One just doesn't expect to find such inconsistencies after so many Fixes and Tweaks. Although, this is perhaps an artifact of the EE?
It's engine level, we believe. The original specialist penalty anomaly result were invariant across EE and vanilla.
I believe this should be referred to the EE team and also the ToBex squad.
(I'd like to know what that rock is going on with Aestica and Bestica, though, before we refer. It seems that there are dimensions to the problem that we don't fully appreciate)
@Alesia_BH: I can't make sense of those results. The Berserker is getting bonuses on a schoolless weapon while the unkitted one does not? If there's any discrepancy, it should be the opposite direction.
What is the unkitted fighter's kit according to EEKeeper? Is it "base class" or "none" or "no kit" or "true class" or "generalist?" Because I've seen multiple such names in Keeper and Near Infinity, and I'm wondering if there are two types of kitless kits.
@Alesia_BH: I can't make sense of those results. The Berserker is getting bonuses on a schoolless weapon while the unkitted one does not? If there's any discrepancy, it should be the opposite direction.
Exactly. It's unexpected, seemingly backwards- hence the WTF.
My results suggest that the penalty applies when a kitted -not an unkitted- warrior wields a weapon with an on hit effect. This conflicts with Grim Jim's assertion that it's the other way around.
Note that Grim Jim's model was based, in part, on the belief that Koshi was NO_KIT- 0. He is KENSAI- 3, at least in my install.
I'm as yet unwilling to propose a general model, but the data are suggesting that our prior model wasn't entirely accurate. It fails to account for the Aestica/Bestica results.
What is the unkitted fighter's kit according to EEKeeper? Is it "base class" or "none" or "no kit" or "true class" or "generalist?" Because I've seen multiple such names in Keeper and Near Infinity, and I'm wondering if there are two types of kitless kits.
[reposting this from the Modding forum, in case on of the experts here can help]
gibberlings3 site seems to be down.
I am about to start a new BG2EE run, considering IR+SR+SCS.
Could someone post links to the latest stable IR, SR, SCS [modified for SR] packages please? (Maybe you could upload your own installation files somewhere.)
(P.S. I live on a Mac.)
@Serg_BlackStrider thank you for posting your install order earlier; I hope I got the suggested combination here correct.
** Bonus question: Which of the Tweaks or Fixes should I use with these mods? (Since EE implemented some Fixes but not all.) Could you point me to a link for that as well.
@Alesia_BH: Your tests seem to be under controlled conditions, so I see no reason to doubt their accuracy, even if the results are weird.
What if you had two Berserkers throwing Darts of Stunning at each other? Or two unkitted fighters? That might tell us if the Berserker kit is imposing a penalty on the Darts of Stunning it throws, or if the unkitted fighter is suffering a penalty when making a save against hostile weapons.
New run with another Inquisitor of Azuth called Æthelthryth. In Candlekeep she was very grateful for a save that saved her life. After fleeing she consumed a healing potion and imediately got revenge. Images below.
Other than that things were trouble free until Gorion's death. There was a long sword +1 on the corpse of one of the assassins. I picked a ring on the way to the FAI and another just outside the walls. Yet another was found on a hobgoblin corpse and that one was returned to Joia. On the way to the FAI I was approached my a weird looking mage and departed swiftly, not wanting to get involved with mages until I am a bit stronger, I avoided him. I then went to Beregost where I calmed down Marl and took a tome to Firebead. Upon doing so, I levelled up.
EDIT
I levelled up again after helping Melicamp and a werewolf to get back into shape. Now level 3. I then proceeded to Nahkel where I found some ankheg armour. After donning it I headed south where I fought Zargos Flintblade. The battlewas long and I used many bolts, but finally after I used my Inquisitorial Abilities, he succumbed to my assault. Upon going to the carnival I rested before taking on Zordral. That battle was much easier as I dispelled his protections.
What if you had two Berserkers throwing Darts of Stunning at each other? Or two unkitted fighters? That might tell us if the Berserker kit is imposing a penalty on the Darts of Stunning it throws, or if the unkitted fighter is suffering a penalty when making a save against hostile weapons.
I'd like to see matching kitted, matching unkitted, and a non-matching kits paired. Let's replicate the Aestica/Bestica results first, though.
@Alesia_BH I think the Adventurer's Lounge II is a pretty good idea. We could put those discussions about technical stuff there. This thread should be for posting runs.
I would indeed recommend creating something akin to a new Adventurer's Lounge for the currently ongoing discussion regarding saving throws - surely, such topics might be of interest to people outside of the no-reload thread, and creating a different one would make it much easier to follow them.
Arbogast's party and the Legacy of Bhaal, Part XX - If you want to test Arbogast, why go after Nahema instead?
So, we completed all of the in-camp quests, but during our first travel attempt, we were ambushed - by the shadowy figure and his/her party, in a no-magic zone. Turns out the no-magic zone debuff only kicks in a second after you arrive? At least, Arbogast was able to summon a spirit animal right away, but not on his second try. Had I known that, I could've had Voghiln and Nahema cast stoneskin as well. That would've been very, very helpful. On the other hand, the best thing to do might have been to just leave the area right away.
Our wands still work - it's easy to distract the mercenaries with summoned monsters. However, the shadowy figure has different ideas - we notice that it hides:
The target: Poor Nahema - but she survives!
The shadowy figure hides in plain sight, we can not touch it - not even wand charges are fast enough to hit it in time. We need to get Nahema's hp up as fast as possible, as we see that it's still trying to attack her in the combat log. The shadowy figure isn't hasted, so Nahema runs around with her boots of speed, trying to avoid a hit - but if she gets close to the mercenaries, they will shoot at her. We end up using a combo I've stored in my inventory for all this time: Kiel's helm and the goblet from Durlag's Tower.
However, the dangerously squishy Safana dies to two arrows of biting when trying to hit an archer with her darts. Meanwhile, the shadowy figure still tries to chase Nahema - it hits her again, she survives, and we use another goblet charge.
While those two play their invisible chasing game, the party has killed almost all mercenaries - and while our main opponent manages to hit Nahema a third time, shortly after that, he/she calls it quits and runs away:
That was certainly unpleasant. Not even close to shadow aspect-level, but still - the constant hiding in plain sight right away (not even having to wait, like a shadowdancer is supposed to - and yes, I know that's avoidable), the combination of a no-magic zone and close to 100 backstab damage... if the shadoy figure didn't decide that, for some reason, it really, really wanted to kill Nahema and only Nahema, this could've spelled the end of our run.
