, including several kobold commandos, before being left long enough to come back to his senses.
There was a potential danger from the poison arrows of the kobold chieftain, but I suspect he will have needed a critical to hit Bash and he failed to get any of those before running away from the carnage to the next area - only to find the carnage following him. Inside the cave Xan was in an unfortunate location close to the kobolds - at least there was no reputation loss for him though. Mulahey was also in an unfortunate location - at least by the time 3 webs were occupying it with him.
Back in Nashkel there could have been a bloodbath if Nimbul had gone hostile, but I didn't think there was much chance of that inside webs - and this time I was right. Neira also never knew what hit her - though Bash had taken the precaution there of positioning himself where he couldm't see anyone else anyway.
Tranzig has decent saving throws and briefly freed himself from the webs - not that it did him any good to know he was about to die. While in Beregost Bash also summoned up a pet quasit.
Not fancying taking on the entire Bandit Camp at once, Bash considered how he might get an invitation there. On the way to look for a guide though he was ambushed by Molkar's group. While still in control of himself he quickly swallowed an invulnerability potion, but things didn't look good when he was reduced to down from 71 HPs to 33 even before killing the first opponent.
I always thought that encounter had the potential to turn nasty and had originally considered buying some full plate, rather than waiting to get the suit from Taurgosz - but changed my mind due to the reputation loss Bash suffered. If he had had the improved armor there's every chance he would have survived that fight, but as the saying goes "being a skinflint costs lives"
- if he had successfully learned remove curse he would almost certainly not have had the sword equipped and I had considered paying the temple to do that, but decided to test out at least one of the potential guides before resorting to that (one possibility I wanted to try was to see whether the quasit could open a conversation with Teven).
- if he had been travelling invisibly he could have avoided the fight or buffed up before engaging.
We could anoint a subset of the near misses "memorable" and then include those only, but I, personally, don't want to get into the business of calling one run subjectively memorable and another not.
Perhaps we should have a rotating list, non-permanent? We could post, say, the last 5 runs that ended at the Throne, and then rotate the oldest one out as new ones occur? Something like that.
Best,
A.
Btw. @Semiticgod. I'm unfond of the phrase Hall of Nearos, too. It was a joke- a placeholder label
Btw II. I hope this discussion hasn't, in anyway, distracted from Mollyboo/Frisky Bit's accomplishment. It was an outstanding run- unquestionably unique. Congrats!
Remember my bard, Aaliyah- the one that I had dramatically unveiled with an epic portrait and catchy theme song?
Well, forget her- at least for now.
Aaliyah thrived on the Sword Coast, for as long as I could play her, but I've decided to set her aside. I'm just not feeling her. Evil is tough for me; I'm too nice. And, honestly -really truly- she does feel a bit done- seeing as how I've already completed the Trilogy with a bard, my jester, Alisa.
The good news is that I have a new character, and I'm excited about this one. Her name is Aestica. She's a halfling pure fighter and I, at least, think she's pretty cool. Hopefully you'll agree. You'll get to meet her soon. For now, here's a sneak peak at what she's been up to this weekend
Intro and coverage coming soon!
Best,
A.
Of the dozens of attempts I had, a few memorable ones stick out in memory only.
(After all, I have yet to have a single entry myself on that "Hall of Heroes" list that I maintain on the first page.)
Maybe we can have a list of "Honorable Mentions" -- spectacular failures & near misses.
Ok. It’s time for everyone to meet Aestica, my neutral good halfling fighter. Here she is as seen on the steps of Candlekeep.
Proficiencies: Slings x2, Short Swords x 2
Mods: BG1- EE v1.3, SCS v30 (all tactical challenges, full pre-buffs); BG2- EEv 1.3, BG Fixpack v10 (Free Action Protects Against stun only), BG Tweakpack (additional Bags of Holding, no un-nerfs, no rule changes), SCS v30 (full prebuffs, nearly all tactical challenges, nearly all nerfs), Ascension
Character Description: As some of you may recall, my final run prior to my two year break featured a spunky, punky, halfling barbarian named Arkona. As a player who rarely runs warriors, Arkona surprised me: She was fun, capable- balanced and yet challenging. She was everything a player hopes for when they pop open a laptop and start rolling rolls. She hit the sweet spot. Readers enjoyed her, too, I think.
Aestica is Arkona’s spiritual successor. Her build is about simplicity, concision. I’m loving her so far. I put her odds of completing the Trilogy at about 1 in I-have-no-idea-a-very-big-number, but that hasn’t -and will not- detract from the joy of playing her. A run needn’t end in the Hall to be a success. Not all winners win.
