In the SoD starting dungeon I used PfU to pass through most of the encounters. Nymphs causing serious wounds persuaded Korlasz to surrender all her forces (taking me to level 10).
In the City I went to find a barrel of wine in order to get the Battle Tankard - and this time there was no escape for Korlasz. The only other quest done was picking up the Spectacles, though I did kill a few NPCs to supplement the 60k or so worth of items carried through from BGEE in my bags.
Sticking to a minimalist approach in SoD, I ignored the Coast Way Forest and just went invisibly to the Coast Way Crossing bridge to avoid any conflict there. I also skipped any action in the Troll Claw Woods on the way to the Forest of Wyrms. Invisibility took me past various guards and into the temple, where Ziatar failed to spot where that chilly breeze was coming from. I buffed up before running past the Neothelid to get to Akanna - a couple of potions of firebreath sorted her out to get the Wardstone. On the way out a few daggers picked up in the temple were enough to deal with Morentherene.
To make up for slaying one green dragon, I saved another one from some hill giants on the way to Boareskyr Bridge. Vichand was shocked there into giving up his scroll and that was soon put to use to restore the fort's magical defenses. That was pretty irrelevant though as, after making a suit of dragonscale armor and some bullets of darkness, I surrendered the fort to the besiegers. That still left the mage on the bridge, but the ring of energy is a safe way of interrupting his spells without endangering the barrels and he was then shot down while the nymphs handled the rest of the guards.
On the way to the Coalition Camp, some orcs and trolls were battling. I didn't bother beating everything up there, but just nipped into the cave invisibly to pick up the Firefly sling.
At the camp I reported for duty and bought some goodies from Nazramu before leaving again. The final charge of the invisibility ring took me through Dead Man's Pass and on to Dragonspear where I rescued Skie.
At the Underground River area the first task was to get a melee weapon that could hit Belhifet I also got to level 11 in that encounter. I took magic resistance as a second 5th level spell, mainly to try that out on Belhifet though it has potential uses later as well. A chaotic commands scroll and a charmed bear made getting a myconid bloom-sac easy before I rested. Nymphs then helped kill a cyclops and I grabbed the Seal of Caelar and ran through into the underground entrance. Inside the Warrens I used invisibility to poison the food and water before showing myself to reopen the lift. To be safe I used another potion to disappear before running out.
Back at the Camp, some waves of invaders were foolish enough to pit themselves against exploding arrows. Nymphs helped out in the last of those by confusing the opposition to stop them charging forward.
Once more at Dragonspear Castle, a few potion buffs were used before going to find Ashatiel. As quite often happens he was stunned by my first attack to effectively end the battle before it had really begun. Moving into hell I ran through the first area before rebuffing for more devils. That included fire protection, so I could use exploding arrows on them without being too careful about attacking them when they were teleporting close to me. The missile damage still hurt, but I was able to kill everything quickly before having to take any action on HPs.
More buffs were used to deal with the enemies while using the Hellevator. Typically I would use Champion's Strength scrolls at the end of that to allow easy hits on Belhifet, but this time I didn't do that - instead attacking him with magic resistance at the start of the main combat. I followed up by using greater restoration on Caelar and then looked in my bag for the battle tankard to offset my fatigue - but that appeared to have been lost somewhere. A first attempt to doom Belhifet failed when he teleported away, but a second was successful and I followed up by trying a cursed scroll of ailment - but Belhifet saved. There was another restoration for Caelar before I tried a second cursed scroll - but once again he saved. A further restoration was required before trying my final scroll attempt, but this time magic resistance kicked in (my spell might have ended by then). I've still not managed to make that tactic work in a number of attempts now (each should have a 20% chance of success while Belhifet is doomed). After that I should have just made sure Caelar stayed alive while he finished off Belhifet (and I had more than enough restoration scrolls to be sure of that). However, I also needed to keep my own buffs up and the loss of a bit of concentration meant I failed to do that ...
It's a couple of years since I tried this party and I thought it was time to have another go. Previously they played in a spell revisions installation, but this time the only mod to EE2.6 is SCS. I've slightly changed starting spells to reflect that the ones suitable for spell revisions did not all make sense in this installation.
The main roles of the party members in the early stages of BGEE are as follows:
Beggar, the totemic druid - leading the way and controlling totemic summons.
Pauper, the Priest of Helm - disabling spells and use of Seeking Sword.
Hardup, the shaman - healing spells and dancing summons.
Washup, the bounty hunter - scouting and setting trap clusters for ambushes.
Aspire & Skint, sorcerers - disablers, direct damage and concealing the party for area transitions.
My definition of a poverty run is as follows:
1) You can never buy or sell any items (including any items required for quests).
2) You can never use or equip any items (but can pick things up for quests).
3) You may pay for quests (such as Gaelan Bayle), but not anything else (temples, inns etc).
I had a quick wake-up call / refresher about what that means when Pauper was one-shotted by Montaron. Without the use of temples, the only potential way there may be to cure death in BGEE is to get Shoal to help out - in the vanilla game she would raise anyone in the party after bestowing a fatal kiss. I'm not sure if that's the case still in BGEE - if it is, it only applies when she's killed someone and that's no longer automatic, so a raise dead from her is by no means guaranteed anyway.
A second attempt in this series got somewhat further, but failed when I used a party attack to try and beat a kobold unconscious who had saved against sleep - and he got a critical on Aspire.
A third attempt also failed early on when I was trying to tempt Karlat out of his inn and the whole party went inside by mistake - and pathfinding would then not let them back out before he attacked.
With death being so final in this challenge, it's important to get levels quickly. A first one of those is easily enough obtained in principle, by using traps on an Old Man. However, in a 4th attempt Elminster refused to go hostile after being attacked and disappeared on his way without triggering the traps - and I decided to restart rather than miss out on his XP.
At this point I decided to reroll all the characters to boost stats, so that everyone has at least 90 in total. The real impact of that on gameplay is very marginal - for instance both sorcerers got constitution boosted from 16 to 17, so they don't get fatigued quite as quickly. However, I thought having a 'new' party might help me look after them better.
In this fifth attempt, the Opera found themselves once more mysteriously teleported to Candlekeep and gifted a staff each - which they immediately threw away in disgust.
With nothing to loot or buy it didn't take long to do a few quests and kill a couple of assassins before the Opera hit the road. They were soon in Beregost, where Marl was calmed down, a book was found for Firebead and Karlat paid for his misdeeds after stepping into a couple of traps.
To the north, traps were set for Elminster and this time he reacted violently to a spirit lion biting him. Seven normal thief traps may not kill him, but mixing in special bounty hunter versions almost guarantees a kill - and did so here, providing at least 1 level to everyone.
A commanded ogre provided a belt that was carried to the FAI. After Tarnesh died in Washout's traps, Unshey got his belt back before Joia had her ring returned. Four of the Opera had the XP to level up again at that point, but I'm applying my typical rules for parties that, to avoid anyone getting jealous, no-one can level up until everyone can level up.
The intention is to try and fully explore all areas and do all the quests connected with them. The map south of Beregost was the first to be vacuumed in this way. While back in Beregost finishing off the quests, Washup sneaked into Landrin's house and throwing a special snare at the spiders left just a couple alive to be finished off by the rest of the party.
Landrin then got his goods back, though there was no point picking up the pantaloons as I normally do at that point.
The next area down the road to Nashkel then got the vacuum treatment, with sleep and command being the most used spells and a totemic summons taking the lion's share of kills.
Arriving in Nashkel, Neira was blinded. Beggar had already used his spirit, but Hardup's dancing summons could have done the job - it was quicker though for Pauper to make use of his Seeking Sword. At the Carnival Zordral decided to go in search of the rest of the party when Washout sneaked into his tent - but tripped over a clutch of traps outside.
The kobolds in the north of the area, that ended the second attempt, all died in traps this time.
The danger from travel ambushes meant there was a restricted number of areas safe to explore and the Opera took a while working through the xvart hordes to the west of Nashkel.
Borda's magic resistance and dangerous spells means options for him are limited - but traps is definitely one of those.
At the Lake area, traps featured heavily once more, with bounty hunter traps thrown into the midst of the party there. With ambushes popping up regularly when resting, XP crept up and Beggar became the last of the party to qualify for a level when a blinded ogre berserker fell. The main XP haul from the area was still to come though. The plan was for Drizzt to kill the gnolls before the spirit lion attacked him and led him into waiting traps. That didn't work though as Drizzt failed to become hostile when the lion attacked. I was wary of sending someone else because of his spells, but Pauper managed to get an attack in from sanctuary without retaliation while Drizzt was chasing some random flinds - the lion then put the traps to work as originally intended.
Skint had learnt PfP at level 3 and there was soon an opportunity to make use of that at the basilisk area. While it's quite possible to get Korax to take care of the basilisks without ever sighting them, that would be harder with a party and risk having his charm end before the basilisks were dead - hence the use of PfP to be able to control proceedings more efficiently. I was a bit careless with Mutamin though - being slow to move Pauper into position to see him under sanctuary so Korax could attack him . Mutamin then saved against a couple of paralyzing attacks while finishing Korax off with spells. Mutamin though made the mistake of chasing after Pauper despite his sanctuary and ran into a trap. Once alerted the basilisks were also on the hunt, but the party had time to rest before they arrived and a spirit snake proved capable of dealing with them.
The XP from that then allowed everyone to take another level. Both sorcerers took invisibility, to give the option of the whole party travelling invisibly.
For Kirian's party, Baerin saved against an attempted charm and went hostile, but a previously charmed bear and a totemic lion lasted long enough for both Kirian and Peter to be silenced at the second attempt. That left Baerin as the immediate danger, but a special snare negated that a moment later and area damage quickly finished the others off.
At Durlag's Tower Hardup tried using Writhing Fog on a pair of battle horrors on the path. He quickly found that SCS has been updated to recognize that as an attack (it didn't use to) and had to scurry away behind an invisible blocker while spell damage killed them (with IWD spells available to druid types, the party had rather more of that than in the unmodded game).
The rest of the exterior was cleared without a problem, except that natural lightning robbed me of the XP for a near death battle horror on the wall.
After clearing the ghasts at the bottom of the tower, Washout checked to see if he could disarm traps. After failing to do so on a couple of fake caches he must somehow have walked too close to the real hidey-hole and was extremely fortunate to survive the consequential lightning bolt.
Immediately after that though I tried resting without using invisibility. I'm too used to playing solo, where it's easy to use the stairs to escape ambushes, but the pathfinding glitches make that a real headache for parties and after 3 unsuccessful attempts to escape, Skint was paralyzed and finished off before anyone else could intervene.
As the run was reasonably well advanced, the Opera went to find Shoal and Washout duly provided a sacrifice, enabling Shoal to bring back Skint as well in a 2 for 1 deal.
Droth was slowed by a special trap, commanded to die twice and hit by lightning, sunscorch and magic missiles - failing to even attempt any response. Rather than accept a paltry 750 XP quest reward, the Opera blinded and killed Shoal to get 5k instead.
On the way back from the coast, the Opera cleared High Hedge - pulling the golems outside there for easy disposal. Thalantyr failed to revive Melicamp and paid for that failure with his life.
Next the Opera returned to Durlag's Tower. With no back-up plan left to revive the fallen they needed to be more careful and the remaining ghasts were duly dealt with safely. On the roof the SCS basilisks will soon switch to melee against protected characters - but that makes it easier to blind them and then dispose of them at leisure.
I tried to kill Kirinhale as she teleported away after transferring her curse to Riggilo, but didn't do quite enough damage and had to hastily disperse when she charmed Pauper as she left.
I'd forgotten that Riggilo would use invisibility potions, but was able to retreat and her remained fighting a lion rather than chase the party to try a backstab. The only spell I had that could directly damage the ghost was spike growth, but sunscorch and then blind incapacitated it and repeated doses of dancing summons eventually wore it down.
Pauper was now close to a level and he got there when some of the wolf pack at Beregost Temple stayed too long in a combination of spike growth and fog - allowing everyone else to level up.
Progress had been seeming pretty easy for a while - always a bad sign ...
Heading north, giving Tenya her bowl provided a bit more XP. I tried to kill her as she teleported away, but Hardup and Beggar made the mistake of using Shillelagh's rather than fists - and failed to get an attack before she disappeared. Summons then did most of the hard work clearing the ankheg area.
The potential for lethal ambushes had meant I'd avoided the areas south of Nashkel thus far, but headed there invisibly now. Greywolf was the first to suffer, but the external mine area and the area to the east of that were soon cleared. After dropping off Samuel the Opera returned to Beregost to finish work there - including laying a trap or two for the Thayan wizard.
Then it was back to finish off the Cloudpeaks. I always travelled invisibly there and kept out of trouble, while leaving a fortune on the ground in the form of winter wolf pelts. There was decent XP as well from cave bears - I tended to put a cage around them as they won't change targets while the original is in sight.
By the time they got to the Gnoll Stronghold Pauper was once more the only one not qualified for a level - but he still needed another 15k, so there was still a long wait ahead. Hardup was thus still stuck with tier 1 spirits, but they're still pretty helpful at occupying enemies and spells and summons provided enough firepower to complete the area without resting.
The area to the north saw some ogre berserkers trapped on a narrow bridge before a horde of gibberlings were unleashed. Most of the party stayed invisible there, while a full complement of summons engaged. However, Laurel had forgotten to bring his helmet to the contest and died quicker than I'd anticipated, so no reward was on offer.
Incidentally, one thing I've noticed in this run is that casting some spells no longer breaks invisibility - for instance an invisible sorcerer can turn someone else invisible without becoming visible themselves. I'm not sure if that change is the latest EE update or SCS.
North again, to investigate the area around a mine-site. There was a fair amount of Hardup running around inside Fogs there for crowd control and that perhaps encouraged me to try the same on the diggers. The cold damage was killing them quickly, but I made the same mistake I've made before in trying to run past the entrance to the other cave. The terrain there is impassable a bit further out than it looks on the screen and a fractional delay was all the diggers needed to surround Hardup. For some reason SCS gives them high proficiency with their spears, so the damage done per hit is more than would be expected from such puny enemies. The rest of the group had been sent away to avoid being caught in the Fog and I called them back just too late to help ...
I could theoretically continue the run and try and get through to SoD where Hardup could be raised, but that still seems much too far off to be worth trying.
Starting an Evil Party consisting of Dál Riada, a Blackguard with ** in scimitars and ** in longbows, and Helmud the Hammer who is a Lawful Evil Cleric of Helm.
At Candlekeep we were rather short of gold with the result that we aquired our armour by unorthodox means.
North of Beregost we found a decent belt on an ogre killed by us.
Upon reachung Tenya, we gave her a bowl found upon Sonner's Body.
Nearby we killed an ankheg.
After returning to Beregost we acted as postman to Mirianne.
Zordral was killed ar the carnival.
Heading south, we killed Greywolf
And we then took Samuel to the FAI.
Returning south, we reunited Albert and Rufie.
And then killed Vax and Zal.
Heading westward we helped a dryad before killing Ingot.
We teh killed Hairtooth and Gnarl.
To the north we then met up with a polar bear and were richly rewared for killing it.
Nearby we killed Neville and his allies.
To the north, we killed the murderer Gallor.
Whilst inside the dig we helped Charleston Nib.
We then rescued Ardruine's son.
Near the temple we took on some vampyric wolves who almost killed me but didn't.
We then helped Mellicamp.
Near the Friendly Arms in we were attacked by Tarnesh who was rewarded with a blade between his ribs.
After going to Beregost we took a tome to Firebead.
We returned Samuel to the Friendly Arms Inn and returned the Colquetle amulet.
Near Beregost we earned ourselves some good armour when the Flaming Fist attacked us.
We then recruited Xzar, Montaron and Dorn. Xzar was killed and was later restored. Montaron left on bad terms with us after doing some pickpocketting for us.
This was followed by killing Dorn's betrayer Kryll.
We then recruited Neera and found Adoy for her. Neera then left, but on good terms with us, whilst Xzar left in a huff.
In transit we were attacked by a basilisk. By chance I was carrying the appropriate potion.
After recruiting Baoloth we were unexpectedly attacked by some sirine when trying to rest.
We then wiped out another two groups of sirine after recruiting Safana.
At Nashkel we charmed Oublek to help us against Nimbul. Nimbul killed him, and after killing Nimbul we appropriated Oublek's possessions.
We then visited Durlag's Tower.
And then went on to take on the bandit camp.
In cloakwood we helped Aldeth.
We then killed Centeol.
We killed some wyverns on the way to the cloakwood mines where we killed Drasus.
We then returned to pick up the reward for the wyverns and did some shopping before going in search of Drizzt. Killing him lowered our reputation to acceptable levels.
Raising our dead was costly, but I did aquire an excellent scimitar.
(Don't ask how Drizzt was killed as it was a lot of gut reactions. We did injure him with fire shield and it was ice arrows that did the trick in the end.)
We returned to the mines
More wyverns were killed in transit.
On the outskirts of Baldur's Gate we killed Dorn's enemies.
And in an inn we killed Phandalyn
We then killed Firebead
We then returned to the Gate.
We killed Peter et al on the way to Durlag's
Durlag's proved to be dangerous, Safana being killed despite our best efforts to save her.
