Lost a Shadowdancer to a lightning trap in Durlag's Tower. Somehow I paused immediately after the "Badly Injured" auto-pause and got killed by a bunch of lightning bolts all at once.
How much do you need in Find Traps for BG1? I had 40 and was planning on bumping it up to 60, but I hadn't gotten the next level just yet.
Praise from Caesar. I wouldn’t say I am quick learner (should only be spoken with a thick austrian accent), the LoB + ScS thread is 10 miles long... and the final fight is covered in detail.
The demon slaying is manageble. They are gated in, and I slew them quickly. Here is the screenshot from after the buffing
I didnt rage of duhm out of fear of ruining the potions of power with the con boost.
The damage output is 20-27 with 4 apr and -3/-1 thaco. On top of that the mordron heart ads +2 thaco and damage. The belt of the skillfull blade ads 10% on top of that - dont know if the chant from the ring of purity makes it 21-27. In all the damage output is decent with scimitars, and the demons where quickly out of the way.
With 383 HP (legal) Durlags goblet really shine. A quick drink once every 4-5 rounds and youre good.
Itis is a barb, so I raged against the pesky memphits. No chances taken...
Thank you for the insightful info. I'll remember to finish the summons first when I finally have my grand encounter with B. How did you manage to equip illegal items for your character? Did you use an in-game trick for that? Like equipping the helmet of opposiite alignment and then having it removed by Mizhena? And is the Modron Heart not useless in the final fight? Big B and summons are lawful evil devils, and the Modron heart only gives bonuses against chaotic creatures.
Lost a Shadowdancer to a lightning trap in Durlag's Tower. Somehow I paused immediately after the "Badly Injured" auto-pause and got killed by a bunch of lightning bolts all at once.
How much do you need in Find Traps for BG1? I had 40 and was planning on bumping it up to 60, but I hadn't gotten the next level just yet.
Condolences @semiticgod. Durlag's Tower's lower levels pretty much require 100 in Find Traps, but I assume you lost your character on one of the upper levels. Exploring the lower levels with 40 in FT is suicidal if you don't know what you're doing. My Bounty Hunter managed to do clear the upper levels with 70 in FT, but I think from memory 60 (or 40 + 20 from a potion of perception) is enough. Fellow no-reloader @Dyara shared an extremely useful BG1 traps guide covering all the BG1 traps and what they do. With it even a non-thief could solo Durlag's Tower though you'd need quite a lot of potions or arcane protections.
@semiticgod Congrats on your success with the druid/mage! Meanwhile, my own solo attempts continue to fail. I just managed to get a FMT through BG1, only to get too close to a gargantuan spider in early SoD. I was protected against the webs, but not against the unconsciousness on hit.
@Blackraven Glad to see you back in the game. Regarding Belhifet, I've only killed him with solo characters three times, but I've used different approaches throughout - while killing the summons is totally valid if you have a high damage output, it is equally as viable to kite the entire horde of foes while shooting Belhifet from time to time (especially good if your character is a well-protected slinger using bullets of darkness, because you do need some damage to counter big B's regeneration). You just have to make sure to be protected against everything the enemies can throw at you from range (fire, lightning, mind-affecting stuff including fear, hold and charm (clarity potions are plentiful in SoD, but remove fear + chaotic commands or magic shielding will do the job as well), poison is also helpful... I might be forgetting something), get your thac0 as low as possible and run like hell (with boots of speed + oil of speed). If you're unfamiliar with the map, take care not to get stuck in the corners (they are somehwat deceptive, you can't walk everywhere). Having a way to get rid of Belhifet's invisibility is also helpful.
I've now started a new game. After the at times very stressful SCS/Ascension experience, I did return to my vanilla install for now for, but I already have plans for another SCS run. Meanwhile, a solo success and the meatgrinder challenge continue to elude me, and since I don't like to repeat failed attempts right away, it's once again time to go for the meatgrinder challenge. My party is decent (not as good as my first two attempts, but better than my third), and I will propably introduce them later today.
Lost a Shadowdancer to a lightning trap in Durlag's Tower. Somehow I paused immediately after the "Badly Injured" auto-pause and got killed by a bunch of lightning bolts all at once.
How much do you need in Find Traps for BG1? I had 40 and was planning on bumping it up to 60, but I hadn't gotten the next level just yet.
You might not have gone slowly enough. However there are potions of master thievery and of perception in there that boost your ability. (Down two floors) These are also available from the merchant when you first arrive. I use them in conjunction with oil of speed (In a chest upstairs) The oil of speed in effect prolongs the life of the other potions.
Warning there are deadly traps upstairs if you are not immune to charm.
Using those potions would probably have kept you alive until you levelled up.
Addendum: If your dexterity is not 18+ there is also a potion of agility available.
Journal of Longtooth After picking up Gorion's possessions I headed for High Head and after killing some gnolls headed southwards where I saved Mellicamp from a wolf and subsequently got him back into shape. This increased both my reputation and my level. I then killed some ogrillon which gained me a ring of protection. Heading south I met another half-orc by the name of Uguth. Even he found my orcish heritage disturbing. Upon reaching Nashkel I came across some decent armour and also met Oublek who was grateful that I didn't appropriate Greywolf's reward. This boosted my reputation once more. After picking up a ring of protection from fire, I took Samuel to the FAI. Sadly this didn't boost my reputation. Neither did returning a ring to Joia. Whilst there, I was able to kill Tarnesh. Taking a tome to Firebead did however boost my reputation as did returning an amulet to the Colquetle family. Blinding Karlat with sunscorch gave me time to do business with Tulbor and Perdue. However it didn't last long enough for me to finish Karlat off. That will have to wait.
The two items where equipped with the help from the helmet of O.A as you have guessed, and the helmet removed with remove curse from Mizhena as you have guessed. I killed the Demon Knight to use the said items (I know BG1 way better than SoD, so I didnt mind the risk in fighting the Demon knight, because the rusk was taken in an area and against an opponent I knew well).
The Mordron Heart was a mistake. Plain and simple - my admittance is on display in the Adv. Lounge for No reloaders. I should have used the medal of valor.
The Tranzig involved with the bandits proves indeed to be the very same man who had petrified Branwen. With her skeletons and her spiritual hammer (for lack of any physical weapon), and with the help of Gilyn she makes him pay the ultimate price for his crime. Gilyn's heroics and charisma lead the priestess to developing feelings for the elf.
The three then visit the High Hedge to deliver a vial of poison to Thalantyr. On the way there they run into another elf: Kivan, Archer ranger of Shilmista. Like Xan, Branwen and Gilyn, he too has business with the mysterious organization behind the iron crisis and the bandit plague. An ogrish bandit by the name of Tazok has tortured him and slain his wife. Kivan joins. This sets an inconveniently strict time limit on the party of just 7 days for invading the bandit camp, lest Kivan leaves the party for good. (I'm glad I looked this up after he joined.) Seven days means no time to work on rep, or to visit the gnoll stronghold to finally pick up those gauntlets of dexterity. Gilyn tries to get Teven to lead the party to the camp, but Kivan refuses to play along. Having approached Teven's band alone, Gilyn has to fear for his life as he retreats from his attackers.
Thank you Kivan
On the way to Peldvale the party is waylaid by a bounty hunter named Molkar and three men of his. The companions, underequipped and unprepared for battle, flee the scene, and manage to locate the bandit camp through Raiken. Tazok shows up and Kivan attacks. Gilyn, impressed by the size of the bulky warrior retreats to place some snares should things go south. Admittedly Kivan makes a pincushion out of his racial enemy, but when Tazok applies an oil of speed, the party does indeed fall back. Another reason to do so, is the probability that other bandits will join their commander in battle, so making sure there's a good escape route is a matter of prudence. The combination of Kivan's arrows and Gilyn's snares does Tazok in and the party make a swift retreat.
With Kivan contented about his vengeance, the crew is in no rush to deal with the remaining bandits, though they know they'll have to return at some point to somehow gather more intelligence about them.
On their way out of the Wood of Sharp Teeth the companions are taken by surprise by a second company of bounty hunters, led by one Lamalha. As with Molkar and his men, discretion is considered the better part of valor, so some XP and nice loot is sacrificed for another day of life. It marks the dawning of a new, more pleasant phase for the companions. Disengaging from the iron/bandit intrigue for a while, there is time for bonding and for exploration of the Sword Coast. It's a fruitful time in other ways as well. The companions defeat the likes of Greywolf (snares), Kirian & Co (snares, ranged attacks, backstabs), Vax and Zal (snares, stabs), Krumm and Caldo (Xan's charms), and Bassilus (Algernon's cloak, slain by own aerial servant). Gilyn develops a bit of a habit of taking out ranged foes with attacks from the shadows.
The bounty for Bassilus and a stellar reputation allow the party their first expenses. Vulnerable Xan is the one who benefits most with the robe of the neutral archmagi and several additions to his spellbook.
