I played a reasonable amount in the past with a wild mage called Wimp, who had 3s in all stats other than intelligence of 9. That was on LoB difficulty, which made making progress time-consuming.
For this run I've used EEKeeper to reduce all stats to 3. It's on core difficulty though and, with a sorcerer rather than a wild mage, progress should be pretty quick. To partly compensate for that, Wuss won't be allowed to use any consumable magic items (wands, potions, scrolls etc).
The first aim was to get to level 4 in order to learn invisibility for safe travel. Throwing 69 darts at a blinded Shoal was enough for level 3. Marl and some sleeping spiders got a bit more XP in Beregost before I set off for the FAI. I killed a sleeping ogre on the way, but didn't have the weight allowance to carry that and had to use quick loot to take it to the FAI. The Ring of Wizardry gave me plenty of chances to blind Tarnesh and I got him at the 3rd attempt. I also recovered a ring for Joia before returning south (during the day time to avoid bandit ambushes).
I humped some boots back to Beregost for Zhurlong, but realised before speaking to him he would be put off by my low charisma. However, Mirianne was happy for me to recover a letter from some ogrillons. Blinding Silke was then enough for level 4 (which gained me precisely 0 HPs).
It took 43 +1 darts to kill the golems at High Hedge, which felt a bit expensive but money won't be an issue for this run. I also picked up Perdue's sword and returned that after eliminating a blinded Karlat.
Next it was on to the basilisk area where wandering round after Korax quickly gained me level 5 - with the restriction on consumable items meaning I can't use scrolls, I decided to take find familiar as one of my spell choices there. The remaining basilisks and Mutamin took me to level 6, but rather than rest for Kirian I just blinded her companions before sending Korax in. Baerin and a wild dog killed him, but he did paralyze Kirian first and I managed to finish her off. Blindness is a long-lasting spell and, even with my poor dexterity, I was able to kill the others. Lindin was last and I ran out of standard darts with him down to 1 HP. He would have been easily finished off if I'd rested of course, but I decided it would be more satisfying to finish the job immediately. I still had a few +1 darts left from the golems and the 4th one of those did the job.
The 5 lb weight restriction is rather tiresome when it comes to looting, so next I headed for the Lighthouse - just stopping on the way to successfully restore Melicamp. Now I had web and skull trap available and tried that combination out on the first group of sirines. A few magic missiles in addition killed 2 of them and the final one was hunted down after a rest. Sil's group failed to survive the webs.
Inside the pirate cave, I used MSD to defeat the charm trap before pulling the golems outside one by one and filling them full of 69 more +1 darts. I'd taken identify at the previous level, so was able to read the tome immediately - bumping HPs up from 9 to 16 (I only belatedly realised I'd not yet summoned a familiar at this point). I could also make use of Relair's Mistake to change into wolf shape (as that ability is at will, rather than limited, I'm not treating it as a consumable) and enjoy a huge increase in carrying capacity.
Skull traps quickly cleared the battle horrors outside Durlag's Tower. MSD got me past the trap onto the roof where web, blindness and skull traps accounted for the basilisks - getting me to level 8.
MSD then let me back into the Tower and grab the wisdom tome. I finished my work there by giving Riggilo some dodgy nymph hair before blinding him.
I invisibly waved at an ambushing basilisk on my way back to civilisation.
@Alesia_BH Oh, I remember that run - especially the Draconis battle. Took me quite a while to figure out how I could actually kill him, I think I kept leaving the area and returning with a new approach. Too bad I never figured out a way to beat Mel.
Great progress on your thief. Looking forward to seeing her adventures in Amn!
@Borco I'm a big fan of death spell as well - though there are SO many great 6th level spells, choices can be very difficult, especially in party play.
The Avatars (Enuhal's version) - Update XVI
We made it to SoA. With that, we have reached a personal goal I have set for myself. I expected to make it through BG1, maybe with a few character deaths (I would've predicted maybe 3, we ended up having 4 - Corey died twice to ankhegs, Alesia died twice to archdruids in Cloakwood), because I'm fairly confident in my early gameplay, especially with a totemic druid in my party. I also expected to make it safely through SoD, because SoD is quite deterministic once you get the hang of it. There just aren't going to be many surprises.
SoA is where things will start becoming way more interesting and potentially difficult. We are somewhat limited in our early questing options due to fun features like guaranteed lich spawns on insane SCS. The run could be over at any point now whenever we face a high level spellcaster while we don't have the full arsenal of protections yet - or it could not, and we could make it quite deep into the game. Let's see how far we can make it.
Things start off easy enough. The initial ogre mage isn't protected against breach (though he already suffers from morale failure when our breach spell finishes):
We use our vast arsenal of summons in smaller groups so we can easily make it through the dungeon with the one opportunity to rest that we get. Fire elementals are very hard to kill for most opponents in early SoA - and in the dungeon, the same is true for spirit animals. Malison + chaos deals with the duergar group, though Alesia suffers a magic missle hit:
We've only used skeletons and fire elementals so far, saving our spirit animals for the air elemental plane. On level 2, we use invisibility 10' radius and haste for a quick assault on the mephit portals:
We rest shortly before taking on the vampire - easy enough with our powerful summons and a few magic missles. The spirit lions take out the next and final duergar mage while we wait. True sight deals with the shadow thieves.
Out of the dungeon, we only buy scroll cases and gem bags for now. A short visit to the circus tent - true sight and the Sword of Chaos +2 are very helpeful here, and so are our spirit animals - we once again use strength of one or just regular strength spells to buff up our fighters, and with all of the divine and arcane buffs - prayer, recitation, double emotion and the like - they still can impress despite the loss of equipment:
Before moving on to the slums, we rest and take on Mencar's party. We buff up, summon, go invisible and Alesia gets the opening backstab on the wizard while the others take out his familiar:
We throw down malison and slow, confuse and paralyze the thief, static charge the berserker and eventually even hold Mencar:
This is going to be our modus operandi for most difficult battles in the early game. At this point, totemic druids are at the peak of their power - not a lot of things can resist 3 spirit animals, 2 fire elementals and an insect plague in early SoA, especially not when we can start combat from invisibility and have chant, recitation, emotion: hope and emotion: courage going, amongst other things. Malison is a great addition for almost every battle - we use slow and chaos quite a lot, it also helps in making insect plague more powerful and it even helps the spirit wolves in their paralyzation attempts. Other than that, most of our spells are protective in nature, though we do have spell thrust/secret word/breach etc. in our arsenal if needed.
We move on to the government district right away, not lingering in the slums, because we want the magic license ASAP, not wanting to share the fate of poor @Grond0 . We help Viconia and Jan before moving back to Copper Coronet, where Enuhal wins a duel with the help of 2 spirit wolves before we take down the slavers:
After a quick rest, we enter the sewers and use our summons to clear them, acquiring Lilarcor - a weapon that Corey will use for quite a long time. We move back and rest, entering the slaver's ship from the front. Better calls for help means that slavers start trickling in, eventually the gnome wizard approaches - and since I've learned that spell deflection can't stop hold monster, I've decided to memorize it just to try it out while the enemy wizards don't have unbeatable saving throws yet:
Alesia attempts to backstab the other wizard, but fails with a rather bad roll - he is so confused by the meek attempt that his pre-buffs are utterly lackluster, so the others quickly move in and save our mage/thief:
Okay, that one was my fault- bad weapon, no strengh boost. We will do better with backstabbing soon. Well, we set up shop upstairs and more slavers pour in from the east - eventually, we cast malison and are able to confuse the captain:
With that being done, we have the cash to buy the belt of hill giant strength for Corey, which will be very helpful. We always travel under invisibility 10' radius in the early game. When we get into an ambush, we get to have some fun with malison + insect plague + chaos + slow, which, in combination with true sight, can deal with pretty much every one of them:
After clearing the pirate lair at the docks, Alesia gets another shot at backstabbing at Prebek's house:
Much better. She can even leave and re-stealth to do it again. We move to the graveyard because it's nighttime, so we can turn in the bear and move on to some crypt-clearing. We deal with the king and use fireball at the spider's nest:
For the southern crypt, we just summon our elementals and spirit animals before going invisible for the entire area:
As we try travelling to the bridge, we encounter the poisoned man. We're invisible anyway, so why not start with another backstab?
That's the stuff. Alesia is getting better at this. We help out Xzar and move to the bridge for real this time - oh, another ambush?
Honestly, malison with any type of AoE crowd control is really satisfying.
We deal with Tidir's kidnappers and enter Saerk's compound - which turns out to be a bit of trouble in our first major mistake of SoA, as we have static charge active from an earlier encounter (it lasts super long, so I don't even remember from which one) - and since two innocents down at the first floor turn hostile here (which is why we don't use summons in this place), one of them got hit by static charge, causing a heavy loss in reputation. We decided to spend quite a lot of money at the nearby temple to help with that. Now that we're mentioning money: We have invested in some early game items, such as a traveler's robe, The Sleeper for Grond0, The Mauler for Grim Face, Biter +2 and the Shield of the Flaming Fist for Enuhal (the only items imported from SoD that we will propably use)... soon to come, a piece of ankheg armor from the bridge and charm protection helmet + blunting belt/grounding boots from the temple district. Also, of course, the staff of striking for Alesia. First, though, we use true sight to kill some rune assassins:
We travel to the temple district, pick up some more quests, buy the aforementioned items, and run into another ambush during the Sir Sarles questline - two wizards this time around, but still, a malisone'd insect plague is hard to beat:
We deal with the fallen paladins, Sir Sarles and the Lathander follow-up quest, but more importantly, we move downstairs into the temple sewers. Here we get our first glance at more powerful opponents - but it's a short glance, because we are fully buffed, summoned and invisible, and Alesia has her staff of striking now, so her backstabs are quite a bit more dangerous:
Very quick and efficient cleanup from the others:
We take all that great gear with us (we'll spend the money on bracers of AC 3 and 4 for both wizards). Down here, at the south-western intersection, we also have one of our first really dangerous encounters that only spawns due to insane SCS settings (maximized random spawns) - a beholder and two gauths. Luckily, as they teleport in, they need a round to actually get going, and our party stays safely out of sight while our summons do enough damage to deal with what would otherwise be a potentially very messy battle:
Finally, we decide to get some vengeance for Grond0 (though he has already avenged himself) and take down the bridge district party. It's another quick invisible backstab + kill operation:
We had placed down traps outside, but ended up not using them. Since we've also had our final vampire encounter this night, we used our remaining money to pay Gaelan and get our RoP +2 and AoP before quickly dealin with Lassal and the guild contact (charm protection for everyone via helmets of chaotic commands or being an inquisitor, 2*magic missles, static charge):
Our final few non-stronghold quests were located outside of the city - we turned in the acorns at Windspear, completed the Umar Hills sidequests (using potions of freedom we had randomly picked up to help with the mimic) and entered Watcher's Keep level 1 - minus the statues, of course. Vampirit wraiths are quite dangerous at these levels, we left our party mostly in the back, used a raging Grond0 and our full array of summons. Grond0 still took a ton of damage, and we had to come in with a few magic missles to kill the final wraith:
Our first encounter with spirit trolls here - I protected Enuhal from fire, got Corey and Enuhal chaotic commands and so I felt safe assisting our summons with those two (which was needed, because trolls are one thing our summons aren't very good against):
The potion case and ammo belt will be quite useful. Now, we have done all the reasonable non-stronghold content. I guess we should start at the druid grove next time around.
Before we start I have to say that I had to re-make my setup with the latest version of Ascension 2.0.23, removed ‘ToB style NPC’ tweak due to glitch with Imoen, no Max hp / 100% spell learning and added some quality of life mods like BG2 Improved GUI.
I also forgot to mention my self-imposed rules of fair play for this run (and those are just my general rules when playing games - no cheats/exploits or cheap tactics, the way I see it).
