Next up, the Coalition Camp invasion! This is a really, really sticky area for no-reload runs, since letting the enemies even approach the barrels to the south can result in a flood of virtually unstoppable enemies who will press south until they finally reach the barrels--which causes an instant game over. Confusion and fear spells are incredibly dangerous because they can send enemies wandering south. Web and Skull Trap spells are great if you know where to put them before each of the first three waves, but for non-mages, the best bet is Arrows of Dispelling and Arrows of Detonation.
The skeletons from the Coldhearth Lich can actually tank the trolls in the first invasion pretty well, but we still blast the enemy with Arrows of Detonation, obliterating them.
The friendly Wizard Slayers actually struggle against the enemy mages in the second fight due to the enemy's numerous pre-buffs, but Arrows of Dispelling can address that (and also cure any Wizard Slayers who fail saves against disablers). When Stoneskins go down, we switch to Arrows of Detonation for fast damage before the enemy can recover. Frisky Bits' Detect Illusions also robs the enemy of their Mirror Images.
Against the final wave, the paladins and clerics, we bring out our own warmages, though their disablers aren't nearly as effective against the enemy as our previous allies. To keep the enemy from overwhelming us, we switch to Arrows of Detonation and do not hold back at all.
It's more than enough to crush them, which is important, because a single-classed thief like Frisky Bits can't tank at all, and hiding behind invisibility just lets the enemy advance further south and get closer to that instant game over scenario.
The final wave occurs much farther north, and there's much less risk of the enemy approaching the barrels (previous versions of the game had immortal allies, making this fight unlosable, but I don't know if that's true for v2.5). We bomb the enemy with the Necklace of Missiles, remove the enemy's illusions during Shadowstep, and then follow up with Arrows of Dispelling and backstabs.
Victory! Finally, we set out for Dragonspear Castle. By killing Strunk, placing the Barrel of Bwoosh!, and poisoning the Crusaders' food and water, the siege is already decidedly in our favor. Having Arrows of Detonation only makes the siege even smoother. I need to drink some potions to survive missile fire, but that's a minor inconvenience.
Since we have no party, there is almost no disadvantage to accepting Ashatiel's challenge. I have plenty of Potions of Firebreath saved up, which go past all of her defenses.
On to Avernus! This area is rather tedious, since we have to backstab everything to death; we have no other forms of damage to use against them.
I decide not to answer Thrix's riddle. I think the chance of accidentally choosing the wrong dialog option, as extremely low as it is, is much higher than the chance of dying against another wave of demons. We don't need any new weapons, anyway; Aule's Staff has been our best mainstay since early BG1, and will be able to hit Belhifet just fine.
Here's Frisky Bits right before Belhifet.
As usual, I have the XP cap removed, but I'm avoiding leveling up until I make it into SoA.
Time to tackle Belhifet! I've been a little concerned about this fight because invisibility is a poor defense and Belhifet's subterranean AC and regeneration are a huge obstacle for a single-classed thief to handle. Backstabbing Belhifet is virtually impossible for a solo character; there's essentially no situation in which you could get him to turn around--and his massive HP pool would require lots of backstabs even if I did resort the myconid summoning spore, the Wand of Water Elemental Summoning, or the ankheg summoning amulet.
First order of business is removing Hephernaan. We manage to land a backstab and finish him off with Acid Arrows early on.
Notice Caelar immediately dying within the first few rounds of combat. Since she automatically joins the party if you have fewer than 6 party members, but otherwise acts as a non-party ally, it's considered normal to let her join the party in a solo run, though I prefer to let her act exclusively via AI to replicate the effects of having her as a non-party ally. However, she doesn't last long on difficulties above Normal, and she failed a save against Hephernaan's Command spell, which quickly spelled her doom.
In retrospect, I probably could have kept her afloat by spamming Greater Restoration scrolls on her. But since she nearly always dies very quickly in my games, I didn't consider the possibility.
We backstab the other demons and switch to kiting Belhifet with Void-Tipped Arrows. But our luck is absolutely abysmal, and we make low attack rolls again and again and again. It takes many arrows before we actually start landing hits.
We have to roll a 13 or higher to hit Belhifet. That's not bad, but it's unreliable enough that it's possible to miss over and over again. You need much better THAC0 to make your attacks truly reliable, and a single-classed thief can't get very strong THAC0.
A Potion of Power improves our THAC0, but we still only have about a 50% chance of landing a hit--and because Belhifet spams Improved Invisibility constantly (granting a -4 AC bonus!), we have to spend many seconds just waiting for Detect Illusions to trigger.
Those seconds really add up. If you have to spend half of every single round waiting for Detect Illusions to trigger (and the pillars can block it!), you're dealing half your normal damage, and Belhifet's 2 HP regeneration per round will let him win any slow-paced war of attrition.
Belhifet finally starts gating in demons. If he gates in too many, that really constricts our movement and impedes our damage output, and eventually they'll just box us in. However, this also gives us a new option: the abishais are vulnerable to +1 weapons and above, allowing us to nail them with Arrows of Detonation. The fire damage is useless, but the missile damage can strike Belhifet as an area-effect hit! Arrows of Detonation deal less damage than our other arrows, but they also require no attack roll.
This goes on for some time, but the process just isn't fast enough. I'm leery of engaging Belhifet in melee because he hits so incredibly hard and so incredibly fast (we're still working with thief-grade AC and HP; we cannot tank big critters), but the reality is, if we have to spend most of the time running away from Belhifet, the extra APR from arrows is largely useless to us.
Our THAC0 and damage are much better when using melee weapons. Invisibility grants +4 to hit, and our STR bonuses make our staff much stronger than our arrows. I try hit-and-fade tactics with Aule's Staff, and discover that, due to our strong speed factor, we can actually hit Belhifet before he can hit us, even though he has 3 APR when we only have 2!
We switch between using Arrows of Detonation on Belhifet's allies and Aule's Staff on Belhifet himself. Eventually, I realize that Arrows of Detonation are just too slow, and that we can put down Belhifet much faster if we rely on the staff instead, but there are still some situations where Arrows of Detonation are better--like when the enemies are conveniently bunched up together.
Eventually, Aule's Staff wins the day. Hit-and-fade tactics with melee weapons are much more practical than kiting with missile weapons; melee weapons deal more damage and Belhifet has extra missile damage resistance.
Siege of Dragonspear is over! We can now proceed to Shadows of Amn. But not all is well.
I neglected to get the Golden Pantaloons in BG1. Since this isn't an EET install, I can't go back and grab them. This means I can never get the Scorcher Ammunition in Throne of Bhaal.
I was counting on the damage output from the Scorcher Ammunition to get us through ToB and its many backstab-immune bosses. ToB is going to be much more challenging without it.
Midwinter: Silas, a servant & Lorekeeper of Ογημα, to posterity, presents greetings.
My reader will recall that I last adventured in the western Cloudpeaks (Dryad Falls). From there I returned to The Gnoll Stronghold that I’d been to back during Mirtul when Minsc asked me to rescue his witch Dynahier. But time was of the essence then, so I got in & got out. Time remains of the essence, but currently, I feel it prudent to take my time returning to Baldur’s Gate, so I bide my time exploring & adventuring.
Entering the Gnoll Stronghold from the east, it appears impregnable, & so it is from that direction & south. Cliffs rise up and meet the curtain walls there & to the west lies the Sea of Swords. An army with engines & the will for a protracted siege might be successful if they could simultaneously block the east, which is the only route of supply that I could see… there might also be a seaward avenue, but I chose not to explore the inside, preferring to move on to Bear River. The fortress has a large keep, surrounded by thick & massive curtain walls that anchor at the point where the westernmost Cloudpeaks meet the high cliffs of the Sea of Swords. A knight lord with a following of troops could be very powerful were he to cleanse this place & claim it.
For my part, the return was primarily to investigate the lover cliffs, where the Xvart servants of the Gnolls had been relegated for living quarters. You know you are low when Gnolls think you’re below them. It was underwhelming, as my followers primarily hacked through Xvarts, & later upon climbing back up to the stronghold itself, through three dozen or so Gnolls who’d re-inhabited the place – likely those that had been out on raids when I passed through earlier. The thing that stands out most from this adventure is the blistering Hammer winds swirling around the stronghold, both from the sea & the Cloudpeak range. There was a steady but light snow falling. We stayed in one of the Xvart caves one night, which protected us from the wind enough that I didn’t even care about the stench.
CAMPING IN THE XVART CAVES (FALDORN ON FIRST WATCH)
I went on to Bear River next, which lies due north of the Gnoll Stronghold. I was surprised that none of my retinue, including Imoen, knew the name Bear River. Or Dryad Falls, or Fire Leaf Forest for that matter. I knew of these places from my basic geography studies in Candlekeep. Bear river is in the western foothills of the Cloudpeaks, adjacent to the Sea of Swords. I studied Faerun thoroughly in my youth. It is so named for the Bear River that divides the area into two & there are two small peaks here, but it’s out of the mountains themselves. The Bear River has bridges on either end of area we adventured in, otherwise it would not be fordable.
KEY EVENT: (Ogre Berserker’s Rage) Ogre’s were everywhere here, & if they had time, they would go into a berserk rage. This made them very difficult opponents, even if Minsc was still providing my muscle up front – now it’s Branwen & Faldorn. Both found that a single Berserk Ogre could stop you in your tracks with one swing. On the east side of the river, near the lower bridge, I came upon three Ogres. I was unconcerned really – until we started fighting them. They were unaffected by my Command spell & barely singed by Neera’s Wand of Fire. And yet, I still had sense of security… until one of those things hit Faldorn w/a 2-Handed Sword. My first thought was, there’s no way I will be able to raise her after that. I was wrong about that, but she was dead in the moment. By the time I adjusted tactics on the last three of 17 Ogres I fought, I’d had to use a Raise Dead scroll on both Faldorn & Branwen. In one swing, those things can do a fantastic amount of damage. They are not to be underestimated.
TOUGH OGRE BERSERKER'S
I continue to watch Faldorn & Branwen’s relationship with interest. I thought sure one was going to kill the other until the first night I had us camp @ Bear River. I was praying to Ογημα when I looked up & noticed they were both drinking mead from the drinking horn Branwen carries in her supplies. They even seemed to be accepting each other’s deities, i.e., Σιλβανος & Τεμπους respectfully. Suddenly they seem to have found respect for one another, despite their differences.
I witnessed a Wild Surge by Neera first hand in one of the several Ogre Battles we had in Bear River. Ογημα must has been watching b/c it wasn’t fatal. Neera was supposed to be casting Web on three Ogre’s Khalid had scouted out, so that we could catch them by surprise & destroy them. When she uttered the final words of her spell, a bunch of gems flew from her hand instead of a web. Thankfully, one was a Pearl. The surge didn’t affect my strategy much, as I simply called on Faldorn to use Entangle & we finished the task.
Today we celebrate the Midwinter festival here in Nashkel.
HAVING A BLOOD WINE IN FRONT OF THE FIRE
“An idea outweighs anything made by mortal hands.”
Σιλας
@CharlestonianTemplar Somebody seems to want me to dredge up my limited knowledge of the Greek alphabet from the dim recesses of my memory. I was surprised to find that it is still there, but then I did have a minor refresher course by going to Rhodes this year. I was surprised by how much I still knew since the only Greek that I learned was in mathematics and physics classes 45 years ago. EDIT
My party in Severed Hand are looking for pieces of the Astrolabe. I think that some of them might be downstairs.
The party is ready to go looking but my wife is ready for bed... To sleep.
@CharlestonianTemplar Somebody seems to want me to dredge up my limited knowledge of the Greek alphabet from the dim recesses of my memory. I was surprised to find that it is still there, but then I did have a minor refresher course by going to Rhodes this year. I was surprised by how much I still knew since the only Greek that I learned was in mathematics and physics classes 45 years ago. EDIT
My party in Severed Hand are looking for pieces of the Astrolabe. I think that some of them might be downstairs.
The party is ready to go looking but my wife is ready for bed... To sleep.
Go to bed! As for the Greek, I just thought it looked cool when used to spell deity names - don't know where that came from but hey. I'm a seminary student so Greek is part of the deal, you know?
9 Alturiak 1369: Silas, a servant & Lorekeeper of Ογημα, to posterity, presents greetings.
My travels took me next to the Xvart Village due west of Nashkel. The snow was falling lightly, as it has been the last few days, but none was staying on the ground for more that a moment. The area contains a piece of the Cloudpeaks that juts out to the north that appears that it might have once been a volcano. The village itself is tucked inside its cone. To be honest, I would’ve just moved on through rather than hassle with them, but they attacked & 33 Xvarts & two Cave Bears died for their efforts. Aside from them, a rogue west of there tried to cheat me & he too died. That just gets under my skin.
Next, I went to the Archaeological Site which drops steeply from NE to SW toward the Sea of Swords. It also appears to have once had a volcano there and the ground is covered in loose gravel although there is some vegetation and quite a few trees closer to the sea. There was an intermittent cold rain falling. Here we found that Captain of the Nashkel Guard who had been the victim of a Cursed Berserker Sword. I felt taking him to Nashkel to receive the bounty would be my best bet, but after killing him, I was unsuccessful in getting paid. There were also many Gnolls hereabouts, including a unit led by a Gnoll Chieftain that contained Flinds, Elites, Veterans and Slashers.
KEY EVENT: (Battle at the Archaeological Site) We found the site for which this area is named. It was a dig @ the site of an ancient culture. For our part it wouldn’t have been interesting other than trying to learn who these people were from a knowledge enhancement standpoint. But I was pulled in when the of the leads, Charleston Nib, asked me to protect them so they could finish their work. But, just as soon as I accented, his partner approached me asking me to kill Charleston so that he could benefit financially from whatever they uncovered – which he expected to be of great value. He was paying better so I decided to play both ends against the middle. Unfortunately, the idol they finally uncovered from a sarcophagus was haunted by a Doomsayer. The thing gave us a difficult fight. Luckily it wasn’t very powerful offensively, but it took forever to wear him down & we spent scores of arrows, darts, stones & spells trying to destroy it, which I was finally able to do using Divine Wrath.
I WISH THIS THING WOULD JUST DIE!
SOME MUCH NEEDED DIVINE ASSISTANCE
I moved east to Fisherman’s Lake after the Archaeological Site. There are still some low peaks dotted around here also. The entire sits around a lake in the middle, appropriately named Fisherman’s Lake. A lot of humanoids inhabited this part of the Sword Coast including 27 Gnolls of various type, some Half-Ogres and a handful of Skeleton’s. I stumbled onto a battle between the Drow Drizzt Do’Urden and a heard of Gnolls. He asked for aid and I gave it. Curious to run in to him but I felt being in his debt was to my advantage – especially after watching him fight – blimey!
I decided to swing over to North Nashkel Road and cleared the black there. Not much of interest but I did kill four Vampiric Wolves.
“Knowledge is power and must be used with care”
Σιλας
Also, here's my WeiDU log for the Shadowdancer run.
