IWD generally doesn't really take off until the Vale of Shadows. Easthaven and Kuldahar Valley are a bit of a chore, and bad luck can really screw you over early on.
I finally figured out a way to deal with Sendai, after dying one more time (reload count: 5). As I discovered in my Nightmare mode run, SCS enemies can be fooled by invisibility if you can outlast their divination spells. Sendai, unlike a lot of tough late-game enemies, cannot see through invisibility, nor can the drow fighters.
This means I can drink a Potion of Invisibility, wait 6 seconds, attack an enemy a couple of times, and then drink another Potion of Invisibility. I could attack for longer and still survive, but limiting myself to about two strikes per potion keeps me from getting boxed in midway through the fight. The drow fighters don't respawn, it seems, which means I could very gradually clear out the enemy fighters before whittling down Sendai's clones. It was a very long fight, but fairly simple. All I had to do was maintain my invisibility with potions to avoid getting overwhelmed, and use the extra time to heal myself or move around. Hardiness and -26 AC aren't enough to keep Imber alive, but invisibility can.
Balthazar wasn't hard. We mostly just traded blows and drank potions until Balthazar collapsed.
Now I have Melissan to deal with, and I'm not sure I can take her on, actually. She's immune to cold damage, apparently regenerates, and re-casts Stoneskin incessantly, much like Ogremoch. A quick look at her script suggests that, at least for the first fight, she can cast Stoneskin every 15 seconds, and this casting cannot be disrupted.
Except for the 5 castings of Whirlwind Attack, which don't last long at all, Imber is limited to 5 APR. For every time Melissan can cast Stoneskin and block 10 attacks, Imber can make 12.5 attack rolls. That means she can make progress against Melissan, but unfortunately, Imber really can't handle melee pressure from Melissan and her Demon Knights, not for more than a couple rounds or so. This means she has to flee periodically to heal herself, which cuts into her attacking time. The only time Imber could actually deal damage was when she was using Whirlwind Attack, and Melissan regenerated the damage in a few rounds.
I tried again (reload count: 6) and apparently it's possible to talk-block Melissan, at least before the first fight, and get her to Near Death before she turns hostile. I also have a Protection from Magic scroll to stop her Stoneskins, but I've only got the one. I could console in a second one, as if I had tweaked my install before the fight with Irenicus rather than using the first scroll on him, but I've still got one fight left.
I've considered reverting to natural form, which would allow me to use some different weapons and increase my max HP pool from 135 to 187, but I'd only have 2 APR in any new weapons, at much worse THAC0. My MR would drop from 118 to 103 if I equipped the Amulet of Seldarine, which is a slight problem given that Melissan uses Pierce Shield and she spawns in a Death Tyrant in the final fight, which will spam Beholder rays if your MR is below 100.
I'm sure it's possible to win this fight, but it'd probably take ages, and I might not have the items to do so. I have dozens of potions, but Melissan's infinite Stoneskins mean she wins any war of attrition with a melee character, rendering the potions useless without extra castings of Hardiness to go along with them.
There are four fights with Melissan in total; the side fights just cost potions and time. I can win the first one with talk-blocking, and win two more with Protection from Magic scrolls if I console in one, but I don't know about the remaining fight.
Based on what I've seen, about half the XP in the game comes from quests; the other half comes from monster kills. Imber has over 8,000,000 XP in kills, so she's gathered more than twice the XP cap.
People often sing the praises of solo characters with their ludicrously high levels, but solo characters are pretty weak in Throne of Bhaal. Aside from XP being less efficient when concentrated in one character (two level 10 characters are a lot stronger than one level 11 character), half of our XP gains in this run have been a complete waste. Almost all of our items have been useless, and we've gathered over 700,000 gold for which we have no use. We could do so many crazy things with that equipment, but Imber only has so many inventory slots and only gets one spell or item use per round. With the ToB XP cap of 8 million, Imber's power has stagnated as the enemy's has risen.
It's reflected very clearly in the reloads. We had 3 reloads in SoA, all of which were due to my idiocy, not the weakness of the Slayer monk. We've had 6 reloads in SoA, all of which were due to the weakness of the Slayer monk, not my idiocy. Even one of the most stupidly overpowered builds in the game, with immunities to nearly everything, is overwhelmed by certain parts of ToB.
Get some rest, if you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything.
When they arrived at Kuldahar, a boy was waiting for them. He had heard there was help coming from Easthaven. He was disappointed there wasn't an army, and the group didn't have the heart to tell him what had happened. Young Nate pointed the way to the Archdruid Arundel.
Arundel had been the one who had sent the messanger to Easthaven asking for help. He didn't know the source of the evil, but he knew something was wrong around the town. The weather was unseasonably cold, the monsters were more numerous and more organized than usual, and people were disappearing from the town. The blacksmith's son, the innkeeper, even two priests of Ilmater had all vanished.
With no real leads, Arundel suggested the party investigate the Vale of Shadows, a haunted burial ground a short distance from the town.
First the party needed to rest, sell off some loot, and buy more potions. After taking care of the first two, they were on their way to the temple, when they were hailed by a man being chased by yetis. They fought the first one and finally killed it, with Gudrun taking several hits.
Level up for Celebrian
The second one was easier since they were able to get more missile hits before it reached Gudrun. They talked to Mirek, the man who had been chased. He said the yetis had killed his brother who had been carrying a family heirloom. Gudrun promised to try to get it back for him. The party then continued to the temple to buy some healing potions. Then they rested in the inn before heading back to Kuldahar pass to finish off the goblins.
Back to the valley
The party moved West from the mill and came across an abandoned farmhouse. There was a small group of goblins including a marshal. Gudrun found a healing potion hidden in a box. There was a trail heading North up the foothills with a watchtower on it. Inside the tower, they met an ogre who was having much the same problem as the goblin marshal at the mill. Celebrian suggested an herbal remedy to stop the headaches and the ogre wandered off to try it.
Gudrun levels up. Notice that little plus sign on Celebrian's portrait? Guess what I forgot to do.
The team rested in the watchtower to gain spells, then continued their exploration. To the North of the tower, they came upon a goblin war party feeding on some giant insects. Their preoccupation made them easy prey. In a cave beyond that battle, the group found a number of giant insects feeding on some goblins. They didn't put up much of a fight either. Among the corpses, the party found a few magic arrows.
Record of a Kuldahar Shopping Trip
Back in Kuldahar, the party rested, then started to explore the town, noting where the merchants were located for future reference. They didn't have the money to buy much, but they were impressed with the wide variety of magic gear available.* Dunathain had identified the orc's wand as a wand of trap detection, so he decided to sell it. With the money from that, the group replenished their healing potions from the gnome Oswald Fiddlebender, since his prices were better than the temple's. At Conlan the blacksmith's shop, Gudrun bought a composite longbow and an ammunition belt.
* Kuldahar is in the Goodmead Book of World Records for the most magic items per acre of any town in the North. Especially with these mods installed. ** This town's layout is insane. There's no way people have lived here for centuries and never built stiles across these roots.
While gathering rumors at the Root Cellar tavern, they heard from the barmaid that foul play may have been involved in the new innkeeper's claim to ownership. They went back to the inn and Darien snooped around a bit, finding evidence that the barmaid had been right. When Gudrun confronted Aldwin, he confessed and agreed to tell the town elders the truth.
Darien and Dunathain level up.
At the tower of Orrick the Wizard, Dunathain bought a scroll of magic missile, but failed to write it to his spellbook. He was successful with Horror and Blur, so he has some second level spells. After resting to fill the new spell slots, the team is ready to explore the Vale.
Gear Plan: Gudrun needs better armor. Dunathain needs an int raising potion and a pile of scrolls. Gudrun and Darien need magic weapons. Celebrian's OK for now, but a magic sling and some protection items would be nice. Edit: Almost forgot: Bag of Holding!
Gudrun - Undead Hunter lv 3 - 30 hp - 1 death Darien - Swashbuckler lv 4 - 28 hp Celebrian - Avenger lv 3 - 21 hp sp 4/3 Dunathain - Wild Mage lv 3 - 12 hp sp 3/2
Total raise cost - 100 gp
MVP - Gudrun - Putting that 18 charisma to use.
Next up - Yeti 'nother Dungeon Crawl or Me and My Shadows
It's been a while, and in truth, I had little reason to update my progress; beyond the odd death of a party member, Bronwynn and Co found little trouble as they ventured the East and West of the Sword Coast. From Gullykin to the Sirene Coasts, the party grew stronger, prepared for what fights that came their way via Monty's excellent scouting. Bronwynn had even managed to learn a few cooking tips from the housewives of Gullykin, before being dragged away by a grumbling Monty. The party prospered. But such luck couldn't last, when they finally made for the Bandit Keep. A short meeting with Tazok down, they broke into his tent, and with three well aimed potions of explosive, promptly scorched Tazok's guard.