Here they are:
- do not attack neutral characters, even if you know by metagaming that the fight is inevitable;
- if your opponents are able to use SCS pre-buffing - let them fire’em all before attacking and do not interrupt (none of them prevented you from preparing for the battle);
- do not use green scrolls of protection (specifically Protection from Magic green scroll) offensively (they are not meant for that);
- do not abuse *switching areas going through the doors back and force* only to drain your opponents of spells;
- try to explore and clean an area in one go when you’ve first entered it (so I have to choose carefully where to go and when);
- do not use *out of sight attacks*, i.e. you can scout, prepare (buffs, AoE spells etc.) and then show yourself to your foes.
So, without further ado let get started:
- Candlekeep: With 570gp to start with we were able to equip ourselves with all we needed. Out of my rustiness I forgot one errand with crossbow bolts for Fuller but that’s ok;
- Lion's Way: We joined with Imoen if only to escort her to the nearest safe place then explored the whole area killing 2 Mutated Gibberlings and a single Dire Wolf (I remember more of those in TUTU). Xzar and Montaron were left alone;
- Coast Way: Again the first thing we've noticed there is that enemy packs are much less numerous compared to earlier versions of BGT or TUTU. Collected Ring of Protection +1, killed some Xvarts and Mutated Gibberlings then proceeded North to the Friendly Arm Inn;
- Friendly Arm Inn: First we've made a reconnaissance around the Keep, obtained two Rings (one just by chance, another from the breathless and rapidly cooling bodies of some Hobgoblins) then entered the Keep itself. There we met our first wannabe bounty hunter Tarnesh. Enuhal called for Spirit Bear and cast Bless, Grond0 enraged and they both advanced on the steps while the rest hid around the corner. Tarnesh immediately fired Magic Missiles on Grond0 but Spirit Bear already hit him so hard that he panicked, Corey cast True Sight to dispel false images, another crit from Bear and it's all over. Inside the inn we left Imoen in auntie Jaheira's care. Ever curious Alesia tried to check local containers and wardrobes on account of something useful but with her abysmal Open Locks skill the result was quite diminishing. Grim Face cast Friends spell to talk with Landrin and got six Antidote potions so everyone has their share (except Grond0 - I'm going to respect his resentment of those alone with Potions of Healing). We also obtained some frilly underpants from the collection long been obsolete and Joia got her flamedance ring back;
- Back in the Coast Way Grond0 dealt with an Ogre single handedly, performing something vaguely resembling a tune: "Crit Hit> Hit> Crit Hit> Crit Miss> Hit> Crit Hit". Grim Face adorned his waist with Unshey's belt (at least for the time being, though usually I return it immediately to the rightful owner...) and we cleared the rest of the area;
- Beregost (Day 4, Hour 5): We arrived early in the Dawn. There was little sense in checking all the houses for the loot at the moment so we just inspected local inns, talked to named characters and got their tasks if any: Mirianne, Firebead Elvenhair, Marl, Bjornin, Gurke, Zhurlong. Huge Spiders were lured outside and shot down, but Karlat refused to follow that way, so we just left him for later.
- South of Beregost: Grond0 soloed the Ogrillons and was rewarded by Mirianne with an enchanted ring. Then we finished with that area cleaning;
- North Nashkel Road: Again Grond0 mostly soloed that area while Enuhal called for Spirit Bear to deal with a single Hobgoblin Elite (an overkill, sure, but I’m still not accustomed with new spawns’ sizes and I remember at least four of those there…). No Vampiric Wolfs or bandits either;
- Nashkel: Found Ankheg’s Mail for Corey, Alesia stoically endured Noober, we talked with locals and got some quests. Didn’t enter the Inn for now.
- Xvart Village: Again the population of Xvarts there is quite scarce (I believe there were like less than a dozen of them in total while in TUTU there was a real horde). Alesia claimed a finishing shot on Ursa the Cave Bear (after Grim Face blinded them), then on another one from the cave (who saved vs two Blindness spells in a row) so from now on she is known as Alesia the Bear Claw. Grim Face still wonders if that’s for the necklace of teeth and fur hoody she wears, or perhaps haute couture fashion and manicure salons are just poorly established in that region (and all that while, as they say, all the money in the world (or most of it) is made on nails and eyebrows)… We also rested there and Grim Face got Cure Light Wounds special ability.
Noted re Death Spell, thanks. For Daelat, it had mostly been a style pick - while it's good, and definitely fun to fiddle with (see spoiler below), it's not really the most substaniable choice and I feel that it's not going to age well. Death Fog would have been the more "responsible" option, although I had dropped the idea due to concerns about achieving 100% acid resistance (taking ProAcid at L5 was a no-go).
Anyway, my thinking around L6 had mainly been driven by two assumptions: 1) taking magic damage resistance at L8 via ProEnergy + BoIB, which eliminates the need for L6 ProMagicEnergy, and 2) having sufficient abjuration firepower to face enemy spellcasters without the need for PW: Silence. We still want GoI and we do miss True Sight for convenience reasons, but other than that L6 seems less of a bottleneck in Daelat's case when compared to L5.
Finally, we decide to get some vengeance for Grond0 (though he has already avenged himself) and take down the bridge district party. It's another quick invisible backstab + kill operation:
Just a quick update on two encounters in Athkatla.
First, there was the unresolved issue regarding MaeVar and his thieves. Daelat entered the guild cellar through the back entrance at the jetty and prepared with MMMs, Stoneskin, Resist Fear, Spell Shield, Blur, Fireshield: Blue, II, SI:A and SI:D (notably missing Shield and ProEvil though - our buff routine could really use an improvement).
We opened with meteors at the Priest of Cyric while MaeVar was finishing his divination cast.
It came as a bit of a disappointment when the cleric turned out to be the only foe that actually got affected by our Death Spell.
Nevertheless, the positioning of the remaining rogues in following round provided us with an ideal opening for our power move - sequenced 3x Skull Trap.
M&Ms for the finish.
With the cellar clear, we fired up our Mirror Images and proceeded upstairs. It was quite satisfying to watch Gorch's fat belly explode from a meteor.
Expecting an army of backstabbing and potion quaffing thieves, we then switched BoIB for the Girdle of Piercing. Once they've arrived, Daelat first diluted their ranks with Death Spell*.
*Apparently, as we found out during the second wave of the incoming thieves, the AoE effect of the spell does not seem to affect (target) invisible / stealthed enemies. Could be interesting to see whether one could protect his summons against enemy mages' Death Spells that way.
At one point during the fight, we had to go invisible and reapply our buffs (kudos to us for adding Shield + ProEvil this time around) before clearing the remaining rogues with Sunfires.
The second encounter involved Mencar's crew at Waukeens' Promenade. Daelat played it safe - wearing BoIB once again, he buffed with MMMs, Stoneskin, Resist Fear, Shield, Blur, ProEvil, Spell Shield, MIs, Fireshield: Blue, II, SI:A, SI:D, SI:En, MGoI (scroll) and PfMW.
Ayla, Halfling Thief: Chateau Irenicus (Or I’ll Get By With a Little Help)
In my quick note on Ayla’s run I said I was enjoying my time in BG2. I lied. I am not enjoying it- not at all. Or at least I wasn’t enjoying it back when Ayla was in the Chateau. I have never -never- been more terrified while playing a game. The Chateau was straight up torture, and I’m oh, so happy it’s over. More importantly, I'm oh, so happy that I've rediscovered a bit of ancient wisdom. Good times are ahead for Ayala and I, even if they weren't behind.
If BG1 felt like a different world to me following my six year absence, BG2 has felt like a different universe: it’s foreign and surreal. I remember things, but not quite right. It’s like a hall of mirror and hideously distorted me keeps bumping into walls. Ayla is glad I haven’t broke anything yet. I’m equally glad that I didn’t suffer the ignominy of a Chateau exit. Ayla deserves better than that.
The trouble started over by the mineral mephit, near the sewage golem. Ayla landed an opening backstab but then she couldn’t connect with follow up blows. Worse still, the mephit started regenerating. This is new, I guess? I think? In any case, it quickly became clear that Ayla was in over her head, and, more troublingly, that I was too. Ayla ducked around a corner and hit the shadows, leaving the mephit behind.
Ayla found Reliev. I knew I was supposed to be in the room, but I didn’t recall why. Something about power cells or a stone? That’s right: the stone. The stone awakens the golem, the golem opens the door. It felt good to remember something, but it was terrifying that the thing I remembered was so basic. It’s going to be a long road…
We got the stone, juked the mephit again, and headed down the hallway, following the golem. I had a mini-cascade of remembrances, but it was all hazy: so many dangers, so many solutions once known. I didn’t want to get Ayla killed. I was certain I would. I just wanted out.
Somehow, someway, Ayla killed the otyugh with backstabs and made it to Ellisime’s room, despite a few miscues from rusty me.
I set off two traps -two of the most memorable traps in the dungeon: the poisoned chest near the otyugh and the acid blob trap. The first I had straight up forgotten, the second was tripped by a misclick. I really wanted out; Ayla was starting to doubt me. We grabbed the Claw, made it to the portal, and teleported to Yoshimo. We were on to the next hurdle.
With my memories hazy, and Ayla desperate to see Athkatla, I decided to let Yoshimo join for the mephit room. His special snares destroyed the first two portals, a backstab the fourth, the third and last fell to katana swipes. Yoshimo was released, Ayla was one step closer to freedom.
From this point on we made a mad dash for the exit under stealth. I was thrilled when we cleared the wand hall, terrified again when I realized I had made a wrong turn, then another wrong turn. Ayla was grateful when I finally, on my third try, found the right corridor. Ayla raced to freedom; I was relieved.
Once the cutscene ended, and Ayla was left on the promenade, I realized I was going to need a little help. I turned to myself, or, more precisely, the version of myself that piloted my bounty hunter, Alesia, to the Throne, and soon after ran a clone of Alora to the Underdark before abandoning her. That was 2011.
Re-reading those posts was a pleasure- I can’t thank @Serg_BlackStrider enough for hosting them for us. I had revisited them with the intent of relearning tactics. In the process, I rediscovered the history of our collective friendship. 2011 was when I ran my bounty hunter. It was also when I and The Avatars players were first getting to know each other. @Enuhal was running his solo totemic druid; @Serg_BlackStrider had Strider and Co, the band; @Grond0 was still seeking his first victory; @Corey_Russell was maintaining the Hall of Heroes. I re-learned much, but of all the things I re-discovered, the most important was a Rudyard Kipling line, from the poem If, which @Grond0 had shared:
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same
Ayla may not make it. In fact she probably won't. But I will strive to enjoy the journey, however it may end. I hope you all will enjoy following along with me. I'll post on Ayla's early Athkatla quests soon.
Arriving at Nashkel, I rested to get Bhaal CLW before moving on to the Nashkel Mine. Greywolf was blinded before I went into the mine. As I now had stoneskins, as well as relatively plentiful HPs, the traps there were no longer a threat. I avoided most combat on the way to Mulahey and used webs and skull traps to destroy him without talking.
I reported in to the mayor in Nashkel before webbing Nimbul. The same fate befell Tranzig, though he broke free before the end and had to be finished off with a magic missile.
I really wanted another level before doing the Bandit Camp so looked around for some quick XP. The ogre clan and then the sirines in Shoal's area were webbed and skull trapped. Brage was delivered back to Nashkel and I intended to do the Doomsayer, but even with a decent reputation Charleston Nib wanted nothing to do with my charisma of 3. Instead, I went back to the Valley of the Tombs and blinded the Revenant. The ghasts were pulled out of their tomb and killed, while Narcillicus was just bombed from afar - I didn't fancy taking on the mustard jellies. Webbing the amazons was enough though for my final BGEE level.
I'd originally wanted that level in order to get MGoI to protect against the lightning trap in Tazok's tent. However, thinking ahead a bit further, this character will struggle in the fight at the palace and I decided to take greater malison instead to help there. At the Camp I bypassed the external bandits and went straight to Tazok's tent. The others were blinded before Raemon died in a skull trap.
