Maybe it's just because I'm most familiar with Cleric/Mages, but Meidao's run has been very easy so far. She has over 4 million XP and hasn't had a single close call yet. She has a near-endless supply of invisibility spells, immunities to everything besides imprisonment (which SCS enemies won't use on Charname anyway), gobs of summons, excellent saving throws as if they mattered at all, and has multiple castings of Stoneskin and Mirror Image to soak up physical damage. She might have trouble killing the enemy without the Minute Meteor trick, but the enemy has even more trouble killing her.
Good job, I can only say that I'm very impressed. I always wanted to see how the demons can be used for the profit.
From your updates, am I right to assume that you, being protected from evil, can summon a demon next to still a neutral enemy and then this demon begins its attacks on that enemy, but no matter what the enemy doesn't turn red? If so, this is one of the best tactics ever.
Tarvol and benders (and a monk), update 1: Huh, I could've sworn I updated this already. No matter. I restarted the game fairly early on, due to my forgetting I couldn't quite do what I did with my Skald parties and take on the 10+ ogres on the coast with Shoal. So this is officially attempt number 2. The beginning is fairly standard, killing Shoal for the 5k experience before moving to the Friendly Arm Inn.
First death! Apparently my kiting technique is less than perfect. I won't have a death count this game, by the way: I'm only level 4 and I've already lost count.
Rigor is put to sleep by Tarnesh, but Tarnesh also fails his save vs Color Spray (as well as Rigor again)
At this point, I only have two actually viable spells, Color Spray and Grease. Situational are Charm Person and Burning Hands, both only used in the context of interrupting spell casting. I also can't fight anything that has a ranged weapon because a single critical arrow is enough to end this run, and with SCS targeting archers are frequently attacking the back line. This limits the encounters that we can safely do quite severely.
Neira isn't one of them, however. Burning Hands and Charm Person and the odd hit were enough to shut down her spell casting.
All sorcerers have hit level 2 here, gaining nothing but hit points and one more spell. I desperately need level 3, but easy encounters are dropping... The Dorn encounter especially reminds me of how close to death everyone is whenever archers are present. This was a 1-shot-kill, I think.
Greywolf shows how easy Grease can make encounters with no ranged attackers:
And now time for a couple trickier fights. My battle vs Neira gave me confidence (... a little too much confidence) that I could handle Clerics by burning their spells down with Burning Hands. With this in mind I take on Basillus. Good idea? Probably not.
Unholy Blight is the first spell that he gets off successfully, almost killing Rigor in a single shot if he hadn't made the two saves:
He still had many more spells, but fortunately no Invisible Stalker, so eventually, after running his out of spells at the expense of Lana's life...
I still need experience, since I need Prof. from Petrification on Tarvol to safely do the Basilisks to get to level 4 in a fairly safe manner. Basillus financed a shopping trip to get the Wand of Sleep and of Fear, and an ioun stone for Rigor. With these, I figured I could do Tenya's quest for 2,500 experience, and getting past the Ankhegs with Sleep now in the arsenal. Surprisingly, we didn't die to acid vomit, so level 3s!
Had to do a bit of EEKeeper shenanigans with Lana since I accidentally gave her Grease rather than Shield. After a bit of reflection, I decided to change up Air's schedule and allowed her to take Magic Missile as the 3rd level 1 spell. To recap, Earth (Tarvol) gets Pro. from Petrification, Air (Lana) gets Magic Missile, Water (Jun) gets Grease, and Fire (Flare) gets Spook. After switching the ring of wizardry around, Tarvol can now cast 10 Pro. from Petrification and we can safely do the Basilisks! Korax is successful in his gnome-assassination:
And the southern basilisks are enough to get everyone barring Lana to level 4 (which I'll fix in a bit.) But this unlocked level 2 spells, so time to decide who gets what. Fire: Agannazar's Scorcher, Horror, Resist Fear,... I'm running out of options. I'll allow MI on all of them to represent natural dodging/agility, and Knock. Water: Ray of Enfeeblement, Blur, Mirror Image, Knock, and Luck Air: Invisibility, Glitterdust, Mirror Image, Blur, Stinking Cloud Earth: Detect Invisibility, Melf's Acid Arrow, Web, Strength, Mirror Image
Silke doesn't prebuff with Shield, or MI, so Magic Missile and Burning Hands can almost guarantee spell failure. She contributes level 4 for Lana.
A couple more encounters before heading to the mines: this was probably the most irritating, since the Doomsayer is at Near Death after quite a few damage-spell spams.
I answer the riddle correctly and allow the poor guy to live. We come back later and almost fry ourselves getting the kill:
Eventually it falls, and the Mines.
For the first time, I have the Dark-Side Kobold upgrade installed on SCS (by mistake...) I can definitely say it's an upgrade in difficulty, but allowing the Kobold Captain an AC of at least -1 is probably a bit of overkill. I couldn't hit the bugger without criticals with THAC0 18, so... Our health potion supply was demolished just fighting to Mulahey, and we're out of spells so we need to find somewhere safe to replenish.
EDIT: Tarvol has fallen to Mulahey's Unholy Blight. Automatic kill from full health, nothing I really could've done since the spell wasn't interrupted by either a Scorcher or Magic Missiles.
On the new level Imoen pockets a ring from the floor. Whilst doing that she spots a trap to her left. She removes the trap and the four shortly discuss this new development. They decide it best that they stick to a path where Imoen tries to detect for more traps but rushes back the moment she spots more of the kobolds. And so she moves first. She spots some kobolds in the corridor and they move in to dispatch them. Khalid is hurt by one of them and healed again by his wife. He is such an arrow attractant. They move south and end up in a narrow corridor with a bridge over a chasm. By coincidence Imoen spots 2 kobolds and 2 traps, is able to hide and walk in to disarm the traps.
Meanwhile Jaheira and Khalid have a nice man-wife chat going on.... The kobolds are overwhelmed, Mr missile attractant breaks his sword on one of the kobolds faces and when a ghoul steps up to haunt them, he has to switch to a morning star that Cuwaert hands him, not something Khalid can wield well. Spiders! easily killed but what more can be expected in these dank dungeons? A large ambush by kobolds means the death of Khalid, Cuwaert is wounded to 1 health, and Imoen as well! Cuwaert drinks his last potion of defense and makes a wild dash for the healing potion that Khalid did not yet use while Imoen drinks the invisibility potion that Jaheira gave her for scouting.
The gamble works, Cuwaert succeeds in drinking the healing draught and the three are victorious.... or whatever you want to call survival at this stage. Another level down and more kobolds dead, they stand in front of a cave opening which they enter. Behind a murder of kobolds an elf is standing and Cuwaert decides to engage in speech (a dangerous activity). The elf gives us a kthxbai and that is the end of that. Cuwaert talks to another buffoon standing there who talks about a bozo Tazok. He decides to say that indeed this guy is very displeased and the halforc requests us to check his wares. Sure, why not. For sure Imoen knows what is valuable in there. He attacks, Cuwaert drinks a potion of heroism and Imoen is actually really good with disrupting spells using the wand of magic missile.
Cuwaert takes a gamble and drinks the violet potion, is this the one that instills strength? It does feel like it! A huge hit (a critical 24 HP with a dagger! I do not think this is correct math going on ?!?) and Mulahey surrenders! But then his lackeys kill Cuwaert with a critical hit.
Bye bye 11 HP. That was just poor luck... Given his low dex and con scores I thought he would not have suffered much from the potion, but his health fell just a bit too low to cover a critical hit (Cuwaert did not wear helmets ever because of fashion of course).
The end of Cuwaert. Too bad, I liked the fellow. I even wanted to make him drink the kobold potion in a pinch only to have him find out he needed the antidote he got from Hull to cure himself again of the poison it contains.
I have a tendency to hit that quicksave button, although I did stick to the no-reload gameplay. I actually have a quicksave before Mulahey and the stats are in the spoiler tags. Cuwaert died with THE most awesome stats. Favorite weapon: FIST Wahahahahaha.
I'll do a proper no-reload soon enough with a more sensible main character and more actual gamer caution and preparation.
Good job, I can only say that I'm very impressed. I always wanted to see how the demons can be used for the profit.
From your updates, am I right to assume that you, being protected from evil, can summon a demon next to still a neutral enemy and then this demon begins its attacks on that enemy, but no matter what the enemy doesn't turn red? If so, this is one of the best tactics ever.
I just tried this and, sadly, the enemies turned red.
Good job, I can only say that I'm very impressed. I always wanted to see how the demons can be used for the profit.
From your updates, am I right to assume that you, being protected from evil, can summon a demon next to still a neutral enemy and then this demon begins its attacks on that enemy, but no matter what the enemy doesn't turn red? If so, this is one of the best tactics ever.
I just tried this and, sadly, the enemies turned red.
Mencar Pebblecrusher, I hate that guy.
Interesting, because the screenshot @semiticgod posted showed a blue circle:
I decide to move on with the main quest. I've already hit the milestone I wanted, and now Meidao can cast Cacofiend as well. Turns out those Nabassus are very effective against mages.
I was scratching my head trying to come up with new playthrough ideas after my spellcaster party was wiped out to the last person in the Underdark, and I thought of something I hadn't thought of in a very long time.
When I played BG2 for the first time, Yoshimo's betrayal nearly destroyed me. I fell in love with the Bounty Hunter Kit right from the start, though I've never been successful at playing one right through the game(s). I liked setting traps and luring enemies into them. Since then, an idea has been sitting in the back of my mind for a kind of trap-mania playthrough.
Unfortunately I've recently discovered that Bounty Hunter traps stop dealing firepower after a certain level, and while maze and Otiluke's are nice, a traps-only playthrough might run out of steam very quickly if half of the damage dealing arsenal was removed. So I downloaded EEKeeper and created a character that I thought might allow me to preserve trap-based firepower: a Bounty Hunter/Mage
Sadly, this character has to be a gnome to satisfy the gadgetry-themed role. I can't justify or roleplay it any other way, and the Gnome's illusionist limitation meant that one of the most trap-themed spells, the Skull Trap, was unavailable. Blashpemy.
So I decided on this instead: a gnomish inventor/adventurer who has taken standard trap types and combined them into a homemade launcher (a la Jan Jansen), and who has a variety of homemade gadgets and bombs at her disposal. Not the strongest and never much of a fighter, she avoids combat wherever possible and does not carry weapons. Though... maybe she will partake in the occasional backstab, since stabbing someone in the back is most surely the safest way to fight them (can this be done with a fist?). But normal fighting is not on the agenda unless absolutely impossible to avoid.
I dropped the Bounty Hunter kit and will no longer be able to throw traps like grenades, but the Wild Mage kit adds another element that I think fits the character very well: gadget malfunctions. Epona is very intelligent, but with low wisdom does not always make the best decisions or take sensible precautions. That hair cut? That's because most of her formerly long mane was singed during the beta-test of one of her latest contraptions. And she's only just grown back her eyebrows.
The only thing left to do is draw up a list of trap themed spells, using trap varieties as a starting point. I am not actually trying to play a mage, but using a mage kit to simulate the abilities of an inventive techno-savy gnome thief. They make flying machines and have inter-planar travel in Faerun, so I think my gnome can have a few ray guns (or: Rae Guns). If anyone reading this has any ideas on how to fit other spells into this them, I'm all ears.
So far, I have:
Lvl1 - Chromatic Orb (pew, pew!) - Magic Missile (a standard trap variety) - Nahals Reckless Dwoemer (last resort "Rae Gun", malfunction generator and risk-enhancer) - Charm Person (POV gun)
Lvl3 - Skull trap (has trap in name) - Fireball (roleplayed as Holy Hand Grenades) - Lightning Bolt (very common trap type) - Dire Charm
Lvl4 - Otilukes Sphere - Polymorph Other (the squirrellenator gun [which appears to do nothing. Bugged? Enemies briefly transform into squirrels but almost immediately return to normal])
Lvl5 - Domination (again, the venerable POV gun) - ????
