OK so you remember I promised to introduce you to Mist and Grog if they survived? Yup well they didn't, they caught a Smelly Orcslicer to the knees. My own fault, but there were balance issues with my game, in that most fights up to that point had been trivial.
The only one that was in any way challenging was the tanner fight, where the invisible backstabbers could see through Mist's invisibility, which sucked. Grog is the ideal backstab target, being immune, so ordinarily he draws out the thieves, and Mist finishes them off. Here both thieves made straight for the invisible Mist, and frontstabbed her. I have to say I'm unimpressed with this change.
Grog took out the one ghast straight off with azureedge, Mist removed the other, then both retreated because Mist was really hurting. The bone golem followed, the thieves didn't, so they went all the way outside, and Mist led the golem in a circle while Grog hit it with sling bullets. Thanks to Alesia, this was the first time I'd set up a serious fighter with slings as their chosen weapon, and it was better than I expected. After buying some healing from that merchant that sells it really cheap, they returned to finish off the two thieves.
The only one that was in any way challenging was the tanner fight, where the invisible backstabbers could see through Mist's invisibility, which sucked.
Woah. I had no idea. That's though to deal with. (Which is another reason, I'm afraid to take a non-caster through BG2.)
Baldur's Gate is always a treat for my rogues, and Isadora was no exception. Having said that, we were quite dismayed by the fact that the stores in the south-east quadrant of the city sold mundane weaponry rather than magical potions as they do in my BGT install. Isa did some burgling for the Thieves Guild, acquired the Helm of Balduran (and sold it as she can't use it and preferred to find the Claw of Kazagoroth should she ever be forced to escape from a bizarre dungeon in Athkatla), purloined the Cloak of Balduran from a courtesan, plundered Ramazith's tower including an Int tome but left the wizard alone, picked up a Dex tome at the Thieves Guild, and read a Wis tome she was supposed to exchange with Umberlant Jalantha Mistmyr for a geas removal scroll in order to find the antidote to a poison she had been afflicted with. With difficulty Isa managed to release the priestess of the scroll without having to fight her.
Potions of Defense and Absorption allowed Isa to best Larze the Ogre in a melee duel. Marek, her poisoner, and an Ogre Mage in the sewers required Greenstone charges before they fell.
The Halfling was given a Flaming Fist mandate to investigate the Iron Throne building. She discovered the local leaders weren't there and found that the acting managers weren't very forthcoming with information as to where the leaders were. They recognized her and attacked. But with a green scroll of magic protection, a potion of defense, and an oil of speed, Isa was well in control of the battlefield. The only risks were two backstabbing Shennaras and a warrior named Zhalimar Cloudwulfe who befittingly quaffed a cloud giant strength potion that turned him into too strong an opponent for melee dueling. Isa's frost dart did him in nicely though.
(Only Naaman escaped death, as he stayed undispellably hidden while Isa was PfMagic.)
One peaceful Iron Throne associate revealed to Isa that the leaders of the Baldur's Gate branch were in Candlekeep. Isa knew there was little she could do except apprise Duke and Flaming Fist leader Eltan of her findings. However, before doing so, Isa traveled to the FAI, where she got permission from Bentley Mirrorshade to store some of her possessions in one of the Gnome's chests. This courtesy was a remarkable one because she got busted repeatedly while stealing possessions from the inn's guests. Her reputation dropped a bit and saw a rather steep decline during the days that followed, when she hung out with Dorn, the Half-Orc Blackguard she had previously helped, and two Drow exiles, Viconia the priestess and Baeloth the Sorcerer. Duke Eltan could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Isa with her rag-tag company. He nevertheless sent them to Candlekeep with a tome of great value. A group of Ogre Magi put Dorn (level 4) to Sleep, but the quartet managed to enter the citadel anyway.
They rested at Winthrop's and Isa woke up the next day with a nice Bhaalscream ability. (I almost decided not to bother, but yes, eventually I went out of my way again to have Isa obtain aTweaks' Divine Wrath Bhaalpowers without killing innocents. DUHM is nice offensively and could be useful against CON drain, but the Divine Wrath's AoE damage has an offensive purpose as well, and its knockback effect might be a lifesaver.)
Isa's companions didn't stay in Candlekeep; they returned to the FAI. The Halfling didn't spend much more time at her former home. She had barely entered the library or the Gatewarden unjustly arrested her for killing the Iron Throne leaders. This had been a ploy of Sarevok whom she now understood to be Gorion's killer and her brother. With the help of Tethtoril she escaped, looting catacombs and stalking through caves until she found a way to the surface. She returned to the FAI where she got some loot identified, picked up her gear from Bentley's chest and met with her Half-Orc and Drow outcast friends for drinks. After a restless night she thanked Bhaal the next morning for another Divine Wrath ability. She said goodbye to her friends, and returned to Baldur's Gate as an outlaw.
In order to restore her reputation somewhat, she decided to try and foil Sarevok's plan of getting the Grand Dukes killed, by stopping the assassins Slythe and Krystin that he had hired for that purpose. This was easier said than done though. Slythe's backstabs were devastating.
Isa used invisbility potions whenever Slythe did, to heal, to stay safe and to detect the assassin's whereabouts. She eventually gained the upper hand and finished her foe with her Divine Wrath. Thankfully it was only then and not before that Krystin with her detection spells arrived at the scene.
Isa left the woman to mourn the loss of her hubby.
She used an invitation and an incriminating letter from Sarevok she had found on Slythe's body to enter the Ducal Palace, where Sarevok was about to be coronated as new Grand Duke. She prepared thoroughly for her impending confrontation with her nemesis: green scroll of PfM, violet potion, fortitude, agility, mind focusing x2, defense, speed, power, regeneration. (I don't normally consider green scrolls of PfM necessary, but this was my first SCS v30 Ducal Palace experience, and I wasn't sure what to expect.) However it soon turned out that she wouldn't be fighting Sarevok but a sextet of Greater Doppelgangers, including two casters. In spite of being non-proficient in bows, Isa tried to dispel the Doppelgangers' buffs with arrows of dispelling, Bracers of Archery, and an Eagle Bow she had kept in her pack. As such this wasn't a bad strategy, as her buffs had converted her into a more than competent archer. She accomplished two successful dispels. The problem however, was that Doppelganger Assassins were stabbing away at her. She healed and decided to fight with both her scimitars, something she had never done before, at least not in battle. She coated her blades in poison from a phial she had bought at the Thieves' Guild. She happily slew one Doppelganger with her right hand,
but was even more content to see her decision to dual-wield pay off extremely well, with two off-hand criticals finishing two more Doppelgangers.
Lately, Isa had been training herself in a two weapon fighting style (1st pip at level 8). She decided there and then that she would continue working on her dual-wielding skills. The Doppelganger Mage survived the longest. It distracted some Flaming Fist Enforcers with summoned Phase Spiders, but not Isa. With yet another off-hander she finished the last of the Doppelgangers.
Both Dukes survived the fighting, but then Sarevok decided to take matters into his own hands and struck down Duchess Liia Janneth. He didn't get to kill Duke Belt though, as he got teleported away by a henchman.
Isa followed Sarevok into a Temple of Bhaal in the Undercity below Baldur's Gate. This is buffed Isa's endgame inventory:
(Mod items: Deep Red Ioun Stone with +1 Dex, Safeguard Buckler +3 with once/day Sanctuary ability, Returning Frost Dart +1, +1 Cold.) Isa's PfMagic and most of her buffs were still intact but that didn't stop mages Angelo and Semaj from wasting their most dangerous spells on the Halfling.
This was actually a step backwards from previous SCS versions, where Semaj would remain undispellably invisible and Angelo would focus on melee for as long as PfMagic was in effect. Isa tried to dispel Sarevok's Haste but even when she hit him, he would not slacken his pace, which could be considered a step forward from previous SCS versions. It meant that Isa had to run around a lot until she decided to hide to get rid of Sarevok for a while. She then dispelled Angelo's buffs (twice) and slew the battlemage with arrows of dispelling and her returning forst dart respectively. Diarmid the archer and Semaj were also pelted with darts. The former took relatively long in falling as he had numerous extra healing potions. Tazok succumbed to a combination of range and melee attacks.
Isa then finished a group of Skeleton Warriors so that she could fight Sarevok in style, that is in a melee duel. She's a duelist after all.
Her AC including slashing modifier was -19, so she successfully dodged and parried many of her opponent's blows. But the times he did hit her, the damage he inflicted was significant. She had to quaff several extra healing potions in order to keep going. This could become a challenge for Isa further down the road. As impressive as her AC may become, there'll always be critical hits to deal with, and there's only a limited number of Stoneskin and PfMW scrolls. Anyhow, after plenty of heavy blows had been exchanged, it was not Sarevok, but Isa who was still standing.
Below are four screenshots that give a good impression of the duel:
Amazing result! Watching Isa in full health through all the fight is refreshing
"This was actually a step backwards from previous SCS versions, where Semaj would remain undispellably invisible and Angelo would focus on melee for as long as PfMagic was in effect. Isa tried to dispel Sarevok's Haste but even when she hit him, he would not slacken his pace, which could be considered a step forward from previous SCS versions."
I like that you compare the SCS versions. It's very insightful. For example, I still play with version 28, so disabling the Haste effect (with arrow of dispelling) from Sarevok I always considered as a must-do in any fight with him.
Thanks @bengoshi! Re: the full health, it's a bit of an optical illusion, but if you look at the first Sarevok screenshot you can see Isa with 11 extra healing potions while in the last pic she only has 3 left
I think I can compare SCS versions pretty well now. My last playthroughs were all with version 21. This is the first time with SCS v30, and in BG2 I'll be playing with a number of other new mods (BP Ascension and a Fix for BP Ascension), so I've decided to continue with Isa even if she falls somewhere in BG2 just to know how stable my install is.
Isa then finished a group of Skeleton Warriors so that she could fight Sarevok in style, that is in a melee duel. She's a duelist after all.
Her AC including slashing modifier was -19, so she successfully dodged and parried many of her opponent's blows. But the times he did hit her, the damage he inflicted was significant. She had to quaff several extra healing potions in order to keep going. This could become a challenge for Isa further down the road. As impressive as her AC may become, there'll always be critical hits to deal with, and there's only a limited number of Stoneskin and PfMW scrolls. Anyhow, after plenty of heavy blows had been exchanged, it was not Sarevok, but Isa who was still standing.
Congrats, @Blackraven. I look forward to seeing you in BG2.
I finally got onto Spellhold Studios (G3 wouldn't let me register) and posted version 1.0 of the Phase Spider kit. A lot has changed since my Phase Spider FMT no-reload run, including some new HLAs. The kit is a lot more balanced and less open to exploits than it was before, but I have yet to play test all of the changes.
Thanks @semiticgod. Congrats to you as well, with your fine-tuned Spider kit Are you going to do document your play test run with the new kit?
Isadora, Halfling Swashbuckler, BG2 update 1
Isadora
had no idea how much time had passed since the Sword Coast heroine had somehow become a prisoner and a victim of torture in a hellish dungeon. There was no day or night in the dungeon, just the permanent semi-darkness of the room she was in, and the strict confines of her cage. It was her old Candlekeep pal Imoen who set her free. Isadora thanked the lass and told her to stay behind her as she went looking for an exit. The girls released two prisoners who claimed to know them, but Isa had no memory of either of them and dismissed the both of them. Mentally she felt as if in a stupor. She could only hope that sensation would pass. Her physical state was even worse. She was weak and battered. Thankfully, most of her injuries she managed to cure with potions and her innate powers of healing. But her sword arm kept feeling slow and heavy, and when she picked up a mundane scimitar from a table she found that she had lost some of her previous celerity with her specialty weapon. (I discovered that the APR on Spec mod, which gives an extra 1/2 APR for weapon specialization by non-warriors, and had worked fine in BGEE, didn't work in my BG2EE install.)
All her gear was gone. Of her old equipment, Isa would only find the Claw of Kazgaroth and a Girdle of Bluntness.
With some difficulty Isa slew a number of Mephits in different rooms that contained items she had use for in her search for a way out.
There were also Duergar patrols in most of the corridors, but the Halfling was as nimble as always and managed to stay unnoticed.
A hideous Otyugh fell remarkably willingly (two crits), and one of two Flesh Golems was destroyed with snares.
One room she had to pass through proved particularly dangerous. It contained Mephit Portals that kept spawning Mephits. The Halfling applied an oil of speed to compensate for her soggy sword arm, and destroyed the portal that seemed to spawn Radiant Mephits first, because she had had problems with one of those creatures before. The other Mephits gave her some trouble as well, blinding, chilling or burning her, but she pulled through.
The lass rested in a quiet corner to gain some of her strengths but mere moments after she got up again, she felt she needed another rest: a Doppelganger gave her a humiliating beating before she could finish it.
The acquisition of the aformentioned Girdle of Bluntness could have cost Isa her life - she had to save against a Duergar Mage's triggered Charm Persons - before she finally found her way out.
(Isa's save vs spells was 3, thanks to shorty saves and the Claw of Kazgaroth, so Charm Person with a +3 saves bonus shouldn't have posed a risk, but I don't know if the EEs are any more reliable than the traditional game when it comes to saving throws calculations.) A group of Dryad slaves that had asked Isa to take their acorns from the Duergar commander to the Windspear Hills, would have to place their hopes in someone else. And so would a Genie that had sought release from captivity.
On the surface of what proved to be the principal marketplace in the city of Athkatla both Imoen and the girls' captor, Irenicus, were taken in by Cowled Wizards. Isa rested at a nearby inn, and accepted a commission (she was broke and stripped of most of her gear, she needed gold, lots of it). For a Guard she entered a tent that many had entered but none had left since the morning. The culprit turned out to be a Gnome, plagued by a inferiority complex and disguised as an Ogre Mage. Curiously, he didn't really seem to be in control of his minions.