While Khalid stuttered over trying to tell us the tent caught fire, we spoke to Ender Sai, who Monty promptly killed after he pointed us to the Cloakwood. Bronwynn was disgusted, even now uncomfortable with such needless killing. Still, precious documents and gold in hand, they exited the tent, and then...
Arrows, so many arrows. The SCS Bandit Camp is no laughing matter, and while we took down Taerium, his men turned us into human pincushions. We barely cut down a fourth of his army before Xzar and Jahiera fell to arrows. Khalid got cut down, and Monty found himself filled with ice arrows. With only two potions of invisibility, Imoen and Bronwynn regrouped, as the bandits closed in. On the verge of hysteria, they gulped down the potions, and legged it, Imoen still getting badly wounded before their escape. In a single blow, we had lost our party. They managed to drag the bodies of their fallen comrades away from the camp in the middle of the night, and thanks to some expert clerical work in the FAI, all four survived, but clearly, too crippled to continue adventuring for at least a few weeks. Parting ways, Bronwynn and Imoen promptly drank their sorrows away, but no longer were they scared children. Their experience traveling had toughened them physically and mentally, and while Bronwynn wished for nothing more than to return home and experiment with spices, he was a fighting rogue now, whether he wanted it or not.
A terrifying dream recounted the bandit camp, and Bronwynn woke in a sweat, only calmed by Imoen's assurances they were safe in the Inn. The next day, they prepared to depart, to make for Beregost before delving into the Cloakwood. Alone, but no longer so weak.
@semiticgod Summon Rasaad, kill him, get the Cowl of the Stars, use the active, you'll have 5MMM, use them, your slayer weapon will then be dispelled, grab a weapon that deals elemental damage, and you might be able to deal with Amelyssan for this last fight, though it will be tough anyway.
@Arunsun: Good advice. I'll probably make use of that in future runs.
I was thinking Blackblood, which I never actually bought, but looking at Melissan's .cre file, it seems she's immune to elemental damage... including acid. Seems pretty unfair. The only damage that could bypass her immunities is magical damage, though she does have 90 MR, which blocks the likes of Magic Missile and Horrid Wilting.
I'll be starting a no reload of this, not doing things AI cannot ever do, no munchkining, No SCS as I have not done a no reload of BG2 and if it gets there, I would prefer to attempt on vanilla.
4 digit #: 5471
5 - Female 4 - Elf 7 - Thief 1 - Pure Class Thief
3 digit #: 391
3 - Chaotic Good 9 - # of rerolls for ability scores 1 - Female 1
*9 rolls, the best was:
Str 16 Dex 19 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 11 Total 84 points
Party(1d29):
18 - Montaron 14 - Kagain 4 - Branwen 3 - Baeloth 25 - Shar-Teel Well this may get interesting. A Good Charname leading an evil party.
Valkalyn is a chaotic good female elven thief.
This party will have tanks in Kagain and Montaron(Xzar can be picked up just to kill him off), and have Shar-Teel as a damage dealer, with Branwen healing and Baeloth casting. Charname would be proficient at sneaking, while Montaron would be efficient with traps and locks. Montaron and Kagain can both get to -8 AC I think.
[Spoiler] [/spoiler]
Just looking at the combat logs, I should have lost when Sarevok confronted Gorion, as Valkalyn has 6 hp and took 7 damage in the cutscene.
People often sing the praises of solo characters with their ludicrously high levels, but solo characters are pretty weak in Throne of Bhaal.
This is the same conclusion I can make after the solo totemic druid run. When you reported about the Sendai fight, I perfectly remembered everything I had thought about before entering that fight with Yahiko.
The thing is, to me, that in SoA a solo character enjoys his faster progression while in ToB he has nowhere to develop further and the game quickly reaches a stage when a party could have the save levels as your solo character. But, as @semiticgod truly says, the party has a variety of options in terms of spells and items while a solo character can't use them all (if he's not a thief with UAI or a wizard who makes everything with spells).
@GemHound Nice to see you in this thread, I like that you've migrated here from a magnificent but unpopular "random no-reload thread".
@BillyYank I'm enjoying your writing style! Indeed, they should have built stiles years before the events of IWD.
@Jared4242 Interesting to see you continue with only Imoen in the party. Perfectly RP-ed, here.
@lolien I still grin when I remeber your Pablo characters. The stories you provide are short but so fun!
This thread is so fast-growing. More and more people are coming here, it's great. Although I expect it would be not so simple for those who miss this thread for a week or two to catch back
I had to... return to a previous save point with Pablo the fourth (Pablo the third died in the Nashkel mines from his own trap) because of some unsuccesful space pushing from my part, while i tried to save some bacon turning to ash. I think this is Pablo's revenge for roasting his kin. Count as not a reload, but let me know if this does discomfort any of you.
I had to... return to a previous save point with Pablo the fourth (Pablo the third died in the Nashkel mines from his own trap) because of some unsuccesful space pushing from my part, while i tried to save some bacon turning to ash. I think this is Pablo's revenge for roasting his kin. Count as not a reload, but let me know if this does discomfort any of you.
Hehe nice one @lolien! Probably the best reason for a legitimate reload!
This no-reload run has reached its end! The brave Paladin died at home, though not in his bed after a long long time He died in the Candlekeep librabry during the confrontation with Rieltar. I am not sure if I roleplayed it the right way but no matter the run has ended. One of the enemies (Bruno?) hit me and stunned me with his weapon, I thought this couldn't be. I was holding Spider's Bane though, I think if I was using Eventar's gift I could have avoid the stun maybe? After that it was just a matter of seconds to die.
Final party formation was:
Walhand - Cavalier lvl7, 76hp Branwen - Cleric lvl 7, 46 hp Alora - Thief lvl 8 , 33 hp Quayle - Cleric6/Illusionist6 , 26 hp Kivan - Ranger lvl7, 46 hp Xan - Enchanter lvl7, 18 hp
It is the first time I am not disappointed at all a no-reload run ended. First of all I haven't been that far before and I have completed all the quests in Baldur's Gate that my current role-play allowed. I was used to play solo and this run actually seemed easier, I had a lot of options in fighting and the enemies had a lot of guys to hit apart from charname. I feel that I cheated a bit though after one of @bengoshi's comments that I visited Ulgoth's Beard before entering Baldur's Gate (in order to get the greenstone amulet ofc and pickpocket Dushai for Eventar's ring). I think I completely agree with it and it's pretty fair that this party didn't make it to the end. Nevertheless I will keep this save and probably continue the game as a minimal-reload. I want to explore Durlag's Tower since it's been some months (in real life) that I haven't visited!
After a brief rest in Beregost, the two lonely thieves marched into the Cloakwood, having no clue who or what they'd run into. After a brief spat with some druids (and making a potentially useful ally in Aldeth), they ran across Coran, and upon hearing about the high bounty for one measly wyvern, they brought him along. A druid by the name of Faldorn was our next member, brought into the fold on the account of Bronwynn -not- wanting to slaughter a hundred hostile druids. Eldoth the bard also joined us, because... he was there, and Bronwynn felt scared. Also, music!
We fought off some tough bounty hunters, and then, slew us a wyvern, thanks to some well placed traps. Coran was quite pleased.
Now, the small group had a choice. We knew from the druids the bandits knew we were in the area, so storming the Mines -now- may be suicide. After a group talk which involved Faldorn frothing at the mouth, Imoen whining for a proper Inn, Eldoth lathering his hair in wyvern-bacon-grease, and Bronwynn trying to use said wyvern-bacon to form a proper meal, it was Coran's charms that convinced the group to retreat to Beregost, for both a bounty and a rest. It would throw off the Bandits of Cloakwood at the least, giving us a tenday to skirt around them, and strike just as their guard is down. Or at least, that's the plan.
But as we passed the FAI, Bronwynn couldn't help but rage at the thought of the Bandits still content in their camp. Screw safety, it was time for revenge!
And revenge was had. Just as Coran sniped the last hobgoblin, Eldoth took an ice arrow through the head. Looking about horrified, his grease-and-ice coated head hit the ground, dead beyond rivival. He was gross, as Imoen put it, but if we ever ran across Skie, we'd be sure to rescue her, or at least try. Running about from the North, hoping to avoid any trackers, we came across more Ankhegs than we'd like, as in more than one. Also, Ajantis, a paladin in service to Helm. Coran was suspicious, but we took him on, figuring he'd be useful. We also met Kivan by the High Hedge, at the prompting of Thalantyr. We hadn't planned on it, but we've another party of six, now marching on the Mines.