Now, we return to camp, resurrect Safana and make our way to the Bloodbark Grove. Not much to see here, though we are reminded of simpler times when we get back to the old spirit animals versus basilisks battle:
Still, there's the battle for the sundermaul +3 to consider - the one with the dread wolf / troll hybrids, protecting a fledgling vampire. We have our summons blocking the entrance, and a helm of charm protection in our inventory, ready to switch it to whoever is in danger of getting dominated (it's Nahema, three times - my enemies seem to hate her). With the vampire dead, any real threat is gone:
Dead Man's Pass was next. This area took me quite a while to clear - so many different powerful monster groups. I generally had to rest after every two encounters. Here, we accidentally enganged two groups at once, which forced us to turn invisible and let our summons do all the work:
In one of the fights, a hamadryad managed to charm Arbogast, despite me having the helm at the ready - I just failed to notice the spell in time. Luckily, the charmed Arbogast never did anything, and the duration was over rather quickly:
We used our second glasses charge to get this useful little ring:
The first one was used for the bonus merchant, obviously. An invisible Safana helped out with a trap before we sent our summons in for the final random monster group around here:
Now, we had two tiny dungeons left - first, the spider cave. I really screwed up here - I knew there was a mimic in the chest, but I still didn't put on my three free action items in time, so all my arcane spellcasters ended up out of order:
While I forgot to take any more screenshots of this encounter (until much later), here's what happened: Nahema, in her exposed position, was stripped of her MIs and stoneskins right away - the slimes killed her before anyone could reach her. Meanwhile, an astral phase spider teleported right to Aikar and Voghiln. With no arcane spellcasters left to cast invisibility, I had no way to save them - trying to kill the spider in time proved to be fruitless. With three dead party members, we had to flee - though we made sure to finish off the phase spiders, and our summons had already killed the mimic. We returned (after some costly resurrections - I'm really having money troubles this run, I can't afford a lot of the useful items from the genie) to take our vengeance - which wasn't easy. The neo-otyugh is a tough opponent, especially his disease damage - I had to drink three concentrated healing potions on Aikar to save his life. However, we eventually cleared the final slime and claimed a new bow for Nahema:
Finally, there's the cellar to the east - I forgot to take screenshots once again. Our strategy: Distract the bulk of the opponents with a wand of monster summoning charge, have our hasted party take down the unsleeping guardian first - after that, let's see what's still around. I expected the invisble wraiths, but not the invisible greater shadows. Still, we did relatively fine: Only Aikar got level drained, and while the greater shadows strength drained Corwin so much that she couldn't move, Voghiln, with an invisibility sequencer, saved her.
Next time, we will explore the underground river - the surface area at first. I expect the inside area (or, to be more accurate, its various sub-areas) to be quite difficult for us.
Right. Baldur's Gate. With screenshots, surprisingly enough.
The beginning quests were simple enough: an Ogre Mage is killed in the sewers, doppelgangers are slaughtered en masse at the Sashenstar estate, and another Greater Basilisk is murdered in the name of 7k experience. Then I open up a guide of where some foes with some experience may be found. Notably, there's a mage named Sunin and her guards worth 4,500 experience in SW Baldur's Gate, so we take the fight.
But pathing and inattention becomes our worst enemy. While I was getting Vista out of harm's way from the two fighters, my two archers decided to close the distance with Sunin, who had fled into a sideroom. I tried to disengage, but it was too late: a Sunfire sealed Cato's fate. And the damage was massive enough it was a permanent death.
Down to one Archer. I decided to not reroll a character, instead allowing two spots instead of one for NPCs in BG2. We clean up the rest of Baldur's Gate, though. Sebastian dies in the Cloak and Helm as he's Charmed right at the end of the fight, while Alina is Held, and I elect to use a wand of paralysis charge on him. He's then killed by Gorpel Hind's band before he snaps out of the charm. Oh well. Everything else progresses without any deaths: Ramazith dies on top of his tower, a Paladin's (?) house is invaded for the Helm of Glory, and Marek is killed for the delicious 10k experience completion.
The Iron Throne fight is fought very slowly, painfully dragging one member down at a time into the waiting hands of a horde of skeletons. I probably could've done it more effectively with a couple Wand of Fire charges, but I didn't feel like fighting a bunch of spellcasters on their terms. After killing 3-4 of them on the floor below, we go back up the stairs and finish off the few remaining survivors.
We leave the leaders of the IT alive, and kill the Greater-Doppel-Shistal on the 4th floor. Vista invisibly clears all the traps in the catacombs, giving the final stat boosts to Alina and Sebastian, for 19 STR and 21 WIS respectively. And then I make a major mistake.
...... ... So Vista launched a Wand of Fire charge at a bunch of Skeletons, gets too close, gets hit by her own blast, trips a trap on the way out while her aura's dirty, and our own aggressive wand user dies. I was relying on her for Prat, honestly, and I never purchased any scrolls of Raise Dead which, now that I think about it, is a no-brainer. Bleggh.
Against Pratt, I didn't use a Potion of Magic Shielding on Sebastian and he's stunned and killed. Mistake after mistake after mistake.
Which is almost permanently fatal. I must've missed the screenshot, but Prat makes the flank and releases a Minor Sequencer with Magic Missiles at Baroque, who had made himself visible to summon some monsters via wand. His aura was also dirty from something, and he manages to escape the hasted Prat with a Potion of Invisibility with under 10 health. Potions of regeneration were given to both Alina and Baroque while they're invisible.
We reengage, back at full health, with summoned monsters giving Alina some space. Prat's running around aimlessly, but we track down his party members and give them an arrow-y and hobgoblin-y death. Finally after Prat hits us with a Horror (Ignore the swirly marks over Baroque's head, as Greenstone amulet still gives immunity), a Gnoll finishes off the nightmare situation. A casting of Pro. Petrification later, and we're out and Baroque hits level 9. Now his song grants +3 bonuses to AC, THAC0, and damage.
Back at the Gate, we first get ourselves arrested and free ourselves via Neb. Then we try to save the Duke, using the Sandthief's Ring, an Invisibility spell, and an attempted Hide in Shadows from Alina. She fails her check midway, and is assaulted by like 3 Unholy Blights at the same time. She manages to escape using a ring charge, but again I'm thankful that Baroque is Neutral. Alina takes on the Greater Doppelganger and successfully stealths her way back out of the compound.
Slythe is then fought, and I find out what Potions of Sight actually DO in Item Revision: basically True Sight without the ability to cancel Mirror Images. Regardless, Alina cleans up the Thief. \
And Cynthandria is also killed for the tasty 16k + experience for her Stone Golems. I love Detect Illusions, by the way.
Now the Ducal Palace fight. We buff mostly with summons and Haste and a couple Invisibility spells. Vista starts out by guaranteeing a duke's survival: Invisibility on Liia via Scroll.
The Shaman is then focused and killed within seconds, and the Mage is sent running through the left rooms after Bolts of Lightning tear through its stoneskins, and Alina and Vista finish the chase. Sebastian helps deal with the Greater Doppelgangers and the Assassin. In the end, Belt survives as well.
Undercity Party is quite a fight, forcing a couple potions out of Sebastian as he's cornered by summons, including an Aerial Servant. Their mage continues to chase Alina and Vista, and eventually his defenses fail and we sweep up the remainder with bolts. Moving on.
The prebuffs for the final fight are fairly light, as most potions only last a minute now. But the two Pro. Magics scrolls go on Sebastian and Baroque, Vista has her Mirror Images, and Baroque finishes with Haste. The fight begins. Tazok falls within the first few rounds:
And after kiting for a long while, taking out numerous Stoneskins, Semaj follows.
A mistake gets Vista killed by Diarmid: she should've quaffed a Potion of Invisibility a long time ago. Oh well.
However, Sarevok also goes to the corner Vista died in and doesn't come back out. Diarmid falls.
And Angelo follows.
Finally, we clean up all those Skeleton Warriors for another 16k experience and take on the Big Man himself. As expected with an Archer boosted by a Skald, it doesn't take long: she's hitting on rolls of 8 at least, as I didn't see any rolls between 2 and 7. And she's doing 20+ damage per hit, at 4 APR after an oil of speed. It's not pretty. Actually, it's very pretty.