Once the tent was clear I risked the trap. I used mirrors there, though they shouldn't really help. MSD has sometimes protected against lightning, but I wasn't certain of the current behavior (though I think it at least sometimes protects against an initial hit, but not a bounce) . I expected to be able to survive one hit and did indeed do so - with Mulahey's boots saving me.
I went invisibly through the Cloakwood to get to the mine. Drasus and his party were all blinded to ensure none of them would escape - though simple skull trapping would probably have been enough there. After going invisibly through the mine there was another gauntlet of traps to run. With that successfully done, 3 skull traps killed the battle horrors and Davaeorn.
After flooding the mine and resting I realised I'd made another mistake. I'd intended to get Bhaal horror to use in conjunction with malison at the palace, but failed to reduce my reputation and got another slow poison. Without scrolls, the lack of horror means I have no party friendly area effects I can use - reducing my chances of success.
In the City I mainly just went after the tomes, though blinding and skull trapping Ramazith also provided me with an upgraded RoP and an extra L2 spell from the amulet. The poison quest saw Larze and Marek both webbed and blinded. The other bit of equipment I wanted was the ring of free action, so took on the party at the Iron Throne. That went well and, when the webs ended and Gardush charged me, he was down to 3 HPs (so was an easy target for a magic missile). The other 2 still hanging on at near death were Alai (who had been blinded at the start of the fight) and Aasim (who had just been stunned by a dart).
Thinking ahead at this point, I remembered there will be a couple of dangerous fireball traps to come, so went to get the ring of fire resistance from Samuel's area. Then it was back to make a first use of summons (Monster 1) to help clear the dopplegangers at the Seven Suns.
At Candlekeep I rested to get DUHM, then looted the tombs. DUHM increased HPs to 37 and stoneskins, mirrors, fire resistance rings and MSD proved sufficient protection against the traps. The change from strength 3 to 4 increased my standard weight limit from 5 lb to the heady heights of 15 lb. That will reduce the reliance on Relair's Mistake, which will be helpful. Activating that counts as your magic action for a round, so is not great to use during battles. In addition the duration of the wolf effect is very variable and can be extremely short (less than a round), which can also cause a problem during a combat.
I avoided any encounters in the rest of the Candlekeep catacombs and just travelled back to Baldur's Gate invisibly. Slythe saved against webs only when at near death and then attacked a nearby summons rather than Wuss.
At the palace I buffed with stoneskins, mirrors and DUHM and produced 5 monsters before showing myself. Malison was cast on the dopplegangers as they appeared, followed by stunning darts. Those disabled one of the dopplegangers early on, but unfortunately none of them attacked me - so the dukes were soon in trouble. With Liia dead and Belt at near death I cast invisibility on him with the aim of getting the dopplegangers to switch targets. That had partial success - so I did it again the next round. That resulted in the last 2 dopplegangers attacking me and they quickly chewed through stoneskins. I tried to re-establish those, but the spell was interrupted leaving me at near death. One of the dopplegangers was shot down by my 2 remaining monsters, but I didn't want to run from the last out of the room as that would be likely to get him to switch targets again. It looked on the screen as though I had maintained a safe distance, but in a crowded environment that becomes harder to judge and it appears the doppleganger managed to get a fatal claw into range ...
That fight could easily have gone my way, but I probably should have gone for the invisibility option a round or two earlier (when it was clear none of the dopplegangers were going to attack me initially) and run round once I was attacked. That would probably have given me enough edge to carry the day. I think I'll have another go to see if Wuss can make it a bit further. Of course, if he does get to Sarevok his relatively slim attacking resources could well be overstretched. I'll have to think further about that fight to see if I can come up with better options.
Edit: just realised I did have an area effect spell I could have used - sleep. I always tend to forget about that as I've played quite a lot of modded games where the dopplegangers are immune to sleep (as they really should be). However, in the unmodded game it would definitely have been worth a go at the start of the fight.
I also forgot to mention my self-imposed rules of fair play for this run (and those are just my general rules when playing games - no cheats/exploits or cheap tactics, the way I see it).
Here they are:
- do not attack neutral characters, even if you know by metagaming that the fight is inevitable;
- if your opponents are able to use SCS pre-buffing - let them fire’em all before attacking and do not interrupt (none of them prevented you from preparing for the battle);
- do not use green scrolls of protection (specifically Protection from Magic green scroll) offensively (they are not meant for that);
- do not abuse *switching areas going through the doors back and force* only to drain your opponents of spells;
- try to explore and clean an area in one go when you’ve first entered it (so I have to choose carefully where to go and when);
- do not use *out of sight attacks*, i.e. you can scout, prepare (buffs, AoE spells etc.) and then show yourself to your foes.
Sensible and refreshing. I'm excited for this run!
To prepare for spirit trolls at the druid grove, we learned 5 fire resistance spells and 3 chaotic commands (Corey will have to rely on his saves, Grond0 on his rage to counter greater commands). We have Biter +2 as a constant source of acid damage. Unholy blight is still somewhat of a problem, but can only hurt a few of us. I propably want to have more slow spells here, but 3 level slots are mostly used for fire resistance so we can be immune to the frequent flamestrikes:
We start with skeletons and fire elementals as our allies, saving spirit animals for later. During our first big encounter against spirit trolls, Grond0 has to stay back for a while due to strength drain, and we continue without him:
Since chaos doesn't work on trolls, malison + slow is one of our better options here if we want caster support that actually does something:
While greater earth elementals can hit hard, this one isn't able to do much and is killed by a quick static charge:
Grond0 is now able to move again, so we buff up for the troll mound, enter quickly, call in one spirit animal (one fire elemental has died) and fight with the help of two frost giant strength potions and two agility potions. Relatively clear and easy victory (also using true sight) - the buffs make a huge difference. We take down the first group of shadow druids while they're still busy fighting trolls and cast invisibility 10' radius before moving on to the next. Sadly, Alesia's backstab isn't that great, though she was missing any strength buffs (my mistake):
However, malison + chaos does a pretty decent job here, as quite a few of these guys don't have chaotic commands amongst their pre-buffs:
Since our chaotic commands are still going and we have strength potions to make the best out of, we quickly move on and take down the spore colonies. A big battle on the bridge ensues as we can't kill all of them quickly enough, but we cast a second haste spell and are able to move forward, using 4 healing potions on Grond0 and Corey while we fight past a few shambling mounds. Corey gets close towards the group of 3 druids guarding Faldorn and uses insquisitor dispel (successful) before the party moves in to take them out:
With that, we change our spellbook up for a bit, include enchant weapon (which, as it turns out, wasn't needed - I thought I needed +3 weapons to hit rakshasa, but +2 would've done it), rest and buff up for Adratha - we include a fire giant strength potion for Grond0. She's taken out right away:
One of her allies falls as he lacks PFMW and we dispel MI and hack through stoneskins. The other one does have PFMW, but no protections that would stop a breach spell:
Finally, it's time for Enuhal to duel Faldorn. We use our totemic druid powers to call in spirit wolves, which is very quick in SoA because unlike in BG1, they don't cloud the aura in SoA. The wolves are able to interrupt Faldorn by getting through her stoneskins with their cold damage as we add static charge:
Not much happens after this - we cast alicorn lance to make the wolves' job easier, and Enuhal actually gets the last hit with the quarterstaff:
Back in Trademeet, we turn in the various quests, buy Blackblood, the belt of inertial barrier and the cloak of displacement and help Tiris before storming the nearby crypt. We return to the grove for the first stronghold quest - using malison and slow to great effect again:
We rest for a week so we can do the second quest right away. Chaos (the enemy, not the spell) is actually quite dangerous, with a decent list of pre-buffs including improved haste. I decided not to dispel his spell protections, instead going through his stoneskins, which was propably a mistake. Our foe teleports around constantly, draining 2 levels with each hit. He also renews his stoneskins once we finally get through them. Both Alesia and Corey get level drained twice before we are finally able to win:
We rest, cast lesser restorations and now you can see why we wanted to do this quest right away - it's the 1,5m experience mark, which means level ups for literally everyone (this means improved haste for Grim Face and death spell for Alesia, plus a 7th level spell, either ISOM or NB, for Enuhal):
Since Enuhal gets level 14 through this, he can also do the final druid grove challenge right away. We buff him up a bit, include improved invisibility from one of our mages and call in spirit animals just as we did against Faldorn. However, this druid is a bit more deadly. He immediately casts nature's beauty, and we're happy that we have death ward:
This is bad. We can't to anything against the blindness - our only option is to even the playing field, with our own freshly acquired nature's beauty:
Since he's now blind as well, we can move outside of his spellrange and call in new non-blinded summons, such as a fire elemental (which gets confused for a while, but is soon free again, as the battle takes quite long). The spirit wolves finally start getting through the ironskins despite their blindness, and elemental deals the final chunk of damage:
This druid is an avenger as well, which is one of the reasons this battle took quite a while - he had improved invisibility going, and we had no true sight. Now, Enuhal is the great druid, master of the grove and we are hopefully ready to clear the next stronghold.
At the Nashkel Mines we killed Zargos Flinblade and greywolf before heading for the Gnoll Stronghold. Reputation now 18 but haven't reached the cave yet. We'll have plenty of loot to sell at Nashkell. Hack now has a decent axe. I need to visit Bassilus to get a decent hammer. Getting my rep up to 20 will be easy.
Ayla, Halfling Thief: Early Adventures in Athkatla, Part 1
When Ayla emerged in the promenade I was paralyzed by indecision. I didn't know where Ayla should go; danger was everywhere. I vaguely recalled that I used to do the circus quest before leaving the promenade, but I wasn't certain. After consulting Blackstrider.net to check my old thief runs, I decided to pick up some potions from Ribald and then head into the tent. That worked for Ayla, but it wasn't without risk.
The early encounter with the peasants went swimmingly. And well it should: it's super easy. It was, however, important for me, as I seek to rebuild my comfort level in BG2. You can always count on a pile of dismembered bodies to make you feel at home, amirite?
After stealthing through the illusion room, we hoped to add Kalah to the pile, aided by buffs tossed by Aerie prior to release. An opening backstab landed, but didn't quite do the trick. Victory seemed likely nonetheless. The question became: What will the potion bill be? A potion of firebreath? An oil of speed? A potion of strength? A healing potion or two? Nothing at all?
Happily, Ayla finished Kalah just before her strength hit the danger zone, allowing us to leave with her potion collection intact. Her first mission in Athkatla was a success, albeit a measured one.
Ayla's immediate objective was to fill out her defensive potion kit. She had a potion of invisibility, an oil of speed, a potion of strength and plenty of healing potions. That's a good start. To that she sought to add disabler defenses, with a potion of freedom and a potion of clarity, followed by elemental damage cushioning, via a potion of insulation and a potion of fire resistance. She bought what potions she could at Ribald's and then headed to the Slums.
As soon as I heard the familiar murmur of the Copper Coronet, Tuigan called. My prior single class thieves, Alesia and Alora, had scored Tuigan early, although there was a potion bill. It seemed worth a try for Ayla.
We started by setting two traps near the fighting pits and one near the Beastmaster, while hidden in shadows. We initiated combat and then broke for the traps. The Beastmaster was injured, and a few of the animals died. Ayla was happy with the start, and settled in for a laborious movement heavy battle against multiple foes.
The fight did not turn out as I expected. In prior versions of SCS, the Beastmaster and animals gave chase. Presently the Beastmaster stays put and the animals hang around him. For Ayla, this made the battle simpler and cheaper, but also more tedious. I can't say I love the change, although I haven't thought through how it would affect party play. There may be good logic behind it.
A few of the critters broke off from the Beastmaster. Suddenly Ayla felt like she was on the Sword Coast again. We're running around, fighting a gibbering with an unenchanted short bow? And we're landing 4hp crits? What is this, the Lion's Way?