(Is this some kind of bug?) Be that as it may, she had a hard enough time overwhelming her foe, what with supposedly illusory Werewolves whacking away at her.
But prevail she did. Disappointingly, the gratefulness of the city guard she had accepted the commission from didn't extend beyond a word of thanks.
Inspired by @Blackraven's mention, I've decided to start up a new Phase Spider run to playtest the revised version of the kit. This time, our Charname is.... Blueberry, again.
I had a nice new spider portrait lined up, but it just didn't feel right, particularly since the spider (named Raspberry) was male. So, I used Blueberry's again. Now, she's a gnomish Fighter/Illusionist. She doesn't exactly have the Illusionist kit, since the spider kit overrides it, but all mages kits get bonus spell slots by default, and I'll be avoiding using necromancy spells, so effectively she has the kit.
I originally planned on not granting her BG1 tome bonuses, since her STR was an 18/93, and bumping it up to 19 seemed like a waste. But I wasn't willing to let her have only 17 INT.
Notice her CON is in red. This is because female Phase Spiders get a unique Spider Spawn ability at the cost of -1 to their Constitution. The spiders are really weak, and spawning them imposes multiple penalties, but it spawns a lot of spiders and it serves as a nice escape option, if you don't mind seeing your spider babies die to save you.
Anyway... after telling Aataqah to buzz off, we get lucky with our first trap.
But many of the spider abilities have been nerfed. The web traps don't last as long and the poison ability is weaker. Same goes for Web Tangle. The natural weapon is also weaker, as it only has a 50% chance of poisoning the target, for much less damage, and a 20% chance of webbing it. As always, a save vs. death and breath can negate the poison and web.
Plus, she only gets a +0.5 bonus to APR instead of a full attack. Her THAC0 and damage have also received bigger penalties, and her missile THAC0 is crippled, because missile weapons synergize way too well with teleportation. Phase Spiders would be unstoppable if they could kite effectively, hence the nerf.
Blueberry gets into trouble later in the dungeon, when she's trying to squeeze the most benefit out of her first rest period. I delay resting until my characters are almost dead to make sure we get all the healing we can. Unfortunately, this means exposing Blueberry to some big risks.
With her aura clouded by her last phasing, she can't drink a potion, so she teleports away to safety.
But the Duergar are bound to give chase. Blueberry lays her second trap behind her and uses her Spider Spawn ability. The baby spiders struggle to protect their mother, but the Duergar are merciless.
At 3 HP and 9 AC, and with 1 APR at 18 THAC0, using an attack that deals 1d2 damage and 3 poison damage on a failed save vs. death at +1, the spiders are pretty darn weak for BG2. Worse yet, the poor little things have a 20% chance of dying instantly on birth. It's a grim spell indeed.
They mostly soak up the Duergar's axes until Blueberry webs one of the Duergar, allowing a spider to nip at him.
Most of the work is done, however, by Blueberry herself, who actually has the THAC0 and STR to hurt the Duergar. But her babies give her enough breathing room to drink a potion and use her Web Tangle safely. They come out okay.
The spiders, I mean, not the Duergar.
I try to take on the Otyugh later, but it doesn't go too well.
Blueberry is immune to poison damage, so the Otyugh's disease effect doesn't hurt her, but the slow effect is enough to render combat nearly suicidal. She teleports away.
After resting, she buffs up a bit and takes on the library Duergar. With DUHM, even a dagger can make stuff explode.
Better yet, Dimension Door allows us to quickly take out the biggest threat of the Ilyich fight.
The cleanup is easy. I don't have the spell slots to sneak to the djinni, so I skip the Air Elemental Plane as well as the Cambion (who usually deals too much damage for the loot to be worth it).
Dimension Door proves very useful again in the Mephit Portal room, allowing us to take out the Mephit Portals before the Radiant Mephits have a chance to use Color Spray.
Blueberry summoned a Worg via a Monster Summoning I scroll to catch the Mephits' attention, but it didn't do much. It did, however, help with a Salt Mephit down the hall, absorbing a stun attack that could have proven fatal.
There's only one big threat left in the dungeon. I want the Girdle of Bluntness, which means we've got another mage to kill. Blueberry takes preemptive action.
I don't bother with Hareishan because she's hard to kill. Plus, the Shadow Thief mage in that room can cast 5th-level spells. Blueberry's Fairy Dragon familiar casts Invisibility 10' Radius, allowing Blueberry to slip past the Assassin unnoticed.
In the circus, we blast Kalah with Acid Arrows and Magic Missiles. Blueberry rubs salt in his wounds--but not on purpose.
I love that line.
We purchase a couple of Potions of Genius from the Temple of Ilmater to help fill out Blueberry's spellbook, including a Minor Spell Turning spell in case I ever want to try a scorcher loop. But with a solo character, and a multi-class no less, that would require a clone using a magic item, which I'm not sure I want to do.
We also have a scroll of Protection from Undead. But I don't want to use it unless it's absolutely necessary. I want to face this run's undead enemies head-on.
I have an Isadora update, but first I'm posting my Weidu log, for those who are interested:
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods // The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod // ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version] ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #1000 // BG2 Fixpack - Game Text Update -> GTU Light (by Wisp): v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #100 // Party Gets XP for Sending Keldorn to Reconcile With Maria: v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #101 // Improved Spell Animations: v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #104 // Ghreyfain's Holy Symbol Fixes: v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #106 // Giants Receive Penalties When Attacking Halflings, Dwarves, and Gnomes: v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #109 // Corrected Summoned Demon Behavior: v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #110 // Additional Script Fixes: v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #111 // Bard Song Fixes: v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #113 // Additional Alignment Fixes: v10 ~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #114 // Change Free Action to Protect Against Stun: v10 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Changes to trueclass bards and thieves, and unmodded game kits (required for other components): v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #1 // Add new bardic store and thief items: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #2 // Install Acrobat bard kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #3 // Install Chorister bard kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Install Dirgesinger bard kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Install Gypsy bard kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Install Adventurer thief kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #7 // Install Burglar thief kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #8 // Install Soulknife thief kit: v6 ~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Install Sharpshooter thief kit: v6 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #3 // Proper racial adjustments for thieving skills: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #4 // Bard kit revisions: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #5 // Bard High Level Ability revisions: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #6 // Proper spell progression for Bards: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #7 // Additional equipment for Thieves and Bards: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #8 // Upgradeable Equipment: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #11 // Chosen of Cyric encounter: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #12 // Shadow Thief Improvements: v4.80 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for RR content: v4.80 ~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #0 // Big Picture, core component (required for most subcomponents): v181-b4611 ~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Ascension for BP: v181-b4611 ~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Improved Abazigal: v181-b4611 ~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Improved Demogorgon: v181-b4611 ~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Improved Gromnir: v181-b4611 ~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Improved Illasera: v181-b4611 ~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2600 // Improved Yaga-Shura: v181-b4611 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Allow Spellstrike to take down a Protection from Magic scroll: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2050 // Allow individual versions of Spell Immunity to be placed into Contingencies and Spell Triggers: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2070 // Blade Barrier and Globe of Blades only affect hostile creatures: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Make Power-Word: Blind single-target: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // True Sight/True Seeing spells protect from magical blindness: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2180 // Prevent Simulacra and Projected Images from using magical items: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Make the healing and resurrection powers of the Rod of Resurrection into separate abilities: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4040 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4180 // Make Freedom scrolls available earlier: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Move Boo into Minsc's pack: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5030 // Remove animation from the Cloak of Mirroring (leave it for other spells and effects that use the same graphic): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6023 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to spellcasters -> All eligible spellcasters in Throne of Bhaal get HLAs; only selected casters in Shadows of Amn do: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends -> Fiends have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies -> Genies have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6530 // Smarter celestials -> Celestials have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons -> Dragons have a substantial hit point increase: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6551 // Smarter beholders -> Don't give beholder rays any chance of burning through spell protections; beholder antimagic blocks all spells, including harmful ones, for a round (simulates D&D rules): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6562 // Smarter mind flayers -> Illithids have only original-game resistances; Illithids cannot see invisible enemies (matches original game): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Give Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai SCS scripts and abilities: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Give Ascension demons SCS scripts and abilities: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8041 // Increase difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings -> Significantly increased difficulty: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix") -> Spirit trolls have the same powers as in the original game: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi (Tactics Remix) -> "Toned-down" version of the original Tactics Improved Bodhi, with SCSII scripting: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive (adapted from Quest Pack): v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Prevent resting in the Illithid city: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Slightly Improved Drow -> Upgrade Ust Natha's defences: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Enhanced Sendai's Enclave: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v30 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v30 ~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #0 // Proper dual-wielding implementation for Thieves and Bards: v4.80 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #100 // Restore innate infravision to Half-Orc characters: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #101 // Prevent skeletal and incorporeal undead from being affected by Illithids' Devour Brain attack: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #102 // Change Spiritual Hammer into a ranged force weapon: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #104 // PnP Color Spray: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #105 // PnP Dimension Door: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Magical arrows and bolts deal bonus damage equal to their enchantment level: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #115 // Allow Mages to scribe memorized spells onto scrolls -> Scrolls can be scribed everywhere: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Restore innate disease immunity to Paladins: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #125 // Rangers' Animal Empathy improves with experience: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Additional racial traits for Dwarves: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Additional racial traits for Gnomes: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // PnP Elementals: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #191 // Increase the Hit Dice of Elemental Princes: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #200 // Allow Breach to take down Stoneskin effects applied by items: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #201 // Instant casting for warrior innates: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #202 // Revised Bhaalpowers -> Enhance the Bhaalpowers and standardize their casting time: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #218 // Regain Bhaalpowers in ToB: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #204 // Prevent Mislead clones from singing Bard songs: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #205 // Prevent Project Image and Simulacrum clones from using quickslot items: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #211 // Make Death Ward protect against Vorpal Hits: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #210 // Restore the Dispel Magic vulnerability to Nishruu and Hakeashars: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #212 // Make alignment detection spells more accurate: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #213 // Expanded saving throw bonus tables for Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #216 // Bard songs break invisibility -> Only the Jester song breaks invisibility: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #270 // Unbiased quest rewards: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #220 // Simple Thief script: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #230 // Simple Bard script: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #239 // Simple Cleric/Paladin script: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #324 // Use Icewind Dale's Dimension Door animation -> Fast animation speed, shorter delay between animation start and creature appearance/disappearance: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #301 // Change the appearance of Valygar's armor: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #302 // Change the appearance of the Robe of Vecna: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #310 // Distinctive creature coloring: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #315 // Distinctive creature soundsets: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #500 // Slightly expanded storage capacity for containers -> Use the recommended storage capacity value (999): v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #510 // Expanded temple services: v4.42 ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for aTweaks content: v4.42 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // Fix Sunfire power levels: v1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #3 // Fix Smarter Abazigal: v1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #4 // Fix Smarter Irenicus at the Throne: v1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #5 // Remove entourage from Ascension Fallen Solars: v1 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #0 // The Kidnapping of Boo by Cliffette: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #1 // The Suna Seni/Valygar Relationship: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #2 // Kalah and What He Was Promised: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #3 // "Cat and Mouse" (Bodhi hunts you in Spellhold) by Ghreyfain: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #4 // Gorje Hilldark and the Extended Illithium Quest: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #5 // The Pai'Na/Spider's Bane Quest: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #6 // Restored Crooked Crane Inn: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #7 // Restored Encounters: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #8 // Artemis Entreri in Bodhi's Lair: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #9 // Corrected "Xzar's Creations": v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #11 // Gorf the Squisher Fix, by Gebhard Blucher: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #12 // Item Restorations: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #13 // Yoshimo's Original Portrait: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #14 // Anomen's Original Portrait: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #15 // NPC Portrait Restorations: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #16 // Corrected BAMs and Scripts: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #17 // Corrected Character Names and Biographies: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #18 // Restored Minor Dialogs: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #20 // Extended ToB Item Descriptions: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #21 // Throne of Bhaal Minor Restorations: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #24 // Sarevok's Remorse: v26beta2 ~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #25 // The Murder of Acton Balthis, by Kulyok: v26beta2
(I also have S9Soundsets volumes 2 & 3 installed but removed them from the above log because my post was too long.
Isadora, Halfling Swashbuckler, BG2 update 2
One of the first things Isa did on her reconnaissance of the alien city, was to secure broken Spiders' Bane from the sewers and bring it to Hivemaster Druid Pai'Na in the Graveyard District. In return the Halfling received an Ioun Stone and a Spider figurine. She dug up Tirdir, who had been buried alive, located a caretaker for an orphan girl, and left the area.
She was then waylaid by a group of bandits or slavers led by one Eldarin. Isadora had made it a habit of hers ever since she escaped Irenicus' dungeon, to keep to the shadows. The ambushers didn't initially notice her. Isa took advantage of this. She placed two or three snares away from the bandits (near the area border), and lured their leader and an archer into them. The traps didn't outright kill Eldarin, but their poison eventually did. Isa slew the archer, stripped Eldarin of an enchanted blade and a suit of plate mail, and left the scene without bothering with the other ambushers.
In the nearby Bridge District the rogue found out the hitherto unknown perpetrator of a series of disgusting murders, but he escaped her clutches. She also confronted the two people, a Human and a Dwarf, who had buried Tirdir. They came to blows. The Dwarf ran off, but Isa slew the Human with the help of traps and Kitthix her Spider.
Unknowingly Isa had not only taken revenge for Tirdir, she had also saved a kidnapped woman from a similar fate as Tirdir's. In need of coin, the Halfling received the ransom, a pair of silver pantaloons meant for the kidnappers, before she released the woman.
