@Aerakar The assassin and swashbuckler-successes were located in the old bioware forums, which don't exist anymore, but used to be the past home of the no-reload challenge. There's another Hall of Heroes for these older runs, including some links to an archived version of the previous no-reload thread (there existed even older no-reload threads in a previous version of the bioware forums, but these are lost forever): https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/904216#Comment_904216
There, you will find an assassin run by BBMorti (started in 2011) and a swashbuckler by @Grond0 (around 2014). Obivously, these didn't include SoD yet
Whilst Sinna is progressing satisfactorily through the City of Baldur's Gate, and expect to be heading out from there soon, another party of Chaotic Evil Characters has also set out. It is Wormwood the Blackguard and Chaosbringer the Sorceress. Both have a charisma of 18 which is new for me as I usually use Charisma as a dump stat. It is the first time that I have played with a sorcerer so I don't expect great things of the party. Wait and see what happens. Having the PC as a Blackguard may keep his sidekick alive.
Whilst Sinna is progressing satisfactorily through the City of Baldur's Gate, and expect to be heading out from there soon, another party of Chaotic Evil Characters has also set out. It is Wormwood the Blackguard and Chaosbringer the Sorceress. Both have a charisma of 18 which is new for me as I usually use Charisma as a dump stat. It is the first time that I have played with a sorcerer so I don't expect great things of the party. Wait and see what happens. Having the PC as a Blackguard may keep his sidekick alive.
Run ended when taking on the ankheg next to Tenya. Will try it again using different tactics but in the meantime I will carry on with Sinna.
@Aerakar The assassin and swashbuckler-successes were located in the old bioware forums, which don't exist anymore, but used to be the past home of the no-reload challenge. There's another Hall of Heroes for these older runs, including some links to an archived version of the previous no-reload thread (there existed even older no-reload threads in a previous version of the bioware forums, but these are lost forever): https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/904216#Comment_904216
There, you will find an assassin run by BBMorti (started in 2011) and a swashbuckler by @Grond0 (around 2014). Obivously, these didn't include SoD yet
Interesting. Shall I remove those from the list?
The absence of SoD does make runs distinct. A lot of runs have only been done in pre-EE games with no SoD, and there's always the factor of mods. Just because your main character is the same class as a previous run doesn't make it any less unique.
ToB started with the normal easy victory over Illasera.
The first pocket plane challenge was also surprisingly simple - no named characters appeared to challenge them after they'd dealt with some Knights of the Order. The XP for completing the challenge was enough for L18.
A few quests in Saradush were followed up by fighting through the prison. The druids were unable to bash the door into the sewers, so worked their way into the palace. Going invisibly into the Throne room, energy blades killed the mages while they were busy trying to cast true sight and Gromnir only lasted a couple of rounds after that.
At the North Forest their blades slashed through the opposition to gain another level before moving on to the Forest of Mir. They took down the Master Wraith there - though at the cost of a couple of level drains.
There was lots more XP on offer at the Fire Temple and the druids cruised through the first floor there, getting to level 20 while gaining the final wardstone.
The second floor proved easy enough as well with Imix proving no more resistant to energy blades than giant-kin.
Back at the Temple of Mir, Nyalee discovered why changing your mind can be a problem.
The druids then moved on to the Siege Camp and sent Yaga-Shura packing. While wandering round waiting for him to reappear they hit level 21.
When they eventually found him, insects disrupted the casters before energy blades cut down his lieutenants before turning to the main man.
In the second pocket plane challenge the druids' weight of shot was too great for the clone team. That was also the case at the Oasis, where huge quantities of valuable equipment were left on the ground - not that the druids are in need of that as there's little to buy by now anyway with the 300k gold currently in the bank.
Things were also mainly straightforward in Amkethran, where Vongoethe's improved mantle was no protection against energy blades.
Galaphile did though charge forward when his blades ended and got polymorphed by a sphere of chaos - he was fortunate not to die there.
Moving on to Sendai's Enclave, a drow woodcutter found himself chopped down.
With the exterior area pacified the druids moved inside and started working their way through. Typically I just bypass most of the enclave with solo characters, but the druids are still only half way to the XP cap so killed everything. Checking back after the combat with Thelynn'yss I saw they had got another level there.
Most of the time I was using summons and weapon attacks, but a rare use of Nature's Beauty helped save Bremen when he got confused and was in trouble against the slavemaster.
They got another level against the third of Sendai's statues.
Once the rest had gone, the real Sendai protected herself for a few rounds with PfMW. Once that was gone, with nearly 60APR homing in, her life was measured in scant seconds.
Unfortunately, so was Allanon's as the disappearing portrait bug chose to strike at the moment of victory .
It's always more risky when I have to redo an encounter, but this time nothing untoward happened and the druids have moved on to Abazigal's lair.
Walker Boh - L23, 102 HPs, 260 kills (636 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Bremen - L23, 102 HPs, 170 kills (424 in BGEE/SoD), 0 deaths
Galaphile - L23, 101 HPs, 170 kills (481 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Allanon - L23, 107 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 308 kills (669 in BGEE/SoD)
Brona - L23, 98 HPs, 188 kills (492 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Cogline - L23, 98 HPs, 172 kills (381 in BGEE/SoD), 1 death
@semiticgod Honestly, I would be sad to see the old runs removed from the list. At the time they were completed, they represented the same level of achievement as a modern quadrilogy run does now - getting through the entirety of the saga with no reloads, which was and still is the goal we're aiming for. Arguably, even then the challenge level for these runs was completely different from run to run - you can't compare a successful Improved Anvil solo run to an unmodded full party run in terms of difficulty - but I don't think we should start to differentiate runs at that level, otherwise the first thing we'd need to do is start separating the Hall of Heroes into multiple Halls, for example for SCS and Non-SCS runs, and I don't think anyone would be in favor of that. Even back then, people could've installed mods the combined size of SoD (and many people did!) - and I remember that even in this thread, after the release of SoD, a lot of people played without the expansion for quite a while (often because they simply hadn't bought it yet), and their runs were still considered to be perfectly valid.
Now, for the people who have been playing the LoB+SCS+Ascension solo challenges, I can understand why SoD would be considered an integral part of the challenge, because both the coalition camp and Belhifet suddenly turn into big roadblocks and considerations. The same isn't true, however, for SCS full party runs, where SoD is arguably one of the easiest parts of the entire saga, as its difficulty isn't really affected by SCS. Since so far, we've decided not to split this challenge into different categories, I don't think it would be fair to invalidate historic runs in that fashion. Also, it could be argued that the EE does reduce the difficulty of the challenge in other ways, be it in terms of new items, NPCs, some very useful rewards for the new NPC quests, more available experience, especially with SoD, and some useful options such as max HP on level ups even on higher difficulties (which was a legal thing to manually do even in pre-EE times by turning down the difficulty level for the process of leveling up, but many people, myself included, simply didn't do it).
Lastly, for a more selfish reason, I'd simply be sad to see old achievements of community members who, in many cases, have been active for 10+ years, be suddenly gone from the main thread - these runs are a part of the history of this challenge, and we've already lost easy access to lots of them by really only considering full trilogy successes at this point. The assassin and swashbuckler runs wouldn't be the only unique class/kit successes to be suddenly gone - the list of unfinished classes and kits, which is quite daunting but not out of reach right now, would be quite a bit longer, and a scary thing to tackle (and as it is my ultimate goal to eventually finish the entirety of that list as a community, that's not something I could be in favor off).
Also, I don't believe that the existence of a previous run with the same class/kit would make a more modern success with a different game version, a new expansion, new mods ec. any less impressive - in fact, I'd argue that every single trilogy and quadrilogy success is an impressive achievement, if the rules of this challenge are obeyed. A lot of difficulty in our runs is, in any case, achieved by self-restriction or voluntarily installing difficulty-increasing mods. Lots of people are basically running their own type of challenge, such as Grond0s life-long attempt to finish a run with every single class and kit - one could easily decide to try and challenge themselves to get all the classes only present in the old Hall of Heroes into the New Hall, without taking anything away from these older runs.
Well, that post turned out to be longer than expected
@Enuhal: I meant remove those classes from the list of classes that weren't yet in the Hall of Heroes; I certainly wouldn't want to erase old runs!
I only mentioned the SoD thing because I wanted to stress that there was still new ground, and that there wasn't anything wrong with doing a class that already had an entry in the Hall.
By the way, Pearl the fighter/mage is now in endgame SoA, at over 9 million XP (I don't like hitting XP caps; I'm willing to break them since this isn't meant to be a challenge run) and trampling everything. This is actually the first time I've ever run a solo fighter/mage, and it's ridiculous just how incredibly powerful the class is. This is one of the easiest runs I've ever had, the other competitor being the Fire Seeds run with Viora the Shadowdancer/Cleric (not in the Hall because it was BG2 only, I think).
Even without exploits, the fighter/mage is just incredibly strong, and it has almost no weaknesses--at least not in my install, where SCS v32's IWD spells give us +2 to saves from Emotion, Hope, and where a tweak mod lets items of protection stack PnP-style (two Rings of Protection can give you +2 to saves and +1 to AC). That covers the only possible weakness of the fighter/mage, which is poor saving throws compared to a shorty class and no access to Chaotic Commands or Death Ward (although a single extra Spell Immunity would cover that gap in a different install).
Otherwise it's just a character with lots of instant-casting mage spells, the best gear in the game aside from Soul Reaver (the character has my self-portrait; she had to be good-aligned), and over 200 damage per round when fully-buffed, which is always. The only reason it's not boring is because it's so fast.
