I like your new party, your failed saves approach looks promising. Looking forward to reading aboout your progress.
It looks like one of the guys suddenly rediscovered the Balthazar dialog options and variables ... Sad to see this new issue with Glorydd. If nothing's wrong with the spell and you are sure you are not under any effect increasing your save threshold, then this may be related to the area itself, the spwngrp definition and more likely the creature script sequence. The aTweaks mummy script takes precedence over or specifically overwrites the BP, SCS and Quest Pack basic scripts (based on their "hard"coded script names) but you may have something else interfering with your game.
Traps weakened Kayardi. A Sunfire finished him off.
The other halflings weren't too tough without him.
Lavok unwisely chose Improved Mantle. Darts +5 bypass Improved Mantle, and when both Horun and his Vhailor's Helm clone are using them under Improved Haste, they have 20 APR. Lavok only gets one spell off the ground.
Tolgerias waits for us downstairs. Zao whomps his buddy with a critical hit backstab.
See? No chunking!
Tolgerias doesn't have Globe of Invulnerability, so he has no defense against Greater Malison or Web. It's easy to disable him.
I've finally given Varen her innate immunity to charm and hold, and also tweaked Keldorn's armor so its immunities aren't dispellable. Now she can walk through Webs without worry.
The Planar Sphere is ours! We pick the safe route for the apprentices and get some XP and a Mislead scroll. Also a dagger I would later sell for 1 gold. Next up is the Unseeing Eye.
We sneak past the Beholders near the riddle bridge by casting Invisibility on each party member. We encounter trouble, however, with a Greater Mummy in the Pit of the Faithless.
Horun is taking 15 damage per second, and I haven't updated the Periapt of Proof against Poison to grant immunity to poison damage. But we did recently gain Cure Disease, so Milly is able to cure her partner.
The Greater Mummy is still there, however, and we'll have to deal with it eventually if we want a safe route to the Gauntlets of Dexterity. Our sorcerers cast Greater Malison and Slow, and the Greater Mummy fails its save. They then lay a pair of Teleport Fields over the map, and the party uses missile weapons from safety.
I only noticed a single enemy attack during that fight, from the Skeleton Warrior. Otherwise, the entire enemy group was completely helpless.
For the Beholders in the hive, I find it is sufficient to send an invisible Zao around the map with Horun clone. The clone kills every Beholder in three or four hits, and perhaps because I've tweaked my install, the spawns here are much slimmer--only one Beholder appears at a time.
The Blind Priests succumb to Zao's newly developed Resilient Sphere traps. Webs don't hurt, either.
They keep pre-casting Remove Fear and it slows down the game, however, so Varen dispels the spheres, which unfortunately lets the priests activate their pre-cast Free Action spells, making them immune to Web. Another Dispel Magic, however, and the group is disabled once more.
Finally, the Unseeing Eye. Horun equips 18 Darts +5 and conjures a clone. Milly equips Firetooth. Our sorcerers cast Improved Haste on all three, the clone drinks a Potion of Magic Shielding and then casts Restoration on itself, and we put the Rift Device together. Horun and his clone summon a pair of Efreet as a light buffer.
The Unseeing Eye appears. Our three Archers attack all at once, with weapons that can bypass the Unseeing Eye's demi-lich style immunities, but then Milly gets spooked.
But we don't need her--our other two Archers are enough. Since Horun's clone cast Restoration on itself, its Called Shot deals STR drain, just like Horun's and Milly's (they both recently hit level 12). And with Improved Haste and darts equipped, they have 20 APR put together. It's more than enough to drain the Unseeing Eye's 20 base STR.
To my dismay, however, I find that I can't produce an expended duplicate of the Rift Device using a clone. In the past, if my memory is correct, I've been able to harvest the expended device from a clone's body after the clone used it on an enemy, and therefore was able to turn in an expended version of the Rift Device to complete the quest and save the Diseased Ones, while still being able to smuggle the unused version of the Rift Device out of the sewers on my familiar for later use.
But we can't do that, so it's either take the Rift Device for ourselves, or expend it and save the Diseased Ones. I choose the latter, and decide to make the most of that one charge.
The Rift Device dispels magic as well as harming the target critter. This means a Lich will lose its weapon immunities. It's a trump card against most any creature.
There's only one battle left I want to do. The Guarded Compound has a special sword I want.
I normally don't bother with the Guarded Compound in SCS2, since Celestial Fury takes so much longer to get and I don't view the weapon as worth the wait, when I could be putting my proficiencies in other weapons. But Celestial Fury stuns on a save vs. spell, and this party excels at forcing failed saves vs. spell. I buff our sorcerers with SI: Abjuration and SI: Conjuration, to block any Symbol spells that Sion might use.
I decided against SI: Enchantment because I thought we could handle a Chaos spell. Turns out that was a bad decision.
Now Evess is disabled, and because she has SI: Abjuration, Varen's Dispel Magic can't bring her back. Both of our Archers are also disabled.
We have three big threats right now. First and worst is Sion. Any high-level mage is a top priority for us to take down. Sion has too many tools to use against us, and we need to take him down fast. A Dispel Magic will open him up to missile fire, but our APR has dropped from 24 to 9.
Second is Koshi. Arbane's Sword and PFMW will block his stun ability, and Teleport Field will decrease his APR, but our saves aren't rock-solid. One stun and Koshi gets a stun-lock and therefore a rapid death.
Third is Ketta. She's going to go straight after Zao, who has the worst AC and lowest HP besides our two sorcerers, who have Stoneskin to protect them. Teleport Field will give Ketta trouble, and our pre-cast True Seeing will only give her small opportunities. But if she does get a backstab in, our Bounty Hunter is gone.
In the first few seconds, we struggle to get the two traps disarmed so we can hurry over to Sion and get in range for some missile attacks. Enemies teleported behind us get in the way, so I have Eliza just rush across it.
We can't make much headway, but neither does the enemy, and we get Milly back. Arbane's Sword keeps us safe from stun.
Until Varen unequips it, of course.
With no obvious opportunities opening up, and no enemies we know we can take down early, I resort to a party-unsafe Sunfire spell. Sion collapses on the second casting.
Zao has fled the area after a brush with death, but her traps thrown from afar have no effect. Varen gets targeted by the enemy fighters, and reaches death. But we have a fix for that.
With the Robe of Vecna, we can cast it instantly. Varen will remain safe until she recovers from the stun effect.
Milly struggles to make an impact on the enemy. She has to equip Arbane's Sword whenever Koshi is nearby, but she can't win a fighter against Koshi with that sword alone. She needs to switch back to Firetooth, and only has a second or two to attack before he reaches her and takes a swing. Hasted and with high APR, Koshi is well-poised to overcome Teleport Field and get in a hit before he teleports away.
Finally, Milly nails him with a Kuo-toa Bolt--that ambush in Watcher's Keep got us a rare disabler we otherwise would have lacked. Milly switches to the Tuigan Bow, for which she has grandmastery. With automatic hits and no threat from Celestial Fury, we can bring down Koshi at our leisure.
Notice that Eliza is nearly dead. That's a Flame Strike spell from Stalman. Eliza had to turn invisible and flee to gain enough space to heal herself safely.
Varen recovers from PW: Stun. She drinks a potion to stave off death and hurries over to take the kill on Koshi.
Now only Evess remains disabled. Varen tries Dispel Magic on Stalman and succeeds on the second try.
Stalman's Physical Mirror made it very hard for us to hurt him. Now he's helpless. He goes down quickly.
Once Varen re-casts True Seeing, Ketta, the last true threat, is visible.
We finish off Maferan and Olaf Rassmusen. Celestial Fury is ours!
Not that we'll get to use it much. Varen needs to maintain item-based immunities if she's going to be available to cure disablers on the rest of the party, and Celestial Fury takes up a weapon slot that could otherwise be used to stop a disabler.
Our inventory screens are a bit unorthodox, especially Varen's.
Varen should actually have the Boots of Speed and the Cloak of the Sewers, but I switched them out earlier on.
Much of our safety from disablers depends on Dispel Magic, which in turn depends on Varen not getting disabled. Since we have no druids or clerics, Varen's only defense against disablers comes from items. Switching out those items is the only way to ensure she is alive and functioning.
Horun's is a bit more normal. He has access to Darts +5 and therefore is our main candidate for Vhailor's Helm, so it's best to concentrate items with magical abilities, like the Efreeti Bottle, on him.
Milly's inventory is much more sparse. Notable items include Kuo-toa Bolts, Bolts of Lightning and Biting, and 5 Arrows of Dispelling we got from Watcher's Keep.
Eliza is most in need of defense, so she gets a few extra save-boosting items.
She also needs the Robe of Vecna to make sure she can cast emergency spells on herself more quickly. She also controls the Rod of Resurrection, Scroll Cases, and Potion Bag, because it means she will always have access to other emergency measures, like Potions of Magic Shielding or a Stoneskin scroll. Note the Wand of Paralyzation we found in the Guarded Compound's lower level. Unfortunately, it uses a save vs. wand, not spell, so we can't get a guaranteed failed save on a target.
Evess, our other sorcerer, gets the leftovers.
Unlike the Wand of Paralyzation, the Wand of Cursing uses a save vs. spell. It also strikes as a level 0 spell, though it won't bypass MR, which means it'll be another strong disabler depending on the situation.
Finally, our Bounty Hunter, Zao.
Zao has gradually done more backstabbing as time has gone on, as items and increasing thief levels let her hide in shadows more easily. She therefore has the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength for +3 to THAC0, and the Staff of Striking for important backstabs. The Shadow Thief Dagger has no planned purpose yet, but it is a speed weapon.
I already slew the Shade Lich with the Rift Device. The Elemental Lich went down with traps.
The Improved Mantle is weird for an SCS2 Lich. It was a bad omen, but I didn't see it at the time.
Testing found that the Potion of Firebreath could not actually kill Kangaxx... it strikes as a level 4 spell, rather than a level 0 spell, and is therefore blocked by Kangaxx's demi-lich spell level immunities. Instead, I planned on luring Kangaxx over some traps, though I still bought the Staff of Rynn in case things went really badly.
SCS2 Kangaxx the Demi-Lich behaves very differently from vanilla Kangaxx. First, he won't Imprison Charname, though he'll be perfectly willing to Imprison anybody else. He will, however, use lots of Remove Magic, Horrid Wilting, and Emotion spells, and it takes some very precise management to maintain immunity to those Emotion spells, and survive those Horrid Wilting spells. He also attacks with Minute Meteors and protects himself with Stoneskin and PFMW.
His Lich form is also buffed substantially by SCS2 AI. To get past that, we dish out some traps. At level 16, normal snares deal 4d8+2 (or about 20) fire damage a pop, on top of the missile damage that Stoneskin blocks. Kangaxx the Lich succumbs to the fire traps.
He transforms. I try to lure him outside, but he won't follow. I also find that he's perfectly willing to use Imprisonment on Eliza--another strange omen.
She has SI: Abjuration anyway, to guard against his future Remove Magic spells and maintain her immunity to magic (she drank two Potions of Magic Protection beforehand), so the Imprisonment spells don't matter.
Rounds go by. Kangaxx doesn't refresh his PFMW spell, even when hit by the Staff of Rynn (his Stoneskins are mysteriously missing, a third omen). He just tries to Imprison Eliza, doing nothing else. A fourth omen.
Realizing he's distracted, I put the party, who is hiding in the corner, just out of Kangaxx's range, to work. Horun summons his clone and Evess puts both under Improved Haste. Right after Kangaxx finishes casting another Imprisonment spell, I have Horun and his clone rush in and blast Kangaxx with the Ring of the Ram.
Big damage, very fast. Notice that his demi-lich resistance don't apply to the Ring of the Ram, as it does magic damage rather than physical.
With Kangaxx wounded and still distracted by Eliza, Horun and his clone rush in and take him down with Darts +5.
The Ring of Gaxx is ours.
On reviewing the battle, however, I realize something is wrong. SCS2 Liches don't use Improved Mantle. They only use the far superior PFMW. SCS2 enemies doesn't use Imprisonment on Charname. SCS2 Kangaxx casts Stoneskin in demi-lich form, and he re-casts PFMW as well. Finally I realize something is wrong.
I check his .cre file. He has, in fact, so SCS2 script at all, just the normal vanilla script. This is why he was so easy to defeat, and put up such a pitiful fight.
I'd thought the mages in this game were operating correctly, but on further reflection, my install is indeed flawed. That's why I haven't seen any Horrid Wilting Chain Contingencies from Tolgerias or Sion... or any Spell Immunity spells at all. No Sphere of Chaos from Ray-Ray or the Shadow Thieves... no Chaos+Confusion combos from Necre... no Time Stop from Sion or Lavok... no Teleport Field from the random encounters.
I thought the Smarter Mages component was still installed. It's not. The mages have been using SCS2-buffed spells, and they might be gaining some benefits from the smarter general AI, but none of the mages in this game so far have been fighting at their strongest.