And back at Cloakwood. We had stocked up in Beregost, with the Bandit Camp's loot in tow, though the dropped items of the Harpers and Zhentarim was lost to time, which meant no Ankheg Armour, no Wand of Parylizing, no Varscona, and no various potions and scrolls, including a cloudkill. Ouch.
@bengoshi I like it because it adds an element of danger to the game and sometimes puts you out of your bubble. For example, my last playthrough was a Enchantress, Xzar, Montaron, Baeloth, Skie, and Eldoth that I actually went through TotSC with(A certain Greater Werewolf was tough due to having no effective weapons). I had one melee fighter and no healers essentially. I had never played with Eldoth and Skie before this.
Valkalyn - thief
[Spoiler] [/spoiler] This picture is right before she took 7 damage to two shots by one of Sarevok's thugs and still walked away. I picked up Xzar and Montaron and sent Xzar charging into the nearest wolf. I picked up Kagain in Beregost, and then headed South. We ambushed hobgoblins for boots of stealth and killed the ogrillons on the road. We went further South and managed to destroy this Hobgoblin encampment [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Only to run into a VAMPIRIC wolf. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] I had to use my potions of speed on Montaron and Kagain and have them flee from it as Valkalyn ran stealthed down to Nashkel. We arrived in Nashkel still alive. [Spoiler] [/spoiler]
Valkalyn - thief The party decided to enter the inn and was set upon by a mercenary named Neira. Kagain fell, but his corpse was still retrievable to bring it back to life. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We then went to the carnival and brought a statue back to life, the man that wanted to sell Valkalyn the scroll to turn Branwen back to flesh was asking twice what the temple sells them for. [Spoiler][/spoiler] We then returned North to Beregost and killed Karlat. We then talked to diminutive Perdue about dog heads. Then we found out Silke was trying to kill innocents, we killed her instead. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We continued North towards the Friendly Arm Inn, and on the way ran through an Ogre. [Spoiler][/spoiler] We then reached the Friendly Arm Inn and were confronted by yet another mercenary named Tarnesh. We killed him and then found a ring for a failed paladin named Joia. At the top of the Inn we recieved a quest to empty a house in Beregost of spiders, and we moved down South once more and retrieved Perdue's shortsword for him. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We then charged into the spider infested house and dragged the fight out onto the street. We succeeded and were immensely lucky that no one was poisoned. Perhaps since they were trying to hit a certain level 1 multiclass halfling with -4 AC... [Spoiler][/spoiler] Levels: Valkalyn - 3 Montaron - 1,1 Kagain - 2 Branwen - 2
We then charged into the spider infested house and dragged the fight out onto the street. We succeeded and were immensely lucky that no one was poisoned. Perhaps since they were trying to hit a certain level 1 multiclass halfling with -4 AC...
Well done. Those spiders ended at least one of my no-reload runs...
Valkalyn - thief After we killed those spiders, we received our reward from the owner of the house up in the Friendly Arm Inn, and then went South to the Nashkel carnival. We killed the Amazing Oopah, saved the witch Zordral was going to murder, and then decided to go South to find Prism. We were waylaid by Hobgoblins on the way, and while we were resting and recuperating, a large band of kobolds jumped on top of us and instantly made Montaron a pincushion. We raised him back at Nashkel and went back down to rescue Prism from Greywolf. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] After this, we went North to get Shar-Teel. Chill ambushed us South of the temple of Lathander. We reached where Shar-Teel is located, and Kagain beat her easily. We then used Korax to tank the basilisks for us. After a rampage through the North, we killed Korax, bought a stone to flesh scroll and brought an adventurer back to life. I then sent the party North into the Larswood to see if they could get Baeloth yet. They couldn't, yet many Gibberlings fell. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Then we went hunting Southwest of Beregost, and found Hobgoblins with a nice +2 short sword for Montaron, and then went East to kill Bassilus. We continued our hunt Southeast of Beregost where we killed all the ogres and bandits we could find. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We returned North to get Baeloth and after the gibberlings were mass-chunked he teleported in. After Baeloth joined we went back to the temple of Lathander and gave the mayor of Beregost the holy symbol of Bassilus. [Spoiler] [/spoiler]
Character - Level - Important Items Valkalyn - 5 - Varscona(saving up for the dagger sold at the Thunderhammer for the offhand) Montaron - 3,3 - The Whistling Sword Kagain - 4 Branwen - 4 - Ashideena, Ankheg Plate Shar-Teel - 4 Baeloth - 6 - +1 Quarterstaff, Robe of the Evil Archmagi
Well, I suppose I might as well follow @Blackraven and start posting updates on both the old forums and here; my screen name over there is Epsil0. I'll be attempting a Trilogy, so starting in BG1 and hopefully all the way through to the ToB. Mods for BGEE, at least, are full SCS, Rogue Rebalancing, BG1NPC (not really used this time), and BGTweaks mostly for small cosmetic changes as well as a couple more bags of holding.
This is my second real attempt with this concept, of a full (or almost full) custom-made team built around the Charname. And as before, I'm building around the RR-Skald. More specifically, a pacifist RR-Skald; if my Charname gets a single kill, I'll mark the run down as failed. For those who don't have Rogue Rebalancing installed, the Skald has these pros and cons: Pros: +1 to hit and damage with all weapons (useless for a pacifist) Skald's song gives +2 to hit and damage, -2 to AC, and erroneously states immunity to Fear. Maybe immunity to Morale failure? I dunno, since Horror still affects people under the Skald's song's effects. Upgrades to +3 and +4 bonuses at levels 9 and 18 respectively. Cons: Pickpockets at a quarter of normal level (Scary to even try in a no-reload anyways) Suffers a 1-point spell casting speed penalty. This is actually pretty important, as it means the spells have that greater of an opportunity to be interrupted.
For those that care about my team-building analysis, it's under the spoiler. For those who actually want to read some BGEE, feel free to skip. [Spoiler]The Skald, being the main character, is non-negotiable. The thing is, I didn't want a random party that just happened to have a Skald in it, but I wanted to maximize a Skald's potential. The best way to do this is APR, generally, since that +2 damage stacks quickly across 3-4 hits. That was the approach I took my first run, with an Archer, a Wizard Slayer, an Avenger (Sword spider form gives 4 attacks at level 7. It was ludicrous.), a Swashbuckler for traps, and a Dragon Disciple for actual in-battle casting. And that worked fairly well, but with a new start, a new party is required. Only the Skald of all of those is allowed.
The other way to maximize a Skald's potential is by summons. Adding +2s and +3s to a swarm? Magnificent. Sure, doesn't work against things with Death Spell, but we'll have contingencies for that. So the first ones that were definitely going to be part of this new team were the Beast Master and Totemic Druid. There's no Skeleton Warriors from these two, but hordes of animals and spirit animals just sounds fun to see at least once. I hate traps with a passion, so a thief is required. Swashbuckler's out, Bounty hunters were appealing, but I decided on rolling the arcane and skills together, so Mage(Illusionist)/Thief was the choice. I still wanted someone to be able to wear armor and tank stuff from time to time, since not much feels better than seeing something fruitlessly attempt to hit someone with -10 effective AC in BG1. I felt that Berserker or Barbarian were strong, but I thought that I might end up relying on abusing their ridiculous immunities rather than getting better with my tactics. Cavalier was chosen instead. The 6th slot's being left open this time for quests in BG2, and possibly someone in BG2 permanently.[/spoiler]
So introducing the squad: Hymn, NG Human Skald (Club * Sword and Shield *) [Spoiler] The roll of 95: [/spoiler] Sirius, LG Human Cavalier (Axe ** Two Weapon Fighting **) [Spoiler][/spoiler] Sapphire, LG Elven Beastmaster (Quarterstaff **, Crossbow **) [Spoiler][/spoiler] Holly, TN Human Totemic Druid (Darts *) [Spoiler][/spoiler] Quill, NG Gnome Illusionist/Thief ( Short Swords *, Shortbow *)[Spoiler][/spoiler]
Off we go. Despite having 18 CHA, we skip even the +1 dagger in Candlekeep, though Quill relieves the Potion of Clarity from the chest upstairs beforehand. Gorion dies, after a bit of looting we start the level game: Shoal and her area are first on the list. Shoal dies without a problem, and we have our first real (kind of) fight. The Ogres. It took a bit of kiting and aggression sharing, and a lapse in judgement got Quill knocked down to 1 HP in a single hit, but Sapphire clears them out. Her Favored Enemy is Ogres, which I forgot about in character creation, but it certainly sped this up.