At Ulgoth's beard Safana was chunked and we replaced her with Tiax.
We rescued Anabelle to regain a heroic reputation and we are got busy raising the experience of Tiax and our gold supplies by hunting ankhegs.
We then returned to Ulgoth's Beard and were successful.
The Iron Throne wasn't a problem.
Have just left Candlekeep.
Got Prat et al to fight each other... A big plus if you don't need the experience. Only Tiax not at the level cap.
A big advantage of the helm of opposite alignment is that now BOTH of Drizzt's scimitars can be equipped.
We rescued the Duke, killed Cythandra when whe walked into a skull trap, and killed the two assassins before taking on Sarevok in the Ducal Palace.
We fought our way to the temple that Sarevok fled to, killing Tamoko on the way. Inside we killed a couple of battle horrors and several bats. Tiax got rid of two traps and we then set a host of traps.
However Tiax needs more experience and we also need more gold. Sarevok will just have to wait.
EDIT
Sarevok met his match but not before Helmut got chunked.
Not sure of the challenge rules if this happens. Charname is still alive, but one of his starting allies is no more.
Can he carry on without Helmut?
Black Pits 2 No-reload Insane Double Damage - Final Update
Summary at the end of Black Pits 1:
Alice the Lawful Good Human Sorceress - Level 9
Mildred the Lawful Good Human Dragon Disciple - Level 9
Megaera the True Neutral Human Berserker - Level 8
Tisiphone the Neutral Evil Human Berserker - Level 8
Alecto the True Neutral Human Berserker - Level 8
Prim the Lawful Good Human Inquisitor - Level 8
After starting Black Pits 2, Team Alice fought the Wyvern and the Dangerous Moose in the practice arena to gain Level 9 with the Berserkers who then Dual Classed, 2 to Mage, 1 to Druid.
Round 1-1: A Farewell to Orcs reactivated all our down classes - this was quite simple with the dual sorceresses and Sunfire.
After reactivating and buying some very important spell scrolls we easily made it through 1-2, the Minotaur, 1-3 the Lizardmen and 1-4 the Umber Hulk Eldars due to the Zerkages having Stoneskin and Berserk Immunities. 1-5 the Drow is a usual roadblock, however Zerkages focused down the Priestess meaning no True Sight meaning Invisible dominance Sorceresses could spam Mordy Swords all day.
Round 2-1, the Vampires proved to be too much though and a few mistakes led to Gaul's squad defeating Team Alice.
Korlasz is dead. Now just need to check that there is nothing down here to find before exiting to Baldur's Gate
My stats on arrival at the Ducal Palace
With the loss of my companions reputation has soared.
Somehow my thievng potions have disappeared. I'll have to buy more as soon as I get some gold
Of course I no longer have a thief either.
To my relief somebody has raised Safana and she has become my companion once more. Dynaheir has also been raised. Helmud however was chunked and so isn't available.
Safana, Viconia and I have left the Gate.
EDIT
We rescued the petrified refugees that Herod told us about and located all of the halfling treasures taken from Takos. Takos gave us a shield and a returning dart for our trouble. Since two of our party are proficient in darts, the dart will come in handy.
We killed a vampire and the two who had hired us before attempting to return to the base. In transit we got involved in a fight and Safana was caught in our own web and died as a result. That was entirely preventable if we had taken the trouble to buff.
The result was expensive. It took most of our gold to raise her.
Lightfinger the shadow dancer ably assisted by
Corethief XXXIII / @Corey_Russell
Surely the shaman / @grond0
Wewa the Berserker / @DOGDANCING
Two weeks after last time a brief reminder has us handing a bird to Xzar only for it to turn into an assassin before our eyes and kill Xzar. We pick up his belongings to use ourselves or to sell for cash and make a swift exit towards Watchers Keep. Lightfinger delights in being relieved of a long-standing level drain.
Lightfinger and Surely head into Watchers Keep itself - while Corethief gives a prescient warning about Lightfinger being a likely target in multiplayer even if he is not the closest target. Pah thinks Lightfinger, and we soon have looted all the surrounds. A couple of snares and a berserked beserker will certainly be fine.
Two seconds later a pair of vampiric wraiths hustle past the party and spirit summons to home in onto Lightfinger. He makes an executive decision and orders the party outside. That was humbling but at least nobody need know about it...
With our tails between our legs we settle instead for some petty larceny around Baldur's Gate. After only a brief amount of this we find ourselves killing off the Rune Assassins. Or at least Wewa is killing them with a bit of help from Surely.
Ok, we're in the groove once more and have almost forgotten about Watchers Keep. So we head to the Copper Coronet, pick up a teddy bear and then make for the graveyard. Plenty of undead to pick on there.
With everything done at the graveyard (yes yes Surely we know you mentioned the lower levels but Lightfinger doesn't really want to bother with that just yet) we instead finish off the slavers in the Slums. Lightfinger took great delight in his randomness and entered from the ship to make his way back to the Copper Coronet, and while he felt at ease doing this it might have caused the party a few minor challenges as we normally go the other way.
This meant we were joined by some of Haegan's party as we were finishing off the two yuan-ti (the group with two mages were all stunned by Corethief's bounty hunter snare and then treated to a brace of shaman area spells). A bit of focus on the cleric allowed us to safely eliminate this threat though.
'Captain' Haegan found his lack of troops to be overly problematic and never got into the fight. We then went into the sewers and fought off kobolds despite our unberserked berserker getting held. She survived, they did not.
Anything our berserker could do our bounty hunter could not quite do as Corethief discovered his saving throws were far from ideal, or even adequate. Despite our best endeavours we had no explosive spells or potions and after fending off melee attackers we were unable to account for hobgoblin archers in time to save a held thief.
After the fight we forlornly looked at all our bounty hunting equipment spread around the floor. Lightfinger gingerly moved a bit of his inventory around but was muttering about not having much backpack space left. Surely suggested he could call Corethief back from the dead if we rested. Yep, OK let's try that.
Success! Corethief even found a silver lining, remarking that with one party death in the session we'd met @Grond0 's quota for every successful outing.
We trooped back to Hendak and collected our reward. Lightfinger didn't say anything but he was feeling a bit underwhelmed about the amount of progress we'd made - although in hindsight it seems OK.
We pressed on, and soon had Rayic Gethras breathing his last - once we realised than no amount of rest would grant us access to his house and that our lying cheating journal was lying and cheating. When it says Edwin wants us to kill Rayic what it means is Mae'Var has asked us to speak to Edwin. After only four futile rests Surely tired of this behaviour and went to speak to Edwin - hey presto the door is open and we can now introduce ourselves to Rayic's guardians. Yes yes Wewa hammered them all.
Rayic is / was a fine caster, a mighty fine caster. You have to be fine indeed to almost survive four determined attackers. Almost.
With Rayic dead Lightfinger was careful to make sure we didn't run into trouble on our way back to Edwin. He warned Corethief to stop before he ran into Sansuki, and then paused to reiterate the suggestion. Corethief got the message at the second attempt (and in all liklihood could see Sansuki on his screen by that time) and retreated. We then allowed berserked Wewa to talk to him instead and she soon sorted out a trio of vampires with a little electrical assistance.
We then reported back to Renal Bloodscalp with evidence of Mae'Var's deceit and after a bit of vagabond in-fighting our thiefly party defeated Mae'Var's thiefly party. Lightfinger wasted no opportunity to decline leadership of Mae'Var's vacated guild and instead treated Corethief to a new girdle (19 STR) to match his new shadow thief armour. A bit extravagant with reputation of 13 but we have money to burn, as usual. On our way out Corethief suggested purchasing the Stonefire axe for Wewa to burn trolls but Lightfinger had already moved on and Surely suggested we had plenty of fire arrows for this cause.
A bit of shuffling around the city saw us confirm Umar, Trademeet, de'Arnise and Windspear were all accessible. Lightfinger knew how to make a decision on our destination - and asked Corethief.
So it looks like there will be death in Umar Hills next time. Hopefully not ours.
Party lootings at the session end:
(n.b. count those fire arrows. Fourteen. Fourteen. Troll-quivering indeed and Lightfinger's acid arrow reserves looks to be an un-necessary measure)
We are currently investigating a cave and have looted the first part using web, skull traps and fireballs pretty effectively. I had to use a potion of extra healing when fighting some umber hulks, but as another was found shortly afterwards that was no big deal. After resting we are now prepared for going forward.
Finding the belongings of Crommus was a bonus. He won't be needing them any more.
Coldhearth gave us a powerful hammer in reward for our services. We were fully buffed in case he proved treacherous, but he fulfilled his part of the bargain. I also expected our reputation to drop but it didn't.
EDIT
We have now cleared Troll Claw Woods and have been ambushed on the way to the forest of wyrms.
However the goblins were quickly wiped out with area effect spells and the miconids were killed using a combination of web, freedom of action and the helm that protects against confusion. Now onwards to the forest of wyrms
I am not finding playing evil easy. When this run is over, I think it will be back to playing a good character.
Starting with a halfling Cavalier, Furfoot Curveblade.
Seeing the portrait is what gave the inspiration. There are so few halfling images with furry feet!
There was no background to the portrait, so I added one which you will all recognise.
I was quite pleased with the result as it is not obvious what I have done.
Furfoot, needless to say has proficiency in scimitars.
Gorion has been killed and we have helped Melicamp.
Love the portrait @Wise_Grimwald ! Is that the Undercity in the background?
It is indeed.
Journal of Furfoot
Upon going to the FAI, I was able to kill Tarnesh.
Heading north, I killed Sonner et al and returned Tanya's bowl.
Nearby I killed an ankheg before returning to the FAI with Joia's ring.
South of Beregost I killed an ogrillon and took the letter on his body to Mirianne.
I then proceeded to Nashkel where I found some decent armour, talked to Noober, and turned down a reward from Oublek.
I took Greywolf to the mines to enable the guards to weaken him before killing him myself. Unfortunately they got a critical hit with the result that I lost out on the experience.
I returned to the ankheg nest and slowly but surely cleared it out, returning the body of Farmer Brun's son as I did so.
I took the shells to Beregost to sell them, paying for another suit of ankheg armour as I did so. I then cleared a spider's nest there, before heading north to kill an ogre.
Returning to Beregost, I killed Silke and Karlat before heading west to retrieve Perdue's sword.
I believe that it is now time that I should have some allies.
I recruited Xzar and Montaron whereupon Montaron filched Algernon's Cloak and some useful items at Ulgoth's Beard.
Dorn joined us south of Nashkel and we then killed Kryll.
We were aware of a battle between Drizzt and some gnoll. The gnoll won. Xzar then wiped them out with a skull trap.
At that point I bade Xzar, Montaron and Dorn farewell.
That is the last that I will see of Xzar and Montaron until Amn.
Reputation now 20.
Avoiding conlict whenever possible, I released Dynaheir and reunited her with Minsc.
Minsc needs an unbreakable sword so finding one is top of the agenda. We also need our equipment identifying. We also need a cleric. Sadly no good aligned clerics available. (The reason why I am usually starting with a small party nowadays)
EDIT
Minsc now has Arghain's sword, Dynaheir has identified our equipment, Branwen has joined the party and we took Khaled and Jaheira to Nashkel and left them there.
Icewind Dale II Solo No Reload (Attempt 1)
Difficulty: Normal, Solo
Mods: None
Something a little bit different with the non-beamdog, non-EE infinity engine game. I love this game but playing it really makes you appreaciate what beamdog did with the EEs
Also Icewind Dale 2 is 3rd editiion DnD so everything plays a lot differently to the 2nd ed of BG and IWD. Its all familiar if you've played NWN or Pathfinder:Kingmaker though (or 3rd ed D&D for that matter). Unlike 2nd ed the higher the better: high saves, high BAB (Basic attack bonus), high AC, High spell DC and so on.
Arunda the Dreadmaster (Dreadmistress?) of Bane
Pseudo-backstory:
Lesser daughter of a lesser house Arundaa was forced to flee her home city and the Underdark itself during an intra-house war between her sisters over succession. Pursued by assassins she has fled as far as the Ten Towns. Desperate, penniless and a drow on the surface she has pledge herself to Bane, evil god of Tyranny, in a search for power. We meet her as she disembarks from a boat in the town of Targos to the sounds of battle.
Solo Character Discussion:
Arunda is a Drow, which gives her 10+ level spell resistance, Faerie Fire ability, Proficiency in Longswords, a massive +6 to her stats, +2 will saves, day-blindness giving penalties to hit and to saves in sunlight, and a 3 level penalty, meaning the XP value she needs to hit to level up is as if she were three levels higher than her current level. The exception is level 1 to 2 which only requires 1000XP. This XP penalty is not so bad since she is solo and will suck up all XP herself.
Arunda is a a Dreadmaster of Bane. Clerics are great in IWD2, really good. As this will hopefully show, and Dreadmasters are probably best of the bunch. Firstly their Domain spells are excellent, and secondly they get +1DC to any Enchantment spells they cast. Couple that with Spell focus and greater spell focus: enchantment and that is +5DC which is amazing. Maxing wisdom will make our enchantment spells almost un-resistable.
This is a low dex high str build which means the starting areas are going to be painful due to low AC. They will be less painful because she will hit things hard and often. I could not bear to dump Int any further, or Cha below 14. That does mean we can take Sorcerer levels up to level 4 spellcasting if it goes that way. Reflex saves will be low, as will HP.
Our starting 4 skill points all went in Diplomacy
Our starting feat was Spell Focus: Enchantment, all the better to Command, Charm and otherwise mess with our enemies.
---
Prologue
Targos Docks
We start out in Targos Docks. There are three groups of goblins and a lone goblin. There are also two houses with goblins in and two warehouses, one of which has tunnels. Our main priority is defense and getting 1000XP. The overall objective is to "clear the docks of goblins."
We can pick up a small shield straight away, and Reig gives us a short sword and leather armor.
Arunda the Dreadmaster meets Reig:
As a cleric we can heal Reig's arm for 300XP. He wants us to collect a healing potion also. First we kill some of the easy goblins and pick up everything to sell to Guthewulfe in the Salty Dog. Olap's house has Studded Leather and some loot, this gives AC15 which is the best we are going to get before spells for this part. Protection from Evil gives another +2AC but its duration is bugged compared to its description meaning it expires fast. Our attack bonus is +4 due to 18str, +3 if fighting outside during the day.
First kill:
Rescuing Firtha in the south east house from three goblins gives another 300XP and then we rest until night to lose our night-blindness for the remaining outside goblins. Resting is something we do a lot. Lots of Command makes the goblins easy and gets level 2. We take a couple of hits showing that our AC is the main problem at low level.
Dreadmasters get command as a Domain Spell at level 1 so it means 1 more cast, the least of their benefits.
In the warehouse where the Potion of Healing is there is a 3 goblin ambush so we pre-buff with Bless which unlike BG has a 1min/level duration making it well worth a slot. We loot every container and sell everything (except a light crossbow and a warhammer for a later quest) to Guthewulfe, and turn in the Potion of Healing for a third 300XP chunk. That represents everything easy in the docks. All that remains is the main warehouse+tunnels.
Warehouse 1:
Convincing Brogan to let us in gives 300XP more. Inside there are a lot of goblins. Regular prologue goblins have a hefty luck penalty so they do low damage and can't crit (helmets don't protect against crits in IWD2)
We pre-buff with Bless and Protection from Evil which leaves 2 Commands and our 3 Faerie Fires (a quick cast -2 enemy AC debuff). Once we use up all our Faerie Fires and Commands and PfE wears off its touch and go to take out the rest of the Goblins, but we don't need to leave and rest until after they are all dead. All looted and a small upgrade in the form of a Longsword. Weapon restrictions are not a thin in 3rd ed and Drow gives us Longsword proficiency.
Warehouse 2 upstairs:
In the tunnels we do it in five parts total, resting in between. The named Goblins can hit hard, take hits to kill, and with only 16HP we can die quick so the final mob takes three parts - fortunately it is possible to leave the tunnels and rest up without being followed. Once the named goblins are dead the rest are mopped up. We gain a valuable Oil of Fiery Burning, and some Burning Oil, and a Mace (1d8 blunt), the Brimstone Scroll plot item and a 1350XP for clearing the docks and an extra 400XP for reporting to Brogan.
The tunnels:
Targos Town
We scrape up a little bit of loot and do the Garradun quest in the tent for 300P gaining level 3 Dreadmaster. We gain our second feat and take Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment. That's our +5DC right there. We also get 2nd level Cleric spells.
We loot the inn for some Lamp Oil and some other items then start the Ghost quest as an evill cleric for 400XP by just forcing it into submission then report it for 600XP and collect and identify the Ghost-touched bottle via a trip to the priest of Myrkul which nets another 450XP for rubbing it in his face - very Dreadmistress. Returing to the inn for 400XP from the inkeeper and 400XP from bullying the Ghost. The bottle exchanges for 700GP (or a dagger that evil chars can't use).
There are a couple of other quest here but one only nets 300XP and requires spending 200+GP and other other we put off to see if we can squeeze level 4. Instead we move to Targos Palisade
Targos Palisade
There are a series of fetch quests to do in the run up to the attack, which we start to do. We also bully Niles into stopping drinking and starting fighting for 600XP (very Baneite), trick Tabard Mooncalf into moving to steal his shield for 450XP (Bane needs well equiped Dreadmasters), which is +2AC with an extra +1 vs Missiles.
