Our session starts with clearing doppelgangers from the Seven Suns, and speaking to Scar. It becomes clear we haven't dealt with the ogre in the sewers so we sidetrack and clear it using triple invisibility. With that done Pyre detours wildly and this allows Surety to pick up the +3 quarterstaff from Ulgoth's Beard.
Marek and Lothander poison us on our return to the city, so we deal with them immediately (this of course involves looting Ramazith's tower, killing the basilisk in a warehouse and oh yes the Low Lantern where Desreta is held and summarily dealt with. Vay-ya spots Coredruid; he saves against her confusion but a nymph and Pyre do not so we lose 10 reputation from the nymph killing a commoner).
Still Marek and Lothander await us, as we create vacancies at what was the last resting place of Jalantha Mistmyr and get Varci's friend back to his father for a little restoration.
Finally, on to Lothander, then Larze, and Marek.
With the poison cured, Pyre takes a level and we head into the Iron Throne HQ. Our attack is slightly un-coordinated and with line of sight issues we manage to allow more of a fight than we wished. The enemies within make little progress against us, apart from Alai who gets a confusion then a horror. Without support though he can do little more and we end this brief resistance.
Reporting back to Duke Eltan sees us transported back to Candlekeep. In we go, making our way to the catacombs where knock, protection from fire, protection from poison, and protection from lightning all help.
We struggle a bit against the doppelgangers in these crypts as we trip slightly over each other (running into web as enemies move or ranged weapons are switched to melee). Anyhow, Surety is anxious to join in and gets the hasted greater doppelganger chasing him. We try to help but eventually a potion of firebreath (or scorcher) is used to save himself.
Slythe and Krystin gift us entry to the coronation and we make sure Sarevok leaves before us.
Belt teleports us after Sarevok and we head through the thieves maze to the underground city. Rahvin has assembled a motley set of companions to stop us, but shadow door is used to sight them and webs plus blind and fireball are more than enough to stop their plans.
Party at session end, outside the underground temple.
First thing to say is: I died like pleb to some stray hobgoblin who oneshotted me for 32hp when I was kiting some Gnoll. I was eating supper at the moment and I have been careless. I was so mad that I died in such a way that I have instant rushed exactly same new char.
Copied my previous playthrough step by step. The only difference was me going straight to Nashkel for money from ankheg's plate and getting gauntlets of weapon specialisation asap. After this I went right from the bat for the wolfs to level up and not risk getting oneshot from some bandits or hobgoblins arrows. Other than that I didn't change anything and I already know that my next run is going to have basilisk hunt much earlier. Honestly I forgot they are so weak and killable here. I thought SCS gave them some ranged attack but they are still slow snails.
So to continue my "second-first" run.
After getting level up from vampiric wolfs I decided its time to seriously start backstabing people. How convenient that I found my first victims. Beautiful and fair ladies with charms that won't work on elf, AC that is laughable in their super scant togas and have a lot of nice arrows for me
Before Sirines did a quick stop in Nashkel mines for wand of frost and murder of Gray wolf.
After that I pillaged secret cave with constitution tome, paralysis wand and lots of gold. While I was in the hood, Shoal's death followed and kid hiding in lantern got rescued. When I was done with that, Ive returned to FAI cuz I forgot I was leaving mages for when I get some protective spells. Turns out they weren't needed at all. The one before FAI got oneshotted by backstab.
After that it was just me roaming the Realms in search of exp and expensive stuff. Found some good potions, scrolls, wands. When doing that I made quick detour to Ulgoth's Beard. Bought improved invisibility, cloak of displacement, greenstone amulet.
Dealt with basilisk for level cap. As I said they are joke. Mutamin wasn't much better. Blind works easily on them. Protection of petrification is the only requirement. Korax was shot down together with basilisks.
Kirian was a joke too for mage/thief. The terrain they were in alone is just a wet dream for stealth class. So many rocks and spires to hide around. Mirror image tanked arrows while I threw two skull traps in their midst. After that restealthed and backstabbed dying Kirian. Two blinds on two remaining members of their group and it was easy kill.
Had a heart attack while fighting druids who I shouldnt be fighting at all but I was curious what SCS druids are capable of.
I was pretty sure I interrupted his casting...
Bassilus was next and I was expecting more from him to be honest. I didn't allow him to cast even once. Arrows, magic missile and wand of frost stopped him completely.
Also one of mages I killed in the wilds dropped scroll of Spell Thrust ! Thats going to help me with pesky mages I hope.
Finished with my world roaming. Killed most of eniemies, skipped only group of Red Thay wizards, powerful ogre mage, drizzt and ulcaster ruins. Definitely won't be killing so many my next run. Some fights were too risky. Also bought Dagger of Venom and Robes of Good Archmagi at some point.
Done with free world, it was time for main storyline. I have rushed trough Nashkel mines without stopping once before Mulahey's tent.
My entire preparation for Mulahey was not needed. Ive wasted some potions(not the rares one thanks the gods), one charge of greenstone amulet and something else I think. Fight itself was a slaughter. I run to him and opened the fight with backstab that almost killed him. Shot him with one arrow of biting when he backed to his reinforcment and finished fight with one fireball from wand.
I kinda feel lame for assassinating these "assassins" but oh well.
Tranzing unlike other mages survived first backstab and started spell battle with me. Dispelled him,casted invisibility and detected his mirror image. Was about to finish him with second backstab but that crafty one moved to corner and put his back to the wall! Couldnt backstab so finished him with Chromatic Orb. From there rushed to Bandits Camp.
SCS with double damage? That's brave of you; SCS on high difficulties strongly recommends the "no difficulty-based damage increase" option.
A couple notes...
- SCS doesn't give basilisks any new attacks. They still have the same attacks they did; a melee crushing attack and a ranged petrification gaze. Or in the case of greater basilisks, also a melee slashing attack with poison. What SCS does with basilisks is make them smarter about switching to their melee attacks if the gaze isn't effective, plus force them to go melee if they're blinded.
- Disrupting spellcasters with damage is a buggy system. One notorious issue is that it's dependent on facing; enemies facing in some directions simply can't be interrupted. You approached at the wrong angle, the enemy looked at you in one of those immune directions, and so Osmadi got you with a Call Lightning for a lot of damage. (The unmodded version of him has a much less scary Glyph of Warding memorized as his sole level 3 spell)
Improved Bandit Camp definitely fulfilled my expectations
Even after slaying Tranzig I joined bandits for better positioning and some freedom in the camp. From the start it was rollercoaster. I forgot proper dialogue options with Tazok and before I knew unbuffed me had angry and hasted half-ogre on my ass. I had to waste invisibility potion and retreat. Backstabbed, dispelled, shot with biting arrows and wand of frost for good measure, and this time Tazok was running away.
After gathering all the loot it was time to start fun. I wanted to start with backstabbing bandits around boss tent and then killing only inside of tent. "I wanted" is very important here. After failing first backstab one of bandits sounded alarm. I was like: ok thats fine, lets hide. Only to get swarmed by ENTIRE CAMP. 50 dudes chasing me around while invisible. Even if they couldn't see me, they all moved after me in one big freking group. I had to adapt quickly to this change and decided to go full pyromancer on them. So instead of kiting them with arrows, I kited them with fireballs from Wand of Fire. And it was going really well. My moment of glory was interrupted by losing control of my character and noticing that I GOT FEARED!!! How??
Then a named mage with named enemies around him reveals himself to me... And together with him rest of the camp not killed by fire. At least 30 bandits start raining arrows on my feared char. Even though I had -14 AC against ranged attacks, I knew it was over. Noway to survive that especially with that mage here. I accepted defeat and was already thinking about creating new char while cursing myself for charging into improved encounter without any knowledge about changes, and not watching fight on youtube at least.
When I unpaused to watch my slow execution I couldnt believe my eyes. My brave elf had enough of this crap and just started running away from them! No turns, no hesistation, he was performing escape artist while on fear !! Entire time I was staring into my screen and screaming "RUN FOREST! RUNNNNN!". And he did escape them long enough for fear to drop!! He got me into such good position that there was no need to waste invisibility potion
Bless the displacement cloak+shield+ghost armor+boots of avoidance+belt, I was hit only by two arrows among 200 fired against me... Unfortunately emotions were running so high that I forgot to make any screens of the escape.
After drinking few health potions Ive returned thirsty for vengeance and rained fire on them. When only standing left were named ones, I slipped back to the shadows, finished mage with backstab and Magic Missiled the other ones.