Before long the companions, friends now, and lovers in the case of Gilyn and Branwen, feel ready for a second incursion into the bandit camp. Upon approaching the camp they are spotted by a bandit who calls for the alarm to be sounded. The party retreats and reapproaches under invisibility. (Xan has three level 2 spell casts, so with a rest, the entire party can become invisible.) By the entrance to the main tent they find the new or ad interim commanders of the organization. Upon closer inspection the organization seems to be a cobbled together bunch: gnolls, Black Talons, Chill hobgoblins... The invisible companions buff right in front of them. (Shield from amulet, MI, PfE for Xan; Chant for Branwen; potions of heroism and invulnerability for Kivan. Basically all they have.) A concerted attack with a wand of fire scorcher by Xan and the necklace of missiles swapped around by Kivan, Branwen and Gilyn wipes out the organization's leadership.
Xan gets hit once, so he backs away to recover before his PfE and MIs expire. However, many more bandits appear from many directions and some of them focus on Xan rather than the others who are in a more central position. Xan fails to Dire Charm Taugosz. The companions attempt a strategic retreat to the south that allows them to take enemy loot with them. Xan tries to drink an invisibility potion, but takes too long due to a clouded aura. He falls.
Branwen, Kivan and Gilyn stick to the plan of retreating in a southward direction, pursued by Taugosz and many of his Black Talon men. Branwen manages to Command and Hold him, and Kivan - nearly giving his life in the process - and Gilyn finish him off as a last warning and an act of retalliation for their assault on Xan.
A third and final incursion sees the remainder of the camp cleared. They rescue the elven rogue Ender Sai who not only has a name but also a location in Cloakwood for the big evil institution behind the iron crisis, the rampant banditry, and the attacks on their lives and on their loved ones.
@semiticgod don't green scrolls of protection from fire & lightning last 12 hours? combined with items (ring of fire resistance, Mulahay's boots of grounding), you would be well protected.
I'm trying out a Fighter/Mage/Cleric. Has there really been no FMC for the Hall of Heroes? It seems like a great choice for a Charname.
@semiticgod it offers a different set of options. However, fighter/mages are already very powerful and it's not obvious that additional (essentially unnecessary) options are a good swap for the lack of 9th level spells and lower levels. I've no doubt at all that it's doable, but I don't find it surprising that it's not been done yet.
@Corey_Russell: Yup. I always use two green scrolls of Protection from Fire, Electricity, and Cold each before Belhifet because it ensures that I'll be immune to Belhifet's fire attacks, the Cornugons' Lightning Bolts, and the ice damage from the Alu-Fiends' arrows, plus a Protection from Poison scroll to block the poison effect from Belhifet's swords. As long as you fall back on the first round of combat and let Caelar take Belhifet's opening Dispel Magic, all the buffs should remain secure even without SI: Abjuration on hand.
Then I layer on Chaotic Commands to block Hold Person, Remove/Resist Fear or a Potion of Clarity to block fear effects, and finally buff with stat-boosting options and so forth, as well as Potions of Magic Shielding if I'm worried about the damage from Cornugons' Absorb Health spells, since they're the only source of magic damage resistance in BG1 and SoD.
I'm trying out a Fighter/Mage/Cleric. Has there really been no FMC for the Hall of Heroes? It seems like a great choice for a Charname.
@semiticgod it offers a different set of options. However, fighter/mages are already very powerful and it's not obvious that additional (essentially unnecessary) options are a good swap for the lack of 9th level spells and lower levels. I've no doubt at all that it's doable, but I don't find it surprising that it's not been done yet.
If my memory serves me, Histamiini managed to deal with Belhifet with the enchant weapon and Mortys morningstar combo. Flails is in general a solid choice - throughout the whole saga.
In all I think - as Grond0 - its very much doable. And would like to see someone of your skill and flair for the in-game mechanics giving it a try.
@semiticgod Indeed, no FMC has made it into the hall yet. I've played a solo FMC through most of BG1 once, but failed to realize that Semaj's cloudkill can instantly kill you because of the low class levels. It's obviously a powerful option, but has never been all that popular, propably because of the overall low popularity of divine spellcasters in the community.
I'm trying out a Fighter/Mage/Cleric. Has there really been no FMC for the Hall of Heroes? It seems like a great choice for a Charname.
I have my F/M/C Ineza up and running again, but since I'm also playing with my Bounty Hunter at the moment, progress will be slowish. I do agree it's one of the strongest options out there. I've read criticisms stating the F class doesn't add much to the M/C, but I think that's not a good comparison. An F/M/C should be compared to and played as Fighter/Casters. And with their divine buffing, arcane buffing + arcane buff protections, and warrior Thac0, APR, etc they are very powerful. Ineza's first incarnation had no trouble with BG or SoD (and only fell because I didn't understand what was going on after I messed up the Ashatiel duel). In fact for a player of your calibre, F/M/C might be too easy?
In fact for a player of your calibre, F/M/C might be too easy?
I'm actually switching to easier runs because they're less stressful, though I'm also starting to swear off certain exploits like the basilisk XP loop and even Algernon's Cloak in general, which will make things a bit tougher at certain points.
Also, my FMC is playing with a party to make the run move faster.
While a F/M/C is super flexible, and has many options for dealing with problems, I agree with Grond0 - at least for a solo F/M/C, losing the top level spells and slower leveling might not be worth the 3 classes in the long run. The other thing, as @Grond0 mentions, a F/M is already very powerful, they hardly need any other options. @Alesia_BH did a F/M and was commenting during the run the class is just too easy to make progress, and sure enough she got a trilogy success with it solo and on SCS. She had so many options she was using the Black Blade of Disaster for STYLE, not that she thought it was optimum or necessary.
In fact for a player of your calibre, F/M/C might be too easy?
I'm actually switching to easier runs because they're less stressful, though I'm also starting to swear off certain exploits like the basilisk XP loop and even Algernon's Cloak in general, which will make things a bit tougher at certain points.
Also, my FMC is playing with a party to make the run move faster.
Happy to hear it. I may be in absolute minority here, but I prefer reading about runs that stay "within the rules" so to speak. While the Basilisk XP loop is technically legal as far as the game goes, it seems clear that it goes against what the game designers intended.
Will you be going through SoD, SoA and ToB with a party as well? I ask as I exclusively play full party runs, and it would be quite interesting to see how you deal with some of the more troublesome encounters when not having the level advantage a solo character brings (read: I may want to copy your tactics).
In other news, Hubblepot remains alive. I've made a small bit of progress but want to get further before posting a first update, for which I should have time during the weekend. I've missed SoA... here's hoping I'll be staying for a while.
@aldain: I'll be using a party the whole time. Some folks think that a high-level solo character is stronger than six normal character, but solo characters are categorically weaker than parties except for a single point in the game: when solo mages, druids, and Barbarians hit 3 million XP and get a power spike that quickly tapers off.
I doubt you're in the minority about runs that stay "within the rules." Exploits are fun, but they get less interesting as time goes on, and most people prefer to read about runs that use tactics that they themselves would be willing to use. I'm actually going to avoid using AI exploits against Davaeorn and Sarevok, and I won't be recharging wands, either. The unfortunate thing is that my install probably allows a new Slayer exploit (Greater Shield of Lathander should let me stay in Slayer form indefinitely, and Ascension buffs the Slayer form), but I'll probably avoid that one, too.
As for my tactics, this is basically my plan for BG1:
1. Kill basilisks as a solo FMC. 2. Grab Baeloth from the Larswood since he starts at level 6 with Haste and Fireball. 3. Grab Tenya (mod-introduced NPC), who can cast multiple mephit damage spells, three of which can stun and two of which are area-effect. That will give me lots of crowd-control options and disablers as well as a strong cleric. 4. Smash the Nashkel mines with Fireball and Tenya's Boiling Rainstorm and get Xan. 5. Tackle the bandit camp with help from disposable characters Minsc and Dynaheir. 6. Grab Coran and torch the Cloakwood with damage spells. 7. Grab Yeslick for his Dispel Magic spell, which in my install is a guaranteed dispel regardless of level.
I've got Item Randomizer, which will thwart certain equipment options, but by the time we get Yeslick, we'll be in good enough condition to handle everything else in the run. Yeslick can render all mages completely vulnerable, Tenya can disable people, Xan and Baeloth and the FMC can use wands, Coran can use Arrows of Dispelling, and we have enough melee and ranged power and tanking options to withstand pressure.
I thought it was about time to have another go with the Crew - I think that was the first party of all one character type I created, though I've tried a number of others since. They've been through BG1 a few times, but never tried SoD so that will be a potential goal this time. They're operating in an SCS installation.
The characters have been reimported into a v2.5 save to ensure there are no problems switching between games. As part of that I've also adjusted starting proficiencies a bit and made sure they're all legal in the current installation (the original save was created when starting with more than 2 stars in a proficiency was allowed).
Most creatures struggle against a fusillade of missiles and the Crew quickly cleared Gorion's grave area and the Crossroads - Al taking the belt from the ogre to provide some protection against missiles.
In Beregost they picked up their first magic weapon - taking the Stupifier from the Burning Wizard. That's no longer the powerhouse it was in early BGEE versions, but still worth having - even if none of the Crew have mace proficiency. They also grabbed the +1 bastard sword from the smithy and took their criminal mindset one step further by removing a cloak from Algernon's body.