No wonder we were doing so well. I'm sure the enemy would have pulled a lot more tricks than this, had Smarter Mages been properly installed. This party isn't powerful... we've just been fighting gimped semi-vanilla mages this whole time. Everything else has been at full strength, but the mages are the toughest enemies. If the enemies weren't using potions, or the demons were missing a few immunities, that would be one thing, but the biggest and most entertaining challenges of SCS2 are gone without overpowered enemy mages.
This is deeply disappointing. I've already gotten so far in this game, and missed out on the best parts without even knowing it. I could start over so I could face all the mages at their full strength, but that would just be exhausting and repetitive.
I really liked this run. But it's just not the same knowing they're been fighting vanilla mages. I don't think I can continue this run, even if I fixed the install... I have no way of knowing if this party would have legitimately survived this far if my install was right.
I think I'm going to call it quits for Eliza and company. All their success seems meaningless now. But before I start a new run, I have to fix my install, and to do that, I might need a clean installation of BG2, for which I need to find a lost CD, or buy a new one.
I think the concept underlying Eliza's party remains intriguing,. I wouldn't abandon the idea simply because your install didn't give it a proper test.
At least I know the Archer Called Shot save drain works as it should. A pair of Archers would be a tremendous asset to any no-reload SCS2 run. They're absolutely devastating in combination with Teleport Field, they can quickly cut down Stoneskins despite Improved Mantle or PFMW if they use darts, they can slay various critters with STR drain, and they can guarantee failed saves vs. spell on any target they can hit.
Maybe it's for the best. The party was terribly weak defensively, entirely reliant on a less-than-invulnerable Inquisitor to bail them out whenever they failed their saves. And the Inquisitor would have been far less powerful had the enemy mages been using their SI: Abjuration spells. Without clerics or druids, our party had few immunities. We broke down multiple times... and we were fighting vanilla mages! I don't think an Inquisitor is a very good replacement for Chaotic Commands and Remove Fear.
In retrospect, the sorcerers weren't too strong, either. At multiple times I found myself itching for another spell we didn't have. It's probably why I ended up collecting so many scrolls... having played normal mages so often, I knew we had massive holes in our arcane spell selection.
At least I know the Archer Called Shot save drain works as it should. A pair of Archers would be a tremendous asset to any no-reload SCS2 run. They're absolutely devastating in combination with Teleport Field
Agreed. My first Trilogy No Reload was completed with an arcane heavy party that fought in Teleport Fields. They were accompanied by an Archer through BG1 and BG2, until Illasera's Black Reaver Mage took her with a Sphere of Chaos. Archers are brutal in a Telefield.
I noticed that. I was looking at your screenshots -noting the lack of portrait icons in particular- and I was wondering why you weren't getting routed. Perhaps we know why now.
Nonetheless, I do find the concept interesting. My approach to no reload play has always had a Gurney Halleck spin: Fast on defense, slow on attack. I also avoid save of else stuff like the plague in BGII, with the exception of save or else effects that can be applied multiple times without consuming aura (Darts of Wounding, Jester Song, Etc). You seemed to be on the verge of turning my equation on its head. I'd love to see you pull it off, even if I remain skeptical. I'm intrigued.
You'd have to be very clever with potions, immunity granting items, spacing and exposure management to make it work, I suspect.
Without clerics or druids, our party had few immunities. We broke down multiple times... and we were fighting vanilla mages! I don't think an Inquisitor is a very good replacement for Chaotic Commands and Remove Fear.
Interesting findings @semiticgod. Even with smarter mages, Archer-imposed save penalties are a nifty tool I think.
Sellhana, 1st & final BG1 update
Glorydd's retirement - not death - due to a dubious saving throw failure, left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't want to take her all the way through BG1 again and then through some early SoA quests, so I went with Dagny again. However I 'retired' her as well, when she got stuck between Landrin's Huge Spiders, before the critters could kill her hehe.
I decided to roll a Fighter/Mage/Thief, mostly out of curiosity as to how I would play such a character, and to see whether I like this triple class better than F/M, F/T or M/T. I took quite a long time rolling, hesitant to settle for a 90 roll, and was rewarded with a record roll:
A 99 roll on a F/M/T, that's just crazy, a powergamer's wet dream. I considered not allocating 4 stat points, but then I remembered that even a 108 roll wouldn't guarantee anything with Blackraven in charge.
Here's Sellhana:
Initial weapon profs are ** Staves and **Shortbows. Pips 4 and 5 went to Flails. A F/M/T 'only' gets to spend 10 pips in the entire trilogy. Staves seemed a good choice Martial Staff +3 in BG1 and for the Staff of the Magi, Staff of Striking, and who knows Staff of the Ram in BG2. Tuigan, Tansheron's and Gesen are great shortbows. Flails for the FoA and Defender of Easthaven. The final four pips should go to TWF, and Bastard Swords (for Foebane). Occasionally other weapons, such as Slings or Scimitars might be of use. Sellhana will have to trust that the light non-proficiency penalty for warriors won't be a problem in those cases. Unlike Dagny and Glorydd no shorty saves bonuses. I expect that come BG2 Sellhana's spells will be largely defensive spells to make up for her unreliable saves, and that they will allow her to melee most of the time.
Sellhana had no problems during her first quests. These included most of the Coastway stuff, Brun, Tenya, Nib, Brage, Flesh Golems, Greywolf. She was lvl 4/4/5 when she slew the latter, at about 40k XP. As Unfinished Business locks Prism's emeralds in Ellesime's eyes, Sellhana quaffed a stone giant strength potion, to bash those locks. (She hadn't honed her lockpicking skills.) Unfortunately 20 Str wasn't enough for the second lock, so the Elf decided to put the potion to good use. She entered the mines. At that point she was already retty well-equipped with Girdle of Piercing, Boots of Stealth, Cloak of Deflection, Greenstone Amulet, Aule's Staff +3. Wand of fire routed Kobold hordes, and a critical backstab ended blue-circled Mulahey's life before he could say anything.
Narcillicus and the undead in the Valley of the Tombs suffered the same fate.
Back in Nashkel Amnish guards injured Nimbul until he panicked and fled into the inn. There, Sellhana finished him off with a backstab. Tranzig fell to a critical stab. (Lots of critical hits and misses this run for backstabs). Sellhana traveled to Durlag's Tower where she scorched the Battle Horrors with her wand. She intended to enter the tower, but realized that if she wanted to kill Kirinhale she'd need lasting Charm protection. She therefore returned to Beregost to purchase the helmet with the same name at Feldepost's. As she approached that inn, she was waylaid by Lamalha & Co. Sellhana decided to quaff a potion of invisibility. She then stepped inside the inn, Greenstone-protected herself and cast Detect Invisibility from scroll to reveal Telka and Maneira. She kept entering and leaving the inn to hide and stab.
(Sellhana had trained her stealth ability first and foremost. I was clearly playing her as a normal Fighter/Thief.) Having bought the Helm of Charm Protection, the Elf traveled to to Durla's again, only to be waylaid once more, this time by Molkar and his gang. It was a good thing she had dealt with the two Battle Horrors before. Again she decided to go invisible first, and then to buff herself (Shield, oil of speed, Greenstone). She finished the enemy with Wand of Fire scorchers and ranged attacks. Kirinhale fell after three hits by Sellhana with her martial staff. A blue PfP scroll had been scribed successfully, meaning that Sellhana could also deal with the Basilisks.
Cloudpeaks were largely neglected. CHA tome was picked up at the Gnoll Stronghold.
Sellhana then went looking for the Bandit Camp. She had Raiken show her the way, placated Tazok, looted chests, barrels and bags, and entered Tazok's tent buffed with no more than a potion of cloud giant strength and a potion of freedom. (I made the mistake of having her quaff freedom first, so a planned oil of speed would have no effect.) Inside the tent a Wand Fireball followed by a Web gave her a certain edge, but there were always foes who weren't Held and who would fire their arrows at her. Hakt was one of them; his arrows of biting poisoned her. Sellhana went invisible, slew venkt with a backstab, and the others with her staff as well.
In Cloakwood Sellhana secured a Cloak of Non-Detection, Spiders' Bane (for free action), and a Wand of Frost (for Davaeorn's Battle Horrors). Buffed with cloud giant strength, speed, and invulnerability, she vanquished Kysus with a critical stab for 100 damage,
bested Drasus in melee combat, and felled Genthore with another critical 100 dmg backstab. Rezdan had gone invisible, and Sellhana hid in shadows, so their paths wouldn't cross.
At the second mine level there was an uncomfortable moment when one of the guards saw Sellhana open the northern prison door. Many guards soon followed, and Sellhana saw herself forced to battle most of them in close quarters.
Thankfully Hareishan didn't enter the fray. Sellhana freed herself and swiftly made her way to the third floor. She reached Davaeorn's hideout invisibly. When the wizard cast Remove Magic at her, she chose to retreat upstairs, but Davaeorn followed her. She finished him with acid arrows.
Like Glorydd last time, Sellhana had already reached the level cap when she arrived in Baldur's Gate. She limited herself to obtaining items she wanted (scrolls, potions, Helm of Balduran, arrows of dispelling, WIS tome, DEX tome, Ramazith's goodies, including his INT tome). At the Iron Throne, she took on the acolytes, alternating between the top floor and the floor below for hiding and stabbing purposes. Oil of speed, cloud or storm giant strength potion and potions of magic shielding were her buffs. She suffered some magic damage (Magic Missile, Unhily Blight) and fire damage from a Flamestrike, but with her arrows of dispelling and her stabs, she was far more deadly than her opponents.
Candlekeep saw a peaceful Sellhana get unjustly arrested for the murder of the Iron Throne board. She was however guilty of stealing treasures hidden in vaults in the catacombs below the citadel.
Back in Baldur's Gate, she buffed very carefully to deal with Slythe and Krystin: mind focusing, heroism, storm giant strength, Shield, speed, invulnerability, magic shielding, PfE, Blur, MI, DUHM.
The reasons were low HPs and no Stoneskin. Interestingly I saw confirmed here that Haste only gave Sellhana 0.5 extra APR, rounding her melee attacks with her staff up to 2 APR. In the end the Elf's preparations proved unnecessary as she deftly hid and stabbed repeatedly until her foe fell.
Sellhana didn't wait for Krystin. She chose to attend Sarevok's ducal inauguration. At the palace she set two snares. (Unlike Glorydd, Sellhana had made trap-setting one of her focal points.) And she summoned four Dire Wolves (wand), and a Giant Spider (Spider Spawn scroll). She protected the summons from Fear and Hasted them (both spells cast from scrolls). With the monsters Sellhana entered the room, hidden in shadows. As a precautionary measure she cast Invisibility (again from scroll) on Liia Janneth. Arrows of dispelling slowed down the Greater Doppelgangers. The summons didn't last long (only one Dire Wolf survived), but they helped occupy the Greater Doppelgangers. Both Dukes survived the battle, and Sarevok's rage, even though Sellhana presented the evidence of Sarevok's evil schemes right in front of the brute.
Sellhana was teleported to the Thieves Guild, rushed through the maze, snuck past Rahvin & Co, and entered the Temple of Bhaal. It was there that she lived her most precarious moment thus far.
The exciting part:
She entered the plateau where Sarevok stood, saw her arrow of dispelling miss its target, and noticed that her oil of speed had lost its effect. Sarevok, rushed toward the Elf, and three of his minions (Angelo, Semaj, Diarmid) appeared from invisibility. Diarmid's Dragon Venom Arrow (1d6 + 2d6 acid, save vs spell for half + poison 30% of max HPs unless save vs death) struck true, and Sellhana didn't make either of her saves. She was injured, poisoned, and - due to the poison - slowed.
She wanted to quaff an invisibility potion, but she heard one of the wizards start an Abjuration incantation; an instant later the other wizard did the same. This could only mean one thing: 2x Remove Magic. Sellhana couldn't quaff a potion of invisibility until after having undergone the two Remove Magics because those spells would (almost) certainly dispel her invisibility, and leave her poisoned and badly injured with a muddy aura, ready to be killed. Her buffs were dispelled, and Sellhana immediately went invisible. She then had to wait for her aura to become clear again, before she could gulp an elixir of health while the poison kept eating her HPs away:
Still poisoned, at 3 HPs... But she made it! Still severely injured, she barely managed to retreat from her enemies, escaping a Fireball from Semaj, and a Detect Invisibility from Angelo.
She fully restored her health with potions, avoiding Angelo, the only one who had followed her, and also someone who might cast another Detect invisibility. Sellhana made sure to hide in shadows (and enjoy non-detection) while healing herself. She rebuffed with magic protection x2, storm giant strength, heroism, invulnerability and speed, and when she was done she repeatedly dispelled Angelo's buffs with her arrows of dispelling, and then finished him off with acid arrows.
Sellhana's second attempt at dispelling Sarevok's haste was successful, and she did the same with Diarmid. She then wanted to take out Semaj, but the mage went invisible after a dispelling arrow hit him. The Elf therefore focused on Diarmid, hitting him with acid arrows, a backstab for 63 damage that made him lose morale, and more arrows. (The Skeleton Warrior that rose from Diarmid's corpse fell to backstabs, as would all Skeleton Warriors.) A Detect Invisibility from scroll revealed Semaj and Tazok.