In that case I'd rather see a table with 3 columns: kit, trilogy, quadrilogy with in each trilogy/quadrilogy box the player, difficulty and modlist.
Noone is left out and you still have the right context
If you were considering providing more information about runs, I think distinguishing party from solo would be reasonable. In a party run the class of the PC will usually be significant, but it's unlikely to be crucial to most runs. Any successful run is an achievement and I don't think solo runs are significantly easier or more difficult - but, for anyone considering 'filling the gaps' by doing characters not yet done, the distinction between party and solo would probably be of interest.
Fun With Saving Throws II: Electric Boogaloo
I gathered all the loot from the siege of Dragonspear and stored it in containers to sell off later. This also includes loot from the huge fight in Dragonspear Castle's basement and anything in the Underground River and its exterior. The result is that I've acquired a few hundred thousand gold and Ribald's/Deidre's/Joluv's stores are picked clean of any relevant choice equipment for our party. We're also good to go on potions of extra healing. Any shadow-adept related items were also smuggled over to Amn.
Progress in Amn is slow but steady. At Spaz's next level, I replace Leaps and Bounds with Beguiling Influence to maximize his CHA and therefore the saving throw penalties on his invocations and the benefits from Dark One's Own Luck. As strong as we are after buying up the good stuff in shops, we're still not quite geared up enough to take on the tougher challenges straight away, so I do the typical early-game route of BG2 first: Copper Coronet slavers, CC's sewers, Maevar, the Graveyard, Rejiek HIdesman, Trademeet, the Druid Grove, and then the De'Arnise Keep. TorGal's fight seems to be going smoothly when suddenly one of the Yuan-ti mages releases a 3x Ice Storm sequencer, instantly killing Stabby and reducing Cactank to 1 HP! My version of Ice Storm follows NWN's version, capping at level 18.
TorGal dies from the friendly fire and the yuan-ti mage is quickly killed afterward as its health was low anyway. The Rod of Rez is used on Stabby and Cactank heals himself by resting. We tackle the exterior of the shadow ruins but I decide I want the Daystar longsword before proceeding, so we go back to the City Gates and send in Debuff by himself to deal with the lich while protected from undead. Shadow Screen protects him from Remove Magic attempts, of which this lich has many. Shadowstep was used to wait out PfMW. Dragon's Breath was just barely avoided because of how cramped the room was and Debuff had to tank a Comet, but ultimately prevailed.
While still buffed, we also send him in against the elemental lich in the Bridge District.
The shade lich will have to wait because its Fallen Planetar buddy will make mincemeat of us. With Daystar in hand, we clear out the shadow ruins and take out Thaxll. I had Yin cast Negative Immunity on anyone not immune to level drain to prevent the dragon's breath weapon from working. He falls easily.
Now its the Shade Lord's turn. Shadow Magic makes him quite dangerous. Yin spams Breaching Dark and Black Ray of Destruction to eliminate the Shade Lord's Shadow Screen, take out his PfWfW and Shadeskin, and take down his Shar's Shield. But it's hard work since the Shade Lord casts Nightfall to reduce our saves and makes a simulacrum of himself with Shadow Double, then summons two Shadows of the Void - tanky level-draining creatures created by Summon Shadow who can cast many shadow weave spells. Cactank is hit by a Cone of Bitter Cold from one of the Shadows of the Void, which reduces him to critical health. The Shade Lord is finished off, but Cactank is hit with Shadowplague before it dies, causing him to die afterward. Blaggy holds off the Voids and uses a Rez Rod charge on Cactank, who gathers up his stuff before we retreat down the stairs into Thaxll's former lair.
We then tie up a loose end by retrieving the Soultaker Dagger from where I had stored it and go back to Ulgoth's beard. Aec'Letec is still a powerful melee fighter and spams Vampiric Touch whenever he can. The cultists take a while to kill thanks to their triple HP. Cactank barely survives. I really need to start using Divine Protection more often. I wish Cactank had more level 5 spell slots. I need those Chaotic Commands.
Back in the Umar Hills Inn, we go to the Trials of the Luremaster expansion. Quest and kill XP is halved from what it normally is. Looking back, I'm not sure if I should've done that because some enemies here are far more trouble than they're worth. Spectral Guards have such good THAC0 that even -16 AC isn't enough to stop them completely, and their HP combined with their damage resistance and spectral undead immunities make them hard to kill - especially for our party, as we specialize in killing living creatures who can be CC'd. Ultimately I just decide to mob the guards with summons with the Wand of Lightning trick, and they unbelievably manage to cut through them all just before I'm finished killing them. We get a level or two from this expansion and get lucky with a Potion of Resistance in this container, which will raise Cactank's crushing damage resistance by 5%.
After this, I'm looking for some more easy XP because I want to start tackling the hard fights and I need HLAs before I start doing that. Aron Linvale's quests give some easy XP and Bodhi isn't too hard.
Our next move is either the Planar Prison or Planar Sphere.
Draconis spent a while in human shape attacking a fire elemental in vain, while the druids wore him down with missiles. When he changed shape Walker Boh attempted to get a quick kill with Harm, but got affected himself.
I presume that must have been the result of spell turning, though rechecking the battle text there was no reference to that having been cast. Walker Boh duly got healed and, though Draconis did the same for himself once, the continuing attacks were too much for him.
With their poor saving throws, I didn't trust the druids against a large number of beholders, so sub-contracted that work to Bondari. I wasn't paying attention though as the druids started returning to the exit after that and didn't take action to try and save Walker Boh from some respawned eyes until he was critically injured - his use of an invisibility potion was then just too late with another missile already on the way.
Once he was back in action, the druids moved on to find Abazigal. They spent a fair while throwing normal missiles at him to wear down his human form, before switching to energy blades - even though his immunity to electricity means they don't do much damage individually to Abazigal, the constant hits help to reduce his actions and attacks. I had been concerned about the danger of remove magic followed by breath, but the combat wasn't that long and only Walker Boh had his buffs removed.
Back in Amkethran various sets of underwear were repurposed. Walker Boh took the BMU as he typically acts as target, while Brona took charge of the BMR. The extra AC protection helped the druids in fighting monks and mercenaries and they got up to level 24 as a result.
They accepted Saemon's help to get inside the monks' compound and the ambushers there found they'd bitten off more than they could chew.
Inside, Balthazar's monks soon died and he looked doomed when he was at near death and apparently suffering morale failure. However, that didn't prevent him healing himself and continuing with the fight - but a fresh lot of energy blades were too much for him.
Energy blades made short work of the Slayer in the third pocket challenge.
Ironskins then meant no danger from backstabs in the fourth - though none of the druids were actually attacked there anyway.
For the Ravager in the final challenge, the druids all used physical mirror for the first time in order to not have to worry about being shot. The Ravager went down at the end of their second helpings of energy blades - they still had 3 more lots each memorized for that battle .
I thought about the extent to which it was worth seeking more levels. The benefits for druids beyond L25 are extremely marginal - 2 HPs a level, the odd extra proficiency which would be no use to them and the ability to transform into earth or fire elementals more than once (when they would be unlikely to wish to do it even once). However, they would get an extra 7th level spell for L25 and only needed 100k extra XP each for that - which did seem well worth it. Back at Watcher's Keep they explored the second floor, but didn't bother with the chromatic demon as they got their level with the death of the last of the fire elementals.
At the Throne, Walker Boh opened the proceedings with a first use of implosion. That did no damage to Mel, but I thought it might inflict a stun effect (which can affect her). However, it appears to be a hold effect (that she's immune to). Nevertheless, while Walker Boh acted as a target, the others poured in energy blades and Mel quickly made a strategic retreat.
Mel's second incarnation managed to complete a time stop early on, but concentrated on using spells on summons rather than attacking any of the druids during that.
However, her spells did succeed in scaring Walker Boh and the odd summons and the attack on her was generally less co-ordinated that time. Still, she eventually left with the druids still each having at least 1 of their original 3 lots of energy blades (a couple of them had 2).
Her third incarnation produced slayer shadows which prompted the druids to move around more and her teleporting away also somewhat disrupted their targeting. However, she failed to complete an attempted heal and disappeared once more within 6 or 7 rounds.
For the Fallen Solar, Bremen and then Allanon acted as targets with physical mirror active while the others attacked the supporting crew. The Solar healed itself once from near death, but the second time it got there it went on to successfully kill itself.
On their own the mariliths were then no trouble for Walker Boh to tank.
For her final incarnation, Mel started off by summoning a death tyrant. That could easily debuff and kill the druids, so was immediately targeted before it had a chance to do so.
The following assault on Mel ran out of energy blades when she still had 22 HPs left, but everyone used oils of speed (for the first time in the run I think) to keep the shots pouring in at sufficient rate to ensure she couldn't recover.
Allanon remained mortal to keep nature's team in harmony.
Afterthoughts
The team of druids is a pretty strong one. One main problem with solo druids is the relatively low damage potential they have. That's particularly so in physical combat, but also applies to their spells (with the exception of call lightning, which can't be used on a lot of enemies) - at least until firestorm is available as a seventh level spell. Insect spells are great for keeping mages quiet, but don't do enough damage to deal with many other enemies.
However, in a full team of druids multiple insect spells are a killer for pretty much anything, while the availability of energy blades eventually provides them with missile potential not far short of fighters. Unless you're restricting resting for RP reasons, it's really only the final combat with Mel where spell resources become a real constraint on either spell attacks (such as insects, magic resistance, harm and nature's beauty) or direct damage.