BG1/SoD:
// 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]
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #60 // Weapon Animation Tweaks: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Icon Improvements: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Fix Boo's Squeak: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // Make Magic Shields Glow (plainab/grogerson): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #182 // Unique Containers -> Unique icons and names: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // Use Character Colors Instead of Item Colors -> For all shields and helmets: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #200 // Remove Blur Effect from Items, e.g. Cloack of Displacement: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1036 // Make Cloakwood Areas Available Before Completing the Bandit Camp -> All of Cloakwood Except the Mines: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Improved Multi-Player Kick-out Dialogues: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1075 // Send BioWare NPCs to an Inn (DavidW/Zed Nocear): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1090 // Exotic Item Pack: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Reveal City Maps When Entering Area: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1120 // Stores Sell Higher Stacks of Items: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1251 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Alora to Gullykin: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1252 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Eldoth to the Coast Way: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1253 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Quayle to the Nashkel Carnival: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1254 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Shar-Teel to North Nashkel Road: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1255 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Tiax to Beregost: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1256 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Viconia to South Beregost Road: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Change Experience Point Cap -> Remove Experience Cap: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Wear Multiple Protection Items -> P&P Restrictions: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // Cast Spells from Scrolls (and Other Items) at Character Level: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2410 // Druids Use 3E Alignment Restrictions: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3121 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Can Be Angry About Reputation but Never Leave (Salk): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3125 // Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3191 // Disable Non-Hostile Rest Spawns: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3310 // Start New Games with Party AI Turned Off: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3330 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4025 // Allow NPC pairs to separate: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Change Jaheira to Neutral Good: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4170 // Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge: v8
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1910 // Protection from Normal Missiles also blocks Arrows of Fire/Cold/Acid and similar projectiles without pluses: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2110 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Re-introduce potions of extra-healing: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly harder carrion crawlers: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Dark Side-based kobold upgrade: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity party: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v31
~BETTERENCHANTEDWEAPON/BETTERENCHANTEDWEAPON.TP2~ #0 #0 // Better Enchanted Weapon: 1.0
// Recently Uninstalled: ~KORAX_NPC/KORAX_NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // Korax NPC: 1.0
BG2/ToB
// 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]
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Ascension: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #103 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers by David Gaider: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1 // Tougher Abazigal: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2 // Tougher Demogorgon ( Original Bioware Design ): 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #3 // Tougher Gromnir: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #4 // Tougher Illasera: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #5 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #104 // Extended Epilogues for original Bioware NPCs by shawne: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #105 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs by shawne: 1.7.2
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #20 // Change Imoen's Avatar to Mage: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #60 // Weapon Animation Tweaks: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Icon Improvements: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Fix Boo's Squeak: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // Make Magic Shields Glow (plainab/grogerson): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #170 // Unique Icons: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #182 // Unique Containers -> Unique icons and names: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1020 // Alter HP Triggers for NPC Wounded Dialogues: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1030 // Reveal Wilderness Areas Before Chapter Six: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Improved Multi-Player Kick-out Dialogues: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1120 // Stores Sell Higher Stacks of Items: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1220 // Allow Cromwell to Upgrade Watcher's Keep Items: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1230 // Allow Cespenar to Use Cromwell Recipes: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Change Experience Point Cap -> Remove Experience Cap: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2140 // Expanded Dual-Class Options: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Wear Multiple Protection Items -> P&P Restrictions: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // Cast Spells from Scrolls (and Other Items) at Character Level: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2410 // Druids Use 3E Alignment Restrictions: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3121 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Can Be Angry About Reputation but Never Leave (Salk): v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3125 // Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3191 // Disable Non-Hostile Rest Spawns: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3310 // Start New Games with Party AI Turned Off: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3330 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Change Jaheira to Neutral Good: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // Cast Spells from Scrolls (and Other Items) at Character Level: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2240 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2410 // Druids Use 3E Alignment Restrictions: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2440 // Everyone Gets Bonus APR from Specialization: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3121 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Can Be Angry About Reputation but Never Leave (Salk): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3125 // Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3191 // Disable Non-Hostile Rest Spawns: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3310 // Start New Games with Party AI Turned Off: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3330 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Change Jaheira to Neutral Good: v8
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1910 // Protection from Normal Missiles also blocks Arrows of Fire/Cold/Acid and similar projectiles without pluses: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Allow Spellstrike to take down a Protection from Magic scroll: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2050 // Allow individual versions of Spell Immunity to be placed into Contingencies and Spell Triggers: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2070 // Blade Barrier and Globe of Blades only affect hostile creatures: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2080 // Cap damage done by Skull Trap at 12d6: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Make Power-Word: Blind single-target: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Make Minute Meteors into +2 weapons: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2110 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2140 // Slightly increase the power of Mantle, Improved Mantle, and Absolute Immunity: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // True Sight/True Seeing spells protect from magical blindness: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2180 // Prevent Simulacra and Projected Images from using magical items: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Change Carsomyr so that its Dispel on contact power grants a saving throw: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4180 // Make Freedom scrolls available earlier: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4216 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from certain areas -> Only remove nonmagical ammo from random containers: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v31
~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): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6024 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to spellcasters -> All eligible spellcasters in Throne of Bhaal and Shadows of Amn get HLAs (very challenging and not really recommended!): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends -> Fiends have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies -> Genies have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6530 // Smarter celestials -> Celestials have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons -> Dragons have a substantial hit point increase: v31
~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): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6561 // Smarter mind flayers -> Illithids have enhanced damage resistance; Illithids can see through invisibility (matches Tactics mod): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Give Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai SCS scripts and abilities: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Give Ascension demons SCS scripts and abilities: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8041 // Increase difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings -> Significantly increased difficulty: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix") -> Spirit trolls have the same powers as in the original game: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8081 // Improved Bodhi (Tactics Remix) -> Original Tactics Improved Bodhi with SCSII scripting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive (adapted from Quest Pack): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Prevent resting in the Illithid city: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Slightly Improved Drow -> Upgrade Ust Natha's defences: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Enhanced Sendai's Enclave: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v31
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #101 // Prevent skeletal and incorporeal undead from being affected by Illithids' Devour Brain attack: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #102 // Change Spiritual Hammer into a ranged force weapon: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #104 // PnP Color Spray: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #105 // PnP Dimension Door: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Magical arrows and bolts deal bonus damage equal to their enchantment level: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #115 // Allow Mages to scribe memorized spells onto scrolls -> Scrolls can be scribed everywhere: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Restore innate disease immunity to Paladins: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #125 // Rangers' Animal Empathy improves with experience: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #152 // PnP Fiends -> Mod-added fiends are also affected: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #155 // Further Revised Fiend Summoning: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #156 // Fiendish gating: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // PnP Undead: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #180 // PnP Mephits: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #185 // PnP Fey creatures: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #186 // Revised Call Woodland Beings spell: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // PnP Elementals: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #191 // Increase the Hit Dice of Elemental Princes: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #200 // Allow Breach to take down Stoneskin effects applied by items: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #201 // Instant casting for warrior innates: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #241 // Revised Bhaalpowers -> Only standardize the Bhaalpowers' casting time: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #218 // Regain Bhaalpowers in ToB: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #204 // Prevent Mislead clones from singing Bard songs: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #211 // Make Death Ward protect against Vorpal Hits: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #210 // Restore the Dispel Magic vulnerability to Nishruu and Hakeashars: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #213 // Expanded saving throw bonus tables for Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #216 // Bard songs break invisibility -> Only the Jester song breaks invisibility: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #301 // Change the appearance of Valygar's armor: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #302 // Change the appearance of the Robe of Vecna: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #310 // Distinctive creature coloring: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #315 // Distinctive creature soundsets: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #500 // Slightly expanded storage capacity for containers -> Use the recommended storage capacity value (999): v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for aTweaks content: v4.53
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // Fix Sunfire power levels: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #2 // Shield of Reflection works on SCS Flame Arrows: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #3 // Fix Smarter Abazigal: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #4 // Fix Smarter Irenicus at the Throne: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #5 // Remove entourage from Ascension Fallen Solars: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #100 // Check for and fix incorrect spell animations: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #400 // Prevent silent prebuffs: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #201 // Add spell school notifications to the combat log -> All spells with a casting time greater than 1: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #300 // Add expiration notifications for buffs: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #600 // Add expiration notifications for item buffs: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #500 // Reveal all hidden doors: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #700 // Allow Spell Shield to block Wish Breach and Mordenkainen's Disjunction: v2.5
~BETTERENCHANTEDWEAPON/BETTERENCHANTEDWEAPON.TP2~ #0 #0 // Better Enchanted Weapon: 1.0
~LILARCOR_NPC/LILARCOR_NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // Lilarcor NPC Mod: 1.0
~SHAPECHANGERKIT/SHAPECHANGERKIT.TP2~ #0 #0 // Shapechanger Kit: 1.0
It's a pretty standard maxed-out SCS+Ascension install, plus some nastier demons from ATweaks. Note that the "PnP restrictions" for multiple items of protection is that you can wear two Rings of Protection +1, but you only get the AC bonus from one. It works by letting you transform a ring from the normal version to a new one, which can be worn without restrictions but only grants the saving throw bonuses. It slightly expands your ability to improve your saving throws.
Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 174 (update 1) Tip (male dwarf barbarian, Grond0); Twute (male elf mage, Gate70) Previous run
Hope triumphed over experience once more as we rolled up a new random pairing. This duo looks a little squishy, but they have at least survived the first session - despite a few alarms .
In Candlekeep, Firebead refused to acknowledge that he'd taken the identify scroll and stiffed us for the 50 XP. Rightly annoyed, Twute tried to take his frustration out on Montaron, but discovered emotions are a poor basis for fighting.
After making his way to the Beregost temple, Tip noticed that the revived Twute knew protection from petrification and continued east to the basilisk area. That meant level ups were not long in coming.
A few of those and Tip had enough HPs to successfully mow down Mutamin, despite taking a couple of acid arrows in the process.
Kirian's gang were rendered defenceless by blindness and stinking cloud.
Back in Beregost, Silke was another victim of blindness, but Tip had trouble when trying to deal with Landrin's spiders. After being poisoned and seeing his HPs leak away he ran out of the house and called for Twute to follow quickly so that an area transition could cure him. The wily mage had noticed that the poison was wearing off though and didn't bother hurrying - just acting as a distraction to allow Tip to finish off the last chasing spider.
Nashkel provided a suit of ankheg armor - that neither character could use - but did also allow Tip to learn CLW. A few reputation tasks included taking Samuel back to the FAI before continuing north to find some ankhegs. Tip rather scorned those wimpy barbarians who used metal armor and only had the dubious protection of studded leather, which meant he was pretty vulnerable to ankheg attacks. However, he took fairly light damage killing the first few on the way to the treasure hoard - thanks partly to a bit of help from blindness.
The next couple after that though saw his HPs reducing to dangerous levels and, mindful of our last run having been ankheged, Tip actually chose to run away and fight another day (which happened to be against another ankheg near Tenya).
The next main target was the sirines, where Tip went into melee in the knowledge that his rage protected him from being charmed. As usual though it had not occurred to him that it didn't protect against being feebleminded.
Fortunately by the time the sirines turned to physical attacks 2 of them were dead and Twute was able to finish off the job.
Sil & co were attacked from range using stinking cloud and caused no trouble, but the golems in the cave did prove to be a problem. The second in particular found a potential opening as it reduced Tip's HPs to dangerous levels in a situation where I wasn't certain who would attack next. This time though Tip stayed to fight and did get the next attack.
Twute decided to share the risks around a bit by putting up mirrors and joining in the attack on the final golem, which once more put up a tough fight - but not quite tough enough.
The final fight of the session saw the Doomsayer demonstrate conclusively that Tip was no match for it in melee. However, it also proved that it was unable to catch Tip as he ran around and Twute delivered a long stream of magic missiles.
Brage then offered a lift to Nashkel and Oublek praised Tip's honesty - pushing reputation up to 20. That will probably mean a spot of shopping next time.
Coremage the human 13 mage/13 berserker (inactive)
Traveling with: Keldorn, Minsc, Jaheira, Anomen, Imoen
I am pleased to report Coremage defeated Firkraag and his minions. As for details:
* Minsc soloed the undead with help of protection from undead scroll. The rest of the party was waiting for him behind a closed door
* Golems were no problem
* Samia's party - made sure to buff Coremage to make sure no game-ending spells killed him. Had Anomen summon 4 skeleton warriors and then triggered the fight by the undead area. Battle went well and no deaths of the party
* Genies were soloed by Keldorn who had 127% fire resistance for this portion. We cowardly had the skeleton warriors who we still had from Samia's fight solo the Director beholder.
* The battle with Conster was quite quick. Lots of buffs on Coremage to make sure he didn't die from FoD.
* Not a lot of buffs for Firkraag, didn't even bother with fire resistance (though that was partly as Coremage had the fire resistance ring from the Illithid City). Did of course use resist fear and haste though, and lots of summons. The battle lasted for quite a while, but a well timed breach from Imoen allowed an aerial servant to smack Firkraag for 21 damage and kill him.
After reporting to Garren Windspear our success, we went to Cromwell and forged a few items: armor from Firkraag's and Thaxxy's scales, The Equalizer (not sure how much use will get from this, but if Keldorn ever dual-wields could be useful then). Was surprised that I couldn't forge the Gesen bow but then remembered - still haven't finished the skinner murder quest.
14 Alturiak 1369: Silas, a servant & Lorekeeper of Ογημα, to posterity, presents greetings.
I went next in Adoy’s Enclave NE of Nashkel in order to try to find something to help Neera with her wild magic. I’d never seen Goblins before & I’ve determined that they might be more annoying than Kobolds. These Goblins, I guess, had potions of Invisibility and that made them even more annoying – especially for Neera. She can cast a mean spell – most of the time – but she is frail & it doesn’t take much to really hurt her.
The enclave was set deep into a cavernous wilderness toward where Troll Mountains run perpendicular out of the Cloudpeaks. Very rocky, the road split northeast and northwest about half way through. To the northeast was a lone camp where a woodsman waited anxiously for a friend who would never return as we were later to learn. To the northwest the road ran through a Goblin camp up to a cave in the side of the mountain. After meeting the woodsman, Magreb, I went in search of his friend, Rilsa, who had apparently disappeared when she tried to talk with the Goblins about their harassing behavior. Hopefully this, in turn, would lead me to Adoy.
I led us through the Goblin camp to the cave, swatting Goblins along the route. Inside, I was a bit nervous, just because the damned Goblin’s kept popping up behind & back stabbing. As we continued to wade through them, I had Khalid & Imoen scouting ahead & looking for traps. They found Rilsa’s body & we shared the news of her demise with Magreb before returning to the cave.
KEY EVENT: Finding Adoy was simple enough, but just as we did, we were challenged by a Red Wizard. Adoy, disappeared (only to return later claiming a spell malfunctioned). Neera used her Wand of Monster Summoning & immediately tied him up dealing with them. My biggest worry was a second Red Wizard & two Bodyguards, who were after Neera. I wasn’t successful in protecting her & before it was over, I’d lost Faldorn too. I cast Animate Dead & tied up the second wizard with my Skeleton – who eventually obliterated him (never saw a skeleton do that). Eventually, the two bodyguards were beaten also & it became a matter of finishing their leader. He was still battling monsters from Neera’s wand & I positioned myself to use my Ring of Power while Khalid & Imoen turned their arrows solely on him. Branwen was swinging her Warhammer. I don’t know that he ever got a spell off. If he did, it wasn’t effective & he died there for his troubles.
MUCH TOUGHER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN
I returned us to Nashkel. After raising Faldorn & Neera, we enjoyed a meal & some mead. Neera & I are becoming closer.
“Hiding knowledge away from others is never a good thing.”
Σιλας
When encountering people/monsters in the game, is their reaction determined by my PCs charisma or the charisma of the NPC I send to communicate with them?
I normally use my NPC with the highest charisma to talk to people. But I wonder, does that matter at all?
@CharlestonianTemplar When talking to individuals, the person talking is the CHA that is being checked. However, when talking to shops, it doesn't matter who talks to the store, the check is on party leader. This is why when I have a low CHA party in BG 1, I will make Imoen (or another mage) leader and cast friends x1(x2 if needed) and talk to the store while that is the case. Of course I put her in the back once shopping is done.
In which Croll the Cruel and his team of criminals continue their heartless rampage across the Sword Coast.
After murdering a handful of mages trapped on the ice island, Croll managed to find Shandalar's cloak. Someone (presumably Shandalar) then teleported the Shaman and his crew back to Ulgoth's Beard. Angry (but also relieved), Croll almost rushed after the impudent mage to teach him a lesson. But he thought better of it, and decided not to take the risk (for now). Perhaps he will be able to take revenge in a more roundabout way...
Other denizens of the Sword Coast were not so lucky.
Taerom the blacksmith decided he'd rather not have Croll as a customer anymore, and called in the Flaming Fist. Beetles ate his corpse, and Croll recovered the 4,000 gold he had earlier spent on Ankheg Plate.
A young girl bravely approached Croll and notified him that a Flaming Fist Captain, Officer Vai, was looking for him. Croll did not respond well to the interruption.
Bad things happened to the bandits at their camp. They probably deserved it (unlike several small children and unlucky messengers the criminals encountered along the way to Larswood).
Croll encountered a hunter in the Cloakwood, fleeing some angry druids. Rather than take sides, he killed them all.
A young man was looking for his brother, deep in the Cloakwood. Neither of them made it home.
Croll decided not to flood the mines just yet. (It might be a good place to bury someone.) But he did take the time to sacrifice the slaves (and the cook) to his hungry spirits.
Visiting cities now invariably draws law enforcement. Baeloth is advising that the crew travel invisibly in order to prevent misunderstandings. But the spirits remain hungry...
So finally picking back up after a stint of schoolwork, League of Legends, and Warframe...
Still attempting a poverty run; I want to at least get to SoA before giving up with this squad. Party members are a Shapeshifter, a Priest of Helm, a Shaman, a Bounty Hunter, and two Sorcerers.
The beginning is stock-standard: Marl, spiders using Command and Shaman animals, over to the Basilisk area and pray I don't get ambushed, clear the south, clear the north, get the heck out of there with maxed out Set Traps on the Bounty Hunter.
From there, get a free 900 experience abusing the 100% set traps:
And then I usually do the Melicamp -> Zargal -> Basillus -> reward -> murder temple sequence; it's generally safe, with the two major problems being the two hobgoblin archers with Zargal and of course the Sirenes. So first, we clear a bunch of skeletons for a skull with Aelyn (the Shapeshifter) and Shamanic animals, and then Command makes the Wolf an easy target. A random Ghast is irritatingly difficult to put down, as it keeps Diseasing anything I send at it, and keeps swapping targets back to Aelyn. Fortunately, she avoids paralysis and a salvo of magic missiles I finally decide to use is enough to end its unlife.
Zargal and co: crits from Longbows are terrifying, so we pull them away one by one and draw them into melee with Aelyn and spirit animals. Command is used to finish the deal in most cases. We get Basillus to lose control of his undead army, and he fails his save against Hold Person for a convincing win.
Backtracking, we get a lucky 2000 bonus experience from the RNG:
And after a bit of resting shenanigans where Aelyn is almost 1-shot by a critical hit from a Worg (22 damage out of 27 HP), we finally get traps down, turn in the bounty, and turn the temple aggressive. Fleeing immediately gets one Sirene and Keldath to follow into the waiting arms of some loving traps.
The other Sirenes spells are wasted by dodging in and out of the temple, and eventually all the Sirenes end up outside, but on the eastern side while my party is on the western side. Aelyn travels through the temple to immediately engage them in melee while the others circle around from outside. Angala throws a Special Trap from out of range, and Aelyn only suffers one melee hit, which fortunately doesn't feeblemind her and force me to wait like 10 minutes before being able to save.
Plan is either clear the Friendly Arm Inn quests or head south to Nashkel: I really want level 5 on Aelyn and 4 on my spontaneous casters before progressing with anything serious. From there, it'll be possible to clear the upper levels of Durlag's Tower, netting at least one more level per person. The difficulty will be the swarm of ghasts, not surprisingly.
Summonless Solo: A Cleric/Ranger vs. Legacy of Bhaal, Part 1
In my previous playthrough of Legacy of Bhaal, I made the game too easy by summoning five Skeleton Warriors in each battle, which also get Legacy of Bhaal bonuses. Now I'm going to be playing the game with a character who is overpowered enough to stand a chance at beating the game in a no-reload without any summoned creatures.