Lvl6 - Disintegration (trap type, BFG9000) - Flesh to Stone (common trap type)
Lvl7 - Delay Blast Fireball - Prismatic Spray (trap type) - Ruby Ray of Reversal (allowable on grounds of spell name)
Lvl8 - Symbol Stun, Fear, Death (throw and forget trap-style spells) - Maze (trap type)
Lvl9 - Imprisonment
Other Miscellaneous spells allowed: - Sequencers, Triggers, contingencies (if Rambo can one-hand an M90, my gnome is allowed to rapid fire traps) - Simulacrum (roleplayed as techno-magical killer-robot) - Globes of Invulnerability and Spell Turnings for 'Force-field theme' - Time Stop (Great Scott!) - Spell Trap (allowed on grounds of name)
Prohibited Spells: - Stoneskin - Most abjuration protections against things like energy, fire etc. (too intangible, magical and not "gadgety" enough) - Chaos Shield(s)... maybe. I've not Wild Maged before. Wild Surges won't kill me, will they? I would like some interesting results, but I don't want to die. - Non-trap or techno-magical-widget themed spells. - Haste(s) (oils of speed serve as decent stim-packs) - Summoning spells -Weapon spells (like Black Blade, or Phantom Blade)
Potential Prohibitions: - Melf's Minute Meteors - Energy Blades
These two violate the self-imposed no-direct combat theme, but then again 'Death Frisbees' feel very magical-techno themed. MMM can be mini holy hand grenades)
- Greater Malison (may simply be necessary, regardless of theme)
Any thoughts by anyone else? I'm already going ahead with this playthrough, but fresh critcism/ideas never hurt. I'll even post a few updates in here to let you all know how Epona goes, with roleplay.
@sluckers: You can in fact backstab with your bare hands, as I mentioned in another thread today. But the base damage is 1d2 and Strength bonuses to damage don't get multiplied by backstabs. Your best backstab would deal 30 damage with the Gauntlets of Crushing, or 40 if you also had Tenser's Transformation, not counting the STR bonus.
You've put a lot of thought into this character concept and I like it. Good points on the trap types; I hadn't considered that Prismatic Spray was a trap in two locations in SoA (slaver stockade and by the riddle bridge in the Unseeing Eye quest).
For what it's worth, Bounty Hunters still get excellent power output after level 21. They still have their normal traps, which will deal 4d8+5 damage, on top of their HLA traps.
Kresselack's Tomb part 3 Barmaid, bring me a nice cold one...
Rested and replenished, the party made their way back to Kresselack's tomb, intending to explore deeper into the complex. After fighting through the lesser shadows that had arisen in front of the tomb, this happened:
Gudrun and Celebrian hated to lose another day, but Dunathain now had access to third level spells, so they decided the added capability was worth the wait. Dunathain bought several spells from Orrick and used one of his potions of genius to scribe them.
What? No fireball???
Back at the tomb, the group passed through the large doors into the next chamber only to find it heavily guarded. Gudrun called a retreat to get more room to maneuver. The guardians followed them out, where Gudrun engaged them in melee, while the others supported with spells and missiles.
Gudrun was taking enough damage, Celebrian needed to heal her while fighting.
Back in the courtyard, Darien scouted out the groups of undead guards, then Gudrun drew them out in small groups to be destroyed one by one.
One of the skeletons targeted Dunathain. This time he could deal with it himself.
The last group of guardians was to the North
With the courtyard clear, it was time to explore the side chambers. The North one was guarded by a trap...
...and by shadows and a mummy.
Darien checked the sarcophagi for traps and found a number of scrolls and potions.
Next, the party moved South to fight temple guardians and a chosen zombie.
The Southern chamber was trapped like the North had been, but it was guarded by imbued wights, chosen zombies and tattered skeletons.
Dunathain tries out his spells.
Darien checked the caskets and found more potions and scrolls, including a scroll of magic missile. He then scouted the main exit, but the party was running low on healing and spells, so they went back to town to rest.
Refreshed and replenished, the companions returned and began to destroy the remaining defenders.
Darien scouted forward and found a skeleton mage. Gudrun tried to disrupt its casting, but had to retreat and wait out another stinking cloud.
When the cloud dissipated, they moved forward and attacked the undead spellcaster, but it was able to cast another spell, this time dire-charming Gudrun. The rest of the party ran before she could be ordered to attack them, and Dunathain cast a dispel in her general direction. As soon as she came back to her senses, the skeleton mage cast color spray and Gudrun fired an arrow. Both attacks struck at the same time, but only Gudrun's was lethal*.
* Love it! A real "showdown at high-noon" moment.
The party now polished off the last of the undead guardians, with Dunathain's hold undead making things easier.
Darien opened the doors and the group finally came face to face with the great tomb's master.
Kresselack demanded the party eliminate a priestess of Auril, before he would reveal what he knew about the evil plaguing Kuldahar. Celebrian suggested they try the yeti cave first, since that odd cache had contained so many clerical spell scrolls. They prepared themselves and then went in.
The priestess of Auril, who they had met before as Lysan the barmaid, was indeed inside. After a fruitless conversation, she attacked. The companions soon found themselves in a desperate battle as a half-dozen yeti burst out of the walls and floor of the ice cave. Gudrun, Celebrian and Dunathain tried to hold them off while Darien fired hammer arrows at the evil cleric. He was able to stun her just as the snow-beasts reached the party.
Dunathain stood his ground and tried to cast a spell as his mirror images disappeared one by one. His scorcher killed two of the monsters at once, just as the yeti attacking him got through his defenses, and once again, the mage fell under fists of one of these wild beasts.
His sacrifice freed Darien from his immediate attackers, so the elf began to fire arrows at the priestess who was now advancing on them. Celebrian cast an insect swarm at the one remaining yeti and led it around the cave as Gudrun and Lysan squared off. The snow ape gave up on the druid and joined his mistress in fighting Gudrun. This allowed Darien and Celebrian to add their bow and sling to the fight, and the enemy didn't last much longer.
Once again, Gudrun found herself bearing her uncle's body back to the temple of Ilmater.
The cost of living just keeps getting higher.
Back at the Vale, Kresselack revealed all he knew... which wasn't much. He did allow them to take his burial goods from his sarcophagus. After bringing the news to Arundel, the archdruid asked Gudrun and Celebrian to retrieve an artifact called the Heartstone Gem, which he could use to divine the source of the problems plaguing the region.
To prepare for their trip to the Temple of the Lost God, the party sold their loot and replenished their supplies. Gudrun kept Kresselack's sword, an enchanted two-handed blade. Dunathain bought more scrolls and used another potion of genius to scribe them, finally succeeding at getting magic missile into his spellbook.
Want: Magic two-handed sword Got it! Scroll of fireball
Significant gear: Gudrun: Kresselack's sword +1, Mace +1, Black wolf talisman, Gauntlets of weapon skill Darien: Leather +1, Shortbow +1, Katana +1, Ring of shadows Celebrian: Sling +1 Dunathain: Sling +1, Bracers AC 8, Robe of cold resistance
Gudrun - Undead Hunter lv 5 - 60 hp - 1 death Darien - Swashbuckler lv 6 - 42 hp Celebrian - Avenger lv 6 - 42 hp sp 5/5/3 Dunathain - Wild Mage lv 5 - 26 hp sp 5/3/2 - 2 deaths
City Sushi is no trouble for Meidao. But there is one enemy who is apparently invincible.
The Pit Fiend can only hit her on a natural 20 and even then it does no damage. Not sure what Sallinithyl's deal is.
I turn another Pit Fiend onto the drow party near the imprisonment sphere, with Farsight and Project Image to conserve spells, and add in a Blade Barrier spell for good measure when the Project Image clone vanishes. Blade Barrier still works with Sanctuary in EE.
I use a pre-existing Skeleton Warrior to lure an Aerial Servant into the Myconid area, which means the Pit Fiend will turn on the Myconids rather than lingering to the east. It's a way of stretching out the duration of the Gate spell.
My 2nd Project Image clone has Chaotic Commands, like Meidao herself, so I decide to lure out the Mind Flayer nearby. It can't stun or maze us, so we may as well get the Pit Fiend to slay it.
This was a bad idea.
The Mind Flayer somehow knows where the original Meidao is. It starts attacking.
In vanilla, if my memory is correct, enemies don't get automatic hits on Project Image clones. But at least in EE, this is not so.
Stoneskin is blocking any physical damage, which means those INT drain attacks don't cancel the Project Image spell. Meidao is completely disabled and between the Cloak of Mirroring and Stoneskin, there's nothing her clone can do to damage her and therefore cancel the spell. Instead, I have the clone cast Teleport Field.
Seconds drag by as the clone fails to do anything to save its creator. Its aura is fogged. Meidao dies.
It's the weirdest thing. Stoneskin, Project Image, the Cloak of Mirroring, and a single Mind Flayer killed Meidao, who had otherwise absolutely thrashed everything in the game. Project Image is a profoundly bad spell to use anywhere with enemies who can drain levels, drain ability scores, or land instant death effects on hit.
Sigh. Seems I managed to lose my new character update. Regardless, here it is...
Quick version: SCS improved encounters are dropped in this install, as well as prebuffs. AI's still improved. I intend to go Avenger -> Fighter and have fun with fighter THAC0 + Avenger special forms. I need STR 17, and have to use the Violet Potion to achieve this dual with Avenger stat maximums.
Order of fights: Shoal, Melicamp (failed transformation), Bassilus
Ogrillons
Tarnesh, Tenya (I messed up here... Hopefully no repercussions for the second Wisdom Tome?)
Ulgoth's Beard for equipment, Hobgoblins, Neira
Greywolf, people attacking the Dryad's Tree, Gnarl and Hairtooth (and Gnarl is apparently hungry...)
for this:
Basilisks, Mutamin killed Korax, but I tagged Mutamin with a Miscast Magic, and I eventually won the melee. Southern basilisks granted level 7 and the Avenger power spike. 5 Web spells (3 used), and...
Behold your doom, mortals.
Improved Invisibility and Sanctuary (I still don't know how this is in my Druid Spellbook; there's no mod that I can see that messes with druids at all. I'll run with it) allow safe passage against the kobolds. Mulahey.
Amazons follow the same pattern, Web and Sword Spider Form. Nimbul is attacked under II, the poison kills him through his Stoneskins. Will finish clearing the Sirenes and Ankhegs fairly soon, level 7 right now.
The Excellent Adventures of Epona Rae: Chapter 1 (####ing about in Athkatla).
Narrator: Well, folks, you all know how this goes. You lose Imoen, you met Gaelan, you do some housekeeping and some minor quests and then start tackling some of the major ones. Easy fights abound and, so, not much of that report in this first installment of Epona's playthrough.
Let's go. We wake up in Irenicus' Dungeon, bust out and lose everyone's favourite NPC (those who hate her actually love her, but don't know how to express it, is all), all in the space of a day. Suddenly Epona is left without any of her own gear on the edge of a blast crater in a hot and dusty mystery city. Never had the heady days of adventure in Baldur's Gate felt so distant. She's small, ill-equipped and everyone likes to pick on gnomes. Just ask Kalah.
Luckily, the proving ground of Sarevok's machinations on the Sword Coast have trained Epona well, and instead of curling up into a ball, crying and muttering 'No batter, no batter...' over and over, we decide to explore the city and get a handle on things. Part of surviving in the world is knowing your world, and this is especially so for a not-so-physically strong gnome vulnerable to every Dirk and Charlie with a great sword and a bit of fire in his belly.
Bullies. Epona hates bullies.
You know what she does to bullies?
She had only just entered the Copper Coronet when this Amalas jackass starts picking on her. As usual, those uppity tall folk associate small size with weakness.
Epona: It's not their fault. The air is thinner up there; Not good for the brain, I guess.
Narrator: Although, Epona, let's not forget that you encountered your fair share of ill-tempered short-folk. Remember Mencar?
Epona: Douche.
Narrator: Kalah?
Epona: Douche.
Narrator: The gnome slaver wizard?
Epona: Mostly harmless. Took a skull trap to the face.
Narrator: Captain Haegan? He balked at you rebuking him for being a slaver. Mentioned a little something about you and Jenthan...
Epona: Major douche. That guy sold kids. But, A) he was human, and I'll not be judged for spending the night with Jenthan, and then destroying the slave ring. I'm True Neutral with a good streak, not DEAD. Honestly, for most women with standards Jenthan is the only action you get in this adventure. And I'm a gnome. Fabio doesn't like gnomes.
Narrator: Fair enough.
Anyway... After a day of scrounging and [ahem] exploring the shops and exploring the city districts in turn, Epona had acquired a rather impressive array of components for her Lil' Bastard Trap Kit.
Epona: And discovered that the city guard has a serious addiction to Oil of Speed.
Narrator: Right... After that it was Maevar's, the Harpers, The Slavers, The Skinner Murders, the Circus Tent and The Graveyard along with various miscellaneous errands. By the end of it she had acquired a whopping 1.6 million XP, all towards herself. I had never realized there was so much experience just lying around Athkatla. Nothing rouses the fighting spirit of our herione quite like a douchebag who gets off on mis-treating others. Athkatla, it seemed, had a serious douchebag infestation.