Sellhana slew Semaj with Angelo's arrows (that either dispel magic or inflict electricity damage), and Tazok with acid arrows.
Sarevok too, succumbed to Sellhana's rain of arrows.
Sellhana's inventory screen at the end of the game:
for those who would like to know how she was equipped. The black cloak is Semaj's Cloak which Blurs the wearer. Shorties can't use it, but Sellhana can
Sellhana successfully negotiated Irenicus' dungeon, skipped the Circus quest (because of the extra ice level in my setup), accepted Gaelan Bayle's help, and exposed Rejiek Hidesman. She had to flee from the Tanner's when she failed to kill one of the Rune Assassins who had followed her upstairs before he peeled off her Stoneskins. She then wanted to travel to the Slums to look for work at the Copper Coronet, but got waylaid by Eldarin & Co. She was injured still from the Rune Assassin, but she made it stealthily to the area border where she healed with potions. She didn't have many ways to deal with the group but she really wanted Arbane's Sword. She buffed with Shield, Ghost Armor, PfE, MI and MSD. Her backstab attempt at Eldarin resulted in a critical miss. Their Cleric saw it, and cast Hold Person at her. But Sellhna didn't worry. After all the MSD spell description says:
This [absorptionand consumption of spells cast at the wizard] includes spells cast from scrolls and innate spell-like abilities, but excludes area effects that are not centered directly upon the wizard as well as area effects that are stationary such as Cloudkill and Stinking Cloud. As long as the spell is cast directly at the wizard, it will be absorbed.
Of course she got Held despite having been the direct target of the spell. Although I'm not as fond of Sellhana as I am of Dagny and Glorydd, I do feel duped by the game for the second time in a row now, and I'm starting to think I'm not ready yet for no-reload. There are so many important things about the game that I just don't know. On the other hand, I know I don't really enjoy reload games as much, less adrenaline.
Atempting a NO-reload with a blackguard and a F/M/T Starting with BG, wont set a party size limit but I will try to keep it small. PC - Blackguard and FMT and Viconia atleast.
Bhane heard someone mention how a prophecy from the time of troubles might be connected to him. And since Bhane in no-way is cursed with humilty he decided that if anyone in Faerun deserved to be mentioned in a prophecy it was him. The most powerfull Blackguard to ever walk the realm.
To further investigate these claims Bhane gathered the only two people he realy trust. The De´Vir siblings Viconia and Vhaegar. Since they are exiled Drow they realy dont have anywhere else to go or any other means of gaining power then following Bhane. Making them ideal allys for him. Viconia a cleric and Vhaegar a F/M/T their skills complent his own in a very satisfactory way.
Havning learnt what he could from the scholars in Candlekeep, they robbed the place of any valubles they could find and headed out in the wilderness.
During an ambush by a powerfull group of enemies they fled for their lives, got separeted and lost Viconia in the process.
Alone in the wild, Bhane and Vhaegar sets out in search for Viconia, and gathering clues who could have been behind the
@Blackraven: That's very distressing, particularly since the description said it would work. I guess MSD and other spell protections block spells based on the spell projectile, not on whether the spell requires a visible target.
@semiticgod, I think that's indeed how the mechanic works. According to @Alesia_BH"Minor Spell Deflection, Minor Spell Turning, Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, and Spell Trap all only work against single target spells. MGoI and GoI are options against Hold Person. SI:Ev and substantially negative saves are among the others."
Started my own topic, just to keep track of my characters and ideas, but I'll be posting the gameplays in here. Will likely only be with no reload, prolly some munchkining on my main characters. But that's it.
@Blackraven: That's very distressing, particularly since the description said it would work. I guess MSD and other spell protections block spells based on the spell projectile, not on whether the spell requires a visible target.
With such a game description you may even think that your protection is going to deflect/reflect the spells aimed at removing such protections...
Robbed most people they could find, including Imoen, Xzar and Montaron. Stealing what they could in Beregost. Picking up stupifier for Bhane With no qualms about dealing with undead they recruited a powerful ghoul to their group to deal with basilisks. Unfortunatly the ghoul didnt enjoy their company and refused to leave the area with them. On to Nakshel to pick up Ankheg plate, assasin in the inn did put up a fight but there was never any danger. Shoal the Neriad died after alot of running around, didnt rest before her so no poison made it a bit tedious. Continued north, met Elminster, Picked up protection ring. To friendly arm Inn. Picked up two rings, gave one to joya and the other one to Vhaegar. Assasin at the inn fell easy. Never worried about him since Bhane is immune to fear.
Met Khalid and Jaheira, allowed them to join my group but they left soon after as soon as they discovered I had Vhaegar picking their pockets empty.
Bhane is now level 4 with only a 1000 xp or so away from 5. I did initiate Dorn at the FAI, not sure if I should let him join or not, having another frontliner would feel a bit safer. I do plan to get Viconia pretty soon. And the drow sorcerer for firepower, not sure at what lvl he can be found.
When I played BGTutu, leveling up always seemed horribly slow, because I hunted hobgoblins and xvarts and kobolds for XP, instead of sirines and basilisks and ankhegs.
Dagny, Gnome Cleric/Illusionist (take 5), 1st & final BG1 report
Dagny
had this amazingly long deja vu experience. There were things she could do differently though. Have you all seen the movie Groundhog Day? It was a bit like that. Everything started with Dagny's departure from Candlekeep with Gorion, who would fall mere hours later at the hands of a man she knew well enough: Sarevok Anchev. She also knew what his plans were, and where he resided, in the city of Baldur's Gate, but the Gnome wasn't allowed into the city. So she went XP farming: her first few level-ups she got on the Coast Way, but the true XP jackpot she hit later, in Ankhegville (thanks to the Ring of Wizardry and Sleep), the Golem Caverns, Basiliskland, and at Durlag's Tower (Kirinhale skipped, too hard to hit). Soon after, powerful individuals like Greywolf (2x Hold), Bassilus (Silence->Hold), Droth (Silence + Skeletons), and Meilum (Skeletons) all fell before the Gnome's might.
Before she knew it she was one of the Sword Coast's most reputed, powerful and affluent individuals again. Her attire consisted of Robe of Neutral Archmagi, Helm of Charm Protection, Large Shield +1, Ashideena, Sling +1, Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, Cloak of Deflection, Amulet of Protection +1 and Greenstone Amulet, Ring of Wizardry, and Wands of Fire, Paralyzation, Frost and Heavens.
She revisited the Nashkel Mines where she scorchered Kobolds and also Mulahey after Silencing him. (His minions died from their burns as well.)
She used her Turn Undead ability to loot the Valley of the Tombs, knew that the Amnish soldiers could be trusted to finish Nimbul for her, had her Skeletons deal with Tranzig, and used fire and more Skellies to Molkar & Co out of the way.
At the Bandit Camp she summoned Skeletons in a corner away from Raemon. She was amazed that the others didn't notice or pretended not to notice her, but she didn't complain. A security Wand of Paralyzation charge froze Venkt, after which the Gnome and her army didn't take long in quelling the bandits.The Skellies fighting on one side; Dagny discharging fireballs from her wand on the other.
Dagny knew that Ender Sai was going to direct her to the Cloakwood, and that's indeed where she went. When she left the bandit tent, she was waylaid by Lamalha and friends. ('Hey that wasnt supposed to happen, you ambushed me in Beregost!') The Gnome saw herself facing overwhelming numbers and left the area hurriedly. She took things pretty easy in Cloakwood, except in Spider territory, where she slew most of the monsters (with Wand of Fire and ranged attacks) plus Centeol in order to get a second Wand of Frost.
At the entrance to the Cloakwood Mines both Rezdan and Kysus removed Dagny's protections, at different moments. One of the Remove Magic came right before a Spook. Dagny did not save against the latter spell. Fortunately speedy Drasus and Genthore (ranged attacker) were not in sight. Rezdan was, but he demonstrated he wasn't the brightest practicioner in his profession. He cast Confusion on a Skeleton that Dagny had summoned, and Dire Charm on Dagny (who was wearing the Helm of Charm protection).
Dagny paralyzed Drasus with her wand, and saw her Skeletons entice the mages into wasting most of their spells.
Thus, she prevailed.
Two magic protection potions helped Dagny endure Davaeorn's crowd spells (several Webs, Stinking Cloud). The evil mage was so friendly not to cast Remove Magic at her, but that didn't stop Dagny from destroying his Battle Horrors with her frost wand, nor from sparing Davaeorn for that matter. Skeletons helped her get rid of his many protections (MIs, Stoneskins) that she had no means of dispelling. A Holy Smite did him in.
In Baldur's Gate enemies she knew had something for her they weren't willing to give voluntarily, such as Resar, Ramazith, Jalantha, Marek, all experienced the anguish of being paralyzed and subsequently beaten to death. When blue-circled Lothander got stuck and couldn't leave, Dagny slew him as well, but she later regretted that. She had been disgusted by his manipulations even if they were inspired by desperation, but she found that killing him went a bit too far for her. (I considered changing Dagny's alignment to Chaotic Neutral, but I think that could cause issues with the familiar, Murphy the Rabbit.]
She fought most of the Iron Throne cronies two at a time, as she was unsure whether she'd be able to stand up against all of them at once. Skeletons, different wand charges, and even melee combat were the ingredients for success.
[I made the mistake of having Dagny rest after she had reported to Duke Eltan, but before she had a Bard lower her reputation. She therefore got a rather superfluous DUHM-Bhaalpower. Reputation was then lowered after all, in order for the last Bhaalpower to be the desired Divine Wrath ability.]
Dagny knew Sarevok was trying to frame her for the murder of the Iron Throne executive board, so she rushed straight to the Gatewarden, but she still came too late, and saw herself arrested, imprisoned, and teleported to the Keep's catacombs, where Knock spells allowed her to loot three vaults.
She traveled to the FAI to restore part of her reputation and to acquire the Golden Pantaloons, to the Nashkel Carnival for the violet potion, and to the Hugh Hedge for the Claw and Horn of Kazagaroth. Cloudpeaks and Euric and Noralee helped Dagny's rep back to 20.
In the Undercellars Slythe and especially Krystin gave Dagny a hard time. She remembered dealing with Slythe alone, but this time Krystin wouldn't leave his side. Twice did the woman remove Dagny's protections (incuding Stoneskins), making the Gnome particularly vulnerable to Slythe's backstabs. Skeletons, circa five charges of the Wand of Monster Summoning and the odd Magic Missile helped Dagny overcome the two assassins.
She rested and made her way to the Ducal Palace. Initially none of the Flaming Fists believed her when she told them most of the spectators were in fact Greater Doppelgangers, but the creatures showed their true form when Dagny presented a letter from Sarevok containing the instruction to SLuthe and Krystin to kill the Dukes. Dagny had already buffed herself at that moment, and summoned four Skeletons and a Giant Spider. The summons were PfFear, PfE and Hasted. Things looked dire when Dagny's Slow only affected a single Greater Doppelganger, but things turned out fine after she cast a Chaos (from scroll) at the monsters.
Belt transported Dagny to the Thieves Guild where Dagny found a failiar maze that led to the familiar Undercity. No one noticed her as she was invisible. The last time she had dealt with Sarevok, she had taken on his minions first, one at a time. This time she decided to try how she fared against all of them at the same time. She soon received two Remove Magics. She responded with a potion of magic shielding (since invisiblility might be detected and could have exposed her to another spell with a still turbid aura).
She found Angelo on his own, and had Wand summons provoke him into wasting his spells before she defeated the battlemage in melee combat.
Loads of wand fireballs and scorchers (she really didn't have many other means), resulted in Semaj and Tazok falling at the same time;
Diarmid suffered the same fate shortly after that.
Skeleton Warriors suffered fire damage as well and were generally finished in melee combat (this worked well with Dagny hasting to the skeletons as soon as she saw them equip their bows, at least those who used bows).
Sarevok saw his plans crumble and his life forces sap out of him due to Dagny's scorchers and sling bullets.
At the FAI we heard rumours of a drow priestess to the east, had to be viconia so we set out after her. Found her just in time and rescued her from some mercenary. Travelled south to Larswood after that. Vary of any blacktalon elites we stayed to the edges of the map, still encountered three of them. With sleep and hold spells we dispatched them pretty easely. While fighiting gibberlings close to a tower ruin we encountered another drow, a powerfull sorcerer no less. Recrutied him and gave him the ring Evermemory. Now he shoots fireballs all day.
South the the Nakshel mines, ambused by bandits who with the aid of blackguard brother Dorn where quickly dispatched. Allowed Dorn to accompany the group, atleast for now. Cleared out the Nakshel mine area, and got the wand of ice.
So I set out to use a small group but now its almost filled... I will probably fill the last spott aswell. Im thinking Shar-teel and dual her to thief only to have her steal algernons cloak and ring of free action before i enter cloakwood.