After dropping the gibbering, we hit the shadows again. Turning the corner, we found the Beastmaster had gotten ahead of his animal protectors and turned his back to the pits, with his bow equipped. Apparently he was just done with it all. I can't say I blame him: Life as Lehtinan's lackey sounds unfun. We'll take it.
Just the animals left. I would have paid good money for a slower bears component here, lol. This took oodles of time.
Ayla freed Hendak and then backstabbed her way to Nalia. In the pre-SCS days one of the standard mods, either Tactics or the Questpack, would cause the guards to attack Nalia, potentially killing her and closing off the De'Arnise Keep. That's a serious annoyance for a no reload player. Ever since then I've always made a point of protecting Nalia, even if SCS appears to have this covered.
Once Hendak cut down Lehtinan, we headed to the Temple District with gold in hand, seeking our missing defensive potions and our preferred melee weapon.
Ayla is off to a solid start. I'll post on the Bridge District next.
This is bad. We can't to anything against the blindness
Sounds like a good reason for having a cure disease spell memorized (or neutralize poison) - with the AoP that's instant casting, so pretty good in a battle. I got caught out several times in my run when true sight removed blindness from enemies - is that why you didn't have that available?
Actually, it's worse than that. Nature's Beauty is bugged, or rather blindness with that timing mode is. Unless you apply a fix to the spell (I have one in my tweak mod, and that'll be in the EE fixpack when it comes out), the blindness effect cannot be dispelled or fully cured. It applies blindness as a permanent stat for the creature, rather than a removable effect. While a blindness cure effect will restore your vision range, it will not remove the 4-point penalties to THAC0 and AC.
This is not a big deal in the unmodified game, as there aren't any enemies that use Nature's Beauty. SCS lets high-level druids have it, and thus the bug becomes a problem.
Actually, it's worse than that. Nature's Beauty is bugged, or rather blindness with that timing mode is. Unless you apply a fix to the spell (I have one in my tweak mod, and that'll be in the EE fixpack when it comes out)
Fixing it in a save editor? I think so, but I'm not entirely sure of the details.
When applied with permanent timing modes, I think blindness decomposes into its components as CRE stats - the "BLIND" flag in the "Status" flag group (offset 0x20), a 4-point change in base THAC0 (at 0x52), and a 4-point change in base AC ("Effective AC" at 0x48; "Natural AC" at 0x46 is unused). I think that's what it does, anyway. Setting your "Effective AC" back to 10 and your base THAC0 back to what your class and level indicate should work, as long as you've already applied a cure effect to get rid of the "BLIND" flag.
Leveling up would also correct the base THAC0 in the CRE file by reading from the tables again, and wearing armor (or using any AC-setting spell) overrides the AC penalty.
I'm using the Near Infinity names for everything here. And of course, when embedded in a GAM file, those location offsets are relative to wherever the CRE starts.
Fixing it in a save editor? I think so, but I'm not entirely sure of the details.
Setting your "Effective AC" back to 10 and your base THAC0 back to what your class and level indicate should work, as long as you've already applied a cure effect to get rid of the "BLIND" flag.
I'm using the Near Infinity names for everything here. And of course, when embedded in a GAM file, those location offsets are relative to wherever the CRE starts.
Thanks, @jmerry ! I use Near Infinity too, so that description works for me, if I happen to encounter the same issue. I'm not sure what @Enuhal typically uses, if anything.
Anyhoo, we should follow up in the Lounge, if follow up is needed. Thanks again!
Ayla, Halfling Thief: Early Adventures in Athkatla, Part 2 (Or Whistling in the Dark)
While I'd describe my BG2 playing style, atm, as stumbling around in the dark until I get Ayla killed, Ayla is, objectively speaking, fairing better than my prior single class thieves had up to this stage of the game. Ayla has completed the same tasks as the others, but with a lower resource bill. She's also broken new ground, recovering an item that I've never acquired before with any character. And so while I may be in the dark, Ayla is whistling her own tune in that dark. I'm pleased to say that I like what I'm hearing.
Upon exiting the Coronet, Ayla noticed Corvhale and Bregg. She set a pile of traps and took them out for a sweet and easy chunk of XP. Next, she headed to the Temple District, seeking a potion of clarity, a potion case, and the staff of striking. The potion case proved elusive, but she accomplished the rest of her goals. Adding a Ring of Air Control from Ribald's rounded things out. The inventory is shaping up.
About that inventory. At present Ayla has an outstanding ranged weapon, Tuigan. She also has two excellent backstabbing weapons, the Staff of Striking and the Staff Spear. The former is blunt, limited charge, and speed factor 1, the latter piercing and conventional, speed factor 4. All she’s missing is a low speed factor melee weapon that is not limited charge. If that weapon were a slasher, that would be ideal. And if it offered an extra attack, that would be even better for our little Ms. One Apr. The gaps in her repertoire are the ability to smack and go at speed factor 0 and the ability go toe to toe with higher APR foes. Our theoretical perfect weapon would address both issues.
Of course, our theoretical perfect weapon actually exists: it’s Belm, a scimitar. Come UAI time, they’ll be another weapon available to us with a similar profile, the Scarlet Ninja-to. And so it should come as no surprise that Ayla’s fifth proficiency point went to scimitars/ninja-tos/wakizashis. If she gets to HLA land, I expect she’ll use all three. I’ve long sought to execute the poetic justice kill on Firkraag, wisdom draining him to death with Kachiko’s Wakizashi. Ayla hopes to be the one.
I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? Right. Let’s talk about the Bridge District.
Ayla avoided conflict in the Bridge District, completing the Tanner Murder quest without facing the rune assassins and stealthing by the muggers. Seeking gold, she hoped to raid the Saerk Farrahd estate, but alas the door was warded. She decided to explore elsewhere.
Funny story: there are still a lot of things -a lot of things- that I’ve never done in Baldur’s Gate. There’s a multitude of reasons for this. I’ve sought to keep the game world big by leaving parts unknown; I prefer to tact towards the story line on RP grounds- side quests often seem absurd to me. Both of those justifications make sense. But there is another reason that is down right comical. Its trauma: the trauma of reading @Grond0 ’s early runs.
Grond0 has died a lot in BG. A lot. He’d be the first to acknowledge it. Whenever he died in a place that I had never been, I filed it away in my brain. There’s a whole category of places in the game world that I regard as practically off limits, simply because the only thing I know about them is that Grond0 died there. I have never interacted with Shoal, for example, because Grond0 died there. I have also never collected the Berserker Horn because, you guessed it: Grond0 died there. I’m pleased to say that Ayla has overcome my fear. She collected the Berserker Horn and now has a buddy-wuddy for combat. Hooray for new things.
Anyways, this is a lot of text and not a lot of combat. Let’s talk about the ambushes. Suna Seni was first.
Ayla always travels hidden in shadows. She was glad she did when Suna Seni arrived. She snuck off to a corner, laid down her traps, cast DUHM, activated her Ring of Air Control and then headed straight to Suna, with Staff of Striking in hand. Showtime.
Like her predecessors, Alesia and Alora, Ayla followed up with a potion of firebreath. Alesia and Alora had both targeted the mage. But since the mage was invisible this time, Ayla targeted a rando and executed an arc. I was slightly anxious until the invisible mage fell, but fall she did, as did most of her associates.
Only two slavers were left. One was running scared. He was dropped with Tuigan.
The last was ended with a backstab, while our newly acquired buddy-wuddy ran distraction. Hooray for firsts.
The Renfeld ambush came next. The opening was similar: a HiS Ayla snuck off to a corner, set her traps, cast DUHM and activated her Ring of Air Control before engaging. She then equipped her Staff of Striking and charged the mage.
The opening backstab landed. One down
Retreat to the traps. Two down.
Backstab aided by Arbane haste. Three down.
Final backstab. Note the missing healing potions, though: there were two at the start of this fight, now there are none. That final thug drank heavily and made Ayla work.
As you might imagine, the hardest part of this quest was getting Renfeld back to the Harper Compound. We planned to invest a potion of strength in this, and replace it in the Docks, from the halfling merchant's inventory. The problem was that a potion of strength would only get us to a district of choice and we were out of DUHMs to finish the job. We chose to go to the City Gates, and then dropped Renfeld by the archway before heading to the inn and resting. When we woke up, Renfeld was still there. Sorry for leaving you on the ground all night, buddy! But we’ve got this! And Ayla did. Quest complete.
I’m not sure what’s next for Ayla, but I do expect to have a session soon. And, truth be told, I’m gradually getting more optimistic about her chances. She’s done better than I expected so far. May that trend continue.
We raided the cave at the Gnoll Stronghold before returning to the Carnival where Aerie identified everything apart from some bolts.
I raised my charisma to 18. We returned the Colquetle amulet and helped Melicamp. Rep now 20.
We killed a werewolf and are now at Lathander's Temple. We raided a nearby cave and used a tome to raise Charisma a bit more and then donned some charisma raising armour. Charisma now 20.
In the mines when we first came across some assassins we ensured that we were protected from hold. Hack went berserk and the battle was going our way. We rested and re-engaged with the enemy but I forgot to restore protections from hold. We both got held and as a result, both of us were killed.
Grond0 has died a lot in BG. A lot. He’d be the first to acknowledge it. Whenever he died in a place that I had never been, I filed it away in my brain. There’s a whole category of places in the game world that I regard as practically off limits, simply because the only thing I know about them is that Grond0 died there. I have never interacted with Shoal, for example, because Grond0 died there. I have also never collected the Berserker Horn because, you guessed it: Grond0 died there. I’m pleased to say that Ayla has overcome my fear. She collected the Berserker Horn and now has a buddy-wuddy for combat. Hooray for new things.
I guess most people will have heard stories about storming a famous fortress somewhere. You know the ones - where a mad rush by cannon fodder fills the ditch and piles bodies up against the wall, before our hero strides forward over them to smite the enemies. It's good to know that in some tiny way I've been helping Ayla with her smiting .
In the mines when we first came across some assassins we ensured that we were protected from hold. Hack went berserk and the battle was going our way. We rested and re-engaged with the enemy but I forgot to restore protections from hold. We both got held and as a result, both of us were killed.
Condolences, Wise
Where did the duergar cleric come from? Was it added by a mod?
In the mines when we first came across some assassins we ensured that we were protected from hold. Hack went berserk and the battle was going our way. We rested and re-engaged with the enemy but I forgot to restore protections from hold. We both got held and as a result, both of us were killed.
Condolences, Wise
Where did the duergar cleric come from? Was it added by a mod?
Indeed it was. The mod makes some battles a lot harder, but if you are victorious, you then have their equipment. I don't know which is harder, but it's fun anyway.
One of those Duerger has excellent armour, similar to ankheg but lighter.
During our first visit of deArnise' Keep, we left Torgal unchallanged, afraid that we'd fail. Things have changed though and we now had the confidence (and GoI in our spellbook) to finish the job.
Daelat's buffs for the battle were Stoneskin, Resist Fear, Oil of Speed, Shield, Spirit Armor (scroll), Spell Shield, Blur, ProEvil, MIs, II, GoI, SI:A and SI:D. I seemed to recall Torgal as being immune to cold and therefore omitted our Fireshield: Blue - things might have been much more easier had I checked that this is not the case in the first instance. Anyway…
We prepared one Skull Trap on the stage and fired the Wand of Cloudkill (the single charge from Irenicus' dungeon) to set up the mood for the rave. Let's dance!
With the umber hulks slain by the Cloudkill, we only had two Giant Trolls, two Spirit Trolls, once Spectral Troll, two Yuan-ti mages and Torgal to worry about, hehe. They all charged at once.
Daelat goes PfMW to surpress the initial panic.
Our pre-set Skull Trap didn't really matter, barely scratching one of the Giant Trolls. However, our subsequent 3x Skull Trap sequencer landed true, handing out 553 damage in total.
