@Flashburn: Where's that Shadow Chimera from? The Shadow Magic mod?
Yes. You need the Spectacles of Spectacle to see Kaladan and pull him into the Material plane and the Shadow Chimera follows him. When you beat it, he'll give you the Wand of Shadow Binding as thanks. He can provide other things if CHARNAME is a Shadow Weave mage. The wand is usable by normal mages but they take 1d10 magical feedback damage for each attempt...which Mirror Image can absorb, it seems.
I was in the mood for a bit of party play and decided to pick up this challenge after a gap of a year or so. This was previously attempted in an installation of spell revisions and Strategems and I updated those to the latest versions before starting the game. I left the difficulty setting on Tactical in SCS v32 as the closest match to the way I previously played this party (that proved hard enough for me ).
My definition of a poverty run is as follows:
1) You can never buy or sell any items (including any items required for quests).
2) You can never use or equip any items (but can pick things up for quests).
3) You may pay for quests (such as Gaelan Bayle), but not anything else (temples, inns etc).
With nothing to loot or buy in Candlekeep the Opera soon hit the road and headed for Beregost, where Marl was calmed down and a book found for Firebead.
North of Beregost, an Old Man got stuck in some traps to provide everyone with at least one level up.
Moving on to the FAI, Tarnesh also died in Washout's traps. As his belt was no use to the Opera, Unshey actually got it back for once, while Joia had her ring returned.
Further north, Tenya provided some more useful XP, before being shot down as she attempted to teleport away after getting her bowl back.
Returning to the ankheg nest, the monsters were taken down mainly thanks to the bats available at 1st level from the druid animal summoning I spell, totemic summons, traps and shamanic spirits. I got caught out with the last remaining ankheg though when it killed a bat well out of sight of the party and I expected it to stay where it was - instead it somehow managed to track the others down and threw up on Aspire to provide an early casualty.
That required a temple visit before coming back to get revenge. I tend to only allow levelling up in parties when all characters can level up at once - and clearing the upper area was just enough to allow that.
At High Hedge a couple of golems were shot down using Magic Stones. A few more tasks around Beregost included setting traps for Silke. She died before she could even turn hostile though, so the traps came in handy for Karlat (as is often the case SCS enemies are reluctant to follow outside, but can be persuaded to do so by an invisible / stealthed creature entering their area).
Still picking their travel times to avoid any bandits, the Opera went to the Lake area and activated the gnolls to attack Drizzt. Once Drizzt had killed them, he was led into a collection of traps.
Moving on to the Lighthouse their damaged reputation got a helping hand from Ardrouine before sirines were dragged into traps by bats. A couple of those was sufficient to allow everyone to level up again, providing both sorcerers with invisibility - allowing them to make the whole party invisible when necessary (the spell only lasts 8 hours now, so multiple castings can't be used after rests).
The Opera then finished off the remaining sirines and golems in the area.
We sneaked down through the Section HQ before taking on some of the Section Guards and Elite. After beating them fairly easily, I'm afraid that we became overconfident with the result that Thorin got charmed. He then attacked Aura and killed her before I was able to dispell the charm spell. The other Section Elite in the area were easy to deal with, but now I will have to get Xan to make us invisible so that Aura can be raised.
Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 186 (1st and final update) Jacques (male elf mage/thief, Grond0); Meltio (male half-elf fighter/druid, Gate70)
The run roundabout keeps spinning ever faster, but we've still not managed to get off . This random pairing looked superficially strong, with the multi-classes offering something of everything. However, care was always going to be needed in the early stages to keep Jacques alive while HPs were low. That meant it wasn't a good risk to attempt to travel more or less immediately to find Greywolf, given the possibility of being ambushed by hobgoblins on the way - but Jacques was keen to upgrade his sword as soon as possible and took the chance.
The result saw an ambush by half a dozen hobgoblins. Four of those targeted Jacques and 2 of those 4 rolled critical hits with their initial attacks - meaning he was dead even before the arrow of the final one thunked into his body ...
Next random roll, a priest of Helm and a wizard slayer. Neither of us realised the other would go for half-orc so this alignment of race was purely coincidental.
After sorting out the Candlekeep chores we used Command to good effect on Shoal the nereid and a trio of gnolls.
Then we ran into a nasty bandit ambush. Unlike the previous attempt though, this pair had thought to wear their armour and escaped with merely a few scratches (and a knock to their pride).
Good ol' Nashkel, what about now?
Greywolf wasn't falling for any of our three Command spells and was looking as if he would run us ragged. Time to try out Hold Person.
We ventured to the Friendly Arm Inn making sure we returned Samuel before he expired. Viol suggested that Corul could use Buckley's buckler (I see through your ploy of Viol using the constitution tome ahahaha) although she was using a quarterstaff. It seemed a reasonable idea though so we bought the buckler and Corul set her sights on a war hammer. That one, since Bassilus has just dropped it. Even better - Corul levels up so chooses war hammer as a proficiency.
After picking up a medium shield +1 from Bjornin, Corul hands it to Viol. No thanks he says, I'm holding out for a second long sword to dual wield. Corul knows all about this stuff and decides that Kirian's gang have one so we just have to deal with a load of basilisks, a gnomish mage and the easy-to-upset Kirian.
Only, Corul says the wrong thing and Kirian's gang disperse without a fight. We shoot down Peter as he is straggling but the other three elude us. Viol is fairly quiet at this point but Corul has a plan b and heads down a rarely-trodden path to pick up another long sword +1 much to the chagrin of Neville and his bandits.
Since we're here we head the wrong way down this path to pick on the polar bear.
& from there it makes sense to pick up a tome of leadership for Viol (16 -> 17 charisma rather than Corul's considerably more orcish 3).
We've picked up a girdle of piercing and a couple of +1 protection rings. Corul has already handed a few items to Viol only for him to return them as being unworthy of his wizard slayer restrictions. We've settled down outside High Hedge, and have Melicamp in our backpacks so presumably are looking for a skull next session.
Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 186 (1st and final update) Jacques (male elf mage/thief, Grond0); Meltio (male half-elf fighter/druid, Gate70)
The run roundabout keeps spinning ever faster, but we've still not managed to get off . This random pairing looked superficially strong, with the multi-classes offering something of everything. However, care was always going to be needed in the early stages to keep Jacques alive while HPs were low. That meant it wasn't a good risk to attempt to travel more or less immediately to find Greywolf, given the possibility of being ambushed by hobgoblins on the way - but Jacques was keen to upgrade his sword as soon as possible and took the chance.
The result saw an ambush by half a dozen hobgoblins. Four of those targeted Jacques and 2 of those 4 rolled critical hits with their initial attacks - meaning he was dead even before the arrow of the final one thunked into his body ...
Skipping Chateau Irenicus, I pick through the rubble to sell off everything valuable that was in the dungeon. I buy a scroll of Find Familiar and summon Magnus once again, this time giving him +100% to Find Traps and +50% to Open Locks. I won't let him die again.
Outfitted with basic equipment, I clear out the Copper Coronet and earn mage level 13 from a scroll of Summon Djinni that dropped from one of the guards. The nearby slavers are also put to death with my new Air Elemental summon. During the fight, I cast Slow on the slavers to great effect and then haste both of us which makes it a lot easier to kite them.
I sell off the loot from the sewers and the slaver compound, and together with Hendak's reward money, I buy the Robe of Vecna for about 20k with the help of a Friends scroll. Time to get the Wooden Horse Necklace, but I get the Suna Seni ambush instead. Good thing I was invisible. I back off and cast Mirror Image, then summon an air elemental. It doesn't take long for it to be killed even when I was helping it.
So I go invisible again and go to the other side of the ambush's map and try another air elemental summon, this time getting lucky by gaining a bonus Elder in addition to the normal one. These guys don't stand a chance now.
I gain a level at the Bridge District by fighting the party just hanging out in a storage room. The mage is taken care of with Polymorph Self: Spider, so I summon air elementals again, gaining a bonus Greater summon as well.
Now that my saving throws are pretty good, I head out to the Umar Hills to try to clear out the temple ruins before I get lich spawns. I get Jermaine's mimic blood and inherit his home as a golem building workshop. With a piece of stone from his golem, I make a lesser stone golem. I really don't like stone golems because they're the most fragile of the standard types, but it's something I can use to scout with summons.
I head over to the temple ruins after killing Valygar and clear out the surface. But I notice upon entering the dungeon that liches have fired their long-term prebuffs in the combat window. I am not prepared for those yet, so I leave. I use Valygar's body to open the planar sphere and go back to the Promenade to kill the Pebblecrusher party. I surround Ammon with an Air Elemental, an Elder Air Elemental, a skeleton, and the lesser stone golem. He dies first.
Once he's down, I start helping attack the party. The skeleton and lesser stone golem fall quickly. I try using a Wand of Paralysis on Brendan to prevent his escape, but he saves against it, so I shift to spider form to try to stack poison on him since he's hasted. But he manages to get away.
Next I poison Pooky to death to keep him from casting spells, then tag Smelly Orcslicer and Mencar a couple of times before shifting back to attack from range. The hitstun from the poison ticks should help both me and the Elder Air Elemental land attacks before they can close the distance. We are successful.
Now I'm doing Maevar's quests. He wants me to steal the Weathermistress' amulet, but its still daytime so I decide to go into the sewers and take Draug Fea's party. I approach it in basically the same way as the Pebblecrusher party, but these guys are stronger and kill my summons, but not before they at least take out Gaius the mage. The priest has two Aerial Servants summoned, and I know how deadly they are, but I don't have Death Spell on hand. Instead, I let them attack me so they show themselves, then use a Divine Wrath charged up by the Wand of Lightning to eliminate them. I didn't think summons gave XP, but Aerial Servants are worth 9k and I level up from them, gaining my first 2 HLAs: Power Attack and Extra Level 6 Slot.