My character is Lianna, a Priest of Lathander/Ranger for whom I got my second-best roll ever (though that's not too hard for a cleric/ranger).
Notable Mods: XP Cap Remover, IWD Divine Spells in BGEE and BG2EE, HLAs in BG1 (for characters who reach 3000000 experience like in TOB)
Rules: Legacy of Bhaal bonus experience is turned on. Cleric/Rangers get druid spells up to their maximum divine spell level. No summoning any creatures. I may add more rules later on.
Lianna also has her casting time reduced by 10. I added this not so much to make the game easier but because there were certain spells I figured would be fun to cast instantly for once. In the long run, this won't be as overpowered as the Robe of Vecna since Lianna cannot get Improved Alacrity.
Before leaving Candlekeep, Lianna gained a few levels by killing the cows in the keep. Cows don't fight back.
One annoying thing that remained an issue for some time was that Lianna's morningstars were constantly breaking. She broke multiple morningstars just killing the cows! By the time she got two magical weapons she could use, she had broken over ten morningstars.
After killing the three cows, Lianna reached level 3 as a cleric, earning her her first gamebreaking spell: Hold Person!
By the time Lianna had reached Nashkel, she had gotten access to 3rd level spells, allowing her to do this:
(One of this reasons I gave Lianna instant casting time was so she could do that.)
Yet Lianna was still really weak. Without paralyzing enemies, she could barely ever hit them. In an embarassing fight, Zordral almost killed her in melee combat after his spells were exhausted. Lianna couldn't hit him on a 19!
Lianna went to Gullykin to get her first Morningstar +1 from Drakar. However, he proved quite dangerous. At one point, he cast Rigid Thinking on Lianna, but she escaped through an area transition at the last moment.
Lianna came back and killed the group for the Morningstar +1. She went back to Beregost and got the Stupifier for her off-hand weapon.
Most of the next couple of chapters consisted of Lianna paralyzing enemies with Hold Person, Hold Undead, or Hold Animal, then whacking them to death and/or electrocuting them with Call Lightning and Static Charge.
I discovered that in the IWD Divine Spells in BGEE and BG2EE mod, Cloud of Pestilence is not evil-only. Cloud of Pestilence, which makes a cloud that blinds creatures and gives -3 Strength and Dexterity per round, is great because the ability score drain stacks. In the four rounds that it lasts, it can give a creature -12 Strength and Dexterity, which is enough to kill many creatures.
Unfortunately, if you kill a creature through ability score drain, the game doesn't count it as you killing the creature, so you get no experience. However, Lianna used this to her advantage, killing Algernon for his cloak with no reputation loss!
Even against creatures that are too strong and dexterous to be killed by Cloud of Pestilence, having an area-of-effect blindness spell is always useful.
Spike Growth is also great.
It's time to go on a rampage through the city of Baldur's Gate!
I decided to abuse the basilisk XP loop. Before reporting to Duke Eltan to begin Chapter 6, Lianna bought every Stone to Flesh scroll from the temples of Lathander, Garl Glittergold, Yondalla, Tymora, Gond, and both temples of Helm, for a total of 129 scrolls. She went to the basilisk area and got started, charming a Lesser Basilisk, having it petrify a Greater Basilisk, using a Stone to Flesh scroll on the petrified basilisk, and repeating the process. Each time the Greater Basilisk was petrified, it gave 30000 experience. This means Lianna got a total of 3870000 extra experience (!) from using the loop. She was now a level 20/17 cleric/ranger.
However, after Lianna had done a few more fights and was in the middle of Chapter 6, I decided that I had went too far with the XP loop. She was too powerful. So I saved and edited the save file, reducing Lianna's experience by 3000000, so that it was as if she had only used 29 scrolls in the XP loop. I reduced her level, HP, spell slots, HLAs, and things like that. After the nerf, she was a level 14/12 cleric ranger.
The rest of Chapter 6 went smoothly enough. For some reason, Deder actually followed Lianna into the exit cave.
Prat killed himself with his own lightning bolt.
On to Chapter 7. There were a few close calls in this chapter. Lianna fought the Zhentarim mages on the second floor of Sorcerous Sundries, but forgot to cast Remove Fear beforehand. One of the mages got her with Horror, but not before she had cast Insect Plague on all four of them.
The mages proceeded to waste most of their spells while under Insect Plague. By the time it ended, they only had a few Larloch's Minor Drain spells left, and Lianna survived until the Horror spell wore off.
In the Flaming Fist building, Lianna cast Free Action just before she would've gotten hit by Hold Person.
In the Ducal Palace fight, Lianna cast Nature's Beauty to blind the doppelgangers. It worked even better than I had hoped: several of the doppelgangers were killed instantly!
Before pursuing Sarevok, Lianna headed to Durlag's Tower to clear out the dungeon.
In the chess board fight, I abused another XP trick. I had the pawns come one by one to the other side of the board. Each pawn turned into a queen, and Lianna killed the queens for 22000 experience each. In total, Lianna got 264000 experience from the chess board fight.
After the chess board fight, I added two more rules: No wands, and no Durlag's Goblet. Lianna had not been relying on wands or Durlag's Goblet, so I figured it would be easy to ditch them.
Before fighting the Demon Knight, Lianna put all her buffs on and drank two Potions of Magic Protection for 100% Magic Resistance to protect against the Demon Knight's special Power Word, Kill spell (which deals a flat 60 damage, or 120 damage on the current difficulty). The Demon Knight wasted his Power Word, Stun and Power Word, Kill abilities on her, but then he hit her with Remove Magic, dispelling all her buffs. She had to leave the room, put some more buffs on, and come back. However, the Demon Knight had not used all of his abilities, and he blinded Lianna with Power Word, Blind. With the help of HLAs, Lianna beat the Demon Knight while blinded.
Lianna then returned to Ulgoth's Beard and plowed through the cultists to reach Aec'Letec. Before the fight, she used a Potion of Magic Shielding to automatically make all saves against Death Gaze. She started the fight by killing Tracea Carol, then she killed the six sacrificial cultists. Finally, she meleed Aec'Letec to death. Iron Skins helped a lot.
I'm not going to do the rest of the Tales of the Sword Coast content. Back to Sarevok!
Here is Lianna before the final battle:
To start off, Lianna rushed up to Sarevok and cast Nature's Beauty, instantly killing Angelo and blinding the others, including Sarevok.
Lianna then fought the blinded enemies one by one, starting with Semaj, then Tazok, then some battle horrors, and finally Sarevok. By the time she got to Sarevok, her Righteous Wrath of the Faithful had wore off and she was severely fatigued.
Also, it's too bad that Sarevok has high electricity resistance, because she would've gotten him good.
Even while blinded, Legacy of Bhaal Sarevok was more than a match for a fatigued Lianna, outlasting all of her Iron Skins spells. She had to use Critical Strike to hit him reliably. At last, she landed the finishing blow!
I beat the game! Next up is Siege of Dragonspear! I'm probably going to have to nerf Nature's Beauty, because no-save permanent area-of-effect blindness is insanely overpowered, and it'll be even more overpowered in Siege of Dragonspear, where enemies often fight the party in large groups.
Watcher's Keep final seal level offered several interesting encounters but I think my style of play in this run doesn't leave much room for epic battles. Basically I buff till the max before every encounter that allows me to and that I take seriously. (At this stage I'm taking more and more battles seriously.) I generally apply the same very wide range of pre-buffs for each of those battles. It means I'll often include superfluous buffs, but I prefer to err on the side of caution. After all I don't always know what to expect exactly and, from a RP perspective, neither does the party. I do tend to restrict buffing to self-buffing and AoE/party buffing. So no Chaotic Commands or Death Ward on Haer'dalis, Imoen, and Mazzy for example, except in some specific encounters. Against multiple enemies the party tends to operate as a single unit, i.e. rush one enemy, finish them off, move on to the next, etc. Anomen, Jaheira, Haer'dalis, and Amahoro are pretty much pure melee warriors. Imoen stays back most of the time, launching her Firetooth throwing dagger if she isn't removing protections. Mazzy alternates between ranged and melee. This has been quite effective so far.
Watcher's Keep's green dragon was overwhelmed and done in within a few rounds. Its SCS HP boost didn't make any difference. It dropped Foebane. Even a hive mother - elder orb - death tyrant trio (battled in that order) had no real answer to the party's firepower, though in their defense the elder orb did imprison Anomen.
Two time-stopping, planetar-summoning liches were soundly defeated as well. Time Stops can very well work against the wizards casting them. Here you can see the elemental lich timing its Time Stop so that its PfMW is expired just as time resumes.
And this screenshot shows the advantage of going overboard with pre-buffs: a dark planetar's Fire Storm is harmless as the party shreds the elemental lich.
The second lich was destroyed by Anomen's mace.
The Rilmani battle was next. I like the Rilmani (looked them up online, champions of true neutrality) but the following screenie shows them fighting for a lost cause. Note how every party member is at full health.
The party neutralized the mage first, then dealt with the others (as usual one at a time).
After that, the plan was to try and take on Azamantes, and then hit the gym to clear my head and fight Y'tossi et al. But then I opened the wrong portal, and had to fight Y'tossi, the hive mother, and various fiends anyway. Fortunately everyone had already fully buffed up for Azamantes. I kind of panicked, having vague but unpleasant memories of that battle. Also, there was still one Ferrumach Rilmani around, that the party had somehow missed. The party first attacked the hive mother: Amahoro, Anomen, Haer'dalis, and Jaheira in melee, and Imoen and Mazzy from range.
Haer'dalis then occupied the huntress alone. She was clearly a ranged character, so it made sense to have one of the party members melee her. Amahoro, Anomen, and Jaheira moved on to Y'tossi and then Xei Win Toh.
As you can see, Mazzy got somehow paralyzed, so she couldn't contribute as much as she would have liked. The party then joined Haer'dalis in battling the Huntress, followed by the ferrumach and a fallen deva summoned by Ameralis Zauviir that didn't put up much of a fight. Finally Nalmissra and Ameralis fell too, unable to cope with the pressure the party put on them.
The party got Angurvadal and Ixil's Nail for their efforts.
Interestingly, Azamantes gave the party more trouble, as he dispelled Imoen's, Mazzy's and Haer'dalis's buffs with a triple Remove sequencer.
Imoen and Haer'dalis distanced themselves, de-buffed Azamantes, and saw Mazzy finish the creature with her club.
Azamentes' aides were no threat despite their fire damage.
So I finally went to the gym and returned to take on Demogorgon with a clear mind, but even this demon prince fell surprisingly fast. Thanks to immediate debuffs by Haer'dalis and Imoen, the party managed to lock their enemy in combat. He didn't even manage to summon his fiendish servants. I was too hyped for good screenshots. This is the best I could do.
Intrigued by the absence of summoned fiends, I decided to replay the battle after this victory. This second time Demogorgon did manage to summon the other fiends, and Mazzy got injured and permanently slain by a Balor vorpal... Maybe the party had been lucky?
The above reports may make me look very confident to the point of being cocky. It almost reads like "We ran into a dragon and beat the crap out of it, and next we encountered a host of powerful demons that we sliced up, followed by a couple of demi-liches we utterly destroyed" etc...
But the truth is I don't feel confident at all. I don't know ToB very well, at least not from first hand experience. I'm genuinely surprised with how effective the party is in these epic fights. I still have difficulty imagining a successful no-reload run, but I no longer see it as out of the question for me. For you readers this may not be the most interesting of my playthroughs, but it would be dishonest of me to make my battle reports more spectacular than they are. This party is very clinical, and I wouldn't mind it if they could keep that up.
The party continued with the main plot, i.e. they took on Illasera. Amahoro engaged the fallen ranger with the Reflection Shield, until the latter went ethereal and - as would later turn out - ran off to the south. Illasera's disappearance allowed the party to deal with her reavers. Their mage managed to remove some of the companions' buffs but Haer'dalis and Imoen returned that favor. Amahoro dueled Illasera and prevailed.
In the pocket plane, Cespenar upgraded some weapons: Angurvadal +4 for Haer'dalis, Storm Star +5 for Anomen, and the Flail of Ages +4 for Amahoro.
During the first challenge, Sarevok, Bodhi, and Irenicus gave the party some difficulty, mainly because principal target Irenicus managed to stand strong against the party, even with Haer'dalis and Imoen's attempts at removing his protections. A Dragon's Breath and a Comet cast in a Time Stop injured Jaheira, whose druidic PfFire had expired.
Anomen wasted some time trying to 'turn' Bodhi, which caused him to suffer serious injuries as well, before he finished her with his mace of disruption.
Irenicus and Sarevok smelled wounded Anomen's blood. Watch them both attck him, Irenicus with energy discs.
The priest went invisible. Imoen and Haer'dalis finally removed Jon's protections and Amahoro finished him off. Haer'dalis (PfMW) and Amahoro (damage resistance) then meleed Sarevok, whose attacks the party had hitherto evaded by moving around.
The companions did all the little quests in Saradush. Imoen pilfered the Arcana Archives (100 pick pockets, plus all thieving skill boosters proved enough), and she did a final spell scribing session with Haer'dalis. The party sought to get into Gromnir's castle through the crypts, where Anomen turned many a vampire. Invisible and non-detectable Imoen removed all traps in Gromnir's prison. The half-orc's soldiers were no threat. Here's Imoen dealing with a mage on her own, and finishing her with the (non-proficient) Staff of the Magi.
And this is the party taking care of some more soldiers, with ADHWs helping out.
In Gromnir's room, the above-mentioned approach of having the party tackle enemies as a single unit worked out well enough again. Eler Had and his backstabs were neutralized first.
Karun the Black could pose a threat with a Time Stop and Improved Alacrity combo, but he failed to debuff any of the companions. When time resumed, numerous lightning bolts upset the party somewhat.
But Karun, a nameless battle mage, Halbazzer, and finally Gromnir were all overcome by the party's coordinated attacks.
Bard's gloves, white dragon scales, and Ice Star were among the prizes. Even though she barely uses stealth anymore and even though there are a few better armors around, Amahoro had Cespenar fashion the white dragon armor into her default armor. It just feels right for a ranger to be able to hide in shadows.
My party has after many rests reached Dorn's Deep. However they will have to stay there for a month as genuine real-life adventures await in India and Nepal. Games come a poor second to RL.
@CharlestonianTemplar said: Go to bed! As for the Greek, I just thought it looked cool when used to spell deity names - don't know where that came from but hey. I'm a seminary student so Greek is part of the deal, you know?[/quote]
Since India/Nepal are also Pantheistic, I thought that I would use Devangari Script for some names, but BG doesn't recognise the script. This forum does though. Here is David in Nepali/Hindi. दाऊद Pity that I can't use it in the game.
I'm running a solo unkitted fighter right now and I'm considering whether to reload. I just died in Hell to a Balor.
Here's the problem. In ATweaks, Balors have a 15% chance of landing a vorpal strike per hit.
There is no saving throw.
Magic resistance cannot block it.
The only way for a single-classed warrior to block it is to equip Hindo's Doom.
The upgraded form of Hindo's Doom.
Which requires Hindo's Hand.
Which you only get in Abazigal's lair.
Long after you already have to fight multiple Balors in Hell.
This means that, with ATweaks installed, it is impossible for any single-classed warrior to beat the game solo without relying entirely on luck to survive in Hell. The reality is that, sooner or later, the numerous gated demons will box you in, and it's simply not possible to kill them quickly enough to thin the herd. Their ability to teleport at will means you can't run away from them for more than a few moments. Eventually, you will be surrounded by ten or more demons.
Earlier, I noticed that mephits in ATweaks had a similar problem. Some mephit attacks and spells have a 50% chance of stunning the target for 6 seconds with no save. I nearly died early in SoA to the mephits before Rayic Gethras, which is when I discovered it. It seems that ATweaks has many examples of status effects and even instant death effects which many different character builds cannot block through any means whatsoever, unless they have some other mod-introduced item that will grant an immunity. In fact, the only item that I can think of that would have solved this problem would be the Staff of Zoltan (or whatever it's called), which is by far the most overpowered mod item in existence.
This vorpal effect makes it virtually impossible for the following characters to beat the game solo without relying on a mod-introduced item or blind luck:
If you don't remove the XP cap (which would let Death Ward be undispellable at a sufficiently high level), the following classes are also locked out:
Druid
Avenger
Totemic Druid
Shapeshifter
All Fighter/Druids
Cleric
Cleric of Lathander
Cleric of Helm
Cleric of Talos
Cleric of Tyr
Cleric of Tempus
All Fighter/Clerics
Any Thief->Cleric that dual-classes before level 24
There are plenty of mods that are especially difficult for certain classes, but I've never seen a mod component that so thoroughly broke the metagame for so many classes at the same time. The closest example is Ascension, which locks out single-classed druids, but you can get around that by installing a component that allows druids to equip the Shield of Reflection. Otherwise, only Wizard Slayers have to rely on luck.
Normally, this would be the end of the run for me, but the sheer, indefensible unreasonableness of ATweaks demons is making me consider uninstalling ATweaks and proceeding without. I already considered uninstalling ATweaks after the game crashed midway through the Hell fight, but I just barely decided against it before this happened. Thoughts?
At any rate, I have to strongly recommend that anyone considering a no-reload run never install ATweaks demons, elementals, or mephits. Even outside of these game-breaking no-save instant death effects and unstoppable disablers, I've long noticed that demons and elementals have an incredibly frustrating habit of constantly going invisible or ethereal, which artificially dragged out these encounters and completely took all the fun out of fighting them. That particular component is neither balanced nor fair nor fun.