Arunda also gives a Baneite "blessing" to some recruits (450XP) and convince Caulder to accept a hammer (900XP). Finishing the Olap quest to fix the lumber lift gets Arunda to level 4. We take +1 to Wisdom giving 19 Wisdom.
Arunda being a Baneite:
Turning in the Olap quest and completing the arrows for Isherwood gets 1800XP total. We complete the Myrkul priest quest leveraging Arunda's Drow ability to understand Goblin tongue (1800XP).
The final quest is to convince the Iron Collar mercenaries to join. First we do some preparation. We sell 3 Flaming Oil for 450GP then buy the Ring of the Wise (1550GP) for +1Wisdom giving +5wis modifier, Memories of Kuldahar +1 club (1d6+1) (620GP) and Chainmail (186GP) clearing us down to 200GP. But we now have 18AC and +8 to hit. Time for Phaen.
Phaen is a low level mage, but that is dangerous. We prep with our two new level 2 spells: Bulls Strength and Aid, and Bless for +11 to hit. Hopefully we will not need it.
The right dialogue with Phaen gains 700XP then we chain Command to get 3x free hits on him. He himself is worth 300XP and turning in the quest gets 600XP. We are almost at level 5.
Phaen enjoying "Command":
Convincing the Iron Collar Mercenaries to fight which required completing the Phaen quest first and gives 600XP. This gains level 5 and level 3 spells. We rest to memorise spells and until nightfall.
We have 4x Command, 1x Bless, 1x Summon Monster 1, 2x Silence, 1x Bulls Strength, 1x Aid, 2x Animate Dead.
We then activate the final Prologue battle.
Prologue FInal Battle
This battle is in three waves with three named characters, the last of which is the "boss." Inbetween named characters we can be healed but cannot rest.
We buff up and head outside. One of Vghotan's Hounds can be lured and killed, followed by some of his minions before Vghotan themselves appears. Faerie Fire allows Vghotan to be hit reliably and he goes down in 4 rounds. Arundaa immediatly puts on his unidentified collar for Panic and Fear immunity (Because this is a no-reload run I didn't go for the Ned's Knucky pickpocket earlier, even though it can be attempted immediatly after starting a game meaning that a full game restart only take a minute - it didn't feel right).
Vghotan luring:
Nolan the Healer heals the 8 points of damage we took while the defenders of Targos hold off the goblins.
Ghotrag is not so difficult because there are lots of friendly npcs to help. the 2nd Faerie Fire makes them very hit-able. We take them down quickly then mop up and go for a second lot of healing.
Owning Ghotrag:
Caballus is the dangerous one and really the "boss" of the prologue. They are a serious spellcaster and can blind, enfeeble, use mirror image and blur, and crucially can hit us with chromatic orb which tests our very low reflex save and will stun on fail. Arunda has been saving her summons for this. Our short term buffs have worn off now and we Animate Dead x2 which gets two Armored Skeletons which go out in front. For all our prep our first Silence works on Caballus which effectively makes them of very limited danger. Chaining Commands and the Faerie Fire and Caballus dies. The Armored Skeletons are carries at this point really so they could have done this solo. Arunda and her Skeletons mop up.
Silencing and taking out Caballus:
And that is the end of the Prologue final battle! Arunda does some Baneite stuff in celebration. Gathering up and selling loot gets us to 2500GP, Arunda received no interesting random drops.
Next up is Shaengarne - hopefully now we have Animate Dead Arunda can level squat a bit to keep leveled-enemy difficulty down.
Icewind Dale II Solo No Reload (Attempt 1) - Update 2
Difficulty: Normal, Solo
Mods: None
Arunda the Dreadmaster of Bane continues her rampage, only now things are actually hard. I remember when I was given this game as a child for christmas when it was first released. I found the prologue ok and everything after that very difficult. There is a noticeable difficulty jump as the below will show. As a no-reload solo we are trapped between the rock of needing to level up to deal with encounters and the hard place of everything getting harder if you level up. Mostly we will just level, but we will squat a bit at the beginning of this chapter.
Chapter 1
Leaving Targos
There is one quest Arunda has not done. I avoided it because it required spending 200+GP for the "Braegh" but I forgot that actually there is a second person to turn it in to who gives 240GP as reward. We do that for 600XP.
Arunda also buys a full quiver of crossbow bolts and Chainmail +1 (1612GP). A base AC of 19 will give marginally more chance of surviving. We also pick up scroll case, gem bag and potion bag.
Shaengarne River
This is the first real map to ease you in. It has Orcs, Orc Archers, Orc Shamans who cast Hold Person, explosive barrels, Orc Runners who will place then in pre-designated places and Orc Firestarters who will ignite them. We summon our two Undead and get to work, hanging back and plinking with the crossbow when possible. Otherwise the strategy is to send 3 undead forward and keep one next to us because some orcs will always ignore the Undead and go straight for Arunda.
We have lots of Commands, and one very useful Dire Charm as a Dreadmaster Domain spell. With our Enchantment DC we are almost guaranteed to have one long lasting charm per battle. This is very useful for taking out Shamans (even with their high Will save) before they can start casting. Also, although we only have two casts of Animate Dead the duration is >8 hours so we can cast then cast again for 4 Chosen Zombies/Armored Skeletons.
We meet Torak, a mini-antagonist who we will chase through the next two maps and defeat the first and second groups using Undead. Silence is another Baneite Domain spell (level 2) on top of being a normal Cleric spell so we can Silence a lot of the Shamans (it is illusion though so no DC bonuses).
We clear Dereth Springsong's house and encounter our first Firestarter Barrel. The Orc firestarters use flaming arrows to ignite the barrels with a three second countdown before they explode as a fireball usually killing a lot of orcs. Ideally we would prevent this for XP but in practice it is hard to do in places - only Dire Charm on the Firestarters is really effective.
We take quite a bit of damage but rescue Springson which gives us a safe rest place and a quest to rescue his wife - along with 1750XP. We have reached level 6 but do not level up yet. We also get a random drop - Yeti-skin cloak with a tiny 1 point cold resist bonus.
First battles
Dereth unlocks the western part of the map which has a few parties of orcs in tight confines including a Runner + Firestarter combo. Charming the firestarter breaks the combo. Arunda makes it through all three o the next orc groups in one sitting with SIlence and her undead, finding Sabrina Fairwynd, Dereth's wife. That gets 1250XP, the next part of the map open and and somewhere to buy things we do not need.
Western Battles:
Oepning the eastern passage sets Orcs running all over the place so while sniping some Barrels of Blasting they come into range from a safe vantage point, sort of. Orcs pop up all over the place. Checking back on Sabrina gets another 375XP and a Scimitar +1 which is objectively worse than our club, and Arunda rests before the final bits.
The eastern area Arunda fails to stop a Barrel of Blasting, but otherwise theings go fine. We snipe the remaining Barrels, collect a Dagger+1, the only other piece of notable loot here and clear out the last orc group at the exit - but we need to rest again before because we lost half our army.
Eastern and final battles
All in all not a difficult map, but then it is the "first" map of chapter 1. However, next map has our first proper ambush, and it ill be tough, however there is a secret to it. We prebuff with Aid, Bull's Strength and Protection from Evil and make sure we have Sanctuary and Hold Person memorized.
Logging Village
When Arunda appears there are immediately orc archers on the ridge and a whole host of regular orcs in front, and Torak who runs away yet again. However, before we panic there happens to be a person here who is much better at fighting than us and can thin out the crowd.
Arunda casts sanctuary then waits for Emma Moonblade to do her thing. Her AI is bad so she casts lots of spells which are useless before going into melee. The orc' AI is worse and presumably for plot reasons they will not attack her at all. So long as we distract them she will kill 2 orcs per round until gone. No XP but its safe. Emma wants us to retrieve her Moonblade, which we will.
Emma doing her thing:
The next part is tricky. If we do things wrong or get unlucky the orcs will kill all the villagers. What we need is a handlily placed invisibility potion to sneak in, open the gate, sneak back and disable the Orc Firestarter before he ignites the Barrel of Blasting which will kill the villagers. This feels like a 90s Action Movie plot and considering the game was released in 2002 that makes sense. The only way to disable the firestarter effectively is to kill him, via repeated Commands or to Dire Charm him. Since he is on the edge of around 20 orcs we don't want to hang around. We rationalise the whole thing by thinking that it will really irritate Torak.
First we summon 4 undead then pre-buff and invisibility to open the gate and try and charm the Firestarter which works no problem. Then Arunda runs away back to her Undead and we kill all the orcs. It looks dangerous but if you kill some of them their morale breaks and they panic making it easy to pick them off. Letting the villages out of their barrel prison gets us "Clenched Fist +1" a mace and a nice damage upgrade. It also, funnily, can give is 1GP per day which is a nice flavor thing though useless. Freeing the villages gets Arunda 750XP and access to a merchant who can ID items and buy some of our deadweight.
Freeing the villagers:
The last fight on this map is Torak's camp, and Torak himself. Arunda tries out a new spell: Horror, which is super effective even though it is Necromancy not Enchantment and the orcs all flee making them easy to kill. Torak is vulnerable to Command and does not have very much going for him. We collect the key to the next area along with Leather Armor+1 and battleaxe+1 for selling.
Torak:
There is also an interesting dagger/10 throwing daggers which are +1 and have a 10% chance to silence on hit. Which is not particularly interesting to us but worth >1000GP
Vrek's Cave is optional but Arunda never runs from a good fight.
Vrek's Cave
Slimes and Zombies and Carrion Crawlers. The Crawlers move faster than in BG, but enemies can be made to switch target with Command - once they get back up they target the closest enemy. The Zombies and Slimes are damage resistant (3rd ed does flat damage resistance rather than percentage. In this case 5, so the first 5 points of damage are ignored - though some have no crushing resistance). Oche Jellys do serious damage so Arunda stays back after taking a big hit.
This cave feels too big for what it is - lacking something, partially incomplete - but it does have the main fight: Vrek the "true boss" Its a troll with a lot of HP, accompanied with various orcs but only one shaman - talking to them before can get 375XP. The main problem is Arunda has to walk into a situation where she is surrounded by enemies. With four undead left further back she Dire Charms the Shaman as soon as combat begins and run away. Arunda keeps Vrek down with command while the undead and charmed shaman clear out the orcs then everyone hammers on Vrek who has a lot of HP indeed. An oil flask kills him.
Vrek:
Moonblade retrieved it is returned to Emma for 750XP and a big 2000GP. We quickly clear the final enemy, a strangely placed and quite dangerous Highland Cat beyond the locked exit gate, and move on to the next map.
Shaengarne Ford
Thats it for the easy two maps, now the enemies are tough. We kill a Verbeeg to the north and that is the furthest I want to push Arunda at level 5 so we level up, which takes us to Level 8 Dreadmaster. We would need this anyway for the next map and this one is hard too.
We raise Wisdom as usual and boost concentration and diplomacy (I'm going for 7 diplomacy). We also gain a feat, Arunda takes Dash for +15% move speed.
The corner of the Verbeeg house also has our first good random drop, Gantlets of Weapon Skill of +1 attack bonus. We now have a BAB of +6 which means an extra attack. Arunda has +12/+7 unbuffed.
She also has a whole host of excellent spells, notably the Level 4 Spell Cloud of Pestillence to which she had the Undead are immune but will blind and drain stats of enemies eery round for 4 rounds on failed saves. She also has 4 Animate Dead and some other extra spells all over. Also our undead ar upgraded with Boneguard Skeletons and Poison Zombies. Good stuff.
With Cloud of Pestilence this map's enemy: Gearnat Sharptooth and their Were-animals, Harpys and Orcs are no problem. There is also a "Spider Queen" which I had forgotten about but nothing can stand up to Command chaining.
Killing Were-everythings:
Next area is really tough and we have to be prepared to run away off the map.
Shaengarne Dam
This map is filled with Malarites for some reason - elements of IWD2 really show the rushed nature of the development imo - the painted backgrounds look great but the contents often feels half-done. The Malarites have lots of animals with them and will cast Entangle a lot. That is fine for us since its stops lots of things getting to us. It also begins with an ambush. However we are far better equipped now and buffed as much as possible (AC22), and so some Clouds of Pesilence mean we are ok and can summon up undead. They also cast Rainstorm which does lightning damage which is quite dangerous though Arunda's spell resistance is coming into its own.
Dealing with the initial ambush:
There are other groups including one with a Malarite HIgh Priest but they don't deal with Silence at all well. As an example of Arunda's strength compared to the encounters she is just about capable of of taking out three individual Malarite clusters including the initial ambush before she needs rest. IWD2 is very much balanced around lots of rests and taking each encounter fresh anyway so this does not bother me.
Clearing up:
Arunda destroys the Dam and this gets us just enough experience for the next level which works out really well because level 10 gives us Greater Command, which also happens to be a Baneite demain spell. We gain an extra feat and take Power Attack. This gives a player choice of -1 to -5 to hit in exchange for +1 to +5 to damage. Its good, especially when auto-hitting.
Shaengarne Bridge
Arunda has to kill two ogres before the destroy the bridge is she wants the extra XP. Only problem is there are about 50 enemies on the map and the bridge is way over there - the map starts with an ambush and the ogres start chopping the moment you enter. Key is getting to the bridge, taking out the ogres and the named mage with them, then not getting killed by the thousand other enemies on the map. Thing is there is a reload safe way to do it for Arunda since she is a Cleric of high enough level. Transition time from the Dam to the Bridge is 0, so pre-casting sanctuary gives 1 round/level duration of 10 rounds which is enough to sit through the cutscene and run across the map to the bridge out of sight of everything and cast Animate Dead x 4 which can take out the Ogres, Xuki, then the other 50 or so enemies. Also applicable to anyone who can cast Invisibility - or if you let the villages die to hang onto the Invisibility potion in the logging village. Unfortunately Potions of Sanctuary, which are in the game, are not well thought out and cast at level 1 and require the casting animation, meaning you get 6 seconds of sanctuary, after a cast time of 6... so you use six tenths of 6 seconds in order to gain 6 seconds of invisibility... cool.
Arunda does the above plan, and just like that one of the hardest parts of the game is trivialised due to AI weakness, Greater Command is just an extra addition which allows us to mop up very quickly Our rewards, some boots which give immunity to entangle, those would have been handy with the Malarites... A shield to sell, and a Bag of Holding, very useful.
Owning the "very difficult" Bridge section:
We also use Spiritual Hammer a bit, it is a "ranged melee" attack so Arunda attacks twice per round at her regular regular melee attack bonus but does it at range. Shame there is no strength bonus so it is not the most exciting level 2 spell
---
And that is the Shaengarne series of maps, and the first half of chapter 1 done. I'm pleased with how well the Dreadmaster holds up solo. Its like if you wanted to play an Evil Enchanter, except a cleric so you get 3/4BAB meaning you can hit things too. 3rd ed rules are ok, you miss out on lots of toys but get lots of different ones instead.
Icewind Dale II Solo No Reload (Attempt 1) - Final Update
Difficulty: "Normal", Solo
Mods: None
Arunda went back to Targos to claim her reward, buy a ring of protection +1 (Deflection bonus +1 only, no save bonus) and went off to try the hardest part of the game imo, the Horde Fortress Drum-session. If you don't know this one then there are drums which if someone gets to beating will summon worg riders avery few seconds indefinitely. Good for grinding up XP though.
Unfortunatly, Arunda was far too confident in her Greater Command, and, due to an oversight where she had left difficulty on Insane from some earlier messing around, which gives enemies something like a +6 to hit or to luck or something in IWD2, an orc archer she hadn't sent to sleep hit her with the crit for 48damage when she wasn't topped up, then someone else got a hit in. Whoops.
Whilst in transit, we were attacked by a winter wolf. Knowing the value of their pelts, we put it in our bags.
We then came across Arghain and killed him. Minsc will find his sword useful.
Returning north we were asked to deal with Bassilus which we did.
Nearby we killed Zargal et al.
We then helped an archaeoliogist and killed a Doomsayer.
We returned Brage to the Temple of Helm and killed an assassin in a nearby inn after selling our winter wolf pelt.
Heading westwards we killed Droth, Shoal, and some sirine.
We headed to an area infested with Basilisks which we cleared along with some adventurers and Mutamin.
Heading south we located the position of Durlag's Tower, so we cleared the upper reaches apart from an area inhabited by basilisks. Not having protection from their stare, we left them alone for the moment.
Heading south we helped Rufie before turning our attention to Vax and Zal.
We then cleared the Nashkel Mines.
Upon leaving we killed the Amazons before clearing three nearby caves.
Upon going back to Nashkel, Xan's charm spells got Oublek to help us fight Nimbul.
In Beregost Neera joined us and helped us to fight against Morvin and others before we helped her to find Amoy,
She then left the party but will be available to us in the future.
We killed a party of bandits led by Deke before killing Tranzig.
EDIT
We then returned to the bandit camp where we rested before clearing it of bandits.
We then progressed through Cloakwood.
We then went to Baldur's Gate, picked up Quayle and went about getting enough gold to fill up Dynaheir's spellbook.