Meanwhile, one of the yuan-ti strikes down our Spell Shield with Spell Thrust, exposing our immunities to a follow-up dispel from the second mage. With so many unconsciouss trolls at our feet, we decided to push forward with two Sunfires despite the risks.
Torgal was now the last troll standing, while the mages failed to take advantage of the opportunity window. Daelat backed away from the chapel and gradually reapplied his PfMW and Spell Shield (after which we're out of L5 spells).
With our defences in place, we hit Torgal with all we had so as to try and beat his regeneration rate - MMAs, 2x Potion of Firebreath, Skull Trap, Sunfire (scroll), everything goes. The going was hard - Torgal was quaffing healing potions and, once the PfMW experied, started to slow us down and drain our STR.
Seeing that we're not going to be able to sustain direct confrontation for much longer, Daelat goes invisible and leads Torgal away from the yuan-ti.
With the Oil of Speed, we're able to outrun him and, eventually, lose him near the cellar staircase. We return to the chapel and wait - no one's coming. This could be our opportunity to try and finish the badly injured mages, with their MGoIs just expiring. We muster our remaining resources, including efreeti and Kitthix, and manage to bring them down both.
After that, we barricaded ourselves in the chapel and rested. I finally checked Torgal's resistances and immediately included Fireshield: Blue in catalouge of buffs. We're confident that he'll not get away this time.
First, PfMW.
The subsequent Skull Trap sequencer got thwarted by his magic resistances.
Of course, the sensible move would be to fist apply Lower Resist (which we already have in our spellbook), especially since we had not needed those L5 slots for spell immunities nor Spell Shield. I know and don’t look at me that way, I'm learning .
Refreshing our PfMW every 4 rounds (one hit got through, though), we go Sunfire -> Spell Sequencer -> 3x MMA sequencer -> Sunfire -> Spell Sequencer -> 3x Skull Trap sequencer. With our Fireshield significantly supporting our damage output (next time I'd run both Blue and Red Fireshield at the same time), it’s enough to bring Torgal down.
Far from being the cleanest win, we're glad to have prevailed. And in order to continue with the troll slaying theme, we're on our way back to the Druid Grove.
***
Spellbook (level 15):
L1 - Blindness, Shield, Magic Missile, ProEvil, Chromatic Orb
L2 - Invisibility, MIs, Resist Fear, MAA, Blur
L3 - Skull Trap, MMMs, Remove Magic, Spell Thrust
L4 - II, Stoneskin, Teleport Field, Fireshield: Blue
L5 - Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, Lower Resist
L6 - PfMW, Death Spell, GoI
L7 - Spell Sequencer, Ruby Ray of Reversal
We decided to go for the thief stronghold quest next. Rayic's pre-buffs were found lacking: After true sight, he had no protections against getting breached:
Well, that made things easy for us:
As you can see, we're starting to protect our buffs when facing spellcasters now. We have entropy shields, we have ISOM, Grim Face has spell shield as well, Alesia has SI:A but sadly no spell shield yet. True sight helps uns in clearing out the guild, and Mae'Var is breached and killed just like Rayic before him:
De'Arnise keep is next on our list. We're going to face multiple yuan-ti mages in the final battle on insane here, but Corey is level 13, which means he should dispel at level 19 with his inquisitor dispel (nerfed to 1,5*level in my SCS installation), which should be enough to give us a short-cut in dispelling those guys. We've already shown that we can take on spirit trolls at the druid grove, though I use fire protection potions instead of spells (because I need to somewhat clear out my already packed potion bag). I also have hill giant strength running on Grond0, and at least for the beginning and end of the keep heroism and invulnerability on my fighters, early on even defense on the others. With all that, we can easily slice our way through any type of troll groups, be they large or small. The first yuan-ti mage meets an unfortunate end due to Alesia's backstab:
Glacias is dispelled by Corey:
Spirit animals, fire elementals and Corey with improved haste can deal enough damage to an iron golem before it can seriously hurt us:
We go downstairs, Alesia delivers food to the umber hulks, we take them out after that, and we return upstairs to complete the FoA for Grond0. We rest up and prepare for Tor'Gal. Some traps as a safety messure near the door, but we want to go in aggressively, with protected buffs (for the spellcasters at least), death spell (which ends up not doing anything) and our summons at the ready.
First things first, a major mistake: I keep forgetting that entropy shield only blocks remove magic, not dispel magic. Enuhal, who is super tanky when fully buffed, goes in in order to keep the enemies together while we start our first array of spells, but is dispelled by Corey's own dispel magic which is intended to hit the yuan-ti mages. I immediately have Enuhal drink an invisibility potion. Meanwhile, the yuan-ti get to use their first pair of spells: Remove magic, which hits Grond0, and acid storm, which deals some damage to our party, but isn't too much of a threat by itself. Meanwhile, our fighters and summons have already decimated a few of the trolls:
I haven't checked how successful Corey's dispel attempt at the yuan-ti was, because I was too focused on getting Enuhal out of danger. However, true sight definitely did is job good enough to force our caster foes to spend their next round trying to renew some illusion buffs. This gives us the chance for another inquisitor dispel, and this time we can see that it's successful. At the same time, Alesia and Grim Face throw out malison and chaos, Enuhal casts insect plague. Grond0 takes the opportunity we have after the successful dispel and starts hitting one of the mages right away:
This particular yuan-ti gets confused by chaos, and so his fate is sealed. The other one gets hit by the insect plague. The umber hulk elder gets feared by the plague and will eventually just run into our traps near the door and dies. The fighters take out their respective yuan-ti foes:
Tor'Gal is still dangerous, but Enuhal is safe and the other ones have either tons of HP or strong combat protections, so we have no trouble taking him down:
Now, the choices for the next stronghold quest get more narrow. Temple ruins? 2 liches. Unseeing Eye? Beholders and a lich. Planar sphere? A possibility, though Tolgerias and Lavok can both be extremely dangerous, we're lacking some important protections for higher level mage combat. Planar prison? Somewhat similiar, the warden could still be a problem, and I would like to have one more chaotic commands spell for that one (though I could use wondrous recall for that). I decide to go for Windspear hills (not in this session, though), where the most dangerous things are propably the ancient vampires, as we don't have the weapon proficiencies for the decent anti-undead weapons available at this point and no sunrays yet. As a test case for vampire battles, we go into Bodhi's lair (which will also give us the iMoD +2, though our fighters aren't proficient with maces).
Most of the lair is cleared by Corey and Grond0 - Corey can equip the AoP, and Grond0 has his rage. The Flail of Ages does good work here. The only truly dangerous enemy is Tanova, who has the most comprehensive pre-buffs of any mage we've encountered so far. Spell thrusts aren't enough here, but we have one secret word as well to get rid of her (non-minor) spell deflection - we true sight and dispel her, intending to breach next (she has PFMW running), while she has so far used remove magic to dispel our fighters:
However, Tanova has a counter to that - she immediately uses a spell trigger which contains another spell deflection, amongst other protections. We only had that one secret word. We now have to wait for PFMW to run out while Tanova (who is improved hasted) starts dealing massive melee damage to Corey while rapidly draining his constitution - he has to save himself with an invisbility pot. She goes on to fight Grond0, her PFMW finally runs out and we summon in a bunch of spirit wolves to assist in the fight. That gets her busy casting death spell while Grond0 starts trying to get through her stoneskins. This takes a while, though, and she deals quite a bit of damage to him (also draining a decent amount of constitution) - the battle is fairly close, but in the end, we triumph:
We move downstairs after healing up with a few druid spells and a regeneration potion. Some malison + slow action helps out here while our fighters do their thing again:
Grim Face lures Lassal to the party:
Finally, Alesia prepares 3 traps near Bodhi and we rest, placing another 3 and getting fresh summons and buffs. The traps aren't close to being enough by themselves, but with our combined buffed attacks we get her to leave fairly quickly (though I use barbarian rage slightly too late, so Grond0 gets drained once):
So... the question is if we can deal with a huge horde of elder and ancient vampires as well. We do have two false dawns for that, which are hopefully helpful there. Might have to make some more changes to our spell selection though. We'll see in our next session how we do.
This is to announce that I'll be putting Daelat's run on hold in SoA. He's just completed the Planar Prison and would have been on his way to confront Bodhi in Athkatka.
The reason is that, at level 20, we've become seriously overlevelled for this stage of the game and I've caught myself being overconfident at times and, consequently, not focused enough. This could prove disastrous and, since I've become quite fond of the character, I don't want to see him die just because of my carelessness or laziness. I could balance that with certain self-imposed limitations, although I'm not very good at that and I also don't think I'd enjoy to play it that way.
Sorry for that, but I'm still grateful to all of you for being able to share the run with you. I may revisit it in the future; we'll see.
We respect and support your decision, @Borco . I certainly understand and identify.
In the no reload context sorcerer play is trickier than many players realize. Sorcerers are extremely powerful if played with precision, but it's very easy to make a mistake with them. In a no reload game all it takes is, say, one missed buff or a misclick and your run has ended. I think it's wise of you to take a pause, given that you've noticed that your execution is wavering.
It's been a pleasure following Daelat. I hope to see him again. His run has reminded me of my sorcerers of the past, and I expect that I'll be using Daelat as a reference if and when I decide to play a sorcerer again. You should feel no pressure, though: proceed when you're ready, and only if you're ready. Whether a break from the game is best, or a new character, we support your decision.
Thanks again for sharing, Borco! It's been a pleasure seeing you and following Daelat- one of the highlights of my return to the the BG community, for sure.
Comments
I played a reasonable amount in the past with a wild mage called Wimp, who had 3s in all stats other than intelligence of 9. That was on LoB difficulty, which made making progress time-consuming.
For this run I've used EEKeeper to reduce all stats to 3. It's on core difficulty though and, with a sorcerer rather than a wild mage, progress should be pretty quick. To partly compensate for that, Wuss won't be allowed to use any consumable magic items (wands, potions, scrolls etc).
The first aim was to get to level 4 in order to learn invisibility for safe travel. Throwing 69 darts at a blinded Shoal was enough for level 3. Marl and some sleeping spiders got a bit more XP in Beregost before I set off for the FAI. I killed a sleeping ogre on the way, but didn't have the weight allowance to carry that and had to use quick loot to take it to the FAI. The Ring of Wizardry gave me plenty of chances to blind Tarnesh and I got him at the 3rd attempt. I also recovered a ring for Joia before returning south (during the day time to avoid bandit ambushes).
I humped some boots back to Beregost for Zhurlong, but realised before speaking to him he would be put off by my low charisma. However, Mirianne was happy for me to recover a letter from some ogrillons. Blinding Silke was then enough for level 4 (which gained me precisely 0 HPs).
It took 43 +1 darts to kill the golems at High Hedge, which felt a bit expensive but money won't be an issue for this run. I also picked up Perdue's sword and returned that after eliminating a blinded Karlat.
Next it was on to the basilisk area where wandering round after Korax quickly gained me level 5 - with the restriction on consumable items meaning I can't use scrolls, I decided to take find familiar as one of my spell choices there. The remaining basilisks and Mutamin took me to level 6, but rather than rest for Kirian I just blinded her companions before sending Korax in. Baerin and a wild dog killed him, but he did paralyze Kirian first and I managed to finish her off. Blindness is a long-lasting spell and, even with my poor dexterity, I was able to kill the others. Lindin was last and I ran out of standard darts with him down to 1 HP. He would have been easily finished off if I'd rested of course, but I decided it would be more satisfying to finish the job immediately. I still had a few +1 darts left from the golems and the 4th one of those did the job.
Skull traps quickly cleared the battle horrors outside Durlag's Tower. MSD got me past the trap onto the roof where web, blindness and skull traps accounted for the basilisks - getting me to level 8.
I invisibly waved at an ambushing basilisk on my way back to civilisation.
Sorcerer 8, 25 HPs, 89 kills
Great progress on your thief. Looking forward to seeing her adventures in Amn!