@semiticgod I know @Alesia_BH would always fight any creature with maze or vorpal attacks from a distance. She would probably combine haste potion (or spell) + haste boots to get maximum distance from such creatures then say GWW the demons via Azuredge or some other powerful ranged weapon. If you can get some distance then summons might also buy you time.
So your question was basically you wanted to reload. I wouldn't reload myself, as it's not a bug exactly, just an extremely dangerous enemy. I wouldn't install ATweaks either though too. Perhaps you should only try to no-reload ATweaks with a party, and only solo with an installation without ATweaks.
@semiticgod, I've played quite a bit with aTweaks demons, elementals, and mephits, including in my current playthrough. For demons I currently have the option PnP Fiends -> Give aTweaks scripts to all fiends but do not alter statistics installed.
I'd like to note that aTweaks is not alone in providing challenges that require a measure of luck for many classes. SCS vampires with their CON drain and SCS illithids that teleport at will, can see through invisibility, and go invisible at will come to mind. Any character that can't cast PfMW has no way of protecting themselves. But at least those monsters need to hit the average Charname more than once whereas a balor can slay charname in a single blow. So I understand your issue with these aTweaks components.
On the other hand, I personally have never struggled to prevent my characters, even solo characters, from getting boxed in by teleporting fiends, by simply staying on the move and using ranged attacks. This is Norgath for example, keeping his distance in hell.
I see that @Corey_Russell just beat me with his answer, advising you to do the same thing.
@Corey_Russell: Maybe I won't continue. It feels compromised. But I don't think kiting is practical. I did have an Oil of Speed active on top of the Boots of Speed, and no summons available to a warrior would last more than a round, putting aside the problem of the 2 seconds I'd need to spend stuck in place to summon a new one.
@Blackraven: Did you have "Fiendish Gating" installed in Norgath's run? Because I see four teleporting demons in your screenshot, and I had eight.
This is what the fight looked like after 10 seconds of combat, not counting a Time Stop. This happened while I was running.
Shadowdancers excel in Shadows of Amn, appropriately enough. Only much later in the game does anything have an answer for invisibility, so we can backstab our way through much of the early game. No worries about ATweaks mephits here.
If I don't mention a given fight, you can assume that I just abused Hide in Plain Sight a billion times.
We buy the Ring of Air Control so we can reach subzero saving throws a little earlier, then proceed with the slaver quest, Pai'Na, and Suna Seni. I purchase the Blade of Roses +3, an underappreciated weapon that happens to be an excellent backstabbing weapon in addition to granting a +2 Charisma bonus that we can combine with the Nymph Cloak to decrease store prices.
Spamming backstabs lets us slowly cut through Stoneskins on mages like Prebek and Sanasha, but for Rayic Gethras, I decide to abuse the Fireball trap to bomb him into oblivion. First, though, I have to purchase two Potions of Fire Resistance and kill one of the mephits on the bottom floor to make them fly around, since one of them blocks the stairway if you don't get them to move.
Detect Illusions doesn't work against an enemy thief's stealth, so we have some difficulties with Mae'Var, as we can only reveal him when he's hidden via mage spells or Potions of Invisibility. I manage to get around the issue by torching him with a Potion of Firebreath, using the cleric as a target!
I arrive at the Temple Ruins with too much XP and end up with the lich spawns, forcing us to use a Protection from Undead scroll to avoid getting murdalized during a Time Stop. I hurry through the dungeon using an Oil of Speed before dropping the Shade Lord with the Staff of Striking.
I tried to go back inside to pick up an item, but ended up being forced to drink a Potion of Magic Shielding when a lich teleported over to me and risked disabling me with a fear aura (or destroying me with a Horrid Wilting Chain Contingency as I feared, but that didn't happen). I ran outside before a Comet spell hit.
I backstab the knights and the bandits at the Windspear Hills, but don't go any further (I just wanted to get rid of the dryad acorns). At Trademeet, I use the Nymph Cloak to charm Taquee and Khan Zahraa to petrify the two djinn inside. I feel quite proud of the tactic, since it let me avoid cutting through a bunch of Stoneskins, but I realize my mistake when Khan Zahraa's death prompts Taquee to vanish... taking the Efreeti Bottle with him.
A quick save proves that Taquee is not merely invisible; he actually left the map entirely.
I snatch Belm and the Bracers of Archery from the Druid Grove, then roast Dalok with a Potion of Firebreath. Back in Athkatla, I realize that, as a single-classed thief, I cannot side with Bodhi, which means we have to fight vampires in Chapter 3. The good news is that a Shadowdancer doesn't need a Protection from Undead scroll or an upgraded Mace of Disruption to survive fights with vampires.
However, being able to survive fights with vampires doesn't mean being able to win them. For mages like Tanova, we have to land lots of hits, and the only way to stay safe from their spells, given our lack of access to long duration, undispellable subzero saving throws, is to use a Protection from Undead scroll.
Which leaves us with a problem. Vampires in SCS don't stick around if they're getting attacked by an invisible enemy. When we try to grind down Tanova, she runs away.
And vampires have an extremely high movement rate, which means there's no chance we can keep up with Tanova when she dashes off. We can't get close enough to land a backstab, and we don't have any +3 arrows we could use to attack Tanova at range.
I will spare you the details, but after an excruciating hour of running around and accomplishing nothing, I ended up having to go all the way to Trademeet just to buy Tansheron's Bow so I could slowly, agonizingly remove Tanova's Stoneskins--after I baited out her numerous Glabrezu summons and then waited out their durations by backstabbing the other vampires with a recharged Staff of Striking.
And even then, I still need to land multiple backstabs, with the Staff of Striking no less, just to get through Tanova's sky-high HP.
I can't explain how long and frustrating this was without describing the process in so much detail that I would inflict the same punishment on you guys. Suffice to say that it royally sucks to fight vampires with a thief that can't even set traps.
Rather than fight Bodhi, I fled the area and came back, taking a leaf out of the book of some other runners. Sure enough, she does in fact deliver her defeat dialogue without a fight:
I took down Mencar Pennypincher via backstabs, but my plans to kill Brennan Risling failed, since charming Sorcerous Amon didn't buy me much power. In the sewers, I managed to charm Gaius against the odds with the Nymph Cloak. Gaius blasts his buddies to pieces, and when he finally shakes off the charm effect (I think due to a scripting issue; I didn't provoke him), we disrupt his spells with Acid Arrows before chunking him when his Stoneskins ran out.
We now have subzero saving throws, so our defenses are pretty solid even against mages with area-effect spells. We backstab Mekrath, nab the Portal Gem for later, and go to Firkraag's lair to nab the Ring of Fire Resistance. Our subzero saving throws ensure that we survive a triple Skull Trap Spell Sequencer I didn't see coming. The Ruhk Transmuter takes a lot of potions out of us, but eventually it runs out of spells, and then it's doomed.
Backstabbing gets us past EVERYTHING in that dungeon. All of my screenshots are just critters exploding from backstabs. Only Conster requires a different strategy, and it's as simple as Detect Illusions, Arrows of Dispelling, and Acid Arrows. I switch to Arrows of Fire when I don't need anything better.
We finally hit level 24, taking Use Any Item as our first HLA. This allows us to use Friends scrolls to go on a shopping spree, nabbing the Armor of Deep Night, Vhailor's Helm, the Shield of Balduran, and the Scarlet Ninja-to.
Now we can tackle the Unseeing Eye quest, and a Vhailor's Helm clone chops up the first batch of beholders while Frisky Bits hides in safety, earning us our second HLA: Shadow Clone, a Simulacrum spell that can be used in conjunction with Vhailor's Helm or a Simulacrum scroll.
This means we can have two clones active at the same time, which gives us much stronger potential damage output. In fact, this is the only reason I deemed it possible to tackle the Ravager and overcome its regeneration. But that comes much later.
We use some Elixirs of Health to cure mummy rot on the way through the Pit of the Faithless (note that you can avoid spawning a lich in the ghoul area by entering from the north entrance instead of the south) and use our twin clones to butcher the beholders in short order, including the Unseeing Eye.
Notice that there are four different Frisky Bitses on the screen. It's actually entirely possible for a Shadow Clone to summon a Simulacrum, or vice versa, and it's even possible for a Shadow Clone to summon another Shadow Clone, if you take the Shadow Clone HLA multiple times (which we haven't yet, but will). Secondary clones appear with no items equipped, so they're pretty much helpless, but they do get all of your special abilities and HLAs, which means you can have a whole train of Shadow Clones constantly spamming Shadowstep to stop time. I forget who invented this trick, but it lets you safely drain enemy spell durations if you chain-cast them, though the Shadowstep spells will also drain the durations of your own clones. Each clone has less HP than the one before it, so they make poor cannon fodder, though they ignore the summoning limit.
Completing the Unseeing Eye questline gets us our third HLA: Shadow Form, which grants 5 rounds of undispellable Improved Invisibility and 50% physical damage resistance, which we can stack with the Defender of Easthaven and eventually the post-Ravager Ascension bonus for 70% and then 95% damage resistance.
These three HLAs will form the basis of our gameplay in ToB, when backstabbing and constant invisibility will simply not work against most of the key enemies. Shadow Clone will give us lots of extra damage output, Use Any Item will let us use mage scrolls and bigger weapons, and Shadow Form will make Frisky Bits and their clones substantially tougher to kill.
@semiticgod I don't remember having fought that battle with atweaks installed, but I have had plenty of experience with teleporting demons (and other creatures) elsewhere. I've never seen any behavior where they could predict where you were going to be in order to be able to surround you on the run. Is there something else in your installation that makes this possible - for instance a component that makes teleportation instant (even with that I'm pretty sure you should never get surrounded while actually running, but that could make it difficult to stay still long enough to shoot enemies)?
It's a while since I played at all with atweaks, but I agree that the gating component is not suitable for a solo no-reload. I think I decided that after a single mephit in Jon's dungeon spawned something like 6 or 8 friends (the gated ones were also able to gate, which meant there was always a chance that encounters would very rapidly get out of hand).
I agree with @Corey_Russell that the appropriate way to deal with a mod that makes things too hard is to not use the mod.
@Grond0: The teleportation looks instantaneous, though I'm not sure precisely what you mean by instantaneous. The teleportation occurs instantaneously (you disappear from one part of the map and immediately appear elsewhere), but it doesn't seem to happen more than once or twice per round, so if you did manage to escape, you wouldn't immediately get surrounded again.
That particular screenshot occurred directly after a Time Stop that ended up dispelling my Oil of Speed, so that may have played a role. But I think the root problem is simple: one enemy teleports over to you, which sometimes results in that enemy appearing in front of you--that is, if you're running northeast, as I was, a single demon can appear to the northeast, and then your character stops moving for a few frames while he or she tries to figure out which way to walk around the demon.
During that brief delay, a bunch of other demons can then teleport around you, cutting off your other routes of escape. The demons don't all teleport at the same time, but they only teleport a few frames apart, and a few frames of being stuck behind a demon can result in the whole herd converging around you before you have a chance to escape. Similarly, stopping for a few frames to make an attack roll, use an item, or cast a spell--the only way to clear the field--can make it even easier for the enemy to box you in.
Mostly I just wanted to complain about the component, and warn about its use. I'll occasionally ask people about reloading in weird circumstances, but I don't remember the last time I actually did reload and kept going. If there's any doubt about a run's legitimacy, I just abandon it.
@semiticgod, I've only tried fiendish gating once or twice, and not in the run I referred to.
I aways play with instant teleporting, also aTweaks. From the readme:
Use Icewind Dale's Dimension Door animation
This component replaces the default animation for the Dimension Door and Shadow Door spells with the higher quality animation from Icewind Dale. The actual gameplay effects of those spells remain completely unchanged, only their visual appearance is altered. This tweak can be installed in four ways:
1) The new animation can play at fast speed (as in Icewind Dale).
2) The new animation can play at slow speed (matching the speed the ordinary animation in Baldur's Gate 2 is played at).
3) The new animation can be used only for the actual spells (Dimension Door and Shadow Door), thereby retaining the old animation for other visual effects such as portal appearances and creature spawning sequences.
4) The new animation can be played at fast speed with a reduced delay between the start of the animation and the appearance or disappearance of the creature.
I use option 4 which does make a big difference with vanilla. However it doesn't usually get my characters boxed in if I have them move around. But then, with fiendish gating staying on the move must be harder.
The session started with a bit of shopping and completing a few quests started last time. The first real action though was going through the Cloudpeaks, where Twute got a level as a result of completing our belt collection.
Some faster XP was on offer at Durlag's Temple, where Twute was mainly responsible for taking down some battle horrors.
Tip then got in on the action by meleeing some basilisks on the roof.
There was a quick discussion over who should get the tome - which was resolved by a decision worthy of Solomon as it evaporated into thin air .
After Meilum supplied some bracers,
it was off to the Nashkel Mine. Mulahey made the mistake there of initially trying to stay calm after being caught in a skull trap and didn't manage to call for help subsequently.
Outside the mine 3 of the amazons were blinded, which made the stinking cloud and skull traps a bit superfluous - but Tip accepted the level obtained anyway.
He also picked up a suit of splint mail dropped there and finally used that to replace the studded leather worn since Candlekeep.
In Nashkel Nimbul lay down in a stinking cloud and didn't get up again. We didn't bother trying disablers with Tranzig - but there was no need.
At the Bandit Camp the bandit archers punched plenty of holes in Tip, but couldn't prevent their leader from being blinded and skull trapped.
Inside the tent only Hakt was blinded in 5 attempts, but Tip ensured that was no problem by getting successive one-shot criticals on Venkt and Raemon.
Before heading for the Cloakwood a bit of stuff was sold at High Hedge. Twute decided to take the quick way to deal with a group of skeletons there - dropping a skull trap on Tip's head (lucky he's a regenerating dwarf) .
The only potential problem in the Cloakwood was when Twute decided to give Tip a hand against the final ettercap and tripped a web trap - but the ettercap died before the web could spawn.
At the mine Genthore and Kysus were blinded. A follow up web and stinking cloud got Rezdan to stay still while being axed. Drasus did break free momentarily and verbally threaten terrible things, but his bluster counted for nothing as he got stuck again as soon as he finished speaking.
After progressing down through the mine without resting, we risked a rest just before the final level and successfully got a good night's kip. That enabled Twute to scout out the opposition invisibly before using skull traps and a couple of wand fireballs to kill the battle horrors. Davaeorn just survived that, but not the magic missiles that bent round corners to catch up with him as he teleported.
In the City Twute bought a few more spells before we started the poison quest. Lothander was targeted for his boots, but managed to break free of the grease field under him. Marek though was less fortunate.
Having Use Any Item means we can finally equip the upgraded Mace of Disruption and/or the Amulet of Power to get immunity to level drain, allowing us to get past the Vampiric Wraiths in the first level of Watcher's Keep. We buy back the Helm of Balduran, which we sold a while back, and recharge the Staff of Striking before proceeding to Brynnlaw, where Perth the Adept succumbs to a single blow from the staff.
We get lucky with the Book of Daily Spell and reach the Spell Turning page before we could get stuck on the Burning Hands page (there's a 50% chance of getting any one specific page before you hit the last page). Backstabs get us past Galvena's hall and the Spellhold dream. Notice that being able to summon clones always means at least one of the Frisky Bits copies is in a position to land a backstab, if they take either side of a given target.
Clones also let us safely take down the Clay Golem. In my install, Clay Golems impose a Cursed Wound effect on hit with no saving throw, preventing the target from healing via any means besides regeneration until you use a Remove Curse spell (for which we have no scroll).
The Spellhold lich spawns late, and we lose one of our very limited Protection from Undead scrolls to a Remove Magic spell. Since we lost multiple scrolls to Chapter 3 Bodhi, we really need to conserve them for late-game undead fights. We chain-cast Shadowstep to wear out the lich's PFMW spells so we can land an Arrow of Dispelling, rendering the lich vulnerable. The Crimson Dart disrupts its spells, but we land an early kill with a lucky hit from the Mace of Disruption.
One of the other nice things about clones is that they can fire Arrows of Dispelling for free, so you don't have to lose them by firing them yourself.
Dace Sontan is horrible, just like all the other vampires we've had to deal with. Despite the fact that we have no Protection from Undead scroll active, he runs away indefinitely when we try to backstab him, and we have trek all the way across the map until finally we manage to corner him.
Shadowdancers are safe, but they are really, really slow.
Nothing else in the Spellhold maze is particularly dangerous. Irenicus is a problem, however. I thought I could get past his Improved Mantle using an Enchanted Weapon scroll, since I have the Better Enchanted Weapon mod installed, but unfortunately I cannot get Arrows of Dispelling to strike as +5 weapons. Instead, I have to spawn a bunch of clones to spam Shadowstep until his Improved Mantle runs out... and then more Shadowstep spells to wait out Irenicus' PFMW Contingency.
Then Irenicus casts Absolute Immunity, so it's even harder for us to touch him now than it was before. Plus, now our clones are vanishing because their durations are running out.
But each chain of Shadow Clones only requires a single Shadow Clone spell from Frisky Bits themselves. We can just as easily re-cast Shadow Clone (we have multiple castings of Shadow Clone and Shadow Form) and have our new clone spawn more clones, each of which has many castings of Shadowstep. We wait out Irenicus' Absolute Immunity spell as well, paving the way for another Arrow of Dispelling and some devastating backstabs.
On to City Sushi! We have some Nereids and Water Weirds thanks to ATweaks, but they're not very threatening, since we can have clones do most of the work. We do discover that the Water Weirds have near-immunity to slashing damage, despite having no resistance to crushing damage.
The Nereids actually can land instant kills on male targets, and the Water Weirds can pin you without a saving throw (notice a theme here with ATweaks' no-save disablers?), but Frisky Bits is coded as female and we have the Ring of Free Action if we ever need it.