The other main problem for a solo druid is the poor saving throws. Not having the best equipment means saving throws are even worse for a party, but the problem is greatly reduced by spreading the threat over multiple characters and using buffs to defend against the main status-change effects. The buffs of a solo druid are very vulnerable to being dispelled, but the availability of so many spells, summons and attacks means that few enemies have the opportunity to actually cast dispel/remove magic.
Walker Boh - L25, 106 HPs, 376 kills (636 in BGEE/SoD), 3 deaths
Bremen - L25, 106 HPs, 261 kills (424 in BGEE/SoD), 0 deaths
Galaphile - L25, 105 HPs, 271 kills (481 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Allanon - L25, 111 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 425 kills (669 in BGEE/SoD)
Brona - L25, 102 HPs, 257 kills (492 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Cogline - L25, 102 HPs, 269 kills (381 in BGEE/SoD), 1 death
Pearl the fighter/mage has now taken down Yaga-Shura. Basically the run is just a few chores and then scary Ascension Melissan, the only part of this run that will likely be challenging.
Congrats @Grond0 ! Thanks for your write-ups - you've given me ideas how my cleric group might be able to make it! I used your tactics of energy blades on 2nd pocket plane challenge and it worked well! We are about to enter the Oasis. Incidentally, April got chunked by fire giants in Yaga's temple, so now we are reduced to 5 clerics - hope we can make it!
I have started a new run with with a Blackguard. No mods, but a container added to Gorion for convenience.
I realised that improving the armour/weapons of Shank and Carbos was actually making the game easier and that wasn't the intention. Bloodrager's proficiencies started with ** katanas, ** long bows * dual wielding. This was to see firstly if I could get the katana in Candlekeep. (Yes I know that it is easier to specialise in long swords)
By careful economy I was just able to afford the katana in Candlekeep. Got the dagger +1 for the bolts. Didn't buy armour other than a small shield and helmet. Only got the armour after selling the dagger and buying the katana. Better armour had to wait! Left Candlekeep with gold 0.
I followed Gorion's instructions but was attacked by another assassin. I therefore decided to try and hide in the city of Baldur's Gate, but was not allowed in.
Since we couldn't enter, we carried on going north and came across Tenya. We gave her the bowl that we had already aquired.
Heading south I came across an ogre who quickly met his doom.
South of Beregost, two ogrillon fared no better.
Heading west I was able to help Melicamp.
Bassilus was killed next.
I then headed southwards, picking up the Colquetle Amulet and some ankheg armour along the way. I spoke to Noober before heading south of the mines where I helped Prism against Greywolf.
Upon going to the carnival Oopah attacked me and as a result died.
Fun With Saving Throws II: Electric Boogaloo
The Planar Sphere is done first and then the Planar Prison. The Warden of the prison was apparently level drained to death by Nighthaunts from off-screen, so the actual boss of the area was a fallen planetar he summoned. We held it off long enough for it to be unsummoned since we couldn't kill it because of its fast regeneration.
Off to the Guarded Compound. Good old Twin Mislead does all the heavy lifting. Debuff kills all opposition without much resistance.
Watcher's Keep level 1 is next so we can start getting HLAs. The fight for the portal is hard-fought but we win. The Chromatic Demon on level 2 is trivialized with Sigil of Mortality negating his 100% physical damage resistance.
Firkraag is next. We send in Debuff, two Nighthaunts, an Aerial Servant, a Clay Golem, and a Shadow of the Void vs. Firkraag. He actually loses morale from Debuff's song and panics for the whole fight, getting level drained to death by the Nighthaunts and the Void. No Carsomyr or red dragon armor for us.
We still don't have HLAs yet, so we have no choice but to continue on to Watcher's Keep 3. Thanks to Blaggy's evil alignment, we don't have to fight Tahazzar right after coming out of the anti-magic room. Instead, we soldier on and kill Karashur the pit fiend. He gates in devils every round with a 100% success rate. The pit fiend himself is not difficult, it just takes a while to clean up the room because of all the devils pouring in. We return to Tahazzar and get the gem from him, but decide to double-cross him.
Armed with Shar's Blessing, the Shadow Blade +5, and PfWfW if needed, Debuff takes point on killing the balor. I use EEex's time step feature to play the fight out frame-by-frame to make sure none of the PCs get targeted by him. Fortunately he focuses only on our summons and goes down in short order.
We start getting our first HLAs after killing Tahazzar. Stabby learns Expose Weakness, which allows him to backstab the unbackstabble (ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH!).
After landing in Watcher's Keep 4, we exit the dungeon and pay a visit to our old friend Kryn Darkflame at the Friendly Arm. Stabby kills him in one hit with a critical backstab. Dreadflame +5, a powerful bastard sword, is now being wielded by Spaz with the Hellfire Blade of Azythanoth +5 in the other hand.
Now we have some good weapons to use against Kangaxx as well as a Nightwalker from Yin, which is an unkillable monstrosity capable of stat draining anything to death within seconds that isn't immune to it. Kangaxx's lich form is easily defeated by Yin who uses Breaching Dark against him. While in demilich form, Kangaxx actually loses morale from Debuff's song!! Wow!
Kangaxx is now totally defenseless. The Nightwalker stat drains one of his Mordy Swords to death while Spaz kills one with a critical hit from Dreadflame +5, causing the sword to be destroyed by Blackfire Fury and turned into a Blackfire Vessel. The Blackfire Vessel charges straight toward Kangaxx and explodes in unresistable magical fire damage, helping to finish off the demilich.
Saladrex is next on the chopping block. He, too, loses morale against not just Debuff's song but also from Blaggy's Aura of Despair. To add further insult to injury, his backstab immunity is removed and exploited by Stabby. To top off the humiliation conga, he is stat drained to death by the Nightwalker thanks to the saving throw penalties provided by the aura and the song. I added semiticgod's Improved Stat Drain to the Nightwalker's claws to allow XP to be gained from stat drain kills.
The demilich next door is also stat drained to death by the Nightwalker. It summons a Fallen Planetar but luckily it targeted Yin, who was in no danger from its vorpal-dispelling strikes thanks to Shadow Screen, Shadeskin, and good death saves. It is promptly imprisoned using Oblivion Pull.
Several party members level up during Watcher's Keep 5, giving us a major power boost. Debuff's song is extremely deadly and Stabby is more murderously lethal than ever. Even with triple HP, I doubt anything will survive a critical x8 backstab to save against instant death.
We insert the keys into the mechanism in the center of Watcher's Keep 5, but we don't activate the fights. Instead, we exit the dungeon and utterly dismantle the Twisted Rune. While under PfU, Debuff kills Shangalar from range with Azuredge after singing to him. Layenne is preemptively shut down by Spaz's Devour Magic to remove nearly all her defenses and then Yin uses Black Ray of Destruction to prevent her from casting anything for 2 rounds. He follows up with Breaching Dark and Stabby capitalizes on this, utilizing Death Attack to absolutely demolish the mage. Not even Krieg the War Hulk could hit this hard!!
After killing Oopah, I entered a tent and found Zordral threatening another mage with death. I decided to step in and kill him!
I then headed east and reunited Rufie with his owner.
I then killed Vax and Zal
Heading further west I helped a dryad by killing Caldo and Krumm.
I helped in the restoration of 'Drienne's cat before killing Ingol.
Entering the gnoll citadel I killed some ogres before raiding a cave and heading northward where I killed a polar bear.
I slept to try and recover some health but was attacked by an ogre which lowered my health still more. However sleeping again, I returned to full health.
Following the river northward I was attacked by Neville and his cohorts. They died!
Deeming myself strong enough to take on the ankhegs, I now returned to their nest and cleared them out at least temporarily.
My fighter/mage took down Melissan, but it was really ugly near the end. It was several unexpected factors: we kept getting pummeled by anti-magic attacks; Sendai and Abazigal kept casting spells even after we used Protection from Magic scrolls on them; Holy Word stole a spell or two from us (and god knows a fighter/mage depends heavily on getting PFMW and SI: Abjuration off the ground); and twice we got pinned by the teleportation bug, in which Melissan teleported directly on top of us and prevented us from moving around. That was especially nasty because Melissan has a no-save Globe of Blades ability that dealt huge damage every round when we ran out of Stoneskins. I thought we were doomed until our Contingency and Chain Contingency kicked in--I thought those contingencies had been removed because they didn't show up in the spellbook, but they triggered just the same.
Melissan even got a Time Stop off the ground while we had no PFMW active since we were getting hit by so many anti-magic attacks (Melissan can cast Spellstrike and other critters she summons can cast Secret Word) that we couldn't keep both SI: Abjuration and PFMW active at the same time. The only reason she couldn't seem to nail us with a GWW is because she was slowed by the Flail of Ages. We couldn't disrupt her Time Stop even with multiple strikes from the flail. If she attempted to get GWW off the ground while time was stopped, Balthazar either disrupted it due to him being immune to Time Stop from Lunar Stance, or somehow the slow effect decreased her APR enough for us to survive. She also might have lost time during Time Stop by casting Divine Cleansing and maybe another spell or two.
Melissan was almost dead by that point and croaked within a few seconds of time returning to normal, but we could easily have gotten overwhelmed. If I hadn't managed to save Balthazar at Near Death with a Rod of Resurrection charge, or if our luck had been worse, we might not have made it.
By the way, big news: Melissan is now immune to stun in the latest version of Ascension. She can only be disabled by killing one of the Five, which only lasts for a second or two.