I decide to explore the entire map, and am glad that I did when I found the 3 sirines in the bottom left of the area. Only one Charm spell was cast onto a vulnerable member, and Sapphire saved anyways. Sapphire and Sirius both leveled up, though both rolled minimum health.
Back at High Hedge, we sell gems and buy scrolls, and I see this ominous message for Hymn:[Spoiler][/spoiler] The thing is, it's not Hymn that has a Familiar out. It's Sapphire, via the Beastmaster Kit. I'm content with it for BG1, since Hymn's going to be singing invisibly most of these fights, but in BG2 I'll have to decide who gets the 12 and 24 HP.
I might as well catch the first death, right? Well... No. Turns out I missed it. Here's the end of that battle though! I missed the archers not targeting Sirius, though fortunately it's not Hymn that was taken out but Holly. [Spoiler][/spoiler]
We had 200 gold though, so she's swiftly brought back. A tour through Beregost sees Marl comforted, a book given to Firebead, and a house cleared of spiders, and Perdue returned his short sword. Oh, and Karlat. [Spoiler][/spoiler] Bye Karlat!
Melicamp sadly did not make it,[Spoiler][/Spoiler] so we shrug and head up to the FAI. Sleep from Tarnesh is still trouble, but only if everyone gets caught in the area of effect. It only gets a Spirit Snake, and the Horror cannot affect Sirius, and he has Remove Fear for the rest of us who fail the save. A couple damage spells kill Quill, but we again have just enough gold to eke out a Raise.
We're currently in the FAI considering our next steps. Stats: Hymn, level 4 Skald. 26HP. 0 kills. Sirius, level 3 Cavalier. 29 HP. 8 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Sirine. Another point in Two Weapon Style. Sapphire, level 3 Beast Master. 31 HP. 30 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Sirine. One point in Longbow. Holly, level 3 Totemic Druid. 22 HP. 1 death. 10 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Sirine. Quill, level 2/3 Illusionist/Thief. 1 death. 16 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Ogre Berserker
MVP: I dunno, hard to say right now. The strategy's not online yet, so we're dealing physical ranged damage against things that can't retaliate. That being said, Tarnesh could've ended Hymn with two MMs if he had the chance to fire them off, so I'd give Sirius the MVP this time just for that one Remove Fear (case in point of Skald's Song not working as advertised, by the way!)
After we turned in Bassilus's holy symbol, the party went and picked up Melicamp and took him to Thalantyr. Melicamp imploded. We then went further West and brought Brage back to the Temple of Helm in Nashkel. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We then went to the Nashkel mines. The fight with Mulahey went almost as bad as it possibly could have. On returning to Nashkel, a bounty hunter named Nimbul tried to kill us. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Then we ventured further into the wilds near Nashkel. The first place the party struck was the Xvart Village. It was a bloodbath... Lets just say that there are now less Xvarts in the region. *nods* [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We went further North and ran into none other than Drizzt, and then dispatched some bandits before turning South once more. [Spoiler][/spoiler] Then Valkalyn went gallivanting through the Cloudpeak Mountains. Montaron was getting angry at how things were progressing in the party so he killed a nymph we had just saved. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Then we went East of Nashkel and adventured through the area near where we exited the mines. Mercenaries that had aimed to kill Valkalyn(the amazons) took Shar-Teel with them. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Then as we attempted to find Gullykin, another band of mercenaries attempted to kill Valkalyn and co. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Once Shar-Teel was raised from the dead, we returned to the South and found a deathly ill Flaming Fist deserter by the name of Samuel. The party reached the Friendly arm Inn in time to save him. [Spoiler][/spoiler] On the way back to the Firewine ruins, Valkalyn and co. stopped at Ulcaster and emptied it. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We then went to the Firewine and found a crazy lady with a jar that released a powerful Ogre Magi named Kahrk. He took Branwen with him. We fought our way through the ruins to the entrance to the temple raised both Branwen and Montaron(died to a fireball trap), then finished cleaning out the ruins, and killed the halfling that had backstabbed his own village. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Then we went back to the basilisk fields with Shar-Teel being protected from the gaze of the basilisks. I was a little overzealous and Montaron was turned to stone. We eventually returned with a stone to flesh scroll once we had secured more protection. [Spoiler] [/spoiler]
Inventories and Character Sheets [Spoiler]Baeloth [Spoiler] [/spoiler]Yes, I'm torturing the poor guy. Kagain [Spoiler] [/spoiler]Shar-Teel [Spoiler] [/spoiler]Branwen [Spoiler] [/spoiler]Valkalyn [Spoiler] [/spoiler]Montaron [Spoiler] [/spoiler][/spoiler]
Pictures, pictures galore, if there are too many screenshots, just tell me. I take so many since if I do not, I'll have it as text instead. No one wants a text wall. I average about 1.5 GB per playthrough.(due to this I store all my pictures online, My Imgur has over 500 pictures of Baldur's Gate playthroughs on this forum so...)
@BillyYank , I've started following your IWD no-reload with interest. It was awfully daring of you to take a wild mage on a no-reload. One bad wild surge can easily wipe your party, and there's not much you can do about it. To my knowledge, no one has ever succeeded in a BG trilogy no-reload with a wild mage - the fatal wild surge always comes around eventually over the length of the game. I saw one wild mage no-reload over on the Bioware forums where the guy got all the way into Watcher's Keep before his Charname managed to turn himself to stone.
Of course, in IWD you don't have to worry about Charname vulnerability, so maybe you can make it work. It'll be tricky to survive fireballing your own party during a critical battle, but it'll sure be interesting to watch what happens.
Kudos to you on how well you write your updates. You have good style and strong, detailed sentence and paragraph structure. Your posts are a pleasure to read.
To my knowledge, no one has ever succeeded in a BG trilogy no-reload with a wild mage - the fatal wild surge always comes around eventually over the length of the game. I saw one wild mage no-reload over on the Bioware forums where the guy got all the way into Watcher's Keep before his Charname managed to turn himself to stone.
Actually, Grond0 over at Bioware did it solo due to some dark magic that probably involved some blood sacrifices. I'm still baffled to this day, but this is also the guy that took a Wizard Slayer solo through the trilogy. If you look under the BG2 No-reload thread there, first post, Corey_russell keeps a Hall of Fame for successful trilogy runs.
Wow "only" 177 alerts after a few weeks of inactivity, many of them surely thanks to the bustle in this thread. Great job folks! It seems a good time for me to drop out, at least for some time, as a participant in the challenge. I'll come by time and again to see what's going on in the thread (and in general on the forums). Happy hunting all!
@BelgarathMTH Thank you for your kind words. I'm having a lot of fun with this.
Yeah, the wild mage thing. I hadn't really thought that through when I started. Hopefully, the bad luck will hold off until they get high enough level to withstand whatever happens.
Valkalyn - thief Once we cleared the basilisk area again, the party went to Beregost and Valkalyn bought Shadow Armor from the Thunderhammer Smithy. Then the party went West ad charged up the Sword Coast nearly to Candlekeep. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Then Valkalyn moved North and destroyed the Bandit Camp [Spoiler] [/spoiler] Then Valkalyn went into the Cloakwood, and emptied it, including the mines and Davaeorn. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] The party stopped to kill many Ankhegs on the way to Baldur's Gate, returned the child to his father, and returned the bowl to the Umberlites. We returned to Beregost and had Thunderhammer make us a suit of Ankheg plate and bought both the horn and claw of Kazgaroth from High Hedge. Then we arrived in Baldur's Gate.
[Selyna the Flamewreath, the overly cautious Dragon Disciple]
In the labyrinth under the asylum, we come to an area of four gates with the images of an Ulitharid, a Spirit Troll, an Umber Hulk, and a Minotaur.
Bah. Cake walk. I armor-up with Chaotic Commands on Keldorn (who is also wearing his Free Action armor) and open the door to the Ulitharid.
... and it turns out that, despite my misconception to the contrary, Chaotic Commands does NOT protect you from having your brains eaten. Jaheira dashes in next -- and gets stunned quickly. So, much for relying on Stoneskins.
Before you know it, almost everyone is dead: After Jaheira, Aerie gets stunned -- and is de-brained rapidly as well; Imoen : similarly de-brained (she is a FM in my run; so she gets a few hits in first under Improved Haste); Jan is hurt and covering under Invisibility.