The shamans' explorations to the south started with shooting down Greywolf.
They rescued Samuel (fortunately with no ambushes on the way to the FAI), before returning to the Cloud Peak Mountains. They did the high value encounters there, but didn't bother clearing everything and the Gnoll Stronghold was left untouched.
Moving on to the minesite the shamans took a risk by dragging Brage away in order to be able to attack Laryssa. A holy smite could be fatal (though not to Lorbag, who is true neutral specifically because of the danger from smites), but Laryssa failed to produce one.
They helped Charleston Nib, after a bit of a struggle to get out of the idol's room initially.
They then went after the Doomsayer, again trying to keep spirits going, but also using 16 of their possible 18 Writhing Fogs during the 20 turn battle (and those did the majority of the damage).
In the same area they stacked up a lot of less formidable enemies at a choke point, but couldn't quite finish them all off.
They attempted to get a bit more XP for Neira by dodging the worst of her spells in and out of the inn. Unfortunately that resulted in Rasaad joining in and he got the killing blow to take the XP. Still needing over 10k for another level the shamans turned their attention to Durlag's Tower to see if they could finish off the battle horrors in the same way as the Doomsayer. In fact the first one proved easier - against the Doomsayer Chat had to run it round several times when there were breaks in the spirit summons, but that wasn't required at all this time. The second was almost as easy, with just one brief run around required.
Moving into the Tower the shamans set a series of ambushes between levels for the ghasts. That worked really for the ghasts on the bottom floor who followed up one or two at a time, but some serious micro-management was required when a group of 5 from the second floor came downstairs together. Once having moved those ghasts then refused to go between levels any more and some running up and down and quick shooting was required to kill the one of them needed to get everyone to level 5.
The extra HPs and immunity to sleep will both be useful, but the really big gains for the shamans will be the huge improvement from summons at level 6 - and that still feels a long way off ...
Hey, I've got an idea. Instead of talking about funky mechanics, let's talk about dragons. Which dragon? This dragon.
Thaxxy! Yay! Let's kill Thaxxy!
Now, some of you may be thinking: "Hey, what about the lichy-poos? You said you were going to cover the lichy-poos." True, true, string-bean. But upon reviewing the screenshots, I noticed that we had killed Thaxxy first, and I feel like being all chrono-logical here. So, yes, yes: We're doing Thaxxy.
I'll begin by saying that I love Thaxxy's script and abilities. Before long, I'll tell you how much I hate Thaxxy's script and abilities. It's lovely work, but, crikey does it leads to a long, irritating fight.
Here we see Thaxxy opening with a ProMW.
Rather than switching to an unenchanted melee weapon, we decided to just wait this one out. It's possible to safely unequip your NPP item in Thaxxy's presence, but timing is important, and there's little to be gained from doing it right now. We decided to head for the hidey-hole instead.
Our only pre-buff here was Shield, I believe. Nonetheless, Thaxxy decided to Remove that, despite the fact that he favors COrbs over MMs, unlike most dragons
Ok, now we can start buffing for real. Hardiness, Oil of Speed, RoAC II, Ilbratha MI, Potion of Fire Giant Strength. Countered that Malison with a Potion of Invulnerability, since we knew Malison would outlast our RoAC II, and we have a fat stack of blue & reds. That 23 there isn't even all of them. Our economy has paid off.
Ok! Let's do this! Let's beat that dragon down!
Yeah. And that's why fighting Thaxxy is a royal pain in the keist- that and the blindness effect. Either he's gone, or you're blind. And did I mention he has 480HP? Well, yeah, so this is going to take for ever, basically.
Or at least it would have taken forever, if we didn't have HLAs. When Aestica got a window, she took full advantage.
Finished with the sling once we got use to the rhythm of Thaxxy's breath weapon.
Now the lichy-poos really, truly are next. I'll cover them soon.
Best,
A.
Btw, I'm watching Game of Thrones for the first time while completing this run. It's kind of bothering me that Aestica looks a little like Joffrey. Am I the only one who sees a resemblance here?
Not much going on with my run. I finished up the rest of beregost today with the exception of Silke. More to come on the weekend when I have more than a fifteen minute window of game time.
And Glint got *Mazed* opening a chest; still waiting for him to unMaze. (No Freedom scroll in SoD, as best as I know.)
I exhausted most spells and wands and neverending stream of the crusaders have my entire party huddle in the back room while my Cavalier charname is playing a Benny Hill show to distract no less than 15 Crusaders, including mages and clerics. He is chugging potions basically every round to keep health and defenses up.
The battle has been going for the past hour.
One of two things will happen:
1. Glint will unMaze on time and I will chug Invisibility potions to get out of there.
2. I will run out of potions before he comes out and get killed. (I don't think I can abandon him, even if I wanted to as the party needs to transition together.)
Looking to deal with the ghasts at the top of the tower there was an early problem when they used both staircases to come from different directions. Things still seemed to be under control though, until a ghast appeared to use a much longer reach than it should have had to paralyse Chat.
However, the fact that it was so far away when it hit meant it was possible to draw it further away by chasing a nearer character and some nifty footwork allowed everyone to survive.
The remaining ghasts in the tower were finished off without any further alarms.
Outside the tower I was confident that with lots of space to move around in the Doom Guard and his skeletons could be handled safely - and they were with the Doom Guard failing to get into the action while most of his cronies were being worn down and only making it down the stairs thanks to a pathfinding glitch by a spirit at one point.
On the other side the intention was for the skeletons on the wall to be dragged downstairs one or two at a time. Several of them did come, but all ran away again before they could be killed. Then there was a very unfortunate occurrence. Two spirit snakes waiting at the bottom of the stairs could obviously smell the skeletons and were moving around rather manically trying to get to them. In doing that they managed to buffet Grunt up the stairs when he wasn't even trying to go there at that moment. Unsurprisingly I was surprised by that and he took a hit from the battle horror before starting to move back down - but an arrow cut his flight short.
After returning from the temple the shamans exploited the fact that the skeletons were waiting for them at the edge of the wall to work gently through the lot of them - the spirits having drained them of arrows.
The big prize should have been the battle horror, but the gods decreed otherwise .
At the Valley of the Tombs the shamans cleared out a couple of the tombs, but the Revenant won't be possible to do until they get another level (it's regeneration prevents the sort of grinding tactics used on battle horrors). They got Narcillicus to produce some mustard jellies, but then hit problems when some gnolls intruded as they pulled the first of those into a trap. After running away they returned and came across an ankheg. They were setting up to deal with that when some skeletons appeared as well - and Chat got killed in the cross-fire.
Back from the temple again and there were no more intrusions as they sorted out the jellies.
Narcillicus delayed his end with spells like charm, PW: sleep, emotion, feeblemind and blind, but he never managed to pile enough damage onto any of the shamans to cause a casualty.
After finally getting around to picking up another +1 sling at Gullykin, the shamans will be seeking revenge for Chat's death in the ankheg area next.
I had no frigging clue that the top lieutenants would start showing up as well if you delay your escape, as I just discovered on my way out!
Awesome game design. My party nearly wet their pants. Kudos to Beamdog for this!
With my usual carpet bombing strategy I had killed most of the first wave of crusaders. So were it not for waiting for Glint's Maze, this would have been a non-issue battle.