Epona: It's both infuriating and pitiable. SQUIRREL THEM ALL. They remind me of my school days. I was... not popular.
Narrator: Tragic, for sure. And after drastically increasing the city's squirrel population we learned a valuable lesson.
Epona: Need more traps. I mean, we have a good arsenal up to level 5, but mages are a problem. Their protections/invisibility reduce my Point-of-View Gun (Domination) and Squirrelenator Cannon (Polymorph Other) to zero effectiveness. Area effect traps are killer against them, though, whereas the Squirrel and POV guns absolutely rock encounters with one major enemy who is stronger than the others. Still, I find myself relying to much on these dandy skull traps for everything, and you just know that eventually I'm going to run in to something immune to them. Thief traps help broaden the base, a bit. Especially with poison, but I have only three of those.
Narrator: Which I suppose brings us to the one bright ray in this gigantic cluster#### that is your visit to Athkatla. You lost Imoen, but you met some new friends.
Epona: And an old one.
Narrator: But first you met Jan.
Epona: I liked him instantly.
Epona: Jan should help with his Spectro-vision against those jerky mages and assassins. Also... more traps. Wheee!!
Narrator: Then Yoshimo.
Epona: Ah, yes... Yoshimo.
Yoshimo: Ah, Epona. Good to see you're still doing well. Levelled up a bit now, yes? Shall we commence the main plot line of this adventure?
Epona: You read my mind.
Jan: You two know each other?
Yoshimo: We've been here together, at the start, many many times.
Epona: Seventeen, by my count.
Yoshimo: Yes, and it never gets tiresome. Unlike that Anomen.
Anomen: I'm right here and I can hear you! Geez...
Epona: Yes, it's always good while it lasts. [sighs]
Jan: While it lasts? You mean, you already know how this will end?
Epona: He betrays me...
Yoshimo: [Slaps Epona's shoulder] Hahaha, yes. Yes I do.
Epona: ...But I always go back to him.
Jan: You know, that reminds me of a bad boyfriend my Aunt Ester used to have... has, I should say. You see, no matter how many times he...
Yoshimo: The developers really dropped the ball on the female romance options, yes? I mean, who could ever love Anomen?
Anomen: Seriously, guys. Within earshot, here!
Epona: Ya, and the romanceable females are so stilted, too. It's almost as if a woman can't want sex AND be normal at the same time. What's with that?
Jan: ...and I was like, Aunt Ester, how can you just keep going back to him like that? Don't you know he's just going to...
Yoshimo: How good would it have been if I could be romanced? I could be saviour and betrayer. BG2's Imoen. Loved by all, provider of tips and conversation, and then to top it all off, right when you fall in love with me... you are given my heart. Literally. Ooh, how dramatic it could have been. Gives me tingles. Plus I'd actually get laid.
Epona: Amen, brother! Though, just to be clear, we are looking for Imoen and your boss. Not the next sexual conquest, so let's not get distracted.
Jan: ...and then the Griffon throws the cat up all over Aunt Ester's dress and he acts as though it wasn't his fault! He was the one who doused the beast with the turnip stew, saying it was some kind of repellent. Well, I'll tell you, when Uncle Bertrand saw him the next day...
Epona: Anyway, let's get going. We need some good traps and you have them.
Yoshimo: And I fit perfectly into your theme, as well. I am Bounty Hunter extraordinaire, with a hint of the far east. I've been studying the Ninja arts and, as it happens, the best way to go unseen by the enemy is to, well, not be in battle.
Epona: Indeed, let us not rely on our swords and show these jerky mages that gizmos rule all. The stakes are high on this one. The ultimate battle of magic vs. gadgetry. Technology for life. Traps all the way.
Yoshimo: Traps all the way! Ah, yes, it's so good to be back in your company, old friend. Where to first?
Epona: I have some Acorns to return to a Nymph Queen in the Windspear Hills, which should rescue a trio of sexy nubile sex-starved Dryads from Irenicus' dungeon.
Yoshimo: Sex-starved, you say? Excellent. We should speak to Ribald at once. I believe he may know of a mage who can teleport us there in a flash. He also sells bath oils, roses and scented candles...
Epona: Focus, my good man. Focus! But... ya, Adventure's Mart really is a one-stop shop.
Yoshimo: It's everything you need under one convenient roof.
[Together they depart]
Jan: ...then Uncle Scratchy held up his hand and stuck out his thumb and, well, you'd better believe Aunt Ester's Ex knew what that meant. Scratchy's thumb has claimed over a dozen griffons, I tell you, and even a... Guys? Guys?!
Narrator: And then we met Hexxat... errr, Lurch.
Epona: Yes, Lurch. I like her. Seems a bit dazed, no hand-eye co-ordination, so she's not fit for actual combat but can lay down a few good traps. Perfect for our team.
Narrator: And she's romanceable.
Epona: I'll take what I can get!
Narrator: So there you have it folks. A not so brief introduction to our team of weaponless trap artists.
Next up: Windspear Hills, Dragomir's Tomb, Umar Hills, Trademeet
Quick version: SCS improved encounters are dropped in this install, as well as prebuffs. AI's still improved. I intend to go Avenger -> Fighter and have fun with fighter THAC0 + Avenger special forms. I need STR 17, and have to use the Violet Potion to achieve this dual with Avenger stat maximums
I did not know you could do it with a temporary stat point enhancing potion. I had to get the strength tome to dual. In bg2ee I dualed at 10-11ish but ran into a bug with hexxat dialogue that did not allow me to dual until I slept and went through the dialogue tree. I have a bug report somewhere on the forums in case you run into it. Avenger -> fighter dualclass is strong especially if you dual before the druid levelling speed flattens out.
You need Str 17, Wis 15, and Cha 15 to dual-class from a druid into a fighter.
So, Milan can do it with a STR tome, but in order to get the tome, he has to use the Violet Potion - to be able to break the lock on the container with the tome. This is what @Neverused seemed to say, @lroumen .
Also, an Avenger turning into a fighter can be a good choice because Avenger's forms use your base THAC0, and fighter's THAC0 is the best.
Yeah, sorry for the confusion. The lock requires a 24 to break, and assuming DUHM, a base 22 is necessary to get the STR tome. Warriors get achieve this by Giant Strength potions, Thieves can get it due to picking locks, but for Solo druids, mages, clerics, bards, the only method of access is by drinking the Violet potion at the carnival.
Yeah, sorry for the confusion. The lock requires a 24 to break, and assuming DUHM, a base 22 is necessary to get the STR tome. Warriors get achieve this by Giant Strength potions, Thieves can get it due to picking locks, but for Solo druids, mages, clerics, bards, the only method of access is by drinking the Violet potion at the carnival.
Ah man, there's no way I'm going to catch up anytime soon with everything I've missed in the past month. But *tries his best Aerie imitation* I'll do my best *sigh*... Lots going on in RL, good stuff mostly (happy in love, plans to move back to my native Europe in a few months, backpacking plans, hopefully a new job, and maybe set up a business in my home country). I'm going to try and squeeze in some BG-ing though. I still have Nurim the Dwarven Wizard Slayer ready to move on after his band remorselessly routed the Nashkel Mines, but his playthrough is a role-played one and narrated in some detail, and I really don't have time for that atm.
Anyway good to see there's so much going on in this thread, and I hope to be back next week with a new character. Happy hunting!
I just started a new solo no-reload run with a blind Bounty Hunter. She has to use a rabbit familiar to explore the map.
I quit in the sewers below the Copper Coronet, when I decided her rabbit familiar's 30 stealth was failing too often for me to tolerate. Having a familiar scout around isn't much good if the familiar has to wait five rounds for every round it spends exploring, or else die when it runs into an enemy group.
@semiticgod When you play a blind thief, is there a way you give them permanent blindness?
I've been experimenting with a blind Yoshimo (RP justification: he's turning off his targetting computer/using the force/focusing on his Chi) to trapify enemies when they are in visual range. So far, however, I've not thought of any way to do so other than casting blindness on them, which last 2 hours and still requires a save.
Not seen any descriptions for all of these tricks I see in playthroughs around here (lightning wand, for example) but I figured them out by putting 2 and 2 together from the inventory and gameplay idiosyncrasies I've noticed over the past months. My understanding of these, however, is still rudimentary I think.
The blindness thing finally clicked when I tried to use farsight to extend the range of a skull trap (didn't work) to the described 60ft. (I think visual is 30ft) and I for some reason thought of Sil.
@sluckers: EEKeeper can grant permanent blindness via the Effects tab. Here's an example from my Bounty Hunter.
Skull Trap is limited by the spell's range (which is shorter than that of most spells), not by visual range. To extend the range of Skull Trap, you'd have to edit the spell file directly; Farsight cannot help. I've also noticed Farsight can't extend the reach of Dimension Door, unless my tests were faulty somehow (it's been a while). Farsight also can't help blind characters use weapons or spells or items from further away, though it can help them walk to their targets.
I actually forgot my Kensai/Thief was named Sil. There have been like 50 characters with that name.
Narrator: Okay, good folk of the audience. We are not going to to Windspear... or Dragomir's or any of the Country Side Quests. We started the Dragomir's tomb quest, but were soundly repelled (though thankfully with no deaths, we cut our losses and fled before anyone was permanently hurt).
Epona: This is not my fault. Somebody was drunk at the wheel.
Narrator: I'd had a few, it was true...
In any case, I think a decent analysis of Epona's early game battles is in order. A significant stumbling block has been encountered.
Epona: Ya, like no Death Ray. I want my death ray.
Narrator: Sooner access to Symbol: Death is also preferable, and we are simply not going to find another schematic for that trap at this stage of the game, unless my information is wrong.
Delayed Blast Fireball would also be nice.
Epona: Stupid mages...
Narrator: Stupid mages indeed. As it happens, with Epona's current loadout, they seem capable of rendering her completely ineffective. Minor Globe of Invulnerability + Invisibility is a crippling combination to overcome. Let me ask you, good folk of the audience, what are two protections that every mage and his idiot brother has? You guessed it, MGOI and Invisibility.
The problem stems from the available stock of ray guns. 1. Magic Missile. 2. Web/Stinking Cloud. 3. Skull trap. 4. The Squirrelifier (Polymorph Other). 5. The POV Gun (Domination). Our traps from Levels 2-3 give good area of effect damage, but everything Epona has above that level requires direct targeting. MGOI renders all low level AoE damage ineffective, and with invisiblity, she is unable to directly target the mages and hit them with her higher level weapons. This wipes out everything aside from standard thief traps.
It also makes Epona resort to desperate (and sometimes humorous) measures when attempting to defeat these magical enemies, as can be seen in this image:
Image: Epona attempts to roll Rayic Gethras onto his back during Edwin's "Hamster Ball Battle Royale"
MGOI also prevents any attempt by Epona to dispel invisibility via her Lvl2 Confetti Cannon (Glitterdust). This is a very serious problem; Not because it means Epona cannot defeat enemies. She most certainly can, eventually.
Epona: What do you mean, eventually?
Narrator: I mean, uh... that you make excellent use of stealth and guile.
Epona. Much better.
Narrator: The real problem, I suppose, is that until those mages' protections wear off, they are mostly free to laugh their arrogant asses off in Epona's face. This vexes her greatly.
Epona: Nothing less than the reputation of Gnomish ingenuity is at stake.
Narrator: Yes, I could not have said it better. Still, Epona has been victorious so far, using what little she has in stock. Cleverness has proved sufficient to overcome the lack of equipment, not to mention the still empty Level 6 trap slots in Epona's Lil' Bastard Trap kit, which are earmarked for the Lvl6 Death Ray (Disintegrate) as soon as she can find a schematic from which to build one.
Epona: I should have gotten that death ray already...
Narrator: Yes, the Disintegrate scroll was not in its usual place. It must be semi-random.
Epona: Contingency!? This isn't a Disintegrate schematic. This is bull$&%#!
Narrator: Since Epona is not well prepared for some of the main Chapter 2 quests, she and I believe that a careful analysis of her previous battles will yield clues as to where she should go next. Let us thus begin the battle reports. Two battles in particular are of note.
Battle Report 1: Rayic Gethras
Narrator: Normally, when facing a strong enemy, Epona uses guile to get the jump on them.
Epona: You don't get points for bravery, just results!