With those bastard summons out of the way, I use Haste and just attack the rest from range. The priest with Physical Mirror up is Breached first. Now that I can cast Level 7 spells, I prepare a Greater Malison+Web+Grease sequencer and rest a few times to get stoneskin to stay so I can cast it after resting. The rakshasa is next and I summon a fire elemental for it, who isn't much help. This rakshasa has very good AC, so even I have a hard time hitting it. Using Haste, I kite it around for a while taking potshots until it's own Haste wears off. I use Seeker Arrow to finish it off, which is similar to Critical Strike.
The Weathermistress' amulet is stolen, so when I have to kill Rayic Gethras for Edwin, I have to find a way past the mephits. It's the steam mephits that have a no-save stun ability that procs 50% of the time, and they can spam it to extend the 1 round stun duration. I park myself right next to the door transition to escape if I need to and then use a scroll of Horror. It works! Now they can't spam their annoying mephit abilities, so I just shoot them all down.
With Protection from Fire, I just use the repeating fireball trap to roast the cowled wizard.
Maevar's questline is almost over. After handing over Embarl's dagger, I use the Nymph Cloak bought from Maevar's storekeep to charm him and waste his spellbook. I have him move to the stairs in the southwest corner and have him cast Improved Haste and Improved Invis on me before I leave to tattle on Renal Bloodscalp. After that, I turn in the Night Knives info, then come back to the guild and talk to Maevar while he's charmed. He initiates his proper dialog like I expected. Using Power Attack, I stun him with my 10 attacks per round. The rest of his assassins fall quickly.
Next is the Planar Prison. It's a challenging fight.
Now I think I'm strong enough to survive the Planar Prison, so I go rescue Haer'Dalis with assistance from a fire elemental. Yuan-ti mages continue to be the bane of my existence because they always show up in groups. I would try a Dispel/Remove Magic, but I don't think my caster level is high enough for that to be reliable, so I just shoot them while under Mislead, but even that takes so long that my Mislead clone expires before they're all dead.
The nearby chests and traps give me a level thanks to Magnus. I pick Critical Strike.
In the planar prison, Yuan-ti mages give me serious trouble. They can't hurt me (much) and I can't really hurt them. We're basically playing footsies with each other. I have a wide variety of personal anti-magic buffs. I manage to kill the bounty hunter with the boots of speed, so now I can kite things way better.
The rest of the welcoming party is killed with the aid of fire elementals. The yuan-ti priest actually kills himself by casting Flame Strike while I have Spell Turning up. Huh. And here I thought Spell Turning was just a deterrent to keep them from casting. I lead my fire elementals further in where 4 yuan-ti mages are. They hold the line long enough for me to kill the melee yuan-ti, but then I am left to face the casters alone. We go back and forth as I try to damage them with poison arrows and my Arcane Archer magical damage and they use various anti-magic attacks. Finally, when 3 of them are gathered up, I cast Dispel Magic on them, leaving 2 ripe for the pickings.
Notice the web spell currently in effect, cast by one of the enemy mages. My save vs. spell is -2 at the moment so I thought I was safe, but I get caught in it anyway. I can't think of a reason why this would happen, at the moment, but I realize after a couple of minutes that it must have been an evoker. Luckily, I had an invisibility contingency prepared in case I was ever rendered helpless.
The yuan-ti must not have any divination spells on hand anymore after they used True Sight to dispel my Mirror Image. I am only stuck in the web for one round, but I leave immediately after. After using another Mirror Image, and basically out of buff spells at this point, the mages all cast Remove Magic on me, which strips me of all my buffs. But I had cast Polymorph Self earlier since it has a surprisingly long duration, and I decide I've had enough. I transform into the spider and poison the mages to death since arrows just aren't working. A foolish hasted thrall decides he also wants a piece of me, so I poison him which causes him to accumulate poison at double speed.
Soon, the mages all fall and I'm exhausted on spell buffs. I go invisible and rest and restore my contingency. At least I don't have to deal with all of that anymore. The Master of Thralls is next, who gates in a fellow Nabassu and then gates in 3 Cambions. I summon a fire elemental and get a bonus Elder. With the elder tanking, I shoot down the Master of Thralls, then get to work on killing the Nabassu and the air elementals. The three cambions aren't much of a problem aside from their Mirror Images, Dimension Door shenanigans, and invisibility spamming.
A pair of yuan-ti mages guard the Warden. I inch my way over to them so they'll follow me. I spend a stupid amount of time on killing them when I decide to just use spider form. But because of their double fireshields and the fact that they're hasted, AND from hitting them about 3 times, I take heavy retaliation damage, so I back off and heal. Killing the second one gives me another level and Smite.
I'm still relatively good on buffs after dealing with that pair, so I challenge the Warden. The mages left be debuffed with Greater Malison, so I use a potion of invulnerability to counter it. Against the Warden, it's back-and-forth dispelling and erecting defenses, escaping with invisibility and Shadow Door and Dimension Door. He casts Horrid Wilting against me, but a Mirror Image aborbs it. Finally, his Haste wears off so I have an easier time kiting him and he finally dies after I spent most of my good arrows attacking him.
Well, if I can survive the Planar Prison, I'm sure the Guarded Compound can't be that bad. Besides, Rufus utterly demolished them in my run with the Rejects just by abusing Twin Mislead. So I enter the upstairs while fully buffed and after using a spare Protection from Energy scroll to reduce the slime trap's damage. I park a Mislead clone in the western room beyond the hidden door, then just kill them all with basic attacks.
Watcher's Keep is next for the Quiver of Plenty +1.
Returning to the minesite area, Charleston Nib got a helping hand and the doomsayer a bunch of magic missiles.
Brage was persuaded to return to Nashkel, where Beggar learnt LMD.
The main encounters in the Cloud Peaks were done without any significant alarms. At the Valley of the Tombs, Narcillicus wasted a lot of spells on a few bats and didn't have enough to stave off a wave of skeletons. The skeletons also distracted the mustard jellies while a buffed-up Pauper chopped them up with a Seeking Sword.
Everyone else was due a level for 20k, but Pauper's requirement for 27.5k kept the others waiting to level up for quite some time. Eventually they got there in Shoal's area after killing her, the nearby ogre clan (entangle, spike growth and writhing fog almost finishing them off without further attacks) and the sirines.
Bassilus was badly hurt by traps and finished off before he knew what was happening.
Thalantyr then failed to revive Melicamp and paid the usual price for his incompetence. While in the mood for that sort of thing, Kelddath and his sirines lasted only a few seconds against a general attack.
At the basilisk area, skeletons made quick progress and proved too much for Mutamin as well as his pets.
After a rest, only Peter survived traps to confront the summons.
There was more quick XP on offer at Durlag's Tower, where Pauper used sanctuary to bring out more skeletons to deal with the basilisks on the roof. The ghasts died quickly and Kirinhale couldn't withstand a full complement of traps. More traps were laid for Riggilo, but he didn't go hostile when attacked by spirit lions. That meant no traps for the ghost, but after it wasted spells on bats and lions, skeletons were able to finish it off.
Pauper was still a long way from another level though, so the Opera moved on down to the basement. Washout's 85% detect traps was sufficient to deal with most traps on the first level and summons and use of invisible blockers made most fights there pretty easy. All the XP from that meant that defeating the Warders would have been sufficient to level up and move on to the main quest. I rested the party and took a break for breakfast at that point, but came back to find this.
That was a bit surprising as I had done a quick trawl of the encounter spots before leaving the game and already killed a group of ghouls along with a spider. I thought I'd also paused the game, but I might well be mis-remembering that - or possibly I unpaused it while switching programs at some stage ...
We almost forgot to get Melicamp restored and ended up with several skulls, plus two more when skeletons followed us inside High Hedge.
Viol wanted to return a sword to Perdue, wich involved running through an assassin called Karlat. Afterwards we cleaned the streets up a bit by disposing of Silke.
At about this point we took on the sirines and flesh golems. All went swimmingly apart from a bit of multiplayer bump that saw Viol charmed and attacking Corul at one stage. A brief retreat and we resumed the task with more success.
Travelling north saw us fighting ankhegs in their nest. A few Commands were judiciously used to start but by the end it was clear our wizard slayer needed little or no help clearing these monsters away.
The same cannot be said for the battle horrors outside Durlag's Tower - making Corul wish she'd taken a wand of the heavens as suggested by Viol. She used several charges of a magic missile wand at one point and at several others it looked like one or other half-orc would succumb to their wounds. We scraped through somehow.
Inside the tower we braved a stun trap to face off against more basilisks with only a lone skeleton between us and gazing petrification. A dash more stunnification on the way out left us with time to spare but nothing much to do other than wait as patiently as we could.
Nashkel mine was next on the list. Mulahey and his minions were little danger to us, and the amazons outside took their beating silently.
Nimbul and Tranzig died painfully, leaving us free to travel to the bandit camp. Taurgosz Khosann may have saved against a Command here but the next two hits made up for that by taking him from full health to squished.
Inside the main bandit tent silence reigned briefly.
Cloakwood saw Corul use a scroll on Viol to protect him from poisonous ettercaps. Before this though, she took a dose of spider poison herself and managed to slow it - not always easy in multiplayer.
A bit further on Viol finds himself asking Corul if we want a potion that neither of us can use. of course, we'll keep it with the ones that we can (but most likely won't) use.
Drasus and his gang get the silent hold treatment and it ends up going badly for them.
Davaeorn may think he is safe from a wizard slayer but a bit of protection from lightning + fire should do the job nicely.
We flood the mine, and our heavy backpacks suggest our next travels should start with a visit to the shops.
Upon returning to the Section HQ Xan certainly proved his worth when using fireballs and web.
Web even stopped paul Wolfe from doing us any harm.
And eventually all the major players in the HQ were dead apart from those at the entrance.
The Ashirukurus had hurt Thorin badly despite the use of True Sight, but my clerics were up to the task of healing him. Sadly no screenshots of that fight.
I decided to fight those at the entrance too and they were not a problem.