(Looked up Maze: At Glint's INT level the wait is 3d4 rounds. And I must have waited something like 8-10 rounds.)
So, Glint pops out finally (basically right after my last post).
Invisibility 10' radius from Dynaheir would get the party safely out... or so I hoped. But every other round some priest or mage casts Detect Invisibility.
That meant 5 potions Invisibility to be gulped every other round by the rest of my (Hasted!) party, until I get everyone near the exit while Khael the Aegis (my Cavalier charname) plays decoy. (Probably burned through about 20 Invisibility potions. It's lucky I never play backstabs and horde the stuff from killed thieves.)
This gambit actually worked.... BUT
Near the exit, Khael got stuck on the other side of the elevator room with three crusaders at the doorway and two more inside the door hacking at Glint and Voghlin.
I whipped out 4 wands of Fear simultaneously (Dynaheir, Viconia, Voghlin, Glint) to Fear as many Crusaders as possible (trying to kill them is useless at this point as they are pouring in). That left still one crusader between Khael and the party. Hasted and Strength boosted Khael started hacking at this one Crusader Elite and the next round two Wands of Frost (Dynaheir, Voghlin) finally killed him so that Khael can reach the elevator.
Glint got killed. (I shamelessly used the new EE loot-collect feature to gather his stuff while paused. A DM probably would have made me leave the stuff behind.)
I am now at the Warrens. Betror the Ogre is wandering what that commotion upstairs was....
I must have used a wand or potion per person per round for every one of the last 10 rounds or so. Glint's folly possibly costing around 30,000 gold worth of consumables. (Huzzah for hording instincts.)
(P.S. I really appreciate the narrative discipline of all you folks at moments like this with a detailed play by play with pictures. Beg pardon for my pictureless snippet here.)
Stuck between a Crusader Patrol and Laddle's Men before reaching the surface. (I should have refreshed Haste and hightail it outta here.)
I was wondering about game balance before with all these wands accumulating in my Bag of Holding. I am now liberally chucking Fireball and Fear and Frost and Flamestrike every round.
If I make it out of these caverns alive, I'll go kiss a developer. This is the best gaming experience of the last several years by far.
Had to use my Lesser Golem and Myconoid summons to cover my retreat and had to bash a few select Crusaders with good old fashioned steel!
I wonder if there is anything in the BG saga that compares to this fight sequence. SoD is awesome!
(The most costly items were actually the Magic Shielding and Invulnerability potions. Those are in short supply. And it's not like BG1, where you get several Magic Immunity scrolls left and right.)
So, to the our last task in the City - investigate the Iron Throne. Predicting that it could end in violence we took our standart party-wide buffs like Bless, Pro Evil, Resist Fear, Shield, Barkskin, Free Action and Viconia supplemented her Fire/Cold resistances, provided by boots/ring, via potions gaining 100 in both. She also has 80MR and while I could add 20 via potion I've thought it's enough as it is.
Then she advanced to the last floor and, as the fight began, immediately cast Invisibility Purge (in SR it lasts 5 rounds) to reveal hidden Shennara and screw their backstabbing plans:
Next she put her back against the courner and when enemies gathered around dropped some Potions of Explosions under her feet while enduring several Unholy Blights (in SR they, as well as Holy Smite, affect only enemies regardless of alignment).
Meanwhile the rest of the Crew, hasted by Xan, emerged from the rear ready for some butt-kicking fun. Khalid add some Arrows of Detonation into the fireworks while Xan hit with Slow for our opponents could enjoy them leisurely. Zhalimar could not stand such a spectacle and ran onto the roof:
Aasim hit Khalid with several Flame Strikes but was quickly punished for that
Alai tried Magic Missiles sequencer on Viconia but she showed him that Flame Strike is far more potent:
Gardush and Naaman tried few tricks like Emotion:Despair, Confusion, Glitterdust or Slow but this only slightly delayed the inevitable
Zhalimar was dragged off the roof and eliminated:
The most valuable item they dropped is Helm of Charm Protection for Khalid as he is usually the very first target for Charms and being quite susceptible to them the most dangerous.
After we report Duke Eltan of our findings we were not instantly sent to the Candlekeep (as I'm used to) and had to walk there on foot. That means no pre-buffing available for ambushing Ogre Mages:
Fortunately only one of those was protected with MGoI so the rest were sent afraid with Wands of Fear, Viconia applied (or tried) Silence and I removed their Mirror Images with Detect Illusions:
Khalid was Held, Imoen - Dire Charmed, but we have plenty of removals for those and I stripped the MGoI-ed Ogre Mage of his protection with Spell Thrust. For whatever reason Xan attracted the most attention so had to went invisible to stay on foot:
Now, with most of the opposition disabled it's time for some fireworks:
In the Keep we had quite a lot of pleasant meetings with old acquaintances and even more books to read inside the Library. Though we refused to take the ring from a shady fella named Koveras and I know that it would not be right to pollute the sacred floors with foul blood of the Iron Throne' leaders, we were nonetheless accused of their murder and had to make an escape through the Keep's Catacombs. In the crypts we found the Gauntlet's of Ogre Power (though with IR they aren't much good for any of us) and Helm of Defense. With IR it doesn't have elemental resistances anymore but instead is now another rare item with critical hit protection.
Xan also hit his final level and now has access to level 5 spells though the only one available for him at the moment is Summon Shadow (ex. Carrion Summons):
In the Candlekeep Caves Prat & Co have made another attempt to get our heads but Entangle and Web stopped that outright. Jaheira hit with Ice Storm (in SR Druids have it as lvl 4 spell choice) to bypass Prat's MGoI but he went invisible and took a hide in nearby pass. The rest of his gang got a full load of the hot/cold shower.
Viconia opened her hot embrace and invited Prat to dance in the midst of twisting grass and webs while Jaheira hit with Dart of Stunning. This connected and we all rush ahead to finish him only to realise that with IR dart's stun lasts only one round instead of seven but Wand of Frost blast shut him down for good anyway.
Out of Catacombs and free to go wherever we want, High Hedge is our first stop to buy Claw, then some rest with our friends in the Joviar Juggler Inn and onto the Durlag's Tower!
Here they are! The lichy-poos. Dead as can be. Un-un-dead, I guess.
The Shade Lich
The shade lich battle was deeply anticlimactic. This was my fault- my fault and Tymora's.
We had absentmindedly flicked Azuredge at him as he spawned. He was insta-killed just before his buffs fired. Oops!
The Elemental Lich
Aestica's encounter with the Elemental Lich was far more satisfying.
The plan was straightforward.
1) Evade Time Stops through spacing
2) Maintain distance, and counter spell effects as needed, erring on the side of caution
3) Once the Abjuration school weapon defenses are tapped, finish with Azuredge
As I said, simple.
Kangaxx
That brings us to Kangaxx.
Kangaxx was tricker, mostly because of his summons. He brought cornugons and bone fiends to the fray, though not a planetar, surprisingly.
His Time Stops were evaded
His demons were killed with the sling
Eventually, we found ourselves in a ranged duel: MMM's versus Gessen.
And eventually we won. The ring was ours.
Our next stop was the Guarded Compound, but I'm going to forgo coverage, unless there's interest. I'd prefer to move on to the endgame. I'd like to get Aestica caught up
Comments
I believe this should be referred to the EE team and also the ToBex squad.