Dagny's deja vu experience didn't end with her triumph over Sarevok. One day Imoen woke her up in an all too familiar dungeon, Chateau Irenicus. The Gnome thanked Imoen for releasing her from her cell, and told her that they'd stand a better chance of escape if they split up. Minsc and Jaheira were freed and recruited for XP, and ditched after that. Dagny played it safe in the dungeon. She didn't mess with Ilych & Co, the Cambion, or the Plane of Air. She relied on invisiility to get the servant Golem to open the doors to the Otyugh room. Skeletons killed the Otyugh as well as the three Duergar that stood between her and the master's room and those that guarded the nearby portal. She had an accident there when she opened a chest. Apparently she had failed to register that one of the Mephits she had fought had stripped her last Stoneskin.
She wanted to rest, in order to heal, before entering the mistress' room, but she wasn't allowed to. ('You may not rest at this time' message.) She therefore healed with potions, entered the mistress' room, looted it and traveled to the next level. There she did rest, only to wake up dismayed that she hadn't memorized Haste for the three Skeletons she was about to summon in addition to a War Dog (from scroll). Initially the War Dog and two Skeletons got stuck in the doorway that led to the Mephit Portal room, but Dagny (buffed with MGoI, MI, Remove Fear, HP and DUHM, PfE 10' Radius), and the other Skellie handled themselves well, and when the War Dog was unsummoned the other Skeletons came to their aid.
The Skeletons also helped with the Escaped Clone, Mephits, Duergar and Assassins that awaited them further on. A Cloudkill took care of Ulvaryl and a Sanctuary allowed Dagny to secure the Girdle of Bluntness before she left the place.
When the drama at Waukeen's Promenade was over, Dagny traveled to the Slums and Gaelan Bayle, and - under Sanctuary - to the Bridge District to solve the Skinner Murders. When she cast Stoneskin on herself at the Tanner's Shop, a Cowled Wizard appeared and gave her a first warning for unlicensed spell casting.
Apparently I installed the SCS component that makes the Cowlies detect indoor spell casting. She nevertheless decided to confront Vellin Dahn, but had to deal with a Doppelganger before that. She cast a Barksin on herself, but the resulting AC bonus didn't keep the Doppelganger from peeling her Stoneskins before she slew it with a Skeleton by her side. Dagny summoned more Skeletons, went downstairs to say hi to Vellin Dahn, and returned upstairs with a Rune Assassin on her trail. She used her Minor Sequencer (MI + Invisibility) to increase her chances of survival, and quickly left the Assassin to occupy himself with her Skeletons. She then reported her findings to Lieutenant Aegisfield.
Not being able to cast indoors was very inconvenient. But there was one place where even the Cowlies didn't bother with sticking their noses: the Copper Coronet, Dagny remembered from experience in her previous incarnation. She rested at the inn, and proceeded to deal with the slavers. Her Skeletons didn't last very long due to the Bears and the Minotaur, but with spells like Chaos and Spook, she managed to more or less control the crowd she had to deal with. MMMs finished the Beast Master, and HP + DUHM helped her prevail over the Grizzly Bear.
When Lethinan and the guards were down, slave leader Hendak thanked her with gold and some items. Dagny sold almost everything she had, traveled to the Gov District, and paid 10k for a casting license.
On her way back to the southside, she got ambushed by Eldarin and his clique but she was Invisible, so she could distance herself from them and summon Skeletons and buff (lightly, with MGoI, PfFear, PfE 10' Radius). She opened with a Chaos, and saw it affect two of her enemies, including Arbane's Sword owner Eldarin. He got into a figth with one or two of his colleagues. When Dagny, invisible again, and one of her Skeletons went to check out the Wizard, the latter cast a Web and got caught in it. Dagny didn't hesitate to finish her off with MMMs.
She dropped a Holy Smite on three assembled foes (Eldarin, a rogue who was instantly slain, and another Slaver who got Blinded). Dagny's meteors then killed Eldarin.
There was also a Cleric who had the audacity to quaff a superior healing potion when he was at near death status. Dagny emptied her spellbook on him (Magic Missiles, a Flame Arrow) and, after some divine buffing, finished him off with her mundane warhammer.
With her spare gold and the sale of the Slavers' gear Dagny could barely afford the Robe of Vecna. There was a brief moment of hesitation (were there no other items she needed more?), but the Gnome decided to see the purchase through. That robe is just too good; it's great how it speeds up her divine spell casting. She went to the Den of the Seven Vales but got into a nasty fight with Mencar Pebblecrusher and his goons. This would prove to be a pretty tough encounter that saw Dagny use pretty much everything she had, including expendables, in order to prevail. She began the battle pretty well-buffed (Stoneskin, Ghost Armor, MGoI, Chaotic Commands, Free Action, Remove Fear, PfEvil 10'), and had three orfour Skeletons to help her occupy the warriors and the Brennan Risling, so she could deal with Anon and Pooky. But her buffs would not last long enough. She slew Anon with MMMs, and she Chaosed Pooky, Brennan, and Smaeluv. She was pleased to see them attack and hurt one another.
Brennan even killed Pooky for her. But Mencar wasn't so easily distracted. She retreated and Sanctuaried to restore some of her buffs, and she picked up Anon's belongings, which included a Wand of Lightning. Dagny never really used those wands, she was more partial to Fire and Cloudkill wands, but she still had a great deal of damage to inflict were she to prevail, and she had few damage spells left. She was pleased to see a Hold Person keep both Smaeluv and Brennan in place,
and used up the Wand of Lightning to kill them and to injure Mencar.
Eventually Mencar stripped Dagny of her Stoneskins and started injuring her. She went downstairs and noticed that the Dwarf, badly injured himself, didn't follow her. She healed and cast Clerical buffs on herself. When she returned upstairs she injured Mencar further with a Divine Wrath and a hit or two, but that wasn't enough to kill him. She resorted to casting Stoneskin from scroll, and Flame Arrow (also from scroll), before she could finally finish him in melee combat.
Selling her opponents' gear allowed her to buy a number of nice scrolls at the Adventurer Mart. After quaffing some INT boosters purchased at the Temple of Ilmater, she copied the scrolls together with a few other scrolls she had picked up earlier, into her spellbook. New spells inluded Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, Minor Spell Turning, Sunfire, Contingency and Globe of Invulnerability. (The latter two she couldn't cast yet.)
Dagny picked up Renfeld during another ambush but didn't fight the bandits. She brought him to the Harpers, and agreed to free Montaron for nearby Xzar from the Harper base. Holy Smites, Sunfires, and MMMs were too much for Prebek and Sanasha and their minions.
At the Harper Hold she released "Monty" and brought him to Xzar only to see a Harper assassin slay Xzar. She wasn't pleased with being a tool in a Harper ploy, so she took revenge by killing the Spectral Harpists for 9000 XP apiece. She also looted some goods at the Hold, including a scroll of Phantom Blade that she copied into her spellbook. That spell, with its +10 damage against undead, gave Dagny another idea for revenge: she would go to the Graveyard and avenge Glorydd for the tricks the Mummies had pulled on her Dwarven sister, messing with the rogue's saving throws.
She bought two PfUndead scrolls at the Temple of Oghma, and in the lower tombs used Haste for easy positioning and Sunfires and Holy Smites to eradicate the Spiders.
She then agreed to retrieve Spiders' Bane from the sewers for Pai'Na and a stuffed bear from Lynis for Wellyn. When she returned, PfUndead, Remove Fear (Dagny wasn't in the mood to see whether her saves vs spells or wands were sufficiently negative to make protection against Fear redundant vis-a-vis Mummy fright), Holy Smites, MMMs and Flame Blades allowed her to dispatch all the undead in the lower tombs.
In the Docks Dagny took a commission from the Bloodscalp to investigate one of his guildhouses. She infiltrated with false papers and did a first task for her supposed new master, Mae'Var. She stole an amulet at the Temple of Talos. Strangely there were two Storm Priestesses there at night, one asleep, the other awake.
Thankfully neither objected to her snathcing the amulet from a locked drawer. Cromwell improved Kitthix fo Dagny, in return for 5k GP, a couple of poisoned throwing daggers, a Web scroll and a Spider Spawn scroll.
Dagny returned to Waukeen's Promenade, rested, and decided to restore the Circus to its old order. This meant having to go through the ice level again, the area that in a pevious life had so cruelly taken Aerie from her. Dagny went there solo this time, not counting Kitthix and her other summons. She farmed some more XP in the cold, with MMMs and Kitthix: several Frost Salamanders who were worth 9000 XP each, and a few Ettins (3000 XP).
She assembled the keys by slaying their keepers with the help of Skeletons and Kitty (who poisoned the potentially dangerous Orc Mage), to continue to the final level, the showdown with Kalah. He fell to MMMs before the Shadows or Werewolves could hurt Dagny.
Dagny had business in the Umar Hills, where she was to procure a murderer by the name of Valygar and to investigate killings and disappearances in the village of Imnesvale, but she had also promised Hendak to free slaves in a Slaver Stockade in the Slums. She decided to carry out the latter task first, and bought the Reflection Shield partly for that reason. Otyugh, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, and Jellies were no threat, and as a result couldn't keep her from acquiring Lilarcor. Dagny entered the Slaver Base invisibly, and cast Animate Dead in a quiet corner. However the Skeletons stood up within sight of some of the Slavers and proceeded to attack while Dagny was still unbuffed.
When the first Slavers, including a Priest of Cyric appeared within visual range, Dagny quickly summoned Kitthix to deal with the priest. (Its Web and Poison abilities are quite potent weapons.) Dagny herself finished the priest with MMMs.
Then something strange happened. Captain Hagen told Dagny he was going to kill her, and indeed he turned hostile (red-circled), but he didn't attack. He just stood there. Hopefully this is an incident and not a foreshadowing of future bugs. With Kitty, Skellies and MMMs, the Slavers stood no chance. Dagny was helped by the fact that the slavers from the backrooms, including two wizards, somehow must have missed the clamor of battle. They didn't come to see what was going on, not even when Kitthix and Dagny bypassed a snare
and saved against another one (thanks to PfE and II), to deal with two Yuan-Tis.
Cloudkill and MMMs killed some of the Slavers, inlcuding a human Mage, but the Gnome gave Dagny a big scare when he pulled off a Confusion right when Dagny's MGoI expired. Outstanding Gnomish saves let het get away with rolling a 2.
She retalliated with a fatal Sunfire,
and returned to Hendak to claim her reward.
Dagny's currently a lvl 10/11 Cleric/Illusionist, and preparing for her journey to the Umar Hills. Cleric lvl 11 is looming, and should be reached in Imnesvale, giving her access to lvl 6 divine spells. But she'll probably have to defeat the Shade Lord to reach Mage lvl 12, and thus lvl 6 arcane spells.
I'm getting a new CD for BG2 soon, so I'll be able to reinstall the game and start a new playthrough with the Smarter Mages SCS component that was missing from my previous run. Now I just need to decide what party I want, but I'm torn.
I created three new kits recently, but I'm not sure if I want to use them, or if I want to play a game with only the vanilla kits and Tactics' Generic Archer fighter kit. The new kits are the Seducer thief kit, the Shadow Stealer fighter kit, and the Bog Witch druid kit. As always, they're really wacky and have crazy abilities combined with crazy drawbacks.
If play with these kits, the party will look something like this: Archer/Mage Archer/Mage Seducer Shadow Stealer Bog Witch Conjurer/Fighter
If I don't, it will look more like this: Archer/Mage Archer/Mage Fighter/Druid Bounty Hunter Illusionist/Cleric Conjurer/Fighter
Seducer:
A Seducer is a thief who acts through persuasion and political maneuvering rather than cloak and dagger tactics. Despite the name, the Seducer's abilities come mostly from psionics and some quasi-magical abilities, rather than simply appearance or physical charm.
Advantages: +1 to Charisma. Immune to charm and domination. Slippery Mind: The Seducer may break free of any disabling effect after 9 seconds have passed. Breaking out of the disabler, however, imposes a -1 penalty to THAC0, AC, damage, and saving throws, as the Seducer begins to recover his or her senses. May choose Resist Magic as a High-Level Ability. May cast Feeblemind, Confusion, and Sleep once every two rounds (all single-target; effects last 2 rounds; save vs. wand negates). May cast Charm once every four rounds. Charm can take control of any creature for 10 rounds, irrespective of their resistances or immunities. Even Melissan can be charmed successfully. The target has a 75% chance of being permitted a save vs. wand to avoid the effect, and non-human creatures have a 50% chance of avoiding its effects outright. However, the caster is immobile for 6 seconds after the spell is cast, and the spell itself takes 2 rounds to take effect.
Disadvantages: All thieving skills are at half their normal value. Seducers gain traps and backstab multipliers at a reduced rate. A Seducer may set a trap at level 3 and every 10 levels thereafter, and gains +1 to their backstab multiplier at level 3 and every 8 levels thereafter. Loses access to normal thief trap HLAs, as well as Assassination and Use Any Item. May not dual-class.
Summary: In short, a Seducer is a very weak character itself, but may turn the enemy against itself. This means its power scales with the power of the enemy, but not with the Seducer's level. It won't be much use against a bunch of Shadows or a single dragon, but it will be excellent against a Lich or a group with one powerful central character. This is the only class for which I've worked out some unique HLAs.