In one of the city's major inns, the Copper Coronet, she learned that the entertainment it offered was based on slave labor: women forced into prostitution and men that had to fight wild beasts and monsters unarmed. Isadora, a free spirit if ever there was one, did not allow these atrocities to stand.
One of the slaves slew the inn's proprietor and assumed management of the place.
Much of Isa's hard-earned gold went to temple donations, investments for the medium term, rather than gear. She did acquire a Ring of Air Control and a pair of AC3 Bracers. (A field trip to Watcher's Keep was undertaken for the potion bag. There were no ambushes on the way. Unlike my BGT installation this EE setup doesn't offer any extra containers. Isa got a Wolfskin Bag which offers room for 10 items from the Beast Master, a scroll case at the Adventurer Mart, and a gem bag from Arledrian.)
Isa rescued a poisoned men from a band of brigands without fighting the latter, and faced several groups of ambushers that she didn't fight either. On behalf of master thief Renal Bloodscalp, the Halfling infiltrated a thieves guildhouse to spy on its leader, a rather ambitious fellow named Mae'Var. She aborted her operations however when she was asked to take out a powerful Cowled Wizard, a foe she didn't consider herself prepared for.
Instead she agreed to try and help the troubled people of nearby Trademeet. On her way there, her RoAC proved useful.
Trademeet had two problems: Dao Djinns monopolizing local trade, and incessant animal attacks. The first problem Isa solved easily enough. She placed three traps near the Dao's tent, and about six inside the tent while she was supposedly perusing the Djinns' wares.
When the Djinns refused to leave Trademeet, she first attacked one that was loitering outside the tent,
securing an Efreeti bottle in the process, and then stepped inside the tent again where, hidden in shadows, she observed how her snares did their work.
Her rewards were an encahanted scimitar identical to the ones she had wielded on the Sword Coast from one of the Dao, and 7500 GP and some gems from local Guildmistress Busya.
Stopping the animal attacks was a harder job. Isa spoke with an outsider Druid, Cernd, who told her he had come to investigate the nearby Druid community. He indicated the Druid Grove on her map, and told her he'd wait for her in the grove. Isa arrived at the forest shortly before sunset. As she was making her way through the woods her stealth failed just when she was passing a group of Spiders. Isa wasn't very well equipped to fight groups of Spiders or Trolls, so she used her RoAC to go invisible. She found a quiet spot and waited for darkness to fall before she continued. In a cottage in the woods she met an elderly lady who sold potions, and in an adjacent tower she considered herself blessed when she found an enchanted sabre, Belm, that allowed her to attack faster. The Halfling had come to accept the decreased swiftness of her sword arm at the hands of Irenicus as a permanent curse, but Belm more than made up for it. Besides she had been making some progress with her off-hand as well (second pip in TWF at level 12), so she was now arguably a better fencer than she had been during her adventuring days on the Sword Coast. She tested her blades against a number of Shambling Mounds and prevailed comfortably.
Grizzly Bears fell to a combination of traps and melee attacks, although it must be said that the massive animals injured Isa as well.
Before the entrance to the Druid hold, Isa ran into three hostile Shadow Druids. They were clearly the superior summoners. Isa's Kitthix and a Berserk Warrior were no match for their Fire Elementals, Nymphs and Mountain Bears, although her Efreeti did a decent job at defending itself.
Isa disapproved of a Nymph Mass Curing the Druids and summons,
undoing her Efreeti's work but there was little she could do about that. She waited for the Druids' summons to leave. (She had fought and beaten a Fire Elemental but was hesitant to try the same against a Greater Fire Elemental.) When the summons were gone Isa opened with her one potion of fire breath. She saw one of the Druids send an insect swarm at her. She quaffed a potion of invisibility so that if she was to panic (which indeed she was), her enemies wouldn't see her.
When the Insects had had enough of her, Isa applied an oil of speed and stripped and interrupted two Ironskinned Druids with her Tuigan Bow and acid arrows. She finished her enemies in melee combat.
She then entered the hold with Cernd, who was RoAC improved invisible when he challenged Shadow Archdruid Faldorn. In a pit he buffed himself with Death Ward (I wasn't sure whether this would protect against possible Chromatic Orb petrification, so decided to have Cernd cast it), Armor of Faith, and Barkskin. He also cast True Seeing, and an Insect Plague at Faldorn that would interrupt her spell casting.
Two summoned Mountain Bears and a Greater Werewolf shapeshift then ensured victory.
Cernd stayed behind at the Grove, but Isa traveled back to Trademeet where she was hailed as a hero and showered with rewards. She bought a Belt of Inertial Barrier, a Cloak of Displacement and Ras the dancing sword. (Isa didn't steal anything. She might do so later on, with an improved Pickpockets skill but without potion stacking.) She found the Mantle of Waukeen for the mayor, and she finally got to deal with the murderer and an accomplice from the Athkatla Bridge District.
By the city gates back in Athkatla, Isa protected a merchant against an extorter (and bought scrolls of Spell Deflection, Lower Resistance and Breach), and she saved Shadow Thief Sansuki from a vampire attack.
(This didn't go as it should. The other Vampires didn't spawn. After Isa was done with Del, she spoke to Sansuki, but he didn't thank her. Detecting Illusions didn't reveal any hidden Vampires, despite Isa's 100 skill. She left Sansuki to his own devices.)
Somewhat better equipped, Isa decided to take on the Cowled Wizard she had to get rid of for the Shadow Thieves. Potions of freedom and fire resistance allowed her to dispatch the wizard's Mephit lackeys,
but two Stone Golems were out of her league yet, as she had no weapons to hit them with. She went upstairs to seek out the wizard, Rayic Gethras, and was astonished when he spoke to her without actually seeing her. She placed three snares in a corner of the room, out of the wizard's sight, and summoned Kitthix and her Efreeti.
Rayic Gethas had little difficulty dispatching them, but he was unable to see Isa (even though an Oracle had briefly exposed her). He threw a Teleport Field and two Webs on the floor, but Isa had little to fear of those area effects. Her Berserk Warrior and Ras were brought into play, mostly to see what kind of spells her foe would cast and whether they could eat away some of his Stoneskins. She then pelted him with acid arrows, and retreated. Her traps would have instantly slain the wizard, if it weren't for a Contingency Stoneskin. Not that that mattered much: the traps did strip the second set of Stoneskins and they fatally poisoned the wizard.
Isa continued her work for Renal Bloodscalp and, having gained the trust of Mae'Var, indeed found evidence of the latter's intentions of betraying Renal for the Night Masks. The Bloodscalp asked Isa to eliminate Mae'Var and any thieves loyal to him, but the Halfling found herself in no rush to do so. Isa might be the superior fencer but she didn't expect Mae'Var and his men to duel her. They were of the backstabbing kind. She would have to be very well prepared before taking them on.
@Blackraven: What are the "S9Soundsets"? A new custom soundset pack I haven't heard of? I've long been on the lookout for new soundsets, but there are so few. I pretty much only ever use the IWD and IWD2 soundsets.
We sell off the Ring of Human Influence, despite Blueberry's terrible CHA. Phase Spiders can't use rings--or helms, gauntlets, gloves, boots, masks, circlets, or heavy armor--so rings are just merchant fodder for us.
On to the Slums and the slaver quest, and therefore back to my normal route. Blueberry takes down the Hobgoblins with Fireball and Web, but they're a non-issue anyway--Blueberry is immune to Hold Person by virtue of being a spider. For other enemies, when her natural attack and its piercing damage isn't enough, she switches to Sunfire, a bargain spell at the Adventurer's Mart, for only 600 gold.
Inspired by another no-reloader's example (I think Alesia's), I enter the slaver stockade invisible (thanks to the Fairy Dragon familiar) and wait for the cleric to start casting a divination spell, which will cloud his aura and prevent a Greater Command spell. But the cleric won't cooperate.
Instead, Blueberry slips away to the side, getting hit by an acid trap and drinking a potion to recover, hoping to nail the cleric with a Web. Only then does the cleric register our presence.
Now we can take action. Blueberry hits him with a Fireball, and it interrupts the cleric's divination spell, but I waited so long that the cleric already managed to start casting his next spell. Thankfully, it's not a Greater Command spell--it's some other enchantment spell. In any case, Magic Missile keeps Blueberry's MSD intact. The Shield of Reflection, meanwhile, keeps arrows off our back.
We more or less blast our way through the area with Fireballs and Sunfire. The mages here aren't high enough level to cast Protection from Fire; they just have MGOI and such. Blueberry downs the Trolls with Poison Weapon when she runs out of fire spells. The Beastmaster dies to Fireballs when stuck in a web, and we collect almost 15,000 gold by the end of the slaver quest.
Blueberry pre-casts Stoneskin and Invisibility and rests before leaving the slums, meaning she is ambushed by Suna Seni while still invisible. She layers two Webs and a GM spell on the enemy group and burns them down with Fireball. Now we have Arbane, although some of its immunities are redundant with the Phase Spider kit.
After the Renfeld ambush, which Blueberry also takes down with spellpower, we head to the Docks to fight Prebek and Sanasha. Blueberry toasts them with Sunfire, but thanks to her casting speed penalty, her Sunfire spells triggers after Sanasha's Confusion spell, instead of before. But Blueberry makes her save.
Blueberry has gnome save bonuses on her side, plus an innate +2 to saves and AC vs. humanoids as the Phase Spider's "Arachnophobia" bonus. But I don't know exactly how that save bonus is actually calculated.
We start the Mae'Var questline as well, another standard early game quest for me. MGOI protects Blueberry from the Mephits. For fun, I turn the Mephits against one another.
MGOI also blocks Golem Slow, a valuable asset against Stone Golems. Sunfire again wins the day--it's faster than using Arbane's Sword (Blueberry's natural attack won't strike as +2 until level 13 or so.
And Rayic Gethras?
I asked myself if I needed to nerf the kit further, since the Improved Alacrity lets Blueberry chain-cast Sunfire, but the success of this strategy is due more to Sunfire being overpowered than the Phase Spider kit. Remove Sunfire, and Blueberry's IA would be much less useful against a target like Ray-Ray. Remove IA, and Sunfire would still be devastating.
There aren't many good options left to nerf Blueberry's spellcasting, anyway. She already has caster level penalties, and even at caster level 6 or 7, Sunfire still does 9d6 damage, since Sunfire, as a level 5 spell, assumes the caster is at least level 9. I could impose further casting speed penalties, but it would dramatically slow down her phasing while doing little to slow down her mage spells (another -1 would double the casting time for Dimension Door, exposing the kit to needless disruption).
@Blackraven: What are the "S9Soundsets"? A new custom soundset pack I haven't heard of? I've long been on the lookout for new soundsets, but there are so few. I pretty much only ever use the IWD and IWD2 soundsets.
With Ray-Ray gone, the rest of the Mae'Var questline was wide open. I like to do this quest early not simply because most of the quests involve little fighting, but because I usually side with Bodhi, and once you side with Bodhi, this quest is locked out.
I normally kill Mae'Var's goons at the front before entering his room, but this time, I felt like going straight for the head of the operation. Blueberry opens with a spider trap.
Success! But the traps are much weaker than they used to be, and the web effect won't last long. I use the time to throw out two Webs and a GM spell. From there, Blueberry roasts the enemies without restraint.
I've positioned myself very far away from the prisoner to the left. I've lost lots of reputation by killing him accidentally with Fireball spells. Sunfire is sufficient to take down every enemy except for Mae'Var himself, who has a Fire Shield to protect him.
Blueberry flees to the nearby cell--I don't feel safe attacking him at close range, even though Blueberry is immune to the damage from his Fire Shield, and her missile THAC0 is terrible. But it proves to be a good decision. Lingering in the cell clears Blueberry's aura enough to let her drink a Potion of Invulnerability right before a potentially dangerous spell hits her.
I try wearing down Mae'Var with darts, one of my favorite weapons, but when I check the combat rolls, I realize I'm wasting my time.
Darts are probably only going to be useful if I'm trying to break down Stoneskins or layer poison effects on disabled targets.
Mae'Var's sole remaining ally (on this floor, anyway), opens the door to Blueberry's cell, only to see his target suddenly vanish. Mae'Var takes advantage of the safe space he has.
Potions of Invisibility won't always be as fast as using the Invisibility spell itself, considering how semi-clouded Blueberry's aura is going to be over the course of the game (she has no delay between spells, but she does have a delay between potions and scrolls and other items), but the potions are unlimited where spell slots are not. I use the potion to wait out Mae'Var's Minor Globe of Invulnerability, then spawn in some baby spiders, who again fail to have much impact.
Blueberry slays the Assassin, but Mae'Var has a trick up his sleeve. He shuts down our spellcasting with Power Word: Silence. Blueberry can't even use her innate abilities, a curious bug about silence effects.
But Mae'Var is also running out of spells, and the fight boils down to a melee between two surprisingly clumsy opponents.
It makes little difference. Blueberry's silence wears off, and with Mae'Var's MGOI down, he has no defense against Fireball.
I sneak outside while invisible and return to mop up the rest of the guild hall with Web and Sunfire spells. We buy a license from the Cowled Wizards, free Viconia, make friends with Jan, and make our way to the Umar Hills.
The Killer Mimic fails to disable Blueberry, as her spider immunities protect her from Mimic Glue (which uses the same opcode, 109, as Web spells). Valygar's ranger buddies collapse under pressure from Webs and Sunfire, and we make our way to the Temple Ruins.
We try to rest before meeting Anath, and end up getting interrupted. We flee from the crowd of approaching Shadows, only to meet more enemies as we phase away. And when we try to rest, to dispel the previous spawns, we get interrupted again, and a huge horde of Shadows chases us all over the Temple Ruins, until finally we rest without interruption, and the entire horde vanishes.