@Borco I'm a big fan of death spell as well - though there are SO many great 6th level spells, choices can be very difficult, especially in party play.
The Avatars (Enuhal's version) - Update XVI
We made it to SoA. With that, we have reached a personal goal I have set for myself. I expected to make it through BG1, maybe with a few character deaths (I would've predicted maybe 3, we ended up having 4 - Corey died twice to ankhegs, Alesia died twice to archdruids in Cloakwood), because I'm fairly confident in my early gameplay, especially with a totemic druid in my party. I also expected to make it safely through SoD, because SoD is quite deterministic once you get the hang of it. There just aren't going to be many surprises.
SoA is where things will start becoming way more interesting and potentially difficult. We are somewhat limited in our early questing options due to fun features like guaranteed lich spawns on insane SCS. The run could be over at any point now whenever we face a high level spellcaster while we don't have the full arsenal of protections yet - or it could not, and we could make it quite deep into the game. Let's see how far we can make it.
Things start off easy enough. The initial ogre mage isn't protected against breach (though he already suffers from morale failure when our breach spell finishes):
Out of the dungeon, we only buy scroll cases and gem bags for now. A short visit to the circus tent - true sight and the Sword of Chaos +2 are very helpeful here, and so are our spirit animals - we once again use strength of one or just regular strength spells to buff up our fighters, and with all of the divine and arcane buffs - prayer, recitation, double emotion and the like - they still can impress despite the loss of equipment:
We move on to the government district right away, not lingering in the slums, because we want the magic license ASAP, not wanting to share the fate of poor @Grond0 . We help Viconia and Jan before moving back to Copper Coronet, where Enuhal wins a duel with the help of 2 spirit wolves before we take down the slavers:
We deal with Tidir's kidnappers and enter Saerk's compound - which turns out to be a bit of trouble in our first major mistake of SoA, as we have static charge active from an earlier encounter (it lasts super long, so I don't even remember from which one) - and since two innocents down at the first floor turn hostile here (which is why we don't use summons in this place), one of them got hit by static charge, causing a heavy loss in reputation. We decided to spend quite a lot of money at the nearby temple to help with that. Now that we're mentioning money: We have invested in some early game items, such as a traveler's robe, The Sleeper for Grond0, The Mauler for Grim Face, Biter +2 and the Shield of the Flaming Fist for Enuhal (the only items imported from SoD that we will propably use)... soon to come, a piece of ankheg armor from the bridge and charm protection helmet + blunting belt/grounding boots from the temple district. Also, of course, the staff of striking for Alesia. First, though, we use true sight to kill some rune assassins:
Before we start I have to say that I had to re-make my setup with the latest version of Ascension 2.0.23, removed ‘ToB style NPC’ tweak due to glitch with Imoen, no Max hp / 100% spell learning and added some quality of life mods like BG2 Improved GUI.
I also forgot to mention my self-imposed rules of fair play for this run (and those are just my general rules when playing games - no cheats/exploits or cheap tactics, the way I see it).
Here they are:
- do not attack neutral characters, even if you know by metagaming that the fight is inevitable;
- if your opponents are able to use SCS pre-buffing - let them fire’em all before attacking and do not interrupt (none of them prevented you from preparing for the battle);
- do not use green scrolls of protection (specifically Protection from Magic green scroll) offensively (they are not meant for that);
- do not abuse *switching areas going through the doors back and force* only to drain your opponents of spells;
- try to explore and clean an area in one go when you’ve first entered it (so I have to choose carefully where to go and when);
- do not use *out of sight attacks*, i.e. you can scout, prepare (buffs, AoE spells etc.) and then show yourself to your foes.
So, without further ado let get started:
- Candlekeep: With 570gp to start with we were able to equip ourselves with all we needed. Out of my rustiness I forgot one errand with crossbow bolts for Fuller but that’s ok;
- Lion's Way: We joined with Imoen if only to escort her to the nearest safe place then explored the whole area killing 2 Mutated Gibberlings and a single Dire Wolf (I remember more of those in TUTU). Xzar and Montaron were left alone;
- Friendly Arm Inn: First we've made a reconnaissance around the Keep, obtained two Rings (one just by chance, another from the breathless and rapidly cooling bodies of some Hobgoblins) then entered the Keep itself. There we met our first wannabe bounty hunter Tarnesh. Enuhal called for Spirit Bear and cast Bless, Grond0 enraged and they both advanced on the steps while the rest hid around the corner. Tarnesh immediately fired Magic Missiles on Grond0 but Spirit Bear already hit him so hard that he panicked, Corey cast True Sight to dispel false images, another crit from Bear and it's all over. Inside the inn we left Imoen in auntie Jaheira's care. Ever curious Alesia tried to check local containers and wardrobes on account of something useful but with her abysmal Open Locks skill the result was quite diminishing. Grim Face cast Friends spell to talk with Landrin and got six Antidote potions so everyone has their share (except Grond0 - I'm going to respect his resentment of those alone with Potions of Healing). We also obtained some frilly underpants from the collection long been obsolete and Joia got her flamedance ring back;
Current state (still level 1 for all):
Grim Face, Cleric/Illusionist (1/1), 20 hp (with Familiar’s bonus), 8 kills (Diseased Gibberling);
Grond0, Barbarian (1), 15 hp, 41 kills (Ogre), 0 Deaths;
Corey, Inquisitor (1), 12 hp, 27 kills (Huge Spider), 0 Deaths;
Enuhal, Totemic Druid (1), 8 hp, 7 kills (Gibberling), 0 Deaths;
Alesia, Mage/Thief (1/1), 7 hp, 8 kills (Ursa the Cave Bear), 0 Deaths.
to be continued…
Noted re Death Spell, thanks. For Daelat, it had mostly been a style pick - while it's good, and definitely fun to fiddle with (see spoiler below), it's not really the most substaniable choice and I feel that it's not going to age well. Death Fog would have been the more "responsible" option, although I had dropped the idea due to concerns about achieving 100% acid resistance (taking ProAcid at L5 was a no-go).
Anyway, my thinking around L6 had mainly been driven by two assumptions: 1) taking magic damage resistance at L8 via ProEnergy + BoIB, which eliminates the need for L6 ProMagicEnergy, and 2) having sufficient abjuration firepower to face enemy spellcasters without the need for PW: Silence. We still want GoI and we do miss True Sight for convenience reasons, but other than that L6 seems less of a bottleneck in Daelat's case when compared to L5.
Gotta catch up with all the updates here!
http://www.blackstrider.net/forum_bioware_arhiv/forum.bioware.com/topic/124374-baldurs-gate-1-no-reload-challenge/page-151.html
Good to see you underway @Serg_BlackStrider.
Previous posts (BG 1): Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Previous posts (SoA): Introduction, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Just a quick update on two encounters in Athkatla.
First, there was the unresolved issue regarding MaeVar and his thieves. Daelat entered the guild cellar through the back entrance at the jetty and prepared with MMMs, Stoneskin, Resist Fear, Spell Shield, Blur, Fireshield: Blue, II, SI:A and SI:D (notably missing Shield and ProEvil though - our buff routine could really use an improvement).
We opened with meteors at the Priest of Cyric while MaeVar was finishing his divination cast.
It came as a bit of a disappointment when the cleric turned out to be the only foe that actually got affected by our Death Spell.
Nevertheless, the positioning of the remaining rogues in following round provided us with an ideal opening for our power move - sequenced 3x Skull Trap.
M&Ms for the finish.
With the cellar clear, we fired up our Mirror Images and proceeded upstairs. It was quite satisfying to watch Gorch's fat belly explode from a meteor.
Expecting an army of backstabbing and potion quaffing thieves, we then switched BoIB for the Girdle of Piercing. Once they've arrived, Daelat first diluted their ranks with Death Spell*.
*Apparently, as we found out during the second wave of the incoming thieves, the AoE effect of the spell does not seem to affect (target) invisible / stealthed enemies. Could be interesting to see whether one could protect his summons against enemy mages' Death Spells that way.
At one point during the fight, we had to go invisible and reapply our buffs (kudos to us for adding Shield + ProEvil this time around) before clearing the remaining rogues with Sunfires.
The second encounter involved Mencar's crew at Waukeens' Promenade. Daelat played it safe - wearing BoIB once again, he buffed with MMMs, Stoneskin, Resist Fear, Shield, Blur, ProEvil, Spell Shield, MIs, Fireshield: Blue, II, SI:A, SI:D, SI:En, MGoI (scroll) and PfMW.
Round 1: 3x Skull Trap sequencer.
Round 2: Sunfire.
Round 3: Death Spell: Pooky
Rounds 4-6: Refresh PfMW -> summon efreeti + meteors -> Chromatic Orb: Brennan
With that, Daelat managed to get to level 15 and was now more than ready to hunt down one big scary troll back at deArnise' Keep.
Regards,
B.
***
Spellbook (level 15):
L1 - Blindness, Shield, Magic Missile, ProEvil, Chromatic Orb
L2 - Invisibility, MIs, Resist Fear, MAA, Blur
L3 - Skull Trap, MMMs, Remove Magic, Spell Thrust
L4 - II, Stoneskin, Teleport Field, Fireshield: Blue
L5 - Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, Lower Resist
L6 - PfMW, Death Spell, GoI
L7 - Spell Sequencer, Ruby Ray of Reversal
In my quick note on Ayla’s run I said I was enjoying my time in BG2. I lied. I am not enjoying it- not at all. Or at least I wasn’t enjoying it back when Ayla was in the Chateau. I have never -never- been more terrified while playing a game. The Chateau was straight up torture, and I’m oh, so happy it’s over. More importantly, I'm oh, so happy that I've rediscovered a bit of ancient wisdom. Good times are ahead for Ayala and I, even if they weren't behind.
If BG1 felt like a different world to me following my six year absence, BG2 has felt like a different universe: it’s foreign and surreal. I remember things, but not quite right. It’s like a hall of mirror and hideously distorted me keeps bumping into walls. Ayla is glad I haven’t broke anything yet. I’m equally glad that I didn’t suffer the ignominy of a Chateau exit. Ayla deserves better than that.
The trouble started over by the mineral mephit, near the sewage golem. Ayla landed an opening backstab but then she couldn’t connect with follow up blows. Worse still, the mephit started regenerating. This is new, I guess? I think? In any case, it quickly became clear that Ayla was in over her head, and, more troublingly, that I was too. Ayla ducked around a corner and hit the shadows, leaving the mephit behind.
Ayla found Reliev. I knew I was supposed to be in the room, but I didn’t recall why. Something about power cells or a stone? That’s right: the stone. The stone awakens the golem, the golem opens the door. It felt good to remember something, but it was terrifying that the thing I remembered was so basic. It’s going to be a long road…
We got the stone, juked the mephit again, and headed down the hallway, following the golem. I had a mini-cascade of remembrances, but it was all hazy: so many dangers, so many solutions once known. I didn’t want to get Ayla killed. I was certain I would. I just wanted out.
Somehow, someway, Ayla killed the otyugh with backstabs and made it to Ellisime’s room, despite a few miscues from rusty me.
I set off two traps -two of the most memorable traps in the dungeon: the poisoned chest near the otyugh and the acid blob trap. The first I had straight up forgotten, the second was tripped by a misclick. I really wanted out; Ayla was starting to doubt me. We grabbed the Claw, made it to the portal, and teleported to Yoshimo. We were on to the next hurdle.
With my memories hazy, and Ayla desperate to see Athkatla, I decided to let Yoshimo join for the mephit room. His special snares destroyed the first two portals, a backstab the fourth, the third and last fell to katana swipes. Yoshimo was released, Ayla was one step closer to freedom.
From this point on we made a mad dash for the exit under stealth. I was thrilled when we cleared the wand hall, terrified again when I realized I had made a wrong turn, then another wrong turn. Ayla was grateful when I finally, on my third try, found the right corridor. Ayla raced to freedom; I was relieved.