I then went shopping primarily for Xan.
The equipment found in the Section HQ financed the trip. Xan now has all the spells available at this time plus a bevy of wands which will not need recharging until Amn.
I would love to start a run to test it out right now, but time constraints force me to wait until the end of june - I'll definitely return in about three weeks and have a go at it. Good luck to everyone else!
I would love to start a run to test it out right now, but time constraints force me to wait until the end of june - I'll definitely return in about three weeks and have a go at it. Good luck to everyone else!
Clearly a new set-up is in order.
However that will have to wait until the end of my current run.
I strongly recommend everyone make the switch. I've played the earlier release of v32 and it is much more dynamic and fun. You may have to relearn some strategies, though--the introduction of IWD spells is going to pose unique challenges and both clerics and druids are much more balanced due to having new tools to work with. Don't be surprised if the Ring of Free Action and a Potion of Clarity won't protect you from a mage with Icelance (3 rounds of stun on a failed save vs. spell, and Cythandria is an Invoker!), or if a spellcaster gets past your anti-magic buffs by summoning a bunch of critters to apply physical pressure.
By the way, the immunity to Remove Magic, Breach, and missile weapons from the Entropy Shield spell and the Spell Shield effect from Impervious Sanctity of Mind will make a solo no-reload druid run of Ascension finally possible, since you can safely maintain dispellable buffs. The new update is a major game-changer in multiple ways.
I was sure that my unkitted fighter run was on the way to a clean victory, but we died in Abazigal's lair to the most amazing source: the Lizard Man Shamans right before Anadramatis.
In SCS v32, the shamans are druid/mages of some sort and open with PFMW, Creeping Doom, Shadow Door, and Nature's Beauty. There was no way of getting past their defenses, and since I wasn't sure I could slip past their opening divination spells and get to Anadramatis without fighting them, I tried to go back from whence I came, through the pool. But I couldn't escape for some reason, and the enemy quickly surrounded me and boxed me in by spamming summoning spells. This is what things looked like after a Time Stop:
I spent several rounds trying to stay alive with the Rod of Resurrection and was only able to spare a round for Hardiness after I switched around my equipment to improve my AC vs. piercing (the lizard men use halberds). Unfortunately, as an unhasted fighter who was relying on the Defender of Easthaven and a shield to stay alive, our damage output wasn't remotely good enough to kill the enemies as quickly as the shamans could summon them.
And this is a fighter we're talking about; not a low-STR thief or something. Spellcasters can summon critters faster than a solo character without Improved Haste can kill them, at least unless you can dual-wield or something without endangering your defenses. It's probably a good idea to memorize Death Spell in v32 so you can dispatch these crowds.
This meant we could not break out of the box to escape to Anadramatis or find the right spot where we could enter the pool. Apparently you have to be in a specific spot to escape via the pool in the northwest, and there was no way of even knowing where it was because the cursor on the ground was covered by all the enemies.
My next plan was to wait out the summons using our many Potions of Invisibility. The enemy only had so many True Seeing spells, after all, and once they were out, I could just hide until the field cleared out. Unfortunately, the Bombardier Beetles showed up, and against the odds (20% chance per Bombardier Beetle), we got hit by that 30-second, no-save, level zero, nonmagical stun effect.
Notice the beetle's lovely line in the dialog box! I think that's just an install error.
Anyway, even 60% damage resistance from Hardiness and the Defender of Easthaven couldn't save us; not for 5 whole rounds. Only immunity to stun or a very special set of defenses (like a well-timed PFMW or Defensive Stance or something) can guarantee survival against a Bombardier Beetle. Those who can't cast Chaotic Commands should have the Greenstone Amulet active or the Sword of Arvoreen equipped.
Worse yet, these shamans cast Nature's Beauty at the start of the fight, and if you get caught within the radius, you're going to suffer permanent and undispellable blindness. Only SI: Illusion and magic resistance can block it, and only spells like Cure Disease or SCS' True Seeing can cure it.
I remember this fight giving me grief in my solo LoB Archer run (also v32, if only for BG2; I had v31 for BG1), but in that run, I didn't get boxed in... which is probably the only reason I survived.
So, don't underestimate enemy priests in SCS v32. My recommendation is to sneak past these guys--and if you do lose your invisibility to True Seeing, drinking new Potion(s) of Invisibility and running past the lizard men is probably wiser than trying to fight them.
I arrive at Watcher's Keep and buy the Firetooth crossbow. I really dislike how crossbows only have 1 APR compared to other bows, but their ammo is pretty cool. I summon a fire elemental and have it tank the vampiric wraiths, and I'm surprised to find out that it's immune to their weapons. They're stuck in the doorway, so I shoot them down.
I gain a level from giving back the priest's slippers. The fight for the portal is unremarkable because I cheesed it with Mislead. Luckily I showed up early enough that the two mage statues didn't spawn yet. I level up again from leading some fire elementals into the ice room of level 2. The Chromatic Demon is beaten by use of Phase Arrow and exploiting his form's elemental weakness. I know your weaknesses oh-so-well, old buddy, old pal. (Phase Arrow causes the next shot that hits a target to have its missile resistance reduced by 50% and its AC vs. missiles penalized by 2.)
Now I have another place I can build golems. I leave Watcher's Keep and go to the Planar Sphere, as I'm not ready to fight against balors and such, especially because they can gate in more fiends. Next is the planar sphere so I my apprentices can get to work while I do other things. One of the sahuagin drop an Arrow of Detonation! I'll be saving this, but for what, I do not know.
The halflings beat me back soundly as I am ill-suited to taking down magical defenses compared to a sorcerer. Mogadish's Aerial Bastard hits me for tremendous damage as I retreat as my Stoneskins from my last rest were taken down. I cast Stoneskin again and then Death Spell to be rid of that pest.
After that, I go invisible and gulp down a bunch of extra-healing potions, then kill the rest of the halflings. In the clock room, I summon my simulacrum from the recently-bought Vhailor's Helm. Simulacra are much better when used on either non-casters or caster multiclasses. We swiftly defeat the golems in the clock room.
Further in, I deal with Lavok. He's got spellcasting abilities on par with a lich, but SI: Abjuration keeps him from dispelling me completely. I try using Smite to stun and knock him back, but he's immune to stun. SI: Abjuration wears off and he casts Remove Magic on me just as I defeat him. His skeletons are dealt with using Death Spell.
Tolgerias' pet mage is killed by Arrow of Death, which causes Power Word, Kill on hit and then forces the target to save vs. death or die. I checked the mage's HP with ctrl+M and she qualified for the PW:K part of Arrow of Death.
Tolgerias himself is dealt with using Khelben's Warding Whip to dispel his Spell Shield and Spell Turning, then Power Word, Stun keeps him still. He is Breached and then killed with Firetooth+Bolts of Lightning.
Golems in the engine room give another level as my Simulacrum stuns them with Firetooth+Kuo Toan Bolts from Watcher's Keep. The fights out in the Abyss are easily won thanks to my simulacrum and I level up again from bringing back a demon heart to re-power the sphere.
Lavok hands over the sphere, I pay Ribald for his mage, and I rest several times to get Khollynus Paac to come. Now my apprentices have set to work creating their dagger, so I get busy. In the graveyard distract, I have my simmy give me a scroll of PfU and I clear that place out. Magnus gives me a level from disarming traps. A nearby ghast drops another Arrow of Detonation!
The De'Arnise Keep is next. I love Death Spell.
My simmy handles the golems by stunning them with Kuo-toan bolts. Golems really should not be affected by stun, as it is a mind-affecting effect according to NWN rules.
Time for Tor'Gal. I buff up, summon fire elementals and my simmy, and then both of us toss out Improved Kitthix. The skeleton and spiders are killed by the yuanti-mages casting Death Spell, but a fire elemental hangs on. I cast Remove Magic on them, which spells their doom.
My clone is disabled by Tor'Gal's aura of fear, so I have to take care of his adds by myself, which isn't hard. Once he's by himself, I activate Smite and blast him into a corner. Tor'Gal has some extra healing potions (which I personally think is BS; he's a troll, where does he keep them??? wait dont answer that) but is taken out by a couple of scorcher charges.
Now the keep is mine. Onto Trademeet. Nothing noteworthy, but I still love Death Spell. An Arcane Archer and Mage level are both gained.
From this latest level, Magnus receives his last thief skill upgrade. I choose Pickpockets, although I wouldn't try it with just 50% in the skill. Using Magnus to scout is too dangerous, so stealth skills are out of the question, and both Open Locks and Disarm Traps are maxed at 100%.
The Shade Lich is taken out with a Simmy + free PfU scrolls. I expected beholders upon reaching the lost town, but they didn't spawn. Another level is gained from healing the Empathic Manifestation, which allows me to finally cast level 9 spells. I take the planetar HLA.
Yet another is gained from killing beholders. Even the planetar can have trouble killing them, as it can get stunned sometimes, but it regenerates too fast for the beholders to actually kill it.
The Unseeing Eye is put to sleep from a planetar's earthquake after I use the Rift Device on it, which gives me plenty of time to disable it. The planetar also kills its Death Tyrant entourage. I cast Khelben's Warding Whip, then have the planetar finish it off with a Fire Storm.
Time for more lich slaying. It's the same old routine: spawn a simulacrum to use PfU scrolls on me without expending them. Down goes the City Gates lich and the Elemental lich.
Kangaxx is next. Same tactics, but I have to kite around a fallen planetar and Insect Swarm spells. I escape from the room to remove the Insect Swarms flying toward me and wait out some of the planetar's duration.
Now it's Demigaxx's turn. The planetar gets unsummoned as well. I try Smite to knock him away and stunlock him for a bit, but I'm really not doing much damage to him with a Composite Shortbow +3 and Firetooth doesn't fair any better because Demigaxx's MR blocks any additional on-hit effects from the crossbow and its ammo.