At this stage most of the Crew had no armor, so it was nice of the Flaming Fist south of Beregost to donate 3 suits of plate mail. Continuing south towards Nashkel they cleared another area, but were still each short of their first thousand XP. They aimed to change that though when they went west to the Lake area. Given the availability of a party I decided to play fair(ish) with Drizzt. Vito used an oil of speed to attack him after the gnolls were dead and ran away each time he was targeted with spells (to ensure he wouldn't be meleed if charmed or entangled). Surprisingly, even Drizzt's dispel magic proved ineffective. Once Drizzt was out of spells, Vito dragged him round in a circle while the others shot at him. Drizzt got one attack in when he had appeared to be out of range, but that was his lot.
The rest of the area was soon cleared, including using an opening volley of shots to kill the mage.
Heading north, the Crew earned their 3rd level by giving a bowl back to Tenya - though they didn't take that until after teaching her why you shouldn't accept gifts from strangers.
Moving on to Ulgoth's Beard, their reputation continued to nose-dive down to 3 after an encounter with Dushai. That meant that bounty hunters were likely to be on the prowl in populated areas, so they took a trip to the Lighthouse to help Ardrouine before getting a lift to Nashkel with Brage.
Despite meaning the Crew would have no healing for quite a while, I was happy to accept LMD as a first Bhaal power. The ankheg armor was also picked up - meaning everyone was now in splint or above.
At Firewine Bridge Bentan was charmed and died in combat with kobolds (leaving his PfM scroll behind). Meilum was shot down for his bracers - and his +1 sword means everyone now has some form of magical melee weapon available.
Deciding to do something about their lack of healing, the Crew went to the FAI. Tarnesh survived a round of missiles and managed to get a sleep spell off - Al dragged that away so he would be the only one targeted (and saved anyway). I didn't expect Tarnesh to survive long enough to try another spell, but it was disappointing that a nearby guard stole the XP for that.
Inside the inn the Crew purchased Buckley's Buckler - as they all have constitution of 19 that means any of them can activate regeneration by equipping it.
On the way to the basilisk area, some more quick XP was gained by charming the sirines at the Beregost temple and dragging them outside for disposal. Rather than follow Korax round and risk allowing one of the Crew to get in sight range of a basilisk (which with SCS would make them an instant target), Al used the green scroll and soloed the monsters - everyone gaining a level in the process.
Korax was recruited to help with Mutamin. He failed to paralyze him quickly, but did distract the basilisks while the Crew shot down Mutamin - Al saving against a charm person there.
Baerin was charmed and pulled away before a general attack on Kirian killed her before she could buff. Peter managed an unholy blight, but that was it from the last 2.
Everyone now had plate armor or better.
With the +1 arrows taken from Baerin, Al shot the golems at High Hedge before trying (and failing) to restore Melicamp. Annoyed by that the Crew took their frustrations out on Firebead after securing his scroll case.
They then used some of the cash earned to date to finance a second suit of ankheg armor.
At the Lighthouse they shot down the sirines. No protections were used, but no-one was charmed or poisoned.
That took everyone to level 5 and an excellent set of HP rolls ensured everyone is well above average at this stage.
Hey guys, I'm happy I found this awesome thread. Some very cool runs in here.
I've started to play the game again, I used to ask my questions in the Solo LoB+SCS thread (as most of my attempts have been LoB+SCS). So I've decided to try a monk, likely vanilla (if the LoB save bonus doesn't apply then stunning blow should be pretty good to start with). Anyway, usually my first stop after talking to Marl and firebead, is Shaol. She used to be easily kitable with some patience, but nowadays she has beguiling aura and misplacement, as well as summoning a water elemental. Now, I'm wondering if this change is something to do with 2.5 rather than SCS because with my previous SCS installs (talking about a year ago) she never had those abilities, also her AC seems to be much lower than what it used to be....
I tried reinstalling with improved sirienes and dryads off but she still had those abilities... anyone know if its part of a mod?
@billy_pilgrim : ''beguiling aura and misplacement, as well as summoning a water elemental'' are supposed to be from from aTweaks, not from SCS:
Nereid Ability Scores: STR 9, DEX 17, CON 12, INT 12, WIS 12, CHA 18 Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Base Armor Class: 10 Movement: 12 Hit Dice: 4 (32 hp) Base THAC0: 17 Attacks per Round: 0 Base Damage: None On-hit effects: None Special Defenses: Extraplanar Traits; Beguiling Aura (always active); Displacement (always active) Resistances: Magic 50% Saving Throws: 13/15/14/16/16 XP Value: 975 Special abilities: Drowning Kiss (at will), Summon Water Weird (1x/day), Venom Spit (at will)
Do you have those installed? I'm not familiar with EE, but I don't think developers implemented those abilities in base EE games.
Yep, I used EET install tool (It's really great) and I selected several options from aTweaks, I'll have to go through them again! Thanks a lot, its nice that it doesn't compromise the SCS part of the challenge.
Despite my intention of pushing Gisli through SoA and ToB on a reload basis, I've found myself getting distracted by new character ideas. This was partly because I've felt somewhat "creatively" limited by my mid-level-bard tactical avenues. Don't get me wrong, I'm confident that there's immense capability in the class, it's just that it became a little repetitive at one point (and I wasn't willing to wait for more levels).
With Gisli out of the picture, I'm pleased to introduce you to my new friend - Saoirse, a thief/illusionist. Being a cheerful roguey-mage, she may play and feel slightly similar to the bard, but at the same time there should be enough special flavour to make this entertaining.
Even though I'm not overly concerned about high rolls, she's enjoying probably the highest overall score of all my characters ever entered into the no-reload challenge. Unnecessary, but yay!
Saoirse's rocking short swords and short bows for starters. Initial thieving points are invested into OL and HiS/MS and her spell picks are Blindness (looking forward to utilize the specialist penalty), Shield and Find Familiar.
Early "highlights" of the run include the unlocking of Potion of Clarity at Winthorp's, collecting Ring of Protection +1 and Girdle of Piercing at the Crossroads map and acquiring Ring of Wizardry, PoI (courtesy of Jaheira) and Potion of Genius (temple purchase) at the Friendly Arm Inn. Tarnesh, the woe of desperate low-level adventurers with sleep deprivation, is deftly avoided under the cover of darkness.
Not even 23 INT was sufficient to scribe certain non-illusion spells purchased from Thalantyr's pawn shop on the first take. Saorise ends up broke after having to trade her Ring of Protection for additional copies of Strength, Resist Fear and Pro Petrification. The fact that we'll miss out on Minor Spell Deflection until Baldur's Gate is even more unfortunate. Well, to quote a famous wizard (definitely not Thalantyr - as you may see later) - "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Obtaining Boots of Stealth and earning a brand new Ring of Protection from Miriane lifts our spirits and we celebrate the good fortune with Saorise's first backstab.
Zargal withstands Wand of Sleep assault but otherwise is helpless against Blindness. The Whistling Sword is ours.
After a short tour around Nashkel with Barge, Saoirse makes a star appearance at the carnival with Melicamp, whereby the talking chicken overshadows even such staple acts as Amazing Oopah. After that we drop him at Thalantyr's to get antichickenated and move on to Mutamin's Gardens. And the wizard quote of the year award goes to...
Working in pair with Korax, Saoirse clears the basilisks under Pro Petrification. Still vulnerable to Sleep, she lurks in the shadows while Korax deals with Mutamin himself.
There came a moment of carelessness in front of Kirian when Saoirse had to delve deep into her pack for a Potion of Magic Blocking (I wanted to preserve the Potion of Clarity, as its relative value to us is higher due to not overriding any buffs).
What happened was that I did let Korax go frenzy on the party while keeping Saoirse invisible. Upon his death, my greed forced me to collect his loot (approximately 32 GP) via the quick-loot bar. Because old habits die hard. Now Saoirse's invisibility was broken and she had to pay for my stupidity with a high-value potion. 32 GP...
Nevermind, we retreat to Gullykin leaving Kirian and her crooks behind and fix our appetite with Meilum. With style.
Saorise then goes on a beauty parade to the areas south of Nashkel that usually generate decent amount wealth and reputation. Being an Illusionist, Hold Person is currently the only viable L3 spell that we could get our hands on. And we put it to a good use.
Backstabs, Strength, MIs, Blindness and Spook complete our arsenal.
Drizzt and his gnoll adversaries create a good opportunity to salvage some randomly dropped scrolls but we're not particularly lucky this time.
With our pockets full, we proceed to Ulgoth's Beard to complement our gear (Cloak of Displacement, Greenstone Amulet) and spell selection. Malision its not scribed despite Potion of Genius, but at least we've got Improved Invisibility and Emotion waiting for us at L4.
Having raided Durlag's Tower for WIS tome (recovered with Greenstone Amulet) and rooftop basilisks, Pirate Cove for CON tome and loot, Saoirse purchases the Claw of Kazgaroth and Pro Undead scroll at High Hedge and sets out to meet Mulahey.
Note: I've realized that Find Traps (including removing them) does not break Invisibility. Until now, I always thought that this was a feature of Sanctuary only.
Mulahey is taken down by a combination of a backstab + Blindness + Wand of Fire while running Pro Undead, Ghost Armor, Strength, MIs, Pro Evil and Greenstone Amulet.