So: Why are Aestica’s odds so slim? That’s more on me than her, really. She has what it takes: I don’t. And to those of you who doubt this: Do you want to know how bad my play was with Aaliyah? It was Shank and Carbos bad; Biff the Understudy bad; Blind date with Irenicus bad. I couldn’t remember anything; I couldn’t think through anything. It was so bad that I found myself Googling “early onset dementia.” I’m not joking. I didn’t get her killed -I took solace in that. Nonetheless, it was terrifying.
But here’s the thing about relearning something: It’s a lot easier than learning something for the first time. Instead of encoding new knowledge, you just have to get your brain to decode what’s already there. It can take awhile -and it can be agonizing- but it happens. For me, in BG1, it seemed like an exponential process. After setting Aaliyah aide in the Cloakwood, I completed two runs through BG1: one with an F/T named Ariel, the other with our current heroine, Aestica. By the time I finished Aestica’s run I was very-nearly back to my old self. If the same thing happens in BG II -if my memory kicks on and my attention kicks in- well, then, look out: Aestica might make it to the Throne.
BG1 coverage next.
Best,
A.
NW: Aestica doesn't have a theme song yet. I'll let you know when I think of something.
Despite facing a daunting re-learning curve, Aestica enjoyed a smooth run through the Sword Coast. She had exactly one close call. Anyone care to guess who the culprit was? Lowlight of the run.
(Yeah.That's always fun...)
Anyhoo, Aestica's early game was pretty standard. She went Lion's Way->Coast Way->Friendly Arm, collecting all the shiny-shiny along the way. She then went to Beregost via High Hedge. At High Hedge, she identified and sold her Friendly Arm baubble. Next, she paid a visit to Marl before laying some gold on Kelddath. Swinging over to Firebeard's place brought her reputation to 19. Let's do some shoppin': Wand of Sleep, Potion of Freedom, Potion of Mirror Eyes, Potion of Magic Blocking (a-just-in-case pick for the Mutamin encounter; great emergency item), Sling + 1
First fight, first quest, first win for the sling:
Aestica's first level up came soon after. Now with a hit point cushion, the Wand of Sleep, and an early defensive potion collection, she was ready to head south to Nashkel for a some more "geocaching" and shopping: Ankheg Plate, Necklace of Missles, Shield Amulet, Protection from Petrification. Inventory at the carnival:
Time to punk some basilisks. Korax paralyzed, Aestica pulverized: Simple plan. Note that Aestica is dual-wielding here, despite having zero pips in Two Weapon Style. When your enemy is stunned, why not?
Mutamin was taken down by Korax. Aestica's Potion of Magic Blocking went undeployed, happily.
Aestica's first pip went to darts. Her early game strategy was now coming into focus: Wand of Sleep for groups of week enemies, Darts of Stunning for single powerful enemies.
Her item goals at this stage were the Whistiling Sword, Girdle of Piercing, Girdle of Bluntness, and Melium's bracers for use, Varscona and the Gauntlets of Dexterity for sale. The Girdle of Piercing was collected before the Whistling Sword; the Girdle of Bluntness before the Gauntlets of Dexterity. Well equipped, and with the funds for a Ulgoth's Beard trip, Aestica headed north. Wand of Sleep for the en route Ankheg's
After purchasing the Greenstone Amulet and the Cloak of Displacement, Aestica was very nearly ready for Mulahey. All she needed was a little more experience and cash. Clearing the Ankheg Lair, equiped with the Cloak of Displacement and the Girdle of Bluntness, provided the experience: Punking Vax and Zal, the last bit of coin. The Cloak of Displacement and the Girdle of Piercing were in place to frustrate the fastest dart-thrower-in-the-west, but an opening Dart of Stunning nullified the threat immediately
Onto the mines. Same game plan here
Finally, Mulahey. The buffs here were Greenstone Amulet, Shield Amulet (for the colors, yay!), and Potion of Hill Giant Strength. An opening Necklace of Missles blast neutralized the minions; the Girdle of Bluntness + Ankheg Plate took care of Mulahey. The Whistling Sword finished him. Hooray!
I'll cover the Bandit Camp through the Cloakwood Mines next.
Best,
A.
If so, I love you for it, but, no, it totally doesn't fit
(More importantly, condolences on the loss of Bash. May he be avenged!)
Traveling with:
Draman: level 6 dwarven berserker (166 kills)
Cierra: level 6 dwarven beserker (262 kills)
Lilly: level 6 dwarven kensai (204 kills)
Kivan: level 6 elven ranger (166 kills)
Rhianna: level 7 dwarven bounty hunter (84 kills)
CorEE II (protagonist): level 6 dwarven priest of lathander (61 kills)
CorEE II has made good progress. Specifically, all of the Cloakwood has been cleared. Cloakwood Mines are always lot easier when you have berserkers in the party. Drassus was pretty straightforward as Drassus' mages got silenced.