We make our way through the Temple Ruins interior mostly due to brute force. The last random spawn in the dungeon, near the crossword puzzle room, interrupts a couple of Blueberry's spells, but she has more and can re-cast them with little delay. A Bone Golem poses a pretty big threat, but Web Tangle bypasses its spell level immunities.
Blueberry faces another Bone Golem nearby, and has to fight that one out without her disablers. But her Stoneskins hold nonetheless.
Now only the Shade Lord is left. But I don't want to use the Protection from Undead scroll, and I don't want to come back later. We search through our spellbook and our inventory for solutions.
There aren't a whole lot of options. Most importantly, we have no defense against the Shade Lord's outrageous Darkling Aura ability, which drains one level for 10 rounds and activates every round. Only SI: Necromancy and level drain immunity can block it, and we have neither Spell Immunity nor the Amulet of Power nor the Mace of Disruption +2.
Why no Spell Immunity? Well, we haven't been to Pai'Na yet, and even if we had, we wouldn't get the Spell Immunity scroll, because my spiders don't kill Pai'Na. They just get the Black Spider Figurine and go on their way. No SI scroll, no ioun stone, and no XP.
So what are we going to use to win this fight? Actually, it's a Summon Fiend scroll, which I think we got as a random drop from the Skeleton Warriors. We enter the area invisible, read the scroll from a distant corner, and drink an Invisibility Potion to watch the action.
Turns out the enemy won't attack a summoned demon because it has a red circle. Shadow Patrick does nothing to defend himself.
I want to get at least some XP from this fight, however, so I break my invisibility right before the Glabrezu brings down the Shadow Altar.
Blueberry suffers from the Darkling Aura, but it won't stop her spellcasting. The damage keeps coming, and the Shade Lord falls.
Soon afterward, the Glabrezu turns on us, but teleporting away and re-casting Protection from Evil (I memorized two for precisely this reason) is enough to keep us safe until it goes away.
Next, the Druid Grove! It turns out a Phase Spider doesn't even need to sneak past most of the enemies. There's a shortcut.
I still have to fight some petty Troll spawns to get Belm, but that's no trouble. Blueberry casts Invisibility and rests to avoid disturbing the Spore Colonies. We have no defense against confusion, and I'm too lazy to go find a Potion of Clarity (even though, in retrospect, I'm sure I could buy one in the nearby tower).
I actually had to reload later on thanks to a mishandled CTRL-J. I landed right on top of one of the Spore Colonies, fully visible, when the CTRL-J was supposed to imitate an invisible walk to Adratha's cottage. I felt bad at first, but this is my standard policy for CTRL-J in no-reload runs: if CTRL-J makes something weird happen, I either CTRL-J back, or, if that's not possible, I reload and do the normal walk to my target, with no adjustments. In this case, it prevented a death, but the policy has been unkind in the past.
In my old Party of Spiders run, a CTRL-J mistake forced a reload in which I had to face Ascension's quadruple dragon ambush without any buffs. I teleported right between the dragons, where normally I'd have emerged in front of them. Because my CTRL-J was done with the assumption that nothing was awaiting me, and I had therefore not pre-buffed, I had to reload to correct my positioning, but could not pre-buff for the fight on reloading. That nearly caused the end of the run. There were eight separate character deaths over the course of that fight, simply because we were unbuffed and unprepared.
Anyway... Dalok and company got webbed and burned.
No surprises there. The fire spells come out too fast for the druids to escape disruption. Druids have some pretty amazing spells, but their toughest spells all have long casting times.
I decided to go back and kill off all the Trolls I had skipped earlier, including those in the Troll Mound. Sunfire and Fireball won the day. For the fight in the middle of map, with the single mage and druid helping the fighters in plate mail fight some Trolls, I finally cast our first summoning spell that didn't come from a scroll.
A Nishruu! They don't hit very hard, but they have some low-level spells, including the Stinking Cloud and Agannazar's Scorcher spell seen above. They also have Magic Missile, Melf's Acid Arrow, Lightning Bolt, and Ghost Armor.
I wasn't confident we could burn down Kyland Lind, since I've noticed some excellent resistances on them in the past, but now that Blueberry has hit mage level 12, she can cast Death Fog. The druids are not immune to acid damage.
The djinn go down with fire spells. Trademeet is saved.
Why no Spell Immunity? Well, we haven't been to Pai'Na yet, and even if we had, we wouldn't get the Spell Immunity scroll, because my spiders don't kill Pai'Na. They just get the Black Spider Figurine and go on their way. No SI scroll, no ioun stone, and no XP..
That's interesting. It's the other way around in my install: the figurine is on Pai'Na, but the Pale Green Ioun Stone and the Spell Immunity scroll are in the cubby-hole.
Anyhoo. Interesting kit, semiticgod. Good hunting!
@Alesia_BH: Thank you! I actually just console in Kitty, as if Pai'Na had given it to us as a gift. The Pale Green Ioun Stone and Spell Immunity scrolls aren't spider-related, so I don't console those in. I don't know how to mod Pai'Na's dialog so that she'll give a Phase Spider Charname the spider figurine, so I just use the console to imitate the effect. I thought it would make sense for a spider Charname not to fight Pai'Na.
@Alesia_BH: Thank you! I actually just console in Kitty, as if Pai'Na had given it to us as a gift. The Pale Green Ioun Stone and Spell Immunity scrolls aren't spider-related, so I don't console those in. I don't know how to mod Pai'Na's dialog so that she'll give a Phase Spider Charname the spider figurine, so I just use the console to imitate the effect. I thought it would make sense for a spider Charname not to fight Pai'Na.
The Unifinished Business mod contains a component that allows Charname to not fight Pai'Na. You're asked to retrieve Spiders' Bane (the +3 two-handed sword from BG1) in the Sewers and bring it to Pai'Na, so that it won't do any more harm to Spiders. You get the figurine as a reward.
We headed to the Windspear Hills and confronted the Ruhk Transmuter who usually kills himself on a Skull Trap in my no-reload runs. For some reason, SCS Rakshasas never seemed to realize in my games that their own spells bypass their spell level immunities. As usual, this one disabled himself with a Minor Sequencer. But we can't capitalize on his mistake with his PFMW spell active.
He also has Improved Invisibility active, which means we can't Breach him. I had decided not to memorize True Seeing for this area, because for some reason I thought Death Fog would be more useful.
More irritating was the Rakshasa's inexplicable ability to vanish into the wall.
I can only see him by putting myself at the right angle, but if I try to approach him, he vanishes. I could have tried Darts of Wounding, but I want to save those--the poison effect won't bypass the Rakshasa's Stoneskin.
I spend some time attacking the other enemies of the area instead. Blueberry's buffs start to wear off, but then, so do the Rakshasa's. He tries to catch us when we run, but you can't really chase down a Phase Spider.
Spell Shield blocks a Breach spell, Secret Word dispels an already long since worn-off MSD, and Blueberry fails a save against Slow, which she counters with Improved Haste. The Rakshasa kills our Efreeti, does some minor spell damage, which Blueberry heals by running away far enough to give her time to drink a potion. Blueberry lays her traps, but the Rakshasa makes all of his saves vs. breath.
Finally the Rakshasa becomes visible, only to cast Shadow Door and once again earn immunity to Breach. Instead, I try to break down the Rakshasa's Stoneskins. He responds in kind, and Blueberry's Stoneskins go down. I don't worry, though--she has extra castings on hand, and always has her Dimension Door and Invisibility spell and potions in case things go wrong.
But there was one threat I didn't anticipate.
This is kind of aggravating. The run was going very well.
It does, however, demonstrate one of the Phase Spider's weaknesses. They excel in hit-and-run strategies, but this wears down their buffs, and their decreased caster level only exacerbates the problem. Blueberry could outrun the Rakshasa and wait out the enemy's buffs, but this cost her valuable defenses of her own. Worse, her lousy missile THAC0 meant that kiting was not a viable option, and so she had to engage in risky melee combat.
I've noticed this tradeoff before. The Phase Spider, by virtue of its Improved Alacrity, can activate its buffs very quickly, all at once, and also restore them with little delay if they should ever be broken down. But if they ever use their marvelous mobility to escape the enemy's reach, the buffs they so quickly constructed will wear down just as fast. You can maintain solid control of your buffs, or wear out the enemy's buffs, but you can't do both unless you enter combat unbuffed.
I might try another Phase Spider run, but this time, I think I'll give the arcane spider a rest. This is the second Phase Spider mage type that's fallen to PW: Stun when its spell protections wore off. I could try a Fighter/Cleric, which would be very new for me, but Phase Spiders have terrible AC, and Fighter/Clerics don't have Stoneskin to keep their spells working. That's an especially big problem considering their cleric spells will cast even slower than normal thanks to the kit penalties. A single-classed fighter would be interesting, but that doesn't really solve our PW: Stun problem, and we're going to have trouble getting good saving throws without rings.
. For some reason, SCS Rakshasas never seemed to realize in my games that their own spells bypass their spell level immunities. .
In most SCS installs, rhakshasa spell level immunities will protect them from their own spells. They do in mine, for example. David's script assumes that mechanic.
The mechanic you're observing is probably due to the lack of a Fixpack, although I can't say for certain. The Fixpack does remedy the MGoI/GoI behavior.
Btw. I just read the rest of your post. Condolences.
Best,
A.
Btw. I consider PW:S to be the single greatest threat in SoA, followed by Flame Arrow Triggers.
The tricky thing about PW:S is that there is no incantation and no counter window. You need to be protected every second that you are on the battle field with a high level mage. Options will differ depending on your install. If you're playing without the Fixpack -or with the Fixpack and Free Action protects against Stun (as I do)- then Potions of Freedom are an option available to all classes. The supply is limited, so it can make sense to delay the majority of high level mage encounters until after Spellhold and the Underdark when the Ring of Free Action and the Greenstone Amulet will give provide a sustainable solution.
There are class/kit specific strategies, too, of course.
Btw. I just read the rest of your post. Condolences.
Best,
A.
Btw. I consider PW:S to be the single greatest threat in SoA, followed by Flame Arrow Triggers.
The tricky thing about PW:S is that there is no incantation and no counter window. You need to be protected every second that you are on the battle field with a high level mage. Options will differ depending on your install. If you're playing without the Fixpack -or with the Fixpack and Free Action protects against Stun (as I do)- then Potions of Freedom are an option available to all classes. The supply is limited, so it can make sense to delay the majority of high level mage encounters until after Spellhold and the Underdark when the Ring of Free Action and the Greenstone Amulet will give provide a sustainable solution.
There are class/kit specific strategies, too, of course.
This always frightens me as well. I lost most of my no-reload characters to variants of Stun, I think.
Finally the Rakshasa becomes visible, only to cast Shadow Door and once again earn immunity to Breach. Instead, I try to break down the Rakshasa's Stoneskins. He responds in kind, and Blueberry's Stoneskins go down. I don't worry, though--she has extra castings on hand, and always has her Dimension Door and Invisibility spell and potions in case things go wrong.
But there was one threat I didn't anticipate.
This is kind of aggravating. The run was going very well.
It does, however, demonstrate one of the Phase Spider's weaknesses. They excel in hit-and-run strategies, but this wears down their buffs, and their decreased caster level only exacerbates the problem. Blueberry could outrun the Rakshasa and wait out the enemy's buffs, but this cost her valuable defenses of her own. Worse, her lousy missile THAC0 meant that kiting was not a viable option, and so she had to engage in risky melee combat.
I guess I should finally install the fixpack. I used to have it installed by default, but I've generally shied away from mods besides SCS and Tactics.
On the plus side, Blueberry's fall gave me the inspiration to create a new version of the Phase Spider kit, one which effectively creates its own class, rather than modifying the existing base classes. I've also found a workaround for some balance issues regarding IA and Dimension Door. I'll keep the other kits available, but I think this next kit will be the final, pure Phase Spider class.
Long story short, I'm going to base the new kit on the ranger class, which will give the kit all of the spider-themed stuff it should have: combat abilities, quick phasing, limited spellcasting, stealth, backstab, traps, and strong mobility.
More importantly, it gains a special evasion-type ability which will give it a chance of automatically ignoring any attack or spell, which will increase as it gains levels. The chance increases when it's actively phasing. The idea is that its phasing ability lets it hide in the Ethereal Plane just long enough to escape... but it won't work every time.
@semiticgod, I'm very sorry about Blueberry's demise. I for one would be interested in you exploring the kit more. The Fighter/Cleric variant could be interesting. The slow casting might be annoying though. Maybe you could think of a solution for that?
Isadora, Halfling Swashbuckler, BG2 update 3
Isa paid a second visit to Watcher's Keep, this time entering the place, and did an interesting discovery there:
She didn't need +3 weapons to hit Stone Golems. Her +2 Scimitars sufficed. (I was pretty sure that in my BGT install +3 weapons were needed, but now I'm doubtful.) The rogue's stay was going to be a short one though. She picked up some loot, including a returning Crimson Dart, but was denied the opportunity to investigate further (and aquire an ammo belt) when Vampiric Wraiths came after her and level-drained her.
The Keep would have to wait till she was ready for it.
Back in Athkatla Isa attacked and finished Rayic Gethras' Stone Golems that she knew vulnerable to her blades. She took the late wizard's vacant property for herself. It was a spacious home, and its location was convenient, close to the guild house she soon hoped to lead. In the guest room she hid several items that had some use or other but didn't fit in her pack.
A young boy named Delon told Isa of killings and disappearances in his home town Imnesvale, a village in the Umar Hills. The rogue decided to travel there and see if she could be of any help. She slew a Killer Mimic and a rebellious Stone Golem for a local Cowled Wizard, and received a nifty short sword as a reward.
Isa's research hinted at evil happenings in the nearby Amanautar Temple Ruins. She encountered them infested with different types of undead and two Bone Golems. With some patience and with lots of (extra) healing potions, the Halfling managed to clear the place.