Shadow Stealer
The Shadow Stealer is a fighter who may take over the shadow of an enemy creature, creating a simulacrum under the party's control if the target fails its save vs. polymorph. The Shadow Stealer may cast this ability at will if it fails, but if the ability is successful, the ability may not be used for another 5 rounds.
The creature's shadow has all the abilities of its owner, but only has half the levels, half the HP, and suffers a -3 penalty to hit, damage, saving throws, and AC. The shadow deals 3 cold damage on a successful melee hit and forces the victim to save vs. death or lose one point of Strength for 5 rounds. Steal Shadow does not affect the Shadow itself. After 10 rounds, the Shadow returns to its owner and can be drawn out once more. Thus, the Shadow Stealer can control at most two shadows at once. The shadow itself is immune to poison, fatigue, disease, charm, fear, sleep, petrification, stun, Web, and Intelligence drain. This does not affect allies.
Life Leech: the Shadow Stealer suffers -3 to damage, -1 to AC, -2 to saving throws, and -15% to all resistances. Suffers a -1 penalty to THAC0 every 3 levels, to a maximum of -5 at level 15, a -2 penalty to maximum HP at levels 1-9, and -1 at every level thereafter.
Summary: Like the Seducer, the Shadow Stealer's power scales with the enemy rather than its own level. Its power relies on a save or else spell, which spells trouble in a no-reload run, but since it can be cast an unlimited number of times per day, with a cooldown period to balance, a successful save costs us time, but doesn't cripple us.
Bog Witch:
A Bog Witch is a druid with a variety of slow but powerful spells. It's a blend of druid and mage spells with a swampy theme.
Advantages: Immunity to poison and disease. Immune to cloud spells. +1 to save vs. spell and wand. +2 to save vs. polymorph and death. Immune to Haste and Improved Haste. May triple the duration of a single spell once per day per 4 levels. +1 spell per level.
Learns additional spells per spell level: Level 1: Poison Arrow, Water Jet, Blindness, Spook Level 2: Stinking Cloud, Vampiric Touch, Mirror Image, Horror Level 3: Contagion, Invisibility, Summon Otyugh, Protection from the Elements Level 4: Acidic Burst, Hold Monster, Minor Spell Deflection, Confusion Level 5: Cloudkill, Spell Immunity, Flesh to Stone, Mislead, Summon Mummy Level 6: Spell Turning, Death Fog, Finger of Death, Breach, Khelben's Warding Whip Level 7: Energy Drain, Protection from Magical Weapons, Horrid Wilting, Wail of the Banshee, Imprisonment These spells don't all operate the same way as their mage spell equivalents. Imprisonment, notably, does not bypass magic resistance.
Loses access to all druid summoning spells, including Summon Insects, Insect Plague, and Creeping Doom. All special spells cut movement rate by half for 3 rounds. Most druid healing and defensive spells are cast as one level higher. Chaotic Commands takes up a level 6 spell slot, Slow Poison is at level 3, and so forth. +3 penalty to casting time. +3 penalty to speed factor. -2 to DEX. -2 to STR. -3 to CON. Cannot wear armor. Cannot shapeshift.
Summary: The Bog Witch's spells take a rather long time to cast, and it will have very poor movement rate. Combined with the immunity to haste spells (but not the Boots of Speed, notably), the Bog Witch is largely immobile and therefore much more vulnerable. In compensation, it gets a lot of extra spells that compensate for a druid's typical weaknesses. I realize this is unbalanced as a druid kit, but it would seem weak if it wasn't. It's more on par with a mage, though it still suffers the druid XP gaps.
@semiticgod, I'm a sucker for Thieves so you have my compliments on those kits (Druid looks nice too btw.) Would be cool to see you try them in a new playthrough. All three kits look balanced to me.
Either way, I'm sure your next playthrough will be worth following
@Blackraven: You should see some of the HLAS I've been working on for the Bog Witch. One of them grants permanent Free Action and immunity to Time Stop! Though it takes 50 from your max HP, and reduces all resistances by 50.
Come to think of it, that's not worth it even if you plan on combining it with frequent Time Stops... Still needs work.
The group is moving forward. Cleared most of the western maps except the fleshgolem cave. Dorn got nice dex increasing bracers. Tried to charm half ogres a few times before reading the spell description and realising that would never work... Charming the knight fighting gibberlings did work though... she did not appreciahate it for some reason. Havnt fought captain Brage in a long time... Discovered that he hits realy hard. Bhane had to to a tactical retreat and let his minions weat Brage down after taking to many blows.
Had a scare when Bhane got hit by lightning bolt.... Had enough HP to survive though. Ive had one No-reload run end in that way, by a random lightning bolt. Probably the most annoying end possible.
Dorn died from a spider bite in High hedge area, revived him and continued on to the basilisk garden to try an recruit Shar-Teel. Worked well and dualed her to thief right away, Then continued to search the area for the group with golden girdle. Web spells and archery made short work of them.
Continued north to fight ankhegs, wanted to lvl Shar-Teel and get viconia a ankheg plate. Viccy got hit twice by an ankheg and died.... Shes imortant to my plans and got a rez and FAI.
Shar-teel leveld and got enough PP to steal the ring of free action for me. Next I think il kick her out and recruit Edwin. Having constant reliable magic around does make the swordcoast a safer place.
Clerared Berengost of assasins ans Silke. Cleared the spider infested house for free potions. Currently in the ogre area south of Berengost, then I will pick up Edwin and the weapon skill bracers at Firewine bridge.
Dagny, Gnome Cleric/Illusionist, 2nd & final BG2 update
A short session this morning wasn't short enough to keep me from bringing Dagny to her doom. She did Tirdir's quest, and part of Arnise (not the basement) for the FoA. She traveled to Umar Hills, did the minor quests in Imnesvale and then moved on to the Temple Ruins where she cast PfUndead from a green scroll. I wasn't sure whether she would face Bone Golems or Liches there. The plan was to avoid the first Bone Golem or Lich plus Mummies and Skeleton Warriors in the room next to the fire pool (or whatever it is). Turned out to be a Lich. Well hidden in the fog of war, its buffs/contingencies triggered, and it gated in a Dark Planetar and a Glabrezu. The fact that the Lich acted from the fog of war took me by complete surprise. The Glabrezu with its teleport without error found Dagny first, and PW:Stunned her. I had previously messed up with the level 6 spell Contingency, which she had cast a bit earlier. I had wanted to set the Contigency to Helplessness: Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, but noticed I hadn't memorized that spell. Instead I picked Sanctuary (and decided to recruit a Mage later on, Jan probably, to trigger the Contigency so that Dagny could cast a new Contingency with Helplessness: ORS). Anyway, as Dagny was stunned her Contigency triggered, but the Glabrezu ignored Dagny's Sanctuary and quickly breached her meager defenses (Stoneskins bascially).
Comments
Sad to see this new issue with Glorydd.
If nothing's wrong with the spell and you are sure you are not under any effect increasing your save threshold, then this may be related to the area itself, the spwngrp definition and more likely the creature script sequence.
The aTweaks mummy script takes precedence over or specifically overwrites the BP, SCS and Quest Pack basic scripts (based on their "hard"coded script names) but you may have something else interfering with your game.
Traps weakened Kayardi. A Sunfire finished him off.
The other halflings weren't too tough without him.
Lavok unwisely chose Improved Mantle. Darts +5 bypass Improved Mantle, and when both Horun and his Vhailor's Helm clone are using them under Improved Haste, they have 20 APR. Lavok only gets one spell off the ground.
Tolgerias waits for us downstairs. Zao whomps his buddy with a critical hit backstab.
See? No chunking!
Tolgerias doesn't have Globe of Invulnerability, so he has no defense against Greater Malison or Web. It's easy to disable him.
I've finally given Varen her innate immunity to charm and hold, and also tweaked Keldorn's armor so its immunities aren't dispellable. Now she can walk through Webs without worry.
The Planar Sphere is ours! We pick the safe route for the apprentices and get some XP and a Mislead scroll. Also a dagger I would later sell for 1 gold. Next up is the Unseeing Eye.
We sneak past the Beholders near the riddle bridge by casting Invisibility on each party member. We encounter trouble, however, with a Greater Mummy in the Pit of the Faithless.
Horun is taking 15 damage per second, and I haven't updated the Periapt of Proof against Poison to grant immunity to poison damage. But we did recently gain Cure Disease, so Milly is able to cure her partner.
The Greater Mummy is still there, however, and we'll have to deal with it eventually if we want a safe route to the Gauntlets of Dexterity. Our sorcerers cast Greater Malison and Slow, and the Greater Mummy fails its save. They then lay a pair of Teleport Fields over the map, and the party uses missile weapons from safety.
I only noticed a single enemy attack during that fight, from the Skeleton Warrior. Otherwise, the entire enemy group was completely helpless.
For the Beholders in the hive, I find it is sufficient to send an invisible Zao around the map with Horun clone. The clone kills every Beholder in three or four hits, and perhaps because I've tweaked my install, the spawns here are much slimmer--only one Beholder appears at a time.
The Blind Priests succumb to Zao's newly developed Resilient Sphere traps. Webs don't hurt, either.
They keep pre-casting Remove Fear and it slows down the game, however, so Varen dispels the spheres, which unfortunately lets the priests activate their pre-cast Free Action spells, making them immune to Web. Another Dispel Magic, however, and the group is disabled once more.
Finally, the Unseeing Eye. Horun equips 18 Darts +5 and conjures a clone. Milly equips Firetooth. Our sorcerers cast Improved Haste on all three, the clone drinks a Potion of Magic Shielding and then casts Restoration on itself, and we put the Rift Device together. Horun and his clone summon a pair of Efreet as a light buffer.
The Unseeing Eye appears. Our three Archers attack all at once, with weapons that can bypass the Unseeing Eye's demi-lich style immunities, but then Milly gets spooked.
But we don't need her--our other two Archers are enough. Since Horun's clone cast Restoration on itself, its Called Shot deals STR drain, just like Horun's and Milly's (they both recently hit level 12). And with Improved Haste and darts equipped, they have 20 APR put together. It's more than enough to drain the Unseeing Eye's 20 base STR.
To my dismay, however, I find that I can't produce an expended duplicate of the Rift Device using a clone. In the past, if my memory is correct, I've been able to harvest the expended device from a clone's body after the clone used it on an enemy, and therefore was able to turn in an expended version of the Rift Device to complete the quest and save the Diseased Ones, while still being able to smuggle the unused version of the Rift Device out of the sewers on my familiar for later use.
But we can't do that, so it's either take the Rift Device for ourselves, or expend it and save the Diseased Ones. I choose the latter, and decide to make the most of that one charge.
The Rift Device dispels magic as well as harming the target critter. This means a Lich will lose its weapon immunities. It's a trump card against most any creature.
There's only one battle left I want to do. The Guarded Compound has a special sword I want.
I decided against SI: Enchantment because I thought we could handle a Chaos spell. Turns out that was a bad decision.
Now Evess is disabled, and because she has SI: Abjuration, Varen's Dispel Magic can't bring her back. Both of our Archers are also disabled.
We have three big threats right now. First and worst is Sion. Any high-level mage is a top priority for us to take down. Sion has too many tools to use against us, and we need to take him down fast. A Dispel Magic will open him up to missile fire, but our APR has dropped from 24 to 9.
Second is Koshi. Arbane's Sword and PFMW will block his stun ability, and Teleport Field will decrease his APR, but our saves aren't rock-solid. One stun and Koshi gets a stun-lock and therefore a rapid death.
Third is Ketta. She's going to go straight after Zao, who has the worst AC and lowest HP besides our two sorcerers, who have Stoneskin to protect them. Teleport Field will give Ketta trouble, and our pre-cast True Seeing will only give her small opportunities. But if she does get a backstab in, our Bounty Hunter is gone.
In the first few seconds, we struggle to get the two traps disarmed so we can hurry over to Sion and get in range for some missile attacks. Enemies teleported behind us get in the way, so I have Eliza just rush across it.
We can't make much headway, but neither does the enemy, and we get Milly back. Arbane's Sword keeps us safe from stun.
Until Varen unequips it, of course.
With no obvious opportunities opening up, and no enemies we know we can take down early, I resort to a party-unsafe Sunfire spell. Sion collapses on the second casting.
Zao has fled the area after a brush with death, but her traps thrown from afar have no effect. Varen gets targeted by the enemy fighters, and reaches death. But we have a fix for that.
With the Robe of Vecna, we can cast it instantly. Varen will remain safe until she recovers from the stun effect.
Milly struggles to make an impact on the enemy. She has to equip Arbane's Sword whenever Koshi is nearby, but she can't win a fighter against Koshi with that sword alone. She needs to switch back to Firetooth, and only has a second or two to attack before he reaches her and takes a swing. Hasted and with high APR, Koshi is well-poised to overcome Teleport Field and get in a hit before he teleports away.