Inside the mines themselves, all mages therein were defeated by a single berserker, buffed with enrage or some potions (such as one of my favorite potions, potion of magic blocking) or both. Heirashan was defeated by a well buffed berserker repeatedly throwing potions of explosions at her until she went down.
We are now about to enter the great city of Baldur's Gate.
Setup/WeiDU: (BWS/BGT: SCS/Spell Revisions/Item Revisions/aTweaks/Polytweak/Item Randomiser)
TOC:
1. Einleitung.
2. Chapter I.
3. Chapter II.
4. Chapter III .
5. Chapter IV.
Chapter V.
At the Cloakwood Mines entrance Xan charmed both guards on the bridge and sent them to engage Drasus while Imoen observed from the shadows:
Rezdan Dire Charmed one guard back to their service but with no visible enemies nearby to fight with they continued to smack on each other. We took our time to apply some buffs while their are running low:
With one of our 'bait' dead they went on search of other targets. Kysus, as the most persistent, had to die first. Wands of Cold and Lightning makes wonders vs him.
With him dead Drasus appeared on the horizon accompanied with Rezdan. He had solid buffs (potion of magic shielding, frost giant strength, rage) but with our wands at the ready and skellies as a bait he had no chance. Rezdan dominated Jaheira but Viconia cleared her mind with Break Enchantment. He also tried to charm Khalid but the quick and stern look of the wife stop it. Stayed alone Drasus doesn't last long.
He dropped another rare piece of armor Viconia longing for for so long already. With it she finally became our best frontliner, in both physical and magical terms:
Genthore, always being the weakest of the four, doesn't even deserve mentioning.
Deep in the mines Hareishan doesn't heard the calls for help from the entrance (as I'm used to) and stayed in her chamber with most of bodyguards. That means we could divide-and-conquer here being pretty safe.
We've sent Yeslick to Joviar Juggler Inn and descend deeper into the Mines. And there, to my deepest shame, Natasha outsmarted me causing our first, non-plot related death.
At first Viconia shrugged off most of her magical attacks but when Jaheira and Khalid joined the fray they were hurt badly and had to retreat. Jaheira made some bad rolls and took most of the damage.
We hide them in the back rooms and Viconia fought Natasha alone again. And for quite a long time Natasha doesn't cast a single offensive spell (only reapplying Stoneskins and Mirror Images), chasing Viconia all over the place trying to fight her in melee. Round after round after round she only spit curses so I've thought she had spent all her spells already and sent Khalid and Jaheira (who just barely recovered from the injures) onward to help Viconia. And then Natasha suddenly and unexpectedly cast another evocation spell. Jaheira had another bad saves roll and...:
Natasha even had a Minor Sequencer with double Charm Person in her sleeve though Break Enchantment could fix this easily. She died soon after but now we have to take it all the way to the FAI to revive Jaheira and then back again. With two ambushes in a row and then one more on the way back this could be quite annoying...
Ogre Mage is far less troublesome.
Davaeorn's lair:
Imoen disarmed traps but was somehow spotted even being hidden so had to run to the side room and hide there again to scout further from the back.
Spell Revisions' Stinking Cloud doesn't make you unconscious anymore but instead makes you unable to fight or cast spell on failed saves while you are in the Cloud. All this makes Davaeorn's opening sequencer less troublesome if you have Free Action active and thus might run through it and take a position at the back rooms:
Next we called for some Dire Wolves while Davaeorn cast Telepot Field. Which actually were a real boon for us as it instantly teleported our 'doggies' out of the range of his most vicious spells so he could hurt his own guards freely:
More guards pour in to be fried out. Soon Davaeorn is all alone and as they say, there is always safety in numbers..
The loot is spectacular: Gauntlets of Dexterity (to improve Jaheira's AC), Dagger +2, Longtooth, Robe of the Battlemage (ex. Neutral Archmagi) for Xan, Stoneskin scroll:
Back to the civilisation a sidetrip to the Lighthouse area were taken and we've experienced a new Sirines abilities: Fog Cloud, which blinds even skellies, Charming Song (an AoE Charm), Polymorph Self: Mustard Jelly, Toxic Vapors.
Being Elves, both Viconia and Xan are highly resistant to their charms so most danger was from our other charmed comrades.
Inside the pirates cave Viconia was glad she has this shiny armor with Critical Hit protection as those Flesh Golems are quite accurate. The treasure consist of Tome of Clear Thought, a nice Shield of the Falling Stars +2 and Cloak of the Wolf, which within IR is quite interesting:
Time to tie up some loose ends and hunt down more greeny beasts. With Viconia baiting and Jaheira with Khalid shooting this was an easy task:
Tenya got her mommy's bowl back and after clearing the nearby farm of zombies and visiting the Ulgoth's Beard to take some new tasks there we are finally at the gates of great city but more on that tomorrow as an hour in the morning is worth two in the evening (as they say)...
to be continued...