Icewind Dale II Solo No Reload (Attempt 2) - First Update
Difficulty: Heart of Fury Level 1 start, Solo
Mods: None
Ok so instead of normal I went hart of Fury this time - afaik there is no HoF no-reload run on record. Spent a long time working out what could be done and what could not before starting this.
Ruin the Sorceress used the not particularly well know Heart of Fury "book" available in Targos which allows you to summon 3 Air Elementals to clear out Targos Docks. Compared to the Level 1 HoF start in IWD1 it is a breeze.
She leveled up -> 2 -> 5 -> 12 which was enough to have top level Animate Dead summons to defend Targos fully. She squatted to Level 27 which she obtained in Vrek's Cave.
She Defended the Bridge using the same strategies I used in my IWD1 run, Fire Elementals with Fiery Cloud + Cloudkill on top to grind through HoF health pools. It's not exactly necessary in IWD2 though because Wail of the Banshee is super effective with Greater Spell Focus and High Charisma. Also, another classic is that Fireshield red + blue + death armor, then gather all agro and pop Otilukes and everything will do 70+ damage to itself per hit going on for 20+ rounds while Ruin sits safe in the sphere. Nothing survives that. Foolish AI.
Because of critical fails on saves Ruin can also hack away with Black Blade of Disaster at 4APR waiting for the eventual natural 1s to Disintegrate boss enemies.
The key now is just to avoid every fight possible since Ruin gets no XP for kills any more. The hope was to take 1 level of Paladin for charisma saves, one level of monk for evasion and one level of fighter for a final feat. but it will be a long time before kills start giving XP again.
Ruin sits at the entrance to the Horde Fortress where Arunda failed - but this time we can just stealth it.
Icewind Dale II Solo No Reload (Attempt 2) - Update 2
Difficulty: Heart of Fury Level 1 start, Solo
Mods: None
Ruin the Sorceress is a Sorcery Goddess. Unfortunately 3e rules suck! are *waves hand in so so gesture*. Notably there are so few physical protection spells. Stoneskin only protects against 10 damage per hit and not for +5 weapons. There is no PfMW, Mantle, Improved Mantle, Absolute Immunity or Protection from Normal Weapons. No Spell Immunity, No Spell Trap. Also no sequencers of any type, no project image, no mislead, no simulacrum. No Timestop. No Imprisonment. No Shapechange. You get the picture. Basically all the fun stuff isn't there. Instead you get DC dependent spells. So Ruin can walk into a group of enemies and let off a Mass Dominate and suddenly half of them are dominated for 27 rounds. Or, just Wail of the Banshee and unlike in BG2 this will kill almost everything because even HoF enemies can't resist her 28Charisma with greater spell focus. All in all I think that the 3e arcane spell book is nowhere near as satisfying as the BG 2e one.
Anyway, Ruin collected her rewards and killed about 50% of the enemies on the Horde Fortress Entrance Map. This is because there is a named character who has the key.
After that she Invisibility-ed through Caverns 1, doing the small quests for a bit of XP. On Caverns 2 again she needed to kill two enemies for the mcguffinswardstones. We managed to do this only aggroing about 60% of the enemies.
In Horde Fortress outside she ignored everything and went inside.
Inside Mass Dominate on the Bugbears who killed each other one by one while Ruin Summoned the Undead Army. She then cleared out everything else, messing around with Disintegrate. Humiliatingly, Guthma, the Chapter Boss, died to a single Disintegrate. Unlike BG2 this does not disintegrate items. Also I noticed a funny bug: if you cast Disintegrate the enemy fades away over few seconds before dying, but if you lose LoS with them it cancels the disapear. So we had to kill some things twice before I worked out what was going on.
Now just to go back to Targos with Chapter 1 complete.
Yeldan II the halfling fighter - FINAL Update!
Traveling with:
Joshua - dwarven berserker
Forrest - dwarven berserker
April - human inquisitor
Sarah - human inquisitor
Sarevok - human fighter
(Imoen - human thief/mage - CHUNKED by draconis)
I am pleased to report I kept my focus and Yeldan II has become a god.
Now I need to try to do it with the NPCs - clearly with MP parties, I think I got it. I also need to get a sqishy character through, like maybe a thief or bard. Will start a new one in Candlekeep...
Thoughts about this run:
Berserkers and inquisitors were extremely useful against enemy casters, and did massive damage to melee enemies as well. They did gulp loads of potions and lots of RoR heals too, but they succeeded all the same. I'll need to try another run without so many uber characters...I also had 3 characters with grandmastery in weapons, this no doubt was part of the strength of this party...
@Corey_Russell I have just found this post and your success doesn't seem to have been added to the Hall yet.
Obviously I have discovered the last post, so if you like, please link the first one (and any relevant ones in between, as you wish) and the usual details like difficulty and mods or restrictions and I'll gladly add it.
We were able to help Mellicamp though we were seriously hurt in the process. We survived, calmed down Marl in Beregost, and took a tome to Firebead.
Halis now level 2.
We were advised to go to the Friendly Arms Inn.
We killed some hobgoblins there before killing the evil Sonner and his accomplices to the north after which we delivered Tenya's Bowl.
I am now level 2 also.
A nearby ankheg was then killed.
As we proceeded back to the FAI to return Joia's ring, two ankhegs attacked us simultaneously the extra ankheg was a bit more than we could cope with and Hal was killed.
When we delivered a letter to Mirianne she was delighted and rewarded us with a much-needed ring of protection.
Upon arriving in Nashkel we turned down a reward which was supposed to be fr Greywolf.
We picked up Samuel and took him to the Friendly Arms Inn.
Good to see so many no-reloads going . It's been a couple a months since I visited this thread, I had to take a break from playing after Balin Magicbane's unfortunate death. It was a real bummer after playing all those hours.
Recently I decided to continue on with him, to see what challenges a solo wizard slayer would be facing at the end of BG2 and through TOB. And I must say the challenges are plentiful, but I did manage to get him to the end of the game and actually beat Melissan. I learned a lot from this playthrough, and I hope to make this knowledge count in my next attempt(s). I already have a new one underway, will try to post about its progress soon.
We were again injured killing ankhegs and upon finding the body of Farmer Brun's son, we took it to him and gave him 100gp to get him back on his feet.
We were asked to deal with Bassilus and were successful and when Silke and Karlat attacked us, we killed them too.
Perdue then gave us a reward for the return of his sword.
We headed south where we fought and killed Greywolf. The guards at the mine helped and Hal's command spell lasted long enough for us to finish him off ourselves.
We reunited Albert and Rufie before killing Vax and Zal.
Krumm and Ingot were killed next.
We returned to Beregost to rest and re-equip ourselves before heading west where we killed Droth and Shoal before returning a ring and killing some sirine.
Visiting the lighthouse area we killed more sirine.
Wherupon inside the cave we killed two flesh golems before looting it.
Difficulty: SCS Insane (no additional damage)
Additional mods: Caelar stays neutral in the final fight
Additional rules: no xp loop, no area hopping to avoid incoming magic spells (escaping ambushes is allowed though)
Game version: 2.5
Weidu log BG1:
// 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]
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5080 // Improved textscreens in Tales of the Sword Coast: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly smarter carrion crawlers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Improved kobolds: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity assassins: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v33.4
After some time off the game, I started a new solo Wizard Slayer run:
- Glolin started out doing various quests on the sword coast, to gain gold, items and experience.
- He went to Durlag's Tower to collect the 2 arrows of detonation and 2 arrows of dispelling from the Warder's Level
- Mulehey was interrupted with Larloch's Minor Drain and then killed in melee.
- Nimbul got Glolin confused, but because of Glolin's previous attacks with arrows of piercing, he failed to cast Dire Charm at him. Once the confusion wore off, Nimbul was easily cut down.
- Glolin talked his way into the Bandit Camp. Inside the big tent he fired an arrow of dispelling at Venkt, but missed and was thus unable to dispel Venkt's protections and disrupt his spell casting. He was lucky enough to save against his hold person spell. Venkt was cut down shortly afterwards together with the rest of the bandits in the tent.
- The Centeol lair also did not go as planned. Glolin failed to interrupt her dialogue, causing her to spawn an additional 2 giant spiders. Glolin lured some of them outside and blasted them point blank with 2 arrows of detonation. But back inside there were still 2 more giant spiders and an Ettercap. He again lured them with him, after killing one of the giant spiders, the other was able to web him a couple of times in a row. Finally making his breath save he was able to drink a potion of extra healing and kill the remaining giant spider.
- After using a scroll of magic protection, Drasus was rushed in melee. But Glolin had to retreat and use all his potions of extra healing to stay alive. After some kiting Drasus was shot down.
- With the boots of speed Glolin ran to Davaeorn. Glolin ignored most of the enemies that followed him here. Davaeorn was dispelled and shot down with arrows.
- At the coast Glolin used another scroll of magic protection, he easily killed the nymphs there and collected the tome of constitution
- In Baldur's gate Glolin decided not to help Scar. He also skipped the Iron Throne fight, by just entering and leaving the building.
- He escaped the Candlekeep Ogre Mages, but one of them did magically follow him inside Candlekeep.
- He bypassed Pratt by just running out of his sight.
- At Durlag's Tower he killed Love for the wardstone, and fetched Durlag's Goblet and Kiel's Helmet. A tome of wisdom was also picked up in the tower.
- Another protection from magic scroll was used just before Slythe. Slythe himself was first dispelled, he died soon afterwards
- The palace fight was less chaotic than normal, Belt and Glolin were never in any real danger.
- Sarevok was able to dodge a lot of arrows of dispelling, so Glolin then switched to arrows of detonation to make sure Angelo and Semaj were dead before his protection from magic wore off. He finally was able to dispel Sarevok and not long after he fell.
Siege Of Dragonspear highlights:
- Made Korlasz surrender
- In Baldur's gate Glolin collected some gear, most importantly the Battle Tankard Helmet
- At the Coast Way Forest he killed a Vampire to get the sunfire shield
- The Coast Way Crossing was cleared of spiders. At the Dwarven Digsite Glolin sided with the dwarves and killed the lich. This got him: extra support in the crusader waves, the helmet of Dumathoin and 2 extra greater restoration scrolls in total
- In the Troll Claw Woods we lured some trolls to the Flaming Fist for easy experience. When moving on to the Forest of Wyrms we got the Spell Breaker waylay.
- After killing some wyverns, spiders and bugbears we arrived at the ruined temple of Bhaal.
- Ziatar and his 2 mages were first shot with 2 arrows of detonation, followed by sunfire from the shield. Only Ziatar survived all these blasts. He was then killed in melee.
- Glolin dodged the Neothelid via abusing his Dimension Walk ability
- He killed the 2 Aerial Servants ranged.
- Akanna was killed in melee for the Wardstone
- On the way out the green dragon was casually hit with a dagger
- In Bridgefort the green dragon shield was forged and some void arrows acquired
- Glolin surrendered the fort to the crusaders.
- On the bridge the mage was disrupted with an arrow of detonation. After dispelling and killing the mage, the rest of the crusaders were lured to the courtyard, where the flaming fist helped in dealing with them.
- In the Coalition Camp he got the Commander's Chain. After visiting Dead Man's Pass he also got a pair of Lucky boots from Belegram.
- At Dragonspear castle he talked his way into the camp and got a Seal of Caelar. He decided Valis was guilty and got Corinth's Bow.
- After killing some Myconids in the Undergroud River Entrance he picked up the Myconid Bloomsac.
- Using the seal he infiltrated the Underground River and the Warrens.
- Belben confronted Glolin , but before he could react Glolin was on the elevator back down.
- The crusader waves were easily beaten this time using arrows of detonation.
- During the assault on Dragonspear Castle the game crashed, so I had to replay this part a bit. After Kharm was killed for the helm of charm protection Ashatiel was confronted.
- In hell he shifted between different gear to stay safe from the demons and their abilites.
- He got the Tongue of Acid sword from Thrixx.
- Belhifet and his support were hammered with arrows of detonation while Caelar was kept alive with Greater Restoration Scrolls. Finally Belhifet fell.
Difficulty: SCS/Ascension Insane (no additional damage)
Additional mods: Adalon drops silver scales, Waukeen's Promenade Fletcher sells arrows of dispelling in stacks of 5 instead of 40
Additional rules: no xp loop, no area hopping to avoid incoming magic spells (escaping ambushes is allowed though), no Vhailor's Helm before TOB
Game version: 2.5
Weidu log BG2:
// 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 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Improved NPC customisation and management: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4218 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Remove all ammo from random containers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v33.4
After importing, Glolin had his hidden experience unlocked and gained one level:
Irenicus Dungeon
- After removing Imoen from the party, Glolin freed Jaheira and Minsc. He send them both on their way.
- He told Aataqah that he would "not press the button", this spawned 4 gibberlings.
- The Duergar were brushed aside by using horror as crowd control and by buffing with DuHM
- The Stone Golems were preemptivly killed.
- Ilyich and his Duergar buddies were horrored and killed one by one.
- After buffing the Cambion was freed, he too was no match for Glolin.
- The Otyugh was killed after horroring it first
- After delivering the Acorns, he picked up the key for the portal. But first he went to the Elemtal Air room. For the large group of Mephits he again used horror first, they were then easily dispatched. He freed the Djinni and got the Sword of Chaos as a reward.
- Once through the portal to the second level, he met Yoshimo. Glolin didn't want or need his company. Glolin buffed with DuHM and switched to dual wielding varscona and a long sword+1. He opened the door out of sight of the Mephits and used horror offscreen, this panicked the Smoke Mephit. He rushed inside immediately and attacked the first Mephit portal. After killing this portal he used a second horror to try and panic the Radiant Mephit. It succeeded and Glolin then rushed to the Radiant Mephit Portal. After taking this portal out, the other portals were easily terminated.
- He killed the clone in melee and the assassin afterwards.
- Glolin continued on and the rest of the Duergar on this level were crushed as well.
- The Vampire room was ignored because it held too much risk.
- Fennedan was freed and then put down after he turned hostile
- The assassins at the end were already activated when Glolin arrived. This was not planned at all and so Glolin decided to retreat. He killed the first one that followed him, and was engaging the second when the mage-assassin appeared. He was able to cast hold person, luckily though Glolin made his save vs spells. After a sword melee battle him and the other assassins were finished off.
- Glolin escaped the dungeon and was happy to see daylight again
First steps
- Once free Glolin first increased his reputation one point from 9 to 10 at the temple.
- He sold some items and bought 5 arrows of dispelling from the Fletcher.
- After meeting Gaelen Bayle in the Slums, he looted Borinal's home and picked up the Gloves of pickpocketing in the Copper Coronet.
- He slept behind the temple and at night he bought the Buckler of the Fist.
- At the Docks he picked up the battle Axe+1 and then killed Officer Dirth in the tavern for his full plate armor.
- Glolin joined the Thieves Guild and looted both this guild and Mae'var's guild.
- Back at the Slums he killed Bregg and Cohrvale, Amalas inside the Copper Coronet was also terminated.
- Glolin then headed into the sewers. Here he solved the puzzle and collected the excellent Lilarcor sword.
- In the Copper Coronet he exposed the Slavers and freed Hendak. Glolin reached level 12 here and placed one pip in Flails.
- He bought the reflection shield, the helm of charm protection and the boots of grounding.
- Once at the graveyard he collected the Staff of Curing, freed a man from a grave and dispatched of the Crypt King. He got the long sword Namarra here.
- When travelling towards the Bridge District, Glolin got ambushed by Suna Seni and her gang. Glolin opened with horror, followed by an arrow of dispelling on the mage. First the mage and then the cleric were shot down with normal arrows. After a second horror, Suna Seni was killed in melee. The rest of the gang was then easily mopped up.
- At the Bridge District Glolin exposed Rejiek, but did not follow him into the basement.
- The boots of avoidance were acquired by killing Camitis and Reti. The Silver pantaloons were acquired by meeting with Welther at night. Afterwards Glolin boosted his reputation back to 14 via a temple.
- He helped the order of the Radiant Heart with Anarg for a reputation+1
- Ambushed again, he dispatched of the enemies after silencing them and helped Renfeld back to the Harpers
- Glolin did the first quest for Mae'var collecting the Talisman. The quest to kill Rayic Gethras will be done later.
- Sir Sarles quest: Glolin got both the real and fake illithium, he gave the fake illithium to Sarles. As a reward from the church he got the helm of the noble (cha+1).
- At night in the slums he completed the second temple quest.
- In the sewers of the temple district Glolin killed a mephit for Mekrath and got the release of Haerdalis as a reward. Here he also picked up a rod of resurrection, the gem was left for now (3 yuan-ti mages is a bit too much at this stage).
- While in the sewers he started the Unseeing Eye quest. In the underground area he solved the bridge riddle for some easy experience. He stood next to the platform to stay safe from the prismatic spray trap. Glolin then left the area.
Difficulty: SCS/Ascension Insane (no additional damage)
Additional mods: Adalon drops silver scales, Waukeen's Promenade Fletcher sells arrows of dispelling in stacks of 5 instead of 40
Additional rules: no xp loop, no area hopping to avoid incoming magic spells (escaping ambushes is allowed though), no Vhailor's Helm before TOB
Game version: 2.5
Weidu log BG2:
// 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 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Improved NPC customisation and management: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4218 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Remove all ammo from random containers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v33.4
- He bought some green protection scrolls, most importantly some protection from undead scrolls.