Anyway, we chop up Ixilthetocal and proceed to the Underdark. As always, I make sure to take down the mind flayers in the far west, just so they don't ambush us later when we're not ready.
It's not strictly necessary for this run, since Frisky Bits' saving throws are all deeply in the negatives, but I'm accustomed to runs in which my Charnames require additional defenses to make sure Psionic Blast doesn't end the run. We then stomp the Balor with more clones.
The rest of this area can be cleared with backstabs and clones. Now, though, we have to deal with the Kuo-toan Prince, the easiest of the three blood quests for Ust Natha. Since fighting Kuo-toa takes time and resources (backstabbing them isn't practical; they're fast-moving and can see through invisibility), we instead use our clones to bomb them with the Necklace of Missiles.
The only reason we have the Necklace of Missiles, actually, is because I bought it to deal with Tanova. I thought she got herself stuck inside a wall (which can happen sometimes) and that the only way to reach her was to repeatedly bomb her, but I didn't have to since Tanova appeared on the other side of the map when I got back from Trademeet.
Anyway, the Kuo-toan Prince's regeneration proves too much even for three Shadowdancers using Assassination in tandem. We still can't deal enough damage to bring him down. Eventually, I realize that the solution is lying in plain sight: we can use a Drow Crossbow of Speed with the Kuo-Toan Bolts we've been collecting to stun him, giving us automatic hits. Without the chance of missing our attacks, we can actually push him over the brink.
We use a Protection from Undead scroll to take down the Death Knights. They're coded as undead, so all anti-undead options should work on them just fine. They don't even react to our presence.
The Soul Reaver will be very important later on in ToB. We can crank our physical damage resistances all the way up to 70% with Shadow Form and the Defender of Easthaven, but even that's not truly reliable in the long run, because Shadow Form only lasts 5 rounds. Soul Reaver is an important defensive asset in ToB, though we'll need to land a few hits with the Answerer to impose the AC penalties we need to get reliable hits with Soul Reaver.
There's only one thing left to do before entering Adalon's lair and beginning the Ust Natha questline: I'm going to dispatch the guards at the drow exit. Problem is, we have to fight two ATweaks Glabrezus in the process.
I had no idea just how difficult that was going to be.
@semiticgod
The thing I've found with aTweaks fiends and the devils that fight with Belhifet is that they won't teleport if you're within about 30 feet of them. Flee too far and they will teleport over when they have a clear aura. I believe they will do this once per round if you're not within fighting distance, as fiends place teleportation at the highest priority over all other abilities that use aura.
You could conceivably retreat to a further distance once they have expended their aura for that round to attack them with ranged weapons, being careful to let them close the distance enough so they won't try to teleport on their next round.
Comments
Part 4: Siege of Dragonspear
Next up, the Coalition Camp invasion! This is a really, really sticky area for no-reload runs, since letting the enemies even approach the barrels to the south can result in a flood of virtually unstoppable enemies who will press south until they finally reach the barrels--which causes an instant game over. Confusion and fear spells are incredibly dangerous because they can send enemies wandering south. Web and Skull Trap spells are great if you know where to put them before each of the first three waves, but for non-mages, the best bet is Arrows of Dispelling and Arrows of Detonation.
The skeletons from the Coldhearth Lich can actually tank the trolls in the first invasion pretty well, but we still blast the enemy with Arrows of Detonation, obliterating them.
The final wave occurs much farther north, and there's much less risk of the enemy approaching the barrels (previous versions of the game had immortal allies, making this fight unlosable, but I don't know if that's true for v2.5). We bomb the enemy with the Necklace of Missiles, remove the enemy's illusions during Shadowstep, and then follow up with Arrows of Dispelling and backstabs.
Here's Frisky Bits right before Belhifet.
Part 5: Siege of Dragonspear
Time to tackle Belhifet! I've been a little concerned about this fight because invisibility is a poor defense and Belhifet's subterranean AC and regeneration are a huge obstacle for a single-classed thief to handle. Backstabbing Belhifet is virtually impossible for a solo character; there's essentially no situation in which you could get him to turn around--and his massive HP pool would require lots of backstabs even if I did resort the myconid summoning spore, the Wand of Water Elemental Summoning, or the ankheg summoning amulet.
First order of business is removing Hephernaan. We manage to land a backstab and finish him off with Acid Arrows early on.
In retrospect, I probably could have kept her afloat by spamming Greater Restoration scrolls on her. But since she nearly always dies very quickly in my games, I didn't consider the possibility.
We backstab the other demons and switch to kiting Belhifet with Void-Tipped Arrows. But our luck is absolutely abysmal, and we make low attack rolls again and again and again. It takes many arrows before we actually start landing hits.
A Potion of Power improves our THAC0, but we still only have about a 50% chance of landing a hit--and because Belhifet spams Improved Invisibility constantly (granting a -4 AC bonus!), we have to spend many seconds just waiting for Detect Illusions to trigger.
Those seconds really add up. If you have to spend half of every single round waiting for Detect Illusions to trigger (and the pillars can block it!), you're dealing half your normal damage, and Belhifet's 2 HP regeneration per round will let him win any slow-paced war of attrition.
Belhifet finally starts gating in demons. If he gates in too many, that really constricts our movement and impedes our damage output, and eventually they'll just box us in. However, this also gives us a new option: the abishais are vulnerable to +1 weapons and above, allowing us to nail them with Arrows of Detonation. The fire damage is useless, but the missile damage can strike Belhifet as an area-effect hit! Arrows of Detonation deal less damage than our other arrows, but they also require no attack roll.
Our THAC0 and damage are much better when using melee weapons. Invisibility grants +4 to hit, and our STR bonuses make our staff much stronger than our arrows. I try hit-and-fade tactics with Aule's Staff, and discover that, due to our strong speed factor, we can actually hit Belhifet before he can hit us, even though he has 3 APR when we only have 2!
I neglected to get the Golden Pantaloons in BG1. Since this isn't an EET install, I can't go back and grab them. This means I can never get the Scorcher Ammunition in Throne of Bhaal.
I was counting on the damage output from the Scorcher Ammunition to get us through ToB and its many backstab-immune bosses. ToB is going to be much more challenging without it.
My reader will recall that I last adventured in the western Cloudpeaks (Dryad Falls). From there I returned to The Gnoll Stronghold that I’d been to back during Mirtul when Minsc asked me to rescue his witch Dynahier. But time was of the essence then, so I got in & got out. Time remains of the essence, but currently, I feel it prudent to take my time returning to Baldur’s Gate, so I bide my time exploring & adventuring.
Entering the Gnoll Stronghold from the east, it appears impregnable, & so it is from that direction & south. Cliffs rise up and meet the curtain walls there & to the west lies the Sea of Swords. An army with engines & the will for a protracted siege might be successful if they could simultaneously block the east, which is the only route of supply that I could see… there might also be a seaward avenue, but I chose not to explore the inside, preferring to move on to Bear River. The fortress has a large keep, surrounded by thick & massive curtain walls that anchor at the point where the westernmost Cloudpeaks meet the high cliffs of the Sea of Swords. A knight lord with a following of troops could be very powerful were he to cleanse this place & claim it.
For my part, the return was primarily to investigate the lover cliffs, where the Xvart servants of the Gnolls had been relegated for living quarters. You know you are low when Gnolls think you’re below them. It was underwhelming, as my followers primarily hacked through Xvarts, & later upon climbing back up to the stronghold itself, through three dozen or so Gnolls who’d re-inhabited the place – likely those that had been out on raids when I passed through earlier. The thing that stands out most from this adventure is the blistering Hammer winds swirling around the stronghold, both from the sea & the Cloudpeak range. There was a steady but light snow falling. We stayed in one of the Xvart caves one night, which protected us from the wind enough that I didn’t even care about the stench.
CAMPING IN THE XVART CAVES (FALDORN ON FIRST WATCH)
I went on to Bear River next, which lies due north of the Gnoll Stronghold. I was surprised that none of my retinue, including Imoen, knew the name Bear River. Or Dryad Falls, or Fire Leaf Forest for that matter. I knew of these places from my basic geography studies in Candlekeep. Bear river is in the western foothills of the Cloudpeaks, adjacent to the Sea of Swords. I studied Faerun thoroughly in my youth. It is so named for the Bear River that divides the area into two & there are two small peaks here, but it’s out of the mountains themselves. The Bear River has bridges on either end of area we adventured in, otherwise it would not be fordable.
KEY EVENT: (Ogre Berserker’s Rage) Ogre’s were everywhere here, & if they had time, they would go into a berserk rage. This made them very difficult opponents, even if Minsc was still providing my muscle up front – now it’s Branwen & Faldorn. Both found that a single Berserk Ogre could stop you in your tracks with one swing. On the east side of the river, near the lower bridge, I came upon three Ogres. I was unconcerned really – until we started fighting them. They were unaffected by my Command spell & barely singed by Neera’s Wand of Fire. And yet, I still had sense of security… until one of those things hit Faldorn w/a 2-Handed Sword. My first thought was, there’s no way I will be able to raise her after that. I was wrong about that, but she was dead in the moment. By the time I adjusted tactics on the last three of 17 Ogres I fought, I’d had to use a Raise Dead scroll on both Faldorn & Branwen. In one swing, those things can do a fantastic amount of damage. They are not to be underestimated.
TOUGH OGRE BERSERKER'S
I continue to watch Faldorn & Branwen’s relationship with interest. I thought sure one was going to kill the other until the first night I had us camp @ Bear River. I was praying to Ογημα when I looked up & noticed they were both drinking mead from the drinking horn Branwen carries in her supplies. They even seemed to be accepting each other’s deities, i.e., Σιλβανος & Τεμπους respectfully. Suddenly they seem to have found respect for one another, despite their differences.
I witnessed a Wild Surge by Neera first hand in one of the several Ogre Battles we had in Bear River. Ογημα must has been watching b/c it wasn’t fatal. Neera was supposed to be casting Web on three Ogre’s Khalid had scouted out, so that we could catch them by surprise & destroy them. When she uttered the final words of her spell, a bunch of gems flew from her hand instead of a web. Thankfully, one was a Pearl. The surge didn’t affect my strategy much, as I simply called on Faldorn to use Entangle & we finished the task.
Today we celebrate the Midwinter festival here in Nashkel.
HAVING A BLOOD WINE IN FRONT OF THE FIRE
“An idea outweighs anything made by mortal hands.”
Σιλας
Best Kill Competition:
1. Khalid (Tuth), Imoen (Greater Doppelganger) (4000 exp each),
2. Faldorn (Phase Spider, 1400 exp)
3. Neera, Branwen (Winter Wolf, 975 exp ea)
ORDER OF MARCH: throughout: Khalid (reconnaissance), Branwen (shock), Imoen, Me, Neera, Faldorn (rear guard)
MONSTERS DEFEATED: Gnoll Stronghold: Carrion Crawler, Gnoll Elite (16), Gnoll Veterans (8), Gnoll Slashers (4), Gnolls (11), Xvarts (33)
Bear River: Polar Bear, Ogre Berserkers (6 – 3 disturb sleep), Bandit (Neville – Ftr/6), Ogres (11), Hobgoblin Elite (3), Hobgoblins (5), Wild Dogs (2), Gibberlings (6)
Wandering: Gnolls (4)
CASUALTIES: Faldorn (Critical hit by Ogre Berserker), Branwen (Critical hit by Ogre)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE: (Purse = 19,523gp) Armor & weapons: Long Sword +1; Gems/jewelry: Pearl; Scrolls: Potions: Wands & Artifacts:
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recovering, resupplying in Nashkel
NEXT STEPS: Xvart Village, Archaeological Site, Fisherman’s Lake
LEVEL UP: None
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 11)
• Silas Cl/7 (Lorekeeper of Oghma) (HP35) S/mail +1, Boots/Grounding, Girdle of Piercing, w/Gauntlets of Dexterity &
Ring of Free Action w/M/star* (Flail*), & Rg of Energy; Spells: D/Harmony, Prot/Evil 15’, A/Dead, C/Disease, Zone of
Sweet Air, Holy Might, F/Blade, H/Person, Silence 15’, S/Poison, Bless, Cmd (3), Doom, P/Evil; S/ability: Divine Wrath,
Heal Touch (2), Affliction, Friends; (Revenant) (AI none)
• Khalid Rgr/6(Archer)(HP50) S/Leather +2 w/Clk/Non-det, L/bow*** & B/swor`d +1* w/Gauntlet’s Wpns Exp; Skills: MS 62,
HS 55 (Tuth, Ftr/9) (AI: Ftr Ranged Atk)(2)
• Imoen Th/7 (Adventurer)(HP41) Shadow Armor +3 w/Eagle Bow +2* (w/Bracers of Archery) & S/sword +1*; Skills: OL 70,
FT 75, PP 45, MS 65, HS 65, DI 25, ST 20; (Greater Doppelganger) (Thf Rgd Atk)(3)
• Faldorn Dr/6 (HP31) S/Leather +1 w/Club*, Dart of Fire +1* (Q/Staff*) & Gauntlets of Ogre Power; Spells:
Moonblade, Summon Insects, Barkskin, B/Claw, Ch/Person/Mammal, S/Poison, Ar/Faith, Bless, Entangle, CLWs,
Shillelagh, (Phase Spider) (Cl agg)(4)
• Neera Mg/6 (Wild Mage) (HP17) Traveler’s Robe w/Bracers of Def AC6 & Clk of Prot +1, Q/Staff +1* & Wand of Fire,
Spells:Melf’s Minute Meteors, Haste, D/magic, C/Shield, Web, Blur, Blindness, Chromatic orb, MM, Armor, Nahal’s RD;
(Zordral, Mage/6) ( AI: Mage Def) (5)
• Branwen, Cl/6 (Battleguard of Tempus), (HP42), C/Mail +1 & M/Shield +1 w/Warhammer +1** (S&SS*) & Gauntlet’s of
Weapons Skill; Spells: D/Magic, H/Smite, R/Thinking, DUHM, F/Blade, H/Person, Silence 15’, Spirit/Hammer,
Armor/Faith, Cmd, Doom, P/Evil, Shillelagh; S/Ability: Enrage, Prayer (6), (Skeleton) (AI: Cl Agg)
MOD USED: BG NPC v23.3, BG NPC Music v6, Plane Toduched Races _v0,0, Indira v12, Isra v2.3, Finch v4.0, Gavin v14, Drake, Sirene v2.5, Verr’sza v5.2, BG UB v16, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Song & Silence v9, Deities of Faerun, Rogue Rebalancing v491, Level 1 NPCs, SCS v31, aTweaks, Item Randomizer v7
EDIT
My party in Severed Hand are looking for pieces of the Astrolabe. I think that some of them might be downstairs.
The party is ready to go looking but my wife is ready for bed... To sleep.
Go to bed!
My travels took me next to the Xvart Village due west of Nashkel. The snow was falling lightly, as it has been the last few days, but none was staying on the ground for more that a moment. The area contains a piece of the Cloudpeaks that juts out to the north that appears that it might have once been a volcano. The village itself is tucked inside its cone. To be honest, I would’ve just moved on through rather than hassle with them, but they attacked & 33 Xvarts & two Cave Bears died for their efforts. Aside from them, a rogue west of there tried to cheat me & he too died. That just gets under my skin.
Next, I went to the Archaeological Site which drops steeply from NE to SW toward the Sea of Swords. It also appears to have once had a volcano there and the ground is covered in loose gravel although there is some vegetation and quite a few trees closer to the sea. There was an intermittent cold rain falling. Here we found that Captain of the Nashkel Guard who had been the victim of a Cursed Berserker Sword. I felt taking him to Nashkel to receive the bounty would be my best bet, but after killing him, I was unsuccessful in getting paid. There were also many Gnolls hereabouts, including a unit led by a Gnoll Chieftain that contained Flinds, Elites, Veterans and Slashers.
KEY EVENT: (Battle at the Archaeological Site) We found the site for which this area is named. It was a dig @ the site of an ancient culture. For our part it wouldn’t have been interesting other than trying to learn who these people were from a knowledge enhancement standpoint. But I was pulled in when the of the leads, Charleston Nib, asked me to protect them so they could finish their work. But, just as soon as I accented, his partner approached me asking me to kill Charleston so that he could benefit financially from whatever they uncovered – which he expected to be of great value. He was paying better so I decided to play both ends against the middle. Unfortunately, the idol they finally uncovered from a sarcophagus was haunted by a Doomsayer. The thing gave us a difficult fight. Luckily it wasn’t very powerful offensively, but it took forever to wear him down & we spent scores of arrows, darts, stones & spells trying to destroy it, which I was finally able to do using Divine Wrath.
I WISH THIS THING WOULD JUST DIE!
SOME MUCH NEEDED DIVINE ASSISTANCE
I moved east to Fisherman’s Lake after the Archaeological Site. There are still some low peaks dotted around here also. The entire sits around a lake in the middle, appropriately named Fisherman’s Lake. A lot of humanoids inhabited this part of the Sword Coast including 27 Gnolls of various type, some Half-Ogres and a handful of Skeleton’s. I stumbled onto a battle between the Drow Drizzt Do’Urden and a heard of Gnolls. He asked for aid and I gave it. Curious to run in to him but I felt being in his debt was to my advantage – especially after watching him fight – blimey!
I decided to swing over to North Nashkel Road and cleared the black there. Not much of interest but I did kill four Vampiric Wolves.