The now cocky Illithid rushes toward Selyna, who is no longer in the back line, because the back line is now the front line!
[PICTURE]
And I get to test first hand if PfMW actually protects against the brain-drain attack. Apparently, it does!
I actually end up sullying my hands by beating the Illithid over the head with my staff. The indignity! (The 18 str helped there -- as did, of course, the fact that the Illithid was already badly hurt while eating up on everyone else's brain.)
[[Q.: would people have been chunked if I had Gore on? (which I don't)]]
Selyna is now slowly proceeding through Underdark...
@Neverused Nice to see you here! The more players like you posting here from that forum, the merrier! Additional plus for a totemic druid in the party. And you know what, I find those avatars pretty familiar... Why is that?
Valkalyn - thief The party cleaned out Baldur's Gate and cured Lothander's geas. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We fought an uncharacteristically unorganized Maulers of the Undermountain.(they also killed everyone but Gorpel Hind and us) The party barely won against the wizard that wants the Helm of Balduran, and Sarevok's guards on the 5th floor of the Iron Throne building nearly killed Valkalyn. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] We were then sent to Candlekeep, and killed every single Doppleganger, took everything of magic, and killed the Iron Throne leaders on top of it. [Spoiler] [/spoiler] This is getting extremely interesting to keep Valkalyn alive due to her terrible HP rolls. She has 27 HP at level 8. *nods* I'm debating whether I should get the claw of Kazgaroth removed and put on another char, since its very risky using it as it is. What do you think?
Because you've used a random method to determine the number of stat rolls, in the best roll your thief got 14 in CON, although it's as useful as having 6 CON... which results in possible 1d6 rolls with possible +1 HP per level outcomes.
If you take off the Claw of Kazgaroth, you won't improve your Valkalyn's HPs. The only way it's possible is that if you've given Valkalyn the tome of CON to improve her CON to 15 (which results in getting additional +1 HPs per level, that you don't get with the Claw put on).
If you play on the Core difficulty, you're fine as you are, I think. Saving throws means life or death for Charname in a no-reload run, especially in hard battles. If you play on the Insane diffuculty, it can be another story, though. But I would still keep the Claw on a 15 CON- thief, even on the Insane difficulty, even with 27 HPs, because there's not a big difference between 27 HPs and 34 HPs for a thief who can't use helmets and thus can be critted by almost anyone for all his life...
Comments
I finally figured out a way to deal with Sendai, after dying one more time (reload count: 5). As I discovered in my Nightmare mode run, SCS enemies can be fooled by invisibility if you can outlast their divination spells. Sendai, unlike a lot of tough late-game enemies, cannot see through invisibility, nor can the drow fighters.
This means I can drink a Potion of Invisibility, wait 6 seconds, attack an enemy a couple of times, and then drink another Potion of Invisibility. I could attack for longer and still survive, but limiting myself to about two strikes per potion keeps me from getting boxed in midway through the fight. The drow fighters don't respawn, it seems, which means I could very gradually clear out the enemy fighters before whittling down Sendai's clones. It was a very long fight, but fairly simple. All I had to do was maintain my invisibility with potions to avoid getting overwhelmed, and use the extra time to heal myself or move around. Hardiness and -26 AC aren't enough to keep Imber alive, but invisibility can.
Balthazar wasn't hard. We mostly just traded blows and drank potions until Balthazar collapsed.
Now I have Melissan to deal with, and I'm not sure I can take her on, actually. She's immune to cold damage, apparently regenerates, and re-casts Stoneskin incessantly, much like Ogremoch. A quick look at her script suggests that, at least for the first fight, she can cast Stoneskin every 15 seconds, and this casting cannot be disrupted.
Except for the 5 castings of Whirlwind Attack, which don't last long at all, Imber is limited to 5 APR. For every time Melissan can cast Stoneskin and block 10 attacks, Imber can make 12.5 attack rolls. That means she can make progress against Melissan, but unfortunately, Imber really can't handle melee pressure from Melissan and her Demon Knights, not for more than a couple rounds or so. This means she has to flee periodically to heal herself, which cuts into her attacking time. The only time Imber could actually deal damage was when she was using Whirlwind Attack, and Melissan regenerated the damage in a few rounds.
I tried again (reload count: 6) and apparently it's possible to talk-block Melissan, at least before the first fight, and get her to Near Death before she turns hostile. I also have a Protection from Magic scroll to stop her Stoneskins, but I've only got the one. I could console in a second one, as if I had tweaked my install before the fight with Irenicus rather than using the first scroll on him, but I've still got one fight left.
I've considered reverting to natural form, which would allow me to use some different weapons and increase my max HP pool from 135 to 187, but I'd only have 2 APR in any new weapons, at much worse THAC0. My MR would drop from 118 to 103 if I equipped the Amulet of Seldarine, which is a slight problem given that Melissan uses Pierce Shield and she spawns in a Death Tyrant in the final fight, which will spam Beholder rays if your MR is below 100.
I'm sure it's possible to win this fight, but it'd probably take ages, and I might not have the items to do so. I have dozens of potions, but Melissan's infinite Stoneskins mean she wins any war of attrition with a melee character, rendering the potions useless without extra castings of Hardiness to go along with them.
There are four fights with Melissan in total; the side fights just cost potions and time. I can win the first one with talk-blocking, and win two more with Protection from Magic scrolls if I console in one, but I don't know about the remaining fight.
People often sing the praises of solo characters with their ludicrously high levels, but solo characters are pretty weak in Throne of Bhaal. Aside from XP being less efficient when concentrated in one character (two level 10 characters are a lot stronger than one level 11 character), half of our XP gains in this run have been a complete waste. Almost all of our items have been useless, and we've gathered over 700,000 gold for which we have no use. We could do so many crazy things with that equipment, but Imber only has so many inventory slots and only gets one spell or item use per round. With the ToB XP cap of 8 million, Imber's power has stagnated as the enemy's has risen.
It's reflected very clearly in the reloads. We had 3 reloads in SoA, all of which were due to my idiocy, not the weakness of the Slayer monk. We've had 6 reloads in SoA, all of which were due to the weakness of the Slayer monk, not my idiocy. Even one of the most stupidly overpowered builds in the game, with immunities to nearly everything, is overwhelmed by certain parts of ToB.
The Alliance
A no-reload 4-character modded IWD run
Get some rest, if you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything.
When they arrived at Kuldahar, a boy was waiting for them. He had heard there was help coming from Easthaven. He was disappointed there wasn't an army, and the group didn't have the heart to tell him what had happened. Young Nate pointed the way to the Archdruid Arundel.Arundel had been the one who had sent the messanger to Easthaven asking for help. He didn't know the source of the evil, but he knew something was wrong around the town. The weather was unseasonably cold, the monsters were more numerous and more organized than usual, and people were disappearing from the town. The blacksmith's son, the innkeeper, even two priests of Ilmater had all vanished.
With no real leads, Arundel suggested the party investigate the Vale of Shadows, a haunted burial ground a short distance from the town.
First the party needed to rest, sell off some loot, and buy more potions. After taking care of the first two, they were on their way to the temple, when they were hailed by a man being chased by yetis. They fought the first one and finally killed it, with Gudrun taking several hits.
Level up for Celebrian
The second one was easier since they were able to get more missile hits before it reached Gudrun. They talked to Mirek, the man who had been chased. He said the yetis had killed his brother who had been carrying a family heirloom. Gudrun promised to try to get it back for him. The party then continued to the temple to buy some healing potions. Then they rested in the inn before heading back to Kuldahar pass to finish off the goblins.
Back to the valley
The party moved West from the mill and came across an abandoned farmhouse. There was a small group of goblins including a marshal. Gudrun found a healing potion hidden in a box. There was a trail heading North up the foothills with a watchtower on it. Inside the tower, they met an ogre who was having much the same problem as the goblin marshal at the mill. Celebrian suggested an herbal remedy to stop the headaches and the ogre wandered off to try it.Gudrun levels up.
Notice that little plus sign on Celebrian's portrait? Guess what I forgot to do.
The team rested in the watchtower to gain spells, then continued their exploration. To the North of the tower, they came upon a goblin war party feeding on some giant insects. Their preoccupation made them easy prey. In a cave beyond that battle, the group found a number of giant insects feeding on some goblins. They didn't put up much of a fight either. Among the corpses, the party found a few magic arrows.