Near the exit Isa slipped past a dormant Shadow Dragon, and back outside she used a scroll of PfUndead to exterminate a Shadow Altar, a Shadow Warrior and a Shade Lord unmolested.
Isa was unwilling to postpone dealing with the evil creatures (and allowing them to make more victims), and a rather pragmatic lass at heart, so she chose a scroll of PfUndead over a more 'heroic' intervention. (In Athkatla she was proved right, as battling Vampires alongside Arkanis Gath and Ryokoi resulted in her level-drained once more.)
Isa's next move was to take on the Slaver Stockade, as she had promised Hendak, former slave, and the Copper Coronet's new manager. In the sewers leading to the slavers' stronghold, she noticed an increased precision in her attacks with the off-hand (level 16 was reached, a 3rd pip went to TWF, mostly for RP reasons: her adventures hadn't yielded her any appealing weapon that she was unfamiliar with and wanted to train herself in). Solving a riddle saw Isa rewarded with an enchanted greatsword that conferred several immunities upon the wielder. The Halfling found it too hefty, and sold it.
Having quaffed a potion of clarity and applied an oil of speed, Isa snuck into the Slaver Stockade in an almost care-free manner. She chose her first target, a Priest of Cyric, and dispatched him before he could cast a single spell.
A Divine Wrath helped her control a crowd of fighters that closed in on her, but she nevertheless found she had taken several blows once she was done with the ruffians.
She slew two Trolls (Tuigan Bow and acid arrows) and two Tuan-Ti, and rescued a couple of child slaves. A second potion of clarity allowed Isa to safely dispatch a second contingent of slavers, which included two wizards.
The Halfling was thanked by Hendak and walked off to the Docks District to finish the job she had started for Renal Bloodscalp.
A potion of defense and an oil of speed were very helpful against Mae'Var's men, but even so, she suffered several nasty stabs on the first and second floor.
These events warned Isa to be extra careful in the cellars, where Mae'Var and his best assassins awaited her. Isa set four snares near the stairs so that she could safely retreat if necessary. Mae'Var did Isa a favor by injuring his own men with a Sunfire.
However his assassins were as dangerous as expected.
Both Kitthix and Isa's Berserk warrior were toothless before Mae'Var's and his men, but her Efreeti handled the enemy with surprising ease.
Renal proved true to his word: with Mae'Vars fall, the guild house was Isa's.
In the same Docks District, Isa eliminated two evil wizards for the local Harpers,
and she looted the Harper Stronghold before they used her as a tool to kill Xzar, the Necromancer she had briefly met on the Sword Coast.
She visited Gaelan Bayle and paid him 15k GP hoping the Shadow Thieves would bring her closer to Imoen. Shadow master Aran Linvail rose a number of barriers though. The first two, monitoring a shipment and dealing with two betrayers and their contact, were no big deal. But the third task she was asked to perform, eliminating the Shadow Thieves' rivals, a guild of Vampires, all by herself, was too much to ask of her at that point. She told Aran Linvail she would first have to find a way to handle the Vampires' draining attacks.
At the guild the Swashbuckler bought two new items, a ninja-to and a buckler:
This left her with almost no gold, so she accepted another commission.
She would clear a noble family's keep, the d'Arnise Hold, that had been invaded by Trolls and Yuan-Ti. The Trolls, including Spirit variants (with no spell-casting abilities) fell easily enough. Despite her non-proficiency with bows, her Tuigan Bow and acid arrows proved very effective. A Yuan-Ti Mage too, learned of Isa's skill with her bow, and it helped her by getting caught in its own Web.
The Halfling also dispatched a group of Golems, but found her weapons useless against a Clay Golem. This worried her. She slew several more Trolls before she traveled to Athkatla on Guild business.
In the city she dealt with a group of Thieves loyal to Mae'Var and the Night Masks, and she procured 200 lbs of true illithium for Sir Sarles on behalf of the Temple of Helm (I also had the fake illithium but forgot to drop the real deal on the ground before speaking to Sarles).
Isa traveled to Trademeet to buy the Blackblood Club, a weapon she hoped would be effective against slashing-immune creatures such as Clay Golems. (Sarles had helped Isa reach level 20. Although Staves are my preferred blunt weapon, for dual-wielding Isa Clubs made sense, both mechanically and for a RP reason, the Blackblood she had already seen.) The Halfling returned to the d'Arnise Keep, and dispatched the Clay Golem with her new club, as well as several respawned Trolls.
In the basement of the Keep, five Umber Hulks taught her not to try her luck against them:
She was more successful bottlenecking the monsters.
Four traps and an acid arrow finished the Troll leader,
Isa proceeded to melee an Umber Hulk Elder and two Giant Trolls, but only managed to slay the former before one of two Yuan-Ti Mages prompted her to retreat.
With clarity, speed, invisibility, Blackblood and acid arrows the Halfling bested one Yuan-Ti Mage, while running from three Spirit Trolls and a Spectral Troll.
When she was done with said Trolls the other Yuan-Ti wizard fell after a similar treatment.
Isa returned to Athkatla, a richer and more experienced adventurer and thief. Such was her pickpocketing prowess (145), that with the Gloves of Pickpocketing, a potion of master thievery, and a potion of perception, she rewarded herself with a shoplifting tour of the city.
A question to thread: What is the consensus on the "Gore" setting and its chunk & item loss effect?
I have come to the point where my Dragon Disciple is about to pick a Lvl 4 spell. I was considering Ice Storm, which is known to chunk and thereby destroy all items.
I also don't like that an entire damage source (Cold) is rendered practically useless (no-reload means you are gonna loose lotsa critical loot).
I read that there also other related issues: apparently Petrify functions as almost as bad as Disintegrate (on NPCs, of course, charname Petrified would mean game over). That's because any damage even a no damage attack chunks the Petrified victim.
Is removing "Gore" regarded as a cheat or a legitimate option for a no-reload run? I wonder what setting the experts play with.
@Ygramul, I play with gore enabled but I wouldn't consider disabling it a cheat. To me the most important aspect of published no-reload playthroughs is transparency. If you disable chunking in order to use ice spells, and you're being honest about it in your posts, then there's nothing cheaty about it imo. Other people know can form an impression of the nature of your challenge. In this case the challenge will still be considerable. Survival doesn't become significantly easier.
@Ygramul: You can change any other settings and nobody will call you out for it, nor should they. I use auto-pause on spell cast to make sure I make the most out of every character's time, and arguably that's an artificial decrease in difficulty. But all I had to do was click a button on a menu, just like disabling Gore.
From the perspective of realism, from the perspective of fairness, and from the perspective of non-modification, disabling gore is acceptable:
1: It makes more sense, not less, for chunking to not happen, both in real life and PnP, because big metal and stone items are hard to break. 2: It makes it more fair, not less, to disable chunking, because chunking never hurts enemies--it only ever hurts you. 3: It's a standard game option. It's hardly a cheat if all you have to do is click a button the developers made easily available.
Isa successfully dealt with Mencar & Co, and cleared the Sewers of all evil. She went on to investigate the Cult of the Eyeless. In Ghoul Town she ran into a Lich, so she she quickly moved on to the lair of the Unseeing Eye. Strangely traps + rod + Efreeti Fireball didn't kill the invisibility-ignoring Eye. But with some difficulty she managed to flee from it, locate it in the northern part of the area, and slay it with a Necklace of Missiles fireball.
She proceeded to finish a number of Gauths and Beholders, mostly with traps and fire.
When the coast was clear she summoned her Berserk Warrior as a decoy, hid in shadows and moved toward the exit. One of the two Death Tyrants there killed the Berserk Warrior and presumably Death Rayed Isa.
I don't really understand how this was possible. My theories: - either her stealth failed and revealed her immediately (which is unlikely because of her 220 overall stealth points and because there's always a delay before a skilled sneak becomes visible after failing to hide), - or the Death Tyrants saw through Isa's invisibility (which iirc in my BGT install they don't), - or one of the Death Tyrants' rays intended for the Berserk Warrior somehow ended up hitting her after the Berserk Warrior fell.
Comments
The only one that was in any way challenging was the tanner fight, where the invisible backstabbers could see through Mist's invisibility, which sucked. Grog is the ideal backstab target, being immune, so ordinarily he draws out the thieves, and Mist finishes them off. Here both thieves made straight for the invisible Mist, and frontstabbed her. I have to say I'm unimpressed with this change.
Grog took out the one ghast straight off with azureedge, Mist removed the other, then both retreated because Mist was really hurting. The bone golem followed, the thieves didn't, so they went all the way outside, and Mist led the golem in a circle while Grog hit it with sling bullets. Thanks to Alesia, this was the first time I'd set up a serious fighter with slings as their chosen weapon, and it was better than I expected. After buying some healing from that merchant that sells it really cheap, they returned to finish off the two thieves.
Baldur's Gate is always a treat for my rogues, and Isadora was no exception. Having said that, we were quite dismayed by the fact that the stores in the south-east quadrant of the city sold mundane weaponry rather than magical potions as they do in my BGT install.
Isa did some burgling for the Thieves Guild, acquired the Helm of Balduran (and sold it as she can't use it and preferred to find the Claw of Kazagoroth should she ever be forced to escape from a bizarre dungeon in Athkatla), purloined the Cloak of Balduran from a courtesan, plundered Ramazith's tower including an Int tome but left the wizard alone, picked up a Dex tome at the Thieves Guild, and read a Wis tome she was supposed to exchange with Umberlant Jalantha Mistmyr for a geas removal scroll in order to find the antidote to a poison she had been afflicted with. With difficulty Isa managed to release the priestess of the scroll without having to fight her.
The Halfling was given a Flaming Fist mandate to investigate the Iron Throne building. She discovered the local leaders weren't there and found that the acting managers weren't very forthcoming with information as to where the leaders were. They recognized her and attacked. But with a green scroll of magic protection, a potion of defense, and an oil of speed, Isa was well in control of the battlefield. The only risks were two backstabbing Shennaras and a warrior named Zhalimar Cloudwulfe who befittingly quaffed a cloud giant strength potion that turned him into too strong an opponent for melee dueling. Isa's frost dart did him in nicely though.
One peaceful Iron Throne associate revealed to Isa that the leaders of the Baldur's Gate branch were in Candlekeep. Isa knew there was little she could do except apprise Duke and Flaming Fist leader Eltan of her findings. However, before doing so, Isa traveled to the FAI, where she got permission from Bentley Mirrorshade to store some of her possessions in one of the Gnome's chests. This courtesy was a remarkable one because she got busted repeatedly while stealing possessions from the inn's guests. Her reputation dropped a bit and saw a rather steep decline during the days that followed, when she hung out with Dorn, the Half-Orc Blackguard she had previously helped, and two Drow exiles, Viconia the priestess and Baeloth the Sorcerer.
Duke Eltan could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Isa with her rag-tag company. He nevertheless sent them to Candlekeep with a tome of great value. A group of Ogre Magi put Dorn (level 4) to Sleep, but the quartet managed to enter the citadel anyway.
Isa's companions didn't stay in Candlekeep; they returned to the FAI. The Halfling didn't spend much more time at her former home. She had barely entered the library or the Gatewarden unjustly arrested her for killing the Iron Throne leaders. This had been a ploy of Sarevok whom she now understood to be Gorion's killer and her brother. With the help of Tethtoril she escaped, looting catacombs and stalking through caves until she found a way to the surface.
She returned to the FAI where she got some loot identified, picked up her gear from Bentley's chest and met with her Half-Orc and Drow outcast friends for drinks. After a restless night she thanked Bhaal the next morning for another Divine Wrath ability. She said goodbye to her friends, and returned to Baldur's Gate as an outlaw.
In order to restore her reputation somewhat, she decided to try and foil Sarevok's plan of getting the Grand Dukes killed, by stopping the assassins Slythe and Krystin that he had hired for that purpose. This was easier said than done though. Slythe's backstabs were devastating.
She used an invitation and an incriminating letter from Sarevok she had found on Slythe's body to enter the Ducal Palace, where Sarevok was about to be coronated as new Grand Duke. She prepared thoroughly for her impending confrontation with her nemesis: green scroll of PfM, violet potion, fortitude, agility, mind focusing x2, defense, speed, power, regeneration. (I don't normally consider green scrolls of PfM necessary, but this was my first SCS v30 Ducal Palace experience, and I wasn't sure what to expect.) However it soon turned out that she wouldn't be fighting Sarevok but a sextet of Greater Doppelgangers, including two casters.
In spite of being non-proficient in bows, Isa tried to dispel the Doppelgangers' buffs with arrows of dispelling, Bracers of Archery, and an Eagle Bow she had kept in her pack. As such this wasn't a bad strategy, as her buffs had converted her into a more than competent archer. She accomplished two successful dispels. The problem however, was that Doppelganger Assassins were stabbing away at her. She healed and decided to fight with both her scimitars, something she had never done before, at least not in battle. She coated her blades in poison from a phial she had bought at the Thieves' Guild. She happily slew one Doppelganger with her right hand,
Isa followed Sarevok into a Temple of Bhaal in the Undercity below Baldur's Gate. This is buffed Isa's endgame inventory:
Isa's PfMagic and most of her buffs were still intact but that didn't stop mages Angelo and Semaj from wasting their most dangerous spells on the Halfling.
Isa tried to dispel Sarevok's Haste but even when she hit him, he would not slacken his pace, which could be considered a step forward from previous SCS versions. It meant that Isa had to run around a lot until she decided to hide to get rid of Sarevok for a while. She then dispelled Angelo's buffs (twice) and slew the battlemage with arrows of dispelling and her returning forst dart respectively. Diarmid the archer and Semaj were also pelted with darts. The former took relatively long in falling as he had numerous extra healing potions. Tazok succumbed to a combination of range and melee attacks.