Two bugs actually made it realistically possible for us to lose. First was the teleportation bug: without it, our high movement rate would have made it easy to kite everything and rely on our undispellable, item-based buffs to avoid getting disabled or damaged more than potions could heal us for. Also, since the last Pocket Plane bonus from Ascension didn't apply properly, we didn't have the +25% bonus to physical damage resistance that we were supposed to (I actually EEKeepered it in, but loaded the save without that fix). Otherwise a fighter with solid saving throws might be able to tank long-term with the Defender of Easthaven in the off hand and Hardiness for 85% undispellable (but Breachable; Breach takes down Hardiness) damage resistance, enough for Rods of Resurrection to keep you afloat.
Of course, Melissan's spear does still have that 15% chance of stunning her target for 3 whole rounds, and only magic resistance or a save vs. polymorph at -4 can block it. Her spear also applies a -1 penalty to saves, dispellable, for 2 rounds per hit without a saving throw, so that's effectively a save vs. polymorph at a penalty of up to -12 if she lands every hit for 2 rounds straight.
Note that the Necklace of Form Stability grants +5 to saves vs. polymorph, as does Adoy's Belt, so with proper preparation, any non-Wizard Slayer can get undispellable -16 to saves vs. polymorph: -5 from the necklace, -5 from the belt, -2 from the good-aligned Hell reward, -2 from the Ring of Gaxx, and -2 from the Ring or Cloak of Protection +2. Max saves vs. polymorph by class are 4 for warriors, 7 for mages, and 5 for thieves and priests, so only mages truly need dispellable buffs to function.
I'll post some screenshots and discussion later before adding the entry to the Hall. Melissan continues to be a terrifying obstacle for me; I've only fought her so many times, and that fight is an absolute mess of complicated factors that get lost in the fog of war.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that fighter/mages are really really powerful, but Ascension Melissan is a nightmare for anyone aside from a Dwarven Defender, a Barbarian, or a Fighter/Druid, the only classes that can hit long-term 100% physical damage resistance in Ascension.
I feel kinda bad for not fully documenting all the other runs that ended up dying in BG1 or being abandoned somewhere along the way. Suffice to say that in between this run and my solo LoB run a year ago, I started a LOT of runs that ended with gray portraits.
After shoving a bunch of nonbinary critters named Frisky Bits into the Hall before my egg cracked, I've finally made a trans girl Charname to add some transfemme representation to the Hall. Say hello to Pearl the fighter/mage! Look at her stupid little face.
I drew that as a self-portrait and I'm super proud of it. She has the same stupid weeaboo hairstyle that I do.
This run doesn't have many special quirks to it besides being a solo run and me trying to minimize glitchy tricks and RP-unfriendly stuff, so we start out with the standard checklist: kite Shoal to death, watch Korax eat Mutamin and the basilisks, and scrape together enough money to buy Potions of Genius so we can safely scribe a scroll of Invisibility and travel unmolested. One notable distinction from a conventional powergaming checklist is that we're not killing or robbing Algernon or Dushai for their items. That means we need to down a Potion of Freedom in the Narcillicus area in order to safely nab the Wand of Monster Summoning there. Combined with a Wand of Fire, we have the numbers to dispatch the critters we're too weak to tank ourselves.
Once we do enough chores to hit 20 reputation, we grab the Greenstone Amulet so we can go looting. We nearly die to the Fireball trap atop Durlag's Tower because I underestimated the odds of rolling a high number on a 10d6.
That was our first brush with death.
Since we don't yet have the gear to loot most of Durlag's Tower just yet, we proceed to the main quest, bombing Mulahey and managing to land easy kills on both Tranzig and Nimbul by landing a solid hit from Invisibility and dealing enough damage to send both of them panicking.
For Tazok, we use a favorite trick of mine: we turn invisible only after he downs his Oil of Speed, then rest so it will wear off and we can fight a slower version of the half-ogre.
Invisibility lets us arrive at the Molkar and Maneira ambushes unnoticed, and the Wand of Fire and Greenstone Amulet let us burn down the opposition without worrying about being disabled.
We use a Potion of Invisibility to burgle the bandit camp; we're in no position to handle a swarm of bandits just yet. A lot of solo BG1 strategy is just quest timing.
We'll need the Ring of Energy to get Durlag's Goblet early and safely, so we burn a Protection from Magic scroll on Denak and light up the Spider Woods with the One Gift Lost, which strikes as a level 9 spell and goes right through the mages' MGOI.
Pearl has low Charisma due to the need to keep other scores high (I really wanted to have decent Wisdom for Wish spells from Project Image clones in ToB), which means we have to work extra hard to keep our wands charged; a fully-charged Wand of Monster Summoning costs over 24,000 instead of 15,000 at the highest CHA we can muster, 15. We grab a Potion of Magic Protection from the Surgeon in anticipation of tackling the traps in Durlag's Tower, then loot the Ulcaster Ruins and burn down Bassilus and Centeol for cash. On the way out, we get poisoned by ettercaps, which I thought didn't poison people because I've seen ettercaps land hits without either poisoning characters or showing a save vs. death. I don't even realize we're taking damage until Pearl is half dead.
We get another unpleasant brush with death during the fight with Davaeorn. We used the Wand of Monster Summoning to provide a bulwark against us getting flanked by the guards, but when they follow us into Davaeorn's Web+Stinking Cloud Minor Sequencer, they get in the way and buy the Battle Horrors enough time to take a few swings at us.
Davaeorn lands some lucky hits with Minute Meteors, too. We scurry away to heal ourselves and return to Davaeorn to zap him with the Ring of Energy, which kills him fast enough that you only need 2 or maybe 3 Potions of Magic Blocking to bring him down, saving us a longer-lasting but rarer Protection from Magic scroll.
But using the Protection from Magic scroll would have let us tackle Drasus et al without worrying about Kysus and Rezdan, so we have to be careful about how to snatch the Boots of Speed. We set up a small number of Skull Traps (I don't want to rest multiple times to break the fight entirely) and lure Drasus into them.
I inch a little too close, and once again reach the brink of death when the traps shatter and catch Pearl. We take almost 5 times as much damage as Drasus.
I don't know if it's just my install or if it's standard in SCS v32, but Drasus always has a Potion of Magic Shielding in my runs because I use the same install over and over again, and certain things in SCS are randomized during installation. The guaranteed saves and high damage resistances make it super hard to kill him with the Wand of Fire, so we have to run away and rest until the potion wears off.
Not that we were in a good position to keep fighting anyway. When Kysus hits us with Slow and we fail our save, the only thing that lets us get Invisibility off the ground is a wall of summoned critters.
Another pair of Skull Traps ends up killing a summoned monster without even touching Drasus, but it's not a problem. Drasus runs far faster than his comrades, so you can just lure him away and torch him while Genthore and the mages are lagging behind.
In past installs, though, I've seen one of the mages teleport to the party using Dimension Door. More than once, I've had to flee the area in past runs to avoid a Dimension Door->Chaos combo when I thought I was a safe distance away.
Now that we have the Boots of Speed, we can finally loot Durlag's Tower. Having a strong movement speed is important when kiting Love since the other Warders can crowd up the narrow corridors if you don't scurry away fast enough, and since we didn't let Imoen or Xzar and Montaron join the party so we could rob them, we don't have an Oil of Speed; only the boots can let us outrun fast fighters like Pride.
First, we use spells and Knock to open the containers in the north half of the Warder level, since we need to be able to trigger all the traps in one rest period, and we only have so many castings of Knock (we want those spell slots for Invisibility). After torching the doppelgangers with a Wand of Fire, we head south, surviving non-container traps with mage spells so we can use the Wand of Monster Summoning to clear out the skeletons and spiders and Flesh Golems.
Now comes the critical period. Since we don't have stealth, we can't use a Protection from Magic scroll to tackle Love without being forced to use Potions of Invisibility to safely escape once Love is down. Instead, we drink two Potions of Magic Protection, one from the Surgeon and one from the ankheg farm, to get 100% magic resistance.
That grants us immunity to all of the traps in the area, plus Love's Slow spells and Dire Charm spells. Otherwise, only a Protection from Magic scroll or the Greenstone Amulet/Potion of Clarity and a Potion of Freedom/Ring of Free Action (which negates the movement rate bonus of the Boots of Speed, making an Oil of Speed necessary!) could let us safely deal with Love. There are no Dispel Magic spells in this area, which means this is an ideal time to use twin Potions of Magic Protection (which aren't reliable unless you use two of them, which is expensive and finite and dispellable).
Then all we have to do is run around and zap Love with the Ring of Energy. It's normally a simple process, but Avarice finds us far to the south and gives us a frighten when he shows up in the dialog box but not on the screen.
We run off, summon some critters to distract Avarice, and then find Love again to zap it to death.
We turn invisible and head downstairs to grab Durlag's Goblet and Kiel's Helmet, a staple for solo warriors that we likely won't use much due to my preference for wands and evasive tactics.
We finish looting the Cloakwood mines and head to Baldur's Gate.
We don't have enough money to buy everything we want from Halbazzer Drin, but we don't need everything just yet. For now, we can get by with the Greenstone Amulet and mage buffs. The Wand of Paralyzation brings down Voltine and Ragefast, but Ramazith is a tougher cookie, as he summons Shadows in my install, and the STR drain has scared me in the past. Ramazith Slows us, but we wait it out under invisibility and spam the Wand of Paralyzation once we're at normal speed and covered by the Greenstone Amulet again.