Finally, Milly nails him with a Kuo-toa Bolt--that ambush in Watcher's Keep got us a rare disabler we otherwise would have lacked. Milly switches to the Tuigan Bow, for which she has grandmastery. With automatic hits and no threat from Celestial Fury, we can bring down Koshi at our leisure.
Notice that Eliza is nearly dead. That's a Flame Strike spell from Stalman. Eliza had to turn invisible and flee to gain enough space to heal herself safely.
Varen recovers from PW: Stun. She drinks a potion to stave off death and hurries over to take the kill on Koshi.
Now only Evess remains disabled. Varen tries Dispel Magic on Stalman and succeeds on the second try.
Stalman's Physical Mirror made it very hard for us to hurt him. Now he's helpless. He goes down quickly.
Once Varen re-casts True Seeing, Ketta, the last true threat, is visible.
We finish off Maferan and Olaf Rassmusen. Celestial Fury is ours!
Not that we'll get to use it much. Varen needs to maintain item-based immunities if she's going to be available to cure disablers on the rest of the party, and Celestial Fury takes up a weapon slot that could otherwise be used to stop a disabler.
Varen should actually have the Boots of Speed and the Cloak of the Sewers, but I switched them out earlier on.
Much of our safety from disablers depends on Dispel Magic, which in turn depends on Varen not getting disabled. Since we have no druids or clerics, Varen's only defense against disablers comes from items. Switching out those items is the only way to ensure she is alive and functioning.
Horun's is a bit more normal. He has access to Darts +5 and therefore is our main candidate for Vhailor's Helm, so it's best to concentrate items with magical abilities, like the Efreeti Bottle, on him.
Milly's inventory is much more sparse. Notable items include Kuo-toa Bolts, Bolts of Lightning and Biting, and 5 Arrows of Dispelling we got from Watcher's Keep.
Eliza is most in need of defense, so she gets a few extra save-boosting items.
She also needs the Robe of Vecna to make sure she can cast emergency spells on herself more quickly. She also controls the Rod of Resurrection, Scroll Cases, and Potion Bag, because it means she will always have access to other emergency measures, like Potions of Magic Shielding or a Stoneskin scroll. Note the Wand of Paralyzation we found in the Guarded Compound's lower level. Unfortunately, it uses a save vs. wand, not spell, so we can't get a guaranteed failed save on a target.
Evess, our other sorcerer, gets the leftovers.
Unlike the Wand of Paralyzation, the Wand of Cursing uses a save vs. spell. It also strikes as a level 0 spell, though it won't bypass MR, which means it'll be another strong disabler depending on the situation.
Finally, our Bounty Hunter, Zao.
Zao has gradually done more backstabbing as time has gone on, as items and increasing thief levels let her hide in shadows more easily. She therefore has the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength for +3 to THAC0, and the Staff of Striking for important backstabs. The Shadow Thief Dagger has no planned purpose yet, but it is a speed weapon.
Good hunting!
Best,
A.
I already slew the Shade Lich with the Rift Device. The Elemental Lich went down with traps.
The Improved Mantle is weird for an SCS2 Lich. It was a bad omen, but I didn't see it at the time.
Testing found that the Potion of Firebreath could not actually kill Kangaxx... it strikes as a level 4 spell, rather than a level 0 spell, and is therefore blocked by Kangaxx's demi-lich spell level immunities. Instead, I planned on luring Kangaxx over some traps, though I still bought the Staff of Rynn in case things went really badly.
SCS2 Kangaxx the Demi-Lich behaves very differently from vanilla Kangaxx. First, he won't Imprison Charname, though he'll be perfectly willing to Imprison anybody else. He will, however, use lots of Remove Magic, Horrid Wilting, and Emotion spells, and it takes some very precise management to maintain immunity to those Emotion spells, and survive those Horrid Wilting spells. He also attacks with Minute Meteors and protects himself with Stoneskin and PFMW.
His Lich form is also buffed substantially by SCS2 AI. To get past that, we dish out some traps. At level 16, normal snares deal 4d8+2 (or about 20) fire damage a pop, on top of the missile damage that Stoneskin blocks. Kangaxx the Lich succumbs to the fire traps.
He transforms. I try to lure him outside, but he won't follow. I also find that he's perfectly willing to use Imprisonment on Eliza--another strange omen.
She has SI: Abjuration anyway, to guard against his future Remove Magic spells and maintain her immunity to magic (she drank two Potions of Magic Protection beforehand), so the Imprisonment spells don't matter.
Rounds go by. Kangaxx doesn't refresh his PFMW spell, even when hit by the Staff of Rynn (his Stoneskins are mysteriously missing, a third omen). He just tries to Imprison Eliza, doing nothing else. A fourth omen.
Realizing he's distracted, I put the party, who is hiding in the corner, just out of Kangaxx's range, to work. Horun summons his clone and Evess puts both under Improved Haste. Right after Kangaxx finishes casting another Imprisonment spell, I have Horun and his clone rush in and blast Kangaxx with the Ring of the Ram.
Big damage, very fast. Notice that his demi-lich resistance don't apply to the Ring of the Ram, as it does magic damage rather than physical.
With Kangaxx wounded and still distracted by Eliza, Horun and his clone rush in and take him down with Darts +5.
The Ring of Gaxx is ours.
On reviewing the battle, however, I realize something is wrong. SCS2 Liches don't use Improved Mantle. They only use the far superior PFMW. SCS2 enemies doesn't use Imprisonment on Charname. SCS2 Kangaxx casts Stoneskin in demi-lich form, and he re-casts PFMW as well. Finally I realize something is wrong.
I check his .cre file. He has, in fact, so SCS2 script at all, just the normal vanilla script. This is why he was so easy to defeat, and put up such a pitiful fight.
I'd thought the mages in this game were operating correctly, but on further reflection, my install is indeed flawed. That's why I haven't seen any Horrid Wilting Chain Contingencies from Tolgerias or Sion... or any Spell Immunity spells at all. No Sphere of Chaos from Ray-Ray or the Shadow Thieves... no Chaos+Confusion combos from Necre... no Time Stop from Sion or Lavok... no Teleport Field from the random encounters.
I thought the Smarter Mages component was still installed. It's not. The mages have been using SCS2-buffed spells, and they might be gaining some benefits from the smarter general AI, but none of the mages in this game so far have been fighting at their strongest.
No wonder we were doing so well. I'm sure the enemy would have pulled a lot more tricks than this, had Smarter Mages been properly installed. This party isn't powerful... we've just been fighting gimped semi-vanilla mages this whole time. Everything else has been at full strength, but the mages are the toughest enemies. If the enemies weren't using potions, or the demons were missing a few immunities, that would be one thing, but the biggest and most entertaining challenges of SCS2 are gone without overpowered enemy mages.
This is deeply disappointing. I've already gotten so far in this game, and missed out on the best parts without even knowing it. I could start over so I could face all the mages at their full strength, but that would just be exhausting and repetitive.
I really liked this run. But it's just not the same knowing they're been fighting vanilla mages. I don't think I can continue this run, even if I fixed the install... I have no way of knowing if this party would have legitimately survived this far if my install was right.
I think I'm going to call it quits for Eliza and company. All their success seems meaningless now. But before I start a new run, I have to fix my install, and to do that, I might need a clean installation of BG2, for which I need to find a lost CD, or buy a new one.
I think the concept underlying Eliza's party remains intriguing,. I wouldn't abandon the idea simply because your install didn't give it a proper test.
Good luck solving the install issues!
Best,
A.
Maybe it's for the best. The party was terribly weak defensively, entirely reliant on a less-than-invulnerable Inquisitor to bail them out whenever they failed their saves. And the Inquisitor would have been far less powerful had the enemy mages been using their SI: Abjuration spells. Without clerics or druids, our party had few immunities. We broke down multiple times... and we were fighting vanilla mages! I don't think an Inquisitor is a very good replacement for Chaotic Commands and Remove Fear.
In retrospect, the sorcerers weren't too strong, either. At multiple times I found myself itching for another spell we didn't have. It's probably why I ended up collecting so many scrolls... having played normal mages so often, I knew we had massive holes in our arcane spell selection.
Nonetheless, I do find the concept interesting. My approach to no reload play has always had a Gurney Halleck spin: Fast on defense, slow on attack. I also avoid save of else stuff like the plague in BGII, with the exception of save or else effects that can be applied multiple times without consuming aura (Darts of Wounding, Jester Song, Etc). You seemed to be on the verge of turning my equation on its head. I'd love to see you pull it off, even if I remain skeptical. I'm intrigued.
You'd have to be very clever with potions, immunity granting items, spacing and exposure management to make it work, I suspect. Agreed. Agreed. I didn't look at your books so I can't comment. I trust you know your party though.
Anyhoo. The approach was inventive and interesting. I appreciated that.
Fix your install and get back in action!
Good hunting!
Best,
A.
Best,
A.
I like it when I meet people who are slow like me.
Best,
A.
Sellhana, 1st & final BG1 update
Glorydd's retirement - not death
I decided to roll a Fighter/Mage/Thief, mostly out of curiosity as to how I would play such a character, and to see whether I like this triple class better than F/M, F/T or M/T. I took quite a long time rolling, hesitant to settle for a 90 roll, and was rewarded with a record roll:
Here's Sellhana:
Unlike Dagny and Glorydd no shorty saves bonuses. I expect that come BG2 Sellhana's spells will be largely defensive spells to make up for her unreliable saves, and that they will allow her to melee most of the time.
Sellhana had no problems during her first quests. These included most of the Coastway stuff, Brun, Tenya, Nib, Brage, Flesh Golems, Greywolf. She was lvl 4/4/5 when she slew the latter, at about 40k XP. As Unfinished Business locks Prism's emeralds in Ellesime's eyes, Sellhana quaffed a stone giant strength potion, to bash those locks. (She hadn't honed her lockpicking skills.) Unfortunately 20 Str wasn't enough for the second lock, so the Elf decided to put the potion to good use. She entered the mines. At that point she was already retty well-equipped with Girdle of Piercing, Boots of Stealth, Cloak of Deflection, Greenstone Amulet, Aule's Staff +3. Wand of fire routed Kobold hordes, and a critical backstab ended blue-circled Mulahey's life before he could say anything.
Back in Nashkel Amnish guards injured Nimbul until he panicked and fled into the inn. There, Sellhana finished him off with a backstab. Tranzig fell to a critical stab. (Lots of critical hits and misses this run for backstabs).
Sellhana traveled to Durlag's Tower where she scorched the Battle Horrors with her wand. She intended to enter the tower, but realized that if she wanted to kill Kirinhale she'd need lasting Charm protection. She therefore returned to Beregost to purchase the helmet with the same name at Feldepost's. As she approached that inn, she was waylaid by Lamalha & Co. Sellhana decided to quaff a potion of invisibility. She then stepped inside the inn, Greenstone-protected herself and cast Detect Invisibility from scroll to reveal Telka and Maneira. She kept entering and leaving the inn to hide and stab.
Having bought the Helm of Charm Protection, the Elf traveled to to Durla's again, only to be waylaid once more, this time by Molkar and his gang. It was a good thing she had dealt with the two Battle Horrors before. Again she decided to go invisible first, and then to buff herself (Shield, oil of speed, Greenstone). She finished the enemy with Wand of Fire scorchers and ranged attacks. Kirinhale fell after three hits by Sellhana with her martial staff. A blue PfP scroll had been scribed successfully, meaning that Sellhana could also deal with the Basilisks.
Cloudpeaks were largely neglected. CHA tome was picked up at the Gnoll Stronghold.
Sellhana then went looking for the Bandit Camp. She had Raiken show her the way, placated Tazok, looted chests, barrels and bags, and entered Tazok's tent buffed with no more than a potion of cloud giant strength and a potion of freedom. (I made the mistake of having her quaff freedom first, so a planned oil of speed would have no effect.) Inside the tent a Wand Fireball followed by a Web gave her a certain edge, but there were always foes who weren't Held and who would fire their arrows at her. Hakt was one of them; his arrows of biting poisoned her. Sellhana went invisible, slew venkt with a backstab, and the others with her staff as well.
In Cloakwood Sellhana secured a Cloak of Non-Detection, Spiders' Bane (for free action), and a Wand of Frost (for Davaeorn's Battle Horrors). Buffed with cloud giant strength, speed, and invulnerability, she vanquished Kysus with a critical stab for 100 damage,
At the second mine level there was an uncomfortable moment when one of the guards saw Sellhana open the northern prison door. Many guards soon followed, and Sellhana saw herself forced to battle most of them in close quarters.
Like Glorydd last time, Sellhana had already reached the level cap when she arrived in Baldur's Gate. She limited herself to obtaining items she wanted (scrolls, potions, Helm of Balduran, arrows of dispelling, WIS tome, DEX tome, Ramazith's goodies, including his INT tome). At the Iron Throne, she took on the acolytes, alternating between the top floor and the floor below for hiding and stabbing purposes. Oil of speed, cloud or storm giant strength potion and potions of magic shielding were her buffs. She suffered some magic damage (Magic Missile, Unhily Blight) and fire damage from a Flamestrike, but with her arrows of dispelling and her stabs, she was far more deadly than her opponents.