(I'd like to know what that rock is going on with Aestica and Bestica, though, before we refer. It seems that there are dimensions to the problem that we don't fully appreciate)
Best,
A.
What is the unkitted fighter's kit according to EEKeeper? Is it "base class" or "none" or "no kit" or "true class" or "generalist?" Because I've seen multiple such names in Keeper and Near Infinity, and I'm wondering if there are two types of kitless kits.
My results suggest that the penalty applies when a kitted -not an unkitted- warrior wields a weapon with an on hit effect. This conflicts with Grim Jim's assertion that it's the other way around.
Note that Grim Jim's model was based, in part, on the belief that Koshi was NO_KIT- 0. He is KENSAI- 3, at least in my install.
I'm as yet unwilling to propose a general model, but the data are suggesting that our prior model wasn't entirely accurate. It fails to account for the Aestica/Bestica results. NO_KIT. And, yes, it can make a difference.
Best,
A.
[reposting this from the Modding forum, in case on of the experts here can help]
gibberlings3 site seems to be down.
I am about to start a new BG2EE run, considering IR+SR+SCS.
Could someone post links to the latest stable IR, SR, SCS [modified for SR] packages please?
(Maybe you could upload your own installation files somewhere.)
(P.S. I live on a Mac.)
@Serg_BlackStrider thank you for posting your install order earlier; I hope I got the suggested combination here correct.
** Bonus question:
Which of the Tweaks or Fixes should I use with these mods? (Since EE implemented some Fixes but not all.)
Could you point me to a link for that as well.
Thanks in advance.
(I'll take this down when G3 is back in business)
What if you had two Berserkers throwing Darts of Stunning at each other? Or two unkitted fighters? That might tell us if the Berserker kit is imposing a penalty on the Darts of Stunning it throws, or if the unkitted fighter is suffering a penalty when making a save against hostile weapons.
Other than that things were trouble free until Gorion's death. There was a long sword +1 on the corpse of one of the assassins.
I picked a ring on the way to the FAI and another just outside the walls. Yet another was found on a hobgoblin corpse and that one was returned to Joia. On the way to the FAI I was approached my a weird looking mage and departed swiftly, not wanting to get involved with mages until I am a bit stronger, I avoided him.
I then went to Beregost where I calmed down Marl and took a tome to Firebead. Upon doing so, I levelled up.
EDIT
I levelled up again after helping Melicamp and a werewolf to get back into shape.I then proceeded to Nahkel where I found some ankheg armour. After donning it I headed south where I fought Zargos Flintblade. The battlewas long and I used many bolts, but finally after I used my Inquisitorial Abilities, he succumbed to my assault. Upon going to the carnival I rested before taking on Zordral. That battle was much easier as I dispelled his protections.
Best,
A.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/66243/the-adventurers-lounge-guidance-and-support-for-no-reload-challengers-newbie-or-veteran/p1?new=1
After it gains some traction, I'll be happy to link it also on the original post here (as we did back when Bioware forums were still up.)
COME BACK, DORN!
Highlights for those who don't care to watch the whole thing:
2:10 Sendai slaughtered
7:05 Rufie rescued
8:20 Vax vanquished
12:39 Hairtooth humbled
17:52 Tome of Leadership and Influence
20:26 Dynaheir dismissed
27:31 Polar Bear predictably beaten
33:01 Dorn's desertion
35:20 Heritage honored
44:30 A very Shakesperean exit from the High Hedge
46:20 Army Scythe acquired strategically
48:20 Requisite character view ending
Arbogast's party and the Legacy of Bhaal, Part XX - If you want to test Arbogast, why go after Nahema instead?
Previous posts:
BG1 end: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/904835/#Comment_904835
SoD start: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/904866/#Comment_904866
Part XIV: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/904934/#Comment_904934
Part XV: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/904982/#Comment_904982
Part XVI: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/905032/#Comment_905032
Part XVII: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/905184/#Comment_905184
Part XVIII: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/905354/#Comment_905354
Part XIX: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/905559/#Comment_905559
So, we completed all of the in-camp quests, but during our first travel attempt, we were ambushed - by the shadowy figure and his/her party, in a no-magic zone. Turns out the no-magic zone debuff only kicks in a second after you arrive? At least, Arbogast was able to summon a spirit animal right away, but not on his second try. Had I known that, I could've had Voghiln and Nahema cast stoneskin as well. That would've been very, very helpful. On the other hand, the best thing to do might have been to just leave the area right away.
Our wands still work - it's easy to distract the mercenaries with summoned monsters. However, the shadowy figure has different ideas - we notice that it hides:
The target: Poor Nahema - but she survives!
The shadowy figure hides in plain sight, we can not touch it - not even wand charges are fast enough to hit it in time. We need to get Nahema's hp up as fast as possible, as we see that it's still trying to attack her in the combat log. The shadowy figure isn't hasted, so Nahema runs around with her boots of speed, trying to avoid a hit - but if she gets close to the mercenaries, they will shoot at her. We end up using a combo I've stored in my inventory for all this time: Kiel's helm and the goblet from Durlag's Tower.
However, the dangerously squishy Safana dies to two arrows of biting when trying to hit an archer with her darts. Meanwhile, the shadowy figure still tries to chase Nahema - it hits her again, she survives, and we use another goblet charge.
While those two play their invisible chasing game, the party has killed almost all mercenaries - and while our main opponent manages to hit Nahema a third time, shortly after that, he/she calls it quits and runs away:
That was certainly unpleasant. Not even close to shadow aspect-level, but still - the constant hiding in plain sight right away (not even having to wait, like a shadowdancer is supposed to - and yes, I know that's avoidable), the combination of a no-magic zone and close to 100 backstab damage... if the shadoy figure didn't decide that, for some reason, it really, really wanted to kill Nahema and only Nahema, this could've spelled the end of our run.
Now, we return to camp, resurrect Safana and make our way to the Bloodbark Grove. Not much to see here, though we are reminded of simpler times when we get back to the old spirit animals versus basilisks battle:
Still, there's the battle for the sundermaul +3 to consider - the one with the dread wolf / troll hybrids, protecting a fledgling vampire. We have our summons blocking the entrance, and a helm of charm protection in our inventory, ready to switch it to whoever is in danger of getting dominated (it's Nahema, three times - my enemies seem to hate her). With the vampire dead, any real threat is gone:
Dead Man's Pass was next. This area took me quite a while to clear - so many different powerful monster groups. I generally had to rest after every two encounters. Here, we accidentally enganged two groups at once, which forced us to turn invisible and let our summons do all the work:
In one of the fights, a hamadryad managed to charm Arbogast, despite me having the helm at the ready - I just failed to notice the spell in time. Luckily, the charmed Arbogast never did anything, and the duration was over rather quickly:
We used our second glasses charge to get this useful little ring:
The first one was used for the bonus merchant, obviously.
An invisible Safana helped out with a trap before we sent our summons in for the final random monster group around here:
Now, we had two tiny dungeons left - first, the spider cave. I really screwed up here - I knew there was a mimic in the chest, but I still didn't put on my three free action items in time, so all my arcane spellcasters ended up out of order:
While I forgot to take any more screenshots of this encounter (until much later), here's what happened: Nahema, in her exposed position, was stripped of her MIs and stoneskins right away - the slimes killed her before anyone could reach her. Meanwhile, an astral phase spider teleported right to Aikar and Voghiln. With no arcane spellcasters left to cast invisibility, I had no way to save them - trying to kill the spider in time proved to be fruitless. With three dead party members, we had to flee - though we made sure to finish off the phase spiders, and our summons had already killed the mimic.