Normally I'd skip the Iron Throne fight in a solo run, but I really want the extra gear and money. That's actually a simple process for me these days: we can lure away Shennara and Kaalos with a Wand of Monster Summoning (they start out hostile and invisible where the rest of the enemy group starts out visible but neutral) and then pin them down with the Wand of Paralyzation.
The rest of the enemy team is very nasty, with multiple spellcasters and two Berserkers. But you can break the fight with a few Arrows of Detonation shot from the south.
It takes more than one round since not all the enemies bunch together in an ideal shape, but the spellcasters go down fairly fast, and the remaining fighters aren't too much trouble as long as you stay on the move and out of the archer's sight. We finish them off with a Wand of Fire and some swordplay. With the enemy mages dead, our buffs are at full power, with Mirror Images and various AC buffs to protect us.
A Potion of Magic Blocking keeps us safe from the school of ogre magi when we arrive at Candlekeep. Remember to drink it after the ogres show up; if you drink it before the screen goes dark once again, you lose your buffs, including a Potion of Magic Blocking, but your aura isn't refreshed. We then torch Rieltar with a Wand of Fire and blow up Prat and company with Arrows of Detonation.
Back at Baldur's Gate, we tackle Slythe and Kristin with a simple Polymorph Self spell. Slythe's short sword does piercing damage and is useless against a wizard's jelly form, and Kristin's spells can't get past jelly form's 100% magic resistance. Only Slythe's poison damage and Kristin's Minute Meteors (or summons, depending on the install) can harm a wizard in jelly form, allowing Pearl to spam the Wand of Paralyzation until both of them are incapacitated. Follow up with summons and the lovers go down with zero risk.
Cythandria can be tricky. She's an invoker, so Chaos and Confusion aren't on the table, but Slow, Icelance, and Web are still potential options depending on the install. In my install, she mostly just spams damage spells, and her Remove Magic makes it dicey to deal with her golem friends, who otherwise would be low-risk if you could keep Potions of Absorption active.
However, whether because we disrupted a Remove Magic spell with the Ring of Energy early on, or because she never got around to casting it, we maintain our buffs just fine, and use summons to distract the enemy until Cythandria succumbs to the Ring of Energy.
Next up is the palace ambush. This is a tricky encounter because the Doppelganger Mage's confusion can send make summoned critters or even the Flaming Fist soldiers target Sarevok, instantly breaking the game. However, by charming Halbazzer Drin and luring him through the sewers and into the palace, we can bring a level 18 mage onto our side. In my install, Halbazzer Drin has Time Stop and some lovely Symbol spells, and with a pre-cast Greater Malison from Pearl, Halbazzer Drin disables several doppelgangers from an introductory Time Stop.
He's also responsible for the big friendly elementals helping us out against the doppelgangers. I believe Liia Jannath lands a Remove Magic on the enemy, but the stun effect doesn't get dispelled since Halbazzer Drin is so high-level. Sarevok chunks Belt after the doppelgangers are gone, but Liia Jannath remains well-buffed and safe, so Belt's death just means more loot.
Still hungry for treasure so we can enter SoD fully loaded, we finally return to the bandit camp to clean up shop.
We still don't have everything I want, but we have enough. Now we have to tackle Sarevok.
Since I'm trying to minimize exploits in this run, we won't be bringing a charmed army into the final fight, and since we don't have Algernon's Cloak due to RP whatevers, we can't safely recruit Rahvin's group either. Nor am I willing to use a Potion of Invisibility to lure aside Sarevok's group so I can bomb them from afar.
That means we have to meet Sarevok's team head-on, or at least kite them in full sight. We use a Protection from Magic scroll, stack up on potion buffs, and start firing away with our bow, using an Arrow of Dispelling to slow down Sarevok and Arrows of Detonation to blow up his goons.
Since I'm not willing to stack Shield Amulet charges, that means our AC vs. missiles is perfectly beatable, and Diarmid lands some solid hits on us with his acid arrows, even if we're immune to the poison damage by virtue of a Protection from Poison scroll. Notice Semaj evading an Arrow of Dispelling using PFMW.
I wait out the PFMW spells on Angelo and Semaj before debuffing them with Arrows of Dispelling, then continue kiting with regular arrows so I can save the explodey ones for SoD. It's a long, drawn-out process, and the increasing number of Skeleton Warriors on the screen mean that we have to spend extra time running and use summoned critters to distract Sarevok's buddies.
Finally, we isolate Sarevok and stun him with a Wand of Paralyzation. It takes multiple charges, but we have plenty, and Sarevok only has so much HP.
We're breaking the XP cap in this run because I don't like characters with no growth left, which means we enter SoD already at level 8/9. With lots of wands, Arrows of Dispelling and Detonation, and mage buffs to bolster our fighter abilities, Pearl is in good condition to handle everything SoD has to throw at her.
After killing Officer Dirth as advertised, Corepally thought his defenses were up to chopping down a few pirates in the next room. That got a bit more difficult though when Plinker was dominated by the mage and started chasing Corepally around.
The delay that caused allowed the mage to summon one lot of monsters and another of phase spiders and start unloading magic damage - and that combination proved fatal for Plinker.
Corepally's poor dexterity still leaves him relatively vulnerable and Plinker's indifferent armor and use of a 2-handed sword also means he's fairly easy to damage. To look for ways to address those problems, Fini set off for the Temple District. During travel, Suna Seni tried an ambush - providing Fini with a perfect excuse to fireball her companions.
On arrival it didn't take long to sort out a rakshasa - his cloak providing one source of regeneration.
Still in the Temple sewers, the next item sought was Gaxx - giving both regeneration and increased protection (and invisibility for easy resting). A PfU scroll allowed Corepally to tackle the Shade Lich with impunity.
Further scrolls were used on the Elemental Lich and City Gates Lich - while in theory a single scroll could be used for all of those, MP glitches have a nasty habit of erasing its protection between areas or when someone goes into inventory and we were not yet keen on fighting fair with liches . With Daystar in hand, all of us used PfU scrolls to go after Kangaxx. His demi-lich form tried to run, which can be a pain, but the 3 of us were able to block him in.
During the lich encounters we'd come across Renfeld on our travels. After returning him, Fini sneaked into Prebek's house and cleansed that with a fireball to allow looting the harper building.
Fini had been warned for casting PfP in the open air to ensure survival against the trapped door to the lich tomb in the Bridge District and hence couldn't knock Kangaxx's door without annoying the Cowled Wizards - so she reluctantly coughed up for a magic license.
A number of potions had been accumulated during these encounters, so the next destination was Watcher's Keep to get a potion case. While there, as usual, I couldn't resist checking out the vampiric wraiths. They were there, but Fini stayed close to the exit and the wraiths didn't immediately chase after her - meaning they were vulnerable to a Daystar sunray.
The top floor was looted and the first pair of statues killed to provide Corepally with Foebane as a better weapon. However, he did suffer a brief fatality in the process when failing to survive a FoD trap.
With an undead hunter in the party, it seemed logical to hunt some more undead and the Graveyard was duly cleared. In the caverns below, Pai'Na was wearing a ioun stone that Fini coveted. A fireball cut her spider army down to size and our new pet golem helped occupy her while she was being shot down.
The session closed with us in the Copper Coronet sewers on the way to get Plinker a source of immunity to charm and confusion. Corepally has also put in his own request for such immunity and the Trademeet genies will be next on the list after that.
Illusionist - L11, 82 HPs (8 from ioun stone, 12 from familiar), 93 kills (+115 in BGEE)
Undead hunter - L9, 120 HPs (10 from bracers), 89 kills (+174 in BGEE), 1 death
Blackguard - L9, 105 HPs (5 from helm), 117 kills (+241 in BGEE), 4 deaths
On the ettercap thing ... ettercaps have two attacks they can switch between. One of them deals poison on a failed save, the other doesn't. They are, of course, far more dangerous if they're using their piercing/poison attack than if they're using their slashing attack.
since we didn't let Imoen or Xzar and Montaron join the party so we could rob them, we don't have an Oil of Speed;
*cough* surely only a fanatic would call picking items up from dead bodies 'robbing' them *cough*
and by that stage you've got access to the City where loads of them are available - something like 20 at the High Hall of Wonders alone I seem to remember.
@Grond0: Due to SCS' level 1 NPCs component, Xzar and Montaron would have been immortal, but I hadn't considered finishing off the Cloakwood mines yet to get to Baldur's Gate faster. Are there any special dangers at the High Hall of Wonders? I've only visited that area once ever, and promptly ran off when Alora failed a skill check and hostile critters turned up.
Comments
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/904216#Comment_904216
There, you will find an assassin run by BBMorti (started in 2011) and a swashbuckler by @Grond0 (around 2014). Obivously, these didn't include SoD yet
Run ended when taking on the ankheg next to Tenya. Will try it again using different tactics but in the meantime I will carry on with Sinna.
Clearly took on the ankheg much too soon.
The absence of SoD does make runs distinct. A lot of runs have only been done in pre-EE games with no SoD, and there's always the factor of mods. Just because your main character is the same class as a previous run doesn't make it any less unique.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1135471/#Comment_1135471
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1135568/#Comment_1135568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1136228/#Comment_1136228
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1136632/#Comment_1136632
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1136714/#Comment_1136714
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1136885/#Comment_1136885
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1137035/#Comment_1137035
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1137177/#Comment_1137177
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1137297/#Comment_1137297
ToB started with the normal easy victory over Illasera.