Soon he triggers his SI: Divination+Shadow Door+PfMW contingency. I use Kitthix to lure him out, but apparently Trap the Soul does not remove his improved invis. I try some scrolls of Monster Summoning to get him to come out, but he tries Time Stop. I saw him winding up for it and moved away far enough that he wouldn't have anywhere to target with Remove Magic.
Once his PfMW wears off, I decide to just keep shooting him with enchanted arrows and an Oil of Speed. Phase Arrow does not work for some reason. I think it's because it still checks for magic resistance. Kangaxx dies eventually. Can't wait to get Improved Haste.
With Kangaxx down, only the Twisted Rune is left. With my Simmy and free PfU scrolls, we kill Shangalar and then quickly back away to escape Vaxall's sight range. I cast Mislead and park both of my clones as far away as I can. But Vaxall can sometimes see through my Mislead, firing an anti-magic ray at me, which dispels my PfU scroll. I am quick to reapply it for the vampire, but my Mislead is still intact. Vaxall is eventually killed, though it was quite tense because I thought he was going to destroy my clones.
Layenne is next. I still have Mislead up, so I use Bolts of Biting against her, which interrupts her True Sight attempt. She goes down quickly. The vampire is also killed due to PfU.
There. I'm pretty much decked out now and my saving throws are fairly safe into the negatives. Next objective is the Shade Lord and then the Windspear Hills.
Before leaving for the temple ruins, I visit the pickpocket outside of Neb's house to get Improved Haste and the individual scrolls of Spell Immunity. The Temple Ruins are cleared with Simmy + PfU. The Shadow Dragon is defeated easily. Seven Eyes protected me from its blinding breath weapon while the Amulet of Power prevented level drain.
The Shade Lord is killed with a planetar's help. The last time I fought him, he basically did nothing because I'm pretty sure there was a conflict between SCS's Improved Shade Lord and Shadow Magic's Shade Lord. I haven't changed my mod install, but this time, he casts spells properly, though I think he wasn't fighting at full strength.
Windspear Hills. Plath Rededge drops another Arrow of Detonation!
The Ruhk transmuter is no match for a Remove Magic and falls quickly. The mummies and vampire coven are killed with Simmy + PfU. Samia's group is lured into my own ambush where I cast Greater Malison while a planetar casts Insect Swarm. Earthquake then knocks out everyone except the mage. Easy victory.
Firkraag. I buff to maximum: Mind Blank, Stoneskin, Shield, Minor Spell Deflection, Protection from Fire, Spirit Armor, Spell Turning, Spell Shield, Polymorph Self, Spell Trap (via staff of magi), Seven Eyes, Globe of Invulnerability, Spell Shield, SI: Abjuration, Improved Haste, then summon a planetar and share Emotion: Hope with it. Firkraag almost kills the planetar a couple of times, but it casts its Deva Heal on itself the first time around. The other two times, I have it back away and cast Heal on itself.
I use Phase Arrow on Firkraag, negating his damage resistance and actually causing bonus damage. He tries lowering my fire resistance, Remove Magic, and his breath weapon, but they were all negated by my defenses (good saves vs. spell, SI: Abjuration, and Seven Eyes respectively). Down he goes.
Alhoon's hideout. The planetar does all the heavy lifting and turns the illithids into takoyaki with Fire Storm as I kite them into it. The alhoon is lured out of his lair and the planetar starts ripping him up until he activates his super mode spell trigger: Improved Haste+Tenser's Transformation+PfMW. The alhoon can't touch the planetar due to its weapon immunity so it tries to come after me. I shift into spider form and poison it a couple of times since it's hasted, then I just shoot it to death. I thought Alhoons were undead, though, so they should be immune to poison.
The mage stronghold quests are all completed and Roenall is drumming up an army, so it's off to Spellhold for me. Bodhi is beaten easily.
Before leaving for Spellhold, I construct a Perfect Clay and Perfect Flesh golem. Once on the island, I visit Perth the Adept and fire an Arrow of Death at him before he can talk to me. I get a lucky roll on his Book of Daily Spell, turning the page to True Sight.
Spellhold's resident lich is taken out by Time Stop+Whirlwind Attack using the Daystar longsword.
Irenicus is easily beaten thanks to Dradeel casting Khelben's Warding Whip on him, which takes out his spell shield, and another one of the casters uses Breach on him. My planetar disables him with Insect Swarm for good measure.
The sahuagin city is unremarkable. In the underdark, the golems escort the planetar so it can dispatch the beholder hive.
The illithid city is tricky. I used a Wand of Cloudkill to kill the initial Umber Hulk fight upon first being captured. The cloud lasted long enough that when it was Simyaz's group's turn to fight, it turned them hostile, so I was left to break out of the city on my own, which means groups of illithids teleporting right on top of me every now and then. The first time they box me in, I escape with Dimension Door. The second time I counter with PfMW.
My flesh golem is destroyed by umber hulks and Perfect Clay is near death, so I have him hang back. I have to transform into the Slayer to open up the door to the Master Brain. The planetar kills it.
Ust Natha. I follow the questline quickly up until needing to get the special components to summon the lesser demon lord. Deirex is killed with a scroll of PfU applied on myself.
When the drow lady who wants you to kill the Ghanadaur followers appears, I head down to the Spelljammer beholder's landing and summon my planetar. I have it cast Fire Storm... but this causes the whole city to go hostile. A neutral drow must have been caught in the crossfire. With the ragtag raider groups already appearing, I abandon the planetar and run straight for Adalon's eggs, having my clay golem haste itself to keep up. Perfect Clay keeps the drow at the entrance to the temple busy while I charge toward the eggs.
I juke the golems running toward me and nab the eggs, then cast Improved Alacrity with the Amulet of Power on, then go invisible and buff with everything I can cast quickly and then use Improved Haste. I need to counter this Greater Malison I was hit with during my run toward the temple; Spirit Armor, Emotion: Hope, Blur, and Improved Invisibility should do it.
Back near the temple's entrance, I summon a planetar and try to see if I can fight off the drow before leaving. They're a bit more resilient than I thought they'd be and more of them keep spawning. Perfect Clay has been destroyed and it splits in half and its children are killed quickly. When this happens, I get the heck out of there.
I still have a casting of Dimension Door which I can use to teleport to the other side of the map, so I'm in no real danger, especially not with how many buffs I have up in addition to SI: Abjuration, not to mention my two other Spell Immunities memorized. At double-strength Haste speed, I reach the entrance to the city and use Greater Deathblow, instantly killing several drow. There is a priestess there buffed by Physical Mirror, and I'm wary to use one of my two Breaches against her in case something worse shows up. Wizards start appearing, so I leave the city and kill anything that follows me outside.
Adalon's eggs are delivered and I escape to the surface. I get Drizzt's help, learn Chain Contingency, Shapechange, and Power Word: Kill from Ribald, and forge Water's Edge +4, the Amulet of Ilmater, Throwing Impaler +4, the Shield of Harmony +3, and Gesen's Shortbow. The Shadow Thieves and the Radiant Heart are recruited to fight Bodhi, so she's next. After her comes Venduris's group, who I think I have a plan for.
Journal of Faith the Fair
We found that dealing with the Cloakwood mines was remarkably easy and we are now dealing with the many minor quests in the Gate. Apparently orcs are causing problems in the North and in due course I will have to deal with them.
We thought that some of the problems in the Gate were caused by Shadow Thieves, however this did not prove to be the case. In the process of discovering that, my intelligence improved slightly. It improved still more at razemith's Tower and my Dexterity improved due to a tome in the thieves' Guild.
Dealing with getting poisoned by Marek gained me extra wisdom and brought Xan up to level 9.
I was asked by an unsavoury character in the Gate to get some boots from Pilar at the Friendly Arms Inn. However, upon further investigation, I have decided to be on Pilar's side. [A new quest as far as I am concerned]
EDIT
Before fulfilling his request I went for the little rad bag that someone from Kara Tur wanted. Getting it required a challenging battle which we won.
This resulted in getting a merchant who sells bardic materials. No use for me.
However, I did come across another trader at the FAI called Maltz. I found him due to casting detect evil when I wanted to know whether Pilar was evil or not.
Whilst he is evil, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with his goods, so I bought the blade of roses. I can now have a charisma of 25 if I am wearing the correct items. I also bought a katana +3 and a mace of disruption +1. I am now poor.
Ilmater would be very pleased with me.
I would have liked to have merged some of my weaponry, but have insufficient gold at present.
We returned to Gheldehar in order to recover Pilar's Ring. However Aura was unable to pickpocket it. Drake and Tenya therefore cast Holy Smite a number of times. Despite being hurt by the spells, Gheldehar did not become violent, but just died as a result of his wounds.
We rewturned Pilar's Ring and received a small reward. I am thinking that perhaps I didn't handle this as well as I could have. Perhaps I needed to give Aura some potions in order to pickpocket both of them.
Bodhi's lair. Using Improved Haste, I help my comrades blast through the vampire den. Drizzt unfortunately succumbs to the Guard vampire's blood drain. This Guard has impressive regenerative abilities thanks to his Improved Haste, but I eventually kill it. I rest and enter the second level, buffing to max, summoning a planetar, and using a scroll of PfU. Even Bodhi's not immune to this.
Bodhi puts up almost zero resistance. I think I like it better this way.
Now for Venduris' group, the fight I was truly worried about. Before leaving the Graveyard District, I set up a Spell Trigger and Chain Contingency which should let me survive long enough to cast Time Stop and then Improved Alacrity. I use the Trigger first and swap to the Shield of Harmony +3. Globe of Invulnerability combined with my equipment will allow me to ignore Selina Shadowstorm's opening Sequencer of Greater Malison+Slow+Chaos, and the shield will protect against the Chaos part of the sequencer.
Now, when the assassins inevitably try to hit me, my Chain Contingency will trigger. Seven Eyes will soak up an extra hit and provide further immunities, while Spell Shield will prevent anti-magic attacks, and Remove Magic will dispel the buffs of nearby enemies. Grok, Selina, and Venduris are in its AoE.