Her AC including slashing modifier was -19, so she successfully dodged and parried many of her opponent's blows. But the times he did hit her, the damage he inflicted was significant. She had to quaff several extra healing potions in order to keep going. This could become a challenge for Isa further down the road. As impressive as her AC may become, there'll always be critical hits to deal with, and there's only a limited number of Stoneskin and PfMW scrolls.
Anyhow, after plenty of heavy blows had been exchanged, it was not Sarevok, but Isa who was still standing.
Below are four screenshots that give a good impression of the duel:
"This was actually a step backwards from previous SCS versions, where Semaj would remain undispellably invisible and Angelo would focus on melee for as long as PfMagic was in effect.
Isa tried to dispel Sarevok's Haste but even when she hit him, he would not slacken his pace, which could be considered a step forward from previous SCS versions."
I like that you compare the SCS versions. It's very insightful. For example, I still play with version 28, so disabling the Haste effect (with arrow of dispelling) from Sarevok I always considered as a must-do in any fight with him.
Re: the full health, it's a bit of an optical illusion, but if you look at the first Sarevok screenshot you can see Isa with 11 extra healing potions while in the last pic she only has 3 left
I think I can compare SCS versions pretty well now. My last playthroughs were all with version 21. This is the first time with SCS v30, and in BG2 I'll be playing with a number of other new mods (BP Ascension and a Fix for BP Ascension), so I've decided to continue with Isa even if she falls somewhere in BG2 just to know how stable my install is.
I have yet to dare try this myself and one learns from how you managed such an epic fight.
I finally got onto Spellhold Studios (G3 wouldn't let me register) and posted version 1.0 of the Phase Spider kit. A lot has changed since my Phase Spider FMT no-reload run, including some new HLAs. The kit is a lot more balanced and less open to exploits than it was before, but I have yet to play test all of the changes.
http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/1137-phase-spider-kit/
Are you going to do document your play test run with the new kit?
Isadora, Halfling Swashbuckler, BG2 update 1
Isadora
There was no day or night in the dungeon, just the permanent semi-darkness of the room she was in, and the strict confines of her cage. It was her old Candlekeep pal Imoen who set her free.
Isadora thanked the lass and told her to stay behind her as she went looking for an exit. The girls released two prisoners who claimed to know them, but Isa had no memory of either of them and dismissed the both of them. Mentally she felt as if in a stupor. She could only hope that sensation would pass. Her physical state was even worse. She was weak and battered. Thankfully, most of her injuries she managed to cure with potions and her innate powers of healing. But her sword arm kept feeling slow and heavy, and when she picked up a mundane scimitar from a table she found that she had lost some of her previous celerity with her specialty weapon. (I discovered that the APR on Spec mod, which gives an extra 1/2 APR for weapon specialization by non-warriors, and had worked fine in BGEE, didn't work in my BG2EE install.)
All her gear was gone. Of her old equipment, Isa would only find the Claw of Kazgaroth and a Girdle of Bluntness.
With some difficulty Isa slew a number of Mephits in different rooms that contained items she had use for in her search for a way out.
A hideous Otyugh fell remarkably willingly (two crits), and one of two Flesh Golems was destroyed with snares.
One room she had to pass through proved particularly dangerous. It contained Mephit Portals that kept spawning Mephits. The Halfling applied an oil of speed to compensate for her soggy sword arm, and destroyed the portal that seemed to spawn Radiant Mephits first, because she had had problems with one of those creatures before. The other Mephits gave her some trouble as well, blinding, chilling or burning her, but she pulled through.
On the surface of what proved to be the principal marketplace in the city of Athkatla both Imoen and the girls' captor, Irenicus, were taken in by Cowled Wizards. Isa rested at a nearby inn, and accepted a commission (she was broke and stripped of most of her gear, she needed gold, lots of it). For a Guard she entered a tent that many had entered but none had left since the morning. The culprit turned out to be a Gnome, plagued by a inferiority complex and disguised as an Ogre Mage. Curiously, he didn't really seem to be in control of his minions.
Be that as it may, she had a hard enough time overwhelming her foe, what with supposedly illusory Werewolves whacking away at her.
I had a nice new spider portrait lined up, but it just didn't feel right, particularly since the spider (named Raspberry) was male. So, I used Blueberry's again. Now, she's a gnomish Fighter/Illusionist. She doesn't exactly have the Illusionist kit, since the spider kit overrides it, but all mages kits get bonus spell slots by default, and I'll be avoiding using necromancy spells, so effectively she has the kit.
I originally planned on not granting her BG1 tome bonuses, since her STR was an 18/93, and bumping it up to 19 seemed like a waste. But I wasn't willing to let her have only 17 INT.
Notice her CON is in red. This is because female Phase Spiders get a unique Spider Spawn ability at the cost of -1 to their Constitution. The spiders are really weak, and spawning them imposes multiple penalties, but it spawns a lot of spiders and it serves as a nice escape option, if you don't mind seeing your spider babies die to save you.
Anyway... after telling Aataqah to buzz off, we get lucky with our first trap.
But many of the spider abilities have been nerfed. The web traps don't last as long and the poison ability is weaker. Same goes for Web Tangle. The natural weapon is also weaker, as it only has a 50% chance of poisoning the target, for much less damage, and a 20% chance of webbing it. As always, a save vs. death and breath can negate the poison and web.
Plus, she only gets a +0.5 bonus to APR instead of a full attack. Her THAC0 and damage have also received bigger penalties, and her missile THAC0 is crippled, because missile weapons synergize way too well with teleportation. Phase Spiders would be unstoppable if they could kite effectively, hence the nerf.
Blueberry gets into trouble later in the dungeon, when she's trying to squeeze the most benefit out of her first rest period. I delay resting until my characters are almost dead to make sure we get all the healing we can. Unfortunately, this means exposing Blueberry to some big risks.
With her aura clouded by her last phasing, she can't drink a potion, so she teleports away to safety.
But the Duergar are bound to give chase. Blueberry lays her second trap behind her and uses her Spider Spawn ability. The baby spiders struggle to protect their mother, but the Duergar are merciless.
At 3 HP and 9 AC, and with 1 APR at 18 THAC0, using an attack that deals 1d2 damage and 3 poison damage on a failed save vs. death at +1, the spiders are pretty darn weak for BG2. Worse yet, the poor little things have a 20% chance of dying instantly on birth. It's a grim spell indeed.
They mostly soak up the Duergar's axes until Blueberry webs one of the Duergar, allowing a spider to nip at him.
Most of the work is done, however, by Blueberry herself, who actually has the THAC0 and STR to hurt the Duergar. But her babies give her enough breathing room to drink a potion and use her Web Tangle safely. They come out okay.
The spiders, I mean, not the Duergar.
I try to take on the Otyugh later, but it doesn't go too well.
Blueberry is immune to poison damage, so the Otyugh's disease effect doesn't hurt her, but the slow effect is enough to render combat nearly suicidal. She teleports away.
After resting, she buffs up a bit and takes on the library Duergar. With DUHM, even a dagger can make stuff explode.
Better yet, Dimension Door allows us to quickly take out the biggest threat of the Ilyich fight.
The cleanup is easy. I don't have the spell slots to sneak to the djinni, so I skip the Air Elemental Plane as well as the Cambion (who usually deals too much damage for the loot to be worth it).
Dimension Door proves very useful again in the Mephit Portal room, allowing us to take out the Mephit Portals before the Radiant Mephits have a chance to use Color Spray.
Blueberry summoned a Worg via a Monster Summoning I scroll to catch the Mephits' attention, but it didn't do much. It did, however, help with a Salt Mephit down the hall, absorbing a stun attack that could have proven fatal.
There's only one big threat left in the dungeon. I want the Girdle of Bluntness, which means we've got another mage to kill. Blueberry takes preemptive action.
I don't bother with Hareishan because she's hard to kill. Plus, the Shadow Thief mage in that room can cast 5th-level spells. Blueberry's Fairy Dragon familiar casts Invisibility 10' Radius, allowing Blueberry to slip past the Assassin unnoticed.
In the circus, we blast Kalah with Acid Arrows and Magic Missiles. Blueberry rubs salt in his wounds--but not on purpose.
I love that line.
We purchase a couple of Potions of Genius from the Temple of Ilmater to help fill out Blueberry's spellbook, including a Minor Spell Turning spell in case I ever want to try a scorcher loop. But with a solo character, and a multi-class no less, that would require a clone using a magic item, which I'm not sure I want to do.
We also have a scroll of Protection from Undead. But I don't want to use it unless it's absolutely necessary. I want to face this run's undead enemies head-on.
I have an Isadora update, but first I'm posting my Weidu log, for those who are interested:
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #1000 // BG2 Fixpack - Game Text Update -> GTU Light (by Wisp): v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #100 // Party Gets XP for Sending Keldorn to Reconcile With Maria: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #101 // Improved Spell Animations: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #104 // Ghreyfain's Holy Symbol Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #106 // Giants Receive Penalties When Attacking Halflings, Dwarves, and Gnomes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #109 // Corrected Summoned Demon Behavior: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #110 // Additional Script Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #111 // Bard Song Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #113 // Additional Alignment Fixes: v10
~BG2FIXPACK/SETUP-BG2FIXPACK.TP2~ #0 #114 // Change Free Action to Protect Against Stun: v10
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Changes to trueclass bards and thieves, and unmodded game kits (required for other components): v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #1 // Add new bardic store and thief items: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #2 // Install Acrobat bard kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #3 // Install Chorister bard kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Install Dirgesinger bard kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Install Gypsy bard kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Install Adventurer thief kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #7 // Install Burglar thief kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #8 // Install Soulknife thief kit: v6
~SONG_AND_SILENCE/SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Install Sharpshooter thief kit: v6
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #3 // Proper racial adjustments for thieving skills: v4.80
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #4 // Bard kit revisions: v4.80
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #5 // Bard High Level Ability revisions: v4.80
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #6 // Proper spell progression for Bards: v4.80
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #7 // Additional equipment for Thieves and Bards: v4.80
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #8 // Upgradeable Equipment: v4.80
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #11 // Chosen of Cyric encounter: v4.80
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #12 // Shadow Thief Improvements: v4.80
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for RR content: v4.80
~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #0 // Big Picture, core component (required for most subcomponents): v181-b4611
~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Ascension for BP: v181-b4611
~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Improved Abazigal: v181-b4611
~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Improved Demogorgon: v181-b4611
~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Improved Gromnir: v181-b4611
~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Improved Illasera: v181-b4611
~BP/SETUP-BP.TP2~ #0 #2600 // Improved Yaga-Shura: v181-b4611
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Allow Spellstrike to take down a Protection from Magic scroll: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2050 // Allow individual versions of Spell Immunity to be placed into Contingencies and Spell Triggers: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2070 // Blade Barrier and Globe of Blades only affect hostile creatures: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Make Power-Word: Blind single-target: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // True Sight/True Seeing spells protect from magical blindness: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2180 // Prevent Simulacra and Projected Images from using magical items: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Make the healing and resurrection powers of the Rod of Resurrection into separate abilities: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4040 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4180 // Make Freedom scrolls available earlier: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Move Boo into Minsc's pack: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5030 // Remove animation from the Cloak of Mirroring (leave it for other spells and effects that use the same graphic): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6023 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to spellcasters -> All eligible spellcasters in Throne of Bhaal get HLAs; only selected casters in Shadows of Amn do: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends -> Fiends have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies -> Genies have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6530 // Smarter celestials -> Celestials have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons -> Dragons have a substantial hit point increase: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6551 // Smarter beholders -> Don't give beholder rays any chance of burning through spell protections; beholder antimagic blocks all spells, including harmful ones, for a round (simulates D&D rules): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6562 // Smarter mind flayers -> Illithids have only original-game resistances; Illithids cannot see invisible enemies (matches original game): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Give Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai SCS scripts and abilities: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Give Ascension demons SCS scripts and abilities: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8041 // Increase difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings -> Significantly increased difficulty: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix") -> Spirit trolls have the same powers as in the original game: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi (Tactics Remix) -> "Toned-down" version of the original Tactics Improved Bodhi, with SCSII scripting: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive (adapted from Quest Pack): v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Prevent resting in the Illithid city: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Slightly Improved Drow -> Upgrade Ust Natha's defences: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Enhanced Sendai's Enclave: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v30
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v30
~RR/SETUP-RR.TP2~ #0 #0 // Proper dual-wielding implementation for Thieves and Bards: v4.80
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #100 // Restore innate infravision to Half-Orc characters: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #101 // Prevent skeletal and incorporeal undead from being affected by Illithids' Devour Brain attack: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #102 // Change Spiritual Hammer into a ranged force weapon: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #104 // PnP Color Spray: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #105 // PnP Dimension Door: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Magical arrows and bolts deal bonus damage equal to their enchantment level: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #115 // Allow Mages to scribe memorized spells onto scrolls -> Scrolls can be scribed everywhere: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Restore innate disease immunity to Paladins: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #125 // Rangers' Animal Empathy improves with experience: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Additional racial traits for Dwarves: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Additional racial traits for Gnomes: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // PnP Elementals: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #191 // Increase the Hit Dice of Elemental Princes: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #200 // Allow Breach to take down Stoneskin effects applied by items: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #201 // Instant casting for warrior innates: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #202 // Revised Bhaalpowers -> Enhance the Bhaalpowers and standardize their casting time: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #218 // Regain Bhaalpowers in ToB: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #204 // Prevent Mislead clones from singing Bard songs: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #205 // Prevent Project Image and Simulacrum clones from using quickslot items: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #211 // Make Death Ward protect against Vorpal Hits: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #210 // Restore the Dispel Magic vulnerability to Nishruu and Hakeashars: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #212 // Make alignment detection spells more accurate: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #213 // Expanded saving throw bonus tables for Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #216 // Bard songs break invisibility -> Only the Jester song breaks invisibility: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #270 // Unbiased quest rewards: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #220 // Simple Thief script: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #230 // Simple Bard script: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #239 // Simple Cleric/Paladin script: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #324 // Use Icewind Dale's Dimension Door animation -> Fast animation speed, shorter delay between animation start and creature appearance/disappearance: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #301 // Change the appearance of Valygar's armor: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #302 // Change the appearance of the Robe of Vecna: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #310 // Distinctive creature coloring: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #315 // Distinctive creature soundsets: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #500 // Slightly expanded storage capacity for containers -> Use the recommended storage capacity value (999): v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #510 // Expanded temple services: v4.42
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for aTweaks content: v4.42
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // Fix Sunfire power levels: v1
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #3 // Fix Smarter Abazigal: v1
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #4 // Fix Smarter Irenicus at the Throne: v1
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #5 // Remove entourage from Ascension Fallen Solars: v1
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #0 // The Kidnapping of Boo by Cliffette: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #1 // The Suna Seni/Valygar Relationship: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #2 // Kalah and What He Was Promised: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #3 // "Cat and Mouse" (Bodhi hunts you in Spellhold) by Ghreyfain: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #4 // Gorje Hilldark and the Extended Illithium Quest: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #5 // The Pai'Na/Spider's Bane Quest: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #6 // Restored Crooked Crane Inn: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #7 // Restored Encounters: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #8 // Artemis Entreri in Bodhi's Lair: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #9 // Corrected "Xzar's Creations": v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #11 // Gorf the Squisher Fix, by Gebhard Blucher: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #12 // Item Restorations: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #13 // Yoshimo's Original Portrait: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #14 // Anomen's Original Portrait: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #15 // NPC Portrait Restorations: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #16 // Corrected BAMs and Scripts: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #17 // Corrected Character Names and Biographies: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #18 // Restored Minor Dialogs: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #20 // Extended ToB Item Descriptions: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #21 // Throne of Bhaal Minor Restorations: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #24 // Sarevok's Remorse: v26beta2
~UB/SETUP-UB.TP2~ #0 #25 // The Murder of Acton Balthis, by Kulyok: v26beta2
Isadora, Halfling Swashbuckler, BG2 update 2
One of the first things Isa did on her reconnaissance of the alien city, was to secure broken Spiders' Bane from the sewers and bring it to Hivemaster Druid Pai'Na in the Graveyard District. In return the Halfling received an Ioun Stone and a Spider figurine. She dug up Tirdir, who had been buried alive, located a caretaker for an orphan girl, and left the area.