- In the Slums Glolin killed Llynis and returned a bear to Wellyn.
- He gave 15k gold to Gaelan for the help of the shadowthiefs. On the first quest for Aran Linvail, Mook got murdered, Glolin used a scroll of protection from undead to stay safe from Lassal. The second quest was easily completed. In the graveyard Glolin used a scroll of protection from undead and picked up the Mace of Disruption from the vampire lair. Using the real illithium the Mace of Disruption was upgraded by Cromwell. Glolin had reached level 14 by now.
- Glolin went to watcher's keep to pick up the potion case.
Umar Hills / Temple ruins
- Glolin then travelled to the Umar Hills. Here he killed Valygar for his body, killed a mimic for its blood and hacked some Umber Hulks with Lilarcor. He saved a mage from a stone golem and got the Ilbratha short sword.
- Using the upgraded MoD Glolin breezed through the early part of the temple ruins. After talking to the giant head he gained another level and placed a second pip in flails. Glolin activated the bottom lich, he then used a protection from undead scroll and baited his remove magic spells and Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wiltings. With Arbane haste and MoD he was quickly killed shortly after. Some bone golems gave him a hard time, and he had to use a RoR charge, but he had everything under control.
- For the shadow altar and the shade lord he used another protection from undead scroll. Glolin
had now reached level 16.
- Back at the Umar Hills Glolin got the reward from the mayor.
- From Madulf he got the shield of the lost (+5% MR).
- In Athkatla Glolin did some shopping: the blade of roses (charisma+2), flame tongue and the sword of Balduran (lore+10, +10%MR).
De'arnise keep
- Armed with his new weapons, De'arnise keep was next. With a save vs spells of 1 he was now also safe from the command spells from the spirit trolls.
- The Yuan-ti mage: Glolin used his magic resistance equipment, the boots of grounding and a scroll of protection from electrity to stay safe from its (lightning) spells. He dodged it's cone of cold and ice storm spells. With all of its spells gone the yuan-ti mage was cut down in melee.
- Glaicus was easily cut down after buffing with DuHM, mirror image and haste.
- Glolin took the fire head without alarming the golems and assembled the flail of ages.
- He killed each of the golems one by one. He did get cursed, so he had to make a quick visit to the temple for a cure.
- In the basement he engaged the umber hulks. He got a beating, but managed to kill them without needing a RoR charge. Torgal was left alone for now.
Comments
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1171035/#Comment_1171035
In the SoD starting dungeon I used PfU to pass through most of the encounters. Nymphs causing serious wounds persuaded Korlasz to surrender all her forces (taking me to level 10).
In the City I went to find a barrel of wine in order to get the Battle Tankard - and this time there was no escape for Korlasz. The only other quest done was picking up the Spectacles, though I did kill a few NPCs to supplement the 60k or so worth of items carried through from BGEE in my bags.
Sticking to a minimalist approach in SoD, I ignored the Coast Way Forest and just went invisibly to the Coast Way Crossing bridge to avoid any conflict there. I also skipped any action in the Troll Claw Woods on the way to the Forest of Wyrms. Invisibility took me past various guards and into the temple, where Ziatar failed to spot where that chilly breeze was coming from. I buffed up before running past the Neothelid to get to Akanna - a couple of potions of firebreath sorted her out to get the Wardstone. On the way out a few daggers picked up in the temple were enough to deal with Morentherene.
To make up for slaying one green dragon, I saved another one from some hill giants on the way to Boareskyr Bridge. Vichand was shocked there into giving up his scroll and that was soon put to use to restore the fort's magical defenses. That was pretty irrelevant though as, after making a suit of dragonscale armor and some bullets of darkness, I surrendered the fort to the besiegers. That still left the mage on the bridge, but the ring of energy is a safe way of interrupting his spells without endangering the barrels and he was then shot down while the nymphs handled the rest of the guards.
On the way to the Coalition Camp, some orcs and trolls were battling. I didn't bother beating everything up there, but just nipped into the cave invisibly to pick up the Firefly sling.
At the camp I reported for duty and bought some goodies from Nazramu before leaving again. The final charge of the invisibility ring took me through Dead Man's Pass and on to Dragonspear where I rescued Skie.
At the Underground River area the first task was to get a melee weapon that could hit Belhifet I also got to level 11 in that encounter. I took magic resistance as a second 5th level spell, mainly to try that out on Belhifet though it has potential uses later as well. A chaotic commands scroll and a charmed bear made getting a myconid bloom-sac easy before I rested. Nymphs then helped kill a cyclops and I grabbed the Seal of Caelar and ran through into the underground entrance. Inside the Warrens I used invisibility to poison the food and water before showing myself to reopen the lift. To be safe I used another potion to disappear before running out.
Back at the Camp, some waves of invaders were foolish enough to pit themselves against exploding arrows. Nymphs helped out in the last of those by confusing the opposition to stop them charging forward.
Once more at Dragonspear Castle, a few potion buffs were used before going to find Ashatiel. As quite often happens he was stunned by my first attack to effectively end the battle before it had really begun. Moving into hell I ran through the first area before rebuffing for more devils. That included fire protection, so I could use exploding arrows on them without being too careful about attacking them when they were teleporting close to me. The missile damage still hurt, but I was able to kill everything quickly before having to take any action on HPs.
More buffs were used to deal with the enemies while using the Hellevator. Typically I would use Champion's Strength scrolls at the end of that to allow easy hits on Belhifet, but this time I didn't do that - instead attacking him with magic resistance at the start of the main combat. I followed up by using greater restoration on Caelar and then looked in my bag for the battle tankard to offset my fatigue - but that appeared to have been lost somewhere. A first attempt to doom Belhifet failed when he teleported away, but a second was successful and I followed up by trying a cursed scroll of ailment - but Belhifet saved. There was another restoration for Caelar before I tried a second cursed scroll - but once again he saved. A further restoration was required before trying my final scroll attempt, but this time magic resistance kicked in (my spell might have ended by then). I've still not managed to make that tactic work in a number of attempts now (each should have a 20% chance of success while Belhifet is doomed). After that I should have just made sure Caelar stayed alive while he finished off Belhifet (and I had more than enough restoration scrolls to be sure of that). However, I also needed to keep my own buffs up and the loss of a bit of concentration meant I failed to do that ...
It's a couple of years since I tried this party and I thought it was time to have another go. Previously they played in a spell revisions installation, but this time the only mod to EE2.6 is SCS. I've slightly changed starting spells to reflect that the ones suitable for spell revisions did not all make sense in this installation.
The main roles of the party members in the early stages of BGEE are as follows:
Beggar, the totemic druid - leading the way and controlling totemic summons.
Pauper, the Priest of Helm - disabling spells and use of Seeking Sword.
Hardup, the shaman - healing spells and dancing summons.
Washup, the bounty hunter - scouting and setting trap clusters for ambushes.
Aspire & Skint, sorcerers - disablers, direct damage and concealing the party for area transitions.
My definition of a poverty run is as follows:
1) You can never buy or sell any items (including any items required for quests).
2) You can never use or equip any items (but can pick things up for quests).
3) You may pay for quests (such as Gaelan Bayle), but not anything else (temples, inns etc).
I had a quick wake-up call / refresher about what that means when Pauper was one-shotted by Montaron. Without the use of temples, the only potential way there may be to cure death in BGEE is to get Shoal to help out - in the vanilla game she would raise anyone in the party after bestowing a fatal kiss. I'm not sure if that's the case still in BGEE - if it is, it only applies when she's killed someone and that's no longer automatic, so a raise dead from her is by no means guaranteed anyway.
A second attempt in this series got somewhat further, but failed when I used a party attack to try and beat a kobold unconscious who had saved against sleep - and he got a critical on Aspire.
A third attempt also failed early on when I was trying to tempt Karlat out of his inn and the whole party went inside by mistake - and pathfinding would then not let them back out before he attacked.
With death being so final in this challenge, it's important to get levels quickly. A first one of those is easily enough obtained in principle, by using traps on an Old Man. However, in a 4th attempt Elminster refused to go hostile after being attacked and disappeared on his way without triggering the traps - and I decided to restart rather than miss out on his XP.
At this point I decided to reroll all the characters to boost stats, so that everyone has at least 90 in total. The real impact of that on gameplay is very marginal - for instance both sorcerers got constitution boosted from 16 to 17, so they don't get fatigued quite as quickly. However, I thought having a 'new' party might help me look after them better.
In this fifth attempt, the Opera found themselves once more mysteriously teleported to Candlekeep and gifted a staff each - which they immediately threw away in disgust.
To the north, traps were set for Elminster and this time he reacted violently to a spirit lion biting him. Seven normal thief traps may not kill him, but mixing in special bounty hunter versions almost guarantees a kill - and did so here, providing at least 1 level to everyone.
A commanded ogre provided a belt that was carried to the FAI. After Tarnesh died in Washout's traps, Unshey got his belt back before Joia had her ring returned. Four of the Opera had the XP to level up again at that point, but I'm applying my typical rules for parties that, to avoid anyone getting jealous, no-one can level up until everyone can level up.
The intention is to try and fully explore all areas and do all the quests connected with them. The map south of Beregost was the first to be vacuumed in this way. While back in Beregost finishing off the quests, Washup sneaked into Landrin's house and throwing a special snare at the spiders left just a couple alive to be finished off by the rest of the party.
The next area down the road to Nashkel then got the vacuum treatment, with sleep and command being the most used spells and a totemic summons taking the lion's share of kills.
Arriving in Nashkel, Neira was blinded. Beggar had already used his spirit, but Hardup's dancing summons could have done the job - it was quicker though for Pauper to make use of his Seeking Sword. At the Carnival Zordral decided to go in search of the rest of the party when Washout sneaked into his tent - but tripped over a clutch of traps outside.
The danger from travel ambushes meant there was a restricted number of areas safe to explore and the Opera took a while working through the xvart hordes to the west of Nashkel.
At the Lake area, traps featured heavily once more, with bounty hunter traps thrown into the midst of the party there. With ambushes popping up regularly when resting, XP crept up and Beggar became the last of the party to qualify for a level when a blinded ogre berserker fell. The main XP haul from the area was still to come though. The plan was for Drizzt to kill the gnolls before the spirit lion attacked him and led him into waiting traps. That didn't work though as Drizzt failed to become hostile when the lion attacked. I was wary of sending someone else because of his spells, but Pauper managed to get an attack in from sanctuary without retaliation while Drizzt was chasing some random flinds - the lion then put the traps to work as originally intended.
Beggar, Totemic Druid - L4, 30 HPs, 0 kills
Pauper, Priest of Helm - L4, 37 HPs, 29 kills, 0 deaths
Hardup, Shaman - L3, 22 HPs, 0 kills, 0 deaths
Washout, Bounty Hunter - L4, 25 HPs, 64 kills, 0 deaths
Aspire, Sorcerer - L3, 18 HPs, 7 kills, 0 deaths
Skint, Sorcerer - L3, 17 HPs, 12 kills, 0 deaths
Previous updates:
Skint had learnt PfP at level 3 and there was soon an opportunity to make use of that at the basilisk area. While it's quite possible to get Korax to take care of the basilisks without ever sighting them, that would be harder with a party and risk having his charm end before the basilisks were dead - hence the use of PfP to be able to control proceedings more efficiently. I was a bit careless with Mutamin though - being slow to move Pauper into position to see him under sanctuary so Korax could attack him . Mutamin then saved against a couple of paralyzing attacks while finishing Korax off with spells. Mutamin though made the mistake of chasing after Pauper despite his sanctuary and ran into a trap. Once alerted the basilisks were also on the hunt, but the party had time to rest before they arrived and a spirit snake proved capable of dealing with them.
For Kirian's party, Baerin saved against an attempted charm and went hostile, but a previously charmed bear and a totemic lion lasted long enough for both Kirian and Peter to be silenced at the second attempt. That left Baerin as the immediate danger, but a special snare negated that a moment later and area damage quickly finished the others off.
At Durlag's Tower Hardup tried using Writhing Fog on a pair of battle horrors on the path. He quickly found that SCS has been updated to recognize that as an attack (it didn't use to) and had to scurry away behind an invisible blocker while spell damage killed them (with IWD spells available to druid types, the party had rather more of that than in the unmodded game).
After clearing the ghasts at the bottom of the tower, Washout checked to see if he could disarm traps. After failing to do so on a couple of fake caches he must somehow have walked too close to the real hidey-hole and was extremely fortunate to survive the consequential lightning bolt.
As the run was reasonably well advanced, the Opera went to find Shoal and Washout duly provided a sacrifice, enabling Shoal to bring back Skint as well in a 2 for 1 deal.
On the way back from the coast, the Opera cleared High Hedge - pulling the golems outside there for easy disposal. Thalantyr failed to revive Melicamp and paid for that failure with his life.
Next the Opera returned to Durlag's Tower. With no back-up plan left to revive the fallen they needed to be more careful and the remaining ghasts were duly dealt with safely. On the roof the SCS basilisks will soon switch to melee against protected characters - but that makes it easier to blind them and then dispose of them at leisure.
Pauper was now close to a level and he got there when some of the wolf pack at Beregost Temple stayed too long in a combination of spike growth and fog - allowing everyone else to level up.
Beggar, Totemic Druid - L6, 42 HPs, 0 kills
Pauper, Priest of Helm - L6, 44 HPs, 29 kills, 0 deaths
Hardup, Shaman - L5, 40 HPs, 31 kills, 0 deaths
Washout, Bounty Hunter - L6, 40 HPs, 78 kills, 1 death
Aspire, Sorcerer - L5, 29 HPs, 25 kills, 0 deaths
Skint, Sorcerer - L5, 29 HPs, 31 kills, 1 death
Previous updates:
Progress had been seeming pretty easy for a while - always a bad sign ...
Heading north, giving Tenya her bowl provided a bit more XP. I tried to kill her as she teleported away, but Hardup and Beggar made the mistake of using Shillelagh's rather than fists - and failed to get an attack before she disappeared. Summons then did most of the hard work clearing the ankheg area.
The potential for lethal ambushes had meant I'd avoided the areas south of Nashkel thus far, but headed there invisibly now. Greywolf was the first to suffer, but the external mine area and the area to the east of that were soon cleared. After dropping off Samuel the Opera returned to Beregost to finish work there - including laying a trap or two for the Thayan wizard.
Then it was back to finish off the Cloudpeaks. I always travelled invisibly there and kept out of trouble, while leaving a fortune on the ground in the form of winter wolf pelts. There was decent XP as well from cave bears - I tended to put a cage around them as they won't change targets while the original is in sight.
By the time they got to the Gnoll Stronghold Pauper was once more the only one not qualified for a level - but he still needed another 15k, so there was still a long wait ahead. Hardup was thus still stuck with tier 1 spirits, but they're still pretty helpful at occupying enemies and spells and summons provided enough firepower to complete the area without resting.
The area to the north saw some ogre berserkers trapped on a narrow bridge before a horde of gibberlings were unleashed. Most of the party stayed invisible there, while a full complement of summons engaged. However, Laurel had forgotten to bring his helmet to the contest and died quicker than I'd anticipated, so no reward was on offer.
Incidentally, one thing I've noticed in this run is that casting some spells no longer breaks invisibility - for instance an invisible sorcerer can turn someone else invisible without becoming visible themselves. I'm not sure if that change is the latest EE update or SCS.
North again, to investigate the area around a mine-site. There was a fair amount of Hardup running around inside Fogs there for crowd control and that perhaps encouraged me to try the same on the diggers. The cold damage was killing them quickly, but I made the same mistake I've made before in trying to run past the entrance to the other cave. The terrain there is impassable a bit further out than it looks on the screen and a fractional delay was all the diggers needed to surround Hardup. For some reason SCS gives them high proficiency with their spears, so the damage done per hit is more than would be expected from such puny enemies. The rest of the group had been sent away to avoid being caught in the Fog and I called them back just too late to help ...
I could theoretically continue the run and try and get through to SoD where Hardup could be raised, but that still seems much too far off to be worth trying.
At Candlekeep we were rather short of gold with the result that we aquired our armour by unorthodox means.
North of Beregost we found a decent belt on an ogre killed by us.
Upon reachung Tenya, we gave her a bowl found upon Sonner's Body.
Nearby we killed an ankheg.
After returning to Beregost we acted as postman to Mirianne.
Zordral was killed ar the carnival.
Heading south, we killed Greywolf
And we then took Samuel to the FAI.
Returning south, we reunited Albert and Rufie.
And then killed Vax and Zal.
Heading westward we helped a dryad before killing Ingot.
We teh killed Hairtooth and Gnarl.
To the north we then met up with a polar bear and were richly rewared for killing it.
Nearby we killed Neville and his allies.
To the north, we killed the murderer Gallor.
Whilst inside the dig we helped Charleston Nib.
We then rescued Ardruine's son.
Near the temple we took on some vampyric wolves who almost killed me but didn't.
We then helped Mellicamp.
Near the Friendly Arms in we were attacked by Tarnesh who was rewarded with a blade between his ribs.
After going to Beregost we took a tome to Firebead.