“Knowledge is power and must be used with care”
Σιλας
Best Kill Competition:
1. Khalid (Tuth), Imoen (Greater Doppelganger) (4000 exp each),
2. Faldorn (Vampiric Wolf, 2000 exp)
3. Neera, Branwen (Winter Wolf, 975 exp ea)
ORDER OF MARCH: throughout: Khalid (reconnaissance), Branwen (shock), Imoen, Me, Neera, Faldorn (rear guard)
MONSTERS DEFEATED:
Xvart Village: Rogue (Borda – Mage/Thf 6/6), Cave Bear (Ursa), Xvarts (33)
Archaeological Site: Doomsayer, Brage (Ftr/7), Cave Bear, Hobgoblin (Ba’ruk/3), Gnoll Chieftain,
Flinds (2), Gnoll Elite (2), Gnoll Slasher (2), Gnoll, Kobold Commando (5), Tasloi (15);
Fisherman’s Lake: Bandit (Tenygan, Ftr/6), Mage (Jenby – Conjurer/5), Half Ogres (4), Flinds (5), Gnoll Elites
(5), Skeletons (5), Wolves (5), Gnolls (17), Hobgoblin Elite (Zekar), Hobgoblin
North Nashkel Road: Vampiric Wolves (4), Hobgoblins (19), Kobolds (4); Wandering: Xvarts (8)
CASUALTIES: None
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE: (Purse = 8,753gp) Armor & weapons: 2-Handed Sword +3/Cursed; Gems; Jewelry: Mithril Ring, Colquetle’s Family Amulet, Pearl; Scrolls: Blur, M/Image, Web, Invisibility, MM; Potions: Invisibility; Wands & Artifacts:
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recovering, resupplying in Nashkel
NEXT STEPS: Adoy’s Enclave for Neera’s
LEVEL UP: None
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 12)
• Silas Cl/7 (Lorekeeper of Oghma) (HP35) S/mail +1, Boots/Grounding, Girdle of Piercing, w/Gauntlets
of Dexterity & Ring of Free Action w/M/star* (Flail*), & Rg of Energy; Spells: D/Harmony, Prot/Evil
15’, A/Dead, C/Disease, Zone of Sweet Air, Holy Might, F/Blade, H/Person, Silence 15’, S/Poison,
Bless, Cmd (3), Doom, P/Evil; S/ability: Divine Wrath, Heal Touch (2), Affliction, Friends; (Doomsayer)
(AI none)
• Khalid Rgr/6(Archer)(HP50) S/Leather +2 w/Clk/Non-det, L/bow*** & B/swor`d +1* w/Gauntlet’s
Wpns Exp; Skills: MS 62, HS 55 (Tuth, Ftr/9) (AI: Ftr Ranged Atk)(2)
• Imoen Th/7 (Adventurer)(HP41) Shadow Armor +3 w/Eagle Bow +2* (w/Bracers of Archery) &
S/sword +1*; Skills: OL 70, FT 75, PP 45, MS 65, HS 65, DI 25, ST 20; (Greater Doppelganger) (Thf
Rgd Atk)(3)
• Faldorn Dr/6 (HP31) S/Leather +1 w/Club*, Dart of Fire +1* (Q/Staff*) & Gauntlets of Ogre Power;
Spells: Moonblade, Summon Insects, Barkskin, B/Claw, Ch/Person/Mammal, S/Poison, Ar/Faith, Bless,
Entangle, CLWs, Shillelagh, (Phase Spider) (Cl agg)(4)
• Neera Mg/6 (Wild Mage) (HP17) Traveler’s Robe w/Bracers of Def AC6 & Clk of Prot +1, Q/Staff +1* &
Wand of Fire, Spells:Melf’s Minute Meteors, Haste, D/magic, C/Shield, Web, Blur, Blindness, Chromatic
orb, MM, Armor, Nahal’s RD; (Zordral, Mage/6) ( AI: Mage Def) (5)
• Branwen, Cl/6 (Battleguard of Tempus), (HP42), C/Mail +1 & M/Shield +1 w/Warhammer +1** (S&SS*)
& Gauntlet’s of Weapons Skill; Spells: D/Magic, H/Smite, R/Thinking, DUHM, F/Blade, H/Person,
Silence 15’, Spirit/Hammer, Armor/Faith, Cmd, Doom, P/Evil, Shillelagh; S/Ability: Enrage, Prayer (6),
(Skeleton) (AI: Cl Agg)
MOD USED: BG NPC v23.3, BG NPC Music v6, Plane Toduched Races _v0,0, Indira v12, Isra v2.3, Finch v4.0, Gavin v14, Drake, Sirene v2.5, Verr’sza v5.2, BG UB v16, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Song & Silence v9, Deities of Faerun, Rogue Rebalancing v491, Level 1 NPCs, SCS v31, aTweaks, Item Randomizer v7
BG1/SoD:
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #60 // Weapon Animation Tweaks: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Icon Improvements: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Fix Boo's Squeak: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // Make Magic Shields Glow (plainab/grogerson): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #182 // Unique Containers -> Unique icons and names: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // Use Character Colors Instead of Item Colors -> For all shields and helmets: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #200 // Remove Blur Effect from Items, e.g. Cloack of Displacement: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1036 // Make Cloakwood Areas Available Before Completing the Bandit Camp -> All of Cloakwood Except the Mines: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Improved Multi-Player Kick-out Dialogues: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1075 // Send BioWare NPCs to an Inn (DavidW/Zed Nocear): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1090 // Exotic Item Pack: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Reveal City Maps When Entering Area: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1120 // Stores Sell Higher Stacks of Items: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1251 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Alora to Gullykin: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1252 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Eldoth to the Coast Way: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1253 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Quayle to the Nashkel Carnival: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1254 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Shar-Teel to North Nashkel Road: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1255 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Tiax to Beregost: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1256 // Move NPCs to Convenient Locations: Move Viconia to South Beregost Road: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Change Experience Point Cap -> Remove Experience Cap: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Wear Multiple Protection Items -> P&P Restrictions: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // Cast Spells from Scrolls (and Other Items) at Character Level: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2410 // Druids Use 3E Alignment Restrictions: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3121 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Can Be Angry About Reputation but Never Leave (Salk): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3125 // Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3191 // Disable Non-Hostile Rest Spawns: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3310 // Start New Games with Party AI Turned Off: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3330 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4025 // Allow NPC pairs to separate: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Change Jaheira to Neutral Good: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4170 // Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge: v8
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1910 // Protection from Normal Missiles also blocks Arrows of Fire/Cold/Acid and similar projectiles without pluses: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2110 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Re-introduce potions of extra-healing: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly harder carrion crawlers: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Dark Side-based kobold upgrade: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity party: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v31
~BETTERENCHANTEDWEAPON/BETTERENCHANTEDWEAPON.TP2~ #0 #0 // Better Enchanted Weapon: 1.0
// Recently Uninstalled: ~KORAX_NPC/KORAX_NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // Korax NPC: 1.0
BG2/ToB
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Ascension: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #103 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers by David Gaider: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1 // Tougher Abazigal: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2 // Tougher Demogorgon ( Original Bioware Design ): 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #3 // Tougher Gromnir: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #4 // Tougher Illasera: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #5 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #104 // Extended Epilogues for original Bioware NPCs by shawne: 1.7.2
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #105 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs by shawne: 1.7.2
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #20 // Change Imoen's Avatar to Mage: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #60 // Weapon Animation Tweaks: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Icon Improvements: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Fix Boo's Squeak: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // Make Magic Shields Glow (plainab/grogerson): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #170 // Unique Icons: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #182 // Unique Containers -> Unique icons and names: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1020 // Alter HP Triggers for NPC Wounded Dialogues: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1030 // Reveal Wilderness Areas Before Chapter Six: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Improved Multi-Player Kick-out Dialogues: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1120 // Stores Sell Higher Stacks of Items: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1220 // Allow Cromwell to Upgrade Watcher's Keep Items: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1230 // Allow Cespenar to Use Cromwell Recipes: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Change Experience Point Cap -> Remove Experience Cap: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2140 // Expanded Dual-Class Options: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Wear Multiple Protection Items -> P&P Restrictions: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // Cast Spells from Scrolls (and Other Items) at Character Level: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2410 // Druids Use 3E Alignment Restrictions: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3121 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Can Be Angry About Reputation but Never Leave (Salk): v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3125 // Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3191 // Disable Non-Hostile Rest Spawns: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3310 // Start New Games with Party AI Turned Off: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3330 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v8
// Recently Uninstalled: ~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Change Jaheira to Neutral Good: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // Cast Spells from Scrolls (and Other Items) at Character Level: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2240 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2410 // Druids Use 3E Alignment Restrictions: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2440 // Everyone Gets Bonus APR from Specialization: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3121 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Can Be Angry About Reputation but Never Leave (Salk): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3125 // Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3191 // Disable Non-Hostile Rest Spawns: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3310 // Start New Games with Party AI Turned Off: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3330 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Change Jaheira to Neutral Good: v8
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1910 // Protection from Normal Missiles also blocks Arrows of Fire/Cold/Acid and similar projectiles without pluses: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Allow Spellstrike to take down a Protection from Magic scroll: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2050 // Allow individual versions of Spell Immunity to be placed into Contingencies and Spell Triggers: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2070 // Blade Barrier and Globe of Blades only affect hostile creatures: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2080 // Cap damage done by Skull Trap at 12d6: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Make Power-Word: Blind single-target: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Make Minute Meteors into +2 weapons: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2110 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2140 // Slightly increase the power of Mantle, Improved Mantle, and Absolute Immunity: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // True Sight/True Seeing spells protect from magical blindness: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2180 // Prevent Simulacra and Projected Images from using magical items: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Change Carsomyr so that its Dispel on contact power grants a saving throw: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4180 // Make Freedom scrolls available earlier: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4216 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from certain areas -> Only remove nonmagical ammo from random containers: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v31
~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): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6024 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to spellcasters -> All eligible spellcasters in Throne of Bhaal and Shadows of Amn get HLAs (very challenging and not really recommended!): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends -> Fiends have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies -> Genies have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6530 // Smarter celestials -> Celestials have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons -> Dragons have a substantial hit point increase: v31
~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): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6561 // Smarter mind flayers -> Illithids have enhanced damage resistance; Illithids can see through invisibility (matches Tactics mod): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Give Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai SCS scripts and abilities: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Give Ascension demons SCS scripts and abilities: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8041 // Increase difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings -> Significantly increased difficulty: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix") -> Spirit trolls have the same powers as in the original game: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8081 // Improved Bodhi (Tactics Remix) -> Original Tactics Improved Bodhi with SCSII scripting: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive (adapted from Quest Pack): v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Prevent resting in the Illithid city: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Slightly Improved Drow -> Upgrade Ust Natha's defences: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Enhanced Sendai's Enclave: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v31
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v31
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #101 // Prevent skeletal and incorporeal undead from being affected by Illithids' Devour Brain attack: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #102 // Change Spiritual Hammer into a ranged force weapon: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #104 // PnP Color Spray: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #105 // PnP Dimension Door: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Magical arrows and bolts deal bonus damage equal to their enchantment level: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #115 // Allow Mages to scribe memorized spells onto scrolls -> Scrolls can be scribed everywhere: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Restore innate disease immunity to Paladins: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #125 // Rangers' Animal Empathy improves with experience: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #152 // PnP Fiends -> Mod-added fiends are also affected: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #155 // Further Revised Fiend Summoning: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #156 // Fiendish gating: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // PnP Undead: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #180 // PnP Mephits: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #185 // PnP Fey creatures: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #186 // Revised Call Woodland Beings spell: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #190 // PnP Elementals: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #191 // Increase the Hit Dice of Elemental Princes: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #200 // Allow Breach to take down Stoneskin effects applied by items: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #201 // Instant casting for warrior innates: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #241 // Revised Bhaalpowers -> Only standardize the Bhaalpowers' casting time: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #218 // Regain Bhaalpowers in ToB: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #204 // Prevent Mislead clones from singing Bard songs: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #211 // Make Death Ward protect against Vorpal Hits: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #210 // Restore the Dispel Magic vulnerability to Nishruu and Hakeashars: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #213 // Expanded saving throw bonus tables for Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #216 // Bard songs break invisibility -> Only the Jester song breaks invisibility: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #301 // Change the appearance of Valygar's armor: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #302 // Change the appearance of the Robe of Vecna: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #310 // Distinctive creature coloring: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #315 // Distinctive creature soundsets: v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #500 // Slightly expanded storage capacity for containers -> Use the recommended storage capacity value (999): v4.53
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for aTweaks content: v4.53
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // Fix Sunfire power levels: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #2 // Shield of Reflection works on SCS Flame Arrows: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #3 // Fix Smarter Abazigal: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #4 // Fix Smarter Irenicus at the Throne: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #5 // Remove entourage from Ascension Fallen Solars: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #100 // Check for and fix incorrect spell animations: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #400 // Prevent silent prebuffs: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #201 // Add spell school notifications to the combat log -> All spells with a casting time greater than 1: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #300 // Add expiration notifications for buffs: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #600 // Add expiration notifications for item buffs: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #500 // Reveal all hidden doors: v2.5
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #700 // Allow Spell Shield to block Wish Breach and Mordenkainen's Disjunction: v2.5
~BETTERENCHANTEDWEAPON/BETTERENCHANTEDWEAPON.TP2~ #0 #0 // Better Enchanted Weapon: 1.0
~LILARCOR_NPC/LILARCOR_NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // Lilarcor NPC Mod: 1.0
~SHAPECHANGERKIT/SHAPECHANGERKIT.TP2~ #0 #0 // Shapechanger Kit: 1.0
Tip (male dwarf barbarian, Grond0); Twute (male elf mage, Gate70)
Previous run
Hope triumphed over experience once more as we rolled up a new random pairing. This duo looks a little squishy, but they have at least survived the first session - despite a few alarms
In Candlekeep, Firebead refused to acknowledge that he'd taken the identify scroll and stiffed us for the 50 XP. Rightly annoyed, Twute tried to take his frustration out on Montaron, but discovered emotions are a poor basis for fighting.
After making his way to the Beregost temple, Tip noticed that the revived Twute knew protection from petrification and continued east to the basilisk area. That meant level ups were not long in coming.
Back in Beregost, Silke was another victim of blindness, but Tip had trouble when trying to deal with Landrin's spiders. After being poisoned and seeing his HPs leak away he ran out of the house and called for Twute to follow quickly so that an area transition could cure him. The wily mage had noticed that the poison was wearing off though and didn't bother hurrying - just acting as a distraction to allow Tip to finish off the last chasing spider.
Nashkel provided a suit of ankheg armor - that neither character could use - but did also allow Tip to learn CLW. A few reputation tasks included taking Samuel back to the FAI before continuing north to find some ankhegs. Tip rather scorned those wimpy barbarians who used metal armor and only had the dubious protection of studded leather, which meant he was pretty vulnerable to ankheg attacks. However, he took fairly light damage killing the first few on the way to the treasure hoard - thanks partly to a bit of help from blindness.
The next main target was the sirines, where Tip went into melee in the knowledge that his rage protected him from being charmed. As usual though it had not occurred to him that it didn't protect against being feebleminded.
The final fight of the session saw the Doomsayer demonstrate conclusively that Tip was no match for it in melee. However, it also proved that it was unable to catch Tip as he ran around and Twute delivered a long stream of magic missiles.
Tip, barbarian L6, 80 HPs, 69 kills
Twute, mage 5, 29 HPs, 25 kills, 1 death
Traveling with: Keldorn, Minsc, Jaheira, Anomen, Imoen
I am pleased to report Coremage defeated Firkraag and his minions. As for details:
* Minsc soloed the undead with help of protection from undead scroll. The rest of the party was waiting for him behind a closed door
* Golems were no problem
* Samia's party - made sure to buff Coremage to make sure no game-ending spells killed him. Had Anomen summon 4 skeleton warriors and then triggered the fight by the undead area. Battle went well and no deaths of the party
* Genies were soloed by Keldorn who had 127% fire resistance for this portion. We cowardly had the skeleton warriors who we still had from Samia's fight solo the Director beholder.
* The battle with Conster was quite quick. Lots of buffs on Coremage to make sure he didn't die from FoD.
* Not a lot of buffs for Firkraag, didn't even bother with fire resistance (though that was partly as Coremage had the fire resistance ring from the Illithid City). Did of course use resist fear and haste though, and lots of summons. The battle lasted for quite a while, but a well timed breach from Imoen allowed an aerial servant to smack Firkraag for 21 damage and kill him.
After reporting to Garren Windspear our success, we went to Cromwell and forged a few items: armor from Firkraag's and Thaxxy's scales, The Equalizer (not sure how much use will get from this, but if Keldorn ever dual-wields could be useful then). Was surprised that I couldn't forge the Gesen bow but then remembered - still haven't finished the skinner murder quest.
We'll hunt down Reijek next session.
I went next in Adoy’s Enclave NE of Nashkel in order to try to find something to help Neera with her wild magic. I’d never seen Goblins before & I’ve determined that they might be more annoying than Kobolds. These Goblins, I guess, had potions of Invisibility and that made them even more annoying – especially for Neera. She can cast a mean spell – most of the time – but she is frail & it doesn’t take much to really hurt her.
The enclave was set deep into a cavernous wilderness toward where Troll Mountains run perpendicular out of the Cloudpeaks. Very rocky, the road split northeast and northwest about half way through. To the northeast was a lone camp where a woodsman waited anxiously for a friend who would never return as we were later to learn. To the northwest the road ran through a Goblin camp up to a cave in the side of the mountain. After meeting the woodsman, Magreb, I went in search of his friend, Rilsa, who had apparently disappeared when she tried to talk with the Goblins about their harassing behavior. Hopefully this, in turn, would lead me to Adoy.