From there I rushed to cloakwood mines. On the way picked up few interesting or expensive things like cloak of non-detection which is very nice. In the spider nest I baited all the guards outside and hid in shadows. Returned inside, took the loot, casted invisibility and got out. Unfortunately I forgot to bring wyverns head to beregost which lost me 2000gp. Also killed druids, this time not allowing them to cast any lightning spells. After dispeling ironskin it was easy fight.
Fight against Drasus team started with Kysus assassination.
Both hasted, we run outside with Drasus where group of my summoned monster from wand was waiting. Pelted him with arrows of biting and magic missiles while he was busy with slaughtering meat shields. If he got tired of them I casted invisibility. With boots of speed finishing other two was easy. Mage got dispelled and his recasted mirror images were detected before getting juicy stab in the back. Same happened with the only remaining one, he took few arrows also.
Skipped entire mines till the moment where female casters were. Both had really nice scrolls of Slow and Haste which I desired. Since Mages are somewhat specialty of this char I decided to take the risk. One was problematic because of tons of guards around her who I didn't really want to fight and due to my mistake they swarmed me and had to waste another invis potion to escape. Second mage was more problematic because she casted stoneskin like 2-3 times and got me with one fireball for 40hp. Detected her mirror images and was careful to dodge her spells or interrupt with chromatic orbs after that.
Before Daveorn Ive watched the SCS fight on youtube to avoid same mistake as with bandit camp. Though the guy in video was with full party I learned enough. Once again Ive overdid my preparations and used lots of potions/scrolls. I even bought Invisibility Ring for 18k for this fight. Better to be safe then sorry. After disabling trap Ive summoned monsters from wand in the main room. Then casted webs and stinking cloud from scrolls in the entrance to stop spawns a bit. I started encounter in shadows and waited untill battle horrors moved to my meatshields. After passing them I wanter to dispel Daveorn but noticed he didnt even cast any stoneskin or mirro images yet. I thought he would do that with encounter started instead of seeing the enemy. The occassion was just too hard to pass. I had to plunge my dagger into his unprotected and lightly clothed back.
After taking damage he teleported to his minions and used healing potion. Ive instantly cast Spell Thrust on him when he couldnt cast spell back on me and hid myself again. Then I ran around dispelled him out of range of their vision and sent few fireballs from wand to him. To be sure casted invisibility, went next to him (cloak of non-detection equipped) and detected illusion to get rid of images. Chromatic Orb and it was over.
Also thanks jmerry for that information about interrupting spellcasting. I always thought some casters have ability to resist spell interuption by damage.
After playing on Insane both vanilla game and various difficulty mods for so long its super hard for me to lower the dmg of enemies. Probably will have to lower when I will want to try no-reload without stealth or mage class.
Well, I’ve failed again. Made it from Candlekeep to finishing every possible quest in chapter 3, including getting Anomen a WIS boost during our romance, to fall on the maze level of Watchers Keep.
I should’ve gone to the underdark before trying this level. It undoubtedly would’ve been easier and I’d be better leveled and equipped to handle these dangers.
Oh well.
I’m not sure if I want to try again with a custom party, or with a berserker > mage again (I feel like I have the best one possible: dual katana and kundane, with azuredge for ranged), or just go with a dragon disciple for a tankier sorcerer.
The worst part is, I am not even sure how I died. I entered a room and was just auto killed. My berserker/mage wasn’t even on the front line so she shouldn’t have been the target of any nasty spells that can take you out in one hit.
Maybe my best bet on future play throughs is to just avoid anything past the elemental level anyway.
All we had to do was defeat Sarevok to make good our way to Amn. Two of us thought we'd done a good job but the third had cast Malison and then a mage speciality class spell (Hold Person) to trivialise his downfall.
Our stay in Amn started in a rather unwelcoming chateau, but after warming things up we departed for the city itself.
A tour around the city progressed smoothly on the whole although at one point we were subjected to an arresting moment. Surety kept his cool though.
After upgrading armour for Coredruid and picking up the potion case we dealt with the Skinner murders leaving the rune assassins below for later, and arrived at the Temple district rather too early to loot a necklace from the Talosians. So instead we descended into the sewers intending to spend a couple of pleasant hours. However, Coredruid wanted to rest and as he and Pyre prepared, Surety introduced himself to a mustard jelly. He retreated and we quickly finished it off before triggering the rest.
A rest from which Surety failed to survive and we surmised this was a green slime rather than a mustard jelly. A review of events confirmed this, and that Surety had been hit - his stoneskin preventing immediate damage but not the death element and so our run was over.
With our trios yes same as any run we'd start back in Candlekeep with new characters and rotate protagonist between Corey, Grond0 and myself. If non-protagonists can be revived that's fine but if they are chunked we treat that the same as protagonist death
Green slime hits: no physical damage, save vs poison at +4 or get poisoned, turn green, and die (chunked) in a couple rounds.
Stoneskin blocks the ongoing poison effect. Failed saves don't get a log notification. Saves that you passed only because of the +4 bonus also don't get a log notification. The only way to tell the difference between "you're dead" and "you're fine" is by noticing the character's color. Kind of rough there.
If you had noticed that they were green slimes, the smart thing would have been to have the fighter/druid take point. A level 10 priest with Barkskin active can't fail the saves, and is thus immune to the green slime attacks.
Have some new tales guys. Been playing a lot this week yet havent posted at all.
Back to mage/thief after killing Davaeorn it was time to steal and plunder my way through Baldurs Gate. Most of time was spent on gathering gold and resources. As soon as I was there went immediately for Cloak of Balduran which I stole with help of few thievery potions. Next on list were amulet and ring from Ramazith.
Most of mages in the Gates shared his fate. The only dangerous moment was during fight with Marek. My backstab missed and after I dispelled him there was a moment when we both went invisible and started detecting illusions. Because of his level advantage I had to summon some fodder from wand before he could oneshot-backstab me. After sneaking and backstabbing my way through every interesting place or person it was time for main plot. Clearing doppelgangers in seven suns and murdering ogre mage sent me to the Iron Throne quarters. It was finally more challenging fight. Buffed to the brim fight started with solid backstab on one of their mages, followed by few arrows of detonation in their midst, got rid of few of them. Rest was kited with arrows of biting and backstabed from time to time. Most problematic were undead warriors running around and making kiting more difficult and one of theirs was a competent archer who got few hits on me which was rare at this point of game.
After that rushed my way through Candlekeep and its tombs. Buffed lightning, fire and magic resistance for traps in tombs. Avoided most of enemies in shadows. Took a little break to assassinate Prat and his team. Backstab+mage's buffs and various invisibilites+terrain with corridors or big obstacles was becoming a real slaughter now. Most of enemies become trivial for this class. Though this char requires a bit of preparation and management, most of fights ends flawlessly.
In Baldurs Gate saved Eltan and challenged Sarevoks favourite assassins. Once again Slythe almost was close to backstabing me after we both went invisible but quickly saved myself with summons from wand. His sick wife wasn't a challenge. Her PfMW's ran out while me and her husband were duelling at the other side of the hall. Only two arrows of dispelling were needed for her.
At this poing I had brilliant thought to check if maybe Enhanced Edition actually added Stoneskin scroll to the game if there are other spells from BG2. And yes, yes they did.......... If only I knew at the start
Rushed there immediately and skipped mage prison till the last fight which was very brutal yet very very quick.
With stoneskin, tons of potions and scrolls I was ready for Palace Fight. Like with Davaeorn the fight went a lot smoother than I thought. After fully buffing myself I summoned some meatshields from wand and started the fight. Before they even finished transformation Ive started casting Chaos, followed by Teleportation Field, Slow and arrows of dispelling and biting for everybody not affected by Chaos. And just like that fight was finished. Unfortunately couldn't save brave Belt who charged recklessly and was almost in pieces before I even finished second cast...
With only Sarevok left my mage/thief protected himself from Undead, Fire, Lightning and Magical Damage, before charging through trapped maze. In shadows he avoided Iron Throne party in underground and spared Tamoko(because Sarevok's super sad epilogue in ToB).
The final fight has still to happen. During chapter 6 I got sidetracked and started creating new chars for this no-reload. Because of how op and untouchable mage/thief was I decided to roll some melee fighter and not lower enemies damage. From 5 new chars I decided on Barbarian and Im hooked ever since
Well, I’ve failed again. Made it from Candlekeep to finishing every possible quest in chapter 3, including getting Anomen a WIS boost during our romance, to fall on the maze level of Watchers Keep.