Narrator: Epona is capable of delivering a crushing first assault, but then her power drops off considerably or--if facing a mage--nearly vanishes unless she can find a safe place to set her standard thief traps. After the opening round, Epona must usually resort to area-denial tactics and getting the heck out of harms way. Stealth has proved vital, and Epona's innate hide in shadows ability--combined with Whispers of Silence--overcomes her lack of cloaking device (Invis. or Imp. Invis.) and her lack of mid-battle damage output.
Narrator: So long as she can avoid being seen, she can avoid getting spelled to death by the many mages. The Battle with Rayic Gethras was a pretty textbook example of how things go. She hides in shadows, and then once his protections wear off she moves in and attempts to finish him with her traps. Rayic makes many of his saves, however, and skull traps only do minimal damage. Once a mage is injured, though, Symbol:Death is Epona's go-to kill trap, as it can one-hit-kill mages if they fail their saves.
Unfortunately, Rayic makes his save on a 20. What are the odds?
Epona: About 1 in 20, I think.
No matter. Several rounds later she gets him with a skull trap, since he no longer has MGOI by that point. It's a longer, but more reliable way, to overcome her enemies.
That said, some mages are not so lucky against Epona's Death traps.
Image: Both Prebek and Sanasha are snuffed at the same time.
Epona: I felt sorry for them. I really did. It almost seemed cruel to kill them.
Narrator: Indeed, Epona tried to sway them to her side using the POV gun, but both mages turned hostile regardless. She was forced to end their lives. This was tragic, for it seemed they were only following the harsh orders of a cruel taskmaster who would surely have brought them harm if they did not do his bidding.
Epona: I finished my stock of Death traps in that battle. What am I going to do now?
Narrator: Continue the search for bigger and better technologies, of course.
Epona: Oh no... I have a feeling I know where this is going.
Narrator: Do not worry, Epona. You won't be going alone. But it truly is time to get going to Spellhold. Wandering around with our party of trapmasters has taught us some valuable lessons. 1. We need bigger and better traps, schematics for which are only avaiable in the Spellhold->Post Spellhold game, and 2. We have much to learn about trap tactics.
Battle Report 2: Windspear Hills.
The need to progress to a later stage in the adventure became apparent during an ill-fated attempt to penetrate the Windspear Dungeon and Dragomir's tomb, once Epona had recruited Yoshimo, Jan and Hexxat into the group. Neither quests were successful, but the party got in some valuable practice and developed their tactics. A good example was Gerran's cottage. Epona and Co. were charged with protecting Gerran's home in his absence.
So they set about laying traps around the joint.
Epona: As one does when one is an honoured guest. 'Excuse me while I lay a ring of jagged teeth around your living room'.
Narrator: It is little weird, don't you think? Some might even call it... metagaming in an attempt to overcome trapsetting limitations re: enemy line of sight.
Epona: Them's fighting words; It was nothing of the sort. Anyone could show up in Gerran's absence, and we told him we'd watch his home. Other people might sit around sharpening their weapons and casting shifty looks out the windows; Patrolling and being on guard and all that jazz. We don't have weapons. Ya, sure, I have a Zerth blade, but it's little more than a hanging rack for the 4 extra traps I can't fit into my pack. I'd probably lop my own head off if I tried to use it. No, we're trap artists, and our traps can't be ready if we don't lay them. So we surounded Gerran in a ring of death. You know... just in case.
Narrator: Alright... I will reluctantly grant you that. As it happened, the 'just in case' scenario did in fact happen. Bandits raided Gerran's home.
Luckily, since Jan is an illusionist, he brings illusion/phantasm spells to the team's arsenal, in addition to his gnomish inventions and traps. As soon as the opening barrage is unleashed and the party's trap power is gimped by the enemy presence, he makes the whole party invisible.
Epona: Like I said, no points for bravery. live smart, live long. Run away! I heard that somewhere...
Narrator: Well justified. Trap tactics can be awkward indeed. The party was often required to flee and regroup in more private surroundings.
Thus Yoshimo's patented peek-a-boo attack was born.
Effective, but not always possible. Only when the environment allows. The party was stymied in the labrynthine tunnels of Firkraag's dungeon and were forced to retreat. Thanks to Jan's stylish cloaking devices, however, Epona and company were able to enter undetected and then escape when the going got too tough. Chief Digdag, the vampires, the golems and the Rakshasa transmuter were all blind to their presence.
By this time Lurch (Clara/Hexxat) was pestering us every few hours to get our asses to Dragomir's. Epona attempted to oblige her, but the combination of Better Calls for Help and level drain meant that the party never had a moments peace and no chance to set up before battling. We were forced to retreat. Hexxat left the party and we were down to three.
But there is hope. Yoshimo has realized that although traps don't work when the enemy sees you placing them, there is a simple work around. Blindness. Like the proverbial bird who sticks its head in the sand, if you can't see the enemy, they can't see you.
Yoshimo: I am the ostrich. Goo goo ga choo!
Blindness should, ironically, make Yoshimo more of an offensive powerhouse, rather than a retreat/regroup trapper. It will allow him to lay traps when the enemy is present, thus dolling out damage as needed and in a more controlled manner. With this lesson learned Epona's party should better hold the initiative in the many engagements where the party appears within sight of the enemy, or is ambushed. As so often happens...
So there is hope, good folk of the audience. Hope that Epona will finally find her deathray, get that delayed blast fireball, find more scrolls for Symbol:Death, kill some more jerky mages and show once and for all that gizmos rule and that magic sucks.
The scrore so far. Gadgets: 5 (Rayic, Maevar, Prebek and Co., Kalah, The Slavers) Magic: 0
Next up, we don't go to any of the places we mentioned previous, and instead continue to search for high technology in the Wild Forest, the Vampire Crypt and Spellhold.
Maybe...
I make no promises.
Epona: You're just making this up as you go along, aren't you?
Narrator: Hey now, I'm no Napoleon or Scipio Africanus, here.
Epona: That is abundantly clear. But I still like you.
Narrator: Why, thank you. I like you too.
As for you, dear readers, I must apologize for the lack of step-by-step pictures of the playthrough. Part of that reason is because the initial stages of the game are rather humdrum and straightforward, and lack the drama of the bigger engagements in the later stages of the game. But A LOT of the reason is because I must window the game every single time I want to take a screenshot, then full-screen the game to regain the ability to move the camera around the map again. This makes taking screenshots a bit of a chore unless the battle is a real upset, has some crazy happenings or provides some remarkably interesting insight into the ways this game can be played.
It is not a co-incidence that what bits of the playthrough I have shown take place in small rooms/environments with no need for panning/scrolling the field of view.
Nonetheless I will try to be more diligent about it.
The Temple of the Lost God Thank you guys! But our McGuffin is in another castle!
The party arrived at the remote temple nearly two days after leaving Kuldahar. Immediately, they bumped into a giant hurrying away from the entrance. Gudrun was able to shout a few questions at him as he went past. Apparently the temple had been attacked by "bad priests".
They warily passed into the cave-like entrance where they were accosted by a temple acolyte who accused them of being in league with the attackers. He wouldn't listen to reason and began to attack. Gudrun felt bad about killing him even though her divine powers showed her the evil at the core of his soul.
The entrance branched to the East and West. Gudrun chose the Western route, and they encountered scattered resistance as they moved deeper into the complex.
A little further to the West, the party was fighting 3 verbeegs when Dunathain lost control of one of his spells. Friend and foe alike watched in horror as a portal began to open between the worlds and something on the other side snarled*. Then Gudrun snapped out of it and called for a retreat. The companions ran for the exit and made it out into the snow just in time.
* I could have sworn I hit print screen as the gate was opening up. ** Also, Maxim 3.
They rested and healed before carefully reentering the temple. With the demon seemingly gone, they continued their exploration.
At the end of the hallway, Darien found the temple library, guarded by two acolytes and a verbeeg. Just as the party killed the last of that group, another verbeeg and acolyte attacked from behind. Gudrun had everyone move into one of the storerooms as a more defensible position, but the verbeeg wounded Celebrian before Gudrun redirected his attention.
They went looking for the other acolyte and found him attempting to cut off their retreat.
In the library and storerooms, the group found a magic club that could fatigue an enemy and a pair of magic boots that could blur the form of the wearer.
Next they searched the Eastern passage, again coming across scattered defenders.
Celebrian leveled up and gained some interesting abilities.***
*** Now all I have to do is remember to use them.
They dealt with the last guard, then made their way out to their campsite to rest and heal.
Down on the next level, the party once again fought their way through the temple's disorganized survivors.
Once the way was clear, Darien began scouting ahead for enemies and traps.
Further on, a verbeeg attacked Darien. He led it in circles until Gudrun was able to attract its attention.
Pelting the verbeeg with sling stones, Celebrian and Dunathain attracted the attention of an acolyte. Celebrian was held, and Dunathain found himself in a one-on-one spell duel while Gudrun and Darien continued to fight the verbeeg.
Advantage Dunathain!
Gudrun leveled up when the verbeeg died, and she and Darien added their arrows to the fight against the acolyte.
Once Celebrian had recovered and healed Gudrun and Darien, the party moved forward again.
Darien located a large group blocking the corridor ahead. Celebrian summoned a hamadryad and the companions moved to attack. Unfortunately, the dryad's charm person didn't work on verbeegs, but she distracted one of them for a while. One of the acolytes cast an entangle, but it didn't really affect the outcome of the fight. Dunathain put the acolytes to sleep with a color spray, then concentrated on one of the verbeegs, killing it with a lance of disruption followed by a scorcher and a magic missile.
The party found magic weapons and armor in the chambers off the main hallway. They repaired to their campsite to heal and identify the treasure. Gudrun switched to "The Snow Maiden's Reaver", a bastard sword that inflicts cold damage and she also kept an enchanted shield for those times when she needed more protection.
The companions made their way back into the depths of the temple, but this time they were unopposed. They found their way to the inner sanctum and discovered, as they had already suspected, the heartstone gem was gone. Among the bodies of the temple defenders, they found the body of a Talonite priest. He had been stripped of his equipment, but a vial of liquid had been overlooked.
They returned to Kuldahar, where Arundel told them the only source for the venom in the vial was the extict volcano called Dragon's Eye. The party sold off their loot, bought more healing potions, and rested to prepare for the next phase of their investigation.
Level ups!
The party as they enter Chapter 2
Gudrun, Level 6
Darien, Level 7
Celebrian, Level 7
Dunathain, Level 6
Group shot by the smithy
Want: Scroll of fireball
Significant gear: Gudrun: The Snow Maiden's Reaver +2 (bastard sword), The Weary Cudgel +1, Large shield +1 of missle deflection, Black Wolf Talisman, Gauntlets of weapon skill Darien: Leather +1, Shortbow +1, Katana +1, Ring of Shadows Celebrian: Sling +1 Dunathain: Sling +1, Bracers AC 8, Robe of cold resistance
Gudrun - Undead Hunter lv 6 - 70 hp - 1 death Darien - Swashbuckler lv 7 - 49 hp Celebrian - Avenger lv 7 - 49 hp sp 5/5/3/2 Dunathain - Wild Mage lv 6 - 30 hp sp 5/3/3 - 2 deaths
Total raise cost - 1600 gp
MVP - Gudrun - Painful tanking.
Next up: Meet the Beetles or We're Off to See the Lizards
Been meaning to ask: what mod set-up do you use with IWD?
Since I'm rather addicted to SCS and since IWD basically has nothing that compares to it, I never got around to playing through IWDEE yet. Vanilla seems no challenge after the Chain Contingencied & Spell Triggered spellcasters of BG2EE/SCS. Could really use some advice on how to make IWD fun again.
Mainly it's IWD house rules, the two tweaks mods and rogue rebalancing. Nothing that really makes the game harder.
The thing that's making this run harder for me is the lack of a second tank. The temple of the Lost God was much easier on my first run-through with a fighter and ranger in front. Especially since the ranger had giants as his favored enemy.
I really think that IWD is a melee warrior's game, in the way that BG1 is an archer's game and BG2 is a mage's game.
The fun for me in IWD is playing with party design, kicking around ideas for different groups. So try playing around with that. Maybe a party without arcane casters. Or a party of only clerics. Or 2 sorcerers and 2 mages. Or 2 monks and 2 clerics.
@BillyYank: Good to see your group is going strong. I'm glad to see Color Spray is playing a role, and that you found the Snow Maiden's Reaver. It's not the strongest weapon in the game, and isn't much use against undead, but it's a really cool sword.
I cast the color spray from a scroll. I have a terrible habit of keeping my consumables "until I need them" and ending the game with pile of wands and scrolls.