We returned (after some costly resurrections - I'm really having money troubles this run, I can't afford a lot of the useful items from the genie) to take our vengeance - which wasn't easy. The neo-otyugh is a tough opponent, especially his disease damage - I had to drink three concentrated healing potions on Aikar to save his life. However, we eventually cleared the final slime and claimed a new bow for Nahema:
Finally, there's the cellar to the east - I forgot to take screenshots once again. Our strategy: Distract the bulk of the opponents with a wand of monster summoning charge, have our hasted party take down the unsleeping guardian first - after that, let's see what's still around. I expected the invisble wraiths, but not the invisible greater shadows. Still, we did relatively fine: Only Aikar got level drained, and while the greater shadows strength drained Corwin so much that she couldn't move, Voghiln, with an invisibility sequencer, saved her.
Next time, we will explore the underground river - the surface area at first. I expect the inside area (or, to be more accurate, its various sub-areas) to be quite difficult for us.
Enuhal
The beginning quests were simple enough: an Ogre Mage is killed in the sewers, doppelgangers are slaughtered en masse at the Sashenstar estate, and another Greater Basilisk is murdered in the name of 7k experience. Then I open up a guide of where some foes with some experience may be found. Notably, there's a mage named Sunin and her guards worth 4,500 experience in SW Baldur's Gate, so we take the fight.
But pathing and inattention becomes our worst enemy. While I was getting Vista out of harm's way from the two fighters, my two archers decided to close the distance with Sunin, who had fled into a sideroom. I tried to disengage, but it was too late: a Sunfire sealed Cato's fate. And the damage was massive enough it was a permanent death.
Down to one Archer. I decided to not reroll a character, instead allowing two spots instead of one for NPCs in BG2. We clean up the rest of Baldur's Gate, though. Sebastian dies in the Cloak and Helm as he's Charmed right at the end of the fight, while Alina is Held, and I elect to use a wand of paralysis charge on him. He's then killed by Gorpel Hind's band before he snaps out of the charm. Oh well. Everything else progresses without any deaths: Ramazith dies on top of his tower, a Paladin's (?) house is invaded for the Helm of Glory, and Marek is killed for the delicious 10k experience completion.
The Iron Throne fight is fought very slowly, painfully dragging one member down at a time into the waiting hands of a horde of skeletons. I probably could've done it more effectively with a couple Wand of Fire charges, but I didn't feel like fighting a bunch of spellcasters on their terms. After killing 3-4 of them on the floor below, we go back up the stairs and finish off the few remaining survivors.
We leave the leaders of the IT alive, and kill the Greater-Doppel-Shistal on the 4th floor. Vista invisibly clears all the traps in the catacombs, giving the final stat boosts to Alina and Sebastian, for 19 STR and 21 WIS respectively. And then I make a major mistake.
......
... So Vista launched a Wand of Fire charge at a bunch of Skeletons, gets too close, gets hit by her own blast, trips a trap on the way out while her aura's dirty, and our own aggressive wand user dies. I was relying on her for Prat, honestly, and I never purchased any scrolls of Raise Dead which, now that I think about it, is a no-brainer. Bleggh.
Against Pratt, I didn't use a Potion of Magic Shielding on Sebastian and he's stunned and killed. Mistake after mistake after mistake.
Which is almost permanently fatal. I must've missed the screenshot, but Prat makes the flank and releases a Minor Sequencer with Magic Missiles at Baroque, who had made himself visible to summon some monsters via wand. His aura was also dirty from something, and he manages to escape the hasted Prat with a Potion of Invisibility with under 10 health. Potions of regeneration were given to both Alina and Baroque while they're invisible.
We reengage, back at full health, with summoned monsters giving Alina some space. Prat's running around aimlessly, but we track down his party members and give them an arrow-y and hobgoblin-y death. Finally after Prat hits us with a Horror (Ignore the swirly marks over Baroque's head, as Greenstone amulet still gives immunity), a Gnoll finishes off the nightmare situation. A casting of Pro. Petrification later, and we're out and Baroque hits level 9. Now his song grants +3 bonuses to AC, THAC0, and damage.
Back at the Gate, we first get ourselves arrested and free ourselves via Neb. Then we try to save the Duke, using the Sandthief's Ring, an Invisibility spell, and an attempted Hide in Shadows from Alina. She fails her check midway, and is assaulted by like 3 Unholy Blights at the same time. She manages to escape using a ring charge, but again I'm thankful that Baroque is Neutral. Alina takes on the Greater Doppelganger and successfully stealths her way back out of the compound.
Slythe is then fought, and I find out what Potions of Sight actually DO in Item Revision: basically True Sight without the ability to cancel Mirror Images. Regardless, Alina cleans up the Thief. \
And Cynthandria is also killed for the tasty 16k + experience for her Stone Golems. I love Detect Illusions, by the way.
Now the Ducal Palace fight. We buff mostly with summons and Haste and a couple Invisibility spells. Vista starts out by guaranteeing a duke's survival: Invisibility on Liia via Scroll.
The Shaman is then focused and killed within seconds, and the Mage is sent running through the left rooms after Bolts of Lightning tear through its stoneskins, and Alina and Vista finish the chase. Sebastian helps deal with the Greater Doppelgangers and the Assassin. In the end, Belt survives as well.
Undercity Party is quite a fight, forcing a couple potions out of Sebastian as he's cornered by summons, including an Aerial Servant. Their mage continues to chase Alina and Vista, and eventually his defenses fail and we sweep up the remainder with bolts. Moving on.
The prebuffs for the final fight are fairly light, as most potions only last a minute now. But the two Pro. Magics scrolls go on Sebastian and Baroque, Vista has her Mirror Images, and Baroque finishes with Haste. The fight begins. Tazok falls within the first few rounds:
And after kiting for a long while, taking out numerous Stoneskins, Semaj follows.
A mistake gets Vista killed by Diarmid: she should've quaffed a Potion of Invisibility a long time ago. Oh well.
However, Sarevok also goes to the corner Vista died in and doesn't come back out. Diarmid falls.
And Angelo follows.
Finally, we clean up all those Skeleton Warriors for another 16k experience and take on the Big Man himself. As expected with an Archer boosted by a Skald, it doesn't take long: she's hitting on rolls of 8 at least, as I didn't see any rolls between 2 and 7. And she's doing 20+ damage per hit, at 4 APR after an oil of speed. It's not pretty. Actually, it's very pretty.
Moving onto BG2.
Previous updates
The shamans' explorations to the south started with shooting down Greywolf.
Moving on to the minesite the shamans took a risk by dragging Brage away in order to be able to attack Laryssa. A holy smite could be fatal (though not to Lorbag, who is true neutral specifically because of the danger from smites), but Laryssa failed to produce one.
They attempted to get a bit more XP for Neira by dodging the worst of her spells in and out of the inn. Unfortunately that resulted in Rasaad joining in and he got the killing blow to take the XP. Still needing over 10k for another level the shamans turned their attention to Durlag's Tower to see if they could finish off the battle horrors in the same way as the Doomsayer. In fact the first one proved easier - against the Doomsayer Chat had to run it round several times when there were breaks in the spirit summons, but that wasn't required at all this time. The second was almost as easy, with just one brief run around required.