I should’ve gone to the underdark before trying this level. It undoubtedly would’ve been easier and I’d be better leveled and equipped to handle these dangers.
Oh well.
I’m not sure if I want to try again with a custom party, or with a berserker > mage again (I feel like I have the best one possible: dual katana and kundane, with azuredge for ranged), or just go with a dragon disciple for a tankier sorcerer.
The worst part is, I am not even sure how I died. I entered a room and was just auto killed. My berserker/mage wasn’t even on the front line so she shouldn’t have been the target of any nasty spells that can take you out in one hit.
Maybe my best bet on future play throughs is to just avoid anything past the elemental level anyway.
We completed the NToSC quests easily enough. They are easy enough if left until late in the game. I found the same true when dealing with The Grey Clan.
When fighting Saverok we laid traps for Tazok and Semaj. Semaj was killed immediately by my traps. I never got involved with Tazok.
Regis talked to Saverok, ran and used an invisibility potion.
We reduced Saveroks resistances after which he was webbed. Ranged weapons finished him off.
We didn't have to fight anyone other than Saverok and he was easilly killed.
Well, I’ve failed again. Made it from Candlekeep to finishing every possible quest in chapter 3, including getting Anomen a WIS boost during our romance, to fall on the maze level of Watchers Keep.
I should’ve gone to the underdark before trying this level. It undoubtedly would’ve been easier and I’d be better leveled and equipped to handle these dangers.
Oh well.
I’m not sure if I want to try again with a custom party, or with a berserker > mage again (I feel like I have the best one possible: dual katana and kundane, with azuredge for ranged), or just go with a dragon disciple for a tankier sorcerer.
The worst part is, I am not even sure how I died. I entered a room and was just auto killed. My berserker/mage wasn’t even on the front line so she shouldn’t have been the target of any nasty spells that can take you out in one hit.
Maybe my best bet on future play throughs is to just avoid anything past the elemental level anyway.
I'd guess that a trap got you.
Are there traps that will target characters that aren’t in the front of the party? I blame myself; I’m really not that familiar with Watcher’s Keep. I just wanted to buff myself before the Underdark.
After contriving to die to a green slime in our Trio run this weekend, I managed to end our MP with another stunning lesson in what happens when you fail to pay attention .
We finished off the encounters in Baldur's Gate neatly enough and had an easy run through Candlekeep to get the last tomes. Slythe was instantly paralyzed by a wolf spirit (and immediately afterwards stunned by a dart) and I thought we would just have time in the session to go and find Sarevok.
First though there was a little chore to do at the Palace. Slark produced a couple of spirits there and topped those off with some nymphs (taking the precaution with the latter of wasting their domination spells). Those did a good job against the dopplegangers and, though Farsi had been hit a couple of times and Liia killed, Belt was untouched when the last of the dopplegangers fell.
Our old habit at this stage was to lead Belt into a back room to ensure he was not targeted by Sarevok's brief attack before he teleports away. A relatively recent change in the EE means that Sarevok no longer targets the dukes at this point and I think that's why I ignored the fact that this time Belt spoke to us in sight of Sarevok. However, Sarevok is still quite capable of targeting the protagonist and duly did so on this occasion. I had gone into my inventory at that point and had time to notice my character portrait turning red from one attack - but not enough time to do anything about it before a second attack proved fatal .
However, Sarevok is still quite capable of targeting the protagonist and duly did so on this occasion.
Not just capable. Preferred. In order of priority, here's his targeting while he's hostile in the palace:
- Upon becoming hostile, attack the nearest enemy for one round.
- If the protagonist is within range 5, attack them.
- If an enemy is within range 3, attack them.
- If attacked by a PC and no enemy is within range 7, attack the PC that attacked him.
I don't see anything in the 2.6 scripts directly related to the dukes; as far as I can tell, he'll still attack them if they're close enough. But the guards are likely to get there first and take his attention.
@Klorox The other possibility is that you were backstabbed. I'm not sure about Watcher's Keep, but there are enemies who home in on magic users and some on charname, depending on your installation of course.
@Klorox The other possibility is that you were backstabbed. I'm not sure about Watcher's Keep, but there are enemies who home in on magic users and some on charname, depending on your installation of course.
Hmmm. Vanilla installation (I wouldn’t even know how to mod my game).
Doesn’t matter, I definitely died. LOL.
Future run throughs will stop at level 2 of Watchers Keep.
The worst part is, I am not even sure how I died. I entered a room and was just auto killed.
Was it the Demon Wraith room? That one has traps on the ground ... and the one nearest to the entry portal casts Wail of the Banshee. Everyone in an area has to save vs death or die. A fighter 9/mage is only going to have a base death save of 8, so they're almost certain to be vulnerable on a bad roll.
Want to protect yourself from that trap? Buffing everyone's death saves can help - Mass Invisibility is a very good option here. Death Ward can block the spell, and so can the Cloak of Mirroring. Or you could turn off AI so your party doesn't charge ahead, and don't move until you see and disarm the trap.
The worst part is, I am not even sure how I died. I entered a room and was just auto killed.
Was it the Demon Wraith room? That one has traps on the ground ... and the one nearest to the entry portal casts Wail of the Banshee. Everyone in an area has to save vs death or die. A fighter 9/mage is only going to have a base death save of 8, so they're almost certain to be vulnerable on a bad roll.
Want to protect yourself from that trap? Buffing everyone's death saves can help - Mass Invisibility is a very good option here. Death Ward can block the spell, and so can the Cloak of Mirroring. Or you could turn off AI so your party doesn't charge ahead, and don't move until you see and disarm the trap.
This could very well be it. I am not sure what room it was but it happened so fast.
Are you sure about that deafness protection, or is it a mod thing? Sure, there's a detectable DEAFENED state ... but nothing about Wail (in the unmodded game) actually detects that state. There aren't any "this spell is sound-based" flags, and the only immunity effect specified in the spell is that the caster isn't affected.
Are you sure about that deafness protection, or is it a mod thing? Sure, there's a detectable DEAFENED state ... but nothing about Wail (in the unmodded game) actually detects that state. There aren't any "this spell is sound-based" flags, and the only immunity effect specified in the spell is that the caster isn't affected.
It could indeed be a mod thing. My installation is VERY heavily modded. All I can say is that when I first visited Mountain of the Dead playing BG1, my party was almost wiped out by the wail of a banshee.
Since then I have ALWAYS cast deafness and the battles have been quite easy.
I do the same battling harpies with similar good results.
Also works with other enemies that use wails etc.
I would suggest that you test it out on your own set-up. Use "Go to area" cheats to test.
One would certainly expect deafness to work. Obviously cast on your own party not upon the enemy.
In a standard game (I have mods installed, but none relevant to this), deafness does not protect from a banshee's wail. Or the mage spell that imitates it.
I'm having so much fun with no-reload and EE version. Its bordering on addiction
Retiring mage/thief for a moment I couldn't stop myself from starting new game with melee class. Deciding on Barbarian cuz I have never played him before and he has cool abilities. I have seriously underestimated how OP barb is in BG1. Compared to him my mage/thief is a scrub in first game.
I had plans to roll untill I get 18/00 Strength for him but after getting roll 92 and 18/99 Str I was satisfied. Picked Dwarf for godly saving throws and Neutral Evil for BG2 items. Proficiencies in Long Swords and Dual-wield style. Honestly I'm amazed how strong this class is when running around Baldur's Gate. Big HP pool + big shield prevents most oneshots early on. Faster movement rate makes kiting so easy. Immunity to backstab nullifies all thiefs in game which is one of main dangers for fighters in BG1 imo. The fact that BG1 wasn't build with advanced classes in mind certainly helps. Even tho I stayed on maximum difficulty on all SCS components and Insane, Barb was wrecking things. I have allowed myself Max HP on Level and didn't delete or restrict arrows of dispelling and detonation from the game. Reputation stays at 1/2 rate, but that will change soon cuz it can really wreck me up lol. Healthy dose of cheese is allowed too. Also I prefer look of humans/elfes in game so I often change appeareance in EE keeper.
Adventures of Simon the Barbarian begins with him standing triumphant over his first not so "lesser" prey. Stray wolf happened upon feracious kiting and bit him in the leg.
Sating his bloodlust for a moment his pillaging nature called for him to collect all valuables hidden around the plains and towns as fast as possible. Even in Candlekeep he called his Barbarian's Rage to smash open tightly locked chest with valuable gem inside.