We loot the tombs and report our findings to the mayor. Nimbul is completely avoided and Saoirse enjoys a well earned nap at the carnival instead. We pay another visit to Thalantyr to plunder his remaining stock of potions and green protection scrolls, as well as to spend our hard earned money on the Robe of the Good Archmagi. Back at Beregost, Tranzig kindly shows us the location of the bandit camp, where lies our next destination.
Saoirse hitchhikes a ride to the camp with Raiken and prepares for the tent fight with 100% fire resistance (scroll + potion), Oil of Speed, Ghost Armor (I forgot to complete the Silke encounter and we've no Potions of Defense at this point), Shield, Strength, MIs, Pro Evil and Greenstone Amulet. According to our estimates, this should be a rather straightforward encounter.
With no darts proficiency (I've picked single weapon style instead) for Darts of Stunning, Saoirse opens with a backstab on Venkt. He stays in the game and fires his own MIs.
Our initial move is quickly followed by a Fireball cast from Saoirse's spellbook (you may note the difference in damage as compared to Wand of Fire charges).
Venkt's MIs did not save him from our Magic Missile in the second round. Tell him to run Shield when facing mages next time.
Britik quaffs his strength potion but is outmaneuvered and blinded.
Raemon falls to a causal swing with our Whistling Sword.
Backstab on Britik closes the encounter.
Saoirse's off to Cloakwood, suspecting some assassin ambushes en route.
Apologies for such high-level coverage of the run so far - Saorise's been doing rather good lately and I'm trying to catch up with her progress.
Looking to upgrade everyone to a proficient magical melee weapon, the Crew tracked down Arghain to get Al a +1 2-handed sword. Getting a hammer from Bassilus was potentially slightly trickier, but other than using sanctuary to heal himself he caused no trouble after Vito saved against an initial domination.
That just left Mad Dog in need of an axe and, though it goes against my principles to buy something so expensive, I decided to splash out on the one at Feldepost's inn.
With decent melee weapons and with Vito using ankheg armor, the +1 shield from killing Bjornin's half-ogres and the Golden Girdle, the battle horrors at Durlag's Tower were helpless and the walls were soon cleared.
Inside, the SCS ghasts can be a problem for a solo player, but they lasted only moments against a full party attack. Riggilo survived long enough to use one invisibility potion, but missed with his backstab.
I picked up the tome, but left the remainder of the Tower for now.
The Crew spent a while clearing the southern areas. The fight with Narcillicus demonstrated once more the problem for solo mages against general attacks - his stoneskin bought him a round to cast, but the minor globe that was used for was useless against the missiles heading his way.
To avoid the need for a lot of micro-management of movement Vito tanked his way through the Gnoll Stronghold. Their proficiencies give them a critical hit with a 19, which meant Vito took quite a bit of damage there, but a rest soon put him right.
In the next area the Crew failed to save Laurel from a gibberling horde, but shortly afterwards were able to take their 6th level.
The Doomsayer then completed work in the areas south of Firewine Bridge.
Seeking more of a challenge the Crew went to Ulcaster where they disposed of Icharyd before lightning could do much damage.
Inside the ruins the Wolf of Ulcaster was the most dangerous encounter they've yet done - fortunately though no-one was scared by its howl and they were able to finish it off without any casualties.
Gullykin was no problem, but they took their lives in their hands once more by returning to Firewine Bridge. Vito was tasked with drawing out most of Kahrk's spells and nearly died as a result when a Melf's Acid Arrow continued on for an unexpected 5th round - fortunately there was only minimum damage on that one.
Even after his attacking spells were gone Kahrk still had a permanent haste, multiple stoneskins and required criticals to hit. However, he still found it pretty hard to hit the Crew while they ran him round in circles and eventually the criticals mounted up - phew.
You might notice in the screenshot the 2 badly damaged characters are not attacking. That's because, when using SCS, intelligent enemies will pick on weaker characters (including those badly damaged).
After resting up, Vito used potions of fire protection and absorption to lead the way through the traps of the Firewine Ruins. Lendarn came to find them as they neared the end of the maze and was badly damaged by their opening attack, but was saved by a scripted improved invisibility. After waiting for that to expire Bugsy went to find him and was hit by an acid arrow minor sequencer - but used his own version of acid arrows to more than repay the debt.
After killing a few more enemies the ogre mage came to see what was happening, but failed to manage anything more than a mirror image before being shot down.
That's everything south of Beregost done, apart from the Nashkel Mine.
Nervously, the Crew moved on to Shoal's area - the nervousness was due to the years of training that approaching Shoal too closely resulted in death. In v2.5 I understand that's no longer the case, but I didn't know whether there was a dialogue route that gave you a chance at the helmet without causing death - clearly this one didn't work and Vito became the first casualty of the run.
Al, as the only other one of the Crew with reasonable charisma, went to persuade Shoal to bring Vito back to life.
Droth had no joy with 2 attempted charm person spells before the Crew attempted to kill Shoal as she left - but her statement that she wouldn't spend another second here was all too accurate.
Though missing out on the easy XP from Shoal was annoying, there was still a decent haul from the rest of the area - including another lot of sirines.
Carrying on with their program of area clearance they went to the Red Wizard area. Vito's free action was handy against the SCS spiders and web traps there.
For the Red Wizards themselves, the Crew got greedy by trying to kill several in an initial attack - and failed to get any. They retreated to the map edge and waited to see who came after them. Diana was the first to arrive and she managed to charm Vito despite him successfully saving.
Vito didn't attack his companions though and Diana had to use a potion of invisibility to escape the missile storm. She tried that tactic once more, but none of her companions came in to support her and she failed to survive when attacking again.
Moving forward the Crew then found Lasala and shot her down within a couple of seconds. On attacking Denak, he disappeared and used stoneskin, which seemed to be a trigger for Brendan to appear with a magic missile minor sequencer.
That's not the killing tactic against fighters it is for some classes, but was still painful enough to potentially make Carlo vulnerable against a spell attack from Denak. Therefore, after killing Brendan, the Crew retreated to the edge of the map and rested to allow Carlo to regenerate. Coming back again Denak did indeed demonstrate another magic missile sequencer, but he was always on the defensive after that.
At Larswood the Crew fought a couple of druids. Vito took advantage there of the slow speed of an insect plague to keep that inactive until the fight was over.
I don't typically go to that area, but the Robe of the Archmagi that Baeloth wears would be a significant temptation for some possible parties (it's marked as stolen though, so most shopkeeper's won't take it - Erdane at Durlag's Tower will though).
Surprisingly there were no Black Talons found in Larswood, though several groups of those did do a fair amount of damage in Peldvale.
There was a bit of an XP injection from smacking down a bunch of ankhegs - and a nice cash bonus as well from selling all their shells. In v2.5 Taerom will pay separately for each separate stack (even in the same character inventory), so you should make sure you separate any auto-stacked shells before talking to him.
With all non-TotSC content complete apart from the main quest, it was time to visit the Nashkel Mine. A mis-click meant I missed out on the opportunity to return a dagger there, but the hordes of kobolds were no problem for a party of fighters and not much damage had been taken by the time the kobold shaman was shot down without completing his horror spell.
After resting in the cave, Mulahey also failed to complete a spell.
In Nashkel Nimbul's defenses kept him going for a couple of rounds, but he never managed an attacking spell.
In Beregost a single blow broke Tranzig's morale, so I'm not sure he could justifiably claim he went down with a fight.
However, the Bandit Camp will be next, where stiffer resistance will be expected.
Cloakwood is the party's next destination, but Gilyn wants some thievery potions first. He used one, his last one at the bandit camp. Rumors of adventurers and tradespeople drawn to Durlag's Tower make the party travel there to look for potions. On their way though, they have a confrontation with some Calishite slavers with three captive elven girls and six guards (Xan's BG1 NPC Project quest). The companions are completely unbuffed when they are teleported into a very rough spot.
Mass fireballing the enemy is not an option as it would kill the elven slaves, but retreating from six marksmen would likely result in death for Xan. The party comes up with a compromise. Gilyn retreats immediately to set snares from out of sight. The others go for offense first: a wand scorcher from Xan and potions of firebreath from Kivan and Branwen, and then a retreat. Not a good move. While the companions do injure most of their enemies, the latter strike back hard.
Xan falls to a single critical acid arrow from one of the slavers, and the other slavers surprise Kivan and Branwen with darts of stunning. Soon Gilyn finds himself alone and outnumbered. He still has one ally though: the night. Patiently he slays all the slavers, their guards and some stray tasloi using snares and backstabs.
He takes his companions' gear, thanks to a previosuly purchased bag of holding with room for 30 items, to the FAI and gets them revived by Gellana.
At the inn, Gilyn has a talk with Dorn. If there's one thing the experience with the slavers teaches Gilyn, it's the fact that his company is in dire need of emergency invisibility potions, and Dorn's recruitment quest provides just that. In spite of Xan's fireballing of some bandits and Branwen's Hold Person affecting both Senjak and Dorothea, Dorn falls to additional hobgoblins' arrows.