A few quests in Saradush were followed up by fighting through the prison. The druids were unable to bash the door into the sewers, so worked their way into the palace. Going invisibly into the Throne room, energy blades killed the mages while they were busy trying to cast true sight and Gromnir only lasted a couple of rounds after that.
At the North Forest their blades slashed through the opposition to gain another level before moving on to the Forest of Mir. They took down the Master Wraith there - though at the cost of a couple of level drains.
There was lots more XP on offer at the Fire Temple and the druids cruised through the first floor there, getting to level 20 while gaining the final wardstone.
Back at the Temple of Mir, Nyalee discovered why changing your mind can be a problem.
In the second pocket plane challenge the druids' weight of shot was too great for the clone team. That was also the case at the Oasis, where huge quantities of valuable equipment were left on the ground - not that the druids are in need of that as there's little to buy by now anyway with the 300k gold currently in the bank.
Things were also mainly straightforward in Amkethran, where Vongoethe's improved mantle was no protection against energy blades.
Moving on to Sendai's Enclave, a drow woodcutter found himself chopped down.
Walker Boh - L23, 102 HPs, 260 kills (636 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Bremen - L23, 102 HPs, 170 kills (424 in BGEE/SoD), 0 deaths
Galaphile - L23, 101 HPs, 170 kills (481 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Allanon - L23, 107 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 308 kills (669 in BGEE/SoD)
Brona - L23, 98 HPs, 188 kills (492 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Cogline - L23, 98 HPs, 172 kills (381 in BGEE/SoD), 1 death
Now, for the people who have been playing the LoB+SCS+Ascension solo challenges, I can understand why SoD would be considered an integral part of the challenge, because both the coalition camp and Belhifet suddenly turn into big roadblocks and considerations. The same isn't true, however, for SCS full party runs, where SoD is arguably one of the easiest parts of the entire saga, as its difficulty isn't really affected by SCS. Since so far, we've decided not to split this challenge into different categories, I don't think it would be fair to invalidate historic runs in that fashion. Also, it could be argued that the EE does reduce the difficulty of the challenge in other ways, be it in terms of new items, NPCs, some very useful rewards for the new NPC quests, more available experience, especially with SoD, and some useful options such as max HP on level ups even on higher difficulties (which was a legal thing to manually do even in pre-EE times by turning down the difficulty level for the process of leveling up, but many people, myself included, simply didn't do it).
Lastly, for a more selfish reason, I'd simply be sad to see old achievements of community members who, in many cases, have been active for 10+ years, be suddenly gone from the main thread - these runs are a part of the history of this challenge, and we've already lost easy access to lots of them by really only considering full trilogy successes at this point. The assassin and swashbuckler runs wouldn't be the only unique class/kit successes to be suddenly gone - the list of unfinished classes and kits, which is quite daunting but not out of reach right now, would be quite a bit longer, and a scary thing to tackle (and as it is my ultimate goal to eventually finish the entirety of that list as a community, that's not something I could be in favor off).
Also, I don't believe that the existence of a previous run with the same class/kit would make a more modern success with a different game version, a new expansion, new mods ec. any less impressive - in fact, I'd argue that every single trilogy and quadrilogy success is an impressive achievement, if the rules of this challenge are obeyed. A lot of difficulty in our runs is, in any case, achieved by self-restriction or voluntarily installing difficulty-increasing mods. Lots of people are basically running their own type of challenge, such as Grond0s life-long attempt to finish a run with every single class and kit - one could easily decide to try and challenge themselves to get all the classes only present in the old Hall of Heroes into the New Hall, without taking anything away from these older runs.
Well, that post turned out to be longer than expected
I only mentioned the SoD thing because I wanted to stress that there was still new ground, and that there wasn't anything wrong with doing a class that already had an entry in the Hall.
Even without exploits, the fighter/mage is just incredibly strong, and it has almost no weaknesses--at least not in my install, where SCS v32's IWD spells give us +2 to saves from Emotion, Hope, and where a tweak mod lets items of protection stack PnP-style (two Rings of Protection can give you +2 to saves and +1 to AC). That covers the only possible weakness of the fighter/mage, which is poor saving throws compared to a shorty class and no access to Chaotic Commands or Death Ward (although a single extra Spell Immunity would cover that gap in a different install).
Otherwise it's just a character with lots of instant-casting mage spells, the best gear in the game aside from Soul Reaver (the character has my self-portrait; she had to be good-aligned), and over 200 damage per round when fully-buffed, which is always. The only reason it's not boring is because it's so fast.
Noone is left out and you still have the right context
I gathered all the loot from the siege of Dragonspear and stored it in containers to sell off later. This also includes loot from the huge fight in Dragonspear Castle's basement and anything in the Underground River and its exterior. The result is that I've acquired a few hundred thousand gold and Ribald's/Deidre's/Joluv's stores are picked clean of any relevant choice equipment for our party. We're also good to go on potions of extra healing. Any shadow-adept related items were also smuggled over to Amn.
Progress in Amn is slow but steady. At Spaz's next level, I replace Leaps and Bounds with Beguiling Influence to maximize his CHA and therefore the saving throw penalties on his invocations and the benefits from Dark One's Own Luck. As strong as we are after buying up the good stuff in shops, we're still not quite geared up enough to take on the tougher challenges straight away, so I do the typical early-game route of BG2 first: Copper Coronet slavers, CC's sewers, Maevar, the Graveyard, Rejiek HIdesman, Trademeet, the Druid Grove, and then the De'Arnise Keep. TorGal's fight seems to be going smoothly when suddenly one of the Yuan-ti mages releases a 3x Ice Storm sequencer, instantly killing Stabby and reducing Cactank to 1 HP! My version of Ice Storm follows NWN's version, capping at level 18.
TorGal dies from the friendly fire and the yuan-ti mage is quickly killed afterward as its health was low anyway. The Rod of Rez is used on Stabby and Cactank heals himself by resting. We tackle the exterior of the shadow ruins but I decide I want the Daystar longsword before proceeding, so we go back to the City Gates and send in Debuff by himself to deal with the lich while protected from undead. Shadow Screen protects him from Remove Magic attempts, of which this lich has many. Shadowstep was used to wait out PfMW. Dragon's Breath was just barely avoided because of how cramped the room was and Debuff had to tank a Comet, but ultimately prevailed.
The shade lich will have to wait because its Fallen Planetar buddy will make mincemeat of us. With Daystar in hand, we clear out the shadow ruins and take out Thaxll. I had Yin cast Negative Immunity on anyone not immune to level drain to prevent the dragon's breath weapon from working. He falls easily.
We then tie up a loose end by retrieving the Soultaker Dagger from where I had stored it and go back to Ulgoth's beard. Aec'Letec is still a powerful melee fighter and spams Vampiric Touch whenever he can. The cultists take a while to kill thanks to their triple HP. Cactank barely survives. I really need to start using Divine Protection more often. I wish Cactank had more level 5 spell slots. I need those Chaotic Commands.
Back in the Umar Hills Inn, we go to the Trials of the Luremaster expansion. Quest and kill XP is halved from what it normally is. Looking back, I'm not sure if I should've done that because some enemies here are far more trouble than they're worth. Spectral Guards have such good THAC0 that even -16 AC isn't enough to stop them completely, and their HP combined with their damage resistance and spectral undead immunities make them hard to kill - especially for our party, as we specialize in killing living creatures who can be CC'd. Ultimately I just decide to mob the guards with summons with the Wand of Lightning trick, and they unbelievably manage to cut through them all just before I'm finished killing them. We get a level or two from this expansion and get lucky with a Potion of Resistance in this container, which will raise Cactank's crushing damage resistance by 5%.
After this, I'm looking for some more easy XP because I want to start tackling the hard fights and I need HLAs before I start doing that. Aron Linvale's quests give some easy XP and Bodhi isn't too hard.
Our next move is either the Planar Prison or Planar Sphere.
Blaggy - Blackguard 15
Cactank - Dwarven Defender 12/Cleric 12
Stabbby - Fighter 12/Assassin 14
Spaz V - Warlock 19
Debuff - Nightsinger 19
Yin II - Shadow Disciple 15
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1135471/#Comment_1135471
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https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1137035/#Comment_1137035
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Draconis spent a while in human shape attacking a fire elemental in vain, while the druids wore him down with missiles. When he changed shape Walker Boh attempted to get a quick kill with Harm, but got affected himself.
With their poor saving throws, I didn't trust the druids against a large number of beholders, so sub-contracted that work to Bondari. I wasn't paying attention though as the druids started returning to the exit after that and didn't take action to try and save Walker Boh from some respawned eyes until he was critically injured - his use of an invisibility potion was then just too late with another missile already on the way.
Back in Amkethran various sets of underwear were repurposed. Walker Boh took the BMU as he typically acts as target, while Brona took charge of the BMR. The extra AC protection helped the druids in fighting monks and mercenaries and they got up to level 24 as a result.
Energy blades made short work of the Slayer in the third pocket challenge.
I thought about the extent to which it was worth seeking more levels. The benefits for druids beyond L25 are extremely marginal - 2 HPs a level, the odd extra proficiency which would be no use to them and the ability to transform into earth or fire elementals more than once (when they would be unlikely to wish to do it even once). However, they would get an extra 7th level spell for L25 and only needed 100k extra XP each for that - which did seem well worth it. Back at Watcher's Keep they explored the second floor, but didn't bother with the chromatic demon as they got their level with the death of the last of the fire elementals.