She was then waylaid by a group of bandits or slavers led by one Eldarin. Isadora had made it a habit of hers ever since she escaped Irenicus' dungeon, to keep to the shadows. The ambushers didn't initially notice her. Isa took advantage of this. She placed two or three snares away from the bandits (near the area border), and lured their leader and an archer into them. The traps didn't outright kill Eldarin, but their poison eventually did. Isa slew the archer, stripped Eldarin of an enchanted blade and a suit of plate mail, and left the scene without bothering with the other ambushers.
In one of the city's major inns, the Copper Coronet, she learned that the entertainment it offered was based on slave labor: women forced into prostitution and men that had to fight wild beasts and monsters unarmed. Isadora, a free spirit if ever there was one, did not allow these atrocities to stand.
Much of Isa's hard-earned gold went to temple donations, investments for the medium term, rather than gear. She did acquire a Ring of Air Control and a pair of AC3 Bracers.
(A field trip to Watcher's Keep was undertaken for the potion bag. There were no ambushes on the way. Unlike my BGT installation this EE setup doesn't offer any extra containers. Isa got a Wolfskin Bag which offers room for 10 items from the Beast Master, a scroll case at the Adventurer Mart, and a gem bag from Arledrian.)
Isa rescued a poisoned men from a band of brigands without fighting the latter, and faced several groups of ambushers that she didn't fight either.
On behalf of master thief Renal Bloodscalp, the Halfling infiltrated a thieves guildhouse to spy on its leader, a rather ambitious fellow named Mae'Var. She aborted her operations however when she was asked to take out a powerful Cowled Wizard, a foe she didn't consider herself prepared for.
Instead she agreed to try and help the troubled people of nearby Trademeet. On her way there, her RoAC proved useful.
Stopping the animal attacks was a harder job. Isa spoke with an outsider Druid, Cernd, who told her he had come to investigate the nearby Druid community. He indicated the Druid Grove on her map, and told her he'd wait for her in the grove. Isa arrived at the forest shortly before sunset. As she was making her way through the woods her stealth failed just when she was passing a group of Spiders. Isa wasn't very well equipped to fight groups of Spiders or Trolls, so she used her RoAC to go invisible. She found a quiet spot and waited for darkness to fall before she continued.
In a cottage in the woods she met an elderly lady who sold potions, and in an adjacent tower she considered herself blessed when she found an enchanted sabre, Belm, that allowed her to attack faster. The Halfling had come to accept the decreased swiftness of her sword arm at the hands of Irenicus as a permanent curse, but Belm more than made up for it. Besides she had been making some progress with her off-hand as well (second pip in TWF at level 12), so she was now arguably a better fencer than she had been during her adventuring days on the Sword Coast. She tested her blades against a number of Shambling Mounds and prevailed comfortably.
Before the entrance to the Druid hold, Isa ran into three hostile Shadow Druids. They were clearly the superior summoners. Isa's Kitthix and a Berserk Warrior were no match for their Fire Elementals, Nymphs and Mountain Bears, although her Efreeti did a decent job at defending itself.
When the summons were gone Isa opened with her one potion of fire breath. She saw one of the Druids send an insect swarm at her. She quaffed a potion of invisibility so that if she was to panic (which indeed she was), her enemies wouldn't see her.
Cernd stayed behind at the Grove, but Isa traveled back to Trademeet where she was hailed as a hero and showered with rewards. She bought a Belt of Inertial Barrier, a Cloak of Displacement and Ras the dancing sword. (Isa didn't steal anything. She might do so later on, with an improved Pickpockets skill but without potion stacking.) She found the Mantle of Waukeen for the mayor, and she finally got to deal with the murderer and an accomplice from the Athkatla Bridge District.
By the city gates back in Athkatla, Isa protected a merchant against an extorter (and bought scrolls of Spell Deflection, Lower Resistance and Breach), and she saved Shadow Thief Sansuki from a vampire attack.
Somewhat better equipped, Isa decided to take on the Cowled Wizard she had to get rid of for the Shadow Thieves. Potions of freedom and fire resistance allowed her to dispatch the wizard's Mephit lackeys,
She went upstairs to seek out the wizard, Rayic Gethras, and was astonished when he spoke to her without actually seeing her. She placed three snares in a corner of the room, out of the wizard's sight, and summoned Kitthix and her Efreeti.
Rayic Gethas had little difficulty dispatching them, but he was unable to see Isa (even though an Oracle had briefly exposed her). He threw a Teleport Field and two Webs on the floor, but Isa had little to fear of those area effects. Her Berserk Warrior and Ras were brought into play, mostly to see what kind of spells her foe would cast and whether they could eat away some of his Stoneskins. She then pelted him with acid arrows, and retreated. Her traps would have instantly slain the wizard, if it weren't for a Contingency Stoneskin. Not that that mattered much: the traps did strip the second set of Stoneskins and they fatally poisoned the wizard.
We sell off the Ring of Human Influence, despite Blueberry's terrible CHA. Phase Spiders can't use rings--or helms, gauntlets, gloves, boots, masks, circlets, or heavy armor--so rings are just merchant fodder for us.
On to the Slums and the slaver quest, and therefore back to my normal route. Blueberry takes down the Hobgoblins with Fireball and Web, but they're a non-issue anyway--Blueberry is immune to Hold Person by virtue of being a spider. For other enemies, when her natural attack and its piercing damage isn't enough, she switches to Sunfire, a bargain spell at the Adventurer's Mart, for only 600 gold.
Inspired by another no-reloader's example (I think Alesia's), I enter the slaver stockade invisible (thanks to the Fairy Dragon familiar) and wait for the cleric to start casting a divination spell, which will cloud his aura and prevent a Greater Command spell. But the cleric won't cooperate.
Instead, Blueberry slips away to the side, getting hit by an acid trap and drinking a potion to recover, hoping to nail the cleric with a Web. Only then does the cleric register our presence.
Now we can take action. Blueberry hits him with a Fireball, and it interrupts the cleric's divination spell, but I waited so long that the cleric already managed to start casting his next spell. Thankfully, it's not a Greater Command spell--it's some other enchantment spell. In any case, Magic Missile keeps Blueberry's MSD intact. The Shield of Reflection, meanwhile, keeps arrows off our back.
We more or less blast our way through the area with Fireballs and Sunfire. The mages here aren't high enough level to cast Protection from Fire; they just have MGOI and such. Blueberry downs the Trolls with Poison Weapon when she runs out of fire spells. The Beastmaster dies to Fireballs when stuck in a web, and we collect almost 15,000 gold by the end of the slaver quest.
Blueberry pre-casts Stoneskin and Invisibility and rests before leaving the slums, meaning she is ambushed by Suna Seni while still invisible. She layers two Webs and a GM spell on the enemy group and burns them down with Fireball. Now we have Arbane, although some of its immunities are redundant with the Phase Spider kit.
After the Renfeld ambush, which Blueberry also takes down with spellpower, we head to the Docks to fight Prebek and Sanasha. Blueberry toasts them with Sunfire, but thanks to her casting speed penalty, her Sunfire spells triggers after Sanasha's Confusion spell, instead of before. But Blueberry makes her save.
Blueberry has gnome save bonuses on her side, plus an innate +2 to saves and AC vs. humanoids as the Phase Spider's "Arachnophobia" bonus. But I don't know exactly how that save bonus is actually calculated.
We start the Mae'Var questline as well, another standard early game quest for me. MGOI protects Blueberry from the Mephits. For fun, I turn the Mephits against one another.
MGOI also blocks Golem Slow, a valuable asset against Stone Golems. Sunfire again wins the day--it's faster than using Arbane's Sword (Blueberry's natural attack won't strike as +2 until level 13 or so.
And Rayic Gethras?
I asked myself if I needed to nerf the kit further, since the Improved Alacrity lets Blueberry chain-cast Sunfire, but the success of this strategy is due more to Sunfire being overpowered than the Phase Spider kit. Remove Sunfire, and Blueberry's IA would be much less useful against a target like Ray-Ray. Remove IA, and Sunfire would still be devastating.
There aren't many good options left to nerf Blueberry's spellcasting, anyway. She already has caster level penalties, and even at caster level 6 or 7, Sunfire still does 9d6 damage, since Sunfire, as a level 5 spell, assumes the caster is at least level 9. I could impose further casting speed penalties, but it would dramatically slow down her phasing while doing little to slow down her mage spells (another -1 would double the casting time for Dimension Door, exposing the kit to needless disruption).
With Ray-Ray gone, the rest of the Mae'Var questline was wide open. I like to do this quest early not simply because most of the quests involve little fighting, but because I usually side with Bodhi, and once you side with Bodhi, this quest is locked out.
I normally kill Mae'Var's goons at the front before entering his room, but this time, I felt like going straight for the head of the operation. Blueberry opens with a spider trap.
Success! But the traps are much weaker than they used to be, and the web effect won't last long. I use the time to throw out two Webs and a GM spell. From there, Blueberry roasts the enemies without restraint.
I've positioned myself very far away from the prisoner to the left. I've lost lots of reputation by killing him accidentally with Fireball spells. Sunfire is sufficient to take down every enemy except for Mae'Var himself, who has a Fire Shield to protect him.
Blueberry flees to the nearby cell--I don't feel safe attacking him at close range, even though Blueberry is immune to the damage from his Fire Shield, and her missile THAC0 is terrible. But it proves to be a good decision. Lingering in the cell clears Blueberry's aura enough to let her drink a Potion of Invulnerability right before a potentially dangerous spell hits her.
I try wearing down Mae'Var with darts, one of my favorite weapons, but when I check the combat rolls, I realize I'm wasting my time.
Darts are probably only going to be useful if I'm trying to break down Stoneskins or layer poison effects on disabled targets.
Mae'Var's sole remaining ally (on this floor, anyway), opens the door to Blueberry's cell, only to see his target suddenly vanish. Mae'Var takes advantage of the safe space he has.
Potions of Invisibility won't always be as fast as using the Invisibility spell itself, considering how semi-clouded Blueberry's aura is going to be over the course of the game (she has no delay between spells, but she does have a delay between potions and scrolls and other items), but the potions are unlimited where spell slots are not. I use the potion to wait out Mae'Var's Minor Globe of Invulnerability, then spawn in some baby spiders, who again fail to have much impact.
Blueberry slays the Assassin, but Mae'Var has a trick up his sleeve. He shuts down our spellcasting with Power Word: Silence. Blueberry can't even use her innate abilities, a curious bug about silence effects.
But Mae'Var is also running out of spells, and the fight boils down to a melee between two surprisingly clumsy opponents.
It makes little difference. Blueberry's silence wears off, and with Mae'Var's MGOI down, he has no defense against Fireball.
I sneak outside while invisible and return to mop up the rest of the guild hall with Web and Sunfire spells. We buy a license from the Cowled Wizards, free Viconia, make friends with Jan, and make our way to the Umar Hills.
The Killer Mimic fails to disable Blueberry, as her spider immunities protect her from Mimic Glue (which uses the same opcode, 109, as Web spells). Valygar's ranger buddies collapse under pressure from Webs and Sunfire, and we make our way to the Temple Ruins.