After that it was usual experience tour starting with Shoal and proceeding to Meilum(yummy sword+gloves), Sirines, Sendai, Zargal, Half-ogres, ogres berserkers, Tarnesh and Mutamin with his lovely garden. Combination of kiting with Longbow +1 and just slashing enemies apart on Rage was used. Most of fights were won easily, especially against mages. Even without greenstone amulet they are useless against Barb. Shield amulet is only one Simon needed. Most problematic fights are against bigger number of enemies because despite Simon's big HP pool, his AC is lacking and a lot of hits land on him. Meeting with Sendai's group was almost end of adventure.
Noble sacrifice from brave Korax secured death of Kirian and some run and hit felled her last two companions. With belt set completed and almost max level reached it was time to clear Nashkel mines.
Kobolds were decimated one group after another. Big missile AC modificator proved supreme once again as Simon wrecked his way through the mines. Perhaps he got too lost in his Barbarian's Rage. That is because he stopped caring about kobolds and was just running through mines tanking traps and arriving almost at the finish. Only problem was that he forgot about Kobold Shaman's presence there. He attacked nonetheless with 62 hp remaining. He was quite shocked when he was greeted with Lightning Bolt to the face. Taking that head on and murdering pathetic shaman he begun roaring loudly in triumph. Only for that sneakky little lightning bolt to bounce 3-4 times and come back to snipe him down.... Unfortunately was too shocked to take picture.
Bloodlust not sated and enemies still alive, Simon the Barbarian will be reborn to take his revenge against entire Kobold Race!
Once again this great tale starts with vile and unforgiving murder of poor and defenseless and beautiful maiden.
Collecting valuable hidden items, killing valuable enemies like Zordral, Zargal, Meilum. One of funny things that happened in this run was Tarnesh getting arrow to the face and panicking 0.2s before Mirror Image fired.
Sirines, Vampiric wolfs and Basilisks were all slain with ease. Longbow and Barbarians superior THACO + movement speed made kiting trivial compared to thiefs shortbow and laughable THACO. Melicamp "the useless" died once again causing another rage in Simon.
Bassilus in the end was trivial too. Barbarian Rage and Longbow +1 with succesfull arrow of biting proved themselfs superior to mad Cyricist. Poor priest couldn't even cast a single spell. Not even Sanctuary before he was slain.
After that Simon focused a bit on raising his reputation, which was extremely hard cuz 1/2 ratio of SCS is completely random and many quests in a row didnt give any rep. Not using that component ever again in no-reload lmao.
One trip to Ulgoth's Beard for Sandthiefs Ring, Displacement Cloak and Greenstone Amulet, and Simon was armed, hyped and starving for Vengeance. Begore Mines there one was one more stop for Varscona. Greywulf is actually very dangerous in 1v1 with melee class. He was hitting for 42-45 dmg and landing most hits. Wasn't expectin such resistance and Simon had to waste invisibility potion so he could chug few health potions and come back to finish his opponent. This time in Nashkel Mines there was no rushing and no skipping. Every kobold down to its children was meticulously murdered before hacking apart their self-proclaimed god. Potion of insulation was used just in case!
Simon ignored Tranzing, went to Teven and picked a free ride to bandits camp. It was time to use some of that accumulated gold and chug plenty of helpful potions. Buffed to the brim Simon openly entered chief's tent and immediately charged first Mage in sight. Venkt was definitely surprised because he received nasty blow before his contingencies worked.
That surprise attack was enough for him to hesistate and try to move away from big bad barbarian. Worked well for Simon because after pushing mage back, he whipped out a shiny and magical amulet. Amulet which was revealed to be bandits doom as fireballs started raining inside the tent. Whoever was fast enough or lucky enough to survive balls of fiery death, was met with icy cold blade of Varscona. Funny because first one to get hit was also last one to die.
Fight being too short and blood still boiling inside his mighty muscles, Simon Inferno'ed entire camp.
Cloakwood forest didn't catch Simon's attention for too long. Most of the woods was skipped. There were two short stops only. One to bake spider's nest from inside using fireballs from amulet and second to kill wyvern and cash that 2000gp reward.
Surprisingly fight with Drasus' team was one of the most difficult. Drasus himself was led away and easily killed in 1v1. With boots of speed Simon felt fastest in the world. Moving to quickly finish rest of enemies, he was stopped by two mages who turned him into magical pincushion. Even with greenstone amulet and rage he was still vulnerable to spells like Ray of Enfeeblement or Blidness, Slow or Greater Malison. They rained spells so heavily on him resulting in retreat on frickin Slow. That was hard too cuz third guy was rangeding him all the time. Two invisibility potions later(one dispelled) and additional guards picked up by accident, Simon managed to escape with 8HP! I was sure that was end of run already. After resting Simon buffed himself and deployed hit and run strategy with untill he killed one mage then it was just rush to slay another mage while ignoring ranged attacks of the third guy. Also with boots of speed and AC still so low, Simon finally gathered his courage and moved to fight against one of the greatest Swordsmen in the Realms. A fight where he didn't swing a sword even once. Running around on double haste and shooting Drizzt with arrows+2 and biting untill his fall. Rage and Greenstone amulet protected from his spells. Heavy blow to the reputation was quickly bought back. At least till 18 rep.
Most of the cloakwood mines were skipped. Some hacking where it was needed and one use of Sandthief's ring near the end to skip annoying part.
Davaeorn fight was a joke. In my previous run with mage/thief I noticed that Davaeorn's protective spells dont activate unless he sees you... Gulping down few offensive and defensive potions Simon used another charge of Sandthief's ring and rushed to the mage. Traps activated but didn't even scratch the barbarian. Curious thing was two battle horrors leaving Davaeorn's side after traps were activated. They went to starting room which was empty? Anyway Simon wasn't going to complain and just struck Davaeorn.
What proved to be fatal. With 25 str and 4APR Simon have slain Davaeorn before he could even teleport himself. No complaining again. Simon pillaged mage's lair, flooded the mines and left for Baldur's Gate.
In Baldur's Gate there were few delicious targets. First of all tome of dex was snatched from thiefs. Quest for anti-missile shield was completed quickly. Mage with 9000gp ring was slain effortlessly. Helm of balduran was gathered easily too. Ring of fire protection and one of Drizzt's scimitars nullified the trap. For the founder's cloak Simon had to pay visit to Ragefast first. After killing him and gettin cloak from grateful Nymph he went down to Siren's cellar and charmed the girl with Cloak of Balduran. Later that day there was announcment about one of courtesans going mad and attacking one of the guards! The poor lad had to defend himself and killed lunatic woman. After taking the cloak from her cold body, son of evil god felt his blood sing for murder once again. Next morning Flaming fist found entire tower of Ramazith destroyed and ransacked with the mage himself dead and his magical items missing. All magical items collected, recharged and bought, Simon turned towards the Iron Throne.
Barbarian who drank 10+ potions is destruction incarnate. There was no special strat or tricks. Simond moved up the stairs and rained arrows of detonations on the acolites. He managed to sent 3 before fighters swarmed him. Switching to swords he just hacked them down. Some run and hit was deployed here but it was mostly done to finish other low targets then to dodge and kite.
Nothing interesting happened in Candlekeep. Ran away from the ogre mage ambush and left them for later. In dungeons collected tomes and some magic items. Entire run through underground was done fully protected from fire, lightning and magical damage. Prat and basilisk were skipped using Sandthief's Ring.
Slythe was a joke without his backstab. Dispelled with one arrow and then sliced in to pieces. Only strat required here is luring him away from his sadistic wife. Kristine was as easy thanks to varscona. That +1 cold dmg was invaluable during entire run, the best mage interruptor.
With most of content cleared except Durlag's Tower and Werewolf Island Simon wasn't sure what to do next. Because I wanted to finish no-reload and not risk stupid death to some trap and Im not intending to do SoD run at all, Simon chose ending his brothers live as main priority. So Ducal Palace was the next stop. Once again Simon the Barbarian was drunk and wasted from the amount of magic infused liquid he just consumed. The fight itself was quite smooth and easy. I think that newest version of EE or SCS itself made this fight a lot easier than it was before. As soon as fight starts Liia protects herself with various spells. Including stoneskin, mirror image, glove of invulnerability AND PfMW! Both fights I did here on EE she was without scratch. Most of dopplers ignore her completely when they see her buffed up.
Shot each of them with Arrow of Dispelling and cut them down one by one with occasional interrupt of priest or mage.
After palace once again Simon protected himself fully from fire, lightning, magical dmg and undead. With that he rushed through maze full of traps and skipped underground party with invisibility potion. Tamoko was spared as always(that's for you my bro!!).