Record of a Kuldahar Shopping Trip
Back in Kuldahar, the party rested, then started to explore the town, noting where the merchants were located for future reference. They didn't have the money to buy much, but they were impressed with the wide variety of magic gear available.* Dunathain had identified the orc's wand as a wand of trap detection, so he decided to sell it. With the money from that, the group replenished their healing potions from the gnome Oswald Fiddlebender, since his prices were better than the temple's. At Conlan the blacksmith's shop, Gudrun bought a composite longbow and an ammunition belt. While gathering rumors at the Root Cellar tavern, they heard from the barmaid that foul play may have been involved in the new innkeeper's claim to ownership. They went back to the inn and Darien snooped around a bit, finding evidence that the barmaid had been right. When Gudrun confronted Aldwin, he confessed and agreed to tell the town elders the truth.Darien and Dunathain level up.
At the tower of Orrick the Wizard, Dunathain bought a scroll of magic missile, but failed to write it to his spellbook. He was successful with Horror and Blur, so he has some second level spells. After resting to fill the new spell slots, the team is ready to explore the Vale. Next up - Yeti 'nother Dungeon Crawl or Me and My Shadows
It's been a while, and in truth, I had little reason to update my progress; beyond the odd death of a party member, Bronwynn and Co found little trouble as they ventured the East and West of the Sword Coast. From Gullykin to the Sirene Coasts, the party grew stronger, prepared for what fights that came their way via Monty's excellent scouting. Bronwynn had even managed to learn a few cooking tips from the housewives of Gullykin, before being dragged away by a grumbling Monty. The party prospered. But such luck couldn't last, when they finally made for the Bandit Keep. A short meeting with Tazok down, they broke into his tent, and with three well aimed potions of explosive, promptly scorched Tazok's guard.
While Khalid stuttered over trying to tell us the tent caught fire, we spoke to Ender Sai, who Monty promptly killed after he pointed us to the Cloakwood. Bronwynn was disgusted, even now uncomfortable with such needless killing. Still, precious documents and gold in hand, they exited the tent, and then...
Arrows, so many arrows. The SCS Bandit Camp is no laughing matter, and while we took down Taerium, his men turned us into human pincushions. We barely cut down a fourth of his army before Xzar and Jahiera fell to arrows. Khalid got cut down, and Monty found himself filled with ice arrows. With only two potions of invisibility, Imoen and Bronwynn regrouped, as the bandits closed in. On the verge of hysteria, they gulped down the potions, and legged it, Imoen still getting badly wounded before their escape. In a single blow, we had lost our party. They managed to drag the bodies of their fallen comrades away from the camp in the middle of the night, and thanks to some expert clerical work in the FAI, all four survived, but clearly, too crippled to continue adventuring for at least a few weeks. Parting ways, Bronwynn and Imoen promptly drank their sorrows away, but no longer were they scared children. Their experience traveling had toughened them physically and mentally, and while Bronwynn wished for nothing more than to return home and experiment with spices, he was a fighting rogue now, whether he wanted it or not.
A terrifying dream recounted the bandit camp, and Bronwynn woke in a sweat, only calmed by Imoen's assurances they were safe in the Inn. The next day, they prepared to depart, to make for Beregost before delving into the Cloakwood. Alone, but no longer so weak.
Progress!
Bronwynn~Fighter5/Thief4
Imoen~Thief6
I was thinking Blackblood, which I never actually bought, but looking at Melissan's .cre file, it seems she's immune to elemental damage... including acid. Seems pretty unfair. The only damage that could bypass her immunities is magical damage, though she does have 90 MR, which blocks the likes of Magic Missile and Horrid Wilting.
4 digit #: 5471
5 - Female
4 - Elf
7 - Thief
1 - Pure Class Thief
3 digit #: 391
3 - Chaotic Good
9 - # of rerolls for ability scores
1 - Female 1
*9 rolls, the best was:
Str 16
Dex 19
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 11
Total 84 points
Party(1d29):
18 - Montaron
14 - Kagain
4 - Branwen
3 - Baeloth
25 - Shar-Teel
Well this may get interesting. A Good Charname leading an evil party.
Valkalyn is a chaotic good female elven thief.
This party will have tanks in Kagain and Montaron(Xzar can be picked up just to kill him off), and have Shar-Teel as a damage dealer, with Branwen healing and Baeloth casting. Charname would be proficient at sneaking, while Montaron would be efficient with traps and locks. Montaron and Kagain can both get to -8 AC I think.
[Spoiler]
Just looking at the combat logs, I should have lost when Sarevok confronted Gorion, as Valkalyn has 6 hp and took 7 damage in the cutscene.
The thing is, to me, that in SoA a solo character enjoys his faster progression while in ToB he has nowhere to develop further and the game quickly reaches a stage when a party could have the save levels as your solo character. But, as @semiticgod truly says, the party has a variety of options in terms of spells and items while a solo character can't use them all (if he's not a thief with UAI or a wizard who makes everything with spells).
@GemHound Nice to see you in this thread, I like that you've migrated here from a magnificent but unpopular "random no-reload thread".
@BillyYank I'm enjoying your writing style! Indeed, they should have built stiles years before the events of IWD.
@Jared4242 Interesting to see you continue with only Imoen in the party. Perfectly RP-ed, here.
@lolien I still grin when I remeber your Pablo characters. The stories you provide are short but so fun!
This thread is so fast-growing. More and more people are coming here, it's great. Although I expect it would be not so simple for those who miss this thread for a week or two to catch back
This no-reload run has reached its end!
The brave Paladin died at home, though not in his bed after a long long time
He died in the Candlekeep librabry during the confrontation with Rieltar. I am not sure if I roleplayed it the right way but no matter the run has ended. One of the enemies (Bruno?) hit me and stunned me with his weapon, I thought this couldn't be. I was holding Spider's Bane though, I think if I was using Eventar's gift I could have avoid the stun maybe? After that it was just a matter of seconds to die.
Final party formation was:
Walhand - Cavalier lvl7, 76hp
Branwen - Cleric lvl 7, 46 hp
Alora - Thief lvl 8 , 33 hp
Quayle - Cleric6/Illusionist6 , 26 hp
Kivan - Ranger lvl7, 46 hp
Xan - Enchanter lvl7, 18 hp
It is the first time I am not disappointed at all a no-reload run ended. First of all I haven't been that far before and I have completed all the quests in Baldur's Gate that my current role-play allowed.
I was used to play solo and this run actually seemed easier, I had a lot of options in fighting and the enemies had a lot of guys to hit apart from charname.
I feel that I cheated a bit though after one of @bengoshi's comments that I visited Ulgoth's Beard before entering Baldur's Gate (in order to get the greenstone amulet ofc and pickpocket Dushai for Eventar's ring). I think I completely agree with it and it's pretty fair that this party didn't make it to the end.
Nevertheless I will keep this save and probably continue the game as a minimal-reload. I want to explore Durlag's Tower since it's been some months (in real life) that I haven't visited!
Currently thinking about my next run...
Probably you've witnessed the difference between the stun and hold effects, so deadly for a no-reload campain.
Maybe one of your next runs will involve a multiplayer attempt
After a brief rest in Beregost, the two lonely thieves marched into the Cloakwood, having no clue who or what they'd run into. After a brief spat with some druids (and making a potentially useful ally in Aldeth), they ran across Coran, and upon hearing about the high bounty for one measly wyvern, they brought him along. A druid by the name of Faldorn was our next member, brought into the fold on the account of Bronwynn -not- wanting to slaughter a hundred hostile druids. Eldoth the bard also joined us, because... he was there, and Bronwynn felt scared. Also, music!
We fought off some tough bounty hunters, and then, slew us a wyvern, thanks to some well placed traps. Coran was quite pleased.
Now, the small group had a choice. We knew from the druids the bandits knew we were in the area, so storming the Mines -now- may be suicide. After a group talk which involved Faldorn frothing at the mouth, Imoen whining for a proper Inn, Eldoth lathering his hair in wyvern-bacon-grease, and Bronwynn trying to use said wyvern-bacon to form a proper meal, it was Coran's charms that convinced the group to retreat to Beregost, for both a bounty and a rest. It would throw off the Bandits of Cloakwood at the least, giving us a tenday to skirt around them, and strike just as their guard is down. Or at least, that's the plan.
But as we passed the FAI, Bronwynn couldn't help but rage at the thought of the Bandits still content in their camp. Screw safety, it was time for revenge!