When I identified that sword I thought "where were you on my last play-through?" I had a half-orc fighter with mastery in bastard swords. I eventually had to switch over to longswords because I missed every random dropped bastard sword except the flaming one that appears instead of Reaver. Now with the mods I've got installed, Gudrun is specialized in "large swords" and can switch bastard swords from one to two handed.
Milan, Avenger. Final update. Milan fought off the Ankhegs and Sirenes with the Spider form and webs (generally; Ankhegs got smacked with the Wand of Sleep.) Bandit camp is fought off by sneaking invisibly into the back of the tent, layering down two webs since they don't go hostile unless Raemon sees you.
No spells from Venkt + -6 AC vs the fighters = destroyed Bandit Camp And just for the fun of it.
Into Spider woods. There can be only one.
Pro. Magic scroll vs Davaeorn, and even then it took forever dealing with his various defensive spells. THAC0 of a Druid kind of sort of sucks. Almost died to the Mustard Jelly; one further critical would've been game over, but ran away and healed in time for the later takedown.
Did Belt's quests in Baldur's Gate plus a couple experience-garnering and Wisdom-tome-getting ones:
Took on Sarevok's Acolytes, easy-ish win, though there were a few mishaps and I zoned down the stairs quite a few times in bad habits.
Violet potion, Potion of Agility, Potion of Fortitude, Scrolls of Fire and Electricity resistance, Shield amulet for tomb-robbing. Took on Pratt and his bunch, another close call as a Charm Person was fired by Pratt while Milan had a clouded aura (!). Saved, fortunately, and killed him. Also took out the two basilisks, as the goal is to guarantee level 11 upon hitting BG2 for a single level 6 slot. Durlag's tower is quickly raided for the last tome I want, leading to...
21 Wisdom and 17 STR. One new level 5 slot, and the prerequisites for dualing!
Slythe and Krystin nearly killed me twice; Iron Skins were Breached, and Slythe's subsequent backstab brought Milan to just above 10 HP. Got Slythe in the end, though. I ought to have remembered to have memorized True Seeing to deal with him, but mistakes are mistakes. Liia is turned invisible before the fight to keep her safe, though apparently there was no need as Belt survived anyways. Rested for the last time and prepared.
The final battle was just a mess that took forever. Remove Magic stripped away everything again, forcing a Potion of Magic Blocking. Without Arrows of Dispelling, I can't really stop to mess with the spell casting in Spider Form, since Sarevok just catches up again, so I'm forced back to Darts with my amazing 16 THAC0.
Missed Tazok's death, but Angelo
And death via Tranzig's Wand of Magic Missile since apparently Milan only hits Sarevok on 18, 19, or 20. Yeesh. This battle all told took two Potions of Power, 11 charges of the Wand of the Heavens, 3 Oils of Burning, 4 or 5 Oils of Speed, 3 potion of Magic Blocking, 2 Potions of Magic Shielding, 1 Potion of Fire Breath, 2 Potions of Regeneration, 10 charges of the Wand of Magic Missiles, 2 or 3 Potions of Agility, 3 or 4 Potions of Invisibility... Some days I really miss having Arrows of Dispelling. >.>
Comments
From your updates, am I right to assume that you, being protected from evil, can summon a demon next to still a neutral enemy and then this demon begins its attacks on that enemy, but no matter what the enemy doesn't turn red? If so, this is one of the best tactics ever.
Huh, I could've sworn I updated this already. No matter.
I restarted the game fairly early on, due to my forgetting I couldn't quite do what I did with my Skald parties and take on the 10+ ogres on the coast with Shoal. So this is officially attempt number 2.
The beginning is fairly standard, killing Shoal for the 5k experience before moving to the Friendly Arm Inn.
First death! Apparently my kiting technique is less than perfect. I won't have a death count this game, by the way: I'm only level 4 and I've already lost count.
Rigor is put to sleep by Tarnesh, but Tarnesh also fails his save vs Color Spray (as well as Rigor again)
At this point, I only have two actually viable spells, Color Spray and Grease. Situational are Charm Person and Burning Hands, both only used in the context of interrupting spell casting. I also can't fight anything that has a ranged weapon because a single critical arrow is enough to end this run, and with SCS targeting archers are frequently attacking the back line. This limits the encounters that we can safely do quite severely.
Neira isn't one of them, however. Burning Hands and Charm Person and the odd hit were enough to shut down her spell casting.
All sorcerers have hit level 2 here, gaining nothing but hit points and one more spell. I desperately need level 3, but easy encounters are dropping... The Dorn encounter especially reminds me of how close to death everyone is whenever archers are present. This was a 1-shot-kill, I think.
Greywolf shows how easy Grease can make encounters with no ranged attackers:
And now time for a couple trickier fights. My battle vs Neira gave me confidence (... a little too much confidence) that I could handle Clerics by burning their spells down with Burning Hands. With this in mind I take on Basillus. Good idea? Probably not.
Unholy Blight is the first spell that he gets off successfully, almost killing Rigor in a single shot if he hadn't made the two saves:
I still need experience, since I need Prof. from Petrification on Tarvol to safely do the Basilisks to get to level 4 in a fairly safe manner. Basillus financed a shopping trip to get the Wand of Sleep and of Fear, and an ioun stone for Rigor. With these, I figured I could do Tenya's quest for 2,500 experience, and getting past the Ankhegs with Sleep now in the arsenal. Surprisingly, we didn't die to acid vomit, so level 3s!
Had to do a bit of EEKeeper shenanigans with Lana since I accidentally gave her Grease rather than Shield. After a bit of reflection, I decided to change up Air's schedule and allowed her to take Magic Missile as the 3rd level 1 spell. To recap, Earth (Tarvol) gets Pro. from Petrification, Air (Lana) gets Magic Missile, Water (Jun) gets Grease, and Fire (Flare) gets Spook. After switching the ring of wizardry around, Tarvol can now cast 10 Pro. from Petrification and we can safely do the Basilisks! Korax is successful in his gnome-assassination:
And the southern basilisks are enough to get everyone barring Lana to level 4 (which I'll fix in a bit.) But this unlocked level 2 spells, so time to decide who gets what.
Fire: Agannazar's Scorcher, Horror, Resist Fear,... I'm running out of options. I'll allow MI on all of them to represent natural dodging/agility, and Knock.
Water: Ray of Enfeeblement, Blur, Mirror Image, Knock, and Luck
Air: Invisibility, Glitterdust, Mirror Image, Blur, Stinking Cloud
Earth: Detect Invisibility, Melf's Acid Arrow, Web, Strength, Mirror Image
Silke doesn't prebuff with Shield, or MI, so Magic Missile and Burning Hands can almost guarantee spell failure. She contributes level 4 for Lana.
A couple more encounters before heading to the mines: this was probably the most irritating, since the Doomsayer is at Near Death after quite a few damage-spell spams.
I answer the riddle correctly and allow the poor guy to live. We come back later and almost fry ourselves getting the kill:
Eventually it falls, and the Mines.
For the first time, I have the Dark-Side Kobold upgrade installed on SCS (by mistake...) I can definitely say it's an upgrade in difficulty, but allowing the Kobold Captain an AC of at least -1 is probably a bit of overkill. I couldn't hit the bugger without criticals with THAC0 18, so... Our health potion supply was demolished just fighting to Mulahey, and we're out of spells so we need to find somewhere safe to replenish.
EDIT: Tarvol has fallen to Mulahey's Unholy Blight. Automatic kill from full health, nothing I really could've done since the spell wasn't interrupted by either a Scorcher or Magic Missiles.
They move south and end up in a narrow corridor with a bridge over a chasm. By coincidence Imoen spots 2 kobolds and 2 traps, is able to hide and walk in to disarm the traps.
Meanwhile Jaheira and Khalid have a nice man-wife chat going on.... The kobolds are overwhelmed, Mr missile attractant breaks his sword on one of the kobolds faces and when a ghoul steps up to haunt them, he has to switch to a morning star that Cuwaert hands him, not something Khalid can wield well. Spiders! easily killed but what more can be expected in these dank dungeons?
A large ambush by kobolds means the death of Khalid, Cuwaert is wounded to 1 health, and Imoen as well! Cuwaert drinks his last potion of defense and makes a wild dash for the healing potion that Khalid did not yet use while Imoen drinks the invisibility potion that Jaheira gave her for scouting.
The gamble works, Cuwaert succeeds in drinking the healing draught and the three are victorious.... or whatever you want to call survival at this stage. Another level down and more kobolds dead, they stand in front of a cave opening which they enter. Behind a murder of kobolds an elf is standing and Cuwaert decides to engage in speech (a dangerous activity). The elf gives us a kthxbai and that is the end of that. Cuwaert talks to another buffoon standing there who talks about a bozo Tazok. He decides to say that indeed this guy is very displeased and the halforc requests us to check his wares. Sure, why not. For sure Imoen knows what is valuable in there. He attacks, Cuwaert drinks a potion of heroism and Imoen is actually really good with disrupting spells using the wand of magic missile.
Cuwaert takes a gamble and drinks the violet potion, is this the one that instills strength? It does feel like it! A huge hit (a critical 24 HP with a dagger! I do not think this is correct math going on ?!?) and Mulahey surrenders! But then his lackeys kill Cuwaert with a critical hit.
Bye bye 11 HP. That was just poor luck... Given his low dex and con scores I thought he would not have suffered much from the potion, but his health fell just a bit too low to cover a critical hit (Cuwaert did not wear helmets ever because of fashion of course).
The end of Cuwaert. Too bad, I liked the fellow. I even wanted to make him drink the kobold potion in a pinch only to have him find out he needed the antidote he got from Hull to cure himself again of the poison it contains.
I have a tendency to hit that quicksave button, although I did stick to the no-reload gameplay. I actually have a quicksave before Mulahey and the stats are in the spoiler tags. Cuwaert died with THE most awesome stats. Favorite weapon: FIST Wahahahahaha.
I'll do a proper no-reload soon enough with a more sensible main character and more actual gamer caution and preparation.
Mencar Pebblecrusher, I hate that guy.
When I played BG2 for the first time, Yoshimo's betrayal nearly destroyed me. I fell in love with the Bounty Hunter Kit right from the start, though I've never been successful at playing one right through the game(s). I liked setting traps and luring enemies into them. Since then, an idea has been sitting in the back of my mind for a kind of trap-mania playthrough.
Unfortunately I've recently discovered that Bounty Hunter traps stop dealing firepower after a certain level, and while maze and Otiluke's are nice, a traps-only playthrough might run out of steam very quickly if half of the damage dealing arsenal was removed. So I downloaded EEKeeper and created a character that I thought might allow me to preserve trap-based firepower: a Bounty Hunter/Mage
Sadly, this character has to be a gnome to satisfy the gadgetry-themed role. I can't justify or roleplay it any other way, and the Gnome's illusionist limitation meant that one of the most trap-themed spells, the Skull Trap, was unavailable. Blashpemy.
So I decided on this instead: a gnomish inventor/adventurer who has taken standard trap types and combined them into a homemade launcher (a la Jan Jansen), and who has a variety of homemade gadgets and bombs at her disposal. Not the strongest and never much of a fighter, she avoids combat wherever possible and does not carry weapons. Though... maybe she will partake in the occasional backstab, since stabbing someone in the back is most surely the safest way to fight them (can this be done with a fist?). But normal fighting is not on the agenda unless absolutely impossible to avoid.
I dropped the Bounty Hunter kit and will no longer be able to throw traps like grenades, but the Wild Mage kit adds another element that I think fits the character very well: gadget malfunctions. Epona is very intelligent, but with low wisdom does not always make the best decisions or take sensible precautions. That hair cut? That's because most of her formerly long mane was singed during the beta-test of one of her latest contraptions. And she's only just grown back her eyebrows.
The only thing left to do is draw up a list of trap themed spells, using trap varieties as a starting point. I am not actually trying to play a mage, but using a mage kit to simulate the abilities of an inventive techno-savy gnome thief. They make flying machines and have inter-planar travel in Faerun, so I think my gnome can have a few ray guns (or: Rae Guns). If anyone reading this has any ideas on how to fit other spells into this them, I'm all ears.
So far, I have:
Lvl1
- Chromatic Orb (pew, pew!)
- Magic Missile (a standard trap variety)
- Nahals Reckless Dwoemer (last resort "Rae Gun", malfunction generator and risk-enhancer)
- Charm Person (POV gun)
Lvl2
- Glitterdust (confetti cannon)
- Web (common trap type)
- Stinking Cloud (Thanks, Davaeorn)
Lvl3
- Skull trap (has trap in name)
- Fireball (roleplayed as Holy Hand Grenades)
- Lightning Bolt (very common trap type)
- Dire Charm
Lvl4
- Otilukes Sphere
- Polymorph Other (the squirrellenator gun [which appears to do nothing. Bugged? Enemies briefly transform into squirrels but almost immediately return to normal])
Lvl5
- Domination (again, the venerable POV gun)
- ????