We returned Samuel to the Friendly Arms Inn and returned the Colquetle amulet.
Near Beregost we earned ourselves some good armour when the Flaming Fist attacked us.
After hunting some ankhegs we helped Farmer Brun.
When Silke attacked us we killed her.
Droth and Shoal were then killed.
This was followed by killing Dorn's betrayer Kryll.
We then recruited Neera and found Adoy for her. Neera then left, but on good terms with us, whilst Xzar left in a huff.
In transit we were attacked by a basilisk. By chance I was carrying the appropriate potion.
After recruiting Baoloth we were unexpectedly attacked by some sirine when trying to rest.
We then wiped out another two groups of sirine after recruiting Safana.
After clearing the cave we investigated the mine.
At the bottom of the mine we killed Mulahey.
And afterwards outside we killed some Amazons.
We then tookon and defeated Bassilus
And then Zargal
We then visited Durlag's Tower.
And then went on to take on the bandit camp.
In cloakwood we helped Aldeth.
We then killed Centeol.
We killed some wyverns on the way to the cloakwood mines where we killed Drasus.
We then returned to pick up the reward for the wyverns and did some shopping before going in search of Drizzt. Killing him lowered our reputation to acceptable levels.
Raising our dead was costly, but I did aquire an excellent scimitar.
(Don't ask how Drizzt was killed as it was a lot of gut reactions. We did injure him with fire shield and it was ice arrows that did the trick in the end.)
We returned to the mines
More wyverns were killed in transit.
On the outskirts of Baldur's Gate we killed Dorn's enemies.
And in an inn we killed Phandalyn
We then killed Firebead
We then returned to the Gate.
We killed Peter et al on the way to Durlag's
Durlag's proved to be dangerous, Safana being killed despite our best efforts to save her.
At Ulgoth's beard Safana was chunked and we replaced her with Tiax.
We rescued Anabelle to regain a heroic reputation and we are got busy raising the experience of Tiax and our gold supplies by hunting ankhegs.
We then returned to Ulgoth's Beard and were successful.
The Iron Throne wasn't a problem.
Have just left Candlekeep.
Got Prat et al to fight each other... A big plus if you don't need the experience. Only Tiax not at the level cap.
A big advantage of the helm of opposite alignment is that now BOTH of Drizzt's scimitars can be equipped.
We rescued the Duke, killed Cythandra when whe walked into a skull trap, and killed the two assassins before taking on Sarevok in the Ducal Palace.
We fought our way to the temple that Sarevok fled to, killing Tamoko on the way. Inside we killed a couple of battle horrors and several bats. Tiax got rid of two traps and we then set a host of traps.
However Tiax needs more experience and we also need more gold. Sarevok will just have to wait.
EDIT
Sarevok met his match but not before Helmut got chunked.
Not sure of the challenge rules if this happens. Charname is still alive, but one of his starting allies is no more.
Can he carry on without Helmut?
Summary at the end of Black Pits 1:
Alice the Lawful Good Human Sorceress - Level 9
Mildred the Lawful Good Human Dragon Disciple - Level 9
Megaera the True Neutral Human Berserker - Level 8
Tisiphone the Neutral Evil Human Berserker - Level 8
Alecto the True Neutral Human Berserker - Level 8
Prim the Lawful Good Human Inquisitor - Level 8
After starting Black Pits 2, Team Alice fought the Wyvern and the Dangerous Moose in the practice arena to gain Level 9 with the Berserkers who then Dual Classed, 2 to Mage, 1 to Druid.
Round 1-1: A Farewell to Orcs reactivated all our down classes - this was quite simple with the dual sorceresses and Sunfire.
After reactivating and buying some very important spell scrolls we easily made it through 1-2, the Minotaur, 1-3 the Lizardmen and 1-4 the Umber Hulk Eldars due to the Zerkages having Stoneskin and Berserk Immunities. 1-5 the Drow is a usual roadblock, however Zerkages focused down the Priestess meaning no True Sight meaning Invisible dominance Sorceresses could spam Mordy Swords all day.
Round 2-1, the Vampires proved to be too much though and a few mistakes led to Gaul's squad defeating Team Alice.
Korlasz is dead. Now just need to check that there is nothing down here to find before exiting to Baldur's Gate
My stats on arrival at the Ducal Palace
With the loss of my companions reputation has soared.
Somehow my thievng potions have disappeared.
Of course I no longer have a thief either.
To my relief somebody has raised Safana and she has become my companion once more. Dynaheir has also been raised. Helmud however was chunked and so isn't available.
Safana, Viconia and I have left the Gate.
EDIT
We rescued the petrified refugees that Herod told us about and located all of the halfling treasures taken from Takos. Takos gave us a shield and a returning dart for our trouble. Since two of our party are proficient in darts, the dart will come in handy.
We killed a vampire and the two who had hired us before attempting to return to the base. In transit we got involved in a fight and Safana was caught in our own web and died as a result. That was entirely preventable if we had taken the trouble to buff.
The result was expensive. It took most of our gold to raise her.
Lightfinger the shadow dancer ably assisted by
Corethief XXXIII / @Corey_Russell
Surely the shaman / @grond0
Wewa the Berserker / @DOGDANCING
Two weeks after last time a brief reminder has us handing a bird to Xzar only for it to turn into an assassin before our eyes and kill Xzar. We pick up his belongings to use ourselves or to sell for cash and make a swift exit towards Watchers Keep. Lightfinger delights in being relieved of a long-standing level drain.
Lightfinger and Surely head into Watchers Keep itself - while Corethief gives a prescient warning about Lightfinger being a likely target in multiplayer even if he is not the closest target. Pah thinks Lightfinger, and we soon have looted all the surrounds. A couple of snares and a berserked beserker will certainly be fine.
Two seconds later a pair of vampiric wraiths hustle past the party and spirit summons to home in onto Lightfinger. He makes an executive decision and orders the party outside. That was humbling but at least nobody need know about it...
With our tails between our legs we settle instead for some petty larceny around Baldur's Gate. After only a brief amount of this we find ourselves killing off the Rune Assassins. Or at least Wewa is killing them with a bit of help from Surely.
This meant we were joined by some of Haegan's party as we were finishing off the two yuan-ti (the group with two mages were all stunned by Corethief's bounty hunter snare and then treated to a brace of shaman area spells). A bit of focus on the cleric allowed us to safely eliminate this threat though.
We trooped back to Hendak and collected our reward. Lightfinger didn't say anything but he was feeling a bit underwhelmed about the amount of progress we'd made - although in hindsight it seems OK.
We pressed on, and soon had Rayic Gethras breathing his last - once we realised than no amount of rest would grant us access to his house and that our lying cheating journal was lying and cheating. When it says Edwin wants us to kill Rayic what it means is Mae'Var has asked us to speak to Edwin. After only four futile rests Surely tired of this behaviour and went to speak to Edwin - hey presto the door is open and we can now introduce ourselves to Rayic's guardians. Yes yes Wewa hammered them all.
Rayic is / was a fine caster, a mighty fine caster. You have to be fine indeed to almost survive four determined attackers. Almost.
A bit of shuffling around the city saw us confirm Umar, Trademeet, de'Arnise and Windspear were all accessible. Lightfinger knew how to make a decision on our destination - and asked Corethief.
So it looks like there will be death in Umar Hills next time. Hopefully not ours.
Party lootings at the session end:
(n.b. count those fire arrows. Fourteen. Fourteen. Troll-quivering indeed and Lightfinger's acid arrow reserves looks to be an un-necessary measure)
We are currently investigating a cave and have looted the first part using web, skull traps and fireballs pretty effectively. I had to use a potion of extra healing when fighting some umber hulks, but as another was found shortly afterwards that was no big deal. After resting we are now prepared for going forward.
Finding the belongings of Crommus was a bonus. He won't be needing them any more.
Coldhearth gave us a powerful hammer in reward for our services. We were fully buffed in case he proved treacherous, but he fulfilled his part of the bargain. I also expected our reputation to drop but it didn't.
EDIT
We have now cleared Troll Claw Woods and have been ambushed on the way to the forest of wyrms.
However the goblins were quickly wiped out with area effect spells and the miconids were killed using a combination of web, freedom of action and the helm that protects against confusion.
I am not finding playing evil easy. When this run is over, I think it will be back to playing a good character.
Seeing the portrait is what gave the inspiration. There are so few halfling images with furry feet!
There was no background to the portrait, so I added one which you will all recognise.
I was quite pleased with the result as it is not obvious what I have done.
Furfoot, needless to say has proficiency in scimitars.
Gorion has been killed and we have helped Melicamp.
It is indeed.
Journal of Furfoot
Upon going to the FAI, I was able to kill Tarnesh.
Heading north, I killed Sonner et al and returned Tanya's bowl.
Nearby I killed an ankheg before returning to the FAI with Joia's ring.
South of Beregost I killed an ogrillon and took the letter on his body to Mirianne.
I then proceeded to Nashkel where I found some decent armour, talked to Noober, and turned down a reward from Oublek.
I took Greywolf to the mines to enable the guards to weaken him before killing him myself. Unfortunately they got a critical hit with the result that I lost out on the experience.
I returned to the ankheg nest and slowly but surely cleared it out, returning the body of Farmer Brun's son as I did so.
I took the shells to Beregost to sell them, paying for another suit of ankheg armour as I did so. I then cleared a spider's nest there, before heading north to kill an ogre.
Returning to Beregost, I killed Silke and Karlat before heading west to retrieve Perdue's sword.
I believe that it is now time that I should have some allies.
I recruited Xzar and Montaron whereupon Montaron filched Algernon's Cloak and some useful items at Ulgoth's Beard.
Dorn joined us south of Nashkel and we then killed Kryll.
We were aware of a battle between Drizzt and some gnoll. The gnoll won. Xzar then wiped them out with a skull trap.
At that point I bade Xzar, Montaron and Dorn farewell.
That is the last that I will see of Xzar and Montaron until Amn.
Reputation now 20.
Avoiding conlict whenever possible, I released Dynaheir and reunited her with Minsc.
Minsc needs an unbreakable sword so finding one is top of the agenda. We also need our equipment identifying. We also need a cleric. Sadly no good aligned clerics available.
EDIT
Minsc now has Arghain's sword, Dynaheir has identified our equipment, Branwen has joined the party and we took Khaled and Jaheira to Nashkel and left them there.
Difficulty: Normal, Solo
Mods: None
Something a little bit different with the non-beamdog, non-EE infinity engine game. I love this game but playing it really makes you appreaciate what beamdog did with the EEs
Also Icewind Dale 2 is 3rd editiion DnD so everything plays a lot differently to the 2nd ed of BG and IWD. Its all familiar if you've played NWN or Pathfinder:Kingmaker though (or 3rd ed D&D for that matter). Unlike 2nd ed the higher the better: high saves, high BAB (Basic attack bonus), high AC, High spell DC and so on.
Arunda the Dreadmaster (Dreadmistress?) of Bane
Pseudo-backstory:
Solo Character Discussion:
Arunda is a Drow, which gives her 10+ level spell resistance, Faerie Fire ability, Proficiency in Longswords, a massive +6 to her stats, +2 will saves, day-blindness giving penalties to hit and to saves in sunlight, and a 3 level penalty, meaning the XP value she needs to hit to level up is as if she were three levels higher than her current level. The exception is level 1 to 2 which only requires 1000XP. This XP penalty is not so bad since she is solo and will suck up all XP herself.
Arunda is a a Dreadmaster of Bane. Clerics are great in IWD2, really good. As this will hopefully show, and Dreadmasters are probably best of the bunch. Firstly their Domain spells are excellent, and secondly they get +1DC to any Enchantment spells they cast. Couple that with Spell focus and greater spell focus: enchantment and that is +5DC which is amazing. Maxing wisdom will make our enchantment spells almost un-resistable.
This is a low dex high str build which means the starting areas are going to be painful due to low AC. They will be less painful because she will hit things hard and often. I could not bear to dump Int any further, or Cha below 14. That does mean we can take Sorcerer levels up to level 4 spellcasting if it goes that way. Reflex saves will be low, as will HP.
Our starting 4 skill points all went in Diplomacy
Our starting feat was Spell Focus: Enchantment, all the better to Command, Charm and otherwise mess with our enemies.
---
Prologue
Targos Docks
We start out in Targos Docks. There are three groups of goblins and a lone goblin. There are also two houses with goblins in and two warehouses, one of which has tunnels. Our main priority is defense and getting 1000XP. The overall objective is to "clear the docks of goblins."
We can pick up a small shield straight away, and Reig gives us a short sword and leather armor.
Arunda the Dreadmaster meets Reig:
As a cleric we can heal Reig's arm for 300XP. He wants us to collect a healing potion also. First we kill some of the easy goblins and pick up everything to sell to Guthewulfe in the Salty Dog. Olap's house has Studded Leather and some loot, this gives AC15 which is the best we are going to get before spells for this part. Protection from Evil gives another +2AC but its duration is bugged compared to its description meaning it expires fast. Our attack bonus is +4 due to 18str, +3 if fighting outside during the day.
First kill:
Rescuing Firtha in the south east house from three goblins gives another 300XP and then we rest until night to lose our night-blindness for the remaining outside goblins. Resting is something we do a lot. Lots of Command makes the goblins easy and gets level 2. We take a couple of hits showing that our AC is the main problem at low level.
Dreadmasters get command as a Domain Spell at level 1 so it means 1 more cast, the least of their benefits.
In the warehouse where the Potion of Healing is there is a 3 goblin ambush so we pre-buff with Bless which unlike BG has a 1min/level duration making it well worth a slot. We loot every container and sell everything (except a light crossbow and a warhammer for a later quest) to Guthewulfe, and turn in the Potion of Healing for a third 300XP chunk. That represents everything easy in the docks. All that remains is the main warehouse+tunnels.
Warehouse 1:
Convincing Brogan to let us in gives 300XP more. Inside there are a lot of goblins. Regular prologue goblins have a hefty luck penalty so they do low damage and can't crit (helmets don't protect against crits in IWD2)
We pre-buff with Bless and Protection from Evil which leaves 2 Commands and our 3 Faerie Fires (a quick cast -2 enemy AC debuff). Once we use up all our Faerie Fires and Commands and PfE wears off its touch and go to take out the rest of the Goblins, but we don't need to leave and rest until after they are all dead. All looted and a small upgrade in the form of a Longsword. Weapon restrictions are not a thin in 3rd ed and Drow gives us Longsword proficiency.
Warehouse 2 upstairs:
In the tunnels we do it in five parts total, resting in between. The named Goblins can hit hard, take hits to kill, and with only 16HP we can die quick so the final mob takes three parts - fortunately it is possible to leave the tunnels and rest up without being followed. Once the named goblins are dead the rest are mopped up. We gain a valuable Oil of Fiery Burning, and some Burning Oil, and a Mace (1d8 blunt), the Brimstone Scroll plot item and a 1350XP for clearing the docks and an extra 400XP for reporting to Brogan.
The tunnels:
Targos Town
We scrape up a little bit of loot and do the Garradun quest in the tent for 300P gaining level 3 Dreadmaster. We gain our second feat and take Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment. That's our +5DC right there. We also get 2nd level Cleric spells.
We loot the inn for some Lamp Oil and some other items then start the Ghost quest as an evill cleric for 400XP by just forcing it into submission then report it for 600XP and collect and identify the Ghost-touched bottle via a trip to the priest of Myrkul which nets another 450XP for rubbing it in his face - very Dreadmistress. Returing to the inn for 400XP from the inkeeper and 400XP from bullying the Ghost. The bottle exchanges for 700GP (or a dagger that evil chars can't use).
There are a couple of other quest here but one only nets 300XP and requires spending 200+GP and other other we put off to see if we can squeeze level 4. Instead we move to Targos Palisade
Targos Palisade
There are a series of fetch quests to do in the run up to the attack, which we start to do. We also bully Niles into stopping drinking and starting fighting for 600XP (very Baneite), trick Tabard Mooncalf into moving to steal his shield for 450XP (Bane needs well equiped Dreadmasters), which is +2AC with an extra +1 vs Missiles.
Arunda also gives a Baneite "blessing" to some recruits (450XP) and convince Caulder to accept a hammer (900XP). Finishing the Olap quest to fix the lumber lift gets Arunda to level 4. We take +1 to Wisdom giving 19 Wisdom.
Arunda being a Baneite:
Turning in the Olap quest and completing the arrows for Isherwood gets 1800XP total. We complete the Myrkul priest quest leveraging Arunda's Drow ability to understand Goblin tongue (1800XP).
The final quest is to convince the Iron Collar mercenaries to join. First we do some preparation. We sell 3 Flaming Oil for 450GP then buy the Ring of the Wise (1550GP) for +1Wisdom giving +5wis modifier, Memories of Kuldahar +1 club (1d6+1) (620GP) and Chainmail (186GP) clearing us down to 200GP. But we now have 18AC and +8 to hit. Time for Phaen.
Phaen is a low level mage, but that is dangerous. We prep with our two new level 2 spells: Bulls Strength and Aid, and Bless for +11 to hit. Hopefully we will not need it.
The right dialogue with Phaen gains 700XP then we chain Command to get 3x free hits on him. He himself is worth 300XP and turning in the quest gets 600XP. We are almost at level 5.