But at least Gilyn gets to pocket three invisibility potions. Durlag's tower is reached and Gilyn meets a fence who sells him some master thievery potions, finally...
In Cloakwood the companions slay a group of tasloi and, thanks largely to Gilyn's traps, three violent druids. This makes Xan, Branwen and Kivan reach the 32k XP benchmark; Gilyn is already at about 40k XP. They keep a low profile in spider territory, lucky as they are not to be attacked upon arrival by teleporting phase spiders. Gilyn disarms a couple of web traps, offering his companions safe passage to safer lands. They kill a few huge spiders but run past five ettercaps. Deeper in the forest, Gilyn & co become friends with a community of Shadow Druids once they learn of their shared vendetta against the Iron Throne. Laskal hands Gilyn a potion of invulnerability and Faldorn the Avenger, one of the Shadow Druids' agents, even decides to join the crew. Faldorn leads the party of (now) five to the Iron Throne base in the Cloakwood mines. They avoid further confrontation on their way there, an aggressive hamadryad being the only exception.
At the mines a violent welcome from a party of mercenaries led by the warrior Drasus awaits the companions. Gilyn fails to charm the fighter with Algernon's cloak, but Branwen's pre-cast skeletons, and Kivan's and Gilyn's arrows do him in anyway. This is Gilyn's well-timed arrow interrupting Drasus' enraging.
Xan fares better with his attempt at charming the opposition, he lands a Dire Charm on Genthore, who then becomes the target of the wizards Kysus en Rezdan's spells until the latter charms him back in two attempts.
Summons remain hostile to him though, and finish him. Kysus Dimension Doors to the unbuffed party but he doesn't wreak the havoc he's normally capable of, partly due of course to some of his spells being wasted already on Genthore. A fireball injures Branwen and Kivan, Branwen also suffers a Melf's Acid Arrow, and the previously summoned monsters follow Kysus in battle, but that's pretty much it. Branwen's Chaos of Battle special ability gives the party some nice combat buffs and everyone focuses fire on the mage. Kivan finishes him with an acid arrow. Rezdan shows up as well, but like his colleague he's not capable of much. He does get to Spook Xan and later Kivan but both manage to stay out of harm's way while panicked.
Three rests allow the companions to navigate the mines invisibly, and leaves Xan capable of casting Inivisibility on the sixth and final member of the party, the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric Yeslick, who was enslaved along with many more miners by the Iron Throne. Rather than occupying themselves with underlings and giving up their invisibility, they seek out the master of the mine, Davaeorn. Gilyn fails to detect one of many of Davaeorn's traps, a glyph of warding trap, and triggers it but saves against its effect. The party waits a bit for Davaeorn to get boxed in by his own guards and for his MGoI to expire before Xan uses wand of fire scorchers to deal with two free-roaming battle horrors, and Gilyn the necklace of missiles to fireball Davaeorn and his aides from a safe distance. Once the aides are gone and Davaeorn walks free again, Branwen's skeletons are sent in one at a time to maximize enemy spell wasting. Although a fireball injures Gilyn somewhat (he's equipped with the ring of fire protection) before he can run off and although Faldorn's Web fails to hold Davaeorn (saves too low or undroppable ring of free action), the wizard has no answer to the party's salvo of missiles and magic attacks. It's a Chromatic Orb by Faldorn that does the fatal bit of damage.
The company loot the lair, return to clear and plunder the previous level (leaving the ogre mage but fireballing Natasha), and then flood the mine. The slaves are rescued.
On the way back to civilization some Wyverns are slain for Keldath's bounty, and the Spider area is cleared as well for the XP and some nice loot. Edit: the archdruid expresses his approval of the party's work by rewarding them with a very nice shield that's perfect for Branwen:
I had never had this due normally not bothering with Faldorn.
I can't ever remember having a party in the city of Baldur's Gate whose members have circa 35 to 45k each, but that's where Gilyn and his avengers of the Iron Throne are now.
Yay! Blackraven is back! And everyone else is still here. This would be like a reunion were it not for the notable absence of one certain someone... Oh! That's right: I'm writing and that means I'm here. And if I'm here I can't be notably absent. So it is a reunion! Skiddly-diddly!
I haven't been following the threads -and I barely remember how to play at this point- but I thought I'd chime in on the F/M/C discussion. Many, many moons ago, on the old, old Bioware forums, I soloed a F/M/C in an Improved Anvil setup. It was my first IA run and, nonetheless, my character, Alena, breezed through, leading me to abandon the run on account of excessive ease. Setting aside a tragi-comic death to a random spawn vanilla hobgoblin crew (which was clearly my fault, not Alena's...) it would have been a SoA no reload- kinda cool for a first run in a goofy, stupid mod world. Cool, but not exactly surprising: Alena was so spoiled for defensive options, she was like a tank, inside of a tank, inside of a nuclear submarine, inside of a time warp that brought her back to the days of bows and arrows. She was really hard to kill.
Ah, but the IA world is capless. True, true! And that of course was instrumental to her success. Fighter HLAs and cleric buffs and mid-level mage spells and Improved Alacrity is a pretty insane combination. It would, I believe, also be attainable in SCS using the HLAs as special abilities tweak. Could be good- assuming the tweak works the way my rusty brain that never used it thinks it would.
Absent the tweak, I suspect that a F/M/C would be powerful, but, well, weird. It would require some rethinking. And rethinking can become more, not less, challenging when there is a lot of raw material to work with. It would, I suspect, be a sculpture's class: you'd have a massive lump of clay in front of you, and if you had some vision as to what that clay could become, you could make something pretty awesome. If not you'd end up with a pile of mud.
Anyhoo, don't listen to me. I'm totally not an expect anymore (and Alena, sitting here next to me, alluding to the hobgoblins, just pointedly reminded me that I never really was one...). All I'm here to say is that it would be fun to watch a F/M/C run. In fact, it would be fun to watch a few. I can't think of a build that has been less throughly explored.
Comments
How much do you need in Find Traps for BG1? I had 40 and was planning on bumping it up to 60, but I hadn't gotten the next level just yet.
And is the Modron Heart not useless in the final fight? Big B and summons are lawful evil devils, and the Modron heart only gives bonuses against chaotic creatures. Condolences @semiticgod. Durlag's Tower's lower levels pretty much require 100 in Find Traps, but I assume you lost your character on one of the upper levels. Exploring the lower levels with 40 in FT is suicidal if you don't know what you're doing. My Bounty Hunter managed to do clear the upper levels with 70 in FT, but I think from memory 60 (or 40 + 20 from a potion of perception) is enough.
Fellow no-reloader @Dyara shared an extremely useful BG1 traps guide covering all the BG1 traps and what they do. With it even a non-thief could solo Durlag's Tower though you'd need quite a lot of potions or arcane protections.
@Blackraven Glad to see you back in the game. Regarding Belhifet, I've only killed him with solo characters three times, but I've used different approaches throughout - while killing the summons is totally valid if you have a high damage output, it is equally as viable to kite the entire horde of foes while shooting Belhifet from time to time (especially good if your character is a well-protected slinger using bullets of darkness, because you do need some damage to counter big B's regeneration). You just have to make sure to be protected against everything the enemies can throw at you from range (fire, lightning, mind-affecting stuff including fear, hold and charm (clarity potions are plentiful in SoD, but remove fear + chaotic commands or magic shielding will do the job as well), poison is also helpful... I might be forgetting something), get your thac0 as low as possible and run like hell (with boots of speed + oil of speed). If you're unfamiliar with the map, take care not to get stuck in the corners (they are somehwat deceptive, you can't walk everywhere). Having a way to get rid of Belhifet's invisibility is also helpful.
I've now started a new game. After the at times very stressful SCS/Ascension experience, I did return to my vanilla install for now for, but I already have plans for another SCS run. Meanwhile, a solo success and the meatgrinder challenge continue to elude me, and since I don't like to repeat failed attempts right away, it's once again time to go for the meatgrinder challenge. My party is decent (not as good as my first two attempts, but better than my third), and I will propably introduce them later today.
Warning there are deadly traps upstairs if you are not immune to charm.
Using those potions would probably have kept you alive until you levelled up.
Addendum: If your dexterity is not 18+ there is also a potion of agility available.
After picking up Gorion's possessions I headed for High Head and after killing some gnolls headed southwards where I saved Mellicamp from a wolf and subsequently got him back into shape. This increased both my reputation and my level.
I then killed some ogrillon which gained me a ring of protection.
Heading south I met another half-orc by the name of Uguth. Even he found my orcish heritage disturbing.
Upon reaching Nashkel I came across some decent armour and also met Oublek who was grateful that I didn't appropriate Greywolf's reward. This boosted my reputation once more.
After picking up a ring of protection from fire, I took Samuel to the FAI. Sadly this didn't boost my reputation. Neither did returning a ring to Joia.
Whilst there, I was able to kill Tarnesh.
Taking a tome to Firebead did however boost my reputation as did returning an amulet to the Colquetle family.
Blinding Karlat with sunscorch gave me time to do business with Tulbor and Perdue. However it didn't last long enough for me to finish Karlat off.
That will have to wait.