At the Throne, Walker Boh opened the proceedings with a first use of implosion. That did no damage to Mel, but I thought it might inflict a stun effect (which can affect her). However, it appears to be a hold effect (that she's immune to). Nevertheless, while Walker Boh acted as a target, the others poured in energy blades and Mel quickly made a strategic retreat.
Mel's second incarnation managed to complete a time stop early on, but concentrated on using spells on summons rather than attacking any of the druids during that.
Her third incarnation produced slayer shadows which prompted the druids to move around more and her teleporting away also somewhat disrupted their targeting. However, she failed to complete an attempted heal and disappeared once more within 6 or 7 rounds.
For the Fallen Solar, Bremen and then Allanon acted as targets with physical mirror active while the others attacked the supporting crew. The Solar healed itself once from near death, but the second time it got there it went on to successfully kill itself.
For her final incarnation, Mel started off by summoning a death tyrant. That could easily debuff and kill the druids, so was immediately targeted before it had a chance to do so.
Allanon remained mortal to keep nature's team in harmony.
Afterthoughts
The team of druids is a pretty strong one. One main problem with solo druids is the relatively low damage potential they have. That's particularly so in physical combat, but also applies to their spells (with the exception of call lightning, which can't be used on a lot of enemies) - at least until firestorm is available as a seventh level spell. Insect spells are great for keeping mages quiet, but don't do enough damage to deal with many other enemies.
However, in a full team of druids multiple insect spells are a killer for pretty much anything, while the availability of energy blades eventually provides them with missile potential not far short of fighters. Unless you're restricting resting for RP reasons, it's really only the final combat with Mel where spell resources become a real constraint on either spell attacks (such as insects, magic resistance, harm and nature's beauty) or direct damage.
The other main problem for a solo druid is the poor saving throws. Not having the best equipment means saving throws are even worse for a party, but the problem is greatly reduced by spreading the threat over multiple characters and using buffs to defend against the main status-change effects. The buffs of a solo druid are very vulnerable to being dispelled, but the availability of so many spells, summons and attacks means that few enemies have the opportunity to actually cast dispel/remove magic.
Walker Boh - L25, 106 HPs, 376 kills (636 in BGEE/SoD), 3 deaths
Bremen - L25, 106 HPs, 261 kills (424 in BGEE/SoD), 0 deaths
Galaphile - L25, 105 HPs, 271 kills (481 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Allanon - L25, 111 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 425 kills (669 in BGEE/SoD)
Brona - L25, 102 HPs, 257 kills (492 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths
Cogline - L25, 102 HPs, 269 kills (381 in BGEE/SoD), 1 death
It took a while to wear down Draconis human form, but unfortunately the dragon form killed Coreheal almost instantly - RIP Coreheal.
Back to the drawing board!
I realised that improving the armour/weapons of Shank and Carbos was actually making the game easier and that wasn't the intention. Bloodrager's proficiencies started with ** katanas, ** long bows * dual wielding. This was to see firstly if I could get the katana in Candlekeep. (Yes I know that it is easier to specialise in long swords)
By careful economy I was just able to afford the katana in Candlekeep. Got the dagger +1 for the bolts. Didn't buy armour other than a small shield and helmet. Only got the armour after selling the dagger and buying the katana. Better armour had to wait! Left Candlekeep with gold 0.
I followed Gorion's instructions but was attacked by another assassin. I therefore decided to try and hide in the city of Baldur's Gate, but was not allowed in.
Since we couldn't enter, we carried on going north and came across Tenya. We gave her the bowl that we had already aquired.
Heading south I came across an ogre who quickly met his doom.
South of Beregost, two ogrillon fared no better.
Heading west I was able to help Melicamp.
Bassilus was killed next.
I then headed southwards, picking up the Colquetle Amulet and some ankheg armour along the way. I spoke to Noober before heading south of the mines where I helped Prism against Greywolf.
Upon going to the carnival Oopah attacked me and as a result died.
The Planar Sphere is done first and then the Planar Prison. The Warden of the prison was apparently level drained to death by Nighthaunts from off-screen, so the actual boss of the area was a fallen planetar he summoned. We held it off long enough for it to be unsummoned since we couldn't kill it because of its fast regeneration.
Off to the Guarded Compound. Good old Twin Mislead does all the heavy lifting. Debuff kills all opposition without much resistance.
Firkraag is next. We send in Debuff, two Nighthaunts, an Aerial Servant, a Clay Golem, and a Shadow of the Void vs. Firkraag. He actually loses morale from Debuff's song and panics for the whole fight, getting level drained to death by the Nighthaunts and the Void. No Carsomyr or red dragon armor for us.
We still don't have HLAs yet, so we have no choice but to continue on to Watcher's Keep 3. Thanks to Blaggy's evil alignment, we don't have to fight Tahazzar right after coming out of the anti-magic room. Instead, we soldier on and kill Karashur the pit fiend. He gates in devils every round with a 100% success rate. The pit fiend himself is not difficult, it just takes a while to clean up the room because of all the devils pouring in. We return to Tahazzar and get the gem from him, but decide to double-cross him.
Armed with Shar's Blessing, the Shadow Blade +5, and PfWfW if needed, Debuff takes point on killing the balor. I use EEex's time step feature to play the fight out frame-by-frame to make sure none of the PCs get targeted by him. Fortunately he focuses only on our summons and goes down in short order.
After landing in Watcher's Keep 4, we exit the dungeon and pay a visit to our old friend Kryn Darkflame at the Friendly Arm. Stabby kills him in one hit with a critical backstab. Dreadflame +5, a powerful bastard sword, is now being wielded by Spaz with the Hellfire Blade of Azythanoth +5 in the other hand.
Now we have some good weapons to use against Kangaxx as well as a Nightwalker from Yin, which is an unkillable monstrosity capable of stat draining anything to death within seconds that isn't immune to it. Kangaxx's lich form is easily defeated by Yin who uses Breaching Dark against him. While in demilich form, Kangaxx actually loses morale from Debuff's song!! Wow!
Saladrex is next on the chopping block. He, too, loses morale against not just Debuff's song but also from Blaggy's Aura of Despair. To add further insult to injury, his backstab immunity is removed and exploited by Stabby. To top off the humiliation conga, he is stat drained to death by the Nightwalker thanks to the saving throw penalties provided by the aura and the song. I added semiticgod's Improved Stat Drain to the Nightwalker's claws to allow XP to be gained from stat drain kills.
Several party members level up during Watcher's Keep 5, giving us a major power boost. Debuff's song is extremely deadly and Stabby is more murderously lethal than ever. Even with triple HP, I doubt anything will survive a critical x8 backstab to save against instant death.
We insert the keys into the mechanism in the center of Watcher's Keep 5, but we don't activate the fights. Instead, we exit the dungeon and utterly dismantle the Twisted Rune. While under PfU, Debuff kills Shangalar from range with Azuredge after singing to him. Layenne is preemptively shut down by Spaz's Devour Magic to remove nearly all her defenses and then Yin uses Black Ray of Destruction to prevent her from casting anything for 2 rounds. He follows up with Breaching Dark and Stabby capitalizes on this, utilizing Death Attack to absolutely demolish the mage. Not even Krieg the War Hulk could hit this hard!!
Spellhold and the Underdark await.
Blaggy - Blackguard 20
Cactank - Dwarven Defender 15/Cleric 16
Stabby - Fighter 15/Assassin 18
Spaz V - Warlock 26
Debuff - Nightsinger 26
Yin II - Shadow Disciple 19
After killing Oopah, I entered a tent and found Zordral threatening another mage with death. I decided to step in and kill him!
I then headed east and reunited Rufie with his owner.
I then killed Vax and Zal
Heading further west I helped a dryad by killing Caldo and Krumm.
I helped in the restoration of 'Drienne's cat before killing Ingol.
Entering the gnoll citadel I killed some ogres before raiding a cave and heading northward where I killed a polar bear.
I slept to try and recover some health but was attacked by an ogre which lowered my health still more. However sleeping again, I returned to full health.
Following the river northward I was attacked by Neville and his cohorts. They died!
Deeming myself strong enough to take on the ankhegs, I now returned to their nest and cleared them out at least temporarily.
My fighter/mage took down Melissan, but it was really ugly near the end. It was several unexpected factors: we kept getting pummeled by anti-magic attacks; Sendai and Abazigal kept casting spells even after we used Protection from Magic scrolls on them; Holy Word stole a spell or two from us (and god knows a fighter/mage depends heavily on getting PFMW and SI: Abjuration off the ground); and twice we got pinned by the teleportation bug, in which Melissan teleported directly on top of us and prevented us from moving around. That was especially nasty because Melissan has a no-save Globe of Blades ability that dealt huge damage every round when we ran out of Stoneskins. I thought we were doomed until our Contingency and Chain Contingency kicked in--I thought those contingencies had been removed because they didn't show up in the spellbook, but they triggered just the same.
Melissan even got a Time Stop off the ground while we had no PFMW active since we were getting hit by so many anti-magic attacks (Melissan can cast Spellstrike and other critters she summons can cast Secret Word) that we couldn't keep both SI: Abjuration and PFMW active at the same time. The only reason she couldn't seem to nail us with a GWW is because she was slowed by the Flail of Ages. We couldn't disrupt her Time Stop even with multiple strikes from the flail. If she attempted to get GWW off the ground while time was stopped, Balthazar either disrupted it due to him being immune to Time Stop from Lunar Stance, or somehow the slow effect decreased her APR enough for us to survive. She also might have lost time during Time Stop by casting Divine Cleansing and maybe another spell or two.