With this, I have enough time to get off Time Stop, then Improved Alacrity. I buff almost to maximum, summon a planetar, and use a spell sequencer I've been holding onto for way too long: Greater Malison+Web+Grease. Then a casting of Horrid Wilting centered further away from the sequencer's point of impact so Greater Malison takes effect first.
When the Time Stop is over, my buffs were somehow dispelled! It must have been Bodak Hangthorn and his dispelling arrows as my PfMW wore off during the Time Stop. Improved Alacrity is still active so I interrupt my casting of Incendiary Cloud to cast PfMW again. I have the planetar cast Insect Swarm on Grok since he's hasted.
For about a round, the assassins and I exchange blows and I have the planetar cast Earthquake to disable Venduris, just in case the Spell Sequencer didn't already do him in. Zaeron T'ane apparently casted Spell Thrust on me during my Time Stop and also used a wand of spell striking before the time stop, so my spell shield is consumed and my Spell Turning is also torn down. Now he's using a scroll of PfMW to get the planetar off his back, but the planetar counters with True Sight, destroying his Mislead clone, and I follow up with Breach. He's dead.
Now I have the planetar cast Symbol: Fear to disable Selina and Bodak. Bodak must not have been close enough to the symbol but Selina fails her save. With her on the run, we target Bodak so he can't dispel me again. I use one of my own arrows of dispelling against him and the planetar tears him a new one. Grok dies at about the same time from Insect Swarm, presumably.
Kerith the Bleak joins the fray and, though I'm still using v31, from reading SCS v32's new spell list I've learned to STAY OUT OF TOUCH RANGE OF PRIESTS! He might be packing Harm. The planetar uses a Fire Storm against him and the immobile and invisible Venduris. This kills the assassin leader.
The planetar makes mincemeat of Kerith. Selina is still panicked so she falls as well. Victory!
It seems I'm going to have to rework my spellbook a little bit to take into account getting dispelled from other sources besides Remove Magic and specific anti-magicks. Or, y'know, I could actually use scrolls instead. I keep forgetting I've got a scroll case full of everything I could possibly want.
A couple of Cloakwood ambushes are nothing for us to be afraid of (we run away).
Moving into the city of Baldur's Gate we grab tomes for dexterity (Corul) and intelligence (also Corul). She can now identify minor magical items.
After grabbing helms (Balduran for Viol and Glory for Corul) we add a cloak of Balduran for Corul and that's about all we need. The way to the cloak was blocked by Larze and despite our buffs Viol was almost forced to run, until a Command gave us enough leeway to remain in goo-pasting-crush distance.
We headed back to Candlekeep, Corul having realised (remembered) neither of us could use strength potions. Viol suggested a potion from the carnival plus potions of agility and fortitude. These were enough to set Corul's strength to 25 without any real weakness and we managed to loot the catacombs. Buffs against lightning and fire also prevented the sort of minor errors that have plagued and ended recent outings.
Our return to the city came at Slythe's expense - him being silenced and commanded.
Viol decided he didn't want to bother relieving Tamoko of her armour so after the coronation we just buffed to deal with undead in the thieves maze making that an easy stroll.
With protection from undead active we skirted around Rahvin and his gang without activating them and Viol inched towards a skeleton warrior. As we suspected, the area transition had allowed the undead to ignore the protection from undead scroll and Viol was attacked. We killed that skeleton and left the others to theie eternal protection of whatever they were guarding. The once-abandoned temple of Bhaal is just ahead so we rest and head inside.
Sarevok is assisted by Semaj for a few moments but an arrow of dispelling and four skeletons are too much for the mage. Sarevok is alone and demonstrates his saving throws are too much for Corul right up until Viol kills him (hindsight, maybe Corul can't cast through the scroll either - she's not too concerned as the skellies and wizard slayer were on top of matters).
The Iron Throne leaders were no match for my strategy combined with the skills of my party.
Upon leaving the sewer system we were unexpectedly attacked by more ninjas. Fortunately we still buffed, so they were not a major problem though Tenya was quite badly hurt before she got a chance to heal herself. One of them had Improved Shadow Armour (Armour Class 2)
We slept at the nearby inn before deciding to return to The Flaming Fist HQ.
On the way we called in at Aldeth's home and discovered that he had problems. Unfortunately, despite killing all the doppelgangers, Aldeth keeps saying that I haven't killed them all.
[I am wondering if I should just switch to other quests or create some more doppelgangers so that I can finish this one. From what I have seen on the web it is a bug that does reappear from time to time.]
If anyone knows the name of their cre file, I would be grateful if you could inform me. There are 15 different cre files in my game.
EDIT
I increased the global ALDETHDOPPLE by 1to 16 and that fixed it.
@Flashburn: Excellent work on taking down Venduris! To my knowledge, that's the first time it's ever been done solo by a solo character.
I have actually done it before in my solo War Hulk run, but I'm not sure if it really "counted" because of how crazy strong he became. I wasn't sure how a solo mage could survive this encounter because you start completely unbuffed, so I gave it some serious thought and came up with this strategy. I'd hate to try this with a solo divine caster since they can't use sequencers or contingencies.
A Barbarian also might have a shot. The immunity to backstab would be a big help, and between the Defender of Easthaven, Hardiness, and the Helm of Dumathoin, the Barbarian would have 83% physical damage resistance. A Dwarven Defender wouldn't be immune to backstabs, but it could reach 93% damage resistance with Defensive Stance.
Druids in SCS v31 would be able to survive in earth elemental form, which erroneously granted 100% physical damage resistance before the v32 update finally fixed it. A fighter/druid could hit 90% even in v32 by stacking it with Hardiness.
In SCS v32, clerics can cast Divine Protection for 3 rounds of immunity to damage, or Greater Divine Protection for 100% magic resistance on top, but that can be Breached or dispelled. I guess you could chain-cast Divine Protection every time it got Breached. At level 35, you could memorize 9 castings of Divine Protection and 6 castings of Greater Divine Protection, not counting Wisdom bonuses or holy symbol bonuses. If you also could maintain immunity to the right disablers, conceivably you could slowly build up your defenses until you were in a position to overcome the enemy.
Don't know if Sanctuary would help. I don't think it's supposed to be broken by divination spells or Detect Illusions, but I've seen Venduris' gang remove it nonetheless. But then, Venduris has never played fair.
I think the problem with Venduris isn't Venduris himself but the barbarian guy with stunning axe. Iirc, it doesn't allow a save (I might be wrong, haven't played RR for ages).
But if you got Chain Contingency (and a Planetar); or are willing to bite Venduris' head off before the battle starts there shouldn't be much problems with them.
The jailbreak started off OK and continued in the same vein. Corul used suitable buffs on Viol to make sure he did all the hard lifting and she coasted along behind him. Maybe this is how you should do a successful no-reload. Or not.
Once we got outside we thought life would be a little easier. Not for these two though.
Corul continued with her buff-the warrior strategy and safely kept her distance. Like this. Except for the confusion, obviously.
Bandits and ruffians kept harrying us, often joining in when we were already being picked on (mainly by vampires at night who seemed to be drawn to us and our abject saving throws + equipment).
We made an early-ish stop off to deal with the Rune Assassins, and made a decent fist of it. Opening a door outside so Viol is petrified isn't a good way to follow this success up and Corul had to go purchase a green scroll to turn him back to flesh and get back in the party.
More vampires turned up, and after previously running Corul decided it was time to make a stand.
Mae'Var was in trouble, and once held he wasn't going to get out of it.
We wrapped the session up with some death in the sewers. Unfortunately for us, Viol chose to star in between the deaths of the Rakshasa and Tarnor's gang. Corul had previously had raise dead memorised but the enduring memory of this session was that her constant changing of spells saw her with a continually incorrect choice that had been fine a couple of minutes earlier. Hence a trip to a temple.
We've helped Roger out so need to consider our next course of action. Our lack of shorty saving throws plus a wizard slayer without rings / cloak / girdle is making this a slightly different multiplayer experience than usual, and we're heading into the zone where SoA punishes careless behaviour. Corul needs to get her act together and work out a meaningful set of buffs for us to rely on.
We managed to get through Candlekeep with only one mishap.
Aura was killed by Prat's Lightning Strike.
We paid Aerie to raise her and she then healed her for free.
This is the first time that I have killed Diarmid.
On the way back towards the Gate we were assaulted by Teldorns. It looks as if we now have more problems to sort out. The wounds that we received have given us fair warning that this enemy will be no pushover. We will clearly have to scout ahead to ensure that we are fully buffed before we fight.
EDIT
After many battles the stone was eventually regained and given to Aranor.
Realising the opposition that would now face me in Baldur's Gate I decided that we should first deal with other problems in the Sword Coast and in the process become strong enough to defeat the Iron Throne and Sarevok. This involved clearing Ulcaster, a trip to Ice Island, and we will than investigate what happened to Balduran.
Sadly, when we went to get the charts in Baldur's Gate, Aura got chunked by some ninjas, thus proving that I was right in avoiding the place. We did however get the charts, but before returning to Ulgoth's Beard, we need to recruit another thief. Sadly Lawful Good thieves are in short supply, so we may have to lower our standards somewhat.
Aura's place was filled by a level 9 drow assassin called Vynd, not the ideal companion, but needs must.
EDIT
We then tried to find Balduran's Ship and succeeded. Sadly this ended up in eliminating those on the island, some of whom were decent enough.
The wife of Pandris asked us to search for him in the fields of the dead. We haven't found him yet, but in looking for him we found Reedring who we did manage to free, though the shamans made that job quite hard. As well as hurting us, they also killed each other by using spalls that didn't discriminate as to who they hurt.
We subsequently found and freed Pandris after battling against yet more orcs backed up by shamans.