Moving into the Tower the shamans set a series of ambushes between levels for the ghasts. That worked really for the ghasts on the bottom floor who followed up one or two at a time, but some serious micro-management was required when a group of 5 from the second floor came downstairs together. Once having moved those ghasts then refused to go between levels any more and some running up and down and quick shooting was required to kill the one of them needed to get everyone to level 5.
Lorbag - L5, 43 HPs, 47 kills
Chat - L5, 37 HPs, 45 kills, 1 death
Pretty Boy - L5, 40 HPs, 47 kills, 1 death
Grinch - L5, 43 HPs, 42 kills, 0 deaths
Grunt - L5, 40 HPs, 37 kills, 0 deaths
Toke - L5, 39 HPs, 44 kills, 1 death
Hey, I've got an idea. Instead of talking about funky mechanics, let's talk about dragons. Which dragon? This dragon.
Thaxxy! Yay! Let's kill Thaxxy!
Now, some of you may be thinking: "Hey, what about the lichy-poos? You said you were going to cover the lichy-poos." True, true, string-bean. But upon reviewing the screenshots, I noticed that we had killed Thaxxy first, and I feel like being all chrono-logical here. So, yes, yes: We're doing Thaxxy.
I'll begin by saying that I love Thaxxy's script and abilities. Before long, I'll tell you how much I hate Thaxxy's script and abilities. It's lovely work, but, crikey does it leads to a long, irritating fight.
Here we see Thaxxy opening with a ProMW.
Rather than switching to an unenchanted melee weapon, we decided to just wait this one out. It's possible to safely unequip your NPP item in Thaxxy's presence, but timing is important, and there's little to be gained from doing it right now. We decided to head for the hidey-hole instead.
Our only pre-buff here was Shield, I believe. Nonetheless, Thaxxy decided to Remove that, despite the fact that he favors COrbs over MMs, unlike most dragons
Ok, now we can start buffing for real. Hardiness, Oil of Speed, RoAC II, Ilbratha MI, Potion of Fire Giant Strength. Countered that Malison with a Potion of Invulnerability, since we knew Malison would outlast our RoAC II, and we have a fat stack of blue & reds. That 23 there isn't even all of them. Our economy has paid off.
Ok! Let's do this! Let's beat that dragon down!
Yeah. And that's why fighting Thaxxy is a royal pain in the keist- that and the blindness effect. Either he's gone, or you're blind. And did I mention he has 480HP? Well, yeah, so this is going to take for ever, basically.
Or at least it would have taken forever, if we didn't have HLAs. When Aestica got a window, she took full advantage.
Finished with the sling once we got use to the rhythm of Thaxxy's breath weapon.
Now the lichy-poos really, truly are next. I'll cover them soon.
Best,
A.
Btw, I'm watching Game of Thrones for the first time while completing this run. It's kind of bothering me that Aestica looks a little like Joffrey. Am I the only one who sees a resemblance here?
Chased by Agent Smiths in Matrix Reloaded:
Dragonspear Castle.
Just confronted Hephernaan.
And Glint got *Mazed* opening a chest; still waiting for him to unMaze. (No Freedom scroll in SoD, as best as I know.)
I exhausted most spells and wands and neverending stream of the crusaders have my entire party huddle in the back room while my Cavalier charname is playing a Benny Hill show to distract no less than 15 Crusaders, including mages and clerics. He is chugging potions basically every round to keep health and defenses up.
The battle has been going for the past hour.
One of two things will happen:
1. Glint will unMaze on time and I will chug Invisibility potions to get out of there.
2. I will run out of potions before he comes out and get killed. (I don't think I can abandon him, even if I wanted to as the party needs to transition together.)
Biting nails...
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/905711/#Comment_905711
Looking to deal with the ghasts at the top of the tower there was an early problem when they used both staircases to come from different directions. Things still seemed to be under control though, until a ghast appeared to use a much longer reach than it should have had to paralyse Chat.
Outside the tower I was confident that with lots of space to move around in the Doom Guard and his skeletons could be handled safely - and they were with the Doom Guard failing to get into the action while most of his cronies were being worn down and only making it down the stairs thanks to a pathfinding glitch by a spirit at one point.
On the other side the intention was for the skeletons on the wall to be dragged downstairs one or two at a time. Several of them did come, but all ran away again before they could be killed. Then there was a very unfortunate occurrence. Two spirit snakes waiting at the bottom of the stairs could obviously smell the skeletons and were moving around rather manically trying to get to them. In doing that they managed to buffet Grunt up the stairs when he wasn't even trying to go there at that moment. Unsurprisingly I was surprised by that
After returning from the temple the shamans exploited the fact that the skeletons were waiting for them at the edge of the wall to work gently through the lot of them - the spirits having drained them of arrows.
At the Valley of the Tombs the shamans cleared out a couple of the tombs, but the Revenant won't be possible to do until they get another level (it's regeneration prevents the sort of grinding tactics used on battle horrors). They got Narcillicus to produce some mustard jellies, but then hit problems when some gnolls intruded as they pulled the first of those into a trap. After running away they returned and came across an ankheg. They were setting up to deal with that when some skeletons appeared as well - and Chat got killed in the cross-fire.
After finally getting around to picking up another +1 sling at Gullykin, the shamans will be seeking revenge for Chat's death in the ankheg area next.
Lorbag - L5, 43 HPs, 56 kills
Chat - L5, 37 HPs, 52 kills, 2 deaths
Pretty Boy - L5, 40 HPs, 52 kills, 1 death
Grinch - L5, 43 HPs, 48 kills, 0 deaths
Grunt - L5, 40 HPs, 46 kills, 1 death
Toke - L5, 39 HPs, 46 kills, 1 death
I had no frigging clue that the top lieutenants would start showing up as well if you delay your escape, as I just discovered on my way out!
Awesome game design. My party nearly wet their pants. Kudos to Beamdog for this!
With my usual carpet bombing strategy I had killed most of the first wave of crusaders. So were it not for waiting for Glint's Maze, this would have been a non-issue battle.
(Looked up Maze: At Glint's INT level the wait is 3d4 rounds. And I must have waited something like 8-10 rounds.)
So, Glint pops out finally (basically right after my last post).
Invisibility 10' radius from Dynaheir would get the party safely out... or so I hoped. But every other round some priest or mage casts Detect Invisibility.
That meant 5 potions Invisibility to be gulped every other round by the rest of my (Hasted!) party, until I get everyone near the exit while Khael the Aegis (my Cavalier charname) plays decoy. (Probably burned through about 20 Invisibility potions. It's lucky I never play backstabs and horde the stuff from killed thieves.)
This gambit actually worked.... BUT
Near the exit, Khael got stuck on the other side of the elevator room with three crusaders at the doorway and two more inside the door hacking at Glint and Voghlin.
I whipped out 4 wands of Fear simultaneously (Dynaheir, Viconia, Voghlin, Glint) to Fear as many Crusaders as possible (trying to kill them is useless at this point as they are pouring in). That left still one crusader between Khael and the party. Hasted and Strength boosted Khael started hacking at this one Crusader Elite and the next round two Wands of Frost (Dynaheir, Voghlin) finally killed him so that Khael can reach the elevator.