Melissan was almost dead by that point and croaked within a few seconds of time returning to normal, but we could easily have gotten overwhelmed. If I hadn't managed to save Balthazar at Near Death with a Rod of Resurrection charge, or if our luck had been worse, we might not have made it.
By the way, big news: Melissan is now immune to stun in the latest version of Ascension. She can only be disabled by killing one of the Five, which only lasts for a second or two.
Two bugs actually made it realistically possible for us to lose. First was the teleportation bug: without it, our high movement rate would have made it easy to kite everything and rely on our undispellable, item-based buffs to avoid getting disabled or damaged more than potions could heal us for. Also, since the last Pocket Plane bonus from Ascension didn't apply properly, we didn't have the +25% bonus to physical damage resistance that we were supposed to (I actually EEKeepered it in, but loaded the save without that fix). Otherwise a fighter with solid saving throws might be able to tank long-term with the Defender of Easthaven in the off hand and Hardiness for 85% undispellable (but Breachable; Breach takes down Hardiness) damage resistance, enough for Rods of Resurrection to keep you afloat.
Of course, Melissan's spear does still have that 15% chance of stunning her target for 3 whole rounds, and only magic resistance or a save vs. polymorph at -4 can block it. Her spear also applies a -1 penalty to saves, dispellable, for 2 rounds per hit without a saving throw, so that's effectively a save vs. polymorph at a penalty of up to -12 if she lands every hit for 2 rounds straight.
Note that the Necklace of Form Stability grants +5 to saves vs. polymorph, as does Adoy's Belt, so with proper preparation, any non-Wizard Slayer can get undispellable -16 to saves vs. polymorph: -5 from the necklace, -5 from the belt, -2 from the good-aligned Hell reward, -2 from the Ring of Gaxx, and -2 from the Ring or Cloak of Protection +2. Max saves vs. polymorph by class are 4 for warriors, 7 for mages, and 5 for thieves and priests, so only mages truly need dispellable buffs to function.
I'll post some screenshots and discussion later before adding the entry to the Hall. Melissan continues to be a terrifying obstacle for me; I've only fought her so many times, and that fight is an absolute mess of complicated factors that get lost in the fog of war.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that fighter/mages are really really powerful, but Ascension Melissan is a nightmare for anyone aside from a Dwarven Defender, a Barbarian, or a Fighter/Druid, the only classes that can hit long-term 100% physical damage resistance in Ascension.
Part 1
Okay!
After shoving a bunch of nonbinary critters named Frisky Bits into the Hall before my egg cracked, I've finally made a trans girl Charname to add some transfemme representation to the Hall. Say hello to Pearl the fighter/mage! Look at her stupid little face.
This run doesn't have many special quirks to it besides being a solo run and me trying to minimize glitchy tricks and RP-unfriendly stuff, so we start out with the standard checklist: kite Shoal to death, watch Korax eat Mutamin and the basilisks, and scrape together enough money to buy Potions of Genius so we can safely scribe a scroll of Invisibility and travel unmolested. One notable distinction from a conventional powergaming checklist is that we're not killing or robbing Algernon or Dushai for their items. That means we need to down a Potion of Freedom in the Narcillicus area in order to safely nab the Wand of Monster Summoning there. Combined with a Wand of Fire, we have the numbers to dispatch the critters we're too weak to tank ourselves.
Since we don't yet have the gear to loot most of Durlag's Tower just yet, we proceed to the main quest, bombing Mulahey and managing to land easy kills on both Tranzig and Nimbul by landing a solid hit from Invisibility and dealing enough damage to send both of them panicking.
Invisibility lets us arrive at the Molkar and Maneira ambushes unnoticed, and the Wand of Fire and Greenstone Amulet let us burn down the opposition without worrying about being disabled.
We'll need the Ring of Energy to get Durlag's Goblet early and safely, so we burn a Protection from Magic scroll on Denak and light up the Spider Woods with the One Gift Lost, which strikes as a level 9 spell and goes right through the mages' MGOI.
I inch a little too close, and once again reach the brink of death when the traps shatter and catch Pearl. We take almost 5 times as much damage as Drasus.
Not that we were in a good position to keep fighting anyway. When Kysus hits us with Slow and we fail our save, the only thing that lets us get Invisibility off the ground is a wall of summoned critters.
Now that we have the Boots of Speed, we can finally loot Durlag's Tower. Having a strong movement speed is important when kiting Love since the other Warders can crowd up the narrow corridors if you don't scurry away fast enough, and since we didn't let Imoen or Xzar and Montaron join the party so we could rob them, we don't have an Oil of Speed; only the boots can let us outrun fast fighters like Pride.
First, we use spells and Knock to open the containers in the north half of the Warder level, since we need to be able to trigger all the traps in one rest period, and we only have so many castings of Knock (we want those spell slots for Invisibility). After torching the doppelgangers with a Wand of Fire, we head south, surviving non-container traps with mage spells so we can use the Wand of Monster Summoning to clear out the skeletons and spiders and Flesh Golems.
That grants us immunity to all of the traps in the area, plus Love's Slow spells and Dire Charm spells. Otherwise, only a Protection from Magic scroll or the Greenstone Amulet/Potion of Clarity and a Potion of Freedom/Ring of Free Action (which negates the movement rate bonus of the Boots of Speed, making an Oil of Speed necessary!) could let us safely deal with Love. There are no Dispel Magic spells in this area, which means this is an ideal time to use twin Potions of Magic Protection (which aren't reliable unless you use two of them, which is expensive and finite and dispellable).
Then all we have to do is run around and zap Love with the Ring of Energy. It's normally a simple process, but Avarice finds us far to the south and gives us a frighten when he shows up in the dialog box but not on the screen.
We finish looting the Cloakwood mines and head to Baldur's Gate.
Part 2
We don't have enough money to buy everything we want from Halbazzer Drin, but we don't need everything just yet. For now, we can get by with the Greenstone Amulet and mage buffs. The Wand of Paralyzation brings down Voltine and Ragefast, but Ramazith is a tougher cookie, as he summons Shadows in my install, and the STR drain has scared me in the past. Ramazith Slows us, but we wait it out under invisibility and spam the Wand of Paralyzation once we're at normal speed and covered by the Greenstone Amulet again.
However, whether because we disrupted a Remove Magic spell with the Ring of Energy early on, or because she never got around to casting it, we maintain our buffs just fine, and use summons to distract the enemy until Cythandria succumbs to the Ring of Energy.
Still hungry for treasure so we can enter SoD fully loaded, we finally return to the bandit camp to clean up shop.
Since I'm trying to minimize exploits in this run, we won't be bringing a charmed army into the final fight, and since we don't have Algernon's Cloak due to RP whatevers, we can't safely recruit Rahvin's group either. Nor am I willing to use a Potion of Invisibility to lure aside Sarevok's group so I can bomb them from afar.
That means we have to meet Sarevok's team head-on, or at least kite them in full sight. We use a Protection from Magic scroll, stack up on potion buffs, and start firing away with our bow, using an Arrow of Dispelling to slow down Sarevok and Arrows of Detonation to blow up his goons.
Fini - female, human illusionist (Grond0)
Corepally - male, human undead hunter (Corey_Russell)
Plinker - male, human blackguard (Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1135353/#Comment_1135353
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1136173/#Comment_1136173
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1137023/#Comment_1137023
After killing Officer Dirth as advertised, Corepally thought his defenses were up to chopping down a few pirates in the next room. That got a bit more difficult though when Plinker was dominated by the mage and started chasing Corepally around.
Corepally's poor dexterity still leaves him relatively vulnerable and Plinker's indifferent armor and use of a 2-handed sword also means he's fairly easy to damage. To look for ways to address those problems, Fini set off for the Temple District. During travel, Suna Seni tried an ambush - providing Fini with a perfect excuse to fireball her companions.
Still in the Temple sewers, the next item sought was Gaxx - giving both regeneration and increased protection (and invisibility for easy resting). A PfU scroll allowed Corepally to tackle the Shade Lich with impunity.
During the lich encounters we'd come across Renfeld on our travels. After returning him, Fini sneaked into Prebek's house and cleansed that with a fireball to allow looting the harper building.
A number of potions had been accumulated during these encounters, so the next destination was Watcher's Keep to get a potion case. While there, as usual, I couldn't resist checking out the vampiric wraiths. They were there, but Fini stayed close to the exit and the wraiths didn't immediately chase after her - meaning they were vulnerable to a Daystar sunray.
With an undead hunter in the party, it seemed logical to hunt some more undead and the Graveyard was duly cleared. In the caverns below, Pai'Na was wearing a ioun stone that Fini coveted. A fireball cut her spider army down to size and our new pet golem helped occupy her while she was being shot down.
The session closed with us in the Copper Coronet sewers on the way to get Plinker a source of immunity to charm and confusion. Corepally has also put in his own request for such immunity and the Trademeet genies will be next on the list after that.
Illusionist - L11, 82 HPs (8 from ioun stone, 12 from familiar), 93 kills (+115 in BGEE)
Undead hunter - L9, 120 HPs (10 from bracers), 89 kills (+174 in BGEE), 1 death
Blackguard - L9, 105 HPs (5 from helm), 117 kills (+241 in BGEE), 4 deaths
*cough* surely only a fanatic would call picking items up from dead bodies 'robbing' them *cough*
and by that stage you've got access to the City where loads of them are available - something like 20 at the High Hall of Wonders alone I seem to remember.