Simon made short stop to get himself ready before finally entering temple of Bhaal. There were slight problems with Sarevok's strategy. Barbarians blood called once again and Simon fired arrow of dispelling into Sarevok too fast. When he moved back to park everybody in a corner, Sarevok was faaaar behind his hasted companions. Luckily no harmful spell landed on him and he took only some damage from arrows before Sarevok arrived and Simon slipped back into invisibility. After that it was waiting game. With how OP Barbarian is I could probably just go straight to them and rip them apart, but because it was my first succesfull no-reload run I didn't want to risk anything and waited for all of their protections to end, including that loooong PfM scroll. When it finally ran off Simon chugged army of potions and charged straight into combat. Like with Iron Throne there were 3 arrows of detonation fired, few dispelling for mages and then whirlwind of blades.
Simon tried 1v1 with Sarevok. Almost managed it but his dmg was too high. Getting smacked for 45 dmg each time, Simon managed to bring him to heavily injured before he had to retreat back few steps and drink few health potions. After that two blows were needed to put his brother down and save the swordcoast!
There it is guys. First no-reload accomplished. Wasn't expecting it to be Barbarian as I always have been mage+something class. But damn it was really satisfying. It's time for BG2 now and honestly Im not seeing it going as well as first part.
I'm not going to lower any difficulty settings except get rid of 1/2 reputation ratio so its going to be carnage
Sadly I'm not really into SoD. I dislike it greatly cuz of some decisions and Im against even buying it.
On the more positive note finishing this run forced me to finally purchase BG2 enhanced edition for the first time and I discovered there was great discount on all RPG games so I ended with IWD EE, Planescape Torment EE, NWN EE and many others
@Rayga Glad that you enjoyed the game. Trying different classes and differeent parties really keeps the game interesting.
Journal of Bjorn the Bold.
Only enemy of significance at the moment was a dragon.
The judicious use of items found elsewhere in SoD enabled us to clear the temple of Bhaal.
In earlier games the mindflayer was a major problem, however with enrage and protective items he wasn't much of a problem at all. Baeloth's intelligence was reduced to 5, but a good night's sleep rectified that. Now just outside the crusader camp. We have been promised access by a patrol that we released. Now time for bed.
We got into Bridgefort after taking loot from the Crusade: Ale for the irregulars; a Planatar Feather; a scroll; and suchlike.
EDIT
The battle at Bridgefort was intense, but went according to plan.
Now at the Coalition Camp.
We have been given three quests to do in the direction of Dragonspear Castle: finding a bear skin, finding Skie, and discovering what Hephernon is up to. We set off and in an area where magic doesn't work Baeloth was killed by backstabbing due to lack of protections. In the next area we had to attempt to rest several times before we succeeded. We could then raise and heal him.
In future perhaps we should perhaps either go through that area without him, or have raise dead memorised beforehand.
Comments
Pyre - human dragon disciple (Gate70)
Coredruid - half-elf fighter / druid (Corey_Russell)
Surety - elf enchanter (Grond0)
Our session starts with clearing doppelgangers from the Seven Suns, and speaking to Scar. It becomes clear we haven't dealt with the ogre in the sewers so we sidetrack and clear it using triple invisibility. With that done Pyre detours wildly and this allows Surety to pick up the +3 quarterstaff from Ulgoth's Beard.
Marek and Lothander poison us on our return to the city, so we deal with them immediately (this of course involves looting Ramazith's tower, killing the basilisk in a warehouse and oh yes the Low Lantern where Desreta is held and summarily dealt with. Vay-ya spots Coredruid; he saves against her confusion but a nymph and Pyre do not so we lose 10 reputation from the nymph killing a commoner).
Finally, on to Lothander, then Larze, and Marek.
With the poison cured, Pyre takes a level and we head into the Iron Throne HQ. Our attack is slightly un-coordinated and with line of sight issues we manage to allow more of a fight than we wished. The enemies within make little progress against us, apart from Alai who gets a confusion then a horror. Without support though he can do little more and we end this brief resistance.
We struggle a bit against the doppelgangers in these crypts as we trip slightly over each other (running into web as enemies move or ranged weapons are switched to melee). Anyhow, Surety is anxious to join in and gets the hasted greater doppelganger chasing him. We try to help but eventually a potion of firebreath (or scorcher) is used to save himself.
Party at session end, outside the underground temple.
Copied my previous playthrough step by step. The only difference was me going straight to Nashkel for money from ankheg's plate and getting gauntlets of weapon specialisation asap. After this I went right from the bat for the wolfs to level up and not risk getting oneshot from some bandits or hobgoblins arrows. Other than that I didn't change anything and I already know that my next run is going to have basilisk hunt much earlier. Honestly I forgot they are so weak and killable here. I thought SCS gave them some ranged attack but they are still slow snails.
So to continue my "second-first" run.
After getting level up from vampiric wolfs I decided its time to seriously start backstabing people. How convenient that I found my first victims. Beautiful and fair ladies with charms that won't work on elf, AC that is laughable in their super scant togas and have a lot of nice arrows for me
Before Sirines did a quick stop in Nashkel mines for wand of frost and murder of Gray wolf.
After that I pillaged secret cave with constitution tome, paralysis wand and lots of gold. While I was in the hood, Shoal's death followed and kid hiding in lantern got rescued. When I was done with that, Ive returned to FAI cuz I forgot I was leaving mages for when I get some protective spells. Turns out they weren't needed at all. The one before FAI got oneshotted by backstab.
After that it was just me roaming the Realms in search of exp and expensive stuff. Found some good potions, scrolls, wands. When doing that I made quick detour to Ulgoth's Beard. Bought improved invisibility, cloak of displacement, greenstone amulet.
Dealt with basilisk for level cap. As I said they are joke. Mutamin wasn't much better. Blind works easily on them. Protection of petrification is the only requirement. Korax was shot down together with basilisks.
Kirian was a joke too for mage/thief. The terrain they were in alone is just a wet dream for stealth class. So many rocks and spires to hide around. Mirror image tanked arrows while I threw two skull traps in their midst. After that restealthed and backstabbed dying Kirian. Two blinds on two remaining members of their group and it was easy kill.
Had a heart attack while fighting druids who I shouldnt be fighting at all but I was curious what SCS druids are capable of.
I was pretty sure I interrupted his casting...
Bassilus was next and I was expecting more from him to be honest. I didn't allow him to cast even once. Arrows, magic missile and wand of frost stopped him completely.
Also one of mages I killed in the wilds dropped scroll of Spell Thrust ! Thats going to help me with pesky mages I hope.
Finished with my world roaming. Killed most of eniemies, skipped only group of Red Thay wizards, powerful ogre mage, drizzt and ulcaster ruins. Definitely won't be killing so many my next run. Some fights were too risky. Also bought Dagger of Venom and Robes of Good Archmagi at some point.
Done with free world, it was time for main storyline. I have rushed trough Nashkel mines without stopping once before Mulahey's tent.
My entire preparation for Mulahey was not needed. Ive wasted some potions(not the rares one thanks the gods), one charge of greenstone amulet and something else I think. Fight itself was a slaughter. I run to him and opened the fight with backstab that almost killed him. Shot him with one arrow of biting when he backed to his reinforcment and finished fight with one fireball from wand.
I kinda feel lame for assassinating these "assassins" but oh well.
Tranzing unlike other mages survived first backstab and started spell battle with me. Dispelled him,casted invisibility and detected his mirror image. Was about to finish him with second backstab but that crafty one moved to corner and put his back to the wall! Couldnt backstab so finished him with Chromatic Orb. From there rushed to Bandits Camp.
A couple notes...
- SCS doesn't give basilisks any new attacks. They still have the same attacks they did; a melee crushing attack and a ranged petrification gaze. Or in the case of greater basilisks, also a melee slashing attack with poison. What SCS does with basilisks is make them smarter about switching to their melee attacks if the gaze isn't effective, plus force them to go melee if they're blinded.
- Disrupting spellcasters with damage is a buggy system. One notorious issue is that it's dependent on facing; enemies facing in some directions simply can't be interrupted. You approached at the wrong angle, the enemy looked at you in one of those immune directions, and so Osmadi got you with a Call Lightning for a lot of damage. (The unmodded version of him has a much less scary Glyph of Warding memorized as his sole level 3 spell)
Even after slaying Tranzig I joined bandits for better positioning and some freedom in the camp. From the start it was rollercoaster. I forgot proper dialogue options with Tazok and before I knew unbuffed me had angry and hasted half-ogre on my ass. I had to waste invisibility potion and retreat. Backstabbed, dispelled, shot with biting arrows and wand of frost for good measure, and this time Tazok was running away.