Phaen enjoying "Command":
Convincing the Iron Collar Mercenaries to fight which required completing the Phaen quest first and gives 600XP. This gains level 5 and level 3 spells. We rest to memorise spells and until nightfall.
We have 4x Command, 1x Bless, 1x Summon Monster 1, 2x Silence, 1x Bulls Strength, 1x Aid, 2x Animate Dead.
We then activate the final Prologue battle.
Prologue FInal Battle
This battle is in three waves with three named characters, the last of which is the "boss." Inbetween named characters we can be healed but cannot rest.
We buff up and head outside. One of Vghotan's Hounds can be lured and killed, followed by some of his minions before Vghotan themselves appears. Faerie Fire allows Vghotan to be hit reliably and he goes down in 4 rounds. Arundaa immediatly puts on his unidentified collar for Panic and Fear immunity (Because this is a no-reload run I didn't go for the Ned's Knucky pickpocket earlier, even though it can be attempted immediatly after starting a game meaning that a full game restart only take a minute - it didn't feel right).
Vghotan luring:
Nolan the Healer heals the 8 points of damage we took while the defenders of Targos hold off the goblins.
Ghotrag is not so difficult because there are lots of friendly npcs to help. the 2nd Faerie Fire makes them very hit-able. We take them down quickly then mop up and go for a second lot of healing.
Owning Ghotrag:
Caballus is the dangerous one and really the "boss" of the prologue. They are a serious spellcaster and can blind, enfeeble, use mirror image and blur, and crucially can hit us with chromatic orb which tests our very low reflex save and will stun on fail. Arunda has been saving her summons for this. Our short term buffs have worn off now and we Animate Dead x2 which gets two Armored Skeletons which go out in front. For all our prep our first Silence works on Caballus which effectively makes them of very limited danger. Chaining Commands and the Faerie Fire and Caballus dies. The Armored Skeletons are carries at this point really so they could have done this solo. Arunda and her Skeletons mop up.
Silencing and taking out Caballus:
And that is the end of the Prologue final battle! Arunda does some Baneite stuff in celebration. Gathering up and selling loot gets us to 2500GP, Arunda received no interesting random drops.
Next up is Shaengarne - hopefully now we have Animate Dead Arunda can level squat a bit to keep leveled-enemy difficulty down.
Level 5 Dreadmaster, 25423XP, 110 kills
Difficulty: Normal, Solo
Mods: None
Arunda the Dreadmaster of Bane continues her rampage, only now things are actually hard. I remember when I was given this game as a child for christmas when it was first released. I found the prologue ok and everything after that very difficult. There is a noticeable difficulty jump as the below will show. As a no-reload solo we are trapped between the rock of needing to level up to deal with encounters and the hard place of everything getting harder if you level up. Mostly we will just level, but we will squat a bit at the beginning of this chapter.
Chapter 1
Leaving Targos
There is one quest Arunda has not done. I avoided it because it required spending 200+GP for the "Braegh" but I forgot that actually there is a second person to turn it in to who gives 240GP as reward. We do that for 600XP.
Arunda also buys a full quiver of crossbow bolts and Chainmail +1 (1612GP). A base AC of 19 will give marginally more chance of surviving. We also pick up scroll case, gem bag and potion bag.
Shaengarne River
This is the first real map to ease you in. It has Orcs, Orc Archers, Orc Shamans who cast Hold Person, explosive barrels, Orc Runners who will place then in pre-designated places and Orc Firestarters who will ignite them. We summon our two Undead and get to work, hanging back and plinking with the crossbow when possible. Otherwise the strategy is to send 3 undead forward and keep one next to us because some orcs will always ignore the Undead and go straight for Arunda.
We have lots of Commands, and one very useful Dire Charm as a Dreadmaster Domain spell. With our Enchantment DC we are almost guaranteed to have one long lasting charm per battle. This is very useful for taking out Shamans (even with their high Will save) before they can start casting. Also, although we only have two casts of Animate Dead the duration is >8 hours so we can cast then cast again for 4 Chosen Zombies/Armored Skeletons.
We meet Torak, a mini-antagonist who we will chase through the next two maps and defeat the first and second groups using Undead. Silence is another Baneite Domain spell (level 2) on top of being a normal Cleric spell so we can Silence a lot of the Shamans (it is illusion though so no DC bonuses).
We clear Dereth Springsong's house and encounter our first Firestarter Barrel. The Orc firestarters use flaming arrows to ignite the barrels with a three second countdown before they explode as a fireball usually killing a lot of orcs. Ideally we would prevent this for XP but in practice it is hard to do in places - only Dire Charm on the Firestarters is really effective.
We take quite a bit of damage but rescue Springson which gives us a safe rest place and a quest to rescue his wife - along with 1750XP. We have reached level 6 but do not level up yet. We also get a random drop - Yeti-skin cloak with a tiny 1 point cold resist bonus.
First battles
Dereth unlocks the western part of the map which has a few parties of orcs in tight confines including a Runner + Firestarter combo. Charming the firestarter breaks the combo. Arunda makes it through all three o the next orc groups in one sitting with SIlence and her undead, finding Sabrina Fairwynd, Dereth's wife. That gets 1250XP, the next part of the map open and and somewhere to buy things we do not need.
Western Battles:
Oepning the eastern passage sets Orcs running all over the place so while sniping some Barrels of Blasting they come into range from a safe vantage point, sort of. Orcs pop up all over the place. Checking back on Sabrina gets another 375XP and a Scimitar +1 which is objectively worse than our club, and Arunda rests before the final bits.
The eastern area Arunda fails to stop a Barrel of Blasting, but otherwise theings go fine. We snipe the remaining Barrels, collect a Dagger+1, the only other piece of notable loot here and clear out the last orc group at the exit - but we need to rest again before because we lost half our army.
Eastern and final battles
All in all not a difficult map, but then it is the "first" map of chapter 1. However, next map has our first proper ambush, and it ill be tough, however there is a secret to it. We prebuff with Aid, Bull's Strength and Protection from Evil and make sure we have Sanctuary and Hold Person memorized.
Logging Village
When Arunda appears there are immediately orc archers on the ridge and a whole host of regular orcs in front, and Torak who runs away yet again. However, before we panic there happens to be a person here who is much better at fighting than us and can thin out the crowd.
Arunda casts sanctuary then waits for Emma Moonblade to do her thing. Her AI is bad so she casts lots of spells which are useless before going into melee. The orc' AI is worse and presumably for plot reasons they will not attack her at all. So long as we distract them she will kill 2 orcs per round until gone. No XP but its safe. Emma wants us to retrieve her Moonblade, which we will.
Emma doing her thing:
The next part is tricky. If we do things wrong or get unlucky the orcs will kill all the villagers. What we need is a handlily placed invisibility potion to sneak in, open the gate, sneak back and disable the Orc Firestarter before he ignites the Barrel of Blasting which will kill the villagers. This feels like a 90s Action Movie plot and considering the game was released in 2002 that makes sense. The only way to disable the firestarter effectively is to kill him, via repeated Commands or to Dire Charm him. Since he is on the edge of around 20 orcs we don't want to hang around. We rationalise the whole thing by thinking that it will really irritate Torak.
First we summon 4 undead then pre-buff and invisibility to open the gate and try and charm the Firestarter which works no problem. Then Arunda runs away back to her Undead and we kill all the orcs. It looks dangerous but if you kill some of them their morale breaks and they panic making it easy to pick them off. Letting the villages out of their barrel prison gets us "Clenched Fist +1" a mace and a nice damage upgrade. It also, funnily, can give is 1GP per day which is a nice flavor thing though useless. Freeing the villages gets Arunda 750XP and access to a merchant who can ID items and buy some of our deadweight.
Freeing the villagers:
The last fight on this map is Torak's camp, and Torak himself. Arunda tries out a new spell: Horror, which is super effective even though it is Necromancy not Enchantment and the orcs all flee making them easy to kill. Torak is vulnerable to Command and does not have very much going for him. We collect the key to the next area along with Leather Armor+1 and battleaxe+1 for selling.
Torak:
There is also an interesting dagger/10 throwing daggers which are +1 and have a 10% chance to silence on hit. Which is not particularly interesting to us but worth >1000GP
Vrek's Cave is optional but Arunda never runs from a good fight.
Vrek's Cave
Slimes and Zombies and Carrion Crawlers. The Crawlers move faster than in BG, but enemies can be made to switch target with Command - once they get back up they target the closest enemy. The Zombies and Slimes are damage resistant (3rd ed does flat damage resistance rather than percentage. In this case 5, so the first 5 points of damage are ignored - though some have no crushing resistance). Oche Jellys do serious damage so Arunda stays back after taking a big hit.
This cave feels too big for what it is - lacking something, partially incomplete - but it does have the main fight: Vrek the "true boss" Its a troll with a lot of HP, accompanied with various orcs but only one shaman - talking to them before can get 375XP. The main problem is Arunda has to walk into a situation where she is surrounded by enemies. With four undead left further back she Dire Charms the Shaman as soon as combat begins and run away. Arunda keeps Vrek down with command while the undead and charmed shaman clear out the orcs then everyone hammers on Vrek who has a lot of HP indeed. An oil flask kills him.
Vrek:
Moonblade retrieved it is returned to Emma for 750XP and a big 2000GP. We quickly clear the final enemy, a strangely placed and quite dangerous Highland Cat beyond the locked exit gate, and move on to the next map.
Shaengarne Ford
Thats it for the easy two maps, now the enemies are tough. We kill a Verbeeg to the north and that is the furthest I want to push Arunda at level 5 so we level up, which takes us to Level 8 Dreadmaster. We would need this anyway for the next map and this one is hard too.
We raise Wisdom as usual and boost concentration and diplomacy (I'm going for 7 diplomacy). We also gain a feat, Arunda takes Dash for +15% move speed.
The corner of the Verbeeg house also has our first good random drop, Gantlets of Weapon Skill of +1 attack bonus. We now have a BAB of +6 which means an extra attack. Arunda has +12/+7 unbuffed.
She also has a whole host of excellent spells, notably the Level 4 Spell Cloud of Pestillence to which she had the Undead are immune but will blind and drain stats of enemies eery round for 4 rounds on failed saves. She also has 4 Animate Dead and some other extra spells all over. Also our undead ar upgraded with Boneguard Skeletons and Poison Zombies. Good stuff.
With Cloud of Pestilence this map's enemy: Gearnat Sharptooth and their Were-animals, Harpys and Orcs are no problem. There is also a "Spider Queen" which I had forgotten about but nothing can stand up to Command chaining.
Killing Were-everythings:
Next area is really tough and we have to be prepared to run away off the map.
Shaengarne Dam
This map is filled with Malarites for some reason - elements of IWD2 really show the rushed nature of the development imo - the painted backgrounds look great but the contents often feels half-done. The Malarites have lots of animals with them and will cast Entangle a lot. That is fine for us since its stops lots of things getting to us. It also begins with an ambush. However we are far better equipped now and buffed as much as possible (AC22), and so some Clouds of Pesilence mean we are ok and can summon up undead. They also cast Rainstorm which does lightning damage which is quite dangerous though Arunda's spell resistance is coming into its own.
Dealing with the initial ambush:
There are other groups including one with a Malarite HIgh Priest but they don't deal with Silence at all well. As an example of Arunda's strength compared to the encounters she is just about capable of of taking out three individual Malarite clusters including the initial ambush before she needs rest. IWD2 is very much balanced around lots of rests and taking each encounter fresh anyway so this does not bother me.
Clearing up:
Arunda destroys the Dam and this gets us just enough experience for the next level which works out really well because level 10 gives us Greater Command, which also happens to be a Baneite demain spell. We gain an extra feat and take Power Attack. This gives a player choice of -1 to -5 to hit in exchange for +1 to +5 to damage. Its good, especially when auto-hitting.
Shaengarne Bridge
Arunda has to kill two ogres before the destroy the bridge is she wants the extra XP. Only problem is there are about 50 enemies on the map and the bridge is way over there - the map starts with an ambush and the ogres start chopping the moment you enter. Key is getting to the bridge, taking out the ogres and the named mage with them, then not getting killed by the thousand other enemies on the map. Thing is there is a reload safe way to do it for Arunda since she is a Cleric of high enough level. Transition time from the Dam to the Bridge is 0, so pre-casting sanctuary gives 1 round/level duration of 10 rounds which is enough to sit through the cutscene and run across the map to the bridge out of sight of everything and cast Animate Dead x 4 which can take out the Ogres, Xuki, then the other 50 or so enemies. Also applicable to anyone who can cast Invisibility - or if you let the villages die to hang onto the Invisibility potion in the logging village. Unfortunately Potions of Sanctuary, which are in the game, are not well thought out and cast at level 1 and require the casting animation, meaning you get 6 seconds of sanctuary, after a cast time of 6... so you use six tenths of 6 seconds in order to gain 6 seconds of invisibility... cool.
Arunda does the above plan, and just like that one of the hardest parts of the game is trivialised due to AI weakness, Greater Command is just an extra addition which allows us to mop up very quickly Our rewards, some boots which give immunity to entangle, those would have been handy with the Malarites... A shield to sell, and a Bag of Holding, very useful.
Owning the "very difficult" Bridge section:
We also use Spiritual Hammer a bit, it is a "ranged melee" attack so Arunda attacks twice per round at her regular regular melee attack bonus but does it at range. Shame there is no strength bonus so it is not the most exciting level 2 spell
---
And that is the Shaengarne series of maps, and the first half of chapter 1 done. I'm pleased with how well the Dreadmaster holds up solo. Its like if you wanted to play an Evil Enchanter, except a cleric so you get 3/4BAB meaning you can hit things too. 3rd ed rules are ok, you miss out on lots of toys but get lots of different ones instead.
Difficulty: "Normal", Solo
Mods: None
Arunda went back to Targos to claim her reward, buy a ring of protection +1 (Deflection bonus +1 only, no save bonus) and went off to try the hardest part of the game imo, the Horde Fortress Drum-session. If you don't know this one then there are drums which if someone gets to beating will summon worg riders avery few seconds indefinitely. Good for grinding up XP though.
Unfortunatly, Arunda was far too confident in her Greater Command, and, due to an oversight where she had left difficulty on Insane from some earlier messing around, which gives enemies something like a +6 to hit or to luck or something in IWD2, an orc archer she hadn't sent to sleep hit her with the crit for 48damage when she wasn't topped up, then someone else got a hit in. Whoops.
rip.
Whilst in transit, we were attacked by a winter wolf. Knowing the value of their pelts, we put it in our bags.
We then came across Arghain and killed him. Minsc will find his sword useful.
Returning north we were asked to deal with Bassilus which we did.
Nearby we killed Zargal et al.
We then helped an archaeoliogist and killed a Doomsayer.
We returned Brage to the Temple of Helm and killed an assassin in a nearby inn after selling our winter wolf pelt.
Heading westwards we killed Droth, Shoal, and some sirine.
We headed to an area infested with Basilisks which we cleared along with some adventurers and Mutamin.
Heading south we located the position of Durlag's Tower, so we cleared the upper reaches apart from an area inhabited by basilisks. Not having protection from their stare, we left them alone for the moment.
Heading south we helped Rufie before turning our attention to Vax and Zal.
We then cleared the Nashkel Mines.
Upon leaving we killed the Amazons before clearing three nearby caves.
Upon going back to Nashkel, Xan's charm spells got Oublek to help us fight Nimbul.
In Beregost Neera joined us and helped us to fight against Morvin and others before we helped her to find Amoy,
She then left the party but will be available to us in the future.
We killed a party of bandits led by Deke before killing Tranzig.
EDIT
We then returned to the bandit camp where we rested before clearing it of bandits.
We then progressed through Cloakwood.
We then went to Baldur's Gate, picked up Quayle and went about getting enough gold to fill up Dynaheir's spellbook.
Difficulty: Heart of Fury Level 1 start, Solo
Mods: None
Ok so instead of normal I went hart of Fury this time - afaik there is no HoF no-reload run on record. Spent a long time working out what could be done and what could not before starting this.
Ruin the Sorceress used the not particularly well know Heart of Fury "book" available in Targos which allows you to summon 3 Air Elementals to clear out Targos Docks. Compared to the Level 1 HoF start in IWD1 it is a breeze.
She leveled up -> 2 -> 5 -> 12 which was enough to have top level Animate Dead summons to defend Targos fully. She squatted to Level 27 which she obtained in Vrek's Cave.
She Defended the Bridge using the same strategies I used in my IWD1 run, Fire Elementals with Fiery Cloud + Cloudkill on top to grind through HoF health pools. It's not exactly necessary in IWD2 though because Wail of the Banshee is super effective with Greater Spell Focus and High Charisma. Also, another classic is that Fireshield red + blue + death armor, then gather all agro and pop Otilukes and everything will do 70+ damage to itself per hit going on for 20+ rounds while Ruin sits safe in the sphere. Nothing survives that. Foolish AI.
Because of critical fails on saves Ruin can also hack away with Black Blade of Disaster at 4APR waiting for the eventual natural 1s to Disintegrate boss enemies.