And revenge was had. Just as Coran sniped the last hobgoblin, Eldoth took an ice arrow through the head. Looking about horrified, his grease-and-ice coated head hit the ground, dead beyond rivival. He was gross, as Imoen put it, but if we ever ran across Skie, we'd be sure to rescue her, or at least try. Running about from the North, hoping to avoid any trackers, we came across more Ankhegs than we'd like, as in more than one. Also, Ajantis, a paladin in service to Helm. Coran was suspicious, but we took him on, figuring he'd be useful. We also met Kivan by the High Hedge, at the prompting of Thalantyr. We hadn't planned on it, but we've another party of six, now marching on the Mines.
And back at Cloakwood. We had stocked up in Beregost, with the Bandit Camp's loot in tow, though the dropped items of the Harpers and Zhentarim was lost to time, which meant no Ankheg Armour, no Wand of Parylizing, no Varscona, and no various potions and scrolls, including a cloudkill. Ouch.
Progress!
Bronwynn~Fighter5/Thief5
Imoen~Thief6
Coran~Fighter5/Thief6
Faldorn~Druid6
Kivan~Ranger6
Ajantis~Paladin6
Valkalyn - thief
[Spoiler]
This picture is right before she took 7 damage to two shots by one of Sarevok's thugs and still walked away.
I picked up Xzar and Montaron and sent Xzar charging into the nearest wolf. I picked up Kagain in Beregost, and then headed South. We ambushed hobgoblins for boots of stealth and killed the ogrillons on the road. We went further South and managed to destroy this Hobgoblin encampment
[Spoiler]
Only to run into a VAMPIRIC wolf.
[Spoiler]
I had to use my potions of speed on Montaron and Kagain and have them flee from it as Valkalyn ran stealthed down to Nashkel. We arrived in Nashkel still alive.
[Spoiler]
Levels:
Valkalyn - 2
Montaron - 1
Kagain - 1
The party decided to enter the inn and was set upon by a mercenary named Neira. Kagain fell, but his corpse was still retrievable to bring it back to life.
[Spoiler]
We then went to the carnival and brought a statue back to life, the man that wanted to sell Valkalyn the scroll to turn Branwen back to flesh was asking twice what the temple sells them for.
[Spoiler]
We then returned North to Beregost and killed Karlat. We then talked to diminutive Perdue about dog heads. Then we found out Silke was trying to kill innocents, we killed her instead.
[Spoiler]
We continued North towards the Friendly Arm Inn, and on the way ran through an Ogre.
[Spoiler]
We then reached the Friendly Arm Inn and were confronted by yet another mercenary named Tarnesh. We killed him and then found a ring for a failed paladin named Joia. At the top of the Inn we recieved a quest to empty a house in Beregost of spiders, and we moved down South once more and retrieved Perdue's shortsword for him.
[Spoiler]
We then charged into the spider infested house and dragged the fight out onto the street. We succeeded and were immensely lucky that no one was poisoned. Perhaps since they were trying to hit a certain level 1 multiclass halfling with -4 AC...
[Spoiler]
Levels:
Valkalyn - 3
Montaron - 1,1
Kagain - 2
Branwen - 2
After we killed those spiders, we received our reward from the owner of the house up in the Friendly Arm Inn, and then went South to the Nashkel carnival. We killed the Amazing Oopah, saved the witch Zordral was going to murder, and then decided to go South to find Prism. We were waylaid by Hobgoblins on the way, and while we were resting and recuperating, a large band of kobolds jumped on top of us and instantly made Montaron a pincushion. We raised him back at Nashkel and went back down to rescue Prism from Greywolf.
[Spoiler]
After this, we went North to get Shar-Teel. Chill ambushed us South of the temple of Lathander. We reached where Shar-Teel is located, and Kagain beat her easily. We then used Korax to tank the basilisks for us. After a rampage through the North, we killed Korax, bought a stone to flesh scroll and brought an adventurer back to life. I then sent the party North into the Larswood to see if they could get Baeloth yet. They couldn't, yet many Gibberlings fell.
[Spoiler]
Then we went hunting Southwest of Beregost, and found Hobgoblins with a nice +2 short sword for Montaron, and then went East to kill Bassilus. We continued our hunt Southeast of Beregost where we killed all the ogres and bandits we could find.
[Spoiler]
We returned North to get Baeloth and after the gibberlings were mass-chunked he teleported in. After Baeloth joined we went back to the temple of Lathander and gave the mayor of Beregost the holy symbol of Bassilus.
[Spoiler]
Character - Level - Important Items
Valkalyn - 5 - Varscona(saving up for the dagger sold at the Thunderhammer for the offhand)
Montaron - 3,3 - The Whistling Sword
Kagain - 4
Branwen - 4 - Ashideena, Ankheg Plate
Shar-Teel - 4
Baeloth - 6 - +1 Quarterstaff, Robe of the Evil Archmagi
I'll be attempting a Trilogy, so starting in BG1 and hopefully all the way through to the ToB. Mods for BGEE, at least, are full SCS, Rogue Rebalancing, BG1NPC (not really used this time), and BGTweaks mostly for small cosmetic changes as well as a couple more bags of holding.
This is my second real attempt with this concept, of a full (or almost full) custom-made team built around the Charname. And as before, I'm building around the RR-Skald. More specifically, a pacifist RR-Skald; if my Charname gets a single kill, I'll mark the run down as failed. For those who don't have Rogue Rebalancing installed, the Skald has these pros and cons:
Pros: +1 to hit and damage with all weapons (useless for a pacifist)
Skald's song gives +2 to hit and damage, -2 to AC, and erroneously states immunity to Fear. Maybe immunity to Morale failure? I dunno, since Horror still affects people under the Skald's song's effects. Upgrades to +3 and +4 bonuses at levels 9 and 18 respectively.
Cons: Pickpockets at a quarter of normal level (Scary to even try in a no-reload anyways)
Suffers a 1-point spell casting speed penalty. This is actually pretty important, as it means the spells have that greater of an opportunity to be interrupted.
For those that care about my team-building analysis, it's under the spoiler. For those who actually want to read some BGEE, feel free to skip.
[Spoiler]The Skald, being the main character, is non-negotiable. The thing is, I didn't want a random party that just happened to have a Skald in it, but I wanted to maximize a Skald's potential. The best way to do this is APR, generally, since that +2 damage stacks quickly across 3-4 hits. That was the approach I took my first run, with an Archer, a Wizard Slayer, an Avenger (Sword spider form gives 4 attacks at level 7. It was ludicrous.), a Swashbuckler for traps, and a Dragon Disciple for actual in-battle casting. And that worked fairly well, but with a new start, a new party is required. Only the Skald of all of those is allowed.
The other way to maximize a Skald's potential is by summons. Adding +2s and +3s to a swarm? Magnificent. Sure, doesn't work against things with Death Spell, but we'll have contingencies for that. So the first ones that were definitely going to be part of this new team were the Beast Master and Totemic Druid. There's no Skeleton Warriors from these two, but hordes of animals and spirit animals just sounds fun to see at least once. I hate traps with a passion, so a thief is required. Swashbuckler's out, Bounty hunters were appealing, but I decided on rolling the arcane and skills together, so Mage(Illusionist)/Thief was the choice. I still wanted someone to be able to wear armor and tank stuff from time to time, since not much feels better than seeing something fruitlessly attempt to hit someone with -10 effective AC in BG1. I felt that Berserker or Barbarian were strong, but I thought that I might end up relying on abusing their ridiculous immunities rather than getting better with my tactics. Cavalier was chosen instead. The 6th slot's being left open this time for quests in BG2, and possibly someone in BG2 permanently.[/spoiler]
So introducing the squad:
Hymn, NG Human Skald (Club * Sword and Shield *)
[Spoiler]
The roll of 95:
Sirius, LG Human Cavalier (Axe ** Two Weapon Fighting **)
[Spoiler]
Sapphire, LG Elven Beastmaster (Quarterstaff **, Crossbow **)
[Spoiler]
Holly, TN Human Totemic Druid (Darts *)
[Spoiler]
Quill, NG Gnome Illusionist/Thief ( Short Swords *, Shortbow *)[Spoiler]
Off we go. Despite having 18 CHA, we skip even the +1 dagger in Candlekeep, though Quill relieves the Potion of Clarity from the chest upstairs beforehand. Gorion dies, after a bit of looting we start the level game: Shoal and her area are first on the list. Shoal dies without a problem, and we have our first real (kind of) fight. The Ogres. It took a bit of kiting and aggression sharing, and a lapse in judgement got Quill knocked down to 1 HP in a single hit, but Sapphire clears them out. Her Favored Enemy is Ogres, which I forgot about in character creation, but it certainly sped this up.
I decide to explore the entire map, and am glad that I did when I found the 3 sirines in the bottom left of the area. Only one Charm spell was cast onto a vulnerable member, and Sapphire saved anyways. Sapphire and Sirius both leveled up, though both rolled minimum health.