Once the cutscene ended, and Ayla was left on the promenade, I realized I was going to need a little help. I turned to myself, or, more precisely, the version of myself that piloted my bounty hunter, Alesia, to the Throne, and soon after ran a clone of Alora to the Underdark before abandoning her. That was 2011.
Re-reading those posts was a pleasure- I can’t thank @Serg_BlackStrider enough for hosting them for us. I had revisited them with the intent of relearning tactics. In the process, I rediscovered the history of our collective friendship. 2011 was when I ran my bounty hunter. It was also when I and The Avatars players were first getting to know each other. @Enuhal was running his solo totemic druid; @Serg_BlackStrider had Strider and Co, the band; @Grond0 was still seeking his first victory; @Corey_Russell was maintaining the Hall of Heroes. I re-learned much, but of all the things I re-discovered, the most important was a Rudyard Kipling line, from the poem If, which @Grond0 had shared:
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if---
Ayla may not make it. In fact she probably won't. But I will strive to enjoy the journey, however it may end. I hope you all will enjoy following along with me. I'll post on Ayla's early Athkatla quests soon.
Best,
A.
Previous updates
I reported in to the mayor in Nashkel before webbing Nimbul. The same fate befell Tranzig, though he broke free before the end and had to be finished off with a magic missile.
I really wanted another level before doing the Bandit Camp so looked around for some quick XP. The ogre clan and then the sirines in Shoal's area were webbed and skull trapped. Brage was delivered back to Nashkel and I intended to do the Doomsayer, but even with a decent reputation Charleston Nib wanted nothing to do with my charisma of 3. Instead, I went back to the Valley of the Tombs and blinded the Revenant. The ghasts were pulled out of their tomb and killed, while Narcillicus was just bombed from afar - I didn't fancy taking on the mustard jellies. Webbing the amazons was enough though for my final BGEE level.
I'd originally wanted that level in order to get MGoI to protect against the lightning trap in Tazok's tent. However, thinking ahead a bit further, this character will struggle in the fight at the palace and I decided to take greater malison instead to help there. At the Camp I bypassed the external bandits and went straight to Tazok's tent. The others were blinded before Raemon died in a skull trap.
Once the tent was clear I risked the trap. I used mirrors there, though they shouldn't really help. MSD has sometimes protected against lightning, but I wasn't certain of the current behavior (though I think it at least sometimes protects against an initial hit, but not a bounce) . I expected to be able to survive one hit and did indeed do so - with Mulahey's boots saving me.
I went invisibly through the Cloakwood to get to the mine. Drasus and his party were all blinded to ensure none of them would escape - though simple skull trapping would probably have been enough there. After going invisibly through the mine there was another gauntlet of traps to run. With that successfully done, 3 skull traps killed the battle horrors and Davaeorn.
After flooding the mine and resting I realised I'd made another mistake. I'd intended to get Bhaal horror to use in conjunction with malison at the palace, but failed to reduce my reputation and got another slow poison. Without scrolls, the lack of horror means I have no party friendly area effects I can use - reducing my chances of success.
In the City I mainly just went after the tomes, though blinding and skull trapping Ramazith also provided me with an upgraded RoP and an extra L2 spell from the amulet. The poison quest saw Larze and Marek both webbed and blinded. The other bit of equipment I wanted was the ring of free action, so took on the party at the Iron Throne. That went well and, when the webs ended and Gardush charged me, he was down to 3 HPs (so was an easy target for a magic missile). The other 2 still hanging on at near death were Alai (who had been blinded at the start of the fight) and Aasim (who had just been stunned by a dart).
Thinking ahead at this point, I remembered there will be a couple of dangerous fireball traps to come, so went to get the ring of fire resistance from Samuel's area. Then it was back to make a first use of summons (Monster 1) to help clear the dopplegangers at the Seven Suns.
At Candlekeep I rested to get DUHM, then looted the tombs. DUHM increased HPs to 37 and stoneskins, mirrors, fire resistance rings and MSD proved sufficient protection against the traps. The change from strength 3 to 4 increased my standard weight limit from 5 lb to the heady heights of 15 lb. That will reduce the reliance on Relair's Mistake, which will be helpful. Activating that counts as your magic action for a round, so is not great to use during battles. In addition the duration of the wolf effect is very variable and can be extremely short (less than a round), which can also cause a problem during a combat.
I avoided any encounters in the rest of the Candlekeep catacombs and just travelled back to Baldur's Gate invisibly. Slythe saved against webs only when at near death and then attacked a nearby summons rather than Wuss.
At the palace I buffed with stoneskins, mirrors and DUHM and produced 5 monsters before showing myself. Malison was cast on the dopplegangers as they appeared, followed by stunning darts. Those disabled one of the dopplegangers early on, but unfortunately none of them attacked me - so the dukes were soon in trouble. With Liia dead and Belt at near death I cast invisibility on him with the aim of getting the dopplegangers to switch targets. That had partial success - so I did it again the next round. That resulted in the last 2 dopplegangers attacking me and they quickly chewed through stoneskins. I tried to re-establish those, but the spell was interrupted leaving me at near death. One of the dopplegangers was shot down by my 2 remaining monsters, but I didn't want to run from the last out of the room as that would be likely to get him to switch targets again. It looked on the screen as though I had maintained a safe distance, but in a crowded environment that becomes harder to judge and it appears the doppleganger managed to get a fatal claw into range ...
Edit: just realised I did have an area effect spell I could have used - sleep. I always tend to forget about that as I've played quite a lot of modded games where the dopplegangers are immune to sleep (as they really should be). However, in the unmodded game it would definitely have been worth a go at the start of the fight.
Thanks @Serg_BlackStrider and found it. Those archives are priceless and thank you for maintaining them!
Sensible and refreshing. I'm excited for this run!
Cheers,
A.
To prepare for spirit trolls at the druid grove, we learned 5 fire resistance spells and 3 chaotic commands (Corey will have to rely on his saves, Grond0 on his rage to counter greater commands). We have Biter +2 as a constant source of acid damage. Unholy blight is still somewhat of a problem, but can only hurt a few of us. I propably want to have more slow spells here, but 3 level slots are mostly used for fire resistance so we can be immune to the frequent flamestrikes:
At the Nashkel Mines we killed Zargos Flinblade and greywolf before heading for the Gnoll Stronghold. Reputation now 18 but haven't reached the cave yet. We'll have plenty of loot to sell at Nashkell. Hack now has a decent axe. I need to visit Bassilus to get a decent hammer. Getting my rep up to 20 will be easy.
When Ayla emerged in the promenade I was paralyzed by indecision. I didn't know where Ayla should go; danger was everywhere. I vaguely recalled that I used to do the circus quest before leaving the promenade, but I wasn't certain. After consulting Blackstrider.net to check my old thief runs, I decided to pick up some potions from Ribald and then head into the tent. That worked for Ayla, but it wasn't without risk.
The early encounter with the peasants went swimmingly. And well it should: it's super easy. It was, however, important for me, as I seek to rebuild my comfort level in BG2. You can always count on a pile of dismembered bodies to make you feel at home, amirite?
After stealthing through the illusion room, we hoped to add Kalah to the pile, aided by buffs tossed by Aerie prior to release. An opening backstab landed, but didn't quite do the trick. Victory seemed likely nonetheless. The question became: What will the potion bill be? A potion of firebreath? An oil of speed? A potion of strength? A healing potion or two? Nothing at all?
Happily, Ayla finished Kalah just before her strength hit the danger zone, allowing us to leave with her potion collection intact. Her first mission in Athkatla was a success, albeit a measured one.
Ayla's immediate objective was to fill out her defensive potion kit. She had a potion of invisibility, an oil of speed, a potion of strength and plenty of healing potions. That's a good start. To that she sought to add disabler defenses, with a potion of freedom and a potion of clarity, followed by elemental damage cushioning, via a potion of insulation and a potion of fire resistance. She bought what potions she could at Ribald's and then headed to the Slums.
As soon as I heard the familiar murmur of the Copper Coronet, Tuigan called. My prior single class thieves, Alesia and Alora, had scored Tuigan early, although there was a potion bill. It seemed worth a try for Ayla.
We started by setting two traps near the fighting pits and one near the Beastmaster, while hidden in shadows. We initiated combat and then broke for the traps. The Beastmaster was injured, and a few of the animals died. Ayla was happy with the start, and settled in for a laborious movement heavy battle against multiple foes.
The fight did not turn out as I expected. In prior versions of SCS, the Beastmaster and animals gave chase. Presently the Beastmaster stays put and the animals hang around him. For Ayla, this made the battle simpler and cheaper, but also more tedious. I can't say I love the change, although I haven't thought through how it would affect party play. There may be good logic behind it.
A few of the critters broke off from the Beastmaster. Suddenly Ayla felt like she was on the Sword Coast again. We're running around, fighting a gibbering with an unenchanted short bow? And we're landing 4hp crits? What is this, the Lion's Way?
After dropping the gibbering, we hit the shadows again. Turning the corner, we found the Beastmaster had gotten ahead of his animal protectors and turned his back to the pits, with his bow equipped. Apparently he was just done with it all. I can't say I blame him: Life as Lehtinan's lackey sounds unfun. We'll take it.
Just the animals left. I would have paid good money for a slower bears component here, lol. This took oodles of time.
Ayla freed Hendak and then backstabbed her way to Nalia. In the pre-SCS days one of the standard mods, either Tactics or the Questpack, would cause the guards to attack Nalia, potentially killing her and closing off the De'Arnise Keep. That's a serious annoyance for a no reload player. Ever since then I've always made a point of protecting Nalia, even if SCS appears to have this covered.
Once Hendak cut down Lehtinan, we headed to the Temple District with gold in hand, seeking our missing defensive potions and our preferred melee weapon.
Ayla is off to a solid start. I'll post on the Bridge District next.
Best,
A.
Sounds like a good reason for having a cure disease spell memorized (or neutralize poison) - with the AoP that's instant casting, so pretty good in a battle. I got caught out several times in my run when true sight removed blindness from enemies - is that why you didn't have that available?
This is not a big deal in the unmodified game, as there aren't any enemies that use Nature's Beauty. SCS lets high-level druids have it, and thus the bug becomes a problem.
That's helpful, @jmerry . Thanks for sharing
This is definitely something players should be aware of. Feel free to share a link to your fix over in the Adventurer's Lounge.
As for @Enuhal's game, am I correct in assuming he can remedy this in a saved game editor?
Cheers,
A.
When applied with permanent timing modes, I think blindness decomposes into its components as CRE stats - the "BLIND" flag in the "Status" flag group (offset 0x20), a 4-point change in base THAC0 (at 0x52), and a 4-point change in base AC ("Effective AC" at 0x48; "Natural AC" at 0x46 is unused). I think that's what it does, anyway. Setting your "Effective AC" back to 10 and your base THAC0 back to what your class and level indicate should work, as long as you've already applied a cure effect to get rid of the "BLIND" flag.
Leveling up would also correct the base THAC0 in the CRE file by reading from the tables again, and wearing armor (or using any AC-setting spell) overrides the AC penalty.
I'm using the Near Infinity names for everything here. And of course, when embedded in a GAM file, those location offsets are relative to wherever the CRE starts.
Thanks, @jmerry ! I use Near Infinity too, so that description works for me, if I happen to encounter the same issue. I'm not sure what @Enuhal typically uses, if anything.
Anyhoo, we should follow up in the Lounge, if follow up is needed. Thanks again!
Cheers,
A.
While I'd describe my BG2 playing style, atm, as stumbling around in the dark until I get Ayla killed, Ayla is, objectively speaking, fairing better than my prior single class thieves had up to this stage of the game. Ayla has completed the same tasks as the others, but with a lower resource bill. She's also broken new ground, recovering an item that I've never acquired before with any character. And so while I may be in the dark, Ayla is whistling her own tune in that dark. I'm pleased to say that I like what I'm hearing.