Lvl6
- Disintegration (trap type, BFG9000)
- Flesh to Stone (common trap type)
Lvl7
- Delay Blast Fireball
- Prismatic Spray (trap type)
- Ruby Ray of Reversal (allowable on grounds of spell name)
Lvl8
- Symbol Stun, Fear, Death (throw and forget trap-style spells)
- Maze (trap type)
Lvl9
- Imprisonment
Other Miscellaneous spells allowed:
- Sequencers, Triggers, contingencies (if Rambo can one-hand an M90, my gnome is allowed to rapid fire traps)
- Simulacrum (roleplayed as techno-magical killer-robot)
- Globes of Invulnerability and Spell Turnings for 'Force-field theme'
- Time Stop (Great Scott!)
- Spell Trap (allowed on grounds of name)
Prohibited Spells:
- Stoneskin
- Most abjuration protections against things like energy, fire etc. (too intangible, magical and not "gadgety" enough)
- Chaos Shield(s)... maybe. I've not Wild Maged before. Wild Surges won't kill me, will they? I would like some interesting results, but I don't want to die.
- Non-trap or techno-magical-widget themed spells.
- Haste(s) (oils of speed serve as decent stim-packs)
- Summoning spells
-Weapon spells (like Black Blade, or Phantom Blade)
Potential Prohibitions:
- Melf's Minute Meteors
- Energy Blades
These two violate the self-imposed no-direct combat theme, but then again 'Death Frisbees' feel very magical-techno themed. MMM can be mini holy hand grenades)
- Greater Malison (may simply be necessary, regardless of theme)
Any thoughts by anyone else? I'm already going ahead with this playthrough, but fresh critcism/ideas never hurt. I'll even post a few updates in here to let you all know how Epona goes, with roleplay.
You've put a lot of thought into this character concept and I like it. Good points on the trap types; I hadn't considered that Prismatic Spray was a trap in two locations in SoA (slaver stockade and by the riddle bridge in the Unseeing Eye quest).
For what it's worth, Bounty Hunters still get excellent power output after level 21. They still have their normal traps, which will deal 4d8+5 damage, on top of their HLA traps.
The Alliance
A no-reload 4-character modded IWD run
Kresselack's Tomb part 3
Rested and replenished, the party made their way back to Kresselack's tomb, intending to explore deeper into the complex. After fighting through the lesser shadows that had arisen in front of the tomb, this happened:Barmaid, bring me a nice cold one...
Gudrun and Celebrian hated to lose another day, but Dunathain now had access to third level spells, so they decided the added capability was worth the wait. Dunathain bought several spells from Orrick and used one of his potions of genius to scribe them.
What? No fireball???
Back at the tomb, the group passed through the large doors into the next chamber only to find it heavily guarded. Gudrun called a retreat to get more room to maneuver. The guardians followed them out, where Gudrun engaged them in melee, while the others supported with spells and missiles.
Gudrun was taking enough damage, Celebrian needed to heal her while fighting.
Back in the courtyard, Darien scouted out the groups of undead guards, then Gudrun drew them out in small groups to be destroyed one by one.
One of the skeletons targeted Dunathain. This time he could deal with it himself.
The last group of guardians was to the North
With the courtyard clear, it was time to explore the side chambers. The North one was guarded by a trap...
...and by shadows and a mummy.
Darien checked the sarcophagi for traps and found a number of scrolls and potions.
Next, the party moved South to fight temple guardians and a chosen zombie.
The Southern chamber was trapped like the North had been, but it was guarded by imbued wights, chosen zombies and tattered skeletons.
Dunathain tries out his spells.
Darien checked the caskets and found more potions and scrolls, including a scroll of magic missile. He then scouted the main exit, but the party was running low on healing and spells, so they went back to town to rest.
Refreshed and replenished, the companions returned and began to destroy the remaining defenders.
Darien scouted forward and found a skeleton mage. Gudrun tried to disrupt its casting, but had to retreat and wait out another stinking cloud.
When the cloud dissipated, they moved forward and attacked the undead spellcaster, but it was able to cast another spell, this time dire-charming Gudrun. The rest of the party ran before she could be ordered to attack them, and Dunathain cast a dispel in her general direction. As soon as she came back to her senses, the skeleton mage cast color spray and Gudrun fired an arrow. Both attacks struck at the same time, but only Gudrun's was lethal*.
The party now polished off the last of the undead guardians, with Dunathain's hold undead making things easier.
Darien opened the doors and the group finally came face to face with the great tomb's master.
Kresselack demanded the party eliminate a priestess of Auril, before he would reveal what he knew about the evil plaguing Kuldahar. Celebrian suggested they try the yeti cave first, since that odd cache had contained so many clerical spell scrolls. They prepared themselves and then went in.
The priestess of Auril, who they had met before as Lysan the barmaid, was indeed inside. After a fruitless conversation, she attacked. The companions soon found themselves in a desperate battle as a half-dozen yeti burst out of the walls and floor of the ice cave. Gudrun, Celebrian and Dunathain tried to hold them off while Darien fired hammer arrows at the evil cleric. He was able to stun her just as the snow-beasts reached the party.
Dunathain stood his ground and tried to cast a spell as his mirror images disappeared one by one. His scorcher killed two of the monsters at once, just as the yeti attacking him got through his defenses, and once again, the mage fell under fists of one of these wild beasts.
His sacrifice freed Darien from his immediate attackers, so the elf began to fire arrows at the priestess who was now advancing on them. Celebrian cast an insect swarm at the one remaining yeti and led it around the cave as Gudrun and Lysan squared off. The snow ape gave up on the druid and joined his mistress in fighting Gudrun. This allowed Darien and Celebrian to add their bow and sling to the fight, and the enemy didn't last much longer.
Once again, Gudrun found herself bearing her uncle's body back to the temple of Ilmater.
The cost of living just keeps getting higher.
Back at the Vale, Kresselack revealed all he knew... which wasn't much. He did allow them to take his burial goods from his sarcophagus. After bringing the news to Arundel, the archdruid asked Gudrun and Celebrian to retrieve an artifact called the Heartstone Gem, which he could use to divine the source of the problems plaguing the region.
To prepare for their trip to the Temple of the Lost God, the party sold their loot and replenished their supplies. Gudrun kept Kresselack's sword, an enchanted two-handed blade. Dunathain bought more scrolls and used another potion of genius to scribe them, finally succeeding at getting magic missile into his spellbook.
The Pit Fiend can only hit her on a natural 20 and even then it does no damage. Not sure what Sallinithyl's deal is.
I turn another Pit Fiend onto the drow party near the imprisonment sphere, with Farsight and Project Image to conserve spells, and add in a Blade Barrier spell for good measure when the Project Image clone vanishes. Blade Barrier still works with Sanctuary in EE.
I use a pre-existing Skeleton Warrior to lure an Aerial Servant into the Myconid area, which means the Pit Fiend will turn on the Myconids rather than lingering to the east. It's a way of stretching out the duration of the Gate spell.
My 2nd Project Image clone has Chaotic Commands, like Meidao herself, so I decide to lure out the Mind Flayer nearby. It can't stun or maze us, so we may as well get the Pit Fiend to slay it.
This was a bad idea.
The Mind Flayer somehow knows where the original Meidao is. It starts attacking.
In vanilla, if my memory is correct, enemies don't get automatic hits on Project Image clones. But at least in EE, this is not so.
Stoneskin is blocking any physical damage, which means those INT drain attacks don't cancel the Project Image spell. Meidao is completely disabled and between the Cloak of Mirroring and Stoneskin, there's nothing her clone can do to damage her and therefore cancel the spell. Instead, I have the clone cast Teleport Field.
Seconds drag by as the clone fails to do anything to save its creator. Its aura is fogged. Meidao dies.
It's the weirdest thing. Stoneskin, Project Image, the Cloak of Mirroring, and a single Mind Flayer killed Meidao, who had otherwise absolutely thrashed everything in the game. Project Image is a profoundly bad spell to use anywhere with enemies who can drain levels, drain ability scores, or land instant death effects on hit.
Quick version: SCS improved encounters are dropped in this install, as well as prebuffs. AI's still improved. I intend to go Avenger -> Fighter and have fun with fighter THAC0 + Avenger special forms. I need STR 17, and have to use the Violet Potion to achieve this dual with Avenger stat maximums.
Order of fights: Shoal, Melicamp (failed transformation), Bassilus
Ogrillons
Tarnesh, Tenya (I messed up here... Hopefully no repercussions for the second Wisdom Tome?)
Ulgoth's Beard for equipment, Hobgoblins, Neira
Greywolf, people attacking the Dryad's Tree, Gnarl and Hairtooth (and Gnarl is apparently hungry...)
for this:
Basilisks, Mutamin killed Korax, but I tagged Mutamin with a Miscast Magic, and I eventually won the melee. Southern basilisks granted level 7 and the Avenger power spike. 5 Web spells (3 used), and...
Behold your doom, mortals.
Improved Invisibility and Sanctuary (I still don't know how this is in my Druid Spellbook; there's no mod that I can see that messes with druids at all. I'll run with it) allow safe passage against the kobolds. Mulahey.
Amazons follow the same pattern, Web and Sword Spider Form. Nimbul is attacked under II, the poison kills him through his Stoneskins. Will finish clearing the Sirenes and Ankhegs fairly soon, level 7 right now.
Narrator: Well, folks, you all know how this goes. You lose Imoen, you met Gaelan, you do some housekeeping and some minor quests and then start tackling some of the major ones. Easy fights abound and, so, not much of that report in this first installment of Epona's playthrough.
Let's go. We wake up in Irenicus' Dungeon, bust out and lose everyone's favourite NPC (those who hate her actually love her, but don't know how to express it, is all), all in the space of a day. Suddenly Epona is left without any of her own gear on the edge of a blast crater in a hot and dusty mystery city. Never had the heady days of adventure in Baldur's Gate felt so distant. She's small, ill-equipped and everyone likes to pick on gnomes. Just ask Kalah.
Luckily, the proving ground of Sarevok's machinations on the Sword Coast have trained Epona well, and instead of curling up into a ball, crying and muttering 'No batter, no batter...' over and over, we decide to explore the city and get a handle on things. Part of surviving in the world is knowing your world, and this is especially so for a not-so-physically strong gnome vulnerable to every Dirk and Charlie with a great sword and a bit of fire in his belly.
Bullies. Epona hates bullies.
You know what she does to bullies?
She had only just entered the Copper Coronet when this Amalas jackass starts picking on her. As usual, those uppity tall folk associate small size with weakness.
Epona: It's not their fault. The air is thinner up there; Not good for the brain, I guess.
Narrator: Although, Epona, let's not forget that you encountered your fair share of ill-tempered short-folk. Remember Mencar?
Epona: Douche.
Narrator: Kalah?
Epona: Douche.
Narrator: The gnome slaver wizard?
Epona: Mostly harmless. Took a skull trap to the face.
Narrator: Captain Haegan? He balked at you rebuking him for being a slaver. Mentioned a little something about you and Jenthan...
Epona: Major douche. That guy sold kids. But, A) he was human, and
Narrator: Fair enough.
Anyway... After a day of scrounging and [ahem] exploring the shops and exploring the city districts in turn, Epona had acquired a rather impressive array of components for her Lil' Bastard Trap Kit.
Epona: And discovered that the city guard has a serious addiction to Oil of Speed.
Narrator: Right... After that it was Maevar's, the Harpers, The Slavers, The Skinner Murders, the Circus Tent and The Graveyard along with various miscellaneous errands. By the end of it she had acquired a whopping 1.6 million XP, all towards herself. I had never realized there was so much experience just lying around Athkatla. Nothing rouses the fighting spirit of our herione quite like a douchebag who gets off on mis-treating others. Athkatla, it seemed, had a serious douchebag infestation.
Epona: It's both infuriating and pitiable. SQUIRREL THEM ALL. They remind me of my school days. I was... not popular.
Narrator: Tragic, for sure. And after drastically increasing the city's squirrel population we learned a valuable lesson.