Back at High Hedge, we sell gems and buy scrolls, and I see this ominous message for Hymn:[Spoiler]
I might as well catch the first death, right? Well... No. Turns out I missed it. Here's the end of that battle though! I missed the archers not targeting Sirius, though fortunately it's not Hymn that was taken out but Holly. [Spoiler]
We had 200 gold though, so she's swiftly brought back. A tour through Beregost sees Marl comforted, a book given to Firebead, and a house cleared of spiders, and Perdue returned his short sword. Oh, and Karlat.
[Spoiler]
Bye Karlat!
Melicamp sadly did not make it,[Spoiler]
We're currently in the FAI considering our next steps.
Stats: Hymn, level 4 Skald. 26HP. 0 kills.
Sirius, level 3 Cavalier. 29 HP. 8 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Sirine. Another point in Two Weapon Style.
Sapphire, level 3 Beast Master. 31 HP. 30 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Sirine. One point in Longbow.
Holly, level 3 Totemic Druid. 22 HP. 1 death. 10 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Sirine.
Quill, level 2/3 Illusionist/Thief. 1 death. 16 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Ogre Berserker
MVP: I dunno, hard to say right now. The strategy's not online yet, so we're dealing physical ranged damage against things that can't retaliate. That being said, Tarnesh could've ended Hymn with two MMs if he had the chance to fire them off, so I'd give Sirius the MVP this time just for that one Remove Fear (case in point of Skald's Song not working as advertised, by the way!)
After we turned in Bassilus's holy symbol, the party went and picked up Melicamp and took him to Thalantyr. Melicamp imploded. We then went further West and brought Brage back to the Temple of Helm in Nashkel.
[Spoiler]
We then went to the Nashkel mines. The fight with Mulahey went almost as bad as it possibly could have. On returning to Nashkel, a bounty hunter named Nimbul tried to kill us.
[Spoiler]
Then we ventured further into the wilds near Nashkel. The first place the party struck was the Xvart Village. It was a bloodbath... Lets just say that there are now less Xvarts in the region. *nods*
[Spoiler]
We went further North and ran into none other than Drizzt, and then dispatched some bandits before turning South once more.
[Spoiler]
Then Valkalyn went gallivanting through the Cloudpeak Mountains. Montaron was getting angry at how things were progressing in the party so he killed a nymph we had just saved.
[Spoiler]
Then we went East of Nashkel and adventured through the area near where we exited the mines. Mercenaries that had aimed to kill Valkalyn(the amazons) took Shar-Teel with them.
[Spoiler]
Then as we attempted to find Gullykin, another band of mercenaries attempted to kill Valkalyn and co.
[Spoiler]
Once Shar-Teel was raised from the dead, we returned to the South and found a deathly ill Flaming Fist deserter by the name of Samuel. The party reached the Friendly arm Inn in time to save him.
[Spoiler]
On the way back to the Firewine ruins, Valkalyn and co. stopped at Ulcaster and emptied it.
[Spoiler]
We then went to the Firewine and found a crazy lady with a jar that released a powerful Ogre Magi named Kahrk. He took Branwen with him. We fought our way through the ruins to the entrance to the temple raised both Branwen and Montaron(died to a fireball trap), then finished cleaning out the ruins, and killed the halfling that had backstabbed his own village.
[Spoiler]
Then we went back to the basilisk fields with Shar-Teel being protected from the gaze of the basilisks. I was a little overzealous and Montaron was turned to stone. We eventually returned with a stone to flesh scroll once we had secured more protection.
[Spoiler]
Inventories and Character Sheets
[Spoiler]Baeloth
[Spoiler]
Kagain
[Spoiler]
[Spoiler]
[Spoiler]
[Spoiler]
[Spoiler]
Pictures, pictures galore, if there are too many screenshots, just tell me. I take so many since if I do not, I'll have it as text instead. No one wants a text wall. I average about 1.5 GB per playthrough.(due to this I store all my pictures online, My Imgur has over 500 pictures of Baldur's Gate playthroughs on this forum so...)
Of course, in IWD you don't have to worry about Charname vulnerability, so maybe you can make it work. It'll be tricky to survive fireballing your own party during a critical battle, but it'll sure be interesting to watch what happens.
Kudos to you on how well you write your updates. You have good style and strong, detailed sentence and paragraph structure. Your posts are a pleasure to read.
Yeah, the wild mage thing. I hadn't really thought that through when I started. Hopefully, the bad luck will hold off until they get high enough level to withstand whatever happens.
Once we cleared the basilisk area again, the party went to Beregost and Valkalyn bought Shadow Armor from the Thunderhammer Smithy. Then the party went West ad charged up the Sword Coast nearly to Candlekeep.
[Spoiler]
Then Valkalyn moved North and destroyed the Bandit Camp
[Spoiler]
Then Valkalyn went into the Cloakwood, and emptied it, including the mines and Davaeorn.
[Spoiler]
The party stopped to kill many Ankhegs on the way to Baldur's Gate, returned the child to his father, and returned the bowl to the Umberlites. We returned to Beregost and had Thunderhammer make us a suit of Ankheg plate and bought both the horn and claw of Kazgaroth from High Hedge. Then we arrived in Baldur's Gate.
Character - Level
Valkalyn - 7
Montaron - 5,6
Kagain - 6
Branwen - 7
Shar-Teel - 6
Baeloth - 8
Wanted to share an "almost-dead" moment here:
[Selyna the Flamewreath, the overly cautious Dragon Disciple]
In the labyrinth under the asylum, we come to an area of four gates with the images of an Ulitharid, a Spirit Troll, an Umber Hulk, and a Minotaur.
Bah. Cake walk.
I armor-up with Chaotic Commands on Keldorn (who is also wearing his Free Action armor) and open the door to the Ulitharid.
... and it turns out that, despite my misconception to the contrary, Chaotic Commands does NOT protect you from having your brains eaten.
Jaheira dashes in next -- and gets stunned quickly. So, much for relying on Stoneskins.
Before you know it, almost everyone is dead:
After Jaheira, Aerie gets stunned -- and is de-brained rapidly as well;
Imoen : similarly de-brained (she is a FM in my run; so she gets a few hits in first under Improved Haste);
Jan is hurt and covering under Invisibility.
The now cocky Illithid rushes toward Selyna, who is no longer in the back line, because the back line is now the front line!
[PICTURE]
And I get to test first hand if PfMW actually protects against the brain-drain attack. Apparently, it does!
I actually end up sullying my hands by beating the Illithid over the head with my staff.
The indignity!
(The 18 str helped there -- as did, of course, the fact that the Illithid was already badly hurt while eating up on everyone else's brain.)
[[Q.: would people have been chunked if I had Gore on? (which I don't)]]
Selyna is now slowly proceeding through Underdark...
@GemHound Your progress looks solid, good luck!
@Ygramul You've been lucky there, but those who don't risk don't win:)
@Blackraven You're back:) Happy reading!
The party cleaned out Baldur's Gate and cured Lothander's geas.
[Spoiler]
We fought an uncharacteristically unorganized Maulers of the Undermountain.(they also killed everyone but Gorpel Hind and us) The party barely won against the wizard that wants the Helm of Balduran, and Sarevok's guards on the 5th floor of the Iron Throne building nearly killed Valkalyn.
[Spoiler]
We were then sent to Candlekeep, and killed every single Doppleganger, took everything of magic, and killed the Iron Throne leaders on top of it.
[Spoiler]
This is getting extremely interesting to keep Valkalyn alive due to her terrible HP rolls. She has 27 HP at level 8. *nods* I'm debating whether I should get the claw of Kazgaroth removed and put on another char, since its very risky using it as it is. What do you think?
Character - Level
Valkalyn - 8
Montaron - 6,7
Kagain - 7
Branwen - 7
Shar-Teel - 7
Baeloth - 8
If you take off the Claw of Kazgaroth, you won't improve your Valkalyn's HPs. The only way it's possible is that if you've given Valkalyn the tome of CON to improve her CON to 15 (which results in getting additional +1 HPs per level, that you don't get with the Claw put on).
If you play on the Core difficulty, you're fine as you are, I think. Saving throws means life or death for Charname in a no-reload run, especially in hard battles. If you play on the Insane diffuculty, it can be another story, though. But I would still keep the Claw on a 15 CON- thief, even on the Insane difficulty, even with 27 HPs, because there's not a big difference between 27 HPs and 34 HPs for a thief who can't use helmets and thus can be critted by almost anyone for all his life...