The two items where equipped with the help from the helmet of O.A as you have guessed, and the helmet removed with remove curse from Mizhena as you have guessed. I killed the Demon Knight to use the said items (I know BG1 way better than SoD, so I didnt mind the risk in fighting the Demon knight, because the rusk was taken in an area and against an opponent I knew well).
The Mordron Heart was a mistake. Plain and simple - my admittance is on display in the Adv. Lounge for No reloaders. I should have used the medal of valor.
1st report
The Tranzig involved with the bandits proves indeed to be the very same man who had petrified Branwen. With her skeletons and her spiritual hammer (for lack of any physical weapon), and with the help of Gilyn she makes him pay the ultimate price for his crime. Gilyn's heroics and charisma lead the priestess to developing feelings for the elf.
The three then visit the High Hedge to deliver a vial of poison to Thalantyr. On the way there they run into another elf: Kivan, Archer ranger of Shilmista. Like Xan, Branwen and Gilyn, he too has business with the mysterious organization behind the iron crisis and the bandit plague. An ogrish bandit by the name of Tazok has tortured him and slain his wife. Kivan joins. This sets an inconveniently strict time limit on the party of just 7 days for invading the bandit camp, lest Kivan leaves the party for good. (I'm glad I looked this up after he joined.) Seven days means no time to work on rep, or to visit the gnoll stronghold to finally pick up those gauntlets of dexterity. Gilyn tries to get Teven to lead the party to the camp, but Kivan refuses to play along. Having approached Teven's band alone, Gilyn has to fear for his life as he retreats from his attackers.
On the way to Peldvale the party is waylaid by a bounty hunter named Molkar and three men of his. The companions, underequipped and unprepared for battle, flee the scene, and manage to locate the bandit camp through Raiken. Tazok shows up and Kivan attacks. Gilyn, impressed by the size of the bulky warrior retreats to place some snares should things go south. Admittedly Kivan makes a pincushion out of his racial enemy, but when Tazok applies an oil of speed, the party does indeed fall back. Another reason to do so, is the probability that other bandits will join their commander in battle, so making sure there's a good escape route is a matter of prudence. The combination of Kivan's arrows and Gilyn's snares does Tazok in and the party make a swift retreat.
On their way out of the Wood of Sharp Teeth the companions are taken by surprise by a second company of bounty hunters, led by one Lamalha. As with Molkar and his men, discretion is considered the better part of valor, so some XP and nice loot is sacrificed for another day of life.
It marks the dawning of a new, more pleasant phase for the companions. Disengaging from the iron/bandit intrigue for a while, there is time for bonding and for exploration of the Sword Coast. It's a fruitful time in other ways as well. The companions defeat the likes of Greywolf (snares), Kirian & Co (snares, ranged attacks, backstabs), Vax and Zal (snares, stabs), Krumm and Caldo (Xan's charms), and Bassilus (Algernon's cloak, slain by own aerial servant). Gilyn develops a bit of a habit of taking out ranged foes with attacks from the shadows.
Before long the companions, friends now, and lovers in the case of Gilyn and Branwen, feel ready for a second incursion into the bandit camp. Upon approaching the camp they are spotted by a bandit who calls for the alarm to be sounded. The party retreats and reapproaches under invisibility. (Xan has three level 2 spell casts, so with a rest, the entire party can become invisible.) By the entrance to the main tent they find the new or ad interim commanders of the organization. Upon closer inspection the organization seems to be a cobbled together bunch: gnolls, Black Talons, Chill hobgoblins... The invisible companions buff right in front of them. (Shield from amulet, MI, PfE for Xan; Chant for Branwen; potions of heroism and invulnerability for Kivan. Basically all they have.) A concerted attack with a wand of fire scorcher by Xan and the necklace of missiles swapped around by Kivan, Branwen and Gilyn wipes out the organization's leadership.
Then I layer on Chaotic Commands to block Hold Person, Remove/Resist Fear or a Potion of Clarity to block fear effects, and finally buff with stat-boosting options and so forth, as well as Potions of Magic Shielding if I'm worried about the damage from Cornugons' Absorb Health spells, since they're the only source of magic damage resistance in BG1 and SoD.
As I recall histamiini went with a FMC in LoB + ScS + Acsension challenge - and did very well. He did a comparison of the various multis in this post
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/948407/#Comment_948407
If my memory serves me, Histamiini managed to deal with Belhifet with the enchant weapon and Mortys morningstar combo. Flails is in general a solid choice - throughout the whole saga.
In all I think - as Grond0 - its very much doable. And would like to see someone of your skill and flair for the in-game mechanics giving it a try.
In fact for a player of your calibre, F/M/C might be too easy?
Also, my FMC is playing with a party to make the run move faster.
Will you be going through SoD, SoA and ToB with a party as well? I ask as I exclusively play full party runs, and it would be quite interesting to see how you deal with some of the more troublesome encounters when not having the level advantage a solo character brings (read: I may want to copy your tactics).
In other news, Hubblepot remains alive. I've made a small bit of progress but want to get further before posting a first update, for which I should have time during the weekend.
I've missed SoA... here's hoping I'll be staying for a while.
I doubt you're in the minority about runs that stay "within the rules." Exploits are fun, but they get less interesting as time goes on, and most people prefer to read about runs that use tactics that they themselves would be willing to use. I'm actually going to avoid using AI exploits against Davaeorn and Sarevok, and I won't be recharging wands, either. The unfortunate thing is that my install probably allows a new Slayer exploit (Greater Shield of Lathander should let me stay in Slayer form indefinitely, and Ascension buffs the Slayer form), but I'll probably avoid that one, too.
As for my tactics, this is basically my plan for BG1:
1. Kill basilisks as a solo FMC.
2. Grab Baeloth from the Larswood since he starts at level 6 with Haste and Fireball.
3. Grab Tenya (mod-introduced NPC), who can cast multiple mephit damage spells, three of which can stun and two of which are area-effect. That will give me lots of crowd-control options and disablers as well as a strong cleric.
4. Smash the Nashkel mines with Fireball and Tenya's Boiling Rainstorm and get Xan.
5. Tackle the bandit camp with help from disposable characters Minsc and Dynaheir.
6. Grab Coran and torch the Cloakwood with damage spells.
7. Grab Yeslick for his Dispel Magic spell, which in my install is a guaranteed dispel regardless of level.
I've got Item Randomizer, which will thwart certain equipment options, but by the time we get Yeslick, we'll be in good enough condition to handle everything else in the run. Yeslick can render all mages completely vulnerable, Tenya can disable people, Xan and Baeloth and the FMC can use wands, Coran can use Arrows of Dispelling, and we have enough melee and ranged power and tanking options to withstand pressure.
I tried to remove the curse on the werewolf at High Hedge but was unsuccessful. I will return later.
Ithen helped Rufie and killed Vax and Zal before heading east where I killed Caldo and Krumm.
This led to my rep rising to 15.
Rescued 'Drienne's cat and raised rep to 16, level to 4.
Real life adventure means that this will be put on hold for a fortnight.
I thought it was about time to have another go with the Crew - I think that was the first party of all one character type I created, though I've tried a number of others since. They've been through BG1 a few times, but never tried SoD so that will be a potential goal this time. They're operating in an SCS installation.
The characters have been reimported into a v2.5 save to ensure there are no problems switching between games. As part of that I've also adjusted starting proficiencies a bit and made sure they're all legal in the current installation (the original save was created when starting with more than 2 stars in a proficiency was allowed).
Most creatures struggle against a fusillade of missiles and the Crew quickly cleared Gorion's grave area and the Crossroads - Al taking the belt from the ogre to provide some protection against missiles.
In Beregost they picked up their first magic weapon - taking the Stupifier from the Burning Wizard. That's no longer the powerhouse it was in early BGEE versions, but still worth having - even if none of the Crew have mace proficiency. They also grabbed the +1 bastard sword from the smithy and took their criminal mindset one step further by removing a cloak from Algernon's body.
At this stage most of the Crew had no armor, so it was nice of the Flaming Fist south of Beregost to donate 3 suits of plate mail. Continuing south towards Nashkel they cleared another area, but were still each short of their first thousand XP. They aimed to change that though when they went west to the Lake area. Given the availability of a party I decided to play fair(ish) with Drizzt. Vito used an oil of speed to attack him after the gnolls were dead and ran away each time he was targeted with spells (to ensure he wouldn't be meleed if charmed or entangled). Surprisingly, even Drizzt's dispel magic proved ineffective. Once Drizzt was out of spells, Vito dragged him round in a circle while the others shot at him. Drizzt got one attack in when he had appeared to be out of range, but that was his lot.
The rest of the area was soon cleared, including using an opening volley of shots to kill the mage.
Vito - L2, 28 HPs, 14 kills, 0 deaths, ** scimitar / ** darts
Baby Face - L2, 24 HPs, 17 kills, 0 deaths, ** long sword / ** crossbow
Mad Dog - L2, 30 HPs, 11 kills, 0 deaths, ** axe / ** dual wielding
Carlo - L2, 29 HPs, 25 kills, 0 deaths, ** flail / ** sling
Bugsy - L2, 29 HPs, 17 kills, 0 deaths, ** hammer / ** shortbow
Al (PC) - L2, 29 HPs, 20 kills ** 2-handed sword / ** longbow
Previous updates:
Heading north, the Crew earned their 3rd level by giving a bowl back to Tenya - though they didn't take that until after teaching her why you shouldn't accept gifts from strangers.