After gathering all the loot it was time to start fun. I wanted to start with backstabbing bandits around boss tent and then killing only inside of tent. "I wanted" is very important here. After failing first backstab one of bandits sounded alarm. I was like: ok thats fine, lets hide. Only to get swarmed by ENTIRE CAMP. 50 dudes chasing me around while invisible. Even if they couldn't see me, they all moved after me in one big freking group. I had to adapt quickly to this change and decided to go full pyromancer on them. So instead of kiting them with arrows, I kited them with fireballs from Wand of Fire. And it was going really well. My moment of glory was interrupted by losing control of my character and noticing that I GOT FEARED!!! How??
Then a named mage with named enemies around him reveals himself to me... And together with him rest of the camp not killed by fire. At least 30 bandits start raining arrows on my feared char. Even though I had -14 AC against ranged attacks, I knew it was over. Noway to survive that especially with that mage here. I accepted defeat and was already thinking about creating new char while cursing myself for charging into improved encounter without any knowledge about changes, and not watching fight on youtube at least.
When I unpaused to watch my slow execution I couldnt believe my eyes. My brave elf had enough of this crap and just started running away from them! No turns, no hesistation, he was performing escape artist while on fear !! Entire time I was staring into my screen and screaming "RUN FOREST! RUNNNNN!". And he did escape them long enough for fear to drop!! He got me into such good position that there was no need to waste invisibility potion
Bless the displacement cloak+shield+ghost armor+boots of avoidance+belt, I was hit only by two arrows among 200 fired against me... Unfortunately emotions were running so high that I forgot to make any screens of the escape.
After drinking few health potions Ive returned thirsty for vengeance and rained fire on them. When only standing left were named ones, I slipped back to the shadows, finished mage with backstab and Magic Missiled the other ones.
From there I rushed to cloakwood mines. On the way picked up few interesting or expensive things like cloak of non-detection which is very nice. In the spider nest I baited all the guards outside and hid in shadows. Returned inside, took the loot, casted invisibility and got out. Unfortunately I forgot to bring wyverns head to beregost which lost me 2000gp. Also killed druids, this time not allowing them to cast any lightning spells. After dispeling ironskin it was easy fight.
Fight against Drasus team started with Kysus assassination.
Both hasted, we run outside with Drasus where group of my summoned monster from wand was waiting. Pelted him with arrows of biting and magic missiles while he was busy with slaughtering meat shields. If he got tired of them I casted invisibility. With boots of speed finishing other two was easy. Mage got dispelled and his recasted mirror images were detected before getting juicy stab in the back. Same happened with the only remaining one, he took few arrows also.
Skipped entire mines till the moment where female casters were. Both had really nice scrolls of Slow and Haste which I desired. Since Mages are somewhat specialty of this char I decided to take the risk. One was problematic because of tons of guards around her who I didn't really want to fight and due to my mistake they swarmed me and had to waste another invis potion to escape. Second mage was more problematic because she casted stoneskin like 2-3 times and got me with one fireball for 40hp. Detected her mirror images and was careful to dodge her spells or interrupt with chromatic orbs after that.
Before Daveorn Ive watched the SCS fight on youtube to avoid same mistake as with bandit camp. Though the guy in video was with full party I learned enough. Once again Ive overdid my preparations and used lots of potions/scrolls. I even bought Invisibility Ring for 18k for this fight. Better to be safe then sorry. After disabling trap Ive summoned monsters from wand in the main room. Then casted webs and stinking cloud from scrolls in the entrance to stop spawns a bit. I started encounter in shadows and waited untill battle horrors moved to my meatshields. After passing them I wanter to dispel Daveorn but noticed he didnt even cast any stoneskin or mirro images yet. I thought he would do that with encounter started instead of seeing the enemy. The occassion was just too hard to pass. I had to plunge my dagger into his unprotected and lightly clothed back.
After taking damage he teleported to his minions and used healing potion. Ive instantly cast Spell Thrust on him when he couldnt cast spell back on me and hid myself again. Then I ran around dispelled him out of range of their vision and sent few fireballs from wand to him. To be sure casted invisibility, went next to him (cloak of non-detection equipped) and detected illusion to get rid of images. Chromatic Orb and it was over.
After playing on Insane both vanilla game and various difficulty mods for so long its super hard for me to lower the dmg of enemies. Probably will have to lower when I will want to try no-reload without stealth or mage class.
I should’ve gone to the underdark before trying this level. It undoubtedly would’ve been easier and I’d be better leveled and equipped to handle these dangers.
Oh well.
I’m not sure if I want to try again with a custom party, or with a berserker > mage again (I feel like I have the best one possible: dual katana and kundane, with azuredge for ranged), or just go with a dragon disciple for a tankier sorcerer.
The worst part is, I am not even sure how I died. I entered a room and was just auto killed. My berserker/mage wasn’t even on the front line so she shouldn’t have been the target of any nasty spells that can take you out in one hit.
Maybe my best bet on future play throughs is to just avoid anything past the elemental level anyway.
Pyre - human dragon disciple (Gate70)
Coredruid - half-elf fighter / druid (Corey_Russell)
Surety - elf enchanter (Grond0)
All we had to do was defeat Sarevok to make good our way to Amn. Two of us thought we'd done a good job but the third had cast Malison and then a mage speciality class spell (Hold Person) to trivialise his downfall.
A rest from which Surety failed to survive and we surmised this was a green slime rather than a mustard jelly. A review of events confirmed this, and that Surety had been hit - his stoneskin preventing immediate damage but not the death element and so our run was over.
Stoneskin blocks the ongoing poison effect. Failed saves don't get a log notification. Saves that you passed only because of the +4 bonus also don't get a log notification. The only way to tell the difference between "you're dead" and "you're fine" is by noticing the character's color. Kind of rough there.
If you had noticed that they were green slimes, the smart thing would have been to have the fighter/druid take point. A level 10 priest with Barkskin active can't fail the saves, and is thus immune to the green slime attacks.
So much dedication over the last years.
Back to mage/thief after killing Davaeorn it was time to steal and plunder my way through Baldurs Gate. Most of time was spent on gathering gold and resources. As soon as I was there went immediately for Cloak of Balduran which I stole with help of few thievery potions. Next on list were amulet and ring from Ramazith.
Most of mages in the Gates shared his fate. The only dangerous moment was during fight with Marek. My backstab missed and after I dispelled him there was a moment when we both went invisible and started detecting illusions. Because of his level advantage I had to summon some fodder from wand before he could oneshot-backstab me. After sneaking and backstabbing my way through every interesting place or person it was time for main plot. Clearing doppelgangers in seven suns and murdering ogre mage sent me to the Iron Throne quarters. It was finally more challenging fight. Buffed to the brim fight started with solid backstab on one of their mages, followed by few arrows of detonation in their midst, got rid of few of them. Rest was kited with arrows of biting and backstabed from time to time. Most problematic were undead warriors running around and making kiting more difficult and one of theirs was a competent archer who got few hits on me which was rare at this point of game.
After that rushed my way through Candlekeep and its tombs. Buffed lightning, fire and magic resistance for traps in tombs. Avoided most of enemies in shadows. Took a little break to assassinate Prat and his team. Backstab+mage's buffs and various invisibilites+terrain with corridors or big obstacles was becoming a real slaughter now. Most of enemies become trivial for this class. Though this char requires a bit of preparation and management, most of fights ends flawlessly.
In Baldurs Gate saved Eltan and challenged Sarevoks favourite assassins. Once again Slythe almost was close to backstabing me after we both went invisible but quickly saved myself with summons from wand. His sick wife wasn't a challenge. Her PfMW's ran out while me and her husband were duelling at the other side of the hall. Only two arrows of dispelling were needed for her.
At this poing I had brilliant thought to check if maybe Enhanced Edition actually added Stoneskin scroll to the game if there are other spells from BG2. And yes, yes they did.......... If only I knew at the start
Rushed there immediately and skipped mage prison till the last fight which was very brutal yet very very quick.
With stoneskin, tons of potions and scrolls I was ready for Palace Fight. Like with Davaeorn the fight went a lot smoother than I thought. After fully buffing myself I summoned some meatshields from wand and started the fight. Before they even finished transformation Ive started casting Chaos, followed by Teleportation Field, Slow and arrows of dispelling and biting for everybody not affected by Chaos. And just like that fight was finished. Unfortunately couldn't save brave Belt who charged recklessly and was almost in pieces before I even finished second cast...