Comments
Previous run:
I was in the mood for a bit of party play and decided to pick up this challenge after a gap of a year or so. This was previously attempted in an installation of spell revisions and Strategems and I updated those to the latest versions before starting the game. I left the difficulty setting on Tactical in SCS v32 as the closest match to the way I previously played this party (that proved hard enough for me
My definition of a poverty run is as follows:
1) You can never buy or sell any items (including any items required for quests).
2) You can never use or equip any items (but can pick things up for quests).
3) You may pay for quests (such as Gaelan Bayle), but not anything else (temples, inns etc).
With nothing to loot or buy in Candlekeep the Opera soon hit the road and headed for Beregost, where Marl was calmed down and a book found for Firebead.
North of Beregost, an Old Man got stuck in some traps to provide everyone with at least one level up.
Further north, Tenya provided some more useful XP, before being shot down as she attempted to teleport away after getting her bowl back.
At High Hedge a couple of golems were shot down using Magic Stones. A few more tasks around Beregost included setting traps for Silke. She died before she could even turn hostile though, so the traps came in handy for Karlat (as is often the case SCS enemies are reluctant to follow outside, but can be persuaded to do so by an invisible / stealthed creature entering their area).
Still picking their travel times to avoid any bandits, the Opera went to the Lake area and activated the gnolls to attack Drizzt. Once Drizzt had killed them, he was led into a collection of traps.
Moving on to the Lighthouse their damaged reputation got a helping hand from Ardrouine before sirines were dragged into traps by bats. A couple of those was sufficient to allow everyone to level up again, providing both sorcerers with invisibility - allowing them to make the whole party invisible when necessary (the spell only lasts 8 hours now, so multiple castings can't be used after rests).
Beggar, Totemic Druid - L5, 43 HPs, 3 kills
Pauper, Priest of Helm - L5, 40 HPs, 25 kills, 0 deaths
Hardup, Shaman - L4, 38 HPs, 41 kills, 0 deaths
Washout, Bounty Hunter - L5, 34 HPs, 16 kills, 0 deaths
Aspire, Sorcerer - L4, 21 HPs, 10 kills, 1 death
Skint, Sorcerer - L4, 23 HPs, 12 kills, 0 deaths
We sneaked down through the Section HQ before taking on some of the Section Guards and Elite. After beating them fairly easily, I'm afraid that we became overconfident with the result that Thorin got charmed. He then attacked Aura and killed her before I was able to dispell the charm spell. The other Section Elite in the area were easy to deal with, but now I will have to get Xan to make us invisible so that Aura can be raised.
Jacques (male elf mage/thief, Grond0); Meltio (male half-elf fighter/druid, Gate70)
The run roundabout keeps spinning ever faster, but we've still not managed to get off
The result saw an ambush by half a dozen hobgoblins. Four of those targeted Jacques and 2 of those 4 rolled critical hits with their initial attacks - meaning he was dead even before the arrow of the final one thunked into his body ...
Corul (female half-orc priest of Helm, Gate70); Viol (male half-orc wizard slayer, Grond0)
Next random roll, a priest of Helm and a wizard slayer. Neither of us realised the other would go for half-orc so this alignment of race was purely coincidental.
After sorting out the Candlekeep chores we used Command to good effect on Shoal the nereid and a trio of gnolls.
We've picked up a girdle of piercing and a couple of +1 protection rings. Corul has already handed a few items to Viol only for him to return them as being unworthy of his wizard slayer restrictions. We've settled down outside High Hedge, and have Melicamp in our backpacks so presumably are looking for a skull next session.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071330#Comment_1071330
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071334#Comment_1071334
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071592#Comment_1071592
Skipping Chateau Irenicus, I pick through the rubble to sell off everything valuable that was in the dungeon. I buy a scroll of Find Familiar and summon Magnus once again, this time giving him +100% to Find Traps and +50% to Open Locks. I won't let him die again.
Outfitted with basic equipment, I clear out the Copper Coronet and earn mage level 13 from a scroll of Summon Djinni that dropped from one of the guards. The nearby slavers are also put to death with my new Air Elemental summon. During the fight, I cast Slow on the slavers to great effect and then haste both of us which makes it a lot easier to kite them.
I sell off the loot from the sewers and the slaver compound, and together with Hendak's reward money, I buy the Robe of Vecna for about 20k with the help of a Friends scroll. Time to get the Wooden Horse Necklace, but I get the Suna Seni ambush instead. Good thing I was invisible. I back off and cast Mirror Image, then summon an air elemental. It doesn't take long for it to be killed even when I was helping it.
I gain a level at the Bridge District by fighting the party just hanging out in a storage room. The mage is taken care of with Polymorph Self: Spider, so I summon air elementals again, gaining a bonus Greater summon as well.
Now that my saving throws are pretty good, I head out to the Umar Hills to try to clear out the temple ruins before I get lich spawns. I get Jermaine's mimic blood and inherit his home as a golem building workshop. With a piece of stone from his golem, I make a lesser stone golem. I really don't like stone golems because they're the most fragile of the standard types, but it's something I can use to scout with summons.
I head over to the temple ruins after killing Valygar and clear out the surface. But I notice upon entering the dungeon that liches have fired their long-term prebuffs in the combat window. I am not prepared for those yet, so I leave. I use Valygar's body to open the planar sphere and go back to the Promenade to kill the Pebblecrusher party. I surround Ammon with an Air Elemental, an Elder Air Elemental, a skeleton, and the lesser stone golem. He dies first.
Now I'm doing Maevar's quests. He wants me to steal the Weathermistress' amulet, but its still daytime so I decide to go into the sewers and take Draug Fea's party. I approach it in basically the same way as the Pebblecrusher party, but these guys are stronger and kill my summons, but not before they at least take out Gaius the mage. The priest has two Aerial Servants summoned, and I know how deadly they are, but I don't have Death Spell on hand. Instead, I let them attack me so they show themselves, then use a Divine Wrath charged up by the Wand of Lightning to eliminate them. I didn't think summons gave XP, but Aerial Servants are worth 9k and I level up from them, gaining my first 2 HLAs: Power Attack and Extra Level 6 Slot.
The Weathermistress' amulet is stolen, so when I have to kill Rayic Gethras for Edwin, I have to find a way past the mephits. It's the steam mephits that have a no-save stun ability that procs 50% of the time, and they can spam it to extend the 1 round stun duration. I park myself right next to the door transition to escape if I need to and then use a scroll of Horror. It works! Now they can't spam their annoying mephit abilities, so I just shoot them all down.
Maevar's questline is almost over. After handing over Embarl's dagger, I use the Nymph Cloak bought from Maevar's storekeep to charm him and waste his spellbook. I have him move to the stairs in the southwest corner and have him cast Improved Haste and Improved Invis on me before I leave to tattle on Renal Bloodscalp. After that, I turn in the Night Knives info, then come back to the guild and talk to Maevar while he's charmed. He initiates his proper dialog like I expected. Using Power Attack, I stun him with my 10 attacks per round. The rest of his assassins fall quickly.
Next is the Planar Prison. It's a challenging fight.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071330#Comment_1071330
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071334#Comment_1071334
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071592#Comment_1071592
BG2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071877#Comment_1071877
Now I think I'm strong enough to survive the Planar Prison, so I go rescue Haer'Dalis with assistance from a fire elemental. Yuan-ti mages continue to be the bane of my existence because they always show up in groups. I would try a Dispel/Remove Magic, but I don't think my caster level is high enough for that to be reliable, so I just shoot them while under Mislead, but even that takes so long that my Mislead clone expires before they're all dead.
In the planar prison, Yuan-ti mages give me serious trouble. They can't hurt me (much) and I can't really hurt them. We're basically playing footsies with each other. I have a wide variety of personal anti-magic buffs. I manage to kill the bounty hunter with the boots of speed, so now I can kite things way better.
Soon, the mages all fall and I'm exhausted on spell buffs. I go invisible and rest and restore my contingency. At least I don't have to deal with all of that anymore. The Master of Thralls is next, who gates in a fellow Nabassu and then gates in 3 Cambions. I summon a fire elemental and get a bonus Elder. With the elder tanking, I shoot down the Master of Thralls, then get to work on killing the Nabassu and the air elementals. The three cambions aren't much of a problem aside from their Mirror Images, Dimension Door shenanigans, and invisibility spamming.
A pair of yuan-ti mages guard the Warden. I inch my way over to them so they'll follow me. I spend a stupid amount of time on killing them when I decide to just use spider form. But because of their double fireshields and the fact that they're hasted, AND from hitting them about 3 times, I take heavy retaliation damage, so I back off and heal. Killing the second one gives me another level and Smite.
Well, if I can survive the Planar Prison, I'm sure the Guarded Compound can't be that bad. Besides, Rufus utterly demolished them in my run with the Rejects just by abusing Twin Mislead. So I enter the upstairs while fully buffed and after using a spare Protection from Energy scroll to reduce the slime trap's damage. I park a Mislead clone in the western room beyond the hidden door, then just kill them all with basic attacks.
Watcher's Keep is next for the Quiver of Plenty +1.
Arrow Slinger - Arcane Archer 15/Mage 15
Previous updates:
Returning to the minesite area, Charleston Nib got a helping hand and the doomsayer a bunch of magic missiles.
The main encounters in the Cloud Peaks were done without any significant alarms. At the Valley of the Tombs, Narcillicus wasted a lot of spells on a few bats and didn't have enough to stave off a wave of skeletons. The skeletons also distracted the mustard jellies while a buffed-up Pauper chopped them up with a Seeking Sword.
Everyone else was due a level for 20k, but Pauper's requirement for 27.5k kept the others waiting to level up for quite some time. Eventually they got there in Shoal's area after killing her, the nearby ogre clan (entangle, spike growth and writhing fog almost finishing them off without further attacks) and the sirines.
Bassilus was badly hurt by traps and finished off before he knew what was happening.
At the basilisk area, skeletons made quick progress and proved too much for Mutamin as well as his pets.