The key now is just to avoid every fight possible since Ruin gets no XP for kills any more. The hope was to take 1 level of Paladin for charisma saves, one level of monk for evasion and one level of fighter for a final feat. but it will be a long time before kills start giving XP again.
Ruin sits at the entrance to the Horde Fortress where Arunda failed - but this time we can just stealth it.
Difficulty: Heart of Fury Level 1 start, Solo
Mods: None
Ruin the Sorceress is a Sorcery Goddess. Unfortunately 3e rules suck! are *waves hand in so so gesture*. Notably there are so few physical protection spells. Stoneskin only protects against 10 damage per hit and not for +5 weapons. There is no PfMW, Mantle, Improved Mantle, Absolute Immunity or Protection from Normal Weapons. No Spell Immunity, No Spell Trap. Also no sequencers of any type, no project image, no mislead, no simulacrum. No Timestop. No Imprisonment. No Shapechange. You get the picture. Basically all the fun stuff isn't there. Instead you get DC dependent spells. So Ruin can walk into a group of enemies and let off a Mass Dominate and suddenly half of them are dominated for 27 rounds. Or, just Wail of the Banshee and unlike in BG2 this will kill almost everything because even HoF enemies can't resist her 28Charisma with greater spell focus. All in all I think that the 3e arcane spell book is nowhere near as satisfying as the BG 2e one.
Anyway, Ruin collected her rewards and killed about 50% of the enemies on the Horde Fortress Entrance Map. This is because there is a named character who has the key.
After that she Invisibility-ed through Caverns 1, doing the small quests for a bit of XP. On Caverns 2 again she needed to kill two enemies for the mcguffinswardstones. We managed to do this only aggroing about 60% of the enemies.
In Horde Fortress outside she ignored everything and went inside.
Inside Mass Dominate on the Bugbears who killed each other one by one while Ruin Summoned the Undead Army. She then cleared out everything else, messing around with Disintegrate. Humiliatingly, Guthma, the Chapter Boss, died to a single Disintegrate. Unlike BG2 this does not disintegrate items. Also I noticed a funny bug: if you cast Disintegrate the enemy fades away over few seconds before dying, but if you lose LoS with them it cancels the disapear. So we had to kill some things twice before I worked out what was going on.
Now just to go back to Targos with Chapter 1 complete.
In Baldur's Gate we did many minor quests. We enlisted Coran for the Yago quest.
@Corey_Russell I have just found this post and your success doesn't seem to have been added to the Hall yet.
Obviously I have discovered the last post, so if you like, please link the first one (and any relevant ones in between, as you wish) and the usual details like difficulty and mods or restrictions and I'll gladly add it.
Candlekeep had only one problem. Dynaheir was killed by being poisoned. However that was a minor blip.
WE deemed ourselves strong enough to take on Durlag's Tower.
All might have been well if we hadn't decided to take on the Drarven Doom Guards.
They were too strong for....
The ridiculous thing is, that Durlag's Lower Levels contained nothing of import.
Initial gold lower than usual.
We were able to help Mellicamp though we were seriously hurt in the process. We survived, calmed down Marl in Beregost, and took a tome to Firebead.
Halis now level 2.
We were advised to go to the Friendly Arms Inn.
We killed some hobgoblins there before killing the evil Sonner and his accomplices to the north after which we delivered Tenya's Bowl.
I am now level 2 also.
A nearby ankheg was then killed.
As we proceeded back to the FAI to return Joia's ring, two ankhegs attacked us simultaneously the extra ankheg was a bit more than we could cope with and Hal was killed.
When we delivered a letter to Mirianne she was delighted and rewarded us with a much-needed ring of protection.
Upon arriving in Nashkel we turned down a reward which was supposed to be fr Greywolf.
We picked up Samuel and took him to the Friendly Arms Inn.
That was enough to make us heroes.
Good to see so many no-reloads going
Recently I decided to continue on with him, to see what challenges a solo wizard slayer would be facing at the end of BG2 and through TOB. And I must say the challenges are plentiful, but I did manage to get him to the end of the game and actually beat Melissan. I learned a lot from this playthrough, and I hope to make this knowledge count in my next attempt(s). I already have a new one underway, will try to post about its progress soon.
Hal then killed Tarnesh.
We were again injured killing ankhegs and upon finding the body of Farmer Brun's son, we took it to him and gave him 100gp to get him back on his feet.
We were asked to deal with Bassilus and were successful and when Silke and Karlat attacked us, we killed them too.
Perdue then gave us a reward for the return of his sword.
We headed south where we fought and killed Greywolf. The guards at the mine helped and Hal's command spell lasted long enough for us to finish him off ourselves.
We reunited Albert and Rufie before killing Vax and Zal.
Krumm and Ingot were killed next.
We returned to Beregost to rest and re-equip ourselves before heading west where we killed Droth and Shoal before returning a ring and killing some sirine.
Visiting the lighthouse area we killed more sirine.
Wherupon inside the cave we killed two flesh golems before looting it.
Difficulty: SCS Insane (no additional damage)
Additional mods: Caelar stays neutral in the final fight
Additional rules: no xp loop, no area hopping to avoid incoming magic spells (escaping ambushes is allowed though)
Game version: 2.5
Weidu log BG1:
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5080 // Improved textscreens in Tales of the Sword Coast: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly smarter carrion crawlers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Improved kobolds: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity assassins: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v33.4
After some time off the game, I started a new solo Wizard Slayer run:
As with my previous run I am recording this run on youtube
Baldur's Gate 1 highlights:
- He went to Durlag's Tower to collect the 2 arrows of detonation and 2 arrows of dispelling from the Warder's Level
- Mulehey was interrupted with Larloch's Minor Drain and then killed in melee.
- Nimbul got Glolin confused, but because of Glolin's previous attacks with arrows of piercing, he failed to cast Dire Charm at him. Once the confusion wore off, Nimbul was easily cut down.
- Glolin talked his way into the Bandit Camp. Inside the big tent he fired an arrow of dispelling at Venkt, but missed and was thus unable to dispel Venkt's protections and disrupt his spell casting. He was lucky enough to save against his hold person spell. Venkt was cut down shortly afterwards together with the rest of the bandits in the tent.
- The Centeol lair also did not go as planned. Glolin failed to interrupt her dialogue, causing her to spawn an additional 2 giant spiders. Glolin lured some of them outside and blasted them point blank with 2 arrows of detonation. But back inside there were still 2 more giant spiders and an Ettercap. He again lured them with him, after killing one of the giant spiders, the other was able to web him a couple of times in a row. Finally making his breath save he was able to drink a potion of extra healing and kill the remaining giant spider.
- After using a scroll of magic protection, Drasus was rushed in melee. But Glolin had to retreat and use all his potions of extra healing to stay alive. After some kiting Drasus was shot down.
- With the boots of speed Glolin ran to Davaeorn. Glolin ignored most of the enemies that followed him here. Davaeorn was dispelled and shot down with arrows.
- At the coast Glolin used another scroll of magic protection, he easily killed the nymphs there and collected the tome of constitution
- In Baldur's gate Glolin decided not to help Scar. He also skipped the Iron Throne fight, by just entering and leaving the building.
- He escaped the Candlekeep Ogre Mages, but one of them did magically follow him inside Candlekeep.
- He bypassed Pratt by just running out of his sight.
- At Durlag's Tower he killed Love for the wardstone, and fetched Durlag's Goblet and Kiel's Helmet. A tome of wisdom was also picked up in the tower.
- Another protection from magic scroll was used just before Slythe. Slythe himself was first dispelled, he died soon afterwards
- The palace fight was less chaotic than normal, Belt and Glolin were never in any real danger.
- Sarevok was able to dodge a lot of arrows of dispelling, so Glolin then switched to arrows of detonation to make sure Angelo and Semaj were dead before his protection from magic wore off. He finally was able to dispel Sarevok and not long after he fell.
Siege Of Dragonspear highlights:
- In Baldur's gate Glolin collected some gear, most importantly the Battle Tankard Helmet
- At the Coast Way Forest he killed a Vampire to get the sunfire shield
- The Coast Way Crossing was cleared of spiders. At the Dwarven Digsite Glolin sided with the dwarves and killed the lich. This got him: extra support in the crusader waves, the helmet of Dumathoin and 2 extra greater restoration scrolls in total
- In the Troll Claw Woods we lured some trolls to the Flaming Fist for easy experience. When moving on to the Forest of Wyrms we got the Spell Breaker waylay.
- After killing some wyverns, spiders and bugbears we arrived at the ruined temple of Bhaal.
- Ziatar and his 2 mages were first shot with 2 arrows of detonation, followed by sunfire from the shield. Only Ziatar survived all these blasts. He was then killed in melee.
- Glolin dodged the Neothelid via abusing his Dimension Walk ability
- He killed the 2 Aerial Servants ranged.
- Akanna was killed in melee for the Wardstone
- On the way out the green dragon was casually hit with a dagger
- In Bridgefort the green dragon shield was forged and some void arrows acquired
- Glolin surrendered the fort to the crusaders.
- On the bridge the mage was disrupted with an arrow of detonation. After dispelling and killing the mage, the rest of the crusaders were lured to the courtyard, where the flaming fist helped in dealing with them.
- In the Coalition Camp he got the Commander's Chain. After visiting Dead Man's Pass he also got a pair of Lucky boots from Belegram.
- At Dragonspear castle he talked his way into the camp and got a Seal of Caelar. He decided Valis was guilty and got Corinth's Bow.
- After killing some Myconids in the Undergroud River Entrance he picked up the Myconid Bloomsac.
- Using the seal he infiltrated the Underground River and the Warrens.
- Belben confronted Glolin , but before he could react Glolin was on the elevator back down.
- The crusader waves were easily beaten this time using arrows of detonation.
- During the assault on Dragonspear Castle the game crashed, so I had to replay this part a bit. After Kharm was killed for the helm of charm protection Ashatiel was confronted.
- In hell he shifted between different gear to stay safe from the demons and their abilites.
- He got the Tongue of Acid sword from Thrixx.
- Belhifet and his support were hammered with arrows of detonation while Caelar was kept alive with Greater Restoration Scrolls. Finally Belhifet fell.
Difficulty: SCS/Ascension Insane (no additional damage)
Additional mods: Adalon drops silver scales, Waukeen's Promenade Fletcher sells arrows of dispelling in stacks of 5 instead of 40
Additional rules: no xp loop, no area hopping to avoid incoming magic spells (escaping ambushes is allowed though), no Vhailor's Helm before TOB
Game version: 2.5
Weidu log BG2:
// 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 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Improved NPC customisation and management: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4218 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Remove all ammo from random containers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v33.4
Playthrough recording: youtube
After importing, Glolin had his hidden experience unlocked and gained one level:
Irenicus Dungeon
- He told Aataqah that he would "not press the button", this spawned 4 gibberlings.
- The Duergar were brushed aside by using horror as crowd control and by buffing with DuHM
- The Stone Golems were preemptivly killed.
- Ilyich and his Duergar buddies were horrored and killed one by one.
- After buffing the Cambion was freed, he too was no match for Glolin.
- The Otyugh was killed after horroring it first
- After delivering the Acorns, he picked up the key for the portal. But first he went to the Elemtal Air room. For the large group of Mephits he again used horror first, they were then easily dispatched. He freed the Djinni and got the Sword of Chaos as a reward.
- Once through the portal to the second level, he met Yoshimo. Glolin didn't want or need his company. Glolin buffed with DuHM and switched to dual wielding varscona and a long sword+1. He opened the door out of sight of the Mephits and used horror offscreen, this panicked the Smoke Mephit. He rushed inside immediately and attacked the first Mephit portal. After killing this portal he used a second horror to try and panic the Radiant Mephit. It succeeded and Glolin then rushed to the Radiant Mephit Portal. After taking this portal out, the other portals were easily terminated.
- He killed the clone in melee and the assassin afterwards.
- Glolin continued on and the rest of the Duergar on this level were crushed as well.
- The Vampire room was ignored because it held too much risk.
- Fennedan was freed and then put down after he turned hostile
- The assassins at the end were already activated when Glolin arrived. This was not planned at all and so Glolin decided to retreat. He killed the first one that followed him, and was engaging the second when the mage-assassin appeared. He was able to cast hold person, luckily though Glolin made his save vs spells. After a sword melee battle him and the other assassins were finished off.
- Glolin escaped the dungeon and was happy to see daylight again
First steps
- He sold some items and bought 5 arrows of dispelling from the Fletcher.
- After meeting Gaelen Bayle in the Slums, he looted Borinal's home and picked up the Gloves of pickpocketing in the Copper Coronet.
- He slept behind the temple and at night he bought the Buckler of the Fist.
- At the Docks he picked up the battle Axe+1 and then killed Officer Dirth in the tavern for his full plate armor.
- Glolin joined the Thieves Guild and looted both this guild and Mae'var's guild.
- Back at the Slums he killed Bregg and Cohrvale, Amalas inside the Copper Coronet was also terminated.
- Glolin then headed into the sewers. Here he solved the puzzle and collected the excellent Lilarcor sword.
- In the Copper Coronet he exposed the Slavers and freed Hendak. Glolin reached level 12 here and placed one pip in Flails.
- He bought the reflection shield, the helm of charm protection and the boots of grounding.
- Once at the graveyard he collected the Staff of Curing, freed a man from a grave and dispatched of the Crypt King. He got the long sword Namarra here.
- When travelling towards the Bridge District, Glolin got ambushed by Suna Seni and her gang. Glolin opened with horror, followed by an arrow of dispelling on the mage. First the mage and then the cleric were shot down with normal arrows. After a second horror, Suna Seni was killed in melee. The rest of the gang was then easily mopped up.
- At the Bridge District Glolin exposed Rejiek, but did not follow him into the basement.
- The boots of avoidance were acquired by killing Camitis and Reti. The Silver pantaloons were acquired by meeting with Welther at night. Afterwards Glolin boosted his reputation back to 14 via a temple.
- He helped the order of the Radiant Heart with Anarg for a reputation+1
- Ambushed again, he dispatched of the enemies after silencing them and helped Renfeld back to the Harpers
- Glolin did the first quest for Mae'var collecting the Talisman. The quest to kill Rayic Gethras will be done later.
- Sir Sarles quest: Glolin got both the real and fake illithium, he gave the fake illithium to Sarles. As a reward from the church he got the helm of the noble (cha+1).
- At night in the slums he completed the second temple quest.
- In the sewers of the temple district Glolin killed a mephit for Mekrath and got the release of Haerdalis as a reward. Here he also picked up a rod of resurrection, the gem was left for now (3 yuan-ti mages is a bit too much at this stage).
- While in the sewers he started the Unseeing Eye quest. In the underground area he solved the bridge riddle for some easy experience. He stood next to the platform to stay safe from the prismatic spray trap. Glolin then left the area.
Difficulty: SCS/Ascension Insane (no additional damage)
Additional mods: Adalon drops silver scales, Waukeen's Promenade Fletcher sells arrows of dispelling in stacks of 5 instead of 40
Additional rules: no xp loop, no area hopping to avoid incoming magic spells (escaping ambushes is allowed though), no Vhailor's Helm before TOB
Game version: 2.5
Weidu log BG2:
// 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 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Improved NPC customisation and management: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4218 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Remove all ammo from random containers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v33.4
Playthrough recording: youtube
Glolin continued his journey in Atkathla
- In the Slums Glolin killed Llynis and returned a bear to Wellyn.
- He gave 15k gold to Gaelan for the help of the shadowthiefs. On the first quest for Aran Linvail, Mook got murdered, Glolin used a scroll of protection from undead to stay safe from Lassal. The second quest was easily completed. In the graveyard Glolin used a scroll of protection from undead and picked up the Mace of Disruption from the vampire lair. Using the real illithium the Mace of Disruption was upgraded by Cromwell. Glolin had reached level 14 by now.
- Glolin went to watcher's keep to pick up the potion case.
Umar Hills / Temple ruins
- Using the upgraded MoD Glolin breezed through the early part of the temple ruins. After talking to the giant head he gained another level and placed a second pip in flails. Glolin activated the bottom lich, he then used a protection from undead scroll and baited his remove magic spells and Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wiltings. With Arbane haste and MoD he was quickly killed shortly after. Some bone golems gave him a hard time, and he had to use a RoR charge, but he had everything under control.
- For the shadow altar and the shade lord he used another protection from undead scroll. Glolin
had now reached level 16.
- Back at the Umar Hills Glolin got the reward from the mayor.
- From Madulf he got the shield of the lost (+5% MR).
- In Athkatla Glolin did some shopping: the blade of roses (charisma+2), flame tongue and the sword of Balduran (lore+10, +10%MR).
De'arnise keep
- The Yuan-ti mage: Glolin used his magic resistance equipment, the boots of grounding and a scroll of protection from electrity to stay safe from its (lightning) spells. He dodged it's cone of cold and ice storm spells. With all of its spells gone the yuan-ti mage was cut down in melee.
- Glaicus was easily cut down after buffing with DuHM, mirror image and haste.
- Glolin took the fire head without alarming the golems and assembled the flail of ages.
- He killed each of the golems one by one. He did get cursed, so he had to make a quick visit to the temple for a cure.
- In the basement he engaged the umber hulks. He got a beating, but managed to kill them without needing a RoR charge. Torgal was left alone for now.