Glint got killed. (I shamelessly used the new EE loot-collect feature to gather his stuff while paused. A DM probably would have made me leave the stuff behind.)
I am now at the Warrens. Betror the Ogre is wandering what that commotion upstairs was....
I must have used a wand or potion per person per round for every one of the last 10 rounds or so. Glint's folly possibly costing around 30,000 gold worth of consumables. (Huzzah for hording instincts.)
(P.S. I really appreciate the narrative discipline of all you folks at moments like this with a detailed play by play with pictures. Beg pardon for my pictureless snippet here.)
Stuck between a Crusader Patrol and Laddle's Men before reaching the surface. (I should have refreshed Haste and hightail it outta here.)
I was wondering about game balance before with all these wands accumulating in my Bag of Holding. I am now liberally chucking Fireball and Fear and Frost and Flamestrike every round.
If I make it out of these caverns alive, I'll go kiss a developer. This is the best gaming experience of the last several years by far.
Had to use my Lesser Golem and Myconoid summons to cover my retreat and had to bash a few select Crusaders with good old fashioned steel!
I wonder if there is anything in the BG saga that compares to this fight sequence. SoD is awesome!
(The most costly items were actually the Magic Shielding and Invulnerability potions. Those are in short supply. And it's not like BG1, where you get several Magic Immunity scrolls left and right.)
It dawned on to me:
I should have used Teleport Field. (I even had scrolls for it.)
That would have made the retreat a cakewalk, instead of a financial ruin...
Oh, well. Next time..
Setup/WeiDU: (BWS/BGT: SCS/Spell Revisions/Item Revisions/aTweaks/Polytweak/Item Randomiser)
TOC:
1. Einleitung.
2. Chapter I.
3. Chapter II.
4. Chapter III .
5. Chapter IV.
6. Chapter V.
7. Chapter VI.
Chapter VII
So, to the our last task in the City - investigate the Iron Throne. Predicting that it could end in violence we took our standart party-wide buffs like Bless, Pro Evil, Resist Fear, Shield, Barkskin, Free Action and Viconia supplemented her Fire/Cold resistances, provided by boots/ring, via potions gaining 100 in both. She also has 80MR and while I could add 20 via potion I've thought it's enough as it is.
Then she advanced to the last floor and, as the fight began, immediately cast Invisibility Purge (in SR it lasts 5 rounds) to reveal hidden Shennara and screw their backstabbing plans:
Next she put her back against the courner and when enemies gathered around dropped some Potions of Explosions under her feet while enduring several Unholy Blights (in SR they, as well as Holy Smite, affect only enemies regardless of alignment).
Meanwhile the rest of the Crew, hasted by Xan, emerged from the rear ready for some butt-kicking fun. Khalid add some Arrows of Detonation into the fireworks while Xan hit with Slow for our opponents could enjoy them leisurely. Zhalimar could not stand such a spectacle and ran onto the roof:
Aasim hit Khalid with several Flame Strikes but was quickly punished for that
Alai tried Magic Missiles sequencer on Viconia but she showed him that Flame Strike is far more potent:
Gardush and Naaman tried few tricks like Emotion:Despair, Confusion, Glitterdust or Slow but this only slightly delayed the inevitable
Zhalimar was dragged off the roof and eliminated:
The most valuable item they dropped is Helm of Charm Protection for Khalid as he is usually the very first target for Charms and being quite susceptible to them the most dangerous.
After we report Duke Eltan of our findings we were not instantly sent to the Candlekeep (as I'm used to) and had to walk there on foot. That means no pre-buffing available for ambushing Ogre Mages:
Fortunately only one of those was protected with MGoI so the rest were sent afraid with Wands of Fear, Viconia applied (or tried) Silence and I removed their Mirror Images with Detect Illusions:
Khalid was Held, Imoen - Dire Charmed, but we have plenty of removals for those and I stripped the MGoI-ed Ogre Mage of his protection with Spell Thrust. For whatever reason Xan attracted the most attention so had to went invisible to stay on foot:
Now, with most of the opposition disabled it's time for some fireworks:
In the Keep we had quite a lot of pleasant meetings with old acquaintances and even more books to read inside the Library. Though we refused to take the ring from a shady fella named Koveras and I know that it would not be right to pollute the sacred floors with foul blood of the Iron Throne' leaders, we were nonetheless accused of their murder and had to make an escape through the Keep's Catacombs.
In the crypts we found the Gauntlet's of Ogre Power (though with IR they aren't much good for any of us) and Helm of Defense. With IR it doesn't have elemental resistances anymore but instead is now another rare item with critical hit protection.
Xan also hit his final level and now has access to level 5 spells though the only one available for him at the moment is Summon Shadow (ex. Carrion Summons):
In the Candlekeep Caves Prat & Co have made another attempt to get our heads but Entangle and Web stopped that outright. Jaheira hit with Ice Storm (in SR Druids have it as lvl 4 spell choice) to bypass Prat's MGoI but he went invisible and took a hide in nearby pass. The rest of his gang got a full load of the hot/cold shower.
Viconia opened her hot embrace and invited Prat to dance in the midst of twisting grass and webs while Jaheira hit with Dart of Stunning. This connected and we all rush ahead to finish him only to realise that with IR dart's stun lasts only one round instead of seven but Wand of Frost blast shut him down for good anyway.
Out of Catacombs and free to go wherever we want, High Hedge is our first stop to buy Claw, then some rest with our friends in the Joviar Juggler Inn and onto the Durlag's Tower!
Current state:
Grim Face: Cleric (7) / Illusionist (7), 248 kills (Battle Horror);
Jaheira: Fighter (7) / Druid (8), 579 kills (Greater Basilisk); 1 death
Khalid: Fighter (8), 492 kills (Greater Doppleganger);
Imoen: Thief (9), 210 kills (Invisible Stalker);
Viconia: Cleric (8), 232 kills (Sil);
Xan: Enchanter (9), 87 kills (Jalantha Mistmyr).
to be continued...
Here they are! The lichy-poos. Dead as can be. Un-un-dead, I guess.
The Shade Lich
The shade lich battle was deeply anticlimactic. This was my fault- my fault and Tymora's.
We had absentmindedly flicked Azuredge at him as he spawned. He was insta-killed just before his buffs fired. Oops!
The Elemental Lich
Aestica's encounter with the Elemental Lich was far more satisfying.
The plan was straightforward.
1) Evade Time Stops through spacing
2) Maintain distance, and counter spell effects as needed, erring on the side of caution
3) Once the Abjuration school weapon defenses are tapped, finish with Azuredge
As I said, simple.
Kangaxx
That brings us to Kangaxx.
Kangaxx was tricker, mostly because of his summons. He brought cornugons and bone fiends to the fray, though not a planetar, surprisingly.
His Time Stops were evaded
His demons were killed with the sling
Eventually, we found ourselves in a ranged duel: MMM's versus Gessen.
And eventually we won. The ring was ours.
Our next stop was the Guarded Compound, but I'm going to forgo coverage, unless there's interest. I'd prefer to move on to the endgame. I'd like to get Aestica caught up
Best,
A.
Buffing up with some 20+ potions before the supposed "final battle" at Dragonspear was useless. Just got all of them dispelled.
$%^^&^&^**&*%!!!!
Damn!