I led us through the Goblin camp to the cave, swatting Goblins along the route. Inside, I was a bit nervous, just because the damned Goblin’s kept popping up behind & back stabbing. As we continued to wade through them, I had Khalid & Imoen scouting ahead & looking for traps. They found Rilsa’s body & we shared the news of her demise with Magreb before returning to the cave.
KEY EVENT: Finding Adoy was simple enough, but just as we did, we were challenged by a Red Wizard. Adoy, disappeared (only to return later claiming a spell malfunctioned). Neera used her Wand of Monster Summoning & immediately tied him up dealing with them. My biggest worry was a second Red Wizard & two Bodyguards, who were after Neera. I wasn’t successful in protecting her & before it was over, I’d lost Faldorn too. I cast Animate Dead & tied up the second wizard with my Skeleton – who eventually obliterated him (never saw a skeleton do that). Eventually, the two bodyguards were beaten also & it became a matter of finishing their leader. He was still battling monsters from Neera’s wand & I positioned myself to use my Ring of Power while Khalid & Imoen turned their arrows solely on him. Branwen was swinging her Warhammer. I don’t know that he ever got a spell off. If he did, it wasn’t effective & he died there for his troubles.
MUCH TOUGHER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN
I returned us to Nashkel. After raising Faldorn & Neera, we enjoyed a meal & some mead. Neera & I are becoming closer.
“Hiding knowledge away from others is never a good thing.”
Σιλας
Best Kill Competition:
1. Khalid (Tuth), Imoen (Greater Doppelganger) (4000 exp each),
2. Faldorn (Vampiric Wolf, 2000 exp)
3. Neera, Branwen (Winter Wolf, 975 exp ea)
ORDER OF MARCH: throughout: Khalid & Imoen (Scouting & traps), Branwen (shock), Me, Neera, Faldorn (rear guard)
MONSTERS DEFEATED: Cave Bear, Akandor (Red Wizard), Red Wizard, Red Wizard Bodyguards (2), Rogdok, Dire Wolves (3), Wolf, Goblins (24)
CASUALTIES: Neera (Goblin, Red Wizard Bodyguard), Faldorn (Red Wizard Bodyguard)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE: (Purse = 11,592gp) Armor & weapons: Leather Armor +2; Jewelry: Scrolls: Potions: Wands & Artifacts: Wand of fear
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recovering, resupplying in Nashkel
NEXT STEPS: The Lonely Peaks, Firewine Bride, Gullykin
LEVEL UP: None
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 12)
• Silas Cl/7 (Lorekeeper of Oghma) (HP35) S/mail +1, Boots/Grounding, Girdle of Piercing, w/Gauntlets
of Dexterity & Ring of Free Action w/M/star* (Flail*), & Rg of Energy; Spells: D/Harmony, Prot/Evil 15’,
A/Dead, C/Disease, Zone of Sweet Air, Holy Might, F/Blade, H/Person, Silence 15’, S/Poison, Bless,
Cmd (3), Doom, P/Evil; S/ability: Divine Wrath, Heal Touch (2), Affliction, Friends; (Doomsayer) (AI
none)
• Khalid Rgr/6(Archer)(HP50) S/Leather +2 w/Clk/Non-det, L/bow*** & B/swor`d +1* w/Gauntlet’s
Wpns Exp; Skills: MS 62, HS 62(Tuth, Ftr/9) (AI: Ftr Ranged Atk)(2)
• Imoen Th/7 (Adventurer)(HP41) Shadow Armor +3 w/Eagle Bow +2* (w/Bracers of Archery) & S/sword
+1*; Skills: OL 70, FT 75, PP 45, MS 65, HS 65, DI 25, ST 20; (Greater Doppelganger) (Thf Rgd Atk)(3)
• Faldorn Dr/6 (HP31) S/Leather +1 w/Club*, Dart of Fire +1* (Q/Staff*) & Gauntlets of Ogre Power;
Spells: Moonblade, Summon Insects, Barkskin, B/Claw, Ch/Person/Mammal, S/Poison, Ar/Faith, Bless,
Entangle, CLWs, Shillelagh, (Vampiric Wolf) (Cl agg)(4)
• Neera Mg/6 (Wild Mage) (HP17) Traveler’s Robe w/Bracers of Def AC6 & Clk of Prot +1, Q/Staff +1* &
Wand of Fire, Spells:Melf’s Minute Meteors, Haste, D/magic, C/Shield, Web, Blur, Blindness, Chromatic
orb, MM, Armor, Nahal’s RD; (Winter Wolf) ( AI: Mage Def) (5)
• Branwen, Cl/6 (Battleguard of Tempus), (HP42), C/Mail +1 & M/Shield +1 w/Warhammer +1** (S&SS*)
& Gauntlet’s of Weapons Skill; Spells: D/Magic, H/Smite, R/Thinking, DUHM, F/Blade, H/Person,
Silence 15’, Spirit/Hammer, Armor/Faith, Cmd, Doom, P/Evil, Shillelagh; S/Ability: Enrage, Prayer (6),
(Winter Wolf) (AI: Cl Agg)
MOD USED: BG NPC v23.3, BG NPC Music v6, Plane Toduched Races _v0,0, Indira v12, Isra v2.3, Finch v4.0, Gavin v14, Drake, Sirene v2.5, Verr’sza v5.2, BG UB v16, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Song & Silence v9, Deities of Faerun, Rogue Rebalancing v491, Level 1 NPCs, SCS v31, aTweaks, Item Randomizer v7
When encountering people/monsters in the game, is their reaction determined by my PCs charisma or the charisma of the NPC I send to communicate with them?
I normally use my NPC with the highest charisma to talk to people. But I wonder, does that matter at all?
In which Croll the Cruel and his team of criminals continue their heartless rampage across the Sword Coast.
After murdering a handful of mages trapped on the ice island, Croll managed to find Shandalar's cloak. Someone (presumably Shandalar) then teleported the Shaman and his crew back to Ulgoth's Beard. Angry (but also relieved), Croll almost rushed after the impudent mage to teach him a lesson. But he thought better of it, and decided not to take the risk (for now). Perhaps he will be able to take revenge in a more roundabout way...
Other denizens of the Sword Coast were not so lucky.
Taerom the blacksmith decided he'd rather not have Croll as a customer anymore, and called in the Flaming Fist. Beetles ate his corpse, and Croll recovered the 4,000 gold he had earlier spent on Ankheg Plate.
A young girl bravely approached Croll and notified him that a Flaming Fist Captain, Officer Vai, was looking for him. Croll did not respond well to the interruption.
Bad things happened to the bandits at their camp. They probably deserved it (unlike several small children and unlucky messengers the criminals encountered along the way to Larswood).
Croll encountered a hunter in the Cloakwood, fleeing some angry druids. Rather than take sides, he killed them all.
A young man was looking for his brother, deep in the Cloakwood. Neither of them made it home.
Croll decided not to flood the mines just yet. (It might be a good place to bury someone.) But he did take the time to sacrifice the slaves (and the cook) to his hungry spirits.
Visiting cities now invariably draws law enforcement. Baeloth is advising that the crew travel invisibly in order to prevent misunderstandings. But the spirits remain hungry...
Still attempting a poverty run; I want to at least get to SoA before giving up with this squad. Party members are a Shapeshifter, a Priest of Helm, a Shaman, a Bounty Hunter, and two Sorcerers.
The beginning is stock-standard: Marl, spiders using Command and Shaman animals, over to the Basilisk area and pray I don't get ambushed, clear the south, clear the north, get the heck out of there with maxed out Set Traps on the Bounty Hunter.
Zargal and co: crits from Longbows are terrifying, so we pull them away one by one and draw them into melee with Aelyn and spirit animals. Command is used to finish the deal in most cases. We get Basillus to lose control of his undead army, and he fails his save against Hold Person for a convincing win.
Party:
Aelyn, Human Shapeshifter 4, 36 HP, 45 kills, 0 deaths
Adrian, Halfling Priest of Helm 4, 34 HP, 0 kills, 0 deaths
Arquis, Halforc Shaman 3, 27 HP, 0 kills, CHARNAME.
Angala, Halfling Bounty Hunter 4, 25 HP, 2 kills, 0 deaths
Azand, Half elf Sorcerer 3, 17 HP, 4 kills, 0 deaths
Aureas, Half elf Sorcerer 3, 17 HP, 1 kill, 0 deaths.
Plan is either clear the Friendly Arm Inn quests or head south to Nashkel: I really want level 5 on Aelyn and 4 on my spontaneous casters before progressing with anything serious. From there, it'll be possible to clear the upper levels of Durlag's Tower, netting at least one more level per person. The difficulty will be the swarm of ghasts, not surprisingly.
In my previous playthrough of Legacy of Bhaal, I made the game too easy by summoning five Skeleton Warriors in each battle, which also get Legacy of Bhaal bonuses. Now I'm going to be playing the game with a character who is overpowered enough to stand a chance at beating the game in a no-reload without any summoned creatures.
My character is Lianna, a Priest of Lathander/Ranger for whom I got my second-best roll ever (though that's not too hard for a cleric/ranger).
Notable Mods: XP Cap Remover, IWD Divine Spells in BGEE and BG2EE, HLAs in BG1 (for characters who reach 3000000 experience like in TOB)
Rules: Legacy of Bhaal bonus experience is turned on. Cleric/Rangers get druid spells up to their maximum divine spell level. No summoning any creatures. I may add more rules later on.
Lianna also has her casting time reduced by 10. I added this not so much to make the game easier but because there were certain spells I figured would be fun to cast instantly for once. In the long run, this won't be as overpowered as the Robe of Vecna since Lianna cannot get Improved Alacrity.
Before leaving Candlekeep, Lianna gained a few levels by killing the cows in the keep. Cows don't fight back.
One annoying thing that remained an issue for some time was that Lianna's morningstars were constantly breaking. She broke multiple morningstars just killing the cows! By the time she got two magical weapons she could use, she had broken over ten morningstars.
After killing the three cows, Lianna reached level 3 as a cleric, earning her her first gamebreaking spell: Hold Person!
By the time Lianna had reached Nashkel, she had gotten access to 3rd level spells, allowing her to do this:
(One of this reasons I gave Lianna instant casting time was so she could do that.)
Yet Lianna was still really weak. Without paralyzing enemies, she could barely ever hit them. In an embarassing fight, Zordral almost killed her in melee combat after his spells were exhausted. Lianna couldn't hit him on a 19!
Lianna went to Gullykin to get her first Morningstar +1 from Drakar. However, he proved quite dangerous. At one point, he cast Rigid Thinking on Lianna, but she escaped through an area transition at the last moment.
Lianna came back and killed the group for the Morningstar +1. She went back to Beregost and got the Stupifier for her off-hand weapon.
Most of the next couple of chapters consisted of Lianna paralyzing enemies with Hold Person, Hold Undead, or Hold Animal, then whacking them to death and/or electrocuting them with Call Lightning and Static Charge.
I discovered that in the IWD Divine Spells in BGEE and BG2EE mod, Cloud of Pestilence is not evil-only. Cloud of Pestilence, which makes a cloud that blinds creatures and gives -3 Strength and Dexterity per round, is great because the ability score drain stacks. In the four rounds that it lasts, it can give a creature -12 Strength and Dexterity, which is enough to kill many creatures.
Unfortunately, if you kill a creature through ability score drain, the game doesn't count it as you killing the creature, so you get no experience. However, Lianna used this to her advantage, killing Algernon for his cloak with no reputation loss!
Even against creatures that are too strong and dexterous to be killed by Cloud of Pestilence, having an area-of-effect blindness spell is always useful.
Spike Growth is also great.
It's time to go on a rampage through the city of Baldur's Gate!
I decided to abuse the basilisk XP loop. Before reporting to Duke Eltan to begin Chapter 6, Lianna bought every Stone to Flesh scroll from the temples of Lathander, Garl Glittergold, Yondalla, Tymora, Gond, and both temples of Helm, for a total of 129 scrolls. She went to the basilisk area and got started, charming a Lesser Basilisk, having it petrify a Greater Basilisk, using a Stone to Flesh scroll on the petrified basilisk, and repeating the process. Each time the Greater Basilisk was petrified, it gave 30000 experience. This means Lianna got a total of 3870000 extra experience (!) from using the loop. She was now a level 20/17 cleric/ranger.
However, after Lianna had done a few more fights and was in the middle of Chapter 6, I decided that I had went too far with the XP loop. She was too powerful. So I saved and edited the save file, reducing Lianna's experience by 3000000, so that it was as if she had only used 29 scrolls in the XP loop. I reduced her level, HP, spell slots, HLAs, and things like that. After the nerf, she was a level 14/12 cleric ranger.
The rest of Chapter 6 went smoothly enough. For some reason, Deder actually followed Lianna into the exit cave.
Prat killed himself with his own lightning bolt.
On to Chapter 7. There were a few close calls in this chapter. Lianna fought the Zhentarim mages on the second floor of Sorcerous Sundries, but forgot to cast Remove Fear beforehand. One of the mages got her with Horror, but not before she had cast Insect Plague on all four of them.
The mages proceeded to waste most of their spells while under Insect Plague. By the time it ended, they only had a few Larloch's Minor Drain spells left, and Lianna survived until the Horror spell wore off.
In the Flaming Fist building, Lianna cast Free Action just before she would've gotten hit by Hold Person.
In the Ducal Palace fight, Lianna cast Nature's Beauty to blind the doppelgangers. It worked even better than I had hoped: several of the doppelgangers were killed instantly!
Before pursuing Sarevok, Lianna headed to Durlag's Tower to clear out the dungeon.
In the chess board fight, I abused another XP trick. I had the pawns come one by one to the other side of the board. Each pawn turned into a queen, and Lianna killed the queens for 22000 experience each. In total, Lianna got 264000 experience from the chess board fight.
After the chess board fight, I added two more rules: No wands, and no Durlag's Goblet. Lianna had not been relying on wands or Durlag's Goblet, so I figured it would be easy to ditch them.
Before fighting the Demon Knight, Lianna put all her buffs on and drank two Potions of Magic Protection for 100% Magic Resistance to protect against the Demon Knight's special Power Word, Kill spell (which deals a flat 60 damage, or 120 damage on the current difficulty). The Demon Knight wasted his Power Word, Stun and Power Word, Kill abilities on her, but then he hit her with Remove Magic, dispelling all her buffs. She had to leave the room, put some more buffs on, and come back. However, the Demon Knight had not used all of his abilities, and he blinded Lianna with Power Word, Blind. With the help of HLAs, Lianna beat the Demon Knight while blinded.
Lianna then returned to Ulgoth's Beard and plowed through the cultists to reach Aec'Letec. Before the fight, she used a Potion of Magic Shielding to automatically make all saves against Death Gaze. She started the fight by killing Tracea Carol, then she killed the six sacrificial cultists. Finally, she meleed Aec'Letec to death. Iron Skins helped a lot.
I'm not going to do the rest of the Tales of the Sword Coast content. Back to Sarevok!
Here is Lianna before the final battle:
To start off, Lianna rushed up to Sarevok and cast Nature's Beauty, instantly killing Angelo and blinding the others, including Sarevok.
Lianna then fought the blinded enemies one by one, starting with Semaj, then Tazok, then some battle horrors, and finally Sarevok. By the time she got to Sarevok, her Righteous Wrath of the Faithful had wore off and she was severely fatigued.
Also, it's too bad that Sarevok has high electricity resistance, because she would've gotten him good.
Even while blinded, Legacy of Bhaal Sarevok was more than a match for a fatigued Lianna, outlasting all of her Iron Skins spells. She had to use Critical Strike to hit him reliably. At last, she landed the finishing blow!
I beat the game! Next up is Siege of Dragonspear! I'm probably going to have to nerf Nature's Beauty, because no-save permanent area-of-effect blindness is insanely overpowered, and it'll be even more overpowered in Siege of Dragonspear, where enemies often fight the party in large groups.
You killed the cows in Candlekeep? Too funny.
BG1: 1, 2, 3, 4
SoD: 5
SoA: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
ToB: 14
Watcher's Keep final seal level offered several interesting encounters but I think my style of play in this run doesn't leave much room for epic battles. Basically I buff till the max before every encounter that allows me to and that I take seriously. (At this stage I'm taking more and more battles seriously.) I generally apply the same very wide range of pre-buffs for each of those battles. It means I'll often include superfluous buffs, but I prefer to err on the side of caution. After all I don't always know what to expect exactly and, from a RP perspective, neither does the party. I do tend to restrict buffing to self-buffing and AoE/party buffing. So no Chaotic Commands or Death Ward on Haer'dalis, Imoen, and Mazzy for example, except in some specific encounters. Against multiple enemies the party tends to operate as a single unit, i.e. rush one enemy, finish them off, move on to the next, etc. Anomen, Jaheira, Haer'dalis, and Amahoro are pretty much pure melee warriors. Imoen stays back most of the time, launching her Firetooth throwing dagger if she isn't removing protections. Mazzy alternates between ranged and melee. This has been quite effective so far.
Watcher's Keep's green dragon was overwhelmed and done in within a few rounds. Its SCS HP boost didn't make any difference. It dropped Foebane. Even a hive mother - elder orb - death tyrant trio (battled in that order) had no real answer to the party's firepower, though in their defense the elder orb did imprison Anomen.
The Rilmani battle was next. I like the Rilmani (looked them up online, champions of true neutrality) but the following screenie shows them fighting for a lost cause. Note how every party member is at full health.
After that, the plan was to try and take on Azamantes, and then hit the gym to clear my head and fight Y'tossi et al. But then I opened the wrong portal, and had to fight Y'tossi, the hive mother, and various fiends anyway. Fortunately everyone had already fully buffed up for Azamantes. I kind of panicked, having vague but unpleasant memories of that battle. Also, there was still one Ferrumach Rilmani around, that the party had somehow missed. The party first attacked the hive mother: Amahoro, Anomen, Haer'dalis, and Jaheira in melee, and Imoen and Mazzy from range.