With only Sarevok left my mage/thief protected himself from Undead, Fire, Lightning and Magical Damage, before charging through trapped maze. In shadows he avoided Iron Throne party in underground and spared Tamoko(because Sarevok's super sad epilogue in ToB).
The final fight has still to happen. During chapter 6 I got sidetracked and started creating new chars for this no-reload. Because of how op and untouchable mage/thief was I decided to roll some melee fighter and not lower enemies damage. From 5 new chars I decided on Barbarian and Im hooked ever since
I'd guess that a trap got you.
We completed the NToSC quests easily enough. They are easy enough if left until late in the game. I found the same true when dealing with The Grey Clan.
When fighting Saverok we laid traps for Tazok and Semaj. Semaj was killed immediately by my traps. I never got involved with Tazok.
Regis talked to Saverok, ran and used an invisibility potion.
We reduced Saveroks resistances after which he was webbed. Ranged weapons finished him off.
We didn't have to fight anyone other than Saverok and he was easilly killed.
Images here tomorrow.
Are there traps that will target characters that aren’t in the front of the party? I blame myself; I’m really not that familiar with Watcher’s Keep. I just wanted to buff myself before the Underdark.
Farsi (male dwarf swashbuckler, Grond0); Slark (male half-elf totemic druid, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1190498/#Comment_1190498
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1190940/#Comment_1190940
We finished off the encounters in Baldur's Gate neatly enough and had an easy run through Candlekeep to get the last tomes. Slythe was instantly paralyzed by a wolf spirit (and immediately afterwards stunned by a dart) and I thought we would just have time in the session to go and find Sarevok.
First though there was a little chore to do at the Palace. Slark produced a couple of spirits there and topped those off with some nymphs (taking the precaution with the latter of wasting their domination spells). Those did a good job against the dopplegangers and, though Farsi had been hit a couple of times and Liia killed, Belt was untouched when the last of the dopplegangers fell.
- Upon becoming hostile, attack the nearest enemy for one round.
- If the protagonist is within range 5, attack them.
- If an enemy is within range 3, attack them.
- If attacked by a PC and no enemy is within range 7, attack the PC that attacked him.
I don't see anything in the 2.6 scripts directly related to the dukes; as far as I can tell, he'll still attack them if they're close enough. But the guards are likely to get there first and take his attention.
Hmmm. Vanilla installation (I wouldn’t even know how to mod my game).
Doesn’t matter, I definitely died. LOL.
Future run throughs will stop at level 2 of Watchers Keep.
Thank you though.
Was it the Demon Wraith room? That one has traps on the ground ... and the one nearest to the entry portal casts Wail of the Banshee. Everyone in an area has to save vs death or die. A fighter 9/mage is only going to have a base death save of 8, so they're almost certain to be vulnerable on a bad roll.
Want to protect yourself from that trap? Buffing everyone's death saves can help - Mass Invisibility is a very good option here. Death Ward can block the spell, and so can the Cloak of Mirroring. Or you could turn off AI so your party doesn't charge ahead, and don't move until you see and disarm the trap.
This could very well be it. I am not sure what room it was but it happened so fast.
Thanks for explaining.
Journal of Bjorn the Bold
Now at the Coast Way Crossing. Time for both my party and I to sleep.
It could indeed be a mod thing. My installation is VERY heavily modded. All I can say is that when I first visited Mountain of the Dead playing BG1, my party was almost wiped out by the wail of a banshee.
Since then I have ALWAYS cast deafness and the battles have been quite easy.
I do the same battling harpies with similar good results.
Also works with other enemies that use wails etc.
I would suggest that you test it out on your own set-up. Use "Go to area" cheats to test.
One would certainly expect deafness to work. Obviously cast on your own party not upon the enemy.
How can a wail terrify you if you don't hear it?
We have all but finished the Coast Way Crossing area.
Dealing with the lich was the hardest part.
Retiring mage/thief for a moment I couldn't stop myself from starting new game with melee class. Deciding on Barbarian cuz I have never played him before and he has cool abilities. I have seriously underestimated how OP barb is in BG1. Compared to him my mage/thief is a scrub in first game.
I had plans to roll untill I get 18/00 Strength for him but after getting roll 92 and 18/99 Str I was satisfied. Picked Dwarf for godly saving throws and Neutral Evil for BG2 items. Proficiencies in Long Swords and Dual-wield style. Honestly I'm amazed how strong this class is when running around Baldur's Gate. Big HP pool + big shield prevents most oneshots early on. Faster movement rate makes kiting so easy. Immunity to backstab nullifies all thiefs in game which is one of main dangers for fighters in BG1 imo. The fact that BG1 wasn't build with advanced classes in mind certainly helps. Even tho I stayed on maximum difficulty on all SCS components and Insane, Barb was wrecking things. I have allowed myself Max HP on Level and didn't delete or restrict arrows of dispelling and detonation from the game. Reputation stays at 1/2 rate, but that will change soon cuz it can really wreck me up lol. Healthy dose of cheese is allowed too. Also I prefer look of humans/elfes in game so I often change appeareance in EE keeper.
Adventures of Simon the Barbarian begins with him standing triumphant over his first not so "lesser" prey. Stray wolf happened upon feracious kiting and bit him in the leg.
Sating his bloodlust for a moment his pillaging nature called for him to collect all valuables hidden around the plains and towns as fast as possible. Even in Candlekeep he called his Barbarian's Rage to smash open tightly locked chest with valuable gem inside.
After that it was usual experience tour starting with Shoal and proceeding to Meilum(yummy sword+gloves), Sirines, Sendai, Zargal, Half-ogres, ogres berserkers, Tarnesh and Mutamin with his lovely garden. Combination of kiting with Longbow +1 and just slashing enemies apart on Rage was used. Most of fights were won easily, especially against mages. Even without greenstone amulet they are useless against Barb. Shield amulet is only one Simon needed. Most problematic fights are against bigger number of enemies because despite Simon's big HP pool, his AC is lacking and a lot of hits land on him. Meeting with Sendai's group was almost end of adventure.
Noble sacrifice from brave Korax secured death of Kirian and some run and hit felled her last two companions. With belt set completed and almost max level reached it was time to clear Nashkel mines.
Kobolds were decimated one group after another. Big missile AC modificator proved supreme once again as Simon wrecked his way through the mines. Perhaps he got too lost in his Barbarian's Rage. That is because he stopped caring about kobolds and was just running through mines tanking traps and arriving almost at the finish. Only problem was that he forgot about Kobold Shaman's presence there. He attacked nonetheless with 62 hp remaining. He was quite shocked when he was greeted with Lightning Bolt to the face. Taking that head on and murdering pathetic shaman he begun roaring loudly in triumph. Only for that sneakky little lightning bolt to bounce 3-4 times and come back to snipe him down....
Bloodlust not sated and enemies still alive, Simon the Barbarian will be reborn to take his revenge against entire Kobold Race!
Good to know.
Meanwhile Bjorn the Bold has reached Trollclaw woods.
Once again this great tale starts with vile and unforgiving murder of poor and defenseless and beautiful maiden.
Collecting valuable hidden items, killing valuable enemies like Zordral, Zargal, Meilum. One of funny things that happened in this run was Tarnesh getting arrow to the face and panicking 0.2s before Mirror Image fired.
Sirines, Vampiric wolfs and Basilisks were all slain with ease. Longbow and Barbarians superior THACO + movement speed made kiting trivial compared to thiefs shortbow and laughable THACO. Melicamp "the useless" died once again causing another rage in Simon.
Bassilus in the end was trivial too. Barbarian Rage and Longbow +1 with succesfull arrow of biting proved themselfs superior to mad Cyricist. Poor priest couldn't even cast a single spell. Not even Sanctuary before he was slain.
After that Simon focused a bit on raising his reputation, which was extremely hard cuz 1/2 ratio of SCS is completely random and many quests in a row didnt give any rep. Not using that component ever again in no-reload lmao.
One trip to Ulgoth's Beard for Sandthiefs Ring, Displacement Cloak and Greenstone Amulet, and Simon was armed, hyped and starving for Vengeance. Begore Mines there one was one more stop for Varscona. Greywulf is actually very dangerous in 1v1 with melee class. He was hitting for 42-45 dmg and landing most hits. Wasn't expectin such resistance and Simon had to waste invisibility potion so he could chug few health potions and come back to finish his opponent. This time in Nashkel Mines there was no rushing and no skipping. Every kobold down to its children was meticulously murdered before hacking apart their self-proclaimed god. Potion of insulation was used just in case!