There was more quick XP on offer at Durlag's Tower, where Pauper used sanctuary to bring out more skeletons to deal with the basilisks on the roof. The ghasts died quickly and Kirinhale couldn't withstand a full complement of traps. More traps were laid for Riggilo, but he didn't go hostile when attacked by spirit lions. That meant no traps for the ghost, but after it wasted spells on bats and lions, skeletons were able to finish it off.
Pauper was still a long way from another level though, so the Opera moved on down to the basement. Washout's 85% detect traps was sufficient to deal with most traps on the first level and summons and use of invisible blockers made most fights there pretty easy. All the XP from that meant that defeating the Warders would have been sufficient to level up and move on to the main quest. I rested the party and took a break for breakfast at that point, but came back to find this.
Corul (female half-orc priest of Helm, Gate70); Viol (male half-orc wizard slayer, Grond0)
We almost forgot to get Melicamp restored and ended up with several skulls, plus two more when skeletons followed us inside High Hedge.
Viol wanted to return a sword to Perdue, wich involved running through an assassin called Karlat. Afterwards we cleaned the streets up a bit by disposing of Silke.
Travelling north saw us fighting ankhegs in their nest. A few Commands were judiciously used to start but by the end it was clear our wizard slayer needed little or no help clearing these monsters away.
We flood the mine, and our heavy backpacks suggest our next travels should start with a visit to the shops.
Upon returning to the Section HQ Xan certainly proved his worth when using fireballs and web.
Web even stopped paul Wolfe from doing us any harm.
And eventually all the major players in the HQ were dead apart from those at the entrance.
The Ashirukurus had hurt Thorin badly despite the use of True Sight, but my clerics were up to the task of healing him.
I decided to fight those at the entrance too and they were not a problem.
I then went shopping primarily for Xan.
The equipment found in the Section HQ financed the trip. Xan now has all the spells available at this time plus a bevy of wands which will not need recharging until Amn.
Great news - I just saw that the final version of SCS v32 has just been released:
https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/30300-sword-coast-stratagems-v32-now-available/
I would love to start a run to test it out right now, but time constraints force me to wait until the end of june - I'll definitely return in about three weeks and have a go at it. Good luck to everyone else!
Clearly a new set-up is in order.
However that will have to wait until the end of my current run.
By the way, the immunity to Remove Magic, Breach, and missile weapons from the Entropy Shield spell and the Spell Shield effect from Impervious Sanctity of Mind will make a solo no-reload druid run of Ascension finally possible, since you can safely maintain dispellable buffs. The new update is a major game-changer in multiple ways.
In SCS v32, the shamans are druid/mages of some sort and open with PFMW, Creeping Doom, Shadow Door, and Nature's Beauty. There was no way of getting past their defenses, and since I wasn't sure I could slip past their opening divination spells and get to Anadramatis without fighting them, I tried to go back from whence I came, through the pool. But I couldn't escape for some reason, and the enemy quickly surrounded me and boxed me in by spamming summoning spells. This is what things looked like after a Time Stop:
I spent several rounds trying to stay alive with the Rod of Resurrection and was only able to spare a round for Hardiness after I switched around my equipment to improve my AC vs. piercing (the lizard men use halberds). Unfortunately, as an unhasted fighter who was relying on the Defender of Easthaven and a shield to stay alive, our damage output wasn't remotely good enough to kill the enemies as quickly as the shamans could summon them.
And this is a fighter we're talking about; not a low-STR thief or something. Spellcasters can summon critters faster than a solo character without Improved Haste can kill them, at least unless you can dual-wield or something without endangering your defenses. It's probably a good idea to memorize Death Spell in v32 so you can dispatch these crowds.
This meant we could not break out of the box to escape to Anadramatis or find the right spot where we could enter the pool. Apparently you have to be in a specific spot to escape via the pool in the northwest, and there was no way of even knowing where it was because the cursor on the ground was covered by all the enemies.
My next plan was to wait out the summons using our many Potions of Invisibility. The enemy only had so many True Seeing spells, after all, and once they were out, I could just hide until the field cleared out. Unfortunately, the Bombardier Beetles showed up, and against the odds (20% chance per Bombardier Beetle), we got hit by that 30-second, no-save, level zero, nonmagical stun effect.
Notice the beetle's lovely line in the dialog box! I think that's just an install error.
Anyway, even 60% damage resistance from Hardiness and the Defender of Easthaven couldn't save us; not for 5 whole rounds. Only immunity to stun or a very special set of defenses (like a well-timed PFMW or Defensive Stance or something) can guarantee survival against a Bombardier Beetle. Those who can't cast Chaotic Commands should have the Greenstone Amulet active or the Sword of Arvoreen equipped.
Worse yet, these shamans cast Nature's Beauty at the start of the fight, and if you get caught within the radius, you're going to suffer permanent and undispellable blindness. Only SI: Illusion and magic resistance can block it, and only spells like Cure Disease or SCS' True Seeing can cure it.
I remember this fight giving me grief in my solo LoB Archer run (also v32, if only for BG2; I had v31 for BG1), but in that run, I didn't get boxed in... which is probably the only reason I survived.
So, don't underestimate enemy priests in SCS v32. My recommendation is to sneak past these guys--and if you do lose your invisibility to True Seeing, drinking new Potion(s) of Invisibility and running past the lizard men is probably wiser than trying to fight them.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071330#Comment_1071330
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071334#Comment_1071334
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071592#Comment_1071592
BG2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071877#Comment_1071877
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071887#Comment_1071887
I arrive at Watcher's Keep and buy the Firetooth crossbow. I really dislike how crossbows only have 1 APR compared to other bows, but their ammo is pretty cool. I summon a fire elemental and have it tank the vampiric wraiths, and I'm surprised to find out that it's immune to their weapons. They're stuck in the doorway, so I shoot them down.
Now I have another place I can build golems. I leave Watcher's Keep and go to the Planar Sphere, as I'm not ready to fight against balors and such, especially because they can gate in more fiends. Next is the planar sphere so I my apprentices can get to work while I do other things. One of the sahuagin drop an Arrow of Detonation! I'll be saving this, but for what, I do not know.
Tolgerias' pet mage is killed by Arrow of Death, which causes Power Word, Kill on hit and then forces the target to save vs. death or die. I checked the mage's HP with ctrl+M and she qualified for the PW:K part of Arrow of Death.
Lavok hands over the sphere, I pay Ribald for his mage, and I rest several times to get Khollynus Paac to come. Now my apprentices have set to work creating their dagger, so I get busy. In the graveyard distract, I have my simmy give me a scroll of PfU and I clear that place out. Magnus gives me a level from disarming traps. A nearby ghast drops another Arrow of Detonation!
The De'Arnise Keep is next. I love Death Spell.
We're going lich hunting now.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071330#Comment_1071330
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071334#Comment_1071334
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071592#Comment_1071592
BG2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071877#Comment_1071877
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071887#Comment_1071887
Now the keep is mine. Onto Trademeet. Nothing noteworthy, but I still love Death Spell. An Arcane Archer and Mage level are both gained.
From this latest level, Magnus receives his last thief skill upgrade. I choose Pickpockets, although I wouldn't try it with just 50% in the skill. Using Magnus to scout is too dangerous, so stealth skills are out of the question, and both Open Locks and Disarm Traps are maxed at 100%.
Yet another is gained from killing beholders. Even the planetar can have trouble killing them, as it can get stunned sometimes, but it regenerates too fast for the beholders to actually kill it.
Time for more lich slaying. It's the same old routine: spawn a simulacrum to use PfU scrolls on me without expending them. Down goes the City Gates lich and the Elemental lich.
Kangaxx is next. Same tactics, but I have to kite around a fallen planetar and Insect Swarm spells. I escape from the room to remove the Insect Swarms flying toward me and wait out some of the planetar's duration.
With Kangaxx down, only the Twisted Rune is left. With my Simmy and free PfU scrolls, we kill Shangalar and then quickly back away to escape Vaxall's sight range. I cast Mislead and park both of my clones as far away as I can. But Vaxall can sometimes see through my Mislead, firing an anti-magic ray at me, which dispels my PfU scroll. I am quick to reapply it for the vampire, but my Mislead is still intact. Vaxall is eventually killed, though it was quite tense because I thought he was going to destroy my clones.
There. I'm pretty much decked out now and my saving throws are fairly safe into the negatives. Next objective is the Shade Lord and then the Windspear Hills.
Arrow Slinger - Arcane Archer 22/Mage 19
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071330#Comment_1071330
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071334#Comment_1071334
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071592#Comment_1071592
BG2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071877#Comment_1071877
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071887#Comment_1071887
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1072358#Comment_1072358
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1072373#Comment_1072373
Before leaving for the temple ruins, I visit the pickpocket outside of Neb's house to get Improved Haste and the individual scrolls of Spell Immunity. The Temple Ruins are cleared with Simmy + PfU. The Shadow Dragon is defeated easily. Seven Eyes protected me from its blinding breath weapon while the Amulet of Power prevented level drain.
Windspear Hills. Plath Rededge drops another Arrow of Detonation!
Firkraag. I buff to maximum: Mind Blank, Stoneskin, Shield, Minor Spell Deflection, Protection from Fire, Spirit Armor, Spell Turning, Spell Shield, Polymorph Self, Spell Trap (via staff of magi), Seven Eyes, Globe of Invulnerability, Spell Shield, SI: Abjuration, Improved Haste, then summon a planetar and share Emotion: Hope with it. Firkraag almost kills the planetar a couple of times, but it casts its Deva Heal on itself the first time around. The other two times, I have it back away and cast Heal on itself.
Alhoon's hideout. The planetar does all the heavy lifting and turns the illithids into takoyaki with Fire Storm as I kite them into it. The alhoon is lured out of his lair and the planetar starts ripping him up until he activates his super mode spell trigger: Improved Haste+Tenser's Transformation+PfMW. The alhoon can't touch the planetar due to its weapon immunity so it tries to come after me. I shift into spider form and poison it a couple of times since it's hasted, then I just shoot it to death. I thought Alhoons were undead, though, so they should be immune to poison.