We try to rest before meeting Anath, and end up getting interrupted. We flee from the crowd of approaching Shadows, only to meet more enemies as we phase away. And when we try to rest, to dispel the previous spawns, we get interrupted again, and a huge horde of Shadows chases us all over the Temple Ruins, until finally we rest without interruption, and the entire horde vanishes.
We make our way through the Temple Ruins interior mostly due to brute force. The last random spawn in the dungeon, near the crossword puzzle room, interrupts a couple of Blueberry's spells, but she has more and can re-cast them with little delay. A Bone Golem poses a pretty big threat, but Web Tangle bypasses its spell level immunities.
Blueberry faces another Bone Golem nearby, and has to fight that one out without her disablers. But her Stoneskins hold nonetheless.
Now only the Shade Lord is left. But I don't want to use the Protection from Undead scroll, and I don't want to come back later. We search through our spellbook and our inventory for solutions.
Why no Spell Immunity? Well, we haven't been to Pai'Na yet, and even if we had, we wouldn't get the Spell Immunity scroll, because my spiders don't kill Pai'Na. They just get the Black Spider Figurine and go on their way. No SI scroll, no ioun stone, and no XP.
So what are we going to use to win this fight? Actually, it's a Summon Fiend scroll, which I think we got as a random drop from the Skeleton Warriors. We enter the area invisible, read the scroll from a distant corner, and drink an Invisibility Potion to watch the action.
Turns out the enemy won't attack a summoned demon because it has a red circle. Shadow Patrick does nothing to defend himself.
I want to get at least some XP from this fight, however, so I break my invisibility right before the Glabrezu brings down the Shadow Altar.
Blueberry suffers from the Darkling Aura, but it won't stop her spellcasting. The damage keeps coming, and the Shade Lord falls.
Soon afterward, the Glabrezu turns on us, but teleporting away and re-casting Protection from Evil (I memorized two for precisely this reason) is enough to keep us safe until it goes away.
Next, the Druid Grove! It turns out a Phase Spider doesn't even need to sneak past most of the enemies. There's a shortcut.
I still have to fight some petty Troll spawns to get Belm, but that's no trouble. Blueberry casts Invisibility and rests to avoid disturbing the Spore Colonies. We have no defense against confusion, and I'm too lazy to go find a Potion of Clarity (even though, in retrospect, I'm sure I could buy one in the nearby tower).
I actually had to reload later on thanks to a mishandled CTRL-J. I landed right on top of one of the Spore Colonies, fully visible, when the CTRL-J was supposed to imitate an invisible walk to Adratha's cottage. I felt bad at first, but this is my standard policy for CTRL-J in no-reload runs: if CTRL-J makes something weird happen, I either CTRL-J back, or, if that's not possible, I reload and do the normal walk to my target, with no adjustments. In this case, it prevented a death, but the policy has been unkind in the past.
Anyway... Dalok and company got webbed and burned.
No surprises there. The fire spells come out too fast for the druids to escape disruption. Druids have some pretty amazing spells, but their toughest spells all have long casting times.
I decided to go back and kill off all the Trolls I had skipped earlier, including those in the Troll Mound. Sunfire and Fireball won the day. For the fight in the middle of map, with the single mage and druid helping the fighters in plate mail fight some Trolls, I finally cast our first summoning spell that didn't come from a scroll.
A Nishruu! They don't hit very hard, but they have some low-level spells, including the Stinking Cloud and Agannazar's Scorcher spell seen above. They also have Magic Missile, Melf's Acid Arrow, Lightning Bolt, and Ghost Armor.
I wasn't confident we could burn down Kyland Lind, since I've noticed some excellent resistances on them in the past, but now that Blueberry has hit mage level 12, she can cast Death Fog. The druids are not immune to acid damage.
The djinn go down with fire spells. Trademeet is saved.
Anyhoo. Interesting kit, semiticgod. Good hunting!
Best,
A.
He also has Improved Invisibility active, which means we can't Breach him. I had decided not to memorize True Seeing for this area, because for some reason I thought Death Fog would be more useful.
More irritating was the Rakshasa's inexplicable ability to vanish into the wall.
I can only see him by putting myself at the right angle, but if I try to approach him, he vanishes. I could have tried Darts of Wounding, but I want to save those--the poison effect won't bypass the Rakshasa's Stoneskin.
I spend some time attacking the other enemies of the area instead. Blueberry's buffs start to wear off, but then, so do the Rakshasa's. He tries to catch us when we run, but you can't really chase down a Phase Spider.
Spell Shield blocks a Breach spell, Secret Word dispels an already long since worn-off MSD, and Blueberry fails a save against Slow, which she counters with Improved Haste. The Rakshasa kills our Efreeti, does some minor spell damage, which Blueberry heals by running away far enough to give her time to drink a potion. Blueberry lays her traps, but the Rakshasa makes all of his saves vs. breath.
Finally the Rakshasa becomes visible, only to cast Shadow Door and once again earn immunity to Breach. Instead, I try to break down the Rakshasa's Stoneskins. He responds in kind, and Blueberry's Stoneskins go down. I don't worry, though--she has extra castings on hand, and always has her Dimension Door and Invisibility spell and potions in case things go wrong.
But there was one threat I didn't anticipate.
This is kind of aggravating. The run was going very well.
It does, however, demonstrate one of the Phase Spider's weaknesses. They excel in hit-and-run strategies, but this wears down their buffs, and their decreased caster level only exacerbates the problem. Blueberry could outrun the Rakshasa and wait out the enemy's buffs, but this cost her valuable defenses of her own. Worse, her lousy missile THAC0 meant that kiting was not a viable option, and so she had to engage in risky melee combat.
I've noticed this tradeoff before. The Phase Spider, by virtue of its Improved Alacrity, can activate its buffs very quickly, all at once, and also restore them with little delay if they should ever be broken down. But if they ever use their marvelous mobility to escape the enemy's reach, the buffs they so quickly constructed will wear down just as fast. You can maintain solid control of your buffs, or wear out the enemy's buffs, but you can't do both unless you enter combat unbuffed.
I might try another Phase Spider run, but this time, I think I'll give the arcane spider a rest. This is the second Phase Spider mage type that's fallen to PW: Stun when its spell protections wore off. I could try a Fighter/Cleric, which would be very new for me, but Phase Spiders have terrible AC, and Fighter/Clerics don't have Stoneskin to keep their spells working. That's an especially big problem considering their cleric spells will cast even slower than normal thanks to the kit penalties. A single-classed fighter would be interesting, but that doesn't really solve our PW: Stun problem, and we're going to have trouble getting good saving throws without rings.
The mechanic you're observing is probably due to the lack of a Fixpack, although I can't say for certain. The Fixpack does remedy the MGoI/GoI behavior.
Best,
A.
Best,
A.
Btw. I consider PW:S to be the single greatest threat in SoA, followed by Flame Arrow Triggers.
The tricky thing about PW:S is that there is no incantation and no counter window. You need to be protected every second that you are on the battle field with a high level mage. Options will differ depending on your install. If you're playing without the Fixpack -or with the Fixpack and Free Action protects against Stun (as I do)- then Potions of Freedom are an option available to all classes. The supply is limited, so it can make sense to delay the majority of high level mage encounters until after Spellhold and the Underdark when the Ring of Free Action and the Greenstone Amulet will give provide a sustainable solution.
There are class/kit specific strategies, too, of course.
This is also one of the reasons why I have not dared a solo run yet...
On the plus side, Blueberry's fall gave me the inspiration to create a new version of the Phase Spider kit, one which effectively creates its own class, rather than modifying the existing base classes. I've also found a workaround for some balance issues regarding IA and Dimension Door. I'll keep the other kits available, but I think this next kit will be the final, pure Phase Spider class.
Long story short, I'm going to base the new kit on the ranger class, which will give the kit all of the spider-themed stuff it should have: combat abilities, quick phasing, limited spellcasting, stealth, backstab, traps, and strong mobility.
More importantly, it gains a special evasion-type ability which will give it a chance of automatically ignoring any attack or spell, which will increase as it gains levels. The chance increases when it's actively phasing. The idea is that its phasing ability lets it hide in the Ethereal Plane just long enough to escape... but it won't work every time.
Isadora, Halfling Swashbuckler, BG2 update 3
Isa paid a second visit to Watcher's Keep, this time entering the place, and did an interesting discovery there:
Back in Athkatla Isa attacked and finished Rayic Gethras' Stone Golems that she knew vulnerable to her blades. She took the late wizard's vacant property for herself. It was a spacious home, and its location was convenient, close to the guild house she soon hoped to lead. In the guest room she hid several items that had some use or other but didn't fit in her pack.
A young boy named Delon told Isa of killings and disappearances in his home town Imnesvale, a village in the Umar Hills. The rogue decided to travel there and see if she could be of any help. She slew a Killer Mimic and a rebellious Stone Golem for a local Cowled Wizard, and received a nifty short sword as a reward.
(In Athkatla she was proved right, as battling Vampires alongside Arkanis Gath and Ryokoi resulted in her level-drained once more.)
Isa's next move was to take on the Slaver Stockade, as she had promised Hendak, former slave, and the Copper Coronet's new manager. In the sewers leading to the slavers' stronghold, she noticed an increased precision in her attacks with the off-hand (level 16 was reached, a 3rd pip went to TWF, mostly for RP reasons: her adventures hadn't yielded her any appealing weapon that she was unfamiliar with and wanted to train herself in).
Solving a riddle saw Isa rewarded with an enchanted greatsword that conferred several immunities upon the wielder. The Halfling found it too hefty, and sold it.
Having quaffed a potion of clarity and applied an oil of speed, Isa snuck into the Slaver Stockade in an almost care-free manner. She chose her first target, a Priest of Cyric, and dispatched him before he could cast a single spell.
A potion of defense and an oil of speed were very helpful against Mae'Var's men, but even so, she suffered several nasty stabs on the first and second floor.
In the same Docks District, Isa eliminated two evil wizards for the local Harpers,
She visited Gaelan Bayle and paid him 15k GP hoping the Shadow Thieves would bring her closer to Imoen. Shadow master Aran Linvail rose a number of barriers though. The first two, monitoring a shipment and dealing with two betrayers and their contact, were no big deal. But the third task she was asked to perform, eliminating the Shadow Thieves' rivals, a guild of Vampires, all by herself, was too much to ask of her at that point. She told Aran Linvail she would first have to find a way to handle the Vampires' draining attacks.
At the guild the Swashbuckler bought two new items, a ninja-to and a buckler:
She would clear a noble family's keep, the d'Arnise Hold, that had been invaded by Trolls and Yuan-Ti. The Trolls, including Spirit variants (with no spell-casting abilities) fell easily enough. Despite her non-proficiency with bows, her Tuigan Bow and acid arrows proved very effective. A Yuan-Ti Mage too, learned of Isa's skill with her bow, and it helped her by getting caught in its own Web.
In the city she dealt with a group of Thieves loyal to Mae'Var and the Night Masks, and she procured 200 lbs of true illithium for Sir Sarles on behalf of the Temple of Helm (I also had the fake illithium but forgot to drop the real deal on the ground before speaking to Sarles).
Isa traveled to Trademeet to buy the Blackblood Club, a weapon she hoped would be effective against slashing-immune creatures such as Clay Golems. (Sarles had helped Isa reach level 20. Although Staves are my preferred blunt weapon, for dual-wielding Isa Clubs made sense, both mechanically and for a RP reason, the Blackblood she had already seen.)
The Halfling returned to the d'Arnise Keep, and dispatched the Clay Golem with her new club, as well as several respawned Trolls.
Four traps and an acid arrow finished the Troll leader,
Isa returned to Athkatla, a richer and more experienced adventurer and thief. Such was her pickpocketing prowess (145), that with the Gloves of Pickpocketing, a potion of master thievery, and a potion of perception, she rewarded herself with a shoplifting tour of the city.
Character Record + Inventory Screen
What is the consensus on the "Gore" setting and its chunk & item loss effect?
I have come to the point where my Dragon Disciple is about to pick a Lvl 4 spell. I was considering Ice Storm, which is known to chunk and thereby destroy all items.
I also don't like that an entire damage source (Cold) is rendered practically useless (no-reload means you are gonna loose lotsa critical loot).
I read that there also other related issues: apparently Petrify functions as almost as bad as Disintegrate (on NPCs, of course, charname Petrified would mean game over). That's because any damage even a no damage attack chunks the Petrified victim.
Is removing "Gore" regarded as a cheat or a legitimate option for a no-reload run?
I wonder what setting the experts play with.
From the perspective of realism, from the perspective of fairness, and from the perspective of non-modification, disabling gore is acceptable:
1: It makes more sense, not less, for chunking to not happen, both in real life and PnP, because big metal and stone items are hard to break.
2: It makes it more fair, not less, to disable chunking, because chunking never hurts enemies--it only ever hurts you.
3: It's a standard game option. It's hardly a cheat if all you have to do is click a button the developers made easily available.
Come on, that button has been there for 15 years.
I'll go through a less-chunky playthrough with my sorceress then...
Isa successfully dealt with Mencar & Co, and cleared the Sewers of all evil. She went on to investigate the Cult of the Eyeless. In Ghoul Town she ran into a Lich, so she she quickly moved on to the lair of the Unseeing Eye. Strangely traps + rod + Efreeti Fireball didn't kill the invisibility-ignoring Eye. But with some difficulty she managed to flee from it, locate it in the northern part of the area, and slay it with a Necklace of Missiles fireball.
I don't really understand how this was possible. My theories:
- either her stealth failed and revealed her immediately (which is unlikely because of her 220 overall stealth points and because there's always a delay before a skilled sneak becomes visible after failing to hide),
- or the Death Tyrants saw through Isa's invisibility (which iirc in my BGT install they don't),
- or one of the Death Tyrants' rays intended for the Berserk Warrior somehow ended up hitting her after the Berserk Warrior fell.