Epona: Need more traps. I mean, we have a good arsenal up to level 5, but mages are a problem. Their protections/invisibility reduce my Point-of-View Gun (Domination) and Squirrelenator Cannon (Polymorph Other) to zero effectiveness. Area effect traps are killer against them, though, whereas the Squirrel and POV guns absolutely rock encounters with one major enemy who is stronger than the others. Still, I find myself relying to much on these dandy skull traps for everything, and you just know that eventually I'm going to run in to something immune to them. Thief traps help broaden the base, a bit. Especially with poison, but I have only three of those.
Narrator: Which I suppose brings us to the one bright ray in this gigantic cluster#### that is your visit to Athkatla. You lost Imoen, but you met some new friends.
Epona: And an old one.
Narrator: But first you met Jan.
Epona: I liked him instantly.
Epona: Jan should help with his Spectro-vision against those jerky mages and assassins. Also... more traps. Wheee!!
Narrator: Then Yoshimo.
Epona: Ah, yes... Yoshimo.
Yoshimo: Ah, Epona. Good to see you're still doing well. Levelled up a bit now, yes? Shall we commence the main plot line of this adventure?
Epona: You read my mind.
Jan: You two know each other?
Yoshimo: We've been here together, at the start, many many times.
Epona: Seventeen, by my count.
Yoshimo: Yes, and it never gets tiresome. Unlike that Anomen.
Anomen: I'm right here and I can hear you! Geez...
Epona: Yes, it's always good while it lasts. [sighs]
Jan: While it lasts? You mean, you already know how this will end?
Epona: He betrays me...
Yoshimo: [Slaps Epona's shoulder] Hahaha, yes. Yes I do.
Epona: ...But I always go back to him.
Jan: You know, that reminds me of a bad boyfriend my Aunt Ester used to have... has, I should say. You see, no matter how many times he...
Yoshimo: The developers really dropped the ball on the female romance options, yes? I mean, who could ever love Anomen?
Anomen: Seriously, guys. Within earshot, here!
Epona: Ya, and the romanceable females are so stilted, too. It's almost as if a woman can't want sex AND be normal at the same time. What's with that?
Jan: ...and I was like, Aunt Ester, how can you just keep going back to him like that? Don't you know he's just going to...
Yoshimo: How good would it have been if I could be romanced? I could be saviour and betrayer. BG2's Imoen. Loved by all, provider of tips and conversation, and then to top it all off, right when you fall in love with me... you are given my heart. Literally. Ooh, how dramatic it could have been. Gives me tingles. Plus I'd actually get laid.
Epona: Amen, brother! Though, just to be clear, we are looking for Imoen and your boss. Not the next sexual conquest, so let's not get distracted.
Jan: ...and then the Griffon throws the cat up all over Aunt Ester's dress and he acts as though it wasn't his fault! He was the one who doused the beast with the turnip stew, saying it was some kind of repellent. Well, I'll tell you, when Uncle Bertrand saw him the next day...
Epona: Anyway, let's get going. We need some good traps and you have them.
Yoshimo: And I fit perfectly into your theme, as well. I am Bounty Hunter extraordinaire, with a hint of the far east. I've been studying the Ninja arts and, as it happens, the best way to go unseen by the enemy is to, well, not be in battle.
Epona: Indeed, let us not rely on our swords and show these jerky mages that gizmos rule all. The stakes are high on this one. The ultimate battle of magic vs. gadgetry. Technology for life. Traps all the way.
Yoshimo: Traps all the way! Ah, yes, it's so good to be back in your company, old friend. Where to first?
Epona: I have some Acorns to return to a Nymph Queen in the Windspear Hills, which should rescue a trio of sexy nubile sex-starved Dryads from Irenicus' dungeon.
Yoshimo: Sex-starved, you say? Excellent. We should speak to Ribald at once. I believe he may know of a mage who can teleport us there in a flash. He also sells bath oils, roses and scented candles...
Epona: Focus, my good man. Focus! But... ya, Adventure's Mart really is a one-stop shop.
Yoshimo: It's everything you need under one convenient roof.
[Together they depart]
Jan: ...then Uncle Scratchy held up his hand and stuck out his thumb and, well, you'd better believe Aunt Ester's Ex knew what that meant. Scratchy's thumb has claimed over a dozen griffons, I tell you, and even a... Guys? Guys?!
Narrator: And then we met Hexxat... errr, Lurch.
Epona: Yes, Lurch. I like her. Seems a bit dazed, no hand-eye co-ordination, so she's not fit for actual combat but can lay down a few good traps. Perfect for our team.
Narrator: And she's romanceable.
Epona: I'll take what I can get!
Narrator: So there you have it folks. A not so brief introduction to our team of weaponless trap artists.
Next up: Windspear Hills, Dragomir's Tomb, Umar Hills, Trademeet
Avenger -> fighter dualclass is strong especially if you dual before the druid levelling speed flattens out.
So, Milan can do it with a STR tome, but in order to get the tome, he has to use the Violet Potion - to be able to break the lock on the container with the tome. This is what @Neverused seemed to say, @lroumen .
Also, an Avenger turning into a fighter can be a good choice because Avenger's forms use your base THAC0, and fighter's THAC0 is the best.
@sluckers thanks for those dialogues
Lots going on in RL, good stuff mostly (happy in love, plans to move back to my native Europe in a few months, backpacking plans, hopefully a new job, and maybe set up a business in my home country). I'm going to try and squeeze in some BG-ing though. I still have Nurim the Dwarven Wizard Slayer ready to move on after his band remorselessly routed the Nashkel Mines, but his playthrough is a role-played one and narrated in some detail, and I really don't have time for that atm.
Anyway good to see there's so much going on in this thread, and I hope to be back next week with a new character. Happy hunting!
I quit in the sewers below the Copper Coronet, when I decided her rabbit familiar's 30 stealth was failing too often for me to tolerate. Having a familiar scout around isn't much good if the familiar has to wait five rounds for every round it spends exploring, or else die when it runs into an enemy group.
I've been experimenting with a blind Yoshimo (RP justification: he's turning off his targetting computer/using the force/focusing on his Chi) to trapify enemies when they are in visual range. So far, however, I've not thought of any way to do so other than casting blindness on them, which last 2 hours and still requires a save.
Not seen any descriptions for all of these tricks I see in playthroughs around here (lightning wand, for example) but I figured them out by putting 2 and 2 together from the inventory and gameplay idiosyncrasies I've noticed over the past months. My understanding of these, however, is still rudimentary I think.
The blindness thing finally clicked when I tried to use farsight to extend the range of a skull trap (didn't work) to the described 60ft. (I think visual is 30ft) and I for some reason thought of Sil.
Skull Trap is limited by the spell's range (which is shorter than that of most spells), not by visual range. To extend the range of Skull Trap, you'd have to edit the spell file directly; Farsight cannot help. I've also noticed Farsight can't extend the reach of Dimension Door, unless my tests were faulty somehow (it's been a while). Farsight also can't help blind characters use weapons or spells or items from further away, though it can help them walk to their targets.
I actually forgot my Kensai/Thief was named Sil. There have been like 50 characters with that name.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our Team
Epona "Ray Gun" Rae
Abilities:
1. Thief traps
2. Ray Guns
- Magic Missile
- Chromatic Orb
- Stinking Cloud/Web
- Glitterdust
- Skull Trap
- Polymorph Other
- Domination
- Disintegrate (pending)
3. Forcefields
- Globes of Invulnerability
- Spell Turning
Jan "The Jan" Jansen
1. Thief Traps
2. Ray Guns
3. Illusion/Phantasm Spells
Yoshimo
1. Blindness
2. Traps
3. Commentary
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Narrator: Okay, good folk of the audience. We are not going to to Windspear... or Dragomir's or any of the Country Side Quests. We started the Dragomir's tomb quest, but were soundly repelled (though thankfully with no deaths, we cut our losses and fled before anyone was permanently hurt).
Epona: This is not my fault. Somebody was drunk at the wheel.
Narrator: I'd had a few, it was true...
In any case, I think a decent analysis of Epona's early game battles is in order. A significant stumbling block has been encountered.
Epona: Ya, like no Death Ray. I want my death ray.
Narrator: Sooner access to Symbol: Death is also preferable, and we are simply not going to find another schematic for that trap at this stage of the game, unless my information is wrong.
Delayed Blast Fireball would also be nice.
Epona: Stupid mages...
Narrator: Stupid mages indeed. As it happens, with Epona's current loadout, they seem capable of rendering her completely ineffective. Minor Globe of Invulnerability + Invisibility is a crippling combination to overcome. Let me ask you, good folk of the audience, what are two protections that every mage and his idiot brother has? You guessed it, MGOI and Invisibility.
The problem stems from the available stock of ray guns. 1. Magic Missile. 2. Web/Stinking Cloud. 3. Skull trap. 4. The Squirrelifier (Polymorph Other). 5. The POV Gun (Domination). Our traps from Levels 2-3 give good area of effect damage, but everything Epona has above that level requires direct targeting. MGOI renders all low level AoE damage ineffective, and with invisiblity, she is unable to directly target the mages and hit them with her higher level weapons. This wipes out everything aside from standard thief traps.
It also makes Epona resort to desperate (and sometimes humorous) measures when attempting to defeat these magical enemies, as can be seen in this image:
Image: Epona attempts to roll Rayic Gethras onto his back during Edwin's "Hamster Ball Battle Royale"
MGOI also prevents any attempt by Epona to dispel invisibility via her Lvl2 Confetti Cannon (Glitterdust). This is a very serious problem; Not because it means Epona cannot defeat enemies. She most certainly can, eventually.
Epona: What do you mean, eventually?
Narrator: I mean, uh... that you make excellent use of stealth and guile.
Epona. Much better.
Narrator: The real problem, I suppose, is that until those mages' protections wear off, they are mostly free to laugh their arrogant asses off in Epona's face. This vexes her greatly.
Epona: Nothing less than the reputation of Gnomish ingenuity is at stake.
Narrator: Yes, I could not have said it better. Still, Epona has been victorious so far, using what little she has in stock. Cleverness has proved sufficient to overcome the lack of equipment, not to mention the still empty Level 6 trap slots in Epona's Lil' Bastard Trap kit, which are earmarked for the Lvl6 Death Ray (Disintegrate) as soon as she can find a schematic from which to build one.
Epona: I should have gotten that death ray already...
Narrator: Yes, the Disintegrate scroll was not in its usual place. It must be semi-random.
Epona: Contingency!? This isn't a Disintegrate schematic. This is bull$&%#!
Narrator: Since Epona is not well prepared for some of the main Chapter 2 quests, she and I believe that a careful analysis of her previous battles will yield clues as to where she should go next. Let us thus begin the battle reports. Two battles in particular are of note.
Battle Report 1: Rayic Gethras
Narrator: Normally, when facing a strong enemy, Epona uses guile to get the jump on them.
Epona: You don't get points for bravery, just results!
Narrator: Epona is capable of delivering a crushing first assault, but then her power drops off considerably or--if facing a mage--nearly vanishes unless she can find a safe place to set her standard thief traps. After the opening round, Epona must usually resort to area-denial tactics and getting the heck out of harms way. Stealth has proved vital, and Epona's innate hide in shadows ability--combined with Whispers of Silence--overcomes her lack of cloaking device (Invis. or Imp. Invis.) and her lack of mid-battle damage output.
Narrator: So long as she can avoid being seen, she can avoid getting spelled to death by the many mages. The Battle with Rayic Gethras was a pretty textbook example of how things go. She hides in shadows, and then once his protections wear off she moves in and attempts to finish him with her traps. Rayic makes many of his saves, however, and skull traps only do minimal damage. Once a mage is injured, though, Symbol:Death is Epona's go-to kill trap, as it can one-hit-kill mages if they fail their saves.
Unfortunately, Rayic makes his save on a 20. What are the odds?
Epona: About 1 in 20, I think.
No matter. Several rounds later she gets him with a skull trap, since he no longer has MGOI by that point. It's a longer, but more reliable way, to overcome her enemies.
That said, some mages are not so lucky against Epona's Death traps.
Image: Both Prebek and Sanasha are snuffed at the same time.
Epona: I felt sorry for them. I really did. It almost seemed cruel to kill them.
Narrator: Indeed, Epona tried to sway them to her side using the POV gun, but both mages turned hostile regardless. She was forced to end their lives. This was tragic, for it seemed they were only following the harsh orders of a cruel taskmaster who would surely have brought them harm if they did not do his bidding.
Epona: I finished my stock of Death traps in that battle. What am I going to do now?
Narrator: Continue the search for bigger and better technologies, of course.
Epona: Oh no... I have a feeling I know where this is going.