Back in Baldur's Gate, she buffed very carefully to deal with Slythe and Krystin: mind focusing, heroism, storm giant strength, Shield, speed, invulnerability, magic shielding, PfE, Blur, MI, DUHM.
The exciting part:
She entered the plateau where Sarevok stood, saw her arrow of dispelling miss its target, and noticed that her oil of speed had lost its effect. Sarevok, rushed toward the Elf, and three of his minions (Angelo, Semaj, Diarmid) appeared from invisibility. Diarmid's Dragon Venom Arrow (1d6 + 2d6 acid, save vs spell for half + poison 30% of max HPs unless save vs death) struck true, and Sellhana didn't make either of her saves. She was injured, poisoned, and - due to the poison - slowed.
But she made it! Still severely injured, she barely managed to retreat from her enemies, escaping a Fireball from Semaj, and a Detect Invisibility from Angelo.
A Detect Invisibility from scroll revealed Semaj and Tazok.
Sellhana's inventory screen at the end of the game:
Sellhana successfully negotiated Irenicus' dungeon, skipped the Circus quest (because of the extra ice level in my setup), accepted Gaelan Bayle's help, and exposed Rejiek Hidesman. She had to flee from the Tanner's when she failed to kill one of the Rune Assassins who had followed her upstairs before he peeled off her Stoneskins.
She then wanted to travel to the Slums to look for work at the Copper Coronet, but got waylaid by Eldarin & Co. She was injured still from the Rune Assassin, but she made it stealthily to the area border where she healed with potions. She didn't have many ways to deal with the group but she really wanted Arbane's Sword. She buffed with Shield, Ghost Armor, PfE, MI and MSD. Her backstab attempt at Eldarin resulted in a critical miss. Their Cleric saw it, and cast Hold Person at her. But Sellhna didn't worry. After all the MSD spell description says:
This [absorptionand consumption of spells cast at the wizard] includes spells cast from scrolls and innate spell-like abilities, but excludes area effects that are not centered directly upon the wizard as well as area effects that are stationary such as Cloudkill and Stinking Cloud. As long as the spell is cast directly at the wizard, it will be absorbed.
Of course she got Held despite having been the direct target of the spell. Although I'm not as fond of Sellhana as I am of Dagny and Glorydd, I do feel duped by the game for the second time in a row now, and I'm starting to think I'm not ready yet for no-reload. There are so many important things about the game that I just don't know. On the other hand, I know I don't really enjoy reload games as much, less adrenaline.
Starting with BG, wont set a party size limit but I will try to keep it small.
PC - Blackguard and FMT and Viconia atleast.
Bhane heard someone mention how a prophecy from the time of troubles might be connected to him. And since Bhane in no-way is cursed with humilty he decided that if anyone in Faerun deserved to be mentioned in a prophecy it was him. The most powerfull Blackguard to ever walk the realm.
To further investigate these claims Bhane gathered the only two people he realy trust. The De´Vir siblings Viconia and Vhaegar.
Since they are exiled Drow they realy dont have anywhere else to go or any other means of gaining power then following Bhane. Making them ideal allys for him. Viconia a cleric and Vhaegar a F/M/T their skills complent his own in a very satisfactory way.
Havning learnt what he could from the scholars in Candlekeep, they robbed the place of any valubles they could find and headed out in the wilderness.
During an ambush by a powerfull group of enemies they fled for their lives, got separeted and lost Viconia in the process.
Alone in the wild, Bhane and Vhaegar sets out in search for Viconia, and gathering clues who could have been behind the
Safe travels @HenkeB for Bhane and Vhaegar!
I meant SI:En, AKA- Spell Immunity: Enchanctment, not SI:Ev, AKA- Spell Immunity: Evocation.
Best,
A.
Robbed most people they could find, including Imoen, Xzar and Montaron.
Stealing what they could in Beregost. Picking up stupifier for Bhane
With no qualms about dealing with undead they recruited a powerful ghoul to their group to deal with basilisks.
Unfortunatly the ghoul didnt enjoy their company and refused to leave the area with them.
On to Nakshel to pick up Ankheg plate, assasin in the inn did put up a fight but there was never any danger.
Shoal the Neriad died after alot of running around, didnt rest before her so no poison made it a bit tedious.
Continued north, met Elminster, Picked up protection ring. To friendly arm Inn. Picked up two rings, gave one to joya and the other one to Vhaegar.
Assasin at the inn fell easy. Never worried about him since Bhane is immune to fear.
Met Khalid and Jaheira, allowed them to join my group but they left soon after as soon as they discovered I had Vhaegar picking their pockets empty.
Bhane is now level 4 with only a 1000 xp or so away from 5.
I did initiate Dorn at the FAI, not sure if I should let him join or not, having another frontliner would feel a bit safer.
I do plan to get Viconia pretty soon. And the drow sorcerer for firepower, not sure at what lvl he can be found.
Dagny
Everything started with Dagny's departure from Candlekeep with Gorion, who would fall mere hours later at the hands of a man she knew well enough: Sarevok Anchev. She also knew what his plans were, and where he resided, in the city of Baldur's Gate, but the Gnome wasn't allowed into the city.
So she went XP farming: her first few level-ups she got on the Coast Way, but the true XP jackpot she hit later, in Ankhegville (thanks to the Ring of Wizardry and Sleep), the Golem Caverns, Basiliskland, and at Durlag's Tower (Kirinhale skipped, too hard to hit).
Soon after, powerful individuals like Greywolf (2x Hold), Bassilus (Silence->Hold), Droth (Silence + Skeletons), and Meilum (Skeletons) all fell before the Gnome's might.
Before she knew it she was one of the Sword Coast's most reputed, powerful and affluent individuals again. Her attire consisted of Robe of Neutral Archmagi, Helm of Charm Protection, Large Shield +1, Ashideena, Sling +1, Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, Cloak of Deflection, Amulet of Protection +1 and Greenstone Amulet, Ring of Wizardry, and Wands of Fire, Paralyzation, Frost and Heavens.
She revisited the Nashkel Mines where she scorchered Kobolds and also Mulahey after Silencing him. (His minions died from their burns as well.)
At the Bandit Camp she summoned Skeletons in a corner away from Raemon. She was amazed that the others didn't notice or pretended not to notice her, but she didn't complain. A security Wand of Paralyzation charge froze Venkt, after which the Gnome and her army didn't take long in quelling the bandits.The Skellies fighting on one side; Dagny discharging fireballs from her wand on the other.
Dagny knew that Ender Sai was going to direct her to the Cloakwood, and that's indeed where she went. When she left the bandit tent, she was waylaid by Lamalha and friends. ('Hey that wasnt supposed to happen, you ambushed me in Beregost!') The Gnome saw herself facing overwhelming numbers and left the area hurriedly. She took things pretty easy in Cloakwood, except in Spider territory, where she slew most of the monsters (with Wand of Fire and ranged attacks) plus Centeol in order to get a second Wand of Frost.
At the entrance to the Cloakwood Mines both Rezdan and Kysus removed Dagny's protections, at different moments. One of the Remove Magic came right before a Spook. Dagny did not save against the latter spell. Fortunately speedy Drasus and Genthore (ranged attacker) were not in sight. Rezdan was, but he demonstrated he wasn't the brightest practicioner in his profession. He cast Confusion on a Skeleton that Dagny had summoned, and Dire Charm on Dagny (who was wearing the Helm of Charm protection).
Two magic protection potions helped Dagny endure Davaeorn's crowd spells (several Webs, Stinking Cloud). The evil mage was so friendly not to cast Remove Magic at her, but that didn't stop Dagny from destroying his Battle Horrors with her frost wand, nor from sparing Davaeorn for that matter. Skeletons helped her get rid of his many protections (MIs, Stoneskins) that she had no means of dispelling. A Holy Smite did him in.
When blue-circled Lothander got stuck and couldn't leave, Dagny slew him as well, but she later regretted that. She had been disgusted by his manipulations even if they were inspired by desperation, but she found that killing him went a bit too far for her. (I considered changing Dagny's alignment to Chaotic Neutral, but I think that could cause issues with the familiar, Murphy the Rabbit.]
She fought most of the Iron Throne cronies two at a time, as she was unsure whether she'd be able to stand up against all of them at once. Skeletons, different wand charges, and even melee combat were the ingredients for success.
[I made the mistake of having Dagny rest after she had reported to Duke Eltan, but before she had a Bard lower her reputation. She therefore got a rather superfluous DUHM-Bhaalpower. Reputation was then lowered after all, in order for the last Bhaalpower to be the desired Divine Wrath ability.]
Dagny knew Sarevok was trying to frame her for the murder of the Iron Throne executive board, so she rushed straight to the Gatewarden, but she still came too late, and saw herself arrested, imprisoned, and teleported to the Keep's catacombs, where Knock spells allowed her to loot three vaults.
She traveled to the FAI to restore part of her reputation and to acquire the Golden Pantaloons, to the Nashkel Carnival for the violet potion, and to the Hugh Hedge for the Claw and Horn of Kazagaroth. Cloudpeaks and Euric and Noralee helped Dagny's rep back to 20.
In the Undercellars Slythe and especially Krystin gave Dagny a hard time. She remembered dealing with Slythe alone, but this time Krystin wouldn't leave his side. Twice did the woman remove Dagny's protections (incuding Stoneskins), making the Gnome particularly vulnerable to Slythe's backstabs. Skeletons, circa five charges of the Wand of Monster Summoning and the odd Magic Missile helped Dagny overcome the two assassins.
She rested and made her way to the Ducal Palace. Initially none of the Flaming Fists believed her when she told them most of the spectators were in fact Greater Doppelgangers, but the creatures showed their true form when Dagny presented a letter from Sarevok containing the instruction to SLuthe and Krystin to kill the Dukes. Dagny had already buffed herself at that moment, and summoned four Skeletons and a Giant Spider. The summons were PfFear, PfE and Hasted. Things looked dire when Dagny's Slow only affected a single Greater Doppelganger, but things turned out fine after she cast a Chaos (from scroll) at the monsters.
Belt transported Dagny to the Thieves Guild where Dagny found a failiar maze that led to the familiar Undercity. No one noticed her as she was invisible. The last time she had dealt with Sarevok, she had taken on his minions first, one at a time. This time she decided to try how she fared against all of them at the same time. She soon received two Remove Magics. She responded with a potion of magic shielding (since invisiblility might be detected and could have exposed her to another spell with a still turbid aura).
Sarevok saw his plans crumble and his life forces sap out of him due to Dagny's scorchers and sling bullets.
At the FAI we heard rumours of a drow priestess to the east, had to be viconia so we set out after her. Found her just in time and rescued her from some mercenary.
Travelled south to Larswood after that. Vary of any blacktalon elites we stayed to the edges of the map, still encountered three of them.
With sleep and hold spells we dispatched them pretty easely. While fighiting gibberlings close to a tower ruin we encountered another drow, a powerfull sorcerer no less. Recrutied him and gave him the ring Evermemory. Now he shoots fireballs all day.
South the the Nakshel mines, ambused by bandits who with the aid of blackguard brother Dorn where quickly dispatched.
Allowed Dorn to accompany the group, atleast for now.
Cleared out the Nakshel mine area, and got the wand of ice.
So I set out to use a small group but now its almost filled... I will probably fill the last spott aswell. Im thinking Shar-teel and dual her to thief only to have her steal algernons cloak and ring of free action before i enter cloakwood.
But next in line are gnolls and ogres.
Dagny's deja vu experience didn't end with her triumph over Sarevok. One day Imoen woke her up in an all too familiar dungeon, Chateau Irenicus. The Gnome thanked Imoen for releasing her from her cell, and told her that they'd stand a better chance of escape if they split up. Minsc and Jaheira were freed and recruited for XP, and ditched after that.
Dagny played it safe in the dungeon. She didn't mess with Ilych & Co, the Cambion, or the Plane of Air. She relied on invisiility to get the servant Golem to open the doors to the Otyugh room. Skeletons killed the Otyugh as well as the three Duergar that stood between her and the master's room and those that guarded the nearby portal. She had an accident there when she opened a chest. Apparently she had failed to register that one of the Mephits she had fought had stripped her last Stoneskin.
When the drama at Waukeen's Promenade was over, Dagny traveled to the Slums and Gaelan Bayle, and - under Sanctuary - to the Bridge District to solve the Skinner Murders. When she cast Stoneskin on herself at the Tanner's Shop, a Cowled Wizard appeared and gave her a first warning for unlicensed spell casting.
She nevertheless decided to confront Vellin Dahn, but had to deal with a Doppelganger before that. She cast a Barksin on herself, but the resulting AC bonus didn't keep the Doppelganger from peeling her Stoneskins before she slew it with a Skeleton by her side. Dagny summoned more Skeletons, went downstairs to say hi to Vellin Dahn, and returned upstairs with a Rune Assassin on her trail. She used her Minor Sequencer (MI + Invisibility) to increase her chances of survival, and quickly left the Assassin to occupy himself with her Skeletons. She then reported her findings to Lieutenant Aegisfield.