Simon ignored Tranzing, went to Teven and picked a free ride to bandits camp. It was time to use some of that accumulated gold and chug plenty of helpful potions. Buffed to the brim Simon openly entered chief's tent and immediately charged first Mage in sight. Venkt was definitely surprised because he received nasty blow before his contingencies worked.
That surprise attack was enough for him to hesistate and try to move away from big bad barbarian. Worked well for Simon because after pushing mage back, he whipped out a shiny and magical amulet. Amulet which was revealed to be bandits doom as fireballs started raining inside the tent. Whoever was fast enough or lucky enough to survive balls of fiery death, was met with icy cold blade of Varscona. Funny because first one to get hit was also last one to die.
Fight being too short and blood still boiling inside his mighty muscles, Simon Inferno'ed entire camp.
Cloakwood forest didn't catch Simon's attention for too long. Most of the woods was skipped. There were two short stops only. One to bake spider's nest from inside using fireballs from amulet and second to kill wyvern and cash that 2000gp reward.
Surprisingly fight with Drasus' team was one of the most difficult. Drasus himself was led away and easily killed in 1v1. With boots of speed Simon felt fastest in the world. Moving to quickly finish rest of enemies, he was stopped by two mages who turned him into magical pincushion. Even with greenstone amulet and rage he was still vulnerable to spells like Ray of Enfeeblement or Blidness, Slow or Greater Malison. They rained spells so heavily on him resulting in retreat on frickin Slow. That was hard too cuz third guy was rangeding him all the time. Two invisibility potions later(one dispelled) and additional guards picked up by accident, Simon managed to escape with 8HP! I was sure that was end of run already. After resting Simon buffed himself and deployed hit and run strategy with untill he killed one mage then it was just rush to slay another mage while ignoring ranged attacks of the third guy. Also with boots of speed and AC still so low, Simon finally gathered his courage and moved to fight against one of the greatest Swordsmen in the Realms. A fight where he didn't swing a sword even once. Running around on double haste and shooting Drizzt with arrows+2 and biting untill his fall. Rage and Greenstone amulet protected from his spells. Heavy blow to the reputation was quickly bought back. At least till 18 rep.
Most of the cloakwood mines were skipped. Some hacking where it was needed and one use of Sandthief's ring near the end to skip annoying part.
Davaeorn fight was a joke. In my previous run with mage/thief I noticed that Davaeorn's protective spells dont activate unless he sees you... Gulping down few offensive and defensive potions Simon used another charge of Sandthief's ring and rushed to the mage. Traps activated but didn't even scratch the barbarian. Curious thing was two battle horrors leaving Davaeorn's side after traps were activated. They went to starting room which was empty? Anyway Simon wasn't going to complain and just struck Davaeorn.
What proved to be fatal. With 25 str and 4APR Simon have slain Davaeorn before he could even teleport himself. No complaining again. Simon pillaged mage's lair, flooded the mines and left for Baldur's Gate.
In Baldur's Gate there were few delicious targets. First of all tome of dex was snatched from thiefs. Quest for anti-missile shield was completed quickly. Mage with 9000gp ring was slain effortlessly. Helm of balduran was gathered easily too. Ring of fire protection and one of Drizzt's scimitars nullified the trap. For the founder's cloak Simon had to pay visit to Ragefast first. After killing him and gettin cloak from grateful Nymph he went down to Siren's cellar and charmed the girl with Cloak of Balduran. Later that day there was announcment about one of courtesans going mad and attacking one of the guards! The poor lad had to defend himself and killed lunatic woman. After taking the cloak from her cold body, son of evil god felt his blood sing for murder once again. Next morning Flaming fist found entire tower of Ramazith destroyed and ransacked with the mage himself dead and his magical items missing. All magical items collected, recharged and bought, Simon turned towards the Iron Throne.
Barbarian who drank 10+ potions is destruction incarnate. There was no special strat or tricks. Simond moved up the stairs and rained arrows of detonations on the acolites. He managed to sent 3 before fighters swarmed him. Switching to swords he just hacked them down. Some run and hit was deployed here but it was mostly done to finish other low targets then to dodge and kite.
Nothing interesting happened in Candlekeep. Ran away from the ogre mage ambush and left them for later. In dungeons collected tomes and some magic items. Entire run through underground was done fully protected from fire, lightning and magical damage. Prat and basilisk were skipped using Sandthief's Ring.
Slythe was a joke without his backstab. Dispelled with one arrow and then sliced in to pieces. Only strat required here is luring him away from his sadistic wife. Kristine was as easy thanks to varscona. That +1 cold dmg was invaluable during entire run, the best mage interruptor.
With most of content cleared except Durlag's Tower and Werewolf Island Simon wasn't sure what to do next. Because I wanted to finish no-reload and not risk stupid death to some trap and Im not intending to do SoD run at all, Simon chose ending his brothers live as main priority. So Ducal Palace was the next stop. Once again Simon the Barbarian was drunk and wasted from the amount of magic infused liquid he just consumed. The fight itself was quite smooth and easy. I think that newest version of EE or SCS itself made this fight a lot easier than it was before. As soon as fight starts Liia protects herself with various spells. Including stoneskin, mirror image, glove of invulnerability AND PfMW! Both fights I did here on EE she was without scratch. Most of dopplers ignore her completely when they see her buffed up.
Shot each of them with Arrow of Dispelling and cut them down one by one with occasional interrupt of priest or mage.
After palace once again Simon protected himself fully from fire, lightning, magical dmg and undead. With that he rushed through maze full of traps and skipped underground party with invisibility potion. Tamoko was spared as always(that's for you my bro!!).
Simon made short stop to get himself ready before finally entering temple of Bhaal. There were slight problems with Sarevok's strategy. Barbarians blood called once again and Simon fired arrow of dispelling into Sarevok too fast. When he moved back to park everybody in a corner, Sarevok was faaaar behind his hasted companions. Luckily no harmful spell landed on him and he took only some damage from arrows before Sarevok arrived and Simon slipped back into invisibility. After that it was waiting game. With how OP Barbarian is I could probably just go straight to them and rip them apart, but because it was my first succesfull no-reload run I didn't want to risk anything and waited for all of their protections to end, including that loooong PfM scroll. When it finally ran off Simon chugged army of potions and charged straight into combat. Like with Iron Throne there were 3 arrows of detonation fired, few dispelling for mages and then whirlwind of blades.
Simon tried 1v1 with Sarevok. Almost managed it but his dmg was too high. Getting smacked for 45 dmg each time, Simon managed to bring him to heavily injured before he had to retreat back few steps and drink few health potions. After that two blows were needed to put his brother down and save the swordcoast!
There it is guys. First no-reload accomplished. Wasn't expecting it to be Barbarian as I always have been mage+something class. But damn it was really satisfying. It's time for BG2 now and honestly Im not seeing it going as well as first part.
I'm not going to lower any difficulty settings except get rid of 1/2 reputation ratio so its going to be carnage
Sadly I'm not really into SoD. I dislike it greatly cuz of some decisions and Im against even buying it.
On the more positive note finishing this run forced me to finally purchase BG2 enhanced edition for the first time and I discovered there was great discount on all RPG games so I ended with IWD EE, Planescape Torment EE, NWN EE and many others
Journal of Bjorn the Bold.
Only enemy of significance at the moment was a dragon.
The judicious use of items found elsewhere in SoD enabled us to clear the temple of Bhaal.
In earlier games the mindflayer was a major problem, however with enrage and protective items he wasn't much of a problem at all. Baeloth's intelligence was reduced to 5, but a good night's sleep rectified that. Now just outside the crusader camp. We have been promised access by a patrol that we released. Now time for bed.
We got into Bridgefort after taking loot from the Crusade: Ale for the irregulars; a Planatar Feather; a scroll; and suchlike.
EDIT
The battle at Bridgefort was intense, but went according to plan.
Now at the Coalition Camp.
We have been given three quests to do in the direction of Dragonspear Castle: finding a bear skin, finding Skie, and discovering what Hephernon is up to. We set off and in an area where magic doesn't work Baeloth was killed by backstabbing due to lack of protections. In the next area we had to attempt to rest several times before we succeeded. We could then raise and heal him.
In future perhaps we should perhaps either go through that area without him, or have raise dead memorised beforehand.