Despite meaning the Crew would have no healing for quite a while, I was happy to accept LMD as a first Bhaal power. The ankheg armor was also picked up - meaning everyone was now in splint or above.
At Firewine Bridge Bentan was charmed and died in combat with kobolds (leaving his PfM scroll behind). Meilum was shot down for his bracers - and his +1 sword means everyone now has some form of magical melee weapon available.
Deciding to do something about their lack of healing, the Crew went to the FAI. Tarnesh survived a round of missiles and managed to get a sleep spell off - Al dragged that away so he would be the only one targeted (and saved anyway). I didn't expect Tarnesh to survive long enough to try another spell, but it was disappointing that a nearby guard stole the XP for that.
On the way to the basilisk area, some more quick XP was gained by charming the sirines at the Beregost temple and dragging them outside for disposal. Rather than follow Korax round and risk allowing one of the Crew to get in sight range of a basilisk (which with SCS would make them an instant target), Al used the green scroll and soloed the monsters - everyone gaining a level in the process.
With the +1 arrows taken from Baerin, Al shot the golems at High Hedge before trying (and failing) to restore Melicamp. Annoyed by that the Crew took their frustrations out on Firebead after securing his scroll case.
At the Lighthouse they shot down the sirines. No protections were used, but no-one was charmed or poisoned.
Vito - L5, 70 HPs, 46 kills, 0 deaths, *** scimitar / ** darts
Baby Face - L5, 61 HPs, 44 kills, 0 deaths, *** long sword / ** crossbow
Mad Dog - L5, 68 HPs, 36 kills, 0 deaths, *** axe / ** dual wielding
Carlo - L5, 69 HPs, 61 kills, 0 deaths, *** flail / ** sling
Bugsy - L5, 71 HPs, 41 kills, 0 deaths, *** hammer / ** shortbow
Al (PC) - L5, 64 HPs, 71 kills *** 2-handed sword / ** longbow
I've started to play the game again, I used to ask my questions in the Solo LoB+SCS thread (as most of my attempts have been LoB+SCS). So I've decided to try a monk, likely vanilla (if the LoB save bonus doesn't apply then stunning blow should be pretty good to start with). Anyway, usually my first stop after talking to Marl and firebead, is Shaol. She used to be easily kitable with some patience, but nowadays she has beguiling aura and misplacement, as well as summoning a water elemental. Now, I'm wondering if this change is something to do with 2.5 rather than SCS because with my previous SCS installs (talking about a year ago) she never had those abilities, also her AC seems to be much lower than what it used to be....
I tried reinstalling with improved sirienes and dryads off but she still had those abilities... anyone know if its part of a mod?
Nereid
Ability Scores: STR 9, DEX 17, CON 12, INT 12, WIS 12, CHA 18
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Base Armor Class: 10
Movement: 12
Hit Dice: 4 (32 hp)
Base THAC0: 17
Attacks per Round: 0
Base Damage: None
On-hit effects: None
Special Defenses: Extraplanar Traits; Beguiling Aura (always active); Displacement (always active)
Resistances: Magic 50%
Saving Throws: 13/15/14/16/16
XP Value: 975
Special abilities: Drowning Kiss (at will), Summon Water Weird (1x/day), Venom Spit (at will)
Do you have those installed?
I'm not familiar with EE, but I don't think developers implemented those abilities in base EE games.
Despite my intention of pushing Gisli through SoA and ToB on a reload basis, I've found myself getting distracted by new character ideas. This was partly because I've felt somewhat "creatively" limited by my mid-level-bard tactical avenues. Don't get me wrong, I'm confident that there's immense capability in the class, it's just that it became a little repetitive at one point (and I wasn't willing to wait for more levels).
With Gisli out of the picture, I'm pleased to introduce you to my new friend - Saoirse, a thief/illusionist. Being a cheerful roguey-mage, she may play and feel slightly similar to the bard, but at the same time there should be enough special flavour to make this entertaining.
Even though I'm not overly concerned about high rolls, she's enjoying probably the highest overall score of all my characters ever entered into the no-reload challenge. Unnecessary, but yay!
Saoirse's rocking short swords and short bows for starters. Initial thieving points are invested into OL and HiS/MS and her spell picks are Blindness (looking forward to utilize the specialist penalty), Shield and Find Familiar.
Early "highlights" of the run include the unlocking of Potion of Clarity at Winthorp's, collecting Ring of Protection +1 and Girdle of Piercing at the Crossroads map and acquiring Ring of Wizardry, PoI (courtesy of Jaheira) and Potion of Genius (temple purchase) at the Friendly Arm Inn. Tarnesh, the woe of desperate low-level adventurers with sleep deprivation, is deftly avoided under the cover of darkness.
Not even 23 INT was sufficient to scribe certain non-illusion spells purchased from Thalantyr's pawn shop on the first take. Saorise ends up broke after having to trade her Ring of Protection for additional copies of Strength, Resist Fear and Pro Petrification. The fact that we'll miss out on Minor Spell Deflection until Baldur's Gate is even more unfortunate. Well, to quote a famous wizard (definitely not Thalantyr - as you may see later) - "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Obtaining Boots of Stealth and earning a brand new Ring of Protection from Miriane lifts our spirits and we celebrate the good fortune with Saorise's first backstab.
Zargal withstands Wand of Sleep assault but otherwise is helpless against Blindness. The Whistling Sword is ours.
After a short tour around Nashkel with Barge, Saoirse makes a star appearance at the carnival with Melicamp, whereby the talking chicken overshadows even such staple acts as Amazing Oopah. After that we drop him at Thalantyr's to get antichickenated and move on to Mutamin's Gardens. And the wizard quote of the year award goes to...
Working in pair with Korax, Saoirse clears the basilisks under Pro Petrification. Still vulnerable to Sleep, she lurks in the shadows while Korax deals with Mutamin himself.
There came a moment of carelessness in front of Kirian when Saoirse had to delve deep into her pack for a Potion of Magic Blocking (I wanted to preserve the Potion of Clarity, as its relative value to us is higher due to not overriding any buffs).
What happened was that I did let Korax go frenzy on the party while keeping Saoirse invisible. Upon his death, my greed forced me to collect his loot (approximately 32 GP) via the quick-loot bar. Because old habits die hard. Now Saoirse's invisibility was broken and she had to pay for my stupidity with a high-value potion. 32 GP...
Nevermind, we retreat to Gullykin leaving Kirian and her crooks behind and fix our appetite with Meilum. With style.
Saorise then goes on a beauty parade to the areas south of Nashkel that usually generate decent amount wealth and reputation. Being an Illusionist, Hold Person is currently the only viable L3 spell that we could get our hands on. And we put it to a good use.
Backstabs, Strength, MIs, Blindness and Spook complete our arsenal.
Drizzt and his gnoll adversaries create a good opportunity to salvage some randomly dropped scrolls but we're not particularly lucky this time.
With our pockets full, we proceed to Ulgoth's Beard to complement our gear (Cloak of Displacement, Greenstone Amulet) and spell selection. Malision its not scribed despite Potion of Genius, but at least we've got Improved Invisibility and Emotion waiting for us at L4.
Coming up next, the Nashkel mines.
Regards,
B.
Having raided Durlag's Tower for WIS tome (recovered with Greenstone Amulet) and rooftop basilisks, Pirate Cove for CON tome and loot, Saoirse purchases the Claw of Kazgaroth and Pro Undead scroll at High Hedge and sets out to meet Mulahey.
Note: I've realized that Find Traps (including removing them) does not break Invisibility. Until now, I always thought that this was a feature of Sanctuary only.
Mulahey is taken down by a combination of a backstab + Blindness + Wand of Fire while running Pro Undead, Ghost Armor, Strength, MIs, Pro Evil and Greenstone Amulet.
We loot the tombs and report our findings to the mayor. Nimbul is completely avoided and Saoirse enjoys a well earned nap at the carnival instead. We pay another visit to Thalantyr to plunder his remaining stock of potions and green protection scrolls, as well as to spend our hard earned money on the Robe of the Good Archmagi. Back at Beregost, Tranzig kindly shows us the location of the bandit camp, where lies our next destination.
Saoirse hitchhikes a ride to the camp with Raiken and prepares for the tent fight with 100% fire resistance (scroll + potion), Oil of Speed, Ghost Armor (I forgot to complete the Silke encounter and we've no Potions of Defense at this point), Shield, Strength, MIs, Pro Evil and Greenstone Amulet. According to our estimates, this should be a rather straightforward encounter.
Our initial move is quickly followed by a Fireball cast from Saoirse's spellbook (you may note the difference in damage as compared to Wand of Fire charges).
Venkt's MIs did not save him from our Magic Missile in the second round. Tell him to run Shield when facing mages next time.
Britik quaffs his strength potion but is outmaneuvered and blinded.
Raemon falls to a causal swing with our Whistling Sword.
Backstab on Britik closes the encounter.