Upon exiting the Coronet, Ayla noticed Corvhale and Bregg. She set a pile of traps and took them out for a sweet and easy chunk of XP. Next, she headed to the Temple District, seeking a potion of clarity, a potion case, and the staff of striking. The potion case proved elusive, but she accomplished the rest of her goals. Adding a Ring of Air Control from Ribald's rounded things out. The inventory is shaping up.
About that inventory. At present Ayla has an outstanding ranged weapon, Tuigan. She also has two excellent backstabbing weapons, the Staff of Striking and the Staff Spear. The former is blunt, limited charge, and speed factor 1, the latter piercing and conventional, speed factor 4. All she’s missing is a low speed factor melee weapon that is not limited charge. If that weapon were a slasher, that would be ideal. And if it offered an extra attack, that would be even better for our little Ms. One Apr. The gaps in her repertoire are the ability to smack and go at speed factor 0 and the ability go toe to toe with higher APR foes. Our theoretical perfect weapon would address both issues.
Of course, our theoretical perfect weapon actually exists: it’s Belm, a scimitar. Come UAI time, they’ll be another weapon available to us with a similar profile, the Scarlet Ninja-to. And so it should come as no surprise that Ayla’s fifth proficiency point went to scimitars/ninja-tos/wakizashis. If she gets to HLA land, I expect she’ll use all three. I’ve long sought to execute the poetic justice kill on Firkraag, wisdom draining him to death with Kachiko’s Wakizashi. Ayla hopes to be the one.
I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? Right. Let’s talk about the Bridge District.
Ayla avoided conflict in the Bridge District, completing the Tanner Murder quest without facing the rune assassins and stealthing by the muggers. Seeking gold, she hoped to raid the Saerk Farrahd estate, but alas the door was warded. She decided to explore elsewhere.
Funny story: there are still a lot of things -a lot of things- that I’ve never done in Baldur’s Gate. There’s a multitude of reasons for this. I’ve sought to keep the game world big by leaving parts unknown; I prefer to tact towards the story line on RP grounds- side quests often seem absurd to me. Both of those justifications make sense. But there is another reason that is down right comical. Its trauma: the trauma of reading @Grond0 ’s early runs.
Grond0 has died a lot in BG. A lot. He’d be the first to acknowledge it. Whenever he died in a place that I had never been, I filed it away in my brain. There’s a whole category of places in the game world that I regard as practically off limits, simply because the only thing I know about them is that Grond0 died there. I have never interacted with Shoal, for example, because Grond0 died there. I have also never collected the Berserker Horn because, you guessed it: Grond0 died there. I’m pleased to say that Ayla has overcome my fear. She collected the Berserker Horn and now has a buddy-wuddy for combat. Hooray for new things.
Anyways, this is a lot of text and not a lot of combat. Let’s talk about the ambushes. Suna Seni was first.
Ayla always travels hidden in shadows. She was glad she did when Suna Seni arrived. She snuck off to a corner, laid down her traps, cast DUHM, activated her Ring of Air Control and then headed straight to Suna, with Staff of Striking in hand. Showtime.
Like her predecessors, Alesia and Alora, Ayla followed up with a potion of firebreath. Alesia and Alora had both targeted the mage. But since the mage was invisible this time, Ayla targeted a rando and executed an arc. I was slightly anxious until the invisible mage fell, but fall she did, as did most of her associates.
Only two slavers were left. One was running scared. He was dropped with Tuigan.
The last was ended with a backstab, while our newly acquired buddy-wuddy ran distraction. Hooray for firsts.
The Renfeld ambush came next. The opening was similar: a HiS Ayla snuck off to a corner, set her traps, cast DUHM and activated her Ring of Air Control before engaging. She then equipped her Staff of Striking and charged the mage.
The opening backstab landed. One down
Retreat to the traps. Two down.
Backstab aided by Arbane haste. Three down.
Final backstab. Note the missing healing potions, though: there were two at the start of this fight, now there are none. That final thug drank heavily and made Ayla work.
As you might imagine, the hardest part of this quest was getting Renfeld back to the Harper Compound. We planned to invest a potion of strength in this, and replace it in the Docks, from the halfling merchant's inventory. The problem was that a potion of strength would only get us to a district of choice and we were out of DUHMs to finish the job. We chose to go to the City Gates, and then dropped Renfeld by the archway before heading to the inn and resting. When we woke up, Renfeld was still there. Sorry for leaving you on the ground all night, buddy! But we’ve got this! And Ayla did. Quest complete.
I’m not sure what’s next for Ayla, but I do expect to have a session soon. And, truth be told, I’m gradually getting more optimistic about her chances. She’s done better than I expected so far. May that trend continue.
Best,
A.
We raided the cave at the Gnoll Stronghold before returning to the Carnival where Aerie identified everything apart from some bolts.
I raised my charisma to 18. We returned the Colquetle amulet and helped Melicamp. Rep now 20.
We killed a werewolf and are now at Lathander's Temple. We raided a nearby cave and used a tome to raise Charisma a bit more and then donned some charisma raising armour. Charisma now 20.
In the mines when we first came across some assassins we ensured that we were protected from hold. Hack went berserk and the battle was going our way. We rested and re-engaged with the enemy but I forgot to restore protections from hold. We both got held and as a result, both of us were killed.
Such is death!
Sheer stupidity on my part.
Condolences, Wise
Where did the duergar cleric come from? Was it added by a mod?
Indeed it was. The mod makes some battles a lot harder, but if you are victorious, you then have their equipment. I don't know which is harder, but it's fun anyway.
One of those Duerger has excellent armour, similar to ankheg but lighter.
Previous posts (BG 1): Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Previous posts (SoA): Introduction, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
During our first visit of deArnise' Keep, we left Torgal unchallanged, afraid that we'd fail. Things have changed though and we now had the confidence (and GoI in our spellbook) to finish the job.
Daelat's buffs for the battle were Stoneskin, Resist Fear, Oil of Speed, Shield, Spirit Armor (scroll), Spell Shield, Blur, ProEvil, MIs, II, GoI, SI:A and SI:D. I seemed to recall Torgal as being immune to cold and therefore omitted our Fireshield: Blue - things might have been much more easier had I checked that this is not the case in the first instance. Anyway…
We prepared one Skull Trap on the stage and fired the Wand of Cloudkill (the single charge from Irenicus' dungeon) to set up the mood for the rave. Let's dance!
With the umber hulks slain by the Cloudkill, we only had two Giant Trolls, two Spirit Trolls, once Spectral Troll, two Yuan-ti mages and Torgal to worry about, hehe. They all charged at once.
Daelat goes PfMW to surpress the initial panic.
Our pre-set Skull Trap didn't really matter, barely scratching one of the Giant Trolls. However, our subsequent 3x Skull Trap sequencer landed true, handing out 553 damage in total.
Meanwhile, one of the yuan-ti strikes down our Spell Shield with Spell Thrust, exposing our immunities to a follow-up dispel from the second mage. With so many unconsciouss trolls at our feet, we decided to push forward with two Sunfires despite the risks.
Torgal was now the last troll standing, while the mages failed to take advantage of the opportunity window. Daelat backed away from the chapel and gradually reapplied his PfMW and Spell Shield (after which we're out of L5 spells).
With our defences in place, we hit Torgal with all we had so as to try and beat his regeneration rate - MMAs, 2x Potion of Firebreath, Skull Trap, Sunfire (scroll), everything goes. The going was hard - Torgal was quaffing healing potions and, once the PfMW experied, started to slow us down and drain our STR.
Seeing that we're not going to be able to sustain direct confrontation for much longer, Daelat goes invisible and leads Torgal away from the yuan-ti.
With the Oil of Speed, we're able to outrun him and, eventually, lose him near the cellar staircase. We return to the chapel and wait - no one's coming. This could be our opportunity to try and finish the badly injured mages, with their MGoIs just expiring. We muster our remaining resources, including efreeti and Kitthix, and manage to bring them down both.
After that, we barricaded ourselves in the chapel and rested. I finally checked Torgal's resistances and immediately included Fireshield: Blue in catalouge of buffs. We're confident that he'll not get away this time.
First, PfMW.
The subsequent Skull Trap sequencer got thwarted by his magic resistances.
Of course, the sensible move would be to fist apply Lower Resist (which we already have in our spellbook), especially since we had not needed those L5 slots for spell immunities nor Spell Shield. I know and don’t look at me that way, I'm learning
Refreshing our PfMW every 4 rounds (one hit got through, though), we go Sunfire -> Spell Sequencer -> 3x MMA sequencer -> Sunfire -> Spell Sequencer -> 3x Skull Trap sequencer. With our Fireshield significantly supporting our damage output (next time I'd run both Blue and Red Fireshield at the same time), it’s enough to bring Torgal down.
Far from being the cleanest win, we're glad to have prevailed. And in order to continue with the troll slaying theme, we're on our way back to the Druid Grove.
***
Spellbook (level 15):
L1 - Blindness, Shield, Magic Missile, ProEvil, Chromatic Orb
L2 - Invisibility, MIs, Resist Fear, MAA, Blur
L3 - Skull Trap, MMMs, Remove Magic, Spell Thrust
L4 - II, Stoneskin, Teleport Field, Fireshield: Blue
L5 - Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, Lower Resist
L6 - PfMW, Death Spell, GoI
L7 - Spell Sequencer, Ruby Ray of Reversal
We decided to go for the thief stronghold quest next. Rayic's pre-buffs were found lacking: After true sight, he had no protections against getting breached:
First things first, a major mistake: I keep forgetting that entropy shield only blocks remove magic, not dispel magic. Enuhal, who is super tanky when fully buffed, goes in in order to keep the enemies together while we start our first array of spells, but is dispelled by Corey's own dispel magic which is intended to hit the yuan-ti mages. I immediately have Enuhal drink an invisibility potion. Meanwhile, the yuan-ti get to use their first pair of spells: Remove magic, which hits Grond0, and acid storm, which deals some damage to our party, but isn't too much of a threat by itself. Meanwhile, our fighters and summons have already decimated a few of the trolls:
Most of the lair is cleared by Corey and Grond0 - Corey can equip the AoP, and Grond0 has his rage. The Flail of Ages does good work here. The only truly dangerous enemy is Tanova, who has the most comprehensive pre-buffs of any mage we've encountered so far. Spell thrusts aren't enough here, but we have one secret word as well to get rid of her (non-minor) spell deflection - we true sight and dispel her, intending to breach next (she has PFMW running), while she has so far used remove magic to dispel our fighters:
This is to announce that I'll be putting Daelat's run on hold in SoA. He's just completed the Planar Prison and would have been on his way to confront Bodhi in Athkatka.
The reason is that, at level 20, we've become seriously overlevelled for this stage of the game and I've caught myself being overconfident at times and, consequently, not focused enough. This could prove disastrous and, since I've become quite fond of the character, I don't want to see him die just because of my carelessness or laziness. I could balance that with certain self-imposed limitations, although I'm not very good at that and I also don't think I'd enjoy to play it that way.
Sorry for that, but I'm still grateful to all of you for being able to share the run with you. I may revisit it in the future; we'll see.
In the no reload context sorcerer play is trickier than many players realize. Sorcerers are extremely powerful if played with precision, but it's very easy to make a mistake with them. In a no reload game all it takes is, say, one missed buff or a misclick and your run has ended. I think it's wise of you to take a pause, given that you've noticed that your execution is wavering.
It's been a pleasure following Daelat. I hope to see him again. His run has reminded me of my sorcerers of the past, and I expect that I'll be using Daelat as a reference if and when I decide to play a sorcerer again. You should feel no pressure, though: proceed when you're ready, and only if you're ready. Whether a break from the game is best, or a new character, we support your decision.
Thanks again for sharing, Borco! It's been a pleasure seeing you and following Daelat- one of the highlights of my return to the the BG community, for sure.
Cheers,
A.