Narrator: Do not worry, Epona. You won't be going alone. But it truly is time to get going to Spellhold. Wandering around with our party of trapmasters has taught us some valuable lessons. 1. We need bigger and better traps, schematics for which are only avaiable in the Spellhold->Post Spellhold game, and 2. We have much to learn about trap tactics.
Battle Report 2: Windspear Hills.
The need to progress to a later stage in the adventure became apparent during an ill-fated attempt to penetrate the Windspear Dungeon and Dragomir's tomb, once Epona had recruited Yoshimo, Jan and Hexxat into the group. Neither quests were successful, but the party got in some valuable practice and developed their tactics. A good example was Gerran's cottage. Epona and Co. were charged with protecting Gerran's home in his absence.
So they set about laying traps around the joint.
Epona: As one does when one is an honoured guest. 'Excuse me while I lay a ring of jagged teeth around your living room'.
Narrator: It is little weird, don't you think? Some might even call it... metagaming in an attempt to overcome trapsetting limitations re: enemy line of sight.
Epona: Them's fighting words; It was nothing of the sort. Anyone could show up in Gerran's absence, and we told him we'd watch his home. Other people might sit around sharpening their weapons and casting shifty looks out the windows; Patrolling and being on guard and all that jazz. We don't have weapons. Ya, sure, I have a Zerth blade, but it's little more than a hanging rack for the 4 extra traps I can't fit into my pack. I'd probably lop my own head off if I tried to use it. No, we're trap artists, and our traps can't be ready if we don't lay them. So we surounded Gerran in a ring of death. You know... just in case.
Narrator: Alright... I will reluctantly grant you that. As it happened, the 'just in case' scenario did in fact happen. Bandits raided Gerran's home.
Luckily, since Jan is an illusionist, he brings illusion/phantasm spells to the team's arsenal, in addition to his gnomish inventions and traps. As soon as the opening barrage is unleashed and the party's trap power is gimped by the enemy presence, he makes the whole party invisible.
Epona: Like I said, no points for bravery. live smart, live long. Run away! I heard that somewhere...
Narrator: Well justified. Trap tactics can be awkward indeed. The party was often required to flee and regroup in more private surroundings.
Thus Yoshimo's patented peek-a-boo attack was born.
Effective, but not always possible. Only when the environment allows. The party was stymied in the labrynthine tunnels of Firkraag's dungeon and were forced to retreat. Thanks to Jan's stylish cloaking devices, however, Epona and company were able to enter undetected and then escape when the going got too tough. Chief Digdag, the vampires, the golems and the Rakshasa transmuter were all blind to their presence.
By this time Lurch (Clara/Hexxat) was pestering us every few hours to get our asses to Dragomir's. Epona attempted to oblige her, but the combination of Better Calls for Help and level drain meant that the party never had a moments peace and no chance to set up before battling. We were forced to retreat. Hexxat left the party and we were down to three.
But there is hope. Yoshimo has realized that although traps don't work when the enemy sees you placing them, there is a simple work around. Blindness. Like the proverbial bird who sticks its head in the sand, if you can't see the enemy, they can't see you.
Yoshimo: I am the ostrich. Goo goo ga choo!
Blindness should, ironically, make Yoshimo more of an offensive powerhouse, rather than a retreat/regroup trapper. It will allow him to lay traps when the enemy is present, thus dolling out damage as needed and in a more controlled manner. With this lesson learned Epona's party should better hold the initiative in the many engagements where the party appears within sight of the enemy, or is ambushed. As so often happens...
So there is hope, good folk of the audience. Hope that Epona will finally find her deathray, get that delayed blast fireball, find more scrolls for Symbol:Death, kill some more jerky mages and show once and for all that gizmos rule and that magic sucks.
The scrore so far.
Gadgets: 5 (Rayic, Maevar, Prebek and Co., Kalah, The Slavers)
Magic: 0
Next up, we don't go to any of the places we mentioned previous, and instead continue to search for high technology in the Wild Forest, the Vampire Crypt and Spellhold.
Maybe...
I make no promises.
Epona: You're just making this up as you go along, aren't you?
Narrator: Hey now, I'm no Napoleon or Scipio Africanus, here.
Epona: That is abundantly clear. But I still like you.
Narrator: Why, thank you. I like you too.
As for you, dear readers, I must apologize for the lack of step-by-step pictures of the playthrough. Part of that reason is because the initial stages of the game are rather humdrum and straightforward, and lack the drama of the bigger engagements in the later stages of the game. But A LOT of the reason is because I must window the game every single time I want to take a screenshot, then full-screen the game to regain the ability to move the camera around the map again. This makes taking screenshots a bit of a chore unless the battle is a real upset, has some crazy happenings or provides some remarkably interesting insight into the ways this game can be played.
It is not a co-incidence that what bits of the playthrough I have shown take place in small rooms/environments with no need for panning/scrolling the field of view.
Nonetheless I will try to be more diligent about it.
Thanks for reading. More to come soon.
The Alliance
A no-reload 4-character modded IWD run
The Temple of the Lost God
The party arrived at the remote temple nearly two days after leaving Kuldahar. Immediately, they bumped into a giant hurrying away from the entrance. Gudrun was able to shout a few questions at him as he went past. Apparently the temple had been attacked by "bad priests".Thank you guys! But our McGuffin is in another castle!
They warily passed into the cave-like entrance where they were accosted by a temple acolyte who accused them of being in league with the attackers. He wouldn't listen to reason and began to attack. Gudrun felt bad about killing him even though her divine powers showed her the evil at the core of his soul.
The entrance branched to the East and West. Gudrun chose the Western route, and they encountered scattered resistance as they moved deeper into the complex.
A little further to the West, the party was fighting 3 verbeegs when Dunathain lost control of one of his spells. Friend and foe alike watched in horror as a portal began to open between the worlds and something on the other side snarled*. Then Gudrun snapped out of it and called for a retreat. The companions ran for the exit and made it out into the snow just in time.
At the end of the hallway, Darien found the temple library, guarded by two acolytes and a verbeeg. Just as the party killed the last of that group, another verbeeg and acolyte attacked from behind. Gudrun had everyone move into one of the storerooms as a more defensible position, but the verbeeg wounded Celebrian before Gudrun redirected his attention.
They went looking for the other acolyte and found him attempting to cut off their retreat.
In the library and storerooms, the group found a magic club that could fatigue an enemy and a pair of magic boots that could blur the form of the wearer.
Next they searched the Eastern passage, again coming across scattered defenders.
Celebrian leveled up and gained some interesting abilities.***
They dealt with the last guard, then made their way out to their campsite to rest and heal.
Down on the next level, the party once again fought their way through the temple's disorganized survivors.
Once the way was clear, Darien began scouting ahead for enemies and traps.
Further on, a verbeeg attacked Darien. He led it in circles until Gudrun was able to attract its attention.
Pelting the verbeeg with sling stones, Celebrian and Dunathain attracted the attention of an acolyte. Celebrian was held, and Dunathain found himself in a one-on-one spell duel while Gudrun and Darien continued to fight the verbeeg.
Advantage Dunathain!
Gudrun leveled up when the verbeeg died, and she and Darien added their arrows to the fight against the acolyte.
Once Celebrian had recovered and healed Gudrun and Darien, the party moved forward again.
Darien located a large group blocking the corridor ahead. Celebrian summoned a hamadryad and the companions moved to attack. Unfortunately, the dryad's charm person didn't work on verbeegs, but she distracted one of them for a while. One of the acolytes cast an entangle, but it didn't really affect the outcome of the fight. Dunathain put the acolytes to sleep with a color spray, then concentrated on one of the verbeegs, killing it with a lance of disruption followed by a scorcher and a magic missile.
The party found magic weapons and armor in the chambers off the main hallway. They repaired to their campsite to heal and identify the treasure. Gudrun switched to "The Snow Maiden's Reaver", a bastard sword that inflicts cold damage and she also kept an enchanted shield for those times when she needed more protection.
The companions made their way back into the depths of the temple, but this time they were unopposed. They found their way to the inner sanctum and discovered, as they had already suspected, the heartstone gem was gone. Among the bodies of the temple defenders, they found the body of a Talonite priest. He had been stripped of his equipment, but a vial of liquid had been overlooked.
They returned to Kuldahar, where Arundel told them the only source for the venom in the vial was the extict volcano called Dragon's Eye. The party sold off their loot, bought more healing potions, and rested to prepare for the next phase of their investigation.
Level ups!
The party as they enter Chapter 2
Gudrun, Level 6
Darien, Level 7
Celebrian, Level 7
Dunathain, Level 6
Group shot by the smithy
Since I'm rather addicted to SCS and since IWD basically has nothing that compares to it, I never got around to playing through IWDEE yet. Vanilla seems no challenge after the Chain Contingencied & Spell Triggered spellcasters of BG2EE/SCS. Could really use some advice on how to make IWD fun again.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/680764/#Comment_680764
Mainly it's IWD house rules, the two tweaks mods and rogue rebalancing. Nothing that really makes the game harder.
The thing that's making this run harder for me is the lack of a second tank. The temple of the Lost God was much easier on my first run-through with a fighter and ranger in front. Especially since the ranger had giants as his favored enemy.
I really think that IWD is a melee warrior's game, in the way that BG1 is an archer's game and BG2 is a mage's game.
The fun for me in IWD is playing with party design, kicking around ideas for different groups. So try playing around with that. Maybe a party without arcane casters. Or a party of only clerics. Or 2 sorcerers and 2 mages. Or 2 monks and 2 clerics.
When I identified that sword I thought "where were you on my last play-through?" I had a half-orc fighter with mastery in bastard swords. I eventually had to switch over to longswords because I missed every random dropped bastard sword except the flaming one that appears instead of Reaver. Now with the mods I've got installed, Gudrun is specialized in "large swords" and can switch bastard swords from one to two handed.
Milan fought off the Ankhegs and Sirenes with the Spider form and webs (generally; Ankhegs got smacked with the Wand of Sleep.) Bandit camp is fought off by sneaking invisibly into the back of the tent, layering down two webs since they don't go hostile unless Raemon sees you.
No spells from Venkt + -6 AC vs the fighters = destroyed Bandit Camp
And just for the fun of it.
Into Spider woods. There can be only one.
Pro. Magic scroll vs Davaeorn, and even then it took forever dealing with his various defensive spells. THAC0 of a Druid kind of sort of sucks. Almost died to the Mustard Jelly; one further critical would've been game over, but ran away and healed in time for the later takedown.
Did Belt's quests in Baldur's Gate plus a couple experience-garnering and Wisdom-tome-getting ones:
Took on Sarevok's Acolytes, easy-ish win, though there were a few mishaps and I zoned down the stairs quite a few times in bad habits.
Violet potion, Potion of Agility, Potion of Fortitude, Scrolls of Fire and Electricity resistance, Shield amulet for tomb-robbing. Took on Pratt and his bunch, another close call as a Charm Person was fired by Pratt while Milan had a clouded aura (!). Saved, fortunately, and killed him. Also took out the two basilisks, as the goal is to guarantee level 11 upon hitting BG2 for a single level 6 slot.
Durlag's tower is quickly raided for the last tome I want, leading to...
21 Wisdom and 17 STR. One new level 5 slot, and the prerequisites for dualing!
Slythe and Krystin nearly killed me twice; Iron Skins were Breached, and Slythe's subsequent backstab brought Milan to just above 10 HP. Got Slythe in the end, though. I ought to have remembered to have memorized True Seeing to deal with him, but mistakes are mistakes. Liia is turned invisible before the fight to keep her safe, though apparently there was no need as Belt survived anyways. Rested for the last time and prepared.
The final battle was just a mess that took forever. Remove Magic stripped away everything again, forcing a Potion of Magic Blocking. Without Arrows of Dispelling, I can't really stop to mess with the spell casting in Spider Form, since Sarevok just catches up again, so I'm forced back to Darts with my amazing 16 THAC0.
Missed Tazok's death, but Angelo
And death via Tranzig's Wand of Magic Missile since apparently Milan only hits Sarevok on 18, 19, or 20. Yeesh. This battle all told took two Potions of Power, 11 charges of the Wand of the Heavens, 3 Oils of Burning, 4 or 5 Oils of Speed, 3 potion of Magic Blocking, 2 Potions of Magic Shielding, 1 Potion of Fire Breath, 2 Potions of Regeneration, 10 charges of the Wand of Magic Missiles, 2 or 3 Potions of Agility, 3 or 4 Potions of Invisibility... Some days I really miss having Arrows of Dispelling. >.>