Saoirse's off to Cloakwood, suspecting some assassin ambushes en route.
Apologies for such high-level coverage of the run so far - Saorise's been doing rather good lately and I'm trying to catch up with her progress.
Regards,
B.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1020145/#Comment_1020145
Looking to upgrade everyone to a proficient magical melee weapon, the Crew tracked down Arghain to get Al a +1 2-handed sword. Getting a hammer from Bassilus was potentially slightly trickier, but other than using sanctuary to heal himself he caused no trouble after Vito saved against an initial domination.
With decent melee weapons and with Vito using ankheg armor, the +1 shield from killing Bjornin's half-ogres and the Golden Girdle, the battle horrors at Durlag's Tower were helpless and the walls were soon cleared.
The Crew spent a while clearing the southern areas. The fight with Narcillicus demonstrated once more the problem for solo mages against general attacks - his stoneskin bought him a round to cast, but the minor globe that was used for was useless against the missiles heading his way.
Seeking more of a challenge the Crew went to Ulcaster where they disposed of Icharyd before lightning could do much damage.
After resting up, Vito used potions of fire protection and absorption to lead the way through the traps of the Firewine Ruins. Lendarn came to find them as they neared the end of the maze and was badly damaged by their opening attack, but was saved by a scripted improved invisibility. After waiting for that to expire Bugsy went to find him and was hit by an acid arrow minor sequencer - but used his own version of acid arrows to more than repay the debt.
That's everything south of Beregost done, apart from the Nashkel Mine.
Vito - L6, 82 HPs, 241 kills, 0 deaths, **** scimitar / ** darts
Baby Face - L6, 76 HPs, 135 kills, 0 deaths, **** long sword / ** crossbow
Mad Dog - L6, 81 HPs, 143 kills, 0 deaths, **** axe / ** dual wielding
Carlo - L6, 79 HPs, 198 kills, 0 deaths, **** flail / ** sling
Bugsy - L6, 85 HPs, 140 kills, 0 deaths, **** hammer / ** shortbow
Al (PC) - L6, 77 HPs, 255 kills **** 2-handed sword / ** longbow
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1020145/#Comment_1020145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1020383/#Comment_1020383
Nervously, the Crew moved on to Shoal's area - the nervousness was due to the years of training that approaching Shoal too closely resulted in death. In v2.5 I understand that's no longer the case, but I didn't know whether there was a dialogue route that gave you a chance at the helmet without causing death - clearly this one didn't work and Vito became the first casualty of the run.
Though missing out on the easy XP from Shoal was annoying, there was still a decent haul from the rest of the area - including another lot of sirines.
At Larswood the Crew fought a couple of druids. Vito took advantage there of the slow speed of an insect plague to keep that inactive until the fight was over.
There was a bit of an XP injection from smacking down a bunch of ankhegs - and a nice cash bonus as well from selling all their shells. In v2.5 Taerom will pay separately for each separate stack (even in the same character inventory), so you should make sure you separate any auto-stacked shells before talking to him.
With all non-TotSC content complete apart from the main quest, it was time to visit the Nashkel Mine. A mis-click meant I missed out on the opportunity to return a dagger there, but the hordes of kobolds were no problem for a party of fighters and not much damage had been taken by the time the kobold shaman was shot down without completing his horror spell.
In Nashkel Nimbul's defenses kept him going for a couple of rounds, but he never managed an attacking spell.
Baby Face - L6, 76 HPs, 187 kills, 0 deaths, **** long sword / ** crossbow
Mad Dog - L6, 81 HPs, 184 kills, 0 deaths, **** axe / ** dual wielding
Carlo - L6, 79 HPs, 266 kills, 0 deaths, **** flail / ** sling
Bugsy - L6, 85 HPs, 203 kills, 0 deaths, **** hammer / ** shortbow
Al (PC) - L6, 77 HPs, 311 kills **** 2-handed sword / ** longbow
1st report
2nd report
Cloakwood is the party's next destination, but Gilyn wants some thievery potions first. He used one, his last one at the bandit camp. Rumors of adventurers and tradespeople drawn to Durlag's Tower make the party travel there to look for potions. On their way though, they have a confrontation with some Calishite slavers with three captive elven girls and six guards (Xan's BG1 NPC Project quest). The companions are completely unbuffed when they are teleported into a very rough spot.
At the inn, Gilyn has a talk with Dorn. If there's one thing the experience with the slavers teaches Gilyn, it's the fact that his company is in dire need of emergency invisibility potions, and Dorn's recruitment quest provides just that. In spite of Xan's fireballing of some bandits and Branwen's Hold Person affecting both Senjak and Dorothea, Dorn falls to additional hobgoblins' arrows.
In Cloakwood the companions slay a group of tasloi and, thanks largely to Gilyn's traps, three violent druids. This makes Xan, Branwen and Kivan reach the 32k XP benchmark; Gilyn is already at about 40k XP. They keep a low profile in spider territory, lucky as they are not to be attacked upon arrival by teleporting phase spiders. Gilyn disarms a couple of web traps, offering his companions safe passage to safer lands. They kill a few huge spiders but run past five ettercaps. Deeper in the forest, Gilyn & co become friends with a community of Shadow Druids once they learn of their shared vendetta against the Iron Throne. Laskal hands Gilyn a potion of invulnerability and Faldorn the Avenger, one of the Shadow Druids' agents, even decides to join the crew. Faldorn leads the party of (now) five to the Iron Throne base in the Cloakwood mines. They avoid further confrontation on their way there, an aggressive hamadryad being the only exception.
At the mines a violent welcome from a party of mercenaries led by the warrior Drasus awaits the companions. Gilyn fails to charm the fighter with Algernon's cloak, but Branwen's pre-cast skeletons, and Kivan's and Gilyn's arrows do him in anyway. This is Gilyn's well-timed arrow interrupting Drasus' enraging.
Three rests allow the companions to navigate the mines invisibly, and leaves Xan capable of casting Inivisibility on the sixth and final member of the party, the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric Yeslick, who was enslaved along with many more miners by the Iron Throne. Rather than occupying themselves with underlings and giving up their invisibility, they seek out the master of the mine, Davaeorn. Gilyn fails to detect one of many of Davaeorn's traps, a glyph of warding trap, and triggers it but saves against its effect.
The party waits a bit for Davaeorn to get boxed in by his own guards and for his MGoI to expire before Xan uses wand of fire scorchers to deal with two free-roaming battle horrors, and Gilyn the necklace of missiles to fireball Davaeorn and his aides from a safe distance. Once the aides are gone and Davaeorn walks free again, Branwen's skeletons are sent in one at a time to maximize enemy spell wasting. Although a fireball injures Gilyn somewhat (he's equipped with the ring of fire protection) before he can run off and although Faldorn's Web fails to hold Davaeorn (saves too low or undroppable ring of free action), the wizard has no answer to the party's salvo of missiles and magic attacks. It's a Chromatic Orb by Faldorn that does the fatal bit of damage.
On the way back to civilization some Wyverns are slain for Keldath's bounty, and the Spider area is cleared as well for the XP and some nice loot.
Edit: the archdruid expresses his approval of the party's work by rewarding them with a very nice shield that's perfect for Branwen:
I can't ever remember having a party in the city of Baldur's Gate whose members have circa 35 to 45k each, but that's where Gilyn and his avengers of the Iron Throne are now.
I haven't been following the threads -and I barely remember how to play at this point- but I thought I'd chime in on the F/M/C discussion. Many, many moons ago, on the old, old Bioware forums, I soloed a F/M/C in an Improved Anvil setup. It was my first IA run and, nonetheless, my character, Alena, breezed through, leading me to abandon the run on account of excessive ease. Setting aside a tragi-comic death to a random spawn vanilla hobgoblin crew (which was clearly my fault, not Alena's...) it would have been a SoA no reload- kinda cool for a first run in a goofy, stupid mod world. Cool, but not exactly surprising: Alena was so spoiled for defensive options, she was like a tank, inside of a tank, inside of a nuclear submarine, inside of a time warp that brought her back to the days of bows and arrows. She was really hard to kill.
Ah, but the IA world is capless. True, true! And that of course was instrumental to her success. Fighter HLAs and cleric buffs and mid-level mage spells and Improved Alacrity is a pretty insane combination. It would, I believe, also be attainable in SCS using the HLAs as special abilities tweak. Could be good- assuming the tweak works the way my rusty brain that never used it thinks it would.
Absent the tweak, I suspect that a F/M/C would be powerful, but, well, weird. It would require some rethinking. And rethinking can become more, not less, challenging when there is a lot of raw material to work with. It would, I suspect, be a sculpture's class: you'd have a massive lump of clay in front of you, and if you had some vision as to what that clay could become, you could make something pretty awesome. If not you'd end up with a pile of mud.
Anyhoo, don't listen to me. I'm totally not an expect anymore (and Alena, sitting here next to me, alluding to the hobgoblins, just pointedly reminded me that I never really was one...). All I'm here to say is that it would be fun to watch a F/M/C run. In fact, it would be fun to watch a few. I can't think of a build that has been less throughly explored.
Best,
A.
(Oops! I forgot: Hey there, hi there, everyone!)