Not being able to cast indoors was very inconvenient. But there was one place where even the Cowlies didn't bother with sticking their noses: the Copper Coronet, Dagny remembered from experience in her previous incarnation. She rested at the inn, and proceeded to deal with the slavers. Her Skeletons didn't last very long due to the Bears and the Minotaur, but with spells like Chaos and Spook, she managed to more or less control the crowd she had to deal with. MMMs finished the Beast Master, and HP + DUHM helped her prevail over the Grizzly Bear.
On her way back to the southside, she got ambushed by Eldarin and his clique but she was Invisible, so she could distance herself from them and summon Skeletons and buff (lightly, with MGoI, PfFear, PfE 10' Radius). She opened with a Chaos, and saw it affect two of her enemies, including Arbane's Sword owner Eldarin. He got into a figth with one or two of his colleagues. When Dagny, invisible again, and one of her Skeletons went to check out the Wizard, the latter cast a Web and got caught in it. Dagny didn't hesitate to finish her off with MMMs.
With her spare gold and the sale of the Slavers' gear Dagny could barely afford the Robe of Vecna. There was a brief moment of hesitation (were there no other items she needed more?), but the Gnome decided to see the purchase through. That robe is just too good; it's great how it speeds up her divine spell casting.
She went to the Den of the Seven Vales but got into a nasty fight with Mencar Pebblecrusher and his goons. This would prove to be a pretty tough encounter that saw Dagny use pretty much everything she had, including expendables, in order to prevail.
She began the battle pretty well-buffed (Stoneskin, Ghost Armor, MGoI, Chaotic Commands, Free Action, Remove Fear, PfEvil 10'), and had three orfour Skeletons to help her occupy the warriors and the Brennan Risling, so she could deal with Anon and Pooky. But her buffs would not last long enough. She slew Anon with MMMs, and she Chaosed Pooky, Brennan, and Smaeluv. She was pleased to see them attack and hurt one another.
Dagny picked up Renfeld during another ambush but didn't fight the bandits. She brought him to the Harpers, and agreed to free Montaron for nearby Xzar from the Harper base. Holy Smites, Sunfires, and MMMs were too much for Prebek and Sanasha and their minions.
That spell, with its +10 damage against undead, gave Dagny another idea for revenge: she would go to the Graveyard and avenge Glorydd for the tricks the Mummies had pulled on her Dwarven sister, messing with the rogue's saving throws.
She bought two PfUndead scrolls at the Temple of Oghma, and in the lower tombs used Haste for easy positioning and Sunfires and Holy Smites to eradicate the Spiders.
In the Docks Dagny took a commission from the Bloodscalp to investigate one of his guildhouses. She infiltrated with false papers and did a first task for her supposed new master, Mae'Var. She stole an amulet at the Temple of Talos. Strangely there were two Storm Priestesses there at night, one asleep, the other awake.
Cromwell improved Kitthix fo Dagny, in return for 5k GP, a couple of poisoned throwing daggers, a Web scroll and a Spider Spawn scroll.
Dagny returned to Waukeen's Promenade, rested, and decided to restore the Circus to its old order. This meant having to go through the ice level again, the area that in a pevious life had so cruelly taken Aerie from her. Dagny went there solo this time, not counting Kitthix and her other summons. She farmed some more XP in the cold, with MMMs and Kitthix: several Frost Salamanders who were worth 9000 XP each, and a few Ettins (3000 XP).
Dagny had business in the Umar Hills, where she was to procure a murderer by the name of Valygar and to investigate killings and disappearances in the village of Imnesvale, but she had also promised Hendak to free slaves in a Slaver Stockade in the Slums. She decided to carry out the latter task first, and bought the Reflection Shield partly for that reason.
Otyugh, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, and Jellies were no threat, and as a result couldn't keep her from acquiring Lilarcor.
Dagny entered the Slaver Base invisibly, and cast Animate Dead in a quiet corner. However the Skeletons stood up within sight of some of the Slavers and proceeded to attack while Dagny was still unbuffed.
Dagny's currently a lvl 10/11 Cleric/Illusionist, and preparing for her journey to the Umar Hills. Cleric lvl 11 is looming, and should be reached in Imnesvale, giving her access to lvl 6 divine spells. But she'll probably have to defeat the Shade Lord to reach Mage lvl 12, and thus lvl 6 arcane spells.
I created three new kits recently, but I'm not sure if I want to use them, or if I want to play a game with only the vanilla kits and Tactics' Generic Archer fighter kit. The new kits are the Seducer thief kit, the Shadow Stealer fighter kit, and the Bog Witch druid kit. As always, they're really wacky and have crazy abilities combined with crazy drawbacks.
If play with these kits, the party will look something like this:
Archer/Mage
Archer/Mage
Seducer
Shadow Stealer
Bog Witch
Conjurer/Fighter
If I don't, it will look more like this:
Archer/Mage
Archer/Mage
Fighter/Druid
Bounty Hunter
Illusionist/Cleric
Conjurer/Fighter
Seducer:
A Seducer is a thief who acts through persuasion and political maneuvering rather than cloak and dagger tactics. Despite the name, the Seducer's abilities come mostly from psionics and some quasi-magical abilities, rather than simply appearance or physical charm.
Advantages:
+1 to Charisma.
Immune to charm and domination.
Slippery Mind: The Seducer may break free of any disabling effect after 9 seconds have passed. Breaking out of the disabler, however, imposes a -1 penalty to THAC0, AC, damage, and saving throws, as the Seducer begins to recover his or her senses.
May choose Resist Magic as a High-Level Ability.
May cast Feeblemind, Confusion, and Sleep once every two rounds (all single-target; effects last 2 rounds; save vs. wand negates).
May cast Charm once every four rounds. Charm can take control of any creature for 10 rounds, irrespective of their resistances or immunities. Even Melissan can be charmed successfully. The target has a 75% chance of being permitted a save vs. wand to avoid the effect, and non-human creatures have a 50% chance of avoiding its effects outright. However, the caster is immobile for 6 seconds after the spell is cast, and the spell itself takes 2 rounds to take effect.
Disadvantages:
All thieving skills are at half their normal value.
Seducers gain traps and backstab multipliers at a reduced rate. A Seducer may set a trap at level 3 and every 10 levels thereafter, and gains +1 to their backstab multiplier at level 3 and every 8 levels thereafter.
Loses access to normal thief trap HLAs, as well as Assassination and Use Any Item.
May not dual-class.
Summary:
In short, a Seducer is a very weak character itself, but may turn the enemy against itself. This means its power scales with the power of the enemy, but not with the Seducer's level. It won't be much use against a bunch of Shadows or a single dragon, but it will be excellent against a Lich or a group with one powerful central character. This is the only class for which I've worked out some unique HLAs.
Shadow Stealer
The Shadow Stealer is a fighter who may take over the shadow of an enemy creature, creating a simulacrum under the party's control if the target fails its save vs. polymorph. The Shadow Stealer may cast this ability at will if it fails, but if the ability is successful, the ability may not be used for another 5 rounds.
The creature's shadow has all the abilities of its owner, but only has half the levels, half the HP, and suffers a -3 penalty to hit, damage, saving throws, and AC. The shadow deals 3 cold damage on a successful melee hit and forces the victim to save vs. death or lose one point of Strength for 5 rounds. Steal Shadow does not affect the Shadow itself. After 10 rounds, the Shadow returns to its owner and can be drawn out once more. Thus, the Shadow Stealer can control at most two shadows at once. The shadow itself is immune to poison, fatigue, disease, charm, fear, sleep, petrification, stun, Web, and Intelligence drain. This does not affect allies.
Life Leech: the Shadow Stealer suffers -3 to damage, -1 to AC, -2 to saving throws, and -15% to all resistances. Suffers a -1 penalty to THAC0 every 3 levels, to a maximum of -5 at level 15, a -2 penalty to maximum HP at levels 1-9, and -1 at every level thereafter.
Summary:
Like the Seducer, the Shadow Stealer's power scales with the enemy rather than its own level. Its power relies on a save or else spell, which spells trouble in a no-reload run, but since it can be cast an unlimited number of times per day, with a cooldown period to balance, a successful save costs us time, but doesn't cripple us.
Bog Witch:
A Bog Witch is a druid with a variety of slow but powerful spells. It's a blend of druid and mage spells with a swampy theme.
Advantages:
Immunity to poison and disease.
Immune to cloud spells.
+1 to save vs. spell and wand.
+2 to save vs. polymorph and death.
Immune to Haste and Improved Haste.
May triple the duration of a single spell once per day per 4 levels.
+1 spell per level.
Learns additional spells per spell level:
Level 1: Poison Arrow, Water Jet, Blindness, Spook
Level 2: Stinking Cloud, Vampiric Touch, Mirror Image, Horror
Level 3: Contagion, Invisibility, Summon Otyugh, Protection from the Elements
Level 4: Acidic Burst, Hold Monster, Minor Spell Deflection, Confusion
Level 5: Cloudkill, Spell Immunity, Flesh to Stone, Mislead, Summon Mummy
Level 6: Spell Turning, Death Fog, Finger of Death, Breach, Khelben's Warding Whip
Level 7: Energy Drain, Protection from Magical Weapons, Horrid Wilting, Wail of the Banshee, Imprisonment
These spells don't all operate the same way as their mage spell equivalents. Imprisonment, notably, does not bypass magic resistance.
Loses access to all druid summoning spells, including Summon Insects, Insect Plague, and Creeping Doom.
All special spells cut movement rate by half for 3 rounds.
Most druid healing and defensive spells are cast as one level higher. Chaotic Commands takes up a level 6 spell slot, Slow Poison is at level 3, and so forth.
+3 penalty to casting time.
+3 penalty to speed factor.
-2 to DEX.
-2 to STR.
-3 to CON.
Cannot wear armor.
Cannot shapeshift.
Summary:
The Bog Witch's spells take a rather long time to cast, and it will have very poor movement rate. Combined with the immunity to haste spells (but not the Boots of Speed, notably), the Bog Witch is largely immobile and therefore much more vulnerable. In compensation, it gets a lot of extra spells that compensate for a druid's typical weaknesses. I realize this is unbalanced as a druid kit, but it would seem weak if it wasn't. It's more on par with a mage, though it still suffers the druid XP gaps.
Either way, I'm sure your next playthrough will be worth following
Come to think of it, that's not worth it even if you plan on combining it with frequent Time Stops... Still needs work.
The group is moving forward.
Cleared most of the western maps except the fleshgolem cave.
Dorn got nice dex increasing bracers. Tried to charm half ogres a few times before reading the spell description and realising that would never work...
Charming the knight fighting gibberlings did work though... she did not appreciahate it for some reason.
Havnt fought captain Brage in a long time... Discovered that he hits realy hard. Bhane had to to a tactical retreat and let his minions weat Brage down after taking to many blows.
Had a scare when Bhane got hit by lightning bolt.... Had enough HP to survive though.
Ive had one No-reload run end in that way, by a random lightning bolt. Probably the most annoying end possible.
Dorn died from a spider bite in High hedge area, revived him and continued on to the basilisk garden to try an recruit Shar-Teel. Worked well and dualed her to thief right away,
Then continued to search the area for the group with golden girdle.
Web spells and archery made short work of them.
Continued north to fight ankhegs, wanted to lvl Shar-Teel and get viconia a ankheg plate.
Viccy got hit twice by an ankheg and died.... Shes imortant to my plans and got a rez and FAI.
Shar-teel leveld and got enough PP to steal the ring of free action for me.
Next I think il kick her out and recruit Edwin. Having constant reliable magic around does make the swordcoast a safer place.
Clerared Berengost of assasins ans Silke.
Cleared the spider infested house for free potions.
Currently in the ogre area south of Berengost, then I will pick up Edwin and the weapon skill bracers at Firewine bridge.
A short session this morning wasn't short enough to keep me from bringing Dagny to her doom. She did Tirdir's quest, and part of Arnise (not the basement) for the FoA. She traveled to Umar Hills, did the minor quests in Imnesvale and then moved on to the Temple Ruins where she cast PfUndead from a green scroll.
I wasn't sure whether she would face Bone Golems or Liches there.
The plan was to avoid the first Bone Golem or Lich plus Mummies and Skeleton Warriors in the room next to the fire pool (or whatever it is). Turned out to be a Lich. Well hidden in the fog of war, its buffs/contingencies triggered, and it gated in a Dark Planetar and a Glabrezu. The fact that the Lich acted from the fog of war took me by complete surprise. The Glabrezu with its teleport without error found Dagny first, and PW:Stunned her. I had previously messed up with the level 6 spell Contingency, which she had cast a bit earlier. I had wanted to set the Contigency to Helplessness: Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, but noticed I hadn't memorized that spell. Instead I picked Sanctuary (and decided to recruit a Mage later on, Jan probably, to trigger the Contigency so that Dagny could cast a new Contingency with Helplessness: ORS). Anyway, as Dagny was stunned her Contigency triggered, but the Glabrezu ignored Dagny's Sanctuary and quickly breached her meager defenses (Stoneskins bascially).