Interestingly, Azamantes gave the party more trouble, as he dispelled Imoen's, Mazzy's and Haer'dalis's buffs with a triple Remove sequencer.
So I finally went to the gym and returned to take on Demogorgon with a clear mind, but even this demon prince fell surprisingly fast. Thanks to immediate debuffs by Haer'dalis and Imoen, the party managed to lock their enemy in combat. He didn't even manage to summon his fiendish servants. I was too hyped for good screenshots. This is the best I could do.
The above reports may make me look very confident to the point of being cocky. It almost reads like "We ran into a dragon and beat the crap out of it, and next we encountered a host of powerful demons that we sliced up, followed by a couple of demi-liches we utterly destroyed" etc...
But the truth is I don't feel confident at all. I don't know ToB very well, at least not from first hand experience. I'm genuinely surprised with how effective the party is in these epic fights. I still have difficulty imagining a successful no-reload run, but I no longer see it as out of the question for me. For you readers this may not be the most interesting of my playthroughs, but it would be dishonest of me to make my battle reports more spectacular than they are. This party is very clinical, and I wouldn't mind it if they could keep that up.
The party continued with the main plot, i.e. they took on Illasera. Amahoro engaged the fallen ranger with the Reflection Shield, until the latter went ethereal and - as would later turn out - ran off to the south. Illasera's disappearance allowed the party to deal with her reavers. Their mage managed to remove some of the companions' buffs but Haer'dalis and Imoen returned that favor. Amahoro dueled Illasera and prevailed.
In the pocket plane, Cespenar upgraded some weapons: Angurvadal +4 for Haer'dalis, Storm Star +5 for Anomen, and the Flail of Ages +4 for Amahoro.
During the first challenge, Sarevok, Bodhi, and Irenicus gave the party some difficulty, mainly because principal target Irenicus managed to stand strong against the party, even with Haer'dalis and Imoen's attempts at removing his protections. A Dragon's Breath and a Comet cast in a Time Stop injured Jaheira, whose druidic PfFire had expired.
The companions did all the little quests in Saradush. Imoen pilfered the Arcana Archives (100 pick pockets, plus all thieving skill boosters proved enough), and she did a final spell scribing session with Haer'dalis. The party sought to get into Gromnir's castle through the crypts, where Anomen turned many a vampire. Invisible and non-detectable Imoen removed all traps in Gromnir's prison. The half-orc's soldiers were no threat. Here's Imoen dealing with a mage on her own, and finishing her with the (non-proficient) Staff of the Magi.
@CharlestonianTemplar said: Go to bed!
Since India/Nepal are also Pantheistic, I thought that I would use Devangari Script for some names, but BG doesn't recognise the script.
Here's the problem. In ATweaks, Balors have a 15% chance of landing a vorpal strike per hit.
There is no saving throw.
Magic resistance cannot block it.
The only way for a single-classed warrior to block it is to equip Hindo's Doom.
The upgraded form of Hindo's Doom.
Which requires Hindo's Hand.
Which you only get in Abazigal's lair.
Long after you already have to fight multiple Balors in Hell.
This means that, with ATweaks installed, it is impossible for any single-classed warrior to beat the game solo without relying entirely on luck to survive in Hell. The reality is that, sooner or later, the numerous gated demons will box you in, and it's simply not possible to kill them quickly enough to thin the herd. Their ability to teleport at will means you can't run away from them for more than a few moments. Eventually, you will be surrounded by ten or more demons.
Earlier, I noticed that mephits in ATweaks had a similar problem. Some mephit attacks and spells have a 50% chance of stunning the target for 6 seconds with no save. I nearly died early in SoA to the mephits before Rayic Gethras, which is when I discovered it. It seems that ATweaks has many examples of status effects and even instant death effects which many different character builds cannot block through any means whatsoever, unless they have some other mod-introduced item that will grant an immunity. In fact, the only item that I can think of that would have solved this problem would be the Staff of Zoltan (or whatever it's called), which is by far the most overpowered mod item in existence.
This vorpal effect makes it virtually impossible for the following characters to beat the game solo without relying on a mod-introduced item or blind luck:
Fighter
Kensai
Berserker
Wizard Slayer
Barbarian
Dwarven Defender
Monk
Sun Soul Monk
Dark Moon Monk
Ranger
Stalker
Archer
Beastmaster
Paladin
Cavalier
Inquisitor
Undead Hunter
If you don't remove the XP cap (which would let Death Ward be undispellable at a sufficiently high level), the following classes are also locked out:
Druid
Avenger
Totemic Druid
Shapeshifter
All Fighter/Druids
Cleric
Cleric of Lathander
Cleric of Helm
Cleric of Talos
Cleric of Tyr
Cleric of Tempus
All Fighter/Clerics
Any Thief->Cleric that dual-classes before level 24
There are plenty of mods that are especially difficult for certain classes, but I've never seen a mod component that so thoroughly broke the metagame for so many classes at the same time. The closest example is Ascension, which locks out single-classed druids, but you can get around that by installing a component that allows druids to equip the Shield of Reflection. Otherwise, only Wizard Slayers have to rely on luck.
Normally, this would be the end of the run for me, but the sheer, indefensible unreasonableness of ATweaks demons is making me consider uninstalling ATweaks and proceeding without. I already considered uninstalling ATweaks after the game crashed midway through the Hell fight, but I just barely decided against it before this happened. Thoughts?
At any rate, I have to strongly recommend that anyone considering a no-reload run never install ATweaks demons, elementals, or mephits. Even outside of these game-breaking no-save instant death effects and unstoppable disablers, I've long noticed that demons and elementals have an incredibly frustrating habit of constantly going invisible or ethereal, which artificially dragged out these encounters and completely took all the fun out of fighting them. That particular component is neither balanced nor fair nor fun.
So your question was basically you wanted to reload. I wouldn't reload myself, as it's not a bug exactly, just an extremely dangerous enemy. I wouldn't install ATweaks either though too. Perhaps you should only try to no-reload ATweaks with a party, and only solo with an installation without ATweaks.
I'd like to note that aTweaks is not alone in providing challenges that require a measure of luck for many classes. SCS vampires with their CON drain and SCS illithids that teleport at will, can see through invisibility, and go invisible at will come to mind. Any character that can't cast PfMW has no way of protecting themselves. But at least those monsters need to hit the average Charname more than once whereas a balor can slay charname in a single blow. So I understand your issue with these aTweaks components.
On the other hand, I personally have never struggled to prevent my characters, even solo characters, from getting boxed in by teleporting fiends, by simply staying on the move and using ranged attacks. This is Norgath for example, keeping his distance in hell.
I see that @Corey_Russell just beat me with his answer, advising you to do the same thing.
@Blackraven: Did you have "Fiendish Gating" installed in Norgath's run? Because I see four teleporting demons in your screenshot, and I had eight.
This is what the fight looked like after 10 seconds of combat, not counting a Time Stop. This happened while I was running.
Part 6: Shadows of Amn
Shadowdancers excel in Shadows of Amn, appropriately enough. Only much later in the game does anything have an answer for invisibility, so we can backstab our way through much of the early game. No worries about ATweaks mephits here.
We buy the Ring of Air Control so we can reach subzero saving throws a little earlier, then proceed with the slaver quest, Pai'Na, and Suna Seni. I purchase the Blade of Roses +3, an underappreciated weapon that happens to be an excellent backstabbing weapon in addition to granting a +2 Charisma bonus that we can combine with the Nymph Cloak to decrease store prices.
Spamming backstabs lets us slowly cut through Stoneskins on mages like Prebek and Sanasha, but for Rayic Gethras, I decide to abuse the Fireball trap to bomb him into oblivion. First, though, I have to purchase two Potions of Fire Resistance and kill one of the mephits on the bottom floor to make them fly around, since one of them blocks the stairway if you don't get them to move.
I backstab the knights and the bandits at the Windspear Hills, but don't go any further (I just wanted to get rid of the dryad acorns). At Trademeet, I use the Nymph Cloak to charm Taquee and Khan Zahraa to petrify the two djinn inside. I feel quite proud of the tactic, since it let me avoid cutting through a bunch of Stoneskins, but I realize my mistake when Khan Zahraa's death prompts Taquee to vanish... taking the Efreeti Bottle with him.
I snatch Belm and the Bracers of Archery from the Druid Grove, then roast Dalok with a Potion of Firebreath. Back in Athkatla, I realize that, as a single-classed thief, I cannot side with Bodhi, which means we have to fight vampires in Chapter 3. The good news is that a Shadowdancer doesn't need a Protection from Undead scroll or an upgraded Mace of Disruption to survive fights with vampires.
Which leaves us with a problem. Vampires in SCS don't stick around if they're getting attacked by an invisible enemy. When we try to grind down Tanova, she runs away.
And vampires have an extremely high movement rate, which means there's no chance we can keep up with Tanova when she dashes off. We can't get close enough to land a backstab, and we don't have any +3 arrows we could use to attack Tanova at range.
I will spare you the details, but after an excruciating hour of running around and accomplishing nothing, I ended up having to go all the way to Trademeet just to buy Tansheron's Bow so I could slowly, agonizingly remove Tanova's Stoneskins--after I baited out her numerous Glabrezu summons and then waited out their durations by backstabbing the other vampires with a recharged Staff of Striking.
And even then, I still need to land multiple backstabs, with the Staff of Striking no less, just to get through Tanova's sky-high HP.
Rather than fight Bodhi, I fled the area and came back, taking a leaf out of the book of some other runners. Sure enough, she does in fact deliver her defeat dialogue without a fight:
Now we can tackle the Unseeing Eye quest, and a Vhailor's Helm clone chops up the first batch of beholders while Frisky Bits hides in safety, earning us our second HLA: Shadow Clone, a Simulacrum spell that can be used in conjunction with Vhailor's Helm or a Simulacrum scroll.
This means we can have two clones active at the same time, which gives us much stronger potential damage output. In fact, this is the only reason I deemed it possible to tackle the Ravager and overcome its regeneration. But that comes much later.
We use some Elixirs of Health to cure mummy rot on the way through the Pit of the Faithless (note that you can avoid spawning a lich in the ghoul area by entering from the north entrance instead of the south) and use our twin clones to butcher the beholders in short order, including the Unseeing Eye.
Completing the Unseeing Eye questline gets us our third HLA: Shadow Form, which grants 5 rounds of undispellable Improved Invisibility and 50% physical damage resistance, which we can stack with the Defender of Easthaven and eventually the post-Ravager Ascension bonus for 70% and then 95% damage resistance.
These three HLAs will form the basis of our gameplay in ToB, when backstabbing and constant invisibility will simply not work against most of the key enemies. Shadow Clone will give us lots of extra damage output, Use Any Item will let us use mage scrolls and bigger weapons, and Shadow Form will make Frisky Bits and their clones substantially tougher to kill.
It's a while since I played at all with atweaks, but I agree that the gating component is not suitable for a solo no-reload. I think I decided that after a single mephit in Jon's dungeon spawned something like 6 or 8 friends (the gated ones were also able to gate, which meant there was always a chance that encounters would very rapidly get out of hand).
I agree with @Corey_Russell that the appropriate way to deal with a mod that makes things too hard is to not use the mod.
That particular screenshot occurred directly after a Time Stop that ended up dispelling my Oil of Speed, so that may have played a role. But I think the root problem is simple: one enemy teleports over to you, which sometimes results in that enemy appearing in front of you--that is, if you're running northeast, as I was, a single demon can appear to the northeast, and then your character stops moving for a few frames while he or she tries to figure out which way to walk around the demon.
During that brief delay, a bunch of other demons can then teleport around you, cutting off your other routes of escape. The demons don't all teleport at the same time, but they only teleport a few frames apart, and a few frames of being stuck behind a demon can result in the whole herd converging around you before you have a chance to escape. Similarly, stopping for a few frames to make an attack roll, use an item, or cast a spell--the only way to clear the field--can make it even easier for the enemy to box you in.
Mostly I just wanted to complain about the component, and warn about its use. I'll occasionally ask people about reloading in weird circumstances, but I don't remember the last time I actually did reload and kept going. If there's any doubt about a run's legitimacy, I just abandon it.
I aways play with instant teleporting, also aTweaks. From the readme:
Use Icewind Dale's Dimension Door animation
This component replaces the default animation for the Dimension Door and Shadow Door spells with the higher quality animation from Icewind Dale. The actual gameplay effects of those spells remain completely unchanged, only their visual appearance is altered. This tweak can be installed in four ways:
1) The new animation can play at fast speed (as in Icewind Dale).
2) The new animation can play at slow speed (matching the speed the ordinary animation in Baldur's Gate 2 is played at).
3) The new animation can be used only for the actual spells (Dimension Door and Shadow Door), thereby retaining the old animation for other visual effects such as portal appearances and creature spawning sequences.
4) The new animation can be played at fast speed with a reduced delay between the start of the animation and the appearance or disappearance of the creature.
I use option 4 which does make a big difference with vanilla. However it doesn't usually get my characters boxed in if I have them move around. But then, with fiendish gating staying on the move must be harder.
Tip (male dwarf barbarian, Grond0); Twute (male elf mage, Gate70)
Previous updates
The session started with a bit of shopping and completing a few quests started last time. The first real action though was going through the Cloudpeaks, where Twute got a level as a result of completing our belt collection.
Some faster XP was on offer at Durlag's Temple, where Twute was mainly responsible for taking down some battle horrors.
After Meilum supplied some bracers,
In Nashkel Nimbul lay down in a stinking cloud and didn't get up again. We didn't bother trying disablers with Tranzig - but there was no need.
At the Bandit Camp the bandit archers punched plenty of holes in Tip, but couldn't prevent their leader from being blinded and skull trapped.
Before heading for the Cloakwood a bit of stuff was sold at High Hedge. Twute decided to take the quick way to deal with a group of skeletons there - dropping a skull trap on Tip's head (lucky he's a regenerating dwarf)
At the mine Genthore and Kysus were blinded. A follow up web and stinking cloud got Rezdan to stay still while being axed. Drasus did break free momentarily and verbally threaten terrible things, but his bluster counted for nothing as he got stuck again as soon as he finished speaking.
In the City Twute bought a few more spells before we started the poison quest. Lothander was targeted for his boots, but managed to break free of the grease field under him. Marek though was less fortunate.
Tip, barbarian L7, 97 HPs, 225 kills
Twute, mage 8, 46 HPs, 74 kills, 1 death
Part 7: Shadows of Amn
Having Use Any Item means we can finally equip the upgraded Mace of Disruption and/or the Amulet of Power to get immunity to level drain, allowing us to get past the Vampiric Wraiths in the first level of Watcher's Keep. We buy back the Helm of Balduran, which we sold a while back, and recharge the Staff of Striking before proceeding to Brynnlaw, where Perth the Adept succumbs to a single blow from the staff.
The Spellhold lich spawns late, and we lose one of our very limited Protection from Undead scrolls to a Remove Magic spell. Since we lost multiple scrolls to Chapter 3 Bodhi, we really need to conserve them for late-game undead fights. We chain-cast Shadowstep to wear out the lich's PFMW spells so we can land an Arrow of Dispelling, rendering the lich vulnerable. The Crimson Dart disrupts its spells, but we land an early kill with a lucky hit from the Mace of Disruption.
Dace Sontan is horrible, just like all the other vampires we've had to deal with. Despite the fact that we have no Protection from Undead scroll active, he runs away indefinitely when we try to backstab him, and we have trek all the way across the map until finally we manage to corner him.
Nothing else in the Spellhold maze is particularly dangerous. Irenicus is a problem, however. I thought I could get past his Improved Mantle using an Enchanted Weapon scroll, since I have the Better Enchanted Weapon mod installed, but unfortunately I cannot get Arrows of Dispelling to strike as +5 weapons. Instead, I have to spawn a bunch of clones to spam Shadowstep until his Improved Mantle runs out... and then more Shadowstep spells to wait out Irenicus' PFMW Contingency.
But each chain of Shadow Clones only requires a single Shadow Clone spell from Frisky Bits themselves. We can just as easily re-cast Shadow Clone (we have multiple castings of Shadow Clone and Shadow Form) and have our new clone spawn more clones, each of which has many castings of Shadowstep. We wait out Irenicus' Absolute Immunity spell as well, paving the way for another Arrow of Dispelling and some devastating backstabs.
Anyway, we chop up Ixilthetocal and proceed to the Underdark. As always, I make sure to take down the mind flayers in the far west, just so they don't ambush us later when we're not ready.
Anyway, the Kuo-toan Prince's regeneration proves too much even for three Shadowdancers using Assassination in tandem. We still can't deal enough damage to bring him down. Eventually, I realize that the solution is lying in plain sight: we can use a Drow Crossbow of Speed with the Kuo-Toan Bolts we've been collecting to stun him, giving us automatic hits. Without the chance of missing our attacks, we can actually push him over the brink.
There's only one thing left to do before entering Adalon's lair and beginning the Ust Natha questline: I'm going to dispatch the guards at the drow exit. Problem is, we have to fight two ATweaks Glabrezus in the process.
I had no idea just how difficult that was going to be.
The thing I've found with aTweaks fiends and the devils that fight with Belhifet is that they won't teleport if you're within about 30 feet of them. Flee too far and they will teleport over when they have a clear aura. I believe they will do this once per round if you're not within fighting distance, as fiends place teleportation at the highest priority over all other abilities that use aura.
You could conceivably retreat to a further distance once they have expended their aura for that round to attack them with ranged weapons, being careful to let them close the distance enough so they won't try to teleport on their next round.