The mage stronghold quests are all completed and Roenall is drumming up an army, so it's off to Spellhold for me. Bodhi is beaten easily.
The sahuagin city is unremarkable. In the underdark, the golems escort the planetar so it can dispatch the beholder hive.
Ust Natha. I follow the questline quickly up until needing to get the special components to summon the lesser demon lord. Deirex is killed with a scroll of PfU applied on myself.
When the drow lady who wants you to kill the Ghanadaur followers appears, I head down to the Spelljammer beholder's landing and summon my planetar. I have it cast Fire Storm... but this causes the whole city to go hostile. A neutral drow must have been caught in the crossfire. With the ragtag raider groups already appearing, I abandon the planetar and run straight for Adalon's eggs, having my clay golem haste itself to keep up. Perfect Clay keeps the drow at the entrance to the temple busy while I charge toward the eggs.
I juke the golems running toward me and nab the eggs, then cast Improved Alacrity with the Amulet of Power on, then go invisible and buff with everything I can cast quickly and then use Improved Haste. I need to counter this Greater Malison I was hit with during my run toward the temple; Spirit Armor, Emotion: Hope, Blur, and Improved Invisibility should do it.
Adalon's eggs are delivered and I escape to the surface. I get Drizzt's help, learn Chain Contingency, Shapechange, and Power Word: Kill from Ribald, and forge Water's Edge +4, the Amulet of Ilmater, Throwing Impaler +4, the Shield of Harmony +3, and Gesen's Shortbow. The Shadow Thieves and the Radiant Heart are recruited to fight Bodhi, so she's next. After her comes Venduris's group, who I think I have a plan for.
Arrow Slinger - Arcane Archer 34/Mage 27
We found that dealing with the Cloakwood mines was remarkably easy and we are now dealing with the many minor quests in the Gate. Apparently orcs are causing problems in the North and in due course I will have to deal with them.
We thought that some of the problems in the Gate were caused by Shadow Thieves, however this did not prove to be the case. In the process of discovering that, my intelligence improved slightly.
Dealing with getting poisoned by Marek gained me extra wisdom and brought Xan up to level 9.
I was asked by an unsavoury character in the Gate to get some boots from Pilar at the Friendly Arms Inn. However, upon further investigation, I have decided to be on Pilar's side. [A new quest as far as I am concerned]
EDIT
Before fulfilling his request I went for the little rad bag that someone from Kara Tur wanted. Getting it required a challenging battle which we won.
This resulted in getting a merchant who sells bardic materials. No use for me.
However, I did come across another trader at the FAI called Maltz. I found him due to casting detect evil when I wanted to know whether Pilar was evil or not.
Whilst he is evil, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with his goods, so I bought the blade of roses. I can now have a charisma of 25 if I am wearing the correct items. I also bought a katana +3 and a mace of disruption +1. I am now poor.
Ilmater would be very pleased with me.
I would have liked to have merged some of my weaponry, but have insufficient gold at present.
We returned to Gheldehar in order to recover Pilar's Ring. However Aura was unable to pickpocket it. Drake and Tenya therefore cast Holy Smite a number of times. Despite being hurt by the spells, Gheldehar did not become violent, but just died as a result of his wounds.
We rewturned Pilar's Ring and received a small reward.
[That is for investigation in another run]
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071330#Comment_1071330
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071334#Comment_1071334
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071592#Comment_1071592
BG2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071877#Comment_1071877
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1071887#Comment_1071887
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1072358#Comment_1072358
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1072373#Comment_1072373
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1073313#Comment_1073313
Bodhi's lair. Using Improved Haste, I help my comrades blast through the vampire den. Drizzt unfortunately succumbs to the Guard vampire's blood drain. This Guard has impressive regenerative abilities thanks to his Improved Haste, but I eventually kill it. I rest and enter the second level, buffing to max, summoning a planetar, and using a scroll of PfU. Even Bodhi's not immune to this.
Now for Venduris' group, the fight I was truly worried about. Before leaving the Graveyard District, I set up a Spell Trigger and Chain Contingency which should let me survive long enough to cast Time Stop and then Improved Alacrity. I use the Trigger first and swap to the Shield of Harmony +3. Globe of Invulnerability combined with my equipment will allow me to ignore Selina Shadowstorm's opening Sequencer of Greater Malison+Slow+Chaos, and the shield will protect against the Chaos part of the sequencer.
When the Time Stop is over, my buffs were somehow dispelled! It must have been Bodak Hangthorn and his dispelling arrows as my PfMW wore off during the Time Stop. Improved Alacrity is still active so I interrupt my casting of Incendiary Cloud to cast PfMW again. I have the planetar cast Insect Swarm on Grok since he's hasted.
It seems I'm going to have to rework my spellbook a little bit to take into account getting dispelled from other sources besides Remove Magic and specific anti-magicks. Or, y'know, I could actually use scrolls instead. I keep forgetting I've got a scroll case full of everything I could possibly want.
Arrow Slinger - Arcane Archer 35/Mage 28
Corul (female half-orc priest of Helm, Gate70); Viol (male half-orc wizard slayer, Grond0)
A couple of Cloakwood ambushes are nothing for us to be afraid of (we run away).
Moving into the city of Baldur's Gate we grab tomes for dexterity (Corul) and intelligence (also Corul). She can now identify minor magical items.
After grabbing helms (Balduran for Viol and Glory for Corul) we add a cloak of Balduran for Corul and that's about all we need. The way to the cloak was blocked by Larze and despite our buffs Viol was almost forced to run, until a Command gave us enough leeway to remain in goo-pasting-crush distance.
Our return to the city came at Slythe's expense - him being silenced and commanded.
Sarevok is assisted by Semaj for a few moments but an arrow of dispelling and four skeletons are too much for the mage. Sarevok is alone and demonstrates his saving throws are too much for Corul right up until Viol kills him (hindsight, maybe Corul can't cast through the scroll either - she's not too concerned as the skellies and wizard slayer were on top of matters).
Journal of Faith the Fair
The Iron Throne leaders were no match for my strategy combined with the skills of my party.
Upon leaving the sewer system we were unexpectedly attacked by more ninjas. Fortunately we still buffed, so they were not a major problem though Tenya was quite badly hurt before she got a chance to heal herself. One of them had Improved Shadow Armour (Armour Class 2)
We slept at the nearby inn before deciding to return to The Flaming Fist HQ.
On the way we called in at Aldeth's home and discovered that he had problems. Unfortunately, despite killing all the doppelgangers, Aldeth keeps saying that I haven't killed them all.
[I am wondering if I should just switch to other quests or create some more doppelgangers so that I can finish this one. From what I have seen on the web it is a bug that does reappear from time to time.]
If anyone knows the name of their cre file, I would be grateful if you could inform me. There are 15 different cre files in my game.
EDIT
I increased the global ALDETHDOPPLE by 1to 16 and that fixed it.
Druids in SCS v31 would be able to survive in earth elemental form, which erroneously granted 100% physical damage resistance before the v32 update finally fixed it. A fighter/druid could hit 90% even in v32 by stacking it with Hardiness.
In SCS v32, clerics can cast Divine Protection for 3 rounds of immunity to damage, or Greater Divine Protection for 100% magic resistance on top, but that can be Breached or dispelled. I guess you could chain-cast Divine Protection every time it got Breached. At level 35, you could memorize 9 castings of Divine Protection and 6 castings of Greater Divine Protection, not counting Wisdom bonuses or holy symbol bonuses. If you also could maintain immunity to the right disablers, conceivably you could slowly build up your defenses until you were in a position to overcome the enemy.
Don't know if Sanctuary would help. I don't think it's supposed to be broken by divination spells or Detect Illusions, but I've seen Venduris' gang remove it nonetheless. But then, Venduris has never played fair.
But if you got Chain Contingency (and a Planetar); or are willing to bite Venduris' head off before the battle starts there shouldn't be much problems with them.
Corul (female half-orc priest of Helm, Gate70); Viol (male half-orc wizard slayer, Grond0)
The jailbreak started off OK and continued in the same vein. Corul used suitable buffs on Viol to make sure he did all the hard lifting and she coasted along behind him. Maybe this is how you should do a successful no-reload. Or not.
We managed to get through Candlekeep with only one mishap.
Aura was killed by Prat's Lightning Strike.
We paid Aerie to raise her and she then healed her for free.
This is the first time that I have killed Diarmid.
On the way back towards the Gate we were assaulted by Teldorns. It looks as if we now have more problems to sort out. The wounds that we received have given us fair warning that this enemy will be no pushover. We will clearly have to scout ahead to ensure that we are fully buffed before we fight.
EDIT
After many battles the stone was eventually regained and given to Aranor.
Realising the opposition that would now face me in Baldur's Gate I decided that we should first deal with other problems in the Sword Coast and in the process become strong enough to defeat the Iron Throne and Sarevok. This involved clearing Ulcaster, a trip to Ice Island, and we will than investigate what happened to Balduran.
Sadly, when we went to get the charts in Baldur's Gate, Aura got chunked by some ninjas, thus proving that I was right in avoiding the place. We did however get the charts, but before returning to Ulgoth's Beard, we need to recruit another thief. Sadly Lawful Good thieves are in short supply, so we may have to lower our standards somewhat.
Aura's place was filled by a level 9 drow assassin called Vynd, not the ideal companion, but needs must.
EDIT
We then tried to find Balduran's Ship and succeeded. Sadly this ended up in eliminating those on the island, some of whom were decent enough.
The wife of Pandris asked us to search for him in the fields of the dead. We haven't found him yet, but in looking for him we found Reedring who we did manage to free, though the shamans made that job quite hard. As well as hurting us, they also killed each other by using spalls that didn't discriminate as to who they hurt.
We subsequently found and freed Pandris after battling against yet more orcs backed up by shamans.